7 Cheapest Website Builders for Small Businesses and Freelancers

Last Updated on November 8, 2022 by Arif Chowdhury

A website builder is a tool that helps users to create a beautiful and professional-looking website without having any prior knowledge about coding. 

Back in 1998, when website builders were not yet available, people needed to learn PHP, Java, Python, and C++ programming languages. It would take several developers to build a professional-looking website from a couple of days to months. 

It would be impossible for a non-programmer to build a website back then.

How can even a kid build a professional website today?

Now, making a website is a plaything for children; even a 7-year kid can build a stunning website within 10 minutes. With the drag and drop feature and a pre-designed template, all you have to do is edit the text, and you are done.

What is the cheapest website builder for small businesses?

There are hundreds of online and offline website builders for freelancers and small and large organizations, some are paid, and some are even free with excellent feature and is enough for you to get started.

I have tested almost 50+ website builders over the last 14 years; with my knowledge and experience, I am about to show you some of my handpicked feature-rich website builders those I have tested before, and they all are suitable for small and large organizations.

So, now we will show you the best website builder for freelancers and organizations.

1. Wix.

Beginner & advance website builder – try free.

Wix is probably the leader in the site-building industry because of its professional & elite class pre-designed web templates and huge customization feature that works for both beginner and advanced user needs.

They have a free plan available; sign up and start using their service for an indefinite period.

With more than 100 million users, they are proving your world-class website building service. Leverage their 500+ professionally pre-designed website templates to start and use their easy drag and drop features to edit and customize according to your style. And when you are done building the site, connect with your domain or purchase one or even use their free sub-domain and publish your site, congratulation you have done it.

Customize your site the way you want – freedom is yours.

Okay, what you have done is just a simple, accessible website for beginners. However, when it comes to professional needs, you are just beginning. First, you need a beautiful-looking beautiful-looking website. Then, you have to think about SEO, mobile optimization, responsive theme design, third-party plugins, email marketing, and many more on this list.

Too complex to do everything yourself, no worries, Wix has everything you need.

Wix has an AI called “Wix ADI” it’s like a website building wizard; all you have to do is answer a few questions, and it will design your website based on that. However, if you are an advanced user who knows about coding, then you have the option to edit everything and build a fully custom website as you wish.

Then you have Corvid presented by Wix, open-source serverless computing, and a hassle-less coding environment for a web developer. You will have total freedom for coding, building your web project, and managing and deploying from the Wix platform.

Quick Note: Wix is a well-known brand for offering everyone a free website. Thus, you can create a website within a few minutes without spending a dime. They are one of the best website builders out there, with many user-friendly web designs for you. The learning curve is relatively short, and their customer support is excellent.

Build, host & run the business from one platform.

Wix has two subscription options, One for a website and another for an eCommerce solution. The Unlimited or Combo plan would be best for a professional website and feature. Your cost will be only $12.50 per month for an Unlimited plan leaving you unlimited bandwidth and 10GB of storage space. You will also get a free domain for one year with this plan.

For eCommerce, you should check their Unlimited business plan as you will be able to build a professional eCommerce website & ability to accept payment online. 

2. Zyro.

Advance innovative website builder – free plan included. 

Zyro is highly advanced and elegant in website building; their AI makes things not only easy but blazing fast. No need to spend time on website building. Just focus on your business, and they will take care of your website.

Their forever-free plan is excellent for testing purposes with the limited feature but an indefinite period. 

You can build a website, sell online products using an eCommerce platform such as online stores, showcase your business for investors, and provide consultancy whatever you need; they have it all. Using SEO tools, you can optimize your site for search engines as well.

First thing, no coding knowledge you need to build a site; using their drag and drop and pre-designed templates, you can start within minutes. There are hundreds of professionally designed templates available based on different styles. For example, if your business is photography related, they have photography pre-designed templates available. Just pick one and edit it according to your needs.

Quick Note: If you plan to build a blogging site, use WordPress.org. WordPress is second to none when it comes to the content management system. WordPress website design is also excellent, and it is one of the best free website builders, especially for blogging sites. Like the app store, they have many plugins, so customization possibilities are limitless.

Flexible & blazing fast website – the secret of success.

