Church Website Builder Options for Small Churches
The five pages a small church website needs, how to keep the domain in the church's name, a one-weekend launch order, and prices for WordPress.com, Squarespace and Nucleus read October 13, 2026.
What changed on October 22, 2026: Added a church website checklist and a launch order for one weekend. Prices are still those read October 13.
- 5 pages a small church website needs
- $0 for cOS Websites (ours)
- $9 a month for WordPress.com Personal, paid monthly
- $65 a month for Nucleus, built for churches
A small church website has one main job, which is to tell a visitor when and where the church meets and what to expect. Five pages do that, and a church can put them up in a weekend.
The five pages
| Page | What goes on it |
|---|---|
| Home | The service times, the street address with a map, and a photograph of the building or the congregation |
| Visit | Where to park, which door to use, what happens in the service, how long it lasts, and what there is for children |
| What we believe | The church’s statement of faith, or a link to the confession it holds |
| Sermons | Recent sermons with the passage and the date, as audio or video |
| Contact | The office phone, an email address, the pastor’s name and the office hours |
Put the service times and the address at the top of the home page, where a visitor sees them without scrolling. A home page that does the job shows five lines at the top.
Riverside Community Church, Cedar Falls
Sundays at 9:15 for Sunday school and 10:30 for worship. 100 Main Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa, with parking behind the building.
New here? Come in the front doors. Someone at the welcome table will show you where the children go.
Office: 555-0100, Monday to Thursday, 9 to 3.
The church finder lists churches that have claimed their listing, so a visitor who searches your town has one more place to find those lines, and you can claim your church’s listing.
Keep the domain in the church’s name
The domain is the church’s web address, such as riversidecedarfalls.org. Register it in the church’s legal name, with an email address the church controls, and give two people their own logins to the account, if the registrar, the company that sells the domain, allows it. When the one person who registered the domain leaves, a church can lose its address and its email with it.
A launch order for one weekend
- Register the domain, or find the login for the one you have.
- Choose a website builder from the table below and pick its simplest design.
- Write the five pages, starting with the service times and the address.
- Add one good photograph to each page.
- Ask someone who has never been to the church to find the service time and the parking on a phone, and fix what slows them down.
- Put the address on the bulletin and the church’s sign.
What three website builders cost
Each price below was read on the company’s own page on October 13, 2026.
| Builder | What it is | Price |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress.com | A general website builder with a free plan | Personal at $9 a month paid monthly or $4 a month paid by the year, and Premium at $18 or $8 |
| Squarespace | A general website builder with a 14-day free trial | Basic at $25 a month paid monthly, Core at $39, and less on either plan paid by the year |
| Nucleus | A website builder made for churches | Essential at $65 a month, Standard at $99 and Complete at $199 |
| cOS Websites (ours) | A free website app for churches from Church Posting | Free |
| Covenant OS (ours) | The church website comes with every church plan | From $39 a month |
Each builder's plans paid monthly, read October 13, 2026. cOS Websites (ours) is a free app from Church Posting.
Church Posting makes cOS Websites, so weigh that line knowing who wrote it. Squarespace’s page says a church can “pay annually to save up to 36%.” A general builder costs less, and a builder made for churches includes church pages, such as sermons and events, that a general builder leaves you to set up yourself.
Ask these questions before you choose.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Can two people edit the site? | The site should not depend on one volunteer |
| Can you connect the domain the church already owns? | A new address means updating the bulletin, the sign and every saved link |
| Does the price include email at the church’s domain? | Mail from the church’s own address looks like the church |
| Can you download a copy of the pages and photographs? | You will need them if you move to another builder |
Free tools for the website and the bulletin
Church website checklist
Run this list on your own site with a phone in your hand. Each line is something a first-time visitor or a search engine looks for.
On the home page, without scrolling
- Service times, with the day and the hour
- The street address, with a map link
- One line for new visitors, such as where to park and which door to use
- A phone number or email that reaches a person
On the other pages
- A visit page: parking, the entrance, what happens in the service, how long it runs, and what there is for children
- What the church believes, or a link to the confession it holds
- Recent sermons with the passage and the date
- The pastor’s name and photograph, and the staff with their roles
- A way to give, if the church takes gifts online
- Events with a date, a time and a place, and nothing that has already happened
Behind the pages
- The domain is registered in the church’s legal name, and two people can sign in
- The site loads over https, with a padlock in the browser bar
- It reads on a phone without pinching or zooming
- Every photograph has a short description for screen readers
- The church’s Google Business Profile shows the same name, address, phone and service times as the site
- The home page carries Church structured data with the address, phone and service times, so search engines can read them
- The service times, staff names and events are checked every quarter, and the week after any change
Keep it current
Check the service times and the staff names on the site every quarter, and the week after any change. Take down an event the day after it happens.
The address on the sign, the bulletin and the website should match to the letter. The bulletin maker puts your web address and giving link in the contact panel every week.
Free tool you can try here
Put the web address on the bulletin
Type your church name and see the cover. The real maker has a contact panel for your address, phone, website and giving link.
This free tool is made by Church Posting.
Order of Service
- Welcome and announcements
- Call to worship Psalm 95:1-7
- Song Come, Thou Fount
- Prayer
- Scripture Hebrews 12:18-29
- Sermon A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken
- Offering
- Benediction
Riverside Community Church
Sunday Worship
Today: A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken
The maker is free, needs no account to start and opens with your words already in it.
Questions people ask
How do I create a website for my church?
Register the domain in the church's legal name, choose a website builder, and write five pages: home, visit, what we believe, sermons and contact. Put the service times and the address at the top of the home page, add one good photograph to each page, and ask someone who has never visited to find the service time on a phone.
What should a church website include?
Service times, the street address with a map, a line for new visitors about parking and the entrance, a phone or email that reaches a person, a visit page, what the church believes, recent sermons, the staff, a way to give and current events.
Pages cited
- WordPress.com Pricing | Find the Perfect Plan for Your Site, WordPress.com. Read October 13, 2026.
- Squarespace Pricing Plans & Features, Squarespace. Read October 13, 2026.
- Church Website Pricing and Plans | Nucleus, Nucleus. Read October 13, 2026.