Website builders are excellent, all-in-one solutions that combine hosting, design, content management, and support for one price.
They allow beginners who want to avoid dealing with all the technical aspect of creating a website to get started online fast and efficiently.
TLDR? Here is what I recommend if you’re a beginner wanting to create a website 👇
#1 Squarespace
Squarespace is my overall favorite website builder. Structured, drag and drop. Can add ecommerce and email marketing to it.
#2 Shopify
So you want to build an online store but have no idea how to do that? Well Shopify is the easiest to use ecommerce website builder I’ve used.
#3 Google Sites
Need a simple, no frills personal website then you’ll love Google Sites.
What to look for when considering a website builder
You need to consider the type of website you’re building.
Do you want to create an online resume or an “about me” style website? A simple free website builder is for you.
Want to blog? Then you’ll need something with a CMS.
Looking to create an online store? Then you’ll need something where you can have product pages and a cart function.
Ease of Use
Website builders are designed to allow non-technical people to create a stunningly beautiful website without hiring an expensive web designer or UX professional.
This is the main selling point of using a website builder instead of hosting your website on your content management system of choice.
Unlike a WordPress site, which is powered by a free and open-source CMS where you have to get your own hosting account and design your website, website builders bundle the hosting, storage, and CMS as a service. One company, one price.
Marketing and SEO tools
Do you get any specific SEO tools with your website builder? What about on-page SEO optimization to help you create a website that actually gets organic search traffic through ranking well.
Website builders should not neglect the importance of SEO and marketing. By combining SEO and the correct marketing tools, such as email campaigns, social media management and analytics to create targeted campaigns for their audiences, website builders can maximize their platforms for their potential customers.
Expandability
Expandability is very important as your site grows and you want to add features. Don’t pick the wrong website builder and be limited and have to switch platforms.
You need to know before hand if you want to create a membership site, setup scheduling, have email marketing built in, do drop shipping, create a high traffic blog, create private members only content, use artificial design intelligence to create an effective layout at the click of a button.
Best Website Builders
Let’s get into my list of the best website builders for online businesses, blogging, photographers, personal websites, and more. All of these options will help you create a successful website:
Squarespace – The industry-leading website builder
Squarespace is the best website builder overall because it offers a comprehensive suite of features and tools that make it easy to build beautiful, modern websites.
It offers a drag and drop editor along with built-in website templates, meaning users don’t need any coding knowledge or experience to create a stunning website.
Squarespace also supports unlimited storage and bandwidth (meaning you can drive a lot of traffic to your Squarespace website) plus integrates with a range of third-party services and plugins such as Google Analytics, Amazon Web Services and more.
It is reliable, secure, and provides excellent customer support to ensure users have all the help they need.
Squarespace also has all the functionality to incorporate blogging, selling digital products, hosting coaching calls, leverage e-commerce easily as well as leverage email marketing.
With modern design and UX principles in their various customizable templates, Squarespace is the best website builder platform for most people.
Marketing features
Squarespace offers many marketing features to help you promote your websites. These include built-in SEO tools, email campaigns, online store integrations, and analytics tools.
Users can also add custom code to enhance the appearance of their website (depending on the plan) or add new marketing features such as pop-ups, live chat or use their excellent scheduling system so visitors can book a coaching call with you.
Additionally, you can integrate social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook or start a blog or showcase a portfolio with ease. Squarespace offers excellent customer service and continuous support so that users can effectively manage their websites no matter what issue arises.
Website templates
Squarespace designs 115+ sophisticated, tablet and mobile-friendly design for all types of websites like blogs, podcasts, online stores, landing pages, memberships sites and so forth. They are detailed but simple and include fonts, sizes, images that all come together cohesively to create the perfect look.
You can also start from scratch with a blank layout and custom design your own website using Squarespace’s user friendly, drag and drop editor.
You can’t switch templates easily however so just be aware that if you custom design your own site or select a template, you’re stuck with it.
