Quick answer
For most small businesses, Wix is the safe pick: a site from a prompt or a template, with bookings, a store and a blog, from $17 a month billed yearly ($29 once you take payments). Squarespace gives a more polished result with commerce on every plan, Hostinger has the cheapest paid plan if you can pay 48 months upfront, and Durable gets a local service business online with bookings and a CRM.
If you mainly sell products, start with Shopify, or with Square if you already take card payments in person: Square Free costs $0 a month plus card fees. If you publish a lot, WordPress.com. If a designer builds the site, Framer.
If customers need to log in, book into your own system or follow their orders, you need an app, not a site. Capacity, which we make, builds one from a description with its own database and hosting, from $25 a month. Lovable does the same with the code synced to GitHub.
| Tool | Best for | Paid plans from | Free plan | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Wix | most small businesses: a site with bookings, a store or a blog, started from a prompt or a template. | $17/month (yearly) | Yes, with Wix branding | Payments and bookings start on Core |
 Squarespace | a polished site for a service business or a small shop, with commerce on every plan. | €12/month (yearly) | No, a 14-day trial | Store and membership fees on Basic |
 Hostinger Website Builder | the lowest price for a site with hosting, a domain and email, if you can pay for years upfront. | $2.99/month (48 months upfront) | No, a 14-day trial | Renews at $10.99+/month |
 WordPress.com | a small business that publishes often: a blog, a newsletter or a content-led site, with plugins. | $4/month (yearly) | Yes, with ads and a subdomain | AI builder needs a paid plan |
 Durable | local service businesses that want a site, bookings and a CRM in one subscription. | $22/month (yearly) | Preview only, 300 AI credits | Not built for online stores |
 Shopify | a business that sells products first, online and in person. | $29/month (yearly) | No, a 3-day free trial | A fee on outside payment providers |
 Square | a shop, café or salon that already sells in person and wants a free online store or booking page. | $0/month (Square Free) | Yes, Square Free (processing fees only) | Card fees on every sale |
 Framer | a studio or startup that wants a design-led marketing site and is happy in a Figma-like editor. | €10/month (yearly) | Yes, 500 AI credits | AI credits and CMS collections by plan |
| Capacity | a business whose site has to do more: customer accounts, bookings or orders in your own database, a dashboard. | $25/month | Web app: no. Desktop: 1 project | No free plan on the web; login via Clerk, Auth0 or Supabase |
 Lovable | a business that needs a web app built in a chat, with its code on GitHub. | €25/month | Yes, 5 credits a day (up to 30 a month) | Builds web apps, not native ones |
What a small business site needs. And where the builders differ.
Bookings and a store
Wix adds scheduling and payments from Core, at $29 a month billed yearly. Durable includes bookings on its paid plans, Square includes a booking site and an online store in its free plan, and Squarespace sells appointment booking separately, as Acuity Scheduling.
The first price isn't the price
Hostinger's $2.99 a month means paying 48 months upfront ($143.52), and Premium then renews at $10.99 a month. Paying monthly costs more almost everywhere: Shopify Basic is $39 a month instead of $29, WordPress.com Personal $9 instead of $4.
What each sale costs you
Card processing applies everywhere. Some builders add their own fee on top: Squarespace Basic takes 2% of store sales, WordPress.com 4% of standard payments on Premium, and Shopify 2% on Basic if you use another payment provider. Hostinger's stores and Squarespace from Core charge 0%.
Email at your domain
It's usually free for the first year only. Hostinger includes mailboxes (2 per site on Premium, then $0.59 a month each), Squarespace one Google Workspace account from Core, and WordPress.com one Titan email account on Business and Commerce.
When a site isn't enough
A customer login, an order tracker or a staff dashboard is an app. Site builders cover bookings and members areas inside their own tools; for your own data and logic, an AI app builder like Capacity or Lovable builds the app and hosts it.
How we compared them. The same questions for every tool.
- How the first version gets built, and what your own domain costs.
- Bookings, a store and payments: included, an add-on, or a separate product.
- The fee each platform takes on a sale, on top of card processing.
- The real price: intro offer, renewal price, and yearly versus monthly billing.
- Email at your domain, and the free plan or trial.
- When the business needs an app instead: customer accounts, your own data, custom logic.
- In the comparison table, a dash means the official pages we read don't list it.
Website builders for most small businesses
01
Wix
Best for most small businesses: a site with bookings, a store or a blog, started from a prompt or a template.
