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17 Best Site Builders: Wix, Squarespace, and More (2021)
Picking 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 price, reliability, web hosting services, technical support, website speed, SEO, features, ease of use, template design, and much more.
We will also compare:
The best website contractors for small businesses.
The best free and cheap choices.
Those with the best SEO.
The best platforms with online store capabilities.
The top builders for agencies.
And the best options for photographers and artists.
What’s the Best Website Builder?
Using a site builder is a quick 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 website design into one stage.
If you’re 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 Website Builder for Small Business ($13/month)
Wix is the most popular website builder available on the current market, with over 100 million users.
They have 500+ ready-to-use templates to design your website in any industry. These templates are mobile-optimized and have 100 fonts to choose from (or you can upload your own).
Their designs also look beautiful, with scroll effects, and advanced design features like video and animation backgrounds.
If 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 you could sell online, plans start a $20/month.
If you are a small business, I recommend Wix as the best online store builder. You don’t necessarily require 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 great new features.
Wix is the most user-friendly site tool on the market. You can almost always 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 about your site and uses that information to design a website tailored to your precise needs.
This tool leverages AI selecting from billions of combinations of pictures, text, designs, and contact forms.
Ultimately, if you’re seeking the best website builder for small companies, Wix is the best option.
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 website builder with a mission to help local companies to tell their unique stories online.
Overall, they’re best known for simplicity and speed.
With Zyro, you may make a company website quickly and easily with no coding required. Your website also loads fast because of the light frame 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 more than one million stock pictures to select from.
One of the 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 choose your type of business, then write 2-3 paragraphs describing your brand and circumstance. Then you adjust your AI settings and customize them based on duration, expertise, and creativity degree. Lastly, you click the Create button and see your distinctively created content.
Since content generation is a challenge for many website owners, this tool creates new paragraphs for you which can rank better in search and increase conversion rates.
Another 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 manufacturer.
24/7 customer support via email and live chat.
AI heatmaps to improve website conversions and predict visitor behavior.
Mobile-optimized, fast-loading website layouts.
Free website design templates for different industries like creative services, startups, fashion brands, wellness companies, bakeries, and much more.
Zyro offers three main 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 plan 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” plan permits you to connect your own domain name, increases bandwidth and storage, and includes extra features like ad removal and integrations with tools such as Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and Facebook pixels. This is a very popular plan that’s most acceptable for small and medium-sized companies.
Finally, their “Unleashed” program provides every Zyro attribute and gives unlimited bandwidth and storage. At this affordable price of $3.49/month, it is sensible to go for 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 seeking to create and develop a website 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 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 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 sites that look great for both small businesses and personal websites alike.
With over 100 design templates to choose from, they lead the pack in regards to design. Squarespace templates appear excellent down to every detail. The fonts, color schemes, and vision all mesh flawlessly for any website.
Besides design, their stage is wonderful for bloggers. I tested out their WYSIWYG blog editor, and it is very intuitive.
You drag elements like images, headings, and text on the page and place it where you want. They also offer multiple user permissions, Google AMP performance, and you can schedule your posts:
A few small SEO limitations hold Squarespace back from being #1 on this list. To begin with, my XML sitemap pulled in two versions of every page with and without a trailing slash”/.” This double indexing may potentially result in SEO and duplicate content issues down the road. They didn’t have an easy fix the last time I checked.
Second, your site headlines become your meta names, so be cautious when adding your headlines for SEO. You can read more in my whole Wix vs Squarespace review.
Other terrific features make up for these drawbacks. Their ease of use is topnotch — websites 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 Personal 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 domain. The Personal program provides a free domain name, unlimited bandwidth and storage, free SSL, and 24/7 customer service.
Overall, if you are a small company that needs first-rate web design or a blogger that wants your articles to appear great, Squarespace is a reliable option.
Best Free Website Builder (Free — $25/month)
Weebly powers over 530,000 domain names and is called the simple website builder of choice for people without much technical experience. They offer a great deal of great features. If you’re a blogger, you can use Weebly.com to pick a domain name and use their editor to add your text, images, and articles.
They also have a mobile program to track 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. Additionally, the free plan only includes email and chat support, but no phone service.
