Best Website Builders in 2024

Every business needs a website.

A strong web presence is one of the most important investments you can make.

But not every business has thousands of dollars handy to pay a professional web designer.

And that’s where website building software comes into play.

If you are a complete beginner, you can use website-building platforms to build a professional-looking website without any coding knowledge whatsoever. But with so many options out there, making the right choice might seem daunting.

That’s why we’ve compiled this resource of the best website builders on the market today.

How we review website builders (our review process):

You can read more about our general review process here, but in nutshell, here’s what we did:

• We found the 13 most popular website builders
• We signed up with each of them (become paying members)
• We used each tool to create a small business website
• We evaluated ease-of-use, features, and customization options
• We monitored their performance (reliability)

Comparison Table

1. Wix

Our Review

By far their biggest stand-up feature is their flexibility with their editor. You can drag and drop elements where ever you want on your page without any limitations with great ease. Combine that with their immerse selection (800+) of themes and you got yourself a builder that truly makes making a website a breeze.

Another great stand-out feature was their app store. With over 250 different apps to choose from, you can be sure to find that feature that you’re looking for. Be it a restaurant menu, photography portfolio, or advertising features for your new product you can be sure you’ll find it there.

But there were a few things that also bothered us.

Because of their high customization options, their navigation menus are really crowded and unless you’re a long-time user it can be hard to find what you’re looking for. And they aren’t best suited for bigger (30+ pages) websites. And it would have been nice to see a 24/7 live chat, but at least they have an extensive help center with videos and the ticket system is at least 24/7 and pretty fast.

Wix Features Include:

Plans & Pricing:

You can get started with Wix for free without needing to add a payment method. The free plan has some limitations though. You can’t connect to a domain (instead you have a URL yourwebsite.wix.com), they display ads on your website and there are a few limitations with the builder. Nevertheless, it’s still a great way to test them out.

They also provide a 14-day moneyback on all of their premium plans.

Website plans

• Combo: $16/month
  You get: a custom domain name, no ads, an SSL certificate, 2 GB of storage
• Unlimited: $22/month
  You get: analytics statistics, a $300 ad voucher, 5 GB of storage
• Pro: $27/month
  You get: event calendar, logo maker, brand-related social media images, 50 GB of storage
• VIP: $45/month
  You get: priority support, 100 GB of storage

eCommerce plans

2. Shopify (eCommerce Only)

Our Review

Shopify is among the best website builders for eCommerce websites. With no code at all, you can set up an attractive online store in a matter of days. Just like other builders, you can choose a modern website template and then customize each page with a drag-and-drop builder. Whenever you need an extra feature, high chances are that you’ll find a relevant app or integration among some 5,500+ options in the Shopify app store. Or you can hire a web developer to build a custom integration for you since Shopify providers open APIs.

Managing a Shopify eCommerce website is easy too. The CRM system is intuitive and you have a host of store management tools to optimize routine tasks such as product catalog management, inventory management, shipping, and more. Also, you have a good content management system to run a blog. Overall, you have all the tools you need to run small-to-midsize eCommerce operations.

Still, there are several inconveniences we’d like to point out.

While basic SEO tools are in place, you cannot fully customize URLs or edit robot.txt files. This can be irksome in a competitive domain.

Then you can only use the proprietary payment processor if you operate out of the US, the UK, several European countries, Australia, Singapore, or Hong Kong. Small businesses from other countries will need to use a third-party processor and pay extra fees.

Shopify Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Shopify is definitely one of the more expensive website builders that we’ve reviewed. But it’s only because they are among the best eCommerce builders on the market in 2024.

• Basic Shopify: $29/month
• Shopify: $79/month
• Advanced Shopify: $299/month

See all plans: www.Shopify.com
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with Shopify

3. GoDaddy Website Builder

Our Review

With over 300 themes, native tools for image editing (Over), selling integrations with popular online marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, etc), and a native shopping cart solution, this website builder will appeal to many small business owners.

Once you’ve found a good-looking theme, you can customize it in the drag-and-drop editor. Add promo banners, embed contact forms, design attractive call-to-actions, and play with all the customization features. Next, set up integrations with your social accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Google My Business). We love that you can control all your marketing and activity from a single interface. The native analytics tools are very comprehensive.

The eCommerce platform is there, but it’s better suited for hobby sellers, rather than full-time eCommerce website owners. Since you cannot add third-party extensions to this builder, you may soon outgrow it.