Their website is lighting fast and can load in milliseconds with any device from desktop, laptop, android, iPhone, etc. So no matter where your visitors are from, you won’t have to worry about it.

Brand your business with an innovative AI tool to generate text throughout your website and create a business name, logo, and slogan for you.

Why not connect social media directly to your website? Using their social media tools, you can now chat from your website using Facebook messenger.

Connect Google Analytics with ease, now easily able to track your website performance. For example, add a Facebook pixel to track Facebook ad performance from your website; no more blind following strategy; using this tool, you will know which ad is performing better than others.

Next-generation artificial intelligence makes it fun.

Apart from a free account, they have four other paid plans from Basic to eCommerce, with prices ranging from $1.99 to $21.99 per month. So if you want to test them out, start with a free plan and use it as long as you want. Then according to your business need upgrade to a paid plan.

For basic website needs, 1st two plan is enough, which will cost you up to $3.49 per month, which is much cheaper than other website platforms. And for the eCommerce business, consider looking at the last two plans, with all features loaded.

To activate the free plan, just use your name and email address.

My advice, Zyro is comparatively cheaper than other website building and hosting platforms with excellent features.

3. Squarespace.

Award-winning web design platform & hosting.

Turn your idea into reality. You don’t need to focus on coding and designing websites. It is not your part, you will focus on the creative vision, and Squarespace will make it real.

You can start a free trial for an indefinite period to test them out. No credit card is needed.

First of all, you will only focus on what you are good at, with no coding or no design headache on your part. They have award-winning ready-made templates. No matter your business type or needs, it can suit it perfectly.

You can build almost anything you want, from building a portfolio, starting a blog, creating an online store with products to sell, professional services offering, showcasing a business, or perhaps a webpage for your new restaurant. Yap, you can do all, no problem. 

Become professional right from the beginning.

We only talking about business website making, and it will be done in a minute by their pre-designed template, but what next?

For running a business, you need a lot more than just building a website. First, you need to optimize it with other marketing tools like social media, email marketing, autoresponders, SEO optimization for organic traffic, and this list.

Started to worry? No big deals. As for SEO, the significant part is they already have it, and it is built-in; thus, there is no need to worry about it. They have an SEO suite fully integrated within their platform. Whenever you build a website, it will guide you to optimize your website; you do not need to know about Search Engine Optimization.

For the eCommerce website, you need to accept payment directly from your website & they have many plugins for this. So, you can easily accept payment online.

You will have a built-in analytics dashboard with all the premium features you expect from Google Analytics. So get all the details from A to Z from it.

Nothing is holding you back, do anything you like.

No matter which plans you choose, a free domain name for one year is a gift already packed. However, if you pay them annually, they will be glad and instantly offer you up to a 30% discount.

For a starter blog or business, a Personal plan is enough & only costs you $12 per month with a nice 25% discount that you already got. Just pay annually. However, if your business is eCommerce based, then this plan wouldn’t be enough, upgrade to Basic commerce or Advanced commerce plan, and you are ready to go smoothly.

Choose one of the Business or Commerce plans for an additional welcoming gift and get $100 Google ad credits. But, sad news, it’s only available for the USA & Canada. 

4. Weebly.

The best website builder for freelancers – start a 30-days trial.

Weebly was my first website building platform long ago; since then, it has grown and become one of the top website building and hosting platforms.

A forever-free account has some limitations but is better than a 30-day trial. For example, you get the chance to start your blog or business completely free.

More than 40 million websites build and hosted within the Weebly platform. It is one of the best website builders, similar to WordPress.org. Though I am not going to compare it. However, With their innovative & powerful, easy-to-use drag and drop editor, even a newbie can become entirely professional.

Customize the way you want, change fonts, make it unique based on your style, and create a logo for your business brand. In addition, you can create professional photos using image editors without third-party software. 

Professionally designed templates – ready to use.

You can choose from hundreds of premium and free themes which professional designers make. Using Parallax & Revel creates a stunningly beautiful and eye-catching visual effect on your website, making it way beyond professionals.

You can create a video background for restaurant-related business websites that will allow autoplay to showcase your business. With custom HTML/CSS and Javascript, you get an advanced editing feature to open it for more customization.

Online eCommerce businesses have additional templates; pick one and add products. In addition, third-party integration enables you to connect with social media like Facebook and Twitter and accept payment online through various payment providers from PayPal to Stripe.

