9 Best Cheap Website Builders for $9 or Less a Month
Elizabeth Kraus has more than a decade of first-hand experience building and growing a boutique digital marketing agency and double that in small and mid-size business marketing management. She provides expert answers to marketing questions related to branding, content marketing, web development, email, social media, and SEO.
Cheap website builders make it possible for businesses with tiny budgets to get online. However, what you get in free and cheap plans varies depending on the provider. To save you time and research, we ranked the best cheap website builders below—all allow you to build a website on your own domain for under $9 a month.
- Overall best cheap website builder: IONOS
- Cheapest for online stores and best built-in artificial intelligence (AI): Hostinger
- Most affordable membership website builder: Dorik
- Easiest website builder for beginners: Webador
- Best for international sellers: Mozello
- Best for appointment- and service-based businesses: Web.com
- Most affordable for WordPress: DreamHost
- Great option for selling on social channels: Jimdo
- Best way to build for free on your own domain: HubSpot
Cheapest Website Builders at a Glance
Site Builder | Expert Score Out of 5 | Starting Cost* | Starting Cost* for Ecommerce | Free Domain | Learn More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.7 | $1** | $1** | ✓ | |
 | 4.5 | $2.99** | $2.99** | ✓ | |
 | 4.4 | $4 | $4 | ✕ | |
 | 4.3 | $4.50 | $8 | ✓ | |
 | 4.2 | $8 | $8 | ✓ | |
 (Via DreamHost) | 4.2 | $2.99** | $16.95 | ✓ | |
 | 4.0 | $4.95 | $13.95 | ✓ | |
 | 3.7 | $9 | $18 | ✓ | |
 | 3.5 | $0 | $0 | ✕ |
*Monthly cost with annual billing; some providers offer monthly billing at a higher cost
**First year monthly cost with annual billing, renews at a higher rate
Take our quiz to find out which cheap website builder works best for you.
Which cheap website builder is best for you?
IONOS: Cheapest Website Builder for Small Businesses Overall
Overall Score:
4.7 / 5
Pros
- From $12 total for the first year, including ecommerce
- New AI writing assistant
- Free domain, SSL, and email
- Dozens of business apps
- 400+ templates
- Built-in email marketing tools
- Content personalization
- Solid SEO features
- Dedicated consultant and 24/7 support
Cons
- No free plan or trial
- No ecommerce dropshipping, unlike Weebly
- Costs increase in the second year
- Cheap plans at $1 a month: Twelve-month intro for Pro or Pro Online Store with hosting, domain, SSL, and business email.
- Easy integrations: Native tools for appointment booking, lead capture, email marketing, reviews, social media integration.
- Advanced SEO: Image optimization, Google PageSpeed, a global content delivery network, and more make IONOS one of the best website builders for SEO.
- Dedicated support: Dedicated consultant to answer questions and offer advice so you can get max value from your website, plus 24/7 support from knowledgeable techs who can solve problems for you.
- Daily backups: If something goes wrong, IONOS can revert your website to the prior version and get your business back up and running quickly.
- Personalized content: Display pop-ups, banners, landing pages, and other elements to site visitors based on rules you set, such as whether they are a new or returning visitor, location, and more.
- Content creation assistance: 400-plus templates, each with a variety of premade content blocks and layouts, vast library of free stock images to draw on, and a new artificial intelligence (AI) writing assistant.
- Advanced insights: Competitor tracking (Plus and Pro plans) as well as rankingCoach (Pro plan)
There aren’t many reasons not to use IONOS, but there are instances where another site builder could be better:
- WordPress via DreamHost: IONOS has WordPress hosting plans, but they don’t come with a no-code page builder theme, unlike DreamHost. Plus, Hostinger customers can build up to 100 websites, mixing and matching WordPress and the Hostinger site builder in a plan that doesn’t exceed $9 a month, even on renewal.
- Membership sites and large blogs: Dorik offers paid memberships and unlimited blogging in plans that cost $4 per month forever.
- Free HubSpot website: IONOS doesn’t have a free plan, unlike HubSpot, which allows you to build a free website on your own domain (as long as you can live within the page and blog post limitations).
- Niche functionality: IONOS has many of the most common business apps needed, but there isn’t (at least as of yet) a third-party app marketplace. While you can embed other apps via the embed code widget and header and footer code, it’s tougher than if you have one-click third-party apps to install, like you can with HubSpot or WordPress (and DreamHost).
IONOS is the cheapest website builder for small businesses overall for the first year. The mid-tier Pro plan is billed at just $1 a month for the first 12 months, with or without an online store, and renews at a reasonable cost. There’s also a Starter plan that keeps your costs under $10 per month even after the month intro period, but its capabilities are so basic that we don’t recommend it for business use.
In the Pro and Plus plans, the IONOS site builder is beginner-friendly, with a section-based editor and a slew of business apps to add functionality to your site. (If it looks familiar, you may have seen it before—it’s Duda’s website builder, with a few modifications.) It’s also one of the few site builders to accommodate multi-language websites, making it great for international businesses.
IONOS includes reliable features, including advanced SEO. Sites enjoy Google PageSpeed optimization (minimizes the number of files that have to be served up for your site to load) and a global content delivery network (CDN) for fast site loading time from anywhere, on any device. Plus, no matter which plan you choose, you’ll get access to a dedicated success consultant to advise you as you build your website and help you get the most out of your plan.
IONOS Pricing & Plans
IONOS’ cheap website builder plans come with a free domain and SSL certificate, similar to other plans. However, uniquely, they also come with a free business email address on your domain. Also unique to IONOS is the inclusion of native email marketing tools. With any plan, you can add an online store. Click the tabs below to learn more.