Blogging/podcast features
Squarespace offers an array of features like its rich commenting system, multi-author functionality, scheduling posts capability, AMP support and email opt-in forms to grow your list. You can also host a podcast directly from your Squarespace website too (and they also have custom podcast website templates.
You can’t content lock blog posts as a way to create “members only” content like you can do with the Wix website builder.
Squares Video Studio + Unfold
The Squarespace Video Studio App combined with Unfold at your disposal, can allow you to create and share videos from hundreds of customizable templates that fit perfectly with all of your social media accounts. If you’re looking to create YouTube shorts, Facebook videos or reels for Instagram, Squarespace is a powerful choice.
E-commerce
You can start an online store using Squarespace where you can sell subscriptions, digital downloads as well as physical products. Currently, Squarespace offers 3 e-commerce plans: Business, Commerce, Commerce Advanced.
The business plan allows you to sell physical and digital products through allowing you to have product pages and a shopping cart built into your website. This plan is ideal is you’re primarily a blogger looking to sell a handful of products.
The Commerce plan is best if you’re looking to start a website where the focus is an online store first and foremost. With this plan you get product reviews, point of sale, the ability to sell on Facebook and Instagram, and offer dedicated customer accounts.
The Commerce Advanced plan has everything the Commerce plan has but at their top tier plan you can now sell subscriptions, offer advanced discounts, and enable abandoned cart recovery.
With Squarespace, their shipping options are comprehensive and tailored to your needs, offering flat-rate, weight-based, and real-time rates. Make checkout fast and easy for your customers with streamlined payment options as well. Lastly, tax compliance is made effortless with user-friendly tools.
Online appointment scheduling system
One of the best selling points for the Squarespace website builder is their online appointment scheduling system. This is an add-on, but with it you can book coaching/consultation calls. You can also display your availability and payment and invoicing is built in. When someone books your time you can have it synced with your favorite calandar software.
If you’ve been wanting a way for people to book your time for coaching or consultation calls, you can do exactly that with Squarespace.
Email marketing
Finally is Sqaurespace’s email marketing tools. To be honest, they don’t stack up to a proper email marketing software option; but they are a good choice if you need basic email marketing that’s integrated into your site with attractive sign-up forms.
With email marketing from Squarespace, you can set up simple funnels where new subscribers receive emails on a pre-determined basis. You also get landing pages and thank-you pages that can easily be customized with the drag and drop site builder. Last, can also broadcast email your list whenever you want.
Etsy integration
Squarespace integrates with your Etsy store. You can import products, product reviews, Etsy shipping profiles and leverage all of Squarespaces marketing tools to drive more sales. If you’re an Etsy seller looking to create your own custom online store and diversify away form Etsy then Squarespace is for you.
The best website builder overall
Overall, Squarespace is an excellent platform for creating beautiful and functional websites with powerful marketing features.
They provide users with everything needed to create stunning online stores or portfolios, promote their website on social media platforms, analyze website performance data, and more. With its user-friendly interface, intuitive design tools, and vast array of marketing features, Squarespace is the best website builder based on my experience.
Pros:
- Squarespace templates have modern design principles and good on-page SEO.
- Excellent integration of essential services for one price, like hosting, domains, email marketing, and the CMS.
- Everything works for creating beautiful, modern websites.
- An elegant, well designed appointment booking system.
- Email marketing features and ecommerce that work together easily.
Cons:
- Squarespace is expensive, but everything works, and you must deal with technical issues.
- Their e-commerce offerings could be more robust but decent enough if you want to sell a small selection of products.
- You can’t switch templates easily anymore.
- No content locking blog posts under a subscription.
- Supports six languages natively (EN, ES, DE, FR, IT, PT). You’ll need a paid Weglot plan to incorporate translation (or users can use Google translate).
Shopify – Best ecommerce Website Builder
Shopify was founded in 2006 and is the best e-commerce website builder and currently the industry leader in the e-commerce space overall. They provide the easiest, most effective solution for individuals or small teams who want to start selling physical goods online.
