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The best website builder for most users is Wix. The popular website builder is packed with industry-leading web-building features, features over 1,000 customizable templates, and offers the most reliable customer support center out of every web builder we tested. Simply put, Wix is a safe bet for beginners and experienced users alike.
If you’re looking for an ultra-low learning curve, Squarespace is the easiest website builder for beginners to get started with. The design-focused builder also offers a range of professionally designed templates, making it a great option for creative businesses like photographers and designers, while Shopify is the most competitive option for users making online stores.
Whether you’re a creative business with a penchant for design, an ecommerce vendor looking to sell big, or someone who needs an easy website builder to start a side hustle, we’ve rounded up the best website builders on the market. In this guide, we outline their price points, as well as what they’re best for, before diving into more detail.
Here’s a glimpse at our three favorites, based on our research and testing:
Best Website Builders Overview
- Wix is an unmatched platform for website features, offering an excellent free plan to get started.
- Squarespace is an easy-to-use, design-focused website builder with hundreds of beautiful templates to showcase your business.
- GoDaddy is an affordable builder that can help you get a website live in as few as 30 seconds.
| Overall Score All Tech.co research categories, condensed into one score | Ease of Use How simple, intuitive, and flexible is the software? | Price From | Free Plan | Best for | Pros | Cons | ||
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| Wix | Squarespace | Shopify | GoDaddy | Hostinger | ||||
| 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.0 | ||||
| 4.0 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.5 | ||||
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| Best SEO features overall | Best for mobile optimization | Best for unparalleled ecommerce success | Best for SEO guidance | Best for uptime reliability | ||||
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Scroll down to find the best website builder for your particular needs or skip straight to our website builder comparison page to weigh up the top solutions at a glance. Prices accurate as of Winter 2024.
What Is the Best Website Builder?
Here’s a breakdown of all the best website builders. Click the links for in-depth reviews and pricing information for each website builder.
- Wix — Best overall website builder
- Squarespace — Best for seamless user experience
- Shopify — Best for unparalleled ecommerce success
- GoDaddy — Best for setting up quickly
- Hostinger — Best for help generating site content
Test Summary (2024)
Wix has an impressive array of features that will lend themselves to almost every business specialism. For instance, if you’re a dentist, the builder’s industry-specific themes recommend relevant services you can add to your website and even has pictures of dentist surgeries in its stock image bank.
However, if you’re looking for a modern alternative, I was really impressed with how uncluttered Squarespace’s interface was, and how easy it was to navigate. For instance, it was really easy to add products to my ecommerce site and edit them to suit my liking. I’d be weary about using Squarespace’s AI site builder though, as I found it made my website look quite generic and similar to a lot of websites that are already out there.
When I used Shopify, I was impressed with how many customization options the platform offered. While these features may get lost on smaller businesses with simpler site needs, I can see it being really useful for large ecommerce stores that use the builder to handle multiple processing like online ordering, shipping, and fulfillment. GoDaddy, on the other hand, offered much less scope for customization, but its fuss-free functionality will probably lend itself well to users building a starter website.
1. Wix
- Best overall website builder
- Pricing from: $17 per month
- Ideal for: Individuals seeking a diverse selection of templates
Wix is an all-in-one website builder that excels in most major areas. From front-end design options to digital marketing, the software offers every feature you need to build a successful site. In fact, Wix had the most website features in our research by a wide margin, beating out Squarespace and Shopify for the top spot.
Check out our Wix review for more information
Pros
- Unrivaled selection of website features
- AI features can create site in 60 seconds
- Quality free plan available
Cons
- No template switching once published
- Number of features can be overwhelming
- Steep price increase for scaling businesses
- Starting from $17/month
- 10% off any plan with code TAKE10
- 14-day free trial available
Wix key features
From SEO and marketing to blogging and booking, Wix received perfect scores across 10 out of 15 feature categories, which has been consistent for the website builder over years of research. For comparison, Squarespace scored the closest to Wix in features and only received perfect scores for 7 out of 15 categories. Suffice to say, Wix cannot be beat when it comes to features.
