Free Website for Small Business: What "Free" Really Costs in 2026

You can launch a free website for a small business today on WordPress.com, Wix, Square Online or Carrd, but every free plan puts you on the builder's address with its ads or branding, and none of them lets you connect your own domain. Square is the one free plan that takes payments and online bookings, for a fee per card sale. The realistic floor for a professional site is about $30 for the first year (Carrd Pro Standard plus a domain), or $48 on WordPress.com Personal with a first-year domain included. Prices below were checked on each vendor's own pricing page on October 19, 2026.

Free is a fine way to start. It's a bad way to stay, and the costs that turn up later (a domain, ad removal, card fees, renewals) are rarely totted up in one place. This page does that, then maps each free plan against what a small business actually needs from a website.

Can you really get a free website for your small business?

Yes. Four well-known builders publish a site at no monthly cost. What you give up is consistent across all of them:

Your address belongs to the builder (yourbusiness.wixsite.com rather than yourbusiness.com). The builder shows its own ads or branding to your customers. And the features that make money (payments, bookings, more pages, custom forms) mostly sit on paid tiers. WordPress.com says it plainly on its pricing page: free sites display WordPress.com ads to visitors.

For a sole trader testing an idea, that's acceptable. For a business asking strangers for money, a branded subdomain costs some trust.

What are the best free website builders for small business?

WordPress.com is the best free option for a content-heavy site, and its Personal plan is the cheapest way off the ads. Wix is the most familiar drag-and-drop editor; its FAQ says a Premium plan is what connects your own domain and removes Wix branding, and Core is the first plan that lists accepting payments and scheduling. Square Online is the best free option for a business that sells, because Square Free includes the website builder, pickup and delivery, and online booking, and only charges you when a customer pays. Carrd is the cheapest way to a one-page site on your own domain. GoDaddy's builder page says you can start free with 50 AI credits a month and that a free domain comes with paid plans; it showed us regional prices, so we don't quote one.

What does a free website cost in the first year?

The subscription is only one line. Here's the first-year cost of each route, using the prices above and a .com domain at $11.08 a year from Porkbun, a low-cost registrar, where a plan doesn't include one.

The card fees deserve a worked example. Square's online rate on the Free plan is 3.3% + 30¢ per card payment. If you sell 100 orders a year at $40 each, that's $132 in percentage fees plus $30 in per-order fees: $162 on $4,000 of sales. On Square Plus the online rate drops to 2.9% + 30¢, but the plan costs $49 a month per location, so it only pays off at much higher volume.

Promo prices are the other trap. WordPress.com's yearly price rises from $4 to $5 a month after the first year, and Hostinger's $2.49 a month requires paying for 48 months upfront and renews at $10.99.

Does a free plan cover what a small business needs?

Run your site plan through this checklist before picking a builder:

• Contact or quote form. Carrd puts forms on Pro; Webflow's free plan caps form submissions at 50. Check the limit before you rely on a free form for leads.
• Booking. Square Free includes an online booking site and appointment deposits. Wix lists scheduling from Core. Most other free plans don't list it.
• Payments. Square Free takes card payments for a fee. WordPress.com adds payment buttons on Premium; Carrd on Pro Standard.
• Local SEO. Link your site from your Google Business Profile, keep your business name, address and phone number identical everywhere, and add LocalBusiness structured data if your builder lets you edit it.
• Your own domain. None of the free plans we checked connects one.
• Email on your domain. Usually a separate purchase. Wix's FAQ points you to Google Workspace once you have a domain; Hostinger Premium includes 2 mailboxes free for the first year.

If two or more items on that list matter for your business, you're shopping for a paid plan, not a free one. Our guide to the best website builders for SEO covers the local-search side in more depth.

Can you take bookings and payments on a free website?

Yes, on Square. Square's plan comparison lists online booking, booking integrations with Instagram, Facebook and Google, appointment deposits, prepayments and appointment reminders on Square Free, and charges 3.3% + 30¢ on online card payments. Calendar sync with Google, multi-staff booking and no-show fees start on Plus.

Elsewhere, bookings are a paid feature. Wix lists scheduling from Core, and Durable's Launch plan ($25 a month, or $22 billed yearly) adds unlimited bookings synced to your calendar. If your booking rules are unusual (deposits that depend on the service, rooms tied to staff, packages), a booking page bolted onto a brochure site will fight you; our guide to building a booking and scheduling app covers what it takes to build one properly.

