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Published: Feb 16, 2023, 11:46pm
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Your business needs a website—full stop. That might cause chills for some small business owners, but it doesn’t have to. With the help of one of the many great website builders on the market today, you can get your business online in less than an hour—and for free. In this review, we’ll look at the best free website builders for Australian business owners, based on the features and factors that matter most to small businesses, such as ease of use, price and selling tools.

Build and scale with confidence. From a powerful website builder to advanced business solutions – Wix has you covered.

Try Wix For Free

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Featured Partners
1
Wix
On Wix’s Secure Website
Starting price
From $15 per month
Drag-and-Drop Editor
Yes
Standout Features
Free plan available, 900+ designer-made templates
2
GoDaddy
On GoDaddy’s Website
Starting Price
$US7.95 ($12 AUD) per month
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Email included, multiple payment options
3
IONOS
Starting price
$1 per month (for the first year, then $15 per month)
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
E-commerce in entry-level plan
Yes, as an add-on
Free; premium plans starting at $9.96 per month

No

Beginner-friendly site editor and e-commerce available in free plan

Free; premium plans starting at $9.96 per month

No

Beginner-friendly site editor and e-commerce available in free plan

GoDaddy is a go-to for many online entrepreneurs buying domains for brands they may or may not build someday. Its website builder lets you take the next step to get your online brand up and running.
With a free plan, you can set up a website using the drag-and-drop editor and built-in themes. You can set up an online store with PayPal payments and upgrade to access more payment options.
A free site comes with a yoursite.godaddysites.com domain and, if you upgrade to a paid account starting at as low as $9.96/month, you’ll also get a custom domain.
Additionally, a free site comes with on-platform email and social media marketing and limited website templates and images through GoDaddy Studio.
Who should use it:
GoDaddy’s website builder is built with any kind of online business in mind—from content to coaching to products. But it emphasises e-commerce and customer service features that make it the strongest fit for online stores. As long as you’re OK accepting payments through PayPal, you can set up your online store for free.
Free; $15 per month for personal use

Yes, free plans display Wix ads

More than 800 templates and an ultra-easy drag-and-drop editor

Free; $15 per month for personal use

Yes, free plans display Wix ads

More than 800 templates and an ultra-easy drag-and-drop editor

Wix offers a free website builder plus several paid tiers you can upgrade to for more features as your business grows.
The free builder comes with a similar experience to the paid versions. You get access to customisable drag-and-drop site templates, free stock images, web hosting and mobile responsive design. Email marketing, search engine optimisation (SEO) tools and client management tools are built in.
With a free account, you’ll use an assigned address via the ‘wixsite’ domain, which is a little clunky compared with competitors. You get up to 500 MB of storage and 500 MB of bandwidth. Like many free builders, Wix shows ads on your site and it’ll show the Wix favicon next to the URL rather than your logo.
Who should use it:
Use Wix to build an online presence for your brick-and-mortar business like an accounting firm, financial planning, small law business or other service.
Free; $7 per month

Yes

User-friendly site editor and design for selling online

Free; $7 per month

Yes

User-friendly site editor and design for selling online

Weebly has long been a popular choice for e-commerce, so it’s no surprise that the payment processing company Square, Inc., acquired it in 2018.
Weebly’s free website builder includes robust e-commerce tools for selling physical products, including an online store, unlimited items, item badges and options, inventory management, coupons and Square gift cards. The drag-and-drop builder includes SEO tools and lead capture, and you can upgrade to use Weebly Promote for email and social media marketing.
Who should use it:
With robust e-commerce tools, Weebly is a good option for anyone selling products online. Its free version lets your customers order items online to pick up in your physical store, or you can upgrade to sell digital goods, calculate shipping costs and print shipping labels to send items directly to your customers.
Free; From $US12.99 for domain

No

Appointment scheduling and e-commerce included in free plan

Free; From $US12.99 for domain

No

Appointment scheduling and e-commerce included in free plan

Best known for email marketing tools, Mailchimp has grown to cover all your marketing needs.
Mailchimp’s free website builder includes a drag-and-drop editor with the same user experience (UX) as its email management service. You get access to free themes and designed color palettes, and you can set up your own color palette to match your brand.
Mailchimp’s builder doesn’t include a domain, so you can’t start 100% free. You’ll have to buy a domain from a third party, which usually costs about $10 for the first year, and then follow the instructions to point it at your Mailchimp site.
As you grow, you can upgrade to paid plans for more features, including paid email marketing plans if your list grows beyond 2,000.
Who should use it:
With its free e-commerce and appointment scheduling features, a Mailchimp website is a good fit for microbusinesses selling things like physical products or coaching.
Free; web hosting for as little as $5 per month; premium is $10 per month

