Hostinger UK: Web Builder Review 2024

Hostinger Website Builder Review

Hostinger may have launched in 2004 as a tech startup project, but it is now one of the most popular web builder tools used by more than 2 million website creators in over 150 countries, including the UK.

With the aim to continue improving its services as a website builder and web hosting provider, Hostinger is focused on driving success for its clients.

Are you considering using Hostinger UK for your website-building projects? Although you may want to review its features independently you will find all the facts you need here, as I’ve done the challenging work for you.

I’ll gather and reveal my direct experiences using the Hostinger website builder in my project creation process.

Since this review will focus less on Hostinger web hosting services or hosting plan options and more on the web builder, I’ll examine why this web building service is a favourite among millions of individuals.

Hostinger Website Builder Review

Website:www.hostinger.co.uk
Price:£2.59/Month
BANDWIDTHUNLIMITED
STORAGE100GB
FREE SSLYES
DOMAINFREE
SUPPORTSTANDARD
ADSGOOGLE ADSENSE

What Is Hostinger?

Hostinger is a web hosting provider that offers a website builder feature for easy website creation. The website building part of the platform was designed with aspiring bloggers, developers and business owners in mind. It focuses on giving you more time for business-related issues by making website creation faster with an AI-powered drag-and-drop feature.

The platform has several tools and features that position it as a top website builder compared to many competitors. As you’ll see, it’s among the top low-cost website design options and offers many advantages to its user base.

13 Top Features of the Hostinger Website Builder

1. Exceptional Templates

Hostinger states that its templates are professionally designed, which I found accurate for all I used. 150 templates are available that work perfectly for a selection of website types, from online stores and portfolios to blogs, business showcase websites and other sites. Every design creates a user-friendly impression on its clients.

I used the “Good News” template for my blog project and particularly liked the category tag design; the tags at the top displayed each category for my blog entries, making my website easily navigable. The banner at the top of the template design featured four essential buttons, including “Topics”, “About”, “Contact” and “Submit a Story”. While the design was simple, it was clean and intuitive.

I found 29 well-designed templates via the Hostinger platform when creating an eCommerce website. I particularly liked the “Marlow” template, which provided a sleek, intuitive design and a shopping bag tab in the top right banner.

I noticed that Hostinger offers specific template categories when exploring their other templates. Searching through their vast selection takes minimal effort. You can choose your template from 21 category types, including the option to browse all the templates or the favourites you add to the favourites list.

Types of Templates

Among some of the template category options you can select are popular and blank templates, as well as landing page options. You can choose from other category types, such as portfolio designs, marketing pages, eCommerce, blogs, etc. Alternatively, you can use the “Search all templates” search box to find the template that works for you.

2. Responsive Customisable Designs

In addition to the templates, responsive, customisable designs are available through Hostinger. If you’re someone who likes tweaking your website to create the perfect design, you’ll love the options to move each element around, play around with background colours, experiment with eye-catching fonts and add new pages to your site.

What I liked about Hostinger was how easy the drag-and-drop editor is to use. It has a minimalistic editor design, making adding new elements to the page simple. To add new elements, I navigated to the “Add Elements” tab, selected from the range of elements and dragged them to the editor space.

You can add text, a call to action button, images, videos, Instagram icons, Facebook icons, and a few others. I also found it easy to add images from the free image libraries and could even add these from a mobile device through Hostinger.

Hostinger users will appreciate the grid design, which divides the website you’re building into identically sized squares. This feature made it easy for me to place elements inside each square boundary.

I could avoid shifting each element around using a less accurate per-pixel movement. I also liked that I could move whole sections of my website around. For example, I could move banners up or down depending on where I wanted to place them.

I was also able to edit the footer of my blog website easily. I wanted to add social links, such as an Instagram Feed button, which required me to drag the element to the footer from the elements tab. I could add a link to the Instagram Feed button by navigating to the settings icon and selecting “links”.

A few other options are available for customising the footer features. For example, with the Instagram Feed and social buttons, you can change the style and layout, including the colour.

3. Multilingual Feature

You’ll need to consider whether your website will receive visitors from different parts of the world – you may need a multilingual feature to accommodate those visitors. When I used Hostinger, I was pleased to find such a feature that worked with my blog website. The feature was slightly hit-and-miss. Here’s why.

I found that this feature did not translate my content to Spanish automatically. I needed to use translation tools to complete the process. I chose DeepL translator for this alongside additional Hostinger translation plugin tools, but Google Translate would have also worked.

