Updated October 2026 · Research-led picks

Best Website Builders 2026

Q: Which website builder has a free plan?

Wix, Webflow (Starter) and WordPress.com all offer free plans. Squarespace offers a 14-day trial instead, and Shopify offers a 3-day trial followed by $1 a month for three months.

Q: What is the cheapest website builder?

The lowest headline prices we read were WordPress.com Personal from $2.75 a month on its longest term and Hostinger Premium at $2.99 a month on a 48-month prepay. Both depend on long terms, and Hostinger renews at $10.99 a month.

Q: How much does Hostinger Website Builder really cost?

The $2.99 a month Premium price is a 48-month prepay of $143.52, and it renews at $10.99 a month. Unlimited is $3.99 on the same term and renews at $16.99 a month.

Q: Did Webflow change its plans in 2026?

Yes. Its pricing page now lists Starter (free), Basic at $15 a month billed yearly and a new Premium at $25 a month billed yearly that includes the CMS, plus a Team platform plan at $2,500 a month.

Q: Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?

Yes on its Basic plan, which adds a 2% online-store fee on top of card processing from 2.9% plus 30 cents. The fee drops away on higher plans.

Q: Which website builder is best for an online store?

Shopify is the one built around selling. On annual billing Basic is $29 a month, Grow $79 and Advanced $299, with card rates falling from 2.9% plus 30 cents to 2.5%. Using another payment gateway adds a fee of 2% on Basic.

Six website builders compared on plan prices, transaction fees, renewal costs and free options, read from each builder's own pricing page: what each one is for, and what we could not verify.

Reviewed by ProductsVerdict Editorial Team Scoring framework

ProductsVerdict may earn commissions from partner links. Our recommendations are based on independent research and side-by-side comparisons — never on commission rate. How we make money.

Buying guide

How to choose a website builder

The 'best' website builder depends on whether you're shipping a portfolio, a store, or a marketing site.

01
Design flexibility
Webflow and Framer give pixel control; Wix and Squarespace trade control for speed.
02
CMS
If content scales (blog, case studies, listings), prioritize true CMS collections, not just pages.
03
Commerce
Shopify wins for serious commerce. Builders with add-ons work for <100 SKUs.
04
Performance & SEO
Check Core Web Vitals on real templates — some builders ship bloated CSS.
05
Pricing
Annual plans hide transaction fees, bandwidth caps, and per-seat costs. Read the fine print.
06
Lock-in
Easy export matters. Some builders make leaving genuinely painful.

Top website builders compared (2026)

Product	Best for	Starts at	Visit
WixFree plan	A free start with no card	$17/mo billed yearly	See Wix plans
Squarespace	Template-led sites; fees depend on the plan	$19/mo billed annually ($25 monthly)	See Squarespace plans
Shopify	Selling products online	$29/mo billed annually ($39 monthly)	See Shopify plans
Hostinger Website Builder	The lowest headline price, on a long prepay	$2.99/mo on a 48-month prepay	See Hostinger plans
Webflow	Design control and a built-in CMS	$15/mo billed yearly	See Webflow plans
WordPress.com	Hosted WordPress for blogs	$2.75/mo on the longest term	See WordPress.com plans

What is the best website builder?

It depends on what the site has to do. Shopify is the builder in this list designed around selling online, with card rates that fall from 2.9% plus 30 cents on Basic to 2.25% on Plus. Wix and WordPress.com both have free plans with no card, so they are the easy way to try a builder before paying. Webflow is the choice when you want design control and a built-in CMS, and it restructured its plans this year. Squarespace's plans trade a lower entry price against a 2% store fee on Basic. Hostinger's price is the lowest headline in the list but needs a four-year prepay.

As of 6 October 2026, prices and limits were read from each builder's own pricing page, in US dollars. We compare plans, fees and limits, not how good the sites look, how fast they load or how they perform in search, which we did not test. These are editorial picks, not scored rankings.

Which should you choose?

Most of the low prices in this guide need yearly or longer prepayment, and several builders quote their lowest price for the longest term. Compare the renewal price, not the first-term price, and check the monthly price on the builder's page before you commit.

If you want	Look at	Why
To sell products online	Shopify	Built for stores; card rates from 2.9% plus 30 cents down to 2.25% as the plan rises
To try a builder before paying	Wix or WordPress.com	Both have free plans; Wix needs no credit card
A template-led site with a trial	Squarespace	14-day free trial; Basic adds a 2% online-store fee
Design control and a built-in CMS	Webflow	CMS starts on Premium at $25 a month billed yearly
The lowest headline price	Hostinger or WordPress.com	Hostinger $2.99 on a 48-month prepay (renews at $10.99); WordPress.com Personal from $2.75 on its longest term
A blog with plugins	WordPress.com	Plugins are not available on the Free and Personal plans

Our picks in detail

Wix

Free plan

Best for: A free start with no card.

Wix lets you build for free with no credit card and upgrade when you want a custom domain. Its paid plans are Light (2 GB storage, 2 collaborators), Core (50 GB, 5 collaborators), Business (100 GB, 10 collaborators, marked Recommended) and Business Elite (unlimited storage, 100 collaborators). Every paid plan lists a custom domain, hosting, AI creation tools, 24/7 support and a 14-day money-back guarantee, and paid plans include a free domain for one year. Light has no payment acceptance listed, so you need Core or higher to sell. Wix says prices and currency vary by location and that the USD prices are for reference.

Pricing: Light $17 a month; Core $29.77; Business $39.77; Business Elite $159.77 (billed yearly, paid in full).

