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17 Best Website Builders: Wix, Squarespace, and More (2021)
Choosing the best website builder can be difficult, because there are 74 popular options to select from.
In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the best website builders to create a website based on cost, reliability, web hosting solutions , technical support, site speed, SEO, features, ease of use, template design, and more.
We’ll also compare:
The ideal website contractors for small companies.
The ideal 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 choices for photographers and artists.
What is the Best Website Builder?
Using a website builder is a fast and effortless way to construct a presence for your brand or online business. These tools simplify your website management by combining domain registrationhosting, and site design into one stage.
If you’re not too knowledgeable about web design and development, you will want to go with an easy 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 consumers.
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.
If you already have a domain on GoDaddy or want to register one at Wix.com, they make it super simple. Also, if you want to add e-commerce to your site so that you can sell online, plans start a $20/month.
If you’re a small company, I urge 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 get these excellent new features.
Wix is the most user-friendly site tool on the market. You can almost endlessly customize the look and feel of your website with no programming knowledge.
They also have a tool called Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) — the first artificial intelligence website builder. Wix ADI learns on your site and uses that information to design a site tailored to your specific needs.
This tool leverages AI selecting from countless combinations of pictures, text, designs, and contact forms.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for the best website builder for small companies, Wix is the best choice.
Read my full Wix review for more in-depth analysis.
Get started with Wix.
Best Modern Website Builder with Free Plans (free — $3.49/mo)
Zyro is a site builder with a mission to assist local businesses to tell their unique stories on the web.
Overall, they are best known for speed and simplicity.
With Zyro, you can create a business site fast and easily with no programming required. Your website also loads fast due to the light framework and looks great on all apparatus.
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 more than one million stock pictures to select from.
One of their standout features is their AI Content Generator, which offers SEO-friendly content ideas based on your industry and specific business type.
To begin with this tool, you pick your type of business, then write 2-3 paragraphs describing your brand and context. You then adjust your AI settings and customize them based on duration, experience, and creativity level. Last, you click the Create button and see your uniquely generated content.
Since content generation is a challenge for many website owners, this tool generates new paragraphs for you that can rank better in search and increase conversion rates.
Some other excellent features include:
Built-in search engine optimization tools to improve your search rankings.
A free SSL certificate and custom domain names.
An AI-driven logo and slogan manufacturer.
24/7 customer support via email and live chat.
AI heatmaps to increase website conversions and predict visitor behaviour.
Mobile-optimized, fast-loading website designs.
Free website design templates for different industries like creative services, startups, fashion brands, health businesses, bakeries, and much more.
Zyro offers three primary pricing programs — a free plan, a mid-tier”Basic” plan at $1.99/month, and their high-tier”Unleashed” plan 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.
Their “Basic” plan permits 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 very popular plan that is most acceptable for small and medium-sized companies.
Finally, their “Unleashed” program provides every Zyro attribute and provides unlimited bandwidth and storage. At such an 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 lot of content on your website.
Overall, Zyro is ideal for small businesses seeking to create and grow a website fast, save money on writing and logo-making using their AI tools, rank high on search engines, and increase conversion rates with high-quality, mobile-friendly design templates.
You can get started with Zyro free of charge to test out their platform, then upgrade to a paid program when you’re ready to grow your online business.
Get started with Zyro and begin building your website today.
Best Website Design for Personal Sites ($12/month)
When I think of Squarespace, my mind goes right for their beautifully designed home page. They truly know how to make beautiful, high-quality websites that look great for both small businesses and personal websites alike.
With over 100 design templates to choose from, they lead the pack when it comes to design. Squarespace templates look excellent down to every detail. The fonts, color schemes, and vision all mesh perfectly for any site.
Besides design, their platform is wonderful for bloggers. I tested out their WYSIWYG blog editor, and it’s very intuitive.
You drag elements like pictures, headings, and text onto the page and position it where you would like. They also offer multiple user permissions, Google AMP functionality, and you can schedule your articles:
A few small search engine optimization limitations hold Squarespace back from being #1 on this list. To begin with, my XML sitemap pulled two versions of each page with and without a trailing slash”/.” This double indexing may potentially result in SEO and duplicate content problems down the road. They didn’t have an easy fix the last time I checked.
Secondly, your site headlines become your meta names, so be careful when adding 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 topnotch — sites are elementary to build with their editing tools. In-built analytics tools provide steady data on-site visitors if you are not using Google Analytics. Plus, it’s tough to go wrong with a beautifully-designed site for just $12/month.
Monthly costs range from $12/month for their private plan up to $40/month for their Online Store (Advanced) plan. Monthly prices are based on a one-year contract, and Squarespace includes a free domain. The Personal program provides a free domain name, unlimited storage and bandwidth, free SSL, and 24/7 customer service.
In general, if you are a small company that needs first-rate web design or a blogger who wants your articles to appear great, Squarespace is a trusted choice.
Best Free Website Builder (Free — $25/month)
Weebly powers over 530,000 domains and is called the easy site builder of choice for people without much technical expertise. They offer a lot of great features. If you are a blogger, you can use Weebly.com to pick a domain name and use their editor to add your own text, images, and articles.
They also have a mobile app to keep track of your site’s performance on the go. And email marketing tools let you send newsletters to your subscribers from inside their tool.
They have a free program which includes 500 MB of storage, a free SSL certificate, and a domain name with Weebly branding. You can use a custom domain name with this plan but are forced to get Weebly branding throughout your site. Also, the free plan only includes chat and email support, but no phone support.
Weebly’s paid plans vary from $5 to $25 per month. On the high end, their Business Plan gets you innovative e-commerce functionality, a free domainname, and $200 of Google ad credits.
