Are website builders really free?

Website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly offer free tiers, but they come with significant limitations.

Free plans typically show the builder's branding, use a subdomain (yoursite.wix.com), limit storage and bandwidth, and restrict essential features like custom domains, e-commerce, and analytics. To get a professional-looking site, you'll need a paid plan ($14–$45/month). Over 3 years, that's $500–$1,600 - not including your time building and maintaining it. The real cost of a 'free' website is often the business you lose from a site that looks generic, loads slowly, and doesn't rank well in search results.