Hostinger advertises a website builder at 2.49 dollars a month, then renews it at 10.99 dollars a month. That is about 4.4 times the number in the ad, and it is the single most important fact in website builder pricing for small business. The price on the pricing page is rarely the price you pay in year two, and the cheapest plan is rarely the plan a real business needs. This guide compares the published prices of 11 builders, checked in October 2026, so you can see the first year cost, the renewal cost, the card fees and the limits that push you to a higher plan.
Every price below is a United States list price before tax, taken from each vendor pricing page or from a pricing check dated October 2026. Prices change often, and several builders run promotions that cut the first months, so confirm the current figure on the vendor site before you buy. Where two pricing checks disagree, this guide says so instead of picking the friendlier number.
Website Builder Pricing for Small Business at a Glance
The table below shows the cheapest plan on each builder that puts your site on your own domain. A free plan with a builder subdomain is not the same thing, and it is listed separately so the comparison stays honest.
| Builder | Cheapest plan with your domain | Monthly price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | Light | 17 dollars a month billed yearly | Yes |
| Squarespace | Basic | 19 dollars a month billed yearly | No, 14 day trial |
| Shopify | Basic | 29 dollars a month billed yearly | No, 3 day trial |
| WordPress.com | Personal | 4 dollars a month billed yearly | Yes |
| GoDaddy Airo | Starter | 9.99 dollars a month billed yearly | Yes |
| Hostinger | Premium | 2.49 dollars a month on a 48 month term | No, 30 day money back |
| Weebly | Personal | 13 dollars a month billed yearly | Yes |
| Square Online | Free | 0 dollars | Yes |
| BigCommerce | Core | 29 dollars a month billed yearly | No, trial |
| Webflow | Basic | 15 dollars a month billed yearly | Yes |
| Duda | Basic | 19 dollars a month billed yearly | No, 14 day trial |
The spread is wide. WordPress.com Personal costs 48 dollars a year, while Shopify Basic costs 348 dollars a year, and both are honest prices for very different jobs. The cheapest plan is only a bargain if it covers what your business actually does, so the rest of this guide works through each builder, the renewal trap, the fees on every sale, and the plan each type of business should pick.
What a Small Business Website Really Costs in Year One
A builder subscription is only part of the bill. The total for year one is the plan price plus a domain name, plus card fees on every order, plus any paid apps or themes you add. A domain usually costs 10 to 20 dollars a year when you buy it separately, although most builders include one free for the first year on annual plans. Business email is usually a separate subscription, and a few dollars per user per month is a normal figure.
The table below turns the monthly prices into year one and ongoing annual costs at list price, before tax and before any first term discount. Renewal means the price you pay once the introductory term ends.
| Builder | First year | Then each year | What changes at renewal |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress.com Personal | About 48 dollars | About 48 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| Hostinger Premium | About 30 dollars | About 132 dollars | Renews at 10.99 a month after the 48 month term |
| GoDaddy Airo Starter | About 120 dollars | About 120 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| Weebly Personal | About 156 dollars | About 156 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| Wix Light | About 204 dollars | About 204 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| Webflow Basic | About 180 dollars | About 180 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| Squarespace Basic | About 228 dollars | About 228 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| Duda Basic | About 228 dollars | About 228 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| Shopify Basic | About 348 dollars | About 348 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| BigCommerce Core | About 348 dollars | About 348 dollars | No separate renewal price shown |
| Square Online Free | 0 dollars plus card fees | 0 dollars plus card fees | No subscription to renew |
Hostinger is the only builder here with a sharp renewal jump, and it is also the cheapest way to get a site live for four years. You pay 119.52 dollars once for 48 months, which works out near 30 dollars a year, and the renewal only bites in year five. That is a fair deal if you are sure the business will still want the same builder in four years, and a poor deal if you outgrow it in year one, because the money is already spent.
