The short answer
The best website builder for small business depends on what you sell. Wix suits owners who want booking and a store on one platform, Squarespace suits design-led brands, Hostinger suits tight budgets, WordPress.com suits long-term flexibility, and Durable or Shingle suit service businesses that want a site written for them.
Who wrote this and how we chose
Shingle wrote this guide, and we're on the list. We sell one of these products, so check what matters to you on each company's own pages. We've said what ours lacks too.
Prices are as of November 2026. We read them from each company's own pricing page on November 6, 2026, except where we say otherwise. We compared what those pages say. We didn't run a long-term test of each product, and we make no claim about which one will bring you more customers.
The list is ordered by need, starting with the most common, because the right builder for a bakery with an online shop is the wrong one for a plumber. That's also why our own product isn't first.
The builders at a glance
| Builder | Suits | Starting price, November 2026 | Free plan that publishes | Takes payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | Owners who want the most built in | $17.77 a month, paid yearly (see below) | Yes, with Wix ads | From its Core plan |
| Squarespace | Design-led brands and small shops | $12 a month paid yearly, $19 monthly | No, a 14-day trial | Yes |
| Hostinger | The lowest monthly rate | $1.99 a month on 48 months, then $10.99 | No, a 30-day refund | Yes |
| GoDaddy | Owners already at GoDaddy | $9.99 a month, paid yearly | No, a free preview | Yes, by plan |
| WordPress.com | Room to grow with plugins | $4 a month paid yearly, $9 monthly | Yes, with ads | Yes, with a fee by plan |
| Durable | A solo owner who wants a CRM too | $22 or $25 a month (see below) | A free preview | Yes, per its pages |
| Shingle | Local service businesses | $49 a month, $39 paid yearly | No, a 7-day trial for $1 | No |
Wix for the most built in
Wix is the safest default if you aren't sure what you'll need. Its AI builder starts from a prompt, then you refine the result by asking its AI agent, Aria, or by dragging things around yourself. Stores, scheduling and blogs live on the same platform, so you're less likely to outgrow it.
Price. Its plans page showed Light at $17.77, Core at $29.77, Business at $39.77 and Business Elite at $159.77 a month, paid yearly. The page marks those figures as including tax and says prices vary by location, and on October 26 the same page read $17, $29 and $39 for the first three, so expect your checkout to differ. Payments and scheduling start on Core.
Free option. The free plan publishes at a wixsite.com address with Wix ads. A custom domain needs a paid plan.
Watch for. You can't switch templates on a site you've created, and a Wix site can't be moved to another host, so leaving means rebuilding. On most US cards, Wix Payments charges 2.9% plus 30 cents a transaction.
Squarespace for design first
Squarespace suits businesses where the look does the selling: photographers, florists, studios, restaurants and small shops. It has polished templates and a drag-and-drop editor, plus an AI builder that gives you a multi-page start from a description.
Price. Its pricing page lists Basic at $12 a month paid yearly or $19 monthly, Core at $17 or $27, and Advanced at $25 or $36. Annual plans include a domain for the first year. On Basic, online sales carry a 2% fee and digital content 7%. Core drops the store fee to 0%.
Free option. There's no free plan. You get a 14-day trial with no card, and you need a paid plan to publish.
Watch for. Booking comes through Acuity Scheduling, which has its own price list starting at $16 a month paid yearly. You can't switch templates on current sites, though you can restyle one heavily. Its export covers only some content.
Hostinger for the lowest monthly rate
Hostinger bundles hosting with its AI builder, which starts from a prompt or a pasted web address. If your budget is tight and you can pay upfront, its monthly rate is the lowest here.
Price. Its pricing page showed Premium at $1.99 a month for 48 months, which is $95.52 upfront, renewing at $10.99 a month. Unlimited was $2.79 a month, $133.92 upfront, renewing at $16.99. These were promotional prices during its Black Friday sale. A domain and mailboxes are free for the first year.
Free option. No free plan was shown. There's a 30-day money-back offer.
Watch for. Work out the real cost over the time you'll keep the site, because the renewal price is several times the first one. AI credits are a one-time allocation that doesn't renew each month. Its pricing page lists ecommerce from Unlimited up.
GoDaddy if your domain is already there
If your domain and email already live at GoDaddy, keeping your site in the same account is the appeal. Its AI builder is called Airo, and GoDaddy lists 24/7 phone and chat support on its AI builder plans.
