Best free website builders for small business: what each free plan really includes

A free plan is enough to get a small business online today. What separates the builders is what they hold back until you pay: your own domain, a site without their ads, or taking payments. Below, eight free plans are compared on exactly those points, with the address you get and what the first upgrade costs. We checked every plan and price on the builder's own site on October 31, 2026, in US dollars.

What every free plan has in common

Free plans trade money for limits. Check these four before you build:

• The builder's address. A free site lives on the builder's domain, like yourname.wixsite.com/site, instead of yourname.com. That's fine to start with, but it's long to print on a sign or a business card.
• The builder's branding. Most free plans add a banner, a badge or a footer, and Wix and WordPress.com show ads.
• No checkout. Of the eight builders below, only Strikingly lets a free site take payments, and only for one product.
• Moving means rebuilding. Sites rarely move between builders: when you switch, you usually build the site again. Pick one you can grow into.

Free plans compared

1. mssg.me: a mobile site your customers can order from

mssg.me is our own builder, so weigh this entry with that in mind. You build the site on your phone from blocks: a profile with your logo, text, links, a form with 12 field types, FAQ, a map of your address, video, a countdown timer and buttons for WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber and Facebook Messenger. All of those are free. Form entries land in a simple inbox in the app, and you can get each one by email or in Telegram.

• Free plan: one page at yourname.mssg.me (or on one of four other free domains), with mssg.me branding, 13 of 30 themes and a QR code to print.
• First paid plan: Pro, $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year. It adds up to 10 pages, your own domain with SSL, a store with a cart and online payments, SEO settings, analytics and ad pixels, and removes the branding.
• Best for: businesses whose customers like to ask before they buy, such as bakeries, salons, tutors and repair shops, and owners who want to update the site from their phone.

Our complete guide to mssg.me shows every block and plan with screenshots.

2. Google Sites: free, no ads, your own domain

Google Sites comes with any Google account. You build the site on a computer from simple sections (text, images, buttons, maps, YouTube videos, Google Forms) and publish it to a sites.google.com address. Google shows no ads on it, only a small info button in the corner, and you can connect a domain you already own, up to five per site.

• Free plan: everything. Google Sites has no paid plans of its own.
• The catch: no store or checkout, plain templates, and you build on a computer, not a phone.
• Best for: service businesses that need a few pages of information (services, prices, hours, a contact form) under their own domain, paying only for the domain itself.

3. Wix: the most design freedom, with ads

Wix has hundreds of templates and a drag-and-drop editor where you can place anything anywhere. The free plan includes hosting with 500MB of storage and 1GB of bandwidth, a yourname.wixsite.com/site address and a Wix banner ad at the top of your site. You can't connect your own domain or take payments on it.

• First paid plan: Light, $17 a month billed yearly, adds your own domain (free for the first year) and removes the Wix branding. Taking payments starts with Core, $29 a month billed yearly.
• Best for: businesses that want a site designed their way and expect to upgrade soon.

4. WordPress.com: for businesses that publish

WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress. The free plan gives you unlimited pages and posts, 1GB of storage and a yourname.wordpress.com address, and it shows WordPress.com ads to your visitors. It suits a business that publishes regularly: news, recipes, guides, case studies.

• First paid plan: Personal, $9 a month or $4 a month billed yearly, removes the ads and includes a free domain for the first year on yearly billing. The Payments block, for taking money on the site, needs a plan above Personal.
• Best for: businesses that will write as much as they sell.

5. Carrd: one simple page for almost nothing

Carrd builds single-page sites: a landing page, a menu, a portfolio. The free plan allows up to three sites on .carrd.co addresses, with Carrd branding. Its paid plans are billed yearly and are among the cheapest anywhere: Pro Lite ($9 a year) removes the branding, and Pro Standard ($19 a year) adds your own domain and forms.

