The best website builders have transformed the once highly technical and time-consuming job of designing and developing websites into a quick, easy, and stress-free task - even if you have no web design or coding experience. You can simply choose a pre-built website template, drag and drop media, forms, maps, and other content onto a page, and you'll have a polished and professional website ready to go, sometimes within minutes.
To help you find the best website builder for you our experts have spent thousands of hours signing up to and getting hands-on experience with 140+ website builders and hosting platforms. We’ve taken the time to test each, creating different site types, comparing features, customizations, ease of use, performance, customer support, pricing, and more.
Wix lands in first place as the best website builder based on its overall performance, ease of use, template range, and affordability. With paid plans starting at just $12/mo - in most circumstances, Wix is the best option.
But if you are looking for something a little more specialized, or simply want to find a more affordable option, below we list everything from the best ecommerce platform to the best blogging sites.
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Owain has spent over 7 years testing website builders, building websites for clients, creating his own business sites and ecommerce stores, and writing about business and marketing topics. He has now been the Editor in charge of all things website builders at TechRadar for over 9 months and has a passion for offering experience backed advice on which website builder is best for you.
My top 3 best website builder providers
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The best website builders of 2024 in full
We've carefully picked the best website builders on the market based on factors including overall performance, pricing, features, ease of use, range and quality of templates, ecommerce functionality, SEO and more.
Our test results highlight our experience using each product, what we liked most about each platform and how they compare against each other.
Best website builder overall
✔️ You want a website builder that has a wide selection of templates: Wix has some of the most sophisticated templates on the market in our opinion with over 800 to choose from.
✔️ You want a website builder with real power : Wix App Market includes hundreds of add-ons which can add all kinds of new design features and integrations to your site.
✔️ You'd like a website builder that uses Generative AI: Wix has an AI text creator to assist with building a site, quickly.
❌ You want to build an ecommerce site on a tight budget: Only premium Wix plans offer ecommerce capabilities. Weebly offers a cheaper option.
❌ You'd like the option of interchangeable templates: Wix doesn't let you switch between templates once you've started, therefore if you change your mind, you'll have to start from scratch.
❌ You want unlimited storage: Wix doesn't offer unlimited storage on any of its plans. Duda is a good alternative if you need it.
As far as website builders go, Wix remains top-tier because it has all the qualities most people look for in a site builder. From sophisticated templates, to how easy it is to use, if it's your first time building a website, we suggest you strongly consider Wix.
Founded in 2006, Wix is an Israeli software company that provides cloud-based web development services, allowing users to create HTML5 websites and mobile sites through the use of online drag and drop tools.
Getting started
Wix impressed us from the start with its extreme ease of use. Building our first site with Wix's ADI editor was as simple as answering a few questions about our online goals, colour and design preferences, and the pages we wanted; Wix then create the website in seconds.
For our second site, we opted for the standard Wix editor. We were spoiled for choice from the 800+ templates on offer and found it very easy to customize our choice by dragging and dropping images, text blocks and other content onto the page.
Features
We loved Wix's media handling features. It's easy to upload your own images and videos from your local system, Instagram, Google Photos, Drive and more, but you can also access Wix's own and Shutterstock's photo and video libraries. Every keyword we used returned hundreds of files, all free to use.
It's just as simple to add new pages and page sections (Welcome, About, Contact Us, Testimonials.) Every section type comes in various default layouts, which can be further fine-tuned to suit your needs. There's even an AI writer to add new content for you.
An amazing app market allowed us to extend our site, making it simple to add things like TripAdvisor reviews and comment sections. We searched for Social Media, for instance, and found 35+ apps to embed social media streams in our site, automatically post to social media, easily share our site on top social media platforms, and more.
Alternatives
Hostinger is a great Wix alternative if you want many of the same website building features (including an AI website builder) at a lower price. With plans starting at $2.49/mo (for the first 12 months), Hostinger is the perfect alternative for the price-conscious. If you are interested in how the AI features of these website builders compare, you can read our Wix AI vs Hostinger AI Builder guide.
Squarespace is also a strong competitor. Although its tools and features aren't quite as extensive as Wix, it offers some stunning templates for those looking to create a visual impact. You can read a full comparison of Wix vs Squarespace in our guide.
What else you need to know
Wix offer one of the best free website builder plans which is perfect for trying out the service, but it has some significant issues, including a 500MB storage limit, Wix ads on every page, and no option to use a custom domain.