Price. GoDaddy's own guides list Starter at $9.99 a month and Professional at $24.99, and its AI builder page, as search results show it, has Ultimate at $99.99, all on annual billing. That page wouldn't load for us on November 6, so check the figures and the renewal price on its site before you decide.
Free option. You can start free with 50 AI credits a month and no card, to build and preview. GoDaddy's guide says you need a paid plan to go live.
Watch for. Its own pages differ on whether payments and bookings start on Starter or Professional, and on whether Starter includes a custom domain. Confirm both before you buy.
WordPress.com for room to grow
WordPress.com is hosted WordPress, the open source software behind millions of sites. Pick it if you expect to add a lot over time, or to bring in a developer later. It has more to learn than the others on this list, and more you can do once you've learned it.
Price. Its pricing page lists Personal at $4 a month paid yearly or $9 monthly, Premium at $8 or $18, Business at $25 or $40, and Commerce at $45 or $70. Yearly plans include a domain for the first year. Every paid plan can install plugins from a marketplace of over 60,000.
Free option. A free plan with no end date, at a wordpress.com address with ads shown to visitors, and 1 GB of storage.
Watch for. Taking payments carries a fee that falls as you pay more for your plan, from 10% on Free and 8% on Personal to 4% on Premium, 2% on Business and 0% on Commerce, plus Stripe's own fee. Its AI builder doesn't cover online stores. The renewal price didn't appear on the page when we read it.
Durable for a site with a CRM
Durable sells a site, a customer list, bookings and payments as one subscription, aimed at the owner of one small business. If you're a one-person service business and you'd rather not stitch tools together, it's worth a look.
Price. Its pricing page printed two prices for each plan on the day we read it: Launch at $25 on its card and $22 in its table, and Grow at $49 and $41. Going yearly is said to save 15%. Check which applies at checkout.
Free option. A free plan with 300 credits in total, and room for 10 customer records in its CRM. Its table lists a private preview and no durable.site address on Free, so don't count on it for a live site.
Watch for. It's built around one business, and its pages show no agency or white-label offer, so look elsewhere if you build for clients.
Shingle for local service businesses
Shingle writes a site from your Google listing or a few notes. Your phone, hours, prices and reviews come only from you or your listing, and a separate review removes lines those facts don't support. You still read what's published, because it's your name on it. A first build usually takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you change it by asking in plain words or editing on the page. Forms, booking, a newsletter and a blog are built in.
Price. One plan at $49 a month, or $39 paid yearly, for one live site with your own domain and code download. People building sites for clients add live sites at $7 a month each. See pricing.
Free option. There's no free plan. A 7-day trial for $1 gives you 100 credits, a live site and your own domain, and then the plan starts at $49 a month unless you cancel before the trial ends.
What it lacks. It doesn't take payments or send invoices, and it has no online store, so a shop needs Wix, Squarespace or another builder here. You buy your domain elsewhere and connect it. A site has one language.
How to choose in five minutes
Answer these in order, and stop at the first that decides it.
- Do you need to sell products or take payment on the site? Then look at Wix, Squarespace, Hostinger or WordPress.com, and compare their fees.
- Does the look of the site do the selling? Try Squarespace first.
- Can you pay several years upfront, and is the monthly rate what matters? Look at Hostinger, and read the renewal price.
- Do you want a first draft written for you? See the best AI website builders.
- Do you expect to need plugins or a developer later? Look at WordPress.com.
- None of these? Any small business website builder looks fine in its own demo, so start the free option or trial of two and build your home page in each. An hour in the editor tells you more than any review.
What to check before you pay
- The renewal price. Add up three years, including renewals. Our website cost calculator helps.
- What the free plan really does. Some publish on the company's own address with its ads. Some only preview.
- Fees on sales. A percentage on each sale can outgrow the plan's price.
- Who holds your domain. Buy it in your own name if you can, so it stays yours.
- How you'd leave. Wix can't be moved and Squarespace exports part of a site. WordPress is open source, so other hosts can run it, and Shingle's plan lets you download the code. Ask before you've built everything.
- Your own facts. If a builder writes for you, read every line before you publish. Google asks you to fact-check AI content for the same reason.
When a builder is the wrong choice
A builder asks for your time. If you won't give it, the site won't get finished. Hiring someone, or paying a monthly fee for someone to run it, may cost less in the end. Our guide to what a small business website costs compares each route, and what a small business website needs tells you what to ask for.
Complex needs are the other case. Custom software, or a large catalog with unusual rules, may need a developer.
