Choosing the best website builder can be tricky as there are over 74 popular website builders to choose from with different feature sets.
Online tools have been around since the early 2000s and look much different today than they did then. The functions are becoming more advanced, the expectations of users are increasing, and the construction of the website is not the same as it was 10 years ago.
By learning how to create your website, I want to make it easier for you to make your first decision. By presenting the best website builders, I want to help you find the right solution for your business.
These website builder reviews consider web hosting services, price, reliability, tech support, site speed, SEO, features, learning curve, ease of use, template creation, and more.
We will also compare:
- Best website builders for small businesses.
- The best free and cheap options.
- Easiest choice if you don’t have the technical skills.
- The ones with the best SEO.
- The best with the possibilities of an online store.
- And the best options for photographers and artists.
Let’s get started!
What is the best website builder?
Using a website builder is a quick and easy way to build the presence of your brand or online business. These tools simplify site management by combining domain registration, hosting, and site design into a single platform.
While you are losing control of having separate hosting management, website builders can still be a good option.
For example, your requirements will vary depending on the features you want. If you’re running a local business, a simple 5-page website might work. Or if you’re building a personal brand portfolio, website design comes first.
Ultimately, the choice comes down to ease of use and control.
If you are familiar with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, you can choose a more advanced content management system (CMS) and control the appearance of your website. If you are not very familiar with web design and development, you can use the easy drag and drop editor.
The choice is yours.
Here are my top picks for the best website builder to use this year.
Best Website Builders:
- Wix
- Zyro
- Webwave
- Squarespace
- Weebly
- BigCommerce
- WordPress
- SITE123
- Hibu
- Jimdo
- Shopify
- Pixpa
1. Wix
Best website builder for beginners (free plan available)
Wix is the most popular website builder in the world with over 100 million users. They have over 500 ready-made templates to design a website that works across many different categories and industries. These templates are optimized for mobile devices with 100 fonts to choose from (or you can upload your own).
Their designs look beautiful too, with scroll effects and advanced design features like animation and video backgrounds.
If you already have a domain on GoDaddy or want to register one on Wix.com, that’s a lot to do. Also, if you want to add eCommerce to your website so you can sell online, plans start at $ 20 / month.
If you run a small business, we recommend Wix as the best online store builder. You don’t necessarily need a platform with more advanced options like BigCommerce and Shopify. Wix website owners looking to add an online store can get these great new features.
Wix is the most user-friendly website tool on the market. You can customize the look and feel of your website almost endlessly without any programming knowledge.
They also have a tool called Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) – the first website builder with artificial intelligence. Wix ADI learns about your website and uses this information to design a website tailored to your specific needs. This tool uses artificial intelligence to choose from billions of combinations of images, text, layouts, and contact forms.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for the best small business software, Wix is your best bet.
Read our full Wix review for a more in-depth analysis.
2. Zyro
Good cheap website builder and eCommerce
Zyro is a website builder whose mission is to help local businesses tell their unique stories online.
Overall, they’re best known for their simplicity and speed.
With Zyro, you can quickly and easily create a business website without coding. Your website also loads fast thanks to the lightweight frame and looks great on all devices.
With its powerful toolkit, Zyro helps expand your online business with pre-built design templates, AI-driven text, intuitive drag-and-drop, mobile-ready, and over a million photos to choose from.
One of their standout features is their AI Content Generator which provides SEO-friendly content ideas based on your industry and specific type of business.
To get started with this tool, select your business type and then write 2-3 sentences that describe your brand and context. You then adjust the AI settings and adjust them based on length, knowledge, and level of creativity. Finally, click the Generate button and you will see your uniquely crafted content.
Since creating content is a challenge for many website owners, this tool creates new paragraphs for you that can rank better in search and increase conversion rates.
Some other great features include:
- Built-in SEO tools to improve search rankings.
- Free SSL certificate and custom domains.
- Logo and slogan based on artificial intelligence.
- 24/7 customer support via email and live chat.
- AI heatmaps to increase website conversion and predict visitor behavior.
- Fast-loading website designs optimized for mobile devices.
- Free website templates for a variety of industries such as creative agencies, start-ups, fashion brands, wellness companies, bakeries, and more.