Even better, if your site needs are more complex or specific, you have access to Wix’s 300+ strong App Market, allowing you to seamlessly integrate the product with a range of free or paid add-ons — from ecommerce to design. Granted, a robust app store is not unique to Wix, with Shopify and Squarespace both offering similar options.
Since our last update...
Thanks to a recent update in Wix Studio, the builder now lets businesses add hamburger menus to their website, making it easier for visitors to navigate their way around the site. (February 2024)
Wix’s new Grid Cell Merging feature gives users more control over the organization of the content on their site, enabling them to create more personalized designs. (February, 2024)
As far as ease of use is concerned, Wix has fallen out a bit. The increasing number of features in recent years has made users in 2024 a bit overwhelmed, but the array of Wix AI features aimed at helping users build websites makes things a bit easier for the uninitiated.
We found the text editor in Wix easy to use. Source: Tech.co’s user testing
Wix Pricing
Wix offers four main plans: Light ($17 per month), Core ($27 per month), Business ($32 per month), and Business Elite ($159 per month).
While the builder’s monthly packages aren’t as cheap as GoDaddy or Squarespace, you do get more money, justifying its slightly larger price tag. If your restaurant can do with the bells and whistles offered in its premium packages, you’re also able to make a website for free with Wix’s free plan. However, you won’t be able to create a custom domain with this tier, so it won’t be for everyone.
Check out our guide to Wix pricing for more information
| Plan | Price paid annually The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed annually | Bandwidth | Storage | Ecommerce | Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Light | Core | Business | Business Elite | Enterprise | ||
| 3 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||
| 2 GB | 50 GB | 100 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||
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| 24/7 | 24/7 | 24/7 | Priority | 24/7 |
2. Squarespace
- Best for seamless user experience
- Pricing from: $16 per month
- Ideal for: Beginners, and designers and users wanting a modern site
Squarespace is another website builder that’s strong across the board. In fact, Squarespace only marginally missed out on the top position, falling just short of Wix due to its smaller feature catalog and limited help and support options in comparison.
The tool does, however, have the highest user experience score, largely due to its stunning templates and intuitive interface. In fact, those scores made it the best website builder for creative entrepreneurs in our research. This is mostly helped by its high content tools score, which sees the website builder offering many features that allow users to display content, like accordions, tabs, and carousels.
Pros
- Easiest website builder to use
- Plenty of content-focused features
- Integrates with Acuity for booking and appointments
Cons
- Limited language support
- AI site builder creates fairly generic output
- Performed poorly on site speed tests
- 10% off with code 'TC10'
- 14-day free trial
- Personal plan: $16/month
- Business plan: $23/month
- Business plan fees: 3%
- Free domain with 1-year contract
Squarespace key features
While the platform doesn’t offer as many templates as Wix, every one of Squarespace’s 100+ options is completely customizable and have been crafted by professional designers. This means that sites are easy to build, design, and edit, and it’s virtually impossible to make the end result look bad.
Check out our Squarespace review for more information
Squarespace Fluid Editor made adding content easy for our team. Source: Tech.co user testing
Squarespace used to be the king of design functionality in our research, consistently boasting the highest scores, largely because of the template flexibility even after you publish your site. However, in this recent round of testing, it took a few hits, largely because its AI generated sites are quite bland and generic, particularly compared to its human-made sites.
Additionally, while Squarespace excels in aesthetics and usability, the software itself is slightly less customizable than Wix, and site speeds can run a little slower than competitors like GoDaddy due to its weighty designs.
Check out our guide to Wix vs Squarespace for a full comparison
Since our last update...
Squarespace users can now sell content on Video pages using a pricing that that works for them. You’re also able to display a pricing plan over the video player without blocking video titles and descriptions. (February, 2024)
Stripe users are now able to use the payment processor on their Squarespace register, in addition to payment options that are currently available like PayPal and Square.(February, 2024)
Squarespace AI is now available on the Squarespace app, allowing users to draft and create AI generated-content for their website on the go, without needing to use a desktop device. (February, 2024)
Squarespace pricing
Squarespace offers two web building packages, Personal ($16 per month) and Business ($23 per month), and two ecommerce plans, Commerce Basic ($27 per month) and Commerce Advanced ($49 per month).
