If you’re an affiliate marketer or a small business owner, you no doubt have many ways to advertise the products and services you’re selling (or marketing). You probably have a blog, a YouTube channel, multiple social media platforms, etc. However, another great way to improve your brand reputation and market your products is through your website. If you don’t have a website (even if you’re doing well with your other platforms), you should think about making one right away!
Now, I can hear you yelling at your screen, ‘But website building is complicated! You need to be a computer genius, or at least have a lot of money burning a hole in your pocket.’ What if I told you that you don’t have to be Bill Gates – you don’t have to have that coding knowledge and vast sums of money to spend on a website? What if I told you that you can create a website for free?
Yes, that’s right; ‘for free’, using one of the many website builders out there. Gone are the days when you had to be dependent on a development team to create a basic website for you. If you are a complete noob to computers, coding, and website development than these free and easy website builders help you create a fully functioning website, and that too, for absolutely nothing.
Should I Build A Website For Free?
Before you get into creating a website using a free website editor, you need to consider your circumstances first. What do we mean by that? Let’s look at a few scenarios.
You should create a website using a free website builder/free website editor if:
- You’re just getting into affiliate marketing and want a good-looking, but simple website to market your affiliate partner’s products
- You’re a small business owner and you’re trying to build your brand’s reputation
You shouldn’t create a website using a free website builder/ freer website editor if:
- You’re a well-established business with thousands of customers a month
- You’re an established affiliate marketer and make a lot of money from platforms like YouTube, Facebook etc.
- You want access to comprehensive eCommerce features
If you happen to lie in the latter category then you need to hire an experienced and trustworthy web design and development service to help you build and maintain a stunning website that reflects your status in the niche you operate in. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team to request a free proposal!
Now we have that out of the way, let’s find out what is the best free website builder in the market, today.
Wix
Boasting a 110 million strong user base, Wix is oft- considered THE free and easy website builder, for the uninitiated in website design and development. Wix offers two plans – the free plan and the paid plan. The paid plan gives you complete access to every tool that Wix has to offer. However, the free plan is nothing to scoff at, either. With a whole host of tools and templates, you can build a website without ever having to reach into your pockets. No wonder, it is touted as the best free website builder in the market to date. But let’s see how we found it to be:
What We Like:
- Extremely easy to use with its intuitive smart assistant; the WIx ADI , which automatically connects to your social media and senses the design and layout that would appeal to your target audience
- Hundreds of aesthetically pleasing and industry inclusive templates and themes that are extremely easy to use, and change
- A brilliant and well stocked app market with easy to integrate plug-ins and extensions
- Automatic site backup which you can easily restore any time
What We Don’t Like:
- No Access to Google Analytics on the free plan
- Increased load time depending on the complexity of your website
- An ever-present ad placed on your website page unless you move to the paid version
Our Overall Rating:
4.5/5
Should I Build My Website With WordPress?
WordPress is the granddaddy of them all when it comes to website builders. With plenty of themes, plug-ins, as well as unlimited customization options, WordPress is the biggest site builder out there. It should be noted here that when we talk about WordPress, we’re talking about the website builder and not the variant that most bloggers use.
But when it comes to rivaling it out for the title of best free and easy website builder of 2020, does WordPress surpass Wix? Like Wix, WordPress offers users a drag-and-drop editor that they can use to create stunning websites. It also gives them access to tons of professionally designed templates to give their websites the edge over the competition.
Plug-ins are another area where WordPress really gets to strut its stuff. These plug-ins allow you to add more functionality to your website. If there’s a certain feature that you want to add to your website, but can’t find a template that offers it, you can just get a plug-in for it. However, this isn’t always easy, as there are limited plug-ins, which means that you might not find one that gives you the level of functionality that you’re looking for. So, is WordPress best free website builder 2020?
What We Like:
- Access to hundreds of professionally designed themes and templates
- A powerful and easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor
- Plug-ins that add more functionality and features to a website
What We Don’t Like:
- While it gives users a powerful website editor to work with, WordPress requires a fair bit of technical knowledge
- On its free plan, WordPress assigns domain names to you and honestly, they are not that attractive.
- WordPress will randomly display ads on your website – you can’t control where these ads are placed
- Most of the advanced features that WordPress has to offer are only available through its paid plans.
It is not the best when it comes to offering SEO features on the free plan.
Our Overall Rating:
4/5
Should I Build My Website With Webnode?
Webnode markets itself as a great website builder for beginners. However, if you use the platform, you’ll realize fairly quickly that it is far from the free and easy website builder, it advertises itself to be. The drag-and-drop editor isn’t the easiest to use and seems a bit cluttered, which obviously means that changing parts of your website will be a challenge.
Along with this, the free version is sorely lacking in features. These features are more geared toward getting you familiar with the website builder rather than giving you the tools to create a fully functional website.
As is clearly obvious, Webnode did not make it intot the running for best free website builder 2020 ,but that being said, Webnode does have its gems. Such as, offering users free hosting, and excellent technical support. It also allows users to edit the HTML code of their website for more intricate customization.
What We Like:
- A good collection of templates and themes (all for free!)
- Users can edit the HTML code of their website
- Create websites in more than 20 languages
- The mobile versions of websites are good-looking and responsive
What We Don’t Like:
- The free version of Webnode sorely lacks a lot of features
- The editor’s interface is quite cluttered, which makes it difficult to edit elements of the website
- Limited ecommerce features
- Very basic blog
- No app store or app market for site widgets or extensions
Our Overall Rating:
3.5/5
Should I Build My Website With Site123?
Site123 has plenty of features that make website-building easy and straightforward.The site123 builder has plenty of themes that you can work with to create a stunning website. You can make changes to the website through the layout panel on the left, and then view these changes in real-time.
Along with this, the website builder also gives you access to plug-ins to really enhance the functionality of your website. You also get basic analytics indicators as well as LiveChat support to improve your site’s responsiveness. Although, its ease of use helps Site123 gain popularity as a good website builder for novices,it still lacks in features that Wix very easily provides.
What We Like:
- Incredibly flexible and easy to use
- Plenty of themes and templates to choose from
- Site123 offers domain registration and web hosting services
- Access to a whole host of third-party services
What We Don’t Like:
- Even though you have access to plenty of templates, they look somewhat similar, limiting your overall choices
- Instead of the traditional “.com” extension, Site123 domain names end in “.me”
- A small banner ad is visible at the bottom of the webpage
Our Overall Rating:
3.3/5
The Results Are In
Although the other free website builders mentioned in this blog post are good in their own right, if you are a novice to computers and web development with no cash to spare, then Wix should be your go-to website builder, and is our clear winner .With a plethora of templates and themes to choose from, an easy-to-use website editor, and the flexibility to create a classy-looking website that represents your business, Wix establishes itself as the king of the free website builders.
So, what are you waiting for? You want to design a stunning website, right? Then get onto Wix’s site and get started!
Notable Mentions
Google searches like, how to create a website for free? can I create a website for free ? what do I need to create a free website? are common for website building novices and small business owners. Catering to this niche of users, our ranking criteria focused more on website editors that are easy and free to use. However, there are several other website builders out there that surpass our expectations, but would be better suited for users that are more tech-savvy,and who have money to spare. Of these, notable mentions include:
- GoDaddy
- Weebly
- Jimdo