Expert Opinion
IONOS has all the business website basics covered, including ecommerce, in super-cheap plans that will only cost you $12 for the entire first year. You’ll get everything needed to build a small business website quickly and easily, even on an extreme budget, with arguably the best customer service thrown in to boot.
Looking for completely free options? Scroll down to read about HubSpot or check out our list of the best free website builders.
Hostinger: Cheapest Website Builder Long Term for Ecommerce
Overall Score:
4.5 / 5
Pros
- $2.99 per month for the first year, including ecommerce; renews at $8.99
- Includes 100 websites, one domain, unlimited SSL, and up to 100 emails
- AI heatmap, logo maker, and writing assistant
- Google and Facebook ads and remarketing
- Google AdSense integration in the dashboard to monetize your blog
- Lots of payment processing options
- Messenger Live app
- No limits on site size, storage, or bandwidth
Cons
- Ecommerce limited to 500 products
- No free plan or trial
- Only a handful of one-click third-party apps (but you can embed code for more connections)
- Lacks tools for appointment booking, and niche tools needed for restaurants or subscriptions
- Affordable forever: The first year, you’ll pay $2.99 a month (plus get two months free) and the cost will only increase to $8.99 monthly on renewal.
- Multiple websites: Get all the storage and bandwidth you need to build not just one but up to 100 websites.
- Everything included: Your plan costs the same with or without ecommerce, and you’ll also get a free domain, unlimited free SSL, and 100 email accounts.
- Monetization tools: In addition to building an online store with physical or digital products, you can easily integrate Google AdSense to monetize a blog or connect Google or Facebook Ads and remarketing.
- Customer service apps: Connect Messenger Live and WhatsApp to facilitate customer conversations and support.
- Multiple site types: Build websites using Hostinger’s cheap site builder or WordPress, and mix and match in the same plan.
- Smart tools: Hostinger has built-in AI for copywriting, creating icons and logos, and analyzing how site visitors interact with your content.
Hostinger incorporated Zyro (a sort of side hustle the web hosting company started in 2020) last year, and integrated its site builder into web hosting plans. They are continuing to develop the platform, but it’s young, so a few apps are lacking that you’ll find in other cheap site builder plans:
- Appointments: You can embed code to connect a booking app, but there aren’t native tools, unlike with IONOS. Alternatively, Web.com is the best cheap website builder for appointment and service-based businesses, with unlimited appointments and online payments and deposits with ecommerce from $7.95 per month for the first year.
- Subscriptions: Recurring payments, which are a must for member subscriptions and subscription-based services, aren’t available. Dorik is the best alternative for this.
- Restaurants: Restaurants needing tools for reservations or online ordering won’t be served well by Hostinger. Use one of the best website builders for restaurants instead.
- Integrations: There aren’t many third-party apps ready-made in Hostinger. If you need niche functionality, a cheap WordPress plan via DreamHost or using HubSpot, which has over a thousand integrations in its app store, will be better.
- Free ecommerce: While Hostinger is very affordable, there’s no free plan like you can get via Mozello or Weebly, which are both on our list of the best free website builders.
Hostinger recently integrated the Zyro website builder and continues developing the platform as part of its web hosting offering. Notably (and unlike Zyro), there’s no extra fee for ecommerce. So you can build an ecommerce website for $2.99 a month for the first year and keep your cost under $9 a month ($8.99) on renewal. Or, commit for a longer term and get a monthly rate as low as $6.99 on renewal (with a four-year contract).
In addition to being the cheapest online store website builder for the long term, Hostinger comes with smart tools that make the job of building brand presence online easier. For example, as far as we can tell, it was the first website builder to include an artificial intelligence (AI) writing assistant (though both IONOS and Wix also have this now). Plus, there’s a logo maker in the dashboard to help you create a logo, icons, or a favicon for your site.
An AI-powered heatmap shows you where site visitors are engaging with your content. These insights can help you increase engagement by placing calls to action, buttons, webforms, and other lead and sales-generating elements where site visitors are more likely to notice and interact.
Hostinger also makes it easy to integrate Google Ads and Facebook Ads and remarketing for both platforms. This can put your return on investment for advertising into hyperdrive and give your brand far more visibility online in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Hostinger Pricing & Plans
Pricing doesn’t get more straightforward than with Hostinger. There’s one plan, and in this case, one size does fit all, including unlimited storage, bandwidth, and multiple websites. Here’s what’s included:
- $2.99 per month for 12 months, billed annually, renewing at $8.99 a month
- Save more with a 48-month contract that renews at $6.99 per month
- Can’t pay ahead? Get everything for $11.99 a month
- Free domain, unlimited free SSL, and unmetered traffic (bandwidth)
- Up to 100 websites with the website builder or WordPress
- Up to 100 email accounts (which also earned it top billing for best cheap email hosting)
- Intuitive editing, about 40 templates, free stock images, and premade content blocks
- Ecommerce with 20-plus payment processing options
- AI content writing assistant, logo maker, and site engagement analyzer (heatmap)
- Google Ads and remarketing, Facebook Ads and remarketing, AdSense, Messenger Live, and WhatsApp integrations
There’s no free plan or trial to test Hostinger, but remember how we mentioned it’s the Zyro platform? You can take advantage of Zyro’s free trial to see pretty much what you’ll get with Hostinger and give the page-building and editing tools a test drive.
Expert Opinion
There’s a lot to love about the Hostinger website builder, and we suspect a lot more to come. While you may have to finagle some functionality through code, building an ecommerce site at an affordable price is hard to match with any other platform, especially over the long term.
