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.

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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.

How to Build a Hotel Booking Website: Top Hotel Website Builders

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Which website builders have their own hotel reservation system? Check out the list of best hotel website builders with direct bookings. These hotel booking website builders will allow to book hotel rooms directly on a hotel website. And also accept payment without any commissions.

Which website builders are the best for creating a hotel website? For not just a simple one-page website but also modern hotel websites with room reservation systems?

Riddled by questions like these and many others?

This guide will walk you through hotel website builders that have their own reservation options. Also, you’ll learn what factors to consider when choosing a website builder for your hotel.

Being the owner or manager of a hotel business, you’d be aware of the importance of a website for your hotel.

Of course, you can go digital just by registering with global hotel booking sites, like Booking.com, Hotels.com, Kayak, Momondo etc. But this isn’t quite the same as having your independent hotel website.

Here’s why:

1. No Fees

Having your hotel website with a built-in reservation system allows you to run a direct booking on your own website and saves you from paying fees to intermediaries.

2. More Flexibility

Global hotel booking sites offer limited display and coverage of additional hotel services. Your hotel might also have a restaurant, a gym, car rental, massage services, excursions, and so on. At most, third-party sites will let you mention such services in your hotel’s description. With your website, you can create individual sections/pages for additional services. You can also include photos and videos and even allow prior bookings.

NOTE: When choosing a hotel, most people look for information about it on the Internet first. Even after finding a hotel on a booking site, some visitors prefer visiting the hotel’s website. This is done to validate the details. For example, people are usually interested in knowing the restaurant’s timings and the possibility to reserve a table for dinner. They also want to check out the pictures of the sauna/swimming pool/bar. So, if a hotel has its own, and at the same time, attractive, website, it’s another reason to choose it over the others.

3. More Freedom

Unsatisfied customers can leave negative reviews about your hotel. This can significantly drop your hotel’s rating on third-party sites. And it is almost impossible to prove to the site that the client hasn’t been objective, or the review isn’t credible. Having your hotel site gives you the freedom to decide which reviews to publish and which not.

4. More PR Possibilities

No matter what marketing strategy you choose, it will be easier and faster to implement it with your hotel website. You can place ads in various magazines with a link to your hotel website. Or you can go for contextual advertising with Google Ads. Or just create pamphlets and business cards with your website’s URL. All these will be impossible or painstakingly difficult to pull off with hotel aggregator sites.

Top 5 Website Builders for Hotels

Now that we know what factors to consider, let’s get to the reviews of the best hotel site builders.

Wix – Easy Website Builder With Direct On-site Bookings

Wix is a free website builder that has managed to establish itself as the best website builder for small businesses.

Wix – easy website builder to create a hotel website

Hotels businesses are no exception. Wix comes laced with all the features required for creating a modern hotel website. And its direct booking functionality is better than any other online website builder. Other features that it offers include:

Lots Of Templates Perfect For Hotels

Wix has the largest collection of website templates suitable for hotels. All the templates are fully responsive and automatically adapt to any device. Wix even went a step ahead and designed templates for various types of hotels. For example, there are templates for business hotels, resorts, family hotels, apartment hotels, motels, and bed and breakfast hotels too.

Simple Drag-and-Drop Editor

Wix has one of the best drag-and-drop editors of all online website builders. This means that you’ll be able to edit your favorite hotel template on your own. You can change the color scheme, replace photos, edit the logo and text, and whatever else you want. And it is easy to do even for non-techies.

Wix Hotels

Wix Hotels is Wix’s online booking system. Thanks to this, you can configure and manage room bookings on your website. It is available for free for Wix clients using the Combo plan or higher.

Wix Hotels app

What Advantages Does Wix Hotels Offer?

Direct reservations without any fees.

Accept payments directly via the website.

Flexible pricing options.

Works on any device – PC, Mac or mobile.

Multilingual booking page.

Allows configuring automatic confirmation emails to be sent out to customers immediately after payment.

SEO-Friendly

Wix has everything that you need for creating SEO-friendly websites. This means that your website will get indexed by and rank on search engines without any problems. There’s a set of SEO options that also allow you to customize every website page for different search queries. You can learn more about this in the article: Best SEO-friendly Website Builder.

Free Hotel Website Builder

Wix is a free website builder. So, you launch your hotel website with Wix without any charges. Of course, your free hotel website will have several restrictions. The key limitations include the Wix ad in the footer and the inability to use your domain name. Instead of your domain name, you’ll get a domain that looks something like www.yourhotelname.wix.com. If that’s not what you want, switch to one of the premium plans. The basic plan where you’ll be able to use your domain and have no Wix ads – Combo – comes at $14 per month.

Hotel Apps In The Wix App Market

Wix has an App Market from where you can find additional apps for improving and enhancing your website. Most of them are free. Others charge a certain monthly fee. The amount varies from app to app. Some of the apps available for enhancing a hotel website include:

Vacation Rental Booking – Free and secure system for short-term rentals, which also lets you connect with Google.

Impressive Slideshow Gallery – Display your hotel’s photos by creating a spectacular slideshow gallery.

Hotels & Airbnbs Map – Show your customers where your hotel (or hotels) is located on the map, as well as other surrounding sights of the city.

Visitor Analytics – Monitor your hotel website’s statistics These include the number of users, the pages they visited, and the time spent on each page. You can also check the type of device used for access, conversions, bounce rates, and much more.

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WordPress.com – A Powerful Online Platform For Launching Hotel Websites

WordPress.com is one of the most popular online website builders. It is the paid and managed version of the free and open-source WordPress CMS. And just like its free counterpart, it has a large (and impressive!) collection of templates and additional plugins, including plenty of options suitable for hotel websites.

WordPress.com – powerful online platform to create a hotel website

Let’s explore its features in detail.

WordPress.com Hotel Website Themes

In the world of WordPress, website templates are called themes. Irrespective of the name, they work the same way. You choose a theme and customize it.

Now, the total number of themes available with WordPress.com is higher than with Wix. But there are only two options in WordPress under the hotel category. These include:

Hotel by themehall

Hotel by WooCommerce

Also, WordPress.com’s themes lag behind Wix’s templates in terms of the quality of design. However, thanks to a large selection of free universal WordPress themes, you can customize any of them for your hotel website.

Hotel Reservation System In WordPress.com

For developing a hotel booking website, WordPress.com offers a unique extension called WooCommerce Bookings. It’s a powerful booking extension that can be integrated into any WordPress.com website. WooCommerce Bookings allows customers to book and reserve hotels, apartments, restaurants, beauty salons, and even rent equipment.

WooCommerce Bookings plugin

It has a wide range of settings too, which allows building the perfect hotel website as per your needs. For example, WooCommerce Bookings makes it possible to offer group discounts for those who book several rooms at the same time.

The WooCommerce Booking extension comes in at $249 (billed annually).

With this extension on your hotel website, you can also integrate some additional hotel plugins/add-ons.

For example, there is the WooCommerce Accommodation Bookings add-on. It is a free option that let you add the “Accommodation” option for managing the time of arrival and departure of hotel guests.

Another convenient add-on is WooCommerce Bookings Availability. For $49 per year, you get to place a calendar or schedule of the available hotel rooms. It also offers lots of additional options like pop-ups in booking process.

NOTE: You can always find more WordPress plugins for your hotel website. But make sure you consider their capacities well. Some hotel plugins, for example, don’t allow receiving payment for bookings online. They only let visitors make booking requests for the selected date.
You then need to contact the customers via email, WhatsApp, or phone to clarify booking details.

Other plugins allow both booking and paying directly through the hotel website itself but may not be free. So, you should exercise caution before selecting any plugin.

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Hotel Website With WordPress.com?

WordPress.com offers 4 plans. The basic plan costs only $5 a month. However, you can add the WooCommerce Bookings extension and other add-ons only after buying the Business plan ($25/per month, if billed annually) or a more expensive eCommerce plan.

The Personal and Premium plans won’t allow this.

Further, don’t forget the cost of the WooCommerce Bookings extension ($249 per/year). The total bill thus rises to a considerable amount of $549 per year.

And that’s when you have a free and not a premium WordPress theme.

Due to this, despite the huge functional opportunities and customization flexibility, I have placed WordPress.com below Wix. Moreover, Wix is also simpler to use than WordPress.com.

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Weebly – 100% Free Hotel Booking Website Builder

Weebly is one of the oldest site builders that managed to establish itself as a free yet reliable option. And you can easily create a free hotel website with a booking system on Weebly. However, note that Weebly doesn’t have a built-in booking system. Instead, you can add a room booking widget from the Weebly App Center. That saves you from having to turn to third-party room booking services.

Weebly free website builder for a hotel website

Truly Free

Most website builders don’t offer a room reservation system for direct bookings. Wix and WordPress offer additional hotel apps and hotel add-ons for that. But they are available only in the premium plans. (Even though they both claim to be ‘free’ website builders!)

In case of Weebly though, you can add a room booking widget even with the free plan. Therefore, Weebly is a truly free hotel booking website builder.

NOTE: Despite the fact that Weebly has a free plan, I recommend upgrading to one of the premium plans. With that, you’ll be able to remove Weebly ads from your website. And more importantly, you’ll be able to use a custom domain name. Both these are really important for any business.

Weebly’s Templates

I am a long-time Weebly enthusiast. It was the first website builder I ever used. But still, I have to admit that the platform’s templates are not its strongest feature.

Weebly doesn’t have a wide selection of templates like Wix and WordPress do. And even if the designs are somewhat comparable to WordPress templates, it falls short compared to the templates available on Wix.

Moreover, you can’t even preview Weebly’s templates in the fullscreen mode before registration. I don’t know what made the team behind Weebly do it, but it’s really inconvenient. The maximum it lets you do is see a small template preview.

For example, in the Business category (because there’s no hotel category in Weebly), you can’t see a preview.

Weebly website templates in Business category

Feel like turning to the description for some deciphering? Hard luck there too as there’s no clarification about the template. Not in the template name and neither in the category name. And one is very likely to go crazy trying to gauge what is written on the previews.

Perhaps, that’s a marketing trick to push people towards registration, but in my opinion, it’s a lowly attempt.

Weebly Hotel Reservation System

To add a hotel reservation system to your Weebly website, you only need to get a booking app of your choice. And Weebly offers both free and paid options for that.

Two of the best solutions that I’d recommend include:

Futurestay – Allows adding direct booking with Google Vacation Rentals integration to the website.

Vacation and short-term rentals booking app

Appointedd – A universal booking solution for various kinds of businesses, including those dealing with rental of premises and accommodation.

Ultimate online booking for Weebly sites

How Much Does It Cost To Launch A Hotel Website On Weebly?

Other than the free plan, Weebly has 3 premium plans to choose from.

It should also be noted that Weebly is one of the most affordable website builders and its plans are cheaper than most contemporaries in the market.

The basic Personal plan costs only $10 per month (paid annually). It lets you build a hotel website using your own domain and comes with 500MB Storage. You also get a free SSL certificate.

For just 2 more dollars, you can go for the more powerful Professional plan, which comes in at $12 a month. With that, you get unlimited storage, access to advanced website statistics and free domain for 1 year.

This is the most profitable Weebly plans in terms of price-quality ratio.

Then you also have the Performance plan for $26 per month that offers maximum features. It is especially beneficial for building online stores since it includes Advanced eCommerce Insights.

NOTE: The Weebly plans are named and priced different for their European audience. The basic plan is called Connect costs €5 a month (paid annually). The Pro plan costs €10 a month. And the Business plan comes in at €20 a month. The functional capacities of these plan are however, identical to their American variants.

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Duda – Simple Website Builder For Multiple Hotels

Duda is another easy-to-use website builder that lets you build hotel websites with booking systems. Thus, Duda is remarkably remunerative for constructing websites for multiple hotels at once.

Drag-and-drop editor DudaFlex

It uses a built-in drag-and-drop editor called DudaFlex. You can choose from the available templates or create your own like all other website builders.

Duda Hotel Templates

Duda has a large selection of templates. But that includes only one hotel website template. That shouldn’t upset you though. You can use almost any template and turn it into a contemporary hotel website with DudaFlex.

Duda City Hotel websie template

Most of the templates feature a minimalist design, including large elements, big images, and clear and convenient navigation. That’s why they can be easily turned into the website of any theme, including the hotel business.

It is not hard to do that either. In fact, it is simpler than how it seems at first glance.

And of course, like all modern templates, they are responsive. You won’t need to put in additional effort to make Duda templates adapt to PC or mobile screens.

Hotel Booking System

Like previously discussed hotel website creators, Duda lacks a built-in booking system. Instead, there are two booking apps in the Duda App Store that you can add to your website:

Bookingmood – Allows configuring a system for online booking of hotel rooms and accepting payments without fees. There’s also an availability calendar which displays free rooms for the selected days. Bookingmood plans start from $2.50 a month.

Bookafy – It is a universal app that is better suited for planning events. But as it allows creating a standalone booking page, you can use Bookafy for apartment rentals or small family-run hotels. The best part? Bookafy is free to use.

SEO-Friendly Websites

Duda understands the importance of marketing effectiveness and SEO. Thus, like most leading SEO-friendly website builders, Duda has in-build SEO functionalities that let you effectively optimize your site for search engines.

Another thing I personally liked about Duda is that it offers AWS hosting. It is a quick and very reliable hosting from Amazon. That’s why the Duda websites load faster than other website builders.

How Much Will A Hotel Website On Duda Cost?

Duda isn’t a free website builder. It has the following premium plans to pick from

The most affordable Basic plan allows launching a simple hotel website for $14 per month. It is definitely not the cheapest option for a basic set of options.

The Team plan comes in at $22 per month and allows adding Client Billing and up to 4 people as team members. It’s a convenient option if the website will be taken care of by several hotel managers.

The Agency plan, for $44 per month, is a really interesting plan. It supports 4 different websites and will be a good solution for someone who owns a chain of hotels. It also offers access to the Widget Builder and the possibility of exporting the website.

NOTE: Duda allows adding extra websites to every plan. However, the most profitable option is the Agency plan for 4 hotel websites where you can include additional websites for $12.99 each. It’s a very attractive offer given that you get AWS hosting. For owners and managers of hotel chains, this is definitely worth considering.

Create a site

Best Hotel Website Builder – What Features To Look For?

Before you choose a hotel website builder, it is important to note what features it must have. The presence of the following features makes a website builder suitable for creating a contemporary hotel website.

1. Perfect Hotel Website Templates

The more hotel template options, the better it is for you. A large template library helps you choose the website design that will work best for your hotel.

Collection of hotel website template

2. Responsive Templates

Having lots of hotel template options is great. But they must be responsive as well. This means that the templates are going to look equally good on both PC and mobile devices. Without the need for an independent mobile website version. Since many customers use mobile phones to access the web, this becomes important.

3. Photo and Video Galleries

Photos and videos of hotel rooms, the reception desk, the restaurant, and the area around the hotel…

photo and video galleries for hotel website

Image source: wix.com

These are the first few things that people take into consideration before booking a room. Having a good photo and video gallery option on your website is thus, essential.

4. Phone Number

A good website builder for hotel businesses must allow placing a phone number in the header of the site. Some clients prefer to not book hotels online but via call. Therefore, remember to place the phone number at the most noticeable place on the website. It is usually in the upper right corner.

5. Hotel Reservation System

A reservation system is, perhaps, the most important feature that hotel website builders must have. The best options on the market have built-in reservation systems. Others might offer third-party integrations, third-party plugins, or additional apps for the same. One way or another, a hotel reservation system should be the key factor of consideration when choosing a hotel website builder.

What is a Hotel Reservation System and how does it work?

A Hotel Reservation System is a software solution that enables hoteliers to manage room bookings and reservations efficiently. This type of system allows hotels to streamline their booking processes, maximize occupancy, and improve the overall guest experience. By automating and centralizing various aspects of the booking process, hotel reservation systems make it easier for both hotel staff and guests to navigate the reservation process.

