The best website builders make it easy for individuals and small businesses to have a professionally designed website without paying a top dollar to a developer. Since they are particularly easy to use, you can also get your website up and running in record time.
However, with hundreds of website builders on the market, finding the right website creator can be challenging. Website builders aren’t one-size-fits-all. Read our review of the top website builders to choose the builder that best fits your needs. Check out our comparison charts that also reveal all the hidden pros and cons so you can see what each builder offers.
Check Out Our Top Best Website Builders:
- Wix Website Builder – Best for Building Free Sites
- IONOS – Best Website Builder with Low Prices
- HostGator Website Builder – Best For Personal Bloggers
- Hostinger – Best AI Website Builder
- Bluehost – Best for Building Simple Sites
- A2 Hosting – Best Website Builder for Speed
- WP Engine – Best Website Builder for WordPress
What is a Website Builder?
A website builder is a tool that allows the user to construct websites without any manual coding. Website builders make it easy for anyone to create a website. It typically has a drag-and-drop interface so users with little or no coding experience can easily create professional-looking websites.
Website builders can be offline or online; offline website builders are software you download and build websites with, while online builders are installed in the backend or cPanel of your live website.
Most hosting services now offer website builders to attract customers. Some also provide advanced tools such as SEO analytics tools, custom email addresses, domains, and third-party integrations to go with those builders.
How to Choose the Best Website Builder For Your Needs?
Some basic questions are essential when looking into website builders. The most important factors are what type of website you want to build, your budget, and ease of use. Here are some tips for selecting the best website creator for you:
- Check your budget: This is the first thing you should do. It would be best if you only went for what you can afford, so always consider the costs involved in building and maintaining your website going forward. If the total costs (including domain registration, hosting, and all) exceed your budget, then check this list for more affordable options.
- Identify Your Priorities: What do you value above all else in a website? Is it speed or design, or UI? What kind of website are you building (blog, eCommerce website, forum, etc.)? You must have definite answers to these questions to avoid choosing the wrong builder and having to start over.
- Consider The Themes and Templates Available: Your website is a product of the templates, themes, and features offered by the website builder. Some builders give you only a handful of theme customization options, which can be very frustrating. Make sure whatever site/builder you choose has an abundance of templates and tools so you can make further tweaks in the future if you need them..
- Consider The Ease of use: Though you don’t need any coding, some website builders may give you a harder time than others. Luckily most website builders are designed for the general public with some knowledge of how websites work.
Full Overview Of The Top Best Website Builders
1. Wix – Best For Building Free Sites
- Overall Score: 4.7
- Ease-of-Use: 5.0
- Design and Templates: 5.0
- Help with Building: 4.3
- Tech Support: 4.4
- Check Platform Policies: 4.8
Wix’s website builder offers complete user control while making the interface beginner-friendly. So if you are looking to build a website with maximum creative freedom, then Wix is probably your best option.
Wix’s website builder also provides a wide range of website editing tools and features to allow you to create highly interactive websites. It doesn’t make our number one list because, for many beginners, too many options can be distracting. For instance, some newbies complain that the visual editor seems cluttered.
If you are willing to spend more than 10 minutes designing your website and plan to integrate cool features such as video backgrounds, you should give Wix’s website builder a trial.
Pros
- Hundreds of templates to choose from
- Easy to use website builder interface
- Dozens of free and paid apps
- eCommerce options
- Free SSL with all Wix
Cons
- You get better analytics from third-party apps
- It is difficult to move the website from Wix
Wix is famous for its Photoshop-like interface, eCommerce options, and total creative freedom.
Pricing Table
| Connect Domain | Combo | Unlimited | VIP | |
| Price | $4.50 | $8.50 | $12.50 | $24.50 |
| Free Domain For One Year | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom Domain | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wix Ads | Yes | No | No | No |
| Bandwidth | 1 GB | 2 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage | 500 MB | 3 GB | 10 GB | 35 GB |
| Video Hours | _ | 30 minutes | 1 hour | 5 hours |
| Customer Care | 24/7 Customer Care | 24/7 Customer Care | 24/7 Customer Care | Priority Customer Care |
Unique features
Initiative website building tools
Wix offers a potent yet straightforward website builder. The interface comes with drag and drop tools to help you add or remove features from your website. Since it is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) website builder, your published website will look as it appears in the editor.
