Best Website Builder in 2026: 5 Platforms Compared

Wix is the best website builder for most people in 2026: a free plan, a 14-day refund on paid plans and ecommerce tiers from $29.77 a month. Squarespace is best for polished design and UK pricing, Webflow for designers who need a CMS, Framer for the cheapest designer-grade site at $10 a month, and Shopify for online stores.

Some links on this page may become affiliate links; it never changes our ranking. How we pick: see below. Prices checked 29 October 2026.

At a glance

1. Wix: best website builder overall

Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder with a free plan and a wide ladder of paid tiers, which is why it comes first. On the pricing page Light is $17.77 a month, Core is $29.77, Business is $39.77 and Business Elite is $159.77. Wix shows USD "for reference" and says prices and currency vary by location, so your own figure may differ.

Storage is the thing to watch: Light has 2 GB, Core 50 GB, Business 100 GB and Business Elite unlimited. Core adds accept payments and basic ecommerce, Business adds standard ecommerce and 10 collaborators. The listed prices are for yearly subscriptions paid in full. The page does not list bandwidth or transaction fees, and the $159.77 figure for Business Elite looks oddly presented, so confirm it at checkout.

Wix offers a 14-day full refund on the first upgrade to a Premium plan, and no free trial of paid plans beyond the free plan. The free-domain voucher lasts a year, must be redeemed within 60 days, applies only to a new domain bought from Wix and is not offered on renewals or upgrades. AI site generation is the other side of the market; see Butternut AI and Hostinger Horizons.

Pros

• Free plan with no card
• 14-day money-back guarantee
• Storage and ecommerce scale across four tiers
• Free-domain voucher for one year

Cons

• 2 GB storage on Light
• Prices differ by location and the page shows USD for reference
• Bandwidth and transaction fees not on the pricing page
• Domain voucher excludes renewals

Pricing: Free; Light $17.77/mo, Core $29.77/mo, Business $39.77/mo, Business Elite $159.77/mo, billed yearly (USD, location-dependent), as of 29 October 2026.

Best for: First-time site owners and small businesses that want one tool with room to grow.

2. Squarespace: best website builder for design and UK buyers

Squarespace is a hosted builder known for polished templates, and its UK page quotes sterling. Basic is £12 a month billed annually or £16 monthly, Core £17 or £24, Plus £29 or £36, and Advanced £79 or £89, before VAT. With estimated VAT included the page shows £14.40, £20.40, £34.80 and £94.80 for annual billing.

Every site starts with a 14-day free trial and no card. Bandwidth is unlimited on every plan, but video hosting is capped: 30 minutes on Basic, 5 hours on Core, 50 hours on Plus. Basic charges a 2% fee on online store sales; Core, Plus and Advanced charge 0%. The standard card rate is 2.0% plus £0.25, falling to 1.5% on Advanced. Basic contributors are limited to two.

Annual plans include a year of free domain registration on the cheapest tier, redeemable within a year of starting an eligible plan, and it renews at the standard rate. The page lists built-in AI tools on all plans with monthly credits from Core upwards (20 on Core, 40 on Plus, 120 on Advanced). For other site tools see design and creativity tools.

Pros

• 14-day free trial without a card
• Unlimited bandwidth on every plan
• 0% store fee from Core upwards
• Pricing in sterling

Cons

• 2% store fee on Basic
• Video hosting capped on cheaper plans
• Basic limited to two contributors
• Free domain renews at standard price

Pricing: Basic £12/mo billed annually (£16 monthly) ex VAT; Core £17 (£24); Plus £29 (£36); Advanced £79 (£89), as of 29 October 2026.

Best for: Designers, creatives and UK small businesses that care how a site looks.

3. Webflow: best website builder for designers who need a CMS

Webflow is a visual development platform that exports clean structure and a real CMS. Site plans are priced per site in USD, plus tax: Starter is free (webflow.io domain, 2 static pages, 1 GB bandwidth, 50 form submissions), Basic is $15 a month billed yearly (300 static pages, 10 GB bandwidth, custom domain), and Premium is $25 a month billed yearly.

Premium adds the CMS with 20,000 items and 40 collections and bandwidth from 50 GB up to 2.5 TB. Ecommerce plans stack on top: Standard is $29 a month for 500 items with a 2% transaction fee, Plus is $74 for 5,000 items and 0% fees, and Advanced is $212 for 15,000 items. Because the ecommerce plan is added to a site plan, a store costs more than the headline figure.

Webflow restructured its plans in 2026. A third-party write-up from Brix Templates says Premium replaced the old CMS and Business plans, that existing sites move at renewal from 29 June 2026 and, for legacy pricing, from 16 November 2026, and that Premium has half the base bandwidth of old Business. If you are on a legacy plan, check your next invoice.

Pros

• Free Starter plan to learn on
• Genuine CMS with 20,000 items on Premium
• Per-site pricing is transparent on the page
• Ecommerce tiers with 0% fees from Plus

Cons

• Steeper learning curve than Wix or Squarespace
• Ecommerce plan is an add-on cost
• Plan changes in 2026 affect legacy sites
• Bandwidth caps need attention on busy sites

Pricing: Starter free; Basic $15/mo and Premium $25/mo billed yearly (USD, per site, plus tax); ecommerce Standard $29/mo, as of 29 October 2026.

Best for: Designers and agencies building content-heavy marketing sites with custom layouts.

4. Framer: best low-cost website builder for designers

Framer is a design-first site builder that publishes straight from its canvas, and it has the cheapest paid plan here. With yearly billing selected, Basic is $10 a month and Pro is $30 a month, in dollars. The Free plan offers a Framer domain, 1 GB bandwidth and 500 AI credits.

