Top Website Builders for Stunning Websites & Profitable Stores

Building your first website or online store can feel like a daunting task. There are so many things to decide. You need to pick a good domain name, a web host, and CMS software, and then you have to learn how to manage everything. But there is an easier way, and this is where website builders come in ⇣

Website builders are simple online-based tools that let you build your website or online shop within minutes without writing any code.

Although most website builders are easy to learn and feature-packed, not all of them are made equal. Before you decide which one to go with, let’s compare the best website builders on the market right now:

Best Website Builders: Our Shortlist

Top Website Builders: Full List

With so many website builders around, it can be a real challenge to find a builder that offers the right balance of features and price. Here is my list of the best web builders right now.

At the end of this list, I have also included three of the worst website builders in 2024, I strongly recommend you stay away from them!

1. Wix (Overall Best Website Builder in 2024)

Features

• #1 drag and drop website builder for small business in 2024
• Free domain name for the first year.
• Sell tickets to your events directly on your website.
• Manage your hotel and restaurant orders online.
• Sell subscriptions to your content.

Get Started With WIX (Plans from $16/month)

Pricing Plans

	Connect Domain*	Combo	Unlimited	VIP	PRO
Remove Ads	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Accept Payments	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Online Selling	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free Domain For First Year	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Storage	500 MB	2 GB	5 GB	50 GB	100 GB
Bandwidth	1 GB	2 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Video Hours	Not Included	30 Minutes	1 Hour	2 Hours	5 Hours
Online Bookings	Not Included	Not Included	Not Included	Not Included	Not Included
Price	$5/month	$16/month	$22/month	$27/month	$45/month

Pros

• The most popular website builder on the market
• Offers everything you need to build and manage an online store.
• The free plan lets you test the service before you buy.
• Over 800 designer-made templates to choose from.
• Built-in payment gateway lets you start taking payments right away.

Cons

• Once you pick a template, it’s difficult to change to a different one.
• If you want to accept payments, you need to start with the $27/month plan.

Wix is my favorite website builder. It is an all-in-one website builder that can help you take any business online. Whether you want to start an online store or start taking orders for your restaurant online, Wix makes it as easy as a couple of clicks.

Their simple ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) editor lets you design any kind of website you want and add features with just a couple of clicks. What makes Wix great is that it comes with special built-in features for restaurant and even-based businesses so you can make a fully professional website and start making money from day one.

The best part about Wix is that they offer a built-in payment gateway you can use to start accepting payments. With Wix, you don’t have to create a PayPal or a Stripe account just to start taking payments although you can integrate them into your website.

Designing a website can be difficult. Where do you even start? There are so many options to choose from and things to do. Wix makes it easy to get your site up and running by offering over 800 different templates you can choose from.

It also makes it easy to customize your website using its simple drag-and-drop editor. Want to launch a portfolio site? Just select the template, fill out the details, customize the design, and voila! Your website is live.

2. Squarespace (Runner Up Best Website Builder)

Features

• Everything you need to launch, grow and manage an online store.
• Hundreds of award-winning templates for almost any kind of business.
• One of the easiest website editors on the market.
• Sell anything including physical products, services, digital products, and memberships.

Get Started With Squarespace (Plans from $16/month)

(use coupon code WEBSITERATING and get 10% OFF)

Pricing Plans

	Personal	Business	Basic Commerce	Advanced Commerce
Free Domain For First Year	Included	Included	Included	Included
Bandwidth	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Storage	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Contributors	2	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Premium Integrations and Blocks	Not Included	Included	Included	Included
eCommerce	Not Included	Included	Included	Included
Transaction Fees	N/A	3%	0%	0%
Subscriptions	Not Included	Not Included	Not Included	Included
Point of Sale	Not Included	Not Included	Included	Included
Advanced eCommerce Analytics	Not Included	Not Included	Included	Included
Price	$16/month	$23/month	$27/month	$49/month

Pros

• Award-winning templates that look much better than most other website builders.
• Integrations for PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, and AfterPay.
• Automate your sales tax filing with TaxJar integration.
• Email Marketing and SEO Tools to grow your business.
• Free domain name for the first year.

Cons

• You can only start selling with the $23/month Business plan.

Squarespace is one of the easiest website builders. It comes with hundreds of award-winning templates you can edit and launch your website within a matter of minutes.

