There are so many website builders available today that it can be hard to know which one to choose. The truth is, not all website builders are created equal and the right builder for your needs will depend on the type of website you want to build and your technical skills.
To help you find the best website builder, I’ve compiled a list of my top five picks after personally testing 10 most popular website builders for small businesses and ecommerce stores.
My best recommendations are Wix and Elementor, they are easy to use and help you to create mobile friendly websites very quickly.
What is a Website Builder?
Website builders are a digital tool that helps people to create their own website easily. They are designed to be used by people with no technical knowledge and they work by dragging and dropping elements on the page.
There are many types of website builders available in the market today, each of them with their own pros and cons. Some of them may be designed to make it easier to create websites in a matter of minutes, while others may provide you with greater flexibility in your designs and layouts.
For example, Wix is a website builder that lets you drag and drop elements to build your site in minutes. Squarespace or Elementors are some of website creators which give you flexibility of design with templates that suit various purposes.
Best Website Builders: Personally Used and Tested
Websites are the backbone of any business. It is the first point of contact for users and prospects online, and it needs to be a good one. A website builder can help you create a professional site in minutes, but with so many options to choose from it can be difficult to find the best one for your needs.
To get rid of you from this hassle, I have narrowed down your selection to five best website builders that I have personally used and tested.
Let’s check each one by one…
#1 Wix
Wix is an online website builder that has been in the industry for over 16 years. They have a wide range of features that make it highly recommended for anyone who is looking to create their own website without the hassle of coding.
The Wix website builder gives you the option to choose from a wide range of templates, including themes that are designed for your preference. It also has a fully functional drag-and-drop editor that allows you to change any aspect of your website with ease.
Key Features
Wix has over 200 million global users and includes many features that are hardly available in other website builders in the market.
- Wix has an extensive library of templates to choose from when designing your site.
- You can also use the Wix app to design your site on your phone or tablet.
- It includes a drag and drop editor, so you don’t have to know HTML or CSS to build a website.
- It also has SEO tools and mobile responsive design, so you can be sure your site is optimized for search engines and mobile devices.
- There are also social media integrations, so you can easily share posts from your blog onto Facebook and Twitter with just a single click.
These are just few of many. Wix has much more features to offer to its users.
Prices
Wix offers Website Plans and Business & Ecommerce Plans ranges from $80 to $500 per month with storage space of 500mb to 50gb. It has a free plan too with limited options.
My Verdict
I have been using Wix for a while now and I am really happy with it. It is one of the most user-friendly website builders out there and it has a lot of features perfect for beginners who want to build their first website.
#2 Squarespace
Squarespace is a website builder that has everything you need to create a professional-looking website.
Squarespace is not like other website builders. It is more than just a site builder, it’s a platform for building your brand. It’s an all-in-one solution for everything from hosting to ecommerce and blogging, and it can be used by any size business and any skill level of web developer.
The Squarespace interface is simple, intuitive, and easy to use. You can create your website in minutes without any previous knowledge of coding or web design. Simply choose a template, add your content, and configure a few simple settings.
In the case that you do need some help with building your website, Squarespace offers a selection of pre-made templates that you can use as a starting point. In addition to this, the company is constantly updating their website templates with new features.
Key Features
- Squarespace provides a host of services, including domain registration, hosting, ecommerce and online marketing tools.
- There are over 20+ templates to choose from and customers can customize them with their own content.
- Squarespace helps customers with email marketing, social media marketing and web design with its extensive range of marketing tools.
- Duplicate pages, posts or any other type of content to speed up the process of web building.
- Squarespace’s built-in search engine gives your visitors useful information and accurate results.
- Manage your Squarespace site on the go with our powerful mobile app. It’s available for Android and iOS users.
Besides it, Squarespace has almost all features required to create different types of websites like personal portfolio websites, ecommerce store, business website, etc.
Pricing
Squarespace has four different premium plans that includes; Personal ($16/M), Business ($23M), Basic Commerce ($27/M), Advanced Commerce ($49/M).
My Verdict
I do recommend Squarespace because it has templates that are perfect for any business no matter the size. It is easy to use and has great features like eCommerce, blogging, and marketing tools.
#3 Weebly
Weebly is a drag-and-drop website builder and provides the tools that enables users to create websites without any coding skills. It is a cloud-based platform that allows you to create and manage your website easily.
Weebly is the world’s most popular website builder, with over 40 million people using it to build their own websites. It has been used by everyone from entrepreneurs and small businesses to celebrities and professional athletes.
Key Features
- Easy to use drag and drop editor along with Elements like Video Backgrounds, custom headers & footers, Full width image sections and color backgrounds.
- It has all the features that require to build a beautiful ecommerce website, it includes, integrated shopping cart and secure checkout, inventory tracking system, product search filters, and many more.
- Weebly’s apps give you the freedom to build and manage your site on any mobile device.
- For those looking to explore new horizons and find an appropriate website template, Weebly has a wide range of quality templates to fit all needs. From antique and vintage layouts to more modern and minimalistic ones, there is definitely something for everyone!
- With Weebly you can buy brandable domains, host them, and get them online within matter of minutes of publishing.