Squarespace pricing packages aren’t quite as competitive as Wix, but with the highest value score in our research, Squarespace is still a better deal than its rivals Shopify, Hostinger, and even Wix. Take a look at our table below to learn more about Squarespace’s different plans.
| Plan | Price paid annually The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed annually | Price paid monthly The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed monthly | Abandoned cart recovery | Gift cards | Transaction fees | Point-of-sale support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest Plan | | Cheapest Online Store | | ||||
| Personal | Business | Basic | Advanced | ||||
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| N/A | 3% | 0% | 0% | ||||
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3. Shopify
- Best for unparalleled ecommerce success
- Pricing from: $29 per month
- Ideal for: Individuals seeking to enhance their ecommerce store
Shopify is a powerful website builder, but it really shines when it comes to ecommerce. With a range of sales tools under its belt, from wholesale channels to advanced inventory management, Shopify should be your top pick if you’re looking to build a site that sells. In fact, our research suggests it’s the best ecommerce web builder on the market right now.
Scalability is another big plus for Shopify, particularly compared to top competitor Wix in the ecommerce space. For one, Shopify allows for unlimited products even on its cheapest plan, while Wix only allows for up to 50,000 products no matter which plan you go for, so enterprise businesses might have trouble with larger inventories.
We found the ordering interface for the Shopify POS simple and straightforward. Source: Tech.co user testing
Pros
- Vast selection of integrations and apps
- Robust customer support options
- Excellent AI features to craft content
Cons
- Messy interface between back and front end
- No free domain
- Short 3-day free trial
- Basic Plan: $29/month
- Advanced Plan: $399/month
- Plus Plan: $2000/month
- Transaction fees from 2.9% + 30¢
- Shopify offers a 3-day free trial
- Top rated ecommerce website builder
Shopify key features
While Shopify prides itself on its selling features, it’s more than equipped to build a high-quality, specialized website. From drag-and-drop tools to mobile responsive design, Shopify’s site-building toolkit has earned it the second highest website feature score, with Wix being the only option offering more. On top of that, its site speeds are faster than other options like Squarespace too.
While it used to be one of the less intuitive platforms on this list, Shopify received the third highest user experience score on our list, behind only Squarespace and Hostinger. In fact, received top marks for ease of use testing and error occurrence rates, thanks to the AI chatbot SideKick that can walk users through the process of building an online.
Check out our Shopify review for more information
Since our last update...
Shopify is always updating its platform so business can use it with peace of mind, and a recent update focused on its Shopify Tax service made sure of that. Now business can stop worrying about tax compliance, thanks to new features including point-of-sale compatibility, tax inclusive pricing, and accurate taxing on orders outside the US.
Shopify has also gotten on the AI bandwagon recently, announcing a new collection feature called Shopify Magic, which include Sidekick — an AI-powered assistant that responds to user-generated prompts — and instant content generation functionality for emails and blog posts.
Check out our Wix vs Shopify guide for more information
We found Shopify’s stock tracking features comprehensive. Source: Tech.co’s user testing
Shopify Pricing
While businesses can use Shopify Starter to start selling on social media for $5 per month, if you’re looking for a full online store, you’ll need to fork out $29 per month for Shopify Basic. Shopify’s other plans, Shopify ($79 per month), and Advanced ($299 per month) are all priced quite steeply as well, contributing to Shopify’s terrible value score. In fact, Shopify received the lowest value score across our research, because no one offers expensive plans like Shopify.
Shopify’s pricing structure is a little hard to get your head around though, so read our guide to Shopify pricing or refer to our table below for more information:
| Plan | Price paid annually The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed annually | Price paid monthly The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed monthly | Staff accounts | Reporting | Gift cards | Online credit card rates | In-person credit card rates | Transaction fee if not using Shopify Payments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Basic | Shopify | Advanced | |||||||
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| 2 | 5 | 15 | |||||||
| Basic | Standard | Advanced | |||||||
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| 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.6% + 30¢ | 2.4% + 30¢ | |||||||
| 2.7% | 2.5% | 2.4% | |||||||
| 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
4. GoDaddy
- Best for setting up quickly
- Pricing from: $10.99 per month
- Ideal for: Users with limited technical knowledge
GoDaddy is another popular website builder that prides itself on lighting fast site speeds, which our research found is definitely accurate. The website builder netted a perfect score in our site speed analysis, a feat that only Wix accomplished in our testing.