Most of the other builders show one price with no separate renewal line, which makes budgeting simpler. The cost that still surprises owners is the card fee on sales. Shopify, Wix and Squarespace all charge about 2.9 percent plus 30 cents on each online card payment, and Square Online charges 3.3 percent plus 30 cents on its free plan. On 2,000 dollars of monthly sales, that is roughly 58 to 66 dollars a month in card fees alone, before any platform transaction fee.
The Builders, One by One
The eleven builders below run from the most general to the most specialized, and each section names the plan a small business should actually buy. Website builder pricing for small business looks very different once you know which plan fits your job, because the cheapest plan on one builder can cost more than the mid plan on another once fees are counted.
Wix
Wix is the easiest builder to recommend to a business that wants a site live this week. The editor is drag and drop, the template library is large, and the free plan lets you build before you pay. Light costs 17 dollars a month billed yearly and covers a brochure site with a custom domain, but it cannot take payments at all, so any business that sells anything starts at Core for 29 dollars a month billed yearly.
Business costs 39 dollars a month billed yearly and adds automated sales tax, while Business Elite costs 159 dollars a month billed yearly for larger stores. Wix charges no extra transaction fee of its own, so the only fee on a sale is the card fee.
The real limit is exit cost. A Wix site lives on Wix forever, because you cannot export it and move it to another host. That is acceptable for a small business that values speed over portability, but it is a reason to think twice if you expect to rebuild on another platform later.
Squarespace
Squarespace is the design led choice, and its templates still set the standard for service businesses, portfolios and small brands that care how the site looks. Basic costs 19 dollars a month billed yearly, or 25 dollars month to month, and it adds a 2 percent transaction fee to every online sale. That fee is the trap in the cheapest plan, because it outweighs the saving once you sell steadily. Core costs 29 dollars a month billed yearly, or 39 dollars month to month, and it removes the fee entirely, which makes Core the honest starting point for any business that sells.
Plus costs 49 dollars a month billed yearly and Advanced costs 99 dollars a month billed yearly for larger stores. There is no free plan, only a 14 day trial, and the integration library is smaller than Wix or Shopify.
Pick Squarespace when the look of the site is the selling point and the catalog is modest, and skip it when you need deep app integrations or a large store.
Shopify
Shopify is the only builder on this list built for selling first and everything else second. Basic costs 29 dollars a month billed yearly, or 39 dollars month to month, and it includes hosting, checkout and payments in one dashboard. Grow costs 79 dollars a month billed yearly and Advanced costs 299 dollars a month billed yearly for stores with real volume. Online card rates run 2.9 percent plus 30 cents on Basic, 2.7 percent on Grow and 2.5 percent on Advanced, and using a payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a 2 percent fee on Basic.
The trial is short at 3 days, followed by 1 dollar a month for 3 months on most plans. Shopify is overkill for a brochure site, and it is the right answer the moment selling online is the main point of the site. No general builder matches its app store, its checkout or its handling of a real catalog.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is the cheapest credible route to a professional site on your own domain. The free plan puts you on a wordpress.com address with WordPress.com ads, while Personal costs 4 dollars a month billed yearly, or 9 dollars month to month, and removes the ads. Business costs 25 dollars a month billed yearly, or 40 dollars month to month, and it opens plugin installation, which is the feature that matters most to businesses that hire a freelancer to extend the site.
Annual plans include a free domain for the first year. The tradeoff is that WordPress.com is not the same as self hosted WordPress, and the lower plans limit what you can install. For a simple business site with a blog, Personal is hard to beat on price. For anything that needs plugins or custom code, budget for Business from the start.
GoDaddy Airo
GoDaddy rebuilt its builder around Airo, an AI tool that turns a short business description into a first draft site you can edit. Starter costs 9.99 dollars a month billed yearly, or 19.99 dollars month to month, and it handles payments through pay links and QR codes. Professional costs 24.99 dollars a month billed yearly and adds online payments, deposits and appointment bookings. Annual plans include a free domain for the first year, and there is a free plan for previews.