Easy to use
As with most website builders, you don’t need coding knowledge to create a website. Wix goes the extra mile by giving you significant customization options and flexibility. You can include all the latest trends in web design on your website. So if you’re not a fan of static websites, you can add video background or animations without programming experience.
The Wix app market
You can access over 250 apps, add-ons, and extensions to add functionality and usefulness to your website. These apples include Wix Pro gallery to help display your images and Site Booster to help you get more traffic from search engines. Many apps are free, although you might only be able to access some of them on the premium plan.
Themes and designs for specific industries
Wix provides over 500 tastefully designed website templates. You can sort through these templates by industry or hobby to find the one layout for your best site. Many of the templates are free, but you will need to subscribe to the eCommerce plans to access all of the free templates. The templates are themed around categories such as restaurants, online stories, photography, fashion, blogging, and education.
Wix is perhaps the best website builder for artists in general. It is an excellent option for just about anyone who wants a professional-looking website either for their business, personal portfolio, eCommerce store, or blog. It might also be perfect if you want to promote a hobby or sell physical or digital products. The wide range of customization allows you to create a website that aligns with your preference. Check out our full Wix review here for more.
Is Wix Your Perfect Provider?
Wix offers great customization tools for small and medium business websites. Try it out for yourself.
2. IONOS – Best Website Builder with Low Prices
IONOS is primarily a web hosting company. However, like most web hosts, it also comes with an intuitive website builder, which you can use to create a professional website for as low as $1/month. Also, IONOS’ website builder is easy to use and requires no prior cod ing knowledge or skills. So, both beginners and pros can use IONOS for their sites.
- Overall Score: 3.9
- Pricing: 3.9
- Features: 3.5
- Performance: 4.3
- Support: 4.0
- User Friendly: 3.8
Pricing: IONOS allows you to either build your own website or have a professional do it for you. The cheaper option is to do it yourself, and it starts at $1/month. This plan includes a free domain for one year, a 12GB professional email inbox, 50GB of web space, and 200 web pages.
Features: With IONOS, you’ll get a free domain for the first year, professional email, a free Wildcard SSL certificate, statistics & analytics, GDPR compliance, professional website templates, an AI text generator, over 6 million royalty-free photos, pre-designed color schemes, sections, layouts, and more.
Performance: IONOS’ data centers are all ISO 27001-certified and come with a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Support: IONOS offers excellent customer support, which you can reach via phone and live chat. Also, there are many tutorials and guides that show you how to complete various tasks and tackle issues, and you can find them in the provider’s extensive knowledge base.
User Friendly: Building a website with IONOS is very easy and takes three simple steps. You’ll get pre-designed templates, layouts, and an AI text generator that can help you with your content.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Low prices and a 30-day money-back guarantee you can use as a risk-free trial.
- Easy-to-use tools and a simple and fast website creation process.
- Stable performance with a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Cons:
- Building a site with an online store is more expensive (but still very affordable).
3. HostGator – Best For Personal Bloggers
- Overall Score: 4.0
- Ease-of-Use: 4.5
- Design and Templates: 4.3
- Help with Building: 3.8
- Tech Support: 3.8
- Check Platform Policies: 4.0
HostGator website builder is perfect for those looking to build a small store, small business website or a photo gallery. Although it doesn’t pack the editing powers of competitors like WordPress, it has enough features to make it one of the best website builders for small business owners.
Its key features include its stock image library, beautiful templates, intuitive interface and the ability to switch themes. The last point means you can pivot your website without having to rebuild from scratch.
The builder also allows you to incorporate subscription membership and download of digital items. Anyone who is looking to set up a simple online presence will benefit from Host gator website builder along with its excellent web hosting offerings.
Pros
- Over 200 professionally designed templates
- Customization options
- Easy to use point and click interface.
- Stock photo library
- Free custom domain name on all plans
Cons
- No free trial or free plan
- Limited website modification options
| Hatchling | Baby | Business | |
| Price (per month) | $2.75 | 3.5 | 5.25 |
| Number of websites | Single website | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| WordPress installs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free WordPress Website transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Unmetered bandwidth | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free SSL certificate | No | Yes | Yes |
| Free dedicated IP | No | No | Yes |
| Free SEO tools | No | No | Yes |
| Free domain | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Unique Features
Free domain name
HostGator offers free domain registration if you register for a 12, 24 or 36-month plan. This helps you minimize cost when creating your website for the first time. However, you will pay a domain renewal fee after the end of the first year.
