Featured Partners
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We know that for many businesses, cost-of-living pressures are front of mind, but having a web presence in 2024 is also non-negotiable. To this end, we have devised a list of affordable options to suit a range of businesses—whether you run a cafe, an online store or you’re a freelance professional servicing multiple clients.
The best website builders allow you to create custom websites for your businesses or personal use quickly and easily, even with limited design skills. For inclusion on this list of the best cheap website builders for Australians in 2024, we looked for website designers that are free, or at the very least affordable, and have easy-to-use drag-and-drop builders, positive user reviews, easily accessible customer support and robust extra website design and management features.
You can read more in our pick of the best website builders overall for Australians or if you’re on a budget head to our guide to the best free website builders for Australians.
Note: The below list represents a selection of our top category picks, as chosen by Forbes Advisor Australia’s editors and journalists. The information provided is purely factual and is not intended to imply any recommendation, opinion, or advice about a financial product. Not every product or provider in the marketplace has been reviewed, and the list below is not intended to be exhaustive nor replace your own research or independent financial advice. For more information on how Forbes Advisor ranks and reviews products, including how we identified our top category picks, read the methodology selection below.
Featured Partners
On Wix Website
Starting Price
Free
Drag-and-drop builder
Yes
Unlimited storage available
Yes
On Squarespace’s Secure Website
Starting price
$16 AUD
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Free domain and SSL certificate, no transaction fees, award-winning templates
On Shopify’s Secure Website
Pricing
$56 AUD to $575 AUD
Free trial
Free for three days, then $1 for one month
Term lengths
Month-to-month, annual
On Ionos’s Secure Website
Starting price
$US1 or $1.50 AUD per month for the first six months, then $US18 per month or $27 AUD
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
E-commerce in entry-level plan
Yes, as an add-on
The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content and guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey in Australia.
We reviewed over 20 of the leading services using a complex process to narrow it down to the nine best cheap website builders for small businesses. Pricing, general features, customer reviews and our own experts’ analysis all combined to make up our ratings, which are determined solely by our editorial team. Our Australian-based editorial team has also applied an additional layer of research and oversight to ensure relevance to our local readers.
Free
$16 AUD per month
Yes
Yes
in the most expensive plan
Wix offers a free plan with a Wix-branded domain and 500 MB of storage. Its most affordable paid plan is $16 AUD per month and offers a custom domain (free for one year), 2 GB of storage and 24/7 customer care.
Wix’s website builder offers a highly customised website design experience and it’s one of the most popular choices among Australian users. Choose a template from more than 900 industry-specific, e-commerce, blog and creative website templates. Then, use the Wix Editor to choose from hundreds of drag-and-drop design features—including scroll effects, animations and video backgrounds—to build a website that fits your needs.
Wix’s e-commerce tools are what sets it apart. With basic e-commerce plans starting at $33 AUD per month, you can create convenient shopping experiences via wish lists, buy-now buttons, translation options in 150 different languages and currency conversions. You can sell customisable, tangible products; product subscriptions and dropshipping and print-on-demand products. Further, use Wix tools to expand your store to Amazon, eBay and social media.
Learn More: Read our full Wix review.
Who should use it:
Australian Businesses wishing to start an easy-to-design and customisable e-commerce store at an affordable price should consider Wix.
Free
$US14 ($21.42 AUD) per month (billed annually)
Yes
Yes
Free
$US14 ($21.42 AUD) per month (billed annually)
Yes
Yes
Webflow offers a free plan with a Webflow.io domain and 1 GB of bandwidth. Paid plans start at $US14 ($21.42 AUD) per month with a custom domain and 50 GB of bandwidth. Webflow’s more expensive plans offer guest editors, making them a better fit for design agencies. Starting at $US19 ($28 AUD) per month, its Workspace plans offer more control, including roles, access permissions and custom code.
Webflow’s website builder offers a combination of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript and drag-and-drop design that leaves designers with all the control. For example, its visual canvas allows you to drag in unaltered pre-built HTML5 pieces—such as sliders and background videos—onto a blank website canvas. Then, Webflow’s website builder translates your design into ready-to-publish code. Or, if you’d rather dabble in the code itself, you can do that, too.
Who should use it:
Webflow is best for solo or agency designers with at least some experience with coding and design tools that have similar interfaces to Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.
Free
$US12 ($18.36 AUD) a month (billed annually) for paid site
Yes
Yes
Free
$US12 ($18.36 AUD) a month (billed annually) for paid site
Yes
Yes
Ucraft offers a free plan with a free drag-and-drop builder. You can add your own custom domain using the free plan. Its paid plans start at $US10 ($15 AUD) per month. It includes unlimited pages and bandwidth, SEO tools, designer and blogging tools, the ability to use your own domain, Google Analytics and 24/7 customer support. Using this plan, you can sell up to 15 products on your website via Stripe and PayPal payment methods and 0% transaction fees.
