The cheapest website builders in 2026: plans from £1

1 of 3

Hostinger - from £2.69

4.3

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2 of 3

Shopify - from £1

4.2

See Pricing

3 of 3

GoDaddy - from £7.99

4.2

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Website builders range in price, especially with introductory deals and discounts, but Hostinger is one of the cheapest website builders overall. Hostinger’s plans start at just £2.99 per month, or £2.69 per month if you use our exclusive discount code: STARTUPS.

I’ve pulled together a list of the cheapest website builders in 2026, based on 300+ hours of in-house research, pricing checks, and user testing. While our rankings are based on price and value, we only recommend website builders that also offer good features, support, AI tools, and design functionality.

Cheapest website builders: comparison table

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		Starting price	Cheapest ecommerce plan	Free trial or plan	Money-back guarantee	Transaction fees
Hostinger	Shopify	GoDaddy	Wix	Squarespace
£11.99/month £2.69/month with code STARTUPS	£19/month £1/month for 1st 3 months	£7.99/month	£9/month £8.10/month with code TAKE10	£12/month £10.80/month with code SU10
£3.99/month	£19/month	£13.99/month	£16/month	£12/month
14-day free trial	3-day free trial	Free plan	Free plan	14-day free trial
30 days	30 days (refund eligibility, subject to review)	30 days	14 days	14 days
0%	1.5%-2% + 25p	Not shared publicly – you’ll need to contact GoDaddy	2.1% + 20p	0%-7% (depending on what you sell), plus a 1.5%-2% + 25p card processing rate

Should you be wary of cheap website builders?

A cheap website builder doesn’t mean it’s bad. For example, Hostinger’s introductory prices are incredibly low, but the platform offers impressive AI tools, a drag-and-drop editor, and 24/7 support.

 

That said, cheap website builders will usually lure you in with deals and discounts. While these can be great for SMEs on a budget or entrepreneurs finding their feet online, you should factor in potential price hikes when choosing the right website builder for your business. Plus, additional costs, such as a custom domain name or transaction fees, can see your outgoings quickly increase.

 

I recommend weighing up each builder’s subscription fees and additional costs to make sure you’re choosing the right builder and premium plan for your needs.

Emma Ryan Deputy Editor, B2B

1. Hostinger: from £2.69

Hostinger

4.3

This affordable website builder makes building simple with its suite of AI tools.

• Free trial 14-day
• Price from £2.99/month

• Affordable deals for beginners
• The drag-and-drop editor is very easy to use
• A growing suite of AI features

Summary Hostinger is a simple and low-cost website builder, offering affordable plans and introductory deals for new businesses. However, its features aren’t as sophisticated as rival website builders’, and it lacks basic functionalities like email marketing. That said, its design options are impressive and its suite of AI tools makes building a website quick and easy.

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Hostinger is one of the cheapest website builders, with introductory deals starting at just £2.99 per month if you commit to a 48-month subscription. The longer your contract, the better the deal. This guarantees a fixed price for four years, offering SMEs long-term value.

Hostinger generated a custom theme based on prompt in less than a minute. Source: Startups.co.uk

How much does Hostinger cost?

2. Shopify: from £1

Shopify

4.2

The ideal platform for online stores looking to start selling right away.

• Free trial 3-day
• Price from £19/month

• Best range of features and apps for ecommerce sites
• AI-powered Shopify Magic tool for business support
• Regularly adds new features or makes improvements

Summary Shopify is perfect for users looking for that all-in-one online store solution. Its ability to predict what a merchant will need next when creating a website is a brilliant feature, and its countless apps give you complete control over your business, enabling you to grow through diverse multi-channel integration options and email marketing. Shopify is better suited to store owners with complex, larger inventories because of its expensive plans and additional costs to consider, such as purchasing a domain name – something other builders usually include as part of their packages.

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Shopify’s standard pricing is an expensive investment, ranging from £19 to £259 per month, but you can get your first three months for £1 per month if you’re a new user. Despite this short-term deal, your business will still need to budget for Shopify’s premium plans and additional costs, such as third-party apps and custom domains.

That said, Shopify is one of the best ecommerce website builders on the market, offering scalable plans and business support for growing online stores.

I asked Shopify Sidekick for help getting started and it generated an SEO-optimised product page for me. Source: Startups.co.uk

How much does Shopify cost?

3. GoDaddy: from £7.99

GoDaddy

4.2

An easy-to-use website builder with great value plans.

• Free plan Yes
• Price from £7.99/month

• Great value for money
• Fastest way to create a website
• Very simple features

Summary GoDaddy is known for making it easy for small business owners with little or no website-building experience to start growing a business online. The builder’s simplicity makes it ideal for beginners, but the limited customisation options might frustrate those who are looking to get creative.

