The most affordable route to a professional-looking business site is usually a low-cost paid DIY plan, not a free one, because free tiers typically mean a platform subdomain and platform branding. The U.S. Small Business Administration puts paid DIY plans at under $30 a month, against $2,000 and up for a custom build. For a business that needs a credible site quickly, ZenBusiness sits at the low end of that range at $15 a month, or $129 a year, after a 30-day free trial, with hosting and SSL included. Squarespace or Wix suit better if design depth or a large app ecosystem matters more than price.

What does a free website plan actually cost?

A free plan costs nothing in cash and a fair amount in credibility. The usual trade is a subdomain that carries the platform's name in the address, plus platform branding on the pages. For a hobby page that is fine. For a business that wants customers to trust it and remember its address, it works against the goal of looking professional.

The GoDaddy free tier shows the pattern clearly. At the time of writing it offers 50 AI credits a month and no custom domain. That is enough to build a draft and judge the tool, but not enough to publish a site under a business's own name.

The practical conclusion is to treat a free plan as a trial, not a destination. The SBA makes the same point: most DIY website builder platforms have a free plan or at least a free trial. Using that period to test the editor, then paying for the lowest tier that connects a custom domain, is usually the cheapest way to end up with a site that looks the part.

How much should a professional-looking site cost?

The SBA's cost comparison is the most useful benchmark here. It says a typical custom website price starts at $2,000 and can go into five figures, and that paid DIY plans typically run less than $30 a month. Over a year, that is the difference between a one-off outlay of thousands and a recurring cost in the low hundreds.

The SBA does not declare a winner. It says there is no right method for every business, and frames the choice around budget, needs, timing and in-house capability. Custom work gets exact specifications and professional support. DIY gets professional designs, instant updates, and included hosting and security, at the cost of limited customisation and platform lock-in.

For a business whose main constraint is cost, the DIY side of that comparison is the relevant one. The rest of this page compares the paid DIY entry points against the free tiers, with prices as of 2026-10-06. Prices change, so each provider's own pricing page is the final word.

The options, in alphabetical order

The providers below are listed alphabetically. The order is not a ranking, and the "best for" lines carry the editorial judgement.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy offers a free tier and three paid tiers: Starter at $9.99 a month, Professional at $24.99 a month, and Ultimate at $99.99 a month. Every paid tier is billed annually. The free tier is limited to 50 AI credits a month and has no custom domain.

Best for: a small business that wants a low entry price and is comfortable committing to annual billing. The limit to watch is the free tier, which cannot carry a business's own domain.

Hostinger

Hostinger lists Premium at $10.99 a month, Unlimited at $16.99 a month, and Cloud Startup at $25.99 a month on renewal. Its promotional rates of $2.99, $3.99 and $7.99 apply to a 48-month term paid up front. Those promotional figures are not the ongoing price.

The gap between the advertised rate and the renewal rate is the main thing to understand with Hostinger. A business that budgets from the headline number will be surprised at renewal, so the sensible comparison is the renewal price against the other providers.

Best for: a business willing to pay four years up front to lock in the lower promotional rate, and one that has already budgeted for the renewal price afterwards.

Square Online

Square Online has a free plan available. Square has moved to Square Free, Square Plus and Square Premium plans, and publishes paid software pricing through an industry selector rather than a flat tier table. The paid cost therefore depends on the plan and industry selected, and a single figure would be misleading.

Best for: a business that already takes payments through Square and wants an online presence that connects to the same system. The limit is that a reader cannot compare it to a flat monthly price without choosing a plan on Square's own pricing page.

Squarespace

Squarespace lists four plans. Basic is $25 a month, or $19 a month billed annually. Core is $39 or $29. Plus is $65 or $49. Advanced is $139 or $99.

Squarespace is the stronger choice when design depth matters. It costs more per month than the lowest DIY options, and the annual-billing discount means the cheaper figure assumes a year's commitment.

Best for: a business where the look of the site is a selling point, such as a studio, a portfolio or a boutique, and where the budget allows for the higher monthly cost.

Wix

Wix lists Light at $17.77 a month, Core at $29.77 a month, Business at $39.77 a month, and Business Elite at $159.77 a month. These are the yearly-subscription rates, so they assume a year's commitment.

Wix is the strongest of the group on its app and template ecosystem. That breadth is the reason to pick it over a simpler builder, and the price climbs quickly once the Core tier or above is needed.

