Should You Create Your Website with Duda? Review of No-Code Features, Themes & Pricing

Are you after a website builder that doesn’t overcomplicate things but still allows you to scale your business? Duda could be just what you are looking for. In this 2024 Duda review, I’ll cover the ins and outs of this website builder.

Duda’s website builder claims to be simple enough for beginners but sophisticated enough to handle large-scale business and E-commerce.

And the platform does pack in an impressive range of features as well as the ability to white label and sell websites to clients. So, if you’re an agency or design expert, this tool is set up precisely for you.

However, is it just as appealing for beginners?

I typically find that these types of tools can’t strike the right balance between simplicity and functionality and are either too feature-rich for a beginner or too basic for advanced users.

I’m no web design expert, so this is a great opportunity to find out whether Duda is right for the likes of me or if it’s better off left to the experts.

As the platform says, “let’s Duda this!”

TL;DR: Duda is a great tool 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.

I was excited to see what Duda had to offer, so I was pleased when I could sign up for the 14-day free trial without going through the hassle of adding my credit card details. 

Take a deep dive with me and discover everything that Duda has to offer its customers. If you can’t wait that long, get started with Duda for free right now.

Pros & Cons

First, let’s give an overview of the good, bad, and ugly.

Plans & Pricing

Duda has four key plans for you to choose from:

• Basic plan: From $14/mo billed annually – perfect for single sites
• Team plan: From $22/mo billed annually – for expanded access
• Agency plan: From $44/mo billed annually – for marketing agencies
• White label plan: From $44/mo billed annually – for reselling 

Duda also has E-commerce add-on plans which you pay for in addition to your chosen plan fee:

• Standard plan: $7.25/mo for 100 product listings
• Advanced plan: $19.25/mo for 2,500 product listings
• Unlimited plan: $39/mo for unlimited product listings

There is no free plan available for Duda, but you can try out the platform with a 14-day free trial.

Most subscriptions carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, but please be aware – some products are non-refundable, so check this before you purchase (they are clearly marked as non-refundable).

Duda plan	Monthly price	Monthly price (billed annually)	Features
Basic	$19	$14	1 site plus email support
Team	$29	$22	1 site and up to 4 users
Agency	$59	$44	4 sites and up to 10 users
White Label	$99	$44	4 sites and up to 10 users with white-label reselling

Key Features

The biggest feature of Duda is clearly its design and editing tool, so I have placed the most focus on that area. 

Since I don’t have a team or any website clients, it was hard to determine whether or not 

the collaboration or client management tools were any good, but I’ve outlined what each of these features offers.

Ready Duda?! Let’s get into it.

Duda Templates

Every decent website-building tool starts with a great template, and Duda is no exception. At first glance, the templates look sleek, modern, and eye-catching.

You can filter the templates for specific business niches and even by color theme. I like that there’s not an overwhelming amount of templates.

Duda has focused on quality, not quantity, so while you don’t have millions to pick from, each template looks expertly crafted.

Before you choose a template to edit, you can view a full preview so you can easily decide if it’s the one for you. And for those who know what they’re doing, Duda lets you start with a blank page.

Duda is the #1 Fastest Website Building Platform

Duda is the fastest website builder on the market. So if you want your website to load fast, then Duda should be your first choice. In terms of speed, it’s beating Wix, Squarespace, WordPress and Drupal.

Duda has developed new ways to make sure websites are running smoothly, so people can have a good experience when they visit. They also help websites make sure they are up to date with the new Core Web Vitals standards.

With Duda’s website builder, it’s easy to get your website up and running in no time. 

Duda Website Building Tool

I chose a webinar-based template for this article. It quickly loaded into the editing tool and was presented with a clean interface.

All the main editing options are down the left side of the screen, and clicking on each page element brings up its individual editing tool.

Opening the “Design” tab gave me the global editing options. I love tools that make my life easy, and in my experience, global editing can be lacking in some website-building tools.

This is not the case with Duda. You have a full menu of global settings, so I could change the entire website aesthetic in practically one click. Easy peasy!

The tool lets you have up to eight colors for the global settings, so unless you’re Rainbow Brite, this is plenty enough for most brand palettes.

Next is the “Pages” tab, which allows you to switch up the order of all the pages on your website. Here you can also add new pages and delete unneeded ones.

If you click the cog icon on the page, it brings up further editing options, including an area to add a whole load of SEO metadata.

I really appreciate the option to add additional languages to your web pages – and there’s a decent selection of languages available.

A lot of website-building tools require you to use a plugin for this, or it comes at an additional cost, but with Duda, it appears to be fully included.

Duda has a good selection of “Widgets” that you drag and drop onto your web page. There are plenty to choose from, plus you can directly connect with a range of third-party apps to increase functionality.