Social media integration
The HostGator website builder allows you to integrate social media widgets on your website. You can use these tools to curate media from social media to your site and allow visitors to find you on social media platforms.such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
App market
You can add more value and functionality to your website by adding apps from the app market. Many of these apps can be used to automate your website processes or improve user experience. Hostgator also provides you a Bing Ad Credit that gives you $100 in search advertising each time you spend $25 on Microsoft advertising.
Mobile App
HostGator website builder is also available as a mobile app. From the app, you can make changes to your website and hide elements. You can also manage your online store on the go with your mobile app
Blog
HostGator website builder is one of the best options for blogging due to its excellent blogging tools. There are many blogging-themed templates in the editor. You can also add post tags, headings, images, videos, and embed links to your web posts.
Logo Maker
The logo maker will come in handy for those on a budget. With the logo maker, you can create a personally looking logo and customize it to fit your needs and preference.
HostGator is the best website for anyone who wants to build a blogging brand. It also comes with other tools that make it ideal for small businesses as well such as the logo maker. The tools might look basic, but they pack enough punch for most individuals and small businesses to get a personally looking and fully functional website.
HostGator is the best website builder for beginners due to its simple-to-use interface.
4. Hostinger – Best AI Website Builder
If you’re keen on AI and want to use its help while building your website, then we recommend you try out Hostinger. It has an AI website builder that works on a drag-and-drop basis, suitable for both newbies and more experienced users. With Hostinger’s website builder, you can get your site up and running in a matter of minutes, with no coding necessary.
- Overall Score: 4.6
- Pricing: 4.6
- Features: 4.6
- Performance: 4.6
- Support: 4.7
- User Friendly: 4.7
Pricing: Hostinger offers one website-building plan that you can pay on a monthly, annual, biannual, or quadrennial basis. If you pay monthly, the plan will cost you $11.99/month with a $4.99 setup fee. The plan includes hosting for 100 websites, unmetered traffic, a logo maker, AI features, and marketing integrations.
Features: Some of the features you’ll get include 100 websites per account, unmetered traffic, unlimited free SSL certificates, weekly backups, a free domain for the first year (not included in the monthly plan), Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, a logo maker, AI features, and more.
Performance: Hostinger comes with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and offers data centers in the USA, Lithuania, Singapore, Brazil, the UK, and the Netherlands. So, no matter where you are, you’re sure to get great performance.
Support: This provider offers round-the-clock customer support, available to you via email and live chat. There are also numerous guides and tutorials on its websites.
User Friendly: Building a website with Hostinger involves four simple steps, and during all of them, powerful AI technology will assist you and make things even easier. There are many pre-made templates to choose from, and the interface is intuitive and easy to navigate.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Web hosting is included in the website-building plan.
- You’ll get powerful AI and marketing features.
- You can try it out risk-free via Hostinger’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Cons:
- The monthly plan includes a setup fee (but it’s not expensive and is a one-time occurrence).
5. Bluehost – Best for Building Simple Sites
Bluehost is one of the few web hosts that WordPress recommends for its users. It also offers an excellent website builder, which you can use to build all kinds of sites, including WordPress sites, WooCommerce stores, and more. Also, Bluehost is beginner-friendly and offers fast setup times.
- Overall Score: 2.8
- Pricing: 2.9
- Features: 3.0
- Performance: 2.8
- Support: 2.7
- User Friendly: 2.8
Pricing: Bluehost’s entry-level plan costs $2.95/month and includes web hosting for one website, 10GB SSD storage, and custom WordPress themes.
Features: With Bluehost, you’ll get a wide range of hosting website-building features, such as Cloudflare CDN, two types of SSL Certificates – Let’s Encrypt and Comodo, CodeGuard backups, SiteLock, one-click WordPress installs, a WordPress Academy, product add-ons, a premium plugin bundle, and more.
Performance: Bluehost uses Cloudflare CDN and fast-paced SSD storage to offer fast load speeds and performance. Also, it offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee and advanced caching for faster speed.
Support: With Bluehost, you’ll get 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and social media. In addition, the provider has a vast knowledge base full of guides and tutorials.
