how-to
Web designers and developers get paid a lot. Some agencies won’t even listen to your website ideas unless the project is worth thousands of dollars.
While it might save you a few headaches to outsource your website to someone else, don’t break your budget by hiring a designer or developer for something you can actually do on your own.
That’s right, building your own website isn’t a scary, insurmountable task. Many web hosting plans offer very intuitive programs that help you create the website you’ve always wanted. Even better, they are extremely affordable. Read on to learn how you can get a top-quality website for as little as $2 to $10 per month, as well as a list of the companies that provide the tools that will help you.
Average Cost of Building a Website
Without a trusted hosting company and site builder in your corner, the cost of making a website can soar. Freelance designers typically charge $50 to $100 an hour to make a custom website. Adding the specific features you need, such as a shopping cart or PayPal, can multiply your costs dramatically. However, we’ve found the do-it-yourself website builders many premier web hosts offer are more than up for the task of creating a stunning site for a fraction of the cost.
Low-Cost Website Builder Plans
Some of our favorite hosts created their own site builder tools to help you make exactly the site you want for between $2 and $10 per month — without any coding or programming expertise.
Wix.com
- 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.
Wix: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Website Builder Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 days | 500 MB - 20 GB | Transfer | www.wix.com/site-builder |
iPage.com
- Choice of Weebly or WebsiteBuilder by iPage
- Mobile-optimized options and easy-to-use setup wizards
- 100s of professionally designed, customizable themes
- FREE online store, shopping cart, and blogging platform
- Get +75% off your first month
- Get started on iPage now.
iPage: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Website Builder Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | www.ipage.com/site-builder |
HostGator.com
- Drag-and-drop design with the Gator™ website builder
- Hundreds of mobile-friendly, industry-specific templates
- FREE hosting, domain name, and SSL certificate
- Easily add a blog, ecommerce, and social media marketing
- Analytics portal helps you gauge your site’s performance
- Get started on HostGator now.
HostGator: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Website Builder Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 days | Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | www.hostgator.com/site-builder |
These three hosts offer powerful and intuitive options to help you cook up your own website from scratch. What’s more, they give you at least 30 days to try out their services and get your money back. InMotion’s BoldGrid extends that money-back guarantee to 90 days.
Cheap Hosting with Free Website Builders
If your budget is extremely tight, these cheap hosts offer great value with their free domain, advertising credits, and site builder for $2 to $3 per month.
Hostinger.com
- Unlimited everything, from bandwidth to databases
- FREE site builder & WordPress performance upgrades
- FREE daily or weekly backups
- 90+ auto-installation scripts and custom control panel
- SSH access & SSL certificates
- Get started on Hostinger now.
Hostinger: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Cheap Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD - 30 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | www.hostinger.com/shared |
Bluehost.com
- Known for performance at a low price
- Endorsed by WordPress.org team
- FREE Weebly site builder
- FREE Cloudflare CDN
- Get 63% off today (was $7.99/month)
- Get started on Bluehost now.
Bluehost: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Cheap Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 50 GB - Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | www.bluehost.com/shared |
InterServer.net
- $0.01 for the first month, then $5 monthly after
- NO annual contracts and NO sudden price increases
- Unlimited storage space, data transfers, and email
- New domain is $11 with 1-month plan ($1.99 otherwise)
- 99.9% uptime and price-lock guarantee
- Get started on InterServer now.
InterServer: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Cheap Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | Unlimited | New or Transfer | www.interserver.net/shared |
Your design options might be a touch more limited with these builders, but most of these plans include eCommerce functionality. By spending so little on hosting, you can maximize your profits.
How Much Does It Cost to Build an eCommerce Website?
Future eCommerce site owners have specific needs. They’re looking for inventory management, 1-click Magento installs, and help with marketing their products. Our top host for eCommerce store building offers all that and more — for as little as $3 a month.
SiteGround.com
- Magento-optimized server with 1-click Magento install
- FREE CDN with Railgun for top-notch performance
- SSD drives are standard across all plans
- Account isolation on servers protects your Magento store
- Easy Magento version control with Git
- Get started on SiteGround now.
SiteGround: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Magento Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD - 30 GB SSD | New or Transfer | www.siteground.com/magento |
This host sometimes offers free advertising credits, which will get your brand noticed and refine the traffic to your site by sending interested customers to your online store.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Professional Website?
Maybe you’re worried a website that only costs you a few dollars to build and host can’t possibly have a professional look and feel to it. That’s where you’re wrong — The cost to build a sharp and powerful business website can still boil down to $5 to $10 a month.
InMotionHosting.com
- FREE domain, data backups, SSDs, and SSL certificate
- $250 in ad credits with Business Hosting packages
- Business-class hardware with secure (SSH) access
- Easy installs of CMSs, shopping carts, and apps
- SPAM Safe™ Email with IMAP support
- Get started on InMotion now.
InMotion: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Ecommerce Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days | Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | www.inmotionhosting.com/ecommerce |
The Bold Grid platform from InMotion is the only site builder that operates on WordPress, which is the Internet’s most-used content management system.
What About the Cost of Building a Website for a Small Business?
If you’re a small- to medium-sized business owner, surely you’re thinking, ‘How much would it cost to build a website for a business with both beautiful designs and a startup budget in mind?’
Fret not. The cost of building a website for a small business with goals for growth is hard to beat with a host like HostGator:
HostGator.com
- Get 62% off monthly pricing by buying 36 months up front
- Unmetered disk space & bandwidth
- Unlimited email addresses & free SSL certificate
- One-click WordPress install & free blog tools
- New domain costs $15/year, or use existing domain free
- Get started on HostGator now.
HostGator: Our Expert's Review
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Cheap Hosting Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 days | Unlimited | New or Transfer | www.hostgator.com/shared |
HostGator plans include the user-friendly Weebly site builder, unlimited storage and bandwidth, as well as around-the-clock support.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Good Website?
As our options above show you, a good website doesn’t have to break the bank. Hosting providers and website builders, however, aren’t a one-size-fits-all decision — think about the kind of website you want and the amount of money you’re willing to spend.
You can put together a basic website for as little as $2 or $3 per month, but slightly more established eCommerce brands or small businesses might need to invest a little more to get the performance and added features. For those folks, you should expect to spend between $5 and $10 each month.
The Cost to Build and Maintain a Website is Offset By a Great Host
Don’t let the idea of building your own website scare you into hiring an expensive outside developer or designer. Take ownership of your online presence by creating something completely on your own — our favorite website builder hosts give you all the user-friendly tools that will show you the way.
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