Best website builders in 2023

Creating an eye-catching website without a website builder is time-consuming and requires technical knowledge. Today, the market is flooded with intuitive website builders that offer drag-and-drop functionality to build a site quickly. However, an extensive selection of website building services can be confusing.
Each website builder has its own strengths and weaknesses. While one provider offers a more versatile set of features with AI functionalities included, the other may come cheaper or with more templates. But, most importantly, merchants, artists, or businesses have different needs, and finding a website builder that can match everyones’ needs is basically impossible.
Thinking of different webpage intentions, we tested and selected the best 10 website builders on the market in 2023. We categorized the providers by specific purposes and ensured they all were user-friendly, offered top-notch features, and fulfilled a fair price-to-quality ratio. Read on, and select a website builder that matches your goals.
Top 10 best website builders in 2023
- Hostinger Website Builder – best website builder overall
- Wix – top AI-driven website builder
- SITE123 – best website builder for beginners
- Shopify – top website building service for businesses
- Gator website builder – best website builder for quick site creation
- Squarespace – best website builder for unique templates
- Web.com – top website builder for beginning merchants
- Weebly – best website building service for budget-conscious users
- GoDaddy website builder – leading web builder for small businesses
- Zenfolio – excellent website builder for visual artists
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How to choose the best website builder
Choosing the best website builder depends primarily on your personal needs. For instance, a portfolio website may require fewer resources or features. Meanwhile, a business site should use a builder that’s loaded with various marketing or other features. But let’s review the main factors that determine if the service is for you in detail:
- Intuitive interface. Not everyone can (or let alone want to) crack complex coding. A complicated interface requires lots of effort and time. Therefore, a clear and organized editor, or even a drag-and-drop one, is crucial.
- Variety of templates. The best website builder should have professionally crafted designs for different themes or businesses. What suits an artist might not work for a merchant and vice versa. Moreover, it’s best if the provider continuously upgrades the template selection.
- Extra features. The website builders market is rapidly improving. Therefore, looking for a provider that includes advanced SEO, marketing, and AI-driven tools has become a must if you want to reach the heights of the search engine result pages.
- Performance. If your website takes too long to load or constantly crashes, you’re going to lose visitors or even customers quickly. For this reason, prior research regarding the website builder’s performance is important.
- Price. A way to success doesn’t include unnecessary expenses. Choosing a website builder that doesn’t offer a good price-to-quality ratio may waste your savings, time, and nerves.
Best website builders compared
Hostinger Website Builder | Wix | SITE123 | Shopify | Gator | Squarespace | Web.com | Weebly | GoDaddy | Zenfolio | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brand | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Price starts from | $1.79/month | $16.00/month | $11.88/month | $29.00/month | $2.52/month | $16.00/month | 1.95/month | $6.00/month | $9.99/month | $3.50/month |
Free plan | No | Yes | Yes | No, free trial only | No | No, free trial only | No | Yes | No, free trial only | No, free trial only |
Best for | Easy website building | Top design customization | Top ease of use | Affordable eCommerce | Affordable eCommerce | Beautiful site designs | Easy website building | Simple online stores | Small business websites | Simple online stores |
How many templates | 130+ | 900+ | 160+ | 70+ | 190+ | 130+ | 190+ | 60+ | 200+ | 19 |
Editor | Drag-and-drop and AI editors | Wix ADI and Wix Editor | Section-based ADI editor | Section-based editor | Express and Traditional editors | Section-based editor | DIY and AI editors | Drag-and-drop editor | ADI editor | Drag-and-drop and a block-based portfolio editors |
Free domain name | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Custom email | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
The best website builders in 2023 – our detailed list:
After continuous testing, we ranked the top 10 website builders on the market. You’ll find different picks for different website needs – from quick five-minute builders to intricate pixel-perfect design tools. So, without further ado, here’s our list of best website builders in the market:
1. Hostinger Website Builder – best website builder overall

Top features: | Great ease of use with creative freedom |
Rating: | |
Templates: | 130+ templates |
Pricing: | $1.79/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Cyber Monday! Get Hostinger Website Builder, now 86% OFF + 3 months FREE!🔥 |
Hostinger Website Builder, formerly known as Zyro, is one the best website builders on the market due to its intuitive drag-and-drop editor and various beautiful templates. With it, you can make attractive websites for any purpose effortlessly.