Dorik CMS: Best for Membership & Subscription-based Sites
Overall Score:
4.4 / 5
Pros
- $4 per month (forever) for subscription-based sales and membership sites
- Up to 3,000 subscribers
- 100 pages plus unlimited blogging
- Free-forever plan to test the CMS
- Cheap agency-friendly plans for 25 to 100 sites (as low as $9.99 per site)
- White label dashboard, agency branding, and client billing
Cons
- Subscriptions are the only ecommerce functionality—they wouldn’t work for an online store, restaurant, and so on
- Can’t switch themes without starting over, unlike Mozello
- Limited number of themes and premade content blocks
- No free domain, unlike IONOS and Hostinger
- Long-term affordability: $48 a year for an all-in-one site builder with paid membership capabilities.
- Few limits: Unlimited storage and bandwidth, 100 static pages, plus unlimited blogging.
- Premade time savers: Premium templates and premade content blocks.
- SEO: Automatic image compression and global CDN for fast site loading.
- Best for: Great option for selling online courses, retainer-based services, and subscriptions.
- Custom design: Less visually intuitive for site building than Hostinger or IONOS, but extensive customization achievable through settings.
- Great for multiple site hosting and agencies: Agency plans for multiple websites includes white labeling, agency branding, and client billing tools.
Like Hostinger, Dorik is a young site builder that’s still being developed. As such, it has only limited ecommerce applications and doesn’t have a ton of third-party apps, though you can get more functionality by embedding code via widgets or in headers and footers. If you’re not sure you can make this work, consider:
- Online stores: True online store functionality with platforms like IONOS, Hostinger, or Mozello.
- Third-party apps: HubSpot’s free plan gives you access to thousands of third-party plugins as well as easy integration of HubSpot’s world-class sales, marketing, and customer support hubs, all of which have free starter versions. If thousands of plugins sounds like more than you need, see whether IONOS business apps have the tools you need. If not, consider spending a few dollars more to get access to 300-plus integrations with one of the best website builders on the market: Wix.
- Visual design: Dorik allows for a lot of customization, but this is mostly done through settings vs drag-and-drop website building type design. Mozello, Webador, and Jimdo all offer super-easy, visually intuitive editing experiences.
Dorik is a somewhat niche offering on this list of the best cheap website builders for small businesses. Any business can use it to build a basic website for free (on a Dorik subdomain) or on a custom domain for $4 per month. However, ecommerce is currently limited to memberships, making it best for subscription-based services or software, agencies that bill on retainer, and experts selling access to gated content or online courses.
It’s a stellar choice for use by web and digital marketing freelancers as well, with cheap multi-site plans. Keep in mind that you’ll still only be able to build basic (non-commerce) websites and subscription or membership-based websites for your clients using Dorik. Plus, there aren’t many business apps, so integrating features like appointment booking will require a code.
The site-building interface is fairly intuitive, and even beginners should have no trouble building a great-looking website with the section-based editor. You’ll choose a template to start with and then have the full ability to customize it, including fonts, colors, and elements, and adding code to the header and footer—even with the free version.
Dorik Pricing & Plans
For a use-limited cheap website builder, Dorik has everything needed to power basic as well as member and subscription-based sites. The affordable Personal plan costs $4 per month, and your costs don’t increase after the first year, unlike IONOS and Hostinger. Click the tabs below to find out which plan might work for your project.
We love that Dorik has a free plan you can use to get the hang of the site builder. It’s not a long-term solution for a professional website, however. Free sites are hosted on Dorik subdomains and display Dorik branding, which isn’t credible enough for business use. Use the free version to get started, then register a business domain name and upgrade to the Personal plan when you’re ready for your site to go live.
Expert Opinion
Dorik is ideal as a niche, cheap website builder for basic sites and sites needing membership or subscription ecommerce functionality. It’s tailored to the needs of membership sites, retainer-based agencies, and SaaS-type companies, though a service provider with this type of business model could also use it. Plus, there’s no risk in trying it using the free version.
Webador: Easiest Cheap Website Builder for Beginners
Overall Score:
4.3 / 5
Pros
- With annual billing, $4.50 per month starting cost or $8 per month for ecommerce (plus free plan to try)
- Paid plans include a domain; ecommerce consists of an email inbox
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth with no limit to site size
- Intuitive design tools that are ideal for beginners
- Free stock image library included
- Embed code to get functionality outside of native tools
- Change templates easily
Cons
- SEO tools and features are on the basic side vs IONOS or HubSpot
- Cheapest ecommerce plan limited to 10 products
- Base paid plan still displays Webador branding on your site
- Need to upgrade to at least the base ecommerce plan for features like password-protected pages (memberships), multiple contributors, Google integrations, a custom favicon, or multi-language sites
- Inexpensive base and ecommerce plans: Webador offers a paid point of entry at $40.50 the first 12 months (with annual billing) for a basic website or $72 for ecommerce.
- Design-forward websites: 50-plus modern templates, and you can change your template anytime without starting over.
- Beginner-friendly: Building pages in Webador is just about as easy as it gets, making it ideal for do-it-yourself website beginners and hobbyists.
- Cheap plans with a catch: While ecommerce plans start at $8 a month, it’s limited to 10 products; for $16 per month you get unlimited (like Mozello). Also, the base paid plan still displays Webador branding, which may make it a non-starter for professional use.
- No limits: All plans (even free) include unlimited pages, storage, bandwidth, and blogging.
- Value-add extras: Paid plans include a free domain, and ecommerce plans include an email address and a ton of extra features, including advanced analytics, integrated Google Analytics, Business Page, and Search Console, and the ability to host audio and video files.
