17 Best Website Builders of 2024: Each Tried & Tested

Updated Aug 5, 2023.

Do you want to build a website for your business but don’t know which website builder tools to use?
In this guide, I’ll take you through 17 of the best website builders in 2023 and help you make the right choice.

Squarespace icon

Squarespace

Intuitive, all-rounded website builder software with the best-designed website templates and an AI-powered builder.
Wix icon

Wix

Powerful website builder for small business owners and freelancers who want to build professional websites.
web.com

Web.com

Easy-to-use website builder software with drag and drop editor for beginners who want their site up and running swiftly.
Shopify icon

Shopify

An uncomplicated builder that provides all the tools and features you need to sell your products and services online.
Bluehost icon

Bluehost Builder

Practical builder that gives you native WordPress integration, 300+ templates, and Bluehosts’s affordable hosting.

Our work is supported by affiliate commissions.

Today, every business needs an online presence. However, hiring a professional web designer usually costs lots of money.

Fortunately, you don’t need to hire a developer to build your website. Instead, you can easily create your website, even if you know nothing about code. All you need to build your own website is a reliable website builder.

The good part is that there are dozens of website builder tools in the market to choose from. The bad part is that with so many website builders, choosing the right one can be a headache.

Here’s a list of 17 of the best website builders in 2023, together with my top 5 recommendations to save you the trouble.

What Are The Best Website Builders?

Below are my top picks for the best website builders in 2023.

1. Squarespace

Best Overall Website Builder

Editor’s Take
9.5 out of 10
Best For:
Overall Website Builder
Price:
$14 – $49 per month
Annual Discount:
Save 25% – 30%

There’s a lot to love about Squarespace, but the most exciting thing for me is the professionally designed templates that allow you to build sleek, beautiful websites. Many will also love the AI-powered builder, which asks you a few questions and automatically generates a website based on your answers.

Squarespace is one of the most popular website builders and is an excellent option for anyone looking to build elegant-looking professional or personal websites. Their sleek homepage is a testament to the beauty and quality of their designs.

Despite providing you with all the tools you need to create any type of website you want, Squarespace still maintains an impressive level of simplicity. With some experience, you can whip up a professional-looking website on Squarespace in less than 10 minutes.

Key Features

Beautiful predesigned templates

Design is one of Squarespace’s most significant selling points. You get 100+ professionally designed templates that you can use to build your website. In addition, the templates can be easily edited and customized to suit your site’s desired look and feel using a simple drag and drop editor.

Artificial intelligence-powered builder

If choosing a template and customizing it feels like a chore, you can simply sit back and hand over the reins to Squarespace’s AI-powered builder. It will ask you a few questions to understand the kind of website you want and then use AI to build such a website for you in just a few minutes.

Blogging module

Squarespace has a blogging module that allows you to add a blog to your website, with multiple design options for the blog, as well as other tools to help make your blog a success, such as email marketing tools, analytics tools, and so on.

Business and marketing tools

Managing your online presence requires more than a website, which is why Squarespace provides you with all the extra tools you need to make your website a success. These include social media tools, email marketing tools, and scheduling software.

E-commerce

While e-commerce is not their core focus, Squarespace has an e-commerce module that allows you to add an eCommerce store to your website. This module is quite intuitive and provides you with all the essential e-commerce tools, though it is not as powerful as what you get with a dedicated e-commerce builder like Shopify.

Integrations

Squarespace supports integrations with popular apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Maps, Dropbox, Zapier, Xero, Unsplash, and so on.

Pricing

Squarespace pricing plans range from $14 to $49 per month if you pay annually, and $19 to $65 monthly.

All plans come with free domain (if you pay annually), free SSL security, 30 minutes of video storage, unlimited bandwidth, and search engine optimization features. In addition, all plans come with a 14-day free trial.

2. Wix

Powerful Site Builder That Gives You Total Control Over Your Site

Editor’s Take
9.4 out of 10
Best For:
Small Businesses And Freelancers
Price:
$4.50 – $24.50 per month
Annual Discount:
No

For experienced users who want total control over their website, Wix is a perfect choice. It offers you powerful tools and allows you to control every aspect of your site, creating fully-responsive, interaction-driven websites.

Wix is a powerful and versatile drag and drop website builder that gives the average small business owner everything they need to create advanced, highly interactive websites. It is also the most popular website builder by market share, with over 200 million users.

One of the best things about Wix is its artificial design intelligence, which automates the web design process.

Due to its advanced tools and features, Wix has a much steeper learning curve compared to other alternatives like Squarespace and Web.com.

The higher level of control also increases the risk of something going wrong if you are not sure of what you’re doing.

Key Features

Wix Editor

Wix Editor is an unstructured drag and drop editor that allows you to drag and place elements and widgets wherever you want on a page, with zero constraints. This will enable you to build a website that’s perfectly suited for your needs. While many other website builders have drag and drop editors, none gives you as much control as you get on Wix.

Wix ADI

For those who don’t want the total control that comes with Wix drag and drop editor, there’s Wix (ADI) artificial design intelligence, a guided website creation assistant. The assistant automatically uses your responses to a few short questions to create a website that best suits your needs. You also have the option of customizing this website to align it with your requirements further.

800+ themes

Get design inspirations from the 800+ pre-built website templates and apply them to your new site. While the quality of these themes is not consistent, the best ones come with excellent features, such as video backgrounds, animations, scroll effects, and mobile readiness.

Apps and plugins

Wix has an app store where you can access over 250 apps, plugins, and widgets that you can install on your website to give it additional features and functionalities. Whether you want to add a photography portfolio to your website or a restaurant menu, you’ll find a widget or plugin for it.

Small business tools

Wix also gives you access to many business tools that you need to run and grow your online business. These include email marketing tools, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, social tools, a video maker, a live chat tool, a video maker, an invoice generator, automation, and so much more.

Pricing

Wix website plans range between $4.50 to $24.50 per month. Business and e-commerce plans range from $17 to $35 per month.

All plans except the basic plan offer a free custom domain name for one year. You also get a 14-day free trial period across all plans.

