Living in the digital era means one important thing for a business owner: you better have an online presence if you want anyone to notice you. Another beautiful thing about living in the digital era is the ease with which you can build and populate a website in no time.
Below is a list of the best website builders in the industry:
1. Best overall: Wix
2. Best for easy to edit sites: Network Solutions
3. Best for fast site creation: GoDaddy
4. Best for beginners and SMBs:HostGator
5. Best for design with lots of extras: Site123
6. Best for professional websites: SquareSpace
7. Best for sites with lots of features: WordPress.com
8. Best for well-designed sites: Jimdo
A Closer Look at the Top 10 Website Builders
- Best forSMBs, restaurants, musicians, photographers
- PriceFrom $4.50per month
- Free versionYes
Wix easily sits as one of the top 3 website builders on the market. It’s got hundreds of templates to choose from, delightfully simple drag-and-drop editor functionality, and packs a lot of features even into its free accounts. Without an ounce of design knowhow, you can create, edit, and upload your own website in a relatively short amount of time too.
There’s even an Ecommerce solution for businesses that want to sell their products directly online. Of course, Wix isn’t for everyone. It’s a bit barebones if you’re looking for something totally customized to fit your business. And the number of options just may set your head a-spin. But if you’re looking for an incredibly intuitive, coding-free, and good looking website builder, Wix is a top choice that comes with plenty of user satisfaction and reviews to back up its reputation.
Pros- Comprehensive free version
- Easy to use for anyone
- Best-in-class reputation
Cons- Templates are rigid, not much flexibility
- Confusing pricing structure
- Best forAffordable sites that are easy to edit
- PriceFrom $2.95per month
- Free versionNo
Network Solutions offers businesses all manner of tools and software for managing and running a successful business. Now, you can even build your own site using this popular tool. Network Solutions has both a DIY option and a professional builder plan. Either way, you'll get a free domain name, high-quality design layouts, and personalized email.
The DIY builder comes with an easy point-and-click editor, so you can customize the templates to your taste, several integrations, and access to a massive image and icon library that you can use to make your website look the way you want it. Network Solutions also offers several advanced tools like social sharing buttons, SEO code, XML sitemaps, and MonsterMarketplace submission eligibility.
Pros- Impressive stock image library
- Free domain name and personalized email
- Easy point-and-click editor
Cons- Confusing interface
- Site and tool could use a makeover
- Best forExtremely fast and easy website building
- PriceFrom $10per month
- Free versionNo30-day free trial
GoDaddy’s website builder (named GoCentral) is all about speed. The successful domain registrar stripped away all the complex functionality, confusing terminology, and unnecessary frills to create a simple and smart website builder that anyone could use to create professional websites in minutes.
But what really makes GoDaddy so much fun to use is its artificial design intelligence tool. This feature works just like other AI tools in that it learns about you from your behaviors and other data input and returns maximum efficiency results. What this means in plain English is that the tool will learn about your business and suggest design edits to help make your website put its best foot forward.
Pros- Artificial design intelligence for smart design tweaks
- From scratch to site in minutes
- Competitive pricing plans
Cons- Limited customization and features
- Blog feature needs more functionality
- Best forFirst-time websites
- PriceFrom $3.46 per month
- Free versionNo
HostGator’s website builder draws from the company’s celebrated hosting services to offer users a simple yet more-than-capable website builder. The service combines convenience and professionalism with an easy point-and-click site builder as well as some advanced tools such as SEO and ecommerce capabilities.
Users simply need to drag, drop, and publish their site online, though despite the ease they’ll find plenty of avenues for customization. HostGator’s website builder features hundreds of customizable templates and visual themes to accommodate business, tech, blog, and ecommerce websites.
Pros- No tech savvy required
- SEO tools included
- Easy point-and-click site builder
Cons- Not ideal for larger businesses
- User support is lacking
- Best forProfessional site design with lots of extras
- PriceFrom $10.80per month billed annually
- Free versionYesand 14-day free trial
Site123 is cleverly-named to tell businesses exactly what they can get: a website builder that will help you build your own customized site as easy as 1, 2, 3. In fact, this system is wonderfully simple to use. Despite its user-friendliness, Site123 comes with a robust set of features that can give your website an obvious edge over the competition. Tools like website design, booking scheduler, logo designer, responsive web templates, and SEO tools really create a comprehensive package for a reasonable price.
