Overview
Are you actively searching for the best website builder to use for jumpstarting your business? You’re definitely in the right place because I am going to give you a quick and easy summary of all the website builders acing the market right now.
The global pandemic has reshaped most companies and businesses in the past year. Some had to shut down, and some realized that jobs can be done remotely leaving offices behind.
Since most people are already spending their time over the internet all day, a number of entrepreneurs, freelancers, professionals, and novices are starting to transition their businesses online.
But how do you even start? First things first, you’ll need a website builder to do the majority of the work.
What is a Website Builder?
To quickly and easily build your online business, a website builder platform establishes your online presence aligned to your business goals.
Website builders simply create your website and do all the work. These include web design, web hosting services, sales and marketing, SEO, technical support, site speed, and everything you need to keep your website up and running.
There are DIY and a little technical website builders. If you have zero to little technical knowledge, or you’re too busy to create and customize a website, DIY websites with a drag-and-drop feature would be the right web builder for you. But if you know a lot about codes, you can use any web builder where you can tweak using these codes.
Without further ado, let us get to know the platforms best for web builder performance and their pricing comparisons with this quick overview:
Website Builder Comparison
Web Builder Metrics | Website Builder | Free Plan | Base Price (monthly)* |
Best overall features | Wix | Yes | $13 |
Easiest and most intuitive | Weebly | Yes | $12 |
Cheapest | Webnode | Yes | $3.90 |
Fastest | Jimdo | Yes | $9 |
Best predesigned packages | Squarespace | No | $12 |
Best for blogging | WordPress | Yes | $5 |
Most customizable | Duda | No | $14 |
Best for small eCommerce | Shopify | No | $29 |
Best for big eCommerce | BigCommerce | No | $29 |
Best basic options | GoDaddy | No | $10 |
*Please note that prices may vary from time to time.
Still confused about which one you’d pick?
Dive right in as I discuss each of these website builders in detail.
Top User Picks
1. Wix: Best in overall web builder features ($13/month)
Like no other. You can search for website builders on any search engine and will lead you to Wix.
This top platform caters to more than 600,000 company users including mobile sites — Victoria’s Secret and Planned Systems International, Inc. to name some. Wix is widely used by hospitals and healthcare, restaurants, and retail companies worldwide.
Who It’s Best For: Small Business
Feature Highlights:
- DIY website builder – no coding knowledge required
- Very simple and easy-to-use interface
- Drag-and-drop editor
- More than 500 pre-designed templates suitable for any industry
- Mobile-responsive themes
- 100 usable fonts and allows font downloads
- Advanced design features such as animation and video backgrounds
- In-built SSL certificate
- Import existing domain from other platforms
- eCommerce tools
- Powered by Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) to create your website according to your business requirements
- Third-party integrations
- Extensive customer service support via live chat, email, telephone, and tickets
2. Squarespace: Best Pre-designed Packages ($12/month)
If you’re very particular about an aesthetically-designed website, consider using Squarespace.
It occupies the next spot with around 550,000 company users including The American Redcross and National Council for Behavioral Health. Squarespace is used by most restaurants, hospitals and healthcare, and retail stores — the same industries using Wix.
Who It’s Best For: Personal Sites and Blogs with Nice Web Designs
Feature Highlights:
- Over 100 beautifully-designed templates
- Intuitive What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) blog editor
- Multiple user permissions
- Scheduling of posts
- Google AMP functionality
- Limited SEO tools
- Built-in analytics tools
- Free domain included
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage
- 24/7 customer support
- Paid plans ranging from $12-$40 per month
3. Weebly: Most Intuitive and Easiest Web Builder ($12/month)
Weebly is one of the Best Website Builders.
Only a number of good web builders offer a free plan. If you’re on a budget with no coding experience and knowledge, check out this free website builder.
The Box Bros, Whistles and Banjo joins about 250,000 users comprised of the same industries using Wix and Squarespace.
