Although nowadays choosing a website builder is relatively risk-free, there are a couple of things that you should be looking into before deciding: • Free Trial: Make sure you can try the website builder for free. Most providers offer free plans (with some limitations) or at least a money-back guarantee policy. • Support: Check which kind of support the website builder offers (e.g. Phone, chat, forums, etc.). It’s also worth checking if there is an active community of users that can help each other. ![]() • Price: This can be tricky to figure out as offers are sometimes confusing. However, in all our reviews, you’ll find clear details of the pricing plans and extra costs (e.g. Domain name) for each provider. • Features: Although each project will have different needs, here are some of the common things you may be looking for: a decent blogging system, customizable SEO options, mobile-friendly designs, an online store module, how good the visual elements are (e.g. Image galleries), possibility to password-protect pages or having registered users. • Domain name: You should be able to connect domain names purchased elsewhere, even if you can register a new domain with the website builder directly. Top Website Builders Compared in Google Trends In this Google Trends graph you can compare five of the biggest site builders. It’s easy to see that, measured by search volume, is the dominant player in this space. Gets about half as much attention in Google. Surprisingly, just a couple of years ago Webs.com was the superstar in this space. Their fall into disfavor is unmatched and pretty much reflects the comments disgruntled Webs users regularly leave in. The search term is used about twice as much as the bottom-placed. Easy to use No programming skills required and a lot easier to use than Open Source content management systems like Joomla or WordPress. One-stop shop Everything is included – your hosting, the software for your website, blog or online store as well automatic feature updates. Low cost Website builders rarely cost more than what you’d pay for a hosting package with a similarly-sized web space. And there are often free plans as well – you only pay if you want to use extras such as your own domain name. Anyone can use them Creating a website is almost as easy as setting up a Facebook or LinkedIn profile. Feature-rich A good provider will develop their website builder on an ongoing basis. Updates will be carried out automatically. ![]() Security updates Your provider will install security updates too, avoiding the serious issues that have arisen in this area in the past with open-source CMS (especially with ). All you have to do when using a website builder is choose a secure password. Spikes in traffic will not cause downtime If you host your website yourself, be aware that a significant increase in traffic could cause your website to crash (e.g. If a popular website links to your site). That’s not the case if you rely on one of our recommended website builders; they can easily handle large amounts of traffic as their hosting infrastructure balances increased server loads. Drag and drop integration Widgets such as video and audio players, Google AdSense, Paypal, forms, etc. – you’ll find there’s very little that you can’t add. Support Technical support is offered via email, live chat or forums, depending on the provider. Limited flexibility This is what it really comes down to. How much flexibility are you prepared to give up? For example, if you have to use a specific layout, you might find a website builder too limited. The only way to know for sure is to give it a try. Relying on one provider It’s important that your provider is well managed from a business point of view, because you could lose your website if it goes bust. That’s why it’s generally better to go with an established provider. ![]() Data control Your data is stored off-site. Some providers may be based in your country, others in Europe or further afield. Installing server-side code Programmers won’t like this, but website builders are a no-go zone for PHP, Java and SQL. Then again, if you use these languages, you’re unlikely to be looking at website builders anyway. Nor are there as many add-ons as you’d find in an open-source system. Using databases A database with search functionality (that you can see on real estate websites for example) would not be possible. For that a solution like is be a much better fit. Large web projects These systems are simply not appropriate for larger or more complex web-based projects. 1Wix Designs like no other With an incredible 110m users, Wix is certainly the biggest website builder out there. It started out as a Flash-based platform and ran into problems back in 2012 when both Google and Apple ditched their support for it. That’s why you may sometimes still hear old rumors of Wix not being able to rank well in search engines (which you can ). Wix reinvented itself using HTML5 technology and they are clearly striving to be the best website builder. And no worries, you won’t have to touch any code yourself. Best Website Builder Reviews. 