Their catalog has a template for almost every type of business including events, memberships, online stores, and blogs. Their platform offers many ways to make money with your website. You can sell services or products. You can even create a membership area for your audience where they can pay to get access to your premium content.

Squarespace comes with built-in email marketing tools to help you grow your business. You can send automated emails to keep your subscribers engaged, promote a new product, or send your customers discount coupons.

3. Shopify (Best for creating e-commerce stores)

Features

• The easiest eCommerce website builder.
• One of the most powerful eCommerce platforms.
• Built-in marketing tools to help you grow your business.
• Start selling offline using the Shopify POS system.

Get Started With Shopify (Plans from $5/month)

Pricing Plans

	Shopify Starter	Basic Shopify	Shopify	Advanced Shopify
Unlimited Products	No	Included	Included	Included
Discount Codes	No	Included	Included	Included
Abandoned Cart Recovery	No	Included	Included	Included
Staff Accounts	1	2	5	15
Locations	1	Up to 4	Up to 5	Up to 8
Professional Reports	Basic reporting	Basic reporting	Included	Included
Online Transaction Fee	5%	2.9% + 30¢ USD	2.6% + 30¢ USD	2.4% + 30¢ USD
Shipping Discount	No	Up to 77%	Up to 88%	Up to 88%
24/7 Customer Support	Included	Included	Included	Included
Price	$5/month	$29/month	$79/month	$299/month

Pros

• Comes with built-in email marketing tools.
• Manage everything from payments, orders, and shipping from one platform.
• Built-in payment gateway makes it easy to start taking payments.
• 24/7 customer support to help you when you get stuck.
• Manage your store wherever you go using the mobile app.
• #1 free-trial e-commerce website builder on the market

Cons

• Shopify Starter ($5/month) is their cheapest entry plan but is missing features such as custom domain support, abandoned cart recovery, discount codes, gift cards, and a full checkout module.
• Can be a little expensive if you are just starting out.
• Shopify’s website designer tool isn’t as advanced as other tools on this list.

Shopify lets you build scalable online stores that can handle anything from ten to hundreds of thousands of customers.

They are trusted by thousands of businesses small and large around the world. If you are serious about starting an online store, Shopify is the best choice. Their platform is highly scalable and is trusted by many big brands.

Shopify’s website editor comes with 100+ professional-made templates. Their catalog has templates for almost any kind of business. You can customize all aspects of your website design using the simple settings in Shopify’s theme editor tool.

You can even edit the CSS and HTML of your website’s theme. And if you want to create something custom, you can build your own theme using the Liquid templating language.

What separates Shopify from other website builders on this list is that it specializes in eCommerce websites and can help you build a full-fledged online store with easy inventory management ready to compete with the big-name brands of your industry.

The best part is that Shopify comes with a built-in payment gateway that makes it easy for you to start taking payments right away. Shopify lets you sell anywhere online and even offline using their POS system. If you want to start taking payments for your business offline, you can get their POS machine for an additional fee.

4. Webflow (Best for web designers and professionals)

Features

• Advanced tools that let you design your website any way you want.
• Used by professional designers at big companies such as Zendesk and Dell.
• Dozens of free designer-made templates.

Get Started With Webflow (Plans from $14/month)

Pricing Plans

	Starter	Basic	CMS	Business
Pages	2	100	100	100
Monthly Visits	1,000	250,000	250,000	300,000
Collection Items	50	0	2,000	10,000
CDN Bandwidth	1 GB	50 GB	200 GB	400 GB
eCommerce Features	Not Included	Not Included	Not Included	Not Included
Store Items	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Custom Checkout	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Custom Shopping Cart	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Transaction Fee	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Price	Free	$14/month	$23/month	$39/month

Pros

• A huge selection of free and premium templates to choose from.
• Free plan to test the tool before you buy a premium subscription.
• Easy CMS features to easily create and manage content on your website.

Cons

• eCommerce features are only available on eCommerce plans that start at $39/month.

Webflow gives you complete freedom over the design of your website. Unlike other tools on this list, it may not be the easiest to start with but it is the most advanced.

Rather than create a design in Photoshop and convert it to HTML, you can create your website directly in Webflow with its advanced tools that give you complete web design freedom over every pixel.

Customize everything including margins and paddings of individual elements, the layout of your website, and every smallest detail.

Webflow comes with dozens of free cute website templates you can start editing right away. And if you can’t find something that suits your taste, you buy a premium template from the Webflow theme store. There’s a template available for every type of business.

