https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16P9qKW9pI
17 Best Website Builders: Wix, Squarespace, and More (2021)
Picking the best website builder can be hard, 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, website speed, SEO, features, ease of use, template design, and much more.
We’ll also compare:
The best website builders for small businesses.
The best free and cheap options.
The ones with the best SEO.
The top platforms with online store capabilities.
The top builders for agencies.
And the best choices 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 internet business. These tools simplify your site management by combining domain registration, hosting, and website design into one platform.
If you’re not too savvy with 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 Site Builder for Small Business ($13/month)
Wix is the most popular website builder on the market, with over 100 million users.
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 appear beautiful, with scroll effects, and advanced design features like video and animation backgrounds.
If you already have a domain on GoDaddy or want to register one at Wix.com, they make it super easy. Additionally, if you’d like to add e-commerce to your website so you could sell online, plans start a $20/month.
If you are a small business, 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 bring an e-commerce store can get these great new features.
Wix is the most user-friendly website tool on the market. You can almost always customize the look and feel of your website with no coding knowledge.
They also have a tool named 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 billions of combinations of pictures, text, designs, and contact forms.
Ultimately, if you’re seeking the best site builder for small businesses, Wix is the very best option.
Read my full 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 website builder with a mission to help local companies to tell their unique stories on the web.
Overall, they’re famous for simplicity and speed.
With Zyro, you can create a business website quickly and easily with no programming required. Your website also loads fast because of its 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 tool, mobile-readiness, and over one million stock images to choose from.
One of the standout features is their AI Content Generator, which provides SEO-friendly content ideas based on your industry and specific business type.
To get started with this tool, you choose your type of business, then write 2-3 paragraphs describing your brand and context. Then you correct your AI settings and customize them based on length, experience, and creativity level. Last, you click on the Generate button and see your uniquely generated content.
Since content generation is a challenge for many site owners, this tool generates new paragraphs for you that can rank better in search and increase conversion rates.
Another excellent features include:
Built-in search engine optimization tools to increase 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 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 main 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” program permits you to connect your 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 really popular plan that is most suitable for small and medium-sized companies.
Finally, their “Unleashed” plan provides every Zyro feature and gives unlimited bandwidth and storage. At this affordable price of $3.49/month, it makes sense to go for this plan and enjoy the unlimited features if you plan to get a great deal of content on your site.
Overall, Zyro is best for small businesses seeking to create and grow a website fast, save money on composing 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 internet business.
Get started with Zyro and start building your site 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 create 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 perfectly for any website.
Besides design, their stage is great for bloggers. I tested out their WYSIWYG blog editor, and it is very intuitive.
You drag elements like images, 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 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 each page with and without a trailing slash”/.” This double indexing could potentially result in SEO and duplicate content issues later on. They didn’t have an easy fix the last time I checked.
Secondly, your blog headlines become your meta titles, so be cautious when adding 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 top-notch — sites are elementary to build with their editing tools. In-built analytics tools provide continuous data on-site visitors if you are not using Google Analytics. Plus, it’s tough to go wrong with a beautifully-designed website for only $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 program provides a free domain name, unlimited bandwidth and storage, free SSL, and 24/7 customer support.
In general, if you’re a small company that needs first-rate web design or a blogger who 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 known as 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 select a domain name and use their editor to add your own text, images, and articles.
They also have a mobile program to keep track of your site’s performance on the go. And email marketing tools allow you to send newsletters to your subscribers from inside 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 name with this plan but are forced to get Weebly branding throughout your website. Also, the free program only includes chat and email support, but no phone support.
Weebly’s paid plans range from $5 to $25 per month. On the high end, their Business Plan 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, stock management, a shipping calculator, shipping labels, and the ability to accept payments via Square and other providers.
The degree of customer support you receive is based on your subscription level. You can find assistance yourself in many areas, including their blog, service centre, community discussion, 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 recommend you get started using Weebly.
Best Website Builder for Ecommerce ($29/month)
Shopify is a favorite 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 program partners.
While not every site owner needs product-selling performance, I added Shopify into the list because almost any small business could use them to install their website.
Take a salon for example.
With Shopify, not only could you set up a quick site 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 business.
Shopify has a great deal of features you’d come to expect from other tools on this list, such as hosting, your own domain name, 70+ specialist topics, 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 much more.
If you’re setting up a new website and believe that you might want 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 too.
They offer three plans ranging from $29/month to $299/month. The $29/month Basic Shopify Plan should give website owners everything they need, including a complete website, an online store with unlimited products, blog features, 24/7 support, and more.
If you’d like to give Shopify a try, they offer 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 site.
Invite additional team 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 through email, Webflow community forum, and help centre.
Integration with Zapier enables you to 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 company that offers customizable WordPress themes. These templates help you build sites inside of WordPress with no need for custom coding. It’s powered by Flex block, a powerful free stream page builder, providing limitless customization options.
All the templates and themes come with premade layouts 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. Fortunately, most hosting services provide a one-click WordPress installation.
Finally, pick a theme for your site or portfolio.
You’ll be able to see several how-to tutorials by Flothemes or contact the customer support team.
If you need help 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 just $499-$1999. Besides setting up your site from the start, they also offer 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.
Furthermore, Flothemes provides features like SSL implementation, WordPress installation, Typography, color scheme stylization, and much more. You also get complete design freedom, SEO options, and a dashboard.
Pricing:
While their themes cost a one-time $279, Flothemes offers three pricing strategies for their site setup services, including:
Simple Installation Bundle: $499
Advanced setup packs: $999
Pro Installation packs: $1,999
The Easy Setup Package can help you skip the technical parts and jump straight to adding content and personalizing your theme. It offers features like WordPress installation, site layout setup, theme setup, WordPress transfer, site launch, etc..
The Advanced Setup Package includes full assistance with site setup, styling & launch, site speed optimization & an SEO consultation. Additional features include typography & colour scheme stylization, SSL implementation, speed optimization, etc..
Pro Installation Package contains all of 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 which also includes a full-featured CMS and website builder. Using their platform, you can create website pages, blog posts, landing pages either from scratch or with their pre-built templates.
Their drag-and-drop editor uses responsive design that will 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 wide assortment of marketing applications, including tools to manage email marketing, get found online, and capture, engage with and understand prospects.
For instance, when you create a webpage, you can add calls-to-action and forms that convert visitors into leads. Then, when you understand your visitors, you can dynamically create content unique to website 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 leads.
Email marketing, retargeting, and messenger integrations send customized messages to your leads.
Their contact report 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’re seeking a website builder that also comes with a full-featured set of CRM and marketing tools, HubSpot is the best 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 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’s a Website Builder?
A website builder is a tool which allows anyone to manage a site and domain name without manual coding. In other words, a site builder is a tool or software program that will assist you build a web site.
In the old days of the web, programmers needed to know HTML and CSS to create a site. Today, if you want to code a site, there is a steep learning curve — you want to have extensive knowledge of JavaScript and PHP. Not so with site builders.
These tools help 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 business?
There you have it — my list of the top website builders. As there are 74 options 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 site builder complete, I recommend you begin with Wix.
For the best designs and templates, check out Squarespace.
If you will need an e-commerce website to sell products online, Shopify is a good choice.
What site builder do you use?