Their e-commerce features include product options/variants, coupon codes, stock 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 can find assistance yourself in many areas, including their site, service center, community forum, social media, and programmer documentation. They also have live chat, email, and phone support.
If you’re looking for a simple website creator to get up and running, I suggest that you begin using Weebly.
Best Site Builder for Ecommerce ($29/month)
Shopify is a popular 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 program partners.
While not every site owner needs product-selling functionality, I added Shopify into the list because almost any small business could use them to install their website.
Take a salon for instance.
With Shopify, not only could you set up a quick site including a blog, a map of your location, contact info, and appointment scheduling (with a program ), 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 great deal of features you’d come to expect from other tools on this list, including hosting, your own domain name, 70+ professional themes, a free SSL certificate, and marketing and SEO features.
They also supply mobile commerce, 100+ payment gateways, automatic carrier shipping rates, automated tax rates, and the full checkout experience. Plus, you can enjoy omnichannel selling across Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Instagram, and much more.
If you’re setting up a new website and believe that you might want to sell products online in the future, it’s better to begin with Shopify instead of another instrument that does not take online shopping as seriously.
They offer three plans ranging from $29/month to $299/month. The $29/month Fundamental Shopify Plan should give site owners everything they need, including a complete website, an internet store with unlimited products, blog features, 24/7 support, and more.
If you want to give Shopify a try, they give a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
Best For Professional Designers ($16 per month).
Some of its other key features include:
You can add and edit content to your live website.
Invite additional group members to collaborate on a single dash.
Add up to 100 pages to your website.
99.9% uptime guaranteed and SSL certificate.
Automated backup.
Custom fonts available.
Create custom 404 pages.
Customer support via email, Webflow community forum, and help centre.
Integration with Zapier lets you 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 business that offers customizable WordPress themes. These templates help you build sites inside of WordPress without the need for custom coding. It’s powered by Flex block, a potent free stream page builder, providing limitless customization options.
All the templates and themes come with premade designs and content blocks. You may also customize colors, fonts, the structure of the page, and more.
Flothemes help you build your website 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 a month.
Install WordPress.org and join it to your website hosting. Luckily, most hosting services offer a one-click WordPress installation.
Finally, pick a theme for your website or portfolio.
You can see several how-to tutorials by Flothemes or contact the customer support team.
If you need assistance setting up the whole site, you can drop a message, and their staff will do everything for you.
Flothemes will allow you to set up your site for only $499-$1999. Besides setting up your site from the start, they also provide services like page loading speed optimization, SEO, styling, etc.. In addition, you get two screen sharing sessions of 45 minutes each with experts and one SEO consultation call of 45 minutes. All in all, you get six rounds of implementations.
Additionally, Flothemes provides features like SSL implementation, WordPress installation, Typography, color scheme stylization, and much more. You also find complete design freedom, SEO options, and a dashboard.
Pricing:
While their themes cost a one-time $279, Flothemes offers three pricing plans for their website setup services, including:
Simple Setup Package: $499
Advanced setup packs: $999
Pro Setup packages: $1,999
The Simple Setup Package can help you skip the technical parts and jump directly to adding content and personalizing your motif. It provides features like WordPress installation, website layout setup, theme installation, WordPress transfer, site launching, etc..
The Advanced Setup Package includes full assistance with site setup, styling & launch, site speed optimization & an search engine optimization consultation. Additional features include typography & color scheme stylization, SSL implementation, speed optimization, etc..
Pro Installation Package contains all the features in the Advanced Setup Package together with the tailored mockup & execution for your homepage.
Best Site Tool with Integrated CRM Tools
HubSpot is a top-notch CRM tool that also includes a full-featured CMS and website builder. Using their platform, it is possible to create website pages, blog posts, landing pages from scratch or using 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 list, HubSpot comes integrated with a wide range of marketing software, including tools to manage email marketing, get found online, and catch, engage with and understand leads.
For instance, when you make a webpage, you can add calls-to-action and forms that convert visitors into prospects. Then, when you know your visitors, you can dynamically create content unique to site visitors based on their location, device, language, traffic source, or any other detail you choose to capture on your HubSpot CRM.
This integrated marketing suite covers all parts of the customer lifecycle:
Types, live chat, and conversational chatbots capture prospects.
Email advertising, retargeting, and messenger integrations send personalized messages to your prospects.
Their contact builder, analytics tools, and record segmentation help you understand your leads.
Personalized experiences, calls-to-action, and smart content turns leads into clients.
Overall, if you are looking for a site builder that also includes a full-featured pair of CRM and marketing tools, HubSpot is the best alternative.
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 Enormous Online Stores
Great for Photographers and Artists
Best for startups that want to create bootstrapped sites
Best Website Builder for Agencies and Multilingual Websites
What’s a Website Builder?
A website builder is a tool that allows anyone to manage a site and domain name without manual coding. In other words, a site builder is a tool or software application that will assist you build a website.
In the old days of the net, programmers needed to know HTML and CSS to create a website. Today, if you want to code a website, there’s a steep learning curve — you want to have extensive knowledge of JavaScript and PHP. Not so with site builders.
These tools assist everyone from small companies and bloggers to news websites 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 website builder?
Can I get a free site for my company?
There you have it — my list of the top website builders. As there are 74 choices out there, I’ve condensed the listing down to the top so that you can choose the option that is perfect for your business or online brand.
If you are looking for the very best website builder overall, I recommend you get started with Wix.
For the best designs and templates, take a look at Squarespace.
If you need an e-commerce site to sell products online, Shopify is a good choice.
What website builder do you use?