Grow your business with built-in online marketing tools, from email marketing to SEO optimization features. In addition, you will get an analytic dashboard to track your visitor’s activity, from regular visits to purchasing products; this will help you measure your online business performance. As for their customer support, they have a live chat, email, and phone support.

Build an online eCommerce site within minutes.

Weebly has four subscription plans, including the free plan. The good thing is all plan has a free SSL certificate feature; thus, you won’t have to pay extra for an SSL certificate. A basic free plan is enough for testing and small business purpose, though they will show a Weebly logo on your website; if you have no problem with it, then go with a free plan first.

However, if you mean business, you should look for a Professional & Performance plan, as no Weebly logo will show, thus making it a personal business website. Then you get unlimited storage with an analytic dashboard to track everything.

In the Performance plan, you will get additional features like Item reviews, Shipping discounts & labels, abandoning the cart, and many more. So, the choice is yours.

5. Shopify.

Powerful eCommerce solution – a free 14-day trial run.

Shopify is specially designed for online eCommerce businesses. More than 1 million online eCommerce have run on their platform since 2008.

They have a risk-free 14-day trial run for you to test their platform; no credit card is needed.

You can quickly start an eCommerce business with them; they are providing you with all the necessary tools you require, including many free tools. For example, “logo maker” is an essential tool you must need for your business. The best part is that you won’t have to search for a logo maker to create a logo for you. This tool is enough to build a professional logo. A business name generator and slogan maker is another handy tool to create a perfect name for your brand and a catchy slogan idea.

QR code, Terms, and condition page generator is another powerful tool for your business. No more searching for different software for different purposes of your business needs. Instead, you can get it all in one platform. 

Integrate & sell everywhere from online to the point of sale.

Now let’s talk about the central part, building an eCommerce site is just a piece of cake even for a beginner with Shopify. First, as you won’t have to do anything by yourself, choose professionally designed templates among the hundreds pre-designed and start editing with your business name, logo, and slogan; then start adding products with images; it’s like typing in MS Word, yap it’s that much easy to do.

If your business was previously offline, that doesn’t matter now; with the Point of Sale feature, you can integrate your entire shop with your new eCommerce website; everything can be categorized and sold online or offline.

The most beautiful part is you can even integrate with social media; if you already have a Facebook page, connect it with your online eCommerce website and start selling to them.

No problem with accepting payment from different customers around the globe; they have all types of payment options ready just for you, including PayPal, Stripe, Debit/Credit card, Visa, Master Card, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and this list continues.

Do you not have any idea about SEO and email marketing or even how to set up a website? Though it is easy to build and run with drag and drop features, you can hire experts from Shopify to build a professional website and market it for you.

No barrier to accepting payment with a tailored solution.

You can start with a free trial for 14-days, but after that, you should start looking for a paid plan if you are serious about your business. The basic plan costs you $29 per month. It gives you limited functionality like only two stuff accounts allowed; you can integrate up to 4 store locations & no professional report or advance report building option. However, you will get a free SSL certificate, able to offer gift cards to your customers, discount offers, and many more.

The big difference is when you generate lots of sales, you have to pay almost four times the fees per transaction, i.e., with the Basic plan, 2.0% transaction fees, while with an Advance plan, only 0.5% fees apply.

Therefore, you should start thinking about an Advance plan for serious business. Otherwise, you will lose a huge chunk of your revenue.

6. Site123.

Simple & easy website builder – free plan included.

Building a website is now as easy as 1-2-3 as its name suggests SITE123. Their simple website editor tools allow you to craft a powerful & elegant website within a few minutes without knowing anything about coding.

There is no other best way to start building and hosting a website for free, and it is not a trial.

Whether you want to start a blog, website, or an eCommerce business, you can do it with SITE123. To begin, you must select a pre-designed stylish web template for your site and start editing with their easy drag-and-drop solution. 

The good thing is that you won’t have to optimize your site for every device, from android, iPhone, tablet, tablet, or even desktop. Because all their templates are auto-responsive, they will automatically configure themselves on different devices based on their screen size—a simple and powerful feature.

Anyone can build a website – even a 7-year-old kid.

After building a website, you won’t have to start brainstorming for SEO; it is a built-in tool ready for action. 

