Creating a Website for Free – Is It Worth It for SMEs?

Creating a website for free – sounds good, but what is behind it?

A carpenter in Winterthur recently told us he had clicked together a website in two hours on a Sunday evening. For free. On Monday morning he was proud – until his first customer asked why there was an advertisement for an American software provider in the header. And why the address was “schreinerei-mueller.wixsite.com” instead of simply “schreinerei-mueller.ch”.

Anyone who wants to create a website for free today will find dozens of providers. Wix, Jimdo, WordPress.com – they all promise a start without a credit card. But what does “free” really mean, especially for a Swiss SME that wants to be found locally and has to build trust?

The answer is more nuanced than most guides would have you believe.

What free website builders actually offer

Providers such as Wix Free, Jimdo Play or WordPress.com Free supply basic functions: a few page templates, an editor, some storage space. That is enough to put a simple business card online. However, all free versions come with three restrictions that matter for SMEs:

• Subdomain instead of your own address: Your website is then called “companyname.wixsite.com” or “companyname.jimdofree.com” – not “companyname.ch”. This looks unprofessional and weakens brand perception.
• Provider advertising is displayed on your site. So you are advertising for someone else for free – on your own company page.
• Limited functionality: No custom favicon, limited storage, no e-commerce, few integrations. Your own domain, an ad-free site and advanced features require a paid plan.

(Source: public feature comparisons on wix.com, jimdo.com and wordpress.com, as of 2025)

Who is a free website enough for?

Honestly? For very few business scenarios. If you run a private blog or want to put a hobby project online, you will get by. For an SME that wants to win customers, build trust and be visible on Google, things quickly become tight.

The real problem: not the costs, but the hidden losses

What many SMEs underestimate: a free website does not really save money – it merely shifts the costs. Instead of paying for quality, you pay with something else: with lost customers, with worse Google rankings, with an unprofessional impression.

Here is a concrete example. Let us assume a painting business in Zurich receives 20 fewer website visitors per month because the free site ranks worse on Google. If only one in ten visitors makes an enquiry and every fifth job is worth CHF 3’000, that means a loss of revenue of around CHF 1’200 per month. Mind you: this loss appears on no invoice.

Why Google often disadvantages free website builders

In 2021, Google introduced the so-called Core Web Vitals as an official ranking factor. These cover loading speed, visual stability and interactivity. According to various benchmark tests, free website builders often load more slowly than optimised, self-hosted solutions (source: Google Search Central).

In addition: a subdomain is disadvantageous from an SEO perspective. You build domain authority for the provider – not for your own company. Every backlink you receive strengthens wixsite.com instead of your-company.ch.

The SSL certificate (HTTPS), which Google treats as a ranking signal, is also not always fully implemented on subdomains in free offerings (source: Google Security Blog). If you would like to check your SEO visibility, we offer a free SEO analysis.

Creating a website for free vs. professionally: the honest comparison

Let us put the two paths side by side – without sugar-coating either side.

Free website (free version of a website builder)

• No initial costs, but provider advertising and a subdomain
• Limited design freedom and SEO control
• Quick to set up, but hard to scale
• Data protection compliance (Swiss FADP / GDPR) must be ensured independently – many free templates set tracking cookies without proper consent

Professional SME website (agency or experienced freelancer)

• Investment typically between CHF 2’000 and CHF 15’000+ for 5–15 pages (empirical values from Swiss agency quotes, not an exact statistic)
• Your own .ch domain (from approx. CHF 10–15/year, source: Infomaniak, Hostpoint)
• Full control over design, SEO, loading times and data protection
• Professional web hosting in Switzerland with a Swiss server location – relevant for data protection and loading times

The surprising finding: many SMEs that start with a free website switch to a paid solution within 12 months. The reason is almost always the same – the lack of professionalism costs more customers than the website saved.

What Swiss SMEs really need

Switzerland has one of the highest internet penetration rates in Europe: 96 % of the population aged 16 and over use the internet (source: FSO, Omnibus ICT survey 2023). According to the FSO, around 80 % of Swiss companies with 10 or more employees had their own website in 2021. Among micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees, the share is considerably lower – even though these businesses in particular would benefit most from local online visibility.

Around 99.7 % of all market-economy companies in Switzerland are SMEs (source: FSO, STATENT). That is over 600’000 businesses. For most of them, it is not about a digital gimmick but about a tool that brings in customers.

What such a tool needs at a minimum:

• Your own domain ending in .ch – it signals locality and trust
• Mobile optimisation that performs well on Google (Core Web Vitals)
• Clear ways to get in touch: phone number, address, contact form
• An FADP-compliant data protection solution – stricter rules have applied in Switzerland since September 2023

The middle way: start affordably, grow professionally

Not every SME needs a CHF 10’000 website straight away. There are certainly sensible intermediate solutions. A WordPress setup with a good theme, its own hosting and a professional basic configuration can be realised for considerably less – provided someone with experience sets it up.

The decisive difference: even with an affordable solution, the technical foundation should be right. Fast loading times, clean URL structures, correct schema markup – these are things a free template simply does not come with.

If you are looking for a professional website at a fair price, it is worth talking to an experienced full-service agency in Zurich that covers the entire process from design to SEO.

Data protection: a topic many overlook

Since the revised Swiss Data Protection Act (FADP), which came into force in September 2023, stricter requirements apply to data processing. Free website builders often use tracking tools and cookies whose servers are located in the USA. For Swiss SMEs this can become problematic – especially if no proper cookie banner is implemented or the privacy policy is missing.

With a professionally built website, you have full control over which tools are used and where the data is stored.

When a free website can still be worthwhile

To be fair: there are situations in which a free solution makes sense temporarily. If you are testing a new business model and do not yet have any revenue, a website-builder site can serve as a prototype. It may also be enough for a one-off event or a temporary landing page.

But – and this is the point – as soon as you want to win customers via the internet on a regular basis, the free option becomes a drag. Not because the technology is fundamentally bad, but because the restrictions bite exactly where it matters: visibility, trust and conversion.

Creating a website for free – our assessment for Swiss SMEs

The question “Is creating a website for free worth it?” cannot be answered across the board. But for the vast majority of Swiss SMEs, the honest answer is: only in the short term and only as a stopgap.

A professional website is not an expense. It is an investment that pays for itself through customer enquiries, trust and Google visibility. The question should therefore not be whether you can afford a professional website – but whether you can afford to go without one.

If you would like to know what a tailor-made website for your company would cost: for years we have been advising Swiss SMEs on becoming visible online – from strategy through to implementation. You can directly have a website built that fits your budget and your goals.

Enquire now without obligation: Use our free initial consultation and find out in 15 minutes which solution makes the most sense for your SME. We analyse your current situation and show you concretely where the potential lies – no obligation, no sales pressure.