While there are more feature-rich and expensive options like Magento, that option is costly and complicated to set up and maintain. This is why Shopify is so popular; it’s perfect for large and small online businesses. Best of all, you can sign up for a free trial and design your online store.
One other thing to add is the helpful app store Shopify provides. The Shopify app store has different features you can buy and install on your store. By itself, Shopify comes with everything you need to sell online. But the app store has helpful, optional add-ons to enhance the user experience.
Complex inventory control
Where Shopify shines compared to Wix and Squarespace is it’s complex inventory management and controls, checkout customization available, the shipping choices provided, and the simplicity of adding promotions or providing discounts to customers.
Pricing
When it comes to website building, you get a wide range of pricing options with Shopify. Their standard plans start at $25 a month and top out at $399 a month for large, complex stores that get a lot of traffic.
They also have a “starter” plan which costs $5 a month and is designed for anyone looking to setup a simple online store to promote products on social media like Instagram or your YouTube channel.
Blogging
With Shopify and their numerous templates you can now engage in blogging if you like too. This is an important feature because of content marketing. You can create blog content that ranks organically for search terms and then convert that traffic in some meaningful way.
Typically you would want to drive traffic to your email list or you can promote your own products internally.
Shopify email marketing
With all Shopify plans you get email marketing at no additional cost. You get basic email templates that you can customize to a fair degree, setup funnels (or workflows as they’re called in Shopify) to help drive sales by sending email automatically based on subscriber action and setup marketing automations.
Large 3rd party support and development
A huge advantage Shopify has over all competitors is that due to the platforms populariy and wide scale use, it by far has the largest 3rd party support. That means finding a designers to custom build your online store is easy and Shopify tends to get the latest, cutting edge ecommerce features before any other platform.
Templates and the app store
Shopify works by way of templates that you can customize instead of a drag and drop interface. You can on the more expensive plans have a fully customizable theme created by your own designer, but on the lower tier plans you only get access to basic templates.
However, the templates are high converting and properly designed for e-commerce. In addition, you’ll also get access to the Shopify app store where you can add on additional features as needed to your store.
Pros:
- Easy to use, website builder for small business owners, drop shippers and anyone looking for a quality online store builder.
- The app store is outstanding and simplifies integrating new features into your Shopify store.
- Extensive user base and community. It makes it easy to get ideas, advice, and help.
- Blog and email marketing are integrated very well with your Shopify store.
Cons:
- Transaction fees for using 3rd party payment gateways.
- Some features must be included to push you to use the app store. For example, to make your site GDPR compliant, purchase a 3rd party banner app from the app store.
- Comprehensive reporting and analytics are only provided on more expensive plans.
Webflow – Website builder for non-techy smart people
Webflow is designed to be a no-coding option to allow web professionals to quickly develop excellent websites without spending so much time coding.
With Webflow, you get a blank visual canvas and specific control over the HTML and CSS of any element you want to add.
Webflow I would describe as a modern and advanced website builder designed for web developers and designers. It allows someone to design, develop, and launch responsive websites without needing deep coding experience.
Webflow features an intuitive user interface and drag-and-drop tools that can help users create powerful visuals and interactions.
It integrates with a content management system (CMS) allowing for easy content and data management. Additionally, the platform offers various versatile features such as e-commerce integrations, SEO optimization, hosting, and various marketing tools that make it easy for users to build sophisticated website offerings.
Box website builder
Webflow has a lot more customization options than a Wix or Squarespace and much better animations for beautiful design.
The builder works by way of a box within a box layout. You start with your “body” box then simple drag and drop other box elements which you can then define.
Webflow general plans
Webflow offers general plans for users who want to create a website without any ecommerce functionality. These plans include a free starter plan, Basic, CMS, Business, and Enterprise.
Free!
The free plan allows you to sign up to Webflow and give the website builder a test run.