What about domain names? A professional-looking website needs a custom domain name that you must have to purchase in a free plan. However, it is a paid plan. They offer you a free domain name for one year with a $0 cost.

With that domain name, you will get a free professional email account that makes your service much more professional.

Start selling your goods online with eCommerce solutions, the same way you build a website but now add your products with images and details. Thanks to their built-in SEO feature, you will start receiving a swarm of visitors from social media and get ready to make some money by selling your goods.

The is no problem with accepting any payments whatsoever as you have Braintree, 2checkout, Stripe, and all types of debit & credit card options for your customers to pay.

Leverage the power of the Shipping & Tax calculation tool to calculate instantly & automatically when a customer purchases a product.

Complex online eCommerce is now a child’s plaything.

There are nearly limitless features to handle your website or eCommerce business; however, to access all of those, you must start a paid plan rather than sticking with a free account.

You may soon realize that a free account is not a severe and significant organization for demonstration purposes. They have only one paid plan right now with a 10GB storage limit and 5GB bandwidth, suitable for a medium-side eCommerce site but not for a large organization. My advice starts with a free plan, then. If you are satisfied, then upgrade to a paid plan.

7. Hibu.

Professional digital marketers will take care of everything.

Hibu is not just a website building & hosting solution. It offers you far more than that; with their professional experts at your back, you can build your entire business from top to bottom in complete automation.

There are offering you many freebies, including a free professionally designed webpage for you to get started.

First of all, head to their website section, where they will offer you a custom-made campaign including a Hibu custom-built innovative site and a complete digital advertising solution for only $99 per month. Or, you may send your information, and they will contact you with a custom solution.

Unlike other website builder platform, you do not even have to build a website by yourself, Hibu experts will make it for you & they guarantee that their Smart website is built with highly advanced technology that 80% of website doesn’t have. Thus you will get more visitors and sales as they will take care of your online marketing for your website within a budget limit that you specify.

Get a robust online presence – all in one package.

Why is it a perfect solution? Because they are partners with Google, Yahoo & Facebook thus, letting them handle your digital presence can be a very effective solution when you do not possess advanced knowledge about making a site or even marketing it online.

Almost all successful online marketers, including me, faced this grim situation of failure when they tried to build and market their website for the first time because they didn’t have the proper knowledge or didn’t get enough guidelines from an expert. The result was, wasting several years of learning and failing and finally becoming successful.

Therefore, from my point of view, if you want to become successful right from the beginning and do not have advanced knowledge, then Hibu is a perfect solution, without thinking a second thought.

As I said earlier, there is nothing to lose either way, as you can test their service for free.

And they offer several guides, tutorials, and tools on their website that are useful even for an advance online marketer.

Get results & performance with the help of experts.

They offer several other services like Listing Management, Online Reviews, Reputation, Social Marketing, SEO, Search Marketing & Display Advertising.

You may even get a free pdf guide called “Digital Marketing Survival Kit” type your email and subscribe to get your hands on it.

Finally, Hibu is a complete digital marketing solution for newbies and advanced markets both. Just submit your information and choose Promo (a fixed $99 per month) or Custom quote to get started.

Then head to their freebie section to take advantage of several online marketing tools, i.e., Custom Marketing Plan, Marketing Quiz, Facebook Calculator, Business listing scan, and many more on the list.

Executive Summary.

Things have changed a lot since 2000 and now, making a professional website is a child’s plaything. You don’t have to learn C++, PHP, or Java to build a website. With new pre-designed web templates and easy drag-and-drop editors, it takes only 10 minutes to make a website with a beautiful feature because the template comes with all the essential elements you need. Thus 90% of tasks are already done, all you have to do is edit text & upload some images & you are good to go.

If you have read the above guide, you may have already chosen a website builder for your personal or business task. However, if you have any inquiries regarding website builder software, do not hesitate to leave a comment below & I will try to help you out.

Recommended readings: website builders & hosting services are almost the same because of the competitive era. They tend to provide virtually all the necessary features to their customer. Yet again, I suggest you read my other guide – “Best Web Hosting for Small Business eCommerce (Reviewed),” & do not miss this guide as well; it might be the one you are searching for – “Best Landing Page Builder for Lead Generation (Reviewed).”