Creating a website free of cost is a great way to get started online. Whether you’re a small business owner, a freelancer, or just someone who wants to share your thoughts and ideas with the world, having a website can help you reach a wider audience.
But what if you don’t have any coding experience or a lot of money to spend? That’s where free website builders come in. These tools make it easy to create a professional-looking website without any prior knowledge.
Reddit is a great place to learn more about creating a free website. Here are a few Reddit posts that I think you’ll find interesting. Check them out and join the discussion!
Here’s my list of the best free website builders ⇣ right now that let you create a free website. Because there really is no need to be apprehensive about getting your first website up and running on the Internet.
Especially when you can create a website for free in 2023:
- Best Free Website Builder: Wix. The easiest tool to create a website free of cost as quickly as possible and a site that is fast loading and optimized for search engines, but on free plans, ads are displayed.
- Easiest Free Site Builder: Site123. Free website builder lets you create a stunning and professional site that requires no web design or coding skills, but it doesn’t come with drag-and-drop functionality.
- Best Free Online Store Builder: Square Online. Build your fully-functional online store or restaurant’s online ordering page, easily, fast, and 100% free with Square Online.
- Best Paid Option: Squarespace. The undeniable best and easiest-to-use drag-and-drop visual tool for building a website in 2023. However, Squarespace doesn’t offer any free plans (but you can save 10% off your first subscription by using the code WEBSITERATING)
In this blog post, I’ll show you how to create a free website using a website builder. I will also give you some tips for designing and customizing your website, and promoting it once it’s live.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- How to choose a website builder.
- How to create a free website.
- How to customize your website.
- How to promote your website.
- How to create a free website using Wix – or any web builder tool (step by step).
Now, let’s look at the best website builders that let you create your own website free of cost.
Best website builders that let you create a website for free
Here is a quick comparison of the top 5 completely free website builders for creating your website:
| Wix | Site123 | Square Online | Get Response | Strikingly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Paid plans | Yes (from $16/month) | Yes (from $12.80/month) | Yes (from $29/month) | Yes ($13.24/month) | Yes (from $6/month) |
| eCommerce-ready | Yes (only on paid plans) | Yes (only on paid plans) | Yes (on free & paid plans) | Yes (only on paid plans) | Yes (on free & paid plans) |
| Drag-and-drop | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI tools | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Templates | 800+ | 100+ | 50+ | 100+ | 100+ |
1. Wix
- Website: www.wix.com
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $16/month
- E-commerce ready: Yes (only on a paid plan)
- Mobile-friendly web design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
Wix is easily one of the most well-known of all the free website drag-and-drop builders and that is probably because they have been using some big Hollywood movie stars to tell you how good they are.
Currently, Wix powers around 110 million websites and online stores, so that alone should tell you something. Signing up to Wix is a breeze and you should be up and running in about 2 minutes.
Once signed up you will be presented with several industry-specific templates to choose from and this is probably one of their biggest strengths, the professional look of the templates. Whether you’re a photographer or baker there will be something to suit everyone.
At this point, it’s important to mention that the free templates may not impress you very much and this is where you might have to consider a paid upgrade. Another thing Wix do well is that all their sites are fully responsive.
What this means is that the website will automatically adjust to whatever device it is being viewed on, so it could be a mobile phone or a tablet. This is a very strong feature as it is a requirement by Google and the number of mobile users is increasing rapidly year on year.
Paid options start at just $16/month. Paid plans include connecting a custom domain name, removing ads, increasing storage, VIP support, and running email campaigns.
Scroll down to learn how to create a free website with Wix. What are the pros and cons of using Wix?
Pros
- Ease of use
- Professional templates
- Fully responsive
- Largest website builder on the market
- Provides a full working website for free
- Huge Wix app market
- Good security
Cons
- Ads may be intrusive
- Free templates look a bit dated
- The basic plan does not remove ads
- Data cannot be exported
- You can’t start an online store on the free plan
Summary
- Wix website builder comes packed with features to help you build a website
- The free version of Wix lets you build a good-looking website for free on a Wix-branded subdomain
- From just $16/month, you can get rid of the ads and get a custom domain name. Read my detailed Wix review here.
