Building Your Business Website for (Almost) Free: A Smart Stack Guide
July 10, 2025
A keyboard with a glowing puzzle key symbolizing elements in a software stack that is supposed to fit with the other elements
Starting a business is expensive enough without adding hefty monthly software subscriptions to the mix. The good news? Some of the best web technologies offer surprisingly generous free tiers that can power your entire online presence — from a simple business website to a complex web application.
We've helped small businesses launch using smart combinations of free services. While these aren't forever solutions for growing companies, they're perfect for getting started, validating your idea, and building momentum before you invest in premium features.
Here's how to build a professional online presence using free tiers from industry-leading providers.
The Foundation: Website Hosting
Vercel and Cloudflare Pages both offer excellent free hosting tiers that can handle most small business websites with ease.
Vercel's free plan includes unlimited personal and commercial projects with global CDN (Content Delivery Network — a system that delivers your website faster to visitors worldwide). Cloudflare Pages offers similar features with the added benefit of being part of Cloudflare's robust infrastructure ecosystem.
Both platforms automatically provide SSL certificates (the security feature that puts the "https://" and lock icon in your browser), which used to cost extra but are now standard with quality hosting providers.
What this means for you: Professional, fast-loading websites with enterprise-level security — completely free for most small business needs.
Content Management: Sanity CMS
Managing your website content shouldn't require a computer science degree. Sanity offers a free hosted CMS (Content Management System — the tool that lets you update your website content without touching code) that's both powerful and user-friendly.
Their free tier includes unlimited admin users, which means your entire team can contribute to your website content. Whether you're updating service descriptions, adding blog posts, or managing team member profiles, Sanity makes it simple.
What this means for you: Easy content updates, team collaboration, and room to grow — all without monthly CMS fees.
Database Power: Supabase
If your website needs to store information — customer inquiries, user accounts, or application data — Supabase provides a robust free database tier. Think of it as the filing cabinet for your digital business, but infinitely more organized and accessible.
Their free plan includes authentication (user login systems), real-time subscriptions, and enough database storage for most small business applications.
What this means for you: Professional data management capabilities without the complexity or cost of traditional database solutions.
User Authentication: Clerk
For websites that need user accounts — customer portals, membership sites, or applications — Clerk offers a generous free tier for authentication services. This handles all the complex security requirements for user logins, password resets, and account management.
What this means for you: Enterprise-level security for user accounts without the headache of building and maintaining login systems yourself.
Email Communications: Resend + Cloudflare
Professional email communication is crucial for any business. Resend provides a free tier for transactional emails — the automated messages your website sends like contact form submissions, welcome emails, or password resets.
For your business email address, Cloudflare's email forwarding service is a game-changer. Instead of paying $6+ per month per user for Google Workspace, you can forward emails from your custom domain (like hello@yourbusiness.com) to your existing personal email account. Cloudflare's email routing makes this process straightforward and reliable.
Interestingly, Apple also offers email forwarding through iCloud+, though this requires a paid iCloud+ subscription. You can learn more about Apple's custom email domain feature if you're already in the Apple ecosystem.
What this means for you: Professional email communication without the ongoing costs of traditional business email services.
Analytics and Insights: PostHog
Understanding how visitors interact with your website is crucial for improvement. PostHog offers a comprehensive free tier for website analytics — showing you which pages people visit, how they navigate your site, and where they might be getting stuck.
Unlike some analytics tools, PostHog is designed with privacy in mind while still providing the insights you need to improve your business.
What this means for you: Data-driven decision making without complex analytics setup or privacy concerns.
Image Optimization: ImageKit and Cloudflare
High-quality images make your website look professional, but large image files can slow down your site significantly. ImageKit offers free image optimization and delivery, automatically adjusting image quality and size based on each visitor's device and connection speed.
Cloudflare's image optimization tools also provide similar benefits as part of their broader infrastructure services.
What this means for you: Fast-loading, beautiful images without the technical complexity of manual optimization.
The Smart Stack in Action
Here's how these services work together:
Vercel or Cloudflare Pages hosts your website
Sanity manages your content updates
Supabase stores any necessary data
Clerk handles user accounts (if needed)
Resend sends automated emails
Cloudflare email forwarding handles your business email
PostHog tracks website performance
ImageKit optimizes your images
This combination can power everything from a simple business website to a sophisticated web application — all while staying within generous free tiers.
Understanding the Limits
Every free plan has limitations, and it's important to monitor your usage as your business grows. The most common limits include:
- Traffic volumes (number of monthly visitors)
- Storage space (content, images, database size)
- Email sends (number of automated emails per month)
- API requests (how often your website communicates with various services)
The good news? Upgrading is typically seamless when you're ready. Most providers make it simple to move from free to paid plans without any migration complexity — often just requiring a credit card and plan selection.
Important note: Always check the current limitations and terms with each provider, as free tier offerings can change over time.
When Free Makes Sense (And When It Doesn't)
This approach is perfect for:
- New businesses validating their market
- Solo entrepreneurs bootstrapping their first venture
- Designers building client websites on tight budgets
- Small businesses with straightforward website needs
- Side projects testing new ideas
It's less suitable for:
- High-traffic websites (you'll quickly exceed free limits)
- Mission-critical applications requiring guaranteed uptime
- Complex enterprise requirements
- Businesses ready to invest in premium features
Getting Started
The beauty of this approach is that you can start simple and add complexity as needed. Begin with basic hosting and a CMS, then gradually add database functionality, user accounts, and advanced features as your business requirements become clearer.
This isn't about being cheap — it's about being smart with your resources while you're building and validating your business idea.
Beyond the Free Tier
As your business grows and succeeds, you'll naturally outgrow free plans. That's actually a good problem to have — it means your business is thriving. When that time comes, the paid tiers of these services often provide excellent value, and you'll already be familiar with platforms that scale with your needs.
The transition from free to paid is typically smooth since you're already using professional-grade tools, just at a smaller scale.
Need help putting it all together? We love helping businesses make smart technology choices — whether you're building it yourself or ready to work with a team. Book a free discovery call to discuss your project and explore the best approach for your specific needs.
Looking for more practical business advice? Follow our journey and get development insights at skein.dev/blog.