Picking a website builder because it's the cheapest on a comparison list is a bit like choosing a van because it has the lowest sticker price, then discovering the insurance, fuel, and repairs cost three times as much. The cheapest website builder UK businesses should actually use is the one that costs least over a full year, not just the one with the flashiest headline price. This guide cuts through the noise and gives you real numbers, real trade-offs, and a clear answer.
Cheapest Website Builders in the UK: 2024 Comparison
There are dozens of website builders competing for your money right now. Most of them are fine. Some are brilliant for specific use cases. A handful are, frankly, a bit rubbish once you get past the marketing. Below is a straightforward comparison of the main options UK users are actually choosing in 2024, with pricing in GBP and notes on what each plan actually includes.
| Builder | Cheapest Paid Plan (per month) | Free Plan? | Domain Included? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | From £2.49 (billed annually) | No | Yes, first year | Budget-conscious small businesses |
| Wix | From £8.50 (Light plan) | Yes (with ads) | Yes, first year on paid | Flexibility and design freedom |
| Squarespace | From £11 (Personal plan) | No (14-day trial) | Yes, first year | Design-led businesses and portfolios |
| Weebly | From £5 (Personal plan) | Yes (with ads) | Yes, first year on paid | Very simple brochure sites |
| Google Sites | Free | Yes | No (uses Google subdomain) | Internal pages, basic info sites |
| IONOS | From £1 (introductory, then £5) | No | Yes, included | Absolute beginners on a tight budget |
A quick note on VAT: most of these builders charge UK customers including VAT, so the price you see is typically the price you pay. Always check the checkout screen before committing. Squarespace in particular has been known to show pre-VAT pricing on some comparison pages, which catches people out.
Hostinger is genuinely the cheapest website builder UK users can access for a proper paid plan. But cheapest does not always mean best. Let's look at what you actually get.
Free Website Builders vs Paid Plans: What UK Users Actually Get
Free plans exist. And some of them are surprisingly capable. But there's always a catch, and usually more than one.
Wix's free plan, for example, gives you access to the full drag-and-drop editor and hundreds of templates. That's decent. But your site will live on a subdomain like yourname.wixsite.com, it will show Wix adverts to every visitor, and you can't connect a custom domain. For a personal project or a quick prototype, fine. For a business that wants to look credible? Not ideal.
Google Sites is a different beast. It's completely free, genuinely so, with no adverts and no hidden upsells. But it's also very basic. You're not going to build anything that wows a client or ranks well in Google search with Google Sites. It's more of an internal tool that happened to go public.
Paid plans unlock custom domains, remove adverts, and typically add features like contact forms, basic SEO controls, and in some cases ecommerce. The jump from free to the cheapest paid tier is usually the most valuable upgrade you'll make. After that, each tier adds progressively niche features that not every business needs.
For a deeper look at the free options specifically, our guide on free website builder options for small businesses covers the trade-offs in more detail.
Best Budget Website Builders Under £5 Per Month
If you want a proper website, with a custom domain, no adverts, and enough features to run a small business, you can absolutely do it for under £5 per month. Here's what that looks like in practice.
Hostinger Website Builder
Hostinger's entry plan comes in at around £2.49 per month when billed annually. That's about £30 for the year, and it includes a free domain for the first year, SSL certificate, and AI-assisted design tools. The template library is decent, though not as extensive as Wix. It's a proper no-nonsense option for anyone who just needs a clean, functional site up and running fast.
IONOS Website Builder
IONOS runs introductory offers that can get you started for £1 per month, though this typically jumps to around £5 after the first year. It includes a domain and email address, which is a genuinely useful bundle for new businesses. The editor is a bit clunky compared to Wix or Squarespace, but it gets the job done. Worth considering if you're in the first six months of trading and every pound counts.
Weebly Personal Plan
Weebly sits around £5 per month and is one of the simpler builders to use. It's owned by Square now, which means the ecommerce integration is solid if you want to sell a few products. The design flexibility is limited compared to Wix, but if you just need a clean brochure site with a contact form and maybe a small shop, Weebly delivers without much fuss.
Website Builder Costs Explained: What You Actually Pay
Here's where people consistently get caught out. The monthly plan price is just one part of the total cost. Understanding the full picture before you sign up will save you a nasty surprise at renewal time.
A realistic annual cost breakdown for a small business website looks something like this:
- Builder plan: £30 to £150 per year depending on the platform and tier
- Custom domain: £10 to £15 per year after the free first year
- SSL certificate: Usually included, but worth checking
- Premium templates: £0 to £50 one-off if you want a premium design
- Third-party apps or plugins: £0 to £100+ per year depending on what you add
- Email hosting: Often sold separately, around £3 to £5 per month per inbox
So a site that looks like it costs £30 per year can easily end up costing £150 to £200 once you add a domain, email, and one or two useful apps. That's still genuinely affordable, but it's worth knowing before you budget.