The system typically includes features such as real-time room availability, online booking, payment processing, and guest communication tools. It may also integrate with third-party platforms such as Online Travel Agency (OTA) and Global Distribution System (GDS), which help expand the hotel’s reach to potential customers worldwide.

The Hotel Reservation System allows guests to easily search for available rooms, compare rates and amenities, and make reservations, all from the comfort of their own devices. This technology not only saves time for both hoteliers and guests but also reduces the possibility of human error in the booking process, resulting in a more seamless experience for all parties involved.

6 Best Free Ecommerce Website Builder Platforms for 2024

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This article will walk you through the various free tools that you can use to create an online store. We will particularly be talking about free eCommerce website builders, what they are, the best options in the market, and their pros and cons.

I have been putting off writing a review of the free eCommerce website builders for a long time now. That’s because, in my opinion, eCommerce websites are an important element of business. And businesses require investment. A free solution may not have the right features that can benefit your business. Even if it is a very small business.

But since a lot of people continuously ask me how they can create an online store for free, I decided to put in some effort, understand the options in detail, and write this guide.

This guide is a result of my research and thinking and reflects my thoughts.

The problem with choosing free eCommerce website builders

There are a few dozen free website builders. And some of them, like Wix and Weebly, are quite good.

Similarly, there are also several premium eCommerce website builders on the market which can help you create contemporary online stores. These include options like Shopify and Squarespace.

The first category of website builders is free but not specifically designed for eCommerce development. As for the second category, they do have specific eCommerce functionalities but are not free.

That’s a complicated situation.

Another noteworthy point here is that 95% of free website builders don’t include eCommerce capabilities in their free plan. Ecommerce is almost always an additional option included in one of the premium plans.

Despite that, I managed to find out several real free eCommerce website builders that let you build an online store at no cost.

Some of them even allow using your domain name for free.

Comparison Table

Here is a tabular comparison of the best free eCommerce website builders.

As you will be able to note, all the options have got some or other restrictions since they are free. Usually, with free plans, there is a limit on the number of goods that can be sold, Bandwidth, or storage space. Moreover, some of these website builders also charge a transaction fee for every order.

Cheapest Website Builders Comparison

	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site
Ease of Use	Very easy	Easy	Easy	Very easy	Very easy	Not easy
Number of products	1	Unlimited	10	10	10	Unlimited
Transaction Fee	5%	0-5%*	No fee	No fee	No fee	2.9% + 30¢
eCommerce templates	28	46	17	1	79	1
Custom domain name	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Free SSL certificate	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Storage space	500 MB	Unlimited	500 MB	Unlimited	Unlimited	500 MB
Bandwidth	5 GB	Unlimited	1 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	500 MB
Form builder	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Backup and Recovery	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Multiple languages	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Website statistics	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Google Analytics	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Discount Coupons	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Products	physical + digital	physical + digital	physical + digital	physical	physical	physical + digital
Annual Turnover	no limits	$25.000	no limits	no limits	no limits	no limits
Monthly Order Limit	no limits	no limits	5	no limits	no limits	no limits
Integration to other e-store	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

* – it depends on a way of payment. You can read more about this in a description of a website builder below.

Now let us thoroughly understand what is good about each of these free eCommerce software and for what use cases are they appropriate.

Best Free eCommerce Website Builder Platforms

Not all eCommerce website builders are built alike. So here I have mentioned the 6 best options based on my detailed research and testing.

All six of these eCommerce platforms are 100% free. They also don’t have any tricky, hidden payments either.

1. Strikingly – Good for free one-product online stores

Strikingly has been in the market since 2012, so it is far from being a newcomer in the world of eCommerce platforms. Its specialization is the simple and quick creation of single-page websites. For this, Strikingly has some spectacular templates and a built-in drag-and-drop editor.

Strikingly free ecommerce website builder

Strikingly offers about 28 single-page templates with attractive and responsive designs. The responsiveness of the templates ensures that your online store will be displayed equally well on any device, whether it’s a PC, Mac, smartphone, or tablet. And most importantly, you won’t have to take any additional effort for that.

Strikingly’s free features

The free Strikingly plan is limited to selling only a single product. There are lots of business lines selling only one product – physical or digital. For such eCommerce websites Strikingly will be a good decision.

Strikingly offers 500 MB storage space and 5 GB Bandwidth for creating a free eCommerce website. It might sound less, but in my opinion, it’s enough for launching a small one-page eStore.

But remember that Strikingly charges a 5% fee on every sale. It’s a lot, I agree. But I must remind you that it is a free eCommerce website builder. So you don’t have to pay anything every month, but Strikingly is going to charge 5% of each of your transactions. A fair deal.

Among the advantages, it is worth noting that Strikingly has built-in statistics and the possibility of Google Analytics integration.

Advantages:

Easy for beginners

Drag-and-drop editor

Wide template selection

Free SSL certificate

Form builder

Possibility to create multilingual websites

Website statistics

Google Analytics

Disadvantages:

For one-product online stores only

Strikingly Ads

Inability to use your domain name

Weak template customization capabilities

5% Transaction fee

No option for taking website backups

I must inform you beforehand that having a website builder ad (a banner, button, or logo) is a mandatory condition for 99% of free website builders, including those specializing in eCommerce. Ad placement on your website, to some extent, is a charge for allowing you to start an eCommerce website for free.

Who will Strikingly be good for?

Strikingly will be good for launching single-page eCommerce websites that sell one single product. This single product can be physical as well as digital. For example, you can also create Strikingly to create an eCommerce website for Kickstarter products, selling online courses, or ebooks.

2. Freewebstore – The broadest free plan possibilities

Freewebstore favorably differs from most free eCommerce platforms. In fact, in my opinion, it’s one of the best free eCommerce website builders.
The primary reason behind this is that Freewebstore was initially planned to be a free service only. All its premium plans came later, as a way to monetize the website builder.
For this reason, Freewebstore has more possibilities and fewer limits for free eCommerce website creation than any other option.

Freewebstore free ecommerce website builder

To begin with, Freewebstore has 46 free eCommerce templates. That’s more than what you get with any other free eCommerce platform.

Freewebstore also offers unlimited storage space and Bandwidth. There is also no limit on the number of pages you can have on your eCommerce site. The same is true for the amount or number of transactions and the number of goods sold. That’s great, isn’t it?

Well, what if I tell you that you can also use your domain name for free? That’s true. You can use your domain for free. In fact, Freewebstore is the only 100% free eCommerce website builder that allows using a custom domain.

This sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But it is actually true.

What else is attractive about Freewebstore?

Freewebstore is one of the few free website builders that comes with an option to create website backups. Even Wix , known for its wide functional capabilities, doesn’t support this in its free plan.

Freewebstore furthr allows creating Customer Accounts. This means that your customers will be able to use their previously created accounts for further purchases. As a result, they will be able to see their previous orders, payment methods, abandoned carts, edit their personal and billing data, and more.

There is also the support of automated cart saver emails ( 5% of order value ) and many other helpful options for eCommerce businesses. They are normally available only in Premium plans with other site builders.

So, what’s the catch?

Firstly, Freewebstore places its ad button on your eCommerce website. As I said, it’s a common practice among all free website builders.

Secondly, though the Freewebstore has no restrictions on the number of goods sold, pages, or transactions, it has a $25,000 limit on your annual turnover.

If your annual turnover exceeds $25,000, you’ll need to switch to one of the premium plans. The premium plans, in turn, have their limits on annual turnover, as mentioned below:

Startup plan ($15 / month) – up to $80,000

Pro plan ($49 / month) – up to $250,000

RIDGE plan ($199 / month) – Unlimited

I must admit that it’s a wise policy on the part of Freewebstore leadership. They assume that with the growth of your small eCommerce business you’re likely to have more sales/income and more possibilities to upgrade from the free plan to premium options. In so doing, they initially don’t limit your free online store capacities like competitors usually do. This is great because the limits can slow down your business growth and don’t allow it to develop to its full potential.

Thirdly, Freewebstore charges commission fees, from 0% to 2%, depending on which payment gateway your clients use on your online store.

Payment via PayPal Card and PayPal Wallet, for example, attracts a 0% fee. Other available payment methods with their commissions are mentioned below:

2Checkout – 0%

Ingenico – 0%

Cardsave – 0%

Sagepay – 0%

Barclaycard EPDQ – 0%

Eway – 0%

Worldpay – 0%

Paymentsense – 0%

Nochex – 0%

CCAvenue – 0%

Skrill – 0%

Totalwebsolutions – 0%

Mygate – 0%

Payumoney – 0%

Stripe – 2%

AfterPay, AliPay, and Apple Pay (via Stripe) – 2%

SEPA Direct Debit (via Stripe) – 2%

Klarna (via Stripe) – 2%

As far as I understand, the online payment gateways where there are internal charges for transactions and accrual of funds, Freewebstores charges a 2% fee. For offline payments, the charge is 5%. And rest all other payment methods are free from a commission.

Advantages:

No limit on the number and quantity of goods sold

Unlimited storage space

Unlimited Bandwidth

Wide selection of templates

Free SSL certificate

Custom domain name

Possibility to take website backups

Form builder

Possibility to create multilingual websites

Website statistics

Google Analytics

Customer accounts

Automated cart saver emails

Email customization

Disadvantages:

Freewebstore ads

An annual turnover limit of $25,000

Who will Freewebstore be good for?

Freewebstore will be good for creating any eCommerce website where the main requirements are free functionality and the possibility to use your domain name. A transaction fee of 0 to 2% depending on the payment methods used is also a definite advantage of Freewebstore.

3. Website.com – No fee but no more than 5 sales in a month

Website.com is a popular website builder with a free plan that supports creating websites with eCommerce options. Of course, you shouldn’t hope to be able to develop a full-featured online store when using the free Website.com plan. But it will be good for the development of small online stores.

Website.com free ecommerce website builder

The free plan doesn’t have time limitations and is truly free forever. You just have to register on the website and then you can begin building your online store. No need to punch in your credit card details, answer lengthy questionnaires, or do other unpleasant steps.

Website.com has a built-in drag-and-drop editor that greatly simplifies its usage. Website.com also provides a selection of 17 free eCommerce templates, which is an ample number compared to competitors.

What restrictions does the free plan have?

Unlike the previous two free online store builders, Website.com doesn’t charge any transaction fees. But it has some other very unpleasant restrictions.

First, this is a monthly order limit of 5 transactions. So, for example, if you knit wonderful scarves and want to sell them not only on Etsy but through your online shop too, then it will be fine for you. Of course, if you knit no more than 5 scarves in a month, you can easily sell them. In all other cases, however, this restriction is likely to disturb your business.

If you think that you can get rid of the monthly order limit when you get one of Website.com’s premium plans, you are mistaken. To my amazement (shock!), the Personal plan that comes in for $9 a month also has a monthly order limit of 5. You’ll get to fulfill unlimited orders only when you spend $35 a month for the most expensive Business Advanced plan. That’s strange, isn’t it?

The second limitation that catches the eye is the absence of a free SSL certificate. Normally, free website builders always offer SSL certificates. This has long been a standard norm in the market. But apparently, Website.com’s leadership wants to strongly pressurize you into getting one of their premium plans.

Another one of the platform’s limitations is the quantity of the goods that you can sell. That’s no more than 10. Also, your store cannot have more than 10 pages.

Advantages:

No fee

Drag and drop editor

Disadvantages:

Website.com ads

Up to 5 orders in a month

Up to 10 pages on the website

Up to 10 products

No opportunity to use your domain name

No free SSL certificate

No form builder

No option for website backup creation

No website statistics

No opportunity to integrate Google Analytics

Only 1 site language

Who will Website.com be good for?

Website.com will be good for those who want to test the process of online store creation for free to switch to a more advanced premium Website.com plan later. Website.com’s free plan is inferior to most competitors on almost all parameters. You can perceive it as a trial version without time limits.

4. Sellfy – Very easy free eCommerce site builder

Sellfy is another free eCommerce website builder that is worthy of attention in our review. Created as an eCommerce platform, specifically, for digital product sales, it has a free plan that allows selling up to 10 products.

Sellfy free ecommerce website builder

Sellfy can also be easily integrated into your already existing website, blog, or social networks. So even if you have a website built using another website builder, you can integrate Sellfy with it and thus, turn it into an online store. The same is true for social networks and you can also sell easily via Facebook and Instagram.

Unlike the aforementioned eCommerce platforms, Sellfy doesn’t have a selection of templates to choose from. Instead, you just get a standard starting template that you can edit according to your needs.

Quicky and easy – Two main Sellfy advantages

One of the main Sellfy advantages is displayed right in its tagline.

“Build your store in under five minutes”.

That’s true, Sellfy is not just the most functional free website builder on our list, but also one of the simplest and quickest options.

For launching your free online store on Sellfy you’ll need only the least amount of time and effort. Though not in 5 minutes as the Sellfy tagline claims, but in 15-30 minutes you will definitely be able to go live with your eCommerce website. And that is really quick.

The free Plan is only for the sale of physical products though

Like I said earlier, Sellfy truly shines when you use it for selling digital products. You can sell digital products of any type, like graphic images, music, videos, animations, e-books, and much more with Sellfy.

But the irony here is that with the free plan, you can’t sell digital products. It is only for the sale of physical products.

In fact, your free Sellfy online store won’t be compatible with digital product sales at all.

To be able to sell digital products you’ll need to switch to the premium Starter plan, which costs $22 per month. I admit that it isn’t as cheap, given that it is the most basic option. Also, there’s another important thing to note. The Starter plan has its own restriction. You can make sales worth no more than $10,000 per year. Yes, you read right. $10,000 per year. No, it is not a misprint, the limit is not per month, but per year.

Coupon codes in the free plan

I was pleasantly surprised by the possibility of allowing the use of discount coupon codes even in the free plan. This option is usually available only in premium plans. With Sellfy, you get it for free though.

And well, it is pleasant and helpful. So now you can get a slice of the holiday eCommerce sales pie by running holiday promotions and discounts on your Sellfy store.

Advantages:

Easy for beginners

Free SSL certificate

Coupon codes

Integration with social networks and other platforms

0% Transaction fee

Despite the fact that Sellfy officially doesn’t charge transaction fees, be ready for paying a monthly commission for processing Stripe and PayPal payments. This is about 2.9%+ 30¢.

Disadvantages:

Sellfy Ads

Up to 10 products

Only physical products

No opportunity to use your domain name

Modest ability to edit the website design

No form builder

No option for website backup creation

Only two payment methods – PayPal and Stripe

Who will Sellfy be good for?

Sellfy will be good for beginners who would like to try their hands at the eCommerce business and are willing to integrate a shopping cart into their already existing websites or blogs. And it is great for creating simple free eCommerce websites.

5. Ecwid – Add eCommerce to your website or blog

Ecwid is a contemporary eCommerce website builder that has a free plan with the possibility of selling up to 10 products. That too without any transaction fees.

Ecwid free ecommerce website builder

Ecwid was initially designed as a universal eCommerce plugin with the possibility of integration with already existing websites or blogs. Thus, you could turn, for example, your WordPress website into an online store. And doing that is absolutely free. Of course, only if you’re ready to limit yourself to selling only 10 products. Given that WordPress doesn’t have a built-in solution for eCommerce, the free Ecwid plugin for WordPress does seem like a good idea.

You can integrate Ecwid not only with WordPress websites but with other CMS website builder platforms too. It supports integration with Wix, Drupal, Joomla, and more. And it is easy to use, even for beginner webmasters.

What about creating a separate free online store?

If you don’t already have a website, you can create it from scratch using the “Ecwid Instant Site”. For this, you can choose from among the 79 free eCommerce templates. But here’s the deal – the online store can have only one page (just like Strikingly).