While we are excited to discover and test Webador, we were disappointed that the cheapest plan doesn’t allow you to remove third-party branding. And although it may be the most intuitive and easy-to-use editor, this comes at the cost of more limited customization than some other platforms. Here are our suggestions:
- Intuitive editing and modern templates: Mozello offers a near-equally beginner-friendly site editor as well as modern templates. Plus, Mozello’s base ad-free plan costs $8 (just like Webador) but allows up to 15 products vs 10 with Webador.
- More robust ecommerce: Hostinger allows up to 500 products in plans at around the same price as Webador (or less with a longer-term contract). It’s also extremely easy and intuitive to use and has extras lacking in Webador, like an AI writing assistant and heatmap analysis.
- Member-only content: You’ll need an ecommerce plan to gate off content on your site, but you can do this on any plan with Dorik, IONOS, or Hostinger.
- Better SEO: Webador’s SEO features are pretty basic as far as we can tell. IONOS and HubSpot offer the best integrated search optimization features of any others on this list. For those not concerned with the learning curve of WordPress, DreamHost is better for SEO as well.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a website builder that’s easier to use than Webador. Even true beginners can create an account, choose and customize a template, and get a multi-page website up in—well, maybe not minutes, but in under a day for sure. It makes everything easy, including the availability of free stock images you can use to personalize your site.
If having a solid visual design is your thing, Webador has you covered here as well. Its templates are design-forward and visually impactful, which offers a great starting point. Templates can also be changed anytime, which is a rarity with website builders. However, this is great for you if you like the idea of regularly changing the look of your site depending on seasonality or other factors.
Plus, there are no limits to storage, so this is a good cheap website builder not only for beginners but also for creatives who want to showcase their work in an online gallery. In addition, ecommerce plans include audio and video hosting, making it a viable option for influencers looking to build personal branding through videos or podcasts.
Webador Pricing & Plans
Webador made our list of the best cheap website builders in part because you can build a basic or ecommerce website in plans that start under $9 a month. Keep in mind that the Lite plan will still display ads on your site, so opt for the Pro or Business to ensure brand credibility if you can.
Expert Opinion
Newcomer Webador is a great addition to our list of the cheapest website builders. It’s great for startups and beginners who don’t want to spend a ton of time learning the technicalities of website building, but still want a great-looking site. Use the free version to test the platform risk-free.
Mozello: Most Affordable Site Builder for International Sellers
Overall Score:
4.2 / 5
Pros
- Dozens of modern templates
- Intuitive and beginner-friendly
- Free-forever plan
- All plans include free SSL, HTML editing, and multilingual websites
- No transaction fees
- Mozello API for third-party app integration (with paid plans)
- Unlimited ecommerce is still pretty cheap: $16 per month
Cons
- Free plan only allows ecommerce for one product and 500MB of storage
- PayPal is the only payment option until the highest tier
- Only 15 products in under $9 plan
- Highest tier needed for digital products, discount codes, and custom emails or checkout
- No native tools for appointments or memberships (no recurring payments)
- Multi-language websites for international sellers: All plans (even free) include multi-language sites.
- Low-cost ecommerce: Paid plans start at $8 per month with 50GB of storage, free domain and SSL, plus ecommerce for up to 15 products and 20 variants.
- Beginner friendly and modern: Mozello doesn’t have a ton of templates, but they are modern, and even true beginners won’t have any trouble using the editing tools.
- Marketing tools: Connect Facebook ads and remarketing (Facebook pixel).
- PayPal-friendly: PayPal is the only payment processing option with the base paid plan, but for $16 per month, you get unlimited ecommerce and many more payment processors.
- Take online orders: This could work for restaurants as there’s an option to accept in-person payments for online orders.
- Sell digital products: Digital product capabilities, but only on the highest tier.
- Access to HTML: Embed code to extend the functionality.
Mozello is a good option for international sellers, and its cheap $8 plan could be ideal if you’re OK with the limitations of just 15 products and only PayPal for payment processing. If not, here’s what to use instead:
- Up to 500 products: Hostinger will keep you under $9 forever, allowing up to 500 products for your online store (digital or physical).
- Digital products: Webador allows up to 10 products in its base ecommerce plan ($10 a month after the intro period), and they can be physical or digital.
- Recurring charges: If you need recurring payments, Dorik’s subscription-based ecommerce could be a better option.
- Appointments: Hostinger and IONOS both have native tools for appointment booking that are lacking in Mozello. Also, IONOS and HubSpot offer multi-language website support.
Mozello is a beginner-friendly site builder built for ecommerce. It’s the best cheap website builder for those selling internationally, thanks to multi-lingual websites (even in the free version).
All of its plans, including the free one, have ecommerce functionality and the ability to take payments via PayPal, cash on delivery, and bank transfers (plus wire transfers from the EU). As a bonus, all have a multi-lingual feature that supports more than 60 languages.
Mozello’s templates are modern and one of the most intuitive cheap website builders we’ve tested. This makes it easy to get your ecommerce store online quickly, even for true web design beginners. Learn how to build your own Mozello store in just five steps.
Mozello Pricing & Plans
Mozello’s features may not be the most robust, but they’re more than sufficient for basic online stores. Mozello’s plans below $10 have product limitations (limited to how many products you can sell and no digital products), but they have no transaction fees. At $18 a month for the highest plan tier, advanced features are also cheap with Mozello. Learn more about each plan in the tabs below.
Expert Opinion
Mozello’s plans come with a great multi-lingual feature to translate your content and help you appeal to more customers or even break into a new market. Coupled with their extensive payment options—for a free plan, anyway—Mozello is a good gateway for small sellers looking to expand their business internationally. Get started risk-free with the free version today.