The pitch is consolidation, because the domain, hosting, email and phone support all sit in one account. The weakness is depth, because the builder is simpler than Wix or Squarespace and the commerce features are lighter than Shopify. Pick GoDaddy when you want one vendor and a fast start, and look elsewhere when the site needs real design control or a serious store.
Hostinger
Hostinger is the budget pick, and the price needs reading carefully. Premium costs 2.49 dollars a month, but only when you pay for 48 months at once, which is 119.52 dollars upfront. It renews at 10.99 dollars a month, and Unlimited costs 3.49 dollars a month on the same term and renews at 16.99 dollars a month. Selling online needs a separate Ecommerce subscription, which starts at 4.99 dollars a month for 12 months and renews at 8.99 dollars a month. There is no free plan, only a 30 day money back guarantee, and the AI tools draft headlines and copy for you.
The templates are clean and the editor is simple, so a straightforward business site goes live fast. The risk is the long prepay, because four years is a long commitment to a builder you have not used yet. If the budget is tight and the site is simple, Hostinger is the cheapest honest option. If you may need to sell online soon, add the Ecommerce cost before you compare.
Weebly
Weebly is now part of Square, and it is worth a look mainly if you already know its editor or already use Square in person. Personal costs 13 dollars a month billed yearly, or 16 dollars month to month, and it lets you connect a custom domain. A free domain is included only on the Professional and Performance plans.
The free plan exists, and the editor is one of the simplest here, which suits owners who want to edit a few pages and stop. Weebly has not kept pace with Wix or Squarespace on templates or features, and Square now puts its energy into Square Online for selling. Choose Weebly for a simple site tied to Square payments, and choose a more active builder for anything that needs to grow.
Square Online
Square Online is the best free start for a shop or cafe that already takes Square payments in person. The Free plan costs 0 dollars a month, and online card payments cost 3.3 percent plus 30 cents each. Plus costs 49 dollars a month per location and cuts the card rate to 2.9 percent plus 30 cents, while Premium costs 149 dollars a month per location.
The free plan is genuinely usable, because you can sell on a Square address with no monthly fee, and you only pay when a customer pays you. The tradeoff is design control, because the templates are simpler than Squarespace and the customization is shallower than Wix. For a business that sells in person and wants an online store without a monthly bill, Square Online is the obvious first look. For a brand led site where design carries the sale, it is the wrong tool.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is the quiet alternative to Shopify for stores that expect to grow. Since its June 2026 plan rename, Core costs 29 dollars a month billed yearly, or 39 dollars month to month, for up to 30,000 dollars in twelve month sales. There is no extra transaction fee when you use a supported payment provider, and the platform handles large catalogs, variants and B2B features better than the general builders. The tradeoff is that the editor is less friendly than Wix, the template choice is smaller, and the learning curve is steeper for a first time owner.
BigCommerce fits a business that already sells and wants room to grow without rebuilding in a year. For a brochure site or a shop with ten products, Shopify or Wix is simpler and cheaper to run.
Webflow
Webflow is the builder for businesses that care about design control and have someone who can use it. The pricing changed in May 2026, when the old CMS and Business site plans were folded into a single Premium plan. Starter is free on a webflow.io address, Basic costs 15 dollars a month billed yearly, or 25 dollars month to month, and Premium costs 25 dollars a month billed yearly, or 39 dollars month to month. Basic has no CMS at all, so any site with a blog or collection driven content needs Premium. Workspace plans for teams are separate and start at 19 dollars per seat per month, and add ons like analytics and localization stack on top.
Webflow gives pixel level control over layout, interactions and responsive breakpoints, and it outputs clean code. It is the wrong choice for an owner who wants to drag, drop and finish, because the learning curve is the steepest on this list.