Of course, you cannot consider such a free online store as a fully-features eShop. But it is an appropriate solution when you are just starting your eCommerce business.

Free dropshipping capabilities

Another set of people who will love Ecwid includes the traders working under the “Dropshipping” scheme. Dropshipping, as you know, implies the absence of the need to store the goods sold in the warehouse. All the orders paid for through your online store are sent to your supplier (or manufacturer of the goods). And they directly send the goods to the buyers.

Ecwid allows you to automate dropshipping. Thus, making it simpler than ever before. For this, you need to use the special dropshipping plugins and Ecwid Apps. These will allow automation of the process of receiving and sending goods. Some of the dropshipping Ecwid plugins are also available for free. These include Amazon DropShipper + Walmart, Printy6, Sup Dropshipping, and Syncee for Suppliers.

Advantages:

Unlimited storage space

Unlimited Bandwidth

Easy for beginners

Wide template selection

Free SSL certificate

Website statistics

0% Transaction fee

Possibility for integration with other platforms

Availability of additional free plugins

Disadvantages:

Ecwid Ads

Up to 10 products

Only physical products

No opportunity to use your own domain name

No drag-and-drop editor

No form builder

No option for website backup creation

No opportunity to integrate Google Analytics

Who will Ecwid be good for?

Ecwid will be good for people who already have a website or blog and would like to turn it into an online store. It is also suitable for those who want to get a free eCommerce website without having to pay any transaction or subscription fees, but have no more than 10 products to sell.

6. Squareup – Free eCommerce builder without a limit on the number of products

Squareup is a free website builder for launching a quick online store, brought to you by the famous payment aggregator, Square.

Of course, the free plan is the simplest among many of the plans offered by Squareup. But the thing that makes this free plan better than others is the scope for selling unlimited goods and services. Thus, Squareup is one of the two free online store builders (the other being Freewebstore) without any restrictions on the number of goods that you can sell.

Squareup free ecommerce website builder

Given that Square specializes in eCommerce solutions for online payment receiving and processing, its online store builders can, of course, accept payments in a variety of ways. Your customers can use any popular credit and debit card, Apple Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, and of course, Square Pay.

While testing Squareup, I was disappointed to learn that you cannot use PayPal in the free plan. Also, when I found that there is technically no way I can solve this snag, Square technical support offered me one of the premium plans so that my online store could accept PayPal. That was not very pleasant news, but it is what it is.

Creating a free online store with Squareup

Like the two previously-mentioned free eCommerce website builders, Squareup offers just a single template. You don’t get to choose from a dozen options as with Shopify or hundreds in Wix. There’s just one single template. It is quite universal and convenient for customization though.

If you aren’t looking for sophisticated, ultramodern layouts, Squareup’s website design capabilities would be enough for you. However, if you prefer not to limit yourself to a choice of just 15 fonts and colors, you might want to look at some premium eCommerce platforms, such as Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify.

What restrictions does the free Squareup plan have?

As you may have already guessed, if a free eCommerce website builder does not have a restriction on the number of goods that you can sell, it definitely has a transaction.

Squareup is no exception. Squareup charges 2.9% + 30¢ for every order. It’s not the most expensive fee, but it does bite into your margins.

In addition, you’ll also get only 500 MB of Bandwidth and storage space, which is the minimum value among all the six free eCommerce builders on our list.

Advantages:

Unlimited products

Free SSL certificate

Integration with social networks and other platforms

Possibility to create multilingual websites

Disadvantages:

Squareup Ads

2.9% + 30¢ Transaction fee

Only 500 MB of Bandwidth and storage space

No opportunity to use your own domain name

No form builder

No option for website backup creation

No website statistics

No opportunity to integrate Google Analytics

No opportunity to accept PayPal payments

Limited SEO capacities

Who will Squareup be good for?

Squareup will be good for launching a small eCommerce website with very customer footfall. It’s good for those who don’t mind transaction fees but are not ready to pay monthly fees for using a website builder.

Summing Everything Up: My Reflections and Recommendations

It’s not my goal to push you to buy a premium plan of a certain eCommerce website builder. I respect your opinion and just wanted to share with you the information that I have gathered with my enhanced observations based on my experience.

If you have firmly decided to limit yourself by using only a free store builder, then feel free to choose one of the six described in this survey. But let me reflect a bit more deeply on this topic.

As you can see from the comparison table, only two free eCommerce website builders let you see an unlimited number of goods. They are Freewebstore and Squareup. But they both charge a fee on every sale, which goes up to 5%.

Half of the six platforms have Bandwidth and storage space restrictions. And this can be very restrictive sometimes.

Only one website builder – Freewebstore – allows using your domain name. Of course, this is not without other forms of restrictions, but having this option is a great deal in itself. The restriction here is that Freewebstore has an annual turnover limit of $25,000 per year.

Another key point to note here is that all 6 free eCommerce website platforms will place an advertising banner, link, or button on your website. For some business owners, it may be intolerable.

Considering all that I have mentioned before, I would personally consider one of the inexpensive premium eCommerce website builders that meet the following requirements:

No transaction fees

No ads on the website

No restrictions on the number of goods that can be sold

No restrictions on the number of pages

No annual turnover limits

No monthly order limits

Opportunity to use a custom domain

Meanwhile, Bandwidth and storage space don’t have to be Unlimited. Their quantity just has to be sufficient.

What’s a good website platform according to this set of requirements?

The standard plan from Webnode

For $12.90 per month ($154.8 per year) you can build a simple and effective online store on Webnode. It meets all the requirements I stated above.

Plus, you get

A free domain name for 1 year,

3GB storage space

10GB Bandwidth

The option to import products

Store analytics

The opportunity to add Google Analytics

Ability to create and save up to 5 backups

A little money-saving secret for you. If you buy the Webnode Standard plan for 2 and more years right away, you get a 50% off. It turns out to be a handy saving trick in the long term.

It’s the most profitable eCommerce solution for online store creation at the moment.

Here are the costs of basic eCommerce plans of other popular eCommerce website builders for comparison:

Web Builder	Plan Name	Monthly Cost	Monthly Cost (1 year prepayment)
Weebly	Standard	$16	$12 (25% off)
Jimdo	Business	$18	$18
WIX	Business Basic	$27	$27
Shopify	Basic	$29	$14.44 (50% off)
BigCommerce	Standard	$29.95	$29.95
Volusion	Personal	$35	$31.50 (10% off)

32 Best Free eCommerce Website Templates and WP Themes for Online Stores

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One of the simplest and most economical ways to get a free ecommerce website is to use ready-made free solutions – free eCommerce website templates and free eCommerce WordPress themes with shopping cart. I’ve collected 30 best, in my opinion, free ecommerce website templates and themes, which are really 100% free, without hidden fees, the need to provide your bank card and other tricks.

In a previous similar review, I collected 50 Best Free Business Templates and WordPress Themes, but they allow you to build a website without the possibility of online sales. In this selection, the emphasis is on ecommerce business.

What You Should Know About Free Ecommerce Website Templates

There are three types of free templates for eCommerce websites:

Free HTML eCommerce Website Templates – looks like a static HTML/CSS page without using any CMS and eCommerce website builders.

Free CMS eCommerce Themes – ready-made solutions based on eCommerce CMS.

Free eCommerce Website Builder Templates – complete solutions based on eCommerce website builder platforms.

In fact, there are not many worthy and truly free ecommerce website builders: Strikingly, Freewebstore, Website.com, Sellfy, ECWID and Squareup. And that’s all.

These website builders have a free plan for developing an online store. Of course there will be limits, but one way or another you will be able to get a 100% free online store. To do this, you will need to go through a free registration and choose one of the free ecommerce templates, on the basis of which you will build your online shop. Learn more about it in my review: Free Ecommerce Website Builders.

NOTE: When it comes to ecommerce website builders, the best ones are not free. For example, Shopify, a recognized leader among online store platforms, has a basic plan with a price tag of $29 per month. Doesn’t feel like free at all, does it? But people willingly pay for it. Find out why in my post: The Best Ecommerce Website Builders for Online Store.

The second way is to use ecommerce CMS with open code. These are Magento, Joomla, WordPress Woocommerce, Prestashop, etc. Just like with free ecommerce builders, you choose one of a ready-made free ecommerce website templates, for example, from my selection, and customize it for your business. Yes, you will definitely need web developer skills or freelance help.

Also, to use the CMS, you will additionally need to purchase web hosting, an SSL certificate and a domain name. Therefore, the development of an online store based on WordPress or Joomla themes can only be conditionally called free.

Choose and Download Free eCommerce Website Template

Now let’s move on to choosing free templates and themes for online stores. All 30 ecommerce templates in this collection are 100% free. If in the future one of them suddenly becomes paid or not available for use, please write to me in a comments on this post. I’ll be very grateful for this.

Tyche – Free eCommerce WordPress Theme

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Tyche – Free eCommerce WordPress Theme

Modern free ecommerce WordPress theme for clothing store. It has a dark header on the main page and a content part on a light background.

Merrel – Shoes Free Ecommerce HTML Website Template

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free ecommerce website templates

Merrel is a modern and completely free (Creative Commons 3.0 License) HTML Website Template for shoes online store. The website template includes a Home page, a product page with a detailed description and photo gallery, a category page, a customer reviews section and other pages. And you get all this absolutely free.

Bakery – Free Cake Shop Html Template

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free ecommerce website templates

Bakery is a great free HTML template for a shop selling cakes, donuts and other sweets. Made in traditional bright, creamy pink colors and creates a sense of celebration.

Free HTML5 Bootstrap Template for Books Store

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Free HTML5 Bootstrap Template for Books Store

Free one page HTML5 bootstrap template for selling hard bound books and eBooks. Extremely simple and clean design won’t distract visitors from the books sold in the online store.

Faster – Free eCommerce Multipurpose WP Theme

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Faster - Free eCommerce Multipurpose WP Theme

This multifunctional free ecommerce WordPress theme is suitable for creating almost any online store. It uses WooCommerce and Elementor drag and drop editor.

Sydney – Free Fashion eCommerce WordPress Theme

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Sydney – Free Fashion eCommerce WordPress Theme

A modern Free eCommerce WordPress theme for running a fashion store. Clean and minimalist design, big eye-catching photos, and stylish buttons make this theme look like a high-end brand website.

Amado – Free HTML5 eСommerce Template

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free ecommerce website templates

Amado is a free multi-page HTML5 online store template with rich functionality. Templates of this quality are usually sold as premium, but in this case, the developers of this template decided to make it absolutely free.

Afela – Free Clothing WordPress Theme

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Afela - Free Clothing WordPress Theme

Great free eCommerce WordPress theme to run clothing of fashion online shop. The theme is distinguished by a sophisticated design, an effective moderately wide banner on the main page, convenient navigation and menu, well-chosen color scheme.

Free Ecommerce HTML5 Template with Parallax Effect

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free ecommerce website templates with Parallax Effect

Ultra stylish, light HTML5 eCommerce website template for free download. A wide slider header banner with carousel allows you to launch a spectacular demonstration of your favorite products. By the way, this free template is suitable for selling almost any product – from clothing to furniture and jewelry.

JA Mixstore – Free eCommerce Joomla Template with Virtuemart

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JA Mixstore - Free eCommerce Joomla Template with Virtuemart

Another free ecommerce Joomla template worthy of attention. JA Mixstore template is made on Joomla CMS using with Virtuemart and J2Store. Suitable for free creation of an online store of various directions – accessories, fashion, clothing, furniture, jewelery.

T90 Fashion Free WordPress Theme

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T90 Fashion Free WordPress Theme

Most online stores, predictably, specialize in clothing and accessories. Therefore, most free ecommerce website templates are dedicated to this particular area. T90 Fashion is no exception. This spectacular free ecommerce WordPress template is perfect for modern fashion brand.

Majestic – Free Bootstrap 5 HTML5 eCommerce Template

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Majestic – Free Bootstrap 5 HTML5 eCommerce Template

Majestic is another free Bootstrap 5 HTML5 eCommerce template for fashion and clothing store. The template has many functional options usually typical for premium templates – best seller section, products gallery, products carousel, outlet carousel, fixed top navigation bar and much more.

JA Playstore – Free eCommerce Joomla Template for Games Store

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JA Playstore - Free eCommerce Joomla Template for Games Store

If you need a free games store, I recommend checking out this Joomla based free ecommerce website template. Made in dark colors, this free responsive template will be the perfect solution for launching an online store selling games and online gaming products. The template is based on a bundle – VirtueMart and Kunena.

Ecommerce Solution – Free WordPress eCommerce Theme

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Ecommerce Solution - Free WordPress eCommerce Theme

The most versatile ecommerce WordPress theme with over 1000 downloads for free. It’s suitable for an online store, no matter what the subject. By default, it’s sharpened for the sale of clothing and accessories. The theme is highlighted by a wide, bright yellow header with scrolling slides. You can change both the color of the header and the images and slide captions themselves. The theme is multilingual and supports: German, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Russian, Turkish and Chinese.

Genius – Multipurpose Ecommerce Website Template

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free ecommerce website template

Genius Template is a free eCommerce multipurpose template based on the premium WooVina theme. This free template has a fully responsive and clean design with a classic website structure. Other benefits include compatibility with the Dokan Multi Vendor plugin, which allows you to synchronize your online store with popular trading platforms like eBay and Amazon.

FoodShop – Free eCommerce Website Template

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free eCommerce website template

FoodShop – a fully responsive free ecommerce website template for online store development. The template is very easy to setup and customize with the Customizer. Instead of the classic editor, a more advanced editor is used – Gutenberg with advanced features. It’s also worth noting the presence of cross browser support, integration with WooCommerce and SEO-friendly layout.

Cendo Free WP Theme for Furniture Store

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Cendo Free WP Theme for Furniture Store

Created specifically for the furniture online store, this free eCommerce WordPpress theme is built on a combination of WordPress, Elementor editor and WooCommerce. The theme has a light, easy-to-read design and is fully responsive for any device and browser.

Karma – Free Sneaker Store Website Template

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free ecommerce website templates for sneakers

An excellent free ecommerce website template for an online store selling sneakers or any other footwear. In fact, this is a ready-made free shoes online store. Just download it for free, put it on your web host and fill it with descriptions of your products.

Pet Shop – Free eCommerce WP Template

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Pet Shop - Free eCommerce WP Template

Pet Shop, as the name suggests, is a free eCommerce WordPress theme specifically for launching an online pet store. The template has a classic structure and is based on: WordPress + WooCommerce + Elementor + WooVina theme.

LT Interior Store – Free Joomla Furniture Template

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LT Interior Store – Free Joomla Furniture Template

Functional free Joomla template for online stores selling furniture and interior items. Helix Ultimate Framework + SP Page Builder was involved in the development of this template.

Ap Cake – Free Responsive Prestashop Theme

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Ap Cake - Free Responsive Prestashop Theme

Free eCommerce Prestashop template well suited for cake and food stores. The home page has a spectacular product slider that can be used to advertise selected products. Simply add product images, short descriptions, and a button to the buy page.

Alice Mart – Free eCommerce WordPress Theme

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Alice Mart - Free eCommerce WordPress Theme

Another great free eCommerce WordPress theme with a block structure for launching online stores of any subject. This template features a lot of bright banners, which makes it look like Amazon.

LT Wine Shop – Free Wine Store Joomla Theme

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LT Wine Shop – Free Wine Store Joomla Theme

Perfect free bootstrap CSS Joomla theme for wine online store. It has a sophisticated vintage design, perfect for selling wines and collectible spirits. The template provides compress JS/CSS code and has an integrated SP Page Builder.