Wix is a website builder with an AI website builder: you describe the site in a prompt, then refine it with drag and drop or with Aria, its built-in AI agent. Hosting is included, and you add business tools as you need them, such as an online store, scheduling software for bookings, or a blog.
Why pick it
- Switch freely between AI generation and drag-and-drop editing, with over 2,000 templates.
- Business tools in one place: an online store, bookings with payments and reminders, a blog and a marketing suite.
- Premium plans include hosting, AI creation tools and 24/7 customer care, and yearly ones add a free domain for one year.
Watch out for
- The free plan keeps Wix branding and a wixsite.com address; your own domain needs a Premium plan, from $17 a month billed yearly.
- Light can't accept payments: payments, eCommerce and scheduling start on Core at $29 a month, which also takes a 4% fee on the pricing plans you sell (2% on Business, 0% on Business Elite).
Pricing
Free: Wix branding on a wixsite.com address. Billed yearly: Light $17/month (2 GB storage, 2 collaborators, no online payments), Core $29/month (50 GB, payments, basic eCommerce, scheduling), Business $39/month (100 GB, standard eCommerce), Business Elite $159/month (unlimited storage, advanced eCommerce). Wix shows yearly prices only; other billing periods exist. 14-day money-back guarantee.
02
Squarespace
Best for a polished site for a service business or a small shop, with commerce on every plan.
Squarespace builds websites from templates, with built-in AI tools, a custom domain free for the first year of an annual plan, and commerce on every plan: products, services, invoices, content and memberships.
Why pick it
- Templates and editing tools built for a polished result.
- Commerce on every plan: sell products and services, send invoices, sell content and memberships.
- The free domain covers the first year of an annual plan, and Core and above add one Google Workspace email account, free for the first year.
Watch out for
- No free plan, only a 14-day trial.
- Basic takes a 2% online store transaction fee and 7% on digital content and memberships; Core drops the store fee to 0%.
- Appointment booking is Acuity Scheduling, a separate subscription from €13 a month billed yearly.
Pricing
Billed yearly: Basic €12/month, Core €18/month, Plus €32/month, Advanced €69/month (prices shown in euros from France; paying monthly costs up to 36% more). 14-day free trial.
03
Hostinger Website Builder
Best for the lowest price for a site with hosting, a domain and email, if you can pay for years upfront.
Hostinger's website builder is part of Hostinger AI Builder, which has two modes: Manual, where AI generates a site from your description and you refine it with drag and drop, and Agentic, where you build websites and web apps by chatting with AI. Plans bundle hosting, and email mailboxes and a domain free for the first year on terms of 12 months or more (each mailbox then renews at $0.59 a month, per hostinger.com/website-builder).
Why pick it
- Hosting, a custom domain and mailboxes (2 per site on Premium) free for the first year, plus AI tools for copy, logos, images and SEO.
- Online stores with 0% transaction fees and 100+ payment methods, plus booking sites that take appointments and payments online.
- The Agentic mode builds web apps, membership sites and reservation systems, with source code access.
Watch out for
- Headline prices assume paying 48 months upfront: Premium is $11.99 on a monthly plan, and every plan renews higher ($10.99 a month for Premium).
- AI credits are a one-time gift (250 on Premium, 500 on Unlimited, 1,000 on Cloud Startup), topped up after that, and there's no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
Pricing
Paid upfront, excluding VAT. Premium (3 websites, 250 AI credits): $11.99 for 1 month, $3.99/month on 12 months ($47.88), $2.99/month on 48 months ($143.52), renews at $10.99/month. Unlimited (unlimited websites, 500 credits): $18.99, $4.99 or $3.99/month, renews at $16.99. Cloud Startup (1,000 credits): $27.99, $9.99 or $7.99/month, renews at $25.99. Hostinger Ecommerce add-on: $1 for 3 months, then $8.99/month.
Source: Hostinger Website Builder pricing page, October 17, 2026
04
WordPress.com
Best for a small business that publishes often: a blog, a newsletter or a content-led site, with plugins.
WordPress.com is hosted, managed WordPress: themes, plugins on paid plans, and the WordPress Agent, an AI website builder that generates pages, layouts, images and copy from a prompt and keeps helping in the editor. It covers blogs, newsletters and business sites, and online stores through WooCommerce.
Why pick it
- Made for publishing, with unlimited pages, posts and users on every paid plan.
- Over 60,000 plugins on any paid plan, and you can export your full site anytime.