Site123 is very good for bloggers because it offers comprehensive blogging tools like a full-featured comment system, auto-confirm comments tool, and easy blog post scheduling. Site123 plans are also heavily loaded with domain features, including a free domain name, domain management, privacy protection, redirects, and free SSL certificate. So, the company does a good job of covering a lot of your bases in a single service.
Pros- Flexible pricing plans and subscriptions
- SEO, design, logo, and more tools built-in
- Responsive designs
Cons- Pricey upgrades
- Limited control over functionality
- Best forProfessional websites with top quality design
- PriceFrom $12per month
- Free versionNo14-day free trial
Squarespace does an excellent job of delivering a top-quality website builder experience. For one thing, the templates are crisp, clean, and professionally designed. It’s also nice the way Squarespace conveniently organizes templates by industry and genre, so you can quickly pick one based on your requirements.
Squarespace also includes a lot of features and extras into the pricing plans, even the lowest tier. Things like SSL security, unlimited storage and bandwidth, and on-site SEO features come even with the Personal Plan. And again, you see the unique professionalism and high ranking quality of this service within the strong features set being offered. Bottom line, if you’ll settle for nothing but the best for your business, Squarespace is your best option.
Pros- Professional quality and design
- Great mobile app
- Blogging app with commenting, multi-author, and more
Cons- No third-party app integrations
- Shallow menu hierarchy
- Best forMaking a prof. website with lots of features
- PriceFrom $4per month
- Free versionYes
If you love the thought of building a site on WordPress but not the prospect of lining up and comparing a variety of hosting companies, then WordPress.com might be the solution for you.
WordPress.com’s premium plans allow users to access almost all the themes and plugins available to WordPress CMS users—and there’s even a special version to support eCommerce users.
Pros- Most WordPress features
- Special eCommerce version
- Add plugins and themes
Cons- No custom domain on free tier
- No control over underlying infrastructure
- Best forWell-designed sites with a great vibe & tools
- PriceFrom $9per month billed annually
- Free versionYes
Jimdo is a real rags to riches story, starting out in an old rundown farmhouse in the boondocks of Germany. Today, over 20 million websites have been designed using this innovative platform. If you’re looking for a user-friendly and feature-rich website builder, Jimdo is a good place to turn. The templates are designed well and mobile-responsive, there are tools to integrate and sync with social media channels, and every plan comes with a free SSL security certificate.
But best of all, Jimdo requires absolutely zero coding experience. While it does have an expert model for coders, Jimdo prides itself on being extremely lightweight and easy to use for anyone. Create forms, pages, and portfolios quickly and enjoy perks like domain names and email accounts, SEO tools built-in, and an upbeat, friendly customer support staff to turn to for help.
Pros- Free plan and inexpensive upgrades
- Top of the line customer support
- No coding required for fast and impressive website design
Cons- Needs a restore option
- No credit card gateway for online stores
Why Do You Need a Website Builder?
Hiring a professional to build your website costs around $2,000 on average. Any change you need to make after that will require additional payments.
Using a website builder is significantly less expensive. And these days, you hardly need the technical prowess of a designer to create clean, elegant, fully functional websites that are more than capable of presenting your business or blog in a professional light. With simple drag-and-drop design technology, easy-to-use templates, and even algorithmic design programs, the laymen is more than equipped to create their own website.
How Can You Make Your Own Website?
The best website builders offer plenty of choices. You can switch out the fonts, color schemes, and templates as many times as you'd like, without paying anything extra. Making changes to your website using a website builder is also much faster. With a website builder, you are in control of everything, from the placement of the call-to-action button to the font on your homepage.
What to Consider When Choosing a Website Builder Platform
The best website builder is the one that best fits your needs. Ask yourself some of these questions about your new website:
- What type of site will it be?
- What key features do you need?
- Are you running an online store?
- What is the vibe of your business?
Free Website Builders: How Do They Work?
If you just want to build a basic site without an online store, then a free website builder is an excellent way to get started. Usually, the free website builder plans come with much less storage, slower load time, and fewer practical tools, if any. Critically, websites built on free plans don’t have their own unique URLs, but rather they have the website builder’s name in the URL, for example: yourname.wixsite.com.
A free website builder could give you just what you need to get started. This way, you'll have a professional-looking website that unites your social media networks and gives you a platform to present your business without a lot of bells and whistles. You can then upgrade to a paid plan when you need it. This could be when you outgrow your existing storage limit, need more options, or want particular features such as analytics or email marketing that are only available for paid users.
