Free Website Builders Compared (2023)

If you are planning to set up your website but a little low on budget, then finding the best option to build a website can be a daunting task. But the interesting part is you have come to the place where you will see some of the best free website builder to get started with. And I’ll help you select the best free website maker to create a website or make a WordPress website.

Apparently, having your own website or an online store can accelerate your business in a short time. Whereas, promoting a business is something that calls for an effective strategy. Creating a website with the help of a website builder is like a cake walk. Even if you’re a beginner, you can design your own professional website in a couple of minutes. Nevertheless, being skeptical while choosing a site maker is a natural thing. So don’t worry and keep reading to get the best possible solution.

I have curated a list of website builders for you, so you can effortlessly create your dream website. Whatever your profession is, be it writing, photography, engineering, doctors, any small-scale business owner, etc. everyone at some point or the other needs a website to reach their potential users and customers. And website builders protect you from the coding fuss. And of course, I am here to help you choose the best possible solution to create a compelling website. Likewise, will provide you with the solution to optimize the conversion rate, once you’re in the business. Check out best WordPress hosting providers.

But wait! Before we move further, for all the folks who are still struggling to understand that what a website builder is, and how helpful a website builder can be for your business. Here is a quick catch up.

What is a Website Builder?

A website builder is a tool to replace the manual code editing. Hence, it sets you free from having the basic knowledge of code and design and create your desired website like a breeze. However, you may simply use pre-designed templates to set up your websites with web making software or website builder, maker or creator. Yeah! You can call it by any name. Once you are ready with the website you may check the speed with best website speed test tools and also learn some simple tips to speed up a WordPress site. Because website optimization is really important and necessary for a website to get a good rank in the search results.

How do Free Website Builders Works?

Metaphorically speaking, earlier before the development of smartphones, you needed a laptop or a PC to send an email. But now with the advancement of the smartphones, you can easily send an email without any delay. That’s exactly how a site builders or WordPress Page builders work. They allow you to frame your creativity without getting involved in code editing.

Types of Website Builders

They are of two types of website builders you will get to see.

Online Website Builders: They need an internet connection to work. Since they are web-based tools so they don’t need to be installed on your computer. You just have to sign up with Web Hosting company to get started.

Offline website builders: They are a top choice of professional web designers as well as amateurs. Just like your own TemplateToaster offline website builder. Offline website builders are more easy to use, flexible and no coding skills are required. Simply download the website builder and work offline. You don’t need an active internet connection to run them.

So, that’s all about website builders. Now let’s begin with the list of best website builder available in the industry.

Comparison Table: Free Website Builders (2023)

Essential Best Free Website Builders (Reviews)

1. TemplateToaster (Free – $49) – Best offline website builder

The first and the foremost thing about the TemplateToaster is that it gives you the freedom to work with all major CMSs. Sounds interesting. Isn’t it? The highly intuitive interface with drag and drop facility makes it beginner-friendly. The step-by-step process to create a website provides a comfortable environment to work in. All those who don’t know how to code, just sit back and relax. Because the massive repository of themes and template that comes with TemplateToaster best web design software will ease your work. Thus, you can use them for your purpose or you can easily create professional themes and templates as per your needs.

Pros of best website builder

• TemplateToaster is a brilliant option that comes with hundreds of pre-built templates to employ.
• You can customize the pre-built templates and themes as per your needs and get a responsive web design for websites.
• The intuitive drag and drop interface gives you a seamless experience.
• It is a desktop-based website builder software, which means you can download it on your computer and work on it offline.
• You can enjoy its premium features in the pro version and believe me, they are worth paying to construct and maintain a stunning site.
• You are free to create mobile-optimized landing pages with ease.
• TemplateToaster driven websites are multilingual compatible.
• You can easily Optimize your WordPress website to minimize load time.

Cons of website builder

• As it is a desktop-based software so, in order to use it, you first need to download and install it on your local machine.
• You are required to update it for the better experience.

2. Wix (Free – $12.50/month)

Indeed, Wix is one of the best website builders. It is the most widely used solution coupled with a variety of plans and features. It’s a perfect choice for both a newbie and professionals to set up a website. No matter how big or small website you want to have, Wix is undoubtedly one of the two choices of any professional designer to choose.

Pros

• Wix has over 500 designer-made professional templates to offer you. And of course, all these templates are highly customizable to fit into your needs.
• It offers the most intuitive drag and drop interface among all the other website builders present in the digital world.
• Interestingly, Wix has introduced the all-new concept of ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence).
• ADI is a technique that simplifies the process.
• Basically, ADI is a technique to learns about the user by asking a few questions in form of a combination of images, texts, layouts etc. And after gathering all the necessary and adequate information, it delivers a great site on the basis of your answers.
• It has some great plans to offer that includes some finite storage space and bandwidth but comes with Wix branding.
• Websites designed with Wix are SSL certified and does not require any external security certificate.
• Wix delivers complete SEO friendly websites.
• Easy Sign Up and Activation process.