2 Squarespace 4.6 Best design oriented website builder Compare. But with so many wedding website templates to choose from. The three best website builders. I don’t like the Yola design templates and the website builder. But didn’t know the best options. Thanks to your review. Wix is one of the best free website builders out there. The hundreds of HTML templates are extremely user-friendly and reliant on the software's drag-and-drop interface, which makes building a website a similar experience to crafting a PowerPoint presentation. While Wix offers more flexibility in terms of. ![]() Their development speed is breathtaking: hardly a month passes without Wix announcing a major new feature. Among them:, a convenient self-service appointment booking system for your clients. Wix Restaurants, a (commission free) addon that lets your customers book tables, order food from you and check out your menus. Thanks to, absolute beginners can now use a guided website creation assistant to build a website in no time. Thanks to all these massive improvements we list them as our #1 recommended website builder. What we like: their eye for design. One of the biggest advantages is that there are hundreds of well-designed templates that you can use for free. Adapting them to your needs is super easy. And then there is the huge range of features. Thanks to their App Market you can easily add new features to your website (ex. A newsletter subscription, an events calendar, a forum etc.). What they should improve: it’s not the best site builder to create larger websites of, say, 30+ pages. The navigation isn’t very deep and doesn’t allow for very complex structures. Also, it’s not possible to simply switch to an entirely new theme if you get bored of your existing one (other website builders make this easier). 2Weebly Unmatched Ease of Use Weebly is one of our all-time favorites and it’s not hard to see why. The ease of use of their website editor is still unmatched. No wonder 40m websites have been created through their platform already. Every new feature they add just makes sense – their and the membership area being two good examples. Their content management system is also laid out to support rather large websites as we know of Weebly websites that easily count more than 150 pages. Best of all, you’re not constrained by any storage or bandwidth limits in their paid plans. The Weebly Pro plan at 11€ per month, not only includes a site search feature but also video and audio players, allowing you to stream media directly from your site. All in all, you can’t really go wrong with Weebly. What we like: their themes are not only stylish but also responsive, adapting perfectly to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. They have a clever page template system, allowing you to further customize it to your needs. Through the App Center you can add a wide range of extra functionality made by Weebly and third parties. What they should improve: while the App Center is great, you won’t find as many apps as in Wix’s App Market. Also, Weebly is not a great choice for multilingual websites. 3Jimdo Solid All Round Package Jimdo is a German website creator with more than 20m websites to its name. Ease of use is also their credo. That’s why they introduced Jimdo Dolphin, a new system that promises a working website in only 3 minutes, alongside with their core product Jimdo Creator. It’s a solid website creation suite accompanied by a decent online store. They allow website creation from start to finish using their iOS and Android apps. Another positive thing is that email accounts are integrated right into the core product and quite affordable ($12 per year per inbox). All their templates are fully responsive and display well on desktop and mobile devices. What we like: you can optimize your website for search engines quite well (SEO). Even their free plan is relatively powerful, providing features like password-protection and a small online store with up to 5 products. What they should improve: they lack a bit of an edge in features compared to website builders like Wix and Weebly. Their templates could be more flexible, the online store should boast more features and an app store (for external widgets) would be really desirable. 4Squarespace Top Pick for Bloggers Squarespace has been around since 2003 and speaks of “millions” of websites created on their platform. It’s hard not to like the clean design of their website and the powerful aesthetics. The question is, though, whether their product is just as good as their self-marketing. To begin with, it’s not cheap: their lowest no-frills plan starts at 11€ per month. Squarespace’s claim to fame is to offer one of the best blog functions of all website builders, second only to. And as of recently, they are increasingly pushing their online store. So what else do you get? You can choose from their numerous, and admittedly, beautiful themes. They are all tablet and smartphone-compatible and feature different types of photo galleries. While there are a lot of good things, there are also flaws. With regards to SEO, Squarespace for blog and product pages. This can be a show-stopper in competitive industries. What we like: the designs are brilliant and also the fact that you can just install a new template whenever you like and switch to it. We’ve also had pretty positive experiences with their support. What they should improve: the aforementioned SEO flaws are pretty disappointing for a product at this price. There is no backup