Fortunately, Wix has plenty of fairly-priced paid options. The $16 a month Light plan removes the ads and supports using your own domain; the $27 a month Core plan supports basic ecommerce and taking payments online. Spending more gets you extra ecommerce features, better analytics, developer features, and more.
If you're looking for a website builder which can grow with your site, then, Wix would be your best bet. Whatever plan you prefer, a 14-day trial period allows you to get your money back if you're not satisfied. If you're not sure where to start, we recommend starting here. It's easy to use, there are plenty of templates for fast production, backed by power and scope for experienced users.
Read our in-depth Wix website builder review to find out why it's the best website builder on the market.
Find the best deals on Wix products with our Wix promo codes.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | Not the cheapest but Wix is definitely good value for money considering all you can do with its service. | ★★★★☆ |
| Ease of use | Wix makes the whole process of creating a website straightforward and simple. | ★★★★★ |
| Features | It has plenty of features (beginners may even find the sheer amount daunting at first). | ★★★★★ |
| Templates and design | There's over 800 templates which makes finding the perfect design easy to do. | ★★★★★ |
Best value
✔️ You want an all-in-one solution: Hostinger's website builder comes with everything you need.
✔️ You haven't yet bought a domain name: Hostinger's service includes a free domain name for one year.
✔️ You want AI to fully design your website: Hostinger gives you the option to have a website created entirely by AI technology.
❌ You are looking for a forever free plan: Although Hostinger offers a 7-day free trial, there is no forever free option like you get on some other website builders. Wix offers an unlimited plan, but it is limited.
❌ You want more options of website builder plans: Hostinger only has two plans, which could be limiting depending on your needs. Squarespace offers 4 plans to pick from.
❌ You have a change of heart on your template: If you choose to change your template once your site is live, it will erase all your current work.
Marketing integration capabilities is just one of the many quality features Hostinger provides. If you want a website builder that's an all in one solution and you get overwhelmed by too many options, Hostinger is the site builder for you.
In second place, the Hostinger website builder tool is a beginner-friendly service that makes it simple and speedy to create modern, responsive sites, with no coding skills required.
Getting started
Hostinger's 150+ template library isn't the largest around, but there are some visually stunning options, and we found designs to suit blogs, web stores, portfolio sites and more.
They look great on all devices, whatever their screen size and the intuitive drag-and-drop editor made it a breeze to create a professional website.
Features
A multi-lingual AI builder allows you to put a website online in just four clicks, Hostinger claims. We wouldn't recommend you try that - the results are a little generic - but it's a good starting point, and spending just an extra 30 minutes customizing your content makes a huge difference.
A host of great templates are available on all plans and are SEO-friendly. However, advanced features, such as the AI Writer and AI SEO tool are only available on the slightly more expensive Business Website Builder plan.
Although packages that include the AI website builder start at only $2.69/mo (renewing at $7.99/mo), this option more than covers the hosting basics coming with a free SSL, unlimited bandwidth, 100 emails, and a free domain.
Spend a little more on the Business Website Builder plan for $3.59/mo (renewing at $8.99/mo) and you also get access to all the additional AI tools including the AI Image Generator, AI Writer, AI Blog Generator, AI Heatmaps, and AI SEO Tools.
You will also need to opt for the Business Website Builder plan if you want to unlock ecommerce essentials, including support for selling up to 500 products, accepting payments online, managing orders and inventory, and use Google and Facebook-based analytics to discover more about your customer base.
Another big bonus for ecommerce sellers is that you don't have to pay any transaction fees.
Alternatives
Weebly is a worthy alternative if you are looking for a great value website builder. Plans start at $10/mo and offer a range of great website builder tools. Although Weebly's offering isn't as comprehensive as Hostinger's, it is incredibly easy to use.
Wix offers a good alternative for those looking for one of the best AI website builders and website building tools. You can even use its AI website builder on its free plan, but you'll be met with limitations such as an inability to connect a custom domain, onsite branding, and no ecommerce features.
What else you need to know
We noticed some small issues with the site builder. For example, the service has relatively basic image editing options, which can't begin to match the likes of Wix. And with no free plan, there's no way to try out the service beyond Hostinger's standard 30-day money-back guarantee. But overall, this is a quality website builder for bargain hunters with (maybe) ecommerce ambitions, and well worth exploring.