3. Web.com

Affordable and straightforward Website Builder For Novices

Editor’s Take
9.3 out of 10
Best For:
Beginners
Price:
$1.95 – $3.95 per month
Annual Discounts:
Save 50%

Web.com doesn’t offer lots of features, but they more than make it up for this with their very simple, easy-to-use drag and drop interface. Web.com is also very pocket friendly, making it a great option if you’re just starting on a limited budget.

Web.com focuses on one key thing – simplifying the website building process for beginners who want to set up their site and establish their online presence quickly. You can go from not knowing what a domain is to having your website up and running in less than an hour.

Owing to its simplicity and affordability, Web.com is one of the best website builders for novices looking to set up a small online business, an online portfolio, or a small blog.

However, if you are looking for advanced features, you’ll be better off with other builders like Wix or Squarespace.

Key Features

User-friendly website builder

Web.com offers a simple, user-friendly website builder that even the most non-techy business owner will find easy to use. The builder uses a simple drag and drop interface and even offers preassembled blocks. These are groups of elements – such as entire navigation bars – that you can drag and drop wherever you want within a page.

150+ templates

For beginners, templates are the easiest way to build a good-looking website quickly. Web.com offers over 150 professionally designed templates that you can easily customize to match your brand's needs.

Web design support

When you sign up on Web.com, you get 1 hour of free professional website design support where Web.com designers will give you a walkthrough of the builder and how to get the most out of it. You also have the option of hiring a professional designer to build your website for you at discounted prices.

Ecommerce functionality

Web.com also allows you to sell products on your website. The e-commerce module offers all the essential tools, but it doesn’t provide the more advanced e-commerce functionalities you’ll find on builders like Shopify.

Pricing

Web.com has three plans that start at $4.95, $7.95, $13.95 and $19.95 per month. Note, however, that these prices are only applicable on the first billing cycle (first month). After that, the plans renew at $9.99, $19.99, $24.99 and $39.99 per month, respectively.

It’s also important to note that a billing cycle on Web.com lasts 28 days, so you’ll end up paying for 13 months in a year. Unfortunately, Web.com doesn’t offer a free trial.

4. Shopify

Best Ecommerce Website Builder

Editor’s Take
9.2 out of 10
Best For:
Ecommerce
Price:
$29 – $299 per month
Annual Discount:
Save 10%

Shopify gives peace of mind to anyone looking to set up an online shop. It takes care of all the technical aspects, such as managing software, keeping backups, and updating your site, leaving you to focus entirely on selling your products and growing your business. No e-commerce website builder offers more functionality than Shopify.

Shopify is the world’s largest eCommerce website builder. It is the most popular website builder for eCommerce, powering millions of online shops around the globe, and has been responsible for over $40 billion worth of online sales.

Shopify is an all-rounded, fully hosted platform. This means that the platform handles all the technical aspects of keeping your online shop live on the internet.

The platform also provides you with all the tools you need to successfully run your online shop, including inventory management tools, marketing tools, and robust data and analytics tools.

Key Features

Highly customizable

Shopify offers an intuitive drag and drop editor that makes it amazingly easy for anyone to build and customize their online shop as they want. You can also take the customization a notch higher by hiring a Shopify developer to create a unique template for you or doing it yourself if you are conversant with code.

3rd party themes

Shopify offers only ten free themes. However, there are thousands of third-party Shopify themes that you can purchase on theme marketplaces like Theme Forest. This allows you to achieve almost any kind of look you want for your online shop.

Ecommerce tools

Get access to all the tools and functionalities you need to run an e-commerce business, including live chat, shipping rates management and taxes, delivery route planning, dropshipping, product reviews, point of sale systems, and so on.

Integrated payments

Accepting payments on your online store is a breeze with Shopify Payments, which allows customers to pay using credit cards directly on your online store. Shopify also allows integrations with 100+ third-party payment gateways if you prefer other payment channels.

Sell anywhere

Shopify does not limit you to selling on your online store. You can also sell on other platforms like Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, eBay, Etsy, and Google. You even have the option of selling in a brick-and-mortar store using Shopify’s POS system.

App Store

Customize your Shopify store and give it extra functionality with the 6,600+ apps and plugins available on the Shopify app store.

Pricing

Shopify offers Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans, starting at $29, $79, and $299 per month.

Shopify also offers a ShopifyPlus plan with tailored pricing for high-volume merchants and a Shopify Lite plan that starts at $9 per month. However, the Lite plan only allows you to add products and accept payments on an existing website.

A 14-day free trial is available across all plans.

5. Bluehost Website Builder

Best Website Builder For WordPress Sites

Editor’s Take
9.1 out of 10
Best For:
WordPress sites
Price:
$2.95 – $24.95 per month
Annual Discount:
No

Built directly on top of the WordPress content management system, Bluehost Website Builder is my top recommendation for anyone looking to build a WordPress website. Combine this with the fact that Bluehost is the official hosting partner for WordPress, as well as Bluehost’s affordable hosting plans, and you have a winner.

Bluehost Website Builder is a practical builder that comes as part of Bluehost’s hosting packages. The builder is built on top of WordPress and allows you to switch between this builder and the WordPress native website builder.

In other words, you can build some parts of your website using Bluehost Website Builder and other parts using WordPress native builder. Not many builders offer such flexibility.

Key Features

Intuitive drag and drop editor

The drag and drop editor that comes with Bluehost Website Builder is quite intuitive. It is designed to make things easy for people without prior experience building a WordPress website.

300+ themes

Bluehost Website Builder gives you over 300 themes to choose from, so you are guaranteed to find something that works for you. You can customize the themes by changing the menus, fonts, and color schemes or make unlimited tweaks to the themes if you are comfortable with CSS.

Managed WordPress hosting

All sites built with Bluehost Website Builder qualify for Bluehost's managed WordPress hosting service, which takes care of things like WordPress installation, updates management, and backups.

Stock image library

Bluehost Website Builder gives you access to a stock photo library with hundreds of free images that you can use on your website free.

Responsive websites

Bluehost WordPress builder comes with intelligent AI that ensures that all sites display perfectly on desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Pricing

Learn more about Bluehost pricing or Bluehost review

Bluehost Website Builder plans start at $2.95 per month for the Basic plan, $9.95 per month for the Pro plan, and $24.95 per month for the Online Store plan.