2. Site123
- Website: www.site123.com
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $12.80/month
- E-commerce ready: Yes (only on a paid plan)
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: No
Site123 is aimed at those that want to get up and running quickly and is great for business owners that want to set up e-commerce sites, blogs, and landing pages.
What makes Site123 different is that it completely does away with the drag-and-drop building which most other Website builders use. To some, this will either be fantastic or a step backward.
To get started you can choose a theme and several different web design options. Although the themes are not the most exciting, you do get a lot more customization options than other website builders. You can then upload content and the site will be generated for you. As with all website builders, the free option is limited, especially around e-commerce. Find out more in our detailed Site123 review.
The premium plan starts at $12.80/month and comes with a free domain for 1 year (or you can use your own domain) and removes the SITE123 branding.
What are the pros and cons of using Site123?
Pros
- Crate multilingual sites
- Professional-looking e-commerce sites
- SEO Friendly sites
- Full website support
- Easy to use
Cons
- No drag and drop
- Confusing pricing structure
- No access to the site code
- You can’t publish an online store on the free plan
Summary
- Beginner-friendly website builder
- No drag-and-drop, instead it has all website elements pre-made
- Site123’s free account is pretty limited
3. Square Online
- Website: www.squareup.com
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $29 per month
- E-commerce ready: Yes (on free and paid plans)
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: No
Square is a popular payment platform that makes it easy for you to charge your clients online and offline. Recently, they came out with a new product called Square Online. It lets you create an online store on the Square platform itself.
Square Online has lots of different templates for all kinds of online and offline businesses. Whether you are a restaurant, a food truck, or an eCommerce brand, all you have to do is pick a template and fill in the details.
Square Online offers beautiful, mobile-optimized templates for Retail, Restaurants, and Service-businesses:
You can customize all aspects of your online store including fonts, widths, colors, etc. All their themes let you display a section of featured products.
If you are in the restaurant business, Square Online offers dozens of features that will make running your restaurant a cakewalk. It works smoothly along with Square Payments platform and Square POS.
If you are in retail, you can manage your business online and offline from one dashboard. It also offers features that let you manage in-store pickups and returns online.
The best part is it lets you manage orders for all your physical locations in one place. It also lets your customers decide which one of your physical stores they would like to pick up items from.
It also allows you to sell on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. You can tag items from your store in your Instagram posts that will take your followers directly to the product page:
It also comes with some features that will make running an online business easy such as label printing, and shipping rate calculation. It even offers premium shipping rate discounts. It also integrates with shipping providers to help you manage your orders right from your dashboard.
Square Online has dozens of third-party apps in their App Marketplace that you can connect with your store to add new functionality. For example, you can add social proof to your website to increase sales using the popular eCommerce tool Fomo.
Or harness the power of Email Marketing to double your business by integrating Mailchimp into your online store.
Because it’s built on top of the Square payments platform, this builder doesn’t require you to integrate a payment gateway. You can just use your Square payments account.
The best part about Square Online is that it offers a free plan to help you get started. Wanted to launch your store and see if people are interested in your products? You can do it in minutes.
The free plan allows unlimited products and offers tools for pickup, delivery, and shipping. But it doesn’t let you use a custom domain name. It also shows ads for the Square platform.
BUT for $29 a month, you can remove Square ads, use a custom domain, and get a free domain name for 1 year. If you’re looking to allow PayPal payments, you will need the Performance plan. It comes with features such as product reviews, cart abandonment, and advanced reporting.
The Premium plan, which is $72 per month offers low per-transaction fees, discounted shipping rates, and real-time shipping.
Pros
- Free domain name for 1 year on all paid plans.
- One of the easiest website builder platforms on the market. You can learn it in a couple of minutes.
- Beautiful website templates that will help you stand out. Templates for almost all types of businesses.
- Offers a free plan to test the waters.
- All themes are responsive and mobile-optimized, which means all your customers will have a great experience no matter what device they use.
- The $72 per month Premium plan offers a discounted transaction processing rate.