- All Weebly sites come with a require SEO options like sitemap, SEO optimized HTML, mobile friendly website, etc. There are also advanced search engine optimization settings like adding alt tags or specifying page-specific descriptions.
This is a summerized view of Weebly features, it has many more other tools too that are also very helpful while creating a website.
Pricing
Weebly offeres different pricing plans for websites and online stores. For websites, it has four different subscriptions including Free ($0), Connect ($5/M), Pro ($12/M), Business ($25/M). For ecommerce stores, Weebly provides three premium subscriptions that includes, Pro ($12/M), Business ($25/M), Business Plus ($38/M).
Eash plan has its own limitations and set of features. Choose one as per your requirements.
My Verdict
Weebly is an excellent choice for beginners and startup brands who want to create their own website with minimum budget and in short period of time.
#4 Elementor
Elementor is a free and open-source WordPress website builder, which means it is free to use and you can do whatever you want with the code to make your own modifications.
However, with free plan you will miss some essential features like theme builder, woocommerce builder, popup builder, form builder, dynamic content, custom CSS, Role manager, etc.
On the other hand, the pro version offers more than 200 blocks, 300+ professionaly designed pre-made templates, 90+ website kits, and much more.
This is what makes Elementor an easy-to-use drag and drop interface that allows users to create pages without writing any code. Users can also create custom layouts using the built in grid system or by importing their own layouts from other platforms such as Bootstrap, Foundation, or Skeleton.
The Elementor team came up with the idea for creating a website builder because they were dissatisfied with the other options on the market. They wanted something more than just a drag-and-drop editor that would allow them to create their own layouts without having to change coding or HTML.
The only problem with this builder is that it doesn’t offer any option for hosting and domains.
Key Features
- Elementor has a dynamic drag and drop editor that comes with hundreds of pre-made templates and widgets. It also lets you edit sites live considering their responsiveness on other devices.
- It has a very good in-built workflow management system that lets you customize your websites collaboratively with your team.
- Elementor provides all easy to use tools (Contextual Editing, Shortcuts, Right Click Menu, Multi Select, In-Line Editing, etc) require for website creation.
- You don’t need to worry about losing your changes because Elementor provides useful features like Auto Saves, Revision History, and Draft Mode.
- Elementor’s Kits Library allows you to import a fully designed website templates, landin page templates, block templates, pop-up templates, wireframe, and elements to add to your website.
- You will get plenty of assets and media elements, colors, effects, global fonts, typography options, global CSS, and much more.
- Elementor offers a wide range of ecommerce features ranging from cart customization to payment system integration.
Pricing
Elementor offers website builder and hosting plan that will cost a user around $99/year with 30 days money back gaurantee.
If you have already got a hosting from third party services like a2 hosting, then you should buy only website builder. There are four different premium packages which include Essential Plan ($45/year with 1 website), Expert Plan ($199/year with 25 websites), Studio Plan ($299/1st year with 100 websites), and Agency Plan ($999/year with 1000 websites).
It might be a costly option, but the features it provides worth the cost.
My Verdict
I recommend Elementor because it has been powering my sites for years. I have used many other builders like Divi, Weebly, and Wix but Elementor is the best one for me. Elementor has a lot of features that will make your life easier as a website owner. It can be used by beginners or experts and you can use it for any type of website you want to build.
#5 Shopify
Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce company that provides an online shopping platform to entrepreneurs and small businesses. It offers a range of e-commerce solutions including the website builder used by many small to big brands and businesses to create and maintain their online stores.
Shopify’s website builder is a drag-and-drop editor that can be used to create a store without any coding or design experience. It has over 1500 templates and themes for users to choose from and the editor also has pre-built sections for users to customize their site as per their needs.
It has got all the tools require to build and manage a multi-million ecommerce store from a single dashboard. Putting your product in front of your global customers is very easy with Shopify’s sales channels, marketing tools, and social media integration.
Key Features
- Shopify is a no code ecommerce website builder help you create mobile friendly online stores quickly and affordably.
- It has got thousands of pre-designed and well optimized templates packed with tons of features. All themes can be customized as per your needs.
- Shopify offers range of its own and third party apps that help users to customize their websites.
- It provides great customer support and a huge community you can join to connect with other likewise people, businesses, and brands.
- It helps you to manage your domain and business on the same platforms by providing tools like Business Name Generator, Domain Name Generator, and Website Builder.
- With Shopify, you can add unlimited products to your online inventory.
- It gives access to a POS System that will help you keep track of your online and offline sales more efficiently.
Prices
Along with 14 days free trial, Shopify offers monthly and yearly subscriptions. Premium plans include Basic ($29/M & $14.44/M if you choose to pay yearly), Shopify ($79/M & $39.44/M if you choose to pay yearly), Advanced ($299/M, & $147.78/M if you choose to pay yearly).
Each plan comes with its own limitations and set of features. Hence, choose one considering your needs and type of website you are willing to plan.
My Verdict
If you are specifically looking for a website builder for your ecommerce store then I definately recommend shopify because around 1.75 million businesses and brands are already using shopify solutions to sell online effortlessly.