Electro – Free HTML5 eCommerce Template

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Electro – Free HTML5 eCommerce Template

Electro is a free bootstrap HTML5 eCommerce template designed to launch a multi-page home appliances and electronics store. It has a simple, visually clear design and many useful eCommerce options: cart, slick slider, wishlist, sortable product gallery and others.

Beta Shop – Free WP Theme for Electrical Store

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Beta Shop - Free WP Theme for Electrical Store

Beta Shop is a free eCommerce WordPress theme designed to launch online stores of household appliances, electrical equipment, electronics and home goods. It has a somewhat unusual, as for an online store, design with a block structure and a slider in the header.

Furni Furniture Free eCommerce Template

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Furni Furniture Free eCommerce Template

Furni – free Bootstrap 5 eCommerce template for furniture stores. Has a wide promo banner at the top of the home page to advertise new or featured products. The template is fully responsive and displays perfectly on any device.

LT Drones Free Joomla Template

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LT Drones Free Joomla Template

Stylish minimalistic free eCommerce website template for stores selling drones and similar equipment. This free template is compatible with Joomla! 3 and Joomla! 4.

Elite Fitness – Free eCommerce WP Template

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Elite Fitness - Free eCommerce WP Template

This free eCommerce WordPress theme is ideal for running online sports stores selling fitness equipment and sporting goods. It has a wide slider in the header and below it there are three separate blocks, each of which can be made a link to a specific category of products.

SuperShop – Free eCommerce Bootstrap Template

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SuperShop - Free eCommerce Bootstrap Template

Free Bootstrap 3 frontend ecommerce template which is available for free use under All-in license. This versatile ecommerce template has many additional components and jQuery plugins.

Ekko Center – Free Toys and Game Template

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free ecommerce website templates for toys

Free eCommerce WordPress template suitable for an online store selling toys, games, consoles and gaming equipment. The template has an excellent fully responsive design made in a minimal style.

Uoni – Dark Free Ecommerce HTML Website Template

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dark free ecommerce website templates

Uoni is a free HTML template for an ecommerce project selling watches and accessories. Made in dark colors, this free ecommerce website template is perfect for launching a watch online shop. The advantages of this free template include the presence of SEO optimization and cross-browser compatibility.

LT xMas Gift – Free Present Store Joomla Theme

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LT xMas Gift – Free Present Store Joomla Theme

And we finish our selection of free best eCommerce templates and themes with this festive free Joomla theme. This is the perfect free solution for an online gift shop. If you need to create gifts online store quickly and for free, pay attention to it.

50 Best Free Business Website Templates and WP Themes

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In this post, you will see and be able to free download (or use online) free business website templates. Perhaps these are the best templates and themes for business websites from all that can be found on the Web.

The collection includes both WordPress themes and web templates for different business website builders. The only thing that unites them all is the free opportunity to use it to create a business website.

By what criteria did I select these free business templates?

Most of the free business website templates that I came across were either not 100% free or frankly terrible quality. As a rule, they had an outdated design and were not responsive. I had to sort through literally hundreds of free templates for various platforms to select these top fifty.

The main criterion is the presence of a modern, stylish design. As a professional web designer, I brushed aside all themes created ten years ago and by amateurs in haste.

At the same time, I tried to focus on free WordPress themes that are of premium quality. Alas, there are not many such free WP themes for business websites. Usually, developers prefer to sell them rather than allow them to be downloaded for free.

Fans of free website builder software will be delighted by the excellent free business templates that can be used online without the need to download (like WordPress).

Top 50 Free Templates and Themes for Business Websites

All templates from this collection are absolutely free. Some you can download for free, others you can use right away on the platform website. In the description, I highlight the strengths of each business template and indicate what type of business website it would be ideal for.

NOTE: Don’t be put off by the fact that many templates have a rigid business positioning. For example, for websites of roofing businesses or AI referrals. Look at the design itself and the structure of the template – you can replace the images and theme of the template with anything you like in the drag and drop builder or HTML. The most important thing is that you like the business template you have chosen – changing the business category is not a problem.

Free Tech Company Template

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Ultra modern free business templates for a tech company by Wix. Made in a dark style with a large graphic image on the first screen. It looks very impressive and will be a great solution for an IT or AI company website.

Free Business Book Website Template

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Black, white and red. Ideal colors for a business book website. As minimalistic as possible and at the same time stylish – all attention is focused only on the book.

Free Roofing Company Template

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Free website template for a company specializing in the roofing business. It has a classic clean design with a wide video header, light background and content blocks explaining the company’s services.

Free Metric Business Website Template

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Another stylish free template that is suitable for any business company – consulting, IT, finance, marketing, legal services. Any line of business. This template is almost ready to use – just replace the company name and tagline in the header and your business website is ready to go.

Free Gutenify Business Dark Themes

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Excellent free block-based business WordPress theme made in dark colors. Also universal and suitable for creating a business website of any direction.

Free Landscaping Business Template

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As the name suggests, this free template is ideal for quickly creating a landscaping business website. The template has a light design made in soothing colors with an emphasis on green.

Free Farming Business Template

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Beautiful free template from Webnode for creating a website for farming business. Made in a rustic style, with beautiful images in warm sunny colors, this is the perfect template for an organic farm.

Digital Agency Free Template

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Another great and at the same time free dark template. Originally designed by the developers for a digital agency website, but perfect for any IT and Tech company.

Free Momentum Landing Page Template

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A bright and simple layout from Webflow is the perfect solution for creating a business landing page. Easily replace images and headlines with your own and start selling in half an hour.

Free Bizworld Lite Corporate WP Theme

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Another completely free corporate WordPress theme, which, according to its developers, was specially created for business, IT companies and corporations. The theme is responsive and displays correctly on different screen resolutions.

Free AI Company Template

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Spectacular free Wix template for AI companies and not only. Wix is generally characterized by ultra-modern designs, and in this free theme, this is fully expressed. The default template is designed for a self-driving car website, but its design and structure will suit any technology business. Just replace the title, photos and content with your own and your business website is ready to go.

Free Emma’s Flowers Template

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Classic template design for flower business websites. Calm pastel colors, seasoned minimalism, thin elegant fonts are the perfect combination for an online flower store or a private florist’s website.

Free Interior Design Website Template

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Free DUDA website template for interior design agencies and interior remodeling and painting companies. The template is as versatile as possible and allows you to create a website for any creative business.

Free Biznus Retail Website Template

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Biznus is a classic website design for small and medium-sized businesses. A wide header with a spectacular photo, a clear structure of content blocks describing the company’s services, strict business fonts are a great choice for any small business.

Free Business WordPress Theme

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A versatile multipurpose free WordPree theme with a classic design. This theme will allow you to build a website for businesses in different areas – IT, Insurance, finance, education, medical, architecture, lawyer and others.

Free Construction Company Template

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Modern eye-catching free template with video header for construction business website. It has a simple and clear design consisting of blocks, large elements and large titles. Looks great on mobile phones.

Seamstress Free Website Template

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Despite the fact that the declared theme of this template is seamstresses, it’s great for many other business areas. A distinctive feature of this template is a pleasant homely design made in warm pastel colors using decorative fonts and a minimum of text content.

Free Electrician Services Web Template

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This template is the perfect solution for companies specializing in providing electrician services. In fact, it is perfect for many other business topics. The template has a classic business layout structure – logo on the left, menu in the center, contact phone number on the right. Immediately below the spectacular header, there is a large, noticeable button – “Get a free quote today”. Everything is done so that your website visitors become your customers.

Propel Free Business Template

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Simple yet modern multipurpose free website template. It’s well suited for creating almost any website. Large images, the usual arrangement of menus and design elements, stylish icons for content sections – all this makes the template as versatile and easy to use as possible.

Free Barnsbury WordPress Theme

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Free universal WordPress theme with classic structure to launch a website for farming and agriculture business. This is expressed in the abundant use of green colors and appropriate images. But once you change the color, say, to blue, and the images of vegetables to tech products, this template is ready for launching a website for an IT agency or any technology business.

Free Locksmith Business Template

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Simple responsive template for locksmith business website. Having a block structure and a minimum of graphic elements, this template is perfectly displayed on any device – be it a PC or a smartphone. Like many other Wix templates, it’s multifunctional – you can easily customize it for any type of business.

Seamstress Free Website Template

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A minimalistic free template for creating consulting businesses websites. It has a clean light design with stylish graphic images that complement it perfectly. There is not even a need to replace these images. It’s enough to replace the website name, tagline and text in the content blocks with your own and your free business website is ready to start. Given the presence of a drag-and-drop editor here, it will take you a maximum of half an hour to complete everything.

Free Workspace Website Template

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A free user-friendly business template with a fixed left-side website wide menu. For those who like when the menu is located not on top but on the side and always fixed in one place. This layout structure makes it easier for visitors to find the information they need on the website and generally looks unusual.

Minimal Free Agency Template

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Minimalistic responsive agency website template. Corporate wide header, centered content, not bright colors of elements, stylish black and white icons – a great free website template suitable for a variety of businesses.

Digital Advertising Free WP Theme

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Another attractive free WordPress theme for digital agency. Despite the unusual design, it is absolutely adaptive and displays perfectly on any device. The yellow color of the elements, if desired, can be changed to any other. Green for example, in my opinion, would also look good.

Free 3D Printing Business Web Template

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Bright modern free template for any tech business. Not necessarily a 3D printing company. It will be an ideal solution for small businesses producing and/or selling machinery and innovative products.

Web Consulting Free Template

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Quality free website template for web consulting company. It has a strict corporate design and looks professional and respectable. With minimal modifications, this template can be used for almost any type of business.

Cleaning Service Free Web Template

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Lightweight, clean-style website template for cleaning business. Thanks to the white background, light blue header with a bright image, the layout is perceived easily and airily. Which is required for the Cleaning Business.

Elemento Conference Free Theme

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Free stylish free WordPress theme for IT companies, agencies and corporate sector. This free theme is responsive and built using the Bootstrap framework.

Moving Company Free Website Template

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Bright block free template for moving business. At the top there is a spectacular video header with a large “Start Online” button and a phone number. Below are sections Our Services and Testimonials. A great option for a free template for a service business.

Handyman Small Business Template

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Black and white free template designed in a minimalist style. Suitable for small businesses where it’s important to focus on photographs. For example – interior design, house repairs, architecture.

Moving Company Free Template

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Another free moving company website template by Duda. A simple, intuitive layout with a comfortable structure and a light, light color scheme. The template is resposive and looks great on mobile.

Free Avitech WordPress Theme

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According to the developers, Avitech is a modern, super fast and lightweight WordPress theme with almost unlimited customization options. Like many of the free templates in this collection, it is multi-functional and suitable for launching a website for any business.

Moving Company Free Website Template

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Bright, spectacular free template with the use of graphic images. I really like this style of design – it always looks modern and won’t get bored in a couple of years like many others. It can be used to create both a corporate website and online service websites.

Electrician Services Free Template

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Clean and minimalistic free template for tech companies. The template greets visitors with a wide header with a slogan and a bright orange button for which you can set any inscription. Below are sections – About us and Services. Nothing superfluous and exactly what is needed for a small business website.

Free Carpenter Business Web Template

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Take a closer look at this template if you need a simple and user-friendly website with a great image on the home page and a minimum of any elements. Initially, this template was designed for carpenter business, but once you change the image in the header, slogan, logo, and it can be used for any website, including a personal one.

Free Renovater WordPress Theme

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An excellent free WordPress theme for creating websites for construction and architecture companies. The theme has a bright yellow color scheme, which is associated with construction machinery and equipment. The developers of this theme made it adaptive and as flexible as possible for editing. In addition, it’s fully compatible with the Gutenverse plugin.

Free Staffing Agency Template

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Fresh bright free template for staffing agency website. The template has a good structure, where all the important information about the company is displayed on the home page. The bright colors of the design are pleasing to the eye and make the website stand out from other boring business websites.

PR Agency Free Website Template

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Strict discreet free template for PR agency website. If you are not a fan of bright colors and flashy images, then you should like this template.

Home Décor website Template

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Stylish free website template with full screen widescreen photos. It’ll be an excellent solution for businesses where it’s important for visitors to show photos of objects/products in the best light. For example, for a hardware manufacturer or an Interior design studio.

Free Agency WP Theme

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Free multipurpose WordPress theme made in classic corporate style. Without much modification, the theme is great for launching websites for consulting companies, translation agencies, marketing agencies and law firms.

Free Marketing Agency Template

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Lightweight free template in green colors. Looks great on mobile phones and tablets. An ideal template for small businesses with a small list of services and products.

Locksmith Free Website Template

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The strict, minimalist design of this free template is suitable not only for a locksmith business, but also for a gun store, auto repair shop, law agency. Just replace the images in the header and content with your theme (like the current ones) and you will have a great simple website for a small business.

Logistics Free Website Template

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Stylish free template with a masculine design and appropriate color scheme. The template is designed to create logistics and transportation websites.

Free DecorMe WordPress Theme

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Dark free WordPress theme with block structure. Suitable for interior design agencies, construction and renovation companies, architectural firms and any other type of business related to the design and design of buildings.

Mobile Marketing Free Template

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One of my favorite styles of website design – simple yet effective looking. Its main advantage is that at a glance at the website it’s immediately clear what services the company provides. If necessary – change the image in the header and logo to others – and you can easily change the theme of the template to any other.

Free Business Consulting Template

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A quality free template with a classic structure for creating a website for the Business Consulting Agency. Change the colors to the ones you like, change the name and slogan and your business website is ready. It’s simple and most importantly, it’s free.

Free Locksmith Business Template

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Love bright website designs? Then you will love this bright orange free template with large header images. Replace the image with your own and change the color of the header to, say, business blue, and you will have a great website for any line of business.

Zeever Business WordPress Theme

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Stylish black free WordPress theme for dark website designs lover. Thanks to the block structure, it can be universally used to launch any small business websites.

Free Gaming Company Template

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Great free template for Gaming Business. The header, in addition to the main image, contains four blocks with game announcements. If desired, their number can be made less or more. Or remove them altogether. This template, like all other Wix templates, is responsive and displays well on the screens of any device.

NOTE: To make it easier for you to choose the right free business templates, I recommend that you first visit review: 30 Modern Small Business Websites Examples and see what modern small business websites can look like when built on various platforms.

30 Modern Small Business Websites Examples for 2024

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You must have thought of designing your own business website at some point in life. But why is it necessary to have a company website? A solid online presence has been an active push for consumers or your target audience. A corporate website can truly make or break any business. An online storefront can make a huge opportunity for many entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. For all of these reasons, it is essential that every small business have a business site.

You can find many examples of small business websites that are jaw-droppingly amazing. A good business website shows that your brand is credible, professional, and worthy of people’s customs.

Good Examples of Business Websites

For your ease, we have listed down 30 examples of small business websites.

NOTE: All these examples are developed on different platforms – business website builders and CMS. The main purpose of this review is not to single out any particular platform, but to select business websites with an attractive and successful design.

BrandVillage

Made with WordPress

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BrandVillage is an award-winning branding agency. BrandVillage believes every business’s success depends on its community reputation, brand identity, strategy, and guidelines. It offers various graphic design services, including logo design, website design, packaging design, and more.

Its website design gives an impression of a responsive and user-friendly. Moreover, you find a consistent theme of great photography on bold backgrounds to give extra interest.

Venkataramanan Associates

Made with WIX

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Venkataramanan Associates is an award-winning architecture firm operating out of Bangalore. VA promotes a positive approach to collaboration of engineering, technology, and design innovation to influence its design capability.

VA website features a quality design that uses sliding photos of their projects on the Homepage. The site is easy to navigate with an excellent user experience and allows potential clients to get in touch with the business.

WeTalkMoney

Made with Weebly

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WeTalkMoney is your financial planner, financial advisor, and personal guide to walk into life after retirement. Get your investing strategies, personal finance tips, and ways to build wealth with WeTalkMoney.