Editor: Hostinger Website Builder has a very functional and easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor. It’s also a highly-customizable editor, allowing you to edit the shape of buttons, change the font and color scheme, among other details. Plus, the provider is also working on an AI website generator, which will further improve the user experience.
Templates: Hostinger Website Builder has plenty of templates – over 130 designs, to be exact. You can choose from various categories, including eCommerce, fashion, marketing, portfolio, blog, landing page, and general website. They’re customizable and professional-looking, so you’ll certainly find an excellent one for your project. Additionally, templates are compatible with desktops, mobiles, and tablets.
Features: You can make use of Hostinger Website Builder's AI-powered business tools, such as a writer, editor, and a heatmap. While the first feature is self-explanatory, a heatmap shows you what your visitors are paying attention to on your site. There are also useful integrated marketing tools, such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Pixel.
Additionally, you get free SSL certificates, domain, email, and web hosting service is included too.
Pricing: You can test Hostinger Website Builder's editor out with a free demo version, yet you won’t be able to publish a site or save any changes for later use. For that, you can choose an all-rounded Hostinger Website Builder plan priced at just $1.79/month that has three different billing cycles – from 12 to 48 months. The latter includes a 3-month free trial. More so, there’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee available.
To learn more, read our in-depth Hostinger Website Builder review.
2. Wix – top feature-rich website builder

Top features: | AI website builder, designer website builder, big app store |
Rating: | |
Templates: | 900+ free themes |
Pricing: | Free – $16.00/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Cyber Monday! Get Wix with 50% OFF!🔥 |
Wix is an ideal website builder for various niches and needs for any user, experienced or first-timer. It’s loaded with neat-looking templates and gives you customization freedom.
Editor: Wix has 2 editors available – it’s Wix ADI and Wix Editor. The former editor builds a website for you following your given answers to specific questions. You may make additional edits too prior the finale. The second option is based on drag-and-drop functionality, giving you a full control of a website building.
Templates: Pre-made template designs are where Wix stands out – it provides you with over 900 hundred customizable templates for businesses, online stores, artists, blogs, and communities. You can easily customize colors, fonts, layouts, and other details, but after choosing one template you can’t migrate to another one. On the bright side, they all are adjusted for mobiles as well as, tablets come at no additional cost.
Features: Wix provides you with SEO and email marketing features, like Visitor Analytics app or in-house built Wix Ascend, which includes email marketing, live chat, and Wix automations. Yet, if you’re getting more serious about your business, there are eCommerce features and even an extensive app store. You may also benefit from social media integrations. Apart from that, you receive free SSL certificates, regular backups, the autosave feature, free domain for the first year, and more.
Pricing: You can use the free version of Wix to test the builder out and see what it’s all about. Yet, if you want to let the site out into the real world with a professional domain name, you can choose from 4 paid plans. The prices start from $16.00/month and go up to $159.00/month for the most premium plan that includes advanced eCommerce features, site analytics, developer platform, and more. Finally, you’re given a 14-day money-back guarantee.
To learn more, read our in-depth Wix review.
3. SITE123 – beginner-friendly and quick website-building tool

Top features: | Excellent ease of use for beginners |
Rating: | |
Templates: | 160+ free themes |
Pricing: | Free – $12.80/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Cyber Monday! SITE123 coupon 40% OFF!🔥 |
SITE123 is the top pick for beginning users, as instead of a regular drag-and-drop editor you receive a pre-selected list of options that you can choose from to build a website quickly.
Editor: With SITE123, you get a functional section-based ADI editor that lets you customize blocks with premade options. This helps build a website quickly but still make it unique. Nevertheless, the quality of a website doesn’t match professional expectations, making it a fit for inexperienced users only.
Templates: This website builder provides you with over 160 templates that are available with the free plan as well. The categories include business, landing page, blog, and online store. Of course, from the main categories it divides into sub-categories, allowing you to choose a template specifically for your purpose. What’s impressive is that SITE123 shows one of the fastest page load speeds, working in less than a second.
