13 Best Free Website Builders 2024
Here you will find the best free website builder for your first website! These page builders are easy to use, fast to set up, and affordable to run.
Investing in an agency to build you a new website can be a fairly costly venture, with average prices for unique designs ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 — depending on the project requirements. While it certainly helps to have a professional web design built exclusively just for you, in more cases than one, we need a good website builder platform to build a good-looking (and fully functioning) website at a fraction of the cost. You can read more about web design costs for different-size projects in this Executionists report.
Nowadays, website builders come in different shapes and forms. Most have adapted to the latest web design standards (focusing on UX and UI, responsive design, creative feature panels, etc.), which makes them more appealing to designers and developers who perhaps need to fire up websites and blogs for their clients without all the extra specials that you would usually get from a custom job.
Website builders are also incredibly cheap, especially for some customization options. Whether you’re a freelancer or a small business owner under a strict budget, anyone should invest in a reliable content management system or a professional website builder — like any of those on our list here.
Best Free Website Builders
1. Wix
Do you want to start your online store? Perhaps you need a website for your new restaurant or the event you will host? Wix has got you covered! Wix provides an easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder, designer-made templates, beautiful galleries, mobile-optimized domains, a huge image collection, secure hosting, SEO, 24/7 full support, and more — all wrapped up in one free website builder. Each style is categorized with hundreds of unique styles, making it easy to find the exact style you need to build.
Recently, Wix rolled out a new and beautiful website builder that has taken inspiration and logical understanding from the social giant Facebook. Full parallax and video background integration are just some of its newest features.
2. Squarespace
Squarespace has evolved from a simple website builder to a full-fledged content management system that works in the cloud. Although Squarespace requires a monthly investment to keep your website running, features such as mobile design and integrated analytics platforms compensate for that. Web developers, businesses, individuals, creatives, photo artists, and so much more have found Squarespace as their home, and rightfully so. The team behind this website builder has built an outstanding reputation as a caring, creative, and supportive bunch of people who want to ensure that all their customers are satisfied and happy.
3. Weblium
Weblium is one of the top free website builders you can currently use. It is a powerful and practical software that suits all skill levels. Not just that, but Weblium is great for building any website you can think of. With a broad selection of ready-to-use templates (200+!), you can quickly find the right one for your business or project. From then on, you activate the drag and drop page builder, style the appearance according to your liking and call it a day.
Let Weblium and the integration of AI take care of all the other technical aspects. The free plan also includes unlimited storage, an SSL certificate, Google Analytics integration, and event tracking. The creation of a sophisticated website starts now.
4. Strikingly
Strikingly – hence the name – calls for a striking website. This free page builder is equipped with all the must-haves and more for a fast start of something fresh. At this moment in time, you are very likely the most interested in Strikingly’s free plan. That said, go with the forever free plan anytime you want. Benefit from unlimited free sites, 5 GB monthly bandwidth, 500 MB total storage, and a one-product store. Keep in mind, every Strikingly plan includes friendly and professional 24/7 support. Reach out to the team of experts whenever you want; they will be excited to assist you.
Moreover, all Strikingly sites are optimized for mobile use and compatible with popular web browsers. You will quickly find the one that suits your style best from the collection of many templates. Tweak it, and you have a website ready to launch.
5. Weebly
Weebly is one of the oldest website builders out there. It has a decade of experience in website building and web design. Weebly has also become one of the most sophisticated website-building platforms. Sites built using Weebly look nowhere close to a website that would have been built using a website builder platform. Over 100 customizable design styles and an easy-to-setup blogging system are on the feature list. It also has a built-in forms builder to help create custom and dynamic forms. Weebly also possesses a photo gallery and slideshow integration.
All website owners get full access to edit HTML and CSS to their liking. Moreover, the developers added detailed analytical reports of your website performance and custom image editing. They also added search engine optimization and eCommerce integration, and the list keeps going on and on.
6. 8b
8b is a free website builder that anyone can use hassle-free. It is primarily intended for those who have not yet developed a website. From freelancers and entrepreneurs, 8b works for everyone like a dream. If you have a hobby that you are passionate about, share your experience with the world by setting up a website with 8b. In brief, you can do many things with the powerful and practical 8b.
Watch the short introduction video to get the gist and see how simple 8b is. From then on, you will need three quick steps, and your page can already attract new visitors. Bear in mind that 8b has several ready-made web designs available for you to use. There is no need to come up with your layouts. However, adjust and enhance default templates and make them follow your wants to a T.
7. Webflow
If you are starting a new business or you would finally like to build a website for your project, you do not need to hire a developer to realize it for you. It’s not so surprising anymore; you can make it happen alone. You need a convenient free website builder that will not cost you anything. One of the many tools available here is Webflow. Will you ever need to touch any code? Not really. With Webflow, you code visually.
Whether you want to create a blog, an online portfolio, an eCommerce website, or a business page, Webflow fully covers you. With its versatility and fantastic features, make sure to actualize any web design idea.
