The best website builder for freelancers: 7 options compared

How each builder is judged

Template galleries matter less once you build sites for a living. What hurts a freelancer is a platform that gets expensive at 10 sites, a client who emails every week because they cannot change their opening hours, or chasing hosting payments by hand. So each tool is scored on:

• Cost per client site as you grow. The platform fee for one site and what happens at 10 or 25. Prices are US dollars on annual billing at the time of writing (October 2026).
• Client editing after handoff. Can a non-technical owner change text, photos and prices safely, and can you limit what they touch?
• Billing and your own brand. Can the client pay the platform directly, can you charge your own monthly fee through it, and does the client see your brand or the vendor's?
• Speed to first draft. How long it takes from a discovery call to something the client can react to.

Also decide early who owns each account. If the client owns it, they pay the vendor and you are a guest. If you own it, you carry the cost and recover it through a monthly fee. Both work, as long as the choice is written into your contract.

The short version

WordPress with Elementor

Elementor on WordPress is the setup many freelancers learned on. The appeal is control: you choose the host, install any plugin, and no vendor can change your business model overnight.

Cost per site. Elementor's Editor Pro plans run from $60 a year for one site to $204 a year for 25 sites (Expert), so the licence is cheap at scale. Hosting is a separate bill for every site, and so are premium plugins and, with many hosts, backups and security. Cheap introductory hosting usually renews at a higher price.

Client editing. This is the weak spot. The editor is powerful, which means a client can drag a section out of place or install plugins that slow the site down. You can restrict user roles, but it takes setup, and keeping WordPress, the theme and the plugins updated becomes your job.

Billing and brand. Nothing is built in for billing clients, so most freelancers wrap hosting and updates into a monthly website care plan. Because you control everything, the client sees whatever brand you choose.

First draft. Template kits and Elementor's AI tools help, but you still pick a theme, build pages and write copy. Expect a day or more for a small business site.

Best for: freelancers who already know WordPress, need a specific plugin, or want full ownership of the code and hosting.

Webflow

Webflow is the favourite of design-led freelancers. It gives real control over layout and interactions, closer to front-end code than dragging boxes around, and it produces clean, fast marketing sites.

Cost per site. Each live site needs a site plan: $15 a month for Basic or $25 for the CMS plan, with ecommerce from $29 plus a 2% transaction fee on the Standard plan. Client payments and site transfers need a Freelancer or Agency workspace (Freelancer is about $16 a month). Ten CMS sites come to $250 a month in site plans alone, so most freelancers pass that cost to the client.

Client editing. Clients get an editing mode for text, images and CMS items that keeps them away from the design. It works well for blogs and routine updates; anything structural comes back to you.

Billing and brand. Client payments let the client pay for their own site plan while the site stays in your workspace, and you can transfer the site to the client's own workspace if you part ways. Your design or care fee is invoiced outside Webflow.

First draft. The slowest of the seven. Webflow rewards custom design, and that takes time. A polished draft is usually days, not hours.

Best for: freelancers who sell design quality and charge for it. If Framer is your other option, our Framer vs Webflow comparison goes deeper.

Wix Studio

Wix Studio is Wix's platform for freelancers and agencies, separate from the classic Wix editor. You get responsive design controls, one workspace for all your client sites, and the whole Wix app market.

Cost per site. Each client site needs its own Studio site plan to go live on a custom domain without Wix branding. These start at about $19 a month on annual billing, with business and ecommerce tiers costing more. Because every site carries its own plan, cost grows in a straight line with your roster, and most freelancers have the client pay.

Client editing. One of the better handoffs. You set roles and permissions, give clients a content mode for post-launch updates, and hand over client kits with guides. Many owners already know the Wix name, which helps.

Billing and brand. The strongest built-in billing of the big names: one-off and recurring invoices, quotes and proposals, plus payment requests so a client can buy their own site plan. Wix's partner programme also pays a revenue share on eligible yearly plans for your clients' sites. The dashboard stays Wix-branded, so this is not white-label reselling.

