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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 create a web site based on price, reliability, web hosting services, technical assistance, site speed, SEO, features, ease of use, template design, and more.
We’ll also compare:
The ideal website builders for small companies.
The best free and cheap choices.
The ones with the best SEO.
The top platforms with online shop capabilities.
The very best builders for agencies.
And the best choices for photographers and artists.
What’s the Best Website Builder?
Using a website builder is a fast and easy way to build a presence for your brand or internet business. These tools simplify your site management by combining domain registrationhosting, and site design into one stage.
If you are not too knowledgeable about web design and development, you will want to go with a simple drag and drop editor.
The choice is 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 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 look beautiful, with scroll effects, and advanced design features like animation and video backgrounds.
If you already have a domain name on GoDaddy or want to register one at Wix.com, they make it super easy. Additionally, if you want to add e-commerce to your site so you could 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 require a platform with more advanced options like BigCommerce and Shopify. Wix website owners that are looking to bring an e-commerce store can get these excellent new features.
Wix is the most user-friendly website tool on the market. You can almost endlessly customize the appearance and feel of your site with no programming knowledge.
They also have a tool named Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) — the first artificial intelligence website builder. Wix ADI learns about your website and uses that information to design a site tailored to your specific needs.
This tool leverages AI choosing from countless combinations of images, text, layouts, and contact forms.
Finally, if you’re looking for the best website builder for small businesses, Wix is your very 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 site builder with a mission to assist local companies to tell their unique stories online.
Overall, they’re best known for speed and simplicity.
With Zyro, you may make a company website quickly and easily with no programming required. Your site also loads fast due to the light frame and looks great on all apparatus.
With a strong 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 images 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 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 length, expertise, and creativity level. Lastly, you click the Generate button and see your uniquely created content.
Since content creation is a challenge for many site owners, this tool creates new paragraphs for you that 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 manufacturer.
24/7 customer support via email and live chat.
AI heatmaps to increase website conversions and forecast visitor behaviour.
Mobile-optimized, fast-loading website designs.
Free website design templates for various industries like creative services, startups, fashion brands, wellness businesses, bakeries, and more.
Zyro offers three primary pricing plans — 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 doesn’t 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 very popular plan that’s most suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.
Finally, their “Unleashed” plan 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 plan and enjoy the unlimited features if you plan to get a great deal of content on your website.
Overall, Zyro is best for small businesses seeking to create and grow a website quickly, 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 begin 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 website 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 make 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 vision all mesh flawlessly for any site.
Besides design, their platform is great 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 position it where you want. They also offer multiple user permissions, Google AMP performance, and you can schedule your articles:
A few small SEO limitations hold Squarespace back from being #1 on this list. First, my XML sitemap pulled two versions of every page with and without a trailing slash”/.” This double indexing could potentially result in SEO and duplicate content problems later on. They didn’t have an easy fix the last time I checked.
Second, your blog headlines become your meta titles, so be careful when incorporating your headlines for SEO. You can read more in my full Wix vs Squarespace review.
Other terrific features make up 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 website 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 prices are based on a one-year contract, and Squarespace includes a free domainname. The Personal plan provides a free domain name, unlimited bandwidth and storage, free SSL, and 24/7 customer service.
Overall, if you’re a small business that needs first-rate web design or a blogger that wants your content to appear great, Squarespace is a trusted choice.
Best Free Website Builder (Free — $25/month)
Weebly powers over 530,000 domains and is known as the simple site 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, pictures, and content.
They also have a mobile program to keep track of your website’s performance on the go. And email marketing tools let you 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 name with Weebly branding. You can use a custom domain with this plan but are made to have Weebly branding throughout your website. Additionally, the free plan only comes with chat and email support, but no phone support.
Weebly’s paid programs range from $5 to $25 per month. On the high end, their Business Plan gets you advanced e-commerce functionality, a free domainname, 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 suppliers.
The level of customer support you receive is based on your subscription level. You’ll find assistance yourself in many areas, including their blog, service center, community discussion, social networking, and programmer documentation. They also have live chat, email, and telephone support.
If you are searching for a simple site creator to get up and running, I suggest that you begin using Weebly.
Best Website 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 any small business could use them to install 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 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 lot of features you’d come to expect from other tools on this listing, such as hosting, your own domain name, 70+ specialist topics, a free SSL certificate, and promotion and SEO features.
They also offer 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 more.
If you’re establishing a new website and think that you might want to sell products online in the future, it’s far better to begin with Shopify instead of another instrument that doesn’t take online shopping too.
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 edit and add content to your live site.
Invite additional team 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 care through email, Webflow community forum, and help center.
Integration with Zapier enables you to connect with tools like Slack, MailChimp, and Asana.
You can add up to 3000 products on your website with eCommerce support.
Best WordPress Themes for Photography and Creative Websites ($279 one-time).
Flothemes is a company that provides 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 potent free flow page builder, providing limitless customization choices.
All the templates and themes come with premade layouts and content blocks. You can also customize colors, fonts, the structure of the page, and more.
Flothemes help you build your website in a few measures, 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 installation.
Finally, select a theme for your website or portfolio.
You’ll be able to see several how-to tutorials by Flothemes or contact the customer care team.
If you need assistance setting up the entire website, you can drop a message, and their team will do everything for you.
Flothemes will help you set up your site for just $499-$1999. Besides setting up your website 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 specialists and one SEO consultation call of 45 minutes. All in all, you get six rounds of implementations.
Furthermore, 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 dash.
Pricing:
While their themes cost a one-time $279, Flothemes offers three pricing plans for their site setup services, including:
Simple Setup Package: $499
Advanced setup packages: $999
Pro Installation packs: $1,999
The Simple Setup Package can help you skip the technical parts and jump directly to adding content and personalizing your theme. It offers features like WordPress installation, site layout setup, theme setup, WordPress transfer, website launch, etc..
The Advanced Setup Package incorporates full assistance with website setup, styling & launch, site speed optimization & an SEO consultation. Additional features include typography & color scheme stylization, SSL implementation, speed optimization, etc..
Pro Setup Package includes all of the features in the Advanced Setup Package together with the tailored mockup & implementation for your homepage.
Best Site Tool with Integrated CRM Tools
HubSpot is a top-notch CRM tool which also has a full-featured CMS and website builder. Using their platform, you can 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 range of marketing software, including tools to manage email marketing, get found online, and catch, engage with and understand prospects.
For example, 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, 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 personalized messages to your leads.
Their contact builder, analytics tools, and list segmentation help you understand your own prospects.
Personalized experiences, calls-to-action, and smart content turns leads into clients.
Overall, if you’re looking for a site builder that also comes with a full-featured pair of CRM and marketing tools, HubSpot is the ideal choice.
The World’s Most Popular CMS
Easiest Free Website Builder for Small Websites
Best Digital Marketing 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 create bootstrapped sites
Best Site Builder for Agencies and Multilingual Websites
What’s 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 application to help you build a website.
In the old days of the net, programmers needed to understand HTML and CSS to create a website. Today, if you wish to code a website, there is a steep learning curve — you need to have extensive knowledge of JavaScript and PHP. Not so with site builders.
These tools assist everyone from small businesses and bloggers to information 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 website builder?
Can I get a free site for my company?
There you have it — my list of the top website builders. Because there are 74 choices out there, I’ve condensed the list down to the top 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 complete, I recommend you begin 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 good choice.
What site builder do you use?