Creating a website is easier than ever before. You don't need to be a professional programmer or have experience in web design to create your own professional and easy-to-use website. There are several website builders available to you, such as Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly, that can help you quickly and easily create a sleek and polished site that can help you take your business to the next level. Some website builders come with even more advanced features and functions, such as email marketing or e-commerce capabilities, which are especially important if you're trying to increase the number of followers or monetize your site. If you're still not sure which direction to go with your website builder, we've included a guide at the bottom, which includes key questions to ask yourself as you start your online adventure.
Finally, if you already have a basic website and you just need a host or are interested in creating a self-hosted WordPress site, check out our list of the best web hosting services and our list of the best WordPress hosting services. Wix is the clear leader in the race for dominance of website builders. It is the biggest player with more than 110 million websites created. This popular website builder also has the most tools, capabilities and freedom. Wix covers the entire spectrum of ease of use by offering an AI-powered automatic website builder at one end (Wix ADI) that requires minimal effort from the user, up to Wix Corvid, an open development platform for advanced applications such as Javascript, databases and dynamic data-driven pages. To maximize the experience, we recommend choosing a lane (for example, Wix ADI or Corvid).
Despite being the clear favorite among most critics, Wix has some drawbacks. Wix was one of the few creators that has data limitations for each of their plan levels, so if you want to upload endless photos and videos, or expect more than 5000 visitors per month to your site, make sure you do the math before choosing a plan. Squarespace seems to us to be the cool guy in high school: flashy and modern on the surface, but with no substance underneath. We found that it was between Wix and Weebly in terms of ease of use, although it consistently received positive ratings from reviewers for the quality of the design choices. What we think it could really shine on is for small and medium-sized businesses that want a well-designed page and space for e-commerce growth with lower transaction fees. The Squarespace editor isn't as intuitive as Wix and Weebly, and it requires a little work until you get the hang of it.
It has a good number of plugins, templates and website tools, and the universal style editor and strong photo editing come in handy. Responsive website editor means your site will always look good on a mobile device, but you won't be able to make mobile-specific edits like with Wix or Duda. We also found high and consistent ratings for helpful and responsive customer service, which should put business owners at ease. Weebly goes unnoticed in relation to Wix with 50 million websites created, but it offers excellent options depending on your needs. If you want a simple and easy-to-use do-it-yourself website editor, a large site (more than 25 to 30 pages), unlimited storage, site portability and affordable yet powerful online store capabilities, Weebly plays a good role for the Wix Goliath. The editor is one of the easiest website building options to use, and the low learning curve still creates great looking sites.
That ease of use means that the editor is more limited in terms of plugins and design flexibility, and it doesn't have the range of options or mobile customization that a creator like Wix has. Even so, in our tests we never got to a point where we found those restrictions to be limiting. However, for a high-octane web designer it could come up. Weebly is a good option for those who may be more limited in terms of time investment and their trading options outperform competitors like Wix and Squarespace. For those who are wary of committing to a website builder knowing they won't be able to pick it up and leave later, Weebly also offers the ability to download files from sites so that you can switch to another host - a rarity in the site builder landscape. The creator of Duda has a number of features that differentiate it including mobile site customization, detailed data analysis (for example advanced metrics such as form submissions, time on page and bounce rate) and user personalization so you can easily display specific messages or offers to users based on time of day location or browsing history. It is also known for its multilingual support and a free e-commerce plugin that allows you to sell up to 10 products.
Duda is a little expensive but it fills some of the gaps that major players have such as analytics multilingual capabilities better personalization and mobile personalization. GoDaddy is best known for its custom domain names and web hosting services so it makes sense that it also offers website building software - Websites + Marketing - but it's a similar experience to the other options on this list designed to get a basic site up and running in less than an hour. Although GoDaddy is better known as a domain seller a domain isn't included in those prices; you'll need to add it separately. But overall GoDaddy's current website builder is a good step forward from its now-discontinued GoCentral product. Similarly when you switch to a free tier there is no longer a 30-day timer in your experience so you can take your time to test if GoDaddy is right for you. Overall WordPress is aimed at bloggers who don't want or don't need to spend a lot of time designing websites but it feels very limited for those who want more control over their sites.
