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17 Best Site Builders: Wix, Squarespace, and More (2021)
Choosing the best site builder can be hard, because there are 74 popular options to choose from.
In this guide, I rated and reviewed the best website builders to make a web site based on cost, reliability, web hosting services, technical assistance, website speed, SEO, features, ease of use, template design, and much more.
We’ll also compare:
The best website contractors for small businesses.
The best free and cheap choices.
The ones with the best SEO.
The top platforms with online shop capabilities.
The very top builders for agencies.
And the best options for photographers and artists.
What’s the Best Website Builder?
Using a website builder is a fast and easy way to construct a presence for your brand or internet business. These tools simplify your site management by combining domain registration, hosting, and site design into one platform.
If you are not too savvy with web design and development, you’ll want to go with a simple drag and drop editor.
The choice is all up to you.
Here are my top picks for the best site builder to use this year.
Wix.
Best Site Builder for Small Business ($13/month)
Wix is the most popular website builder on the market, with over 100 million users.
They have 500+ ready-to-use templates to design your site in any industry. These templates are mobile-optimized and have 100 fonts to choose from (or you can upload your own).
Their designs also appear beautiful, with scroll effects, and advanced design features like animation and video backgrounds.
In case you already have a domain on GoDaddy or need to register one at Wix.com, they make it super simple. Additionally, if you want to add e-commerce to your site so that you can sell online, plans begin a $20/month.
If you are a small company, I recommend Wix as the best online store builder. You don’t necessarily need a platform with more advanced options like BigCommerce and Shopify. Wix website owners that are looking to add an e-commerce store can find these excellent new features.
Wix is the most user-friendly website tool on the market. You can almost endlessly customize the look and feel of your site with no coding knowledge.
They also have a tool named Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) — the first artificial intelligence site builder. Wix ADI learns on your website and uses that information to design a website tailored to your specific needs.
This tool leverages AI choosing from countless combinations of pictures, text, layouts, and contact forms.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for the best site builder for small businesses, Wix is the best choice.
Read my whole Wix review for more in-depth analysis.
Get started with Wix.
Greatest Modern Website Builder with Free Plans (free — $3.49/mo)
Zyro is a website builder with a mission to help local businesses to tell their unique stories on the web.
Overall, they are best known for speed and simplicity.
With Zyro, you may make a company site quickly and easily with no coding required. Your site also loads fast due to its light framework and looks great on all devices.
With a powerful set of tools, Zyro helps grow your online business with pre-made design templates, AI-driven text, an intuitive drag-and-drop grid tool, mobile-readiness, and over one million stock images to select from.
One of their standout features is their AI Content Generator, which provides SEO-friendly content ideas based on your industry and specific business type.
To begin with this tool, you choose your type of business, then write 2-3 sentences describing your brand and circumstance. Then you adjust your AI settings and customize them based on duration, expertise, and creativity level. Lastly, you click on the Create button and see your uniquely generated content.
Since content generation is a challenge for many site owners, this tool creates new paragraphs for you which can rank better in search and increase conversion rates.
Some other excellent features include:
Built-in SEO tools to improve your search rankings.
A free SSL certificate and custom domains.
An AI-driven logo and slogan maker.
24/7 customer support via email and live chat.
AI heatmaps to improve website conversions and forecast visitor behavior.
Mobile-optimized, fast-loading website designs.
Free website design templates for various industries like creative services, startups, fashion brands, wellness companies, bakeries, and more.
Zyro offers three primary pricing plans — a free plan, a mid-tier”Basic” program at $1.99/month, and their high-tier”Unleashed” program at $3.49/month.
Their free program does not include a custom domain name but does provide 99.9% uptime, an SSL certificate, 500MB of bandwidth and 500MB of storage.
Next, their “Basic” program allows you to connect your own domain name, increases bandwidth and storage, and includes extra features like ad removal and integrations with tools like Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and Facebook pixels. This is a really popular plan that is most acceptable for small and medium-sized businesses.
Finally, their “Unleashed” plan provides every Zyro attribute and gives unlimited storage and bandwidth. At this affordable price of $3.49/month, it makes sense to go with this program and enjoy the unlimited features if you plan to get a great deal of content on your site.
Overall, Zyro is ideal for small businesses looking to create and develop a site fast, save money on writing and logo-making using their AI tools, rank higher on search engines, and increase conversion rates with high-quality, mobile-friendly design templates.
You can get started with Zyro free of charge to check out their platform, then upgrade to a paid plan when you are ready to grow your online business.
Get started with Zyro and start building your site today.