DreamHost: Best Cheap Website Builder for WordPress
Overall Score:
4.2 / 5
Pros
- $2.95 Shared Unlimited plan includes a free domain, SSL, and unlimited websites, storage, bandwidth, and email addresses
- Free BoldGrid page builder theme
- WordPress installation and updates
- Automatic daily backups
- Countless integrations with plugins
- 97-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- No free trial or free plan (but you can test the editor via BoldGrid)
- Plan cost increases after the first year
- Even with a page builder, WordPress is harder to use than all-in-one site builders Hostinger and IONOS
- Takes more time to build a site as plugins need to be vetted for features, reliability, and compatibility
- Affordable and unlimited: DreamHost’s WordPress Unlimited plan is the cheapest way to build one or unlimited WordPress websites: first-year pricing is $2.95 per month and includes your domain, SSL, and unlimited business email addresses.
- Page builder included: WordPress’ native page-building tools are far from intuitive and very basic. All DreamHost plans come with the BoldGrid page builder theme—it won’t eliminate the learning curve altogether, but it will reduce it significantly.
- Technical support: WordPress hosting plans include installation and management of core and security updates as well as free website migration services and 24/7 support.
- Peace of mind: DreamPress includes automated free daily backups (something most web hosting companies charge more for) to protect your website.
- Cheapest long-term WordPress website builder: Lock down cheap pricing for 36 months at $3.95 per month.
While it offers virtually unlimited customization and integrations, WordPress isn’t easy to master, even with a page builder theme. All-in-one website builders are far easier to use, and unless you need niche functionality, WordPress costs vs site builders will almost always be higher. Plus, your cost for DreamHost will increase after the first year. Here’s what could be better:
- Extensive integrations: HubSpot has over 1,000 integrations, so you’re likely to be able to replicate any functionality you can get through WordPress, and it will be far easier as well.
- Ready-made ecommerce: Basic ecommerce on DreamHost requires a plugin like WooCommerce, and if you want to sell digital goods or need tools for online ordering, subscriptions, and non-basic selling, you’ll need several, and few will be free. Ready-made ecommerce through Hostinger will be easier, cheaper, and save you a ton of time and website configuration.
- Subscriptions and memberships: Building on the recommendation above, Dorik is better for those who want to extend free or paid memberships, sell online courses, offer retainer-based services, or sell an app or other subscription-based model.
- Ease of use: All site builders above will be easier to use than WordPress. If high design is your priority, we recommend starting with IONOS modern templates or Webador’s super-intuitive editor.
DreamHost plans come with a free drag-and-drop page builder theme for WordPress. This reduces the learning curve to use WordPress and makes it easier to build and design your site quickly and maybe even completely code-free. In fact, DreamHost is one of the best WordPress page builders available.
BoldGrid’s drag-and-drop builder allows you to edit most WordPress themes, has premade content blocks, advanced controls, and allows for CSS editing. The only thing you have to worry about is integrating plugins that may not be compatible with one another. See what’s involved in our step-by-step article showing how to make a WordPress website.
While DreamHost offers a cheap and easy way to build on WordPress, there will still be a learning curve. For example, you’ll need to install and manage plugins for nearly all functionality, including ecommerce. You’ll also have to find, install, and manage plugins for essentials like website security and protection from hackers and malware. Read our list of WordPress tips and tricks to learn more.
DreamHost Pricing & Plans
Shared Unlimited plans include WordPress pre-installed, the BoldGrid page builder, a free domain (annual plans), SSL, and unlimited business email and websites. And everything is backed by a lengthy 97-day money-back guarantee. For those looking for managed WordPress, plans start under $20 per month. Click on the tabs below to learn more.
Keep in mind that hosting isn’t going to be your only cost when setting up a WordPress site. For example, buying a premium theme can run anywhere from $50 to $100 or more. Many of the plugins needed for functionality like ecommerce, web forms, and so on also charge subscription fees. A library of images for website design isn’t included either, as they are with cheap website builders like IONOS, so artwork and graphics could also cost you more.
Expert Opinion
DreamHost’s builder makes WordPress much more beginner-friendly and accessible due to its cheap price. We highly recommend purchasing the WordPress Unlimited plan with unlimited websites, storage, and professional emails to get the most value for your small business.
Web.com: Best Cheap Site Builder for Appointments & Services
Overall Score:
4.00 / 5
Pros
- Affordable first year $4.95 per month base and $13.95 per month base ecommerce
- $7.95 per month the first year for unlimited appointments, reminders, and online payments and deposits
- One hour of expert design support included, plus domain, email, and SSL
- Built-in tools like CRM, email marketing, keyword research, QR code generator, design tools, and social post scheduling
- Social selling in plans from $13.95 per month (the first year)
Pros
- Cheap first-year pricing requires annual billing and increases quite a bit on renewal
- Marketplace selling, dropshipping, and automated sales tax require the highest ecommerce plan
- More expensive than IONOS or Hostinger (but with more native tools)
- No free plan or trial and no money-back guarantee
- Poor SEO in base plan (IONOS is much better)
- Have to find and enable blogging functionality, which is pretty basic
- Cheap first-year pricing: Affordable first-year pricing to help you build your brand with plans that scale (be ready for a steep increase on renewal).
- Unlimited appointments: Second plan tier includes unlimited appointments plus the ability to take payments for appointments and deposits online.
- Marketing tools galore: Web.com has the most native marketing tools of any of the cheap website builders listed here. These include Google site verification, social media embeds and scheduled posts, photo and image editing tools, email marketing, marketing calendar, logo builder, QR code generator, and more.
