In recent years, companies like Weebly, Wix, GoDaddy and Squarespace have started offering free, simplified website building software. Now, it’s pretty obvious the word “free” will catch some eyes in the process and the idea of a website costing $0 excites smaller companies who aren’t sure if they want to invest a larger portion of money into a website.

But do they work?

The short answer is yes but how well they work is up for debate. Admittedly, free website builders have come a LONG way in terms of aesthetics, to the point where it isn’t as obvious that a website was made for free. But that truly does come at a cost.

Free website builders usually sacrifice the freedom of customization to offer a very simple product. Most of them won’t even let you access the actual code of a website which is integral in tracking and optimizing a websites performance and adding functionality. Sure, they offer “SEO wizards” and widgets that you can “customize” but in the end every sacrifice to make things easier limits your ability to expand your website and your web presence.

And that’s another aspect: your ability. People learn code and design as a hobby, sure, but would they say they are experts? Probably not. Would you task a car mechanic to build you a house? Probably not. The reason investing money into a website is a good idea is because you have the ability to expand and get exactly what you want. With free website builders, you get only what they offer and what you’re able to paste together.

Have a problem or need support?

Good luck.

Of the 5 support tickets I’ve placed with free builders, 4 were answered with an auto-responses and all 4 times, the response had ZERO to do with the actual problem that was being experienced.

Remember, you build a website for the future, not the present, so why limit yourself from the start?