Written by: Toby Sembower
Edited by: Lillian Castro
Contrary to what you may think, the best website makers are not, in fact, wizards hidden away, toiling over a bubbling cauldron. Creating a new website is not sorcery or magic, and it doesn’t have to include the stress and headaches of manual coding.
Whether you are interested in launching an online store, need a new look for your professional site, or just want to do some blogging about your cat, you should know that designing a website doesn’t have to be hard.
And it doesn’t have to be expensive, either. Today, a number of hosting providers offer free website makers with free domain names, making it easier and more affordable than ever to build and maintain your online presence.
2023‘s Best “Website Builder” Hosting Services
Many web hosts (wait – what the heck is a web host?) include website makers, more commonly known as website builders, that allow you to drag and drop elements to build your site and set up an ecommerce store in minutes.
In addition to the extremely simple and intuitive design tools, these hosts will often include a free domain name and include all the features needed for your site for an extremely low monthly rate. It is incredible how much today’s hosts can provide for very little charge.
We know hosting, and these hosts listed below know how to make hosting, designing, and launching a website easy and affordable — even for first-timers.
What these hosts all have in common is they offer some of the most intuitive, sleek, and easy-to-learn site-building tools you’ll find out there. Best of all, the vast majority of our top website building hosts will include a domain name registration (or existing site transfer) absolutely free.
1. Wix.com
Monthly Starting Price $0.00
- No coding skills needed with drag-and-drop builder
- 100s of templates with niche-specific designs
- Add features via the App Market and Wix Events
- Easily create ecommerce functionality easily
- Great way to build small sites on a budget
- Get started on Wix now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Website building is where Wix shines. The thousands of templates, the intuitive editor, the industry-leading designs that cater to a variety of specific fields and use cases — all these facets represent a platform that excels at facilitating easy web design for the non-tech-savvy user. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14-day FREE trial | 2 GB - Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
2. IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- No coding skills necessary with MyWebsite Creator
- Free domain name or transfer your existing site
- FREE social media and marketing widgets
- Pro templates with pre-filled text and images
- Multilingual support and tools for SEO
- Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
If you're in need of a one-stop shop for designing and launching a website, you should be pleased to hear that 1&1 IONOS offers its own custom website building tools for both desktop and mobile devices. In addition to a free domain and email address, along with unlimited storage space, the 1&1 IONOS MyWebsite platform includes all the essentials for starting a site from scratch. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB - Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
3. Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.99
- Drag-and-drop design from custom tools
- FREE access to hundreds of specialized templates
- Built-in ecommerce and payment processing
- Easily switch among widescreen, desktop, tablet, and mobile previews
- Support for 31 languages and 99.9% uptime
- Get started on Hostinger now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Whether you're taking your first foray into website hosting or are a developer looking to save some time, a strong website builder can dramatically streamline the creation process and enable users to launch a website in five minutes or less. Fortunately for customers, Hostinger has invested heavily in crafting an impressive visual editor sure to appeal to users of all levels of experience. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 30 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
4. HostGator.com
Monthly Starting Price $3.46
- Drag-and-drop design with the Gator™ site builder
- Hundreds of mobile-friendly templates
- FREE hosting, domain name, and SSL certificate
- Easily add a blog, store, and social media
- Analytics portal helps gauge site performance
- Get started on HostGator now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Setting itself apart from the scores of competitors that rely on white-labeled website builder solutions, HostGator spent the time to painstakingly craft its own platform. Gator provides a frustration-free experience that pairs the simplicity of drag-and-drop design with the company’s powerful and respected web hosting services. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
5. Bluehost.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.95
- FREE website builder (powered by WordPress)
- Custom themes and easy integration with ecommerce tools
- Expert support 24/7 via live chat, phone, and email
- Longest-running WordPress.org recommendation
- Pro services to design, build, and market your site
- Get started on Bluehost now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
With Bluehost, new site owners have the drag-and-drop simplicity of the WordPress website builder at their fingertips. This makes launching a new online brand, store, or personal site from scratch relatively painless. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
2023‘s Best Hosting With Free Domains
Just like website builders include the hosting and domain for free, many of the world’s best hosting providers also include a website builder and free domain registration.
