5 Free Alternatives to Squarespace for Building Websites

If you’re looking for a website builder but you haven’t got a lot of money to spend, then Squarespace might not be the best choice.

However, there are plenty of free Squarespace alternatives you can look at, and they are probably better than you think.

Here are five of the best options for creating your own website without coding or hiring a developer. Let’s get started!

1. WordPress

WordPress is one of the most popular and powerful website platforms in the world. It powers over 40% of all websites on the internet, including some of the biggest brands like The New York Times, CNN, and Spotify.

There are two versions of WordPress to choose from. WordPress.org gives you free software you can install on a web hosting server. However, if you’ve not done that before or you want to save some money, wordpress.com is by far the easiest route.

The free plan for wordpress.com gives you unlimited pages and unlimited users. It comes with a built-in newsletter, an RSS feed, and you can there are dozens of free themes that you can pick from to customize your site.

WordPress is very SEO-friendly, meaning it can help you rank higher on search engines like Google. WordPress is ideal for bloggers, online stores, portfolios, and just about any type of website you can imagine.

➡️ Learn more at wordpress.com

Image courtesy of Automattic

2. Weebly

Another popular Squarespace alternative is Weebly. It offers a simple and intuitive way to create your own website.

Weebly is great for beginners, small businesses, and hobbyists who want to create a website quickly and easily.

It lets you choose from hundreds of professionally designed themes that you can customize with your own content and images. You can add blogs, galleries, forms, and e-commerce to your site with a few clicks.

Weebly is a hosted platform, meaning you don’t need to worry about the technical aspects of running a website. It provides everything you need to get online, including a free domain name and 24/7 support.

➡️ Learn more at weebly.com

Photo by Kevin Bhagat on Unsplash

3. Google Sites

Google Sites is a website builder that lets you create simple and functional websites. Google Sites works well with Google’s other tools and services, such as Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Calendar, Maps, YouTube, and more.

Google Sites has a minimalist and user-friendly interface that lets you create pages with a simple drag-and-drop interface. You can also collaborate with others on your site using Google’s sharing and commenting features.

It also gets regular updates to keep it in line with other free website builders that you may come across online.

Google Sites is a free platform that hosts your site on Google’s servers. Google Sites is best for personal projects, education, nonprofits, and internal communication, but with minimal effort, it can create websites for almost any purpose.

➡️ Learn more at sites.google.com

Google Sites screenshot by Jonathan Wylie

4. Caard

Caard is a website builder that I wish more people knew about. It’s a simple and elegant tool that lets you create one-page websites in minutes. You can choose from a variety of templates or start from scratch and customize your design with colors, fonts, images, and icons.

Caard is perfect for creating landing pages, portfolios, resumes, newsletters and more. You can also connect your own domain name and use analytics to track your visitors.

Caard is free for up to three websites, and you can upgrade to a premium plan for more features and unlimited projects. I know this is a list of free alternatives, but I had to mention the Caard Pro plan because it is just $19 a year, and that is tough to beat for a premium website builder.

➡️ Learn more at Caard.co

Caard screenshot by Jonathan Wylie

5. Canva

You’re probably already familiar with Canva. It’s a powerful graphic design platform that allows you to create stunning visuals for logos, banners, flyers, posters, infographics, and more. However, Canva also has a free website builder.

Similar to Caard, Canva is perfect if you want a one-page website, but you build it in sections that people can access from your navigation menu. Building your website in Canva is like building a PowerPoint, and you can use all the elements, tools, and icons that Canva has to offer.

With Canva Sites, you can choose from hundreds of templates or create your own layout from scratch. It’s free to use for basic features, but if you need more tools or resources, you can upgrade to a pro or enterprise plan.

For those who are already familiar with Canva, it’s a great choice for a website builder because you don’t need to learn how it works. It is seamlessly integrated with all the other Canva tools, so you can concentrate on being creative instead of reading how-tos on a support site.

➡️ Learn more at Canva.com

Image courtesy of Canva

Conclusion

Squarespace is popular for a reason. It’s an excellent service, and it offers a lot of powerful website building capabilities.

However, the cheapest Squarespace plan is about $16 a month. If that’s not in your budget right now, the alternatives above are a great place to start.

Which one will you choose?

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