Website builders are a perfect solution for individuals, entrepreneurs, and small businesses to start a website without hiring a developer. However, finding the best website builder can be tricky for beginners.
There are so many website builders on the market, how do you know which one is the right solution for you? The true answer to the best website builder question will vary based on your specific needs.
In this article, we’ll help you choose the best website builder by going over the pros and cons of the most popular options.
We will be comparing the following website builders in this article. If you are interested in a particular website builder, then just click on the name to skip ahead.
- WordPress.org
- Web.com
- Wix
- HubSpot Website Builder
- WooCommerce
- Gator by HostGator
- Zyro
- Domain.com
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
- WordPress.com
- Squarespace
- Weebly
- Dreamhost Website Builder
- GoDaddy Website Builder
Choosing the Best Website Builder — What to Look for?
Before comparing the top website builders, we recommend that you write down what you want to do with your website? What are your goals and what features would you like to see on your website.
For example, you can write down things like: have a blog section, photo gallery, online store (eCommerce), reservation system, contact form, SEO features, social media features, etc.
If you are unsure about what you want, then check out your competitors or other websites for inspiration.
Most website builders offer an intuitive drag and drop user interface to build your new website. You can take advantage of the trial accounts (free plans), or the generous money-back guarantee to test drive before you make your final decision.
Next, you need to consider your growth options. Will you be adding regular updates to your website? Do you need a blog section? Would you be selling more products on your website in the future?
You need to make sure that the website builder you choose is capable of handling your needs as your business grows.
Criteria for Our Best Website Builder Review
We have helped over 400,000+ users start a website, and over the last two decades have tested just about every website builder on the market.
We look at several different criteria when reviewing the best website builder picks for each use-case, but our top five elements are:
- Ease of Use – We want to ensure that the website builder is easy to use for absolute beginners (non-techy users). It must come with a customizable drag-and-drop builder, powerful editing tools, and other design customization options.
- Pricing – Since it’s a competitive space, we look at which website builder offers the most value for the price. We ask questions like does it offer a free domain, free SSL, free business email, free eCommerce features, etc. If not, then how much would a small business owner has to spend on additional extras / hidden costs.
- Design & Features – We want to ensure that the website builder offers a good selection of professional website templates along with flexibility to add additional features like Google Analytics, CRM, third-party marketing tools, etc.
- Customer Support – While we expect website builder software to offer an intuitive user-friendly interface, we want to make sure that 24/7 customer support is available when needed.
- Data ownership & portability – Often beginners don’t think about this, but being in the industry for over two decades, we pay extra attention to terms of service and privacy policy to ensure that you own your data, and it’s portable should you need to switch.
That being said, let’s take a look at the best website builder software to start your website without hiring a developer or coding HTML from scratch.
1. WordPress
WordPress.org (also known as self hosted WordPress) is the world’s most popular website building platform. Over 43% of all websites on the internet are powered by WordPress.
It’s important to note that there are two versions of WordPress, self-hosted WordPress CMS and WordPress.com. We will talk about WordPress.com later in this article. You can also read our WordPress.org vs WordPress.com comparison for more details.
The self-hosted WordPress content management system (CMS) tops our list of best website builder due to its popularity, powerful features, scalability, and ease of use.
WordPress is a free and open source website builder. This means that you have maximum control over your website compared to any other online website builder in this list.
With WordPress, you have full ownership of your website without any third-party control, so it gives you maximum privacy.
This is why many popular websites like WhiteHouse.gov (US Government), CNN, The New York Times, Microsoft, and countless other small businesses use WordPress as their website builder.
Unlike other website builders in our list, you will need a WordPress hosting account and host your own website (this is a lot easier than it sounds). We have detailed instructions on how to get started with WordPress below.
Pros:
WordPress gives you complete control on every aspect of your website and online presence. It can be used to build any kind of website. For example, an eCommerce store, community forums, a social network, a membership website, business / corporate website, landing pages, and more.
There are thousands of high quality pre-made WordPress themes that you can use for your website’s design.
You can also use one of the popular drag and drop WordPress page builders like SeedProd and Divi which allow you to easily create your own custom website designs using a drag-and-drop editor (no coding needed).
Another big advantage of WordPress is that you get access to more than 59,000 free WordPress plugins.
Plugins are like apps for WordPress that let you add additional features and functionality to your website such as shopping cart, contact forms, google analytics, photo gallery, social media tools, live chat, CRM, CSS customization, etc.
WordPress plugins also make it easy for you to connect & integrate your website with popular business tools, so you can automate and streamline your daily operations.
Another big reason why WordPress is popular across the world is because their website builder is fully translated in over 75+ languages, and it allows you easily create multilingual websites.
When you consider all the above benefits, WordPress is by far the most powerful website builder in the market.
It also comes with robust SEO tools that search engines love, and this ensures your website will always get the highest rankings in search engines. We use and recommend All in One SEO plugin for WordPress because it will help you outrank your competitors in Google.
