Everyone quotes the teaser price. Almost nobody quotes the renewal — which is where the cheapest-looking builders quietly triple. We reranked the field on real total cost over three years, not the number in the ad, and weighted the true-free tiers that actually let you launch. The headline: Hostinger is the cheapest builder that stays cheap only if you lock a long term, WordPress.com and Wix are the honest free options, and the platforms selling you a $2.99 sticker are counting on you not reading the renewal line. We name the bait-and-switch on each.
We scored the same five criteria as our main website-builder ranking, then reweighted hard for buyers whose deciding factor is cost. Real total cost over three years — including the renewal jump — takes 35%, because the introductory price is marketing, not your bill. A usable true-free or entry tier earns 25%. Builder quality at the cheapest paid tier is 20%, pricing honesty (published renewals, no surprise fees) 12%, and scaling without a price cliff 8%. A $2.99 sticker that renews at $11 does not beat an honest $4. See the full rubric →
Real 3-year total cost35%
Usable free / entry tier25%
Builder quality at low tier20%
Pricing honesty (renewals, fees)12%
Scales without a price cliff8%
01
RANK
★ Editor’s Choice
Hostinger
Cheapest — if you lock a term
Hostinger is the cheapest way to get a real, hosted site online — provided you understand the trick. The $2.99 headline requires a long multi-year commit paid upfront, and it renews at a materially higher rate. Take that deal with eyes open and nobody beats the three-year math: builder, hosting and domain in one bill. Treat the sticker as a promo, not your forever price, and it earns the crown. Pay monthly or expect the intro rate to hold, and the advantage evaporates.
This is the one I recommend to most budget buyers, because there is no teaser game. The free tier is genuinely usable for a simple site, Personal is a flat, honest $4 a month, and the price you see is roughly the price you keep. You trade some polish and the plugin directory (that needs Business at $25) for pricing you can trust. For a cheap site that will not ambush you at renewal, WordPress.com is the rational default — cheaper in truth than the builders with lower stickers.
Wix is the only mainstream builder with a true free-forever plan — no trial clock — and for a hobby page that is unbeatable value at exactly zero. The catch is Wix branding and a Wix subdomain until you pay, and the jump to remove them is steep: Light at $17 is pricier than rivals' entry tiers. So Wix is brilliant if free is genuinely enough, and mediocre value the moment you need a custom domain. Use the free tier deliberately; do not sleepwalk into the $17 upgrade assuming it is cheap.
GoDaddy's builder is fast and the entry price of $9.99 looks friendly, but this is the category's least transparent renewal picture — promo rates that climb and are not clearly published up front. The builder itself is competent and quick for a brochure site. It lands mid-pack purely on cost honesty: you cannot reliably predict year-two, and for a page you buy on price, unpredictability is a defect. Fine short-term; risky as a long hold.
Framer's free tier is legitimately good for a one-page site on a framer.website domain, and for a designer that is real value. But the cheap story ends at the custom domain: Basic is $10 and the useful CMS tier is $30, so once you outgrow the free page the cost climbs faster than the builders above it. It is a design tool priced like one. Cheap to start, not cheap to run — rank it here for exactly that.
Squarespace is not a cheap builder and does not pretend to be — no free tier, entry at $16. It earns its place on this list only on one axis: honesty. The published price is close to the price you keep, with none of the renewal whiplash below it. If your real question is 'lowest trustworthy cost for a polished site,' Squarespace is defensible. If it is 'lowest number full stop,' it loses to everything above. Buy it for value, not for cheap.
Here is the contrarian shot: Shopify keeps turning up on 'cheap builder' lists and it does not belong on one. Basic is $29 before you sell a thing, and unless you use Shopify Payments you pay transaction fees on every order on top. It is superb commerce software and a terrible answer to 'I want a cheap website.' If you are not running a real store, paying Shopify to host a brochure site is the most expensive mistake on this page. Named here so you skip it.
On committed three-year cost, Hostinger — its plans start near $2.99 a month if you pay for a long term upfront. But that is a promotional rate that renews higher, so the honest cheapest for most people is WordPress.com, whose free tier is usable and whose $4 Personal plan does not spike at renewal. 'Cheapest' depends on whether you mean the launch sticker or the price you actually keep.
Is there a truly free website builder?+
Yes. Wix has a real free-forever plan (with Wix branding and a Wix subdomain), and WordPress.com's free tier is usable for a simple site. Framer's free tier is good for a single page. The catch is always branding, a subdomain, or missing features — you upgrade to remove them. Free is real; 'free with a custom domain' generally is not.
What is the bait-and-switch to watch for?+
Introductory pricing that renews at 2–4× the sticker. Builders that bundle hosting advertise a low monthly rate that requires a multi-year prepayment and then renews far higher — the second-term bill is the real cost. Always find the published renewal rate before you buy, and price the second term, not the first.
Why is Shopify ranked last on a cheapest list?+
Because it is not a cheap website builder — it is commerce software that starts at $29 a month and adds transaction fees unless you use its own payments. For anyone who is not running an actual store, it is the most expensive way to put up a simple site. It lands on this page only to warn you off it.