Best Website Builder in 2019 Top 6 Comparison Reviews

Looking for the best website builder to create a website for your small business, eCommerce store, or other project?Website builders make it easy for anyone to create a site using pre-made templates and simple drag-and-drop editing. But not all website builders are made equal, and there are some important differences when it comes to functionality, ease of use, and price.To help you find the best website builder for your specific needs, we went hands-on with six popular tools. Now, well share the most relevant information with you to help you make your decision. ToolEditor RatingBloge-commerceTemplatesFree PlanFromSquarespace5/5âÅ"…âÅ"…65+⠝Å'$12Wix4/5âÅ"…âÅ"…500+âÅ"…$8.50Strikingly3/5âÅ"…âÅ"…27+âÅ"…$8Weebly4/5âÅ"…âÅ"…âÅ"…âÅ"…$5Shopify4/5âÅ"…âÅ"…âÅ"… thousands⠝Å'$29SiteBuilder4/5âÅ"…âÅ"…âÅ"… hundreds⠝Å'$51. Squarespace (www.squarespace.com)The best website builder for creatives (and others)By the numbers, Squarespace is th e most popular website builder, as well as the most popular hosted content management system. It powers 2.8% of all websites on the Internet according to W3Techs.Squarespace includes great-looking templates for a variety of niches, as well as an easy onboarding process that makes it easy to build a website even if you have no technical skills.Drag-and-drop Editor RatingBlogging Tool?eCommerce Functionality?TemplatesFree Plan?Starting Price5/5âÅ"…âÅ"…65+⠝Å'$12How it worksTo get started, Squarespace has you pick a base template from the 65+ available templates. The templates are divided by category and, as a general rule, have great modern, minimalist looks:Once you choose your base template, youll need to create a Squarespace account (its free to start so you can test things out with no credit card required).And as soon as you create your account, Squarespace launches you into the editor so that you can customize your site.Ease of use and time investmentBecause Squarespace has you start from one of the pre-made templates, you dont need to worry about building your websites design from scratch.Instead, youll basically just use Squarespaces drag-and-drop editor to:Edit the existing template dataIf desired, add new content, like more text, images, a newsletter form, etc.Editing content is as simple as typing on the page:And you can add new content by inserting new blocks:All in all, you get a good deal of control without a huge time investment.PricingSquarespace starts at $12 per month, billed annually. A small business will likely want the $18 per month plan, though.Related reading: Are WordPress Theme Builders A Good Squarespace Alternative?2. Wix (www.wix.com)A good all-around builder with affordable pricesWix is a popular drag-and-drop website builder that lets you create a Wix-branded site for free, or your own branded site for a price. After Squarespace, its the second-most popular all-purpose website builder, powering 2.1% of all websites.Drag-and -drop Editor RatingBlogging Tool?eCommerce Functionality?TemplatesFree Plan?Unbranded Starting Price4/5âÅ"…âÅ"…500+âÅ"…$8.50How it worksTo launch your Wix site, you first need to sign up for a free account. Then, Wix will ask you a few questions to simplify the website creation process. This is great because it means you get an experience thats tailored specifically to you:Then, you can:Let the WIX AI create a website for you (an especially unique feature). Basically, youll answer more questions, and then the AI will actually pick a template for you based on your answers.Choose a template from the 500+ templates available, if youd rather pick the template yourself.Ease of use and time investmentNo matter whether you choose the WIX AI or your own template, youll eventually land in the Wix editor to finish out customizing your site.The Wix editor gives you a great deal of control over your site, but it also feels significantly more overwhelming than Squarespaces editor becaus e it presents so many options at once.If youve built a few websites before, you might like all those options. But if this is your first time using a website builder, you might struggle with the learning curve:If you want more functionality, you can add in 250+ apps from the Wix App Market.PricingWix offers a limited free plan with Wix ads and a Wix subdomain. Paid plans with your own branding and no Wix ads start at $8.50 per month. But serious businesses should spring for the $12.50 per month plan, at a minimum.3. Strikingly (www.strikingly.com)A good basic option for simple websitesFounded in 2013, Strikingly is much younger than the other website builders on this list. Its probably not a great option if youve already built a few websites and like to tinker. But if you just want a tool to build a basic website, its simple editor keeps things uncomplicated.Drag-and-drop Editor RatingBlogging Tool?eCommerce Functionality?TemplatesFree Plan?Starting Price3/5âÅ"…âÅ"…27+âÅ"…$8 How it worksTo get started, you sign up for a free Strikingly account. Then, it drops you into an interface where you choose from the ~27+ available templates:Ease of use and time investmentOnce you select your template, Strikingly dumps you straight into the editor. The editor is a lot simpler then Wix. And while, to be honest, it does look a little dated, its actually pretty intuitive for most of the things a small business needs.One especially handy feature is built-in spots that suggest adding a specific element. For example, on the template I chose, it suggested adding a button to the hero section:Strikinglys editor definitely sacrifices some flexibility for ease of use. But if you dont have a ton of experience and just want to build a great-looking small business site, that may well be enough for you.PricingStrikingly has a free plan if youre ok with using a Strikingly subdomain. After that, paid plans start at $8 per month.4. Weebly (www.weebly.com)A solid option for all type s of sitesRecently acquired by Square for $365 million in April 2018, Weebly is a