Pricing guide
Can you build a website for free?
Technically, yes. Here's what the free plans actually give you, and what they quietly leave out.
Every major builder — Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com, Google Sites — offers some kind of free tier. It's a real option. It's just worth knowing what "free" actually includes before you build a business around it.
What free plans typically include
- A basic template and page editor
- A small amount of storage and bandwidth
- Limited access to premium design blocks or features
What free plans typically don't include
- Your own domain. Free plans usually give you an address like yourbusiness.wixsite.com/yourbusiness instead of yourbusiness.com — which reads as noticeably less professional to a customer comparing options.
- Removal of the builder's branding. Most free plans display the platform's own ads or a "built with…" badge on your page.
- Full features. Contact forms, SEO tools, and some design elements are frequently locked behind a paid tier.
- Your own time. Free in dollars, but not in hours — you're still the one building, writing, and formatting everything yourself.
The realistic path
Most businesses that start on a free plan end up upgrading to a paid tier within the first year, once they run into one of the limits above. At that point, a "free" website has usually cost real money anyway — just later, and often at a higher plan tier than they would have chosen upfront.
Where this leaves you: a free plan is a reasonable way to test an idea with zero commitment. It's a weaker choice for a business that's already decided it needs a real online presence — at that point, the free version's limitations tend to show up fast.
Skip the free-plan limits entirely. Get a free preview — your own domain, no builder branding, no upgrade required later.
Get your free preview