Ucraft’s free landing page builder helps to drive traffic to a lead magnet and email sign-up form, making it uniquely useful for sales professionals. Choose from 30-plus landing page templates, then easily add custom content and design features. You don’t need a website to use the landing page builder. Simply add your own domain to the landing page you’ve built. To remove the Ucraft watermark, however, you must buy a $US4.99 ($7.41 AUD) a month add-on.
Who should use it:
Sales teams that wish to use their website to sell visually stunning products or services—such as auto dealerships, travel agencies or spas—should consider Ucraft.
Free
From $US18 ($27.53 AUD) per month (billed annually)
Yes
No
Free
From $US18 ($27.53 AUD) per month (billed annually)
Yes
No
Jimdo offers a free plan with a Jimdo subdomain, 500 MB of storage, 2 GB of bandwidth, contact forms, an image library and five website pages. Its paid plans start at $US18 ($27.53 AUD) per month (billed annually) . This plan is quite basic with 5 GB of storage and ten pages allowed. Even its Grow plan only offers 15 GB of storage and 50 website pages. Still, all paid plans have SEO tools, fast Google indexing and website statistics, in addition to free-plan features.
Jimdo stands out via its ease of use. Create a logo using its free logo creator. Then, upload your images and logo and the website will automatically update with matching colours. The image library makes it easy to find industry-relevant images. You can also connect your Facebook, Instagram or Google profiles and Jimdo will source images and information from them to automatically design your website.
Who should use it:
With basic designs and few website pages in each plan, Jimdo is a good option for freelancers with no design experience who want a quick and attractive site for showcasing a portfolio.
Free
$7 AUD per month (billed annually)
Yes
Yes
Free
$7 AUD per month (billed annually)
Yes
Yes
Weebly offers a free plan with lots of features. These include an e-commerce store, inventory management, SEO and lead-capture tools, and SSL security. Paid plans start at $7 AUD a month (when paid annually). Even its basic plans are not basic. Weebly’s most affordable paid plan includes the ability to connect your own domain, SEO and lead-capture tools, pop-up notifications, chat and email support and SSL security.
Weebly’s drag-and-drop builder offers over 50 website themes for online stores, business, portfolio, personal, events and blog websites. Once you’ve chosen a theme, you get instant access to Weebly’s drag-and-drop builder. In it, you will find custom fonts, parallax and reveal animation effects, an image editor, video backgrounds and the option to use HTML/CSS and JavaScript to deeply customise your website.
Weebly’s ample e-commerce tools work with its marketing tools to help you turn potential customers into paying ones. For example, its marketing tools include abandoned cart and welcome emails, customer life cycle emails, SEO tools, customer reviews and Google Ads credit. Its e-commerce tools include domestic and international shipping tools, inventory management, gift cards, a coupon builder, product search and an automatic tax calculator.
Who should use it:
Weebly is best for start-up companies looking for a value-packed but extremely affordable premium plan and the ability to grow their online presence by upgrading later. It is also best for brands that use Square for online payment processing, as PayPal can only be accepted in the most expensive plan.
Free
$US8 ($12.24 AUD) per month (Billed annually)
Yes
No
Free
$US8 ($12.24 AUD) per month (Billed annually)
Yes
No
Strikingly offers a free forever plan. It comes with unlimited free sites, 500MB of storage per site, 5GB of bandwidth, five pages per site and the ability to sell one product. Its most affordable Limited plan is $US8 ($12.24 AUD) per month when billed annually. It includes two premium sites and unlimited free sites, a free domain for a year, 1GB of storage, 50GB of bandwidth, five website pages, the ability to sell single product, a transaction fee and 24/7 chat support.
With limited storage in each plan, Strikingly’s website builder is best for brands looking to create a very simple and quick one-page website. Its templates allow you to start with an already designed website, then add your own content easily and almost instantly. Contact and sign-up forms make Strikingly a great option for brands looking to sell one or two service packages and allow potential clients to contact them or follow their brand.
Who should use it:
This website builder is best for freelancers looking for a simple web presence to showcase their services and help potential customers find and contact them.
Free
open-source CMS
Yes
Depends on hosting provider and plan
Free
open-source CMS
Yes
Depends on hosting provider and plan
WordPress.org is free, open-source and self-hosting software for building a website. It must be installed on a web server, not stored on your computer. So, you must pay for hosting elsewhere. Example hosting companies include GoDaddy and Bluehost. The beauty of this software is it gives you access to tens of thousands of free website themes and plugins. This means you can create a highly customised website for free, despite paying for hosting.