Read our full Hostinger website builder review.
You could save on Hostinger products with our Hostinger promo codes.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | Affordable and comes as a combo with web hosting. | ★★★★★ |
| Ease of use | Hostinger's site builder is easy to use for the most part and its dashboard is straightforward to work from. | ★★★★☆ |
| Features | It has lots of features that come as part of the website builder and web hosting combo plan. | ★★★★★ |
| Templates and design | Hostinger offers dozens of stylish templates to help you start building your website. | ★★★★☆ |
Best for bloggers and writers
✔️ You want a website builder that offers a free trial: Squarespace is yours to test for two weeks before making a commitment.
✔️ You want to create a sophisticated blog: Squarespace has a great commenting feature, multi-author functionality, and offers the ability to schedule posts.
✔️ You'd like a mobile-friendly site builder: Squarespace has four apps. All allows you to edit almost every aspect of your website from your phone.
❌ You want the ability to fully customize your site: Squarespace doesn't offer full customizability. Duda offers a much greater range of customization, but at a higher price.
❌ You'll be overwhelmed by the wide range of features: Squarespace has plenty, which could be too much to handle for beginners. Weebly is a simpler option.
❌ You're looking for a simple interface: Squarespace's isn't the easiest to navigate in comparison to its competitors.
Bloggers and writers should look no further as it may not get any better than Squarespace in that department. Squarespace makes filing entries for blogs seamless and straightforward.
Squarespace is a great-looking and easy-to-use website builder with professional templates, excellent blogging tools and a decent set of ecommerce features. If you're a site-building newbie but still looking to make the maximum online impact, Squarespace is a must-see.
Getting started
Squarespace's 100+ responsive templates gave us plenty of choice for our test sites, and the section-based drag-and-drop editor made for a much faster design process than the other providers here.
Built-in AI support can quickly create content for your site, too. You'll need to review the results carefully - like all AI writers, its copy can sometimes be inaccurate - but that's still quicker than writing multiple pages from scratch, and it's a worthwhile feature overall.
The platform has four plans. Spending $16 a month gets you the core website builder, free hosting and a free domain (for 1-year); the $23 plan adds a secure checkout page for full ecommerce functionality (with a 3% transaction fee); spending $27 has more marketing tools and a 0% transaction fee; $49 gets you full ecommerce functionality with all the shipping and selling tools you need. For more information on Squarespace plans you can read our full guide to Squarespace pricing.
Features
Squarespace’s Blog App let us manage our test blog from a smartphone, which is great for publishing and editing content on the go. Tools that publish to, sync with, and import from social media outlets, including Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, and others, also provide a great way of ensuring your posts receive the attention they deserve.
Squarespace also has an invoice scheduling tool that lets you receive payments for bookings on your website. During our tests, the tool let us create, send, manage, and track custom invoices, as well as accept payments, from the website builder platform.
Alternatives
If you want great design, Squarespace is your best option. However, there are some worthy Squarespace alternatives to consider. If you are looking for more advanced business and website building tools, then Wix is well worth considering. For a greater level of control over your design, Duda allows you edit your HTML and CSS code.
What else you need to know
Unlike Wix, Squarespace doesn’t automatically keep a history of the changes we made to the website we created, which means that you cannot restore an earlier version if a mistake has occurred. This can be quite problematic and could mean you having to start afresh in some cases. Nevertheless, Squarespace will get the job done and done well, and you’ll have a variety of beautifully crafted templates.
Read our complete Squarespace review for more details on pricing, ease of use, and the builder's interface.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | Squarespace isn't the cheapest but there's the option to try it for free before committing. | ★★★★☆ |
| Ease of use | The website builder is easy to use but doesn’t give full customizability, which some could find challenging. | ★★★★☆ |
| Features | It has lots of features that come as part of the website builder and web hosting combo plan. | ★★★★☆ |
| Templates and design | Squarespace has around 110 templates for you to choose from and the designs are professional looking. | ★★★★★ |
Best for WordPress websites
✔️ You want a WordPress site: Bluehost gives you the option to build your site from the WordPress dashboard or the Bluehost Builder.
✔️ You're looking for ease of use: Bluehost lets you choose the design you want by simply entering a keyword.
✔️ You want something quick and easy: Bluehost has a user-friendly onboarding wizard to make the site building process straightforward.
