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Home / Website Builders guides / The Cheapest Way to Build a Real Website With Your Own Domain

The Cheapest Way to Build a Real Website With Your Own Domain

Free plans and what they cost you, the sub-$5 options that include a domain, and where the fees hide.

Written by Team RankingRight
August 23, 2026 · 3 min read

Free-to-use photo via Pexels (Thirdman); no attribution required by license, credited here as courtesy.

Free plans

Wix, WordPress.com, GoDaddy, Weebly and Webflow have free tiers. All put you on their subdomain (yourname.wixsite.com) and most show their ads. Fine for testing; not for a business card.

Cheapest with a custom domain

  • Hostinger Website Builder: $2.99/mo on a 48-month term, domain free year one.
  • WordPress.com Personal: $4/mo billed yearly, domain free year one.
  • GoDaddy Basic: $9.99/mo.
  • Weebly Personal: $10/mo.

Where the fees hide

Domain renewal in year two ($15–$25); transaction fees on lower store plans (Squarespace Core 2%, Webflow 2%); paid templates (Shopify, Webflow); and the jump from intro to renewal (Hostinger $2.99 → $7.99).

» See the full rankings: Cheapest Website Builders With a Custom Domain, Best Free Website Builders .