Do you have a website for your business?
It might seem like a cut-out from a decade ago newspaper ad. Yet, many small businesses don’t pay much heed to it.
But times have changed and so has the approach.
Recent reports suggest 71% of small businesses do have a functional website. And why not?
Having a good website acts as a channel for better connectivity with your audience. It adds a symbol of credibility and authenticity to your business.
However, multiple small businesses rush in to sell themselves through Facebook and Instagram because they don’t want to go through the complexities of creating that pixel-perfect website with 24/7 uptime.
They either avoid creating a website because their operations are too small or can’t afford a team of people needed to make one.
A good website builder can solve this issue in a snap. Some of the best website builders don’t require you to be a tech ninja. Customizing them is a kid’s play.
But amid so many options, how do you decide which website builder is the best for you? Indeed, it’s a tricky question.
Check out our list of the best website builders for small businesses to create aesthetic, operational, and scalable websites.
I bet you have heard the name, WordPress before.
WordPress is the most popular content management system (and the most lionized way to make a website) for businesses of all sizes. Currently, WordPress powers 42% of the internet. All credit goes to its flexibility, scalability, powerful features, and ease of use.
A great thing about WordPress is that it’s a 100% open-source platform that enables you to create quality websites, blogs, or apps for free.
Yes, you heard that right. As the company likes to state, “WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.”
On WordPress, you get complete control over every line of code of your website. It may not sound that appealing for a beginner, but as you grow, it will come in handy to make changes on your site as you need.
WordPress is also compatible with tens of thousands of hosting platforms, drag and drop builders, and over 55,000 plugins to add more functionality to your website.
For instance, Elementor, a WordPress website builder plugin, enables you to design your website with drag and drop functionality. It also provides you with countless built-in capabilities to add landing pages, contact forms, shopping carts, and many other features necessary to create a professional website.
Let’s count the notable benefits of WordPress:
- Customizable designs
- SEO-friendly
- Responsive mobile sites
- High performance
- Manage on-the-go
- High security
- Powerful media management
- Easy and accessible
Pricing: About the pricing of WordPress, when I say it’s for free, it means that you can build a website for your business for free, but still, you have to pay for the domain name and website hosting to make your website live. Their packs start from $7 and go up to $59 per month.
Rich T
I like that WordPress is open source and that anyone can develop for it. I like that it’s customizable and allows relatively easy tweaking for those who may not be very technical. Since it’s one of the most popular platforms, there is a ton of support for it and plugins from which to choose, which is nice.
What do you dislike?
Having to worry about updates all of the time is a bit annoying, and there’s always the possibility of security issues with plugins. Granted, that’s not purely a WP problem, but it’s part of the experience.
Wix is a straightforward cloud-based website-building tool. It is quite popular among beginners for its ease of use and no learning curve.
Even for a person with no prior technical knowledge, creating an aesthetically pleasing website on Wix is no rocket science. Its drag and drop functionality lets you fix, resize, recolor, rotate and align elements on your website however you’d like.
Want to make things extra simpler? Use Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) to automatically create one-of-a-kind websites. Just answer a few questions and get a fully designed site with content and images built-in.
Let’s note down some of the exciting features that Wix offers:
- Drag & drop editor
- Free hosting
- Over 500 designer-made templates
- Advanced SEO tools
- Mobile optimized
- App market
- Customize Colors & Fonts
- Velo by Wix for advanced web applications
Pricing: Wix’s combo plan is priced at $14/month. You can also get their plan made for freelancers and entrepreneurs for $18/month and a complete online branding package with multiple features for $23/month.
Adrian Romero
Wix is a well-suited tool when I am looking for a fast, easy and solid way of finishing some of my client’s websites. It gives me freedom, authority, and intuitive tools that make my process faster and provide very good results.
What do you dislike?
The cost of the e-commerce options is more than I would prefer to spend as a small business just starting if there is no plan in place for advertising to get sales through the website. But it is a reasonable price for those who plan on having a steady stream of orders through the website
Squarespace is considered one of the best e-commerce website builders for small businesses.