The website shows standout photography at the beginning and center of its Homepage. A horizontally sliding deck of testimonials and white typography gives a sleek, professional layout that will stop visitors in their tracks.

Keen Home

Made with Shopify

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Keen Home offers proactive hardware and software products to let you live comfortably and efficiently at home. You can get a balanced home temperature system by clicking their website.

On the website, you will find large, professional-quality photos, beautiful typography, and page transition effects that add beauty to the look. You can easily navigate through the products through a navigation menu that is simple to use.

The Friday Habit Podcast

Made with Squarespace

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If you want to improve your business, you must listen to their Podcasts. They help entrepreneurs to build the business that works for them.

The Friday Habit Podcast uses a perfect design for the website with minimal visual elements and photos and images. The simple design strategy helps to keep the user focused on the related podcasts.

Wisteria

Made with WordPress

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Wisteria is one of the global market leaders in recycling facilities. Its product portfolio consists of wind sifting, conveying, dosing, and spreading.

The Homepage takes a bit of an unusual approach. You will see a full-screen background image along with a brief statement about what Westeria does. As you scroll down, you’ll see several images with headlines so you can navigate to different site sections.

CPC London

Made with Strikingly

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CPC London is a market leader in producing affordable 35mm motion picture film prints for projection.

You can see how beautifully it uses a video background on the Homepage and plenty of attention to detail throughout the site. The main navigation menu appears on the right side, which is very easy to find, and when you click on one of the main links in the menu, sub-navigation options appear.

Ception

Made with Wix

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Caption offers an Artificial-Intelligence powered system to increase productivity, sustainability, and safety of industrial operations related to construction and mining.

The caption uses a dark blue background and lots of high-quality photos. The site also includes images of ongoing projects as you scroll and interact. Links in the navigation menu lead to major sections of the site so you can move around with ease.

Knapsack Creative

Made with Squarespace

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Knapsack Creative is a small creative agency that builds websites by capturing the client’s vision and goals through a simple, collaborative process. You will get clean, dynamic, and professional.

You will find a stand-out online with vibrant images on the Homepage that feels like an art exhibit. You will also love handwriting-style text when you scroll through the site, paired with a subtle background.

Taqnia International

Made with Jimdo

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Taqnia International invests in R&D initiatives for portfolio companies with top research centers. Moreover, it offers technological services and equipment to innovative technology companies.

You will love the relatively simple design of their website. As you scroll down the page, you will notice many subtle animations to the images and effects that add a nice touch. Navigation has been thought about too, with social media icons in the end.

Zubak Group

Made with WordPress

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Zubak Group offers services for the sale and maintenance of new and used vehicles. They provide high-quality car repair services, selling of new and used cars, car rental, insurance, and inspection, road and home assistance, medical services, and much more.

You can see their online presence on the website with an efficient user experience. You will find a great example of a small business website that has efficiently used a combination of web development and design process. Using a video reel with subtle white background is a guarantee to impress other businesses.

Puffin Packaging

Made with WIX

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Puffin Packaging offers wool insulated packaging for food.

You will see an eye-catching and perfectly color-coordinated website. There are some cool responsive features as you move down the Homepage, like animated text and moving icons. All of the images used on the site go perfectly with the background and typography colors, making for a remarkable user experience.

Infloexa

Made with Weebly

Check this business website

Infolexa is a software company that provides customized oracle service cloud and application integrations for organizations.

The design of the site is very subtle and clutter-free, incorporates just one image with less illustrations. It makes use of white background to add a strong visual element to the site and a handful of highlight colors.

SpokenLayer

Made with Squarespace

Check this business website

SpokenLayer is a digital audio creative studio, specializing in custom, high-quality, and short-form content.

The exceptional design that includes big, bold typography and some subtle effects is eye-catching. The site includes plenty of written content aimed at its target audience. Of course, you’ll also find all the necessary details about the services they offer and how they can help.

CUBEevo

Made with Webflow

Check this business website

CUBEevo is a creative digital agency with solely focus on helping businesses explore and evolve forward thinking ideas into newfound possibilities.

If you click their website, the experience is enhanced with some unique transitions with dark blue theme. It gives a subtle and a positive user experience. This may also help to keep visitors on the site for longer periods of time. You’ll also see some subtle effects and videos when scrolling the Homepage.

Japan Mobility

Made with Duda

Check this business website

Japan Mobility simplifies the relocation process and gives you the care and support that you need from the day you arrive in Japan.

Website consists of subtle red and white theme with transition background patterns throughout the site. They provide some excellent visual effects without being overwhelming or dominating the design. And professional images complete the outstanding look.

Republic Capital Group

Made with Jimdo

Check this business website

Republic Capital Group offers wealth management services and financial advisory to the RIA, asset and wealth management communities.

The website uses a simple overlay design, with high quality photos. As you scroll down the page or navigate the site, you’ll notice many subtle animations and effects that add a nice touch. Finding information is very easy thanks to a logical structure and a clear navigation menu.

Kuna

Made with Shopify

Check this business website

Kuna smart home provides security system to help you prevent break-ins and protect what matters to you most, from anywhere in the world.

There’s nothing confusing about the website layout. A sophisticated palette with beautiful images overlaid by beautiful text, the website directs potential customers to the brand’s main services from the landing page.

Infinity Works

Made with WordPress

Check this business website

Infinity Works is a platform that provides digital cloud based transformation consultancy services.

Service website seems boring, right? That’s not always true, and this website can prove it. Take a look at the dramatic full-page photos that fill the Homepage. This business website makes use of bright white text, minimalist navigation, and a library of high contrast landscape images. The result is serious yet sleek.

Prometheus Group

Made with Webflow

Check this business website

Prometheus Group is a financial advisory agency that offers financial planning and investment strategies for individuals, corporate or charity.

The Homepage takes a bit of an unusual approach by adding clipart and illustrations. Above the page, you’ll see a full-screen clipart images along with a brief statement about what PPA does. As you scroll down, you’ll see a number of images with headlines that link to different sections of the site.

Skipio

Made with Duda

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Skipio offers automated messaging tools, so you can start two-way conversations, build personal relationships, and enjoy lasting, repeatable success with sales and retention.

The site is very clean and clutter-free. It makes use of blue and white color to add a strong visual element to the site. Photos with different background color are used, and all of the colors work together to create a really nice visual.

Islango

Made with Wix

Check this business website

Islango is an online yachts and cruise booking platform that allows visitors to book for sailing vacations around the globe.

The website of this sailing service provider uses a full-screen video background on the Homepage and plenty of attention to detail throughout the site. The navigation menu opens up as you click on the hamburger icon to the left side of the screen.

ARCH Motorcycle

Made with Squarespace

Check this business website

ARCH Motorcycle offers creative and innovative American motorcycles with a unique blend of performance, customization, and attention to detail.

The most colourful effects are showcased on the Homepage, uses a full-screen video background. You will see more colours and some subtle illustrations as you scroll down. Both the header and footer include links to the primary pages.

Helideck Certification Agency

Made with WordPress

Check this business website

Helidecks is a service provider of offshore fixed and mobile helicopters for the safe and compliant operations.

You will find a dark blue background features real life photos of past and ongoing projects. The site is also equally functional and helpful. The high-quality photos add a drastic visual appeal for you.

Hingham Auto Repair

Made with Weebly

Check this business website

If you are planning to add life to your car then please visit Hingham Auto repair site. You will find a high class auto service in this garage. Hingham caters to all services from brakes to oil change to routine vehicle inspections.

Their website includes information on the various services. The layout is fairly simple and clean, and by scrolling down, you can access all of the content on the site.

Mangomolo

Made with Wix

Check this business website

Mangomolo is the leading streaming/VOD provider in the MENA region, offering an innovative turnkey solution catering to all media outlets.

Website of Mangomolo uses a clean and minimalist design and showing team members on the Homepage. As you scroll down, large images and clients will appear. Company information is readily available and a nice touch is the use of subtle colour hues throughout the site.

Brave the Skies

Made with Shopify

Check this business website

Brave the skies provide you a platform to help you create, launch and grow your online store with Shopify.

The use of a chimpanzee on the Homepage gives an image to the visitor what Brave the Skies does and what can it do to your ecommerce business. A clean design, while presenting all of the content you would expect from the website is a true example of small business website

Alive 5

Made with Duda

Check this business website

Alive5 is your one inbox for live chat, send a text message, or connect via Facebook. Alive5 lets you engage with your audience with integrated CRM.

You are going to love the big, cliparts and lots of scrolling effects on their website. The navigation menu jumps to specific pages, or you can just scroll down.

The Best Website Builders for Small Business (and not only)

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In this review, I will discuss choosing the best website builder for small businesses. You will learn how to select a website builder, which factors are most important to consider first, and which are less critical. I will also share my observations and conclusions from testing over a hundred different website builders.

Before diving into the review, I’d like to explain why, when we talk about a website for a small business, using website builders is a more rational and generally more successful solution than offline CMS or any custom solutions.

The key reason is that most modern business website builders are not just limited to website creation software. They are genuine online business platforms. By using them, you not only create a website but also populate it with content, edit the design, upgrade its functionality, and enhance it with additional apps.

But the main thing is the system – an online system for managing your business where you track visitors, analyze which of them convert to customers and which do not, what products they buy, and much more.

You might argue that many CMS and custom solutions can do this too.

Absolutely true. However, modern business website builders can do this much more affordably than if you were to seek web development from a design agency or freelancers.

Moreover, using website builders, you can manage all these processes yourself because modern website builders are user-friendly, unlike many programming engines.

So, let’s get started.

NOTE: To write this piece, I’ve spent tens of hours on research and personally tried more than 30 website builders. As a result, I was able to come down to the 7 best website builders, which are ideal for small businesses. You won’t have to settle with or even try out mediocre solutions thanks to this review. In the final part of this listicle, I have also given my recommendations for choosing a website builder and pointed out the common mistakes made by business owners when selecting a website builder. So do read on till the end.

What is a website builder?

Website builder is software that allows you to design, edit and subsequently fill websites with content. Most modern website builders are online platforms that include a visual website design editor, hosting and domain name. The best ones have drag and drop editors, which makes it much easier to create website pages without having to react HTML/CSS code. Thus, a modern website builder is the easiest and most affordable way to create a website.

Top 10 Best Website Builders

Below I have collected and described the most powerful, convenient and functional website builders. Each of them has its own specialization – some are good for small business websites, others are only for ecommerce, others for doctors, etc.

WIX – Ideal for Small Business

Wix is probably the best universal website builder. And more than 62 million websites all over the world have been created using it, that’s more than 200M users (according to official data for 2021). And that is the highest record for all online website builders, both in the free and premium segments. Despite its versatility, Wix’s capabilities are fully revealed in the development of small business websites. For this, Wix has hundreds of all kinds of templates – for a wide variety of business categories. Thanks to this, Wix can be used to build great restaurants websites, websites for real estate agencies, travel businesses, hotels, beauty salons, law firms and many other small businesses. Well, why is it that people like Wix and use it? Let’s find out.

Very Simple

Wix is easier and more user-friendly when compared to most other website builders. Very few website builders have the same intuitive interface as Wix does. Even without any knowledge of web development, you can successfully create a website using Wix. You don’t need to know anything about web design, HTML layout, or programming.

Wix drag&drop editor

Universal

Wix can be used to create many different kinds of websites. From simple blogs to comprehensive websites with forums, membership options, online stores, etc. – everything is possible with Wix.

Wix website templates categories

Moreover, it has more template categories than other website builders. This means you can find the website templates for even some rare niches like driving schools, yoga instructors, farm produce delivery, and many others.

More than 700 Quality Templates Available

Wix is one of the leaders among website builders. And the claim is further substantiated by the fact that it has more than 700 template options. And these options cater to a wide range of color preferences and design tastes. Also, the template options that you get with Wix don’t compromise on quality. All the templates are fully responsive and created by professional website designers.

NOTE: Having great, up-to-date business templates is one of the most important things to look for when choosing a business website builder. To make it easier to choose the right business templates, check out this collection: 50 Best Free Business Website Templates and WP Themes. Here are the best free business templates that are currently available on the web.

Free

Wix’s free plan comes with better functional capacities as compared to other platforms. Most builders limit their free plans to nominal features so that you can just try out the builder. But Wix offers a full-fledged, feature-loaded plan for free. Of course, the premium plans offer several more features. But for simple blogs and personal websites, Wix’s free plan usually suffices.

AI Availability

Wix has recently started to use AI. And the use of AI makes website development even easier. If you choose the Wix Artificial Design Interface (ADI) mode, you can create a website by just answering simple questions about your site’s purpose and your preferences (color scheme, style, font, and the like). AI will do the heavy-lifting for you. And your website will be ready within 10 to 20 minutes. This is a perfect option for beginners.

Wix ADI

More than 300 additional Apps

In addition to built-in functional capacities, Wix offers access to more than 300 different apps through the Wix App Market. These specialized apps allow you to perform even more detailed website customization and open up new functional avenues. And the best part is that all these apps are available for free.

Embedding Codes and Custom Elements

For more experienced users, Wix allows embedding custom code, widgets, and custom elements to the websites. You can use the Velo by Wix option for this. And this is what significantly improves the standard Wix editor experience. While it doesn’t give you the freedom to change the existing HTML code of the website, you can certainly add some more elements that you may need.

Wix Embedding Codes and Custom Elements

If you’re a beginner webmaster, this feature won’t matter much to you. But, for advanced users, it is a huge plus.

Security

All the websites created with Wix have SSL security certificates. It also applies to free Wix websites. Most free website builders don’t offer an SSL certificate with the free plan. As opposed to WordPress and other CMS with open code, your Wix website won’t need frequent system updates. That’s why you needn’t worry about security. Hackers won’t get access to your website because you forgot to update it. No upgrades – no problems with website cracks.

Automatic Backups

In my opinion, Wix’s automatic backup point creation is a perfect feature. It gives you an option to return to your website’s previous version, that is, the one before your latest changes. It reminds me a bit of the “History” feature in Adobe Photoshop – just click on the latest save and go back.

Wix revisions history

For whom will Wix be the best solution?

Those who have minimum knowledge of website development;

Those who want to develop a small website (up to 30 pages);

Those who want to create a free website;

Those who want to build a website for unusual and rare activity;

Those who want to set up small online stores;

Those who need a website for selling “virtual” products (photos, graphics, music, and so on).

How much does Wix cost?

Wix is a free website builder without any time restrictions on use. This means you can use a free Wix website for as long as you need. For more advanced functionalities, there are several paid plans that you can consider.

Create a site

Shopify – Best for Online Stores

Shopify is the absolute leader among ecommerce website builders. A lot of website builders allow you to run online stores, but no one does it as professionally and thoughtfully as Shopify. And you’ll soon realize why. Unlike most business website builders, Shopify doesn’t try to be a universal solution. Instead, it specializes in helping users set up online stores.

Sell with Shopify

And in time, Shopify has developed many functional options and extra capacities for online sales and drop shipping that it has left all its competitors way behind. However, in this process, it turned out to be more complicated to use. And, of course, more expensive. Although, this is not an issue given the sheer amount of capabilities it has. So, why is Shopify the leader among ecommerce platforms?

NOTE: Perhaps for small businesses, this website builder may seem too expensive, and some of its options are superfluous. But when you gradually develop your small business and start introducing more and more new additions to the website, you will understand how good Shopify is. No other business website builder has as many ecommerce features as Shopify. You just find what you need and turn it on in your website.

Highly specialized platform

Shopify isn’t trying to please everyone. It just aims to become the best online sales and drop shipping solution. And this specialized focus resulted in lots of functional options and extra ecommerce apps. Plus, there are all sorts of free and premium ecommerce themes. All these were created with a great understanding of how ecommerce businesses operate.

