So you want to get a website but you don’t know where to start. The good news is that there are dozens of options available depending on your budget. In this article we cover the 5 most popular website builders to help you decide which platform is the right choice for you.
Before we jump into the top 5 website builders, let’s first quickly cover the 3 things you need in order to have a website.
Domain name:
A domain name acts as your address on the internet. It is a way that others can access your website by visiting the address. Some website builders and often many hosting providers offer the ability to purchase a domain name directly through them. We recommend purchasing the domain name yourself so that it will be easier if you ever want to switch hosting providers, or use a different website builder. Google Domains is our recommendation for purchasing a domain name. Most of the domain names are $12/year and Google offers free privacy with each domain name. Without the privacy set-up anyone can look up your domain name and find the name and address associated with the domain name.
Hosting:
In order to keep your website up and running on the internet you will have to pay for hosting. Hosting is like the real estate market on the web and you are renting space from it. A hosting provider we recommend (especially for WordPress websites) is Siteground. Siteground is affordable, offers great chat and phone support and offers you free emails at your domain name through cPanel. Before you choose a hosting provider, you’ll want to determine how your website will be created.
Website Builder:
Unless you plan on coding a website from scratch you’re going to need some sort of website builder in order to design and develop your site. There are many options to choose from and some of those options include hosting. While the idea of having a website builder, domain provider and hosting provider all in one sounds appealing, typically you will end up paying a higher monthly fee for those options.
Now that we have some background information let’s jump into the top five website builders in 2019.
Top five website builders
#1 WordPress
#2 Wix
#3 SquareSpace
#4 Weebly
#5* Shopify (*Best choice for eCommerce)
WordPress
WordPress is an open source website building tool. 33% of the websites on the internet today use WordPress. Starting off as a blogging tool, WordPress has grown over the years to a platform that accommodates websites of any size and functionality, including online stores, discussion forums, business websites and more. Offering thousands of themes and unlimited flexibility, WordPress allows its users to create any website they can imagine, so long as they have the technical knowledge to do so.
Wix
Wix is an incredibly easy to use website building platform. Offering hosting, site security and more, Wix provides its users everything they need to create and manage their website. The new Wix ADI uses Artificial Intelligence to instantly build websites by having their users answer a few questions. No coding knowledge is required, so beginners can feel at ease when building a website through Wix.
Squarespace
Squarespace offers visually stunning websites that give their users creative and highly image based websites. Squarespace’s website building tools do require a bit of learning but typically don’t require coding knowledge. Offering dozens of beautiful templates, your website can look incredible, as long as your images are high quality.
Weebly
Weebly is a simple website creation tool that caters to the less tech savvy users. If building a website sounds like an impossible task, then Weebly might be the best option for you. Because of its ease of use, Weebly offers limited design flexibility and website functionality.
Shopify
Shopify is a tool that allows its users to build and manage eCommerce websites or online stores. Shopping carts, discounts, taxes, shipping costs, payment options and more can all be integrated into your Shopify website. While the website builder does take some time to learn, Shopify offers helpful support to guide you through every step of creating your website. If you are serious about having an online store Shopify is one of, if not the best choice available.
Pros and Cons
WordPress
Pros:
- Self hosted so it is free to build a website
- Thousands of free and paid templates available
- Unlimited design flexibility
- Thousands of free and paid plug-ins available
- Provides great SEO functionality
Cons:
- Requires basic to advanced coding knowledge depending on what you want to accomplish
- Does not provide hosting, you will need to find your own hosting provider
- Have to manually update WordPress, themes and plug-ins
- Each theme is different and can require a little to a lot of learning
Wix
Pros:
- User friendly drag and drop website builder
- No coding knowledge required
- Wix ADI can instantly build a website for you through the use of Ai
- Hosting provided
Cons:
- Limited design flexibility
- SEO guide is helpful for beginners but does not make a huge impact when it comes to ranking in search engines
- Free plan does not allow for custom domain name
Squarespace
Pros:
- Visually stunning websites
- Templates that look great out of the box
- Design flexibility
- Hosting provided
- Offers free trial that doesn’t require credit card
Cons:
- Not the easiest website builder to use, requires some learning
- Lacking in SEO functionality
- Without high quality images, your site may not look as good as what is being advertised by Squarespace
Weebly
Pros:
- Easy to use drag and drop website builder
- No coding knowledge required
- Hosting provided
Cons:
- Limited design flexibility
- Website could end up looking similar to other Weebly users
- Lacking in SEO functionality
- Free plan does not allow for custom domain name
Shopify
Pros:
- Best eCommerce platform
- Payments, shipping charges, shopping carts all integrated into the platform
- Offers discounts on shipping
- Free 14 day trial, no credit card required
Cons:
- Lacking design flexibility
- Site could end up looking very similar to other Shopify websites
- Website builder requires some learning at first
Pricing
WordPress
- Depends on the hosting provider. Most host’s offer a discounted first year price. We recommend Siteground for WordPress hosting. Siteground offers $3.95/month for the first year for a Basic plan and $11.95/month for the first year for a Premium plan.
Wix
- Free plan $0
- Combo plan $11/month
- Unlimited plan $14/month
- Pro plan $19/month
- VIP plan $29/month
- Business Basic online store $20/month
- Business Unlimited online store $25/month
- Business VIP online store $35/month
- Enterprise $500/month
Squarespace
- Personal plan $12/month(paid annually) or $16/month(paid monthly)
- Business plan $18/month(paid annually) or $26/month(paid monthly)
- Basic online store $26/month(paid annually) or $30/month(paid monthly)
- Advanced online store $40/month(paid annually) or $46/month(paid monthly)
Weebly
- Free plan $0
- Pro plan $12/month(paid annually)
- Business plan $25/month(paid annually)
- Pro online store $12/month(paid annually)
- Business online store $25/month(paid annually)
- Business Plus online store $38/month(paid annually)
Shopify
- Basic $29/month
- Shopify plan $79/month
- Advanced plan $299/month
- Plus plan starts at $2,000/month
Who should you choose
We recommend WordPress if:
You are a business or entrepreneur that is serious about your web presence. You want to rank as highly as possible in search engines, and don’t mind paying someone to make a website for you.
We recommend Wix if:
You want to get a website as quickly as possible, don’t know how to code and don’t want to pay someone to design it, or you don’t mind not having your own domain name.
We recommend Weebly if:
You don’t care how your website looks, you just want something online, you are not tech savvy and you don’t care about having your own domain name.
We recommend Squarespace if:
You are a photographer or artist wanting to showcase your portfolio in a beautiful way and don’t mind paying a monthly or yearly fee to do so.
We recommend Shopify if:
You are serious about having an online store and want the flexibility to ship anywhere, offer discounts and accept the most popular forms of payment.
At Solution Graphics we create, manage and market websites that bring our customers more business through the front door. Contact us today to get a website that works for your business.