❌ You're creating more than just a simple site: Bluehost's overall design is quite basic. Wix and Squarespace offer more features.
❌ You want an email account included: You'll have to pay extra for email if you choose to build your site with Bluehost. IONOS offers a professional email with all paid plans.
❌ You have no interest in a WordPress site: Bluehost is a self-hosted WordPress site so you won't get the complete freedom that Wix or Squarespace gives you to build a regular site.
Bluehost makes it easier for those who are set on building a WordPress website. Why? Because it not only lets you build from the WordPress CMS, it also makes WordPress website integration pretty simple.
Bluehost offers a WordPress-based website builder with drag-and-drop editing, extensive blogging features, ecommerce support and a free CDN for maximum speed.
Getting started
Thanks to the WordPress integration, we were able to set up parts of our test website using Bluehost’s website builder, and other parts using WordPress. The WordPress-friendly builder also includes over 300 templates - not quite as many as Wix but still a fair amount. There are four site builder plans on offer - Basic, Plus, Choice Plus and Pro. Each offering access to more tools and features.
Priced at $2.95 per month, for a 12-month subscription, the Basic plan renews at $11.99 per month. The Plus plan is priced at $5.45 per month, for a 12-month subscription and renews at $16.99 per month, and the Choice Plus plan will cost you $4.95 per month for the same duration and renews at $21.99 per month. Finally, the top of the range Pro plan will cost you $9.95 per month and renews at $28.99 per month after 12-months.
Features
While Bluehost's website builder isn't as seasoned or as easy to use as Wix’s overall, it still includes attractive features such as a free domain for the first year and 24/7 expert support for its website building service.
In addition to offering unlimited websites, Bluehost’s website builder includes templates for specific website types and use-cases and gives the option to edit websites for mobile, desktop, and tablets. All three website builder plans come with marketing features that we were able to test out too, and we particularly thought the call to action button offered by Bluehost is slick and a great addition to the package. For ecommerce capabilities, Bluehost has combined WordPress, WooCommerce, and YITH plugins in its Online Store solution, which provides small businesses with a WordPress website builder.
Alternatives
Elementor is a great alternative to Bluehost for those looking to build their website on WordPress. Both offer a powerful AI website builder and many of the same features and tools. The costs are similar too, with Elementor's most basic plan costing $2.99/mo for the first year before being increased to $11.99.
What else you need to know
A few downsides to the Bluehost website builder include the fact that the solution doesn't let you switch website templates if you've started working on one and change your mind, plus there's no email account included.
We tested Bluehost’s “no questions asked” 30-days money back guarantee and were able to get a full refund. If you are looking for a WordPress site builder but do not want to fully commit to the WordPress CMS, Bluehost may be the website builder for you.
Read our detailed Bluehost website builder review to find out more about its performance, pricing, ease of use and more.
To ensure you're getting the best deal, browse our Bluehost promo codes for potential discounts.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | Bluehost's website builder is certainly affordable but the renewal is a bit of a jump. | ★★★★☆ |
| Ease of use | Bluehost gives you the option to work on a WordPress dashboard, which is great for users use to the CMS. | ★★★★☆ |
| Features | Its basic plan comes with free CDN and WordPress themes, while the other plans offer so much more. | ★★★★☆ |
| Templates and design | It comes with over 800 premium WordPress themes to choose from. | ★★★★★ |
The best of the rest
✔️ You want a visually pleasing website: The Friday website builder excels in visual customization.
✔️ You need an easy to use solution: Friday prioritizes simplicity and intuitive navigation, making it accessible to beginners and experienced users.
✔️ You'd like a site builder that includes everything: Friday costs a bit more but that's because all the features it offers is included in the one and only plan.
❌ You're on a really tight budget: Friday's only plan costs $25 for your first month and $50 every month after, which is pricier that most of the site builders on our list. Weebly's paid plans start at $10/mo and is a good option if you just want a basic site.
❌ You'd need high levels of customization: Friday's is good but limited. Platforms like Dude provide a much greater range of design flexibility.
❌ You prefer telephone support: Friday has a knowledge base and you're able to contact someone via email only, which may not be enough support for some. Weebly offers an alternative with phone support on the 'Professional' and 'Performance' plans.