Features: If a business site is what you’re after, you’ll find this builder limited but with a few unique opportunities. For instance, there’s an eCommerce platform for selling your products. There are also SEO features such as Google Analytics, Adviser and Page audit to help you fix SEO-related issues.
It’s worth noting that there’s also a great email marketing tool. You can also connect a domain for free for the first year, your website is protected with SSL encryption, and you also receive the autosave and backup features.
Pricing: SITE123 has an extensive range of planning options – free and 5 paid tiers. The prices start from $12.80/month and go up to $45.00/month. Yet, with the priciest plan, you get a huge 1000GB storage, 25 mailboxes, and more benefits. And if anything, there’s a 14-day money-back guarantee.
To learn more, read our in-depth SITE123 review.
4. Shopify – eCommerce-focused website builder

Top features: | Professional eCommerce tools |
Rating: | |
Templates: | 9 free themes, 70+ paid and free templates, many premium third-party options |
Pricing: | $29.00/month – $299.00/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Try 3 months of Shopify for $1/month🔥 |
Shopify is an excellent solution for users who are looking to significantly grow their online business or store, as it has both built-in and the vast amount of extra apps that help you manage the site
Editor: For designing your store, you’re going to get a section-based editor that ensures simple navigation, although seemingly outdated compared to advanced AI-driven editors. Moreover, you can get a bunch of additional apps that can ease the process even more. On the downside, you will need coding skills to make some customization too.
Templates: In over 70+ free and paid templates, you can find modern and sleek templates that'll make your e-store stand out among the competition. They are highly customizable and adapted for mobile as well as tablet screens. Additionally, all themes include drop-down navigation support, free theme updates, social media icons, SEO, and more.
Features: Shopify is a website builder for business, therefore, it's full of features that cater its business clients. Shopify includes automatic tax calculation, shipping and loads of payment options, abandoned cart recovery – you name it. And if what it offers isn’t enough, there’s also an app store that lets you get additional features for your site. For instance, you can get apps for image optimization, reviews gathering, and more. Apart from that, Shopify offers built-in email shout outs, free SSL protection, backups, and it’s also PCI compliant.
Pricing: Depending on the size of your business website and its needs, there are 4 Shopify plans – from Starter to Advanced. The Basic plan costs $29.00/month, while the Advanced plan – $299.00/month. Luckily, the features remain the same across all plans. What differs is the number of accounts you get, credit card rates, and types of reports you get. Lastly, you get a 30-day money-back guarantee with each plan.
To learn more, read our in-depth Shopify review.
5. Gator website builder – fast website-building solution for beginners

Top features: | Quick website editor |
Rating: | |
Templates: | No templates on Express Editor |
Pricing: | $3.46/month – $3.46/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Get Gator at 55% off, for just $3.46/month!🔥 |
If you’ve never built a website before, Gator is a wonderful website builder to start with. It lets you create a custom website in just a couple of minutes and provides you with useful additional features.
Editor: Gator has two editors with different approaches – Express and Traditional. The building process is a breeze with either one of them. The Express option lets you edit styles, fonts, images, colors, and various other elements. Meanwhile, the traditional one is a drag-and-drop editor – a perfect solution for beginners.
Templates: It’s a bit of a tricky situation with Gator’s templates. With the Express editor, you get no templates, and design freedom is left in your hands. The traditional one, however, has around 220 templates for online stores, businesses, communities, and artists. Luckily, they are customizable and suitable for different screens .
Features: Whichever plan you choose, you get a handful of features. Product management and shipping for your store, as well as SEO and marketing tools, such as website analytics and social media integrations. Additionally, there’s a logo maker, professional email, shipping, and analytics features. Aside from that, you receive a free SSL and a domain.
Pricing: Gator has 3 subscription options – 1 for personal sites and 2 that are business-focused. You can get the builder starting from as low as $3.46/month. In contrast, the priciest plan comes for $8.30/month and is best for selling online. Finally, there’s a generous 30-day money-back guarantee for all plans.
To learn more, read our in-depth Gator website builder review.