Best Website Design for Personal Sites ($12/month)
When I think of Squarespace, my mind goes directly for their beautifully designed home page. They truly know how to create beautiful, high-quality websites that look great for both small businesses and personal websites alike.
With over 100 design templates to select from, they lead the pack when it comes to design. Squarespace templates look excellent down to every detail. The fonts, color schemes, and imagery all mesh flawlessly for any website.
Besides design, their stage is great for bloggers. I tested out their WYSIWYG blog editor, and it is very intuitive.
You drag elements like images, headings, and text onto the page and place it where you would like. They also offer multiple user permissions, Google AMP performance, and you can schedule your posts:
A few small search engine optimization limitations hold Squarespace back from being #1 on this list. To begin with, my XML sitemap pulled in two versions of each page with and without a trailing slash”/.” This double indexing could potentially result in SEO and duplicate content problems down the road. They didn’t have a simple fix the last time I checked.
Second, your site headlines always become your meta names, so be careful when incorporating your headlines for SEO. You can read more in my whole Wix vs Squarespace review.
Other great features compensate for these drawbacks. Their ease of use is top-notch — websites are elementary to assemble with their editing tools. In-built analytics tools provide steady data on-site visitors if you’re not using Google Analytics. Plus, it’s hard to go wrong with a beautifully-designed website for just $12/month.
Monthly prices range from $12/month for their private plan up to $40/month for their Online Store (Advanced) plan. Monthly costs are based on a one-year contract, and Squarespace includes a free domainname. The Personal program provides a free domain name, unlimited storage and bandwidth, free SSL, and 24/7 customer support.
Overall, if you’re a small company that needs first-rate web design or a blogger who wants your articles to look great, Squarespace is a reliable choice.
Best Free Website Builder (Free — $25/month)
Weebly powers over 530,000 domain names and is known as the simple website builder of choice for people without much technical experience. They offer a great deal of great features. If you are a blogger, you can use Weebly.com to select a domain name and use their editor to add your text, images, and content.
They also have a mobile program to keep track of your website’s performance on the go. And email marketing tools allow you to send newsletters to your subscribers from within their tool.
They have a free plan which comes with 500 MB of storage, a free SSL certificate, and a domain with Weebly branding. You can use a custom domain with this plan but are forced to get Weebly branding throughout your site. Also, the free program only includes email and chat support, but no phone service.
Weebly’s paid plans range from $5 to $25 per month. On the high end, their Business Plan gets you advanced e-commerce functionality, a free domain, and $200 of Google ad credits.
Their e-commerce features include product options/variants, coupon codes, inventory management, a shipping calculator, shipping labels, and the ability to accept payments through Square and other providers.
The level of customer support you get is based on your subscription level. You’ll find assistance yourself in many locations, including their site, service centre, community discussion, social media, and programmer documentation. They also have live chat, email, and phone support.
If you are searching for a simple website creator to get up and running, I recommend you begin with Weebly.
Best Site Builder for Ecommerce ($29/month)
Shopify is a favorite ecommerce platform used by over 800,000 online businesses so sell products online. They were founded in Canada in 2004 and quickly became a powerhouse due to their simple dashboard and integrations with thousands of app partners.
While not every website owner needs product-selling functionality, I added Shopify into the list because almost any small business could use them to set up their site.
Have a salon for instance.
With Shopify, not only could you set up a quick site including a site, a map of your location, contact information, and appointment scheduling (with an app), but you could also sell hair care products online. This creates not only a website but another online source of revenue for your company.
Shopify has a lot of features you’d come to expect from other tools on this list, such as hosting, your own domain name, 70+ professional topics, a free SSL certificate, and promotion and SEO features.
They also supply mobile commerce, 100+ payment gateways, automatic carrier shipping rates, automatic tax rates, and the full checkout experience. Besides, you can enjoy omnichannel selling across Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Instagram, and much more.
If you’re establishing a new website and think that you might choose to sell products online in the future, it’s better to begin with Shopify instead of another tool that doesn’t take online shopping as seriously.
They offer three plans ranging from $29/month to $299/month. The $29/month Fundamental Shopify Plan should give website owners everything they need, including a full website, an internet store with unlimited products, blog features, 24/7 support, and much more.
If you’d like to give Shopify a try, they offer a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
Best For Professional painters ($16 per month).
Some of its other key features include:
You can add and edit content to your live site.
Invite additional group members to collaborate on a single dash.
Add up to 100 pages to your site.
99.9% uptime guaranteed and SSL certificate.
Automated backup.
Custom fonts available.
Create custom 404 pages.
Customer care via email, Webflow community forum, and help center.
Integration with Zapier enables you to connect with tools such as Slack, MailChimp, and Asana.