More than 100 free themes and thousands of premium options

Shopify has both free and premium themes from third-party developers. For example, there are more than 1200 premium themes for Shopify sold on ThemeForest alone. Premium themes allow making your online store’s design more unique. Thanks to so many options, you’ll able to find appropriate themes even for selling products in rare niches.

Shopify templates

Hundreds of useful apps and plugins

Shopify has lots of free and premium apps and plugins. These were created to significantly improve the functionality of Shopify online stores. I’ve highlighted this in red for a reason. And it is that these apps can provide an important competitive edge for your ecommerce business.

Shopify app store

Here are some examples of Shopify apps and plugins and what they do:

Judge.me – You get automatic client mailing that requests to leave a comment about a purchased product. You can either send the request via email, push notifications, or SMS. You can quickly collect real client reviews on your e-store and increase conversion through this.

Oberlo – It a great pick for drop shipping. This app interacts with your suppliers, and orders are serviced semi-automatically. Shipping tracks are automatically entered. And the shipment of the order by the supplier is automatically confirmed.

ROI Hunter – It integrates with your Shopify site and sets up dynamic Google and Facebook ads. For Google ads, this plugin independently creates a product feed and remarketing tag. And for Facebook ads, the plugin creates a product catalog and Facebook remarketing pixel. Moreover, ROI Hunter can configure dynamic remarketing ads. It shows ads to visitors who expressed interest in your store but left without making a purchase.

Ali Hunter– it automates the analysis of drop shipping products and stores on AliExpress. It aids in finding new products and also analyzing and tracking competitors’ stores. This plugin can save you several hours.

Shopify Shipping

Shopify Shipping is a unique offer that helps save money on goods delivery within the USA. You can buy and print discounted shipping labels when filling an order. At the expense of Shopify and DHL’s partnership arrangements, UPS and USPS, you can extend delivery discounts to your clients up to 75%.

Shopify Payments

With Shopify, you can use PayPal, Stripe, Square, and other payment intake solutions. But there is also a built-in solution – Shopify Payment with several advantages:

Financially beneficial: With Shopify Payments, there are no extra Shopify fees.

User-friendly: All the tools are accessible in a single Shopify account. You don’t need to shift from the payment system account to your Shopify store account.

Shopify Fulfillment Network: a possibility to use Shopify warehouses for goods storage and delivery to clients. It is similar to the Amazon Fulfillment service.

Shopify dashboard

Integration with trading platforms

Shopify has several options for integration with some popular marketplaces and trading platforms like Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Google Shopping, Instagram, and more. This allows store owners to sell goods on their site as well as on other popular trading platforms at the same time. This is a convenient feature and helps save a lot of time.

For whom will Shopify be the best solution?

For drop shipping salesmen who already sell their goods through Amazon, Instagram, and Facebook and now want to broaden their market by setting up their online store.

For those who wish to set up medium-sized or large online stores.

For quick ecommerce business startups within the USA.

Shopify drop shipping

How much does Shopify cost?

Shopify doesn’t have a free plan. But it offers a 14-day free trial (no card required). After this period, you’ll get the option to switch to one of the premium plans. The plans are Basic Shopify ($29 per month), Shopify ($79 per month), and Advanced Shopify ($229 per month). More details about Shopify plans.

Create a site

Squarespace – Perfect Website Builder for Photographers

Being a professional website designer, I personally like Squarespace. It is one of the few website builders that help you make beautiful and aesthetically flawless websites in a minimalist style.

Squarespace

Squarespace was initially created as a website builder for photographers and artists to create great portfolio websites. This platform is for people and web developers with artistic taste, to summarize it briefly. The latest Squarespace 7.1 version comes with more functional capacities than ever before. But truth be told, most of them are far from perfect. Now let us understand Squarespace’s peculiarities in detail.

Dreams Come True for Photographers and Artists

Betting on visual content demonstration, Squarespace can satisfy the tastes of even the most demanding photographers, designers, artists, and other creatives. Website visitors need to be shown photos, graphics, and videos from the best perspectives. And Squarespace is one of the best website builders for such purposes.

Squarespace editor

Moreover, you’re can easily get sales with the help of visual content. For this, you’ll need the Business tariff plan, though. (Check its price here.)

Excellent Template Design

Squarespace has the most beautiful website templates in the market. Of course, there aren’t too many options (about 100 templates are available). And not all categories are available either. But the templates that are available are beautiful, of high quality, and fully responsive.

Squarespace website templates

NOTE: Squarespace templates often use a minimalist style, complemented with large beautiful images and big yet simple design elements. It’s well-suited for small sites that aim at showcasing their photos or their products’ photos in the best light. However, don’t expect your Squarespace website to look spectacular if you, for example, are a lawyer and your site is focused on legal services.

Greater Opportunities for Blogging

Squarespace is perfect for creating a blog. It has a lot of valuable functions that include a simple way to edit posts, deferred publication planning, rich customization of the comments system, AMP support, RSS, tag adding, the possibility to add several authors for one post at a time, iTunes podcasting integration possibility and many more.

Squarespace blog option

Drag-and-Drop Editor

Squarespace has a built-in drag-and-drop editor for easy customization of your website. It allows you to change the design by simply dragging and dropping the required elements at the required place on a page.

NOTE: Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor isn’t bad. But my personal experience suggested that it is not so intuitive and requires some getting used to. Unlike other top website builders, Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor comes without a traditional dashboard on the left side of the screen. Instead, all the options appear after clicking on template design elements. That’s why if you have already used technically advanced website builders like Wix or Weebly, then you’ll need some extra time getting used to Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor.

Free SSL Certificate

There is no free plan in Squarespace, but the monthly plan charges that you pay include the cost of an SSL certificate, which is a great thing.

Squarespace Analytics Tools

Squarespace offers its own solutions for website visitor analytics through the built-in Squarespace Analytics App. Integration with Google Analytics is also possible in case you need more data.

Squarespace analytics tools

Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage Space

Squarespace offers unlimited bandwidth and storage space for all plans starting from the most basic one. There is also no limit on the number of web pages your website can have.

For whom will Squarespace be the best solution?

For photographers, designers, artists, and anyone else who needs a stylish portfolio website;

For bloggers who are looking for an alternative to a WordPress blog;

For those who wish to build a small ecommerce website that sells designer things, handmade goods, posters, photos, or graphics;

For those looking forward to developing a personal website, like public figures, musicians, sports persons, and show-biz stars.

How much does Squarespace cost?

Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan (but there is aa 14-day trial) and it can hardly be called affordable. The lowest-prices Squarespace plan starts at $12 per month (paid annually) and is commensurate with the top competitors’ plans.

A more functional Business plan costs $18 per month. The Basic Commerce plan allows online sales without any transaction fees and will cost you $26 per month. Advanced Commerce, the most powerful plan, requires you to shell out $40 per month. It includes all the capacities that Squarespace has on offer for its clients. Check out a more detailed view of Squarespace plans.

Create a site

Webnode – Best for Multilingual Websites

Webnode is one of the oldest website builders (created in 2008) that is constantly developing and making its clients happy. And today, there are over 40 million websites all over the world that are powered by Webnode. Now I’ll tell you exactly why people trust Webnode and what it’s got better than its competitors. Though it has some cons, too, the strong pros make Webnode a value offering.

Beautiful and Responsive Templates

In 2016, Webnode rolled out an important update with its drag-and-drop editor and website templates. At the moment, it’s got a collection of more than 200 beautiful and responsive templates. All of which are available for free.

Webnode website templates

Easy-to-Use

Webnode is far from being a leader in functional capacities since it falls behind Wix and Weebly. Nevertheless, it is intuitive and user-friendly. Webnode is convenient even for beginner users.

Ideal for Multi-Language Websites

Webnode allows for multi-language website development as it supports 20 languages. That figure is higher than what any other website builder supports. And that’s what makes Webnode the best website builder for launching multi-language websites.

Option to choose any language

NOTE: To create a multi-language website with unlimited language support, you need the Profi plan ($22.90 per month). With the Standard plan ($12.90 per month), your website would support only two languages.

No Limit On The Number Of Pages In The Free plan

Webnode is a free website builder. With the free plan, you can develop a fully functional website, get free hosting (100MB storage and 1GB bandwidth), and a free third-level domain name. Also, there is no limit on the number of pages that your website can have.

Free SSL Certificate for All Plans

Webnode takes responsibility for your website’s security and offers free SSL certificates for all websites built using it. (Including those that have been developed for free.)

Website Backup and Recovery

Webnode allows creating backups and recovering previous versions of your website. This function will especially please beginner webmasters who can easily correct mistakes using this feature. Backup creation is possible in two ways – online and offline. With the offline option, you can save your website’s backup directly on your computer. Find out how to do that here.

Adding HTML/CSS Code

Webnode makes it possible to easily add HTML/CSS code and extra widgets. You can add your HTML code to the header, footer, or anywhere else on your website.

Option to add HTML/CSS code

Visit here to know how it can be done.

Affordable prices

Another great advantage of Webnode is its affordable premium plans. As compared to other top website builders, Webnode has the lowest prices. Like Wix, Webnode also has a simple Connect Domain plan that costs $3.90 per month (against $5 for the Wix plan). The most basic premium plan, Mini, costs $7.50 per month. A similar plan with Squarespace costs $12, and as for Wix, it’s $14.

However, note that, unlike competitors, Webnode’s Mini plan doesn’t remove Webnode ads from your website. The basic eCommerce plan (Standard) is available for only $12.90 per month. Wix’s minimum ecommerce plan costs $23, and for the basic Squarespace eCommerce plan, you’d have to pay $26. Shopify’s basic plan costs $29. The price advantage is obvious – you’ll have to pay much less with Webnode.

For whom will Webnode be the best solution?

NOTE: Despite the available free plan, I don’t recommend Webnode for creating a free website. Webnode free plan possibilities are considerably limited compared to Wix or Weebly. You can try other builders if your aim is to develop a free website.

But I recommend using Webnode in the following cases:

For multi-language website creation. Webnode is the best solution in the market;

For beginner webmasters who want to develop a personal website;

For making small online stores, since the cost of starting up an online store is low with Webnode;

For creating small business sites (using the Mini or Standard plans).

How much does Webnode cost?

Webnode offers a free plan without any limits on use and four affordable premium plans. The most basic Limited plan costs $3.90 per month. It is the same as the free plan but with the possibility to use your domain name. Mini plan ($7.50) has got broader capacities but doesn’t remove Webnode ads. Standard Plan costs $12.90 and has got even more options, not to mention the possibility to make online sales. The top Profi plan costs $22.90. It’s got maximum capabilities and supports all 20 languages for multi-language website creation. Here are more details about Webnode’s plans.

Create a site

Pixpa – Good for Portfolios and Selling Art Works

At first glance, Pixpa doesn’t look like a small business website builder. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Squarespace – just like Squarespace, it’s designed to develop portfolio websites. But it has its own advantages that Squarespace doesn’t have. And it’s not just more affordable prices.

Pixpa website builder

Pixpa is betting on the development of three types of sites – portfolio websites for photographers, artists and illustrators, blogs and an online store. Of course, all this can be packaged in one website.

Easy Portfolio Website Creation

Simplicity and convenience are the distinguishing features of Pixpa. Pixpa has a simple yet functional drag and drop editor with an intuitive interface. You should not expect super-wide features from it (like Wix, for example), but they are quite enough to customize the template you like the way you need.

Minimalist and Responsive Templates

Pixpa has about 40 website templates on topics: Photography, Design, Art & Illustration, Graphic and Web, Architecture, Music and Performing Arts, Fashion, Models & Actors, Beauty & Style, Health & Wellness, Personal & Lifestyle, Wedding, Health & Wellness, Blog, Business & Services, Consulting & Coaching, Food & Restaurants, Real Estate & Properties.

I specifically listed them all so that you can be convinced of their diversity. In terms of category selection, Pixpa outperforms most other portfolio website builders. Because Pixpa is more about business than just building a portfolio website.

Pixpa templates

All Pixpa templates are responsive and automatically adjust to any screen resolution. Without additional actions on your part, which of course will greatly simplify the life of beginners.

NOTE: What I personally like about Pixpa as a web designer is the easy change of website template. Most website builders don’t allow you to easily change the template of a live website (Wix – hello!). With Pixpa, this is possible with just one click – you simply select a new template and Pixpa will automatically adapt the content to fit it. Very simple and fast. And that’s pretty cool for me!

Advanced SEO Features already in basic plan

Pixpa has built-in SEO tools for advanced website SEO customization. Remarkably, this option is already available in the Basic plan, unlike most website builders.

NOTE: Pixpa has fast loading pages due to progressive loaded images on the pages. This works similar to lazy loading in WordPress. Images are loaded on the page not all at once when it is opened, but as the page is scrolled. The benefit is especially noticeable for websites with long pages with lots of images, such as photo galleries or blogs.

Adding and editing CSS, HTML, Javascript already in the basic plan

Adding your own CSS code and manually editing the HTML code of pages is a feature of many advanced website builders. But not many builders offer this opportunity in the basic plan. Pixpa is one of them. This, no doubt, will be appreciated by more experienced web masters with the appropriate skills.

Sell without a transaction fee

Pixpa allows you to not only create various image galleries on your website, but also sell them. And at the same time with zero commission, which favorably distinguishes Pixpa from many other online stores (Squarespace and Shopify, hello to you!).

In fact, on Pixpa, you can create not the usual portfolio website, but a fully functional online store. For example, selling paintings or posters. Or even printed T-shirts. In short, any product where the visual component is of primary importance. In this case, the benefits of Pixpa will be fully revealed.

Pixpa has many more features than I have listed here. Check them all on the official website.

For whom will Pixpa be the best solution?

For photographers, illustrators, graphic and web designers who want a minimalist portfolio website at an affordable cost.

For those who would like to create an online store without transaction fees to sell photos, art works, posters, paintings and any other creative products and more.

Anyone who needs a small website with good functionality at a cheap price.

NOTE: want to see what websites built with Pixpa look like? Check out these 20+ Pixpa website examples to see what your website might look like with this website builder.

How much does Pixpa cost?

Cheap prices is another Pixpa plus. Pixpa has a 15 day trial period, after which you will be prompted to choose one of four plans as standard: Basic, Creator, Professional, Advanced. Pixpa allows you to have additional discounts when paying yearly (50% Off!) and 2 yearly (63% Off!). Thus, the already affordable prices have become even more profitable.

Judge for yourself:

	Basic	Creator	Professional	Advanced
Pay monthly	$5/mo	$10/mo	$15/mo	$25/mo
Pay yearly	$2.50/mo	$5/mo	$7.50/mo	$12.50/mo
Pay 2 yearly	$1.88/mo	$3.75/mo	$5.63/mo	$9.38/mo

NOTE: you can get an additional 50% off any Pixpa plan if you use our 50% Off Pixpa coupon code.

Create a site

Weebly – Best Free Website Builder

Weebly was the first website builder I ever used. It’s one of the oldest online website builders that began operation in 2007.

Weebly website builder

Being one of the best free website builders, Weebly has lots of advantages, some of which you’re unlikely to get with other website builders. What I like about this builder is that it’s got a good balance (between functional capacities and simplicity of use) and has ample opportunities for creating larger sites. With regards to the latter, Weebly is second to none.

Easy To Use

Weebly is really easy to use. You’ll have to spend the least possible amount of time and effort to master its interface. Weebly’s drag-and-drop editor is extremely easy and intuitive, but I must say that it appeared to me not that flexible when compared to Wix.

Weebly editor

I would have liked more capacities for changing templates and editing them. However, the ease and user-friendliness of this builder are still worth appreciating.