User Friendly: Bluehost has a WonderStart tool that allows you to create a whole website in three steps. Also, it has a WonderBlocks tool that lets you easily customize and edit your website.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- WordPress and WooCommerce-optimized features and services.
- The website builder comes with web hosting.
- Powerful tools that make creating and customizing your website a breeze.
Cons:
- The entry-level plan isn’t very secure (but you can easily scale to another plan once your website grows).
6. A2 Hosting – Best Website Builder for Speed
Along with lightning-fast web hosting, A2 Hosting also offers an excellent website builder that you can get in two ways. Either you can purchase a website-building plan directly, with which you’ll get A2 Hosting’s startup web hosting plan. Or you can add it to any A2 Hosting shared hosting plan. No matter which way you go about it, you’ll get blazing-fast load pages and performance from this provider.
- Overall Score: 4.7
- Pricing: 4.6
- Features: 4.7
- Performance: 4.7
- Support: 4.7
- User Friendly: 4.7
Pricing: A2 Hosting’s website-building plans start at $2.99/month. The entry-level plan is meant for a simple one-page website and comes with 10 templates and 100MB of storage.
Features: A2 Hosting offers SSL protection, a blog plugin, an eCommerce plugin, customizable templates, a template selector & customizer, the ability to add YouTube videos to your site, the ability to customize photos and add picture galleries, a contact form, a signup form, blogs, and more.
Performance: A2 Hosting offers some of the fastest web hosting services on the market, and since you get web hosting with your A2 Hosting website builder, you’ll be able to enjoy a super-fast website with great loading times. The provider also comes with a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Support: As an A2 Hosting user, you’ll have access to 24/7 customer support via various channels, such as live chat, phone, and email. Also, you’ll be able to learn how to do various tasks via the provider’s many tutorials and guides, available on its website.
User Friendly: A2 Hosting’s SiteBuilder is pretty straightforward to use. However, it’s not as easy to use as others, but still suitable for beginners nonetheless.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Reliable and super-fast performance and loading speeds.
- All website-building plans come with web hosting (shared hosting).
- Round-the-clock support and an extensive knowledge base.
Cons:
- Prices are higher on renewal (but the provider often offers great deals and discounts you can take advantage of).
7. WP Engine – Best Website Builder for WordPress
WP Engine is the ideal solution for all WordPress lovers out there. It is heavily optimized for WordPress and offers features and services that cater to creating and hosting such sites. Also, it offers some of the most reliable uptimes in WordPress hosting, making it the ideal WordPress solution available.
- Overall Score: 4.4
- Pricing: 4.2
- Features: 4.5
- Performance: 4.4
- Support: 4.4
- User Friendly: 4.5
Pricing: WP Engine’s entry-level WordPress plan costs $20/month and includes hosting for one website, 10GB of storage, 50GB of bandwidth, and 10 premium themes. Also, all WP Engine plans come with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Features: Premium WordPress themes, auto-renewing SSL and SSH access, security patching, plugin risk scans, advanced DDoS, managed WAF, automated WordPress and PHP updates, CDN, a wide range of WordPress plugins, support for WooCommerce, and many useful website tools.
Performance: WP Engine offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee and uses global CDN to provide faster speeds. Also, it uses EverCache for better performance.
Support: This provider offers 24/7/365 customer support via live chat and phone. It also provides super-quick response times and has many resources you can use to access guides and tutorials.
User Friendly: WP Engine has a feature called Genesis that gives you a wide range of tools that will help you build your site faster. Also, it has 1-click staging and development environments.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Many WordPress-optimized services and features.
- Excellent performance with a 99.99% uptime guarantee and great speeds.
- A 60-day money-back guarantee.
Cons:
- Phone support isn’t available on all plans (but 24/7 live chat support is).
What Is The Best Website Builder For Your Industry?
Weighing the pros and cons of top website builders is no easy task. To keep it simple, choose a website builder that best suits the niche/industry. For instance, if you’re making a photography website, you’ll need a website builder with unlimited storage for photos and great server speeds for loading images. Here are the best website builders for some popular industries:
eCommerce
A good eCommerce website builder should allow owners to process orders easily, accept payments, manage logistics, and provide excellent customer care. The best eCommerce website builder currently is Shopify. It allows anyone to create a plug-and-play website that provides all the tools and resources you need for your eCommerce business.
