Whether for your small business, blog, or online shop, free website builders are a good option to take your first steps, but are they as good as the paid ones? Actually, free means limited options. We’re here to help you find which one to opt for.
What’s so impressive about website builders is that they make everyone able to build his website according to his own vision and preferences, which means no coding skills are required since most website builders out there use the drag and drop tools and offer pre-made designs.
However, a free website builder might have its disadvantages in terms of designs, the number of pages, domain name, storage, and many other aspects that you need to look through before wasting time on an inadequate free website builder.
Here Are What to Check Before You Start Building for Free
. The Number of Pages:
Most free website builders will limit you with the number of pages, and you won’t be able to create more than five web pages and six pages if you use Gator‘s free website builder. To be honest, most of the websites will definitely need more pages if you want to add more content.
. Domain Name:
Free website builders won’t let you use your own URL, and you’ll be forced to use their free one, which includes their name. If you want your website to look professional, it’s better to use your own URL, which is only an available option when choosing a paid plan.
. Branding:
A free service provider will always find a way to promote itself on your own space; it also happens when you choose a free website builder, what will leave its brand in the body, the footer, or the header to make use of your space and serve their brand name.
. Advertisements:
Another drawback of using a free website builder; if you don’t pay for the service, then someone else will. It’s one of the ways how a free website builder makes use of your space and traffic. You might think that a couple of ads on your page won’t harm, but this will take out of your space, and if there are many ads on your webpage, visitors will find it annoying to visit your website.
. Storage:
Limited storage is something that you’ll find in paid and free website builders, but free ones will limit the storage so that you won’t be able to add as much content as you want and won’t be enough to upload high-quality images to your website.
. Customer support:
Most free website builders won’t provide 24-hour customer support, or in some other cases, there won’t be customer support at all, which is one of the things that you’ll need to check before making up your mind on a free website builder. If you’re interested in a free website builder that also offers a customer support service, check this list of the best website builders on the market.
Along with all the things that we mentioned, you might also have limited features when choosing a free website builder, and whenever you want more advanced ones, your provider will ask you to upgrade. However, a free website builder is a good start and will definitely help you get familiar with the building tools.