Comparison Reviews by Industry Experts
Are website builders worth using?
A site made by professionals can cost at least $2,000. And that excludes all the changes you want your webmaster to make.
Website builders won’t take up too much effort, time, and money. It’s one of the easiest ways to get a site up and running today. For many platforms, all you have to do is drag and drop page elements to create a layout you want.
There are many site builders on the market you can choose from. However, not all of them are made equal. With this in mind, you should wisely pick the right solution that meets your needs.
Considering a List of Top Website Builders
We’ve listed the best website builders available to make your job so much easier. Weigh the pros and cons to decide which one can fulfill your needs best.In our guide, we’ll compare the following website builders.
uKit Review
Building a business site doesn’t have to be hard. With uKit, it doesn’t have to be. It’s ideal for those who are not that tech-savvy. uKit helps you build a professional business site that won’t burn a hole through your pockets.
#1 uKit
Advantages:
- The uKit site builder has a simple interface with drag-and-drop editing.
- It has free domain and hosting, making the entire experience hassle-free.
- Designed for business websites, its features make your site functional and pleasing. It even has widgets so your website can perform well.
- Not only that, it builds flexible and responsive sites. The result you’ll get is a site that looks and functions great on all screen sizes and devices.
- If you face any difficulties, you can turn to your dashboard. It has built-in tips that let you improve your website. It also has a brilliant support team that can help you resolve any issues.
Disadvantages:
- Building a site with uKit is easy. But it doesn’t have the most extensive design options on our list. Even though it has 200+ responsive themes, many of them look similar.
- There are some things you can’t change unless you upgrade your account to Pro. This includes the colors, font type, and text size of their web content.
Pricing model:
uKit offers four various monthly plans. For $5 per month, the Minimal plan gives you all the essential tools and features. The lowest plan costs $10 per month. It comes with limitless access to premium templates and advanced statistics.
You may also want to try the $12 per month e-commerce plan. It lets you set up an online store with a shopping cart and checkout features. They offer the $15 per month Pro as the fourth plan. Pro gives you greater creative control over your website.
Wix Website Builder Review
Wix is arguably the easiest website builder on the market. Its drag-and-drop editor is second to none. It lets you build websites like an expert. All without breaking a sweat. And it won’t charge you a dime for their services. Wix has hundreds of templates that are easy to customize. With it, you can create a site in any way you want. No coding needed!
#2 Wix
Easy to use editor, excellent price, awesome features.Advantages:
- A free Wix account comes with unlimited pages and top-grade hosting. It gives you access to hundreds of templates as well. You can tailor every theme using a friendly drag-and-drop tool.
- Then, you can extend the functionality of your site using Wix apps. Simply choose from dozens of apps. These are made by Wix and other third-party developers. All Wix plans have free hosting and SSL. Take note that you have to activate the security features on your website.
Disadvantages:
- Only the Combo, Unlimited, and VIP plans can give you the option to remove Wix ads from your website. Their most basic plan, Connect Domain, can’t offer full branding control.
- You also can’t change templates easily once you’ve picked one. Say, you want a new template. You’ll have to start over. Or, manually transfer your content from the original.
Pricing model:
Wix has a $4.50 per month Connect Domain plan. It gives you 1GB of bandwidth and 500MB storage. It’s the only plan that doesn’t offer a free domain for an entire year. Combo costs $8.50 per month. It provides 2GB of bandwidth, 3GB storage, and 30 video minutes.
Unlimited is the most popular Wix plan. This plan costs $12.50 per month. It offers limitless bandwidth, 10GB storage, and 60 video minutes. You get a site booster app and a visitor analytics app as well. Each one is worth $60 in value.
For $24.50 per month, you can get the VIP plan. It offers unlimited bandwidth, 20GB storage, and two video hours. Like Unlimited, you get a site booster and analytics app. Plus, it comes with a professional logo and social media logo files.