6. Squarespace – website builder with outstanding templates

Top features: | Excellent templates and business features |
Rating: | |
Templates: | Over 130+ modern themes |
Pricing: | $16.00/month – $49.00/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Get up to 30% OFF Squarespace!🔥 |
If carefully crafted templates and intuitive business features are what you’re looking for, Squarespace is an ideal choice for you.
Editor: Squarespace offers a simplistic editor that is section-based. You get to choose sections and customize them according to your project needs. Plus, Squarespace editor allows you to easily maintain a consistent style throughout the whole website, which would be quite exhausting to do manually. Recently released Squarespace Blueprint, a guided website design system, provides professionally-curated layout and styling options to help you build a unique website.
Templates: While there are just around 130 templates available, they’re evidently and carefully created by professional designers. There are options for various different categories, like blogs, services, portfolios, online stores, and more. Squarespace excels in giving you control, as you can add and delete sections, edit text, and move elements wherever you want with its drag-and-drop Fluid Engine.
Features: Future business site creators will benefit from Squarespace’s eCommerce tool. Plus, you can connect your Google Analytics account or test out the in-site analytics tool. Not to mention the various marketing, blogging, and SEO tools, such as key words or alt texts management. Additionally, you can get Squarespace pug-ins for finance, shipping, inventory, and more.
Security is not less important here, as you receive free SSL certificates, protection against malware and DDoS attacks.
Pricing: Squarespace allows you to choose from 1 personal and 3 business plans. You can get the website builder for as little as $16.00/month. In comparison, the cheapest business plan costs $23.00/month. And if you are unsatisfied, there’s a 14-day money-back guarantee.
To learn more, read our in-depth Squarespace review.
7. Web.com – great tool for starting an online store

Top features: | Beautiful and modern professional sites |
Rating: | |
Templates: | Over 190 free themes |
Pricing: | $1.95/month – $3.95/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Get Web.com builder, now 50% OFF!🔥 |
Web.com is a DIY website builder, allowing new merchants to build a personalized online store.
Editor: Web.com lets you choose how you want to create your site – DIY or let an AI generator do it for you. Either way, you get a drag-and-drop editor (as Web.com advertises itself) which is more similar to block-based editor.
Templates: If you choose to make a site yourself, you get to pick from over 190 beautiful and responsive templates. The best part is that they’re all free – you don’t have to pay additionally to use them. They are suitable for online stores, businesses, communities, and artists. Nevertheless, Web.com templates are organized in rows, limiting your freedom regarding moving details however you like.
Features: Whatever plan you opt for, Web.com includes 2GB of storage, 5 email addresses, an hour of website design support, and even web hosting. Plans that cost more will also provide you with email marketing tools as well as the ability to accept secure payments and sell up to 500 products. Additionally, you can build galleries, add YouTube videos, and social media integrations.
With Web.com, your personal data is masked in WHOIS databases, you get SSL protection, and an additional security package with app security and scanning is available too for an additional $49.90 per year.
Pricing: Web.com has 3 plans that are all very wallet-friendly – with prices starting from $1.95/month and going up to $3.95/month with an eCommerce plan. Yet, you only get a 3-day money-back guarantee, which is quite unusual for website builders.
To learn more, read our in-depth Web.com review.
8. Weebly – wallet-friendly website builder for small businesses

Top features: | A simple eCommerce-centered website builder |
Rating: | |
Templates: | Around 40 themes |
Pricing: | Free – $38/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Get up to 33% OFF Weebly!🔥 |
Weebly is one of the cheapest website builders on the market that also excels in ease of use.
Editor: If a drag-and-drop editor is what you’re looking for in a website builder, Weebly is a solid pick. It’s easy to get a hang of it as it’s very intuitive, so it won’t take long for you to become a pro at it. The most impressive part of the editor is that there are over 200 fonts to choose from, giving you some crucial control over your website’s look.
Templates: While there are only around 40 templates, they’re organized and diverse – suitable for blogs, businesses, portfolios, events, and personal use. You can also get third-party templates, but they come at a cost. Yet, despite the additional charge, this is the way to replace the lack of native templates customization options.