- SEO tools to make your site Google-friendly.
Cons
- The free plan doesn’t allow custom domain names. You are limited to a subdomain.
- The $29 per month Plus plan doesn’t offer a lot more than a custom domain and no ads compared to the free plan.
- Product reviews are only available if you pay extra per month.
Summary
- The best free e-commerce website builder right now.
- An easy website builder that anyone can use to build a website in less than an hour.
- Lots of templates for every type of business that will make your brand stand out.
- Dozens of features to manage your restaurant or your retail business.
4. GetResponse
- Website: www.getresponse.com
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $13.24/month
- eCommerce ready: Yes (only on a paid plan)
- Mobile-friendly web design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
GetResponse is a company that offers email marketing, page creation, and marketing automation tools.
One of their products is a website builder that allows users to create and customize their own websites without the need for coding or design skills. The website builder is available as part of GetResponse’s paid plans, but they also offer a free version of the website builder with limited features.
What are the pros and cons of using GetResponse?
Pros
- A drag-and-drop editor to easily add and arrange elements on your website
- 100s of customizable templates to choose from
- The ability to create and customize forms to capture leads
Cons
- The free version of the website builder only allows basic customization of your website
- Only gives you 500 mb of storage
- You can’t start an online store on the free plan
Summary
- GetResponse can be a good option for small businesses or individuals looking to create a simple online presence.
- Read more in my review of GetResponse here.
5. Weebly
- Website: www.weebly.com
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $10 per month
- E-commerce ready: Yes (only on a paid plan)
- Mobile-friendly web design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
Weebly has been around for a very long time and it is an extremely popular option if you only want free with no intention of using any upgrades. Weebly is at present hosting around 40 million websites.
When you first start with Weebly you instantly notice how easy everything is. The drag and drop is very intuitive and user-friendly. Weebly’s free website builder is a great option for absolute beginners. Columns can be moved and resized along with most other elements.
Another great thing I really like about Weebly is that when you are editing one element the rest will fade out, this is really neat and a great way to limit distractions.
The pricing plan is very simple and with the basic option at $10, ads will be removed. On my test with Weebly, I built out a 100-page website which it coped with very well. Using Wix I would not be so confident in building larger sites. If you or somebody on your team is experienced and knows code, Weebly easily allows you to edit the coding. This is great news for advanced users.
There is also an app where you could even integrate appointments into your website. Just like Wix, Weebly offers a very wide range of professional themes and I feel that it’s a very complete package, with good value for money if you choose the upgrades.
As mentioned previously the basic plan starts at $10. For the free plan, you will be on the Weebly subdomain and will have a small ad in the footer of your site.
What are the pros and cons of using Weebly?
Pros
- Non-intrusive ads
- Simplified pricing
- Very beginner friendly
- Professional themes
- HTML coding can be used
- Fully responsive
- Good eCommerce platform
Cons
- Cannot fully customize theme colors
- Moving your site can be difficult
- No site backup
- You can’t start an online store on the free plan
Summary
- Weebly is one of the easiest-to-use website builders
- You can keep your free account as long as you wish
6. Strikingly
- Website: www.strikingly.com
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $6/month
- E-commerce ready: Yes (on free & paid plans)
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
Unlike Wix and Weebly, the chances are you have never heard of Strikingly. Strikingly’ ‘s main selling point is bold, beautiful modern one-page sites. That is because the main selling point and feature of Strikingly are its one-page website.
A one-page website is a site where the user will scroll through different sections as they land on the home page, a type of design that is becoming very popular these days.
Since the main feature is one-page sites, strikingly can strip away a lot of the tools and buttons that other website builders require. This, of course, makes it very user-friendly.
There are some good options for templates, although not fully on par with Wix or Weebly. What it does do well to make up for this, is present you with templates that are completely good to go straight out of the gate. There is not a lot of tinkering that needs to be done.
To build your site you will simply move the sections you require from left to right. You can also add apps, although again the offering is not on the same level as other website builders.