GoDaddy Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

GoDaddy has a free plan that comes with a lot of services. This includes email and social media marketing, PayPal payments, SSL security, and 24/7 support.

• Basic: $6.99/month
• Standard: $10.49/month
• Premium: $13.99/month
• Ecommerce: $14.99/month

*Pricing and features are representative of the U.S. version of the product. Variations may exist in different regions and languages.

See all plans: www.GoDaddy.com
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with GoDaddy

4. Zyro

Our Review

Zyro is a newcomer among website builders (launched as a spin-off project by Hostinger, a web hosting service). But don’t be tricked by its ‘newbie’ status. This site builder already has many of the same features as more established players.

The premade website templates are very modern and attractive. The codebase is clean and optimized for speed and performance standards both users and search engines require. Head straight to the grid editor or use a drag and drop website builder for rapid page prototyping. Once you are done with the design basics, you can set up one-click integrations with popular digital marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Tag Manager, HotJar, Facebook Messenger, or Facebook Pixel. Finally, take a pick at some tool AI tools — an AI writer, blog post title generator, logo maker, and Slogan Generator. During our test, all of them produced unique and engaging copies.

But there are some downers with Zyro. There are no premade plugins/extensions beyond the aforementioned marketing/analytics integrations. Also, you can’t swap themes midway into the design process. When adding a new theme, all your design progress will be gone. That’s frustrating if you forgot to save your files.

Zyro Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Zyro is shockingly affordable. They range in price from $2.61 per month to $14.31 per month for the most expensive eCommerce option. But do note that all of the plans have a much higher renewal rate. But at least there is a free email account for three months included with each of the paid plans.

• Website: $2.61/month
• Business: $4.41/month
• Online store: $8.01/month
• Advanced store: $14.31/month

Moreover, Zyro offers free hosting, a domain name for 1 year, unlimited storage, and an SSL certificate with all plans.

See all plans: www.Zyro.com
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with Zyro

5. Squarespace

Our Review

Squarespace focuses on quality, over quantity. The selection of website themes is modest — around 110 templates. But every design is high-quality, stylish, responsive, and SEO-optimized. You have a good selection of tools to make your website on brand — tweak page layouts, customize grids, change website theme colors, and more. All of the design tools are very easy to use!

To create an attractive website page, you can use pre-made design elements or third-party integrations with other services e.g. social media websites, payment processing software, or a shipping services provider if you run eCommerce operations. You can choose among 20 pre-made integrations with popular business tools and 30+ connected services. In either case, you are getting an add-on feature to your website in a few clicks.

But convenience has a price. In the case of Squarespace, it’s quite high. After a 14-day free trial, you’ll have to pay a minimum of $12/mo for your website. The pricing plan includes a hosting plan, domain name, access to the builder, and all the design tools and connected services. However, you may be billed separately for using third-party extensions. For example, since Squarespace doesn’t have a native payment processing tool, you’d have to pay PayPal or Stripe fees on top.

Squarespace Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Squarespace is one of the more expensive builders on this list.

• Personal: $14/month
• Business: $23/month
• eCommerce: $27/month
• Advanced Commerce: $49/month

The base Personal subscription starts at $14 per month, and it comes with website metrics, enhanced support, templates, SEO features, unlimited storage, and bandwidth, plus SSL security.

On the other side of the coin, the Advanced Commerce subscription is $49 per month with an annual subscription. It grants you unlimited contributors, the ability to sell subscriptions, includes premium integrations, and lets you customize your site with Javascript and CSS

See all plans: www.Squarespace.com
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with Squarespace

6. Carrd (One Page Only)

Our Review

Looking for a no-frills tool to create your own website or host an online portfolio? Check out Carrd. This one-page website builder is minimalistic, yet yields professional-looking websites for free.

Pick among 100 one-page themes or drag and drop a custom page layout. Browse and try out some 100 design elements. Sprinkle in some personality with custom color selection, fonts, and images. Then hit publish. It’s as easy as that.

If you want some extra features, you can pay $19/year and connect a custom domain, Google Analytics account, lead generation forms, and email marketing software.

Carrd is a simple website builder, so don’t expect much from it. The SEO functionality is very basic. Plus, you cannot embed many third-party apps or widgets (apart from the basics such as PayPal, Stripe, Typeform). Understandably, there’s no eCommerce functionality.

