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17 Best Site Builders: Wix, Squarespace, and More (2021)
Picking the best website builder can be hard, as there are 74 popular options to select from.
In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the best website builders to make a web site based on price, 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 companies.
The best free and affordable choices.
Those with the best SEO.
The top platforms with online shop capabilities.
The best builders for agencies.
And the best options for photographers and artists.
What is the Best Website Builder?
Using a site builder is a quick and easy way to build a presence for your brand or online business. These tools simplify your site management by combining domain registration, hosting, and site design into one platform.
If you’re not too knowledgeable about web design and development, you’ll want to go with a simple drag and drop editor.
The choice is up to you.
Here are my top picks for the best website builder to use this season.
Wix.
Best Website Builder for Small Business ($13/month)
Wix is the most popular website builder on the current 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 look beautiful, with scroll effects, and advanced design features like video and animation backgrounds.
In case you already have a domain name on GoDaddy or want to register one at Wix.com, they make it super simple. Also, if you’d like to add e-commerce to your site so you could sell online, plans begin a $20/month.
If you are 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 find these great new features.
Wix is the most user-friendly website tool on the market. You can almost endlessly customize the appearance and feel of your website with no coding 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 choosing from countless combinations of pictures, text, layouts, and contact forms.
Finally, if you’re seeking the best site builder for small businesses, Wix is your best option.
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 site builder with a mission to assist local companies to tell their unique stories on the web.
Overall, they’re best known for simplicity and speed.
With Zyro, you may make a company site quickly and easily with no coding required. Your site also loads fast because of 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 tool, mobile-readiness, and more than one million stock pictures to choose 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 get started with this tool, you pick 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, experience, and creativity level. Last, you click on the Generate button and see your uniquely created content.
Since content generation is a challenge for many website owners, this tool generates 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 domain names.
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 behaviour.
Mobile-optimized, fast-loading website layouts.
Free website design templates for various industries like creative agencies, startups, fashion brands, wellness companies, 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 plan doesn’t include a custom domain name but does provide 99.9% uptime, an SSL certificate, 500MB of bandwidth and 500MB of storage.
Their “Basic” program 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 very popular plan that is most acceptable for small and medium-sized businesses.
Finally, their “Unleashed” program provides every Zyro attribute and provides unlimited storage and bandwidth. At this affordable price of $3.49/month, it makes sense to go with this plan and enjoy the unlimited features if you’re planning to have a great deal of content on your website.
Overall, Zyro is ideal for small businesses looking to create and grow 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 check out their stage, then upgrade to a paid plan 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 make 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 when it comes to design. Squarespace templates look excellent down to every detail. The fonts, color schemes, and imagery all mesh perfectly for any website.
Besides design, their platform is great 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 articles:
A few small SEO limits hold Squarespace back from being #1 on this list. To begin with, my XML sitemap pulled 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 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 top-notch — sites are elementary to build with their editing tools. In-built analytics tools provide steady data onsite traffic if you are 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 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 support.
Overall, 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 domains 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, pictures, and content.
They also have a mobile program to keep track of your site’s functionality on the go. And email marketing tools allow you to send newsletters to your subscribers from inside 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 have Weebly branding throughout your website. Also, the free plan only includes 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 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 suppliers.
The degree of customer support you get is based on your subscription level. You can find assistance yourself in several areas, including their blog, service center, community forum, social networking, and developer 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 popular ecommerce platform used by over 800,000 online companies 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 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 install their site.
Take a salon for instance.
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 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+ professional themes, a free SSL certificate, and marketing and SEO features.
They also offer mobile commerce, 100+ payment gateways, automatic carrier shipping rates, automatic 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 think that you may choose to sell products online in the future, it is far better to begin with Shopify instead of another instrument that doesn’t 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 want, including a full website, an internet store with unlimited products, site features, 24/7 support, and much more.
If you’d like 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 website.
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 such as 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 offers customizable WordPress themes. These templates enable you to build sites inside of WordPress with no need for custom coding. It’s 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 page, and more.
Flothemes help you build your website 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 join it to your web site hosting. Luckily, most hosting services offer a one-click WordPress installation.
Finally, select a theme for your site 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 can help you set up your website for just $499-$1999. Besides setting up your site from the start, they also offer services like page load speed optimization, SEO, styling, etc.. In addition, you get two display sharing sessions of 45 minutes each with specialists 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 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 Setup Package: $499
Advanced setup packages: $999
Pro Setup packages: $1,999
The Simple Setup Package helps you skip the technical parts and jump straight to adding content and personalizing your motif. It offers features like WordPress installation, site layout setup, theme installation, WordPress transfer, site launch, 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 Setup Package includes all the features from the Advanced Setup Package along with the tailored mockup & implementation for your homepage.
Best Website 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 with their pre-built templates.
Their drag-and-drop editor uses responsive design that will 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 assortment of marketing applications, including tools to manage email marketing, get found online, and capture, engage with and understand leads.
By way of example, when you create a webpage, you may add calls-to-action and forms that convert visitors into leads. Then, when you understand your visitors, you can dynamically create content unique to site visitors based on their location, device, speech, 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 marketing, retargeting, and messenger integrations send personalized messages to your leads.
Their contact report builder, analytics tools, and record segmentation help you understand your own prospects.
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 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 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 websites
Best Website 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 coding. 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 understand HTML and CSS to make a site. 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 site builders.
These tools assist everyone from small businesses and bloggers to information websites and ecommerce businesses 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 website for my company?
There you have it — my list of the greatest website builders. As there are 74 options out there, I’ve condensed the list down to the top so that you can choose the option that’s perfect for your small business or online brand.
If you are looking for the best website 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 good choice.
What site builder do you use?