Just a look at its inventory of world-class design templates merged with features like inventory management, product catalogs, related product bar, limited availability label, and you’d know.
On top of that, you get the drag and drop functionality with built-in SEO tools, aesthetic cover page design, and analytics features to make your website stand out from the crowd.
However, Squarespace is not as intuitive as Wix for beginners and has a relatively steeper learning curve for many users. Still, the sleek design prowess and extensive feature list make Squarespace an optimum website builder for e-commerce businesses.
Let’s take a look at the noted feature list of the tool:
- Designer templates
- Drag and drop editor
- Built-in SEO tools
- Site analytics
- Team management
- Social media marketing connections
- Trusted payment gateways
Pricing: SquareSpace has two website plans priced at $12/month and $18/month (billed annually). It also gives e-commerce website plans for $26 and $40/month.
Josh Summerhays
Squarespace makes it very easy to get products listed in an eCommerce store. The interface is intuitive (they’ve improved in this regard quite a bit in their recent update, in my opinion) and quick to navigate.
What do you dislike?
Design options tend to be limited unless you venture into the world of add-ons where things can get quite technical. If you’re looking for a plug-and-play, you’ll get it here, but you will likely have to concede some personal design preferences to fit the boundaries of their templates.
Pixpa is an all-in-one, DIY website builder platform designed to empower photographers, creators, and small businesses by helping them create stunning, professional websites without touching a single line of code.
Pixpa’s no-code platform makes website building a breeze. Your website’s visual elements, including fonts, color schemes, and layouts, can be fully customized using the visual editor and drag-and-drop page builder. You also get a range of mobile-optimized and responsive themes for building professional-looking websites.
The best thing about Pixpa is the extensive help website with step-by-step help articles and tutorial videos to educate beginners. The customer support team is also available 24×7 to help you out.
Some of the striking features of Pixpa are:
- No-code website builder platform
- Mobile-friendly and responsive template designs
- Integrated SEO & marketing tools
- Free one-time website set-up service with Expert and Business tier plans
- Free SSL security with all websites
- 24×7 customer support through email and live chat
Pricing: Pixpa’s most affordable pricing plan is the Light plan which costs $3/month. The Personal plan is slightly more expensive yet affordable at $7/month. The Expert and Business tier plans cost $10 and $16/month respectively.
Dinesh K
Pixpa is easy and simple to use and gives me full control of my website rather than having to depend on a techie or designer.
What do you dislike?
Some of the dashboard controls are not easy to understand.
Weebly is another easy-to-use drag and drop builder on the list. It has tons of great features, making it one of the best website builders for small businesses in the price range.
The tool comes with a decent collection of templates for all sorts of industries. Though the templates are not up to par with the ones present on Squarespace, they are still good enough to present your small business in an elegant, clear, and affordable manner.
One thing that stands out is the Weebly app center. It’s home to over 300 apps, covering marketing, communications, e-commerce, social media, and other site tools and features to make your website powerful.
Let’s cover some of the most beneficial features of Weebly:
- Drag and drop builder
- Custom fonts
- Advance animation effects
- Built-in image editor
- Dynamic design elements
- Background coding
- Integrated analytics
- App center
Pricing: Weebly has 3 premium plans, wherein the best one for small businesses is priced at $25/month.
Verified User
We are not currently using it across our entire organization but are toying with the idea of implementing more services they offer. It addresses the need to host a website, have an easy way to manage it, and allow you to add functions and features without the need for programmer/coding know
What do you dislike?
Weebly is well suited for an individual or organization that is smaller and needs a basic website with limited functionality. Weebly also fell short on the availability of plug-ins and limited SEO functionality. This platform might not be ideal if you’re a mid-sized organization or an organization that makes a lot of online sales.
Appy Pie website is an AI-powered website builder that is designed for people who want to create websites without having to learn how to code or use complicated tools. This website builder is especially suitable for small businesses and beginners who want to have an online presence.