- Online stores with WooCommerce: a plugin on paid plans, pre-installed on Commerce with 0% transaction fees.
Watch out for
- The AI website builder needs a paid plan, has usage limits on Personal and Premium, and its build flow doesn't include ecommerce.
- The free plan shows WordPress.com ads on a wordpress.com subdomain with no plugins, and standard payments carry a fee below Commerce (4% on Premium, 2% on Business).
Pricing
Free: a wordpress.com subdomain, 1 GB, ads shown to visitors. Billed yearly: Personal $4/month (6 GB, custom domain free for a year, no ads, plugins), Premium $8/month (13 GB, payment buttons), Business $25/month (50 GB, developer tools), Commerce $45/month (WooCommerce store). Billed monthly: $9, $18, $40 and $70 (no free domain). Two- and three-year terms go down to $2.75/month. Excluding taxes.
05
Durable
Best for local service businesses that want a site, bookings and a CRM in one subscription.
Durable is an AI business builder for small service businesses: it gets a business online with an AI-generated website in about 30 seconds, then adds a CRM, online bookings, SEO tools and AI agents that write blog posts, reply to leads and Google reviews, and research competitors.
Why pick it
- Online bookings on paid plans: unlimited bookings synced to your calendar, paid bookings and intake questions.
- A built-in CRM and AI agents for blog posts, lead replies, review replies and keyword research.
- A free custom domain on paid plans (up to $20 on Launch, $40 on Grow), with hosting and unlimited traffic.
Watch out for
- On the free plan the site is a private preview; publishing to a durable.site subdomain or your own domain, and AI website edits, start on Launch.
- Durable says it isn't designed specifically for e-commerce, and as a no-code tool it offers few HTML customization options.
Pricing
Free: a private website preview, 300 AI credits in total, a CRM for up to 10 customers. Billed yearly: Launch $22/month (1,000 AI credits a month, custom domain up to $20, unlimited bookings, AI agents), Grow $41/month (5,000 credits a month, unlimited team members, site translation, $40 domain credit). Billed monthly: $25 and $49.
If you sell first
Shopify is a commerce platform for running an online store and selling in person, on social channels, on marketplaces and in AI chats from one admin. You can generate a storefront from a prompt with its built-in AI or start from a theme, and Sidekick, its AI assistant, writes product copy, edits photos, sets up discounts and reports on sales.
Why pick it
- Hosting, SSL, unlimited products and Shopify's checkout are included in every plan.
- Online, in-person, social, marketplace and AI-chat sales run from one admin, with inventory management included.
- Sidekick and the AI store builder are included in every plan, with millions of AI tokens.
Watch out for
- Using a payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a fee on each sale: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, 0.2% on Plus.
- Paying monthly costs a third more than yearly ($39 instead of $29 for Basic), and Shopify's own cost guide lists paid apps and premium themes as common extra costs.
Pricing
Billed yearly: Basic $29/month, Grow $79/month (5 staff accounts), Advanced $299/month (15 staff accounts). Billed monthly: $39, $105 and $399. Plus starts at $2,300/month on a three-year term. Every plan starts with a 3-day free trial, then a reduced price for the first 3 months. Card rates with Shopify Payments drop as the plan goes up; outside payment providers add 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% per sale depending on the plan. POS Pro for retail locations is $89/month per location.
07
Square
Best for a shop, café or salon that already sells in person and wants a free online store or booking page.
Square is a point-of-sale and payments platform whose plans include a website builder for an online store (the product formerly called Square Online) and online booking with Square Appointments. The site, the booking page, your items, inventory and customers stay in sync with Square's point of sale, so in-person and online sales run from one account.
Why pick it
- Square Free costs $0 a month and includes the website builder with SEO tools, an online store and a booking website; you pay only processing fees.
- Online orders share items, inventory and customers with the in-store point of sale, with pickup, local delivery and shipping labels.
- Bookings include unlimited staff calendars, automatic reminders, prepayments and Book Now buttons for Instagram, Facebook and Google.
Watch out for
- Every card payment has a processing fee: online, 3.3% + 30¢ on Free and 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium, plus 1.5% for cards issued outside the US.
- A custom domain, abandoned-cart emails, product reviews, waitlists, class bookings and Google Calendar sync need Plus, at $49 a month per location.