Yes

Fully customisable and low-cost plans to connect your domain

Free; web hosting for as little as $5 per month; premium is $10 per month

Yes

Fully customisable and low-cost plans to connect your domain

WordPress has been the dominant force in free website development for years as its WordPress.com service was among the first professional online website builders to give you the domain, hosting and design you need to get going totally free.
With a free site using the cloud-based WordPress.com builder, you get a drag-and-drop editor with dozens of themes, a yoursite.wordpress.com domain and hosting.
WordPress displays ads on your free site, and you can’t access e-commerce tools without upgrading to a paid account. However, the cost to upgrade is lower than most competitors—the lowest-price plan is just $5 per month for personal use, and you can remove ads and collect payments.
If you want a more customisable site with access to the open source plugins WordPress is known for, you can build a self-managed WordPress site using the software from WordPress.org.
WordPress.org is better known for its paid website builders, but it’s possible to use the software for free. You need to find free or cheap web hosting, and you can download free WordPress themes to use the drag-and-drop editor and CMS. This requires more tech know-how than any cloud-based option, so you might need to hire a WordPress developer to set up the site for you.
Who should use it:
WordPress is designed for blogs and includes one of the most robust content management systems broadly available. That functionality could be unnecessary or overwhelming unless content is central to your business, so WordPress is best suited for content-based businesses, such as blogs, magazines, news sites and other online publications.
Free; US$14 a month to connect your own domain

No

Drag-and-drop page designer, CMS and e-commerce

Free; US$14 a month to connect your own domain

No

Drag-and-drop page designer, CMS and e-commerce

Webflow is a no-code drag-and-drop website editor that offers more design customisation than many others. The builder is intuitive and easy for nearly anyone on your team to adopt, with an editor reminiscent of word processors that most will be familiar with.
The builder supports website animations and scroll-based parallax for a modern interface and dynamic design.
The back end is intuitive and uncomplicated. Webflow includes a built-in CMS to manage a blog or other site content, including SEO features, but its options aren’t as robust for content-based sites as a builder like WordPress.
Who should use it:
Webflow is a growing favorite among emerging tech startups. It offers modern design options that help you keep up with competitors—without putting all of your resources into website design and maintenance.
Free; $US120 per year for pro site with blogging

No

Drag-and-drop builder, CMS, and e-commerce

Free; $US120 per year for pro site with blogging

No

Drag-and-drop builder, CMS, and e-commerce

Ucraft is a free website builder with a drag-and-drop editor, hosting, CMS and e-commerce functions. You can build and publish a website for free and connect it to your own domain—a function that’s unusual for totally free site builders.
The platform also includes a logo maker and a blogging platform with paid plans, so you’ll have everything you need to get a new business operational for a low monthly price.
Who should use it:
Ucraft is a free alternative to Squarespace and could be a better option for small business owners who need a no-frills static website to establish an online presence for a low cost.
Free; $US12.80 per month to include a free domain

No

Drag-and-drop editor, email plans, website templates

Free; $US12.80 per month to include a free domain

No

Drag-and-drop editor, email plans, website templates

SITE123 is a basic, easy-to-use site builder that offers packages tailored to small businesses, e-commerce, bloggers and more. You can get a site operational for free with a subdomain under site123.com or upgrade to a premium plan to get additional features and a free custom domain for a year.
SITE123 offers website templates, as well, so you don’t have to start your design from scratch. However, the templates feature simplistic, outdated designs that don’t keep up with the modern design trends some competitors support.
Who should use it:
SITE123 might be a simple and affordable option for a small business or project that needs a quick and easy online presence.
Free; $15 per month to use your own domain

Yes

Modern design, fee-free e-commerce

Free; $15 per month to use your own domain

Yes

Modern design, fee-free e-commerce

Jimdo is a free website builder designed to help small businesses get online quickly and easily. You can create beautiful mobile-optimized page designs. Customising is easy with an editor that offers flexibility without complexity. Do note that a free site is published at a subdomain of jimdosite.com and displays ads.
The builder lets you add an online store or appointment scheduler starting at US$18 per month, and you won’t pay transaction fees for online orders. Jimdo’s logo creator is also free to use, so you can design a logo and get the file formats you need to promote your business online and in print.
Who should use it:
Jimdo is a simple and affordable platform for startup online retail businesses. If you’re moving your brick-and-mortar online or starting an e-commerce business from scratch, it could be one of the easiest and most frugal ways to do it.
Free; $8 per month to use your own domain

