Free builders are genuinely free to start. The catch tends to show up later, in your time, your branding, or the limits you eventually hit.
From £39/month · no contract · free preview first
It typically means the free tier of a platform like Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com, or Google Sites: a platform-branded address such as yoursite.wixsite.com/business, a small ad or badge somewhere on your pages, and caps on storage, pages, or bandwidth. For the full range of what different options cost, see our guide on how much a website should cost.
Removing the ads or badge, using a custom domain, getting more storage, priority support, or e-commerce features all tend to sit behind a paid tier, right around the point where you actually want your site to look and function like a proper business.
A free template still requires you to pick it, arrange it, write every word of copy, and photograph everything yourself. That's genuinely fine if you enjoy the process and have the hours spare, but it isn't zero cost, it's cost paid in a different currency than money.
It's paying someone else to do the research, the layout decisions and the writing, based on your existing information, so you're reviewing a finished thing rather than building one from scratch. That's the trade a flat fee is buying: your time back, versus a free builder's limits and the hours it takes to work around them. MyShopfront's plans start from £39 a month with no contract and cancel anytime, or £599 as a one-time payment with no subscription at all. A domain isn't included in any of them, but an existing one connects for free, or a new one can be registered for £29 upfront and £19 a year to renew.
A short-lived project, a hobby, or a situation where you already enjoy web design and have time to spare are all legitimate reasons to go the free route. Just go in knowing the free tier is a taste of what's possible, not usually the finished product you'll want to show customers long-term.
Usually yes, most free builders let you upgrade in place without starting over, though moving to a different platform entirely later often does mean rebuilding from scratch.
It depends what your time is worth. A DIY free tier tends to cost money later for features you'll likely want anyway, a done-for-you site charges for that from the start but removes the build and maintenance work entirely.
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