Your website will be a webflow.io subdomain. When you’re ready to to upgrade you have the basic, CMS or Business plan to upgrade to.
The Basic plan
offers basic website building tools, as well as the ability to create a simple website. This plan is perfect if you wish to create a sales page for an online course or website with 10-20 pages. No CMS items are supported, that means you can’t have blog posts.
The CMS plan
Includes all of the features of the Basic plan, as well as additional tools for content management such as dynamic content and a built-in CMS (content management system). The CMS plan is perfect if you’re looking to start a blog powered by Webflow.
The Business plan
This plan adds features such as enhanced marketing tools, integration with Zapier, and the ability to have up to 10 team members on the account. It’s the next upgrade from the CMS plan if your website grows and starts to get a lot of traffic.
The Enterprise plan provides a more customizable solution, including customized hosting, a dedicated account manager, and advanced analytics.
What about ecommerce?
Webflow allows you to build a beautiful, high converting store. Plans start at $29/month with a 2% transaction fee and a 500 products limit.
Create visually stunning, fully customizable stores with drag-and-drop tools, no coding required. Easily add, organize, and manage products and categories with dynamic CMS collections. You can also connect with tools like Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, and Kit.com for payments, shipping, and marketing.
Overall, Webflow ecommerce is best for small to medium-sized stores prioritizing design and user experience, but less suited for large inventories or complex payment needs compared to Shopify or WooCommerce.
Pros:
- Straightforward pricing. Their CMS plan is reasonably priced and allows for a 100,000-visitor website.
- Excellent control over your website’s look, feel layout, and design. You can build a truly custom website with Webflow
- Fast load times, access to their CDN, security, and easy scaling as your website grows.
- An excellent option for designing custom sales pages for online courses, products, and more.
Cons:
- The basic plan offers no CMS support, so no blogging/content marketing at this level..
Google Sites – The best free website builder
Google Sites is one of my favorite website builders. It’s an underrated website builder perfect for any simple, 5-50 page website.
Maybe you want to create an online resume, an “about me” bio website, or a website for a club or organization. Google Sites is perfect for those types of simple websites. Google Sites is completely free and allows anyone to create a modern-looking website with 100% free hosting.
You must however purchase a domain name if you want a custom domain because no website builder provides a free domain; otherwise, Google Sites is free to use to build your website. All you need is a Gmail account to get started.
Building a website is easy
Ready to get started building a website? With Google Sites it’s a quick and easy design process using the “unstructured” site builder where you can drag and drop website elements into place easily.
You can add text, images and YouTube videos at the click of a button.
Website Templates
Google Sites comes with a few different templates you can use to build a website with. Change the colors, font choices and overall page layout to your liking.
Your own domain name
Unlike other website builders like Wix that charge you to set a domain name, with Google Sites you can use your very own branded domain name at no additional charge. That way your website feels like yours instead of being a subdomain of Google Sites.
Google Analytics
You can also setup Google Analytics with your website too as well as search console. That way you can get basic stats on the performance of your website including search terms and how many people are visiting your website.
Not for commercial use
Google Sites is a free site builder that is not designed for commercial use.
If you’re looking to blog or run ads then consider the blogger.com platform or a paid website builder. Also, there are no e-commerce features built into Google Sites. You can add on a online store though with a few work arounds I cover in my tutorial here.
To wrap up, Google Sites is perfect for anyone looking to build out a simple, 5-50 page website for a club, personal brand, small business like a cafe etc.
Pros:
- Google Sites are beautiful, responsive, and easy to customize.
- An excellent option for any online project that will only be 5-20 pages in size.
- You can set up a custom domain name, and it’s secured with an SSL.
- Unstructured editor – you can drag and drop design elements where ever you want.
Cons:
- Poor on-page SEO. You don’t have any control over the meta description or the SEO page title for the content on your website.
- Naked URL’s are not supported. That means your website must have “www” in the URL.
