What does a website builder really cost?
Nine website and landing-page builders priced for three jobs: a site on your own domain, a site that can take payments, and a landing page with a form. Every figure is the month-to-month price, the one that's the same in month 1 and month 13, so pick the job.
Last checked: 7 Nov 2026 · every price read off the vendor's own page, monthly billing · VAT basis differs by vendor · no affiliate links
Jump to: the short answer · what each job needs · what each pays a referrer
The short answer
The monthly price is far above the headline. Most pages lead with the yearly price per month; paying month to month costs more: GoDaddy £14.99 against £7.49, Webflow $25 against $15, Squarespace £19.20 against £14.40. Hostinger's "£1.79/mo" is a 48-month prepay (£85.92 upfront) at a sale price that renews at £10.99 a month; month to month it is £11.99 before VAT.
Check the VAT before comparing. Only Squarespace's prices include VAT: its £19.20 is £16.00 before it. Hostinger, Wix, Framer and Webflow show prices before VAT or tax, and GoDaddy, Leadpages, Carrd and Unbounce don't say.
A website on your own domain: cheapest month to month is Framer Basic at £10 before tax, then Hostinger £11.99 before VAT and GoDaddy £14.99. Paid yearly, Carrd Pro Standard is $19 a year and Wix Light £108 a year, though neither shows a monthly price.
Taking payments: Hostinger is £18.98 a month before VAT (Premium plus its ecommerce add-on, which renews for 12 months), Squarespace Basic £19.20 including VAT (£16.00 before it), Webflow Ecommerce Standard $42 and GoDaddy Professional £36.99. Framer shows no checkout, and Leadpages doesn't name which plans include one.
Transaction fees sit on the cheaper plans, on top of card fees: Squarespace Basic takes 2% of store sales and 7% of digital content and memberships, Webflow Ecommerce Standard 2%, and Wix Core 4% on paid plans and memberships you sell.
A landing page with a form: Framer (£10) and Hostinger (£11.99) again, then GoDaddy £14.99. Of the landing-page tools, Unbounce Starter is $29 but stops at 500 visitors a month, and Leadpages Pro is £25 with no traffic cap but keeps form submissions for 30 days.
Free domains last a year, and mostly only on yearly billing: Squarespace and Framer include one on annual plans, GoDaddy on its annual cards, Hostinger on 12-month or longer terms, and Wix as a voucher for a new domain. After that the domain renews at the normal price.
Small print that costs you: GoDaddy's "Remove Airo branding" is marked COMING SOON even on its paid plans; cancel Webflow mid-term and you "still pay the remainder of the term".
When the cheapest is not the answer
- Paying yearly is cheaper, but check the renewal. Squarespace, Webflow, Framer, GoDaddy and Unbounce all show a lower yearly rate; Hostinger's longer terms were at a Black Friday sale price that renews at £10.99 a month.
- Landing-page tools are built for something narrower. Unbounce builds landing pages only, Leadpages is built around landing pages (Pro allows 25 pages and 1 custom domain), and Carrd for one-page sites.
- Card fees come on top. Squarespace's card rates start at 2.0% + £0.25 and Webflow adds your payment processor's fees, on top of the transaction fees on their cheaper plans.
Who made this page
An AI agent read each builder's pricing page in a real browser, switched it to monthly billing where it could, and copied the sentence behind every figure; code checked each sentence was really on the page before it could be used. Hostinger's month-to-month price came from its own public cart; nothing was bought.
This page replaces older lists of website builders and landing page builders on this site. There are no affiliate links on this page and nothing on it earns a commission. Several of these companies run affiliate programmes, listed below for readers who build sites for others; this site hasn't joined any of them.
How the numbers are worked out
monthly cost = the cheapest plan, paid month to month, that does the job
- Own domain: publishes a website on a domain you own; registering the domain is extra after any free first year
- Take payments: visitors can pay you on the site through the builder's own checkout, store or payment form; card and transaction fees come on top
- Landing page + form: publishes a page with a working sign-up or enquiry form
VAT. Prices are shown as each vendor shows them: Squarespace's include VAT; Hostinger's, Wix's, Framer's and Webflow's are before VAT or tax; GoDaddy, Leadpages, Carrd and Unbounce don't say. Each plan line names its basis.
