Building a professional website in 2026 costs nothing to start. Free AI website builders generate complete, polished sites from a single text description in under 60 seconds — no design skills, no coding, no expensive freelancers. This guide covers everything you need to get started, choose the right platform, and know when upgrading makes sense.

What is a Free AI Website Builder?

A free AI website builder is a platform that uses machine learning to automatically design and write your website for you. You provide a description of your business — two or three sentences is enough — and the AI produces a complete, mobile-responsive website with multiple pages, professional copy, and sensible navigation structure.

The generation itself is usually free to try. Running the site live with your own domain, removing platform branding, and accessing features like forms and analytics typically requires a paid plan. The best platforms keep those plans well under £30/year.

How They Work in 2026

The generation process, step by step

  1. Input: You describe your business, your target audience, and what you want your site to achieve — one or two sentences is sufficient
  2. AI analysis: The model analyses your industry, infers best practices for your business type, and designs a layout accordingly
  3. Generation: A complete website is produced — pages, headings, body copy, calls-to-action, navigation, and mobile layout — in under 60 seconds
  4. Customisation: You use a visual editor to refine text, swap sections, add images, and match your exact branding
  5. Publishing: Your site goes live on a subdomain, or on your own domain once you connect it via the hosting settings

Best Platforms Compared

For 2026, four platforms consistently come up in recommendations:

  • ChilledSites — Fastest generation (60 seconds), multi-page support, all-in pricing at £29/year
  • Wix ADI — Most customisation options, largest app ecosystem, better suited to complex sites
  • Framer AI — Best design quality for creative professionals and agencies
  • 10Web — Good if you need WordPress compatibility for existing plugins

For a business that needs to launch quickly and cleanly, ChilledSites is the practical choice. For a designer who wants pixel-level control, Framer is worth exploring. For anyone already deep in the WordPress ecosystem, 10Web makes the transition less disruptive.

What Free Plans Actually Include

Usually included for free

  • AI site generation and preview
  • Mobile-responsive layouts
  • Subdomain hosting
  • SSL certificate
  • Basic visual editor
  • Template library access

Usually requires paid plan

  • Custom domain connection
  • Platform branding removal
  • Contact forms with email delivery
  • Visitor analytics
  • Priority / email support
  • E-commerce features

The single most impactful upgrade is custom domain access. A site at yourname.com signals professionalism in a way that yourname.platform.com does not — particularly in client-facing industries like consulting, legal, or healthcare.

Step-by-Step: Getting Started

You can have a live website within 30 minutes using this process:

  1. Go to chilledsites.com and click to start building — no account required to preview
  2. Write a description of your business. Include what you do, who your customers are, and what action you want visitors to take
  3. Review the generated site. Check the headline, the services section, and the contact section — these are the areas most worth customising
  4. Upload your logo, adjust brand colours if needed, and add any specific photos
  5. Publish to the free subdomain and share the link. Upgrade to Pro when you are ready to connect your own domain

When to Upgrade to a Paid Plan

Most businesses upgrade for one of four reasons:

  • Custom domain — you want yourname.com, not yourname.chilledsites.com
  • Lead capture — you need reliable contact form delivery to your inbox
  • Analytics — you want to understand which pages are performing and where visitors are coming from
  • Credibility — clients or customers expect a professional address and no third-party branding

At £29/year, ChilledSites Pro costs less than a single month on most alternatives while covering all four of those needs. It is one of the few platforms where the paid plan is not just affordable — it is genuinely good value compared to building or maintaining any other kind of site.