Note, however, that these are discounted rates that are only applicable on the first billing cycle. After that, the plans renew at $10.99, $14.99, and $39.99 per month, respectively.

6. Webflow

Best Website Builder For Professional Designers, Freelancers, And Agencies

Webflow homepage

Webflow is a powerful and responsive website builder that offers more advanced web design features than you’ll find on most other builders.

Like other builders, Webflow allows you to quickly build beautiful websites without writing any code.

However, it also allows technical users to get in and make limitless customizations to their websites using code. You can think of Webflow as a WordPress alternative that is easier to use.

Due to the amount of power and control it offers, Webflow has quite a steep learning curve and is best suited for professional designers, freelancers, and agencies building websites for clients. However, it can also be a good option if you have some technical experience.

Key Features

Extreme customization

Webflow comes with 100+ templates that you can edit and customize to create a beautiful website quickly. However, Webflow’s customization goes beyond the templates. The platform gives you the power of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, allowing you to build any kind of website you can imagine.

Strong visual aesthetics

Webflow is perfect for anyone looking to build websites with great visual appeal. The platform allows you to add 3D effects and animations to your websites, such as progress bars, precise reveal animations, and parallax. Webflow even comes with 20+ prebuilt animations, interactions, and triggers.

In-built SEO tools

Building your site on Webflow gives you access to SEO tools like fast page loads, auto-generated XML sitemaps, customizable metadata, mobile responsiveness, semantic code, and image alt tags.

Integrations

Extend your site’s functionality by connecting it to popular tools like Mailchimp, Analytics, Zapier, and Google Optimize.

Webflow University

To help you get the most out of Webflow, the platform offers a members’ area known as Webflow University, which gives you access to extensive how-tos, tutorials, and documentation that will help you become a web design expert.

Pricing

Webflow offers multiple types of pricing plans. The default category is Site Plans, which offers four plans starting at $0, $12, $16, and $36 per month. There is also an Enterprise plan with tailored pricing.

Read more about Webflow pricing

The second category is Ecommerce plans, which offers three plans starting at $29, $74, and $212 per month.

There’s also a category called Workspace Plans, which offers three plans ranging from $0 to $49, as well as a custom-priced Enterprise plan.

Webflow’s free plans are not free forever. They are free until launch. These plans allow you to familiarize yourself with Webflow and build your site on the platform for free, but you’ll have to pay once you’re ready to make your site live.

7. Gator Website Builder

Simple Builder For Those Who Want A Basic Website

Gator Website Builder homepage

Gator Website Builder is a practical and straightforward website builder built by HostGator, one of the world’s most popular hosting companies.

Gator is designed for people who want a basic business or professional website and don’t want to spend hours finding their way around a complicated website builder.

Key Features

200+ Templates

Choose from over 200 beautiful templates designed and categorized by industry. For instance, you can easily find multiple restaurant templates if you want a restaurant website. All themes can be easily customized into unique designs by pointing and editing. You’ll also find that most of these templates are mobile responsive.

Intelligent builder

If you want to quickly whip up a website without scrolling through hundreds of templates, simply use Gator’s intelligence builder. You only need to provide some basic information about the kind of site you want. It will then use artificial intelligence to convert your requirements into an incredible website design in a matter of minutes.

Ecommerce module

Gator Website Builder has an e-commerce module that allows you to add a shop to your website. It also provides the tools you need to manage your online shop, including inventory management, taxes, shipping, and so on.

Social media integration

To help you maintain a consistent and connected online presence, Gator Website Builder supports integrations with various social media tools, including live feeds, social media buttons, and social media image galleries.

Web analytics

Gator Website Builder gives you access to powerful analytics tools that show you the performance of different pages on your website. You can then use this data to improve your website.

Built-in stock library

You don’t need to be a photographer to find images to use on your website or pay for expensive subscriptions on stock photo sites. Gator comes with its stock library that you can use for all your website’s stock image needs.

Extra tools and features

You also get to enjoy some additional features such as a free logo maker, native email marketing suite, an appointments booking system, advanced analytics, and a custom CRM platform, depending on the plan you’re on.

Pricing

Gator Website Builder pricing

Learn more about Hostgator review

Gator Website Builder offers three plans starting at $3.84, $5.99, and $9.22 per month. Note, however, that this is an introductory offer that is only applicable during the first billing cycle.

Gator Website Builder does not offer any free plans or free trials.

8. Weebly

Incredible Website Builder With Best Free Plan

Weebly - build a professional website that grows with your business

For business owners looking for a quick and easy way to bring their business online, Weebly is the perfect solution. Weebly offers an ideal blend of simplicity, functionality, and great design.

Despite its simplicity, it can support pretty big websites. For example, there are some Weebly websites with more than 150 pages. Weebly also gives you access to many of Square’s business tools, allowing you to extend your website’s functionality.

One notable thing about Weebly is that it has one of the best free plans. You get 500 MBs of storage, a free domain, and a free SSL certificate with the free plan. These are features you only find on premium plans. However, the free plan comes with ads and Weebly branding.

Key Features

Easy to use

Weebly comes with a straightforward drag and drop editor that anyone will find amazingly simple to use. To customize the pre-designed templates, all you need to do is point and edit.

Excellent aesthetics

Make your Weebly websites stand out with powerful visual features like parallax and reveal, custom fonts, crystal clear videos, video backgrounds, and a powerful image editor.

Excellent eCommerce features

While its eCommerce features are not as robust as what you get with Shopify, Weebly’s built-in support for e-commerce is still pretty decent. Some of the e-commerce features you get include a filtered product search tool, an inventory tracker, secure checkout, and a fully integrated shopping cart.

Excellent blogging module

Weebly allows you to easily add a blog to your website and create beautiful blog posts within a drag and drop environment.

Business tools

Following Square’s acquisition of Weebly, Weebly now supports integrations with various Square Online tools, including POS systems, team management tools, online ordering systems, scheduling software, loyalty cards, and so on.

App center

If you want to add more features and functions to your Weebly website, you can easily do so by installing an app from Weebly’s app center. On the app center, you’ll find apps made by Weebly, as well as many more designed by third parties.