One thing to note regarding Strikingly is that the free option is limited in what you can do. In saying that, the upgrades from $6 to $16 provide serious value for money. Users can also go pro for a year free, just by linking a LinkedIn profile and syncing some contacts. This will save you $16.
What are the pros and cons of using Strikingly?
Pros
- Professional-looking sites out of the box
- Mobile optimized themes
- Great value for money
- No-code website building or design skills required
- Generous rewards program
Cons
- The free option is a bit limited
- A small number of themes you can use
- Free plans don’t let you make an online store
Summary
- One of the best one-page website builders
- The ideal choice if you want to start an online portfolio, business card, or a single-product online store site
- You can keep the free plan forever
7. Ucraft
- Website: www.ucraft.com
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $10 per month
- eCommerce ready: Yes (only on a paid plan)
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
The Ucraft website builder is based on blocks. You stack blocks on top of each other and in the end, you will have a complete website.
While there are only 35 blocks which is not a lot to make your website stand out, they are fully customizable. Every block contains elements that you can add or remove, and this is where you can get creative. You can even create your own blocks from scratch.
Regarding eCommerce, this is one of the strongest features of Ucraft as it has its own eCommerce engine. Although, if you are looking to get up and running in the quickest time possible, Ucraft may not be for you.
Ucraft premium plans start at just $10 per month removing the Ucraft watermark. What are the pros and cons of using Ucraft?
Pros
- Highly customizable website builder
- Strong eCommerce features
- Excellent customer support through live chat
Cons
- No site backups
- Cannot undo your edits
- The free plan doesn’t let you create an online store
- Not suited for larger more complex sites
Summary
- Easy and simple interface
- Well-designed and well-constructed templates
- The built-in e-commerce platform to start selling online
8. Lander
- Website: www.landerapp.com
- Free plan: Yes (but only for 14 days)
- Paid plan: Yes from $16 per month
- E-commerce ready: Yes (only on a paid plan)
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
Lander is a fully-featured landing page builder. If you are not familiar with the concept of landing pages or not sure whether you need one, they are very simple one-page sites designed to capture leads or persuade a visitor to take action.
Such pages by their very nature will have a lot less content than a regular website, with some of them only displaying a single call to action.
Lander makes building landing pages incredibly simple with a clutter-free interface. You can integrate payment gateways and perform A/B split testing, which is an essential feature for any landing page builder. Also on offer are analytics and full tracking.
One cool feature is Dynamic Text. This allows the user’s search query to be inserted automatically into the landing web page as part of a pay-per-click campaign.
Although there is a 14-day free trial, Lander can become very expensive, as the plans are based on the number of visitors your page receives. Lander’s basic plan starts at $16 per month.
What are the pros and cons of using Lander?
Pros
- Split testing
- High converting templates
- Easy to use
- Built-in reporting system
- Mobile responsive templates
- Facebook fan page integration
Cons
- Free option is only for 14 days
- Expensive plans
- The free plan doesn’t let you create an online store
Summary
- 100+ ready-made landing page templates
- Easy to use visual editor makes it super easy to design a landing page
- Built-in split testing capabilities and reporting system
9. Jimdo
- Website: www.jimdo.com
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $9/month
- E-commerce ready: Yes (only on a paid plan)
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
Jimdo is mainly aimed at those that mainly want to build e-commerce stores and their main idea is the ease of every step of the way. Right now, there are around 20 million Jimdo sites with around 200,000 of them being online shops.
With Jimdo you can be up and running and selling products within minutes. Where things could be improved are the templates. Although there are many of them, some more flexibility with them is needed.
The pricing is just about right for an eCommerce website builder, although I would say that if you’re not going to make use of the eCommerce features, another website builder with cheaper plans would be recommended. Pricing plans start from $9/month.
What are the pros and cons of using Jimdo?
Pros
- The quickest way to get an eCommerce store up and running
- Very affordable pricing
- Access to the code
- Strong SEO elements
Cons
- The templates feel a bit dated
- The payment system may not be the best for US sellers
- The free plan doesn’t let you create an online store
Summary
- Promises to have your website up and running in 3 minutes
- Customize your design and edit your website any time, with no coding required – you don’t have to be a web developer
10. Carrd
- Website: www.carrd.co
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $9 per year
- E-commerce ready: No
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
Carrd is a relatively new website builder having just been launched in 2016. It is also another one-page builder just like Ucraft and if you want the simplest easiest website builder, Carrd is likely to be the one.