Weebly Site Builder Review
Weebly is a free web hosting service. It makes online shopping stress-free for all. It has powerful e-commerce tools that streamline shipping, payments, and order management. It offers stunning ready-made templates. It also has a wealth of guides. You can use these and more to launch your site in no time
#3 Weebly
Advantages:
- For zero cost, Weebly can offer you dozens of professional designs. You can edit each one using the live page editor.
- As a fully hosted platform, you can enjoy free hosting. Plus, no need to deal with maintenance.
- Weebly takes care of the backend stuff. Weebly has built-in e-commerce tools. With them, you can create an online store with ease.
- And with any plan, you can enjoy contact forms, photo galleries, and sliders. Like Wix, you can extend the functionality of your Weebly site. It has the Weebly App Center. With it, you can enjoy both free and premium third-party add-ons.
Disadvantages:
- For every purchase made on your site, Weebly gets 3%. The only way to avoid the hefty transaction fee is to upgrade to a business plan.
- There may also be limits when it comes to design. You can’t move some site elements as freely as other builders.
Pricing model:
Weebly has a $5 per month Connect a Domain plan. It’s equipped with a basic site and marketing features. The only difference is that it allows a custom domain.
For simple e-commerce tools, you can get the Pro plan. It costs $12 per month. You get a free domain worth $20 and Google Ads with $100 credit. You can also add site search and remove Weebly ads. Weebly’s most expensive plan costs $25 per month. It gives you access to premium e-commerce tools. Item badges, inventory management, shipping calculator, and reviews are a few examples.
Squarespace Review
Squarespace is an all-in-one solution. You can make rich, interactive websites with this builder. It has award-winning designs and elements you can drag and drop. And with powerful marketing tools, it’s ideal for making a website, portfolio, or online shop.
#4 Squarespace
Advantages:
- The website builder has an enterprise-grade system. It lets you launch and maintain a growing platform with ease. Squarespace supplies a diverse set of website designs to suit all content types.
- Best of all, you can apply multiple templates on a single website.
- Customizing website content is very easy. You just have to drag and drop elements on the page to set up the layout you want. Then, select any space on the page to add new content.
Disadvantages:
- Squarespace allows you to integrate with third-party services. However, you have limited choices. It only supports Apple Pay, PayPal, and Stripe. You can’t add other payment gateways.
Pricing model:
Squarespace has four pricing plans. It has a $12 per month plan. Get this if you want a simple website builder for personal use. This plan provides you with basic tools for creating stunning websites. The most popular is the Business plan. For $18 per month, you can enjoy advanced web features. You can get analytics, $100 of Google Adwords credits, and promotional banners. You can also launch an online store with a limitless number of products.
For advanced e-commerce analytics, you can get Basic Commerce. It costs $26 per month. It offers merchandising tools, point of sale, and customer accounts. There’s also an Advanced Commerce plan, which costs $40. It features advanced shipping, discounts, gift cards, and subscriptions.
Description of a WordPress Site Builder
WordPress is a popular website builder software on the market. It powers 35% of the web. It’s free and open-source. This gives you full creative control of your website.
#5 WordPress
Rated advantages:
- A free WordPress account gives you access to on-the-go website editing tools. There are thousands of themes and plug-ins you can customize. You can even extend the functionality of your site. Just make sure to integrate third-party apps.
- With WordPress, global viewers can get easy access to your platform. It fully translates your content into dozens of languages. It also has SEO plug-ins that let you stand out in a jam-packed niche.
Disadvantages of the service:
- One of the biggest cons of any open-source platform is security. WordPress users rely mostly on plug-ins and themes from third parties. That’s because its design options can be very limited.
- It does extend the features of your site. However, it can also harm its security. You might download bugs and other malicious codes when using plug-ins.
- Maintenance can be hard as well. You need a little programming and design knowledge. This is to keep your site up-to-date.
Pricing model:
For $48 per year, you can add more personality to your site. This Personal plan offers a custom domain and 24/7 support. The most popular WordPress plan is Premium. It costs $99 per year. You can build a unique site using advanced tools. Plus, it has custom CSS and powerful analytics.
The Business plan costs $279 per year. It provides custom plug-ins and themes. It also has limitless hosting storage and complete branding freedom. You also gain access to full SEO tools and powerful analytics.