For all the reasons above, our experts rate WordPress as the #1 website builder and content management system for business owners, bloggers, web developers, and web designers.
Cons:
You will have to manage your own website, which means you will need to familiarize yourself with a new system. This slight learning curve is easily overcome by most users, but it does feel a bit difficult in the beginning.
You will also have to keep up with WordPress updates, plugin updates, and create website backups. All of this can be automated by your WordPress hosting provider.
Pricing:
While WordPress is a free website builder, you will need a domain name and web hosting to get your website live which typically costs $14.99/year and $7.99 per month respectively.
Fortunately, we have worked out a special deal for WPBeginner readers. You can start a website for only $2.75 per month with Bluehost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider. They are offering our users 69% off on web hosting that comes with free SSL certificate, free domain name, great uptime, and 24/7 phone support.
→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←
With this special pricing, WordPress is one of the cheapest website builder in this list for small business.
For more details, see our guide on how to make a website with step by step instructions (including video tutorial).
Note: WordPress works with all popular web hosting services, and it’s actually recommended by many other companies including GoDaddy, SiteGround, DreamHost, etc.
Ready to get started but don’t have a business name idea yet? Use our smart A.I powered business name generator tool to come up with your brand name idea.
2. Web.com
Web.com is one of the original and most popular website builders for small businesses. They offer easy-to-use website building tools at a very affordable price, so anyone can build a website without having to know how to code.
Pros
Web.com offers a powerful drag & drop website builder that’s easy to use for non-techy business owners.
You can pick from their thousands of beautiful pre-made website templates and customize the design to match your brand needs with just point and click.
The builder comes with all the powerful features that you would expect including the ability to add photo galleries, videos, testimonial sliders, contact forms, map locations, social media buttons, and more.
You can add unlimited pages to your website, and customize the design of each website page individually. All their website templates are 100% mobile-friendly, and they also let you customize the design for different devices (desktop, tablet, and mobile phones).
Their eCommerce tools let you add up to 50 products, securely accept credit card payments online, track & manage orders, offer discounts, and more.
All Web.com plans come with a free domain name, business email address, autosave & backup features, website security solution, SEO tools, website analytics, and other powerful website tools.
They also offer unlimited chat and phone support, so you can talk to their web experts when you need help.
Aside from the website builder, they also offer custom web design services where an expert can design your entire website at a very affordable price.
Cons
While Web.com offers all the tools you need to build a small business website, it lacks some of the powerful features that you may want as your business grows.
For example, the blogging functionality in Web.com is very limited, and no where close the power of what you get with WordPress.
Their eCommerce plan restricts you to only 50 products which is more than enough for most small businesses. However, if you’re looking to create a robust online store, then you may want to look at other website builders in our list such as WooCommerce or Shopify.
Lastly, since Web.com is a proprietary website builder, you will not be able to easily switch to a different platform should you want to do so in the future.
Pricing
Web.com pricing plans start at $1.95 per month for their website starter plan which comes with their drag & drop website builder, hundreds of beautiful templates, thousands of stock images, and a free domain.
Their marketing plan starts at $2.95 per month, and it includes additional SEO features to help you rank higher. Lastly, their eCommerce plan starts at $3.95 per month which includes eCommerce tools like ability to accept credit cards with a secure shopping cart, sell up to 50 products, track & manage your orders, and more.
Web.com site builder allows you to create a business website at a very affordable price.
3. Wix
Wix.com is another popular cloud based website builder software. It offers ease of use combined with a powerful set of features to easily build your website. Over 1.9% of all websites use Wix as their website builder.
Pros
Wix website creator is a fully hosted platform, so you will not have to pay for hosting. You get access to hundreds of templates to choose for your website’s design. Each template is fully editable with their intuitive drag and drop site builder.
Wix has also built an artificial design intelligence (Wix ADI) that can design a beautiful website for you.
Aside from tons of templates, Wix also comes with dozens of free and paid apps that you can install on your website. These apps allow you to add new features and functionality to your website. Some of them are created by Wix, and others are created by third-party developers.
Wix offers a free plan with limited bandwidth and storage. However, you can use this plan to test drive their drag and drop website builder. It does not include a domain name, so if you decide to keep your website, then you may want to upgrade to a premium plan.
You also get a free SSL with all Wix plans, but you will need to turn it on for your website.
Cons
Free and Connect Domain plans will show Wix branded ads on your website. You’ll need to upgrade to their Combo or Unlimited plan to remove those ads.
If you ever decide to move your website away from Wix, then you will find it quite complicated to do so.
Their Connect Domain plan which costs $9.16 per month only lets you connect a custom domain name, so you’ll still have to buy a domain name separately.
