# What's a good cheap website builder for a small business? By Humfrid · Websites by text · Published 2026-11-04 · https://humfrid.com/blog/cheap-website-builder-small-business/ > The cheapest website is the one you don't have to build or keep up yourself. A builder's sign-up price leaves out what really costs you: your evenings, the renewal, the add-ons for booking and payments, a domain that may not be in your name, and the builder's name on a free plan. Humfrid builds your website and keeps it up by text, includes your .com, has no setup fee and no contract, and you can see your website free for 14 days. Text Humfrid your business name and see your website free for 14 days. Your own .com is included, there's no setup fee and no contract, and every change after launch is a text, not an evening at an editor. Start at https://humfrid.com/. ## What makes a website cheap for a small business? The cheapest website is the one you don't have to build or keep up yourself. A builder's sign-up price covers the plan and nothing else. What really costs you comes after: the evenings you spend building and changing it, the renewal, the add-ons your customers need, a domain that may not be in your name, and the builder's name on your site. None of those show up on the day you sign up. All of them show up later, and the biggest is your own time. Humfrid takes that part off your plate: it builds your website by text and keeps it up the same way. ## What's the catch with a free website plan? You pay in other ways, so check these before you sign up: - **Whose address it is.** A free plan usually puts you on the builder's address, not your own .com. That's the address you'd print on your cards, your truck and your shop window, with someone else's name in it. - **Whose name is on the site.** Check whether the plan shows the builder's name or ads on your pages, in front of your customers. - **What you can take with you.** Check whether the site and its address can move if you leave. An address on the builder's name stays with the builder. - **The limits.** Look for caps on pages, storage and products, so you don't hit them in month two. Your own .com, in your name, is the address customers remember and the one that stays yours. With Humfrid it's included from the start. ## How Humfrid does this for you Humfrid builds your website by text and keeps it up by text after that. You text your business name and answer a few quick questions. You see your site on your phone, text back anything you'd change, and nothing goes live without your OK. Your website is up within a day. Then, keeping it right is one text: - "Closed Christmas Day and New Year's Day." - "Add a Saturday class at 10." - A photo with "put this on the front page." Photos and voice notes work too. There's no app, no computer, no login and no editor waiting for your evening. Your own .com web address is included, in your name. There's a contact form, and you get posts and review replies written for your Google Business Profile, for you to post. Every plan sets your website up to be found on Google, Google Maps, ChatGPT and other AI answers, includes online booking and payments, and sends you a weekly report with your visitors and bookings. There's no charge per lead, and you see your website free for 14 days before you pay anything. Humfrid's plans are below. For more on how it works, read [can I build a website without a computer?](/blog/websites-by-text/) ## Why does a cheap plan cost more later? Because the sign-up price may be for the first term only. Before you pay, look for words like "first year" or "introductory" next to the price, find what the plan renews at, and find out when it renews and how much notice you have to give to cancel. Put that date in your calendar the day you sign up. Humfrid has no contract and no setup fee. You see your website free for 14 days, pay only when you want it live on your own .com, and cancel by text, with no fee to leave. If you do leave, your site's files are kept for 90 days and sent to you at no charge. ## What costs extra on a do-it-yourself website? The things that bring in money: booking, payments and deposits. On a do-it-yourself builder, check whether each one sits on a higher plan or needs a separate app with its own bill and its own login. Then there's the domain. ICANN, which oversees web addresses, defines the registrant as [an individual or entity who registers a domain name](https://www.icann.org/registrants), and only the registered name holder, the administrative contact or someone they authorize [can initiate a transfer](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/about-transfer-policy-2017-10-10-en). If the domain was registered in someone else's name, moving it starts with getting it back. The full check is in [do I own my website and my domain?](/blog/do-i-own-my-website/) With Humfrid, your .com is registered in your name and included. Online booking, payments and deposits are part of every plan. ## What is my own time worth on a cheap website? More than the plan. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the [median wage for all U.S. workers at $24.51 an hour](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm) (May 2025). Use that as a stand-in for an hour of yours. If building your site takes a weekend, say 12 hours, that's about $294 of your time before it's live. If keeping it current takes one evening a month, say 3 hours, that's about $74 of your time every month, for as long as you have the site. And those hours slip. While the editor waits for a free evening, the site keeps last season's prices and last month's hours, and customers read them as true. When a change is a text, it takes as long as sending one. ## What should I check before I pay for a website? Count everything you'll actually pay for, in money and in hours. Before you pay, check: 1. **What it renews at**, and what the domain renews at after any free period. 2. **When it renews**, and how much notice you have to give to cancel. 3. **Whether the builder's name or ads show** on your site on the plan you're buying. 4. **Your own .com, in your name**, and whether it comes with you if you leave. 5. **What booking and payments add**, and whether each is another app to learn. 6. **Page, product and storage limits.** 7. **Who makes the changes**, and how many of your hours a month that adds up to. With Humfrid, your .com is included in your name and stays yours if you leave, there's no setup fee and no contract, booking and payments are part of every plan, and changes are made by text: hours, prices and contact details any time. ## Can I keep my domain if I move off a cheap builder? Yes, if it's registered in your name, and you can bring it with you. Once you upgrade, Humfrid texts you three records to add where your domain is managed. The domain and your email stay yours, and your website shows at your domain, with or without www. If you were on a free plan's address, start fresh on your own .com, which is included. Text Humfrid your business name, and you'll see your website within a day. ## Sources - [Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey by occupation, May 2025](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - [Registrants](https://www.icann.org/registrants), ICANN - [Transfer Policy](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/about-transfer-policy-2017-10-10-en), ICANN