What is a Website Builder? Plus 6 Top Recommendations
Knowing that website builders are friendly to beginners doesn't mean that you can easily confirm which one meets your demands best. Therefore, we will recommend you six top website builders and some guidelines to help you determine which is the most suitable one.
In those past days, people who wanted to create a website must learn some code-related knowledge and code writing when it was necessary. Now, thanks to the appearance of website builders, anybody can rapidly and smoothly create a website.
So, what exactly is a website builder?
A website builder is a platform or software that helps people establish a website without any coding process. It usually provides some pre-designed templates and drag-and-drop functionality so that designers can customize their websites easily. They can put in texts, images, videos, and also some branding elements to build a completely functional and appealing website without any technical knowledge.
Whether you want to build an online shop website or just want to own your personal blog or portfolio, you have no need to hire a professional website designer or coding experts, cause website builders can guide you to create it.
However, knowing that website builders are friendly to beginners doesn't mean that you can easily confirm which one meets your demands best. Therefore, we will recommend you six top website builders and some guidelines to help you determine which is the most suitable one.
6 Top Website Builders
1.Wegic: Magic Your Site by Chat
Aiming to become the most powerful AI web designer and developer, Wegic is dedicated to simplifying the process of creating users' ideal websites through natural conversations. By typing your design preferences, adjustments, or tweaks in the dialog box, Wegic will quickly understand and cater to your needs. What's more, Wegic allows users to effortlessly publish their sites with custom domains, making website design as easy as chatting with a designer friend right beside you.
What makes Wegic a powerful website builder:
- Beginner-Friendly Interface: Based on a conversational interface, Wegic offers newcomers a simple website creation process with no code skills. They can interact with Wegic just through direct communication. An approach like this can give users a comfortable and enjoyable environment while designing functional and attractive sites efficiently.
- Fast Website Creation: Whatever kinds of websites you want to create, Wegic can generate a fully functional and multi-page one completely in under two minutes. This swift creation capability means Wegic can save users' time significantly and enable them to get their websites up and running effectively without any usual delays associated with those normal website development tools.
- Tailored to Your Needs: Apart from its straightforward design process, Wegic also offers a high degree of customization, which is tailored to users' needs. Users are able to personalize their sites to showcase their unique brand styles or visions. The platform supplies diverse customization options, from layout adjustments to aesthetic changes, ensuring that each website can meet each user's specific need and preference.
- Permanent Free Trial and Affordable Plans: Compared to other similar AI-generated website builders, Wegic is definitely one of the most cost-effective platforms out there. It provides a range of pricing plans, including a permanent free trial that offers all basic features. Since that, users can explore the platform's capabilities with no financial commitment. Besides, for those experienced designers who are seeking more advanced features, reasonably priced paid plans are available, making it a cost-effective solution both for individuals and small businesses.
- Multi-Device Performance: Wegic guarantees that the websites created by its platform are responsive and perform well across all main devices. It is particularly essential in today's mobile-dominant world, where users access websites from varied devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. This tool's cross-device compatibility to responsive creation makes sure that every website looks intriguing and functions seamlessly, regardless of the device used to visit it.
- Diverse AI Assistance: There are three different AI assistants supported in real-time by Wegic, enhancing the convenience of the website development process. Also, they have different divisions of labor: Kimmy (the red one) chats with users to understand and analyze their requirements, Timmy (the green one) performs website design creation and modification, and Turi (the purple one) is the file manager.
What makes Wegic a less compelling website builder:
- Internet Requirement: To use Wegic, a stable internet connection to properly function is required. Users can't use it offline.
- Potential Learning Curve: Though its interface is strongly designed to be simple, some beginners might still need time to adapt to Wegic's chat-based workflow. Wegic also provides guidelines for its new clients to help them get accustomed to the platform.
Pricing:
- Free Plan: $0/month, suitable for Wegic newcomers.
- Basic Plan: $9.9/month, suitable for building personal sites.
- Pro Plan: 15.9/month, suitable for professionals or startups to build their official websites.
2.Wix: All-in-one Website Builder
With its commercial options, Wix is undoubtedly a robust website builder. It can be used to create anything from a basic personal blog to a sophisticated enterprise-level center for your online business. It comes with built-in tools for scheduling, branding, marketing, eCommerce, and more. An established player in the website market, Wix has a history of being a pioneer in online design and an early adopter of cutting-edge innovations, such as AI website building.
What makes Wix a powerful website builder:
- Expansive Template Repository: Wix provides a wide array of expertly designed templates apt for various industries and applications. Given the total editability of these templates, clients are able to create a unique, business-oriented website tailored to their specific needs. Thanks to the variety, users have the option to choose a template that mirrors their concept and implement the required modifications.
- APP Market: Wix App Market offers an extensive array of applications and integrations designed to enhance website performance. These applications can be effortlessly installed and operated by users to improve their website's functionality and user experience. The spectrum of applications extends from forms for contact and feeds on social networks to tools for e-commerce and reservation systems.