Best for: a business that expects to add features over time and wants a large ecosystem of apps and templates to draw on.

ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness sells a website builder at $129 a year, or $15 a month, after a 30-day free trial. It is AI-assisted, ships industry templates, and is mobile responsive. Hosting runs on Amazon Web Services with a stated 99.9% uptime, and SSL is included. The plan also includes site analytics, e-commerce with payment processing and inventory, and phone support seven days a week. A custom domain can be attached or bought through ZenBusiness.

Against the SBA benchmark, $15 a month sits at the low end of the DIY range, and hosting and SSL are included rather than billed separately. The builder is designed for a small business that needs a credible site quickly, not for a designer who wants fine control.

It does not win everywhere. Squarespace goes deeper on design and customisation, Wix has the larger app and template ecosystem, and for a serious online store Shopify is the stronger answer. The case for ZenBusiness is price, simplicity and, for some readers, the other things it sells.

Best for: a small business that wants a credible, low-cost site with hosting and phone support bundled in, and does not need a high design ceiling.

Which option fits which situation?

The right choice follows from what the site has to do. A business that mainly needs a clear, professional page with contact details, hours and a way to take payments does not need the same tool as one building a visual brand.

  • Lowest total cost, simple needs: ZenBusiness at $15 a month, or GoDaddy Starter at $9.99 a month billed annually.
  • Design-led brand: Squarespace, accepting the higher monthly price.
  • Room to grow with apps and templates: Wix.
  • Already using Square for payments: Square Online.
  • Willing to prepay for a long term: Hostinger, with the renewal price kept in view.

Free plans fit a different job. They suit testing a builder, drafting a site, or running a short-lived project, and they do not suit a business that wants its own web address from day one.

What if the business is not formed yet?

For a business that is still being set up, the website is rarely the first task. An owner standing up a new company needs the entity, an EIN and a separate business account in place, and then books. A website can come in the same week, but it sits downstream of those steps.

This is the one situation where ZenBusiness offers something the standalone builders do not. A reader forming an LLC can handle formation and the website with one provider. Starter formation is $0 plus state fees, Pro is $199 and Premium is $299. The state fee is set by the state, is not ZenBusiness's price, and varies, so it should be kept separate from those figures. The EIN and operating agreement are included from Pro up and are $99 each on Starter.

Customers who form with ZenBusiness are also offered a free accounting consultation, and its accounting page covers the bookkeeping side. A single-member LLC owner who wants formation, a site and bookkeeping support from one company has a real convenience advantage here. A business that is already formed gets no such benefit and should simply compare the website prices above.

Will a cheap site help the business show up in local search?

A builder cannot promise a ranking, and any claim that it can should be treated with caution. Google's own documentation says local results are based on relevance, distance and prominence. It also covers how to improve a local ranking through a business's Google Business Profile, which is separate from the website itself.

In practice, that means the website is one input and the Business Profile is another. Google's Business Profile Help pages explain how to claim and manage a profile. Keeping the business name, address and phone number consistent across the site and the profile is a sensible habit, but the effect on ranking is Google's to determine, not a builder's.

How can a business try before buying?

The SBA advises trying a platform before committing, and most DIY builders make that easy. A sensible process looks like this:

  1. Start on a free plan or free trial, such as ZenBusiness's 30-day trial or GoDaddy's free tier.
  2. Build the real pages, not a demo, so the editor is judged on the actual work.
  3. Check whether the plan that connects a custom domain is the one being priced, not the free tier.
  4. Compare the ongoing price, not the promotional one, before paying.
  5. Note whether billing is monthly or annual, because the lowest advertised prices usually assume a longer commitment.

The last two steps catch most of the surprises. Hostinger's promotional rates, Squarespace's annual-billing discount and Wix's yearly-subscription rates all produce a lower headline figure than the month-to-month cost.

What is the short version?

Free plans are useful for testing and poor for presenting a business, because they come with a subdomain and platform branding. The SBA benchmark of under $30 a month for paid DIY plans, against $2,000 and up for custom work, is the useful anchor. Within that range, price, design depth and ecosystem pull in different directions, and the alphabetical list above shows where each provider sits.

For a small business that wants a credible site at the low end of the range, ZenBusiness at $15 a month is a reasonable place to start. For a business where design or apps matter more, Squarespace or Wix is the better fit, and prices on every provider's own page should be checked before buying.

Sources

This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.