Pricing
Wix offers a limited free version with a Wix branded sub domain. You can connect a domain for $9.16 per month. Their combo plan starts at $14 per month and will get you a free domain name. The eCommerce plan for online stores start at $23 per month.
If you are interested in how it stacks up against WordPress, then see our comparison of Wix vs WordPress.
4. HubSpot Website Builder
HubSpot Website Builder is a powerful content management platform that’s built for marketers and small business owners. It combines the power of their drag & drop website builder, marketing automation tools, and CRM, so you can deliver a personalized digital experience to your users.
Pros
HubSpot is known for being one of the world’s leading marketing automation and CRM platform in the world. After listening to small business concerns, they have decided to create an all-in-one website builder that helps you create a website in minutes (without hiring a developer).
You can use their conversion optimized website templates to quickly build a website that deliver results.
Alternatively, you can use their easy drag-and-drop editor to create a custom website design within minutes.
The best part about HubSpot’s website builder is that they let you do adaptive testing, so you can choose up to five variations of a page, and HubSpot will monitor & serve the best performing option.
HubSpot website builder seamlessly integrates with their CRM platform, so you can leverage the customer data to create a completely personalized digital experience for each website visitor.
It comes with many other powerful features including SEO tools, powerful analytics, blogging tools, live chat software, email marketing feature, multi-language content support, and more.
Considering the features in their integrated marketing platform, HubSpot is definitely one of the best professional website builders in this list for marketers and small businesses.
Cons
While HubSpot allows marketers to build personalized digital experiences, the platform is best suited for landing pages and simple business websites. For online stores and advanced business websites, you’re better served with WordPress.
The good thing is that HubSpot recognizes this as well, and this is why they have a free WordPress plugin that allows you to seamlessly integrate with WordPress to offer the best of both worlds.
HubSpot is a very powerful platform that comes with a lot of features. This can be intimidating for small business owners who’re just getting started. As long as you’re committed, their account executives will work with you to ensure that your business succeed online.
Pricing:
HubSpot offers a powerful free website builder that not only allows you to create a website, but also gives you a suite of marketing automation tools like CRM, email marketing, live chat, and more.
You can get started for free, and as your business grows you can choose from the package that best suits your needs.
Their paid plan prices start from $45 per month for the Starter plan which gives you all their business tools including: CMS (website builder), marketing hub, sales tools, and business operation tools.
All plans come with 24/7 live chat and phone support, and their support team is really helpful.
HubSpot is a great choice for small businesses who’re looking for an integrated website builder platform that has all the small business tools they need.
5. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce website builder on the planet to start an online store. It’s an open-source eCommerce software built on top of WordPress.
According to our expert research, 8.8% of all websites on the internet are using WooCommerce as their eCommerce website builder making it twice as large as Shopify.
Pros
WooCommerce is the best website builder for eCommerce sites because it gives you complete control over your website.
It comes with every feature you could possibly imagine for running a successful online store.
You can accept online payments using WooCommerce Payments or integrate with over 83 other payment options including Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, AmazonPay, AfterPay, Klarna, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more.
Unlike Shopify, WooCommerce doesn’t charge extra transaction fees if you choose to use other payment solutions.
They also offer dozens of extensions to help you with shipping, delivery, fulfillment, sales tax management, inventory management, and just about every aspect of store management.
You can build custom sales funnels and product landing pages using SeedProd, create an affiliate program using AffiliateWP, show real-time social proof with TrustPulse, offer free shipping or run BOGO deals using Advanced Coupons, set special wholesale prices with WholeSale suite, add order bumps and upsells with BuildWooFunnels, and do basically everything else you can imagine.
WooCommerce seamlessly integrate with all popular email marketing services, analytics platforms, live chat software, helpdesk software, and conversion optimization tools.
You can reduce cart abandonment and boost sales conversions by adding gamification from the OptinMonster plugin for WooCommerce.
Aside from that, WooCommerce is extremely SEO friendly, and you can further improve your eCommerce SEO by using the AIOSEO plugin.
The amount of freedom and flexibility WooCommerce offers simply cannot be put in words. To see more details, see our full list of best WooCommerce plugins and best WooCommerce themes.
For all the reasons above, our experts rate WooCommerce as the best website builder for eCommerce.
Cons
Just like WordPress, WooCommerce is a self-hosted eCommerce platform which means you will need to familiarize yourself with a new system.
You will be response for keeping WooCommerce updated, create website backups, and perform routine website maintenance tasks. Most of these tasks can be automated by WooCommerce hosting providers like SiteGround, Bluehost, WP Engine, and others.
Pricing
WooCommerce is a free eCommerce website builder, but you will need a domain name and web hosting to get your online store live.
This cost will vary based on your website traffic and popularity.
You can start as low as $3.99 per month with SiteGround Startup Plan which comes with WooCommerce pre-installed, free SSL certificate, daily website backups, free CDN, auto-updates, and enhanced security.
