With over 50+ different website builders, many of them sounding very similar, both in features and functionality it’s often hard to know which is best suited for your requirements so we decided to sign up, test and review the best website builders so you don’t have to…

If you are working on a budget why not take a look at our list of free website builders, many of which even come with free web hosting packages.

Website builders are perfect solutions for both individuals and small businesses; the ability to create a website in less than a day and have it visible online is pretty impressive, wouldn’t you say?

Previously, if any of us wanted a website, we’d be looking at hiring a web developer for the cost of thousands.

Wix has over 500 free themes to choose from. All of their themes come mobile ready which means you don’t have to create a separate mobile version of your website. Wix also has an SEO wizard which I found really helpful (read my review of Wix for further information).

Pros:

Over 500 professional template designs organised into easy-to-use categories
Variable pricing options covering all types of users
Mobile device website builder included with all designs
Knowledgeable support agents who are on hand 24/7
Exciting ADI technology with access to the latest features and updates
Their innovative drag and drop builder makes them a great choice for beginners and pros alike.
The eCommerce functionality is impressive with a great range of sales and marketing apps

Cons:

eCommerce plans are available but come at a higher price

SITE123’s free plan (honestly, it’s actually free), comes with 500MB storage, 1GB bandwidth, and a subdomain. Though the features may not suit everyone, it’s a great choice even for small businesses, to begin with. Sometimes, and there’s no harm in doing so, people want to try a product before they buy it. Once you’ve decided that SITE123 is actually pretty awesome, their premium plan is only approximately £8.52* per month. Now, that is more expensive than Wix’s recommended plan, but it still offers some pretty cool features.

There are hundreds of templates to look through too. Everything from a basic website to an art portfolio, cafes/restaurants to online shops. It’s a really clever platform and something that I will likely spend even more time experimenting with in the future.

After signing up for SITE123, I monitored my website’s performance. Using GTMetrix, I analysed my freshly built site without any optimisation. My site loaded in just 2.7 seconds (which is great considering I literally didn’t perform any kind of compression). Over 6 months, I had a 99.98% uptime record which is absolutely fantastic. There’s much more where that came from, so if you fancy learning more, check out my SITE123 review.

*Disclaimer: Prices may vary depending on the exchange rate at the time of invoicing

Pros:

Accessible customer support with helpful advisers, including instant 24/7 live chat
All templates are mobile friendly and fully responsive on all devices
SITE123 app market is super easy to use with tonnes of features
Design Assistance allows you to create a customised template without any technical or development knowledge
Constantly updated with new features and expanded capabilities

Cons:

Some features are streamlined and cannot be customized beyond a certain point

Weebly has a selection of pricing plans to get your teeth sunken into. Like some website builders, they offer a free plan which includes Weebly branding. This means that you can build and host a free website with them but it won’t look very professional.

Weebly’s website builder is pretty easy to get the hang of. I found it to be quite intuitive and I was able to set up my website with just a few clicks. My main issue with Weebly’s builder was the fact it was really limited in comparison to other website builders.

For me, the best feature Weebly offers is quite a simple one. Weebly’s mobile app means you can edit and manage your site on the go. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve wanted to edit my site on a bus, train, or even when I’m out for a meal (yes I know, it’s addictive).

Monitoring Weebly’s performance, my website achieved a total uptime of 99.97% over a 6 month period is something to be really proud of. 6 months equates to around 4380 hours of which my site was down for 2 of those hours.

Pros:

Plenty of support options including live chat with lightning speed response times
Free option available for those who don’t mind a subdomain
Partnered with SiteGround (one of our best web hosts)
App store with endless amounts of 3rd party apps to make your website entirely unique
On-boarding hints throughout, when you need them

Cons:

The all-inclusive approach may not be to every users’ liking
Lack of server file access can make adding custom tools more difficult

Although Squarespace may be a little pricier than its competitors, I don’t feel this would put me off. Their easy to use platform makes creating a website an absolute joy, even if you have no coding experience. SquareSpace has 4 pricing plans on offer. 2 plans in their ‘websites’ category, and 2 plans in their ‘business’ category.

Comparing it to the likes of Wix and SiteBuilder which are very intuitive website builders, SquareSpace certainly lacks in this area. After around an hour of using SquareSpace, I got a little frustrated!  You may think at this point I had given up on SquareSpace because of the website builder tools, but their features are hard to come by.

SquareSpace lets their users dive into the actual code of the website, making for some exciting design work. If you’ve never used website code before, don’t worry, you don’t have to do this, it’s more experimental. In fact, I’d suggest building a test website and playing around with some of the features so you can see for yourself.

When I monitored my SquareSpace website, my uptime over a 6 month period resulted in 99.95% which really isn’t bad at all! I know that if I continue with SquareSpace, I’ll receive a reliable server where my site will experience very little downtime. This is essential for any website (especially those with lots of visitors like small businesses).

Pros:

Over 60 exquisite templates for free across all of Squarespace’s pricing plans
Access to 1000+ Typekit fonts and 600+ Google fonts to make your website stand out from the crowd
Advanced users can edit the HTML and CSS of some of the templates
Video background creation for a stunning landing page
Email and live chat support with friendly staff who are quick to answer questions

Cons:

Advanced users and eCommerce businesses may not benefit from the lack of a proper file management system and advanced features
Pricing is more in-line with Shopify and BigCommerce without all of the same tools

Strikingly is a simple and easy to use platform. You can view examples of as many templates you like. Once you’ve made your decision, simply click start editing to do just that! If you’ve never used Strikingly before, they give you the option to take a tour (which is their version of a tutorial) to get you started.

