Best website builder 2026: a comparison for UK businesses

Short answer: there is no website builder that is best for everyone. Wix is the easiest for an ordinary business site, Squarespace has the most polished templates, Shopify is best for e-commerce, Webflow gives the most design freedom and WordPress gives the most control and can be moved. If you want a low price and UK support, IONOS and Hostinger have UK sites with prices in pounds. Choose based on what the site needs to do in two years, not just today.

Quick pick: which suits you?

The nine options

Prices below are as of October 2026. Several providers show introductory prices that rise at renewal, so read the terms.

1. Wix

The world's most used pure website builder. You drag and drop elements freely, and Wix handles hosting and security. The free plan carries Wix ads and a wixsite.com address. Paid plans are called Light, Core, Business and Business Elite, and e-commerce is included from Core (Wix). Check the price shown for UK visitors, as Wix prices vary by country.

Worth knowing: a Wix site cannot be moved to another host, because it only runs on Wix's own servers (Wix).

2. WordPress (WordPress.org)

Free, open source and the most used CMS in the world (WordPress.org). You need hosting, which in the UK can cost a few pounds a month. In return you get full control, tens of thousands of plugins and a site you can move wherever you like. Read more in What is a CMS?

Worth knowing: you are responsible for updates and security yourself.

3. WordPress.com

The same WordPress, with hosting handled for you. The free version shows ads to visitors, and the Commerce plan has e-commerce built in with WooCommerce (WordPress.com).

4. Squarespace

Known for polished templates that look good without tweaking. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial (Squarespace). After a price rise in summer 2026, US plans start at $19 a month billed annually (PetaPixel). Check the UK price on Squarespace's pricing page.

Worth knowing: export only works to WordPress format, and your shop, products and design do not come with you (Squarespace).

5. Webflow

For those who want a completely custom design and are willing to learn a more advanced tool. The free plan gives two pages on a webflow.io address. The Basic plan with a custom domain costs $15 a month billed annually, and plans with the CMS for blogs and news cost more (Webflow).

Worth knowing: you can export HTML and CSS, but not CMS content as pages, and forms stop working after export.

6. Shopify

Built for e-commerce from the start, with payments, stock, shipping and thousands of apps. In the UK, Basic costs £19 a month billed annually or £25 monthly, and Grow costs £49 a month billed annually (Shopify). For a site without a shop it is more than you need. Read more about building a Shopify shop.

7. IONOS Website Builder

A large European host with a UK site. The builder starts at £6 a month for six months and then £10, excluding VAT, and the most popular plan rises to £16 a month after the first year (IONOS).

8. Hostinger Website Builder

Cheap, with an AI builder. From £2.99 a month, but only when you pay for 48 months upfront, and it renews at £10.99 a month (Hostinger).

9. GoDaddy Website Builder

One of the best known names in the UK, and simple to get started with. It is used on around 0.6 percent of all websites, roughly a seventh of Wix (W3Techs). Like Wix, it locks you into its own platform.

What does a website builder cost?

Free is possible, but with the provider's ads and address. For a business site with a custom domain, most builders cost roughly £10 to £30 a month at standard prices, and e-commerce costs more. Add the domain, any add-ons and, above all, your own time. We have done the sums in How much does a website cost?

Market share gives a hint of how established a tool is. According to W3Techs, WordPress is used on 40.1 percent of all websites, Shopify 5.4, Wix 4.2, Squarespace 2.4 and Webflow 0.8 percent (W3Techs).

Five things to check before you choose

1. Can you move the site? This is the question that costs most if the answer is no. Switch platform later and you rebuild.
2. Your own domain. Make sure the domain is registered to your business, not to the builder.
3. SEO basics. You need to be able to change page titles, meta descriptions and URLs. Google has said its systems do not care how a page was made, only the result, and that all the big tools can create pages that work in search (Search Engine Journal). The difference is how much control you get.
4. Where data is stored. Wix may store visitor data in places such as the US and Israel, protected by standard contractual clauses (Wix). Under UK GDPR, you should know where your data goes.
5. Total cost over three years. Use the renewal price, not the introductory one.

Course or software to build a website?

All the builders above are in practice website-building software in your browser, and most come with their own guides and templates. If you want to understand how the web really works, Mozilla's free beginner course in HTML and CSS is a good start (MDN Web Docs). For a business site you do not need to code, but it helps to understand the basics of SEO. Want to start from a design? Read Website templates.

When is a website builder not enough?

A website builder goes a long way for a simple site. It starts to pinch when the site needs to bring in customers: when you need pages for every service and location, connections to a CRM or booking system, faster load times, or a design that sets you apart from competitors using the same template. Then it is time to consider a web design agency.