Perfect for Larger Websites

Most of the good website builders are aimed at small website development. They are limited in terms of pages, sections, categories, and subcategories. Moreover, managing larger projects using such platforms isn’t as easy as you’d like. But all this isn’t true for Weebly. Weebly, perhaps, is the best online website builder if you want to build a sizable informational website. It has a well-considered website architecture that is great for multi-page websites with a big enclosure of sections and subsections.

Website made on Weebly

Also, it is as easy to handle a larger website with Weebly as it is to handle a smaller one.

Unlimited Depth of Navigation

Weebly allows creating an unlimited enclosure of categories, sections, and navigation menus. That’s what I felt lacking in Squarespace, where you can create categories for only first-level enclosures. Weebly automatically creates a drop-down menu for you in accordance with your multilevel website structure. It’s really wonderful!

Membership Site Creation

Using Weebly, you can build membership sites with the possibility of showing certain content to only a certain group of users. It’s possible to give them personal access passwords or let them independently register on the website to gain entry to the membership area.

Weebly membership options

Learn more about Weebly membership features here.

NOTE: Creating a membership website is possible with the Pro plan and plans above it. With the Pro plan, you can have up to 100 members. With the most expensive plans, the limit on the number of members gets lifted.

Adding and Editing The Website Code

It’s been my long-held observation that experienced webmasters (especially web developers) consider Weebly to be the absolute leader among all online website builders. And that’s not for nothing. The point is that Weebly, unlike most of its competitors, allows editing the HTML/CSS code of your website. It can be via the Embed Code element. And it is really comfortable to work with. You can edit the CSS code and see how your website has changed in the preview section. (Select the Auto Preview option in the settings.)

Weebly HTML/CSS editor

As a result, you can perform more accurate customization of your website as per your needs.

NOTE: Be very careful while manually editing the HTML website code. Ensure that you don’t accidentally make changes that may hurt your entire website’s operation. Given that Weebly hasn’t got an automatic website backup creation option (like Wix and Webnode), wrongly editing the code can create major problems for you. You’ll have to contact Weebly support in order to restore your website. That’s why you should edit the code only if you have the required skills and experience.

Apps and Widgets

Weebly has the Weebly App Center, where you’ll find a great collection of apps, widgets, and tools to integrate with your Weebly websites. Judged based on the number of additional apps available, Weebly is the third-best platform (after Shopify and Wix).

Weebly editor

Using apps and widgets allows making your website even better. For example, you can add complicated tables or text animations to attract your users’ attention. What’s remarkable about this is that the Weebly App Center can be accessed on all plans, including the free version.

For whom will Weebly be the best solution?

For creating bigger sites with a large number of pages and sections;

For creating free websites;

For beginner webmasters without any experience in site building;

For making business websites;

For webmasters with HTML layout and programming skills;

For making eCommerce stores.

How much does Weebly cost?

Weebly has one free and several premium plans. Note that Weebly has different plans for users from the USA and Europe. There are 3 premium plans for the USA: The Personal plan, available for $6 per month, allows adding your custom domain name. There is also a plan for $12 per month and the Performance plan for $26 per month. For European countries, there are 4 premium plans:

Connect (Similar to the personal plan, available for €6 per month);

Pro (Positioned as a plan for groups and organizations, available for €10 per month);

Business (For small businesses and online stores, available for €20 per month);

Business Plus (For larger eCommerce sellers, available for €30 per month).

Find out more details about Weebly’s plans.

Create a site

Jimdo – Good for Simple Small Business Sites

Jimdo belongs to the category of older website builders (it exists since 2007) that keep on evolving and getting better.

Jimdo website builder

In 2017, Jimdo released an artificial intelligence-powered version of its website builder – Jimdo Dolphin. Jimdo Dolphin is now one of the best AI website builders at a very affordable price. For the most part, it was Jimdo Dolphin’s existence that made me put it on the best website builders list. Jimdo Creator, a version for more experienced users, appeared to me not functional enough. It contains more advanced settings than Jimdo Dolphin, but it’s obviously a weaker variant than Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace. That’s why when I’m talking about Jimdo, I mean Jimdo Dolphin.

Very Fast

Jimdo Dolphin is the fastest website builder among the ones that I have used. You can develop a simple but high-quality website in only 3 minutes. Literally, in just 3 minutes! If you spend about an hour on its final customization, you’ll get a perfect simple website.

Very Simple

Jimdo’s simplicity and user-friendliness are commendable. It was more comfortable and easier for me to edit a website using Jimdo Dolphin than using Wix ADI. The reason was that Jimdo allows editing websites in real-time. This means you can immediately see the results of your actions.

Jimdo editor

Free

Jimdo has a free plan – it’s an undeniable pro, but in my opinion, its possibilities are very restricted. It’s fair to say that there are some free website builders that have fewer restrictions and more functional options in their free plans.

Quality Website Templates

Jimdo offers beautiful and quality website templates. They look equally good on different devices like smartphones, older mobile phones, tablets, or PCs.

Jimdo website templates

NOTE: Keep in mind that if you choose Jimdo Dolphin, you cannot switch to Jimdo Creator and vice versa. What is more, you should know that Jimdo doesn’t support the possibility of HTML website code editing. Website editing is limited to what you can do using the visual Jimdo drag-and-drop editor.

For whom will Jimdo be the best solution?

For beginner webmasters with minimum skills;

For immediate website creation (when you need a website right now);

For developing simple websites for small businesses.

How much does Jimdo cost?

Jimdo offers 2 kinds of plans – for creating standard websites and for online stores. For standard websites:

Play – A free plan that is good for nothing but testing Jimdo;

Start – A basic premium plan without ads and with your custom domain for $6 per month;

Grow – Recommended for business websites (for $15 per month);

Unlimited – As obvious from the self-explanatory name, the plan has no restrictions. The cost of this plan isn’t stated on the website.

For online stores:

Basic – Similar to the Start plan, but aimed at ecommerce (for $15 per month);

Business – For more advanced online stores (for $19 per month);

VIP – The top ecommerce plan, the price for which isn’t mentioned on the website.

More details about Jimdo plans.

Create a site

My expert tips for choosing website builders for businesses

Finding a good website builder is a challenging task. Not because there aren’t enough of them. But rather because there are too many different website building platforms, and the choice gets overwhelming.

Now even though website builders are great, choosing an unsuitable website builder can be extremely detrimental to your business.

You cannot put off or avoid the choice either because an effective website is essential for any business in the modern world.

In this section, I’m going to clearly explain how to choose a website builder for small businesses and what criteria should be taken into consideration.

Where to start choosing from?

To begin with, you should decide on the challenges that your website is going to solve for your business and what is going to be the goal of the website.

There are usually three main kinds of business websites.

eCommerce

These types of websites are online stores that sell different products and services. Their main purpose is to sell physical or digital products and directly receive payment.

If you want to find an eCommerce website builder with all the relevant features for ensuring and facilitating online sales, check out my article on the best eCommerce website builders.

Business Representation

These are the websites that are a company’s official address on the Internet. They are not directly linked to making sales or earning revenue. The purpose of these websites is to inform the audience about a company’s activities and the goods and services it offers.

Specialized business websites

These are the websites, which have certain (often peculiar) functionalities specific to a certain type of business. For example, a website for a hotel with the possibility of booking rooms online. Or a restaurant’s website with the ability to look through the menu and book a table.

In this guide, I’ll be focusing on choosing website builders for developing the second and third types of business websites.

Now let’s move on.

The first question that beginners struggle to find answers to is…

NOTE: For a better understanding of what high-quality and modern business websites can look like, check out this review: 30 Modern Small Business Websites Examples for 2024. All of the presented websites are related to different business niches and are made on different website builders and CMS.

Free or premium?

To be honest, you can build a business website at no cost using free website builders. But you should be ready for certain restrictions.

Usually, it is in the form of having the website builder’s banner ad (or a button). All free website builders place their advertisements on the sites built using the free versions.

The second thing is that you don’t get the option to use the domain name of your choice. There are only 2 website builders, which allow using a custom domain name in the free plan.

The third restriction of free website builders is the limitation related to bandwidth, storage space, and sometimes even the number of web pages that can be created. Yes, you read it right – your website can have only as many pages as allowed by the chosen plan.

In my opinion, thus, if we are talking about business, small businesses specifically, a free plan’s capabilities will never be enough. Even if the chosen website builder is the best in the market.

Thus, it is always better to choose a low-cost premium plan and create a professional website using your own domain name and without ads or hard limits.

Which website builders are reliable?

It’s a reasonable question to ask, considering the fact that a website builder is a visual editor, web hosting, domain name registrar, and email sender all rolled into one. All these things together are packed in the integrated SaaS service with unified technical support.

Now, how reliable these services are going to be and how well they’ll function together depends on both the technical support and the coherence of the work of the entire website builder team.

It is especially important to emphasize the age of the website builder though. Website builders that have been constantly offering their services for 10+ years, improving their drag-and-drop editors, creating more contemporary templates, and adding new options are, of course, more reliable. Such companies have served hundreds and thousands of clients. And thus, it won’t be a ‘worth considering’ option for them to stop their business or not offer proper services.

Meanwhile, a lot of newly launched website builders don’t have the hassle of preserving their reputation. Further, many of them go bankrupt shortly after the launch, leaving those who chose the builder in a major fix.

Here are the most reliable website builders for businesses (and even individuals):

There are also Shopify and BigCommerce, specifically suitable for building online stores.

All these website builders have been operating successfully for several years and aren’t going to curtail their activities.

What points should be first taken into consideration?

The key point to be considered while selecting website builders is whether it has quality templates relevant to your business. The more such templates will be, the greater choice you’ll have.

Why is this important?

Well, some website builders offer universal templates suitable for any industry/niche.

And let me be clear here – it’s not the best solution.

It’s always better to find a specialized template that is designed to your industry-specific requirements.

By “quality templates” I mean not only stylish and contemporary designs but also responsiveness. And not all website templates are inherently responsive. This means that most of them will face problems while displaying on mobile phones or other devices.

Is having a drag-and-drop editor mandatory?

Yes. Your website builder must definitely have a drag-and-drop editor. It allows building a website without having HTML and programming skills. You just drag the website elements using your computer mouse and drop them where you want them to be. Easy!

Even if you know how to edit the CSS code manually, the absence of a built-in drag-and-drop editor should be a red flag.

All (without exception) leading contemporary website builders have a drag-and-drop editor.

NOTE: Not all drag-and-drop editors are alike. Some website builders have outdated drag-and-drop editors, which allow only slight edits in the template. The other, more contemporary ones are much more flexible. For example, Wix’s drag-and-drop editor allows dragging content blocks and design elements with 1-pixel precision. What is more, it contains options for setting up the website color scheme too.

What other parameters are important when choosing a website builder?

Every website builder has several plans. There are normally 3 to 5 plans that you can choose from. They vary in terms of the prices and the features that you’ll get.

Always make sure that your chosen plan does not have restrictions on the number of pages that your website can have.

Alert: Also, be sure to verify that you’ll be able to use a custom domain name instead of being confined to the one offered by the website builder. Not all premium plans allow this!

Pay attention to the storage space and bandwidth too.

And it isn’t necessary for website builders to have unlimited storage space and bandwidth. For starting small business websites it will be enough to have 1GB Storage space and 2GB Bandwidth.

Best Website Builder Software for Mac in 2024

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Ever sat in front of your Mac, eager to craft a masterpiece website, but didn’t know where to start? Well, you’re not alone. You see, creating a captivating online presence can feel like assembling an intricate puzzle. Every piece must fit perfectly: design elements flowing seamlessly and functionality humming like a well-tuned engine. But when that last puzzle piece clicks into place – it’s magic!

I remember the good old days of iWeb – Apple’s own solution for us Mac lovers. Alas! Those were simpler times before it bid us adieu. So, what now?

Fear not! This journey takes you through today’s top-notch website builders designed specifically with your beloved Mac in mind. We’ll investigate the pros and cons to help you choose wisely. And who knows? By the end of this voyage, we might discover something extraordinary or experience a journey like no other.

What is the Best Website Builder for Mac?

If you’re a Mac user, you might remember iWeb, Apple’s proprietary website builder. It was easy to use and designed specifically for Mac users.

But then, in 2011, Apple decided to discontinue it. The question that begs asking now is: Why did iWeb cease to exist?

The answer lies primarily in two areas: technology advancement and evolving user needs. When iWeb was launched back in 2006 as part of the iLife suite, it met the demands of its time well enough. However, with web development becoming more sophisticated over time – think mobile responsiveness and advanced SEO capabilities – unfortunately for us fans of simplicity, iWeb couldn’t keep up.

In addition to technological limitations like these, there were other challenges too. Users began seeking more features such as ecommerce functionality or blogging tools – which were not part of what this little software could offer at its best times.

The Replacements

Since we’ve said our goodbyes to iWeb years ago now comes another important query. What are some top-notch website builders that can be an excellent fit for my dear old pal named ‘Mac’?

Wix: This platform gives your creativity free rein with its drag-and-drop editor feature.

Squarespace: Known for its elegant templates and excellent ecommerce features, it’s a go-to choice for small businesses.

Pixpa: Perfect if you’re in the creative industry. It provides easy tools to build portfolio websites with integrated ecommerce.

And don’t forget about offline website builders. They let you work without an internet connection, making your job more flexible.

Best Online Website Builders for Mac

If you own a Mac and are in need of creating a website, the good news is there are many online tools specifically tailored to your needs. There are numerous online tools designed just for your needs. These platforms provide a user-friendly approach to crafting and releasing websites without any programming knowledge.

These builders let users choose from pre-made templates or start from scratch with drag-and-drop features. You can easily add images, videos, text blocks, and other elements to create professional-looking sites.

Online website builders, unlike offline ones, allow real-time collaboration and updates anytime, anywhere as long as there’s internet access.

The Rise of Online Builders

In the past decade or so, we’ve seen a rise in online site creators because they provide ease-of-use along with flexibility. They cater not only to professionals but also beginners who want their own digital space on the web.

Whether it’s for personal blogs or ecommerce stores, these platforms have proven effective at giving users full control over their site design while eliminating technical roadblocks like HTML/CSS coding that could discourage many from creating their dream website.

Making A Choice: What To Look For?

User-friendliness is crucial if you’re new at this game – look out for straightforward navigation options within the platform’s interface.

The quality of available designs will affect how appealing your finished product looks – does it fit well with your brand image?

A variety of customization possibilities lets you give unique touches making sure no two websites look identical.

Additional factors to consider are SEO capabilities, the builder’s customer support quality, and whether it allows for mobile-responsive designs. A good online website builder should offer all these features and more.

Remember Your Budget

Lastly, don’t forget your budget while picking an online site builder. Some platforms might be free but could fall short in some aspects or have ads that may disrupt your work.

NOTE: If you’re a Mac user wanting to build a website, many online tools are made just for you. These platforms let you design and publish websites without coding skills. Choose from templates or start from scratch with easy drag-and-drop features. Make sure the platform is user-friendly, offers high-quality designs, customization options, SEO capabilities, quality customer support and mobile-responsive designs.

So we found out why online Mac website builder software is better than offline. Let’s now find out which ones are the best and why.

The easiest way to do this is to put together the best website builder software for Mac in a comparison table. It’s much more visible that way. Below will be a description of each software.