→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive SiteGround offer ←
Alternatively, you can also use the Bluehost premium WooCommerce plan which costs $32.95 per month, but it comes with several premium WooCommerce extensions such as subscriptions, online booking & appointments, and other premium features (valued at over $1000 if you purchased separately).
Really high traffic WooCommerce site owners end up using WP Engine for managed WooCommerce hosting, and their pricing starts at $30 per month.
For more details on this, see our complete breakdown of how much do eCommerce website really cost.
6. Gator by HostGator
Gator is a popular online website builder created by HostGator, one of the largest web hosting providers in the world. The Gator builder is an all-in-one website building & hosting solution which makes it a perfect website builder for small businesses.
Pros
Gator is a fully hosted platform, so you don’t have to worry about the software, updates, or backups.
You get an easy website builder that lets you choose from 200+ professional website design templates. Each design comes with simple customization options that you can configure from the builder itself.
You can edit any item on a page with a simple point and click interface. You can also drag and drop commonly used items like images, videos, photo gallery, text, columns, maps, and contact forms.
Gator also gives you access to a built-in stock photo library, so you can find and add beautiful photos on your website.
All paid plans include a free custom domain name for your website. The eCommerce plan also comes with the ability to setup an online store and sell your products online.
Since Gator is a paid product, they don’t sell your data or show any ads on your website.
Cons
Unlike some of the other options in the list, Gator doesn’t have a free plan. They also do not offer a free trial.
Like other proprietary website builders in the list, you cannot hire a developer to help you significantly modify your website design or add new features to your website.
Pricing
Gator is offering 55% off to WPBeginner readers, so their pricing plans start from $3.46 per month for Starter, $5.39 per month for premium, and $8.30 for eCommerce plan. It is definitely one of the cheapest website builders in the list.
Gator can be used to build a small business website, a store with limited items, or a photo gallery. However, it is no match for the power of the most popular website builder, WordPress.
7. Zyro by Hostinger
Zyro is a powerful and affordable website builder by the same team as Hostinger. They offer an easy to use drag & drop website builder tool with free hosting and 72% off premium plans using the WPBeginner Zyro coupon code.
This makes Zyro a great choice for those looking for a cheap website builder to start their website.
Pros
Zyro website builder allows you to create a website without any design or coding skills. Their easy to use and powerful design tools makes it easy for anyone to build visually stunning websites.
It comes with a logo maker, useful AI tools, and tons of pre-made website templates that you can start with. You also have access to over 1 million high quality images for free.
The best part about Zyro is the affordable pricing. If you’re an artist or a small business on a budget, then Zyro is your best bet. Their unleased website builder pricing starts at $2.61 per month.
But don’t let the low pricing think that this isn’t a powerful website builder platform. They offer great uptime and reliability.
With each plan, you get new powerful features. For example on the Unleashed plan, you get marketing integrations like Google Analytics, Facebook retargeting, visitor remarketing, etc.
They also have eCommerce plans that allows you to add unlimited products, accept online payments, offer discount coupons, order management, inventory management, and even connect your store with Amazon, Instagram, and Shopify.
Cons
It’s not easy to switch templates once you choose it. Also since Zyro is not open source, it lacks the third-party integrations and addons that WordPress offers.
Their starter plan is a bit limited in features and does not include free domain, but it has all the essentials that you’d need to build a website.
While Zyro offers blogging features, it’s not a true blog platform, so they lack features like the ability to schedule blog posts, etc.
Pricing
Zyro pricing starts at $2.61 per month for their Unleashed plan which comes with a free domain. Their eCommerce plan costs $8.01 per month but is limited to 100 products. If you want unlimited products, then you’d want their eCommerce Plus plan which costs $14.31 per month with our Zyro coupon code: wpbeginner.
8. Domain.com Website Builder
Domain.com is one of the best domain registrars on the planet, and they offer a range of website solutions including web hosting, website builder, business email and more.
Their drag & drop website builder that lets you create a small business website, blog, and even an eCommerce website with just a few clicks.
Pros
Domain.com offers an easy drag and drop website builder to create your website. You can start with one of their hundreds of professionally designed templates and customize it using a simple drag and drop interface to match your brand.
All Domain.com website builder templates are optimized for mobile, tablets, and desktop computers. This means that your website will look great on all devices.
It comes with all the powerful features that you expect from a well-known website builder including: website analytics, eCommerce functionality, ability to add a blog to any website, and a free SSL certificate with all plans.
With their eCommerce plan, you also get inventory management, tax management, coupons & discounting, and many other powerful features.
They also offer live chat and telephone customer support for technical assistance, so you can easily get started.
Cons
Unlike other popular website builders, Domain.com website builder does not have a free website builder option. They also do not offer a free trial. However they do offer a money back guarantee in case you aren’t happy with the product.
Their extension ecosystem is small, and you won’t be able to hire a developer to build advanced features like WordPress because its not open source.