You can add up to 3000 products on your site with eCommerce support.
Best WordPress Themes for Photography and Creative Websites ($279 one-time).
Flothemes is a company that offers customizable WordPress themes. These templates help you build websites inside of WordPress without the need for custom coding. It’s powered by Flex block, a powerful free stream page builder, providing limitless customization options.
All the templates and themes come with premade layouts and content blocks. You may also customize colors, fonts, the structure of the webpage, and more.
Flothemes help you build your site in a few steps, including:
Register a domain name and hosting service provider for your site. You can also check Flothemes cloud hosting services, starting at $26 per month.
Install WordPress.org and join it to your web site hosting. Fortunately, most hosting services provide a one-click WordPress setup.
Finally, pick a theme for your website or portfolio.
You’ll be able to watch several how-to tutorials by Flothemes or contact the customer support team.
If you need help setting up the whole site, you can drop a message, and their team will do everything for you.
Flothemes will help you set up your website for just $499-$1999. Besides setting up your site from the start, they also provide services like page load speed optimization, SEO, styling, etc.. Plus, you get two screen sharing sessions of 45 minutes each with experts and one SEO consultation call of 45 minutes. In general, you get six rounds of implementations.
Additionally, Flothemes provides features like SSL implementation, WordPress installation, Typography, color scheme stylization, and more. You also find complete design freedom, SEO options, and a dash.
Pricing:
While their subjects cost a one-time $279, Flothemes offers three pricing strategies for their site setup services, including:
Simple Setup Package: $499
Advanced setup packs: $999
Pro Installation packs: $1,999
The Simple Setup Package helps you skip the technical components and jump directly to adding content and personalizing your theme. It offers features like WordPress installation, site layout setup, theme setup, WordPress transfer, site launching, etc..
The Advanced Setup Package incorporates full assistance with site setup, styling & launch, site speed optimization & an SEO consultation. Additional features include typography & colour scheme stylization, SSL implementation, speed optimization, etc..
Pro Installation Package includes all the features from the Advanced Setup Package together with the tailored mockup & execution for your homepage.
Best Website Tool with Integrated CRM Tools
HubSpot is a topnotch CRM tool that also has a full-featured CMS and website builder. Using their platform, it is possible to create website pages, blog posts, landing pages from scratch or with their pre-built templates.
Their drag-and-drop editor uses responsive design to help you create webpages that look great on any device. Where HubSpot stands out is its personalization and integrations.
Unlike other tools on this listing, HubSpot comes integrated with a broad assortment of marketing software, including tools to manage email marketing, get found online, and catch, engage with and understand leads.
For example, when you create a webpage, you may add calls-to-action and forms that convert visitors into prospects. Then, when you understand your visitors, you can dynamically create content unique to website visitors based on their location, device, language, traffic source, or some other detail you choose to capture on your HubSpot CRM.
This integrated marketing suite covers all parts of the customer lifecycle:
Forms, live chat, and conversational chatbots capture leads.
Email advertising, retargeting, and messenger integrations send customized messages to your prospects.
Their contact report builder, analytics tools, and record segmentation help you understand your own leads.
Personalized experiences, calls-to-action, and smart content turns leads into clients.
Overall, if you’re seeking a website builder that also comes with a full-featured set of CRM and marketing tools, HubSpot is your ideal choice.
The World’s Most Popular CMS
Easiest Free Website Builder for Small Websites
Best Digital Advertising Website Builder for Local Businesses
A Personalized Website with the Power of AI
Best for Large Online Stores
Great for Photographers and Artists
Best for startups that want to make bootstrapped sites
Best Website Builder for Agencies and Multilingual Websites
What is a Website Builder?
A website builder is a tool that allows anyone to manage a website and domain name without manual programming. In other words, a website builder is a tool or software application to assist you build a web site.
In the old days of the net, programmers needed to know HTML and CSS to create a website. Today, if you wish to code a site, there’s a steep learning curve — you want to have extensive knowledge of JavaScript and PHP. Not so with website builders.
These tools help everyone from small businesses and bloggers to news sites and ecommerce businesses easily create sites in minutes.
How much does it cost to construct a website?
Is Wix better than WordPress?
How much does a website cost monthly?
Does Google have a site builder?
Can I get a free site for my business?
There you have it — my list of the greatest website builders. Because there are 74 choices out there, I have condensed the listing down to the very best so that you may choose the option that is perfect for your small business or online brand.
If you are looking for the best website builder overall, I recommend you begin using Wix.
For the best designs and templates, check out Squarespace.
If you need an e-commerce site to sell products online, Shopify is a fantastic choice.
What website builder do you use?