Free option: Free plan, no credit card.

See Wix plans

Squarespace

Best for: Template-led sites; fees depend on the plan.

Basic is $19 a month on annual billing ($25 monthly) and Core $29 ($39 monthly), with Plus at $49 and Advanced at $99 on annual billing. Card rates start at 2.9% plus 30 cents. Basic adds a 2% online-store transaction fee, which falls away on higher plans. Storage and bandwidth are unlimited on every plan, and Core and above add unlimited contributors, advanced analytics and CSS and JavaScript customisation.

Pricing: Basic $19 a month billed annually ($25 monthly); Core $29 ($39); Plus $49 and Advanced $99 on annual billing.

Free option: 14-day free trial.

See Squarespace plans

Shopify

Best for: Selling products online.

On annual billing Shopify is Basic at $29 a month, Grow at $79, Advanced at $299 and Plus from $2,300; monthly billing costs more (Basic is $39). Card rates are 2.9% plus 30 cents on Basic, 2.7% on Grow, 2.5% on Advanced and 2.25% on Plus. Using a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments adds a fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced, on top of the gateway's own charges.

Pricing: Basic $29 a month billed annually ($39 monthly); Grow $79; Advanced $299; Plus from $2,300.

Free option: 3-day free trial, then $1 a month for 3 months.

See Shopify plans

Hostinger Website Builder

Best for: The lowest headline price, on a long prepay.

The headline Premium price is the 48-month prepay: $143.52 for four years against a regular price of $575.52, renewing at $10.99 a month. Unlimited is $3.99 a month on the same 48-month term ($191.52, regular $911.52) and renews at $16.99 a month. Premium allows up to 3 websites and a one-time gift of 5 AI credits; Unlimited allows unlimited websites and 15 credits. Both include a custom domain and mailboxes free for one year. The renewal price is more than three times the headline on both plans.

Pricing: Premium $2.99 a month on a 48-month prepay ($143.52), renewing at $10.99; Unlimited $3.99 ($191.52), renewing at $16.99.

Free option: No free plan or trial shown on the page we read.

See Hostinger plans

Webflow

Best for: Design control and a built-in CMS.

Webflow's site plans are now Starter (free: a webflow.io domain, 2 static pages, 1 GB bandwidth, 50 form submissions), Basic at $15 a month billed yearly (custom domain, 300 static pages, 10 GB bandwidth, unlimited form submissions) and the new Premium at $25 a month billed yearly, which adds the CMS, bandwidth tiers from 50 GB up to 2.5 TB, code components, site search and form file upload. Prices are in USD per site, plus tax. A Team platform plan is $2,500 a month on an annual contract and Enterprise is custom. Guides that still describe Basic, CMS and Business plans no longer match the pricing page.

Pricing: Starter free; Basic $15 a month billed yearly; Premium $25 billed yearly; Team $2,500 a month on an annual contract.

Free option: Free Starter plan (2 static pages).

See Webflow plans

WordPress.com

Best for: Hosted WordPress for blogs.

WordPress.com has a free plan with a subdomain, 1 GB of storage and no plugins. Paid plans are priced as a range that depends on term length: Personal $2.75 to $9 a month, Premium $5.50 to $18, Business $17.50 to $40 and Commerce $31.50 to $70, with WooCommerce on Business and Commerce. Free and Personal cannot use plugins. Paid plans remove ads and include a free domain for the first year on annual plans. WordPress.com is different from self-hosted WordPress.org: .com bundles hosting into a plan, while .org is free software you install on a host you buy yourself.

Pricing: Personal $2.75 to $9 a month; Premium $5.50 to $18; Business $17.50 to $40; Commerce $31.50 to $70 (range depends on term length).

Free option: Free plan, subdomain only.

See WordPress.com plans

What we could not verify

We did not test how any builder performs: design quality, page speed, search performance or support response. We did not read Webflow's ecommerce plan tab. We could not confirm WordPress.com's exact per-term prices or its payment-processing rates, and several builders' pages do not state renewal prices. Wix says its prices and currency vary by location, so the figures here are US dollars for reference only.

How we verified this list

We read each builder's own pricing page on 6 October 2026 and recorded plan names, prices, limits and trial terms as displayed. We also opened Wix, Webflow, Squarespace, Shopify and Hostinger directly in a browser to confirm the figures. Where a page did not state something, such as renewal prices for several builders, we say so instead of estimating. Some links on this page are affiliate links, which pay us a commission if you buy; that does not change what we write or the order of the table.

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Frequently asked

Which website builder has a free plan?+

Wix, Webflow (Starter) and WordPress.com all offer free plans. Squarespace offers a 14-day trial instead, and Shopify offers a 3-day trial followed by $1 a month for three months.

What is the cheapest website builder?+

The lowest headline prices we read were WordPress.com Personal from $2.75 a month on its longest term and Hostinger Premium at $2.99 a month on a 48-month prepay. Both depend on long terms, and Hostinger renews at $10.99 a month.

How much does Hostinger Website Builder really cost?+

The $2.99 a month Premium price is a 48-month prepay of $143.52, and it renews at $10.99 a month. Unlimited is $3.99 on the same term and renews at $16.99 a month.

Did Webflow change its plans in 2026?+

Yes. Its pricing page now lists Starter (free), Basic at $15 a month billed yearly and a new Premium at $25 a month billed yearly that includes the CMS, plus a Team platform plan at $2,500 a month.

Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?+