Beginners who have no web design experience can benefit from a website builder.

What Are the Advantages of Doing It Myself?

The biggest and most obvious advantage is cost. You will have to pay for hosting and your domain but, compared to the fees you would have to pay a professional web designer, it’s just peanuts.

Another advantage is that you’ll have a lot of control.

Need to rebrand or just don’t like what you’ve come up with? Pick a new template. It’s usually pretty easy to convert what you already have into what you want.

How Can I Choose A Website Builder?

These days, it’s really simple to make your own professional looking website.

While you once had to know something about programming and have an eye for what design, all you need to do now is find the right website builder, and most of the hard work is done for you.

There are a lot of website builders out there for every kind of business and every level of experience. Some allow you to have a lot of control while others help you by giving you a template that you only have to fill in.

So, which website builder is best?

The truth is there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on what kind of a site you want and how well you get along with the design interface.

We have compiled five website building platforms for review.

Those taking the do-it-yourself route need to choose simple software to build a website.

We have also reviewed these and picked the overall best website builder software.

1. Wix Website Builder

The overall favorite web design software is Wix. It is easy to sign-up with, use, and build a business website. There are 70 different categories of templates from which to choose.

The intuitive drag-and-drop site builder is user-friendly. Wix is an excellent choice for beginners who want an easy to manage solution for building a website.

There are more than 63 million global users. The service is free. As the builder becomes, more adept an upgrade to a paid plan that ranges in cost from $5 to $25 per month will be needed.

The primary focus of this website development platform is to make the process of website building as easy and straightforward as possible. Highly effective advertising campaigns have made the software well-known.

Using the drag-and-drop interface makes creating anything from a single page website to an eCommerce store with multiple categories and all other aspects of website design easy. Additional services and apps integrate well with the platform’s Wix App Market.

Embedded HTML, contact forms and social media feeds can be added. The blog feature is a bit of a downfall. It sometimes loads slowly and doesn’t compare with competitors such as BoldGrid and SquareSpace.

Data could not be exported from the website if you were to choose another platform. Even with the few issues the software has, the reviewers rated it as nine out of ten.

2. SiteBuilder

One of the most intuitive and most uncomplicated site builders available on the market is SiteBuilder. You do not have to be a computer whiz to build and publish a website easily.

It has all the tools needed to setup and run a simple website. The software includes a basic eCommerce store provided by ECWID. ECWID is an eCommerce platform that enables businesses and individuals to create or add an online store to a website.

SiteBuilder has a large selection of pre-made templates that provide plenty of designs from which to choose. The Endurance International Group (EIG) uses the program across various brands owned by the group.

The service can be found under several different names such as:

• sitey.com
• sitelio.com
• websitebuilder.com

The editor is quite good. It is among the most straightforward and most accessible options from which to choose. Users get a combination of control and convenience. The software is appreciated by web developers and raved about by those wanting to build a website affordably.

In addition to website capability, the Sitebuilder offers:

• Blogging capabilities
• eCommerce capabilities
• Excellent search engine optimization (SEO) tools
• Email accounts connected to the domain

Each paid plan provides a free custom domain that is free for life. Beware, however, of a possible misconception caused by an advertisement that lists free email and free domain under free website on the homepage.

The management leaves a little to be desired. Complaints of poor customer support, confusing branding, and questionable billing issues have been lodged. It is an excellent tool in need of better management. A user at any skill level can build a decent website at an affordable cost with minor downfalls to overlook.

3. Weebly Site Builder

The feature-rich and powerful eCommerce capabilities are well-known and a popular choice for website builders. Weebly is an excellent choice for businesses wanting to sell services and products online.

The business plan is on the pricey end of the spectrum but offers everything needed to set up, an online store professionally the interface is not as intuitive as SiteBuilder or Wix. Learning how to use it can be challenging and take some time.

Frustration ends when the users get the hang of it. More themes are slowly being added to the limited number in the collection. Weebly has eCommerce and blogging features. There are more than 40 million active users.

Top publications such as Entrepreneur Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and TIME Magazine have featured Weebly software. TIME listed it among the 50 Best Websites. Professional web developers appreciate the flexibility offered by the ability to export from the website, edit CSS/HTML codes, and change templates.

Online stores with basic to medium traffic, personal website owners, and small business owners find Weebly to be an ideal choice.

4. Squarespace– Build a website

Anyone in a creative profession will find Squarespace to be among the best software for portfolio and business type websites.  There are lovely templates for:

• Bloggers
• Weddings
• Musicians
• Restaurants
• Artists
• Photographers

Large images make the templates very visual. The designs are elegant, yet simple. The templates are similar to Weebly’s less customizable platform but include genuinely responsive designed templates and clean URLs.

The platform is reasonably priced, and a two-week free trial that requires no credit card is available. Squarespace can be purchased from Amazon when an upgrade to a paid plan is needed.

An excellent community knowledge base is available that allows users to get help and ask questions about using the website software. The key features of Squarespace include:

• A two-week trialMobile and SEO friendly
• Clean URL semantics
• Four creative sites
• Visual designs that are large
• Moderate ease of use
• Code that can be edited
• More than 80 templates

The comprehensive marketing tools offered by Squarespace engage visitors, get found across social and search, and grow a website’s following.

5. BoldGrid For WordPress

BoldGrid is a plugin for WordPress. Sites that need WordPress functionality and features choose BoldGrid. WordPress is technically a Content Management System (CMS). Many argue it is the best website building choice if you are building websites for small businesses.

Beginners and professionals use it. WordPress is a powerful platform with many features. Most web developers and designers love using it. Over 25 percent of all websites on the Internet use it.

It is more complicated than most website builders and has a learning curve that is steeper. BoldGrid attempts to fix the problem. The use of BoldGrid harnesses the power of WordPress and makes building websites more accessible. If you can handle the technical aspects, it is the best free website building software on the market.

In Closing

We hope that this website building software comparison helped you narrow down your options.

If you are not the DIY kind of person, considering hiring a professional.