Webflow is not limited to a website builder. It can also help you start selling online. It comes with all the eCommerce features you need. It lets you sell both digital and physical products. You can accept payments on your website using Webflow’s integrations for Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

Webflow offers two different pricing tiers: Site Plans and eCommerce Plans. The former is great for anyone looking to start a blog, or a personal website, or someone who isn’t interested in selling online. The latter is for people who want to start selling online.

5. Hostinger Website Builder

Features

• Hostinger Website Builder (previously called Zyro)
• The cheapest website builder on the market.
• Manage your orders and inventory from one dashboard.
• Free domain name for one year.
• Add messenger live chat on your website.
• Sell your products on Amazon.

Get Started With Hostinger (Plans from $1.99/month)

Pricing Plans

	Website plan	Business plan
Bandwidth	Unlimited	Unlimited
Storage	Unlimited	Unlimited
Free Domain For First Year	Included	Included
Products	Not Applicable	Up to 500
Abandoned Cart Recovery	Not Applicable	Included
Product Filters	Not Applicable	Included
Sell on Amazon	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Price	$1.99/month	$2.99/month

Pros

• Start selling online in a matter of minutes.
• Dozens of web designer-crafted templates to help your website stand out.
• Easy to learn drag and drop website editor.

Cons

• The Website plan does not include any products.

Hostinger Website Builder (formerly Zyro) is one of the easiest and cheapest website builders on the market. It comes with dozens of designer-made website templates for every industry imaginable. It lets you edit all aspects of the design with a simple drag-and-drop interface.

If you want to launch an online store, Hostinger is a great place to start. It’s easy to use and lets you manage all your orders and inventory from one place. It comes with tools to automate everything from shipping and delivery to filing taxes.

It also comes with other essential eCommerce features such as discount coupons, multiple payment options, and analytics. It even lets you sell gift coupons for your website.

6. Site123 (Best for building multilingual websites)

Features

• One of the simplest and easiest website builders.
• Cheapest pricing on the market.
• Dozens of templates to choose from.

Get Started With Site123 (Plans from $12.80/month)

Pricing Plans

	Free plan	Premium plan
Storage	250 MB	10 GB Storage
Bandwidth	250 MB	5 GB Bandwidth
Free Domain For First Year	N/A	Included
Site123 Floating Tag on Your Website	Yes	Removed
Domain	Subdomain	Connect your domain
eCommerce	Not Included	Included
Price	$0/month	$12.80/month

Pros

• One of the cheapest website builders.
• Start selling online and manage orders from one platform.
• 24/7 customer support.
• An easy-to-use website builder that is easy to learn.

Cons

• The templates are not as good as the other website builders on this list.
• The website builder is not as good as its competitors.

Site123 is one of the cheapest website builders on this list. It lets you launch your online shop for only $12.80/month. It may not be the most advanced website editor but it is one of the easiest. It comes with a huge selection of templates to choose from.

Site123 is packed with amazing marketing tools to help you grow your business. It comes with email marketing tools to keep in touch with your customers and promote your products. It also comes with built-in mailboxes so you can create email addresses on your own domain name.

Site123’s eCommerce features let you manage your orders and inventory from one place. It also helps you manage shipping and tax rates.

7. Strikingly (Best for building one-page websites)

Features

• One of the easiest website builders.
• Start selling online by connecting PayPal or Stripe.
• Marketing tools including live chat, newsletters, and forms.

Get Started With Strikingly (Plans from $6/month)

Pricing Plans

	Free plan	Limited plan	Pro plan	VIP plan
Custom Domain	Only Strikingly.com Subdomain	Connect Custom Domain	Connect Custom Domain	Connect Custom Domain
Free Domain Name With Annual Pricing	Not Included	Included	Included	Included
Sites	5	2	3	5
Storage	500 MB	1 GB	20 GB	100 GB
Bandwidth	5 GB	50 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited
Products	1 per site	5 per site	300 per site	Unlimited
Memberships	Not Included	Not Included	Included	Included
Multiple Membership Tiers	Not Included	Not Included	Not Included	Included
Customer Support	24/7	24/7	24/7	Priority 24/7 Support
Price	$0/month	$6/month	$11.20/month	$34.40/month

Pros

• Built for beginners. Easy to learn and start using.
• 24/7 Customer Support.
• Free plan to test the waters before going all in.
• Great for building one-page websites.
• Dozens of templates to choose from.