Features: With Weebly, you get to enjoy a variety of features. For instance, email marketing, and pop-ups, as well as SEO and blogging tools, including a sitemap, HTML formatting, scheduled sharing, and advanced comment management. Additionally, it’s a potential option for merchants, as you receive features, like a shopping cart, quick shop, inventory management. And thanks to its app store, you’re going to find plenty of additional tools for communication, eCommerce, marketing, socials, and more.
But the best part is that Weebly hosts your website itself, letting you relax and not to look for additional services. Moreover, you are protected with SSL and receive DDoS attacks prevention.
Pricing: To test Weebly out, download its free version. Yet, it’s fairly limited, so don’t expect the same perks as with the other 4 plans. Technically, you can test the paid tiers as well, as there’s a 30-day refund policy. The price of Weebly starts from only $6.00/month and goes up to $38/month, allowing you to have unlimited storage and enjoy eCommerce features.
To learn more, read our in-depth Weebly review.
9. GoDaddy website builder – great solution for small companies

Top features: | Simple, beginner-friendly business tools |
Rating: | |
Templates: | 200+ different layouts |
Pricing: | $9.99/month – $29.99/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Get up to 33% OFF GoDaddy website builder!🔥 |
GoDaddy website builder is a great option for small business owners, as it offers various business tools and helps those that want to quickly build a professional online presence.
Editor: The setup process of GoDaddy is very fast and simple. As for its editor, you get to customize and add sections, change layouts, themes, and so on. There are three main sections – website, theme, and settings – making it really simple to figure everything out. Or you can simply give the details to the builder and your website will be finished in maximum of 5 minutes, thanks to the Artificial Design Intelligence.
Templates: Not so long ago, GoDaddy has as many as 20 templates available. Yet, now it strikes with over 200 modern templates, suitable for artists, businesses, blogs, communities, and other categories. However, due to the ADI implementation, the customization level is quite limited – you can’t drop desired element without conditions.
Features: With GoDaddy, you can get various marketing or eCommerce features. There are SEO tools, like Google Analytics or automatic optimization reviews, for increasing your site’s ranking in search results, email marketing features for making weekly newsletter, as well as GoDaddy Insight. The latter helps you reach your site goals by assigning you tasks. Meanwhile, businesses get product and inventory management, order shipping, analytic features, and several payment options.
Apart from that, GoDaddy has an impressive registrar of domains and for the first year you can get a domain for free. There’s also SSL security and the auto-save feature that also let’s you restore your pages from the last standpoint.
Pricing: GoDaddy has a limited basic plan for personal websites and 3 more feature-loaded plans; for instance, the Commerce Plus Plan comes with features like automated sales tax calculation, yet it costs $29.99/month. But you can get this website builder cheaper too, from $9.99/month, on top of a 14-day trial for any premium plan. If you find out GoDaddy isn’t for you, you can request a refund within 30 days of purchase.
To learn more, read our in-depth GoDaddy website builder review.
10. Zenfolio – ideal website builder for visual artists

Top features: | Advanced photography tools |
Rating: | |
Templates: | 11 themes + custom option |
Pricing: | $3.50/month – $16.50/month |
Current deal: | 🔥Get up to 50% OFF Zenfolio!🔥 |
Zenfolio is the only specialized builder on this list – an ideal option for photographers and visual artists. The options for editing, managing, and selling your images, and managing your portfolio on Zenfolio are very convenient.
Editor: There are two types of editors that Zenfolio offers – classic drag-and-drop and a block-based portfolio one. While the classic editor is quite confusing, the new portfolio editor is much more intuitive. It lets you easily customize and manage your pages.
Templates: Zenfolio provides you with 11 designs, plus a custom option for you to create a layout yourself. Regardless, all templates put your images at the front, which is just what photography websites need.
Features: Zenfolio provides users with a handful of features. This includes backups and ability to upload countless photos. You’re also allowed to host videos, edit your photos with Zenfolio’s Lightroom plugin, sell your artwork, and more. What’s impressive is that you can protect your galleries with passwords, you also get a cloud backup, manage access to galleries, and add custom watermarks to avoid plagiarism.
