Should You Build Your Website with Site123? Review of Features, Templates & Pricing

Site123 is a website builder that’s perfect for non-technical users who want to create a professional-looking website quickly and easily. In this 2024 Site123 review, I’ll take a closer look at its features to help you decide if it’s the right site builder for you.

I love using a straightforward website-building tool, but it has to function well. After all, what’s the point of simplicity if you can’t get it to work?

So, does Site123 deliver? 

I took a deep dive into the Site123 platform and gave it a good run for its money (even though I was on the free plan) to bring you this unbiased and forthright review of Site123.

Read on to discover if Site123 is the right web-building tool for you.

TL;DR: Site123 certainly delivers on simplicity and ease of use. Its platform is perfect for complete beginners. However, it lacks full customization tools, so moderate to advanced users will get frustrated with the lack of creative freedom it offers.

If you like the sound of a non-techy website-building tool, you can get started with Site123 for free. Sign up here and give it a go. Let’s dig into the Site123 review details.

Pros & Cons

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

Plans & Pricing

Site123 has lots of different price plans depending on your needs. This includes a limited free plan to help you get started. 

Plan length ranges from 3 months up to 120 months, and the longer duration you choose, the less you pay.

• Free plan: Free for life on a limited basis
• Basic plan: From $4.64/mo to $17.62/mo
• Advanced plan: From $7.42/mo to $25.96/mo
• Professional plan: From $8.81/mo to $36.16/mo
• Gold plan: From $12.52/mo to $43.58/mo
• Platinum plan: From $22.01/mo to $90.41/mo

Site123 Plan	Price for 3 months	Price for 24 months	Price for 120 months	Features
Free plan	$0	$0	$0	Limited features
Basic plan	$17.62/mo	$8.62/mo	$4.64/mo	10GB storage, 5GB bandwidth
Advanced plan	$25.96/mo	$12.33/mo	$7.42/mo	30GB storage, 15GB bandwidth
Professional plan	$36.16/mo	$16.04/mo	$8.81/mo	90GB storage, 45GB bandwidth
Gold plan	$43.58/mo	$20.68/mo	$12.52/mo	270GB storage, 135GB bandwidth
Platinum plan	$90.41/mo	$52.16/mo	$22.01/mo	1,000GB storage and bandwidth

A free domain is included with all plans with the exception of the free plan and three-month payment options. All plans allow you to connect an existing domain to your Site123 site. All plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Standout Features

Even though Site123 is a simple tool, it still manages to pack in the features. I do like it when a software application specializes in one thing and one thing only. It gets complicated when a product has about a million add-ons.

Site123 provides everything you need to create professional and functional websites and all the features necessary to make them run well. Let’s take a look at each one.

Site123 Website Templates

To start using Site123, you’re first presented with a range of business niches and purposes. The idea is that you pick the one most closely related to what you want your website to be about.

Oddly, there is no option to start from a blank template which I found unusual.

Once you select an option, the template will load into the editing tool. However, there is no opportunity to view the template before you select it. I would have liked at least a thumbnail image to see what the templated looked like.

While you can’t see a preview of each template, I do like that you’re not bombarded with them either. There’s simply one template for each niche and purpose. 

I often find that website builders boast about the hundreds of templates they have on offer, which sometimes makes it impossible to pick one. So, if you’re someone who gets easily overwhelmed with too many choices, you’ll like this feature.

Site123 Website Builder

Next, we’re taken to the editing window, which at first glance, appears very clean and intuitive.

To edit an element, you hover your mouse to highlight it and then click on it to reveal the editing options.

Along the top of the screen, you have additional options for:

• Pages
• Design
• Settings
• Domain

Clicking on “Pages” lets you add, delete, and change the order of your web pages. Finally, we see some previews here, so when you click on the type of web page you want, you can view the different layouts.

What may not be obvious from the get-go is that Site123 supports both single-page scrolling websites and larger multi-page websites suitable for E-commerce, etc. However, what you get depends on the template you choose.

To switch from a single to a multi-page website, you have to go into the settings. You cannot change it by adding more pages.

Adding new categories will increase the number of options for the menu bar of your website; then, you can add pages under each category.

In the design tab, you can change the global settings for the overall aesthetic of your website. For example, you have a selection of preset color palettes and fonts that you can use.

If you want to use a custom brand palette or add your own fonts, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan. Here you can also add a header and footer and customize the settings for mobile devices.

In the settings tab, you can change the name and type of your website. And this is where you can make the switch from a single-page to a multi-page layout or vice-versa.

Languages, app settings, and plugins are available only on paid plans.

Site123 lets you select a brand new domain name, and it will handily display the ones available that relate to what you have named your website. 

If you already own a domain name, you can import it to Site123 or redirect the domain.

What was it like to edit the website templates?

Pretty good actually.

The user interface worked smoothly, and I experienced no glitches when editing text or adding images. 