Since it’s a proprietary platform, migrating your website away from Domain.com website builder will be difficult.
Lastly, their starter plan restricts you to only 6 page website. For unlimited pages, you need at least their business plan.
Pricing
Domain.com Website Builder plans start from $1.99 per month for Starter, $6.99 per month for Business, and $12.99 per month for eCommerce plan.
All plans come with a free SSL certificate, unlimited storage, blog features, and phone support.
You can also use our Domain.com coupon code to get 25% off domain registration.
If you’re looking for a professional website builder, then Domain.com website builder is an excellent option.
However if you want advanced features and more control over your content, then nothing will beat self-hosted WordPress (#1 option in our list).
9. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a popular eCommerce website builder that allows you to easily create an online store that scales. It comes with all the essential features built-in, so you can keep your overhead low and margins high.
Pros
BigCommerce is a fully hosted eCommerce solution, so you don’t have to worry about website speed, security, or updates. They handle the server and technical side for you, so you can focus on growing your business.
Unlike other hosted eCommerce solutions, BigCommerce has a native integration with WordPress which allows you to leverage the flexibility of WordPress while taking advantage of the headless eCommerce power of BigCommerce. In simple terms, your website will be fast and secure no matter how much traffic you get.
BigCommerce integrates with all popular payment gateways including Stripe (credit cards and ACH), PayPal, Apple Pay, Square, Amazon Pay, Visa Checkout, Chase Pay, Ayden, and more. Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce doesn’t charge a transaction fee for you to use these payment gateways.
You can start with one of their many pre-made website templates and customize it to match your needs using their easy drag & drop website builder.
BigCommerce comes with many features built-in to handle conversion rate optimization such as cart abandonment, improved product search, product reviews, coupons, and more. For additional features, you can connect with third-party applications from their app store.
Pro Tip: You can use the OptinMonster app for BigCommerce to add personalized messages and boost your eCommerce conversion rates.
The best part is their dashboard that lets you see the metrics to help you grow your business with confidence.
Cons
If you are just starting out, then you will find BigCommerce pricing a bit higher than other website builders in the list.
Since it’s a proprietary platform, migrating away from BigCommerce will be difficult.
Pricing
BigCommerce comes with a 15-day free trial for all plans. Their basic plans at $29.95 per month which comes with all the essential features that you will need. You can upgrade to the plus plan which costs $79.95 per month for additional conversion optimization features. Their pro plan costs $299.95 per month which has all the advanced features you may need.
The best part about BigCommerce when compared to Shopify and other third-party eCommerce platforms is that they have a seamless integration with WordPress which can be a huge plus if you want to combine the flexibility of WordPress with the power of BigCommerce.
This is one of the reasons why we have BigCommerce listed as high in our best eCommerce website builder list.
10. Shopify
Shopify is another popular eCommerce website builder designed specifically for online stores and eCommerce websites. It powers millions of online stores across 175 different countries. Over 400 Billion dollars worth of products have been sold on Shopify’s platform.
According to our expert research, 4.4% of all websites on the internet are using Shopify as their eCommerce website builder.
Pros
Shopify is an all-in-one fully hosted eCommerce software, this means you don’t have to worry about managing software, installing updates, or keeping backups. Shopify does all that for you.
It offers an integrated payment solution called Shopify Payments which lets you accept credit cards. You can also add third-party payment gateways to accept payments.
As an ecommerce website builder, Shopify comes with full inventory management, unlimited products, powerful stats, easy marketing solutions, all neatly wrapped under one roof. They have hunereds of designs to choose from, and you will never need to add code.
With its intuitive drag and drop interface, Shopify makes it super-easy to create a full-fledged online store.
They also offer in-store POS, which allows you to sell products at your location, while accepting all credit cards and taking advantage of Shopify’s inventory, shipping, marketing, and stats management tools.
Cons
Shopify forces you to use their Shopify Payment platform. If you want to use your own payment processing solution, then they charge an additional 2% transaction fee which is really high.
If you are just starting out, then you may find Shopify’s pricing a bit higher than some other website builders in this list. For more details, see our Shopify vs. WooCommerce comparison.
If you ever want to move your website away from Shopify, you will find it quite difficult to do so.
Update: due to popular request, we have created a step-by-step tutorial on how to switch from Shopify to WooCommerce. Our team built a free migration tool that does the work for you.
Pricing
Shopify’s basic plan will cost you $29 per month. You can upgrade it to Shopify for $79 per month or Advanced Shopify for $299 per month. Shopify also offers a Shopify Lite plan for $9 per month, which basically allows you to add a buy button on any website.
If you want a hassle free ecommerce website builder, then Shopify may be the perfect option for you.
11. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a blogging platform and website hosting service run by Automattic. It is created by Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress open source software, hence the name WordPress.com.
To learn more, see our article on how are WordPress.com and WordPress.org related.