Photography
Photography websites are like the personal portfolios of photographers. They must be highly professional and allow certain customizations (such as password-protected photos, watermarks, image categorization, etc.).
Squarespace is the overall best for photographers. It has very attractive templates photographers can use for their images. However, if you’re on a lower budget, you can use Wix.
Small Businesses
Wix is the number one website builder for small businesses. The ease of use with Wix is another level, and it provides a wide range of design options. There are also tools for SEO, email marketing, social media posting, and even Facebook advertising. The low costs associated with getting a Wix plan make it all the more perfect for small businesses.
Real Estate
Real estate websites need to be SEO friendly, support contact forms and bookings, and need to be able to connect to home listing services. Pre-designed templates also make the process faster if you don’t have a developer. Hence, WordPress is a great fit.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing websites could use detailed analytics and SEO features more than anything else. Some website builders aren’t affiliate marketing-friendly so you must ensure you’re within the builder’s Terms of Service. If you want to build affiliate marketing websites, you should check out Shopify or WordPress if you’re on a budget.
Next Steps When Choosing A Website Builder
Here are the next things to look out for when choosing a website builder.
Mobile Responsiveness
Most of your visitors will be accessing your website from their phones.. If your site is not mobile-responsive, there’s a risk that they’ll leave.. Try viewing a site hosted by the web builder you intend to use on your phone first, so you know how your site will perform.
Payment Terms and Conditions
If you’re one of those who don’t read “terms and conditions,” now might be a good time to start. You wouldn’t want to have harsh sanctions or an outright closing of your site after years of hosting due to one or two things you ignored while signing up.
Support
It’s pretty obvious that any builder that doesn’t provide ample support for its users isn’t reliable. If you’re a first-time website owner, you need all the help you can get. Therefore, only choose a website builder that provides 24/7 support.
Integration
Does your website allow easy Integration of other sites/platforms? If not, then you should probably reconsider your choices.
Hidden costs
One important area to check in terms and conditions is that of payments. Several website builders are fond of making hidden charges to customers. Read reviews from other users to know for sure if the web builder you’re using has any hidden charges or not.
Provision To Move Your Website
Not all website builders allow users to move their sites to a new domain/host. However, this becomes a necessity in the long run, especially when your site has grown to a high rank, and you have the money to build a better site. It’s essential you confirm whether or not your host allows for this.
How Much Does It Cost To Build A Website?
Building a website can cost anywhere from $200 to $10,000 or even more, depending on the type of website and the Integrations and features. Thankfully, most website builders have free trials and free plans you can try out before committing fully.
What Are The Benefits Of A Website Builder?
Reduced costs
Instead of spending up to $500 on an eCommerce website, a website builder allows you to create your own site for as little as $15 per month. Website builders make owning a website very cheap and affordable.
Instant website creation
It usually takes days or even weeks for programmers to write the code and develop the front and back end of websites. With website builders, however, websites can be made in under a few hours or a few minutes with the right template
Personalization
Website builders allow you to build your website precisely the way you want it. From templates to color, design, and every other stuff, it’s all in your hands.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Website Builders?
Limited design options
With website builders, you’re limited to what you’re given. So, you can’t copy a Web Design from anywhere or use any attractive features that your host provider doesn’t allow.
Ownership
So long as you use a website builder, your site is not truly your own. You’re still under your host, and if something should happen to the host servers or the company should close up, your site will be lost forever.
No Uniqueness
With website builders, it’s possible that your site will look similar to that of someone else using the same host as you are. This scenario mainly occurs with web builders that only provide a few templates.
SEO
There are certain SEO features that website builders just can’t provide. They try to provide as many SEO elements as possible, but some skip important elements like website schema.
Summary
Building a website can be very demanding, and having all the work done for you by these website builders is a big help. HostPapa is perfect for individuals who want a straightforward, no-hassle solution without learning code. And a solution like Shopify is one of the best website builders for eCommerce stores.
Feel free to use any of our recommendations here, as they were carefully selected through in-depth research and customer feedback. Finally, when choosing a web builder, go for higher plans if you can afford them to enjoy its full capabilities. Those plans give you the level of professionalism you might need, while the smaller plans may appear somewhat basic.
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