The only aspect I wasn’t keen on was the limitations of adjusting the layout. Unlike other drag-and-drop building tools, you cannot select an element and move it around the page. 

Instead, you select the “Layouts” option from the editing menu and choose from a number of predesigned options. If you want to change the order of each section, you must go to the “Pages” tab and change their order.

This is a little convoluted and restrictive for my taste. I would have preferred more freedom here.

Most of my testing was carried out on a single-page website, but I switched to a multi-page option, and the tool worked just as well.

Building a Site123 Store

Site123 lets you easily build an E-commerce store by choosing the “Store” template when setting up your website.

You will find all the store editing options by selecting the “E-commerce” page in the pages tab.

Adding a product is foolproof since you cannot move through the steps until you have completed each one. You have several steps where you can add various details about the product:

• General: This is where you add your product title, image, and description. Here you can toggle between physical and digital products too.
• Options:  If your product is available in a range of options, this is where you add them. For example, clothing sizes, colors, etc.
• Attributes: You can input your product characteristics here
• Shipping: You can choose from a range of shipping options, such as fixed rates per item or use global shipping rates. You also input the weight and size of the item for more accurate shipping cost calculations
• Inventory: Add how many products you have for sale, so you don’t sell more than you have
• Related products: You can set the system to throw up relevant suggestions to the shopper 
• More: Here, you can adjust other settings, such as minimum and maximum purchase amount, and create product bundles

Once you have created your products, you can organize them into product categories. Each category is displayed as a clickable icon on the website page.

So when someone selects it, it takes them to another web page with all the relevant products listed.

Integrate Site123 With Payment Providers

To activate your shop, you must set up payment options so your customers can purchase products. You can choose which currency you want to use or opt for multi-currency (if on a paid plan). 

Offline payment options include bank deposits, cash on delivery, money order, and more. Site123 also has direct integration capability with a number of third-party payment providers:

• Paypal
• Amazon pay
• Stripe
• 2Checkout
• Braintree
• Square
• Tranzila
• Pelecard
• CreditGuard

Finally, you can also create discount coupons, view your sales and analytics, and manage customer reviews.

Site123 Plugins

If you want to use plugins, you will have to upgrade to a paid plan. However, once you do, you have access to a decent number of plugins to enhance the functionality of your website.

The plugins fall into four main categories:

• Analytics tools: Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Pinterest for Business, and more
• Live support chat: LiveChat, Tidio Chat, Facebook Chat, Crisp, ClickDesk, and more
• Marketing tools: Google Adsense, Twitter Conversion Tracking, Intercom, LinkedIn Ads, and more
• Webmaster tools: Google, Bing, Yandex, Google Tag Manager, and Segment

Site123 SEO Advisor

SEO is a beast to manage, but Site123 helps you tame it by offering a full suite of SEO management tools, including an automatic SEO audit tool.

The system will scan your website and offer suggestions on how to improve your SEO status.

To further enhance your SEO and boost your search engine ranking, you can also add:

• Meta tags
• A favicon
• Sitemap
• 301 redirects

Without having a full up-and-running website, it’s hard to know how effective the SEO audit tool is but I would have thought it would be perfectly adequate for the average user.

Email Manager

To save you the hassle and expense of signing up for and integrating with an email provider, Site123 has thoughtfully provided email functionality on its platform.

Depending on which plan you choose, you can send up to 50,000 emails per month, so it’s not going to be enough for businesses with large mailing lists. But it’s perfectly decent for those with small but perfectly formed lists of contacts.

Again, you have limited templates to choose from, but you can edit and customize them for your needs.

You can also manage and organize your contact lists in this section.

Site123 Customer Service

I honestly could not fault Site123 here. The different ways to reach customer service were plentiful and immediately available.

You can use the chat facility anytime, which at first is powered by a decent AI chatbot. If the bot can’t answer your question, it wasn’t difficult to reach an actual human.

You are provided with phone numbers for the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK, and you can call customer services from Monday – Friday.

My favorite feature here, however, was the opportunity to schedule a phone call. You pick the day and time, and someone from customer service will call you. When I looked, I could schedule a call within half an hour of the current time.

This saves you from hanging around with the phone on hold and means you can get on with your day. 

Site123 Example Websites

Site123 has an entire collection of website examples of businesses that use Site123.

Questions & Answers

Our Verdict ⭐

There’s no doubt that Site123 is a beautifully functional platform and is super simple to use. Even a total beginner can create a website and have it up and running within an hour or two. 

While it has everything you need to run and manage websites, it lacks advanced features and customization options. People already accustomed to website-building tools will find it too basic.

Site123 does claim to be suitable for large-scale websites, but I disagree. 

While it has the capability to set up a large website, it just doesn’t have the level of control or options that you get with more advanced platforms such as WordPress. Ultimately I would worry that a business planning to scale would quickly outgrow the platform.

All-in-all, it’s an excellent platform for personal use, bloggers, and small businesses that are planning to stay small.

Reviewing Site123: 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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