Carrd Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

When it comes to Pricing, Carrd redefines the word affordable.

It actually has a pretty good free plan that lets you do an awful lot. There are paid options, which can be seen below:

• Pro Lite: $9/year
• Pro Standard: $19/year
• Pro Plus: $49/year

As you can see, Carrd can be either free or up to $49/year. You can also try out their paid plans for free for seven days.

Yes, that’s right. Per year, not month.

See all plans: www.Carrd.co
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with Carrd

7. Webflow

Our Review

Those interested in learning the nitty-gritty of web and UX/UI design will love Webflow. A SaaS website builder with hardly any limits on customization, it’s the tool for people who don’t mind doing some learning along the way.

With a separate website area called Webflow University, you’d find a ton of tutorials, how-tos, and documentation for mastering different aspects of web design. Once you get a good grasp of those, there’s no limit to what you can build with Webflow — portfolio website, blog, corporate portal, or a robust online store.

A definite advantage is that Webflow comes with a lavish free plan. You can spend as much time as you want to develop and perfect a new website in the sandbox environment and only start paying for usage once you publish it.

As for the cons, Webflow also has somewhat confusing interfaces, icons, and terminology that even pro designs and coders find puzzling. Again, this makes the learning curve somewhat steep.

Webflow Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Webflow has pricing plans for both regular websites and eCommerce sites. There is a free version that requires no credit card. It gives you full access to design elements and CMS control, along with more than 100 hours of tutorials.

• Basic: $12/month
• CMS: $16/month
• Business: $36/month

The premium plans range between $12 per month and $36 per month, with an Enterprise plan that is priced on a custom basis.

The eCommerce plans start at $29 per month. This plan is paid annually in one lump sum.

See all plans: www.Webflow.com
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with WebFlow

8. Gator Builder

Our Review

A standalone product by HostGator — a popular website hosting company — this builder has some seriously good eCommerce and blogging features.

For starters, swipe through some nice website templates. The choice is really great, with loads of industry-specific designs. Then, customize it up to your liking. You can set a custom website background, style each element using a selected color preset, specify different font types and sizes for all text elements, and more. The customization options let you turn a generic website theme into a unique design.

Advanced blogging features are another boon. The editor has a familiar look of classic WordPress. So it’s pretty intuitive to use. You can add different in-text styling options, embed videos, add a custom post summary, and optimize your post for SEO. Once the post is published, you can pin it atop of your blog or mark it as ‘featured’.

Finally, pro users will love the extras: native email marketing suite (with a custom CRM and AI-powered email design kit), free logo maker, advanced analytics, and an appointments booking system.

The cons of Gator website builder are limited extensions. Since there’s no app store or plugin repository, you cannot add custom features to your website. Therefore, if you’re missing out on some functionality, you will have to wait till it becomes natively available.

Gator Builder Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

HostGator’s website builder is a very affordable service, with even the eCommerce option coming in at under $10 per month.

• Start Plan: $3.46/month
• Premium Plan: $5.39/month
• Ecommerce Plan: $8.30/month

As you can see in the image above, website builder plans start at $3.46 per month for a starter subscription. The eCommerce plan, which is the most expensive option, is only $8.30 per month, as of this writing. But beware, that the renewal prices are much higher than the initial sign-up prices.

See all plans: www.HostGator.com

9. Adobe Builder (Portfolio Only)

Our Review

As the name implies, this builder is great for creating portfolio websites without any coding skills. Using one of the pre-made templates and a drag-and-drop editor, you can pile up a fine-looking personal website to expand your online presence. If you are stuck, go to the Community area where you can browse website examples by others or get some feedback/critique on your current design.

Since this product is primarily targeted at creatives, you have native integration with a host of other Adobe Creative Cloud products such as one-click project integration from Behance, sync with Adobe Lightroom, access to Adobe Fonts, and other Creative Cloud services. But you cannot extend your website with any third-party apps.

What we also felt was missing is native video embedding. To add a video to your page, you need to write some custom code. Also, since most of the templates were created for portfolios, websites with more texts don’t look as nice.

Adobe Portfolio Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Adobe Portfolio comes free with an Adobe Creative Suite subscription or their Creative Cloud – Photography subscription.