WordPress.com is not the same as self-hosted WordPress.org that we mentioned as our #1 website builder. Instead this is a customized hosting solution primarily focused on blogging. Please see our comparison of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org for more details.
Pros
WordPress.com is a website hosting service built on top of the same WordPress software but with a totally custom user experience. You don’t have to worry about the software and backups as WordPress.com takes care of it.
Their free and paid plans have different set of features. All plans allow users to choose from hundreds of free and paid WordPress themes. You can then use the built-in customizer to add your site title, use widgets, add navigation menus, and so on.
It doesn’t offer the same drag and drop functionality of other website builders. However, you can easily customize designs to a certain extent.
It does comes with powerful editing tools that bloggers find really helpful.
Cons
You cannot install custom plugins or themes unless you upgrade to their business plan.
Premium and lower plans do not have eCommerce features or third-party ad network support. With the business plan, you can use WooCommerce, install WordPress plugins, and third-party ad networks. However, you will still have to follow WordPress.com’s terms and conditions.
Pricing
WordPress.com free plan is extremely limited. Their personal plan starts with $4 per month billed annually and includes a custom domain. Premium plan costs $8 per month billed annually, and it gives you the ability to monetize your site and advanced design customization.
But to really build professional websites, you’ll need either their Business plan ($24 per month) or their eCommerce plan ($45 per month) which is far more expensive than self-hosted WordPress.
12. Squarespace
Squarespace is a popular professional website builder known for its great designs and ease of use. According to W3Techs, roughly 1.8% of all websites are built with Squarespace.
Pros
Squarespace comes with enterprise-grade infrastructure for hosting your website. This secure and robust platform allows you to focus on growing your business without worrying about hosting.
Squarespace includes tons of website designs to get started. All of these designs are completely ready for all types of content. They are fully editable, and Squarespace even allows you to use multiple templates for the same website at once.
Adding content to your website is very easy on Squarespace. Just point anywhere on your website and start typing. You can easily drag and drop items on pages to create your own layouts in minutes.
Squarespace also has an ecommerce plan which allow you to add an online store to your website. It offers a nice interface to manage your products, inventory, orders, coupon discounts, and more.
Cons
Squarespace offers limited integrations with third-party service which can be a hurdle in growing your business.
Their ecommerce plans only allow Stripe, Apple Pay, and PayPal for payment processing. You cannot add additional payment gateways.
Pricing
Squarespace websites start from $12 per month and $18 per month. Their online stores start from $26 and $40 per month.
Squarespace is a beautifully designed platform that offers very easy to use features. It can be perfect if you just want to quickly build a website.
If you are wondering how it stacks up against WordPress, then take a look at our comparison of Squarespace vs WordPress.
13. Weebly
Weebly is an easy website builder software with tons of great designs and functionality. It includes a beautifully crafted page builder which allows you to edit your website without learning any coding skills.
The popular payment platform Square acquired Weebly to offer a more integrated website builder solution for local businesses.
Pros
Weebly is a fully hosted platform, so you don’t need to install and manage any software. They take care of hosting your website and managing all the software that runs in the backend.
It comes with dozens of website designs to use as an starting point for your website. These gorgeous designs are fully editable using Weebly’s live page editor.
Weebly also comes with built-in support for ecommerce. This allows you to easily create an online store and start selling.
Each Weebly site comes with built in features for contact forms, photo galleries, sliders, and more. This allows you to easily add features to your website without any complicated setup process.
Given the ease of use and great features, Weebly is consistently rated among the best DIY website builders for beginners.
Cons
Weebly.com offers a fully hosted platform, so you are locked to the features they offer. You cannot hire a developer or designer to add new functionality or feature to your website.
Weebly will show Square ads on your site on both Free and Personal plans. You have to upgrade to their Professional plan to remove ads.
Pricing
Weebly comes with a very basic free plan. Their paid plans start from $6 per month billed annually. The pro plan costs $12 per month, and their business plan costs $26 per month.
If you are wondering how it stacks up against WordPress, then check out our comparison of Weebly vs WordPress.
Often beginners start with Weebly and then end up wanting to switch to WordPress. To help with that, we have created a free importer tool called WeeblytoWP that lets you easily move from Weebly to WordPress.
14. Dreamhost Website Builder
DreamHost website builder is a new website builder software that is built on top of WordPress. It is available as part of all DreamHost hosting plans which starts as low as $2.59 / month with a free domain making it one of the cheapest website builder in our list.
Pros
DreamHost WP website builder is built on top of WordPress, and it is powered by BoldGrid, so you get full advantage of WordPress with a customized user experience. DreamHost’s website builder allows you to choose a professional design from their gallery of themes.
After that, you can customize those designs with a drag and drop customizer. You can point and click on any item in the preview section to edit its properties. You can change colors, fonts, layouts, navigation menus, and widgets with ease.