For a more complete picture of what a small business site typically costs in the UK, our breakdown of what small business websites actually cost in the UK goes into the full numbers including professional design options.
Wix vs Squarespace vs Weebly: Cheapest Options for UK Businesses
These three dominate the conversation when people search for the cheapest website builder UK options. They're all capable. But they suit different people.
Wix
Wix is the most flexible of the three. The drag-and-drop editor lets you place elements anywhere on the page, which is either brilliant or a recipe for a chaotic layout depending on your design instincts. The template library has over 800 options. The Light plan (cheapest paid) starts around £8.50 per month and removes ads, adds a custom domain, and gives you 2GB of storage. It's not the absolute cheapest, but it's the most capable at the entry level.
One thing that trips people up with Wix: once you choose a template, you can't switch to a different one without rebuilding your site from scratch. I've had clients come to me in a panic because they'd spent weeks on a Wix site, decided they hated the layout, and discovered there was no easy fix. Anyway, it's a known limitation and worth knowing upfront.
Squarespace
Squarespace is the design-focused option. The templates are genuinely beautiful, and the editor keeps things clean and consistent in a way that Wix doesn't always manage. The cheapest plan is around £11 per month, which makes it pricier than the others. But if your business sells on aesthetics, a photography studio, a florist, a boutique, the quality of the presentation might justify the extra cost.
Squarespace's SEO tools are adequate but not outstanding. If search visibility is a priority, you'll want to read up on SEO basics for small businesses to make the most of whatever builder you choose.
Weebly
Weebly is the simplest of the three and the most affordable at scale. It's not going to win any design awards, but it's reliable, easy to use, and the ecommerce integration through Square is genuinely useful for small shops. If you're not fussed about design flexibility and just want something that works without a learning curve, Weebly is a solid pick.
| Feature | Wix (Light) | Squarespace (Personal) | Weebly (Personal) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (annual billing) | ~£8.50 | ~£11 | ~£5 |
| Free domain (year 1) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Storage | 2GB | Unlimited | 500MB |
| Ecommerce | No (needs upgrade) | No (needs upgrade) | Basic (free plan) |
| Design flexibility | High | Medium | Low |
| Ease of use | Medium | Medium | High |
How to Build a Website for Under £100 Per Year
It's absolutely doable. Here's a realistic path to a proper small business website for under £100 per year in the UK.
- Choose Hostinger or Weebly on an annual plan: roughly £30 to £60 for the year.
- Register your domain through the builder (usually free in year one, £10 to £15 from year two).
- Use a free template rather than paying for a premium one. Most builders have excellent free options.
- Skip the premium apps until you know you need them. Start lean.
- Use a free email service like Google Workspace's free tier or a forwarding address initially.
Total year one cost: around £30 to £60. Year two onwards: around £50 to £80 once the domain renewal kicks in. That's a legitimate business website for under £100 per year. Proper.
If you want a walkthrough of the actual building process, our guide on how to build a website for your small business covers the steps in plain English.
Hidden Costs in Website Builders: What to Watch Out For
This is the section that saves people money. The headline price is rarely the full story.
Domain renewal
Almost every builder offers a free domain in year one on paid annual plans. What they don't shout about is the renewal price. A .co.uk domain typically renews at £10 to £15 per year. A .com can be £12 to £20. Not a disaster, but it's a cost that catches people off guard when they get the renewal email.
Email hosting
Most website builders do not include professional email hosting (like name@yourbusiness.co.uk) in their standard plans. You'll usually need to add Google Workspace (from around £4.60 per user per month) or Microsoft 365 separately. Some builders like IONOS do bundle a basic email address, which is one reason they're worth considering for very budget-conscious users.
Ecommerce fees
If you want to sell products, almost every builder requires an upgrade to a higher plan. Wix's ecommerce plans start around £15 per month. Squarespace's Commerce plans start around £20 per month. Weebly is an exception, offering basic ecommerce on cheaper plans, but with transaction fees on the lower tiers. Our guide on ecommerce basics for small businesses explains what you actually need before you start paying for ecommerce features.
App and plugin costs
Wix has an app market with hundreds of add-ons. Many are free. Many are not. It's very easy to add a booking tool, a live chat widget, and a pop-up builder and suddenly find yourself paying an extra £20 to £30 per month in app subscriptions on top of your plan. Check the app pricing before you install anything.
Price increases at renewal
Several builders offer steep introductory discounts that expire after year one. IONOS is a notable example, with some plans going from £1 per month to £5 or more at renewal. Always check the renewal price, not just the sign-up price, before committing.