Pricing
The same plans cover the online store and Square Appointments. Square Free: $0/month, processing fees only (3.3% + 30¢ online, 2.6% + 15¢ in person). Square Plus: $49/month per location (2.9% + 30¢ online, 2.5% + 15¢ in person), adds a custom domain, expanded site customization, abandoned-cart emails, subscriptions, waitlists and class bookings. Square Premium: $149/month per location (2.9% + 30¢ online, 2.4% + 15¢ in person), adds real-time shipping rates, resource booking and 24/7 phone support. Plus and Premium have a 30-day free trial; Square Pro has custom pricing for businesses processing over $250,000 a year.
For a designer-led site
08
Framer
Best for a studio or startup that wants a design-led marketing site and is happy in a Figma-like editor.
Framer is a website builder with an AI design agent: you design and publish sites on its hosting, with a CMS, a free custom domain on paid plans, and monthly AI credits to generate and edit pages.
Why pick it
- An AI design agent built into the editor.
- Basic includes 30 pages, built-in SEO and 50 GB of bandwidth; Framer aims it at freelancers and small studios.
Watch out for
- AI credits are monthly (1,000 on Basic, 3,000 on Pro) and CMS collections are limited (2 on Basic, 10 on Pro).
- Its plans list no online store or booking tools, and Framer describes the free plan as meant for non-commercial use.
Pricing
Free: 500 AI credits to try, a Framer domain, 1 GB bandwidth. Billed yearly: Basic €10/month (1,000 AI credits a month, custom domain, 2 CMS collections, 50 GB), Pro €30/month (3,000 credits, 10 CMS collections, 100 GB).
When you need more than a site
09 · our product
Capacity
Best for a business whose site has to do more: customer accounts, bookings or orders in your own database, a dashboard.
Capacity turns a plain-language description into a working app: a React front end, a server and its own database, published at a capacity.studio address or on your own domain. You change it by chatting and watch each change in the preview. You choose the model (Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Fable 5.1, Mistral Large 4 or Kimi K3) or leave it on Auto.
Why pick Capacity
- Extensions for what a business adds next: Stripe payments, Clerk or Auth0 login, Resend, Brevo or SendGrid email, a CMS blog, Crisp or Intercom chat, and Google Analytics 4.
- Building from Claude, ChatGPT or Mistral is unlimited on every paid plan: your own subscription writes the code and Capacity hosts the app.
- Examples built with Capacity, including a booking app and two online stores, are live at capacity.so/discover.
Watch out for
- The web app has no free plan, and $25 a month is more than Hostinger, WordPress.com or Wix Light charge for a simple brochure site. Capacity Desktop has a free plan with one project.
- There's no drag-and-drop editor: you change the site by asking.
- Login isn't built in: you add it with Clerk, Auth0 or a Supabase connection.
Pricing
Starter $25/month (100 credits), Growth $69/month (250 credits), Professional $129/month (500 credits), Business $299/month (1,000 credits). Every plan includes unlimited projects, custom domains and unlimited building from Claude and ChatGPT.
10
Lovable
Best for a business that needs a web app built in a chat, with its code on GitHub.
Lovable builds web apps from a chat with a live preview beside it. Lovable Cloud adds the backend, with a database, user login, file storage and server functions on a Supabase foundation, and your code syncs both ways with GitHub on every plan.
Why pick it
- Payments are built in on paid plans, with Lovable setting up Stripe or Paddle for you, or you connect your own Stripe account, even on Free.
- It also works from its own desktop app, from ChatGPT and as an MCP server.
Watch out for
- Each message uses credits, and Lovable Cloud usage is billed in credits too once its monthly grant is used.
- Custom domains start on Pro (€25 a month); the free plan gives 5 credits a day, up to 30 a month.
Pricing
Free: 5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month. Pro: €25/month for 100 monthly credits, with rollovers, top-ups and custom domains. Business: €50/month, adding a team workspace and SSO. Prices shown in euros from France.