• Best for: one page under your own domain for the least money, if you're happy laying out the page yourself. Our Carrd alternatives guide compares it with link in bio tools.

6. Canva: if you already design in Canva

Canva turns a design into a one-page website. On the free plan you can publish up to five sites on .canva.site addresses, with a "Designed with Canva" footer you can't remove. A domain bought through Canva works on any plan, but connecting a domain you already own needs Canva Pro, which also removes the footer. Canva lists Pro at $12 a month billed yearly. There's no store or checkout built in.

• Best for: a quick page that matches your flyers and social posts.

7. Webflow: for designers

Webflow gives designers control over every element, with a learning curve to match. Its free Starter plan is for trying it out: 2 static pages, 1GB of bandwidth, 50 form submissions, a .webflow.io address and a Webflow badge. Basic ($25 a month, or $15 a month billed yearly) adds your own domain and up to 300 pages; selling needs a separate Ecommerce plan.

• Best for: businesses with a designer, or owners who want to learn web design.

8. Strikingly: one product for sale, free

Strikingly builds simple scrolling sites, and its free plan is the only one here that can sell: one product, with a 5% transaction fee. The free site gets a yourname.mystrikingly.com address, 500MB of storage and 5GB of bandwidth a month, and Strikingly branding in the footer, plus "on Strikingly" added to its title in search results and the browser tab. Pro ($16 a month, billed yearly) adds your own domain, up to 100 pages and up to 300 products with a 2% fee.

• Best for: testing online sales with a single product before you pay for anything.

Builders that aren't really free

Some names on other "free" lists won't publish a business site for free:

• GoDaddy's Airo builder lets you build previews for free, but publishing needs a paid plan, from $9.99 a month billed yearly.
• Framer has a free plan with a "Made in Framer" banner, and Framer describes it as "ideal for non-commercial use".
• Squarespace has no free plan, Shopify starts with a 3-day free trial, and Hostinger says plainly that its builder isn't free and offers a 14-day trial instead.

What about your Google Business Profile?

Your Business Profile on Google, the listing with your hours, reviews and map pin, is free, and for a local business it's often the first thing customers see. It used to come with a free website too, but Google turned those sites off in March 2024. Keep the profile, and put your new site's address in its website field, so people who find you on Google Maps can reach it.

How to choose

• You need a few pages of information and your own domain, for free: Google Sites.
• Customers call or message you before they buy, and you'll update the site from your phone: mssg.me.
• You want a site designed your way and expect to pay soon: Wix.
• You'll publish articles or news: WordPress.com.
• One page under your own domain, for the least money: Carrd.
• Your brand already lives in Canva: Canva.
• You have a designer: Webflow.
• You want to test selling one product without paying: Strikingly.
• You sell digital products such as templates or guides: Stick, the free link in bio builder from our team, takes 0% of each sale.

When it's worth paying

Upgrade when the free plan starts costing you customers, not before:

• When your address goes on print. A sign, a van or a business card needs a short address. Google Sites connects your own domain for free. Elsewhere, the cheapest plans with your own domain are Carrd Pro Standard ($19 a year) and mssg.me Pro ($29.99 a year), and WordPress.com Personal ($4 a month billed yearly) includes a domain for the first year.
• When customers want to pay online. On mssg.me Pro, a store with a cart and payments costs $4.99 a month. On Wix, payments start with Core at $29 a month, billed yearly.
• When the builder's ads sit next to your business. Wix and WordPress.com put their ads on free sites.

Sources

Checked on October 31, 2026: mssg.me pricing; Google Sites custom domains; Wix plans, free sites and the Wix banner; WordPress.com pricing and the Payments block; Carrd Pro; Canva on free websites, your own domain and Canva Pro pricing; Webflow pricing; Strikingly pricing and free sites; GoDaddy Airo plans and publishing; Framer pricing; Squarespace pricing; Shopify pricing; Hostinger's website builder; Search Engine Land on Google Business Profile websites.