- E-commerce tools: Wix offers a wide range of e-commerce options to facilitate the creation and maintenance of online shops. Features include product assortment, an updated checkout system, multiple payment options and inventory control. These technological advances enable businesses to seamlessly oversee their online commerce operations and streamline the sales process.
- Wix ADI (Design with Artificial Intelligence): This feature uses artificial intelligence technology to develop customized websites that meet individual preferences and requirements. Users can create a personalized website by answering a variety of queries and making additional changes as required.
What makes Wix a less compelling website builder:
- Setting Limitations on Customization: Although Wix offers users numerous customization options through the drag-and-drop editor, there are still certain limitations compared to platforms with full control over HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Advanced users may encounter some limitations when they try to implement highly specialized or complex features.
- Required subscription fees: Although Wix offers a free subscription plan, many advanced features and capabilities still require a paid subscription. The cost of the premium plan may go up for those who want several advanced features or access to high-traffic websites. Wix is relatively cost-effective compared to other web development tools that may offer more feature options at a more economical price.
- Locked Templates: Once users have created a Wix website with a specific template, switching to another template becomes less simple. When they want to replace a template, they usually need to rebuild the site from scratch, which is both time-consuming and less convenient.
Pricing:
- Light Plan: $17/month, to get the basics.
- Core Plan: $29/month, to engage targeted visitors.
- Business Plan: 36/month, to grow your brand.
3.GoDaddy: E-Commerce Website Builder
GoDaddy is one of the world's largest online platforms for entrepreneurs around the globe. For those people, GoDaddy is the place folks come to name their ideas, create a compelling brand and a great-looking website, attract customers with digital and social marketing, and manage their work. Where no tool alone will do, this website builder gives direct one-on-one guidance with a human connection.
What makes GoDaddy a powerful website builder:
- Integrative marketing tools: The GoDaddy website builder includes email marketing, social media integration, and SEO capabilities. These tools can help users promote their websites and reach a larger audience more effectively. The platform also includes analytics capabilities for monitoring the performance of marketing efforts.
- 24/7 Customer Support: GoDaddy provides 24-hour customer assistance via a variety of methods, including phone calls, live chats, and email. This ensures that users may rapidly resolve any issues, making the website development and maintenance process smoother and more efficient.
- Comprehensive Hosting Services: As a major web hosting company, GoDaddy offers dependable hosting services that keep the site up and running. Users benefit from faster loading times and a secure hosting environment, which is essential for maintaining a professional online presence.
What makes GoDaddy a less compelling website builder:
Performance Issues: Users have noticed performance concerns in GoDaddy-built websites, such as slow loading times. These performance difficulties can adversely affect user experience and search engine results, which are key to maintaining a professional and competitive online presence.
Learning Curve for Advanced Features: Advanced capabilities of GoDaddy's website builder may require a steeper learning curve than simple options. Users may need to invest more time in fully mastering and using the platform's wide range of tools, a disadvantage for those who want a fast and easy web-building experience.
Pricing:
- Basic Plan: $10.99/month, best for getting online swiftly with a beautiful, secure website that includes design flexibility, marketing tools and online payments.
- Managed WordPress: $20.99/month, gives you the freedom to sell anything, anywhere online – from physical products to digital downloads, services and subscriptions.
4.Webflow
Webflow is not only a website builder but also a powerful in-browser platform that supports users to intuitively create, design and publish fascinating websites. As an integrated design and development solution, it allows users to easily move from concept to polished, deployable products.
What makes Webflow a powerful website builder:
- Visual Design Interface: This service allows users to graphically design websites using complex drag-and-drop interfaces. Moreover, its visual editor gives users the possibility to build complex layouts and animations without having to write code.
- CMS features: Unlike many other website builders, Webflow has a powerful CMS (Content Management System) function. It supports users to easily develop dynamic content-driven websites, making them ideal for blogs, portfolios, e-commerce storefronts, and other projects.
- Comprehensive Design and Layout Capabilities: There is no doubt that these capabilities give users significant customization choices. Users have complete control over all aspects of website design, including typesetting, color schemes, animation, and interaction.
What makes Webflow a less compelling website builder:
- Support and community: While Webflow provides useful communities and resources, such as tutorials and forums, some users may find third-party plugins and extensions have limited support or depth compared to other more established platforms.
- Dependency on Webflow Hosting: Websites generated using Webflow are usually managed on Webflow servers. While the host is dependable and incorporates security protections, it means users depend in part on Webflow's ecosystem. Some customers want more freedom to choose a hosting provider or integrate with other platforms.
Pricing:
- Free Plan: $0/month, for hobby and staging sites.
- Basic Plan: $14/month, for relatively simple, static sites.
- CMS Plan: $23/month, for blogs or other content-driven sites.
- Business Plan: $39/month, for large-scale sites.
5.Framer AI
Framer AI is a web-building tool that uses AI to quickly generate and customize websites. In addition, it simplifies web design by creating breathtakingly responsive websites without code. In addition, it uses natural language processing and computer vision to generate Web sites based on user input. Additionally, consumers define their ideal site, Framer AI creation, host, and suggest picture possibilities.
