youtube.com/watch?v=bOX1Gwm73Oo
17 Best Site Builders: Wix, Squarespace, and More (2021)
Choosing the best website builder can be difficult, because there are 74 popular choices to select from.
In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the best website builders to create a website based on price, reliability, web hosting solutions , technical support, site 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.
Those 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 effortless way to build a presence for your brand or internet business. These tools simplify your site management by combining domain registration, hosting, and website design into one platform.
If you are not too savvy with web design and development, you will want to go with an easy drag and drop editor.
The choice is up to you.
Here are my top picks for the best site builder to use this season.
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 business. 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.
In case you already have a domain on GoDaddy or want to register one at Wix.com, they make it super easy. Also, if you want to add e-commerce to your website so that you can sell online, plans begin a $20/month.
If you’re a small business, 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 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 always customize the appearance and feel of your website with no programming knowledge.
They also have a tool called Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) — the first artificial intelligence site builder. Wix ADI learns on your site and uses that information to design a website tailored to your precise needs.
This tool leverages AI selecting from countless combinations of images, text, designs, and contact forms.
Finally, if you’re seeking the best website builder for small companies, Wix is your 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 assist local businesses to tell their unique stories online.
Overall, they are famous for simplicity and speed.
With Zyro, you can create a company website quickly and easily with no programming required. Your site also loads fast due to its 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 tool, mobile-readiness, and over one million stock pictures 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 pick your type of business, then write 2-3 paragraphs describing your brand and circumstance. You then adjust your AI settings and customize them based on length, expertise, and creativity degree. Lastly, you click on the Create button and see your distinctively created content.
Since content creation is a challenge for many site 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 SEO tools to improve your search rankings.
A free SSL certificate and custom domain names.
An AI-driven logo and slogan maker.
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 agencies, startups, fashion brands, health businesses, bakeries, and more.
Zyro offers three primary pricing programs — 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” plan allows you to connect your 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 really popular plan that is 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 is sensible to go with this plan and enjoy the unlimited features if you plan to have a lot of content on your site.
Overall, Zyro is best for small businesses seeking to create and grow a website quickly, save money on writing and logo-making with 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 for free to check out their stage, then upgrade to a paid program when you are ready to grow your internet 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 right to 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 in regards to design. Squarespace templates look excellent down to every detail. The fonts, color schemes, and imagery all mesh flawlessly 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 images, headings, and text on 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 limits hold Squarespace back from being #1 on this list. First, my XML sitemap pulled in two versions of every page with and without a trailing slash”/.” This dual indexing could potentially result in SEO and duplicate content issues down the road. They didn’t have an easy fix the last time I checked.
Secondly, your site headlines always become your meta titles, so be cautious 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 topnotch — websites are elementary to assemble with their editing tools. In-built analytics tools provide continuous data onsite traffic if you’re not using Google Analytics. Plus, it’s hard to go wrong with a beautifully-designed website for only $12/month.
Monthly prices 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 domain. The Personal program provides a free domain name, unlimited bandwidth and storage, free SSL, and 24/7 customer service.
In general, if you’re a small company that needs first-rate web design or a blogger that wants your content to appear great, Squarespace is a reliable choice.
Best Free Website Builder (Free — $25/month)
Weebly powers over 530,000 domain names and is called the easy site builder of choice for people without much technical experience. They offer a lot of great features. If you’re 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 app to track 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 program 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 forced to get Weebly branding throughout your website. Also, the free program only includes email and chat support, but no phone service.
Weebly’s paid plans vary from $5 to $25 per month. On the high end, their Business Strategy 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, stock management, a shipping calculator, shipping labels, and the ability to accept payments through Square and other providers.
The degree of customer support you receive is based on your subscription level. You can find assistance yourself in several areas, including their site, support centre, community forum, social media, 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 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 program partners.
While not every website owner needs product-selling performance, I added Shopify into the list because any small business could use them to install their site.
Have a salon for example.
With Shopify, not only could you set up a quick website including a site, a map of your location, contact info, 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 listing, including hosting, your own domain name, 70+ specialist themes, a free SSL certificate, and promotion and SEO features.
They also supply mobile commerce, 100+ payment gateways, automated carrier shipping rates, automated tax rates, and the complete checkout experience. Besides, 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 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 Basic 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 painters ($16 per month).
Some of its other Important features include:
You can edit and add content to your live website.
Invite additional group members to collaborate on a single dashboard.
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 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 without the need for custom coding. It’s powered by Flex block, a powerful free stream page builder, providing limitless customization choices.
All the templates and themes include premade designs and content blocks. You may also customize colors, fonts, the structure of the page, 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 web site hosting. Luckily, most hosting services provide a one-click WordPress installation.
Finally, pick 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 whole site, you can drop a message, and their staff will do everything for you.
Flothemes will allow you to set up your website for only $499-$1999. Besides setting up your site from the start, they also provide services like page load speed optimization, SEO, styling, etc.. In addition, you get two display sharing sessions of 45 minutes each with experts and one SEO consultation call of 45 minutes. In general, you get six rounds of implementations.
Furthermore, Flothemes provides features like SSL implementation, WordPress installation, Typography, color scheme stylization, and more. You also find complete design freedom, SEO options, and a dashboard.
Pricing:
While their subjects 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 Setup packages: $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, site layout setup, theme setup, WordPress transfer, website launching, etc..
The Advanced Setup Package incorporates 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 Setup Package contains all of the features in the Advanced Setup Package together with the tailored mockup & implementation for your homepage.
Best Website Tool with Integrated CRM Tools
HubSpot is a top-notch CRM tool which also includes a full-featured CMS and website builder. Using their platform, it is possible to create website pages, blog posts, landing pages either 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 listing, HubSpot comes integrated with a wide assortment of marketing applications, including tools to manage email advertising, get found online, and catch, engage with and understand prospects.
For instance, 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 site visitors based on their location, device, language, traffic source, or some other detail you choose to capture in your HubSpot CRM.
This integrated marketing suite covers all parts of the customer lifecycle:
Forms, live chat, and conversational chatbots capture prospects.
Email advertising, retargeting, and messenger integrations send customized messages to your leads.
Their contact builder, analytics tools, and list segmentation help you understand your leads.
Personalized experiences, calls-to-action, and smart content turns leads into clients.
Overall, if you are seeking a website builder that also comes with a full-featured pair of CRM and marketing tools, HubSpot is the best choice.
The World’s Most Popular CMS
Easiest Free Website Builder for Small Sites
Best Digital Marketing Website Builder for Local Firms
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 websites
Best Site Builder for Agencies and Multilingual Websites
What is 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 website builder is a tool or software application that will help you build a website.
In the old days of the web, programmers needed to understand HTML and CSS to make a website. Today, if you wish to code a website, there is 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 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 greatest website builders. Because there are 74 options out there, I have condensed the list down to the very best so you can choose the option that is perfect for your business or online brand.
If you’re looking for the best website builder overall, I recommend you begin with Wix.
For the best designs and templates, take a look at Squarespace.
If you need an e-commerce website to sell products online, Shopify is a fantastic choice.
What website builder do you use?