Excellent security

Weebly guarantees your site’s security with features like TLS certificates (more secure than SSL), as well as advanced DDoS protection. With Weebly, you don’t have to worry about hackers taking your site down.

Pricing

Learn more about Weebly pricing

Weebly offers a free plan that makes it one of the best free website builders, as well as three paid plans starting at $10, $12, and $25 per month. All plans come with free SSL certificates.

There is no free trial on Weebly’s paid plans.

9. Zyro

Modern, Affordable AI Website Builder

zyro homepage

Zyro is a relatively new entrant into the industry, launched in 2019 by Hostinger, a popular web host.

Zyro comes equipped with many modern features, including various AI-powered tools. The platform also uses a very light framework, which results in highly responsive websites with fast load times.

Key Features

AI branding tools

Take advantage of Zyro’s AI-powered business name generator, slogan generator, and logo maker to go from no idea to a fully branded business in a matter of minutes. Simply tell Zyro’s AI tools what you want your brand to stand for, and it will help you come up with a business name, slogan, and logo.

AI content writer

Once you set up your site, you need content. Don’t have the time or skills to write your content? No reason to worry. Simply describe the kind of content you want on your site in a few sentences, and Zyro’s AI-powered content generator will quickly generate unique, SEO-optimized content for your site.

Ecommerce module

With Zyro’s e-commerce module, you don’t need to find a different platform to build and host your online store. Instead, you can simply add an online shop to your current Zyro website. What’s more, Zyro’s e-commerce module supports omnichannel selling on multiple platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon.

Powerful SEO

To make your websites easier to find, all Zyro websites are highly optimized for search engines. The sites are lightning-fast, and the UX is straightforward. You also get control over elements like your site’s page descriptions and meta titles.

Excellent marketing tools

To make it easier for you to market your products, Zyro integrates multiple marketing tools and extensions, including Messenger Live Chat, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Pixel.

High-quality images

Zyro also has native integration with Unsplash, giving you access to millions of high-quality images that you can use on your website.

Pricing

zyro pricing

For all the modern features it offers, Zyro is quite affordable. The platform offers three pricing plans – Website, Business, and Advanced Store plans starting at $2.90, $4.90, and $15.90 per month.

All Zyro plans come with unlimited storage and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

10. Jimdo

Best Portfolio Website Solution For The Self Employed

Jimdo homepage

Jimdo is a practical solution for the self-employed and freelancers who want a good-looking website to showcase their portfolio.

Building a website on Jimdo requires absolutely no technical skills, which makes it an excellent option for freelancers in any profession. However, the clean, professional, and modern designs on the platform have made it a favorite for photographers and designers.

Key Features

Jimdo Creator

Creator is Jimdo’s do-it-yourself drag and drop editor. Creator gives you access to 100+ website templates categorized into four groups – Personal, Portfolio, Business, and Store. Once you choose a template, Creator allows you to edit and customize the template to suit your brand. If you find the available customizations too limiting, you also can tweak the code to build a unique design if you have the technical know-how.

Jimdo Dolphin

This is Jimdo’s AI-powered website building assistant. With Dolphin, you can build a functional website in less than 3 minutes. Simply answer Dolphin’s questions about the kind of website you want, and then sit back and watch as Dolphin generates a design that matches your requirements. Dolphin even pulls information from your Instagram and Google My Business and adds it to your new website.

Logo maker

No logo? No problem! Jimdo’s logo maker will help you develop a good-looking logo that will make your brand recognizable, and it all takes just a few minutes. Simply enter your business name, choose your preferred logo style, and leave the rest to the logo maker. In less than a minute, you’ll get dozens of logos that you can edit and customize to match your brand.

Ecommerce

Jimdo also provides an easy way to sell your products directly on your website. What’s more, Jimdo’s e-commerce option charges zero transaction fees and gives you valuable e-commerce tools like payment processing, appointment booking tools, local pickup option, sales and discounts, and so on. Jimdo also allows you to connect your online store to Facebook and Instagram and sell your products on these platforms.

GDPR-compliant legal pages

Jimdo also offers a legal text generator that automatically generates unique legal pages for your website, including terms and conditions and a privacy policy.

Pricing

Jimdo pricing websites

Jimdo offers two types of pricing plans – Website and Online Store plans.

Under Website plans, there is a free plan and two paid plans costing $9, and $14 per month.

Under Online Store plans, there is a Business and VIP plan costing $18 and $24 per month, respectively.

11. BigCommerce

Best Builder For Large Online Stores

bigcommerce homepage

BigCommerce is another popular and powerful e-commerce website builder perfectly suited for building online shops at scale.

It is an excellent alternative for Shopify, especially if you want more control over your site. It also offers more sales features than Shopify, but it is not easy to use.

Many also love that BigCommerce does not charge any transaction fees for sales made through the platform.

Key Features

Visual drag and drop editor

For the average entrepreneur, BigCommerce offers a visual drag and drop editor that allows you to easily edit and customize your online store within a drag and drop editor. BigCommerce also provides built-in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for users with more technical know-how, allowing you to customize your store as you wish.

WordPress integration

BigCommerce offers native support for WordPress, which means you can easily use BigCommerce to add e-commerce capabilities to your WordPress website. This gives you the best of both worlds – the flexibility of WordPress and the powerful e-commerce capabilities of BigCommerce.

Omnichannel commerce

With BigCommerce, you can list, advertise, and sell your products on more than 100+ platforms, including Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, Pinterest, Google, TikTok, eBay, Target, and Walmart. You also have the option of selling in-store with BigCommerce’s native POS system. This flexibility allows you to offer a better shopping experience and compete more effectively in today’s omnichannel environment.

Checkout customization

BigCommerce gives you even more control over the shopping experience by allowing you to customize every aspect of the checkout process.

Payment gateways

Integration with popular payment gateways means you can offer your customers whatever payment channel is most convenient for them. Common gateways that work with BigCommerce include PayPal, Stripe, Visa Checkout, Amazon Pay, Square, Apple Pay, Aden, and Chase Pay. What’s more, there are no transaction fees for using these payment gateways on BigCommerce.

Conversion optimization features

To help you increase conversions, BigCommerce offers many valuable tools and features, including product reviews, better product search, cart abandonment trackers, and coupons.