Who It’s Best For: Simple Website or Blog
Feature Highlights:
- DIY website builder
- Free domain name
- Mobile-responsive
- Newsletter tool
- 500MB minimum storage
- Free SSL certificate
- Chat, email, social media, and community forum except for phone customer support
- eCommerce tools include coupon codes, product variants, shipping calculator, and inventory management
4. GoDaddy: Best Basic Web Builder Options ($10/month)
If you are eyeing to give your blog a professional look, GoDaddy is a decent choice.
Among the 340,000 companies using this web builder including web hosting are Animoto and Samba Tech. Hospitals, construction, and restaurants prefer using GoDaddy for their websites.
Who It’s Best For: Any Small to Medium Projects/Business
Feature Highlights:
- Intuitive interface
- Largest domain registrar
- Dedicated hosting packages
- Good uptime and speed
- Customizable themes
- Marketing tools included
- Shared hosting plans
- Comes with WordPress optimized shared hosting service
- VPS plans
- Email hosting
- Web design services
- SEO tools
5. WordPress: Best Blogging Web Builder ($5/month)
This web builder is perfect for bloggers aiming to create the best of their website with its blogging features. We would never create a list of the Best Website Builders without it.
WordPress is undeniably the most popular content management system (CMS) with approximately 4 million users. I mean it when I say it’s popular. Sony Music, The Walt Disney Company, Microsoft News, The Rolling Stones, and BBC America are just some big companies using WordPress for their websites
Restaurants, construction, hospitals, and healthcare are the top industries using WordPress.
.Who It’s Best For: Blogging, Personal and eCommerce Websites
Feature Highlights:
- Comes with two WordPress options: 1) WordPress.org for web building and hosting; 2) WordPress.com for a self-hosted web builder
- 3GB storage
- SEO tools, among others
- Site analytics
- Social sharing
- Marketing tools
- Customizable templates
- Allows template external downloads
6. Duda: Most Customizable Web Builder ($14/month)
If you love to be hands-on and get control over your website design and functions, Duda is the right place to be.
Animart LLC and Compass USA belong to about 140,000 users of this web builder. Most of these come from construction, hospitals and healthcare, and automotive companies.
.Who It’s Best For: Multi-lingual Websites and Agencies
Feature Highlights:
- Elegant-looking themes
- Good SEO features
- Great speed
- Good multi-language capabilities with 55 languages available
- Comes with built-in client management tools
- Fast web building with the Dynamic Pages feature
- Plans range from $14-$59 a month.
7. Shopify: Most Used Web Builder for eCommerce ($29/month)
Those who love shopping online can surely recognize Shopify.
More than a million merchants worldwide are using this eCommerce platform to reach their customers via the internet. Retail, apparel and fashion, and wholesale stores compose the majority of Shopify users.
.Who It’s Best For: Multi-lingual Websites and Agencies
Feature Highlights:
- Simple and easy-to-use interface and dashboard
- App integrations
- Blogging tools
- Map location
- Contact info
- Own domain name
- More than 70 themes
- Free SSL certificate
- Marketing tools
- SEO features
- Multiple payment gateways
- Mobile commerce
- Automatic tax and carrier shipping rates
- Multi-channel selling on Facebook, Amazon, Instagram, eBay, and many more
- Plans range from $29-$299 monthly.
- 14-day free trial without credit card requirement
8. BigCommerce: Web Builder for Large eCommerce ($29/month)
If you have more than just a small online store and you need to sell a wide variety of product listings, you can go for BigCommerce in a blink of an eye.
You can join over 45,000 merchants in selling big and small products on this eCommerce web builder.
.Who It’s Best For: Multilingual Websites and Agencies
Feature Highlights:
- Zero transaction fees
- Great SEO features including uptime, speed, and URL structure
- Over 600 product options
- Conversion rate optimization enabled for free themes
- WordPress plugin
- Plans range from $29-$249.95 monthly.