- Integrated ads: Increase return on ad spend with pay-per-click (PPC) tools like Google tag manager setup, ad keyword research, and campaign monitoring.
- Full-featured ecommerce: Online store plans cost quite a bit more with Web.com, but they are full-featured. If you’re building a serious ecommerce or dropshipping business, take advantage of cheaper first-year pricing than you’d have with alternatives like Shopify or Weebly to get your store up and running.
Web.com’s first-year pricing helped it make our list of the cheapest website builders, but keep in mind that your plan will cost a lot more on renewal. Monthly billing comes at a much higher cost: $14.99 base or $21.99 with appointments. This gets into territory that doesn’t qualify for this guide, so our recommendations for best alternatives include providers not on this list:
- Better base plans: IONOS and Hostinger both come with a lot more, for a lot less, the first year (and over time). Hostinger is also far more affordable for online stores that don’t need dropshipping or a ton of advanced functionality. Alternatively, Jimdo will save you some money in the long term if you want an online store with social selling.
- Robust ecommerce: Weebly’s $12 per month plan (or $16 month to month) includes inventory management, advanced shipping, automated sales tax, online ordering, discounts, and more. You’ll pay more for features like these on Web.com. Marketplace selling is cheaper on GoDaddy ($24.99 per month).
- Design freedom: Though easy to use and packed with features, Web.com doesn’t allow for as much site customization as you can achieve through IONOS, Dorik, or WordPress (via DreamHost).
- Marketing tools: Web.com locks its SEO and marketing tools behind the second plan tier. HubSpot has freemium native and third-party integrations you can access in its free plan that rivals most available on Web.com, including full-featured customer relationship management (CRM) software. Email marketing and appointment booking come in IONOS $1 per month first-year plans, but costs $7.95 per month the first year with Web.com.
- Free QR code and image editing: There are many free platforms for generating QR codes (Wix and VistaPrint, just to name two) and editing images (like Canva). Web.com locks these and its logo builder behind the second plan tier; however, many free sites for logo design include Jimdo, Squarespace, Canva, and more.
Web.com is the cheapest website builder for service-based businesses needing online booking tools—at least for the first year. The Website + Marketing plan includes unlimited appointments and reminders, plus the ability to take online payments and deposits. It will save you money over GoDaddy, which has similar features but in plans that start at $24.99 a month vs $7.95 a month the first year with Web.com.
It also has advanced ecommerce capabilities similar to Shopify but at a similar price point after the first year. However, Web.com has some nifty extras like social media management, image editing tools, and mass email marketing that Shopify doesn’t include.
Uniquely, Web.com includes an hour of expert design support with all plans. While this doesn’t come close to the value of having a dedicated success consultant (forever) with IONOS, it’s far better than the limited support offered in base plans by Jimdo, for example. And if you want even more help, you can tap the QuickStart plan, which includes setup and initial design of your site for $199.
For those building themselves, Web.com has an intuitive section-based editor. It only offers limited website customization, but it’s easy to use as a result. Drag apps, social integrations, and add basic page-level SEO. Plus, it has good templates and built-in guides to get you started, and a decent variety of prebuilt content sections to facilitate fast website building.
Web.com Pricing & Plans
You will get more in Web.com plans (after the first tier), but you’ll also pay more, especially after the first-year introductory pricing expires. But the convenience of having a full-featured website builder where appointments and service calls can be scheduled online makes it easy to grow your business and cover the cost of renewal:
Expert Opinion
Web.com has the most native tools of all the best cheap website builders. However, it costs more, so you’ll need to take full advantage of the first year to build your business to compensate for higher costs on renewal. But if you want integrated appointments and ecommerce, it offers the most robust plans on this list. There’s no free trial, but you can test it via a monthly plan for $1.95 the first month before committing long term.
Jimdo: Best for Selling on Social Media
Overall Score:
3.7 / 5
Pros
- Base plans for $9 per month with no blog or $11 per month with a blog
- Ecommerce from $18
- Social selling on Facebook and Instagram (ecommerce plans)
- Approximately 26 third-party apps, including a variety of social media integrations
- Native appointment booking tool
- Easy to share music via iTunes or Spotify
- Embed Canva
- Seven language options
- Fast Google indexing and built-in optimization tips
Cons
- Only five pages in the free and 10 pages in base paid plan
- Two different editors and sets of pricing and plans are confusing, plus the blog-capable plans aren’t published on the main website
- Can’t blog unless you create a site using the editor for “coding experts”
- No SEO in the free version, and SEO features are basic
- Low bandwidth, storage, and page limits in most plans
- Limited support in base paid plan (1 to 2 business days response time)
- Sell on social media: With online store plans (starting from $18 per month), connect your shop to sell on Facebook and Instagram.
- Repurpose resources: Easily import images to your site from Instagram, Facebook, Google, or your device.
- Small site limits: Cheapest paid plan includes 10 web pages, access to SEO settings, and statistics (analytics).
- Marketing extras: Business listings manager as a $4 per month add-on or included in the highest ecommerce plan adds your listing to 10-plus directories.
- Design starter: AI curates template designs to choose from when you sign up using the no-coding editor, plus free stock images and logo maker.
- Easy to customize: Some variety of premade content blocks to make your site look unique, and easy-to-customize sections with color variations.
- Mobile-friendly: Section-based editing for a site that’s fully responsive for any type of device.
- Feature-limited: No blog functionality if you choose the “no coding required” editor; paid plans “for coding experts” with blog capabilities start at $11 per month with annual billing. Most affordable plans all have limits on size, storage, and bandwidth.