Analytical dashboard

BigCommerce gives you access to an analytical dashboard that allows you to view your online store metrics and unlock valuable customer data and insights that will help you make better decisions to grow your business.

Pricing

BigCommerce is a bit expensive compared to the other website builders in this guide, but it is at par with dedicated e-commerce builders like Shopify.

Bigcommerce offers three main plans starting at $29.95, $79.95, and $299.95 per month. They also offer an Enterprise plan with tailored pricing.

The three main plans come with a 15-day free trial.

12. GoDaddy Website Builder

Best For Customer Support

GoDaddy Website Builder - Your free website is just the beginning

GoDaddy is known for its domain registration and web hosting services, but they also have a straightforward web builder.

GoDaddy’s Builder offers a straightforward and intuitive website building process and is an excellent alternative for people who don’t want to build a website using WordPress.

Despite being a simple builder, it offers all the essential tools you need to build and market your website, even if you’ve never made a website before.

As a beginner, you might run into a few problems here and there. Fortunately, GoDaddy offers excellent customer support, as well as extensive documentation to help you get the most out of this builder.

However, it’s good to note that GoDaddy’s Builder is only suitable for small, basic websites. If you want a big website with tons of features, you’ll be better off with a more powerful builder.

Key Features

Easy to use

Building your website on GoDaddy Website Builder is straightforward. Choose from the hundreds of available templates, add prebuilt blocks to your site by dragging and dropping, and click on elements to edit them.

AI Module

Once you’ve built your website, GoDaddy Website Builder has an AI module that analyses your website and gives it a score on a scale of 0-100. Based on your site’s score, the AI then gives you tips on improving the website to attain a higher score.

Image library

GoDaddy Website Builder comes with inbuilt integration with Getty Images, allowing you to access millions of stock photos from Getty Images for free and use them on your website. You also have the option of uploading your own images.

Business and marketing tools

When you purchase a GoDaddy Website Builder Package, you can access various business and marketing tools, including a simple CRM system, email marketing, a graphic design module, social media management, appointment scheduling, and site monitoring tools like Analytics and Facebook Pixel.

Mobile editing

Most website builders allow you to build websites that display well on smaller devices, such as smartphones and tablets. GoDaddy Website Builder takes it a notch higher. This builder is compatible with mobile devices, allowing you to design, build, and edit your website directly from your smartphone.

Pricing

Learn more about GoDaddy pricing

GoDaddy Website Builder has four pricing plans costing $6.99, $13.99, $14.99, and $29.99 per month. GoDaddy also allows you to build your website for free and only upgrade to a paid plan once you’re ready to launch your website.

13. Dreamhost Website Builder

Visual Website Builder With Support For WordPress

Dreamhost website builder

A relatively new entrant into the market, Dreamhost Website Builder comes as part of Dreamhost web hosting plans.

Dreamhost Website Builder gives Dreamhost users the ability to build WordPress sites using a visual editor. In other words, it combines the power and flexibility of WordPress with the intuitiveness of a visual drag and drop editor.

Key Features

WYSIWYG editor

Sometimes, building a WordPress website involves a little bit of guesswork. For example, after making edits, you have to preview the page to see the results. However, with Dreamhost Website Builder, there’s a what-you-see-is-what-you-get drag and drop editor, meaning that you’ll see what your web page looks like right within the editor window.

Quick-start wizard

If you’re new to website creation, Dreamhost Website Builder has a quick-start wizard to guide you through the website building process. The wizard will help you choose a suitable design, add functionality to your website, and even add essential information to the website, all in a matter of minutes.

Website staging

Dreamhost Website Builder provides you with a staging area that allows you to test different designs, themes, layouts, and plugins and see how they look and work before making them live on your main website.

WooCommerce ready

All themes that come with Dreamhost Website Builder are compatible with WooCommerce. This makes it easy to add an online storefront to any website built using Dreamhost Website Builder.

Real-time SEO recommendations

Dreamhost Website Builder provides you with real-time on-page SEO tips that you can quickly implement to increase your site’s visibility on search engines.

Pricing

Dreamhost website builder - pricing

Dreamhost Website Builder offers three plans – a Shared Starter plan starting at $2.59 per month, a Shared Unlimited plan starting at $3.95 per month, and a Managed WordPress plan starting at $16.95 per month.

There is no free plan, but all plans come with a free domain, a free SSL certificate, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

14. 1&1 IONOS

Affordable Solution For Multilingual Websites

IONOS - Build your website, your way

1&1 IONOS is a very affordable and user-friendly website builder designed for business owners who want a simple way to put their businesses on the internet.

To build a website with 1&1 IONOS, you only need to select a suitable design, add content to the website, and then hit the publish button.

There are two key things I love about 1&1 IONOS – their collection of well-designed themes and their support for multilingual websites.

Key Features

Multiple website creation options

1&1 IONOS offers two options for building your website, MyWebsite Now and MyWebsite Creator. MyWebsite Now is a simple, straightforward option for those who want to develop their websites fast. Simply choose a suitable template, add content, and launch your website. MyWebsite Creator, on the other hand, gives you more advanced options for customizing your website.

Website design service

If you want a professional website but don’t have the time to build it yourself, 1&1 IONOS has a service that allows you to hire professional web designers and copywriting experts to create the website for you. They will also be in charge of maintaining the website once it is live.

Good template selection

1&1 IONOS gives you an amazing choice of professionally designed themes categorized by industry. Whether you want an image-focused template for a photography, tourism, or wedding website, or a text-heavy template for a business website, you’ll get the right one for you.

Ecommerce module

1&1 IONOS also offers an e-commerce module that allows you to add an online store to your website. What’s more, you can sync the online store with Facebook and Instagram to promote your products. The e-commerce module also supports multiple payment options, including direct debit, credit card, and PayPal.

Multilingual support

1&1 IONOS can translate your website into 62 different languages. IONOS even gives you the option of having the same website in up to 25 different languages simultaneously. This is an excellent feature for online store owners who want to sell their products in multiple geographical regions.

Targeted content

1&1 IONOS allows you to show targeted content to different audience groups. For instance, you could set up an offer to be shown only to new site visitors and another different offer to be shown only to visitors from specific locations.