While GoDaddy is a bit less feature-dense than Wix and Squarespace, it contains all the necessary tools needed for smaller businesses like independent cafes or retailers — from drag-and-drop capabilities to mobile optimization. It also doesn’t have an app market, which is a pretty big ding, but for users trying to keep it simple, GoDaddy is a good fit.
GoDaddy’s drag-and-drop builder let me edit the layout of different elements, but its customization options were quite restrictive. Source: Tech.co user testing
Pros
- AI generated websites in two steps (30 seconds)
- Prompt customer support responses
- Free plan available
Cons
- No mobile website editor
- Overly generic website design
- No app market
- Basic plan: $10.99/month
- Premium plan: $14.99/month
- Commerce plan: $20.99/month
GoDaddy key features
Achieving a solid ease of use score in our independent research, the platform is simpler to navigate than lots of other builders on this list like Squarespace and Wix, due to its limited features in comparison. However, its reliance on artificial design intelligence (ADI) makes it less suitable for users looking for a distinct website that stands out from the crowd.
When I was building my website I could use GoDaddy’s AI text-generation tools to get the ball rolling. Source: Tech.co user testing
While GoDaddy also lacks advanced SEO features like canonical tagging, which can be found in builders like Wix, its search engine tools do most of the heavy lifting for you, picking out specific elements of your site to optimize.
If you’re looking for fast site speeds, GoDaddy won’t let you down. The website builder boasts an impressive page load time of 280ms due to its reliance on multiple data centers. This is even faster than leading solutions like Wix and Squarespace.
Read our GoDaddy website builder review for an in-depth summary of the product.
GoDaddy pricing
All of the GoDaddy pricing packages, Basic ($10.99 per month), Premium ($14.99 per month), and Commerce ($20.99 per month), are all fairly generous, featuring website hosting, custom domain options, and round-the-clock support. This, combined with the solution’s affordable entry price, has helped GoDaddy secure an excellent value score — which puts it barely behind Squarespace for the top spot.
To learn more about GoDaddy’s different pricing tiers, take a look at the table below:
| Plan | Price paid annually The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed annually | SEO | Ecommerce | Social media integration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Basic | Premium | Commerce | |||
| $10.99/month | $14.99/month | $20.99/month | |||
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5. Hostinger
- Best for help generating site content
- Pricing from: $2.49 per month
- Ideal for: Users who want help generating content for their site
For users that are fond of Wix’s software but not its price tag, Hostinger will be a great alternative. The website builder is competent and cost-effective but doesn’t overwhelm users with choices like our frontrunner Wix.
The solution is extremely easy to navigate too, with offering the second-best user experience, behind only Squarespace. This is a huge improvement over our last round of research, thanks in part to a wide range of AI features that can help you build a website just by answering a few questions. Wix and Shopify have similar AI-powered solutions, but Hostinger puts a big emphasis on it with a decidedly lower price.
Pros
- AI generated site in three steps (60 seconds)
- Built-in heatmap for advanced site analytics
- Language translations capabilities
Cons
- No app market
- No email marketing
- No free trial or free plan
- 30-Day Money Back Guarantee
- Renewal price from $6.99/month
- Up to 10% off (deal active now)
- Standard price: $11.99/month
- Free 1 year of 1 domain included with plan
Hostinger key features
Unfortunately, Hostinger’s prioritization of AI over fundamental features makes it hard to recommend for those in need of advanced functionality. With one of the lowest website feature scores in our research, Hostinger’s site-building tools aren’t as strong as its rivals, completely lacking any SMS or email marketing tools.
On top of that, Hostinger doesn’t have its own app store either, unlike Wix and Shopify. This limits the software’s potential and makes it less suited for larger businesses that may need to integrate other services into the website builder.
Read our full comparison of Hostinger vs Wix if you’re stuck between the two web builders.
