a free website: what the free tiers actually include

web · 2026-09-01 · 3 min

yes, and you can do it without a credit card. the honest map: github pages, netlify and cloudflare pages host a static site for free; wix and squarespace have free plans with ads and a subdomain; wordpress.com has a free tier. the catch is never the hosting price. it is what free includes and what it quietly takes away.

free is a good deal for a portfolio, a test, a project that may not last. it is a bad deal for the site a customer will judge you by, for one reason: the address.

the genuinely free options

github pages: free for public repositories, custom domain supported, https included. you upload html, or the output of a generator.

netlify and cloudflare pages: free tiers with a build step and a fast cdn. good if you want to push a folder and get a site.

wix, squarespace, wordpress.com: free plans exist, with an address like yoursitename.wixsite.com and a badge. fine to learn on, not fine to hand to a paying customer.

what free actually costs

the subdomain. your address is the one thing a business owns online. a domain is usually the cheapest line on the whole bill, and the only one that survives a change of platform. paying for it does not require paying for hosting: github pages and netlify will serve your domain for free.

ads and badges: someone else's brand on your page. lock-in: a free plan rarely lets you export the design, so moving later means rebuilding. email: free hosting does not give you a professional mailbox.

when free is the right answer

a portfolio you are still building, a wedding page, a prototype for a client, a project with no revenue. in those cases the subdomain is honest: it says "this is a trial" before anyone has to ask.

when the site has to bring work, the domain and a paid plan are the smallest part of the investment and the part that changes how the site is read. what the paid versions include is a different post.

the bill at one year and at three

the cheapest way to get a website is not the cheapest invoice on day one. it is the one you do not pay twice for. here is the same decision read at two distances.

at one year, free wins. a free plan plus a domain is a small number, and a static site on a free host is close to zero. a paid builder is a subscription, a one-off build is the largest single payment of the three. on the twelve-month view free is correct and honest, especially if the site is a test.

at three years the order changes. the free plan has usually become a paid plan, because the badge, the subdomain and the missing mailbox add up to a reason to upgrade. the builder has charged three years of subscription and the design has not changed. the one-off build has cost its price once, plus hosting and a domain each year, and it is still the same site, editable by anyone.

the hidden costs of free are not on the invoice. the domain you do not own, so the address belongs to the platform. the template you cannot change without upgrading. the hours spent fighting an editor designed for someone else's content. the migration, which is a project, not a button.

a fair comparison counts all four: money, your hours at the rate you charge a client, the address, and the cost of leaving. add them and the free plan is rarely the cheapest after the first year. it is the cheapest to start, which is a different thing, and sometimes exactly what you need.

faq

can i use my own domain on a free plan?

on github pages and netlify, yes: you point a cname or an a record and the hosting stays free. on wix and squarespace, connecting a domain usually requires a paid plan.

will a free site rank on google?

it can be indexed, and the subdomain is not disqualifying by itself. content and links decide. what hurts is the badge, the slow template and the fact that nobody links to a trial address.

can i move later?

with static files, yes: it is a copy. from a builder, usually not with the design. plan the exit before you need it: own the domain, keep the content in a document you control, and export the images. wix has its own limits.

what is the cheapest way to get a website?

in the first year, a free plan with your own domain, or a static site on a free host. over three years the cheapest is usually the site you never have to rebuild: a one-off build with cheap hosting, or a paid builder you keep using. the free plan is cheapest to start, not to keep.