Pricing

IONOS - Build your website, your way - pricing

1&1 IONOS is very affordable, with plans starting at $1, $5, and $10 per month. Note, however, that these are introductory prices. The plans renew at $5, $10, and $15 per month.

The introductory prices also apply to online store plans, but the renewal prices for online store plans are much higher. Online store plans renew at $12, $20, and $35 per month.

All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

15. WordPress.com

WordPress Solution For Beginners

Wordpress.com - website builder

There are two versions of WordPress – WordPress.org, also known as self-hosted WordPress, and WordPress.com.

WordPress.org is a powerful open-source content management system that gives you unlimited customization options and complete control over your website. However, it requires some technical expertise and doesn’t have built-in web hosting.

If you want to build a website on WordPress but don’t want to spend time learning how to use it, your best option is to use WordPress.com.

WordPress.com takes care of all the technical stuff for you – hosting your website, managing plugins and backups, site security, and so on, making it easy to use for users of all skill levels. What’s more, you can use WordPress.com to create all kinds of websites.

That said, however, WordPress.com comes with a lot of limitations, so it’s not a suitable option for those who want all kinds of advanced features on their website.

Key Features

Themes

With hundreds of free and premium themes to choose from, you can be sure that you’ll find a theme that works perfectly for the kind of website you want to build.

Plugins

This is one of the best features of WordPress. With thousands of free and premium plugins available, you can add all sorts of functionality to your website. So whether you want to add a contact form to your website or create a members’ only area, you’ll find a WordPress plugin for whatever you want.

Ecommerce

Looking to sell products and services on your website? WordPress.com has a customizable e-commerce platform that will allow you to showcase your products and services on your website and collect payments from customers.

Built-in marketing

Driving traffic to your website is easy thanks to built-in SEO tools, as well as native integration with marketing tools like Google Analytics and Mailchimp.

Integrations

WordPress also makes it easy to integrate your website with other third-party apps and services, including YouTube, OpenTable, Eventbrite, Calendly, Pinterest, and many more.

Pricing

WordPress.com offers one pricing plans – a WordPress Pro plan starting at $15 per month.

WordPress.com also has a free forever plan, but it has several limitations, WordPress ads and does not support a custom domain name.

16. Pixpa

Great Website Builder For Photographers And Artists

Pixpa - Make an awesome portfolio website

Pixpa is a flexible site-building platform designed for photographers, artists, designers, and other creatives to build beautiful portfolio websites to showcase their work with beautiful photo galleries

It acts as an all-in-one platform that allows creatives to manage their online presence and sell their work.

Key Features

Beautiful, image-focused templates

Pixpa provides dozens of image-focused website templates designed with creative professionals in mind. What’s more, these themes support multiple layouts for photo galleries and are responsive on mobile devices.

Ecommerce integration

Artists and photographers looking to sell their photos, art, and services can easily do so by adding an online storefront to their portfolio website. Some of the features you get with Pixpa’s e-commerce module include support for PayPal, Stripe, and offline payments, branded checkout pages, an integrated shopping cart, cart abandonment tracker, shipping management tools, and so on.

Blogging feature

Pixpa’s blogging feature makes it easy for artists to build a community, showcase their work and tell the stories behind each piece of work. Pixpa even allows you to add multiple blogs to the same website, each with its unique look, tags, and content. The best part is that you don’t need an extra plugin for this.

SEO

Boost your site’s chances of being found on search engines with Pixpa’s inbuilt SEO tools and features. These include site-wide metadata, unique SEO metadata for different content items, clean HTML markup, search engine-friendly URLs, automatic sitemaps, and image optimization.

Social media integration

Pixpa also supports integration with social media platforms, allowing you to deliver a seamless online experience to your audience. This feature allows you to add links to your social media profiles on your website, add social media sharing buttons to your content, show your Instagram gallery on your website, and so on.

Pricing

Pixpa offers four pricing plans starting at $3, $7, $10, and $16 per month. Paying annually instead of monthly allows you to save up to 40%.

All Pixpa plans come with a 15-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

17. Duda

Great Builder Built For Web Design Agencies

Duda - The professional website builder you can call your own

A couple of things make Duda the perfect web builder for agencies. The platform offers a combination of automated web-building tools for faster website delivery, excellent client management tools, and white label capabilities, all of which are very useful to agencies.

Aside from the agency-oriented features, Duda also offers sleek-looking templates and robust SEO features.

Key Features

High level of customization

There are plenty of style options and widgets that make websites designed with Duda highly customizable. Unfortunately, with so many menus and features for customizing your site, the Duda editor can sometimes feel overwhelming, making it unsuitable for new users.

Edit by device

Duda goes beyond offering templates that automatically scale by the device. This builder allows you to make adjustments to how each element on the website displays on different devices, resulting in websites that look better on all devices.

Website personalization tools

This powerful feature allows you to show unique, targeted messages to different site visitors. For instance, you can configure the website to show different offers at different times or show varying content depending on where a visitor is accessing the website from.

Ecommerce solution

Duda comes equipped with a feature-rich e-commerce solution that allows you to build fully responsive online stores that automatically match the color schemes and font styles on your main website. In addition, the e-commerce solution also comes with tons of other valuable features, including multiple payment options, automated store emails, delivery zones, maximum and minimum purchase restrictions, low stock notifications, and social media selling.

Automated site creation

This is an AI-powered feature that allows you to use existing customer data to generate multiple websites in just a few clicks. This feature is highly useful for agencies that want to hand over client projects quickly.

Client management tools

For agencies working on client projects, Duda allows you to collaborate with clients on projects, control clients’ access to projects and allow them to track changes made to their websites, collect client feedback, share site analytics with clients, and so on.

Robust SEO tools

To help boost your site’s rankings on search engines, Duda offers several site optimization tools and features, including free SSL, Google PageSpeed Optimization, sitemap, customizable page URLs, IndexNow, meta descriptions and keywords, image alt and description tags, and 301 redirects.

Pricing

Duda offers Basic, Team, and Agency plans starting at $14, $22, and $44 per month. There’s also a Custom plan that gives you tailored pricing. When you pay annually rather than monthly, you get to save 25%.

Duda only offers a 14-day free trial on the Team plan.