What makes Framer AI a powerful website builder:
- Interactive Prototyping: Framer's interactive prototyping capabilities are quite outstanding. Users are able to create dynamic and realistic prototypes by incorporating transitions, animations, and interactions. Framer's animation controls and timeline enable designers to create elaborate transitions, micro-interactions, and other dynamic effects using motion. Stakeholders and clients may better envisage the user experience and interactions, resulting in more meaningful input and better overall decisions.
- Plugin Ecosystem: Framer's large plugin ecosystem provides even more freedom. Framer's strong ecosystem of user-created plugins enables designers to optimize existing workflows and gain access to new capabilities. With these add-ons, designers have more tools at their disposal to create unique online experiences. They can automate routine tasks, link Framer to third-party tools and services, and more.
- User Testing and Feedback: Framer's built-in features facilitate user testing and feedback collection. Designers may now create prototypes that consumers can interact with and give comments on. Enabling commenting and notes within the prototype allows for real-time user interaction. This provides insights, validates design decisions, and allows designs to be iterated depending on user feedback. Early testing and design iteration can help to create more user-centered and productive online experiences.
What makes Framer AI a less compelling website builder:
- Complexity for Beginners: Beginners may struggle with Framer AI's advanced interactions and animations due to its complexity. Its UI and features may have a steeper learning curve than more user-friendly website builders.
- Scalability for Large Projects: For larger and complicated projects, Framer AI's scalability capabilities may be limited compared to enterprise-level systems.
Pricing:
- Free Plan: $0/month, gives consumers the foundations they need to play with Framer and begin their design projects.
- Mini Plan: $5/month, it provides additional options and features.
- Basic Plan: $15/month, it loads with high-end options and tools to improve user's design process.
- Pro Plan: $25/month, grants users access to all of Framer's features and capabilities.
6.Site123
What sets Site123 apart from other website builders is its unique approach. Instead of relying on "drag and drop" interfaces, Site123 offers pre-designed layouts and structures. These help users create a cohesive, visually appealing website optimized for their specific needs. Their templates are carefully crafted, allowing designers to build a stunning website without spending hours on design details.
What makes Site123 a powerful website builder:
- Flexibility: Site123's responsive designs are visually appealing, but they don't provide much creative freedom. Each part follows a set framework. This means you can't rearrange photographs, headlines, or videos whatever you wish. You can move entire portions. It's worth mentioning that there are numerous prebuilt content sections for a variety of purposes. All designs are mobile-responsive.
- Multilingual: Up to five languages can be added with ease via subfolders, subdomains, or unique domain names. However, a paid plan is required for this to work. Choose the language you want to add from the menu, and the system will generate a translation. It can also be manually changed, and it works great for e-commerce checkouts. SITE123 is available in more than twenty languages.
- Visitor Statistics: There is an internal analytics tool that displays a basic traffic overview, including the most popular content. Additionally, users can integrate Google Analytics with your website.
What makes Site123 a less compelling website builder:
- Navigation Level: Even though users can specify whether the links in their menu should open a new page or scroll down the same page, they can only add one level. That's good for relatively small web pages, but not for more complicated website structures.
- Creativity Limitation: Site123's editor is straightforward, but it lacks the usual drag-and-drop capabilities of other popular builders, such as Webflow, which limits the designer's creativity.
Pricing:
Free Plan: $0/month.
Premium Plan: $12.8/month.
How to determine which website builder best suits you?
- Determine if the service is simple to use. If you are a beginner, you must first determine whether a builder is a good fit for you. Visit the company's website to check whether you need any coding or programming abilities, learn how to construct a website, and determine if you can do it without the assistance of a professional web designer. Explore the service's capabilities and look for a drag-and-drop builder, design options, ready-made professional templates, and editing tools.
- Consider the price and your budget. Because there is increased competition for website builders, you have a variety of possibilities. Make sure you choose services that are both affordable and functional. It is ideal if a platform offers a basic free tariff or a free trial of the primary features to help users understand how the service operates. Before purchasing a domain, SSL, business email, or eCommerce services, check the builder's website for further details. Use this information to compute the cost of a website domain, business email, SSL, and so on. Check to see whether a service has any hidden fees.
- Explore the platform's features. Your website builder helps your business succeed and all integrations work more efficiently. When researching the features, be sure the service has a library of templates that meet your needs. Look through the website to discover what templates, designs, and themes they have. Also, check to see if the platform is flexible. It implies you can include important connectors such as Google Analytics, payment systems, CRM, email marketing providers, etc. Check the list of available integrations to confirm that the platform matches your needs.
Get started creating your website from here
The purpose of website builders is to enable anyone to construct a website. Even if you're completely new to website design, you can benefit from these top website builders. Through these platforms, you can carve out your own online area and customize it to your favoring.
Written by
Kimmy
Published on
Jul 17, 2024
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