For example, you can use WooRank for increased SEO or the Whatsapp chat widget. Bear in mind that these apps may carry a separate charge for using them.

So, by now, I’ve moved a few things on and off the web page and had a go at editing them. I found the page got “stuck” once or twice and had to be refreshed. I have a great internet connection (thanks, Starlink!), so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t that.

Additionally, I struggled to position some of the widgets, so they looked good and in line with other widgets on the page. 

I’m no web designer, but as a tool that promotes itself as beginner-friendly, I feel this aspect is probably less so. For example, when I dragged the Whatsapp icon onto the page, it became absolutely gigantic and engulfed the entire screen.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I would expect a tool this advanced to automatically resize things so they sit well on the page. Perhaps I’m asking too much here, though?

With Duda’s website builder, it’s easy to get your website up and running in no time. 

Anyway, after shrinking the icon manually, I still found it difficult to place other widgets alongside it neatly. All in all, I think the tool could use some improvement here.

Once you have all your widgets in place, it’s time to add your content. Another neat feature is the ability to import all of this stuff over from another URL which can save significant time if you’re transferring a client’s website from another provider to Duda.

Here you add all the business information, images, and other site content. You can also connect with a third-party app to transfer the content if you use such a thing.

Next, you get to personalize your site by adding “Rules.” These are the rules for elements such as pop-ups, promotions, and even Covid-19 policies.

For example, if you have a promotion pop-up but you don’t want it to be available every day, you can set the rule to only display the promotion on a specific day of the week. Or, you can set a rule for first-time visitors that displays a newsletter subscription form.

There are loads of prebuilt rules, and you can create new ones for specific purposes.

I think this feature is brilliant. Nothing puts me off a website quicker than being constantly shown the exact same pop-ups or deals. By setting rules, you can avoid the annoyance and provide a better customer experience which has got to be better for converting sales, right?

Finally, you can quickly add a blog to your website. The tool allows you to create new blog posts, add images, and customize the layout. Like other content, Duda lets you import blog posts from other URLs.

This was straightforward to use, plus you can integrate with social media apps to automatically post on your platforms when a new blog post is published. How convenient!

Before I move on, I just want to bring up accessibility. Ensuring everyone can view and experience your website – no matter their ability – has never been more important.

Duda makes sure your website is fully accessible by offering a range of relevant tools. Additionally, you can integrate with a number of third-party accessibility apps that help people use your website.

Duda E-commerce

Duda lets you set up an e-commerce store for free, and you can sell up to ten products before you pay anything extra. If you plan to sell more than ten products, you will need to upgrade your plan to include one of the e-commerce options.

The store-building tool works in much the same way as the website editor. You have widgets such as a shopping cart and product galleries that you can drag and drop onto the page and customize the layout.

Adding products was simple, and the tool had all the necessary steps displayed as tabs along the top of the page. All you do is follow them to set each product up.

If you’re moving products from another e-commerce store to Duda, you can import a CSV file or import directly from Xcart or LiteCommerce. 

Other nice aspects of this feature are the ability to integrate with your Facebook business page and sell directly from the platform, and you can create your own e-commerce app so people can purchase from you while on the go.

What really sets Duda apart from other e-commerce platforms is its ability to connect with over 110 different payment providers. So, wherever you are in the world, you’ll find a local payment provider that Duda can deal with.

Overall, I found the e-commerce feature easier to edit and manage than the website editor, so I think this is a great choice for beginners.

Duda Memberships & Restricted Content

If you plan to sell courses or exclusive members-only areas on your website, Duda has the feature to let that happen – as long as you upgrade and pay extra.

Duda works a little differently than other membership tools, as it doesn’t have a separate tool for your membership area. Instead, you create additional web pages and load them with the necessary content. So, if you’re creating a course, you can add videos, files, text, and more.

Then, you set up your membership plans (what you plan to charge) and then choose the website pages that will be locked behind the paywall. You can decide between a one-off charge or recurring payments.

Duda recommends this feature for:

• Professional services
• Members-only store
• Online courses
• Online communities
• Employee portals
• Podcast sites
• Lead generation sites and online sales funnels
• Event calendars & event registration

Duda Team Collaboration

If you upgrade to the “Team” plan or higher, you get access to a bunch of collaboration tools that make it far easier to use Duda within a team. 

The tools you get with this feature let you:

• Create, save, and share website sections and templates among your team
• Create custom widgets
• Assign user permissions for various aspects of the website. For example, admin, blogger, designer, etc.
• Leave comments and feedback directly on a website while it’s in the editing tool
• Access top-tier support via phone and email

Duda Client Management Tools

If you’re managing and building websites on behalf of clients, then you will need the client management feature. This gives you access to tools that not only help you but also make the client experience a better one. 