Need a staging website? DreamHost’s BoldGrid builder creates one for you with a single click. This allows you to test out your new designs, layouts, plugins, and themes before making it live for everyone to see.
It also comes with a full WYSIWYG page editor. No more guess work when editing your pages in WordPress. You’ll get exactly what you see on your page editor window. You can also use GridBlocks to simply drag and drop elements to your page and build your own layouts from scratch.
DreamHost WP site builder can be used to create to any type of website with a custom domain name. Since it’s built on WordPress, it’s easy to add blogging functionality, powerful SEO and social media features, eCommerce features, and more.
All DreamHost website builder themes are ready for WooCommerce. This allows you to easily create a storefront using their drag and drop website builder (see our list of best WooCommerce hosting companies).
Cons
DreamHost WP website builder runs on top of WordPress, so you will still need a self-hosted WordPress.org website to use it.
But the good part is that WordPress comes pre-installed with all DreamHost plans. You also get other powerful features included with DreamHost as well.
DreamHost does not come with a free plan, but they do offer a 97 day money back guarantee.
Pricing
DreamHost WP website builder is available as part of all DreamHost plans starting as low as $2.59 per month for 1 website.
WPBeginner readers also get a free domain, free SSL certificate, and free domain privacy with the Starter DreamHost plan which also comes with a 97 day money-back guarantee.
This makes DreamHost one of the most affordable website builder in the market.
15. GoDaddy Website Builder
GoDaddy is one of the largest domain name registrar and web hosting service providers in the world. While many business owners use GoDaddy to host WordPress websites, they also offer a simple online website builder for those who don’t want to use WordPress.
Pros
GoDaddy Website Builder is a simple and easy tool to create professional looking websites. It comes pre-loaded with several ready to use blocks that you can drag and drop to build different layouts.
It also has integrated photo library with professional images from Getty Photography that you can use on your website. You can also upload your own photos and create image galleries.
GoDaddy website builder works on smaller screens too. This allows you to work on your website on the go using your mobile phone or tablet.
Cons
It is not as feature rich and flexible as most other website builders on this list. It offers limited set of features with fewer design options.
It is quite difficult to move your website from GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress.
Pricing
GoDaddy website builder pricing starts at $6.99/month for basic plan, $10.49/month for standard plan, and $14.99/month for eCommerce plan. All plans are billed annually.
GoDaddy Website Builder can be used for a simple website with a few pages. However, it is not a good choice to build content rich websites.
Our Pick for The Best Website Builder
After carefully evaluating all the popular online website builders, we believe that WordPress.org outperforms all website builders in overall performance, ease of use, price, and flexibility.
WordPress is an excellent choice for beginners, personal websites, and business websites. Some of the world’s top brands are using WordPress on their websites. See all the reasons to choose WordPress as your website builder.
If you want to build your website with the best website builder, then get started with WordPress by using Bluehost. It is definitely our #1 choice.
You can read our step by step guide on how to make a website for detailed instructions.
Looking for business name ideas? Try our A.I powered business name generator tool to find creative brand name ideas.
If you’re looking to build an online store (eCommerce website), then we recommend WooCommerce as the best eCommerce website builder because it offers all the features that you will need at the best price.
If you want a WordPress alternative, then we recommend using either Web.com or HubSpot.
Web.com is one of the original website builders, and they offer very affordable prices for small businesses. You can get started for as low as $1.95, and it comes with all the powerful features including a free domain.
HubSpot offers a free website builder along with a suite of marketing automation and CRM tools to grow your business. It also seamlessly integrates with WordPress should you want to switch later.
We hope that our website builder reviews helped you choose the best website builder for your project. You may also want to see out list of tools to help you grow your website.
Website Builder FAQs
Having helped over 400,000+ users start their website, we have answered quite a lot of questions. Below are some of the answers to the most frequently asked questions about website builders.
Are website builders worth it?
Yes, overall website builders are an extremely cost efficient way to build a website. Instead of paying thousands of dollars to hire a web developer, you can use the easy to use drag-and-drop interface that website builders offer to build your own website for a low monthly fee.
Which website builder software do professional web designers use?
These days even professional web designers use a website builder like WordPress to build their client websites because they can build any type of website using WordPress plugins and themes.
The drag and drop WordPress page builders make it easy for professional web designers to create custom websites for clients while saving time which allows them to serve more clients and make more money each month.
Is it better code your own website than use a website builder?
In the old days, knowing how to code a website from scratch was worth it, but these days almost all professional developers and designers use a website builder platform or open source CMS software to build websites.
Website builder platforms have gotten really good, and they simply let you do more in less time.
Can I switch my website builder software later?
No, with the exception of WordPress, most website builders make it really hard to switch away from them. This is why it’s extremely important to choose the right website builder that you can grow with.
There are third-party services, tools, and tutorials that can help you switch website builder software with varying degrees of success.