Mac Website Builders Comparison

	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site
Plan Name *	Combo	Personal	Basic	Limited	Basic	Personal	Basic
Monthly Cost	$16	$23	$6	$4.90	$39	$13	$18
Annually Cost	$192	$192	$72	$58.80	$348	$120	$168
Custom Domain	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free SSL Certificate	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free Domain Name	Yes (for 1 year)	Yes (for 1 year)	Not included	Not included	Not included	Not included	Not included
Remove builder ads?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Free plan **	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Bandwidth	2 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	200 MB	Unlimited	100 GB	50 GB
Space Storage	3 GB	20 GB	Not included	1 GB	Unlimited	10 GB	Unlimited
Number of Pages	5	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Google analytics	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Design Customization	5	5	5	4	5	4	5
Easy of Use	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Embed HTML/CSS code	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ecommerce Options ***	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Support	FAQ – Yes Email – Yes Chat – No Telehone – Yes	FAQ – Yes Email – Yes Chat – Yes Telehone – No	FAQ – Yes Email – Yes Chat – Yes Telehone – No	FAQ – Yes Email – Yes Chat – No Telehone – No	FAQ – Yes Email – Yes Chat – No Telehone – No	FAQ – Yes Email – Yes Chat – Yes Telehone – Yes	FAQ – Yes Email – No Chat – No Telehone – No

* In this table, I have reviewed the capabilities of the basic plan (the cheapest).

** If you are interested in the free features of these website builders then check out the review: Best Free Website Builder Software.

*** If you are building an ecommerce website then check: The Best Ecommerce Website Builders for Online Store.

NOTE: Don’t be surprised that all five website builders got 5 points on Easy of Use. Not all website builders can boast of ease of use and intuitive interface. But here I purposefully selected five website builders that are as simple and convenient as possible even for beginners. But if you check out my other review of 10 Best Small Business Website Builders, for example, you’ll see that not all website builders score that high on ease of use.

Wix

mac website builder

As a leading choice for Mac users, Wix shines with its intuitive drag-and-drop editor. It’s the ideal selection for those just beginning to explore website building.

The strength of Wix lies in its versatility. Whether it’s an online store or personal blog, this platform has got you covered. And here’s the kicker: there are over 500 professionally designed templates to choose from.

Advantages of Using Wix

You might ask why use Wix? Well, besides being user-friendly and flexible, one big advantage is their range of features right at your fingertips. The toolset includes everything from SEO tools that help improve visibility on search engines like Google to integrated analytics that provide valuable insights about visitor behavior.

Furthermore, what sets Wix apart is their ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) feature. With ADI taking care of design aesthetics based on your preferences and industry type – it almost feels like having a professional designer by your side.

An impressive array of third-party apps can be easily added through the WIX App Market.

Their customer support system deserves applause too, comprehensive guides along with phone/email support ensure all questions get answered promptly.

A bonus point goes out for providing free hosting with every package – reducing costs significantly when launching a site.

Limited Drawbacks Worth Mentioning

No product is without flaws and Wix is no exception. But let’s keep it real – the drawbacks are minimal in comparison to its benefits.

Firstly, once a template has been chosen, there’s no turning back – you can’t switch templates mid-way through your site design process. While this might sound restrictive at first, remember that each template is customizable so you still have plenty of creative freedom.

Next, you should know their free plan offers limited bandwidth and storage. Plus, your site will display branded ads. To get more features and kick those limits to the curb, consider upgrading.

NOTE: Wix is a top pick for Mac users, offering an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor and over 500 professional templates. It’s perfect whether you’re starting an online store or personal blog. With its extensive feature set – including SEO tools, integrated analytics, and the unique ADI function – it makes website creation a breeze. To top it all off, Wix provides robust customer support that’s always ready to help when you need it.

Create a site

Squarespace

best free website builder mac

For those seeking a balance between ease of use and robust features, Squarespace is an ideal choice. Its user-friendly interface and vast selection of high-quality design templates make Squarespace a favorite among website builders.

One aspect where Squarespace shines is in its stunning, professional-looking themes. With over 100 designs to choose from, you can easily create websites that look as if they were designed by pros – even if it’s your first time building one.

User-Friendly Interface

Squarespace prides itself on having an intuitive drag-and-drop editor which makes designing websites easy peasy. No need to grapple with complex coding or tech jargon here. Instead, let your creativity flow as you arrange elements exactly how you want them on your site.

The fact that this builder offers real-time editing means no more guessing games about how changes will affect the overall look. What you see while editing is what visitors will see when browsing your site – a feature beginners and seasoned builders alike find invaluable.

Ecommerce Capabilities

Dreaming of setting up an online store? You’re in luck. Squarespace has robust ecommerce capabilities that allow entrepreneurs to sell products directly through their sites. It provides secure payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe integration right out of the box.

Plus, inventory management becomes less stressful thanks to tools such as order tracking and customer emailing services integrated into this versatile platform. Managing inventory has never been easier.

Blogging Tools

Squarespace isn’t just for ecommerce, it’s also a fantastic platform for bloggers. With tools like rich text editing, multiple author functionality, and built-in SEO features, this website builder lets you share your thoughts with the world in style.

The ability to schedule posts ahead of time is another bonus that keeps content creators coming back. It means less stress about publishing on time and more focus on creating engaging content.

A Few Drawbacks

However, no product is without its faults. Squarespace’s primary downside is the cost – it can sometimes be on the pricier side.

NOTE: Squarespace is a great choice if you need an easy-to-use website builder with strong features. It offers stunning templates, a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, and real-time editing. Plus, it’s equipped for ecommerce with secure payment options and inventory management tools. And bloggers will appreciate the rich text editing and SEO tools. But remember, all these impressive benefits are part of the package deal that Squarespace brings to your table.

Create a site

Pixpa

best free website builder mac

When it comes to website builders tailored for creatives, Pixpa shines like a diamond. Known for its intuitive interface and flexible customization options, Pixpa makes creating professional websites fun and straightforward.

But why do so many photographers, artists, designers choose Pixpa? One of the reasons Pixpa is chosen by many photographers, artists and designers is that it provides a comprehensive suite of services. That means you can create an impressive online portfolio, sell your work directly through the site’s integrated ecommerce capabilities and even manage client proofing – all without needing any coding skills.

User-friendly Design Interface

The first thing users notice about Pixpa is how easy-to-use it is. Its drag-and-drop editor lets you play around with elements on your page until they’re exactly where you want them. Plus, helpful guides from their knowledge base takes care of any questions you might have along the way.

Ecommerce Capabilities

Selling art or products online shouldn’t be complicated – and with Pixpa’s built-in ecommerce features, it isn’t. From setting up shop to managing orders – everything becomes simpler.

best free website builder mac

Affordable Pricing Plans

You’d think something as powerful as this would come at a hefty price tag but surprise – Pixpa’s pricing plans are budget-friendly. You can give it a go with no cost for 15 days before you make your decision.

But, like everything in life, Pixpa isn’t perfect. No free plan is available beyond the trial period, so additional costs may be incurred for more extensive needs. Plus, if your needs are more extensive and require advanced features such as large storage or premium themes—you might need to shell out more cash for those higher-tier plans.

Customer Support

If things get tough while building your site on Pixpa, don’t worry – they’ve got stellar customer support ready to help at any time with live chat and email options.

NOTE: Pixpa is a top choice for creatives like photographers and artists because it makes website building fun and easy. Its intuitive interface, drag-and-drop editor, all-in-one platform services including ecommerce capabilities, and affordable pricing plans make it an excellent option. But remember, there’s no free plan beyond the trial period, and more advanced features may cost extra.

Create a site

Webnode

website builder for mac

If you’re on the hunt for a website builder that is both easy to use and robust, look no further than Webnode. It’s a great pick, particularly if you’re aiming to construct sites in a jiffy.

The Strengths of Webnode

One key advantage of Webnode lies in its simplicity. You don’t need any coding knowledge to start creating beautiful websites. The drag-and-drop interface makes it straightforward and intuitive.

A unique feature is its multilingual capabilities. With support for over 20 languages, Webnode lets you reach a global audience easily.

You’ll also appreciate their responsive customer service team. They are always ready to help with any issues or questions about building your site.

Ecommerce Capabilities

Built-in ecommerce features make WebNode an ideal platform for those who plan to sell products online, with secure shopping experiences enabled by SSL encryption. This means if selling products online is part of your plan, then WebNode has got you covered.

Your customers will get secure shopping experiences as well thanks to SSL encryption which ensures all transactions are safe and private.

Inbuilt SEO Tools

To make sure people can find your site easily through search engines like Google, they have integrated SEO tools right into their dashboard too.

Potential Drawbacks

Certainly there’s room for improvement – one drawback some users note is the limited customization options. While Webnode offers many templates, you may find yourself wanting more control over the design elements.

Also, unlike some other website builders such as Wix, it doesn’t offer free domain registration for its premium plans. You’ll need to budget for that separately.

Wrapping up, if quick setup and simplicity tickle your fancy but shelling out a bit more for your domain doesn’t faze you, then this is the way to go.

Create a site

Shopify

website builder for mac

If you’re seeking a robust website builder for your Mac, look no further than Shopify. Renowned for its ecommerce capabilities, Shopify is an ace up the sleeve of online sellers.

This platform offers users powerful tools to build their dream web store. It’s like being given keys to a fully stocked tool shed but with instructions on how each gadget works.

A Host of Advantages

First off, it doesn’t matter if you’re selling handmade crafts or dropshipping tech gadgets, Shopify lets you tailor your site accordingly. This flexibility is akin to having different shoes for every outfit – one size does not fit all here.

website builder for mac

Beyond this adaptability though, Shopify provides high-quality themes that make sure your site looks sleek and professional from day one. It’s like walking into a ready-to-move-in house – furnished and decorated just right.

The real cherry on top? Its outstanding inventory management system which helps track stock levels effortlessly. Picture it as having an automated personal assistant who never takes breaks.

Ecommerce Powerhouse

Remember, while many builders can help create websites, few are tailored specifically towards ecommerce like Shopify is. With its integrated payment gateway support from PayPal and Stripe among others (see full list here) makes transactions seamless – much like sipping coffee at your favorite cafe where they know exactly how you take it.

With its support for multiple sales channels, Shopify allows you to reach a broad customer base. So, if you’re fishing for customers, Shopify casts a wide net.

The Few Drawbacks

But just like every rose has its thorns, Shopify isn’t perfect. While it’s great for ecommerce sites, businesses not focused on online sales might find it less useful.

NOTE: Shopify is a top-notch website builder for Mac, especially for ecommerce. It’s like having keys to a tool shed with instructions on how each gadget works. From tailored site designs and professional themes to an outstanding inventory management system, Shopify has you covered. But remember, it’s best suited for online sales-focused businesses.

Create a site

Weebly

best free website builder mac

If you’re a Mac user and are looking for an easy-to-use website builder, Weebly is one of the top choices. Weebly is renowned for its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, enabling individuals to craft websites that look professional without requiring any programming experience.

Weebly stands out with its extensive template library. You get access to hundreds of customizable designs that cater to various industries from blogs to ecommerce stores. This means there’s likely something perfect waiting just for your project.

One great thing about Weebly is how it makes managing SEO tasks a breeze. With built-in tools like meta description editor and URL customization, you can easily optimize your site for search engines – which could lead more visitors to your digital doorstep.

Ease-of-Use

Beginners will love how simple it is to create a website on Weebly. The platform provides pre-designed layouts where all you have to do is replace placeholder text with your own content, add images or videos as needed and voila. Your website comes alive.

You also get handy tutorials that guide you through every step if ever things seem tricky – showing Weebly’s commitment towards making web design accessible even if tech isn’t really your cup of tea.

eCommerce Capabilities

Weebly’s eCommerce capabilities are quite impressive too. They let users manage their online store effortlessly thanks largely due in part by features such as inventory tracking, tax calculator & integrated shipping labels creation tool amongst others.

best free website builder mac

Payment processing is also smooth, with support for major gateways like PayPal and Stripe. It’s simple to get going with selling items or services on your website without any stress.

Limitations

While Weebly does a lot right, it isn’t perfect. The free plan offers limited features compared to its paid counterparts which might be an issue if you’re on a tight budget but want more control over your website’s look and functionality.

Additionally, even though the platform offers a vast array of design templates.

NOTE: Mac users in search of an easy-to-use website builder will find Weebly a top choice. Its drag-and-drop interface, extensive template library and SEO tools make building professional-looking websites simple, even for beginners. While it has impressive eCommerce capabilities, be aware that its free plan offers limited features compared to paid options.

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Webflow

best free website builder mac

Webflow is a powerful website creator that stands out from the rest, yet it has some peculiarities.

This tool offers you more control over your site design than most of its peers do. It lets you create websites with intricate animations and interactions without writing any code. Imagine being able to give life to your ideas just like a professional web developer would.

A big plus for Webflow is its CMS capabilities. If managing content gives you headaches, this feature will be your aspirin. The built-in CMS makes it easy for non-techies to add or change text, images, or videos on their sites without having to dig into the HTML/CSS stuff.

Their designer platform allows an extreme level of customization which can be quite liberating once mastered.

You have total creative freedom due to access directly at the CSS box model through visual controls – say goodbye traditional constraints imposed by template-based platforms.

The option of integrating with third-party apps such as MailChimp and Google Analytics can prove beneficial if digital marketing is part of your game plan.

Ease-of-use: A double-edged sword?

In contrast though, WebFlow’s power may feel overwhelming initially especially if you’re new to building websites because there’s so much going on at once.

To tackle this challenge effectively requires some patience and dedication in learning how things work here.

On the brighter side, they offer an extensive library of tutorial videos. These tutorials can assist you in becoming proficient with the platform. Remember: Practice makes perfect.

Pricing: Not for penny pinchers?

But if your budget is a bit tight, you might find that WebFlow isn’t the top pick for you.

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Best Offline Website Builders for Mac

These tools let you build and design websites without needing an internet connection, offering flexibility and convenience.

RapidWeaver

website builder mac

RapidWeaver is like the Swiss Army knife of offline site building on a Mac. It’s got everything: robust features, easy-to-use interface, and extensive customization options.

You don’t need to have knowledge of coding for using RapidWeaver, though if you do possess such skills it will provide more opportunities for customizing the website. But here’s the kicker – its lack of cloud functionality may not suit everyone’s workflow style.

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EverWeb

free website builder for mac

Aiming for simplicity? EverWeb‘s your best bet. This software helps make creating websites as intuitive as dragging-and-dropping elements where you want them.

EverWeb stands out with its unique SEO Power Up feature that helps optimize sites right from the get-go. Yet there’s a snag – some users have found EverWeb’s interface less modern compared to competitors’ offerings.

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Sandvox

website builder software for mac

Sandvox takes ‘easy’ to another level by focusing on providing simple yet powerful tools that allow anyone – even total beginners – to create professional-looking sites in no time flat.

The real charm lies in Sandvox’s ‘Code Injection’ feature, which lets you add snippets of HTML, JavaScript or CSS to your site. But be warned – its design templates can feel a bit limited and dated compared to others.

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Each of these offline website builders for Mac shines in its own way. They all let you create stunning websites without an internet connection. But don’t forget, each one has unique features that make it stand out.

FAQs in Relation to Website Builder for Mac

Can you build websites on Mac?

Absolutely, with the right tools like Wix or Squarespace, building websites on a Mac is smooth and simple.

What’s the best web design software for Mac?

Several options shine but Wix and Squarespace are top picks due to their ease of use and rich feature sets.

How do I create a free website on my Mac?

You can use platforms like Weebly or Webnode. They offer intuitive drag-and-drop builders that let you create sites without paying a dime.

Is Wix good for Mac?

Certainly. It offers an easy-to-use interface, numerous templates, and robust features making it great for designing sites on your Mac.

Creating a stunning website on your Mac doesn’t have to be a brain teaser. Not when you possess the apt implements.

We explored online builders like Wix, Squarespace, Pixpa, and others that offer impressive features with little learning curve. Each has its strengths – some are design wizards while others shine in ecommerce or blogging.

Then we switched gears to offline options such as RapidWeaver and EverWeb for those who prefer working without an internet connection. These alternatives also give robust solutions for crafting remarkable websites on Mac.

All these platforms have risen up to fill the void left by iWeb. Therefore, when seeking a website builder for Mac that suits your needs best, it is important to consider the options available.