- While you can have a custom domain, the Google Sites version of your site won’t redirect to the custom domain. Thus, you’ll have two available URLs for the same content.
- Putting AdSense on your Google Site is against the terms of service.
See my Google Sites tutorial
Wix – Business and drop shipping website builder
Wix provides an “unstructured” website builder where you can drag various on-page elements wherever you want. This is different from Squarespace which works by way of templates and on page elements that can be edited, but not moved around freely.
This is good and bad as you can build out a truly custom looking blog, website or online store using Wix. You can also become frustrated and make your website a busy looking mess with a poor user experience.
Wix features I like
Wix provides all the tools and resources needed to create a blog, online store, portfolio website, or membership website.
Modern design templates, feature-rich front-end editor, good on-page SEO with UI design principles incorporate correctly.
You can blog, sell digital or physical products, lock content blog posts behind a paywall, and leverage email marketing all at one price.
Free website builder
Where Wix differentiates from Squarespace is twofold. First, Wix offer a 100% free website builder. You can sign up now and create a website with Wix for free. The catch is that it will be a subdomain of wixsites.com and it will display ads for Wix all over your site.
Unstructued editor
The second aspect of Wix that I liked is the unstructured nature of their website builder as I mentioned. Squarespace operates as a bunch of premium templates you can customize; Wix, like Google Sites, allows you to move on-page elements where ever you want and to add additional functionality with their app store.
Limit blog posts to paying members
One fun blogging feature that Wix provides that works in a similar way to Ghost.org is that you can content lock blog posts to be accessable to paying members only. That means you can run your own “Patreon like” subscription website where you have private content.
Drop shipping with Modalyst
The standout feature Wix provides apart from the unstructured editor, is the drop shipping integration provided by Modalyst. Modalyst is a drop shipping platform that enables ecommerce stores to source products directly from suppliers.
With Wix, the integration is seemeless from showcasing products on your website to the checkout page.
With the Modalyst integration, you can now easily add products from the Modalyst marketplace to your own Wix store. Customers get their orders quickly as they ship directly from the Modalyst suppliers, eliminating any need for you to ship them yourself.
Wix also offers secure checkout with its payment options, giving customers peace of mind that their payments are safe. Additionally, you can take advantage of discounted shipping rates by utilizing Modalyst’s auto-billing feature.
Pros:
- A free plan that allows you to try out Wix.
- Powerful content marketing tools all within one platform.
- Unstructured editor to enable you to create a Wix website from scratch.
- Dropshipping integration from Modalyst.
Cons:
- Setting up a custom domain from a domain registrar is difficult.
- They charge an additional fee for setting up a professional email.
Big Commerce – No transaction fees
Big Commerce is the main competitor to Shopify and both offer very similar product offerings. The main differences are that Big Commerce charge no transaction fees, but do require you to upgrade your account when you hit certain sales thresholds.
Shopify by contrast charges transaction fees of 2%, 1% or 0.5% for their Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans. There are no transaction fees if someone uses Shopify payments. Big Commerce also includes in their shopping cart features you typically need to pay an additional fee for with Shopify.
Buy one get one free coupon
Big Commerce allows “buy one get one free” natively. Beyond just offering a simple coupon code that gives a percentage or dollar value off, you can easily run buy one get one free promotions to help drive sales and increase total checkout value.
Tiered discounts
The more items your visitor buys, the bigger the discount they get. You can also offer discount rewards to repeat customers. These features are available on Shopify but you need to pay for additional 3rd party plugins.
Beautiful templates
Big Commerce has a wide range of high converting templates that are easy to customize. With templates designed for various categories of stores from home and garden to toys for childern, you’re bound to find an acceptable template to build your store on.
Lot’s of product variation options
Big Commerce provides the ability to have a wide range of single product variant options where Shopify allows for 100 variation options max. So if you’re selling a product that has a large selection of size, color and material options you may have a better user experience with Big Commerce.
