Free Website Builders in Ireland — What Free Actually Costs
Free website builders are real, they work, and for some things they are genuinely the right answer. This page sets out what the free tiers give you, what they quietly take, and when you should ignore everything below and just use one.
Straight answer first: we do not offer a free website. We build sites with nothing to pay upfront, which is a different thing, and we will explain the difference rather than blur it.
When a free builder is the right choice
Starting here rather than burying it, because for these cases a free builder is not a compromise — it is simply the correct answer, and nobody should be talked out of it.
- A club, a committee, a residents' association or a charity page with no budget and no sales to make.
- A one-off event — a wedding, a conference, a fundraiser — that needs a page for three months.
- Testing whether a business idea has any interest before spending money on it.
- A hobby or a portfolio that is not trying to win customers.
- You genuinely enjoy building things yourself and want to learn. That is a real reason and nobody should talk you out of it.
If one of those describes you, stop reading and go and use Google Sites. It is free, there are no ads, and it will take you an afternoon.
What each free tier actually gives you
"Free" means something different on each platform, and the differences matter more than the marketing suggests.
| Platform | Free tier? | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Wix | Yes, with limits | The free tier puts Wix branding and ads on your pages and gives you an address like yourname.wixsite.com/mybusiness. A custom domain requires a paid plan. Genuinely capable once you pay, and the editor is the friendliest of the lot. |
| Squarespace | Trial only | No permanent free tier — a two-week trial, then it is a paid plan. Worth knowing before you invest a weekend in building something you cannot publish for nothing. |
| Google Sites | Yes, genuinely | Free, no ads, and connected to a Google account you probably already have. Plain-looking and limited, but for an internal page, a club, a committee or a one-off event it does the job without costing a cent. |
| Canva Websites | Yes, with a Canva subdomain | Surprisingly good-looking output if you already design in Canva. A custom domain needs the paid tier. Better for a one-page profile than a business site with several services. |
| WordPress.com free tier | Yes, with ads | Their ads, their subdomain, and no plugins on the free plan — which removes most of the reason people choose WordPress in the first place. Not the same thing as self-hosted WordPress. |
Tiers and limits change regularly — check the current position on each platform before committing time to one.
What free costs a business
Six costs that never appear on an invoice. None of them matters for a club or a hobby. All of them matter if you are trying to win customers.
Their name in your address
yourbusiness.wixsite.com is not a business address, and Irish customers notice. Printing it on a van or a business card is the point at which most people upgrade — which is exactly what the free tier is designed to make you do.
Their ads on your pages
Most free tiers run their own promotions on your site. You cannot remove them, and you have no say in what appears next to your services.
No .ie domain without paying
A .ie address signals to Irish customers that you are an Irish business, and free tiers do not include one on any platform. Registering .ie also requires a demonstrable connection to Ireland, which is a small step worth knowing about in advance.
Your time, which is the real bill
You write the pages, choose the layout, source the images, fix the mobile view and keep it current. A weekend to get started and an evening every time something changes. If your time is worth anything, this is the largest cost on the page and it never appears on an invoice.
You are renting, not owning
Stop paying — or stop meeting their terms — and the site goes. Export options are limited and rarely give you something another host can simply run. After three years you have no asset.
Harder to be found locally
Not because the platforms are bad at SEO — they are fine. Because free sites tend to be built quickly, with one page, no service pages and no areas named. That is what costs the enquiries, and it is a content problem rather than a platform one.
When to stop using one
There is a fairly clear moment when a free site starts costing more than it saves. Usually it is one of these.
- You are printing the address on a van, a card or a shopfront.
- Customers have started asking whether you are a real business.
- You are spending more than an hour a month keeping it current.
- You want to be found for a service plus a place — "plumber Swords" — and are not.
- The ads on your own site have started to embarrass you in front of customers.
Two routes that are not "free" but cost less than you would think
If the reason you are looking at free builders is budget rather than preference, there are two things worth knowing. First, a Local Enterprise Office grant or the Grow Digital Voucher can cover a real share of a small business website — the closest thing to free that actually works commercially, and the step most businesses skip. Second, you do not have to pay upfront: we build the site first and you pay nothing until you have seen it and approved it, then it is €50 a month all in. That is set out on the pay monthly page, and the wider market comparison is in the Irish website cost guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a genuinely free website builder in Ireland?
Yes — Google Sites is free with no ads, and Wix, Canva and WordPress.com all have permanent free tiers that put their own branding and address on your site. None of them includes a custom domain for free, and a .ie address always costs money. So "free" is accurate for the software and not for a finished, professional business website.
Should a small Irish business use a free website builder?
For a club, a one-off event, a hobby or testing an idea, yes — and we would say so rather than sell you something. For a business that needs customers to find it and take it seriously, the free tiers work against you: their branding in your address, their ads on your pages, and no .ie domain. Most businesses that start free upgrade within a year, having spent the time twice.
What does a free website actually cost?
The platform costs nothing. What it costs is your time — a weekend to build and an evening whenever anything changes — plus the credibility of a subdomain address and their advertising on your pages. If you are pricing your own hours at anything above zero, a free builder is frequently the most expensive route, which is the same conclusion the three-year cost comparison reaches from the other direction.
Can I move a free site onto my own domain later?
Usually you can point a domain at it, but that requires a paid plan on every major platform. Moving the site to a different host entirely is harder — export options are limited and typically give you something no other host can simply run. Plan for rebuilding rather than moving, which is worth factoring in before you invest a lot of time.
Do you offer a free website?
No, and we would rather say so plainly than dress it up. What we do is remove the upfront cost: we build the site first and you pay nothing until you have seen it and approved it, then it is €50 a month with hosting, the domain, security and updates included. That is not free, but it does mean nothing leaves your account before you know exactly what you are getting. The detail is on the pay monthly page.
Could a grant pay for a website instead?
Quite possibly, and it is a far better route than a free builder for an actual business. The Local Enterprise Office grant and the Grow Digital Voucher can cover a meaningful share of a small Irish business website. The eligibility rules differ between the two schemes, so check both — this is the closest thing to a free website that actually works for a business.
Related guides
- Websites with nothing upfront
Not free, but nothing leaves your account until you have seen the finished homepage and approved it.
- LEO grant website design
The closest thing to a free website that actually works for a trading business, and the step most owners never take.
- What websites really cost in Ireland
Reaches the same conclusion from the opposite direction: over three years the DIY route is rarely the cheap one.