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Along with a free plan, GoDaddy allows you to build a website for less than £10, offering a cheaper solution than our other top-rated builders, including Wix and Squarespace. For businesses on a budget, GoDaddy is a great choice, but the builder lacks advanced features and scalability, so it won’t be the most suitable option for growing companies.

GoDaddy offers AI support and social media templates to help your business boost engagement. Source: Startups.co.uk

How much does GoDaddy cost?

4. Wix: from £8.10

Wix

4.9

Number one website builder for features, design, and support.

• Free plan Yes
• Price from £9/month

• Good balance of usability and complex features
• Customisable 'drag-and-drop' templates
• 24/7 customer support is available

Summary Wix has undoubtedly earned its place as our best website builder, offering an unparalleled list of features and wide-ranging payment options for small businesses. Because of this, Wix is an excellent choice for a variety of users, whether you’re new to website building or a seasoned expert looking for endless customisability.

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Wix is our top-rated website builder in 2026 overall because of its built-in functionality, AI tools, and 24/7 support, but its plans aren’t as cheap as Hostinger.

Like GoDaddy, Wix offers a free forever plan, so you don’t need to pay a penny to start building your site. From there, you can steadily upgrade with Wix’s premium plans, ranging from £9 to £119 per month (billed annually).

Wix’s AI assistant Aria automatically produced a template prompt based on the onboarding information I provided. Source: Startups.co.uk

How much does Wix cost?

5. Squarespace: from £10.80

Squarespace

4.6

Ideal for professional and creative businesses that appreciate affordable plans and an easy-to-use platform.

• Free trial 14-day
• Price from £12/month

• Over 150 stunning free templates
• Great value for money
• Use code 'SU10' to receive a 10% discount on all Squarespace plans

Summary Squarespace scores extremely highly in our testing, catering to creative professionals with its mobile-responsive templates and visual designs. In comparison with Wix and GoDaddy, Squarespace is the easiest website builder on the market, thanks to its intuitive drag-and-drop editor, though it lacks the creative freedom of Wix. Plus, Squarespace’s affordable plans make it an accessible option for small businesses.

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Rounding out our list of the best cheap website builders is Squarespace, with four paid plans ranging from £12 to £79 per month (billed annually).

Squarespace’s pricing is competitive, particularly because ecommerce is included with every plan. For online stores, Squarespace is a cheaper alternative than Wix or Shopify, where ecommerce plans start at £16 and £19 per month, respectively.

Squarespace’s Blueprint AI builder gave me various layouts, colours, and font types to choose from for a collaborative building process. Source: Startups.co.uk

How much does Squarespace cost?

How to choose a good cheap website builder

If your business is looking for a cheap website builder, follow these steps:

• Consider your budget – avoid stretching your budget to the limit by paying for an expensive plan you don’t need, and look for a plan that ticks all of your boxes
• Review subscription lengths – most website builders offer monthly or annual subscriptions (sometimes even longer!), and you’ll get the best value for your money if you opt for a longer term length
• Look out for renewal prices – Hostinger and GoDaddy increase their prices after the introductory deal ends (for example, Hostinger’s £2.99/month plan increases to £10.99/month)
• Use discount codes – we offer discount codes for Hostinger, Wix, and Squarespace, which can help to reduce your subscription cost

How we test cheap website builders

We analysed 12 top website builders to shape our 2026 recommendations for UK-based small businesses. This involved 300+ hours of data collection and 54 individual user tests.

Our methodology ensures each builder has been scored and rated in the same six core categories of investigation and 36 subcategories. Each category has a unique score and ‘relevance weighting’ to ensure the results reflect the most important needs of a modern business owner.

Our main testing categories for website builders and how we weighted them:

• Website functionality (25%): the capabilities of a builder beyond design, including SEO and marketing tools.
• User experience (25%): how user-friendly and intuitive a website builder is for people of all skills and experience levels.
• Design features (15%): the look and visual layout of a website created using the website builder, including themes, templates, and AI assistance.
• Help and support (15%): the assistance and resources available to users if they run into any issues.
• Pricing (15%): pricing plans, free trials, and the balance between the cost of a website builder and the features you get.
• Reputation (5%): a combination of competitive reviews, online and market analysis, and user feedback to determine the overall reputation of the builder.

To determine the best cheap website builders, we’ve looked at overall scores for each builder, starting prices, and introductory deals.

Our verdict: which is the cheapest website builder?

Hostinger is the cheapest website builder overall, offering the lowest introductory prices, from £2.99 per month (for a 48-month term). This locks in the cheap price for a fixed length of time, providing financial stability to new small businesses getting online.

That said, choose the platform with the right features, at the right cost, for your business. With some, like Hostinger, you’ll need to upgrade to unlock ecommerce features. With others, like Wix and GoDaddy, you can start building your site with its free plan before you commit to spending anything.