A free website has some notable disadvantages.
Learn about them here.
Beggars can’t be choosers, though. When you go free, you can’t expect to get a “Ferrari” like website. That being said, some of these top free website builders offer some badass features.
Let’s take a look at your best options.
#1 — Wix.com
This one completely took over the market. Last year I created a YouTube video on how to create a free website. The main complaint of the video was that I wasn’t using Wix.
Fully loaded features — especially for a free website.
Check it out:
You can’t ask for more than that.
All the bells and whistles with zero dollars on your bill.
#2 — WordPress.com
This is my personal favourite free website solution. The reason I’m attached to WordPress is because they offer an awesome full version when you upgrade to a paid version. The free version is alright and pretty easy to use. But if your intention is to eventually upgrade to your own professional paid website, then WordPress is that way to go.
Just be careful. A lot of people get confused between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. These are actually two entirely different solutions. The former is the free version, and the one you want. Eventually you may want to upgrade to the WordPress.org version.
The easy part about WordPress is the Themes and Plugins. These are essentially shortcuts that conveniently take blank websites to snazzy personalized sites in a matter of minutes.
I created a video on how to do this here:
In a few minutes you can be up and running with WordPress.
A great free option, and an even better upgrade.
#3 — Weebly
A commonly chosen option at universities and for artsy crafters. The drag and drop interface make it so easy to use that even a grandma could figure it out.
Weekly also makes it easy to get a domain name connected to your site. My recommendation is to stick to the free version with Weebly. It’s a great free site builder, but doesn’t come close to matching WordPress when it comes to a paid version.
If your full intention is to stick with free, Weebly is a great way to go.
Don’t worry about space. Weekly allows you to use an unlimited number of pages so that you can build out your site as big as you want.
This will be the favourite of many.
#4 — Blogger
This one is a surprisingly good “top option” for many people.
The reason?
Blogger allows you to put Adsense ads on your site, and make money from your blog.
Most free website builders do not let you do this. If you look at the WordPress TOS, for example, it explicitly states that you cannot put advertising on your site. What’s worse is that WordPress actually puts ads on your site that they make money on — but you are not allowed that same luxury.
Blogger is also owned by Google. So that offers pretty good reassurance that this platform is not going anywhere.
#5 — Website Builder
The best feature of this platform is a loaded amount of different website designs. It’s really user friendly to work with, and you have lots of cool looking skins for your website.
Not my favourite website builder. But this is one that draws a good crowd of people interested in create a website with the platform.
#6 — Jimdo
This ones really cool. Easy to use with lots of different templates to choose from. The reason it isn’t higher on the list is because it limits the amount of content you can create.
My publishing schedule demands that I can use lots of space. Especially if I’m going to be including pictures and videos. So for that reason, I have to move this one down to the number 6 spot.
#7 — MoonFruit
The downside to moonfruit is that the free plan only includes 15 pages. Is it still a free website builder? Technically it offers a free option. And it is a pretty good solution. However, only fifteen pages is not that much. Typically the sites that do better in Google are much larger.
Lots of cool designs and easy to use. But forget a builder that limits you to just over a dozen pieces of content. That’s not a site that’s going to go viral.
#8 — WebFlow
This is actually an awesome option.
The positive and negative is the exact same thing. It’s a platform that’s geared towards experienced designers looking for interactive website qualities.
The downside is that you need to be skilled in this area to benefit from its selling point.
The upside is that there’s a lot of potential her for some really cool websites.
Definitely a high learning curve, though.
#9 — Webnode
This solution allows for unlimited pages.
That’s perfect. We can grow as big as we want, right?
Nope, they have a cap on 100mb worth of data.
So yes, you can have as many pages as you want. But you do have to watch the file size of each webpage.
If you’re just creating a text based website, then 100mb can go a long way.
However, if you want pictures and videos. That amount of space gets used up pretty quickly.
#10 — SquareSpace
This website comes with a free trial.
When that expires, you will have to pay. It’s my least favourite option on the list, because it’s only free for a temporary period of time.
Great looking websites, though.
Conclusion:
I would choose either Wix.com or WordPress.com
Both are packed with features and allow unlimited pages.
Why you might want a paid website?
I’m personally not a free blog kinda guy. I like to own my own website + hosting. And if you follow my youtube channel, you know my reasons.
A free site can be the right decision for you, though. It all depends on your goals.
An online entrepreneur will be much better off setting up their own website through paid hosting.
That way you have full control over your business. I’ve been marketing online for eight year, and I can’t think of a single person that’s become successful with just a free website.
So if you’re thinking a free site is your ticket to replacing your job income — think again.
However, free websites are a great place to start.
You can learn a lot from creating one. You’ll discover traffic strategies, and the kinds of content that attracts the most organic traffic.
And heck, not all of us our here to make money.
If you are like me, and you would like a full-time online income. Eventually you will have to take off the training wheels and get a registered domain hosted through a service like Hostgator.
Yeah, it’ll cost you a few bucks. Not much, though.
If you use the coupon code “get25offyourbill” at HostGator.com, you’ll get a sweet 25% discount.
That means you can have a fully “paid” site for the price of a McDonalds Happy Meal.
Hope you enjoyed my list.
Free or paid, I wish you the best of luck!