Friday may be the new kids on the block in the website building sector, but the quality of the website building tool is one to be impressed by. This is because there's no hidden agenda with the tool, everything it says it offers, it actually does.
Created by programmers and developers, Friday is a website builder that hasn't been around as long as most of the other providers on this list, but is by no means lagging behind.
Getting started
Getting started with Friday is extremely simple because there's only one website builder package to choose from. That already eliminates the time it takes to decide what features you need and the plan to accommodate it.
Once you're in, the Friday dashboard has icons on the left hand side that simplify the website building experience once you've decided on a template. We are able to change the theme, add pages, widgets, personalize the enter site, add a blog, and make good use of the SEO tools.
Features
Friday's plan comes with AWS website hosting, global CDN, custom domain, unlimited bandwidth, SEO tools, SSL security, web analytics, a photo editor, and more.
It also comes with image optimization, a library of stock images, AI content assistant, customizable forms, multi-language websites, blogging tools, plus over 40 payment gateways.
When building your site on the dashboard, you're able to edit in desktop, tablet, and mobile view.
What else you need to know
One main thing that's worth a mention is just how easy we found it to use Friday for the very first time. Its AI assist makes the website building process even more straightforward.
What we would mention as a negative (because nothing can be 100% perfect) is that because the plan is more expensive than others on this list, those on a tight budget might not be able to commit to the $50 per month after the half price on the first month deal is over.
Read our complete Friday website builder review to find out more about its performance, pricing, ease of use, and more.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | There are so many features that come with one plan that it's somewhat justifiable. | ★★★★☆ |
| Ease of use | Signing up is easy, using the dashboard is easy. | ★★★★★ |
| Features | There are so many great features that come with Friday including autosaves and restorable backups. | ★★★★☆ |
| Templates and design | Friday's templates are well designed and professional. | ★★★★☆ |
✔️ You need that extra support: During our test, we found Web.com's customer support team to be one of the most helpful - with quick response times.
✔️ SEO if your priority: Web.com doesn't take SEO lightly so your site will be in safe hands.
✔️ You want an affordable site builder: Web.com is not the cheapest but it's definitely reasonably priced.
❌ You want to try before you buy: Web.com doesn't offer such so you'll have to do your research before committing. Alternatives such as Squarespace offer free trials of varying lengths.
❌ You need a completely flexible site builder: Web.com gets the job done but it's not 100% flexible. Some might find the pre-built content blocks limiting. Platforms like Duda offer site builder tools, but also allow you to edit the HTML and CSS code for much greater flexibility.
❌ You prefer a completely clutter-free page editor: Web.com's isn't the slickest on the market compared to Wix.
If you have a demanding website, Web.com should be a builder you strongly consider and it has the power to take on high traffic sites.
Founded in 1999, Web.com has made its mark in the website builder space with its easy-to-use interface. It seems as though 150 professionally designed templates is the standard amount as Web.com also offers roughly the same number of templates as Hostinger.
Getting started
The central website building experience revolves around a system of modular elements you can simply drag-and-drop into place. We were able to customize a heading, a button, an icon, and even a text field, by dragging it and dropping it in place on our website template once we signed up.
Features
The interface also allows for blocks – pre-assembled elements such as an entire navigation bar which can just be inserted whenever needed. It’s a powerful and user-friendly interface, a potent combination. Its website builder also includes one hour of free website design support.
There is also an ecommerce functionality available – albeit with a separate plan to the basic package – allowing you to set up an online store with all the functions you’d expect. If you are starting out on your ecommerce website journey, Web.com’s Online Store package starts at $9.95 for the first month (for a monthly payment option) and renews at $29.99/mo (when billed annually).
What else you need to know
Pricing is reasonably affordable with Web.com, and the customer support provided is of a high quality as well, so there’s a lot to like here. In short, you can put together a smart website with a minimum of fuss, while not paying a fortune for the privilege.
We were able to monitor our website performance during our tests with Web.com's simplified data dashboard, with real-time traffic statistics, trend charts, and its Google Analytics integration.
There’s no option for a free trial here, mind, but that said, you only have to commit for a month when signing up (the initial fee is just $1.95 – complete with a free URL, with caveats), so that’s not a high price to pay to give the service a trial run.