Weebly’s paid programs vary from $5 to $25 per month. On the high end, their Business Strategy gets you innovative 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 via Square and other suppliers.
The degree of customer support you receive is based on your subscription level. You’ll find assistance yourself in several areas, including their site, service centre, community forum, social networking, and developer documentation. They also have live chat, email, and telephone support.
If you are 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 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 because of their simple dashboard and integrations with thousands of program partners.
While not every site owner needs product-selling performance, I added Shopify to the list because almost any small business could use them to set up their website.
Take a salon for example.
With Shopify, not only could you set up a quick website including a site, a map of your location, contact information, and appointment scheduling (with a program ), but you might 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 listing, such as hosting, your own domain name, 70+ specialist themes, a free SSL certificate, and promotion and SEO features.
They also offer mobile commerce, 100+ payment gateways, automated carrier shipping rates, automatic tax rates, and the complete checkout experience. Besides, 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 choose to sell products online in the future, it’s far better to get started with Shopify instead of another tool 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 full website, an internet store with unlimited products, blog features, 24/7 support, and much 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 Important features include:
You can edit and add content to your live site.
Invite other group members to collaborate on a single dashboard.
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 center.
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 enable you to build sites inside of WordPress with no need for custom coding. It is powered by Flex block, a powerful free flow page builder, providing limitless customization choices.
All the templates and themes include premade designs and content blocks. You can 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 website. You can also check Flothemes cloud hosting services, starting at $26 a month.
Install WordPress.org and connect it to your website hosting. Luckily, most hosting services provide a one-click WordPress setup.
Finally, select a theme for your website or portfolio.
You can watch several how-to tutorials by Flothemes or contact the customer support team.
If you need assistance setting up the entire 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 beginning, they also offer services like page load speed optimization, SEO, styling, etc.. Plus, you get two screen sharing sessions of 45 minutes each with specialists 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 setup, Typography, color scheme stylization, and more. You also get complete design freedom, SEO options, and a dash.
Pricing:
While their themes cost a one-time $279, Flothemes offers three pricing strategies for their website setup services, including:
Simple Installation Bundle: $499
Advanced setup packs: $999
Pro Installation packs: $1,999
The Easy Setup Package helps you skip the technical components and jump straight to adding content and personalizing your theme. It offers features like WordPress installation, website layout setup, theme installation, WordPress transfer, website launch, etc..
The Advanced Setup Package includes full assistance with site setup, styling & launching, site speed optimization & an search engine optimization consultation. Additional features include typography & color scheme stylization, SSL implementation, speed optimization, etc..
Pro Installation Package includes all of the features in the Advanced Setup Package along with the tailored mockup & implementation for your homepage.
Best Website Tool with Integrated CRM Tools
HubSpot is a topnotch CRM tool which 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 using their pre-built templates.
Their drag-and-drop editor uses responsive design to assist 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 broad range of marketing software, including tools to manage email advertising, get found online, and capture, engage with and understand leads.
By way of instance, when you make a webpage, you may add calls-to-action and forms that convert visitors into leads. Then, when you understand your traffic, you can dynamically create content unique to website visitors based on their location, device, speech, traffic origin, or some other detail you choose to capture in 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 customized messages to your leads.
Their contact report builder, analytics tools, and list segmentation help you understand your own leads.
Personalized experiences, calls-to-action, and smart content turns leads into customers.
Overall, if you’re seeking a site builder that also includes a full-featured set of CRM and marketing tools, HubSpot is your ideal alternative.
The World’s Most Popular CMS
Easiest Free Website Builder for Small Sites
Best Digital Advertising Website Builder for Local Firms
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 which allows anyone to manage a website and domain name without manual programming. In other words, a site builder is a tool or software program to help you build a website.
In the old days of the web, programmers needed to understand HTML and CSS to make a site. Today, if you want to code a website, there is 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 companies easily create sites in minutes.
How much does it cost to build 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 website for my company?
There you have it — my list of the top website builders. As there are 74 options out there, I have condensed the listing down to the very best so that you can choose the option that’s right for your small business or online brand.
If you’re looking for the best site builder overall, I recommend you get started with Wix.
For the best designs and templates, check out Squarespace.
If you will need an e-commerce site to sell products online, Shopify is a fantastic choice.
What website builder do you use?