Cons

• No online chat feature is available.
• It does not include a free email account. However, if you want to have one, you will have to pay an extra $5.
• Creating a multilingual site can be a bit tedious task.
• The price can be an issue for some.

3. Weebly (Free – $12.00/month)

Weebly is yet another strong name in the web world. The intuitive drag and drop interface is a big plus. Weebly is coupled with numerous pre-built templates to choose from. You may easily get a corresponding template for your business. Weebly is unarguably the simplest of all. I believe it is a great option for those who are not so tech savvy. See! I have something for everyone.

Pros

• The paid versions are comparatively cheaper.
• Quick Sign Up and Activation.
• It’s an ad-free (only in Starter, Pro, and Business. Whereas, Weebly ads will be constantly shown).
• Variety of beautiful templates under different categories such as Featured, Online Store, Business, Portfolio, Personal, Event, Blog.
• It is a flexible site builder. And the drag and drop options makes it even more enticing.
• The customization in pre-built templates doesn’t ask for much of efforts.

Cons

• No option for the live chat.
• Seemingly, the constant display of Weebly ads might annoy you a little.
• Phone support is available only for pro plan customers.

4. Squarespace ($16.00)

Squarespace is a highly sophisticated web making tool. However, you will get sleek, elegant, and contemporary themes with Squarespace to exhibit your business. Indeed, one of the most comprehensive choices to work with.

Pros

• The drag and drop interface makes it easy to use for beginners.
• It is coupled with tons of beautiful templates under various categories such as Wedding, Travel, Music, Photography, Fashion & Beauty, Food & Drinks etc.
• Squarespace powered websites are fully SEO (Search Engine Optimization) optimized.
• The templates you create are fully responsive, thereupon, they will look perfect on every device they will be viewed on.
• This site builder is fully hosted. Thus, your site will always be updated with Squarespace.
• You can anytime switch the version to access the various other upgraded features.

Cons

• It has only a 14 days trial offer. However, after the trial period, you’ll have to buy a plan to keep using the services.
• There are $12 and $18 per year plans for Personal and Business uses respectively.
• And in case you want an online store its $26 and $40 for Basic and Advanced versions respectively.
• All in all, it is a little expensive website builder.
• It gets tedious to work with its editor.

5. Duda ($14/month)

Duda is another powerful site maker in the market. It is more focused on the mobile. However, the simple arrangements, drag and drop editor, and various layout categories make it a good choice to look forward to. Comparatively a strong option among them all.

Pros

• It has a multilingual feature having a hold over 55+ languages.
• Duda has 30 payment alternatives and some are country specific.
• It is magical when it comes to creating a mobile website.
• All its sites are SEO optimized.
• You get a completely mobile-friendly dashboard which lets you edit your site on the go.
• RSS will be added automatically.

Cons

• You won’t find any third party plugins with Duda.
• The live chat and phone services are only available for 18 hours a day only.
• If you wish to add a domain name to your site then you will have to spend some extra amount.
• It doesn’t allow you to port your site to another host.

6. Mobirise – Free website builder

Mobirise is yet another addition in the software-based website builder category. This is an offline app available for Mac and Windows only. Furthermore, being an offline app, it still gives you the privilege to work as per your convenience.

Pros

• Mobirise is a powerful offline app for creating a beautiful and fully functional site.
• You don’t have to spend even a single penny to use it. Yeah! It’s totally free.
• Features like drag and drop interface and easy content editing make it more desirable.
• A huge collection of pre-made blocks around 800+ in various themes.
• Usually, all the sites made with Mobirise are mobile-friendly

Cons

• Since it is an offline app so, you have to download and install it on your computer before you start using it.
• You need to update this app time to time to make beautiful websites.
• It is available for Windows and Mac users only and can’t be downloaded on any other platform.
• No template lets you work from the scratch.

Bonus Free Website Builders

7. Jimdo (Free & Paid)

Jimdo is one of the simple yet intuitive website builders. It has an excellent uptime as well as load time. The three variations; Free, Pro, and Business has a lot to offer you. However, the basic version includes the basic features only. Whereas, the Pro and the Business versions include the full features of the Jimdo.

Pros of online free website builder

• It is one of the simple and intuitive site builders.
• The plans are quite cheaper as compared to the other site builders.
• The Pro version and the Business version is available for $6.06 and $18.19 respectively.
• It takes around 30 minutes to set up and run your site.
• Monitoring site’s traffic is quite easy with the built-in statistic.
• Good option to build an online store.
• With the pro versions, you will get a free domain for the first year.

Cons

• It has a limited number of templates to offer.
• With Jimdo you will get a free Jimdo subdomain i.e. “.jimdo.free.com”.
• No feature for image editing, hence, gets tough on images.

8. Yola (Free & Paid)

Yola has managed to make into this list. Considered as a flexible website builder to use. Yola is coupled with various plans starting from basic to gold having basic to advanced features respectively. You would surely like working with Yola. Do try it.

