Top 10 free tools for a new small business website

Building a business website on zero budget is possible, for a while

When your business is just starting, spending thousands on a website feels unreasonable. Fortunately, a solid toolkit of free tools for small business websites can get you online quickly, and several of them genuinely compete with paid platforms. The catch: free tiers rarely survive unchanged. Platforms shift policies, introduce bandwidth caps, or retire features without warning. Ad networks withdraw support. Free plans that worked for you in month three may cost money by month twelve.

This guide covers ten real options, from website builders to analytics and design tools, that can form the backbone of your online presence at no upfront cost. We'll be honest about what each one does, who it suits, and the hidden costs of staying free as you grow.

Google Sites

Google Sites is a no-code website builder embedded inside Google Workspace. You get a free domain (sites.google.com/yourbusiness) or connect your own. The editor is drag-and-drop; you can embed Google Forms, Maps, YouTube, Calendar, and Sheets directly. No coding required.

Google Sites suits personal portfolios, team documentation, event landing pages, and internal-only sites. For a public-facing small business website, it's limited: no native e-commerce, no analytics beyond basic view counts, no CMS layer for client-editable content. Design is functional but template-bound. The free tier has no storage cap and no ads, a real advantage over many competitors, but you won't win design awards.

Migration away is straightforward: export your page content as HTML and rebuild elsewhere. Lock-in is low.

Carrd

Carrd is a single-page website builder focused on simplicity. You pay nothing for a basic site on a Carrd subdomain; paid plans unlock custom domains, multiple pages, and form submissions. The free tier includes an email capture form, embeddable Stripe payment button, and respectable design templates.

Carrd works well for freelancers, consultants, event promotions, and service businesses that need only one page plus lead capture. It's not a full CMS, you edit everything in Carrd's editor, but that's also its strength: setup takes hours, not weeks. The template library is lean but polished. You cannot export your site's code if you leave; Carrd retains the HTML. Upgrading to a custom domain is under £100 per year, making it cheap rather than free for a professional presence.

If your business grows beyond a one-page pitch, you'll need to rebuild elsewhere.

WordPress.com free tier

WordPress.com (the hosted version, not self-hosted WordPress.org) offers a free plan with a Wordpress.com subdomain, basic design, 3GB storage, and no ads removed. Paid plans unlock custom domains, more storage, e-commerce, and design freedom. The free tier is genuinely functional for a blog or simple business site.

WordPress.com is the default choice for writers, coaches, and service professionals who want a CMS, the ability to write posts, schedule them, and manage them yourself. However, the free tier is restrictive: you cannot install plugins, monetise with ads, or add custom code. Design templates are numerous but generic. Storage fills quickly if you upload high-resolution images. Upgrading to remove the Wordpress.com branding and add a custom domain costs around £120 per year, pushing it out of "free" territory fast.

Exporting your content is possible but manual; exporting the underlying code is not. WordPress.com is semi-proprietary.

Wix free plan

Wix offers a free plan with a Wix subdomain, limited storage (500 MB), built-in hosting, and Wix branding on every page. The drag-and-drop editor is straightforward; templates are polished. You can add a contact form, embed video, and link to payment processors like Stripe. No ads on the free tier, but the subdomain and logo are unavoidable until you pay.

Wix suits small retailers, service businesses, and creative professionals who want a polished look without coding. The free plan is easier to use than WordPress but trades design flexibility for ease: templates are beautiful but customisation is shallow. You cannot export your site's code; leaving Wix means rebuilding from scratch. Storage caps mean photo-heavy businesses (photographers, plumbers with before-and-after galleries) hit limits fast, a real problem for portfolio-heavy trades. The migration cost in time and re-entry fees is high.

Upgrading to a custom domain and removing Wix branding starts around £200 per year.

Weebly free plan

Weebly is a drag-and-drop builder owned by Square. The free plan includes a Weebly subdomain, limited storage (500 MB), basic SEO tools, and no Weebly branding. You can add contact forms, embed third-party apps, and link Stripe for payments. The editor is similar to Wix: visual, not code-based.

Weebly works for consultants, service businesses, and small e-commerce sites that don't need inventory management. The free tier is more generous on branding than Wix (no forced logo), but storage and customisation remain tight. Like Wix, exporting your code is not an option; you're locked into Weebly's infrastructure. As your business grows and you add more pages, images, or integrations, the free tier becomes a cage.

The hard trade-off here is obvious: ease of use comes at the cost of flexibility and portability.

Strapi headless CMS (self-hosted)

Strapi is an open-source headless CMS you can self-host for free on a platform like Heroku (now Render or Railway). You manage content (text, images, media) in Strapi's admin interface; your website (built in React, Next.js, or another framework) pulls content via API. No template; you code the front-end yourself.

Strapi suits developers and technical founders who want content management without paying for a SaaS CMS. The learning curve is steep, you need to understand APIs, hosting, and front-end frameworks, but the flexibility and cost-control are unmatched. Your site's code is yours from day one. Migration is straightforward because you own everything.

The catch: self-hosting is free, but doesn't stay free once you add reliability. Hosting costs money (even cheap platforms cost £5, £20 per month). Building the front-end requires developer time. For non-technical founders, Strapi is not a tool; it's an undertaking.