It’s a bit confusing to figure out all that you can do on Jimdo as there are two different editors and each has different capabilities. In addition, the more affordable plans available to those on a budget have pretty small limits for website size, storage, and bandwidth. If this is concerning to you, we recommend:
- Blog-friendly for $1: Jimdo’s beginner-friendly editor doesn’t have blog capabilities, and the editor “for coding experts” has a base plan limit of 5GB storage and 10GB bandwidth. Instead, just grab IONOS’ Pro plan at $1 a month the first year. The SEO is far better, and there are no limits to bandwidth. Even on renewal, you’ll only pay nominally more than Jimdo’s Pro plan but with far more features and inclusions.
- Customer care: It’s concerning that website beginners and young businesses are a low priority for support with Jimdo, with wait times for help from four hours to two business days. IONOS provides a dedicated success consultant to help you get up and running and 24/7 support, regardless of your plan.
- Beginner-friendly: Jimdo’s no-coding editor is easy to use, but plan limits of just five pages and no blogging are extreme. Webador is even easier to use, and its starter plan at $6 includes unlimited blogging.
- Ecommerce: Hostinger is far more economical for online stores than Jimdo over both the short and long term. While you’ll need to add code to connect and sell on social channels, the extra effort will be more than worth it.
Jimdo offers two different editors, one that’s super-beginner-friendly (but lacks blog functionality) and a second that’s billed “for coding experts” but doesn’t require any coding. The editor for coding experts is what most businesses will need, as it has tools for appointment booking and blogging in addition to the basic features of the no-code editor.
Confusing, isn’t it? We outline what you get in the free and base paid plans of both editors below, plus a base plan for ecommerce, to help you sort it out.
Beyond that, however, Jimdo’s ecommerce plans come with ready-made connections that allow you to easily connect your store to Facebook and Instagram for social selling. So if you can live with the storage and bandwidth limitations (and can pay a bit more), it could be a good solution for you.
We were pretty happy with the design tools and ease of editing with both options for building a website. Notably, Jimdo has some excellent features for creatives, including a Canva embed tool, music and video widgets, and the ability to easily build out galleries and portfolios.
However, we were let down by the limits to the number of pages, bandwidth, and storage in the cheapest plans that limit your ability to get web traffic and sales to grow your business. This also hampers the appeal for creatives, as you’ll have to pay for higher-tier plans to get enough storage for all of these goodies.
Jimdo Pricing & Plans
Jimdo’s pricing and plan structure is complex as it’s different for each of its editors. Since we have listed them for the ecommerce feature of social selling, we’ll forgo reference to their free plans (which aren’t credible for business use anyway), and focus on the base non-commerce and online store plans available for the two editors.
Expert Opinion
Jimdo has affordable plans—but in this case, you get what you pay for. Still, creatives and beginners may find that the platform has unique features that are tailored to their needs, and it’s worth checking out. Plus, ecommerce plans make it easy to sell on Facebook and Instagram directly to grow your business.
HubSpot CMS: Best Site Builder for Building a Free Website
Overall Score:
3.5 / 5
Pros
- Build a website free on your domain
- Integrate HubSpot tools (e.g., CRM, email marketing, customer service)
- Multi-lingual sites on even the free plan
- Enterprise-quality sales and marketing tools, SEO, and reporting in an affordable site builder
- Large app marketplace of free and premium apps to extend functionality
Cons
- Free plan is limited to 25 pages, 20 landing pages, and 100 blog posts
- Big jump in the cost of paid plans after the first tier
- Plans don’t include a free domain
- Personalized web content is far cheaper with IONOS
- Better than cheap: HubSpot is the only website builder that allows you to build a website for free on a domain you own.
- Free SSL included: You won’t get a domain free with any of HubSpot’s plans, but your site’s data will be secured with free SSL.
- Starter and small sites: Free version is limited to 25 web pages and 100 blog posts (plus 20 landing pages).
- Sales and marketing tools: Integrate HubSpot’s enterprise-quality tools into your website and martech stack (marketing technology stack) with freemium hubs for customer relationship management (CRM), email marketing, customer service, operations, and more.
- Third-party apps: If its native tools and HubSpot integrations aren’t enough, there are more than 1,000 free and paid apps to get the features and functionality you want for your site.
- Design tools and tips: HubSpot is one of the best search engine optimization (SEO) website builders and bakes tips, checklists, and guides into the platform to help with everything from optimization to website design.
- Learn how to use it (not just how to build it): In addition to great resources to help you build your site, HubSpot Academy has hundreds of video-based courses. They cover topics like SEO, content marketing, lead generation and nurturing, customer service, and more—and they’re all free, regardless of which cheap website builder you choose
Website size limitations and the cost of its paid plans are the biggest drawbacks to using HubSpot. If you aren’t all that interested in plugging into the HubSpot ecosphere of CRM, customer service, and marketing tools, a simpler platform with more tools at your fingertips could be better. It’s also not the most intuitive or design-forward editor.
Instead, we recommend:
- Easy, modern site design: We first discovered Webador when updating this guide, and as far as ease of use and modern, visual site design, it’s on fire. Likewise, Mozello and IONOS both have modern-looking templates and intuitive design tools to help you design a cheap website that looks like a million bucks.
- Plug and play ecommerce: Ecommerce with HubSpot requires integration of apps that automatically make it harder to use. Hostinger is our top pick for a cheap ecommerce website, and everything is in the dashboard, including an artificial intelligence (AI) writer to help with product SEO.
- Native business apps: Like ecommerce, you’ll have to integrate third-party apps with HubSpot for things like email marketing and appointment booking. IONOS has these right in the dashboard, saving you time and effort.