Pros:
- Great out of the box features. Less need to pay for add-ons.
- Supports extensive product variations.
- Creative coupon code support.
Cons:
- No native email marketing.
- If you sell high ticket items Big Commerce may be expensive as you’ll have to upgrade your account.
- 3rd party support is not as robust as Shopify.
Lead Pages – The Best Landing Page Builder
Lead Pages is a website builder focused on creating high-converting landing pages. Landing pages are optimized for converting traffic in some way. They typically get someone to subscribe to your email list or buy a product.
What is excellent about Lead Pages is they have high-converting templates you can customize, a/b testing built in, banners, pop-ups, and exit intent pop-ups all built in. They also provide high-level analytics and dedicated “thank you” pages where you can offer product upsells.
Templates that convert
With Lead Pages you get a host of great templates that you can customize using the included, drag and drop website builder. All templates are mobile responsive, you also get access to banners and pop-ups as well to convert visitors into subscribers.
Captcha built-in
One huge feature Lead Pages has is that they provide the ability for you to add a captcha to your email opt-in form on your landing pages. This is essential as far as I’m concerned because it will reduce the amount of bot sign-ups and you’ll grow a more responsive list.
Marketing features
In addition to banners and pop-ups, one marketing feature you can leverage is a dedicated “thank you” page where you can upsell a different product or service. So your visitor subscribers to get some sort of lead magnent then after they enter their email you can direct them to a high converting upsell page. All powered by Lead Pages.
Finally, you get unlimited hosting for your landing pages so you don’t have to worry about driving too much traffic, tech support, notifications and 40+ integrations (and growing) with other web services.
Pros:
- Powerful marketing tools to craft high-converting pages and offers.
- Excellent optimization options through a/b testing and a drag-and-drop builder.
- “Thank you” page optimization to convert subscribers into purchasing products as an upsell.
Cons:
- Expensive if you’re using only some of Lead Pages features.
Carrd – The One Page Website Builder
Carrd is a niche-specific website builder designed to be used for one-page websites.
One page as in one page.
Not two, not three, one.
Carrd is perfect because you can create a website for free where it will be a subdomain of Carrd.co. You can also upgrade to the premium plan and have a bit more customization options.
Carrd Pro plan is only $19 a year
If you want a custom domain, the ability to add in forms to your website, custom embeds like Paypal and the ability to publish multiple single page websites then you’ll need to upgrade to the pro plan.
It’s only $19 a year, well worth the price and the paid plan also removes all Carrd branding.
So if you’re looking for a much more affordable alternative to Lead Pages then take a look at Carrd. It’s perfect for building out landing pages, email opt-in form pages, single product pages and more.
Pros:
- Free plan where your website is a subdomain of Carrd.co.
- Affordable pricing for their paid plans.
- A unique option for email marketing, Instagram bio links, landing pages and personal websites.
- A budget alternative to Lead Pages.
Cons:
- A lot of the better templates are behind the paywall.
Format -The Photographer Website Option
Like Carrd, Format is another niche-specific website builder specifically designed for photographers though anyone with an online portfolio (like a graphic artist) can use Format.
This platform has specific features professional photographers love, want, and need. Format is designed to be optimized for image-heavy websites and show off your work beautifully and creatively with their numerous templates.
They also watermark your photos for copyright protection and easy integration with Adobe Lightroom and Capture One.
Pricing
Format offers a basic, pro and pro plus plan. The basic plan is very limited and only ideal if all you’re looking to do is host 100 or less images.
The pro and pro plus plans are great because you can host over 1000 images, get the ability to host video content too as well as you gain access to the Format Marketplace where people can buy your prints.
Format Prints Marketplace
Format Prints is a marketplace that advertises and sells a collection of professionally curated photos and artwork. As a photographer and user of Format, you can earn passive income by having your work listed on their site. They handle all the marketing and sales for you, so you can focus on your craft.