Pricing: You can pick from 3 website builder plans that come with different features and amounts of storage. The prices start from $3.50/month and go up to $16.50/month. The most noticeable differences between the cheapest and priciest plans include unlimited storage space, larger and longer videos, and advanced marketing as well as eCommerce features. If anything, you can get a refund for annual plans within 30 days.
To learn more, read our in-depth Zenfolio review.
How we tested best website builders
Alike with reputable web hosting services, to test and select the top website builders, we had to experience each providers site building process from scratch as if a beginning user would. Yet, during this testing period, we paid attention to certain factors that helped as determine how good a website builder is. And here are those factors:
- Templates. Website building templates ensure quick and easy flow through the site creation process. However, we looked for website builders that not only offer lots of templates, but we also ensured those templates are eye-catching.
- Ease of use. Drag-and-drop website builders are what experts and users prefer. We are not an exception. Yet, we not only looked for drag-and-drop builders but also for advanced AI-driven services that offer even a faster site building progress.
- Features. The variety of features determine how flexible a website builder is regarding different user purposes. While testing, we searched for dedicated SEO, marketing, blogging, and eCommerce features, among others.
- Performance. Once we built the website, we ran each provider through the speed test to find only those that don’t break during the loading process with heaps of images on the site. The ideal page load speed is 1-2 seconds.
- Price. When paying bigger money, we expect to receive higher quality service. Yet, that’s not always the case. Hence, we made sure that website builders on the list offered a fair price-to-quality ratio.
What is a website builder?
A website builder is a tool for building a website that doesn’t require coding experience. It’s a quick and all-around solution for small-scale businesses, merchants, artists, or anyone who needs their production to go viral without depending on professionals nor investing heaps of money.
The majority of website builders rely on drag-and-drop website-building principles. Meaning, what you choose to drag or drop while building a webpage is automatically converted into a code, and the service provides you with the final result only. Reputable website builders include a list of additional features that ease your experience even more. For instance, with Hostinger Website Builder, you get an AI content generator, while Shopify focuses on bringing eCommerce tools for the user.
While web hosting services make your website accessible for users online, website builders help you make the website visually approachable. Some providers, like Hostinger Website Builder, have both services included, allowing you to build and make the website go live at lightning-fast speeds.
List of the best website builders by category
While we have covered the overall best website builders, it can be easier to pick a tool meant for the job specifically. Here you can find all of our curated lists that focus on specific websites and purposes.
- Best website builders for small business: if you’re working to establish your business's online presence, look at the builders that offer the finest business-oriented features.
- Best website builders for SEO: for competitive niches, we picked the strongest builders when it comes to SEO.
- Best eCommerce website builders: for eCommerce websites, we picked those service providers that make it easy to launch a store and have helpful tools to market it.
- Best church website builders: whether you just need a place to announce the events or even provide a booking platform for meetings – you’ll find the best option on this list.
- Cheapest website builders: we tested the most budget-friendly services and picked the ones that maintain quality.
- Best mobile website builders: these builders not only look good on all screens but also allow building your website using a mobile device.
- Best website builders for podcasts: we picked the best website builders for hosting your podcasts – they’ll be fast to upload hour-long audio files and comfortable for your listeners to use.
- Best drag-and-drop website builders: drag and drop is the most intuitive type of website editor – we tested and picked the best ones.
- Best resume website builders: if you’re looking for the best tools and templates to publish your resume online, we shortlisted the website builders that deliver.
- Best AI website builders: on this list, you’ll find the smartest website builders available that will design your website without you lifting a finger.
- Best website builders for blogging: if you want to own your content completely without any restrictions, here are the top tools to use.
- Best website builders for non-profits: it’s easy to collect donations, announce events, and build communities with the top website builders for non-profits.
- Best website builders for artists: we’ve picked the top tools for creating beautiful art websites.
- Best website builders for photographers: the builders we picked can offer you generous storage and tools to creatively display photography.
- Best free website builders: you might just want to try them, or your budget simply doesn’t allow paying for the website – no worries, some of the options are free.
How to choose the best website builder for you?
Choosing a website builder that's right for you is basically a balancing act between many different options.
But just how in the world do you choose between all of them? Why is option A and D better for you than option B, C, E, or even F? Well, this is where I'll try to help you sort things out.