The website builder itself is very functional. Everything responds quickly and works as intended. You can add new sections like a blog with ease, or edit existing sections, styles, fonts, etc. This is great for beginners as well as experts who can sign up to the Pro plan and edit the CSS/HTML/JavaScript.

Strikingly don’t state what server specs they are using, or providing to it’s customers. They appear to use Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) which is hosting from a company called Linode. This suggests they are providing a shared hosting level of resources to their customers. What this means is that you can expect reliable and stable uptime and response time from Strikingly, of which you can see more in-depth stats in my Strikingly review. However, don’t expect your site performance to be off the charts.

Pros:

14-day free trial to test Strikingly’s website builder
Ability to transfer templates and designs mid-build without losing any of your existing work
Custom HTML headers and footers can be implemented
Ideal for portfolios due to the photo-heavy nature of the templates available

Cons:

Not suitable for advanced users due to lack of flexibility and features
Not catered towards eCommerce, even with their Simple Store they only allow 300 products per site on their Pro plan

Once you’ve signed up, Shopify will ask you whether you’re already using another platform to sell. They’ll also ask for your estimated revenue and whether you’re setting up a store for another person. Next up you’ll need to enter your personal details to verify you are who you say you are. This will enable Shopify to send payments to your account.

Adding products to your store is SUPER simple with Shopify. When I first started creating an online store, I was really worried I wouldn’t understand it. Shopify takes you through each step at a time and doesn’t require any coding knowledge to proceed.

There are literally hundreds of features that Shopify offer. I suggest you take a look at their website before making a decision. However, I am CONFIDENT you will love them. Creating an online store with Shopify is easy, simple, and frankly very exciting!

Shopify provides a 99.98% uptime guarantee. I wanted to put this to the test so I monitored my website with Shopify for 6+ months. During this period, I achieved a 99.99% uptime which is absolutely AMAZING! I only had 8 outages lasting a total of 27 minutes, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t much at all.

Pros:

Easy to use drag and drop interface
Great management system including inventory, shipping, and marketing tools
Integration with WordPress if you already have a WordPress website or plan to start one from scratch
Unlimited products meaning you’ll never be restricted to what you can sell
All-in-one solution so your web hosting and website is under one branch

Cons:

Expensive pricing starting from £25 per month
No website builder included, only an online store

All plans include an SSL certificate to continue to make your life easier. Their editor is simple to get the hang of, selecting elements and items to build into your chosen template, of which there’s over 100 to choose from.

Pros:

Free plan available if you want to test out its tools and features before committing to a premium plan
Easy-to-use editor with plenty of design elements and items
POWr plugins to enhance your website with third-party apps
eCommerce options available with free SSL on all plans

Cons:

Templates aren’t great compared to SquareSpace
Expensive pricing in comparison to other website builders

WordPress is one of the easiest website builders to use (once you get the hang of it). Admittedly, at first, it can be quite daunting. There are SO many options to choose from, places to edit and customise your site, as well as plugins and themes.

What makes WordPress great is that you can customise it to make it suitable for you. For example, if you want to use a website builder plugin that enables drag and drop functionality, you can do. Most plugins are free, or at least free to use ‘x’ amount of features.

WordPress.com is different to WordPress.org – you can learn more about their differences in my WordPress review. Remember, WordPress.com provides web hosting for you, whereas WordPress.org is self-hosted. For this reason, it was important for me to check my site’s uptime and performance to see if WordPress.com could compete with other web hosts.

My WordPress.com site recorded 100% uptime across the last 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days. There’s not really much else to say about the matter! WordPress.com has absolutely smashed the ball out of the park on this one.

Pros:

Free version available to those who want a more affordable option
Customisable designs allowing you to make your own stamp on your website with navigation menus and more
WordPress.com will automatically backup your website and keep your software updated without the need for any intervention

Cons:

Unlike WordPress.org, you can’t install custom plugins or themes unless you pay for a business plan
Lack of eCommerce features unless you upgrade to Business which costs £20 per month

If you have clients that you need to create websites for and want to use a blank or pre-filled template in a matter of minutes, Duda is certainly worth considering.

Pros:

Simple website builder where you can create a website in less than an hour
Lots of apps and widgets to customise your website with
Suitable for beginners and advanced users

Cons:

Only really good for agencies and freelancers
No free plan

If you want to build a professional-looking website, you’re going to want to opt for their paid plan. The simple reason being is that this removes adverts and branding from your website and lets you connect your own domain. It doesn’t look very good if your website’s URL reads something like mywebsite.constantcontact.com 

I deem their free plan to be very generous. It’s clever because it gives you just enough tools and features to launch a website, but not enough that it makes you want to buy into their paid plans. Saying that their paid plans are very affordable too, starting from just £6 per month. You can read more about Constant Contact in my Constant Contact review, including an in-depth look at their pricing and features.

Pros:

Great for beginners
Offers a free plan with an online store
Good set of features with 24/7 live chat

Cons:

Free plan has branding and adverts
Features aren’t as in-depth as other website builders