Free and low-cost website creation tools for your business

Did you know that it's possible to create a professional-looking website for your business with no experience, no programming knowledge and no investment other than time? All you need is a website creation tool, also known as a website builder, and you can get started in minutes.

How do website creation tools help?

With so many free and low-cost tools available, there is no excuse for a business not to be online. Here are a few things you can do with a website:

showcase your products and services in a cost-effective way, 24/7
expand your reach
build credibility
increase brand and product awareness
close deals faster by centrally tracking key information
decrease the cost of advertising and distributing marketing material
integrate all your online and offline marketing activities, and
capture visitors' contact information.

What do webpage creation tools do?

Website creation tools are user-friendly, web-based tools that allow you to create web pages by dragging and dropping different page elements (images, text, etc.).

Most of the tools featured in the selection below would host your website on their own servers, but if you want to keep control of data and where it resides, you may prefer a tool that gives you the option to self host your site on your own server or with the hosting service of your choice.

In addition, you’ll have to consider how your audience accesses your website. These days, more and more people use a mobile device, and Google has updated its algorithm for mobile search queries, generally referred to as “Mobilegeddon”. Although this change won’t affect search queries on desktop computers and tablets, it means that Google will use a site’s “mobile-friendliness” as a ranking signal. To be mobile-friendly, you can either build a dedicated mobile version of your site or opt for a responsive design. With a mobile version, you can customize the mobile experience and decide to add or remove features, whereas a responsive theme “instructs” a mobile device on how to display your site optimally on screens with various sizes and resolutions.

You also need to think about what you want your website to do. Do you need a standalone website or an e-commerce platform? We have also reviewed some e-commerce software applications. The following section focuses on website creation tools.

Free and low-cost website creation tools

If you are looking for low-cost or free tools, you may want to consider the following. (SaaS refers to “software as a service.”)

Revised April 2019

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

Bookmark

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

Bookmark is an innovative website builder that enables small businesses to use the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to create a unique website without any technical skills. All you need to do is answer a few questions such as the type of business you own, whether you need e-commerce capability and your website style preferences. Then, AIDA, the AI digital assistant, will instantly create your website. Afterwards, you can edit your website as you see fit or repeat the process until you’re satisfied. Bookmark is a Canadian company based in Ontario.

PageCloud

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

PageCloud is a Canadian company that offers a fully managed service for creating and hosting your website. Its drag-and-drop interface mirrors desktop tools you already know such as PowerPoint or Keynote. As a result, you can create a custom website in almost any language without a single line of code. However, more advanced users still get full access to source code to add or customize any of the HTML, CSS or JavaScript.

SITE123

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

SITE123 free website builder makes it possible to create multilingual responsive websites. Specifically designed for users who have no web design or web programming experience, SITE123 comes with a visual editor. To reduce loading time, websites built with SITE123 are hosted on servers spread across the world. You cannot, however, export your website’s source code and host it elsewhere.

SiteW

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

SiteW is a website builder designed with creatives in mind. Its intuitive platform and breadth of functionality make it easy to use by small businesses in any industry. Customers can start with the free plan, which is ad free, and upgrade to a paid plan with a built-in online store as their needs evolve.

Squarespace

Free English French: Partly English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

Squarespace offers a very intuitive drag-and-drop interface for beginners, as well as custom cascading style sheets (CSS) for more advanced users. Whether you want to publish a simple one-page website with Cover Pages or run a full-fledged store, Squarespace can accommodate your needs. All Squarespace sites use responsive design to optimize your site’s display on all devices. The blog importing function also makes it easy to transition from platforms such as WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger.

Votresite.ca

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

Votresite.ca is a French website builder specifically designed for personal websites, although the platform is used by many small businesses, even those that need an e-commerce solution. Being a Canadian organization, Votresite.ca has also negotiated many exclusive deals for its customers, such as integration with Desjardins online banking and preferred shipping rates with Canada Post. A free 30-day trial version is available.

Webnode

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

Webnode is an interesting option if you want to create a web presence in a different language or a multilingual website. In addition to web designs, Webnode lets you use some pre-existing industry content. The membership registration feature is also quite interesting, because it enables you to create members-only areas for clients and business partners. Basic websites are free, but you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan for more options including responsive templates.

WebSelf

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

WebSelf is a bilingual online editor developed by a Quebec-based company. It offers basic functionalities and more than 600 templates optimized for mobile devices. You can also create an online store. Although the company hosts some of its servers in Canada, clients cannot specify where they want their data to be hosted. All accounts come with a domain name, a number of email in-boxes, and phone or online technical support at no extra cost.

Website.com

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

Website.com is a drag-and-drop website and ecommerce site builder. Designed with the small business owner’s perspective in mind, the platform lets you choose one of the customizable templates, then drag and drop apps and widgets such as Google Maps, Web forms, PayPal and Stripe, eliminating the need for complex coding. Should you need to build an online store, it also provides product listing options and shopping cart features. Based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Website.com offers packages for all budgets, allowing you to add more advanced features as your business grows.

WordPress

Free English French: Partly English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

WordPress is a well-known free blogging tool. More and more people are using it to create entire websites, because it is search-engine friendly and because you can choose from a wide range of plugins to extend the functionalities of your site. The basic tool is free but many options cost extra, including the no-ads upgrade and some responsive themes.

World Lite

Free English French English support French support Data stored in Canada Self-hosting option

World Lite is a website builder provided for free by PlanetHoster, a web-hosting company with offices in Montreal and Paris. World Lite allows you to easily create a website in no time. It comes with free hosting and two email accounts. The paid version offers 24/7 technical support and additional features.

This table lists applications alphabetically and isn’t exhaustive. Hyperlinks to external sites do not constitute endorsement by BDC of those websites or any information, opinions, products or services expressed or described on them.

Furthermore, the list is only a starting point and excludes applications that are not available either in English or in French, or that are neither low cost nor free. When evaluating intranet and website creation tools for your organization, you will probably consider many other factors.

BDC will review and edit this list regularly. If you provide website creation tools and would like us to consider adding your solution, please contact us.