Jimdo Site Builder Review
Jimdo empowers small businesses and entrepreneurs. It has industry-tailored website designs and features. With Jimdo, you can compete with some of your industry’s greatest players.
#6 Jimdo
Advantages:
- Anyone can sign up for a free Jimdo account and build a website. You receive vital tools along with a jimdosite.com domain.
- Have no web design experience? No need to worry. You can still build stunning websites in Jimdo. Just choose from a set of high-quality templates that fit your industry needs.
- Jimdo also has a Logo Creator. You can use this to design a brand logo in minutes.
Disadvantages:
- Jimdo may have great template designs. However, customization is a bit limited.
- It has limited e-commerce support. This isn’t ideal for US-based businesses.
- American consumers like to have various payment methods. Jimdo can’t provide that convenience. You’d have to upgrade to premium plans to access methods like Stripe.
Pricing model:
The most affordable plan costs $9 per month, which is best for personal use. You can set up an ad-free site with a free domain using this plan.
The most popular plan costs $15 per month. Small businesses can benefit from its SEO, personal support, and visitor analytics. The $39 per month has premium tools. It also has a powerful design analysis and business listings. None of the other plans can offer you these features.
Description of a Simple Website Builder Site123
Site123 is a free website builder. It has a design-assisted approach. It handles most of the heavy work. This way, you can focus on creating good website content.
#7 Site123
Advantages:
- A free Site123 plan offers a sub-domain, 500MB storage, and 1GB bandwidth.
- Choosing a template is quick and hassle-free.
- Site123 has design categories based on industry and niche. Its set of templates makes it easier for users to find one that suits their niche.
Disadvantages:
- Site123 lacks a drag-and-drop editor. It does have convenient design features. However, it can’t give you full control over your layout. You also can’t edit its HTML and CSS.
- Its powerful editor may be ideal for startups. However, it limits the creative freedom of growing a business. Some builders resolve this by allowing apps, extensions, and code editing. Sadly, you won’t see any of those options on Site123.
Pricing model:
For advanced features, you can choose between four pricing plans. All four plans offer a free domain for an entire year. The Basic plan costs $10.80. It’s ideal for personal use as it comes with limited features. It has 10GB storage, 5GB bandwidth, and 100 mailing list messages. Advanced costs $16.80 per month. It gives you access to two mailboxes and an additional language.
The Professional plan costs $22.80. It offers basic e-commerce tools. You’ll get five mailboxes and three extra languages. Your online store can also handle 500 orders per month. If you want powerful e-commerce tools, you can get the Gold Plan. It costs $28.80. Your online shop can deal with unlimited orders. You can even send up to 10,000 mailing list messages.
Godaddy Review – The Easiest Website Builder
GoDaddy is one of the biggest domain registrars and service providers in the world. Its simple, no-fuzz builder lets you create a professional site. All without the hefty price tag.
#8 GoDaddy
Advantages:
- All four of the GoDaddy plans offer SSL, on-the-go editing, and analytics. Choose any of the annual plans. You can get a free domain name and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. You can also enjoy 24/7 support.
- Its website builder is easy to use. GoDaddy comes with pre-loaded elements. You just have to drag and drop them on a page to build the layout you want. You can also choose images for your site from Getty Photography. You may also upload your photos on the side.
Disadvantages:
- GoDaddy may have ready-made website designs. However, they aren’t as diverse and feature-rich as other platforms. Its options to tailor designs are also quite limited.
- Live chat support isn’t available every day of the week. You can only get in touch with their support team on weekdays. Also, you won’t be able to contact them beyond working hours.
Pricing model:
GoDaddy offers three pricing plans for personal and business sites. It also has one for e-commerce. For $10 per month, you can set up a personal site with a single media listing platform. You can send 100 emails and five social posts per month. Standard costs $15 per month. It allows you to connect three social platforms. It also lets you send 20 social posts and 500 emails.
The Premium plan is worth $20 per month. You can connect a limitless number of social platforms. Plus, you can make as many posts as you want. You may also send up to 25,000 emails monthly. GoDaddy’s E-commerce plan costs $25. It offers nearly the same advanced features as the Premium plan. However, it’s the only one with e-commerce support.