and restore feature, which, again, at this price point should be a given. Finally, when we tested their page speed (also an important SEO factor), it wasn’t exactly impressive. A Wix-like app store for external applications would be desirable as well. Obviously, this is a very legitimate question. After all, many reviewing websites (whether they compare website builders or another kind of service) claim to be independent. Sometimes, however, this could not be farther from the truth. The core problem is the fact that reviews are generally funded by affiliate revenue. This is the case for us, too, mainly because there are no viable alternatives. As a result, there are some people (who feel at ease with morally questionable practices) who rate a provider strictly based on the commission they generate instead of their actual merits. Unfortunately, dubious practices like these do enable website owners to put significant pressure on a provider by saying, effectively, “either you increase the revenue you generate for us by x%, or we kick you off the site.” For reasons completely foreign to us, some providers give in to that way of doing business. Several website builders have offered us significant increases in commission if we agree to “re-arrange” our rankings. As we put our readers’ interests first and want to focus on the bigger picture and long-term goals, we cannot and will not agree to any such deal. Regardless of whether you consider us a trustworthy website or not, here are a few bits of advice on how to easily spot questionable reviews: • Can you easily tell who runs the site (e.g. By checking the about page), does the owner of the website show his face there? Or does the website feel anonymous and impersonal? • Can you comment on reviews? Dubious websites, after all, do not enjoy comments, because comments allow public debate about strange practices. Unless, of course, the comments are written by the owners themselves (you would easily spot such comments, though). • Read the reviews closely: Are they all about the pros, or do the cons get their due attention, too? Questionable review websites often sound more like advertising, all about getting you to click an affiliate link. • Do the owners reveal how revenue is generated, or is that particular topic actively avoided? • Try and contact the website – do you get a response? If yes, is it a good, qualified answer, or is it just another attempt to make a sale without actually responding to your request? Reputable sites would, for instance, point out alternative systems not listed on the website (which, accordingly, would not generate any revenue, either). The web has become a wonderful resource of knowledge, opinions, reviews and all those other good things. Only be aware that sometimes you need to take certain information with a grain of salt. Should you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask! We test website builders. Site builders or website makers are a kind of content management system (CMS) that are particularly easy to use and don’t require any specialized technical knowledge. Some website builders are installed on your computer, while others are hosted by the provider and run completely within your browser (e.g. Mozilla Firefox). This means you don’t need to install anything locally. We’ve decided to test the builders that run through your browser only because we think these are the ones that will stand the test of time. And it doesn’t matter if you are on a Mac or a PC! Note: Rest assured, we don’t allow kiddie toys in our test lab! We only test and review builders that will enable you to easily and quickly create clean, professional-looking websites. People who benefit most from website building toolkits are those who run small businesses such as freelancers, graphic designers, clubs, bands, or entrepreneurs who sell goods or services via online stores. Website builders are also used to create personal websites and blogs. So why are these systems so popular? First of all, they allow you to get your website up and running very quickly. And second, they enable you to make changes to your website yourself – without having to pay extra for a programmer. Generally, the answer is yes. But since we get pitched all the time, please keep the following in mind: • Nobody likes mass emails. I’d guess you also delete emails that start with “Dear Sir / Madam.” • Tell us why we should review your product. I know; your website editor is super easy to use. But the same applies to your 1000 competitors. What is your real USP? If you don’t have one, work on it before you write us. • We try to focus on the most established website creators in the marketplace. And there’s a good reason for it: the market is very tough these days and we don’t want to review a product that won’t exist 12 months from now. First and foremost we are accountable to our readers. • We don’t review beta versions. Wait until you have a fully functional product before you get in touch with us. • If we have exchanged emails in the past, please remember it. Don’t send your pitches again and again. • If you have a partner program, please let us know. But never offer us cash in return for a favorable review. There are other sites that are happy to do this type of deals.
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