How to Choose the Best Website Creator?
During my learning days, I was creating a website for my client without having any solid knowledge about coding and I failed. It leads me to find some tools that can help me to create a small website without requiring knowledge about HTML, CSS, and JS. During my research I have found Wix to be the best website builder for corporate websites which are mainly static in nature and information based.
I gave it a try and luckily it works and I have done my first website development project successfully.
After that I have tried different website building tools and come up with few questions that you should ask yourself before deciding on one.
The first thing you should do is consider your needs. What are your goals for your website? Do you want a site that looks professional and modern, or maybe something more simple? How much time do you have to dedicate to managing your site?
These are all questions that will help you decide which website builder will work best for you.
Besides that, below are some things you should consider –
Ease of Use
Websites are a crucial part of any business. They are the face of your company and they should be designed to look professional, easy to use, and provide all the information that a potential customer would need.
Website builders make it possible for anyone with basic computer skills to create a website. All you have to do is choose a template that suits your needs and customize it as you see fit. This way, you can make your website uniquely yours while still having access to all the features that come with being on the internet.
Hence, if you don’t have much knowledge about programming and designing then pick one builder that comes with easy dragging and dropping interface.
Customization Options
Some website builders offer you a lot of customization options while others just offer you a few. It is important to know what your needs are and make sure that the builder you choose offers the right level of customization for your needs.
A lot of people think that it is hard to customize their website with a builder – but it really isn’t! There are many ways to customize your website with a builder, including uploading images, changing text and background colors, uploading videos or audio files and much more.
You can litteraly play with pre-made templates or can start building your own layouts from the scratch using available customization options. The more options your chosen builder has the more you can make your website versatile and dynamic.
Pre-designed Templates
The website builder with pre-designed templates is a great option for those who are just starting out and don’t have the time or skills to design their own website. It’s also a perfect solution for those who have an idea of what they want, but can’t find the time to put it together.
Usually, most website builders provide you with a variety of templates that you can choose from and customize to suit your needs.
It’s important to note that these templates are not like the ones you find in Microsoft Word or Photoshop. They are designed specifically for the web and come with all the necessary coding already in place, so they will look good on any device. You can also find templates for specific purposes, such as eCommerce or blog websites.
Cost
A website builder does not have to be expensive. There are a number of website builders that offer different features to suit different budgets.
You can find the best website builder for your needs by considering your budget, the type of website you need and whether you want to have advanced features or not.
Some of the most popular website builders include Wix, Weebly, Squarespace and Shopify. All these platforms offer different features and pricing plans. Some of the more expensive ones like Shopify provide you with a wide range of tools for your business while some cheaper ones like Weebly and Wix offer more basic features.
If you are a non-techie person and trying to build your own simple business website then free or cheaper builders are great options. But, if you are creating professional websites for your clients then purchasing a feature-rich website building software is advisable.
Hence, pick the one that meets and greets your budget and website requirements.
SEO Options
There are many different factors to consider when choosing a website builder. You should look for one that has tools for creating content, blogging, and social media integration. These tools are designed to help you create a search engine friendly website and optimize it for higher rankings on Google.
A website builder with SEO options may include an SEO audit tool that will give you a score based on your site’s level of optimization. This score will help you determine where you need to focus your efforts to improve your rankings.
Besides that, it lets you optimize headings, images, content, meta titles, and descriptions effortlessly.
SEO is something that should be focused while building a website from the scratch and hence always consider choosing website builder with SEO features.
Customer Support
An important factor to consider when choosing a website builder is customer support. The company you choose should have a good support system in place for any issues that arise.
The customer support system of a website builder should be responsive, knowledgeable and prompt. Customers have different needs and the company should be able to provide assistance with no matter what the issue is.
A good customer service team will also be able to answer questions about their product and help customers get more out of it.
FAQs on Website Building Tools
Professional use a variety of tools to create websites. These tools include website builders, content management systems, and programming languages. Out of all available tools, website builders like Wix are the easiest way to create a website. They are easy to use, and provide the users with templates for the design of their site.
Custom-built websites are usually more expensive than website builders. They also take a lot of time to design and develop. On the other hand, website builders are easy to use and create a website in minutes. They offer templates that can be customized, which is not the case with custom-built websites. Hence, website builders are better than custom-built websites if don’t have much budget and time.
The average cost to build a website with a website builder is approximately around $300 to $1000 depending on the features and customization that you want in your site.
Wix, Weebly, Jimdo, Elementor, Strinkingly, Site123 are some of the best free website builders. However, each has its own limitations with its free plans.
For beginners, Weebly and Wix are the best website builders. Both have a user-friendly interface and they also offer free templates that you can use to build your own website.
Wrapping Up
As the website builders are becoming more and more popular, they are turning into a necessity for any business.
There are many reasons to use a website builder over a custom-built site. One of the most important ones is that it is much easier to update and maintain your site with an online builder than with custom-built sites.
The website builders reviewed and compared above are all great options for your business. With these tools, you can create a professional website in no time and with little to no technical knowledge.
Hope our recommendations help you to choose the right website building tool for your business.