Shopify Web Page Builder Review
Another popular e-commerce website builder you can use is Shopify. It’s an all-in-one solution for entrepreneurs. It gives you powerful tools for selling and marketing. It even lets you manage your products online.
#9 Shopify
Advantages:
- Shopify has extensive e-commerce and POS features. It has everything you need to launch, run, and scale your business. As it’s a fully hosted platform. So no need to worry about costly server maintenance. They handle all the dirty work for you.
- It has a drag-and-drop interface. This makes it easier for you to design an online website from scratch. You may also choose from its vast set of templates so you can launch a site in minutes. Shopify supports multi-channel retailing. This means you can sell products anywhere—be it online or offline.
Disadvantages:
- Are you running a small independent business? If so, Shopify can be a bit expensive. You can’t sign up to the website for free. You can, however, try it for a limited time. No credit card necessary.
- Customization may be easy with Shopify. However, it’s quite limited when it comes to themes and platform tools.
Pricing model:
Shopify offers three pricing plans. Do you want just the basic features so you can launch an online business? Shopify offers the essentials in a $29 per month plan. Everything you need to grow it is available in a $79 per month plan. You can set up unlimited POS pins and one to five store locations. Shipping discounts may also reach up to up to 72%.
The Advanced Shopify plan costs $299 per month. It gives you limitless access to powerful tools. These include an advanced report builder and a third-party shipping calculator. Of the three plans, it has the lowest online and in-person credit card rates.
Description of a Strikingly Website Builders Company
Strikingly is a free, easy-to-use website builder. It has an intuitive design editor. Plus, it has an assortment of pre-made templates. It’s ideal for users who want a site up and running without using code.
#10 Strikingly
Advantages of the platform to build a website:
- You can sign up for free on Strikingly. You can also build as many basic websites as you want. You can get a Strikingly.com domain along with limited e-commerce features.
- Strikingly provides a variety of responsive, mobile-friendly designs. The platform sorts everything by niche. This makes it easier for you to choose the most ideal fit for your needs. Its editor lets you build professional websites in no time.
Disadvantages of the software:
- Strikingly does use an intuitive editor. However, it isn’t quite a drag-and-drop tool. You can tailor page elements such as font styles and colors. You can even add pre-made blocks. However, you can’t alter the layout that much.
- Strikingly doesn’t allow you to change elements within the pre-made section. You also can’t make new ones.
- Other technical features are quite limited as well. That includes SEO. You can give your site a title, description, and category. But you can’t use advanced features like Schema.
The pricing model of this quick website builder:
Strikingly has a $12 per month plan. You can launch two sites with limited professional features. You can also launch e-commerce stores with five products per site.
You can get the Pro plan if you want a custom domain, unlimited bandwidth, and password protection. It also gives you custom font uploads and 1GB of storage space per site. Pro costs $20 per month. It lets you publish three sites with professional features. It also lets you set up e-commerce stores. Pro allows you 300 products per site.
What Is a Website Builder?
Custom websites can rack up high costs. You can easily spend thousands of dollars to design and deploy a website.
A website builder is a fun, hassle-free alternative to that. Most platforms can give you full creative control. Combining drag-and-drop features, plug-ins, and themes make this possible. And there’s no need for coding skills. You can create a site all by yourself.
There are three kinds of modern website builders:
- A fully hosted platform
Web hosting service providers often have simple editing tools. They don’t offer diverse customization options. But they do have cheap pricing plans that include hosting. Sometimes, these platforms may let you connect your site to a domain from a different provider for a year. They might also allow you to set up custom domains.
- A propriety online solution
Proprietary solutions refer to a combination of products and services from a single vendor. They offer all that you need to launch a site. They’re all-in-one solutions. And they have pre-made templates, intuitive editors, and free hosting.
Are you in need of a quick website builder? A proprietary online solution should help you with any time constraint. It has various templates you can customize using a drag-and-drop tool. You can move page elements around and edit the content within them.
