What the free plans of Tilda, Wix and Google Sites give you, where the catch is, why a free address does not belong to you, and which website costs you cannot avoid even with a free builder. Plus how to start for free without regretting it when you move.
You can build a website today without paying a single soʻm. Website builders have free plans, a company listing on Google and Yandex costs nothing, and so does a Telegram channel. The real question is how far such a site will take you: how many pages it can have, whose address it sits on, whether it can collect enquiries, and what happens when the business outgrows it. Here is what is genuinely free, where the limits start, and what you will have to pay for either way.
What you can get for free
The obvious option is a website builder with a free plan. The terms are similar across platforms, with differences in the details:
- Tilda Free: one site, up to 50 pages and 50 MB of files. The address is a tilda.ws subdomain only, you cannot connect your own domain, a "Made on Tilda" badge sits in the footer, SEO settings are limited and you cannot export the code.
- Wix: Wix ads on every page, a Wix subdomain address, 500 MB of storage, and no online store on the free plan.
- Google Sites: 100 MB per site, an address like sites.google.com, no selling through the site, and very little design control.
Beyond the builder, much of what brings in customers is free as well:
- a company listing on Google Business Profile and Yandex Maps, where people see your address, phone number, opening hours and reviews;
- a Telegram channel and a simple bot for enquiries (more in "Telegram Channel or Website");
- tools for site owners: Google Search Console, Yandex Webmaster and Yandex Metrica;
- an SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt if the site runs on your own hosting: most hosts enable it in a couple of clicks.
Where free runs out
Free plans are designed to move you onto a paid one eventually. The limits usually show up a couple of months in, once the address is already printed on your business cards.
The address belongs to the platform
You did not buy an address like company.tilda.ws or sites.google.com/view/company, and the platform controls it. Customers find it hard to remember, and when you move to your own domain, every link you have handed out and any search rankings stay with the old address. In most cases you cannot set up a 301 redirect from a free subdomain to your new site. We explained why your domain should belong to you in "How Not to Lose Your Domain and Website".
Someone else's ads and branding
On free Wix, the builder's ads appear on every page; on Tilda, the platform badge sits at the bottom. That is fine for a personal page. For a company asking customers for a prepayment, it looks weak.
A ceiling on what you can do
Page and storage limits run out faster than you expect once you add photos of your work, a price list and a page for each service. Free plans usually have no online store or payments, SEO settings are cut back, and Tilda Free does not let you export the code to move the site elsewhere.
Enquiries and customer data
A form on a free site sends the customer's name and phone number to the platform's servers, usually abroad. Since March 2026, Uzbekistan's Law on Personal Data requires only biometric and genetic data and telecom subscriber data to be stored in the country. Other data may be stored and processed abroad under conditions: the country must provide equivalent protection, or the operator must apply approved standard contractual clauses or international standards. Whether a particular platform meets these conditions is best checked with a lawyer, especially if your form collects more than a name and phone number.
What you will pay for either way
Even if the site itself is free, some costs cannot be avoided:
- A domain. Registering and renewing a .uz domain with Uzbek registrars costs from 27,000 soʻm a year. It is not much, but you pay every year, and if you forget to renew, getting the domain back costs more. Register it to yourself or your company, not to a programmer you know.
- A paid builder plan, once you need your own domain, more pages or proper SEO settings. Tilda's paid plans, for example, cost a few thousand roubles a year; check the platform's website for current prices.
- Text and photos. The builder gives you a template, but you or someone you hire still has to write the service descriptions and prices and take photos of your work. Customers spot stock photos of smiling people immediately.
- Your time. You can put a site together on a builder in an evening, but getting it to the point where it brings in enquiries usually takes several weekends. If your hour is expensive, a free site may not be so cheap after all.
- Maintenance. Prices change, offers end, forms break. Someone has to keep an eye on it, either you or a contractor (more in our article on website support after launch).
When a free site is enough
- You are testing an idea and want to see if there is demand before investing. It is the same approach as an MVP, which we covered in our MVP tech stack guide.
- You need a page for a one-off event: a conference, course enrolment or a promotion.
- You are a freelancer and the site is a portfolio you link to yourself.
- Customers come through referrals and Telegram, and the site only needs to confirm that the company exists.
When it is time to move to a paid option
- The site needs to bring in customers from search, not only through links you share. That takes your own domain, proper SEO settings and a page for every service.
- You want to take payments on the site through Click, Payme or Uzum, and connect delivery and an online cash register.
- Enquiries should go straight into a CRM, not only to email (more in our article on CRM for business).
- You need a site in Uzbek, Russian and English with properly configured language versions; we covered how in our article on multilingual websites.
- You have hit the limits on pages, storage or design and spend more time working around them than on your business.
How to start for free without regretting it later
- Buy a domain in your own name straight away, even while the site lives on a free subdomain. Print your own address on business cards and ads, and set up forwarding to the free site at your registrar. When you move, nothing printed has to change.
- Keep your text and photos in a separate folder, not only inside the builder. Then a move takes a day rather than a week.
- Connect Google Search Console, Yandex Webmaster and analytics from day one so you can see whether people find you through search.
- Create a company listing on Google and Yandex Maps and add a link to your site.
- Test the enquiry form: send a test request and make sure it arrives and that you hear about it quickly, for example through Telegram.
Frequently asked questions
Will a free site show up in Google and Yandex?
Yes, search engines index sites on builder subdomains. But with limited SEO settings, someone else's address and a page limit, it is hard to rank well for competitive queries such as "apartment renovation Tashkent".
Can I move a free site to my own domain later?
Usually you can upgrade to a paid plan on the same builder and connect your domain. Moving to another platform is harder: many free plans have no code export, so the pages have to be rebuilt. Search rankings from the old address generally do not carry over to the new one.
What should I start with: a website builder or a Telegram channel?
If customers already message you on Telegram, start with a channel and a map listing; it is free and quick. Add a builder site when you want visitors from search or need to show detailed prices and a portfolio.
How much does an inexpensive website cost once free is not enough?
It depends on the number of pages, the design and integrations. We explained what drives the price in "How Much Does Website Development Cost and What Does the Price Depend On?", and for a small business a business card website is often enough. To see what kinds of sites we build and what the work includes, visit our website development page.
Has your free site stopped coping, or do you want to set things up so you never have to move? Get in touch: we will look at what you have now and suggest where to start without unnecessary costs.
