2026 beginner comparison
The easiest builders let you start from a template and publish without learning a design tool. Heya, which we make, lets you edit any of 68 templates without an account and publish free at name.heya.bio, with 3 sites and up to 5 pages each. We compared it with 6 popular builders below.
Heya is ours, so read its row with that in mind. Every other number comes from each company's own pages, checked on October 26, 2026.
Free plans, phone editing, page limits and the first price you'd pay.
| Builder | Free plan | Edit on a phone | Pages per site on free | Cheapest paid plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrd | Yes, 3 sites | Browser only, Carrd calls it beta-ish | 1 page with sections | Pro Lite, $9/yr |
| Google Sites | Yes, with a Google account | No, editing needs a computer | Multiple | None listed for Sites |
| Wix | Yes | Yes, app and browser | Not stated | Light, $17/mo yearly |
| Squarespace | No, 14-day trial | Partly, in the iOS and Android app | N/A | Basic, $19/mo yearly ($25 monthly) |
| Canva | Yes, 5 sites | Yes, in the Canva app | Multiple, 10 sections each | Canva Pro, $144/yr |
| Hostinger | No, 14-day trial | Not stated | N/A | $2.49/mo prepaid for 48 months |
| Heya | Yes, 3 sites | Yes, in the phone browser | Up to 5 | Pro Lite, $3/mo |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Prices are in US dollars. Hostinger renews at $10.99 a month after the prepaid term. Wix and Canva prices were last confirmed on October 23, 2026.
Carrd builds one-page sites where sections act like pages. It runs in your browser, and the free plan gives you 3 sites at name.carrd.co with up to 50 elements each and Made with Carrd branding. Carrd recommends using a desktop, since they call their phone editor somewhat beta-ish.
Google Sites is free if you have a Google account. You can build multi-page sites and nest subpages up to 5 levels deep. Google says you'll need a computer to create, edit and publish your site.
Answer a few questions and Wix will build a starting site for you. The free plan doesn't ask for a credit card and puts a Wix banner ad on your site, while the Light plan is $17 a month billed yearly. You can edit in the Wix app or a phone browser, though phone browser editing isn't open to everyone yet.
Squarespace doesn't have a free plan, just a 14-day free trial that doesn't need a credit card. After that, the Basic plan is $19 a month billed yearly, or $25 month to month. Their iOS and Android app lets you edit content inside blocks and publish changes, but you can't add or rearrange blocks from it.
Inside the Canva app, search for website on the Home tab, drop in pages and sections, and publish. You get up to 5 free sites at my.canva.site, with up to 10 sections a page and a Designed with Canva footer. Using a custom domain takes Canva Pro at $144 a year.
Hostinger's website builder gives you a 14-day trial instead of a free plan. Their Premium plan is $2.49 a month if you pay for 48 months upfront, then renews at $10.99 a month, and it comes with a free domain for 1 year.
Heya is ours. You can start from 68 templates with no account, sign in with Google when you publish, and download a ZIP of your plain HTML, CSS, fonts and images on Pro Plus at $15 a month. Free gives you 3 sites at name.heya.bio (5 pages each, no credit card, small Made with Heya badge), and Pro Lite is $3 a month for 20 pages, no badge and followed links.
An easy website builder gives you fewer choices to make before you can hit publish. You want a template that's already close to the site you have in mind, and you want to edit the page itself instead of hunting through a panel of settings. When it's ready, publishing to a free address should take one step. And since plenty of people never open a laptop for this, you should be able to edit the whole thing from your phone.
You don't have to pay to see how a builder handles all of that. The tools on this page with free plans - Heya, Carrd, Google Sites, Wix and Canva - let you try the whole process for $0. Squarespace and Hostinger don't have free plans, so with those two you only get a 14-day trial to test things out.
If you just want one page with links, go with Carrd or Heya. For a team or school site, pick Google Sites, since it works with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. If you're building a shop, or a business site that's going to sell things later, Wix has payments on its Core plan at $29 a month. And if you know you want a designed site on a paid plan right from the start, Squarespace starts at $19 a month billed yearly.
Canva makes sense when you want your social graphics and your website in the same tool, and it gives you 5 free sites. If you want to put together a few small sites of up to 5 pages each and edit them on your phone, that's what Heya was built for.
We checked each builder on October 26, 2026 from a US connection, so prices are in US dollars. Wix and Canva show their prices only after the page runs in a browser, so we kept the figures we confirmed on October 23, 2026. The facts come from carrd.co/pro, Google Sites Help, wix.com/plans, squarespace.com/pricing, Canva's pricing page, Hostinger's website builder page.
Plans change often. If a number here is out of date, email hello@heya.page and we'll fix it.
For a small site, the easiest builders are the ones that start you on a template and publish to a free address, which Heya, Carrd, Google Sites and Wix all do for $0. With Heya, you can also edit your site without an account and only sign in with Google when you're ready to publish.
Heya, Carrd, Google Sites, Wix and Canva all have free plans. Carrd keeps your site to a single page made of sections, while Heya builds each page as a stack of blocks. If you're working from a phone, Wix and Canva let you use their apps, whereas Google Sites needs a computer to edit.
Heya is the easiest on a phone because it runs right in your phone's browser with no app to install: you just tap a block and edit it in a bottom sheet. Wix and Canva both have phone apps that can publish your site. Squarespace's app can edit blocks, though it can't add or rearrange them, and Google Sites doesn't let you edit on a phone at all.
They're pretty close in how they work, since both use templates and visual editing. The real difference is what you pay to start. Wix has a free plan with a banner ad, while Squarespace only gives you a 14-day trial before you have to pay for the Basic plan at $19 a month billed yearly or $25 month to month.
Still deciding? Read the 10 best free website builders, how to make a free website, making a website on your phone and Heya as a Carrd alternative.
Build without an account, then sign in with Google to publish on name.heya.bio. 3 sites, up to 5 pages each, no credit card.