| Builder | Own domain | Take payments | Landing page + form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Framera paid plan connects your domain and removes the 'Made in Framer' badge | £10.00Basic, £10 a month before tax (yearly: £8 a month, with a complimentary domain) | no planNo figure: Framer's pricing page lists no checkout or payment feature | £10.00Basic, £10 a month before tax: built-in forms |
| Hostingerevery term renews at £10.99 a month; free domain only on 12-month or longer terms | £11.99Premium, 1-month period: £11.99 a month before VAT (£14.39 with it); the '£1.79/mo' headline is a 48-month prepay | £18.98Premium £11.99 + Ecommerce add-on £6.99 a month, before VAT; the add-on 'renews ... for 12 months' | £11.99Premium, 1-month period, £11.99 a month before VAT: contact form element |
| GoDaddy (Airo AI Builder)'Remove Airo branding' is marked COMING SOON, even on paid plans | £14.99Starter, £14.99 a month on monthly billing, VAT not stated (yearly: £7.49 a month) | £36.99Professional, £36.99 a month on monthly billing (yearly: £17.99); Starter only has payment links and QR codes | £14.99Starter, £14.99 a month: forms built in |
| Webflowprices are per site; cancel and you 'still pay the remainder of the term' | £18.68Basic site plan, $25 a month plus tax (yearly: $15 a month) · $25.00 | £31.38Ecommerce Standard, $42 a month plus tax, with a 2% transaction fee (yearly: $29); site plans can't sell · $42.00 | £18.68Basic, $25 a month plus tax: unlimited form submissions · $25.00 |
| Squarespacethe only prices here that include VAT; free domain for the first year on annual plans only | £19.20Basic, £19.20 a month including VAT, so £16.00 before it (yearly: £14.40 a month) | £19.20Basic, £19.20 a month including VAT: 2% fee on store sales and 7% on digital content and memberships (Core, £28.80, is 0%) | £19.20Basic, £19.20 a month including VAT: form blocks on every plan |
| Leadpagesbuilt for landing pages; Pro is monthly only (yearly starts at Business) | £25.00Publishing Pro, £25 a month, VAT not stated: 25 pages, 1 custom domain | no planNo figure: Stripe checkout is on 'plans that support online sales', and Leadpages doesn't say which | £25.00Publishing Pro, £25 a month: forms, no traffic cap, form submissions kept 30 days |
| Unbouncegoing over the visitor cap brings a one-time overage charge | no planNo figure: Unbounce builds landing pages only, not websites | no planNo figure: Unbounce lists no payment feature | £21.67Starter, $29 a month, VAT not stated: 5 pages, up to 500 visitors a month (yearly: $22) · $29.00 |
| Wixevery paid plan connects your domain and removes Wix branding; free domain voucher for a new domain, first year only | no planNo monthly figure: Wix shows monthly prices only at checkout after sign-up. Light is £9 a month billed yearly (£108), before tax | no planNo monthly figure. Core is £16 a month billed yearly (£192), before tax; Light can't take payments, and Core charges 4% on paid plans and memberships | no planNo monthly figure. Light, £9 a month billed yearly: 4 lead-capture forms |
| Carrdbuilt for one-page sites and landing pages; VAT not stated | no planNo monthly figure: Carrd sells yearly plans only. Pro Standard is $19 a year | no planNo monthly figure. Pro Plus, $49 a year: payment-enabled Stripe forms need Pro Plus | no planNo monthly figure. Pro Standard, $19 a year: custom domain and forms |
Exchange rates. ECB euro reference rates of 6 November 2026 (the latest published: 7-8 November 2026 is a weekend and the ECB publishes on working days only): 1 EUR = 0.83415 GBP, 1 EUR = 1.1165 USD, so 1 USD = 0.74711 GBP.
Left out: WordPress.com — every page showed a 'Confirm you are human' bot check, which was not bypassed; Shopify — Starter is gone from its UK pricing page, and Basic (£25 a month) is an ecommerce platform rather than a website builder; Enterprise and sales-only tiers — Webflow Enterprise, Framer Enterprise, Leadpages Enterprise and Unbounce Concierge publish no price.
If you'll recommend one: what each pays you
Many readers of this page build sites for clients. This is what each builder pays someone who refers a paying customer, from its own affiliate page. This site hasn't joined any of them, and it plays no part in the order above.
| Builder | Commission | Cookie |
|---|---|---|
| Webflow | Recurring: 50% of a new customer's first subscription for up to 12 months, or of a single annual purchase; more at higher tiers | 90 days |
| Framer | Recurring: 50% of a referred user's subscription for 12 months | not stated |
| Unbounce | Recurring: 25-35% of the revenue from each referral, for up to 12 months | 90 days |
| Hostinger | From 40% of each eligible sale, rising with volume; whether it recurs isn't stated | 30 days |
| Leadpages | Up to $400 per referred customer, depending on the plan they buy; exact rates not published | not stated |
There are no affiliate links on this page. The research is done by AI agents reading each vendor's own pages. Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify the products compared. No analytics cookies, no tracking scripts, no third-party requests. A personal project, separate from the author's day job.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest website builder?
Month to month, for a site on your own domain: Framer Basic at £10 before tax, then Hostinger at £11.99 before VAT and GoDaddy at £14.99. If you can pay yearly, Carrd Pro Standard is $19 a year, but Carrd sells no monthly plan.
Is Hostinger's website builder really £1.79 a month?
Only on a 48-month prepay: £85.92 upfront, at a Black Friday sale price, renewing at £10.99 a month. Month to month, Hostinger's Premium plan is £11.99 before VAT (£14.39 with it).
How much does Squarespace cost per month?
Basic is £19.20 a month on monthly billing, including VAT (£16.00 before it), or £14.40 a month paid yearly. Basic takes a 2% fee on store sales and 7% on digital content and memberships; Core, at £28.80, is 0% on store sales.
Does Wix show a monthly price?
Not on its plans page, which shows only yearly prices: Light £9 a month (£108 a year) and Core £16 a month (£192), before tax. Wix shows monthly prices only at checkout after you sign up.
Answers use the figures on this page, last checked 7 Nov 2026.