The 10 builders, side by side. From each official site, October 17, 2026.
| Feature | Wix | Squarespace | Hostinger Website Builder | WordPress.com | Durable | Shopify | Square | Framer | Capacity | Lovable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid plans from | $17/month (yearly) | €12/month (yearly) | $2.99/month (48 months upfront) | $4/month (yearly) | $22/month (yearly) | $29/month (yearly) | $0 (Square Free) | €10/month (yearly) | $25/month | €25/month |
| Free plan | Yes, with Wix branding | No, a 14-day trial | No, a 14-day trial | Yes, with ads and a subdomain | Preview only | No, a 3-day trial | Yes, processing fees only | Yes, non-commercial use | Desktop only (1 project) | Yes |
| Your own domain | Premium plans; first year free on yearly plans | First year free on annual plans | First year free on 12+ month terms | First year free on yearly paid plans | Included on paid plans (up to $20 on Launch) | Connect on any plan; buy from about $9/year | Plus plan ($49/month per location) | Free on paid plans | Every paid plan | Pro and above |
| Bookings | Scheduling from Core ($29/month) | Acuity Scheduling, from €13/month extra | Booking sites with online payments | – | Unlimited bookings on paid plans | – | Square Appointments, in the free plan | – | Built into your app | Built into your app |
| Selling online | Payments and eCommerce from Core | Every plan | Ecommerce add-on | WooCommerce on paid plans | Not designed for e-commerce | Every plan | Free online store | – | Stripe extension | Built-in payments on paid plans |
| Platform fee on sales | 4% on pricing plans sold on Core, 2% on Business | 2% on Basic, 0% from Core | 0% | Standard payments: 4% on Premium, 2% on Business; 0% on Commerce | – | None with Shopify Payments; 2% on Basic with another provider | Card fees only (3.3% + 30¢ online on Free) | – | – | – |
How to choose. Start from what you need, not from the ranking.
Bookings, a store and a blog in one builderWix
A polished site from design-led templatesSquarespace
The lowest price with a domain and emailHostinger
A blog or content-led site with pluginsWordPress.com
A local service business: site, bookings, CRMDurable
Selling products online and in personShopify
A free online store tied to your card readerSquare
A design-led site, edited like FigmaFramerCustomer accounts, your own data, a dashboardCapacity
A web app with the code on GitHubLovableQuestions people ask. Short answers, with the details above.
What is the best AI website builder for a small business in 2026?
For most small businesses, Wix: it builds the site from a prompt or one of 2,000+ templates, and adds bookings, a store and a blog, from $17 a month billed yearly ($29 to take payments). Squarespace is the more polished alternative, Hostinger the cheapest, Durable the fastest for a local service business, and Shopify the one to pick if you mainly sell products.
What's the cheapest website builder for a small business?
Square Free costs $0 a month and includes an online store and a booking site; you pay card fees on each sale. WordPress.com Personal is $4 a month billed yearly. Hostinger Premium is $2.99 a month only if you pay 48 months upfront ($143.52), and renews at $10.99 a month. Wix Light is $17 a month billed yearly but can't take payments.
Which website builder has no transaction fees?
Hostinger's online stores charge 0%, Squarespace drops its store fee to 0% from Core (€18 a month billed yearly), WordPress.com Commerce has 0% fees, and Shopify adds no fee when you use Shopify Payments. Card processing fees still apply on every platform.
Do website builders include a free domain?
Usually for the first year only. Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com include one on yearly plans, Hostinger on terms of 12 months or more, and Framer gives a free custom domain on paid plans. Durable includes up to $20 of domain on Launch. Shopify lets you connect up to 20 domains on any plan, or buy one, typically from $9 a year.
Which website builder is best for taking bookings?
Durable includes unlimited bookings on its paid plans, from $22 a month billed yearly. Wix adds scheduling from Core ($29 a month billed yearly), Square's free plan includes a booking site, and Hostinger builds booking sites that take payments. Squarespace uses Acuity Scheduling, a separate subscription from €13 a month billed yearly.
Do I need a website builder or an app builder?
If visitors read, book or buy, a website builder covers it. If customers log in to see their own data, or your team manages records like orders, clients or jobs, you need an app. Capacity, which we make, builds a working app with its own database and hosting from a description, from $25 a month. Lovable does the same with the code synced to GitHub.
Is email included with a website builder?
Sometimes, for the first year. Hostinger includes mailboxes (2 per site on Premium), then charges $0.59 a month per mailbox. Squarespace includes one Google Workspace account from Core, and WordPress.com one business email account on Business and Commerce, both free for the first year.
Are AI website builders good for SEO?
They give you the tools; the pages still have to be useful. Wix includes a suite of marketing and SEO tools, Squarespace suggests titles, descriptions and image alt text with AI, Hostinger's AI tools cover SEO, Framer has built-in SEO from Basic, and Durable adds AI agents that write blog posts and research keywords.
Related comparisons
When the site needs to be an app.
Describe your app in a sentence and Capacity builds it, or connect it to Claude or ChatGPT and build from the chat. Plans from $25 a month.