Overall there are 54 templates, 14 of which are for pro-only users. The templates are not grouped together by industry, but rather by type, as in portfolio, landing page, and profile. Altogether the template editor looks very sleek and inspiring.
You put your website together using elements and everything feels very natural. Some of the elements include timers, forms, and galleries.
As usual, the free option will limit you to a subdomain, but where Carrd really stands out is the paid upgrades, you can go pro for only $9 per year.
Carrd Pro is just $9/year and lets you use custom domain names and removes branding. What are the pros and cons of using Carrd?
Pros
- Very user-friendly and simple to use
- Extremely cheap upgrades
- Professional looking sites
- 54 responsive templates to choose from
Cons
- New in the marketplace
- Email support only
- Limited to one-page sites
- You can’t create an online store
Summary
- Create free, fully responsive one-page sites for pretty much anything
- 100% free and the pro plan is just $19 per year
11. Zoho Sites
- Website: www.zoho.com/sites
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: Yes from $5 per month
- E-commerce ready: No
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
Yes, it has a bit of a cool name but what’s it like as a website builder? Overall Zoho is a very competent website builder. Getting started is pretty quick and you begin with the usual drag and dropping of elements.
While using the drag and drop along with the customization of the site, the whole experience did not feel as polished as other free website builders.
There is a large selection of themes to choose from with some of them looking very professional, while others look like they’re from the 1980s. Although they offer 97 templates, not all of them are responsive.
Being that Zoho is a rather large software corporation providing SaaS and CRMs, some of the site features like the form builder are outstanding. Pricing for ZoHo starts from $5 monthly. The monthly plan provides the eCommerce plan, however, it’s very limited as you can only offer 25 products for sale.
What are the pros and cons of using Zoho Sites?
Pros
- Impressive feature set
- HTML and CSS access
- Built-in SEO tools and traffic statistics
Cons
- Not all themes are fully mobile responsive
- Some themes feel outdated
- The mobile editor can feel a bit awkward
You can’t create an online store
Summary
- Basic free website-building tool with free web hosting that gets the job done
- Swap between templates anytime you want without losing your content
12. Google My Business
- Website: www.google.com/business/how-it-works/website/
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: No
- E-commerce ready: No
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
How can I make my own website on Google for free? Google My Business is the answer.
Google My Business is a free website builder that lets you create a simple website for free in a matter of minutes. Google’s website builder is completely free, and the site you build is easy to make and edit from both your desktop computer and mobile phone.
You don’t have to have a physical storefront to build your site with Google My Business, if you have a service-area business or home-based business with or without an address you can list your details to appear on Google.
What are the pros and cons of using Google My Business website builder to create a website for free on Google?
Pros
- Free web hosting and you can connect your own domain name
- Free from ads or branding
- Responsive templates
- Ads Express ready to drive traffic
Cons
- Limited options, not ideal for larger or more complex sites
- Basic templates and designs
- You can’t start an online store
Summary
- Google My Business or Google Sites is perfect for small businesses that don’t need a lot of content on their website
- Free from ads or branding, and you can use your own free domain name
- Is a 100% free website builder from Google My Business
13. Hostinger Website Builder (formerly known as Zyro)
- Website: www.hostinger.com
- Free plan: Not anymore, but offers a free 30-day money-back guarantee
- Paid plan: Yes from $2.99/month
- eCommerce ready: Yes (only on a paid plan)
- Mobile-friendly design: Yes
- Drag and drop: Yes
Hostinger website builder, an easy solution for your web-building projects. While being relatively new in the business, Hostinger already has made a name for itself for being an innovative and simple way to build a great-looking website with relative ease.
It’s a website-building platform that focuses on offering its users a smooth and clean interface, packing easy-to-use tools for both customizing and designing your business or personal website.