I navigated to the “Languages” tab to activate the translation feature and entered my starting language. I then selected “Add language” and chose the language I wanted my website to display to international visitors.

I’d say that the translation process took a long time. I needed to select all the elements and translate them individually, from the header tags and the supporting content to the other text on the page. It involved copying and pasting from the default language version to the translator to the new language page when I could not translate the content in my head.

Once I had completed the translation, I clicked save to update the website. I noticed that it was possible to edit the site’s English or Spanish versions by using the “Currently editing” feature. This feature was ideal and clearly displayed the language of the version I was editing; it allowed me to manage each website from separate dashboards. It was a convenient option that meant all the content was accessible from each version.

I was happy with the final result of my translated blog website. I received visitors from across the world who could understand my content and access my information without having to translate it themselves or use the translate toggle feature manually.

4. Mobile-Compatible Design Options

Whether you need to build or add new pages from your desktop or mobile, this is more than possible with Hostinger. What’s more, this platform offers mobile-friendly templates that will work on a smartphone. I created just one website version without being concerned about compatibility issues since the builder adapted the design so it fit perfectly on a mobile screen.

What I liked about the mobile-compatible design option was the option to preview how the design would look on that smaller screen. I navigated to the template preview tab and toggled between the desktop and mobile icons to view the difference in each template’s look for these devices; I was pleasantly surprised by how the desktop version translated to the mobile version.

For example, the “Marlow” template is evenly divided into smaller sections on the mobile version, making it easy to navigate.

Since it is mobile-compatible, some other actions you can complete with the platform include editing, publishing, maintaining and creating websites from scratch or in their partially built form.

To use the mobile editor, I first logged into Hostinger and, from the menu, selected “Websites”. When I needed to edit a website I had already built using Hostinger, I selected “Edit Website”; when I wanted to create a new website, I tapped “Create or migrate a website”.

I found that I could access the AI builder via the mobile version of the Hostinger platform. Just like the version on the desktop, I responded to the AI tool’s three questions, and the tool created a unique site for me. I was then able to customise the outcome.

For example, I could resize elements, add new ones and remove the ones I didn’t want. All of the elements available through the mobile version were the same as those on the desktop version. The elements include videos, maps, text boxes, buttons and more.

What I found the most beneficial about the mobile editor was switching from the desktop editor version to the mobile editor version to work on a partially built website. When I worked on my blog website from the desktop and switched to the mobile device, I found the transition seamless.

5. Effective AI Tools

When using Hostinger, I felt that the effective AI tools set this website builder apart from other hosting providers and website builders. The AI website tools elevate this platform, making website creation simple.

I particularly liked how easy it was to set up; I navigated to the “Websites” tab, clicked “Create or migrate a website”, and “Start Now”. Once I had selected “Create a new website” and chosen the AI Builder, I could get started.

Now, the AI builder asks for your brand name, website type and a description of your project or brand. You can enter up to 700 words for the description. The tool will measure how strong the description is, with one red bar indicating that you need to add more to the description, a yellow bar indicating a good description, and a green bar indicating a great description.

You can select “Create a website” when you’re happy with the description, and the AI tool will generate one for you. I liked the option to preview the site the AI tool generated for me.

If you want to change the AI-generated site, select buttons from the left pane, such as the website styles tab. I could use the colours, text, buttons and animation features to make changes and then use preview mode to check how the page looked.

The four AI tools you can use for logos, text, blog generation, and heatmap creation make the AI feature ideal. When I worked on my blog, I created a unique logo after adding credits to the service. Logo creation took just four simple steps with the AI logo maker.

After entering my company’s name and completing the keywords section related to my ideal logo, I selected the design and made a few tweaks. I could then download the logo and use it on my website.

The other logo tool Hostinger offers is a manual “Create it yourself” option. I could customise the logo colour, change my brand name, add a slogan, and choose the font family I wanted to use with this option. The great thing about this feature is there was no need for me to look for a professional graphic designer, just as the website builder itself eliminates the need to hire a website front-end developer.

While I chose not to use the AI writer or blog generator when creating text for my blog, I tested the service and found that it could create unique text after giving the tool a few ideas about my website.

I found the AI heatmap a useful tool. It showed predictions related to how users would interact with my blog. After waiting for the AI heatmap to load, it highlighted the logo, call-to-action, and form-related buttons. The map even has a colour-coded key that tells you where people focus their attention. The red and orange parts of the map indicate that the users spend a lot of time on the highlighted logo, button, or text.