Zyro offers two main pricing plans – Website and Business.
3. Webwave
The cheapest website builder
WebWave is a website builder that works a bit differently than the competition. This difference results from the fact that each page element can be set freely, as we want. We do not have defined sections or fields in which we only replace elements and texts. Each element can be changed, moved, or moved to a different subpage.
WebWave is a platform with which you can create not only a complete and well-optimized website but also a very unique one. The wizard also offers over 100 ready-made website templates, but these are definitely fewer templates than Wix offers. In addition to the functions of creating the website, it also has the functions of an online store and what stands out is that, together with the website, we get mailboxes in our domain.
Unlike Wix, WebWave is so intuitive to use. Due to the fact that each element can be placed freely, it takes a little more time to learn how to do it. But even in the wizard itself, we have a series of guides and hints to help us get to know the tool. It is certainly a good choice for the most demanding users.
Unlike Wix, it is not very suitable for beginners. Despite this, the developers have made great progress recently, and the tool itself is starting to meet the expectations of even more demanding users.
4. Squarespace
Best website builder for personal websites
When we think of Squarespace, think of its beautifully designed homepage. Squarespace really knows how to create beautiful, high-quality sites that look great for both small businesses and private sites.
With over 100 templates to choose from, they are at the forefront of design. Squarespace templates look great in every detail. Fonts, colour schemes, and photos are a perfect fit for any website.
In addition to the design, their platform is great for bloggers. We tested their WYSIWYG blog editor and it is very intuitive.
You drag elements like images, headings and text onto the page and position them where you want. Squarespace also offers multi-user permissions and Google AMP functionality, and you can schedule your posts:
A few minor SEO restrictions are keeping Squarespace from being higher on our list. First, our XML sitemap contained two versions of each page with and without the forward slash “/”. This double indexing can potentially lead to SEO issues and duplicate content. Second, blog headlines always become meta titles, so headlines should be added for SEO.
Other great features complement these disadvantages. Their ease of use is top-notch – sites can be built with editing tools. Built-in analytical tools provide constant data to website visitors if you are not using Google Analytics.
Overall, if you’re a freelancer or small business that needs a first-class website, or a blogger who wants your content to look great, Squarespace is a great choice.
5. Weebly
Best Free Website Builder
Weebly supports over 530,000 domains and is known to be an easy website builder for people with little technical knowledge. They offer many great features. If you are a blogger, you can use Weebly.com to select a domain name and use their editor to add text, images and content.
They also have a mobile app to track your website’s performance on the go. And email marketing tools allow you to send newsletters to subscribers from within their tool.
They have a free plan that includes 500MB of storage, a free SSL certificate, and a Weebly branded domain. You can use a custom domain with this plan, but you must have Weebly branding throughout your site. The free plan only includes chat and email support, but no phone support.
Weebly’s paid plans range from $ 5 to $ 25 per month. Importantly, their business plan provides advanced e-commerce features, a free domain, and $ 200 Google ad credits.
Their e-commerce features include product options/variants, coupon codes, inventory management, a shipping calculator, shipping labels, and the ability to accept payments through Square and other vendors.
The level of support you receive depends on your subscription level. You can find help in many areas including a blog, support centre, community forum, social media, and developer documentation. They also handle live chat, email, and phone support.
6. BigCommerce .
Best website builder for large online stores ($ 29 / month)
BigCommerce is not your typical website builder but a powerful eCommerce platform that also has great website functionality and zero transaction fees.
I added BigCommerce to this list because of its very advanced feature set. These features include best-in-class SEO (URL structure, site speed, uptime), conversion rate optimized themes and over 600 product options.
If you want to build a website and sell products someday, BigCommerce is only $ 29.95 / month and has more advanced features than the other tools on this list.
If you’re looking to add shopping cart software to your website, look no further than BigCommerce. First off, I love their free themes because optimizing your conversion rate is a top priority on your websites.