Duda
Duda is the builder for people who build sites for other people, and it is the only one here designed around agencies. Basic costs 19 dollars a month billed yearly for one site, Team costs 29 dollars a month, Agency costs 52 dollars a month for four sites, and White Label costs 149 dollars a month. There is a 14 day trial without a card and a 30 day money back guarantee on eligible plans.
The agency features are the point, with client management, team roles, white label options and reusable sections, and the editor is fast for building similar sites in volume. For a single small business site, Duda is good but not special, and Wix or Squarespace gives you more templates for the same money. For an agency or a freelancer managing several client sites, Duda is the most practical platform on this list.
The Hidden Costs Nobody Puts on the Pricing Page
The monthly plan price is the headline, but four other costs decide what a site really costs over two years. The first is the domain, which is usually free for year one on annual plans and then renews at 10 to 20 dollars a year. The second is business email, which most builders do not include, so a team of three can add a meaningful monthly bill before the site earns anything.
Website builder pricing for small business has to include the third and fourth costs too. Paid apps and themes can each add 5 to 30 dollars a month, and these extras are easy to forget when you compare plan prices. The transaction fee is the most expensive hidden cost of all for a selling business.
Transaction fees deserve a worked example, because they change the ranking. Take a business selling 3,000 dollars a month online. On Squarespace Basic, the 2 percent platform fee adds 60 dollars a month on top of the card fee, which wipes out the saving against Core in the first month. On Square Online Free, the 3.3 percent card rate costs about 99 dollars a month in card fees, while Plus at 49 dollars a month drops the rate to 2.9 percent, so Plus pays for itself once monthly sales pass roughly 2,500 dollars.
On Shopify Basic, there is no platform fee with Shopify Payments, so the only cost is the card fee, and that is why Shopify looks expensive on the plan price and cheap once you sell at volume. Website builder pricing for small business only makes sense when you run this math on your own sales, not when you compare monthly plan prices in isolation.
Renewal pricing is the second trap, and Hostinger is the clearest example, because the jump from 2.49 to 10.99 dollars a month is printed on the pricing page but easy to miss. The defense is simple, and it takes two minutes. Before you buy, find the renewal price on the pricing page, multiply it by twelve, and write the year two total next to the year one total. If the vendor hides the renewal price, treat that as information about the vendor. A builder that is honest about renewal pricing is usually honest about the rest of the bill.
How to Choose the Right Plan for Your Business
The right plan in website builder pricing for small business depends on the job the site has to do, not on the price list. A brochure site, a booking site and a store are three different purchases, and the table below matches each job to the plan that fits it at the lowest honest cost.
| Your job | Best pick | Plan and price | Why it wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| A simple brochure site on a budget | WordPress.com | Personal, 4 dollars a month billed yearly | Cheapest paid plan with your own domain |
| A brochure site you will keep for years | Hostinger | Premium, 2.49 dollars a month on a 48 month term | Lowest cost over four years, honest renewal |
| A design led service site | Squarespace | Core, 29 dollars a month billed yearly | No transaction fee, best templates for services |
| A fast start with everything in one account | GoDaddy Airo | Starter, 9.99 dollars a month billed yearly | AI first draft, domain and support in one place |
| A shop that already sells in person | Square Online | Free, then Plus at 49 dollars a month | No monthly fee to start, card rate drops with volume |
| A serious online store | Shopify | Basic, 29 dollars a month billed yearly | Best checkout, biggest app store, no platform fee |
| A growing store that may outgrow Shopify | BigCommerce | Core, 29 dollars a month billed yearly | Handles large catalogs and B2B without rebuilding |
| A site with a blog and custom design | Webflow | Premium, 25 dollars a month billed yearly | Real CMS and pixel level control |
| Several client sites for an agency | Duda | Agency, 52 dollars a month billed yearly | Four sites, client management and white label |
If your business falls between two rows, pick the plan with the lower exit cost, not the lower price. A site on WordPress.com or Webflow can move, while a site on Wix cannot be exported, so the cost of leaving matters as much as the cost of staying. And if you are unsure whether you will sell online within a year, pick a builder whose selling plan is one step up, not three, so the upgrade is a price change rather than a rebuild.