WordPress.org offers unique monetisation perks to influencers and authors. First, because WordPress.org requires you to self-host your website, your content cannot be used by WordPress as it sees fit. Second, while WordPress.com only allows you to use WordAds to monetise your blog, a self-hosted account allows you to use any ad network, such as Google AdSense or AdThrive, to monetise your blog.
Who should use it:
WordPress.org is a great option for authors or influencers wanting to monetise their personal brands, sell website ad space or participate in affiliate marketing. In the end, however, it is a perfect tool for any business or person who wants a highly customisable website design experience.
Free
$US12.80 ($19.58 AUD) per month to include a free domain
Yes
No
Free
$US12.80 ($19.58 AUD) per month to include a free domain
Yes
No
SITE123 offers a free plan with 250 MB of storage and bandwidth. It also comes with a SITE123 subdomain. Its most affordable Premium plan is $US12.80 ($19.58 AUD) per month to include a free domain. It offers a free domain for a year, 3GB of storage, 3GB of bandwidth, the ability to set up an e-commerce store and to connect your own domain.
SITE123’s website builder is more efficient than traditional drag-and-drop builders. Instead of adding elements such as text boxes, it offers a list of website sections or pages to add. For example, you can add an about, testimonials or portfolio page. Then, customise the template to your brand by clicking on text boxes to change text, selecting photos from the free gallery or uploading your own photos. This means a quick but customisable design experience
Who should use it:
Businesses with zero website design experience and basic computer skills should consider SITE123’s website builder.
Free
$13.95 AUD per month (renews at $18.95 AUD per month)
Yes
Yes
GoDaddy’s free website option comes with a website, unlimited pages and content, digital marketing tools and 24/7 customer support. However, you must use a GoDaddy domain (www.yoursite.godaddysites.com). Paid plans start at $13.95 AUD per month and come with a custom domain, a drag-and-drop website builder and digital marketing tools. Simply choose a template, then use the GoDaddy builder to easily design your website and add content.
GoDaddy’s website builder stands out with its Digital Marketing Suite. It includes tools for creating and managing social media posts, ads and marketing emails, gathering reviews and search engine optimising your site. Choose from more than 200 social media and email campaign templates. Once you publish or send your campaigns, analytics reports tell you how they perform. Finally, you can manage all these features from one dashboard.
Learn More: Read our full GoDaddy Website Builder review.
Who should use it:
With an ample suite of digital marketing tools, GoDaddy’s website builder is best for individuals or brands looking to lean heavily on digital marketing to promote their brand or sell products from an online shop.
As we chose website builders for this list, we focused on ease of use, affordability, functionality, extra features and customer support. We preferred builders with ‘free forever’ plans. Here is a closer look at how we assessed website builders for inclusion on this list.
We included website builders that offer a free plan. We prioritised the inclusion of website builders with robustly featured free plans. We also included builders with first-tier plans that are $22 AUD or less per month but preferred first-tier plans at $15 AUD or less per month. This accounted for 20% of our weighted scoring. If pricing is really an issue for you, then check out our pick of the best free website builders for Australians.
For this list, we looked for website builders with ample free tools to help businesses meet their goals around website design, publishing and management. Key among these is offering a drag-and-drop builder. The website builders on this list offer a drag-and-drop design process exclusively or optionally and we rated them accordingly. We put specific emphasis on web builders that offer unlimited storage and bandwidth, social media and email marketing tools and provide mobile responsive sites, Other general features we looked for include SEO tools, form builders, landing pages, SSL certificates, free domains and analytics. We weighted features at 30% of our total score.
We turned to third-party review websites, including G2 and Trustpilot, to gauge real users’ experiences using the website builders. Those who fared well in reviews often scored high in customer support, such as those with live user support options, preferably those with 24/7 support. These accounted for 15% of the total score.
For our final analysis, our experts looked at four specific categories: popularity, value for the money, standout or detailed features and ease of use. For example, for ease of use, we looked for website builders that do not require coding skills to design a website. We also looked for other features that make website design easy, including a wide selection of website templates, image galleries, logo creators and sites that are automatically mobile-responsive. Altogether, these criteria make up 35% of the total score.
As a basic methodology for choosing a cheap website builder, first look at the builder’s price to ensure you can afford it. Next, take a look at the website builder itself to learn what skills are necessary to use it and how easy it is to design a website with it. Finally, dig into the provider’s customer support to learn the level of help you can expect if you run into an issue.
If you are on a tight budget, look for a website builder that offers a free plan as well as affordable premium plans. That way, you can get started for free, then advance to premium plans as your budget allows and when you are most likely to take advantage of premium features. Finally, look for affordable premium plans with features that save or make you money, such as a free domain and email marketing and e-commerce functionality.