Appy Pie also provides a range of templates and themes, making it easy for users to customize their websites the way they want.
One of the advantages is that it is AI-powered, which means you can simply describe your website in a sentence or two and turn the text into a professional website in minutes with the power of AI. The platform also has a collection of over 200+ powerful features with excellent customer support service to ensure complete customer satisfaction.
Not just this, your websites built on Appy Pie AI website builder are lightweight, fast, and have the capability to deliver content in offline mode. With this website builder platform, you can create a website in just a few minutes for any industry including food, IT, CRM, management, or entertainment.
Appy Pie Website is full of ultimate features and benefits. Let’s list them out:
- AI-powered website maker
- Free domain
- Free business email
- Free hosting and SSL
- Free Google Workspace
- Unlimited customization options
- Special discounts for schools, Non-profit, EDU, government bodies, etc.
Pricing: Appy Pie offers two plans to its users – $18 and $36. The basic plan is focused on individuals whereas the professional plan focuses on small businesses looking to grow their business.
Donald
It is easy to create a functional website by simply selecting the features you need and input your desired settings. You can also create a dedicated native Android and ios application counterpart of your website.
What do you dislike?
The only issue with Appy Pie website builder is that you cannot create complex websites which require too much detailing and specifications. However, the platform runs smooth as butter for other users.
You may know GoDaddy as one of the largest domain names and hosting service providers. They also offer a website builder called GoDaddy website builder.
GoDaddy is a great tool for small businesses to create their website with minimal effort. Simply select one of their designer templates and start customizing it with the drag and drop editor.
But, when it comes to comparison with the tools we have discussed so far, GoDaddy’s website builder falls short on design and feature list.
Still, with essential website features like contact forms, image and video feeds, social media links, and more, the tool is a great option for small businesses to create a simple website quickly.
Let’s note down the stand-out features:
- Click and Drag Reorder
- Drop-Down Menus
- Customizable Themes
- Promo Banners
- Members-Only Pages
- Calls-to-Action
Pricing: The website builder comes with the $14.99/month standard plan and $19.99/month premium plan, which both are the apt choice for any new or growing small business.
Katelyn R
It is easy to use. Building a website can literally happen within a few hours to a day. There is not much work involved on the part of the user because templates are already set in place. The templates are also customized to fit each industry. This makes for a simple select-and-implement process.
What do you dislike?
While the industry templates are a nice touch for beginners, GoDaddy does not allow for much customization. There are custom template options, but even these are somewhat restricted in their form. Also, plugins are pretty much nonexistent. I enjoy software that allows you to make endless customizations, write your own code, and add whichever plugins you like.
Next in line is the Gator Website builder developed by one of the most popular web hosting platforms, HostGator.
Gator is a great fit for small businesses looking to create a simple website quickly with a simple interface, easy-to-use drag, and drop editor, and over 200 dynamic templates.
However, Gator is not the best choice for businesses looking to create an online store. It has limited e-commerce and email marketing capabilities when compared with other tools.
Still, Gator is everything a small business could ask for – easy-to-use, functional, and affordable. Let’s list out the main features:
- Drag and drop builder
- Customizable templates
- Integrated live social feeds
- Free SSL certificate
- Free hosting
- Website analytics
- Good support
Pricing: Gator’s most popular site plan for small businesses is priced at $5.99/month (billed for 2 years). You can also get an online store plan at $9.22/month.
Mike Williams
Gator Website Builder’s smartly-designed editor is a great way to create professional and good-looking websites quickly. I love how easy it is for someone with no expertise to create a website.
What do you dislike?
The integrated blog and web store are relatively basic and unlikely to satisfy demanding or experienced users.
Duda is one of the best website builders to create an amazing website for your small business at a breakneck speed.
You get an easy-to-use drag and drop builder, appealing templates, great SEO tools, shrinking headers, and access to the backend to make changes on your website as your business grows.