Sitewright

Sitewright builds bespoke websites in Next.js and Tailwind without template constraints. Setup starts at £487 with hosting, SSL, and one integration included; monthly fees begin at £13. The Starter tier covers up to 3 pages and 1 revision round. Grow and VIP tiers unlock more pages, Strapi CMS access, and strategy reviews.

Sitewright trades zero-cost setup for faster, more durable ownership. You get a real website, hand-coded, not templated, deployed within a week. Every site ships with Lighthouse 90+ performance and built-in integrations (Stripe payments, contact forms, Google Analytics, booking calendars). If you ever want to leave, you can switch to the Own It tier and walk away with the full source code.

• Bespoke Next.js + Tailwind design → Lighthouse 90+ performance out of the gate
• Strapi CMS on Grow/VIP → edit your own copy and images without code
• Stripe, Calendly, Mailchimp integrations → no extra monthly SaaS fees for each tool
• Deploy within 7 days → customers see you live while competitors are still designing
• Switch to Own It anytime → full GitHub repo ownership, no lock-in

Sitewright is not free, but it costs about 30% less than comparable bespoke agencies in the UK. For founders who've outgrown free builders and need reliability without thousand-pound agency fees, pricing starts at £487.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

GA4 is Google's free analytics platform. It tracks visitors, traffic sources, user behaviour, page performance, and conversion events. Setup takes minutes: paste a snippet into your website, and data flows immediately. Unlimited sites, unlimited data, forever free.

GA4 is essential for any business website, paid or free. It answers the questions that matter: where visitors come from, what pages they read, whether they contact you, and where they drop off. Free tools like Carrd and WordPress.com have built-in basic analytics, but GA4 is incomparably deeper. Most small business websites don't generate enquiries, and the first step to fixing that is seeing where visitors go wrong. GA4 shows you.

The only downside: the interface is dense. Learning to read GA4 takes an hour or two. Simpler, paid alternatives like Plausible exist but cost £20+ per month. For a free tool, GA4 is unbeaten.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free platform connecting your website to Google Search itself. Submit your site, verify ownership, monitor search visibility, see which queries bring visitors, check for errors or mobile issues, and request indexing. It's one-way communication: Google talks to you about how it sees your site.

Every business website needs Search Console. It's not about vanity, it's about fixing what breaks. If Google can't crawl your pages, you'll be invisible in search. If your site isn't mobile-friendly, Search Console will alert you. If you move your site to a new domain, Search Console helps Google find the redirect. For free tools for small business websites, this is non-negotiable.

Set it up the day your site launches.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email marketing platform with a free tier for up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month. You can build email sequences, segment audiences, and automate follow-ups. The editor is visual and template-based. Forms and landing pages are included.

Mailchimp suits any business that wants to stay in touch with customers or leads without paying for marketing software. It's purpose-built for email, not a general CMS. The free tier is genuinely useful for small lists; it only becomes a cost constraint once you exceed 500 subscribers. Many builders (Carrd, Wix, WordPress.com) let you embed a Mailchimp form directly, so you can combine tools: site + email automation, no single vendor.

As you grow, Mailchimp's pricing scales with your list, not a flat monthly fee, worth noting for comparison with ConvertKit or Beehiiv, which charge per user regardless of list size.

Canva

Canva is a free design tool for social graphics, logos, presentations, and simple graphics. Templates are abundant; a free user can access thousands. Pro features (brand kits, more templates, asset storage) cost £13 per month, but free is fully functional for branding, flyers, and social content.

Canva is not a website builder, it's a design sidekick. But service businesses often need graphics for Google Business profiles, LinkedIn, posters, or before-and-after galleries. Canva fits that gap. For local trades (plumbers, cleaners, electricians), a professional-looking Google Business gallery, built partly from Canva designs, can matter as much as your website. You can upload your own photos (before/after work) and frame them with Canva templates.

Combined with a free website builder (Carrd, Google Sites, or Wix) and Mailchimp, Canva completes a lean toolkit for service businesses that don't need e-commerce inventory.

Picking the right one

Free tools are real, but free doesn't mean permanent. Platforms change terms, Stripe stopped allowing certain industries, WordPress.com increased storage tiers, and ad networks have quietly retired payouts. Within 12 to 24 months, the landscape shifts. Building your website on a platform that's "free today" means accepting migration risk later.

If you choose free tools, plan for graduation. Pick a builder that lets you export your content or code (Google Sites, Strapi) rather than one that locks you in (Wix, Weebly). Pair them with analytics (GA4, Search Console) so you can measure what works. When you grow past the free tier, more pages, more traffic, more integrations, you'll know which tool failed first.

For founders who want reliability and portability without the five-figure agency bill, a bespoke website at our Starter tier costs less than a year of Mailchimp + Canva Pro and delivers code ownership from day one. No lock-in, no surprise policy changes, no unplanned migrations.

• See exactly which visitors contact you, GA4 + Search Console reveal visitor intent, not guesses
• Own your content from day one, export data or code without rebuilding
• Combine freely without vendor tax, link Mailchimp, Stripe, Calendly without paying for their "integrations"
• Upgrade when ready, not when forced, outgrow free tiers on your timeline
• Stay visible in search, Search Console fixes problems before they cost you customers

The cheapest website is the one that brings customers; the free website that brings none costs time you can't get back.