Next, assess the builder’s design process. If you aren’t well-versed in coding, look for a website builder with templates you can use to begin designing your website quickly and easily. Then, look for a builder that allows you to customise your chosen template to your brand’s needs by clicking and dragging design elements into place. Finally, look for other features that will make design easy and quick, such as royalty-free image galleries.
Finally, evaluate the customer support the builder provides. First, find the website builder’s website. The company’s customer support and pricing pages will tell you the type of support offered—such as live chat, email or phone support. Customer review sites can then help you dig deeper to learn the quality of support offered in practice. Take care to look for reviews by other Australians to get a sense of the customer support on offer. For example, the company may offer reliable support to North American customers, but how responsive are they to queries from Australia? You’ll find that most reviewers will at least touch on the quality of customer support they received when using the builder.
Additional research by Anna Rey
Featured Partners
On Wix Website
Starting Price
Free
Drag-and-drop builder
Yes
Unlimited storage available
Yes
On Squarespace’s Secure Website
Starting price
$16 AUD
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Free domain and SSL certificate, no transaction fees, award-winning templates
On Shopify’s Secure Website
Pricing
$56 AUD to $575 AUD
Free trial
Free for three days, then $1 for one month
Term lengths
Month-to-month, annual
On Ionos’s Secure Website
Starting price
$US1 or $1.50 AUD per month for the first six months, then $US18 per month or $27 AUD
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
E-commerce in entry-level plan
Yes, as an add-on
Wix offers both a free plan and paid plans for Australians. The free plan offers a customisable Wix domain and 500 MB of storage and bandwidth. It also comes with an assigned URL that looks something like accountname.wixsite.com/siteaddress. You can use Wix web hosting and website builder for free to build your website. In its free plan, Wix ads will appear on every page of your site. Check out more at our guide to Wix Pricing Plans.
Yes, many website builders offer free plans. These include Wix, SITE123 and Ucraft. However, these free website builders do not allow you to create a website that only includes your branding. Their brand names, for example, may appear in the form of watermarks, in the free website’s domain or in the footer of the website. They also often have limited storage and other needed features for building a fully developed website. Learn more about the best free website builders.
You can create a free website using the free plans offered by Wix, Ucraft, Weebly and similar website builders. These plans include the website builder’s branding on them in the form of watermarks or footer branding. The free domains are branded as well. Some, such as Ucraft, allow you to add a prepurchased custom domain.
Yes. Because most website builders offer cutting-edge technology, they are usually ahead of the curve when it comes to keeping their sites secure. They do this by keeping their customers’ websites protected by using top-end technology. As a result, most website building companies offer some of the best security options available on the internet.
Yes, many leading services offer tools to help you boost your site’s visibility on search engines. Most builders are designed with an infrastructure that helps search engines easily find information. Additionally, many platforms come with tools to customise your site’s meta descriptions, automated data mark-up and easy social media integration to help share your content across platforms.
Website builders are highly scalable, and your plan can be easily modified to meet the needs of your growing team. If you outgrow even the top-level package of your service, many vendors offer enterprise-level functionality with customised pricing. It may be worthwhile to get in touch with your system’s customer service team to learn more.
One the big drawbacks of a free site with many of the website builders is that they coming with the company’s logo in it—either as a watermarks, in the free website’s domain or sometimes both. To remove this branding, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan.
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We do not offer financial advice, advisory or brokerage services, nor do we recommend or advise individuals to buy or sell particular stocks or securities. Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Forbes Advisor provides an information service. It is not a product issuer or provider. In giving you information about financial or credit products, Forbes Advisor is not making any suggestion or recommendation to you about a particular product. It is important to check any product information directly with the provider. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), Target Market Determination (TMD) and other applicable product documentation before making a decision to purchase, acquire, invest in or apply for a financial or credit product. Contact the product issuer directly for a copy of the PDS, TMD and other documentation. Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved or otherwise endorsed by our partners. For more information, read our Advice Disclaimer here.
Over the last decade, Alana has served as a business operation, technology, and marketing consultant for countless businesses — from start-ups and mid-sized businesses like Fit Small Business to Fortune 500 tech firms like Adobe. She currently serves as a business consultant, operations manager, and content strategist at Doubting Thomas Research Foundations’ Afghan Liberty Project, a small non-profit organization. She graduated with an MBA in leadership from Excelsior College.
Kelly is a former Editor, SMB at Forbes Advisor, specializing in starting and marketing new ventures. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content. She is a former Google Tech Entrepreneur and she holds an MSc in International Marketing from Edinburgh Napier University. Additionally, she manages a column at Inc. Magazine.