Free Website Builder for Students: 5 Portfolio Picks 2026
By Sumit Manwal, Founder, Hospitality Vacancy | Updated: 11 November 2026
In short: The best free website builder for a student portfolio depends on your course. Google Sites is fastest for simple pages, GitHub Pages suits coding students, WordPress.com suits writers, and Wix or Carrd suit visual one-page designs. Free plans use a platform subdomain; a custom domain usually needs a paid plan.
A free website builder is the quickest way for a student to own a corner of the internet that is not a social media profile. A simple portfolio site with your projects, internships and a downloadable CV gives recruiters something better to click than a PDF attachment. Whether you study computer science in Toronto, business in Melbourne or hotel management in Bengaluru, a clean one-page site can set you apart.
The trouble is that "free" means different things on different platforms. Some give you storage and a subdomain forever; others show their own branding or limit what you can add. This guide compares five free options students actually use, explains the limits that matter, and gives you a weekend plan to build and publish your portfolio.
What a student portfolio site needs
Before choosing a free website builder, decide what the site must do. For most students, the list is short:
- a home page with your name, course, university and a one-line goal;
- a projects or work page with photos, short write-ups and links;
- a page or section for experience, internships and certificates;
- a downloadable CV and a professional email link;
- a clean web address you can put on LinkedIn and your CV;
- a layout that works on phones, because many recruiters open links on mobile.
You do not need online payments, a shop or heavy video hosting, which is good news, because those are the features free plans usually lock away.
Free website builder options compared
The table below compares the free tiers as described on each provider's own pages in November 2026. Plans change, so check before you commit.
| Platform | Free address | Key free-plan limits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Sites | sites.google.com address | Basic templates; uses your Google account | Fastest simple portfolio, group projects |
| GitHub Pages | username.github.io | 1 GB site size, soft 100 GB monthly bandwidth, one user site per account; not for commercial shops | Coding and design students who use Git |
| WordPress.com Free | yoursite.wordpress.com | 1 GB storage; custom domain needs a paid plan | Blog-style portfolios, writers |
| Wix Free | username.wixsite.com/site | 500 MB storage, 1 GB bandwidth, Wix branding, no payments | Visual drag-and-drop designs |
| Carrd Free | yoursite.carrd.co | Up to 3 one-page sites, "Made with Carrd" branding; custom domains need Pro | Single-page CV sites |
Google Sites
Google Sites is the simplest option. If you have a Gmail or university Google account, you can drag text, images, Google Docs and Slides onto a page and publish in an hour. Designs are basic, but they are clean and work well on phones. It suits students whose portfolio is mostly documents and slides, and teams who need a shared project site.
GitHub Pages
GitHub Pages turns a code repository into a website. According to GitHub's documentation on Pages limits, published sites can be up to 1 GB, have a soft bandwidth limit of 100 GB a month, and each account gets one user site; Pages is not meant for running an online business or e-commerce site. For computer science, data and design students it doubles as proof that you can use Git, and the GitHub Student Developer Pack and other student software discounts add extra tools.
WordPress.com Free
The WordPress.com free plan gives you a wordpress.com subdomain, 1 GB of storage, dozens of themes and the block editor, with no time limit. A custom domain needs a paid plan. It is a strong choice if you want to write regularly, for example case studies or reflections on internships, and because it runs on open-source WordPress you can export your content later.
Wix Free
Wix has the most flexible drag-and-drop editor. Wix's own guide to its free plan says the free plan includes up to 500 MB of storage and 1 GB of bandwidth, a wixsite.com address and Wix branding, and cannot take payments or connect Google Analytics. One quirk: you cannot switch to a different template after creating the site, so choose carefully.
Carrd Free
Carrd builds one-page sites, which is exactly what many student CVs need. The free plan allows up to three sites with Carrd branding; custom domains, forms and more sites need a Pro plan.
Blogger: the free option you may already use
Google's Blogger is also free, uses a blogspot.com address and lets you add static pages for your CV and projects alongside posts. It suits students who want to publish regularly on one topic.