Before opening your wallet, ask yourself these questions.
- What is my budget?
- What is my website going to be?
- What other additional features do I need?
- What do I want from my website design?
- How much experience building websites do I have?
- How much time do I want to spend building and running my website?
Question #1: What is my budget?
- If your budget is tiny, pick an inexpensive website builder with a long-term plan like Hostinger Website Builder.
- If you can spend, choose a versatile, powerful option like Wix.
- Do not trust the free plans – they're only tasters, lacking several very important website features.
If your budget is tight, you can still get some top website builders.
For instance, Hostinger Website Builder – the cheapest website builder on this list – has plenty to offer despite its dirt-cheap prices. It's easy to use, and there are even some handy business features.
Sure, builders like Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify bear higher price tags. But, in exchange, they offer stunning templates and advanced features – the likes of which you don't see in inexpensive builders.
Ultimately, it's good to remember that cheap doesn't mean subpar. But, if you're willing to spend, you'll have access to the best website builder features that can potentially transform your web-building experience.
Question #2: What is my website going to be?
- For online stores, Wix and Shopify are two solid picks.
- For portfolios, Squarespace's excellent themes are a great option.
- And for the simplest of pages, Hostinger Website Builder is a great choice.
If you're looking to start an online store, you'd do well with either Wix or Shopify. Simply put, you need the service that offers tons of templates, allows for plenty of customization,zeroes in on eCommerce and supports app integrations.
If you're building a portfolio site, go with Squarespace. Its stunning templates will highlight and showcase your work in the best possible light.
And, if all you want is simplicity, you won't go wrong with Hostinger Website Builder. The builder has simplified everything: from its setup to even AI content generation.
Question #3: What other additional features do I need?
- Squarespace and Wix are a marketer's dream, both offering a solid array of additional features.
- Shopify doubles down on everything related to online sales.
- GoDaddy website builder offers a very solid marketing option for those looking to attract new visitors.
Builders now also offer marketing, SEO, and even design or copywriting help.
For instance, both Squarespace and Wix come with tons of additional features covering multiple aspects. The two builders offer gorgeous templates to help you with design and provide access to plenty of SEO and marketing features – whether built-in or via third-party integration.
If you're in the market for eCommerce-related features, Shopify is your best shot. It covers everything you need to sell and grow online – including inventory, shipping, fulfillment, customer management, and even dropshipping features, right out of the box.
Alternatively, if you're looking for marketing features and attracting visitor eyeballs to your site, GoDaddy does a top-class job with its InSight tool and SEO features.
Question #4: What do I want from my website design?
- If you want to choose out of a massive array of third-party themes and maybe even edit the code yourself, pick Shopify.
- If you want a website that looks stunning with no effort, choose Wix or Squarespace.
If you're willing to roll your sleeves up and maybe even go as far as editing the code, you'll have far more control over your website – for that, a builder like Shopify is the best website creator option.
On the other hand, it's entirely fine if you're not looking to become a web designer and prefer a more hands-off approach. But, in this case, you'll have to go with a pre-designed theme with minimal customization. Wix and Squarespace are the top options there.
Question #5: How much experience building websites do I have?
- If you're a complete newbie, Wix ADI, SITE123, or GoDaddy Website Builder will offer you plenty of help.
- If you've got more experience, you might enjoy the customizability of Wix Editor.
If you're entirely new to website building, opt for one of the more beginner-friendly options like Wix ADI, SITE123, or GoDaddy website builder.
They follow the same principle by asking some basic questions involving the type of website, business details, style preference, and other similar information.
Dashboards of these builders are clean, organized, and – most importantly – intuitive enough that you should always be able to navigate them with no issues.
On the flip side, if you're more experienced, you might like the freedom and flexibility of Wix Editor. There, you'll have more control and most of the elements within are customizable according to your taste.
Question #6: How much time do I want to spend building and running my website?
- If you want everything to be as quick as possible, Wix ADI, and Gator will let you glide through everything.
- If you're a tinkerer and an avid crafter, Wix will let you finetune just about everything – at the cost of your time.
If you can’t afford spending lots of time building a website, Squarespace is the best website creator for streamlining everything for your site and business in one intuitive dashboard. It's a quick, helpful way to streamline your business.