Customers from all over the world can browse and purchase your work easily. If you do decide to sell on the prints marketplace the commission you pay to Format is 15% on the pro plan and 5% on the pro plus plan.
Creator focused
Format is a one stop shop for digital artists looking to blog, sell prints and digital art online, run a simple store with a great checkout process and show off your work in a dynamic, beautiful and impactful way.
Pros:
- Beautiful, optimized design options for image-heavy websites.
- They are designed for creative professionals who need a portfolio website.
- Watermarking and Adobe Lightroom integration.
- Sell prints online.
- Full website features including a blog, store and portfolio showcase.
Cons:
- More of an emphasis on photographers than on creative professionals like digital artists or graphic designers.
- No email marketing built in natively.
GoDaddy – The simple store choice
GoDaddy’s website builder is a good choice for anyone looking to create a basic website with a blog and minimal e-commerce features. Maybe you want to sell a handful of products online or your an Etsy seller and you want to sell on your own store. The GoDaddy is a solid choice.
GoDaddy Website Builder is a website building platform that offers a wide range of tools and features for users to create professional-looking websites and online stores with ease. It features a drag-and-drop interface that allows users to easily create their website without needing any coding knowledge.
The website builder comes with customizable templates that you can select and personalize to your liking. With your website, you’re able to easily add features such as social media buttons, online booking and payments, and email marketing tools.
Additionally, GoDaddy Website Builder comes with reliable web hosting and excellent customer support to help users with any technical issues they may encounter. Overall, GoDaddy Website Builder is a great option for those looking to create a website with basic online store functionality quickly without needing any coding skills.
Create a free website with Godaddy website builder
GoDaddy is one of the few free website builders available. It’s limited, you can’t have a branded domain, but you can test run GoDaddy out to see if you like the platform.
GoDaddy pricing
GoDaddy currently has four pricing plans. Basic which is good for creating a website with basic shop functionality. Premium which is the same as basic but allows for 25k email sends a month. Finally there is ecommerce and ecommerce plus which add on adavanced shoping cart functionality to your store.
Pros:
- Fast and easy design process.
- Complete featured website builder bundled with e-commerce, blogging, and email marketing.
Cons:
- Design limitations can be annoying. GoDaddy is easy to use but quite cookie-cutter.
WordPress.com – The hosted version of WordPress
WordPress.com takes the popular CMS’s and combines it with high quality hosting and support.
The WordPress site builder (called gutenberg) offers various features for users to create and manage blogs, business websites, and ecommerce sites depending on the plan.
Additionally, users can access a range of plugins and widgets to enhance website functionality if you sign up to the Business plan tier or higher. WordPress.com also provides SEO tools to increase website visibility.
The actual website builder function works by way of a block builder and is structured and you’re limited to your design choices based on the WordPress themes you have access too.
Themes, plugins and customization options
To get access to all themes and plugins you do need to upgrade to “business” plan. You only get one website per plan, but your hosting limits are unlimited.
With these themes and plugins, businesses and content creators can easily create professional-looking websites that are optimized for both desktop and mobile devices.
WordPress.com also allows its users to monetize their websites through ads (Word Ads) or subscriptions. You can also leverage affiliate marketing as you like too.
All in all, WordPress.com is a great choice if you want to use WordPress with a unlimited hosting and great support.
Pros:
- Easy to use, custom domain, good support.
- Same features as installing WordPress on a shared web host.
- Can launch your own online store using WooCommerce.
- VIP Enterprise tier is outstanding if you’re a high profile person with a high traffic website.
Cons:
- Too expensive when compared to buying a shared web host and installing WordPress yourself.
- You need to pay for an expensive business plan to install your own themes and plugins.
- This builder uses themes, and you have limited control over the design compared to Wix and Squarespace.
- No access to display ads beyond “Word Ads” which is WordPress’s own ad network.
Hostinger – Website builder for small business
Hostinger is a popular shared web host that offers a great website builder provides a user-friendly interface, a drag-and-drop editor that is perfect for a small business.