9. Jimdo: Fastest Web Builder ($9/month)
Who wouldn’t want fast and easy? With Jimdo’s artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, you can build your website in as fast as 3 minutes.
Facebook is one of more than 35,000 websites that use Jimdo. Most of them belong to restaurants, retail, and hospital industries.
.Who It’s Best For: Any Small Business
Feature Highlights:
- Syncs Google Search Console with the SEO feature
- Flexible content blocks that allow faster web building
- Free domain for the first year
- Analytics reporting
- Advanced SEO features
- Social media integrations
- Cheap plans
10. Webnode: The Cheapest Web Builder ($3.90/month)
If you’re about to build an online store with a tight budget, Webnode is worth the go.
Over 40 million trust this platform with their websites.
.Who It’s Best For: Small Online Stores
Feature Highlights:
- More than 100 templates available
- Drag-and-drop editor
- App integrations
- eCommerce tools
- Unique and advanced features
- Blogging tools
- SEO tools
- Missing basic features such as using custom colors
- Multi-language site
- Contact form
- Email and knowledge base customer support
- Paid plans range from $3.90-$22.90 per month
Additional Web Builders
There are still a lot of website builders out there with their own unique features.
You might want to check them out when you still can’t find your right website builder from those I’ve mentioned:
- Zyro – free and simple web builder with modern designs
- Ucraft – several built-in tools for a great deal of functions
- Webflow – web builder for professional designers
- Flothemes – WordPress themes
- HubSpot – web builder with integrated CRM tools
- SITE123 – quick web builder with 3 easy steps
- Hibu – web builder for digital marketing and local business
- Pixpa – best for photographers and artists
- Designmodo – best startup web builder (used by Nike, NASA, and more popular companies)
I know that choosing the right web builder might take a lot of research and understanding to finally come up with a decision.
I understand that you need to do every step carefully and that you have to make sure that you invest your money wisely, especially if you are going to use it for business.
Here are some of the factors that you need to consider before settling to the right web builder:
- Ease of use: A web builder needs to be beginner-friendly without any coding knowledge required.
- Affordability: This is always one of the top considerations in choosing a web builder. Choose one with an affordable yet functional web builder.
- Customizable templates: A drag-and-drop builder is a basic feature that a web builder has to give you control over the design of your website.
- Web building speed: One of the main reasons for getting a web builder is to create a website in an instant – specifically for just minutes.
- Built-in features for a complete package: It would be very helpful for you and your website to have a lot of built-in features. This will save you time and effort in getting add-ons and plugins.
- Free trial offers for platform testing (plus money-back guarantee): This gives you the chance to test the waters before you jump right into purchasing a paid plan. It’s always best to be sure.
- Great customer service support: You’ll never know when you’ll encounter any trouble with your website, so choose one with a live chat and 24/7 customer support, as well as helpful knowledge base support.
- SEO features: It is important to have advanced SEO tools since it gives your website the traffic you need to earn more visitors to your website.
- eCommerce tools: This is a must, especially when you are about to build an online store. Your website should have the best marketing essentials to help you analyze your business.
- Third-party integrations: If you wish to add more popup apps, email marketing providers, and payment gateways, choose one that allows this integration.
- Blogging capability: It is an optimal feature if you are building a blog or personal website.
Conclusion
To sum up, here are the best and most suitable web builders for each category:
For Small Businesses:
- Wix
- Squarespace
- SITE123
- Hibu
For eCommerce:
- Wix
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
For blogging:
- WordPress
In any category, Wix is the top web builder with its outstanding and notable features. It has earned the trust of most entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals. But this does not mean that you are limited to choose this platform as there are still a lot of options to choose from.
There is the right web builder for everyone depending on your business needs. All I recommend is to carefully consider the factors and weigh each web builder’s pros and cons before finally choosing to invest in one.
I hope that this write-up has become a useful tool in deciding which web builder is the right fit for your website.
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