One thing that caught my attention is Duda’s personalization feature that enables you to change the look of your website and trigger features based on your audience that helps you boost conversion.
For example, showing a welcome video to users visiting your website for the first time or a buy-in-store popup if they live in a nearby location.
So what’s the catch? Well, Duda’s editing capabilities aren’t as flexible as Wix. The tool allows you to place elements in selective areas on the page.
Let’s note down the important features offered by Duda:
- Drag and drop editor
- Website personalization
- Multiple site widgets
- Modern templates
- Team and client management
- White Label feature
Pricing: Duda’s basic plan is priced at $14/month (billed annually). If you want access to team and client management features too, just pay 50 cents more.
Suzanne B
What I like best about the Duda Pro program is the level of customer service compared to other platforms such as Wix. The templates are adequate and the editor is fairly simple to use. I’ve created both simple and complex websites using Duda for my clients. Another thing I really like is the personalization tools which make it easy to add popups, banners, coupons, welcome messages & more.
What do you dislike?
What I like least about using the Duda editor is that it puts everything into boxes, often not where you want the content. This can be frustrating. Also, I struggled with the shipping set-up and found the store widget rather limiting.
BigCommerce is specifically made for businesses wanting to create an online store to boost their sales. It is arguably the best e-commerce website builder for small businesses.
The platform currently powers big e-commerce names such as Ben & Jerry’s, Skullcandy, Black diamond, and many other famous online stores.
With this tool in your arsenal, you can create a robust e-commerce store to sell products and services. BigCommerce enables beginners to build, operate, and grow an online store without the need for any coding expertise.
Here are some of the most popular features of BigCommerce:
- Drag and drop editor
- Checkout customization
- 70+ native discounts and promotions
- Blazing site speed
- Multiple digital wallets
- Multi-storefront
Pricing: BigCommerce is the most expensive tool on the list, but then again its features are more than any normal drag and drop editor. BigCommerce’s most popular plan is priced at $79.95/month. You can also opt for a standard or pro plan, priced at $29.95/month and $200/month respectively.
Charles L
I like the fact that I can manipulate my website without the use of a designer. It provides you with a simple interface to add multiple products easily. The application is quite robust. With the knowledge base, the user community, and online chat to support, I usually get most of my questions answered.
What do you dislike?
There are some portions of the application that are rather technical and confusing. The tool needs more of a WYSIWYG editor or theme options that do not require coding; most clients cannot handle features that require HTML skills to edit. Another major drawback is the pricing structure. It could be expensive for a low-budget business trying to grow. Our volume increased to a significant level then our pricing tripled.
Online retailers will agree that Shopify is one of the best website builders because of its jam-packed features. This fully customizable builder has multiple templates with editable HTML and CSS to suit your branding taste.
It is a hosted solution, so you don’t need to break your head worrying about the web hosting platforms or plugins. That being said, Shopify also prioritizes security.
Coming to the interface, the platform is incredibly easy to use. The look of the platform is clean and straightforward. The flow is self-explanatory, which is a big plus for beginners.
Some of the remarkable features of Shopify are:
- 70+ professional themes
- Customization addons
- Supports 100 payment gateways
- Multiple language support
- Dropshipping
- Email Templates
Pricing: Shopify offers three plans, Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. They are priced at $29, $79, and $299 with varying needs. While the basic plan focuses on preliminary reporting, the advanced package gives you access to vital sales and marketing analytics.
Pablo R
I like it that it’s a pretty straightforward platform, easy to upload products, track your sales, and have your own customer list.
What do you dislike?
I’d say that improving the themes is easy but could be improved and that each theme developer has its own way of options; you can, for example, find in one theme that you can have product variants both as buttons and a drop-down menu and in another theme just as a drop-down menu.
Zyro is one of the simplest website builders that brings unbelievable value to the table. This no-code platform caters to audiences that are used to designing via a graphical interface and not through bleeding lines of cryptic codes.
It steps up its game by integrating with tools that further make managing your website a smooth ride. Their website speed is remarkable with decent uptime. Zyro also powers each of its sites with Cloudflare CDN.