Cons

• Templates are not as well-designed as the competition.

Strikingly started as a one-page professional website builder for freelancers, photographers, and other creatives to showcase their work. Now, it’s a full-featured website builder that can build almost any kind of website.

Whether you want to start a personal blog or launch an online shop, you can do it all with Strikingly’s eCommerce features. It even allows you to create a membership area for your audience. It lets you put your premium content behind a paywall.

Striking lets you create both one-page and multipage websites. It comes with dozens of minimal website templates to choose from. Their website editor is easy to learn and can help you get your website up and running within minutes.

8. Jimdo (Best website builder for total beginners)

Features

• Dozens of templates to choose from.
• Launch your online shop today using the easy-to-use website editor.
• Free domain name for the first year.

Get Started With Jimdo (Plans from $9/month)

Pricing Plans

	Play	Start	Grow	Business	VIP
Bandwidth	2 GB	10 GB	20 GB	20 GB	Unlimited
Storage	500 MB	5 GB	15 GB	15 GB	Unlimited
Free Domain	Jimdo Subdomain	Included	Included	Included	Included
Online Store	Not Included	Not Included	Not Included	Included	Included
Pages	5	10	50	50	Unlimited
Product Variants	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Included	Included
Product Layouts	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Included	Included
Customer Support	N/A	Within 1-2 business days	Within 4 hours	Within 4 hours	Within 1 hour
Price	$0/month	$9/month	$14/month	$18/month	$24/month

Pros

• Jimdo logo maker helps you make a logo in seconds.
• Manage your orders on the go using the Jimdo mobile app.
• Doesn’t charge an additional transaction fee on top of the payment gateway fee.
• Free plan to test and try the service before you buy.

Cons

• The templates look very basic.

Jimdo is a website builder mostly known for its beginner-friendliness and eCommerce features. It lets you build and launch your online store within minutes. It comes with dozens of responsive templates you can choose from.

The best part about Jimdo is that it gives you an all-in-one platform to manage your catalog and your orders. You can manage your orders and your store on the go using Jimdo’s mobile app.

9. Google My Business (The best totally free website builder)

Features

• Completely free to launch your website.
• Create a basic website in a matter of minutes.
• Automatically connected to Google My Business listing on the map.

Pros

• Totally free.
• Start with a free subdomain.
• An easy way for customers to get more information about your business.

Cons

• Can only create a basic website.
• No eCommerce features.

Google My Business lets you create a free website for your business quickly. It lets you add a gallery to display pictures related to your business. It also lets you create a list of your product or service offerings.

Google My Business is completely free. The only cost you might incur is that of a domain name if you want to use a custom domain name for your free website.

You can also post updates on your Google My Business website. It also allows you to create a quick contact page to let your customers reach out to you.

Honorable Mentions

Constant Contact (Best for building sites using AI)

• Create a professional website for free using a simple A.I.-based builder.
• One of the best email marketing platforms on the market.
• Create an online shop and promote your products using the power of email marketing.

Constant Contact is an email marketing platform used by thousands of businesses around the world. Their tools help you build and optimize your entire funnel on one platform. The best part about building your site with Constant Contact is that it gives you access to its powerful email marketing platform without having to manage multiple dashboards and tools. Find out what the best alternatives to Constant Contact are.

Simvoly (Best for building funnels)

• An all-in-one solution to create and optimize your marketing funnel.
• Comes with built-in eCommerce and CRM functionality.
• A simple drag-and-drop builder to design your website and landing pages.

Simvoly lets you build your marketing funnel from scratch and without any third-party tools. It comes with optimization tools that let you optimize your funnel to increase your conversion rate and your revenue. It lets you easily split-test your landing pages to optimize them into a money-making machine. Whether you want to sell a course, a physical product, or a service, you can easily do it with Simvoly’s eCommerce and CRM features.

Duda Website Builder (Fastest loading website builder templates)

• Drag-and-drop editor: Duda’s drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create and customize your website without any coding knowledge.
• Unlimited bandwidth and storage: You can host your website on Duda’s servers without worrying about bandwidth or storage limits.
• Free SSL certificate: Duda includes a free SSL certificate with all plans, which encrypts your website’s traffic and makes it more secure.
• 24/7 customer support: Duda offers 24/7 customer support in multiple languages, so you can get help whenever you need it.
• Ecommerce features: Duda’s ecommerce features make it easy to sell products or services online.
• Mobile-friendly: Duda’s websites are responsive, so they look great on all devices.
• SEO tools: Duda includes built-in SEO tools to help you optimize your website for search engines.