You can also automatically add on a blog or an online store at the click of a button. In addition, it comes with an AI builder so you can create a base template via a text prompt and then customize your website.
I would describe their website builder as a structured builder that uses “sections” you can add in and customize at the click of a button. You also get a range of templated sections with various themes, designs, and layouts suited to most industries or niches.
Customization
You can select and swap between different header styles, footer styles and then customize the body of your business website with ease.
With this excellent website builder, you also have the ability to enhance the usability of your websites by incorporating important features like forms, photo galleries, and social media integration.
Last, you do get access to multiple ecommerce tools that allow users to setup and manage an online stores with your website builder by integrating PayPal and Stripe.
Zyro’s platform has essential features such as built-in SEO tools to enhance search engine visibility, website analytics from Google Analytics, and website privacy policy generators. In addition, the platform provides optimized cloud hosting for fast and efficient website speeds to its customers.
The unstructured editor is great for non-technical users
The editor with Zyro is unstructured and similar to Wix. You can add in different design elements like text blocks, image blocks, custom CSS blocks, galleries, videos, social media feeds at the click of a button.
Then just drag and drop the element to where you want on the page. You can also resize any element you add as well. It’s quite an intuitive process you’ll get the hang of (and you can always reference my tutorial video) and it’s what makes Zyro perfect for a small business.
Elegant on-boarding process
When getting started with Zyro, you’ll first begin the design process by answering a few questions. These questions help customize your website by adding in the features you need while excluding those you don’t.
You don’t have to use the AI website generator however and can jump into any template of your choosing and get to designing and customizing your website. You can even start from scratch where you begin with a blank template.
Add a blog and online store
Another powerful feature is that you can add a blog or online store to your website literally at the click of a button. Your blog and store pages will be added automatically and then you’ll have ability to add in blog posts and product pages.
Pros:
- Excellent for small business websites.
- Can sell physical or digital products.
- Drag and drop sections that can be customized.
Cons:
- A bit cookie cutter in appearance.
- Not ideal if the main thing you want to do is blog, if that’s you then use WordPress with Hostinger.
Bluehost – AI website builder for WordPress
Bluehost is another very popular shared web host that is known for supporting WordPress. Now they offer an excellent website builder that creates your site using an AI, a text prompt and a WordPress theme.
How does this website builder work?
When you’re going through the on-boarding process to create a new website you can either create a website with WordPress yourself or use an AI tool to build a base version of your site.
If you use the AI tool, you’ll be given three versions of your site that you can pick from. Also, as you’re using the AI tool, you’ll be asked if you want to blog, sell products, engage in email marketing and more.
Once you select the design and layout that you like, you can then begin editing your website with the “full site editor” from WordPress.
Pros:
- The design the AI produces is quite good and needs minimal adjustment.
- It’s built on WordPress, so you have access to the block builder, good SEO and WooCommerce.
Cons:
- You have to understand the “full site editor” to edit and adjust your website. Not as easy as the drag and drop options of other website builders.
Frequently asked questions
Let me answer some of the most common questions people have when it comes to website builders.
Should I buy my domain name from my website builder?
Most website builders do allow you to register a domain name through them an often offer free domain name registration through them.
While this provides convenience and ease of use, you’re often paying more for your domain name long term. For better prices, use a domain registrar like Namecheap.
Web hosting vs website builder – What’s the difference?
The main difference with a website builder compared to a web hosting service is that it’s a “done for you” option where all the technical details are taken care for you. That means you can jump in, use a template and adjust that template with a drag and drop editor and then launch your competant looking website.
Best Website Builder Conclusion
So that’s it for my comprehensive breakdown on the best website builders for a wide range of use cases. From Bluehost’s AI website builder, to Google Sites, Carrd or something more complex like Webflow…
It really comes down to what you want to do online as there is a tool that’s is built for you.
Have any questions? Message me via the contact page.
Have a great day,
-David
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