Basic allows 30 pages, 2 CMS collections, 1,000 CMS items and 50 GB bandwidth. Pro allows 150 pages, 10 collections, 2,500 CMS items and 100 GB, with add-ons: extra pages at $20 per 100 up to 700, extra CMS items at $20 per 10,000 up to 40,000, and extra bandwidth at $40 per 100 GB up to 2 TB. Pro has a 300+ location CDN versus 20 locations on Basic. Locales are $20 each, up to 20.

Workspace owners are free, extra editors are $20 a month and content editors $10. A complimentary domain is included on yearly plans. The page shows no free trial of paid plans. If you want to build prompts-first, see Pineapple Builder or Mobirise.

Pros

• Cheapest paid plan at $10/month
• Free domain on yearly plans
• Pro CDN spans 300+ locations
• Free plan with a Framer domain

Cons

• Basic has only 2 collections and 1,000 CMS items
• Add-ons pile up on busy sites
• No ecommerce built in
• Monthly price not shown separately from yearly

Pricing: Free; Basic $10/mo; Pro $30/mo with yearly billing selected (USD), as of 29 October 2026.

Best for: Designers and startups building marketing sites who want a low entry price.

5. Shopify: best website builder for online stores

Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform, and it is the best choice when selling is the main job. The UK pricing page lists Basic at £25 a month, or £19 billed yearly, Grow at £65 (£49), Advanced at £344 (£259), and Plus from £1,800. It advertises 3 days free, then £1 a month for the first 3 months on most plans.

Card rates improve with each tier: online payments cost 2% plus 25p on Basic, 1.7% on Grow and 1.5% on Advanced, with in-person rates of 1.7%, 1.6% and 1.5%. If you use another payment provider, Shopify charges a third-party transaction fee of 2%, 1%, 0.6% and 0.2% on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. Staff accounts are 5 on Grow and 15 on Advanced.

The page does not say whether the sterling prices include VAT, and no Starter plan appeared on it. Shopify is overkill for a brochure site, but if you need checkout, shipping and a point of sale, the base price is competitive with Wix and Squarespace once their commerce tiers are added. See also best domain registrars.

Pros

• Checkout, shipping and POS built in
• Three tiers of falling card rates
• £1/month for the first three months
• Staff accounts on Grow and above

Cons

• Third-party gateway fees of up to 2%
• Costs rise sharply from Advanced upwards
• VAT treatment not stated on the page
• Overkill for a brochure site

Pricing: Basic £25/mo (£19 billed yearly), Grow £65 (£49), Advanced £344 (£259), Plus from £1,800, with 3 days free then £1/mo for 3 months, as of 29 October 2026.

Best for: Businesses where selling products online is the main job.

How we compared these tools

This is desk research from vendor pricing pages and public documentation read on 29 October 2026. We did not build test sites for this article, so we do not rate template quality or editor feel; those are subjective and personal. Where a page showed a figure we could not interpret, such as Wix's Business Elite price, we flag it.

Weighting: entry price and what it includes (25%), limits such as storage, bandwidth, pages and CMS items (20%), ecommerce fees (15%), trial or refund terms (15%), flexibility and lock-in (15%), and clarity of the pricing page (10%). Weights are editorial judgement. Prices change by region, billing term and promotion.

How to choose

• If you want the easiest all-round builder with a free plan, pick Wix.
• If design polish and sterling pricing matter, pick Squarespace.
• If you are a designer who needs a real CMS, pick Webflow.
• If you want the cheapest designer-grade tool, pick Framer.
• If you are mainly selling products, pick Shopify.
• If you would rather run WordPress, read best WordPress hosting.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best website builder in 2026?

Wix is the best website builder for most people in 2026 because it has a free plan, a 14-day refund on paid plans and four tiers from $17.77 a month. Squarespace is better if design and UK pricing matter, Webflow suits designers who need a CMS, and Shopify is best for online stores. Prices checked 29 October 2026.

Which website builder is cheapest?

Framer has the cheapest paid plan at $10 a month with yearly billing selected, and Webflow Basic follows at $15 a month billed yearly. Wix Light is $17.77 a month, and Squarespace Basic is £12 a month billed annually before VAT. Free plans exist on Wix, Webflow and Framer, but they use platform domains and limits.

Do website builders include a free domain?

Often, for the first year only. Wix includes a one-year voucher redeemable within 60 days for a new domain bought through Wix. Squarespace includes a free domain on annual plans, renewing at the standard rate. Framer lists a complimentary domain on yearly plans. After year one you pay renewal prices, so check them against our registrar guide.

Can I sell products on these builders?

Yes. Shopify is built for it, and Wix, Squarespace and Webflow all add ecommerce tiers. Squarespace charges a 2% store fee on Basic and 0% from Core. Webflow ecommerce Standard is $29 a month with a 2% fee. Wix lists ecommerce on Core and above, but its pricing page does not state transaction fees.

Is there a free trial?

Squarespace gives a 14-day free trial with no card. Wix has a free plan and a 14-day money-back guarantee on paid upgrades, but no trial of paid plans. Webflow and Framer have free plans. Shopify advertises 3 days free, then £1 a month for the first three months on most plans.

Which builder is best for a UK business?

Squarespace is the easiest fit for UK buyers because its page shows sterling prices, with card rates from 2.0% plus £0.25. Shopify also shows sterling on its UK page, though it does not say whether VAT is included. Wix, Webflow and Framer show dollar prices, so allow for exchange rates and VAT.

More from the directory: Best domain registrars, Best web hosting, Butternut AI, Design and creativity tools and the compare page.