The AI tools are available on the mobile version of Hostinger as well. I tested the AI Assist feature via the mobile version to see how effective it would be and found that the feature was able to produce content that adhered to search engine optimisation best practices. I simply added a text box element and used the AI Assist Icon, which generated the text with keywords for me.

6. Additional SEO Features

It’s with additional SEO features that you will be able to rank highly in search engines with your website and projects. Although I only tested these services and created my own unique meta description and page title instead of using them in my project, I found the suggestions to be a useful inspiration when making them.

To access some of the SEO features, navigate to the “Pages and Navigation” tab on the left pane and select the “History” gear button. Then, select “SEO settings”.

You can enter your brand name and then add information about the brand. I added a summary or description of the blog I was creating and then selected “Next Step”. The generator will allow you to select three keywords for the website. Despite using SurferSEO and Semrush for these functions, I noticed some similarities between the keywords these tools suggested and the keywords the AI generator suggested.

The SEO page title and meta description the tool generated were ideal. They both contained the target keyword. The meta description may have been slightly too long, as it was 237 characters, but this issue was nothing a little editing couldn’t fix.

7. Excellent User Experience

User experience can elevate a platform and take website building to the next level. Hostinger’s user-friendly interface enhances the user experience in many ways. Customers commend the simplicity and ease of changing elements on the website, even those who have never built a website or landing page.

These customers are not wrong. I noticed that the dashboards were all easy to use. On the editor, I could select the undo and redo buttons to make changes to my blog. The save and preview buttons were clearly displayed, and hovering over the save button informed me that autosave was on.

The “Go live” button was easy to spot on the top right-hand side of the editor. I liked that this option switched to “Update website” when changing a live version.

When using the features, I easily got to grips with each element. Whether adding a new section, changing the style with the style icon, editing my blog, making alterations to my online store, or accessing the AI tools, I found each option easy to access on the left panel.

I found that the excellent user experience translated to the mobile version of the Hostinger website builder. Elements were easy to find, all the icons were displayed clearly, and the platform was intuitive and easy to use.

8. Zero Coding Skills Required and Solutions for Developers

Hostinger is proud to be a no-code website builder. Since I knew the basics of HTML and even less about CSS, I was grateful that this website builder was intuitive and required zero coding skills. As a beginner, I liked that the platform’s drag-and-drop editor and page templates made customisation easy.

However, after digging, I found that Hostinger has solutions for developers and technically skilled users who want to customise their websites with coding options. Whether you need to add elements from third-party sources, include integrations or features, or add custom CSS to specific parts of your website, this is all possible. You can even edit the existing CSS styles through the Hostinger website builder.

To use the coding solutions, simply navigate to the “</>Embed Code” feature on the add elements tab of the editor. You can then select the element to which you want to add the block of HTML. You will notice a few options when you click on the element, such as “enter code”, “duplicate”, “delete”, and more.

You can enter the code and then update the website to activate the changes on the live page.

9. Online Payment Gateways Available

When I needed to add a payment gateway to my online store, I found this relatively easy. Although the methods vary depending on the location and currency of your store and the location of your customers, Hostinger explains the process well.

I could select between Stripe, kevin. and PayPal. I used kevin. and Stripe for two separate eCommerce sites to accept payments from banks, which functions with various EU and EEA countries. The setup process was simple; after setting up a kevin. account, I navigated to the store management area and selected “payments”. I clicked the “Connect” button, entered the account details and selected “Save”.

This online payment gateway integration was beneficial in multiple ways. It came with high security and fraud protection while facilitating faster transactions. The high security and fraud prevention came in the A2A account to account payments that required customer authentication. This feature meant that the customers of my eCommerce store needed to confirm their identity when they completed a transaction.

Enabling Stripe was simple with Hostinger. After navigating to the store management area and selecting “payments” under the “store settings” tab, I clicked “connect”.

The advantages of Stripe’s online payment gateway integration include that it supports popular payment methods. Customers could make payments using debit and credit bank cards and many alternative methods. It’s a trustworthy option for receiving payments in more than 135 currencies. It also allowed customers to encrypt their financial details before authorising the payment to my online store.

Hostinger UK’s PayPal gateway is also easy to enable. If you need to enable this feature, you can access it from the store management area and select “Connect” from the “store settings” tab. Once you connect the PayPal business account to the platform, you will be ready to receive payments for your eCommerce or online store.