Sites look great, load fast, and optimize conversions. I am currently using their BigCommerce for WordPress plugin to sell digital products on my WordPress site and the speed is fantastic. Rather than delving into hosting companies by sharing resources, BC4WP uses an open source API, enabling front-end content on WordPress and a back-end trading engine on BigCommerce
I originally installed the WooCommerce plugin (and their three extra essential plugins) and wasn’t a fan of their carts or checkout sites. They were poorly designed, the CTA buttons were in strange places, and I realized my sales would suffer from the user experience.
After switching to BigCommerce, I significantly increased my conversion rate.
They have three retail plans ranging from $ 29.95 to $ 249.95 / month, and they offer a free 15-day trial to set up your website.
8. WordPress
The world’s most popular CMS ($ 5 / month)
Since its release in 2003, WordPress has quickly become the world’s most popular content management system (CMS), hosting over 75 million websites .
There are two options. You can choose a web host and create a WordPress site at WordPress.org or use their standalone site builder WordPress.com.
With WordPress.com, you can create a website for anything – blog, local business, online store – the options are endless. With the free plan, you’ll get a website, access to 3 GB of storage space, and customer service. When you upgrade to one of their five paid plans, you’ll get access to more advanced features, plugins, and priority support.
WordPress.com also has Jetpack core features built in which include basic SEO, social sharing, and site analytics. The popular universal Jetpack plugin covers everything from SEO and analytics to security and marketing.
Paid plans range from $ 5 / month for a simple blog up to $ 45 for full ecommerce functionality. Most users opt for a premium subscription of $ 8 per month, which gives you everything you need to design, edit, and control your website content.
Overall, it’s a simpler, simplified version of WordPress with fewer features but more ease of use. If you want to test WordPress but are not yet ready to use your own separate hosting, try out a WordPress website builder.
9. SITE123
Easiest Free Website Builder for Small Sites (Free – $ 12.80 / month)
SITE123 is a simple website builder that offers users a free plan to test their new website. When registering, you get a free subdomain, 500 GB of disk space and 1 GB of bandwidth. You can also combine your own domain (or buy it as part of the dashboard) with premium plans starting at $ 12.80 per month.
They have a stable uptime of 99.97%, over 200 templates to choose from, and e-commerce plans start at around $ 22 / month. After registration, you can quickly pay via PayPal or credit card and start setup in minutes.
They are known as SITE123 because of three simple steps to create a website:
- Choose your site type
- Submit your content
- Publish your site
Once your site is up and running, they also have SEO tools to optimize the titles, meta descriptions, and other elements needed to improve your ranking.
Their Advanced, Professional, and Gold plans come with email accounts, and additional email accounts can be purchased independently of the plans. And if you’re not satisfied with your current plan, you can easily change or upgrade your plan and only pay the difference.
If you want to build a new website with SITE123, register a free domain name, choose a basic plan and use the website builder. This site offers unlimited bandwidth, add-ons, contact forms, and advanced features to help you rank in search engines.
Overall, SITE123 is the best drag and drop tool for people who don’t have a web designer and want to start web development without any coding knowledge.
10. Hibu.
Best Digital Marketing Website Builder For Local Businesses ($ 99)
Hibu is an internet service company founded in 2001. They are best known for integrated digital marketing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. They help with features beyond standard small business website builders – website design, local listing management, online reviews, display advertising, and SEO services.
Users find their local listings and SEO services the most helpful. For a local business, building an online presence across Google My Business, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and social media locations is of the utmost importance in increasing visibility.
When it comes to digital marketing, Hibu delivered sites with over 800 million visits, 225 million ad clicks, and over 6 million phone calls – quite impressive.
After registering with Hibu, a team of digital marketing experts meet you and provide you with a one-on-one customer service. This support is ideal if you don’t have specific knowledge of using HTML, CSS, and hosting services. Thanks to partners like Google, Facebook, Bing, and Yahoo, they can quickly develop a website strategy for your business.
They don’t show prices on their website, but Hibu prices typically include a fee of $ 100 per month and an initial fee of $ 499 to $ 599.
If you run a local business and need help with website design, help and visibility with local listings, Hibu is your best bet.
11. Jimdo
Personalized AI website builder (Free – $ 9 / month)
Jimdo lets you create a website in just 3 minutes by asking questions about your business and guiding you to the right design choices.