• Creative Cloud (photography): $9.99/month
• Creative Cloud (All apps): $54.99/month

See all plans: www.Adobe.com
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with Adobe

10. Webnode

Our Review

Webnode provides a nice starter set of features for designing and publishing a website. The non-tech crowd will like how simple everything looks and feels. You can edit the website look either by highlighting individual elements or by configuring site-wide settings for fonts, colors, forms, etc, in the Settings menu. Try out different themes, page layouts, and styling options before settling on the final look. However, the free plan doesn’t come with automatic online backups and site recovery. So save changes frequently!

Another cool feature is multi-language support. Webnode can localize all the website elements to 20+ languages. But you’ll have to manually translate and upload any content you have added (e.g. product descriptions, landing page copy, or blog posts).

While Webnode ticks most of the boxes for website design, its website functionality is lacking. A limited set of eCommerce features is all that you are getting. There are no native newsletter or email marketing tools, online booking functionality, marketing, or analytics tools. Worse — you cannot custom-code these.

WebNode Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Besides the free option, Webnode has four premium options, all of which are highly affordable.

• Limited: $3.90/month
• Mini: $7.50/month
• Standard: $12.90/month
• Profi: $22.90/month

The Limited plan starts a $3.90 per month and is the only Webnode plan that does not come with a free domain. You are, however, able to use a domain that you acquired elsewhere.

See all plans: www.Webnode.com
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with Webnode

11. Weebly

Our Review

Those concerned with the recent rise of website hacking and malware will appreciate Weebly’s staunch set of security features. We liked that every website gets a TLS certificate (an upgraded version of SSL) for free. Additionally, Weebly runs an advanced DDoS mitigation service to protect all hosted websites, so that no hacker could take you down.

Apart from security, we found Weebly to be user-friendly and jam-packed with some essential website tools such as a native image editor, custom fonts, on-site search, and integrated analytics among others. If you feel that something is missing, you can add custom HTML/CSS or JavaScript code snippets to your website. Or go browse the app marketplace with a good selection of integrations.

Finally, you can sell products on your Weebly website, using a native Square integration. (Square bought Weebly in 2018).

Despite Weebly’s great overall vibe, several issues made us place it lower on the list. Their customer support is ranked poorly by current users. Getting a hold of someone takes hours and agents are not fully qualified to help with troubleshooting. Live chat and phone support are only available to customers, located in the US. Users on a basic plan living elsewhere will have to wait till their query gets resolved via email.

Weebly Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Weebly has a free plan and three premium subscriptions. It is a low-cost website builder, with even the top plans falling under $30 per month.

• Personal: $6/month
• Professional: $12/month
• Performance: $26/month

Every level (even the free option) comes with SSL security for your entire site.

See all plans: www.Weebly.com
Here is our Example Test Website that we created with Weebly

12. Google Sites

Our Review

The title of the only truly free website creator on this list goes to Google Sites. Very spartan, yet deadpan easy-to-use, Google’s free website builder is good to use when you want to build a simple one-page website, landing page prototype, or portfolio website and publish it instantly.

Select among 6 simple templates. Then add your texts, images, buttons, maps, or a Google form. Customize your website’s header menu and add more pages. Then save everything and hit publish. You can also buy a custom domain name and connect it to your site if you want to replace the standard google/sites/site-name URL.

Google Sites doesn’t offer much. This is both a pro and a con. It’s a good tool for building personal websites or designing mockups/prototypes for future references. But does not offer more than that.

Google Sites Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Google Sites is a 100% free platform with absolutely no cost. It comes with the rest of Google’s G-Suite services, which anyone with a working Google account can access.

Start here: Sites.Google.com

13. Webs

Our Review

On the surface, Webs looks like your average site builder. You get promised a bunch of free website templates, a simple editor, and even an eCommerce website builder. But after a test drive, we felt rather underwhelmed.

The website editing backend feels clunky and outdated. Editor loading times are slow.

Most of the design elements are nostalgic, circa Windows 95 days. They don’t look nice, especially on high-res screens. Plus, you can’t do much to change them. Native customization is limited and you can’t dive into the template code to make any edits directly.

Technologically Webs used to be among the best website builders in the early 2010s. But since the company neglected updates and frozen new functionality roll-out, it’s hardly a builder you’d want to be stuck with it in the 2020s.

Webs Features Include:

Pricing and Plans:

Webs has a limited free plan and three paid premium options.

• Starter: $5.99/month
• Enhanced: $12.99/month
• Pro: $22.99/month

See all plans: www.Webs.com

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What website builder have you used? Leave a comment :).