The days when people needed to learn how to code to build a website are long gone. If you want to quickly create a website without any hassle, you can now do so with the help of a website builder. However, if you choose the wrong website builder, you may end up paying too much for a platform that doesn’t provide all the tools you need to design your dream site and you may encounter long-term commitments.
Before selecting the best website design tool, you need to determine what you want to achieve with your website. What are your goals, and what features do you want to see on your website?
For example, a blog section, photo gallery, online store, booking system, contact form, etc.
If you’re unsure about what you want, you can look at your competitors or other websites for inspiration.
Most website design tools offer a drag-and-drop interface to build your website. Before making your final decision, you can take advantage of trial accounts on these sites.
Afterwards, you need to consider your growth options. Will you be adding regular updates to your website? Do you need a blog section? Do you plan to sell more products on your website in the future?
Make sure that the website builder you choose can meet your needs as your business grows.
Considering the richness of options and the fact that many website builders do not allow you to later take your website and progress it, it’s important to have a clear idea of what you need. By identifying your priorities and direction, you can consider the following features to find the best website builder.
Now let’s take a look at the best website design tools for building your website without being a developer.
One of the popular cloud-based website builders is Wix. Wix offers ease of use along with a powerful feature set to easily create your website.
Pros
Wix is a fully hosted platform, so you don’t need to pay for hosting. You have access to hundreds of templates to design your website. Each template is fully customizable with intuitive drag-and-drop site builders.
Additionally, it comes with dozens of free and paid apps that you can install on your website. These apps allow you to add new features and functionalities to your website. Some are created by Wix, while others are developed by third-party developers.
Wix offers a free plan with limited bandwidth and storage. However, you can use this plan to test the drag-and-drop website builder. If you decide to protect your website, you may want to upgrade to a premium plan as it does not include a domain name.
Cons
Free and Connect Domain plans display Wix-branded ads on your website. To remove these ads, you need to upgrade to the Combo, Unlimited, or VIP plans.
It is quite complex to migrate your website away from Wix if you decide to do so.
Domain Connect plans, which cost 10 TL per month, only allow you to connect a custom domain, so you still need to purchase a separate domain name.
Pricing
There are 4 different usage categories: Business Basic, VIP, Pro, and Unlimited categories. You can see the prices and the relevant target users from the list below.
| Wix Plan Name | Monthly Cost | Best For |
| Unlimited | $22 | Freelancers or small businesses owners looking to expand their site or web presence |
| Pro | $27 | Small businesses that need more marketing functionality |
| VIP | $45 | High-traffic content sites or blogs |
| Business Basic | $27 | Small or new businesses |
Weebly is an easy-to-use website builder software with thousands of great designs. It includes a beautifully crafted page builder that allows you to edit your website without learning any coding skills.
Pros:
Weebly is a fully hosted platform, so you don’t need to install or manage any software. It takes care of hosting your website and managing all the software running in the backend.
Comes with dozens of website designs to serve as a starting point for your website. These stunning designs can be fully customized using Weebly’s live page editor.
Weebly also comes with built-in support for e-commerce. This allows you to easily create an online store and start selling your products right away.
Every Weebly site comes with built-in features for contact forms, photo galleries, sliders, and more. This allows you to easily add features to your website without having to perform complex setup procedures.
Given its ease of use and great features, Weebly is rated among the best website builders for beginners.
Cons:
Weebly offers a fully hosted platform, so you’re locked into the features they provide. You can’t work with a developer or designer to add new functionalities to your website.
Weebly also charges a 3% transaction fee on every purchase made through your e-commerce store. To avoid these additional fees, you’ll need to upgrade to business plans.
Pricing:
Weebly comes with a very basic free plan. The cost of the professional plan is $12 per month, while the business plan is $25 per month.
WordPress is renowned for its user-friendly interface, catering to beginners while offering a wealth of features for seasoned developers. Primarily designed for content creation and publication, it’s widely employed for websites of diverse scales and objectives. Its open-source framework empowers users to customize WordPress sites extensively.
While the software itself is free, users need to procure and configure their own web hosting services. Numerous web hosting providers offer specialized WordPress hosting solutions to facilitate this process. Additionally, users may incur costs by investing in premium WordPress themes and plugins available from third-party vendors.
Cons
User is entirely responsible for their website – unless you purchase a managed web hosting plan, you must perform all site maintenance tasks yourself. These include maintaining site security, installing updates, and backing up your site.
Prone to cyber-attacks – some examples of WordPress security issues include malware, SEO spam, and cross-site scripting. To avoid these problems, perform proper security measures like updating your software frequently and proper research before installing third-party plugins and themes.
While not as popular as tools like Webnode, Weebly, or Wix, it remains one of the most widely used website builders, especially among European users. Webnode boasts some advanced features that are nearly unique in the industry, but it also lacks some basic functionalities.
Pros
One of the most exciting features of Webnode is its easy way to create multilingual websites. Few website builders offer such a capability.
Thanks to its modern and responsive designs, websites created with Webnode look great on all devices. Its SEO features are robust and cover everything most sites will need.
Cons
If you use the platform, you’ll quickly realize that it’s far from being a free and easy website builder. The drag-and-drop editor is not the easiest to use and appears somewhat complex, making it difficult to modify certain sections of your website. The free version is definitely lacking in features. Instead of providing tools to create a fully functional website, these features are geared towards getting you acquainted with the website builder.
Some basic features are missing, such as tags or a native commenting system in blogging systems. If you want to create an online store, look elsewhere as their solutions are quite basic. Unlike Wix or Weebly, there is no app store.
Squarespace is a website builder that lets people create light websites using a drag-and-drop visual editor instead of coding.
This website builder is well-known for its attractive, modern, and responsive pre-made website templates in various categories like blogs, photography, and portfolios. When customizing them, users can take advantage of the curated designer color palettes and font packs the platform provides.
Cons
Pricing
Users can choose from four premium plans – Personal at $16/month, Business at $23/month, Basic Commerce at $27/month, and Advanced Commerce at $49/month. The prices as mentioned above are billed annually, although the monthly billed options are also available. Although it doesn’t have a free plan, it offers a 14-day free trial period.
