In the modern world, a digital presence is a must for virtually any business that wants to become successful. Social media is a good place to start, but creating your own website presents an even better way to promote your name and begin growing brand awareness.
Up until the past 10 years or so, creating a new website was a difficult process that required a significant amount of skill. However, the invention and growing popularity of website builders has opened up web development to virtually everyone, and they now represent the best way for the average person to create a website. The top website builders are very easy to use, enable rapid site creation, and require little to no tech skill or coding knowledge.
Usually, website builders have some form of drag-and-drop interface that enables you to design your site visually. You will have access to a selection of pre-built website templates, and you won’t have to spend a fortune to hire a developer.
Here, we take a closer look at some of the best website builders on the market. By analyzing their prices, main features, user interface, and customer service, among other things, we aim to bring the information you need to select the best website builder for your needs.
Wix has a powerful editor, a massive list of templates, and great e-commerce tools. Wix offers a great balance of functionality and simplicity. Wix's smart ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) editor makes creating a complex website with all the bells and whistles as easy as answering a few quick questions. If you do run into problems, Wix's customer support is outstanding and help is available from within the editor. In-depth video tutorials, step-by-step exercises, and examples can guide you if you're the type that likes to figure things out on your own.
With nearly 1,000 great designs, excellent e-commerce tools, and superb support, you’ll find Wix offers all the features you need in a website builder. It makes creating and managing a website a cinch. If you want to use Wix's full editor, it might take a little longer to get started as you learn how the interface works, but it’s arguably the most versatile website builder available today. Just beware that Wix websites don’t always work well on mobile devices without some finetuning and its SEO tools aren't the greatest.
The Network Solutions website builder is designed to help you launch a basic website in minutes. It provides a straightforward experience for beginners and well-made templates, but the platform leaves a lot to be desired. For example, Network Solutions doesn’t offer many customization options and its ecommerce plan doesn’t support inventory management.
While these problems might be overlooked, it’s hard to ignore Network Solutions’ expensive and non-transparent pricing structure. This website builder is far more expensive than competing builders that offer more flexibility and features, especially for online stores. Overall, we think there are many alternative website builders that provide more bang for your buck than Network Solutions.
The GoDaddy website builder is designed for and targeted at beginners with little to no web development experience. It boasts an intuitive, beginner-friendly editor, basic e-commerce tools, and a selection of integrated marketing tools. More advanced users might find the editor a bit too limiting, but it does allow for basic customization.
However, design flexibility is a little limited, the SEO tools are poor, and there are currently only 22 templates available. GoDaddy’s prices are competitive, though, and we’d recommend using the free plan to test the platform if you’re looking for a simple, beginner-friendly website builder that will enable you to get online fast. GoDaddy's strength lies in the marketing, e-commerce, and other tools as well as its very competitive pricing plans. Top that off with excellent customer service and you get a good option for beginners creating their first site.
HostGator offers an excellent website builder that’s easy to use, extremely functional, and surprisingly affordable. HostGator offers an AI design process or a drag-and-drop page editor. The range of customization options is impressive, and we found the overall process of creating a website to be pretty pleasant.
HostGator offers email marketing tools and Ecommerce capabilities with all of its plans. The 2-year introductory pricing makes it one of the cheapest Ecommerce website builders around, and the cost of this platform is competitive even after the promotional pricing ends.
Site123 is one of the best beginner-friendly website builders we’ve used. It lacks advanced marketing and SEO features and its design flexibility is limited, but it does a great job of catering to those with little web development knowledge.
There’s a decent free plan available that you can use to test the builder, along with excellent support resources to help if you run into any problems. The prices are a little on the high side, but they certainly aren’t a deal-breaker. You can even add a basic store to your new website if required.
1&1 IONOS MyWebsite is a capable website builder for small businesses looking to get online. The platform offers 2 versions of its site builder to cater to both new designers and experienced creators, as well as 18 templates to help you get started on the right foot. 1&1 IONOS’ more advanced editor offers plenty of design flexibility as well as excellent support for blogging.
What really makes 1&1 IONOS MyWebsite stand out is its marketing, SEO, and ecommerce features. This platform has all the tools that small businesses need to start selling online, including options for local pickup. You can also personalize visitors’ experiences on your site, which makes it easier to convert new visitors into loyal customers.
Squarespace is an excellent website builder with some of the best designs on the market. Its minimalist interface takes some getting used to, especially if you're already familiar with more complex website building tools. Once you're past that initial learning stage, you can build gorgeous responsive-design websites in no time. Overall, Squarespace’s interface strikes the right balance between accessibility and complexity but is probably best suited for people with a decent understanding of computer applications.
Squarespace is relatively pricey, and some important ecommerce features are reserved for the most expensive plans, but it makes up for it with unlimited bandwidth and storage, fully responsive designs, and a fantastic support team that answers quickly (during its slightly limited business hours).
WordPress.com takes care of all the hosting, installation, and updating of a WordPress website for you and throws in a competent drag-and-drop website editor to speed the process even more.
It shines for its huge plugin and theme library and industry-leading E-commerce features. But it’s a little pricey, so if you’re dead set on using WordPress, you might want to check out other hosting companies that offer the same content management system (CMS) for less.
Web.com is a simple website builder that enables you to create a professional website from more than 150 templates. The platform offers decent customization options, but the site editor can feel clunky. In addition, Web.com only offers limited support for marketing and ecommerce.
While Web.com might work well for some basic sites, we think that most users will be better off with an alternative website builder. For a similar price, builders from Weebly, Wix, and GoDaddy offer substantially more features.
Weebly is an inexpensive yet highly capable website builder owned by Square. This platform offers 75 templates and a user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder that gives you a good amount of control over your site. Weebly isn’t the most flexible builder that we’ve seen, but it’s close.
What really makes Weebly shine is its tools for businesses, especially online stores. You can sell an unlimited number of physical and digital products and manage inventory across online and physical stores. It also includes an email marketing suite complete with automation features. Overall, Weebly is an excellent choice for building a professional or e-commerce website.
| Compare the Best Website Builders | 1  | 2  | 3  | 4  | 5  | 6  | 7  | 8  | 9  | 10  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 113 reviews | 66 reviews | 107 reviews | 37 reviews | 56 reviews | 37 reviews | 123 reviews | 109 reviews | 54 reviews | 74 reviews |
Best for | Versatility | Beginners who want a basic website
| Beginners | Small businesses looking to grow online
| Getting online fast | Small businesses that want to launch online stores | Image-heavy sites | Blogging | Basic websites with design flexibility | Feature-rich e-commerce stores |
Price | From $14 per month | $14.95-$109.80 per month | From $6.99 per month | $9.98-$24.98 | From $4 per month billed annually | $5-$35 | From $16 per month | From $7 per month | From $10 per month, $22.95 after | From free |
Free version | May vary by country | and 14-day free trial | 14-day trial 14-day free trial | |||||||
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