First draft. Fast from a template, and AI tools such as a sitemap and wireframe generator speed up planning. A usable draft in a few hours is realistic.

Best for: freelancers who want design control, client billing and a large ecosystem in one place.

Framer

Framer started as a design tool and became one of the fastest ways to publish polished, animated sites. What you design is what gets published.

Cost per site. Each site has its own plan: $10 a month for Basic or $30 for Pro. The catch for client work is seats. A content editor (CMS updates and on-page editing) costs $10 a month and a full editor $20, so giving one client a content editor doubles the cost of a Basic site. Framer's Expert programme gives approved freelancers free editor access on client projects.

Client editing. On-page editing is genuinely easy: the client clicks text on the live page and changes it. Roles keep them out of the design.

Billing and brand. There is no tool for billing clients and no white label. There is no built-in checkout either, so a client who later wants to sell online needs an embedded third-party shop or a move to another platform.

First draft. Very fast for landing pages and portfolios, helped by AI tools and a large template marketplace. Less suited to sites with many service pages.

Best for: designers building landing pages, startup sites and portfolios where looks come first.

Duda

Duda was built for people who make many sites for small businesses. It is less famous than Wix, but its client management is among the most complete in this list.

Cost per site. On annual billing, Basic ($19 a month) and Team ($29) each include one site, and Agency ($52) includes four. Extra sites cost $17 a month each on Team and above, or $168 if paid yearly. Ten sites on the Agency plan come to roughly $135 to $155 a month depending on how you pay for the extras, which makes Duda the most predictable option for a growing roster.

Client editing. Strong. Granular permissions decide exactly what each client can change, from simple text edits to view-only access, and an activity log shows who changed what.

Billing and brand. Client billing through Stripe charges clients your own amount on your own schedule, with no extra Duda fee (Stripe's fees apply, and Stripe must be available in your country). A white-labelled platform with your branding and domain needs the White Label plan at $149 a month.

First draft. Duda can send the client a content form and use AI to build a site from their answers, which is a real time saver.

Best for: freelancers heading towards 10 or more similar small business sites who want billing and permissions built in.

Squarespace

Squarespace is the easiest platform here for a client to live with. The templates look good with little effort and the editor is hard to break.

Cost per site. The client usually pays Squarespace directly: $19 a month for Basic (with a 2% fee on store sales), $29 for Core, $49 for Plus or $99 for Advanced. You build the site, then transfer ownership.

Client editing. Excellent. Owners change text, images and products without help, and you can invite them as contributors with set permissions before handoff.

Billing and brand. Squarespace includes invoicing and proposals, so you can bill your design fee in the same place. Its Circle programme for designers adds perks such as extended trials, discounts and referral payments. There is no white label: the client's relationship is with Squarespace.

First draft. Quick with templates and Squarespace's guided AI setup, usually a few hours for a simple site.

Best for: creative and service clients (photographers, consultants, restaurants) who want an attractive site they can maintain themselves.

WebNewBiz

WebNewBiz is our own platform, so read this section with that in mind. It is an AI builder with an online store and CRM in the same account, plus a white-label programme for people who build sites for clients.

Cost per site. On the public plans each client site is its own account: Lite at $9 a month (website only, no store or CRM), Starter at $29 (adds the online store and Design Studio) and Growth at $79 (adds the AI CRM). Every plan is $1 for the first month and includes hosting, SSL and a full WordPress CMS. White-label pricing for resellers is not published, so you have to ask.

Client editing. This is where it differs most. Clients change their site by chatting with the AI Copilot ("change our Saturday hours", "add a gift card page"), so they never have to learn an editor or nudge the layout by accident. Starter and above also include the Design Studio visual editor.

Billing and brand. Under the white-label programme, clients log in to a dashboard with your name, logo and colours on your own domain, such as app.yourstudio.com. You create client accounts, set plan limits, log in as a client to do the work, and sell your own packages at your own prices through your own Stripe or PayPal, so payments go to you.