Pros

• The starting price for the higher plans is quite cheap i.e. $4.95, $9.95, and $19.95 per month for Bronze, Silver, and Gold respectively.
• Certainly, Yola is one of the well-structured among all.
• Sign Up and Activate Yola.
• You will get 24/7 support with quite explanatory tutorials.
• It is multilingual.

Cons

• Good option to design a simple and plain site because it doesn’t have much to do with its navigation.
• Very limited templates available.
• No chat help instead only email and telephone communication are available.
• One of the major drawbacks of most of the site makers is that if you need an account then you will have to pay some extra money. And same is the case with Yola.
• You will get a subdomain to create a website with the basic version.

9. GoDaddy (Paid)

GoDaddy is unquestionably the real daddy of web industry. Especially, when we talk about web hosting and domain registration, then GoDaddy is probably the first name anyone could think of. A highly reliable and powerful solution for web hosting and website designing. It has robust yet easy to use features to create a website in no time.

Pros

• Offers a very simple and well-structured editor to design websites.
• You will get the responsive layouts.
• Provides one-click installation.
• Designing and going live is pretty simple.
• Hundreds of themes and templates to choose from.

Cons

• Getting an eCommerce site is quite expensive.
• Only 14 days trial period.
• Switching between themes is not allowed.
• Doesn’t offer a password protection functionality.
• Websites are less appealing in comparison with other builders.

10. BigRock (Paid)

Unquestionably, BigRock is a prominent and reliable name when it comes to web hosting. It also provides you the facility to create a website with quite great features. BigRock is considered a great alternative when it comes to WordPress web hosting.

Pros

• Hundreds of themes to choose from.
• You will get help in the form of live chat, phone call, and email.
• It has easy to use drag and drop editor.
• You can go live in minutes.
• Free demos of themes with a good explanation.
• It has different plans such as Basic, Simple, Business, and Premium which varies in price.
• You can subscribe for one year, two years, five years, and ten years in one go, as per your choice.

Cons

• Sadly, no trial plan.
• No free WHOIS privacy is available with BigRock.
• Customer support is available from 9 AM to 8 PM only. Whereas they claim it for 24/7 but it is available for 11 working hours of the day only.

11. Dorik (Free – $3.29/month)

Dorik no-code website builder is one of the most versatile and affordable website-building solutions. You’ll get a wide range of pre-made templates to build visually stunning and functionally robust websites. Whether you’re launching a simple landing page or creating a full-fledged business website, Dorik has you covered. You’ll enjoy unlimited hosting and bandwidth with Dorik, which is a big plus.

Pros

• Dorik has a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface with a close-to-zero learning curve, making it accessible for beginners and experts alike.
• The paid plans are budget-friendly and comparatively quite cheaper.
• It offers 80+ professionally designed, fully responsive pre-built templates and 250+ UI blocks that are entirely customizable.
• Websites built with Dorik perform best for SEO thanks to its in-built SEO features like sitemap control, custom schema, URL redirection, image optimization, free SSL/TLS certificate, etc.
• It has a dedicated white-label CMS to keep your content organized.
• Dorik’s Agency plan offers features like a white-label dashboard, client billing, agency chat integration, agency branding, etc.
• You will also get features like membership, gated content, password-protected pages, custom collections, custom code, API access, marketing tools integration, etc.

Cons

• Limited e-commerce functionalities.
• Can’t switch templates midway into your project.
• You can only create five static pages with the free plan.

Which is the best Website builder among all?

Well, all of them provides the pre-built templates or themes to start with. Moreover, they also offer easy customizations. However, the freedom to start from scratch comes with TemplateToaster and Wix only. You will be overwhelmed with the level of satisfaction once you get working with TemplateToaster website maker. So, what are waiting for? Do try it and feel the difference.

Which Free Website builder you use?

So, these were some of the cherry-picked website builders. They are quick and easy to handle and according to my experience, you won’t find any difficulty using them. Since we have discussed them all in detail, so I am sure it must have cleared all your doubts about these available website builders.

Still not convinced? Okay! If you are still unable to select one best website builder from the above-given options, then I would suggest you go with TemplateToaster. Believe me, you would be pleased with the kind of service and the features you will get to work with.

My friend Howard Steele runs a website called SuperbWebsiteBuilders where he regularly compares Website Builders, you can check out more builder there.

Free Website Builders in a Nutshell

By and large, website builders are actually a big help to beginners, designers, and developers to start with. A website builder saves you a lot of time and efforts and most importantly doesn’t let you involve in the coding flutter. And nothing can beat TemplateToaster when it comes to ease of use for creating professional themes and templates without knowing to code.

Related Reading

• Must have Essentials for freelance website
• Essential plugins for a WordPress website

Feel free to drop your queries in the comments below and I assure you a sincere reply as soon as possible. Thanks for reading !!!