Duda is a great website builder that matches giants like WordPress and Wix for functionality. It’s definitely more user-friendly than WordPress, but beginners may struggle with some tools. 

Overall, its price plans are attractive given the number of features you get, and despite a couple of glitches, the platform performs exceptionally well.

GoDaddy Website Builder

• Free domain name for the first year
• Unlimited bandwidth and storage
• Free SSL certificate
• 250+ templates
• E-commerce and blogging features
• Free 14-day trial

Build a professional website with GoDaddy Website Builder. No coding skills required. Choose from over 250 templates, add your own content, and launch your website in minutes. Get a free domain name for the first year and enjoy unlimited bandwidth and storage. Plus, get a free SSL certificate to keep your website secure.

Try GoDaddy Website Builder today for free!

Here are some of the key features of GoDaddy Website Builder:

• Free domain name for the first year: This is a great way to save money on your website hosting costs.
• Unlimited bandwidth and storage: This means you can be sure that your website will always be up and running, no matter how much traffic it gets.
• Free SSL certificate: This encrypts your website’s traffic, making it more secure for your visitors.
• 250+ templates: There are plenty of templates to choose from, so you can find one that fits your brand and style.
• Ecommerce features: If you want to sell products or services online, GoDaddy Website Builder has the features you need.
• Blogging: You can also use GoDaddy Website Builder to create a blog for your website.
• 24/7 customer support: If you need help with your website, GoDaddy Website Builder has 24/7 customer support available.

Overall, GoDaddy Website Builder is a great option for businesses of all sizes. It’s easy to use, affordable, and has all the features you need to create a professional website.

Mailchimp (Best for integrating email marketing)

• A simple website builder to launch your website for free.
• One of the best email marketing tools.
• One of the easiest website builders with dozens of templates.

Mailchimp is one of the biggest Email Marketing platforms on the market. They are one of the oldest and started as a tool for small businesses. Their main goal is to make it easy for small businesses to grow online. With Mailchimp, you can not only launch your website Today but also gain access to some of the best marketing tools on the Internet.

Mailchimp may not be as advanced or as feature-rich as the other website builders on the list but it makes up for it in simplicity. Find out what the best alternatives to Mailchimp are.

Worst Website Builders (Not Worth Your Time or Money!)

There are a lot of website builders out there. And, unfortunately, not all of them are created equal. In fact, some of them are downright terrible. If you’re considering using a website builder to create your website, you’ll want to avoid the following:

1. DoodleKit

DoodleKit is a website builder that makes it easy for you to launch your small business website. If you’re someone who doesn’t know how to code, this builder can help you build your website in less than an hour without touching a single line of code.

If you’re looking for a website builder to build your first website, here’s a tip: any website builder that lacks professional-looking, modern design templates isn’t worth your time. DoodleKit fails horribly in this regard.

Their templates might have looked great a decade ago. But compared to the templates other, modern website builders offer, these templates look like they were made by a 16-year-old who just started learning web design.

DoodleKit might be helpful if you’re just starting out, but I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a premium plan. This website builder hasn’t been updated in a long time.

Read more

The team behind it might have been fixing bugs and security issues, but it seems like they haven’t added any new features in a long time. Just look at their website. It still talks about basic features such as file uploading, website statistics, and image galleries.

Not only are their templates super-old, but even their website copy also seems decades old. DoodleKit is a website builder from the era when personal diary blogs were getting popular. Those blogs have died out now, but DoodleKit still hasn’t moved on. Just take one look at their website and you’ll see what I mean.

If you want to build a modern website, I would highly recommend not going with DoodleKit. Their own website is stuck in the past. It is really slow and hasn’t caught up with modern best practices.

The worst part about DoodleKit is that their pricing starts at $14 per month. For $14 per month, other website builders will let you create a full-blown online store that can compete with giants. If you’ve looked at any of DoodleKit’s competitors, then I don’t need to tell you how expensive these prices are. Now, they do have a free plan if you want to test the waters, but it’s severely limiting. It even lacks SSL security, meaning no HTTPS.

If you’re looking for a much better website builder, there are dozens of others that are cheaper than DoodleKit, and offer better templates. They also offer a free domain name on their paid plans. Other website builders also offer dozens and dozens of modern features that DoodleKit lacks. They are also much easier to learn.