No coding or design skills are needed, the builder will do all of the hard work for you. Hostinger offers AI-based tools, from generating content to predicting the behavior of your site’s visitors. This is very apparent from the very beginning you open up the platform – everything is presented in a clean and understandable fashion.
Getting started with Hostinger’s website builder is easy. First, choose a theme from their huge template library and pick the one that stands out to you the most. Then you can customize everything, from images, text, and other website elements, plus you can use AI tools to generate designs, content, and call-to-action buttons.
You’ll also receive a free SSL certificate and the possibility to choose from over one million stock photos from Unsplash directly in the builder. If you’ll ever run into trouble, their 24/7 customer support team will be ready to answer any question you may have.
However, there are options to upgrade your account for more storage space and the ability to connect your own domain name registration. Paid options unlock Google Analytics and Facebook pixel integration features among other goodies.
This is one of the very best cheap website builders, but what are the pros and cons of using Hostinger?
Pros
- Simple-to-use and intuitive user interface, allowing one to build a website in a few hours
- Cheapest website builder in 2023
- SEO-friendly templates and website design features, ensuring faster website loading speed compared to other website builders
- AI-driven marketing features, such as a Logo Builder, Slogan Generator, and Business Name Generator
- AI Writer and AI Heatmap tools for further content optimization
- 24/7 customer support and 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Email integration, sending newsletters and automated emails
Cons
- Their AI content writer currently only works best for English
- Compared to the competition some of the features are quite basic and limited.
Summary
- Intuitive and easy-to-use tools, options for someone who’s just starting out or a webmaster who needs an upgrade from their previous platform.
- It might lack some tools seen with other competitors, but the team behind Hostinger is constantly working on new improvements and feature releases. Check out my Hostinger Website Builder (Zyro) review here.
Are These Website Builders Really Free?
On to one of the main points of the blog post. Can I really build a website for free? Well, yes. It works like this. Technically yes, you can create a free website but there will be limitations on the website in terms of web development and web design.
Some of the website limitations that you may face if you choose the free-only option, there will be adverts or branding on your site. For your website to look more professional, you will normally have to pay for some upgrades to remove ads or branding.
Also, for the free option, you will usually have to use a sub-domain, as opposed to custom domain names. For example, on Weebly, your free website’s domain name will be something weebly.com/MikesGarage instead of using your own domain name like MikesGarage.com. In other words, you will have to get a premium plan to be able to use your own domain name.
- Your domain name on a free site plan: https://mikesgarage.jimdo.com or https://www.jimdo.com/mikesgarage
- Your domain name on a premium plan: https://www.mikesgarage.com (some builders even give a free domain for one year)
As well, you will usually be limited in terms of the number of pages that you can add to your site as well as any eCommerce builder options will be basic.
In short, “you get what you pay for” rings true here and if you are serious about your site and business, some of the premium upgrades may very well be worth the extra cost. There are not many businesses that can be set up for as little as a few dollars a month.
On the other hand, using a free website builder is a great way to test drive a website builder and get a feel for how it all works before deciding on the one which is right for you.
Reasons to have a website
There are so many reasons to build a website, whether that is for personal use or for your small business. Let’s look at some of these reasons in a bit more detail;
1. Credibility
This is probably the single most reason to start a new website. Regardless of your actual credentials, people will see you as an expert once you have a polished website to represent you.
When I had my first online business I would always ask clients why they chose me. The answer was always the same, “because you had a website”.
2. Showcase Your Talents (or Services)
Whether you have a small or large business or even if you are a one-man band, a website gives you a shop window. Potential clients or employers can instantly see what you have to offer.
Some of the greatest businesspeople of our time all had websites, Jeff Bezos from Amazon and Sean Parker at Spotify.
3. Low Barrier to Entry
You can literally set up a business in your bedroom and attract clients within minutes, even on a tiny budget. It’s a level playing field for everyone, regardless of your social media standing or education.
Remember Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook, the social media juggernaut, in his dorm room.
Just in case you needed any more convincing, let’s look at some Internet facts (from this post). In North America in 2018, 88.1% of people used the Internet, followed by 80.23% in Europe. Did you know that Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second? That’s a lot of people potentially looking for your website.