How To Pick The Best Website Builder

While most website builders offer the same core features, they give priority to different features and come with some specialized features. Unfortunately, this makes choosing the best website builder a confusing undertaking for most people.

However, when you know what to look for, it shouldn’t be that hard. Below, let’s check out seven key things to look for when choosing a website builder.

1. Your Website Goals

The first thing to think about is the kind of website you want to build. What do you want the website to achieve? Do you intend to sell products and services on the website? Perhaps you’ll need something like an appointment reservation system? Do you want to start a blog?

Being clear on the kind of website you want will make it easier for you to evaluate different website builders and shortlist those that meet your needs.

2. Features

Now that you know what you want, you can translate this into features.

For instance, if you intend to sell products on your website, you have to pick a website builder with an e-commerce module. Similarly, if you’re targeting visitors from across the world, you’ll need a builder with multilingual support.

In addition to the specific features you need, remember to check for general features like SEO features, mobile responsiveness, good site analytics, and strong security.

3. Ease Of Use

Most website builders were designed for the average person without the technical expertise to build their website from the ground up.

It’s only logical, therefore, that a website builder needs to be easy to use. You shouldn’t pay for one and then spend weeks trying to understand how to use it.

4. Good Template Selection

To build a website using most website builders, you’ll start by choosing a theme or template. Unfortunately, this means that the number of available templates, as well as their quality, will place limits on the kind of site you can build.

To avoid being too limited, it’s always wise to go for a builder with a vast selection of beautiful, professionally-designed templates.

You should also check whether the templates provide multiple customization options. This way, you won’t end up with a website that looks like everyone else’s.

5. Price

Price is a huge factor when choosing a website builder. Sure, builder A might be the best, but can you comfortably afford it? Does it make financial sense?

For instance, does it make sense to pay $300 a month for an e-commerce builder when you’re only making sales worth $100 per month?

This, however, does not mean that you should make a beeline for the cheapest website builder. Instead, think about the value you’re getting from your money.

For instance, some builders might cost more but then give you access to things like a free domain, free SSL certificate, free analytics, reliable web hosting, and so on. Such a builder is better than a much cheaper builder who doesn’t offer such features.

6. Customer Support

Even when using the best website builder in the market, it’s not inconceivable that you might experience some problems here and there, especially if it’s your first time using a site builder.

Does the website builder provide adequate support to help you resolve such issues quickly?

Here, check the website builder provides multiple options for getting in touch with customer support, their response times, and available documentation and training.

7. Free Trials And Cancellation Policies

When it’s your first time using a service, you don’t want to commit and make the payment, only to realize that the builder doesn’t meet your needs.

Therefore, it’s a good idea to go for builders with free trials and fair cancellation policies that allow you to try their product risk-free to determine whether it works for you.

Best Tips To Create Your Website With A Website Builder

Designing your website using a website builder is a relatively straightforward process, but that means that just about anyone can build a good website. However, if you want your site to stand out, you have to put in some extra effort.

With that in mind, here are some tips that will help you build not just any website, but a professional-looking website.

1. Pick The Right Website Builder For Your Needs

You can use any website builder covered in this list to build a website. However, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Most website builders are designed to cater to a specific type of user. For instance, Shopify is one of the best builders for online shops, but it won’t be of much help if you're building a blog.

If you want to build a high-quality website, therefore, start by evaluating your website needs, and then pick a website builder that is best suited for those needs.

Types of Website Builders:

With most website builders offering free plans and free trials, I recommend trying a couple of them to determine whether they’re good for you before settling on one.

2. Sign Up For The Best Plan For Your Needs

At first glance, pricing plans seem to be all about price and budget. All you need to do is pick a plan you can afford, right? Wrong!

Different plans offer different features, so you need to think about the features you’re interested in when choosing a plan.

If you’re only building a basic website, you’ll be okay with cheaper plans that offer the basic features. However, if you want a complex website with advanced functionalities, you should go for higher plans that give you the features you need to implement those functionalities.

3. Keep Your Website Simple

One great thing about website builders is that they offer a variety of themes and templates to choose from.

With so much choice, there might be the temptation to go for a complicated design with lots of bells and whistles.

Here’s the thing, however. When it comes to websites, more is not always better. The more elements you have on your site, the more you distract your visitors from what they came to do on your site, leading to increased bounce rates and lower conversions.

To avoid this, always aim for simple designs with easy-to-read fonts and lots of white space. Not only are such designs better for your visitors, but they also look elegant and timeless.

4. Match Your Color Scheme To Your Branding

All website builders allow you to customize various aspects of your website, including the color schemes. Choosing the right colors is very important since it will affect how your visitors view your website.

A good approach here is to use colors consistent with your brand. For instance, if your customers associate the colors red and blue with your brand, it’s a good idea to use a similar color scheme on your website.

Doing this helps maintain consistency and enhances your brand in the eyes of consumers.

5. Have A Clear And Obvious CTA

When someone gets on your website, it should be apparent what action you want them to take. Do you want them to purchase something? Do you want them to sign up for something? Do you want them to read something?

You need to have a clear and prominent call-to-action (CTA) button prominently displayed on your website to communicate this information.

Here’s an example.

IWillTeachYouToBeRich - CTA button example

You can quickly tell what Ramit wants you to do on this website – start the quiz. Similarly, you should aim to have a CTA button that your site visitors can spot in less than 3 seconds.

Having a prominent CTA eliminates confusion from your visitors and leads to higher conversion rates.

Best Website Builder FAQ

What is a website builder?

A website builder is a software platform that allows you to design and build a website without writing any code.

To build a website from scratch, you need to be knowledgeable in multiple programming languages, including HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript. Unfortunately, most people looking to build a website for their business are not programmers.

Website builder software provides a visual drag and drop builder, allowing just about anyone to design and build a website, even if you are not a web designer.

How popular are website builders?

Website builders have grown very popular over the last decade and are responsible for a large portion of the websites on the internet today.

For instance, Wix, one of the most popular website builders today, claims to have over 200 million users. Many other website builders, such as Shopify, Squarespace, and Web.com, have over a million users, indicating website builders' rising popularity.

Who uses website builders?

Website builders are a favorite for people looking to build a personal or business website but don’t have the technical expertise to code a website from scratch and don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on hiring a designer.