2. Webs.com

Webs.com (formerly freewebs) is a website builder aimed at small business owners. It’s an all-in-one solution for taking your small business online.

Webs.com got popular by offering a free plan. Their free plan used to be really generous. Now, it’s only a trial (although without a time limit) plan with lots of limits. It only allows you to build up to 5 pages. Most features are locked behind paid plans. If you are looking for a free website builder to build a hobby site, there are dozens of website builders in the market that are free, generous, and much better than Webs.com.

This website builder comes with dozens of templates you can use to build your website. Just choose a template, customize it with a drag-and-drop interface, and you’re ready to launch your site! Although the process is easy, the designs are really outdated. They are no match for the modern templates offered by other, more modern, website builders.

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The worst part about Webs.com is that it seems that they have stopped developing the product. And if they’re still developing, it’s going at a snail’s pace. It’s almost as if the company behind this product has given up on it. This website builder is one of the oldest and used to be one of the most popular.

If you search for user reviews of Webs.com, you’ll notice that the first page of Google is filled with terrible reviews. The average rating for Webs.com around the internet is less than 2 stars. Most reviews are about how terrible their customer support service is.

Putting all the bad stuff aside, the design interface is user-friendly and easy to learn. It will take you less than an hour to learn the ropes. It’s made for beginners.

Webs.com’s plans start as low as $5.99 per month. Their basic plan allows you to build an unlimited number of pages on your website. It unlocks almost all the features except eCommerce. If you want to start selling on your website, you’ll need to pay at least $12.99 per month.

If you are someone with very little technical knowledge, this website builder might seem like the best option. But it’ll only seem so until you check out some of their competitors. There are a lot of other website builders in the market that are not only cheaper but offer a lot more features.

They also offer modern design templates that will help your website stand out. In my years of building websites, I’ve seen many website builders come and go. Webs.com used to be one of the best back in the day. But now, there’s no way I can recommend it to anyone. There are too many better alternatives in the market.

3. Yola

Yola is a website builder that helps you create a professional-looking website without any design or coding knowledge.

If you are building your first website, Yola could be a good choice. It’s a simple drag-and-drop website builder that lets you design your website yourself without any programming knowledge. The process is simple: pick one of the dozens of templates, customize the look and feel, add some pages, and hit publish. This tool is made for beginners.

Yola’s pricing is a huge deal-breaker for me. Their most basic paid plan is the Bronze plan, which is only $5.91 per month. But it doesn’t remove the Yola ads from your website. Yes, you heard it right! You’ll pay $5.91 per month for your website but there will be an ad for the Yola website builder on it. I really don’t understand this business decision… No other website builder charges you $6 a month and displays an ad on your website.

Although Yola could be a great starting point, once you get started, you’ll soon find yourself looking for a more advanced website builder. Yola has everything you need to get started building your first website. But it lacks a lot of features you’ll need when your website starts gaining some traction.

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You can integrate other tools into your website to add these features to your website, but it’s too much work. Other website builders come with built-in email marketing tools, A/B testing, blogging tools, an advanced editor, and better templates. And these tools cost just as much as Yola.

A website builder’s main selling point is that it lets you build professional-looking websites without having to hire an expensive professional designer. They do this by offering you hundreds of stand-out templates that you can customize. Yola’s templates are really uninspired.

They all look exactly the same with some minor differences, and none of them stands out. I don’t know if they only hired one designer and asked her to do 100 designs in one week, or if it’s the limitation of their website builder tool itself. I think it might be the latter.

One thing I do like about Yola’s pricing is that even the most basic Bronze plan allows you to create up to 5 websites. If you are someone who wants to build a lot of websites, for some reason, Yola is a great choice. The editor is easy to learn and comes with dozens of templates. So, creating a lot of websites should be really easy.

If you want to try Yola, you can try their free plan, which lets you build two websites. Of course, this plan is intended as a trial plan, so it doesn’t allow using your own domain name, and displays an ad for Yola on your website. It’s great for testing the waters but it lacks a lot of features.

Yola also lacks a really important feature that all other website builders offer. It doesn’t have a blogging feature. This means you can’t create a blog on your website. This just baffles me beyond belief. A blog is just a set of pages, and this tool allows you to create pages, but it doesn’t have a feature to add a blog to your website. 