DIY Website Building vs Hiring a Designer: The Real Cost Analysis
Here's the question that sits underneath most searches for the cheapest website builder UK: is DIY actually worth it, or should you just pay someone?
The honest answer is: it depends on what you need the site to do.
A DIY site on Hostinger or Wix costs £30 to £100 per year. A professionally designed website from a UK agency or freelancer typically costs £800 to £3,000 upfront, plus ongoing hosting and maintenance. On paper, DIY wins easily.
But here's the thing: a website isn't just a brochure. It's a sales tool. A site that converts 3% of visitors into enquiries is worth dramatically more than one that converts 0.5%, even if the cheap one cost £50 and the good one cost £2,000. That's not a hypothetical. We've seen it play out with real businesses.
I worked with a local trades business a couple of years back (won't name them, obviously) who'd spent three years on a Wix site they'd built themselves. It looked fine. But it loaded slowly on mobile, the contact form was buried, and the copy was basically a list of services with no reason to choose them over anyone else. We rebuilt it properly. Within six months, their enquiry rate had more than doubled. The site paid for itself in the first quarter.
That's not an argument against DIY builders. It's an argument for being honest about what you need. If you're a sole trader who needs a simple online presence, a £50 per year Wix site is genuinely good enough. If you need a site that actively wins you business, the calculus changes.
For a broader look at what separates websites that convert from ones that don't, our guide on what makes a small business website convert is worth a read before you decide either way.
The cheapest website builder UK businesses should use is the one that costs least relative to the revenue it helps generate, not the one with the lowest monthly fee.
When DIY makes sense
- You're just starting out and testing whether a website is worth investing in.
- Your site is primarily informational, a portfolio, a simple services page, or a blog.
- You have the time and patience to learn the tool properly.
- Your budget genuinely doesn't stretch to professional design right now.
When professional design makes sense
- Your website is your primary sales channel and needs to convert visitors reliably.
- You're in a competitive market where design quality signals trust.
- You don't have the time to build and maintain a site yourself.
- You need custom functionality that builders can't provide out of the box.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest website builder available in the UK?
Hostinger is currently one of the cheapest website builders in the UK, with paid plans starting around £2.49 per month when billed annually. Free tiers from Wix and Weebly exist, but they come with adverts and branded subdomains, which is not ideal for a business. If you want a clean, professional result for the lowest ongoing cost, Hostinger or Google Sites (genuinely free) are the strongest options depending on your needs.
Can you build a professional website for free in the UK?
You can build something that looks professional for free using tools like Google Sites or Wix's free plan, but there are real limitations. Free plans typically force a branded subdomain, show adverts, and restrict features like custom email or ecommerce. For a business that wants to be taken seriously, a paid plan starting from around £3 to £5 per month is a much better investment.
How much does it really cost to build a website in the UK including domain and hosting?
Using a website builder, your realistic annual cost is between £50 and £200 per year once you factor in the plan, a custom domain (typically £10 to £15 per year), and any premium add-ons. Some builders bundle the domain in the first year, which saves money upfront. Costs rise sharply if you need ecommerce features or advanced SEO tools, which can push you towards £20 to £30 per month on higher-tier plans.
What is the cheapest website builder for small UK businesses?
The cheapest website builder UK small businesses tend to get real value from is Hostinger Website Builder, closely followed by Wix's entry-level paid plan. Both offer a custom domain, no adverts, and enough features to run a small business website for under £5 per month. The right choice depends on whether you need ecommerce, booking tools, or just a simple brochure site.
Are cheap website builders worth using or should you hire a designer?
Cheap website builders are absolutely worth using if your needs are modest, your budget is tight, and you have the time to learn the tool. But they have a ceiling. If you need a site that converts visitors into customers, loads quickly, and ranks well in search, a professionally designed website often pays for itself faster than people expect. The DIY route saves money upfront but can cost more in lost opportunities down the line.
Do I need to pay for a domain name separately when using a cheap website builder?
It depends on the builder and the plan. Many builders, including Wix, Squarespace, and Hostinger, include a free domain for the first year on paid annual plans. After that first year, you'll typically pay £10 to £15 per year to renew it. If you're on a free plan, you won't get a custom domain at all and will be stuck with a branded subdomain instead.
Which cheap website builder has the best value for money in the UK?
Hostinger Website Builder offers the best value for money as the cheapest website builder UK users can rely on for a proper business site. It combines very low monthly costs with a decent template library, AI-assisted design tools, and ecommerce on higher plans. Wix is a close second for flexibility, though its pricing rises quickly once you move beyond the entry tier.
If you've read this far and you're starting to wonder whether a DIY builder is actually going to cut it for your business, that instinct is probably worth listening to. Our web design service is built for small UK businesses that need a site that does more than just exist online. Have a look and see if it's the right fit.