8. Jimdo
Kick off creating your website like a champ with the one and only, Jimdo. This free website builder has all the necessities to complete building a fully functional and active page. Anyone can now have a modern, responsive, cross-browser-compatible, search-engine-optimized website live. With Jimdo, even a beginner can develop a sophisticated website that perfectly suits their heart’s content. For everyone questioning what happens if you do not know anything and it is your first time, thanks for asking.
One super exciting feature of Jimdo is the artificial intelligence integrated into the software. Jimdo asks you a few questions and even collects information from 3rd-party platforms upon creating an account. It will then deliver the most appropriate designs, which you can adjust accordingly. From then on, all it takes for you to do is more or less to publish the webspace you just set up. And done!
9. uCraft
Starting building a website from scratch is a thing of the past. We are talking about free website builders who allow everyone to go online. With uCraft, you can quickly design and establish fantastic websites, without spending countless hours doing the code work. Speaking of code, there is no code when it comes to uCraft. That makes any of the builders we hand-collected for you entirely user-friendly.
While uCraft offers an entirely free plan, all the other upgrades also come with a free 14-day trial. However, the free option gives you enough content to get you going if you are just starting. It even includes SSL security, search engines optimization app, and compatibility with Google Analytics. No need to hunt for another builder anymore; you have all the tools at the tip of your fingers.
10. Tilda
Another cracking free website builder that brings stunning pages to fruition is Tilda. Out of the box, Tilda comes with three plans, the free one being the one that you would want to start with. However, if you are ready to take things to the next level, kick it off with any premium variations that Tilda has available. Whichever plan you go with, a contemporary, clean, and eye-catching website is just a few moments away.
Use your creative approach with the handy builder and hammer out a striking online presence in a small breeze. With the free plan, you get core blocks (more than 450 available) and access to the newbie-friendly intuitive page editor. Of course, your creation will be mobile- and Retina-ready, in tune with web browsers, and optimized for desirable performance.
11. WebsiteBuilder by Web.com
With over 1,000 unique design styles, this website builder stands out with flexibility and versatility. Whether you’re looking to build a business website or a personal blog, the guys over at WebsiteBuilder will provide you with all the necessary tools and features to get you started immediately. In-built search engine features will ensure that search engines easily find your site, and a library of free images will complement any content you want to share. Also good for those who want to set up a personal shop, as an eCommerce option is available.
12. Mobirise
Need a professional and appealing mobile website fast? Mobirise is the perfect solution for those webmasters who are inexperienced and don’t have a technical background. Mobirise is an offline application (for Windows and Mac OS X) that lets you create small- to medium-sized websites. This includes landing pages, resume pages, portfolio pages, landing pages for applications, events pages, and service and product pages. Most of the work happens in a visual drag-and-drop environment, with plenty of help.
13. Webydo
Webydo could likely be your number one solution. Webydo, a website builder that has attracted many investor attention, is a cloud-based web design platform that allows designers to create advanced HTML5 responsive websites with a built-in CMS without writing any code. Whether it’s a simple content site or a full-blown eCommerce store that you’re looking to build, Webydo can do it.
Finding the Right Website Builder for You
Website building is taking a new turn, whether for the best or for the worst. The idea of a simple dynamic platform overtaking building a quick and fast website is growing. Many designers and developers in the community feel resentful toward this idea. The truth is that nobody will spend thousands of dollars on building something unique. They can do this by spending a few bucks and getting the same result.
If you want to build a website based on WordPress, you might want to read our detailed beginner’s guide to setting up a WordPress-powered website, which is available here.
Related Posts
I would add studio.design if you need a template-free website builder
I am a new web developer and this post helps me a lot.
I would also add a few more website builders that deserve a look at: Cabanova, Duda, Just add content, Strikingly, Jimdo, Jigsy and LightCMS. Most of them are very easy to use and a few of them have some very nice already made themes to use right away.
I must say this article would be great for upcoming Web Designers and Developers. All the Website builders are awesomei nthe article . I also use Weebly website builders myself.
James,
Thank you for your comment! Which website builder do you use and why would you recommend it to others?
I have used weebly, wix and wordpress and among them wordpress is the best suits me. Others charges for every small thing or feature.
Thanks for sharing it will help me surely
Useful article but since it’s supposed to be providing information for agencies and web designers, it would have been far more helpful to comment under each platform about the process for:
1: sending previews to clients
2: transfer/hand off billing to clients
For just about all of them, the questions of: Ok, so since this isn’t truly White Label, what is the process of handing the website and billing over to the client? The summaries of each builder seem to focus on general features for people who want to sign up and build their own sites, not for designers and their processes .
Jim,
Thank you for your feedback! We looked at the perspective that these are the page builders for developers and designers to create their own personal resume/portfolio website.
Your perspective makes a lot of sense as well but this time we didn’t cover that but we’ll do another post to for it.