- A content management system
WordPress is a popular CMS for web development. Compared to the other two categories, a CMS isn’t as convenient. That’s because you’ll have to buy a domain and oversee databases. On top of that, you’ll have to take care of hosting and manual updates.
A CMS has limited design options as well. But you can extend its features using plug-ins and themes. It’s handy if you know how to code. If so, you’ll be able to design your site in the way you want.
Do You Need a Website Builder or Web Developer?
As convenient as they may be, website builders aren’t meant for everyone. Some users are better off using website creation services.
Web developers may cost at least $2,000. This excludes maintenance costs. Meanwhile, website builders may cost around 1% of that amount.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy solution, a web page builder is an ideal pick. You can design and launch a site in a matter of minutes with little to no cost. For this level of convenience, you have to sacrifice control. You can do limited customizations on your site, whether or not you use pre-made themes.
Having limited options can stifle the growth of your platform. You may opt to get premium plans with powerful tools and solutions. But even they don’t offer as much creative freedom as custom development. As your platform grows, you might want to use the expertise of web developers.
Who Should Use Website Builders?
Website builders take much less time and effort than custom website development. Not to mention, they aren’t as costly in terms of development and maintenance.
These tools aren’t made for everyone. But those with little to no budget can benefit greatly from using them. To name a few:
- Bloggers
- Writers
- Artists
- Photographers
- Freelancers
- Small business owners
Tips on Choosing an Ideal Website Builder to Fit Your Needs
Finding the best platform to build a website can be challenging. You have all kinds of options to choose from. You want to make sure you pick the right one that can promote growth.
Aside from price, there are other factors that you should look into when searching for the best website builder. Here are a few things you should consider:
- Design options
Make sure you have the freedom to choose unique templates. If you plan on using them, your web builder should offer a wide variety. This lets you select one that fits your niche. Plus, you won’t have to worry about having the same template as the competition.
- Customization
Another vital factor that you need to consider is your design options. A friendly, drag-and-drop interface is ideal for any kind of web project. You want a simple and easy-to-use tool. It should carry out the changes you want within minutes instead of hours. You should also want an editor that allows you to add personal touches to your site.
- Domain name
Some website builder companies may allow you to connect domain names bought elsewhere. However, they’ll usually offer it for free for a year. That means you’ll have to pay for a domain name once the term ends. Free or low-cost plans may give you the chance to start a domain with the platform’s branding. Meanwhile, advanced plans offer custom branding.
- Free plan/trial
Find out if you can sign up for free. But what if you can’t? Then, make sure it offers at least a free 14-day trial. Let’s say a website builder costs a few dollars per month. They can easily reach a hundred dollars in cost annually. So, want to get the best bang for your buck? You may want to give a site builder a try for a limited time.
- Customer support
If you’re in the market for a website builder, pick one with good customer support. The kind and level of support you get may vary from platform to platform. Some use assistive software to answer your questions 24/7. Meanwhile, others have live chat support.
Website makers are simple and user-friendly. But they aren’t always free from problems. If you’re to face a few hiccups along the way, it helps if you know who to contact to resolve them.
You might also want to extend the functionality of your site but don’t know how to do it. In such a case, good customer support will come in handy. With their help, you can enhance the features of your site. You may optimize it for success.
Top Website Builders of the Year
Website builders suit anyone looking for a quick, easy, and painless way to start a website. They are also ideal for users with little to no coding skills.
Here are some superb choices and the areas that they’re most suited for:
- Jimdo – Best for Small Businesses
- WordPress – Best for Blogging
- Squarespace – Best for Photographers
- Shopify – Best for E-commerce
- Site123 – Best for Professional Site Design
- Weebly – Best Mobile Website Maker
- Wix – Best Drag-and-Drop Interface
Website Builder Reviews and Complaints
- We signed up for a uKit e-commerce plan. We were fully aware of its limits. But we were very surprised at how smoothly everything turned out. uKit doesn’t have an e-commerce function. Most of your work happens in Ecwid. This is their e-commerce software. It lets you manage inventory, shipping, and customers. Sadly, our plan doesn’t have a PayPal widget. We’ll have to upgrade it to add the feature.