Does Google still offer free business websites?

No. Google turned off the free websites made with Google Business Profiles (addresses ending in business.site) in March 2024. As TechRadar reported, visitors were redirected to the Business Profile until June 10, 2024, and after that saw a "page not found" error. Your Business Profile itself is still free and still matters for local search; it just needs to link to a website hosted somewhere else.

When is it worth paying for your website?

Pay as soon as one of these is true:

You're taking money online. Either pay a plan fee or accept per-sale fees, and compare the two at your expected volume.

You need bookings with deposits, reminders or staff calendars beyond what Square Free covers.

You're printing the web address on a van, a menu or a business card. A wixsite.com address on a sign looks temporary.

The ads or the builder's branding are showing up next to your prices.

For most small businesses, the cheapest sensible paid setup lands between about $30 a year (Carrd plus a domain) and $5 to $10 a month for a full site, before payment fees.

Can an AI website builder make your small-business site?

Yes, and several have free plans. Our companion guide to the best free AI website builders checks what each one's free plan actually allows, limit by limit. The short version: most publish free on a subdomain, none includes a custom domain, and AI credits run out fast.

Where AI app builders earn their place is when your site needs a backend: customer logins, a quote system with real rules, an order portal, a booking flow that doesn't fit a template. Greta.sh generates that kind of full-stack web app from a plain-English description. Its free plan (5 credits a day) is for building and testing; deployment and a custom domain start on Starter at $5 a month on the welcome offer (normally $20 a month). For a five-page brochure site, that's more tool than you need, and WordPress.com or Wix is the better choice. For founders comparing tools on more than price, see the best AI website builder for non-technical founders, and if you're already on WordPress and feeling its limits, Greta.sh vs WordPress.

How do you make a free website for your small business?

1. Write down the three things the site must do (for example: show services, take enquiries, take bookings). This decides the builder, not the templates.
2. Pick the free plan that covers those jobs: Square Online if you take payments or bookings, WordPress.com for content, Wix or Carrd for a simple brochure.
3. Build the essentials first: what you do, where you are, your hours, how to contact you, and one clear call to action on every page.
4. Link the site from your Google Business Profile and check your name, address and phone number match exactly.
5. Set a trigger for upgrading (first online sale, first printed sign, first month of real enquiries) and buy your domain then.

FAQ

Is a free website good enough for a small business?

For testing an idea or a side business, yes. Once you take payments, print your web address, or rely on the site for leads, the builder's subdomain and ads start costing you trust. The cheapest paid fixes start around $30 a year.

Can I use my own domain on a free website builder?

Not on any free plan we checked. WordPress.com, Wix, Square Online and Carrd all require a paid plan to connect a custom domain. Carrd Pro Standard at $19 a year is the cheapest.

What's the best free website builder for a small business?

Square Online if you sell or take bookings, because Square Free handles both for a per-transaction fee. WordPress.com if you publish a lot of content. Wix for a familiar drag-and-drop editor. Carrd for a one-page site.

Does Google offer free websites for businesses?

Not anymore. Google turned off Business Profile websites in March 2024 and stopped redirecting them on June 10, 2024. Business Profiles are still free; they now link to a site you host elsewhere.

Can I accept payments on a free website?

On Square Online, yes: Square Free has no monthly fee and charges 3.3% + 30¢ per online card payment. WordPress.com, Wix and Carrd put payments on paid plans.

Which platform should a small business use to build a customer booking app?

For standard appointments, start with Square: its free plan includes online booking, deposits and reminders. Wix (from Core) and Durable (Launch) add bookings to a paid website. If your booking rules are unusual, an AI app builder like Greta.sh can generate a custom booking app from a plain-English description.

How do AI website builders handle backend features like forms, bookings and payments?

It varies. Website-first tools such as Durable bundle bookings and forms into paid plans. AI app builders such as Base44, Bolt, Lovable and Greta.sh generate the backend itself (database, logins, business logic) from a prompt, which suits sites that need more than a contact form.

Start free, and know when to stop

A free site is a good first week. Price your year-one total before you pick a builder, and upgrade the day the site starts handling money or bookings. If your business needs more than pages, build the app behind your site with Greta.sh.