Mistakes That Waste Money
The most common mistake is buying the cheapest plan and then paying the transaction fee every month. Squarespace Basic is the classic case, because the 2 percent fee costs more than the jump to Core for any business selling more than a few hundred dollars a month. The second mistake is paying monthly when you know you will keep the site for a year, because monthly billing adds 25 to 60 percent to the same plan on most builders here. The third mistake is prepaying for four years to chase the lowest monthly number, then discovering the builder cannot do the one thing the business needs, which is exactly how Hostinger buyers lose money.
The fourth mistake is ignoring the card fee when comparing a free plan with a paid plan. A free Square Online store looks free until the 3.3 percent card rate is compared with the 2.9 percent rate on Plus, and the same logic applies to every builder that charges a platform fee on top of the card fee. The fifth mistake is buying a builder for its templates and then paying a designer to fight the editor, when a simpler builder would have been finished in a weekend. Templates are a starting point, not a strategy, and the builder that lets you finish the site yourself is usually the cheapest one in practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a small business website cost per month in 2026?
A brochure site on a paid plan costs 4 to 29 dollars a month billed yearly, depending on the builder, and a store costs 29 to 49 dollars a month at the entry level. The cheapest honest start is WordPress.com Personal at 4 dollars a month, and the most common range for a service business is 17 to 29 dollars a month. That is the honest range for website builder pricing for small business in 2026. Add a domain renewal of 10 to 20 dollars a year and card fees on any sales, because those sit outside the plan price.
Is a free website builder plan enough for a small business?
A free plan is enough to test a builder and to publish a simple page, but it is rarely enough for a real business. Free plans usually force a builder subdomain, show builder branding, and block payments, custom email and search features that customers expect. Square Online is the exception, because its free plan can take real payments, which makes it the only free plan here that can run a selling business.
Which website builder is cheapest in the long run?
Hostinger Premium is the cheapest over four years at 119.52 dollars paid once, then 10.99 dollars a month after the term. After the renewal, WordPress.com Personal at 48 dollars a year is the cheapest paid plan with no renewal jump. The honest answer depends on your time horizon, because a four year prepay is only cheap if you stay for four years.
Do website builders charge a fee on every sale?
Some do and some do not, and the difference matters more than the plan price. Shopify, Wix and BigCommerce charge no platform fee when you use their own payments, while Squarespace Basic adds 2 percent and Duda Basic adds 2 percent. Every builder passes on a card fee of roughly 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per online payment, and Square Online charges 3.3 percent plus 30 cents on its free plan.
Should a small business pay monthly or yearly for a website builder?
Pay yearly when you are sure you will keep the site for twelve months, because annual billing saves 25 to 60 percent on most builders here. Pay monthly for the first month or two when you are still testing, because the extra cost is small and it keeps the exit cheap. Never prepay for several years until you have built the site and confirmed the builder does everything you need.
Can I move my website to another builder later?
It depends on the builder. WordPress.com and Webflow let you export content, while Wix does not let you export a site at all, so moving from Wix means rebuilding. Shopify and BigCommerce let you export products and orders, but the design does not travel. If you think you may switch later, keep your domain registered separately and keep copies of your text and images outside the builder.
The Bottom Line
Website builder pricing for small business rewards the buyer who reads past the headline number. The cheapest plan is WordPress.com Personal at 4 dollars a month, the cheapest four year deal is Hostinger Premium, the best store start is Shopify Basic at 29 dollars a month, and the best design led service site is Squarespace Core at 29 dollars a month. The plan that wastes money is the one that charges a transaction fee on your sales, renews at four times the advertised price, or locks your site in a builder you cannot leave.
Compare the year two total, run the card fee math on your own sales, and pick the plan that fits the job the site has to do.