What many users like about the PayPal gateway via Hostinger is the speed at which you can install it. You can set up this gateway in just a few clicks and accept payments in more than 25 currencies.

10. More than 100 Websites and Email Addresses Available

For just £2.59 per month, I created 20 trial websites with my Hostinger account. The maximum number of websites available with this account type would have been 100. Alongside these 100 websites, I noticed that users can get 100 domain-based email addresses for free.

With the email addresses, I found that each account came with a 1Gb amount of storage. I felt this storage space could be improved, but I was happy this service was free.

11. Website Migration from Open-Source CMS Possible

I could migrate websites for free from web hosts with an open-source CMS – I completed this process from the WordPress.org website. I encountered hardly any difficulties initiating the migration request; the process was smooth and completed in just a few clicks. I navigated to “Migrate Website” under the “Add Website” button and selected “Add request”. I then completed the migration request form, including information on the control panel.

Once I had successfully submitted the migration request and checked its status, I used the dedicated IP address of my hosting plan to confirm everything was ready.

12. Marketing Integrations Available

What Hostinger Website Builder does well is reflected in its marketing integrations. Some integrations through Hostinger were Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Facebook Pixel and more. Using these integrations, I could further optimise my website in terms of traffic tracking, optimising for conversions and increasing click-through rates.

I found these conversion-enhancing features ideal for my eCommerce website; I could measure the performance of my website using the Google Analytics feature and, after A/B testing, knew which of the two web pages I had designed would convert better and yield the best results.

Other marketing integrations available through Hostinger include Hotjar, Google Tag Manager and Google AdMob.

13. Unlimited Bandwidth Available

While this Hostinger UK review will not focus on the hosting features, it’s worth mentioning that unlimited bandwidth is available as a feature. It’s possible to handle high traffic on your website, as there are no limits to the number of visitors it can receive.

This unlimited bandwidth benefits you if you run an online store; no matter how many visitors you receive, your website can handle it. I should mention the high load speed of just three seconds, which is excellent for those who visit your site; this feature, alongside the 99.9% uptime guarantee and unlimited bandwidth, made my eCommerce site technically optimised for my visitors. It ensured there were no deterring factors to cause visitors to seek their products on another website.

 

2 Factors the Hostinger Website Builder Could Improve

For the most part, Hostinger is an easy-to-use website builder that boasts many handy features. However, there were a couple of factors the Hostinger website builder could improve. Here are my insights on the most important things this platform could tweak to improve the service.

1. Not Possible to Transfer Existing Sites from Other Custom Web Builders

I noticed that it was impossible to transfer existing website data with custom features from other web builders during the website creation process. For this reason, I had to recreate the website I was working on with an alternative website builder from scratch using the Hostinger website builder tool, which required time. However, I was able to use the Hostinger website tools to create the website on this platform.

Since migrating websites from other web builders with custom features isn’t possible with Hostinger, I consider this a factor Hostinger could improve. I would have saved a lot of time when creating my blog and eCommerce websites.

2. Phone Support Unavailable

While I was pleased to note the integrated chat feature is available within the Hostinger website builder platform, there came a moment when I required support over the phone. Although I could easily use the code-free features, I wanted to learn more about the embed feature. I received support for this issue through the integrated chat option but felt that additional guidance over the phone would have helped.

However, a few advantages came with the live chat feature. I could send the customer support team screenshots I received when trying to solve technical issues. For example, when using the embed feature for the first time, I sent the support team a screenshot to clarify that I had already formatted the code correctly without spaces but had encountered an issue when finding the widget.

Other contact methods are available to contact Hostinger, depending on your query. You can contact the team via email if you lose two-factor authentication access or chat with the sales team regarding features for your website.

Hostinger Website Builder Price Plans

You may be looking for the best price when selecting a website builder, and Hostinger provides a hosting plan, free domain registration and a website builder starting at just £2.59 per month with their deal. This deal gives you three months free, in which you can save 78% of the cost.

With this deal, the price will revert to £5.99 when you renew your subscription. I also noticed that the original price without the 78% discount would have been £11.99.

Now, plenty of handy features come with the £2.59 price. You’ll have access to eCommerce features, marketing integrations, unlimited bandwidth and constant customer support. Cloud hosting comes at a separate price plan of £8.99, but you can get your free domain and unlimited free SSL certificates with top hosting plans from Hostinger.

