Best Free Website Builders: What the Free Tiers Really Allow

Google Sites, Wix, WordPress.com, Webflow and Carrd all offer free plans. We compare their real limits on storage, pages, ads and domains to find the best fit.

By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-10T10:27:46+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-10T10:27:46+00:00

Best Free Website Builders: What the Free Tiers Really Allow

The best free website builders let you publish a real site for $0. The catch is always the same. You get a branded subdomain, ads or branding on your pages, and tight limits on storage or pages. The cheapest upgrade is usually a few dollars a month. This guide compares the free tiers of Google Sites, Wix, WordPress.com, Webflow, and Carrd. Every limit below comes from the provider's own pricing or help pages.

Free plans suit personal sites, portfolios, class projects, and testing an idea. They do not suit a business that needs its own domain, an online store, or a professional first impression. Pick the builder that matches your site type, not the one with the longest feature list.

Best free website builders at a glance

Every free plan puts you on a subdomain unless you pay. Google Sites is the one exception on domains. It lets you connect a domain you own for $0. You still buy the domain itself.

Google Sites: the only truly free option

Google Sites is free with a Google account. There is no paid tier to upgrade to. Your site shows no ads. It lives at an address like sites.google.com/view/your-site-name. You can connect up to five domains you own to one site, following Google's help center steps. The domain itself still costs whatever your registrar charges.

The trade-offs are real. Google Sites has no blogging engine. There is no RSS feed, no post categories, and no comment system. It has no online store. Search controls are basic. You cannot run ads on a Google Site. It is built for simple informational pages: a club site, a class project, a family page, or a basic business landing page. It also integrates with Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Maps. If you already live in Google Workspace, that is a genuine advantage.

Wix Free: the most design freedom

Wix Free gives you the most design freedom of any $0 plan. You get the drag-and-drop editor and access to hundreds of templates. You can build and publish without entering a card. The free plan never expires.

The limits are clear. Your address looks like username.wixsite.com/sitename. Wix shows a branded ad banner on every page. Storage is 500 MB and bandwidth is 1 GB a month. You cannot connect a custom domain. You cannot take payments. You cannot connect Google Analytics. The Light plan costs $17 a month billed annually. It removes the ads, connects a custom domain, and unlocks analytics. Selling online needs Core, from $29 a month. Wix suits a personal site or a portfolio where design matters more than the address bar.

WordPress.com Free: the best free website builder for blogs

WordPress.com Free is the blogger's pick. You get a yoursite.wordpress.com address, 1 GB of storage, and unlimited pages and posts. The block editor is the same one used on paid plans. Basic stats cover the last seven days.

WordPress.com shows its own ads to your visitors. You cannot install plugins. You cannot use a custom domain. You cannot use premium themes. The Personal plan costs $4 a month billed annually. It adds 6 GB of storage, a free domain for the first year, no ads, and plugin support. If your site is mostly writing, WordPress.com Free is the strongest starting point. If you need plugins from day one, the free tier will frustrate you.

Webflow Starter: the best free website builder for learning design

Webflow's free Starter plan is a learning and prototyping tool. You get the full Designer with flexbox, grid, interactions, and animations. You can publish up to two sites to a webflow.io subdomain. The plan includes 50 CMS items and 50 lifetime form submissions. Bandwidth is 1 GB a month.

The hard cap is two static pages per site. That is enough to test a template or show a client a draft. It is not enough for a real site with home, about, services, and contact pages. You cannot connect a custom domain. You cannot remove the Webflow badge. You cannot export code. The Basic plan costs $15 a month billed annually. It adds a custom domain and up to 300 static pages. Webflow suits designers who want to learn the tool. It does not suit a business that needs a live site on the free tier.

Carrd: the best free website builder for one page

Carrd's free plan lets you build up to three single-page sites on carrd.co subdomains. It is the simplest tool on this list. A landing page, a link page, or a simple profile takes minutes. Some templates are locked behind Pro. The Pro plan costs $19 a year. It unlocks custom domains, more sites, and all templates. Carrd suits a waitlist page or a personal links page. It does not suit a multi-page site.

How to choose a free website builder

Start with your site type. A blog belongs on WordPress.com Free. A simple informational site belongs on Google Sites. A design-led portfolio belongs on Wix Free. A one-page landing page belongs on Carrd. A design experiment belongs on Webflow Starter.

Then check the three limits that force an upgrade. First, the address. A branded subdomain looks unprofessional on a business card. Second, the ads. A banner for another product distracts every visitor. Third, the storage or page cap. Wix gives 500 MB. WordPress.com gives 1 GB. Webflow gives two pages. The cap you hit first decides when you pay.

Also check the exit. Can you export your content? Can you move your domain? Free plans make leaving harder than joining. WordPress.com exports content cleanly. Wix and Webflow do not offer a simple full-site export on free plans. Keep that in mind before you invest weeks in a design.

Best free website builders and search visibility

A free plan affects how your site ranks. A branded subdomain carries less authority than a custom domain. Google treats a subdomain as part of the parent domain, so your site shares reputation with thousands of others. That is not a ban. It is a handicap. A personal site will still show up for its own name. A business competing for local search terms will struggle.

Analytics access also varies. Wix Free cannot connect Google Analytics. WordPress.com Free shows basic stats for the last seven days only. Google Sites connects to Google Analytics, which is a small advantage for a free plan. Webflow Starter and Carrd free offer limited stats. If you plan to measure traffic, check the analytics limit before you build. The best free website builders for search visibility are the ones that let you connect a domain early. Google Sites does that for $0. WordPress.com does it from $4 a month. Wix does it from $17 a month.

Bottom line

The best free website builders are honest about their limits. Google Sites is the most generous: free, no ads, and a custom domain option. Wix Free offers the most design freedom. WordPress.com Free is the best for blogs. Webflow Starter is the best for learning design. Carrd is the best for a single page. Pick the one that matches your site. Then budget for the cheapest paid plan the moment your site starts to matter.