No

Drag-and-drop builder, live chat, and memberships

Free; $8 per month to use your own domain

No

Drag-and-drop builder, live chat, and memberships

Strikingly is a straightforward website builder with simple, mobile-friendly designs for landing pages, e-commerce and blogs. You can add an e-commerce store with its Simple Store feature—you can even sell up to one product with a free account.
Strikingly offers everything a simple business needs to get online, but its design options aren’t particularly striking. You can build a simple page, but the platform lacks modern design features like animation and more complex layouts. It has a range of website packages, all priced in US dollars.
Who should use it:
Strikingly is a good fit for a small business that needs a simple online presence and doesn’t have design resources.
We evaluated some of the most popular free website builders according to the features they offer customers, including storage, bandwidth, mobile responsiveness, editors and marketing tools. We also factor in third-party ratings and reviews from G2 and Trustpilot to include expert and customer feedback in our rankings.
Finally, we consider these subjective factors:
Which website builder is the best fit for you or your team depends on what your business needs. Consider these factors as you choose the right tool for you:
Even with a free website builder, getting your business online might come with a few startup costs, including:
Featured Partners
1
Wix
On Wix’s Secure Website
Starting price
From $15 per month
Drag-and-Drop Editor
Yes
Standout Features
Free plan available, 900+ designer-made templates
2
GoDaddy
On GoDaddy’s Website
Starting Price
$US7.95 ($12 AUD) per month
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Email included, multiple payment options
3
IONOS
Starting price
$1 per month (for the first year, then $15 per month)
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
E-commerce in entry-level plan
Yes, as an add-on
The best website builder depends on your needs. Most free website builders offer the same basic features, but some platforms emphasize one function over another. WordPress.com is best for new bloggers while Weebly and GoDaddy are best for online stores. Mailchimp is perfect for solopreneurs, and Wix is great for local businesses.
Yes—WordPress.com, Weebly, Wix and GoDaddy all let you set up a site completely free of cost, with plenty of options to upgrade for more features. Mailchimp lets you set up a website for free, but you have to bring your own domain.
Wix and Weebly offer some of the simplest tools for building a website with no knowledge of design or code. Mailchimp and GoDaddy are strong competitors, although their emphasis on marketing suites might make the tools feel more complex for complete beginners. WordPress is the most robust option and also the most complex because of its sophisticated content management options.
If you want to build a website, then web hosting is necessary. You have a few different options. There are free or cheap web hosts, all-in-one website builders and top-rated web hosts. The best web hosting services are still affordable but, more importantly, they offer a range of hosting plans, features and unlimited or generous storage.
Website builders are highly scalable, and your plan can be easily modified to meet the needs of your growing team. If you outgrow even the top-level package of your service, many vendors offer enterprise-level functionality with customized pricing. It may be worthwhile to get in touch with your system’s customer service team to learn more.
Most web design software does not require coding. However, if you want to add more complex features, you might need some coding skills. If you want to try your hand at coding, check out WordPress, as 43% of websites are powered by it. It’s open source software, and there are tons of tutorials. Otherwise, consider a drag-and-drop website editor such as Wix or Weebly.
Yes, many leading services offer tools to help you boost your site’s visibility on search engines. Most builders are designed with an infrastructure that helps search engines easily find information. Additionally, many platforms come with tools to customise your site’s meta descriptions, automated data markup and easy social media integration to help share your content across platforms.
Dana Miranda is a certified educator in personal finance (CEPF) who has been writing and editing since 2011, covering personal finance, careers and digital media. She’s written about work and money for the New York Times, CNBC, The Motley Fool, The Penny Hoarder, a column for Inc. and more. Dana has taught journalists, writers and editors how to write for the web through Utah Valley University, Queen's University at Kingston, ACES: The Society for Editors, the National Association for Independent Writers & Editors, online courses and private trainings. Find her at danasitar.com.
Kelly is an SMB Editor specializing in starting and marketing new ventures. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content. She is a former Google Tech Entrepreneur and she holds an MSc in International Marketing from Edinburgh Napier University. Additionally, she manages a column at Inc. Magazine.

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