Meanwhile, Wix ADI make the website-building process as quick as possible. Building a website with them takes just a few minutes.
If you're a website-building enthusiast or like spending time to make sure that every single element is perfect – Wix and Shopify will be a better fit.
Video review
You can learn all about the best website builder in our YouTube video review. Check it out to find out more about the features, value, templates, and more.
Final thoughts
A website builder is a quick and comfortable way to help people find out about your products, services, or even thoughts. Whether you’re a blogger, merchant, part of the church community, or a businessman – you can easily find a website builder that will match your purpose.
According to our tests, Hostinger Website Builder is the best solution for anyone due to its versatility, ease of use, and great performance. With it, you get extensive SEO, eCommerce, marketing, and blogging feature suites. And the AI-driven setup process will make the building experience seamless.
Despite our top picks, you should always consider what website you want and need and how much control over it you want to have. Only then will you pick the best website builder for you.



More website builders guides from Cybernews:
AI Website Builder – useful or just a gimmick?: AI website builders unveiled!
Best Shopify apps: 35+ options to boost sales: boost sales with 35+ essential apps.
Cheap website builder – get the best, for less: discover the cheapest builders today.
Best drag and drop website builder – the best tools for designing websites: unleash creativity with top builders.
FAQ
What is better: Wix or Squarespace?
Wix is a better website builder than Squarespace. While both website builders stand at the top of the market and offer nearly equally advanced set of features, Wix has more modern templates and business-focused features.
Which is the best platform to create a website?
Hostinger Website Builder is the best platform to create a website due to its excellent price-to-quality ratio. Although its starting price is $1.79/month, you receive plenty of advanced features, such as AI-driven content generator and site editor. Plus, the provider maintains great performance and is very easy to use.
Can you build websites for free?
Yes, you can build websites for free. For example, Wix is one of the top free website builders on the market. Nevertheless, limitations are inevidable with free services. In this case, you lose the opportunity to have a custom domain, unlimited monthly bandwidth, as well as other benefits.
Do I need hosting for a website builder?
Yes, hosting is a must for website building, as without hosting, your website would be invisible for search engines and users. However, some website builders offer you native hosting services, such as Hostinger Website Builder, letting you avoid additional searches for a robust web host provider.
Comments
What do you recommend?
If you are interested in building a website for authors specifically, you might find our article on "Best website builder for authors" (https://cybernews.com/best-website-builders/for-authors/) useful. :)
None of the builders here are specifically open-source, as that would also come with a lot of the drawbacks: namely security concerns, and lackluster optimization. If you're looking for excellent apps to use – Wix and Shopify have by far the best app stores, with both quality and quantity nicely accounted for.
Alternatively, you can check out WordPress: I've made a pretty extensive review that covers it. It's a good option, but it requires more skill and overall work to master.
There are a few routes you can take. You can go for something like Webflow, which is basically an advanced design tool, letting you make completely custom websites. Or something like WordPress, which is an extensive CMS, letting you customize it until it can barely tell itself apart.
But if you want something that looks professional, is customizable, and still offers the good ol' super simplicity, I'd do with Wix. You can do honestly whatever you want with that thing: especially if you know your way around PHP and HTML.
If you want to save money and your time, Zyro is an excellent pick. It's great for portfolios, because it looks good effortlessly, and is amazing, as long as you don't require a completely custom site.
I suggest giving Zyro a shot: purely going through the templates. If you like how a Zyro website looks, just follow the provided style, and it should be absolutely perfect. If you find the templates a bit too limiting, go for Wix. Both options are suitable for what you want, so it all boils down to personal aesthetic preference.
Zyro is definitely on the top of the list. It's either that or the Wix ADI, which will simply generate a website for you. I suggest you give both of them a go and purchase whichever feels right for you personally. "Ease of use" is something we understand in our own unique terms, after all.
I heavily suggest giving Squarespace a shot. It has a lot of solid business features, enables 2FA for additional security, and there have been no recent security incidents connected to it.
Not to mention it's one of the most intuitive website builders out there!
Any ideas or advice would be much appreciated!
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