The no-code website builder is available with all three price plans (the Premium, Business and Cloud Startup).

Why Customers Want to Switch to Hostinger UK

Multiple factors prompt website builder users to switch to Hostinger UK. The main factor they consider is the price, with many customers explaining they could use Hostinger “without breaking the bank”, that the price is “reasonable”, or that they “offer excellent deals”.

Customers value the ease of use when building websites with Hostinger, stating that it is “a breeze to maintain” and that integrating it with third-party tools is easy, too.

What customers also love about Hostinger is the fast loading time that comes with their website. I noticed that my blog loaded in just 2.9 seconds, which was important to reduce the bounce rate and keep visitors on my website in terms of dwell time. After some research, I noticed that other website builders had a less impressive load time, with Wix loading a website within eight seconds (which may vary due to many factors).

On the other hand, alternative websites do offer faster loading times than Hostinger. HostGator takes just over one second to load a website (again, this depends on a few factors).

Is Hostinger Right for You?

Hostinger appeals to a variety of users, but whether it’s right for you will depend on your skill level, goals and features you’re looking for. As mentioned, Hostinger works well for beginners without coding skills and developers who want to tweak their website using embed code features.

If you’re an expert developer and want to build a website from scratch without drag-and-drop tools, Hostinger might not match these requirements.

This website builder works well for specific goals and less so for others. If you want to build and launch an eCommerce website, an alternative website builder like Wix may offer a more comprehensive selection of features. So, with a more comprehensive selection of website-building tools, this alternative might be better for expert designers since it comes with a steep learning curve.

That said, Hostinger works well for blog websites, portfolio websites and others, meaning you should consider it for these projects.

If you need to build a website quickly, Hostinger should be on your list of website builders to try. The AI features will make light work of the website-building process and minimise the effort you need to create one.

Just remember that if you have started building a website on a custom builder other than Hostinger, you won’t be able to migrate this to the Hostinger platform. Similarly, If you need to translate your website, you may need to select each element – which can take some time manually.

If you’ve been looking for a low-cost website builder as a small business, Hostinger is one to consider. This tool will save you money at the low starting price of £2.59. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and cloud hosting plans.

Hostinger is a good solution if you want the ease of website desktop and mobile device compatibility. You will benefit from the preview option and be able to avoid recreating an entire website for the mobile platform with Hostinger.

Hostinger UK Review: The Takeaways

Building a website can be time-consuming and even more challenging if you don’t have development skills. I’ve been using Hostinger for months and found that this is a top alternative to the complex coding processes you may require without such an intuitive and user-friendly platform.

If you are looking for a website builder that offers AI tools, over 100 templates, SEO tools such as heatmaps, Google Analytics integration and eCommerce features, look no further than Hostinger.

They also offer a coding feature for the tech-savvy among you if you want to experiment further. Plus, their premium web hosting plan eliminates the need to track down a separate web host.

Hostinger is streets ahead of its competitors, constantly looking to improve its service.

Here are the takeaway points you should remember about Hostinger UK:

  • A choice of 150 templates for a low price
  • Options for low and no-code website creation
  • Customisable designs
  • Excellent user experience with easily navigable dashboards
  • Mobile compatibility
  • SEO tools for optimising your website

Hostinger FAQs

Are Free Domains Available with Hostinger?

Yes, but they are included within specific plans. For example, if you subscribe to a Premium or Business Shared plan, you will receive a high-grade domain extension for your initial year. The Premium subscription costs £2.59 per month, and the Business option costs £3.99 per month. Your free domain is bundled with these prices within the first year.

Which is Better: Wix or Hostinger?

In some aspects, Wix exceeds Hostinger in terms of performance. If you’re looking for a website builder that offers unlimited products suited to an eCommerce project, Wix should be your first choice. If you’re also looking to scale your website with your business, Wix’s scalability is ideal. However, Hostinger works well for individuals who lack website-building experience and offers a clean, simple interface.

Is Hostinger Better than WordPress?

Hostinger provides users with an easy-to-use interface, so its usability is slightly better than WordPress. However, WordPress offers greater flexibility and options for website customisation. It is better since it also offers a community where developers can discuss website-building-related topics.

Is Hostinger Good for Small Business?

Hostinger is a worthwhile option for small businesses. The platform offers an affordable website builder and a good option for tight budgets. You will also have the free domain for a year if you sign up for specific pricing options