If you want a quick and easy way to build and launch your website, Yola is a good choice. But if you want to build a serious online business, there are a lot of other website builders that offer hundreds of important features Yola lacks. Yola offers a simple website builder. Other website builders offer an all-in-one solution for building and growing your online business.

4. SeedProd

SeedProd is a WordPress plugin that helps you customize the look and feel of your website. It gives you a simple drag-and-drop interface to customize the design of your pages. It comes with over 200 templates that you can choose from.

Page builders like SeedProd allow you to take control of the design of your website. Want to create a different footer for your website? You can easily do it by dragging and dropping elements onto the canvas. Want to redesign your entire website yourself? That’s possible too.

The best part about page builders like SeedProd is that they are built for beginners. Even if you don’t have a lot of experience building websites, you can still build professional-looking websites without touching a single line of code.

Although SeedProd looks great at a first glance, there are some things you need to know before you make the decision to buy it. First off, compared to other page builders, SeedProd has very few elements (or blocks) that you can use when designing pages of your website. Other page builders have hundreds of these elements with new ones added every few months.

SeedProd might be a little more beginner-friendly than other page builders, but it lacks some features that you might need if you are an experienced user. Is that a drawback you can live with?

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Another thing I didn’t like about SeedProd is that its free version is very limited. There are free page builder plugins for WordPress that offer dozens of features that the free version of SeedProd lacks. And although SeedProd comes with over 200 templates, not all of those templates are that great. If you are someone who wants their website’s design to stand out, take a look at the alternatives.

SeedProd’s pricing is a huge deal-breaker for me. Their pricing starts at only $79.50 per year for one site, but this basic plan lacks a lot of features. For one, it doesn’t support integration with email marketing tools. So, you can’t use the basic plan to create lead-capture landing pages or to grow your email list. This is a basic feature that comes free with a lot of other page builders. You also only get access to some of the templates in the basic plan. Other page builders don’t limit access this way.

There are a couple more things that I really don’t like about SeedProd’s pricing. Their full-website kits are locked behind the Pro plan which is $399 per year. A full-website kit lets you completely change the look of your website.

On any other plan, you might have to use a mix of many different styles for different pages or design your own templates. You’ll also need this $399 plan if you want to be able to edit your entire website including the header and footer. Once again, this feature comes with all other website builders even in their free plans.

If you want to be able to use it with WooCommerce, you’ll need their Elite plan which is $599 per month. You’ll need to pay $599 per year to be able to create custom designs for the checkout page, cart page, product grids, and singular product pages. Other page builders offer these features on almost all their plans, even the cheaper ones.

SeedProd is great if you’re made of money. If you are looking for an affordable page builder plugin for WordPress, I would recommend you take a look at some of SeedProd’s competitors. They are cheaper, offer better templates, and don’t lock their best features behind their highest pricing plan.

What To Look For When Choosing a Website Builder?

The most important thing to look for is the ease of use. Good website builders make launching your website and managing it as easy as clicking buttons and editing text.

Another thing to look for is a big theme catalog. Website builders that offer lots of templates such as Wix and Squarespace let you create almost any type of website. They have premade templates for almost any type of website imaginable.

And if you can’t find the perfect template, they let you pick a starter template and tweak it to fit your creative style.

Whether you are a beginner or advanced, we highly recommend going with either Wix or Squarespace. Both offer all the features you need to run and grow a successful online business. Read my Wix vs Squarespace review to decide which one is best for you.

Finally, if you want to start selling online or in the future, you will want to look for a website builder that offers eCommerce features such as Subscriptions, Membership Areas, online ticketing, etc. This allows you to expand your business and add new revenue streams in the future without switching platforms.

The Cost of Website Builders – What’s Included, and Not Included?

For most online businesses, website builders include everything you will need to launch, manage, and scale your business. However, once you start gaining some traction, you will want to invest in marking strategies such as Email Marketing.

Most website builders don’t offer built-in marketing tools. And the ones that do such as Squarespace and Wix charge extra for it.

Another cost to keep in mind is the domain renewal cost. Many website builders offer a domain name free for the first year and then charge you a standard rate every subsequent year after that.

If this is your first time launching an online business, keep in mind that payment processors charge a small fee for every transaction. You have to pay this fee, which is usually around 2-3% per transaction, even if your website builder is your payment gateway.

Why You Should Consider WordPress (using page builders like Elementor or Divi)

Although website builders can help you launch and grow your online business, they may not be suitable for every use case. If you want complete control over your website including its appearance, code, and server, you will need to host the website yourself.