long-standing website builder that helps you create both standard websites and eCommerce stores (the eCommerce aspect will likely become more prominent with Squares involvement).Weebly currently powers 0.8% of all the websites on the Internet.Drag-and-drop Editor RatingBlogging Tool?eCommerce Functionality?TemplatesFree Plan?Starting Price4/5âÅ"…âÅ"…âÅ"…âÅ"…$5How it worksLike the others, you get started with Weebly by signing up for a free account.From there, you can choose from a variety of themes (the exact number depends on what type of site youre building e.g. a store vs a business site):Ease of use and time investmentOnce you select your website theme, Weebly will launch you into the editor. If you want to edit existing content, you can just click on the live preview. And if you want to add new content, you just drag it over from the options on the left:Again, Weeblys editor doesnt go quite as deep as Wix. But it does a good job of keeping things simple while still giving you enough control to customize your site.And if you need additional functionality, you can connect to the Weebly app store.PricingWeebly has a branded free plan. After that, paid plans start at $5 per month.5. Shopify (www.shopify.com)The best website builder for eCommerce storesShopify is a bit of a twist because its focused exclusively focused on eCommerce, rather than helping you create a multipurpose site. By the numbers, Shopify powers 3.0% of all websites on the Internet, which puts it right behind Squarespace in terms of popularity. Its also the second most popular way to build an eCommerce store, behind WooCommerce.Basically, its not the best website builder  overall, but its probably your best option if youre serious about creating an eCommerce store.Drag-and-drop Editor RatingBlogging Tool?eCommerce Functionality?TemplatesFree Plan?Starting Price4/5âÅ"…âÅ"…âÅ"… thousands⠝Å'$29How it worksShopify operates on similar principles to the other website builders, but with a slightly different process.Once you sign up for a free Shopify account, youll need to provide a little bit of information. From there, it will drop you into the Shopify dashboard:This is where youll:Choose a themeAdd productsInstall apps for more functionalityEase of use and time investmentBecause Shopify is focused on eCommerce, its going to take you a bit more time to set up your store than a regular website builder.In addition to the information above, youll also need to set up payment gateways, configure tax rates, and perform other housekeeping actions.Shopify tries to make things as easy as possible, though. For example, the Theme Customizer/editor makes it easy to tweak your store. And even though its focused on eCommerce, you can still add other functionality, like a blog.The only downside, though, is that theres no inline editing. That means, unlike all the other website buil ders, you cant just click on text to edit it:PricingShopifys plans start at $29 per month.6. SiteBuilder (www.sitebuilder.com)The most affordable website builder on this listWith promotional prices starting at just $5 per month, and regular prices at $10, $12 and $18, SiteBuilder is one of the most affordable website builders on this list.Drag-and-drop Editor RatingBlogging Tool?eCommerce Functionality?TemplatesFree Plan?Starting Price4/5âÅ"…âÅ"…âÅ"…⠝Å'$5How it worksSiteBuilder doesnt offer a free account or free trial, so youll need to pay before you can start building your site.From there, you can choose a pre-built template from the hundreds of templates that SiteBuilder offers, including a nice category filter to help you find the perfect template:Ease of use and time investmentAfter you pick a template, youll be able to edit it using SiteBuilders simple visual editor. It offers a grid-less drag-and-drop approach. That is, youll be able to drag elements  anywhere o n your site youre not constrained by a grid:If you want, you can also add a blog or eCommerce functionality, depending on your plan.PricingSiteBuilders regular plans start at $10 per month, but they offer 50% off your first billing cycle, which lets you get started for as little as $5 per month.Nothing doing? WordPress might still be the best website builder for youCouldnt find the best website builder for you in the list above? You can always stick with the tried-and-true WordPress approach (cmon, were a WordPress blog you didnt think wed go the whole post without one mention of WordPress, right?).WordPress is the most popular way to build a website in existence, powering over 30% of all the websites on the Internet.There are some good reasons for that, tooWhen you build your website with self-hosted WordPress, you have 100% control over your website, which is something that even the best website builder cant match. Its also easy to customize because you have:A huge library of Wo rdPress plugins to add new functionality. There are over 50,000 free plugins alone.Tens of thousands of WordPress themes, which dwarfs any of the template lists youll find at a website builder.Now, if you just want a super simple site, you might not actually need all that functionality. But if you want an easy-to-use platform that gives you the flexibility to do anything you want, none of these tools can beat WordPress.If youre interested in learning more about using WordPress to build your site, here are some resources to get you started:How to use WordPress for local businessHow to start an online store with WordPress4 must-have elements for WordPress business websitesThe best WordPress page builder plugins   these add easy drag-and-drop editing that approximates the website builder editors you saw above.Have any other questions about picking the best website builder for your business? Leave a comment and well try to help out! * This post contains affiliate links, which means th at if you click on one of the product links and then purchase the product, well receive a small fee. No worries though, youll still pay the standard amount so theres no cost on your part.