Weekend plan: build your portfolio in two days
- Saturday morning: collect content. Gather three to six projects, a 60-word bio, your CV as a PDF and a professional photo. Write two or three lines for each project: the problem, what you did and the result.
- Saturday afternoon: choose a platform and template. Pick one from the table, choose a simple template and set the colours and fonts once.
- Saturday evening: build pages. Home, Projects, Experience, Contact. Keep navigation to four or five items.
- Sunday morning: optimise images. Resize photos to around 1,200 pixels wide and add descriptive alt text. Large images are the main reason free plans run out of storage.
- Sunday afternoon: check on a phone and ask a friend to find your CV and email in under ten seconds.
- Sunday evening: publish and share. Add the link to LinkedIn, your email signature and the top of your CV.
Privacy and security for student sites
- Do not publish your home address, ID numbers or date of birth. A professional email address is enough contact detail.
- Use a separate email for job applications and your site so spam does not bury important messages.
- Turn on two-factor authentication on the account that controls your site. Our two-factor authentication guide shows how in ten minutes.
- Keep a backup of your content and images in cloud storage, so you can rebuild on another platform if needed.
- Ask permission before showing photos of classmates, clients or hotel guests, and remove confidential company information from internship work.
Portfolio ideas by course
- Computer science and data: code projects with screenshots, a short write-up and a link to the repository.
- Business and marketing: case studies, campaign mock-ups, presentations and certificates.
- Design and media: a curated gallery of your best eight to twelve pieces rather than everything you have made.
- Hotel management and culinary students: photos of plated dishes, event set-ups you helped run, industrial training certificates, language skills and a clear CV. Our sister blog's guide to writing a hotel resume that gets shortlisted helps with the CV itself.
When to pay for a custom domain
A free subdomain is fine while you study. Consider your own domain, such as firstnamelastname.com, when you start applying for graduate jobs, because it looks more professional and stays the same if you change platforms. Domain prices vary by registrar and extension, and renewal prices are often higher than the first year, so compare the renewal cost, not just the offer price.
FAQ
What is the best free website builder for students?
It depends on your course. Google Sites is quickest for simple portfolios, GitHub Pages suits coding students, WordPress.com suits writers, and Wix or Carrd suit visual one-page designs.
Can I use my own domain on a free plan?
Usually not on WordPress.com, Wix or Carrd, where custom domains need a paid plan. GitHub Pages supports custom domains, but you still need to buy the domain.
Is GitHub Pages really free?
Yes for personal, project and portfolio sites within the usage limits in GitHub's documentation. It is not intended for online shops or commercial software services.
Will a free website builder show ads on my site?
Some free plans show platform branding, and Wix says free sites may sometimes show ads. Check the current free-plan terms before you choose.
Do recruiters actually look at portfolio websites?
Many do when the link is easy to find and the site loads quickly. Keep it short, current and focused on your best work.
Related reading
- Best Laptop for Students: 2026 Spec Checklist
- Cloud Storage for Students: Free Plans Compared
- Free Online Courses With Certificate: 8 Sites
Disclosure: This box contains an affiliate link (#Ad). If you buy through it, this blog may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (i5 12th Gen, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD): A light laptop with enough memory to run a site editor, image tools and a browser full of tabs while you build and update your portfolio.
Check today's price (#Ad)About the Author
Sumit Manwal, Founder, Hospitality Vacancy
Sumit Manwal is the founder of Hospitality Vacancy (since 2017), a free hotel and hospitality jobs portal for India, the Gulf and Europe, and has 20+ years of experience in hospitality. He received the "Excellence in Hospitality Sector of Uttarakhand" award, presented by Shri Dhan Singh Rawat ji (January 2023), and the Dainik Jagran inext Uttarakhand Ratan Samman for Excellence in Hospitality & Education, presented by Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari ji (2023). Through the website, hotels post vacancies and hospitality professionals and students register free and apply for jobs in India and abroad.
📧 Contact: manwal@hospitalityvacancy.com | 🔗 LinkedIn
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