The basic functionality of Hostinger text editor is great for our beginners. Source: Hostinger
Hostinger pricing
Hostinger offers one website building plan, Hostinger Website Builder, at $11.99 per month, if you choose to pay monthly. However, if you sign up for any subscription between a 12 and 48 months in lengths, you’ll only pay $2.49 per month for your first term. Plus, you can get an exclusive 10% off using the code: “TECH”, bringing the price down at checkout.
While those prices are low, the value just isn’t there, netting only the third highest value score, beaten out by both GoDaddy and Squarespace. All that to say, Hostinger is a get what you pay for situation, and you won’t get much with only one pricing plan.
Renewal prices vary depending on the length of your subscription. Plans renew at $8.99 per month for a 12-month subscription, $7.99 per month for a 24-month subscription, and $6.99 per month for a 48-month subscription.
Hostinger’s pricing packages are reasonable, but our research suggests they’re still worse value than other options like Wix and GoDaddy.
| Plan | Price paid monthly The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed monthly | Abandoned cart recovery | International pricing Customize your product prices for different countries/regions with a percentage increase or decrease. | Ecommerce | |
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| Premium | Business | ||||
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| N/A – no ecommerce features | Up to 500 products |
Buying Guide: How to Choose a Website Builder
Your online site has the power to make or break your brand, so it’s important to select your website builder wisely. There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to choosing a website builder, and we’re here to breakdown some of the most important ones.
Purpose of Website
Are you trying to launch an online store or just need an informational page? Do you want to write a blog or are simply setting up a portfolio. You absolutely need to answer these questions before embarking on your search for the best website builder. Each provider offers a different set of features for these particular website types, and you won’t be able to pick the right one until you know exactly what you need.
Budget
Obviously, understanding how much you’re going to pay for a website builder is one of the most important things to consider before making your decision. Prices range pretty dramatically from provider to provider and, more important, from pricing plan to pricing plan, and the features you get with each can vary dramatically. Subsequently, be sure stick to your budget, as you should be able to find something that works for you.
Ease of use
If you’re a beginner when it comes to website builders — or business software in general — ease of use should absolutely be a factor you consider. Some website builders are very intuitive, while others offer advanced features that can get confusing for newbies. This can be hard to discern from feature listings and price plans, which is why we’ve done some extensive research on the topic to give you some help.
How Did We Rate the Best Website Builder?
We take our impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful product recommendations.
After conducting an initial exploration to identify the most relevant, popular, and established tools in the market, we put them through their paces with hands-on testing to see their real strengths and weaknesses. In this case, we put ten website builder products to the test across 251 areas of investigation.
Based on years of market and user needs research, we've established a website builder testing methodology that scores each product in six main categories of investigation and 33 subcategories; this covers everything from customer feedback to design, ease of use, and more.
Our main testing categories for website builders are:
- Website Features: the capabilities and functionalities offered by a website builder, e.g. blog functionality, SEO capability, and marketing capacity.
- Design: the aesthetic appeal and visual layout of a website created using a website builder. It encompasses aspects such as page templates and customizable themes.
- Customer Score: external customer opinion. This is the feedback and ratings given by customers who have used a particular website builder – the market position and reputation a website builder holds.
- Ease of Use: how user-friendly and intuitive a website builder is for people with varying levels of technical expertise.
- Value for Money: the balance between the cost of a website builder and the benefits it provides. It considers factors such as pricing plans, subscription models, and available features.
- Help and Support: the assistance and resources available to users when they encounter issues or need guidance while using a website builder.
When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as we know some aspects matter more to our readers than others, which are simply "nice to have." After hundreds of hours, our process is complete, and the results should ensure you can find the best solution for your needs.
At Tech.co, we have a number of full-time in-house researchers, who re-run this testing process regularly, to ensure our results remain reflective of the present day.
Our Verdict: Wix is the Best Website Builder
If you’re after a reliable website builder, you can’t go wrong with Wix. It offers the best feature suite of any other product we’ve tested, is easy for newbies to get started on, and has quality low-cost and free versions.
Squarespace is a better choice when it comes to ease of use, though, scoring the highest user score in our research. GoDaddy is another excellent choice for beginners, as it offers tools to get you site live in only 30 seconds. Finally, a good online store starts with Shopify, considered by many to be the best ecommerce website builder on the market.