Here’s what you can expect with this feature:

• Client access permissions: You can restrict what the client can – and can’t – access. This prevents mistakes from being made since you can restrict access to the editing tools
• Full reporting and analytics: Your clients like to know how your website is helping them grow their business, and this is how you show them
• Automation: Provide an ultra-speedy service by automating certain aspects such as content collection and updates
• Integrated site comments: Use these to leave client comments and feedback
• A single dashboard: Manage all your client’s websites from a single platform and dashboard
• Client billing: Easily charge your clients one-off fees and recurring payments

Duda Apps and Integrations

Duda has a healthy amount of apps and integrations to satisfy even the most demanding website requirements. Although nowhere near as comprehensive as WordPress, the apps are still pretty decent, and if there’s no direct integration available, you can use Zapier to connect with other third-party apps.

One advantage to using the apps is that they are fully designed and tested to function seamlessly with Duda. We’ve all heard horror stories of people “breaking” their websites by installing a dodgy plug-in. Well, this isn’t the case with Duda as long as you stick to the apps on its list.

Duda White Labelling

White labeling platforms are fast becoming a lucrative way for agencies to make more revenue with very little effort on their part.

Essentially, you package up the entire Duda platform in your own branding and sell it to your clients at whatever price point you want. The client that purchases it will have their own login screen, dashboard, and access to all the features, but they won’t know it’s the Duda platform.

You get to set the access levels for the client so you can give them as much – or as little – control as you want. So, you can sell Duda for a lower price but leave all the work up to the client. Or, you can sell the platform along with managed services for a higher price. It’s up to you.

I think this is a great way to add extra value to clients while increasing your bottom line.

Duda Customer Service

If you’re on the Basic or Team plan, you will find the support options a little lackluster since you only have email support available to you. Those on higher plans can enjoy the addition of phone and live chat support.

I always find this approach a little odd. After all, those that begin on the lower-priced plans tend to be the least experience and therefore require more help, at least initially. In my view, offering great customer support at every step of the customer journey is vital for retaining business. 

But I don’t work for Duda, and they’ve clearly decided that only their premium customers are worthy of top-tier support.

All plans have access to the Duda learning center, where you will find an index of help articles and walkthrough guides. When browsing, I found it to be neatly organized and could easily find what I needed help with.

Duda Competitors

Duda lets you create and manage your own websites with ease. However, with so many website builders on the market, deciding which one is right for you can be challenging. Here’s how Duda compares to some of its top competitors to help you make an informed decision:

1. Wix: Both Duda and Wix offer a similar range of features, including website templates, drag-and-drop editors, and e-commerce capabilities. However, Duda is generally considered more user-friendly and easier to navigate than Wix. Additionally, Duda offers more customization options and better loading speeds, while Wix has a more extensive selection of templates and a free plan.
2. Squarespace: Squarespace is often compared to Duda due to its sleek and modern templates, drag-and-drop editor, and e-commerce capabilities. However, Squarespace is generally considered more expensive than Duda, with fewer pricing options. Squarespace also has more limited customization options than Duda, and its templates can be more challenging to customize.
3. WordPress: WordPress is a more complex website builder than Duda, with a steeper learning curve and more technical knowledge required. However, WordPress offers more flexibility and customization options than Duda, making it a better choice for advanced users or businesses with complex website needs. WordPress has a larger community of users and developers, with more plugins and add-ons available.
4. Shopify: While Duda offers e-commerce capabilities, Shopify is specifically designed for online stores and provides a broader range of features for online sales. Shopify is generally more expensive than Duda but offers more advanced features like abandoned cart recovery, multi-channel selling, and payment options. Duda is a better choice for businesses just starting with online sales, while Shopify is more suited for established online retailers.

Overall, Duda offers a balance of user-friendliness and advanced features, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. However, businesses with more complex website or e-commerce needs may want to consider WordPress or Shopify, while those on a tighter budget may prefer Wix or Squarespace.

Questions & Answers

Our Verdict ⭐

After all that, is Duda worth it? I think so.

Certainly, it provides great value for money, and even top-tier price plans aren’t that expensive, especially when you factor in the number of features you get.

Is it suitable for beginners? Well, yes and no. 

Overall I think the platform is really easy to use and doesn’t require much of a learning curve to get to grips with. On the other hand, some tools are a bit clunky and not too intuitive.

I think there are certainly simpler tools out there, but they don’t offer the scaling capabilities that Duda will.

All in all, I think Duda is worth a shot. And thanks to the 14-day free trial, you can give it a go without any obligation (you don’t even need your credit card to sign up). I recommend giving it a try no matter where you are in your website creation journey.

Reviewing Duda: 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.

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References:

• https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/duda
• https://trends.builtwith.com/websitelist/Duda