- Wix is easily one of the most friendly web builders available. It excels well in design. But it’s quite like other platforms in terms of load time. Your site becomes quite slow. This happens if you add too many high-res images. You’ll feel the decrease in speed almost at once.
- I bought a Weebly plan. I wanted to gain more creative freedom over my website. I don’t know how to code. And I had to learn through trial and error. It takes a while to get the hang of it. Sometimes, mistakes can be costly. If you mess up, it’s tricky to restore its original settings. Weebly lacks backup restoration. Hence, you’ll have to contact customer support to bring it back.
- Squarespace isn’t exactly the cheapest website builder on the market. You can easily look for cheaper options that have the same kind of value. Even so, it was fun playing around with its design tools. It’s more flexible than Wix. Like Weebly, its editing tools take time to master. But once you do? The results will be worth it.
- WordPress can be a little puzzling for beginners. Especially with no coding skills. There’s a limit to what you can do with templates. If you don’t know how to code, you lose the chance to enhance your site’s design or features. It might not be the best for starters. But it can be a powerful site for a tech-savvy crowd.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I build my first website alone?
Yes—you can be a website creator. Anyone can design and deploy their online platform with a website builder. Even without coding skills, you can succeed at it in a matter of minutes.
Website builders are known for their ease of use. They usually have drag-and-drop tools or friendly editors. This is for painless website building. Most, if not all, offer pre-made designs. You can pick an ideal one for your niche. Then, you can apply it to your site. You can even add personal touches to your layout. You can also add your logo and brand colors. This makes it easier for visitors to recall your brand next time.
How much does it cost to launch a website from start to finish?
The cost depends on many factors. For example: the type of site you’re building, tools, domain, and hosting. All these affect the price. Custom website creation can reach thousands of dollars. That excludes the maintenance fees. You can lower costs to a few dollars per month by using website builders.
Some website builders have free services. However, they may have limited features. If you want an upgrade, you may want to start with a $10 per month plan. It offers you a free domain for over a year. After that, you’ll have to pay $10 per year.
Advanced site features will cost a lot more. But they do deliver extra tools and custom options. This is ideal for growing businesses. E-commerce plans are even pricier. They can range from twenty to a few hundred dollars.
Can you make a mobile-friendly site with a website builder?
There’s no easier way to build mobile-friendly websites. Whether you use free or premium plans, you can access responsive, mobile-friendly templates. You may customize your chosen theme to stand out in your competitive market. You can also build them from scratch using intuitive editing tools. No matter what device or screen size, your site will look stunning and professional.
Do all website builders have drag-and-drop editors?
No. Not all website builders have drag-and-drop editors. Most, if not all, have intuitive tools that let you design sites without any code.
Website builders may allow you to use apps, plug-ins, and themes too. They let you enhance your site’s look and functionality. Some platforms like content management systems may even allow you to tweak the code a bit.
Do website builders offer custom domain names?
Custom domain names enhance audience recall. They make it easier for you to build connections with them as well. You can have a custom domain if you buy a premium plan. Some website builders let you buy a custom domain from them. However, if you only have a free account, you can opt to purchase a domain from another vendor. Then, you can connect it to the web builder.
Most free and basic packages allow you to buy a domain from a vendor. It won’t be personalized. Take Strikingly’s free plan for instance. Its low-cost plans allow a Strikingly.com domain.
Are website builders SEO-friendly?
Website builders offer basic SEO support. They don’t have great customizability, but they aren’t bad for your SEO efforts as well.
They give you the option to add titles, descriptions, and tags to your posts. You can also add alt tags to images. At the end of the day, it’s entirely up to you to create educational and entertaining content for readers.
You need to make high-quality content consistently to rank high on search engines. Add relevant keywords to boost your SEO efforts. Link to other content on your website. Then, build authority by using external links.
Refrain from using black hat methods. Google can hit you with penalties if they catch you in the act. Always use white hat methods. They may take more time and effort, but they are worth the trouble.