HubSpot’s free content management system (CMS) made our lists of the best cheap and the best free website builders. It’s the only site builder here that allows you to build a website for free on your own domain, and it just doesn’t get any cheaper than that. So for the cost of a domain ($10 to $20 per year), you can access HubSpot’s CMS and enterprise-quality sales and marketing tools to build your brand online.
None of its premium plans are below $9 per month, but its free plan integrates with all of HubSpot’s free tools, covering extra features in marketing and sales. This makes HubSpot a great choice for businesses seeking to generate leads.
HubSpot is also the best cheap site builder for sales-oriented businesses. In addition to building your site for free, you can integrate HubSpot’s customer relationship management (CRM) software for free as well. This allows for an all-in-one solution for lead generation, lead nurturing, and customer loyalty and retention through customer support.
HubSpot CMS Pricing & Plans
Unlike most free website builder plans, HubSpot CMS is a credible, free way to get your brand online. You can connect your own domain and use the intuitive site builder completely free until your site exceeds 25 pages and 100 blog posts. The Free and Starter plans also include 20 HubSpot-branded landing pages, but the Starter plan provides ample limits of 50 pages and up to 10,000 blog posts.
Expert Opinion
HubSpot is a fantastic cheap website builder option, but it could be challenging for an absolute beginner due to the sheer volume of tools available. Still, for marketing, sales, and customer relationship tools, HubSpot is the best there is. Try the free version out by creating an account (and don’t forget to check out the large app marketplace).
How We Evaluated the Best Cheap Website Builders
While cost is the most important criterion, it’s not the only thing that makes an affordable website builder right for your business. We also determined if its features are worth what you pay, standout features to note, and if you can build a sleek, modern site easily. We also looked at the customer support you can expect, and finally weighed everything against our professional opinion.
See more about our evaluation criteria in the breakdown by clicking on any of these tabs.
35%
Pricing
20%
General Features
20%
Niche Features
10%
Support
15%
Expert Score
35% of Overall Score
When searching for the best cheap website builder, affordability is the first thing to look for. All the website builders on our list score highly, starting at no more than $9 with decent features on a custom domain—basically, everything you need to build a small business website. We also factored in the cost for ecommerce, first-year introductory pricing, and the ability to pay monthly as well as annually.
20% of Overall Score
Though inexpensive, if a website builder doesn’t have adequate features to back it up, it still isn’t worth the money. To rank these builders, we looked at general features like storage and bandwidth and whether they offer decent SEO to ensure your site can get found online.
20% of Overall Score
Though they may serve similar functions, all-in-one site builders are not all built the same. Some have outstanding niche features, like advanced ecommerce offerings and built-in booking and reservations. We judged these site builders based on their unique offerings and how good they are compared to the competition.
10% of Overall Score
Customer support may not be at the forefront of a user’s mind when choosing a website builder, but timely customer service is always a huge bonus when you run into problems. It’s not only helpful to have a slew of ways to contact your chosen site builder, but we also looked at the quality of support given. It also helps if there are other ways—such as blogs, knowledge bases, or forums—you can reach out to, just in case.
15% of Overall Score
We tested each platform, from the sign-up to the site building and publishing processes. We compared how easy it was to build a professional website, what apps and widgets were available, and how challenging it was to add integrations. Finally, we considered our professional experience and years of building websites and ranked each website builder according to how well they performed as we were using them.
*Percentages of overall score
Key Considerations With Cheap Website Builders (How to Choose)
Starting with a cheap website builder doesn’t mean you have to make sacrifices. As you compare these or other providers, look beyond price alone and think about the long term. Here are questions to answer as you decide which website-building option is best for your business:
- What does my plan include? The added value of a free domain, email marketing, automated social posting, and the ability to sell online in a base plan could make it a better option. However, if a plan doesn’t include the niche features you need, like paid appointments, subscriptions, dropshipping, and so on, then spending a little bit more is probably the best plan.
- What will I need in the future? Look beyond the base plan and price to what comes in higher-tier plans, so that as your business grows, you won’t have the headache of changing platforms. Wix is the best website builder for small businesses overall. While it doesn’t have a plan that starts under $9, it could be the best option if you want a scalable solution with niche features and enterprise-grade capabilities.
- Will Google and customers be able to find my site? One of the main reasons to have a website is to build brand visibility online. A website builder with sub-par SEO tools isn’t likely to rank high in online search, so compare each platform’s automated and manual optimization features. For more guidance, read the SEO considerations dropdown in our list of the best website builders for SEO.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Most free website builder plans aren’t appropriate for business use because they host your website on subdomains and display third-party branding. However, you can use HubSpot’s free site builder and connect your own domain. It will still display HubSpot branding, but is more credible for professional use.
IONOS is the cheapest website builder, especially for the first 12 months. Plans for websites and online stores start at $1 per month and include a free domain, SSL data encryption (HTTPS), and email addresses on your domain. The next cheapest is Hostinger, and while your plan will go up after the first year, it will still be under $10 a month, even for ecommerce.
All-in-one site builders are the easiest and cheapest way to build a website. Even complete beginners can create and publish a site in as little as a few hours. Most website builders include everything you need to get online quickly, from a domain and SSL to intuitive, no-code page-building tools, prebuilt templates, native and third-party apps, and built-in guides.
Bottom Line
Building an affordable website for a new or small business shouldn’t be impossible. IONOS is our pick for the best cheap website builder overall. With paid plans that include your domain and SSL from $1 per month for the first year, pricing is hard to beat, and the value is there, with everything needed to build a small business website, including ecommerce.