First draft. Describe the business in plain language and the AI drafts the pages, layout and copy, so you can show something on the day of the discovery call. The draft still needs the client's real photos, facts and your edits.

Where it is weaker. It is a young platform with a much smaller app ecosystem and community than WordPress or Wix, so there are fewer plugins, tutorials and freelancers who already know it. There is no free plan, the white-label programme is younger and smaller than Duda's, and there is no public reseller price list. If a client leaves, their content and domain move with them but the layout has to be rebuilt elsewhere.

Best for: freelancers who want to resell websites, stores and CRM under their own brand to non-technical clients who would rather type a request than learn an editor.

What 10 client sites cost in platform fees

A quick way to compare is to price a realistic roster. Here are 10 small business sites, platform fees only, at the time of writing.

Two lessons stand out. First, the cheapest licence is not the cheapest business: WordPress looks cheapest, but you pay in hosting and update time. Second, your time costs more than any of these fees. A builder that saves two hours per site and cuts the "can you change this" emails is worth more than a $10 difference in price.

How to choose: a checklist

1. Count your next year of clients. Under five sites, almost anything works. At 10 or more, predictable per-site pricing and one dashboard start to matter.
2. Decide who owns each account. Client-owned is cleaner if you part ways. Freelancer-owned lets you bundle hosting into a monthly fee with a margin.
3. Test the handoff. Give a non-technical friend the editor and ask them to change the opening hours and swap a photo. If it takes more than five minutes, expect support emails.
4. Plan how you get paid. Built-in client billing (Wix Studio, Duda, WebNewBiz white-label) beats chasing invoices by hand. Our guide on how to resell websites to clients covers pricing and packages.
5. Check the exit. Know what happens to the site, domain and content if a client leaves or stops paying.
6. Match the platform to the client. Stores, bookings or a CRM rule out some tools. Framer has no checkout, and Webflow and Squarespace charge a store fee on their lower plans.

Quick answers

What is the best website builder for freelancers?

It depends on the work you sell. Webflow or Framer suit design-led freelancers, Duda suits many similar small business sites, Wix Studio is the best all-rounder with built-in client billing, Squarespace is the easiest for clients, WordPress gives the most control, and WebNewBiz suits reselling under your own brand.

Which website builder costs the least per client site?

The cheapest licence is Elementor Pro on WordPress, at $204 a year for 25 sites, but every site needs its own hosting on top. Among hosted builders, WebNewBiz Lite ($9 a month, no store) and Framer Basic ($10 a month) have the lowest entry prices, and Duda's extra sites at $17 a month keep costs predictable as you grow.

Can a freelancer resell websites under their own brand?

Yes. Duda's White Label plan ($149 a month), the WebNewBiz white-label programme (pricing on request) and self-hosted WordPress all let clients see your brand instead of the vendor's. Wix Studio, Framer and Squarespace keep their own branding in the client's account.

Should the client or the freelancer pay for the website plan?

Either works. Client-owned accounts make handoff and exits simple. Freelancer-owned accounts let you bundle hosting, updates and support into one monthly fee with a margin. Whichever you choose, put it in your contract.

How fast can I build a client website with AI?

Duda can build a site from a client's form answers, and WebNewBiz drafts pages and copy from a plain description, so a first draft on the same day is realistic. The finished site still needs the client's own photos, facts and your edits, which usually takes a few more days.

Related guides

• Wix Studio vs Squarespace for web designers: which suits client work
• Can you white label Squarespace? The straight answer for designers
• The best CRM for freelancers, sorted by the job you need done

Try it on your next client

If reselling under your own brand matters most, the best next step is a short conversation: talk to us about white-label and we will show you how client accounts, packages and billing work. If you would rather see the AI website builder first, try the free AI Website Preview, which designs a homepage from one sentence, or start for $1 and build a real client site. There is no contract and you can cancel any time.