Hosting your website yourself also lets you add any kind of features to it you want. With website builders, you are limited to the features they offer.

If you choose to go this route, you will need a Content Management System such as WordPress which lets you manage the content on your website using a simple dashboard.

You might also want to invest in a good page builder such as Divi or Elementor page builder. They work very similarly to website builders on this list and they can help you customize your website with simple drag and drop.

If you have decided to go this route and host your own WordPress website, I suggest you check out Elementor vs Divi review. It will help you decide which of the two giants is best for your use case.

Website Builder Glossary

Navigating the world of website builders can be overwhelming, especially when confronted with technical jargon and industry-specific terminology. To assist you in making informed choices and understanding the nuances of various features and options, we’ve compiled a comprehensive glossary.

1. Template: A pre-designed layout that can be used as a starting point for creating a website. Templates vary in style and are often customizable.
2. Drag-and-Drop Interface: A user-friendly feature that allows users to build and customize their website by simply dragging and dropping elements onto a page.
3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Practices used to improve a website’s ranking on search engine results pages. This includes optimizing content, titles, tags, and more.
4. CMS (Content Management System): A software application that enables users to create, edit, manage, and publish content on a website without needing to code.
5. E-commerce Functionality: Features that allow a website to function as an online store, including product listing, shopping cart, and payment processing capabilities.
6. Responsive Design: A design approach that ensures a website’s layout adjusts automatically to look good on all devices, whether desktop, tablet, or mobile.
7. Domain Name: The unique address of a website on the internet, typically followed by extensions like .com, .org, .net, etc.
8. Web Hosting: A service that allows individuals and organizations to post a website or web page onto the Internet, providing the necessary technologies and services for the website to be viewed.
9. SSL Certificate (Secure Sockets Layer): A digital certificate that provides secure, encrypted communications between a website and an internet browser.
10. Bandwidth: The amount of data that can be transmitted over an internet connection in a given amount of time, important for website loading speed and handling traffic.
11. Analytics: Tools or platforms that track and report website traffic and user behavior, helping site owners understand their audience better.
12. Plugin/Add-on: A software component that adds specific features or functionalities to an existing website builder or CMS.
13. API (Application Programming Interface): A set of protocols for building and integrating application software, which can be used for adding more advanced functionalities to a website.
14. Mobile Optimization: The process of adjusting your website content to ensure that visitors who access the site from mobile devices have an experience optimized for the device.
15. Custom Code: The ability to add or modify the HTML/CSS code of a website for more advanced customization beyond what is offered through the standard website builder interface.
16. Page Builder: A tool or feature within a website builder that allows for the creation and customization of web pages.
17. Landing Page: A standalone web page, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign, where a visitor “lands” when they click on a link in an email, or ads from Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or similar places on the web.
18. CDN (Content Delivery Network): A system of distributed servers that deliver pages and other web content to a user based on their geographical location, the origin of the webpage, and a content delivery server.

Go here for more website building terms.

Our Verdict ⭐

A website builder can help you get your website up and running in a matter of minutes. It can help you kick-start selling online with just a couple of clicks.

If this list seems overwhelming and you can make a decision, I recommend going with Wix. It comes with a huge catalog of premade templates for every type of website imaginable. It is also one of the easiest of all. And the best part is that it comes with everything you need to start selling online.

If you are budget-conscious, then Hostinger is an excellent cheap alternative. It lets you create a beautiful website or e-commerce store, a free domain for yearly plans, and free web hosting are included.

What are you waiting for? Start your website today!

How We Review Website Builders: Our Methodology

When we review website builders we look at several key aspects. We assess the intuitiveness of the tool, its feature set, the speed of website creation, and other factors. The primary consideration is the ease of use for individuals new to website setup. In our testing, our evaluation is based on these criteria:

1. Customization: Does the builder allow you to modify template designs or incorporate your own coding?
2. User-Friendliness: Are the navigation and tools, such as the drag-and-drop editor, easy to use?
3. Value for Money: Is there an option for a free plan or trial? Do paid plans offer features that justify the cost?
4. Security: How does the builder protect your website and data about you and your customers?
5. Templates: Are the templates of high quality, contemporary, and varied?
6. Support: Is assistance readily available, either through human interaction, AI chatbots, or informational resources?

Learn more about our review methodology here.

List of website builders we have tested and reviewed: