The Best Website Builders for Nonprofit and Charity Organizations in 2024

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If you’re looking to create a website for a nonprofit or charity organization, be sure to read this guide. It will save you both time and money. In this guide, I’ll cover the best website builders for nonprofits – those website creation platforms that are particularly well-suited for building nonprofit sites.

It’s important to understand that a standard nonprofit organization’s website is not just a simple brochure site. It has specific functional and visual features that need to be addressed. I would like to highlight two of these features.

Distinctive Design for Nonprofit Organizations:

Not all website builders offer web templates for nonprofits or charity themes. This means you might spend a lot of effort and time adapting templates from other themes for nonprofit purposes. All the nonprofit website builders reviewed in this guide come with nonprofit templates, saving you the hassle of modifying them.

Donation Option Availability:

The main purpose of nonprofit websites is to collect donations. It’s clear that choosing the best website builders for a nonprofit should primarily depend on whether they include a donation option. Some advanced website builders (like Wix), do not have a built-in donation option but offer it as an additional widget.

Of course, the list of criteria doesn’t end with these two. Keep reading, and you’ll learn everything you need to know.

Best Website Builders for Non-profit Organizations

There are plenty of website builders that I have analyzed and assessed. From all those options, the ones most suitable for nonprofit and charity organizations are discussed below.

Wix – the Best Website Builder for Nonprofits

Wix, perhaps, is the most appropriate website builder for creating non-profit websites. You’ll soon see why.

wix nonprofit website builder

First of all, Wix has got the largest collection of free templates for nonprofits and charity organizations. Their collection is the widest among all online website builders. Plus, Wix also has a powerful yet simple-to-use drag-and-drop editor. The website builder also has some additional non-profits apps that help in making your website even better. There are membership options too, designed specifically to build non-profit websites with membership systems. And above all this, Wix is free. Even when you decide to scale to the premium plans, the cost won’t scare you.

Now, let us study the advantages of Wix in detail.

A Large Selection of Nonprofit Templates

Wix has got the largest collection of quality (and free!) non-profit website templates. And they are fully responsive, which means they’ll display perfectly on any device.

Check all non-profit Wix templates

Moreover, Wix has separate templates for creating websites for charity organizations.

Check all charity Wix templates

Wix also has a religious website templates category. This category has nice solutions for non-profit religious organizations.

Check all religious Wix templates

Simple and User-friendly

Wix is designed in a way so as to ensure that every user (even beginners) can create a website independently. This means you would be able to build a website without having to put in several days or weeks of work and without anyone’s additional help. It’s very important to consider simplicity in a website builder because not all builders that claim to be simple are actually so.

The main advantage of using Wix (after its templates, of course) is an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. Simply stated, this is what will allow you to turn a basic template into a ready website filled with pages and content.

Wix’s drag-and-drop editor is powerful and responsive and comes with lots of settings. It’s the most advanced drag-and-drop editor among all those I’ve seen. And yet, it remains simple and user-friendly.

NOTE: Some website builders have even simpler drag-and-drop editors but that is achieved upon reducing functional capacities. Such platforms are those that never bothered to develop a cool visual editor. So they have just the basic capacities for template editing and that’s why they’re so simple. But that’s not the case with Wix.

Wix Donation and Charity Apps

Another great advantage of Wix is the Wix App Market, where you can find additional apps and widgets for improving your website. Both free and premium options are available here.

Wix Donation and Charity Apps

Some useful free apps for non-profit websites include:

PayPal Button – You can install this button on your website and accept PayPal donations (one-off or by subscription). It allows accepting donations in 25 different currencies.

Get Funding – If you install the Get Funding app on your website, you can get donations safely and reliably through credit cards or PayPal. You’ll also have the option to collect donation statistics and share this data with your website’s users.

Site Badges – This app lets you install badges on single products or pages. Using the badges, you can state, for example, that 50% of the money from sales will go to charity. This is a good way to attract user attention and increase sales.

If you need a more powerful solution for collecting donations, then Wix supports integration with Donorbox.

Donorbox is a comprehensive solution for donation collection through credit cards, bank transfers, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and so on. Donorbox is not just a donation button. It also has configurable donation forms with many additional possibilities.

For example, you can not just accept regular payments, but also collect extra information about your donors. Later you can use this data to form closer relations with donors and ensure their continued cooperation.

Building Nonprofit Websites with Membership System

You can take your nonprofit organization’s website to the next level using closed access areas for the members of your organization.

Wix membership system integration

Members can access certain private sections on the website and browse through the information addressed only to them. Non-member visitors on your website won’t be able to access these sections.

This may also be a convenient option for your donors including large business owners and some corporations that donate to your organization. They can see how much donation they have made so far and the goals for which this money will be utilized in the members-only zone on your website.

Such a level of transparency will aid the reputation and trust-building efforts of your non-profit organization.

Wix can help you with this since it has a built-in membership system. With this, you’ll be able to configure access to certain sections for all members or only selected members or paying customers.

Costs

Wix is a free website builder by default. But I don’t recommend the free plan for creating non-profit websites. With the free plan, you’ll have to make do with a free subdomain, for example, non-profit.wix.com. This won’t contribute towards building people’s confidence in your non-profit organization.

Upgrading from the free plan to one of the premium ones will allow you to use any desirable domain name and your website’s address would look something like non-profit.com.

Advice: The best domain category for nonprofits and fundraising organizations is .ORG. As opposed to .COM (popular in the business field), .ORG domains imply that the website is run by an organization that has nothing to do with money-making.

Wix has several premium plans that you can choose from. The most affordable one is Combo, which costs $14 monthly (when paid annually). The Combo plan allows building a simple non-profit website with basic functionalities. Plus, you also get a free domain name for 1 year and a free SSL certificate.

Learn more about Wix plans on the official website.

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Squarespace – Make a Nonprofit Site More Spectacular

Squarespace is a premium website builder that offers ample opportunities for creating websites for non-profit organizations. Just like Wix, it is one of the few website builders that have their own non-profit website templates.

squarespace nonprofit website builder

Originally, Squarespace positioned itself as a platform for launching online portfolios and websites for photographers, artists, and entertainers. But with constant and admittedly successful steps for development, Squarespace today allows building websites of all kinds. This also includes websites for nonprofit organizations.

Beautiful Nonprofit Templates

Squarespace has a collection of beautiful and user-friendly nonprofit templates. Surely it doesn’t have as many templates as Wix, but the available options are spectacular and professional-looking in design and definitely deserve attention.

Check all non-profit Squarespace templates

The thing that I like most about Squarespace is its attitude towards website appearance. Beautiful, minimalistic templates have traditionally been Squarespace’s strong point. These templates are stylish, have a minimalistic design, lay emphasis on even the smallest details, have carefully balanced design elements and harmoniously chosen colors. All this makes Squarespace a highly valued choice for those who consider the look of the website as an important factor.

Special Blocks with Donation Buttons

In addition to non-profit templates, Squarespace can help you collect donations via special donation blocks. These donation buttons can be edited the way you like. You can change the amount of donation, the button’s color, and its design as well, along with the text on the button.

Information Collection forms

Squarespace also allows collecting data from donors and website visitors. You can collect the names, locations, company names, and contact details of your donors.

Plus, you can create an email list for your newsletter using Mailchimp integration. You can send emails concerning upcoming events, news about your organization, and even blogs published on your site.

Simple Drag-and-Drop Editor

A simple and intuitive drag-and-drop editor allows every user to master Squarespace easily, regardless of their previous website development experience.

Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor’s interface isn’t overloaded with details and is user-friendly.

Simple Drag-and-Drop Editor

It’s not as flexible as Wix’s editor and has fewer template editing options. But there are enough options for customizing your website to give it the right look.

Costs

Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan but allows you to try the services for free with a 14-days trial. After the trial, you can select one of the premium plans.

The most affordable one is the Personal plan that costs $12 monthly if paid for a year at once. With this plan, you get unlimited bandwidth and storage space, a free SSL certificate, and a free custom domain for 1 year. The plan has enough functionalities to build a small non-profit website with beautiful designs and the option to get donations.

Visit Squarespace pricing to learn more.

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Shopify – for Nonprofit Websites with Ecommerce Requirements

Shopify is a world-famous eCommerce platform for building online stores. But it also has a special section for launching websites for nonprofit and charitable organizations.

Most charitable organizations sell some products and a certain part of the proceeds from sales go to charity.

For example, one non-profit organization that I know very well sells wooden bracelets (made from dry, fallen branches). For every bracelet sold, the organization promises to plant a new tree. This not just helps get funds but also draws attention to forest conservation by taking actual efforts.

If your non-profit organization also plans to sell certain products, Shopify will be the ideal website builder for you.

It allows selling any type of goods, both physical and virtual. This website builder also provides a logistics facility and automated tax receipts and lets you access detailed analytics data about your customers and donors.

Special Prices for Nonprofit Organizations

Shopify doesn’t have low-cost plans and is, in fact, one of the most expensive online website builders. However, realizing the specific needs of nonprofit organizations, Shopify offers some plans specifically for them. These include the NPO Lite and NPO Full plan.

The cost of these special plans is not stated on the website, as Shopify recommends that charitable and other non-profit organizations contact them for the prices and additional information.

Advanced Features for Online Sales

If you want to make hassle-free sales and also increase your buyer base, Shopify is exactly what you need. With Shopify, you can sell any physical or virtual goods (like charitable online postcards) around the world.

If you are interested in selling your physical products in the United States, Canada, or Australia, you can save even more money thanks to Shopify Shipping. Under this, Shopify delivers your goods at a lower cost (almost 25% of the original cost). This is possible as Shopify has special agreements with shipping carriers like USPS, DHL Express, Canada Post, and Sendle.

This is a stress-free, simple and money-saving solution for charitable organizations.

Regular Donation Subscriptions

Another valuable feature of Shopify is that it allows receiving donations via regular subscriptions. Your donors can set up a monthly or quarterly subscription and automate their donations. It is very convenient for both charitable foundations and donors.

Shopify Pay – Receive Donations Without a Fee

Most payment systems charge a commission on payment processing. But if you use Shopify, you don’t have to pay any fees. Shopify doesn’t charge any extra commissions. With Shopify Pay, you can accept donations and payments for purchase without having to pay any extra charges.

Shopify Apps for NPO

Special apps for nonprofit organizations

Like Wix, Shopify also has an App Store from where you can download the necessary apps for free. The Shopify app store also has some apps for websites for non-profit organizations. The most useful ones are:

Give&Grow Donations – It is an end-to-end donation solution that allows donors to see the social impact of their donations.

Easy Donation – It is a donation app that allows NPOs to collect donations directly at the checkout page. Using this app, at the time of purchase, the customer gets an option to make a small donation to your organization.

Change Commerce – This is a fully customizable end-to-end donation app that can increase customer loyalty and the AOV for charitable companies.

Moreover, Shopify easily integrates with DonorBox, which allows using multiple channels for getting donations for your non-profit organization.

Costs

As I already said, Shopify caters to the needs of nonprofit and charitable organizations by offering two plans specifically for them: NPO Lite and NPO Full Plan.

These plans are available at lower costs and have additional capacities, suitable for nonprofit organizations.

You can get more information about the cost of these by sending in a request on the official Shopify website.

Create a site

The Importance of a Website for Nonprofit Organizations

No matter what kind of nonprofit organization you represent – charity organization, political organization, church, social club, consumer cooperative, or school – it’ll be hard to overemphasize the importance of having a decent website. More so if you run or manage a charitable organization that directly relates to social activities and donations.

The key point is trust and the organization’s reputation. You can visit the link below to see what Wikipedia tells us about the importance of trust for nonprofit organizations: “For a nonprofit that seeks to finance its operations through donations, public confidence is a factor in the amount of money that a nonprofit organization is able to raise. The more nonprofits focus on their mission, the more public confidence they will have. This will result in more money for the organization.”

nonprofit organizations

A website acts as a showcase and newsletter that reveals the objectives and mission of the organization to the public. However, that’s not the end of what a nonprofit organization’s website should look like or do. In the case of some non-commercial organizations, the website should make it possible for visitors to make a donation and, of course, contact the organization’s representatives.

How Should a Contemporary Website for Non-Commercial Organizations Be?

Before talking about choosing the best website builder for nonprofit organizations, let’s find out what features a good nonprofit site should have.

If you believe you have a deep understanding of the specific requirements of non-profit organization’s websites, you can skip this section and directly proceed to the section that discusses the website builders suitable for the job.

For everybody else, we have the specific requirements of a nonprofit website laid out right here.

Nonprofit Website Design

All websites should have a characteristic design. And by glancing at your nonprofit website your users should be able to immediately understand what your website and organization are about.

This is extremely important since most Internet users are likely to quickly bounce away from your website if they feel that the work of your organization doesn’t meet their expectations. They might also believe they have landed on the wrong site due to a mistake in the URL.

As it is already known, millennials and Generation Z tend to take rapid (often hasty) decisions based on first impressions. They hardly consider the details if the first impression isn’t good enough. That’s why you should pay more attention to the design of your nonprofit organization’s website.

Conclusion: The website builder you choose must have quality nonprofit templates created by professional web designers.

Responsive Design

In addition to a beautiful and clean design, a website should also have an adaptive layout and be responsive. This means it must be properly displayed on any device, whether it is a PC with a widescreen monitor, a laptop, or a mobile phone.

You might be surprised, but most people visit websites right from their smartphones. So, you should take mobile responsive design and layout into account.

Conclusion: The website builder you pick must have responsive templates. Ideally, the website builder should also allow you to configure the mobile version of your website separately from the desktop version.

About Us and Our Mission Sections

Your website must have About Us and Our Mission sections. These sections tell your website, visitors, about your nonprofit organization. These pages on your website are perfect for placing videos too. With a video, you can quickly share the information with your target audience and also create a better impact on them.

Conclusion: The website builder should support video integrations on all the pages of your website.

News Section

Your website must have a News section where you can publish the details about the day-to-day activities and important milestones of your organization.

The presence of a News section on your website is important since it shows that your organization is active and is not just interested in collecting donations. This helps increase the reliability and image of your NPO in the community.

Conclusion: The website builder you use for your nonprofit organization’s website should have a News section with the possibility to add different types of content, including text, photos, and videos. The website builder should also have an option to schedule the new updates on a specific date. This will ensure that the news is communicated to your site users at the appropriate times.

Photo and Video Galleries

Photo and video galleries on your website will be a big plus. Using these sections you will be able to publish photo reports and videos of past events. It’s an effective way to raise the audience’s confidence in your organization.

Conclusion: The right website builder for your needs should have photo and video galleries with the possibility of sorting photos/videos according to categories and dates.

Donation Option

If there is one thing that is the most important for any nonprofit website (especially charity sites), then it is the ability to accept donations directly from the website. Usually, buttons with different amounts are shown on the website which can be clicked on, to use a payment gateway to make donations. Of course, there should also be an option where philanthropists can themselves decide the amount of money they would like to donate to your organization.

Conclusion: A suitable website builder should have a donation option. The more ways of receiving payment the platform supports, the better it would be.

Integration with Social Networks

Your website should give visitors a simple and quick option to share any website content on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you have a strong Reddit community, Reddit social Integration should also be available.

Conclusion: The website builder you choose must have an option that allows quick sharing of website content to social media platforms.

Contact Section

Your website should definitely have a Contact page with phone numbers, email addresses, and other contact information. Having a contact form on the page that allows visitors to quickly share messages is also essential to make your visitors feel that you are available for conversation.

Conclusion: Your preferred website builder must have a message sending option through a website contact form.

The Best Membership Website Builders: Free and Paid Tolls

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If you have ever visited an e-learning site like Udemy or an online community like Facebook, you know what a membership website is. In its simplest form, it is a portal with restricted access to its content, available to members only, although access can be paid, free, or a mix of both. Popular models include:

E-learning sites

E-commerce portals

Blogs/vlogs

Podcasts

News websites

Associations

Non-profits, etc.

Of, course you can use one of the best all-around website builder, bu specialized membership site platforms are the best way for thought-leaders to build their brand, develop an online community, and get paid for the knowledge transfer. This allows businesses with specialized information to set up a consistent revenue stream.

82% of the businesses adopting the “subscription economy” model claim it helped them become industry disruptors. But for every success story, there are dozens of others who have failed. One of the probable causes: choosing the wrong platform to build their portal.

The Top 8 Membership Website Builder

Wild Apricot

Wild Apricot is a fast-growing cloud-based software with a website builder platform to create membership sites. The standout feature? You get your own mobile app designed separately for customers and admins. You can also embed the Wild Apricot widget in other websites to promote an event you are managing on the Wild Apricot site.

Wild Apricot

For example, you can embed a calendar widget to a WordPress site for cross-platform publicity. Wild Apricot also offers a free version that can be used by organizations with 50 members or less. All plans include a 30-day trial period with full access to all features within the trial period.

Pros of Using Wild Apricot

Excellent database and event management tool.

Event coordination feature that lets you send promotions, discounts, and reminders to attendees.

Unlimited email campaigns.

Native mobile app for both Android and iOS that accepts payments and registrations.

Cons of Using Wild Apricot

The blogging platform is outdated and lacks basic features such as content moderation.

You can’t allot a membership ID within the software.

Create a site

Wix

Although not the most intuitive membership free website builder in the market, Wix is a strong contender because of the scalability it offers, along with an affordable pricing plan. The platform allows you to create a members-only area, add pages with restricted content, and process subscription payments.

Wix Member’s Area

You can integrate multiple Wix plugins to enhance the experience, including the Pricing-plan app, Wix bookings, Wix Events, Wix Forum, Wix chat, etc.

Pros of Using Wix

Membership areas can be created for free, although you can’t process payments with them.

Contacts are automatically synced in the back-end with the Wix email marketing tool.

Supports multi-platform registrations like Google, Facebook, or email.

Allows recurring payments.

The Pricing-plan app allows setting up a Paywall to grant restricted access to paid members.

Member roles restrict access to specific users on your site.

Cons of Using Wix

Has a steep learning curve, not suitable for novices.

New registrations have to be manually approved to send confirmation emails to users.

Doesn’t have a Learning Management System, so you can’t create online courses.

Doesn’t support content dripping and content locking.

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Memberpress

An easy-to-use WordPress membership plugin that allows you to create multi-tiered memberships, online courses, content-dripping, and integrating 3rd-party plugins to build communities.

Memberpress

One of the standout features of Memberpress is Paywall – a tool that allows non-members to access certain bits of content for free, a great bonus to attract initial users. With three different pricing options, you can choose to install it on a single website or across 5 different websites.

Pros of Using Memberpress

Integrates with existing WordPress sites.

Creates unlimited multi-level membership across all plans.

Users can have more than one membership at a time.

Good technical support.

Multiple access rules, including posts, pages, categories, tags, files, etc.

You can set content start and expiration dates.

Wide range of pricing options for subscriptions – recurring payments, monthly/yearly payments, free/paid trials, etc.

Customizable coupons and email marketing tools.

Analytics reporting dashboard.

Cons of Using Memberpress

Doesn’t support other CMS platforms.

Doesn’t offer a lifetime purchase plan.

Doesn’t have a built-in forum tool; you need to install an additional WordPress forum plugin.

You cannot customize registrations and login forms.

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Squarespace

Squarespace’s new Member Areas feature has remedied the one big issue that marred its utility as world class membership website builder – the software’s lack of integrated membership features necessary for creating members-only content. You can now create a membership website with Squarespace in two ways – use Member Areas, its very own membership software, or use MemberSpace, a third-party plug-in available with a business or higher plan.

Squarespace

The builder offers virtually every tool you can think of for creating, sharing and managing exclusive content.

Pros of Using Squarespace

It allows access to a wide range of high-quality, royalty free stock images, including the entirety of image gallery from Unsplash.

It includes a vast line-up of web fonts, including more than 600 fonts from Google and approximately 1000 fonts from Adobe.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) enabled web pages that allow for accelerated content delivery on mobile devices.

Cons of Using Squarespace

Squarespace blogs lack the Autosave feature, so you can lose your content in the event of a server crash or accidental post deletion. This makes the platform unsuitable for professional bloggers.

Limitations on organizing the static pages and blog posts make Squarespace ill suited for creating large, more complex websites

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Yourmembership

Here’s a premium paid membership website builder that strikes the perfect balance of design and functionality. Yourmembership is a comprehensive platform with excellent content, event and membership management tools. It offers efficient blogging and email marketing solutions, along with the ability to manage both members and events through a single, advanced dashboard.

Yourmembership dashboard

Yourmembership excels at creating engaging, mobile responsive websites with futuristic features such as Microsites and expert website design assistance.

Pros of Using Yourmembership

Highly intuitive backend that makes updating and editing content a breeze.

It allows for seamless integration of the members’ registration pages and the events section.

It offers excellent accounting tools to help with invoice generation and delivery, tracking financial information such as the members’ donations and dues.

Cons of Using Yourmembership

The content editing and customization options are limited in comparison to other top membership website builders.

Yourmembership is one of the pricier software for building membership websites which makes it unaffordable for businesses with a limited budget

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Weebly

Weebly is one of the easiest to use website builders with membership features such as single click members’ login, different membership tiers, email newsletters and online store.

Weebly membership area

With Weebly, you don’t need to traverse a learning curve to create your membership website. Simple, drag-and-drop mechanism allows you to select the desired elements and click on them to edit or include additional features. It’s an excellent choice for businesses who aim to quickly build a community and offer online courses.

Pros of Using Weebly

Websites built with Weebly are practically ad-free. Weebly’s personal and free membership website builder plans include a Weebly logo at the screen’s bottom. Even the logo is absent in Weebly’s paid plans.

Unlimited navigation levels which support the creation of large, complex website structures.

Cons of Using Weebly

Doesn’t support multilingual sites. Character sets for languages such as Arabic, Chinese and Russian aren’t fully supported.

Certain features are too pricey compared to other top membership site builders. Attaching an email address to your website’s domain, for instance, entails a monthly cost of $6.

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Thinkific

Thinkific is one of the most popular and powerful platforms for creating, promoting and selling online educational courses.

Thinkific

You can include high resolution videos, images and rich text in your courseware. In addition, you can offer downloadable content such as quizzes, tables and certificates. The free plan includes excellent customization options and is great for new instructors who’re just starting out selling online courses. The premium plans allow you to create unlimited courses.

Pros of Using Thinkific

Thinkific allows you to extend a monthly payment option for the pricier courses.

The excellent voice-over tool for creating PowerPoint presentations allows even beginners to create quality video content.

Cons of Using Thinkific

Thinkific lacks integrated features for email marketing, so you’ll have to rely on third-party email providers.

Doesn’t offer chat support.

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Kajabi

Kajabi enables you to create and market membership websites, online coaching programs and courses using single-click templates.

Kajabi dashboard

Kajabi Pipelines offers custom automations for optimizing and scaling your website and online courses which reduces your team’s workload. The platform specializes in building large scale, close-knit online communities based on your business’ terms and conditions.

Pros of Using Kajabi

It has an excellent mobile app that facilitates better connectivity and uninterrupted learning. The app is included in all of Kajabi’s plans.

The visual email builder features allows for creation of beautifully personalized messages integrated with countdown timers, videos and animations.

Cons of Using Kajabi

It has a limited library of landing page templates.

Doesn’t support key quiz elements such as randomization and question banks.

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What Is a Membership Website Builder?

Membership website builders allow you to create gated or members-only websites having features such as paid membership, discussion forums, knowledge-based webinars, courses or classes, ebooks, and newsletters, along with exclusive perks such as free or expedited shipping, early access, discount offers and more. These membership websites can be paid, free, or include a tier-based monetary system for their members.

If your goal is to create a membership website, even the most popular or highest rated regular website builders can turn out to be inadequate. While many top-rated generic website builders do include premium membership features, you can only access them via additional plugins. The act of adding membership features by scouring through dozens of plugins can be both time-consuming and ill-suited to individuals that lack prior coding experience and technical skills.

What Is a Membership Website Builder?

A good membership website builder offers powerful, built-in membership tools such as recurring membership payment, discussion boards, Q&As, and drip campaign management – definitely the best choice for building your online membership platform.

What can you do with a Membership Website Builder?

In addition to the necessary website building tools such as customizable templates, the ability to add and modify pages, graphics, and media, the best membership website builder will also help you accomplish these tasks:

Create an Intranet portal for your members

With a good membership website builder, you can set up a password-protected intranet portal and create secure pages where members can sign up for exclusive programs and courses, share their personal details and engage other members in the discussion.

Create and manage dedicated member directories

A members’ directory is a handy means of listing and categorizing members who’ve signed up for exclusive products or services. It’s also a much-sought feature among the members for searching and connecting with other members. A good membership website builder allows you to create and manage the members’ directories in an easy, efficient manner.

Create and manage dedicated member directories

Plan and run effective marketing campaigns

A good membership website builder can help you market your products and services by using efficient marketing tools that aid in creating and customizing microsites and promotional campaigns that target email addresses and the members’ individual profile pages.

In addition to these benefits, the right membership website builder can also help you manage the events calendar, allow for a mobile check-in facility and e-ticketing. The best builders offer extensive learning material and expert, round-the-clock customer support, so you can get quick responses and resolutions to your queries and complaints.

Criteria To Select a Membership Website Builder

How to build a website with user accounts? You have two options – either to opt for a hosted solution or to install a plugin to your existing CMS platform. Both options can work equally well so don’t get into the analysis-paralysis mode.

Choose a platform that offers multiple pricing options and fits into your budget constraints. Look for hidden costs that come in the guise of set-up, support, or additional features.

Your chosen platform should be easy to learn, with minimal steps for adding new users. Check if you can test the platform from the user’s perspective to better understand its intuitiveness and simplicity.

Most providers offer a basic security level to all businesses. If you are considering additional security levels in your website, for example adding a captcha or two-factor authentication, check your options with the service provider.

Know what are the learning and engagement tools provided by the platform. If you are an educator, you would probably want learning management software integrated into your website.

What are the options to create a forum or community? Does the platform have built-in forum features or do you need to add third-party tools?

Opt for platforms that have tiered membership levels so you can segregate members according to services offered.

You would probably have events that users can sign up for. Look for platforms that include tools like event calendars and online registrations.

The Best Membership Website Builder for You Is…

Different businesses have different needs, but a common thread across all membership sites is the membership base. Your membership base is dictated by the niche you have created for yourself in the industry. Hence, it would be wise to choose a website builder according to your business goals and the structure of your membership plans.

The Best Membership Website Builder for You Is...

For example, an e-learning site will need a website builder that has LMS software support. On the other hand, an e-commerce site will have to go for a platform that allows an online store. Some of your subscription models may need drip content to ensure recurring revenue. If your chosen website builder fails to provide any of the necessary integrations, your business model falls apart even before you begin.

It is also a good idea to keep the pricing constraints in mind while choosing a website builder with membership feature. What may fit an enterprise-level company may not be feasible for small businesses. Ideally, you should look for a platform that offers your users a rich set of features with a comprehensive and integrated experience, all under one roof.

What do you need to create a Membership Website?

Membership website builders such as MemberSpace have made the act of creating gated pages and websites easier than ever. The real challenge lies in converting your existing customer base into paying members and creating content that will invite new members to sign up. Creating the best membership platform for your business requires you to focus on these key factors:

Identify and target your audience

If you’re creating members-only pages for an established ecommerce business, you already have a customer base and need to focus on designing/presenting your products or services for a paid model. When creating a new members-only business from scratch, put some time into researching the current and recent trends, the competition, as well as the customers’ needs and unmet demands. Your members-only content needs to be tailored to the age, spending ability, and requirements of the target customer segment.

High-value content and services

Your membership website’s products or services need to be of high value in order to warrant paid member subscriptions. If, for instance, your product is online courses, you should look to ensure the course material is up-to-date, the curriculum description is accurate, and that the course has good accreditations. It’s best to incorporate popular content delivery methods such as video, email, and downloadable PDFs so you can target customers that favor different learning styles.

Decide on the type of membership and charges

One of the biggest decisions to make when creating a membership website is the cost and duration of the membership. If you’re offering a wide range of services, you may categorize them into different membership plans. If you stand to make money through sources such as displaying ads, affiliate marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, you can also consider offering a free membership plan.

What features should a Membership Website Builder include?

When you’re looking for the right membership website builder for creating your membership platform, make sure to look for these features:

What features should a Membership Website Builder include?

Efficient forum software

Make sure the forum software of your membership website builder enables the members to customize their profiles. The ability to customize aspects such as profile pictures and watch or reading lists empowers the members, enhancing their engagement and overall service experience.

The forum software should have a good text editor and allow private messaging between the members. Customizable comment signatures and achievement-based rewards are some of the most vaunted forum features of the day. Make sure your chosen membership website builder includes these.

Easy, secure membership payments

The website builder you choose should allow for seamless, secure recurring payment for the membership fee. It should allow the members to set up membership renewal via both manual and automatic means. If you’re interested in offering a time-based trial membership, the website builder should allow the member to cancel or pay for his/her membership at the end of the trial period.

Your membership website builder should be able to work with multiple payment gateways, including all the popular payment channels such as credit card, debit card, net banking, PayPal, and digital wallets.

High-end membership features

Your pick of membership website builders should ideally allow for adding unlimited members as well as creating a large number of membership levels. A membership level determines the range of content or services included within a certain membership plan. If you offer a wide range of paid services or have plans for future expansion, look for a website builder that offers a large number of, or unlimited membership levels.

A dedicated members’ welcome page, the ability to hide selected content, and automatic integration with your email list are some other essential features you should look for in a membership website builder.

Do Membership Sites make money?

Recent research has revealed that 70 percent of the world’s business leaders consider membership or subscription business models to be the path to future business expansion and commercial success. In addition, a staggering 82 percent of the world’s businesses are looking to adopt the membership model and utilize private websites to achieve greater financial output.

A membership website is a reliable means of creating a steady stream of revenue, typically with little start-up expenditure. It also involves a high margin of profit – if you launch your membership website with a monthly membership fee of $20, you can generate a monthly income of $1000 with just 50 members.

It’s obvious that now is the most opportune time ever to start or switch to the membership-based business model. If you’re an existing business, it’s best to transition slowly, with the goal of converting no more than 50 percent of your existing customers into paid members over a reasonable time frame. You can begin by offering newer products and services to the paying members while maintaining the traditional setup for the existing customer base, let the growth of your paid membership numbers and the quality of service attract the rest to sign up in near future.

5 Best Church Website Builders for 204

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Nowadays, having a church website is as much a necessity as having, for example, a church events calendar. In fact, the website for the church is an online newsletter where parishioners can find out the necessary information about upcoming events. In addition, donations can be set up directly through your church website. This is convenient for both parishioners and church leaders.

According to statistics, 33% of people in a survey said that they found about their Church through the Internet. So, to be able to bring people to Christ, you need to be found on the web first. Another 80% of people said that they visited the church website before visiting the church. And 64% of churchgoers mentioned the website as a factor that facilitated participation in the church.

Now, it is obvious that websites for churches should be welcoming for new and regular visitors alike. But if you don’t have the time, skill, and budget to build a religious website, it may seem like there is little that you can do.

However, church website builders are Godsends in such a situation. Unlike business website builders platforms for church website creating have special church themes and can offer unique feature for specially church website.

The Best Church Website Builders

There are a lot of website builders out there for building a church website. But only five can be called the best. Here they are:

Wix for a Church

church website builder

Wix is one of the most popular website builders on the market. It is fast, easy, and effortless. But it isn’t specifically designed for churches. However, it does have church website templates for you to choose from.

Pricing

Wix has seven affordable plans that you can choose from. The lowest plan costs $11/month (if paid annually). This makes it one of the most affordable options. You can create a free website first to analyze what Wix has to offer before financially committing to it.

Pros:

Wix comes with a drag-and-drop editor. You just need to select the elements you want on your site. And you can drop them where you want to see them. This makes it very simple to create a customized church website design.

When you create a website with Wix, it comes with hosting. This saves you from the hassle of finding another hosting service provider. With the paid plans, you also get to use a custom domain for your church website.

The church-specific templates let you add pages for events, donations, and contact. You can post sermons on your website and also share blog posts that interest your audience. And all these templates are responsive, which means your website will load perfectly on any device.

Not optimizing your website for search engines is a grave mistake. But with Wix, you won’t be making that mistake. It comes with plenty of SEO features ranging from the basic ones to even the advanced options. For starters, you can add meta title, meta description, and alt tags. You can also link your website to Google Analytics to keep track of your visitors.

Wix has a very informative Help Centre where you can find all the information you’ll need to get started. Also, you get intuitive prompts throughout the website building process. If you still feel stuck somewhere, you can contact support via phone or email. English on-call support is available 24/7.

Cons:

Wix’s only downside is that the free plan and the lowest paid plan both come with advertising. To remove the adverts, you will have to go with the $14/month plan. Also, for some users, advanced SEO with Wix can be a tough nut to crack.

Summary

If you want a professional-looking website customized to your church’s specific needs, Wix is the overall best website builder to go with.

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Squarespace

best church website builder

A study revealed that 94% of the reasons why visitors don’t trust a website relate to its design.

This means the content isn’t the only thing that needs to be up to the mark on your website. You also need perfect designs. And Squarespace is the website builder that lets you do that.

It is a generic website builder known for its extensive and exemplary collection of designs and templates.

And you can find templates suitable for church websites in the Community and Non Profit segment.

Pricing

The entry plan costs $12/month (when billed annually). With all the plans, you also get hosting and a custom domain name. While there is no free plan, you can take a 14-day trial to test the waters.

Pros:

Squarespace’s editor is made of blocks and segments. You can drag and drop different elements to the sections and create pages that have the right balance of images, text, and widgets. Also, Squarespace doesn’t just focus on ease. It is an intuitive builder that guides those who aren’t experienced.

Squarespace has robust blogging features. With a blog that is informative and engaging, you can build a regular readership. And with Squarespace’s features like RSS feed, customizable URLs, drafts, etc., creating a blog becomes very easy.

If you want to collect donations through your website, Squarespace is your best bet. Unlike other builders that just give you a PayPal button, Squarespace has a complete system in place. You get custom checkout, suggestions for donation options as well as customized email receipts to put your donation system in place.

If you would like to post sermons on your website in the form of podcasts, you can do that with Squarespace. It offers an option to syndicate the podcast, which is necessary for adding it to Spotify or Apple podcasts.

A lot of visitors to your website use mobile devices for browsing. And Squarespace supports Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). When you enable the AMP option, you can create lightweight pages that load fast on mobile devices. Also, the templates that you get with Squarespace are mobile optimized.

Squarespace has both a forum and a knowledge center that you can use. Also, you get 24/7 email support and a live chat option.

Cons:

If you are using one of the Business plans for your church website, Squarespace charges a 3% commission on donations. This fee is in addition to what your payment partner would charge. If you want to get rid of Squarespace’s commission, you’ll have to go with eCommerce plans, which are a little expensive.

Summary

While it is no doubt focused on design, Squarespace doesn’t skimp on other features. It is an all-round church website building solution.

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Ministry Designs

free church website builder

Each member of the Ministry Designs team has worked for a church ministry in the past. Their experience and skills make Ministry Designs a great pick for building Christian websites. Especially for those who want to get support and specific functionalities.

Pricing

Ministry Designs’ monthly hosting plan costs $20/month. Plus, you have to pay $1000 upfront as a one-time fee when you sign up.

Pros:

Ministry Designs comes with plenty of beautiful templates suitable for use by churches. No matter what kind of a template you are looking for, you’ll find it with Ministry Designs. Also, all these templates are responsive. This means your website will load perfectly on all devices and screen sizes.

You get a lot of features that are tailor-made for churches. You can create a calendar, add sermons, and also build an email list. These features are added, keeping in mind the need to bring in more viewers and keep them coming back for more.

Your Ministry Designs account will, by default, be a multi-user account. This helps you bring volunteers on board to help you with website building and maintenance. You can add up to three users for free. And for adding more users, you’ll need to pay extra.

Ministry Design also lets you add multimedia content to your website. You can add podcasts and video backgrounds. Plus, it comes with blogging tools as well that help you build readership.

When you sign up with the builder, you get an hour-long phone call as a welcome gesture. Then you are assigned a Ministry Success Representative who can help you learn how to build your website using screen sharing. Also, there is unlimited training available. And you can contact support as and when you need help.

Cons:

Ministry Designs’ hosting package is by no means cheap. And the one-time fee that you have to pay upfront makes it an expensive option.

Summary

If you need a lot of tech support, Ministry Designs is the website builder that will suit your needs. Customer support is where it shines brightest. But, be prepared to pay a hefty upfront fee and a high monthly charge.

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Sharefaith

free church website builder

Over 8,000 ministries have created their website with Sharefaith. And that says a lot about its efficiency and suitability. It is a dedicated church website builder that uses cutting-edge technology to spread the word of God.

Pricing

Sharefaith’s Web+Media package that you need to build your website costs $45/month. It includes free hosting and a donation system. It also comes with support for switching your site from another platform to Sharefaith.

Pros:

All the themes that you find in Sharefaith are suitable for churches. You just have to look for a theme that matches your needs. Also, you can get a demo of the templates without having to pay even a dime.

If you want to keep your audience engaged, you’ll need to add images, banners, and other multimedia content. And with Sharefaith, populating your website with graphics and visual content is a breeze. You can also add audio and video recordings of sermons on your website.

Sharefaith comes with a built-in calendar feature that lets you create a list of events, services, and more. This is a feature that you won’t easily find in generic builders.

To accept donations, you can use the Sharefaith Giving feature. There is no setup fee. Only a 3% transaction fee is charged. You can easily set up an online form and start receiving donations.

Sharefaith lets you add other users to your website. This is made possible using Advanced tools. You can use this feature to add volunteers to the website builder’s backend to update and manage the site. The level of access that additional users get can be controlled.

Cons:

Sharefaith’s expensive pricing is its biggest downside. You can get better features at a fraction of the price with the generic website builders.

Summary

If you don’t have budgetary constraints and would like to have a specific website builder suitable for churches, you can choose Sharefaith.

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Nucleus

church website builder reviews

If you want to make sure that your church has active participants and not just passive spectators, Nucleus is the website builder for you.

Well, that is what Nucleus says about itself. And with over 1,000 churches using the platform, it is evident that you can trust it too.

Pricing

The website builder in itself costs $99/month. But for the whole package, it will set you back by $125/month. This includes hosting. And you get a 30-day free trial to take it for a test drive.

Pros:

Nucleus comes with all the church-specific features. These include uploading sermons, beautiful and responsive templates, and an option for your users to get notifications and sign up for events.

Signup forms are at the core of Nucleus’s offering. You can create stellar signup forms and direct people to the forms. This helps you create a central hub for your church.

Nucleus comes with a lot of pre-created social media posts. The images come with a text overlay and suggested captions. You can use these posts on your social media channels to build a following there too.

Nucleus has a responsive support team and many informational resources that are helpful for first-timers. Also, you have an option to apply for scholarships. If you have a small church and the platform’s fee doesn’t fit your budget, you can inquire about the scholarship.

Unlike most other options in the market, Nucleus lets you test the website builder without the need to give out your credit card details. This significantly increases the trust factor. If you feel you want to use the test version for a couple of more days, you can contact the support staff for a trial extension.

Cons:

Nucleus’ support team is available only from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm EST. This can mean you have to wait for a couple of hours before your issue gets resolved. Also, the cost at which it comes is expensive when compared to other builders.

Summary

If you want your website to be the nexus of your church, Nucleus is the builder that lets you do that by centralizing control, though the facility comes at a cost.

Depending on your specific needs, you can pick the best church website builder from this list. And create a website that helps you connect existing and new visitors to your church and Christ.

Create a site

Guide for Building a Church Website

1. The Utility Of Church Websites – What Purpose Do They Serve?

A church’s website is its digital profile. It introduces prospective members to your church’s appearance, location, history and services. It also keeps existing members more connected. According to LifeWay Research, at least 80 percent of US churches have a website.

free church website builder and hosting

If you’re creating a church website, it’s essential you remember the purposes it’s required to serve:

Identify, Introduce And Promote Your Church

Your church website should be able to guide a new member to the church’s physical doorsteps! It must include photographs and videos, the church’s basic information and directions. It should act as a quick introduction to what your church is all about. The online visitor should be able to learn of your church’s leadership, vision, history and services.

Your website also needs to succeed as a digital poster for your church. It should speak in a clear, appealing way, highlight your church’s offerings and encourage people to come and visit the church.

Inform And Engage Your Congregation

The website’s interface and utility needs to be tailored to the needs and expectations of the congregation. As such, it can act as a digital platform to inform them of the church’s regular activities, future events and important updates.

Features like members’ directory, chat, blogs and online sermons are simple, effective ways of keeping the congregation engaged even on days other than the holidays and Sundays.

2. Importance Of A Competent Church Website

To help your church grow, you need a website that meets the current standards of technology and social engagement. Here’s why a competent website is important:

It Adds To Your Church’s Credibility

A competent website lends credibility to the church. It relays the church’s mission, past and present activities with the site visitors so they can develop trust in your church.

IT Is An Excellent Expansion Tool

A competent website can help your church grow monetarily and in congregation size. According to statistics, 24 percent church donations are done online. In addition, 57 percent donors prefer to donate through mobile apps. A mobile friendly church website allows users to make tithes and non-traditional donations online in a familiar, trusted and time saving manner.

3. Must Have Features Of A Church Website

What makes for a competent church website, sets it apart from the generic websites? It’s these essential features:

Easy To Find Information

Your website must include your church’s address and contact information such as working phone numbers and email and the church service schedule. This information should be easy to locate on your website, preferably through the top menu on the website’s Home page.

Online Donations

Your church website should have an online giving option, so members can tithe and offer other donations in a quick, easy way. According to church giving surveys, online giving is the preferred mode for 26 percent of people that attend mass regularly.

Online Giving report of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) has revealed that 32 percent of working age Catholics have made online donations at some point of their life. A website using reliable contemporary online giving options can significantly improve your church’s finances.

Strategically Placed Video Content

According to cisco.com, by 2022, over 82 percent of all internet traffic will be driven by online videos. It’s clear having video content on your website is important to increase user involvement. Video related to recent events and live sermons should be embedded on the website’s home page.

A YouTube channel is a great way of promoting your church and draw in your congregation. Ensure the links to the church’s YouTube channel are strategically placed on the home page. You can also include a dedicated tab for sermon video library in the home page’s main menu.

4. Which Is Better For Your Church – General Website Builder Or Church Specific Website Builder?

The answer depends on your resources, needs and finances. A general website builder is a non-specific platform to create websites that won’t really stand out from other church websites. It’s cheaper than a Church Specific website builder that designs websites around your church’s specific geography, history and offerings.

A church website builder is a platform with existing design templates, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools, site hosting, security and technical support features that enable you to build your website without having to start coding from scratch. When choosing a website builder, you have two broad choices – General website builders like Weebly, Squarespace and Wix, and Church Specific website builders like Nucleus and FaithConnector.

Church Specific website builders offer dedicated technical support to resolve any problems that may arise with your website. If you have a small budget and already have a web developer with you, you should opt for a general website builder. If, however, you’re looking to build a website around your church’s identity, speak to a target audience, and budget isn’t a constraint, a Church Specific website builder is right for you.

Criteria For Selecting A Church Website Builder

When searching for the best church website builder, make sure your choice meets these criteria:

Attractive, Flexible Design

The church website design needs to be simple, attractive and contemporary. Your website builder must satisfy these design needs. Look into the website builders’ customization options. The builder should have color schemes and templates that you like.

Dedicated Calendar

A dedicated events calendar is a must for church websites. The website builder you choose should enable you to create and easily update a calendar that relays the church’s yearly and day to day activities.

Easy Video Uploads

The website builder should allow you to easily upload videos. It’s advisable you take a close look at the website builder’s video editing options and compare these with other website builders’ before making a final decision.

Newsletter Feature

Your church’s own newsletter is a useful way of encouraging participation and promoting the church. Make sure the website builder you select has a newsletter service or allows you to add a newsletter registration form in future.

Essential Sections for a Modern Music Band or Artist Website

No matter which free music website template you choose, it can have any web design, be black or bright, or minimalistically strict. It’s all a matter of taste. But what is truly important is the structure of your music website – the sections that must be present on the site.

So, in addition to the Home page, a modern music website should have several main sections:

About

The About section is where the band or artist shares their story, influences, and background. Include a brief biography, high-quality photographs, and information about each band member or the artist. This section helps fans connect on a personal level and build a deeper understanding of the music.

Music

The Music section should be dedicated to showcasing the band or artist’s discography. Provide streaming options for fans to listen to the music, with links to popular platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, or Soundcloud. If the band or artist has released physical albums or merchandise, include an e-commerce store or a link to purchase the items.

Tour Dates & Events

Keep fans informed about upcoming concerts, tours, and events by maintaining a regularly updated calendar. This section should provide details such as dates, venues, ticket prices, and links to purchase tickets. Additionally, consider including past event highlights or reviews to give newcomers a sense of the band’s live performance.

For example, take a look at the Tour page on Metallica’s official website: https://www.metallica.com/tour/ On this page, you can not only see all the scheduled concerts of the Metallica band, but also purchase tickets right away. It’s indeed very convenient.

Videos

A Videos section allows the band or artist to showcase their creative side through music videos, live performances, or behind-the-scenes footage. High-quality videos can significantly enhance fan engagement and encourage sharing on social media platforms.

News & Blog

A regularly updated News & Blog section provides fans with the latest updates, announcements, and insights into the band or artist’s journey. This content can range from new music releases to personal stories and even fan spotlights. Keeping this section updated encourages fans to visit the website regularly and stay connected.

Contact & Booking

The Contact & Booking section should provide clear information for fans, event organizers, and media representatives to get in touch with the band or artist. Include a contact form, email address, phone number, and social media links for quick and easy communication.

Social Media Integration

Integrate social media icons and feeds directly into the website to encourage visitors to follow and engage with the band or artist on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Social media integration helps drive traffic and increases the chances of gaining new fans.

Conclusion

A well-designed and comprehensive website is an invaluable tool for a music band or artist to promote their work, engage with fans, and grow their online presence. By incorporating these essential sections into the website, bands and artists can create a cohesive and engaging digital experience that leaves a lasting impression on visitors.

Best Mobile Website Builder for Android and iOC

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Before we begin talking about choosing an appropriate mobile website builder among the best website builders, I’m going to make a small digression. (A jog down the memory lane, to be honest.)

I first learned about mobile websites about 15 years ago. Back then I was an SEO and the main web designer at a small website design agency. Back in those days, online website builders weren’t a ‘thing’. And working with WordPress was considered ‘bad’ in the professional web development circles.

The first orders for mobile website development were seen as clients’ whims. What is more, those mobile websites didn’t look like the contemporary ones. In fact, they were single mobile website versions, and users were able to switch between mobile and desktop versions through a link in the header.

Most people at that time had standard mobile phones (like Siemens, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and Motorola). Those devices couldn’t be used for browsing websites. People could surf the Internet only if they had a smartphone. And actually, we only develop websites for smartphone users.

A lot has changed since then. Smartphones have become commonplace, everyone has one in their pockets today. And smartphones are frequently used for browsing websites and social networks. According to data from Statista, the share of global website traffic coming from mobile devices is 54.8%. This means that on average every second user visits websites from their mobile devices.

Moreover, in some niches, the share of global website traffic from mobile devices is over 70%. And if your website isn’t optimized for mobile traffic or lacks at being mobile-friendly, you lose at least 50% of your traffic.

Now let’s turn to an important question: What solutions should you use for creating mobile websites?
Before that…

Why Is It Better To Develop Mobile Websites On Desktop Software?

There are hundreds (!) of mobile website builder software that allow developing a website exclusively from a mobile phone. No matter what you prefer – Android or iOS – you can run the software on your smartphone and immediately start creating your website.

But I don’t advise doing that. Here’s why

When you develop your website on a mobile app you only get access to reduced capacities as compared to when you use the same website builder from your laptop or PC.

The reason behind this is the fact that even the most contemporary and advanced website builders can’t deliver all their functional capacities on the interface of a small phone screen. Consequently, it becomes extremely difficult to use a mobile website builder. And eventually, no one really benefits from those.

Also, while you can develop a website from your phone, don’t expect to be able to choose a template or change the blocks or reorder the elements on your website.

Another important point of consideration is that the preview modes can only help you see how your website looks on a mobile screen. You won’t be able to see how it looks on the desktop.

To give you some perspective, you won’t be able to do this:

Switch to Mobile

This is how Wix’s visual editor interface looks on a desktop. By clicking on the desktop or mobile option (as shown in the image above), you can immediately (while developing) check how your website is going to look on both PC/laptops and mobile phones. You can switch between the previews for the two versions in real-time.

But if you decide to build your website using the Wix mobile interface, you won’t get this feature.

What About Using Website Builder Apps On Mobile?

Using a website builder app on your mobile is close enough to developing a website from a mobile browser. You get fewer opportunities than you’d get with the desktop counterpart.

I have compared the Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace mobile apps with their basic online versions for desktops. And let me tell you that the mobile apps were nowhere near as convenient as the desktop versions.

That’s why even if you are an avid mobile amateur, I recommend that you develop a website using your PC or Mac. And after designing and developing the basic structure of your website, you can manage it and fill it with content exclusively from your mobile phone.

What Are The Criteria That I Used For Choosing Mobile Website Builders?

Okay, now let us turn directly to the question you are itching to ask: Choosing the best mobile website builder.

There are some specific nuances to the process and it’s better to learn them before beginning mobile website development.

What features must a good mobile website builder have?

1. Mobile Responsive Templates

Most popular website builders have beautiful templates. But not all of them are responsive. Some of them can be outdated and not have an adaptive web design. Developing responsive layouts using such templates is not possible. So the first thing you need to look for is mobile responsive templates.

2. Powerful But User-friendly Drag-and-Drop Editor

A drag-and-drop editor is, perhaps, the most important part of any website builder. This is also true for a mobile website builder. Thanks to a drag-and-drop editor, you can easily edit and customize your website without having to manually edit the HTML/CSS code.

Also, the simplicity and user-friendliness or otherwise of the website builder depend on whether or not its drag-and-drop editor is well thought out. The best website builders are those that have powerful yet intuitive drag-and-drop builders that minimize web development hassles for beginners.

3. Apps That Work Well On Mobile Interfaces

Most of the top website builders have additional Mobile App libraries. These apps and widgets can make your website even better by letting you add special options that website builders don’t have by default. For example, an online ticket reservation system or the option to receive charitable donations directly from the website.

Additional mobile apps

But not all such apps operate perfectly on mobile interfaces. The reason for this is that most of these apps are created by third-party developers and not the internal teams of these platforms. But some website builders, such as Wix and Shopify, have a stricter quality control towards apps acceptance. So you are more likely to get mobile-friendly apps with these platforms.

4. Mobile Ecommerce Options

Mobile ecommerce sales in the USA in 2022 made up over 53% of the total ecommerce sales. However, most ecommerce stores don’t support sales through mobile browsers. And those that do, make multiple mistakes along the way.

And if we talk about ecommerce website builders, then too, not all of them allow building really user-friendly mobile ecommerce websites. Moreover, some websites are so complicated for mobile users that they just bounce off the site and turn to competitors.

Top 5 Mobile Website Builders

I have tried out and worked with several website builders. But today I’d be talking about and highlighting the features of the most mobile-friendly ones. The website builders discussed below allow building mobile responsive websites that will look the same on Android or iOS, or any other mobile device.

Wix – The Universal Mobile Website Builder

To state it briefly, Wix is really good. It’s the most popular free website builder in the market today. And it comes with the largest template selection, a built-in drag-and-drop editor, and its own App Market. To top it all, using the basic versions of these features is free forever.

Want to know what exactly makes Wix so popular and so good? Read on.

The Largest Selection Of Responsive Templates

Wix has the largest template selection among all website builders. It has more than 500 free templates. And all of them are fully mobile responsive.

Collection of responsive templates

So you don’t even have to edit the design, since the templates are anyway going to be perfectly displayed on mobile browsers on Android or iOS devices.

Perfect Mobile Editor

Wix has a built-in smart mobile editor that, according to them, is as effective as its desktop version. Wix automatically creates a mobile version of your website and you don’t even have to lift a finger for that.

WIX mobile editor

Another great aspect of Wix is the fact that you can configure the mobile version of your website separately from the desktop one. This means that your website can look differently on PC and smartphones. It is especially convenient when you don’t want to overload your website with extra information in the mobile view (in contrast to the basic desktop version).

NOTE: Despite Wix having such capacities, I would advise against making mobile website content completely different from its desktop version. This may cause negative SEO effects. This is due to Mobile-First Indexing where Google primarily indexes a mobile website version and then later turns to the desktop version. Having more content on the desktop version might be incorrectly interpreted by Google. This may lead to a loss of website positions in the Google search engine results. If your website has different desktop and mobile URLs, then you won’t have to deal with such a problem, since these pages will be ranked on Google separately.

Any Type Of Content

Just like desktop versions, Wix allows uploading any type of content to the mobile version too. You can add videos, PDF presentations, plain text content, or images in different formats (like JPEG, PNG, WebP, or GIF), and all these items will be accessible for viewing in mobile mode.

Add image

Mobile Apps in the Wix App Market

Unlike the overwhelming majority of website builders, Wix has its own collection of additional apps and widgets in the Wix App Market. These apps help in adding complementary and sometimes specific options for Wix websites.

Mobile Apps in the Wix App Market

Some Wix apps are specifically designed and developed for improving mobile websites. Some of them include:

My Mobile App – Based on your Wix website, this free app will automatically create an app for Apple App Store and Google Play.

Poptin: Smart Popups & Forms – This app allows creating popups and forms with advanced settings that will work perfectly both on desktop and mobile websites.

Pricer Ninja – It is a free app that allows the creation of flexible, customizable, and responsive pricing tables for mobile websites.

Wix is a free Mobile Website Builder

In addition to all the above features, Wix is a free website builder. Of course, its free capacities are diluted as compared to the features you get when using the Wix premium plans, but it will be enough to launch a simple mobile website for beginners.

NOTE: The Wix free plan includes a Wix ad on your website and there will be some limitations on using a domain name. Your free mobile site will also have restrictions on Bandwidth (1GB) and Storage Space (500MB). As for the rest, you’ll have access to all Wix templates and customization capacities (like premium plans).

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Webflow – Dynamic Creator for Crafting Mobile Websites

Webflow is a professional website builder renowned for its extensive customization options and powerful design tools. Ideal for creatives, perfectionists, and those detail-oriented individuals, Webflow puts you in the driver’s seat to craft stunning websites.

Unmatched Design Freedom

Webflow’s standout feature is its advanced visual editor. Unlike many other website builders, Webflow allows you to create complex layouts with precise control over every element. The platform introduces concepts from web development like HTML and CSS into a visual interface, allowing users to create and manipulate elements in a highly customizable way.

Webflow drag and drop editor

High-Level Customizability for Mobile

One of Webflow’s distinguishing features is its high-level customizability, even for mobile designs. You can precisely control the layout, sizing, and positioning of elements on the mobile version of your site. This provides a level of detail and precision that’s rarely seen in other website builders, ensuring your mobile site is as refined and engaging as its desktop counterpart.

Powerful E-commerce Capabilities

Webflow is not just for portfolios or business websites—it’s also a robust platform for online stores. It offers a range of e-commerce features that let you manage products, customize shopping carts, and even set up automatic tax calculations.

If you’re a small to medium-sized e-commerce brand, Webflow provides you with the same level of design capabilities without any transaction fees. Its ecommerce capabilities are fully responsive, ensuring your online store looks great and works seamlessly on mobile devices.

SEO for Mobile

Webflow offers robust SEO tools that are fully functional for mobile websites. You can optimize your site for search engines by editing meta titles, descriptions, and URLs, creating 301 redirects, and generating sitemaps. All these features make your mobile site more discoverable and help it rank better in search engine results.

Webflow SEO settings

Comprehensive Integration

Webflow’s integration capabilities are extensive. It works with major services like Gmail, HubSpot, Mailchimp, SoundCloud, and Zapier, among others. Though setup requires a bit of effort, the potential for a fully integrated website makes it worthwhile.

Security and Support

Webflow takes security seriously. All Webflow sites come with a free SSL certificate and DDoS protection. Unlimited site backups mean your work is always safe. It’s important to note, however, that customer support is not available 24/7, so it’s best suited for those who can work within their support hours.

Webflow Plans

Webflow offers a range of plans to cater to different needs. From free plans that let you explore its features, to professional plans with more advanced capabilities, there’s a pricing tier for everyone. For those who need it, custom enterprise site plans are also available.

Webflow SEO settings

In essence, Webflow is a comprehensive and powerful website builder that offers a high degree of control and customization. It’s a fantastic option for those who want to dive deep into the design of their website and create something truly unique.

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Weebly – Perfect for Small Businesses

Like Wix, Weebly is one of the oldest website builders and it also allows building perfect mobile websites.

After a payment giant Square bought Weebly in 2018, a lot of changes have been done in order to fine-tune this platform for business use and making ecommerce sales. And Weebly has indeed succeeded in these areas.

But what about creating mobile websites? Keep reading to find out.

Weebly Drag-and-Drop Mobile Editor

Thanks to a built-in drag-and-drop mobile editor, Weebly allows creating websites directly from your touchscreen smartphone, irrespective of whether it is iPhone or Android-based. You can also develop your website using the Weebly Mobile App. But as I have already mentioned, it is good only for developing quick and simple mobile websites.

Weebly Drag-and-Drop Mobile Editor

If you are aiming to develop a feature-rich business website, then I recommend using the Weebly drag-and-drop editor on your desktop.

Mobile Responsive Themes

Weebly has tons of professional-looking themes, and all of them are responsive. As for the size of the theme collection, it is smaller than that of Wix but the quality is at par.

Weebly mobile responsive themes

While creating a website Weebly will automatically create a mobile version as well. But you won’t be able to edit the mobile version’s content separately (like you could in Wix).

Simplicity of Use

Weebly is really simple to use. You won’t need to look at instructional videos or study tutorials beforehand. You can create a Weebly mobile website while you are stuck in a traffic jam in your car or on the subway and have nothing but your phone with you.

NOTE: Weebly’s simplicity can partly be explained by the fact that it has fewer functional options as compared to Wix. In comparison to Wix, Weebly’s drag-and-drop editor falls a tad bit short on flexibility. And I must admit that Wix’s mobile templates have more customization capacities than Weebly.

Weebly App Center

Weebly, as it befits any top mobile website builder, has a large collection of additional apps for website improvement available in the Weebly App Center. And the good news here is that most of them are free.

Weebly App Center

And of course, there are certain apps for improving the functionalities of mobile websites. Here are a few of them:

My Mobile App – It allows creating a mobile app with automatic content synchronization with your Weebly website.

Hide if Mobile – This app allows hiding a part of the content or the whole content when viewing from a mobile device.

Mobile Converter – A free app, it can be used for raising mobile conversion rates for ecommerce market players.

TextBee – It is an app for boosting sales by sending personalized mobile messages to online store visitors.

Weebly Is A Free Mobile Website Builder

Weebly has got a basic plan that is entirely free – without any hidden payments or tricks to get access to your credit card (it’s sometimes true for dishonest SaaS services).

Notably, you will also receive SEO options and subsidiary SEO guidance for your Weebly website for free.

The lowest Weebly premium plan starts at $6 per month and will allow you to use your own domain name. You can check the cost of other Weebly plans on the official website.

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Squarespace – Mobile Websites for Photographers

While Wix and Weebly are similar in their purposes, Squarespace is markedly different. Squarespace shines in all its glory when you need to develop a contemporary website for photographers, artists, musicians, and other creative professionals.

This doesn’t mean you can’t use Squarespace for creating a common business website though. However, there are more suitable website builders for such a purpose. As for showcasing photos, graphics, musical compositions, and any other artworks – Squarespace is just perfect.

Is Squarespace mobile-friendly? Of course, it is. Check it out for yourself:

Marvelous Mobile-Friendly Themes

Above anything else, I like Squarespace for its marvelous themes. They have got plenty of detailed and beautiful designs. Being a designer myself, I understand their value. And in my opinion, they offer the most beautiful themes among all website builders.

Squarespace mobile-friendly themes

Moreover, all Squarespace themes have an adaptive web design. They automatically adjust to any browser, whether it is a PC browser or your smartphone. Also, no matter what OS you use – iPhone or Android phone – your Squarespace website will always be perfectly displayed.

Responsive themes

NOTE: Despite having a positive attitude towards Squarespace, I must admit that Squarespace doesn’t allow you to configure the mobile version of your website separately. To be honest, Squarespace developers have sweated over making their full-sized websites automatically adapt to any screen size. And it must be acknowledged that it works well. But if you want to change something in the mobile website version, you don’t have an option for that. An alternative way is to make minor adjustments in the Squarespace Style Editor. Also, those having better design skills will be able to better configure Squarespace for mobile devices.

Displaying High-Resolution Photos On Mobile Websites

It is very important for photographers and artists to have high-resolution photos on their websites. Squarespace allows uploading high-resolution images to websites and viewing them both via desktop and mobile devices.

It’s a pretty rare thing among website builders since the image size and quality usually tend to worsen when using mobile browsers.

Ample ECommerce Possibilities

Squarespace is one of the best website builders for creating small online stores. In addition to the fact that the store would look perfect, there is no limit to how many goods you can upload to your online store.

Ecommerce options of Squarespace

Plus, you don’t have to pay transaction fees and you get lots of additional ecommerce options too. All this, put together is enough to explain why Squarespace is so popular.

NOTE: It is important to know that Squarespace doesn’t allow any additional app installations. It has no App Store (like the Wix App Market or Weebly App Center). You must rely solely on the existing built-in tools. This is one of the main reasons why I’ve placed Squarespace at the third position on this list.

Allows Managing Multiple Websites

Squarespace is well suited for managing multiple websites. You can edit and manage several websites at the same time using one Squarespace user account. It’s an indispensable option for businesses with multiple online stores or web design agencies with a lot of client projects.

Squarespace Isn’t Free But Comes At An Affordable Cost

Unlike Wix and Weebly, Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan. But you do get to try it out for free with the 14-day trial.

Squarespace premium plans also have decent enough prices. The Personal plan will cost you $144 a year or $16 if you pay monthly. It is the basic Squarespace plan, but its capacities are greater than the starting plans of most other website builders.

For example, you’ll get unlimited bandwidth and storage, free custom domain, free SSL certificate, and SEO tools. It’s good enough for a basic plan, right? You can get more pricing details on the official Squarespace website.

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Shopify – The Best Option For Building Mobile Ecommerce Sites

Shopify is one of the most popular website builders in the world. This is true even with the fact that it isn’t free, and its premium plans are one of the most expensive among website builders.

That’s because Shopify is an incredibly powerful ecommerce platform with a huge number of options for creating and managing online stores. This also includes some options for electronic commerce through mobile devices. And Shopify has succeeded in the sphere like no other online website builder.

Let’s find out more thoroughly why Shopify is in high demand, despite its high costs.

More Than Just An Ecommerce Website Builder

For a long time, Shopify has gone beyond a common website builder, whose only purpose is website development. It is a feature-loaded business platform that allows not just creating online stores but also managing the whole ecommerce business using a single Shopify App.

In addition to that, with Shopify, you also get powerful marketing tools, options for accepting payments through Shopify Payments, goods delivery via Shopify Shipping, and integration with Amazon, eBay, Instagram, and Facebook.

Actually, you get a ready ecommerce business on a single platform. Moreover, you can manage your business from anywhere in the world with just your mobile phone. And it really works as well as it promises.

More Than Just An Ecommerce Website Builder

Ecommerce options of Squarespace

NOTE: A quick word about Shopify Shipping. Shopify Shipping makes it cheaper to deliver goods across the USA by banking on Shopify’s partnership arrangements with USPS and DHL. The savings on delivery can amount to up to 88% in some cases. That’s why if your clients are from the USA, then using Shopify can be particularly beneficial for your business.

The Shopify App Allows Convenient Management Of Purchase Orders, Products, And Their Delivery

Shopify has a single mobile app that makes it easy to manage your entire ecommerce business directly from your iPhone, Android smartphone, or any other mobile device.

Shopify mobile app

The Shopify App allows you to add new products to your online store from your phone, delete the unnecessary ones, edit the product descriptions, and add or delete the product photos.

And that’s not all. You can also approve purchase orders, arrange refunds, control delivery, monitor attendance, conversions, and sales for any period of time, and even manage your staff. Yes, all this is possible with just a single app on your mobile phone.

Excellent Mobile-Friendly Shopify Themes

Shopify has a number of free mobile themes. More than 100 actually. And it isn’t surprising, given that Wix has got more than 500 themes.

Mobile-Friendly Shopify Themes

But what about premium mobile themes? Third-party developers create premium responsive mobile themes for Shopify that can be bought individually. More than 1300 such premium themes are sold on ThemeForest, the largest Shopify themes library on the web.

These themes not only have a mobile-optimized layout but also have several other advantages in comparison to the free ones, including:

Fast loading speed

Flexibility (they consist of flexible content blocks)

Multiple headers and footers

Multiple headers for mobile version

Support for video content

Support for 3D models

Quick mobile shopping

Quick update cart

Multiple languages

Multiple currencies

And the main advantage of premium themes is that they are used less frequently than free ones. That’s why if you go with a premium theme, your website is likely to have a more unique design, which is an important factor in many niches.

Upgrade Your Mobile Site Using Additional Apps

Like other top website builders, Shopify has its own library of additional plugins and apps – the Shopify App Store. There are both premium and free apps that can be used for adding more functionalities to your Shopify site.

The most spectacular options for mobile sites include:

Vajro – It is a mobile app builder for Shopify websites aimed at creating full-featured apps for Android and iOS.

ShipHero – A complete mobile solution for warehouses and 3PLs management in real-time.

Mobile Menu & Navigation – It allows making a fully configurable and professional-looking mobile menu with lots of additional options.

Robin PRO Photo Gallery – The app lets you create quick and mobile-friendly image galleries for a more convenient view on Android and iOS devices.

Superior Mobile Experience – It allows increasing mobile conversions and sales by introducing more refined navigation, bottom bar, and sidebar.

Accelerated Mobile Pages – It allows creating Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) so that your online store loads faster on mobile devices.

How Much Will It Cost To Launch A Mobile Website On Shopify?

It’s not difficult to guess that such a powerful platform like Shopify won’t have a free plan. The most affordable Basic Shopify plan costs $29/month and will be good for creating a simple, small ecommerce website.

NOTE: I must admit that there are more affordable solutions for creating a small online store. For example, it’s possible to create a marvelous responsive online store on Squarespace for $20/month, and in so doing, you’ll get more functional capacities than with the Basic Shopify plan.

But Shopify is the best option when it comes to creating large online stores with an assortment of goods in numerous categories. For this, Shopify has a more powerful plan, which is priced at $79/month. And trust me, the cost is nothing in comparison to the advantages that your online business will get thanks to Shopify.

People who make millions of dollars from online sales have long realized Shopify’s advantages and the benefit it gives in the long term.

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Jimdo – The Simplest Mobile Website Builder App

Jimdo isn’t my favorite tool, since this builder is inferior to Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace in terms of possibilities.

But Jimdo has one of the easiest website apps – the Jimdo Creator. It’s so simple to use that, I guess, my dog could have built a website on it (if he weren’t blind because of old age!).

And yes, it’s free. Here are the links to download Jimdo Creator for Android and iPhone.

What else is remarkable in Jimdo for creating mobile websites? Take a look.

Jimdo Mobile Website Templates

All Jimdo website templates are responsive. They adapt to any screen size automatically and you don’t need to take any extra steps for that.

In fact, the website you are going to build on Jimdo will also be displayed on mobile devices by default. There’s nothing new in that, just a good-to-have feature.

Like Wix, you can switch between desktop and mobile versions while you are building your website. It’s a very user-friendly solution that will allow you to see how your website will look on mobile phones even before you launch it.

Jimdo Mobile Website Templates

It Is Very Simple

Obviously, Jimdo understands that it will be hard to compete with other builders, so it bets on offering maximum simplicity and user-friendliness. Just like Jimdo Creator App, the desktop drag-and-drop editor is also simple. This is also because it uses AI (We’ll talk about this later!)

While using Jimdo, I couldn’t help but feel like I was dealing with a lite version of Wix. The similarity was striking but there were fewer customization opportunities, settings, and templates. Also, the flexibility of the drag-and-drop editor was low.

Easy-to-use Jimdo editor

But that’s why Jimdo turned out to be even simpler than Wix (though Wix is one of the leaders in the simplicity of use).

Taking into account my experience in website development (not just with website builders), I was not satisfied with Jimdo Creator. It is only my subjective opinion, though.

The hundreds of positive user reviews on Google Play and the App Store are the best confirmation of the fact that non-designers and business people do need such simple solutions. This is true even if they get simplicity at the expense of functional capacities.

Jimdo user reviews

Jimdo Dolphin – Build A Website In Three Minutes

Jimdo turned out to be one of the first website builders that created a website builder with AI – Jimdo Dolphin. It is a smarter Jimdo version aimed at virtual website development without the user’s participation. Users only have to enter the data about the website they want, answer some questions, and choose the style and design, and color schemes. After that, Jimdo Dolphin will give you a ready website. And all this requires only a few minutes.

Jimdo Dolphin

Like Jimdo Creator, Jimdo Dolphin is fully responsive for mobile devices. The website will look perfect not only on PC screens but also on tablets and smartphones.

Another Jimdo Dolphin advantage is that it can automatically fill the website with content. Of course, AI won’t do your job and write articles for your blog, but it can find some information about you or your company, and let’s say, fill the About Us page.

The same is true for searching appropriate images for your website – just leave it to AI. If you won’t like something, you can always edit it afterward.

Jimdo Is A Free Mobile Website Builder

Jimdo is a free website builder by default, without any limits on usage. Of course, you won’t get to use your own domain name, but it will be enough to develop a small website, that is available for users on desktop and mobile browsers.

Another Jimdo pro is that it has got very low premium plan prices. For example, the “Start” plan will cost you only $9/month. It will solve the problem of Jimdo ads and allow you to choose a custom domain. But you can only add up to 10 pages.

If you need more pages, then you can go with the “Grow” plan for $15. It allows up to 50 pages for one website. Moreover, you’ll get much more bandwidth (20GB) and storage (15GB). This will be enough for making a medium-sized business website.

What is remarkable is that all Jimdo plans (including the free one) are mobile-optimized. And that’s why I’ve placed Jimdo on this review.

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