Read our complete Web.com website builder review for an in-depth look at all features and pricing this builder has to offer.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | Web.com's packages are affordable but there's no option for a free trial. | ★★★★☆ |
| Ease of use | We found that Web.com's site builder is straightforward and easy to use. | ★★★★☆ |
| Features | Comes with sufficient features including one free hour of expert design support. | ★★★★☆ |
| Templates and design | 150 professionally designed templates is more than enough options to find what you're looking for. | ★★★★★ |
✔️ You run an agency: Duda's professional and specialized tools streamline workflows and client interactions, making it perfect for high-volume, professional web designing.
✔️ You want a multi-language website: Duda lets you build websites in different languages, further expanding its use case to a global audience.
✔️ You’re looking for high-quality templates: Duda offers over 120 templates along with its paid plans, helping you build a great looking website with ease.
❌ You're looking for a free website-building plan: Duda does not offer a free plan, although there is a 14-day free trial. Platforms including Wix and Weebly offer free plans, if that's what you're after.
❌ You require a large selection of fonts: Despite offering a robust design suite, Duda's font selection is relatively limited.
Duda is a great option for agency owners who want to quickly build professional websites for clients that are neat, well–organized, and filled with features.
Duda is a powerful website builder founded in 2009, designed for budding web professionals, agencies, and freelancers. It offers multiple features for website builders including white labelling, client management tools, and tons of integrations to make the website more useful and seamless.
Getting started
Duda impresses from the very beginning with an intuitive editor that offers a mix of various customization options and frameworks for precise design control. Unlike Wix, Duda does not use the traditional drag-and-drop interface, but it adopts a structured approach, working with rows and columns that align with the site's grid. It further boasts access to HTML and CSS frameworks, and section-based layout editing, all helping you take full control over your website building process.
Features
Duda’s core strength lies in its focus on client management tools. With this, agencies can easily create new websites from Duda’s pre-saved templates, set permissions for clients, and even offer a streamlined feedback and revision process. All this saves significant time and resources in the workflow of agencies. It also offers robust ecommerce tools, including various payment gateways, coupons, and gift cards. However, these features come as a paid add-on service.
What makes Duda even better at designing is its customization capabilities, featuring ultra-precise edits through Flex Mode, global styles for sitewide consistency, and continuous support for RTL languages. Plus, you even get a bunch of marketing and SEO tools, like native email marketing, blogging functionality, and comprehensive SEO features, specially optimized for Google Page Speed.
What else you need to know
Duda comes with a variety of pricing plans, catering to different needs, from large-scale agency work to small individual projects, with dedicated features and services allotted per plan. While Duda suffers a bit of backlash for its hefty pricing towards ecommerce features, its stellar professional-level tools justify this price surge.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | Great value for agencies and freelancers looking for a complete package, although lower priced plans lack some features | ★★★☆☆ |
| Ease of use | Targeted at a more advanced user than first timers, but still easy to use. | ★★★★☆ |
| Features | All the features you would expect, plus advanced tools for agencies | ★★★★★ |
| Templates and design | A huge range of templates, plus advanced AI design tools | ★★★★★ |
✔️ You are a beginner: GoDaddy can be used by almost anyone because it doesn't just cater to the tech-savvy individual.
✔️ You need extra support: We found GoDaddy's customer support team to be extremely helpful.
✔️ You want an easy to use tool: Once you find what service you're after, GoDaddy's setup process is quick and easy to follow.
❌ You need complete clarity when building: GoDaddy's homepages all look the same so it might be a little confusing when looking for the right service on their list.
❌ You're indecisive on style: GoDaddy has limited customization features when it comes to style. Wix and Squarespace offer more in this area.
❌ You want the freedom to switch between themes: GoDaddy doesn't permit such action without starting from scratch.
If you find comfort in using a website builder that has been around for a long time, GoDaddy would be your best choice. As it's been around for a while, it's had the luxury of perfecting its customer support, which is great for newbies.
Top web host GoDaddy has a huge range of products, but its website builder stands out for the simple editing tools and intuitive console that can help even design newbies set up a site in minutes.
Getting started
For individuals looking for a more in-depth experience, the GoDaddy Websites + Marketing solution provides a detailed analysis of how your site is performing. The analytics tool delivers a comprehensive set of metrics that compares how your online presence is performing against other websites in your field. So far, the tool has certainly proved successful, with customers experiencing an 18% increase in business revenue within 12 months of using it, GoDaddy claims.