Website builders are also used by people who want to create an online presence for their business but don’t want to deal with technical stuff like maintaining the website, making backups, updating plugins, and keeping the website secure.

How much does it cost to build a website?

Hiring a web designer or developer to build a website for you is an expensive affair that could cost you anywhere between $1,000 to $50,000. The developer might also charge you an annual fee to maintain the website.

If you have the skills to do it yourself, the costs are much lower, but you’ll still have to pay for things like domain registration, SSL certificates, website hosting, premium themes, premium plugins, stock photos, and so on. These costs can add up to about $500 to $1,000, depending on the kind of website you’re building.

How much do website builder subscriptions cost?

Website builder subscriptions are very affordable compared to building a website by yourself or hiring a web developer to do it for you.

Subscriptions for most website builders fall between $5 and $30 per month. Some builders even have subscriptions going for as low as $1 per month.

What are the pros and cons of website builders?

Site builders provide a lot of advantages, including:

– You can build a website with no coding skills
– They are cheap and fast
– They offer tons of readily available features
– Many builders have marketing and SEO tools to help promote your website
– They offer reliable support

Despite all these advantages, website builders also have their disadvantages. These include:

– You don’t get custom designs
– You have limited control over your website
– Migrating your website to a different host can be quite difficult.

How scalable are website builders?

Website builders are highly scalable. As your business grows, you can upgrade to higher plans that come with higher bandwidth, increased storage, better features, better security, and so on.

The best part about this is that it allows you to pay for features according to your needs, rather than having to pay upfront for features you don’t need at the time.

Can I switch a website builder software later?

Unfortunately, most site builders make it very difficult to switch your website to a different site builder later. Some third-party services promise to help with switching, but most of the time, it’s not worth the hustle.

This is why you need to be very careful when choosing a site builder, because you’ll have to stick with them for a long time. You’ll most likely have to start from scratch with another builder if you want to switch.

Is WordPress a website builder?

There are two versions of WordPress. WordPress.org is a content management system rather than a site builder. With WordPress.org, you’ll be responsible for things like finding the best web hosting provider and maintaining your website. 

Using WordPress.org is free, but you’ll have to pay for your own custom domain name and web hosting.

WordPress.com, on the other hand, is a website builder. They provide you with a drag and drop site editor and take care of hosting and site maintenance. To use WordPress.com, however, you have to pay for a subscription.

Is Wix better than WordPress?

For people with technical expertise, WordPress.org is a lot better than Wix. It is a content management system that gives you greater control over your website, and there are absolutely no limitations. You can build any kind of website and add all sorts of functionality to the website.

However, for people looking for an easy-to-use site builder, Wix is better than WordPress.com. It offers more features and has fewer limitations than you’ll find on WordPress.com.

Can I get a free website for my business?

Yes, it’s possible to get a free website for your business with a free website builder. Many of the site builders covered in this guide offer free plans that allow you to build your website without spending a dime.

However, it’s good to note that free websites have several limitations. The most significant one is that you won’t use your custom domain. Instead, you’ll have to be content with a subdomain under the site builder’s domain.

Some site builders, such as WordPress.com, also place their ads on websites created using free plans, which is something you might want to avoid on your business website.

What is the best website builder for regular websites and blogs?

Some of the best site builders you can use to design a regular website or blog include:

Squarespace
Wix
Web.com
Bluehost Website Builder
Webflow

What is the best website builder for online stores and e-commerce businesses?

While many website builders offer an e-commerce module, the best site builders for building e-commerce businesses and online shops are Shopify and BigCommerce.

What is the most flexible website builder in terms of design?

If you’re looking for flexibility in design and a high level of customization, the best website builder for you is Wix.

What is the cheapest website builder?

The cheapest website builders are 1u00261 IONOS and Web.com, which have plans starting at $1 and $1.95 per month.

What is the best free website builder?

The website builder with the best free plan is Weebly. With Weebly’s free plan, you get 500MBs of storage, free SSL security, lead capture and contact forms, and search engine optimization.

Other good free website builders are Webflow and Jimdo

What is the difference between a website builder and web hosting?

Web hosting is a service that gives you access to servers to store all your website’s files. Your site does not have a place to live on the internet without hosting.

On the other hand, a website builder is a platform that provides you with the tools you need to build a website.

Assuming that a website is a house, web hosting provides the parcel of land where you’re going to build your house, while a website builder is a collection of the tools and equipment you’re going to require to construct the house, such as concrete mixers and brick cutting machines.

What are the best website builders in different countries?

Different site builders are better for different countries: best website builder in South Africa and website builders in India.

What are the best website builders for different use cases?

There are website builders for restaurants, website builder for photographers, no code website builders, white label website builders, site builders for musicians, website builders for artists, and wedding website builders.

Website Builder Comparison: Launch Your Website And Online Business

In the past, building a website was reserved for professional web designers and developers with the technical expertise required to code a website from scratch.

However, thanks to website builders, you don’t need any technical know-how to build your own website today. Instead, you only need to sign up on a site builder and create a website the same way you’d make a presentation on PowerPoint.

In this guide, I’ve reviewed for you some of the best website builders in 2023. Of course, there are dozens of other website builders, but I distilled the list down to the 17 top website builders to make it easier for you to choose the best website builder for your needs.

That said, here are my top website builders:

Best Overall Website Builder

Squarespace

Intuitive, all-rounded website builder software with the best-designed website templates and an AI-powered builder.
Best For Small Businesses

Wix

Powerful and versatile website builder for small business owners and freelancers who want to build professional websites with advanced features.
Simple Builder For Novices

Web.com

Easy-to-use website builder software with drag and drop editor for novices who want to get their site up and running swiftly.
Best Ecommerce Website Builder

Shopify

An uncomplicated builder that provides all the tools and features you need to sell your products and services online.
Best Builder For WordPress

Bluehost Website Builder

A practical builder that gives you native WordPress integration, 300+ templates, custom CSS, and Bluehosts’s highly affordable hosting offers.

If you still need some more information to help you decide, check out our reviews of various website builder tools for more detailed reviews and comparisons between different builders.

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Anastasia Belyh

Editor at FounderJar

Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.