For example, you can use our Weebly to WordPress migrator to switch from Weebly to WordPress.
We also have detailed tutorials on:
- How to switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
- How to switch from Blogger to WordPress
- How to switch from Wix to WordPress
- How to move from Squarespace to WordPress
- How to move from GoDaddy website builder to WordPress
- How to move from Joomla to WordPress
- How to move from Medium to WordPress
- How to move from Shopify to WooCommerce
Is WordPress really free? What’s the catch?
Yes, WordPress.org is an open source software that’s 100% free for everyone to use. It’s built by a community of developers under the guidance of the non-profit WordPress foundation.
WordPress is licensed under GPL which means anyone can use it, modify it, and redistribute it. It gives you full freedom and ownership over your website content.
The only catch is that to use WordPress, you need to have a domain name and web hosting which is true for all websites.
You can learn more about why is WordPress free and what are the costs.
How do other free website builders make money if I use it for free?
Most free website builders make money by selling ads on your website. For example, if you use the free Wix plan, then they will show ads on every page of your website. This does not look professional.
Outside of that, most website builder software offer limited freemium versions to get customers to try their platform, and they make money when you upgrade to their paid plans.
Only WordPress.org offers the full-featured website builder for free, and since it’s an open source project, they do not show any ads on your site.
How can I create my own website for free?
If you want to start a website for free, then you can use HubSpot website builder. You can sign up for a free account (no credit card needed).
You can use their smart templates and drag & drop editor to create a completely custom web design.
They also offer powerful business tools such as CRM, email marketing, live chat, marketing automation, and more, so you can quickly grow your online presence.
How can I get a free domain name?
The best way to get a free domain name is to choose a website builder platform that offers a free domain as part of their paid plan.
Here are the best website builder platforms that offer a free custom domain:
- WordPress hosted on Bluehost
- DreamHost Website Builder
- Gator by HostGator
- Web.com website builder
For more details, see our guide on how to register a domain name for free.
Do I need a custom domain to build a website?
No, you do not need a custom domain to build a website, but having one does help boost your credibility.
Often free website builders will give you a branded subdomain like yoursite.wix.com, but this does not look professional.
This is why we recommend everyone to get a custom domain name, especially if you’re serious about your online presence.
Do I need to buy web hosting to build a website?
Yes, all websites need web hosting because that’s where your website files are stored. When you purchase a website builder subscription, you’re technically buying web hosting from them.
As your website grows and get higher traffic, most website builder platforms will ask you to upgrade your subscription to a higher plan.
See our comparison of the best WordPress hosting companies for more details.
Are there any hidden costs to building a website?
The hidden costs of building any website are addon services such as email marketing services, business phone services, professional business email address, SEO tools, and other third-party extensions / apps that you may need (varies based on the type of site).
We have written a detailed guide on how much does it cost to build a WordPress site (with tips on how to keep it low budget).
Other typical hidden costs in website builders are: storage space, bandwidth, domain renewal costs after first year, higher renewal pricing on some platforms, and aggressive upsell from sales team.
Which is the best website builder for SEO?
We believe that WordPress is the best website builder for SEO. We use it to build all our websites, and we’re not alone.
Every SEO expert agrees that WordPress is the most SEO friendly website builder, and this is why over 43% of all websites use WordPress.
Learn how to make a WordPress website (step by step).
Which is the best website builder for eCommerce?
Just about every website builder claims to have eCommerce features, but we believe that WooCommerce (WordPress), BigCommerce, and Shopify are the best website builder for eCommerce.
Which is the best website builder for A/B testing?
You can do A/B testing on just about every website builder. To do this, you’d need third-party tools like OptinMonster, Google Optimize, etc.
Some website builders like WordPress, Shopify, and BigCommerce make it easy to setup A/B testing compared to others.
Are there any website builder in this list that you would personally avoid?
We typically do not like closed website builder platforms because they lock you in and make it harder to switch. If we had to pick one to avoid, then we’d say avoid Wix because it’s the hardest platform to switch away from. They aggressively try to upsell on every step of the way.
We’ve been building websites since 1998 and have tried many platforms. For the last decade, we always favor WordPress because it’s open source and gives you full ownership of your content.
Which are the top 3 best website builder in your opinion?
Our top 3 choices for the best website builder software are:
- WordPress – Best website builder (overall).
- Web.com – Best website builder for small business (great price).
- WooCommerce or Shopify – Best eCommerce website builder for online store.
No this last question is not a joke. We seriously get this question even after referring people to this guide.
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Disclaimer: to help avoid choice paralysis, we only compared the top 14 best website builder platforms. This list doesn’t include other website builder software like Site123, Duda, Jimdo, SiteBuilder, Webflow, Format, Carrd, Ucraft, Google Sites, Webs, 1&1, Adobe Muse, Yola, Webnode, etc because we believe the solutions mentioned in this article are simply better.