Features
Even the most experienced users run into problems occasionally, but GoDaddy’s support is among the best around. We found GoDaddy's extensive PDF guides accurately answered a multitude of questions and troubleshooting topics, and 24/7 tech support is also available. Moreover, the community forums are a great resource and it’s likely that someone there will be able to respond to your query. A live chat feature is also available on weekdays, although, during our tests, the provider didn't provide the most timely help and gave us limited solutions.
In terms of pricing, GoDaddy is very competitive, offering three website builder pricing tiers. The prices range from $9.99/mo (for the first year, $12.99/mo after) for the Basic plan, up to $20.99/mo (for the first year, $26.99/mo after) for the Commerce package. As you would expect, the ecommerce plan comes with everything you need to start a full-featured online store, with the cheaper plans offering slightly reduced functionality as you work your way down.
What else you need to know
We did find that the lack of an app market means some of the site builder features lack depth. It does mean, however, that all features are built in-house and so are fit for purpose. If you’re on the lookout for a website builder that is both affordable and boasts great support, then GoDaddy may be the right choice for you.
You can save on your GoDaddy subscription with our GoDaddy promo codes.
Read our GoDaddy website builder review for an in-depth look at its blogging and shopping features and more.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | With the price range mentioned above, GoDaddy is on the affordable scale of site builder services. | ★★★★☆ |
| Ease of use | GoDaddy is easy to use and comes with lots of help. | ★★★★★ |
| Features | GoDaddy comes with a decent amount of features to start a website for the first time. | ★★★★☆ |
| Templates and design | GoDaddy has professional templates but that aren't so easy to locate. | ★★★☆☆ |
✔️ You want a site builder that has great templates: IONOS has a lot of sophisticated template designs to choose from.
✔️ You're a small business: IONOS has several features that small businesses might find useful when getting a website off the ground.
✔️ You need in-built SEO tools: As ranking is important for your site visibility, using a builder that prioritizes SEO makes a difference.
❌ You want a more current interface: IONOS' is quite dated in our opinion. For a more modern interface, Wix is a great option.
❌ You need a free trial: IONOS has no free plans either so keep that in mind. Again, Wix has you covered if you are looking for a free plan, although it is limited in its scope.
❌ You need something a little more straightforward: IONOS can be a little confusing for beginners. Weebly could be a better option if you want a basic website builder that is easy to use.
IONOS has great themes, great templates and overall, the design options on offer for your website are top quality stuff.
IONOS, currently hosts more than 12 million domains and represents a great choice if you are looking to create a serious, professional website to promote your business.
Getting started
While the lack of a free plan is disappointing, the paid options are affordable. The Starter plan for a basic website starts at $6/mo (for the first 6 month, then $12/mo) - although you have to pay a full year for this price. We were able to gain access to the MyWebsite Starter and MyWebsite Plus packages. MyWebsite Starter comes with a domain, email address, and competitor tracking, but lacks some of the more advanced functionality that you get with the Plus plan.
Features
Where IONOS really comes into its own, though, is with regard to its choice of themes. We were spoilt for choice as its inspirational templates are organized by industry and type, so it’s easy to find the right layout for your website, regardless of whether you are based in the retail, tourism, or real-estate sectors. Some of the templates are more image-focused, while others cater to text-heavy sites. Regardless, they are all easy to implement; no coding knowledge is required whatsoever and templates can be adjusted easily using a drag-and-drop editor.
Small businesses are also likely to be enticed by IONOS’ multilingual translation, which can translate a site’s content into 62 different languages. It is even possible to have up to 25 different languages on a site at any given time. This makes IONOS a great choice in terms of its scalability: as a business grows, this website builder is more than equipped to facilitate international expansion.
What else you need to know
Targeted content is also an option – so businesses can set up their website to present special offers to new visitors, for example. So if you’re looking for a scalable website builder with a great selection of themes and powerful marketing tools, then IONOS is definitely worth considering.
Want to learn more about what IONOS has to offer? Read our full IONOS website builder review.
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | It's afforable but the cheap price doesn't last forever. | ★★★★☆ |
| Ease of use | IONOS is fairly easy to use and we generally didn't struggle to create our test website. | ★★★★☆ |
| Features | Comes with all the features you need to create a functioning site. | ★★★★★ |
| Templates and design | We enjoyed using IONOS' pre-built sections and color schemes. | ★★★★☆ |