Instead of static templates, Jimdo uses flexible content blocks that can be changed depending on the user’s behavior. If you are a small business, they automatically create navigation menus and pages tailored to your industry. For example, a local restaurant will automatically get a map page with a logo, address, text blocks, hours, and more.
If I had to sum up Jimdo in one word, it would be automation. Automatic SEO syncs Google Search Console in three clicks. Content blocks build websites faster than legacy page builders. AI asks questions and builds a website based on a specific industry.
They have a free plan with limited features and ads on the site. When you upgrade to the $ 9 / month plan, you get a domain free for the first year, a completely ad-free site, advanced SEO features, and analytics reports.
If you need stock photos, Jimdo uses AI to create site images from their image library, which can be very helpful. They also have easy social media integration, navigation menus, and page designs to suit your industry. Ultimately, I’d say the AI is similar to the Wix ADI but slightly better.
Here are the steps to create a website with Jimdo:
- Create a free Jimdo account.
- Answer a few questions and Jimdo will gather information about your business from Facebook and Google.
- Choose a finished project. Jimdo will use photos and text you already have in your listings and can provide more personalized content.
- Make final changes and corrections.
- Publish your new website.
If you are someone looking to build a website with artificial intelligence in less than 3 minutes then Jimdo is a great choice for you.
12. Shopify
Best website builder for small e-commerce stores ($ 29 / month)
Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform used by over 800,000 online businesses, that sell products online. They were founded in Canada in 2004 and have quickly become a powerhouse thanks to a simple dashboard and integration with thousands of application partners.
While not every website owner needs the product selling features, I have added Shopify to the list as almost any small business can use them to set up their website.
Take the living room, for example.
With Shopify, you can not only set up a quick website including a blog, a map of your location, contact details, and an appointment schedule (with the app), but you can also sell hair care products online. This creates not only a website but also another online revenue source for your business.
Shopify has many of the features you would expect from other tools on this list, including hosting, your own domain name, over 70 professional themes, a free SSL certificate, and marketing and SEO features.
They also offer mobile trading, over 100 payment gateways, automatic carrier shipping rates, automatic tax rates, and full checkout support. Plus, you can enjoy multi-channel selling on Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Instagram and more.
If you’re starting a new website and think you might want to sell products online in the future, you’d better start with Shopify than another tool that doesn’t take online shopping that seriously.
They offer three plans, ranging from $ 29 / month to $ 299 / month. Shopify’s basic plan for $ 29 / month should give website owners everything they need, including a full website, an online store with unlimited products, blog features, 24/7 support, and more.
If you want to try Shopify, they offer a 14-day free trial without a credit card.
13. Pixpa
Best website builder for photographers and artists ($ 6 / month)
Pixpa is a website builder designed for creative professionals and the best for photographers and artists.
They offer a 15-day trial period where you can check if it suits your needs.
Like many other platforms, you don’t need to learn coding to build a website. Their thematic projects remember photographers, artists and designers. Image-friendly themes will suit you if you are a creative professional.
All themes work well on mobile as well and have over 35 to choose from.
If you are a blogger, the feature of multiple blogs on one page may attract you. There are even plenty of gallery layout options in Pixpa, which allow you to display your images in many different ways. You can also manage SEO data for each page.
Fully functional e-commerce integration offers the sale of physical and digital goods as well as the services offered. If you are a photographer, you can sell your photos through the gallery instead of using the store.
Pixpa provides 24/7 customer support via email and chat. There is no direct helpline number you are calling to inquire. However, the knowledge base is quite extensive and contains information about all the features it offers.
Pixpa is fairly reasonably priced, and its monthly plan starts at $ 6, which goes up if you want to sell more products and add more space for your original files. The basic plan provides 2 GB of space, and you can add up to 10 products to your eCommerce store. Though after the first year you will have to pay for the domain name separately with the service provider.
Overall, Pixpa is a good option if you’re a creative pro on a budget. Their software is best if you want to manage your website, customer galleries, and blog all in one place.
What is a website builder?
A website builder is a tool that allows anyone to manage a website and domain name without manually editing the code. In other words, a website builder is a tool or software that helps you create websites.