What is a Website Builder and Why Use One?
A website builder is probably the easiest and quickest way to get a website off the ground in a matter of minutes. In simple terms, it is a piece of software that allows you to build a website or blog without any coding. As there is no coding involved, you will simply be using drag-and-drop elements, along with some templates.
Another free (ish) alternative to building a website is to use Wordpress.com and build a WordPress website. It’s a very flexible content management system (CMS) but it has a steeper learning curve compared to website builders. WordPress.com lets you create a free website or build a blog with ease. See my WordPress vs Wix comparison to learn which CMS is best for blogging.
While WordPress.org is open-source and free, along with thousands of plugins and themes, WordPress requires that you sign up with a web hosting company (hosting plans aren’t free).
Website builders normally come in two flavors, online and offline. Although we will just be focusing on the one type which is online, I think it’s important to still mention the other.
1. Offline Website Builder
“Offline” website builders come in the form of software. RapidWeaver for Mac is a type of offline website builder. You would normally download the software to your PC and start working on your website.
One of the advantages of offline software is that you can work on your site anywhere, as an internet connection is not required.
The biggest disadvantage is that you will have to upload the entire site to a web hosting account, which can be technically challenging. I used to use Serif offline website builder which has now been discontinued, and I think the upload process is reason enough not to use an offline website builder.
2. Online Website Builder
With an online website builder (the ones I covered here above), the free website builder you go with will host everything online in the cloud. If you need to work off a different PC, you just need to log in with your account details and you’re good to go.
You’ll get everything you need, and there is no need to upload anything anywhere or set up web hosting, it is the easiest all-around solution. The only thing you really need is a web browser like Google Chrome, an internet connection, and a little bit of imagination and spare time to launch your free website or online store.
How to create a free website with Wix
Okay, you have done all your research, you know what you want and now you have decided to use a free site builder like Wix to create a website for free.
Why Wix?
Wix is an easy-to-use platform that helps you create your website by dragging and dropping elements like text boxes, images, etc. It makes it easy for everyone to manage their own site no matter the skill level.
Unlike other website builders, there are no complicated tools needed for design or uploads, it is easy to understand and the best part is that it’s free.
Step 1 – Sign up for a Wix.com account
Signing up for a Wix account is simple and easy, all you have to do is fill out a few fields of information about yourself and choose a login name and password. You’ll be able to access your account under your email/login or Facebook if you choose that option.
The second option is to sign up using your Facebook account, this will allow you to stay logged in and keep your time spent on Wix much quicker. It won’t take you as much time as the first step, but it may be a bit more difficult since FB asks for a lot of information, but it’s still not hard.
Step 2 – Choose a Wix template
The first thing you’ll see when you log in is the Template Gallery. From here you can begin to choose your site template by clicking on any of the themes you like.
As soon as you click on any one of them, it will take you to the next screen where there’s a preview of the theme, along with its features and a description.
Step 3 – Customize your template (using drag & drop)
Once you choose your template, getting started is even simpler than that since all you have to do is start customizing your site by dragging and dropping various elements on the page.
Wix makes it easy for everyone to manage their own site no matter their skill level. Unlike other services, there are no complicated tools needed for design or uploads, it is easy to understand and the best part is that it’s free.
Everything can be edited and customized:
- Fonts and colors
- Text, headings, and content
- Navigation elements, menus, and navigation
- Media, images, and videos
Drag and drop your content onto the page, and resize it to your liking. You’ll see that all the theme content has been separated into different categories which are easily identifiable.
Step 3 – Publish your website
Once you’ve finished customizing your site and designing it to your liking, all that’s left is to take a moment to fill out the required information like what address you want the website to be found on or which page should be seen first (homepage).
Simply follow the instructions and once done, feel free to upload images or videos. If you want to add more content, click on the upper arrow which will lead you to the next step of creating your website.
As soon as you publish your site or even if it’s still in draft mode, people can find your website by simply typing in www.yourwebsite.com (please note that this will change when your order your own domain name). If you choose to get a custom domain, this is where you’ll link your site.