Your domain is the first thing people will notice about your website, so be sure to find a URL that is short, descriptive, and easy to remember. If you need some help brainstorming, check out some domain name generators.
Domains are reserved on a year-to-year basis, but the hosts we list below will cover your costs for the first year. If your site doesn’t take off, no harm, no foul. But be ready to contribute an extra $10 to $15 when you renew your plan if you’d like to keep your site up and running. Take a look at our top picks for affordable web hosting, intuitive site builders, and awesome domain tools.
6. IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- Register domains for $1 (or FREE with hosting)
- FREE domain privacy to protect your information
- Easy setup with domain lock and 2GB email inbox
- 99.9% uptime, plus daily backups and recovery
- FREE SSL certificate for safer data transfers
- Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
DOMAIN
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
While many popular hosts reserve free domain registrations for its higher-tie plans, 1&1 IONOS gives every customer the perk — along with free domain privacy, email inbox, and SSL certificate. Trust your site with a company that hosts more than 12 million domains on its platform. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB - Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
7. Bluehost.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.95
- FREE domain registration and site-building tools
- Unlimited domains, emails, and bandwidth
- Up to $200 in offers with Google, Bing, and Yahoo!
- Top-ranked WordPress host with tons of perks
- 24/7 customer support and online tutorials
- Get started on Bluehost now.
DOMAIN
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Bluehost offers all the freebies you need to get started with domain hosting. The company includes a free domain or transfer, plus unlimited bandwidth and storage. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
8. Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.99
- Lowest domain prices in the industry
- FREE registration on most plans
- Host up to 100 domains on most plans
- Domain privacy protection safeguards your info
- 99.9% uptime guarantee and automatic backups
- Get started on Hostinger now.
DOMAIN
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Don’t be turned off by Hostinger’s remarkably low prices. The company’s insanely low pricing model extends to domain name services, as well as its premium support and impressive list of features. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 50 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
See other top hosts with free domains »
Some Other Perks You’ll Enjoy
In addition to a free website maker and free domain name, these web hosts have outdone themselves with extra add-ons. Some of the freebies you’ll find include:
- Unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts
- Thousands of pre-made, professional-looking, and customizable site design templates
- Up to $250 in free advertising credits to help your new site gain exposure to search engines
- Friendly and knowledgeable customer support ready to help 24/7, should you get into a panic (Remember: breathe.)
If you’re looking for the best free website builder, be sure to consider the additional free stuff!
Ready, Set, Go Build Your Dream Website!
You now know everything you need to know to get a website made with confidence — the beauty there being that you don’t actually have to know anything. These days, building a website can be done with zero programming knowledge or coding experience. So what are you waiting for?!
Start Building Your Website Now
Still stuck? Not enjoying your website builder experience? Consider switching to WordPress hosting, which leverages the world’s most popular content management system. The interface isn’t quite as intuitive as other site makers we’ve featured, but you’ll catch on quickly. Even better, take a look at BoldGrid, an interesting website builder created just for WordPress — the best of both worlds!
See Our Full Review of Wix
Whatever type of hosting plan you’re looking for, Wix is a solid choice no matter the scale. Our reviewer Alexandra Anderson recently took Wix for a spin, and rated the popular host a 4.9 in the Website Builder Hosting category out of a perfect score of 5.0. Here’s what Alexandra had to say about Wix:
Wix offers one of the quickest and easiest means of getting a website online — free of charge to start. They’ve got a robust feature set that is growing every day as Wix leads in the browser-based web builder niche. While the support is subpar compared to that of the top hosts’ web builders, the customization and ever-growing list of templates is hard to beat.
Before signing up for Wix, it’s a good idea to read through Alexandra‘s full review to learn about all the features Wix offers. You can also compare it to other web hosts to ensure you’re getting the best deal possible:
If you decide Wix is the right choice, keep in mind that it takes just minutes to deploy your Wix server space. And at $0.00 per month, it’s a bargain considering the many great features that come in any Wix plan.
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