In the old days, programmers had to know HTML and CSS to create a website. Today, if you want to code a site, you must have extensive knowledge of JavaScript and PHP. With over 1.7 billion websites available today, not everyone can be a developer, right?
These tools help everyone from small businesses and bloggers to news sites and e-commerce businesses to easily create websites in minutes.
Features to Look for in Website Builders
When choosing a website builder, all good software should have some basic functions. All tools should have four main functions: ready-made templates, drag-and-drop editors, responsiveness to mobile devices, and domain names.
1. Ready templates.
Almost every website builder has templates. Templates control the appearance of your website based on layout, colour scheme, font selection, and other design considerations. For example, if you are a blogger, you may want to have a blog-specific template that makes your blog posts stand out with ease. Or if you are in e-commerce, a product-based template can lay out your product and category pages with ease.
2. Drag-and-drop editors.
Another important feature is the ability to use the WYSIWYG editor to navigate through the elements on the page. With the drag-and-drop editor you can add and move sections on your page, including:
- Text
- Pictures
- Spacers and dividers
- Navigation menu
- Headlines
- Footers
With these editing tools, you can create and manipulate individual pages to create all the pages on your site. These are popular website builders that allow you to easily edit content without coding knowledge.
3. Reaction to mobile devices.
Today, more users browse the web on smartphones than on computers, so your website needs to look great on all devices. In fact, 58% of all website visits are made on mobile devices.
All modern website builders should have templates adapted to mobile devices that adapt website elements to the device on which they are presented.
4. Domain names.
Domain names are the URLs that users place in their web browsers when they want to visit your site. One of the benefits of using a website builder is that your website hosting and domain name registration are on the same platform. When you’re ready to build your website, you can either choose a new domain name or import an existing one from another tool like GoDaddy.
What is the best wizard for building e-commerce sites?
The best e-commerce site builders offer both simple ways to drag and drop content on your site, as well as robust e-commerce features like product pages, shipping integrations, product options, coupons, payment gateways, and more.
Here are my picks of the best eCommerce website builder:
1. Wix.
Wix has strong online selling capabilities and is very easy to use. They also earn points for some nice-looking e-commerce themes.
Check out my guide to the Best Ecommerce Platforms for more information.
2. Shopify
Shopify is my second choice for building an online store as an app partner directory, and its ease of use allows almost anyone to get a website up and running quickly. They have a perfect combination of online store functionality with website functionality.
With over 70 themes to choose from and native blogging functionality, you can create a website and add products in minutes.
3. BigCommerce for WordPress
BigCommerce is a fantastic platform and has strong backend functionality, but it stands behind Shopify on this list as it isn’t your typical website builder. It’s built more for high-end online stores with high sales volumes, rather than someone who just wants to build a website.
While the back-end features are strong, some general website features are missing, with a few themes to choose from, a slightly difficult drag-and-drop tool to use, and limited blog features.
If you want to build a content-rich website, I recommend the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin. You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard and sync your products with your WordPress site via the BigCommerce API.
This combination allows you to have all the features of WordPress with a powerful e-commerce engine that powers your store without slowing it down.
Why should you use a website builder?
Building a website can be tedious. From programming to creating a custom marketing plan, there are a lot of things you need to do. However, commissioning this process to web developers can cost even tens of thousands of zlotys.
Today, website builders take the guesswork out of website design so you can design the perfect website for your business without any coding.
Here are some of the most important benefits of using the website builder:
1. Does not require any technical skills.
The most important part of these tools is that you don’t need to use any code to build your web pages.
With most website builders, you can just sign up, buy an account, and start building your website right away.
Take Wix, for example, one of the most popular companies on the market:
It has a user-friendly interface and features such as a drag-and-drop editor that can help you build your website without writing a single line of code.
Without these helpful apps, you will have to write long codes to create even one website. Now you can create, edit and modify your websites without any technical skills. It is a cost-effective option for many less tech-savvy people.
2. Easy file storage.
When you decide to build a website yourself, you most often need to use your computer’s memory to save internet files. Cloud storage is possible, but instances are few and in between. If the computer is not readily available when needed, you cannot even make any changes to the Internet files.