Check out this Full Tutorial for Beginner to help you create your first free professional Wix website:
The best part about choosing Wix is that it allows you to make changes or update your content whenever you like without any additional costs.
The steps listed above give you a simplified guide on how to make a website for free in 2023 with Wix.
This guide gives you a more detailed approach.
Frequently Asked Questions
First, sign up with a free website builder (I recommend Wix). Then, customize the web design and page templates. Next, create your content pages and images. Finally, publish your website on the internet and go live. It really isn’t more complicated than that.
Wix is one of the best website-building tools that you can use to create a website for free. Wix offers two different ways to create your website: Wix ADI, which stands for Artificial Design Intelligence, and Wix Editor. With Wix ADI, you can answer a few questions and let the tool create your website for you.
On the other hand, the Wix Editor allows you to create your website from scratch or use a pre-made template with a drag-and-drop feature. Moreover, Wix also provides users with Content Management Systems, or CMS, which makes it easy to manage website content, add new pages, and make changes whenever you need to.
So, whether you are a professional web designer or a beginner, Wix is a great website-building tool to use when creating your website for free.
With a website builder company’s free plan, you usually have to use a sub-domain, you need to sign up for a paid plan to use your own custom domain name.
Wix’s website builder uses easy-to-use and intuitive drag-and-drop web design which makes it easy to create a free website without any coding knowledge.
Yes and no. Yes, you can create a website on Wix completely for free, however, if you want to create an online store and be able to use your own custom professional domain name then you have to sign up for a premium plan.
WordPress is a hugely popular CMS (and powers more than a third of all websites on the internet). WordPress comes in two versions, and both are free. wordpress.com is the hosted version, and wordpress.org is the self-hosted version (meaning you’ll need web hosting to run it). WordPress and Wix are the major website-building tools out there right now, find out how they compare here.
The website creation process for building a free website includes a range of important steps. Firstly, you need to choose a starting point, which could be using a pre-made template or starting from scratch. Next, you will need to design your web pages, which will involve selecting design themes, colors, and fonts that match your brand or personal preferences.
It is also important to remember that your website’s design should be user-friendly and responsive, so visitors can easily navigate on desktop and mobile devices. You can use demo content, images, and text for your website if you don’t have your own content to use.
Lastly, don’t forget to test, edit and preview your website regularly to make sure everything is running smoothly before publishing it online. By following these website creation steps, you can create a website for free that will look professional, be user-friendly, and attract visitors to your website.
Creating a website and registering a domain name can sometimes come with a high price tag, but you can still create a website for free by using a website builder that offers a free plan.
However, if you want to use a custom domain name, you will need to register and purchase one from a domain registrar, which can cost anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars per year depending on the domain name and registrar.
Some website builders offer domain registration and hosting services with a paid plan, which could save you money in the long run. However, if the budget is limited, choosing a website builder with a free subdomain is a great alternative to making a website for free without the cost of a custom domain name.
The performance of your free website depends on several factors, including the amount of media and content on your website, the size of the files, and the website builder you are using.
One thing you can do to improve website performance is to optimize images and videos by compressing them and reducing their file size while keeping their quality. Ensure that your website’s design is clean and straightforward and choose an appropriate website builder that can handle your website traffic.
It is also essential to provide a dedicated contact form on your website to let visitors easily contact you or make inquiries about your products or services. Lastly, if you are building a business website, make sure it has a fast loading time, as a slow website can impact the user experience and hurt your business potential.
Summary – How to Create a Free Website in 2023?
Good job, you made it through this guide on how to build a website for free in 2023.
I have narrowed down the best website builders out there right now for creating a website for free. As you will see there is a lot to choose from, however, whichever one you decide on will come down to what’s more important to you.
Do you want a full eCommerce store, or is it your priority to setting up a website and running in minutes to show a potential client? Maybe the price is a major driver, or you just need a simple one-page site that provides a professional image. Either way, I am sure there is one above that’s just right for you.
Right now Wix’s site builder is the best free site builder tool with loads of positive user reviews, and I highly recommend it to make a website free of cost.