When using website builders, web files are stored online on specific cloud servers. This allows you to access, edit and adjust your web files at any time and from any location, giving you a higher degree of control.
3. Lack of hand drafting.
Designing a website can be a huge task, especially if you don’t feel like it. It also requires a lot of code writing and testing, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Website builders, on the other hand, usually have templates and themes built in. They even allow you to customize and modify them to better suit your purpose.
Take a look at these Squarespace templates:
These templates offer a wide range of customization options so you can transform an advantageous template into the look you want, even if you don’t get the exact design.
4. It is cost effective.
Not everyone knows technology. If you decide to build your own website and then run into trouble, you have no choice but to seek professional help. And that could cost you several thousand dollars. In addition, they may charge you an additional fee for any customization options you want or for additional apps you want to install.
However, when it comes to website builders, you have a lot of extra features as well as free customer support.
In fact, most website builders offer a wide range of services such as email integration, plugins, free domain names, and more. Even if you have to pay for a service, prices are usually reasonable and affordable.
Sometimes you can even build your site for free by only paying for the advanced features.
5. You save time.
Building an advanced website can take weeks or even months. It can also take longer if you plan to write page and blog content after your site is up and running.
Most companies do not have this time. The delay in creating a website is not conducive to the business environment.
Here, website builders provide a great advantage. They provide the technology to keep your website up and running literally in a matter of hours.
6. You get additional functionality.
In addition to building your website, the website builder offers many additional features related to the maintenance of your website.
Take Shopify, for example, one of the most popular website builders on the market today. Provides multiple options, all connected on the same platform so you don’t have to run around to get professional help.
These include over 70 professional themes, a full blogging platform, and simple templates for branding and customizing your online store.
There are also many extras that you get for free when you buy an internet subscription.
It offers a large package of features such as a choice of font styles and settings, interactive tabs, mobile editors, many professional themes, customizable menu bars, and more.
Replicating these functions on your own website is difficult. You will need to hire web designers for every little detail if you aren’t very tech-savvy.
A website builder, on the other hand, takes care of all of this for you and more.
7. Updates and maintenance.
Building a website is the easy part. Then you need to maintain your website and update it regularly.
Most website development platforms have a dedicated team of technical specialists who can help you whenever you run into a problem. You also get the appropriate help to update the site or plugins associated with that site.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to build a website?
Website builders typically charge a monthly fee and offer different pricing plans depending on the features you want. On average, website development costs range from $ 3 to $ 50 per month. They also come with hosting and file management, however, you’ll need to purchase your own domain name.
Is Wix better than WordPress?
Both Wix and WordPress have strengths and weaknesses, and choosing one comes down to your needs. While Wix is easier to use and includes both building and hosting a website, WordPress requires separate hosting. WordPress is also better for SEO, customization, and blogging.
After all, if you’re a small business that needs a simple website, Wix is a good choice. If you need a more complex website or want to start a blog, WordPress is the better option.
How much does a website cost per month?
The cost of managing a site per month ranges from $ 3 to $ 50 per month. You have to consider the monthly website builder prices and average the annual cost of the domain name.
For example, a domain name of $ 10 per year and $ 6 per month The Weebly plan costs $ 6.83 per month. This does not take into account any third party services such as email marketing or SEO tools that increase your online presence.
Does Google have a web design tool?
Google has a single page builder called “Site”. It’s free and allows small businesses to quickly build and manage a website on a computer or mobile device. While the tool is easy to use, it is definitely not the best tool for using a website as it lacks custom features, SEO tools, and other key elements to run a website.
Can I get a free website for my business?
Yes, you can get a free website for your business, but there are some limitations. For example, Wix has a free plan, but you don’t have your own domain name. If you want your own “dot com” domain name, you’ll need to purchase a domain and choose a paid subscription.
Summary
Here you go – our list of the best website builders. Since there are 74 options, we’ve shortened the list to the best so you can choose the option that’s right for your online business or brand.
- If you are looking for the best website generator, we recommend getting started with Wix.
- For the best ready-made designs and templates, visit Squarespace.
- If you need an e-commerce site to sell products online, BigCommerce is a good choice.
Already using the website builder? Share your views in the comments below!