That’s not all, though. This comparatively new player among the website builders employs a couple of AI tools to improve its overall performance even better and more enticing.
Some of the other Zyro features that make it a stand out are:
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage
- Free website hosting
- Security with SSL
- Designer-crafted templates
- 24×7 customer support
- Blogging tools
- Visitor remarketing
Pricing: Zyro offers 4 pricing plans. While the portfolio and business sites cost $2.90 and $4.90 each month, the online store and its advanced version cost $8.90 and $15.90 monthly.
Chloe S.
I like the templates, they are easy to choose from, and it is easy to customize.
What do you dislike?
Sometimes the interface is a little confusing, and I end up clicking around several times before I find where I’m trying to go.
TeleportHQ is the collaborative low code platform that automatically writes and deploys code. It allows you to create visual prototypes, generate real-time code and employ the user interface you prefer with a single click.
TeleportHQ is a visual development application augmented with artificial intelligence that works across different platforms and languages. It makes it easy to create high-performing and search engine–friendly websites.
Built-in features like Gzip, minification & CDN for all resources and an intelligent image management system that will compress and convert any image to the optimized browser format improve your site performance by taking over the technical SEO.
Here are some of the most popular features of teleportHQ:
- Quick drag and drop website builder
- Professional templates to get started
- Free one-click hosting and deployments
- Clean code export to HTML, CSS, and JS
- Reusable components
- Instantly responsive on all mobile devices
- Easy Project Sharing
Pricing: teleportHQ has two plans. The Free plan currently includes everything you need to get started with up to 3 free projects. The Professional plan is meant for teams and individuals who must collaborate around complex projects hosted on custom domains. It’s priced at €18/editor/month and €15/editor/month (if billed annually).
Chloe B.
The platform is more and more stable now, and since they have introduced the professional templates, it’s even faster to get started or simply work on something already built. No code is excellent for business users, while low code shines in programmers’ hands.
What do you dislike?
As with any similar platform, you do need time to learn the ins and outs of a no-code platform.
Conclusion
Having an okayish website for your small business is not enough. Because as you grow, your needs will grow too. Hence, a website builder with easy scaling up add-ons is worth your initial investment in the long run.
Customizing your website with DIY website builders gives you the space for flexibility.
We have handpicked tools after ticking out all crucial factors like user-friendliness, affordability, and search engine friendliness that make a difference for small businesses.So opt for the best social media tools for small businesses to grow your online presence and promote your website content on social media and elsewhere to garner the attention you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wix good for small business?
Wix is a great tool for small businesses wanting to create an aesthetic and functional website. Its drag and drop feature enables you to create decent websites without any coding expertise. So, if you are someone who wants an easy website building experience without sacrificing on features and looks, Wix is your tool.
Which website builder is easiest to use?
When it comes to ease of use, Wix and Weebly are some of the best website builders. It is all because of their intuitive UI and easy-to-use drag and drop editor. Moreover, Wix with its ADI has the upper hand in creating flawless websites at breakneck speed.
Which are the best website builders for an e-commerce business?
Here’s the list of the best website builders for an e-commerce website:
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
- Wix
- SquareSpace
- Zyro
- Shift4Shop
- Volusion
- GoDaddy
- Pixpa
- teleportHQ
How much does a beginner website cost?
It depends on how you are making that website and the kind of functionality you want it to have.
So if you want to create a custom website made from scratch, it will cost you around $5K. Now this estimate includes hiring a designer, buying a domain, and hosting.
Alternatively, you can use the cheapest option to build a website – website builders. With a website builder you can create a website for $12 to $20 per month.
What’s the difference between Wix and WordPress?
The task of both WordPress and Wix is to build a website. Now, the difference lies in how they do it.
WordPress is an open-source CMS that allows you to create a bigger website with multiple pages and extra functionality. The tool has a steeper learning curve and requires you to buy separate hosting.
Wix, on the other hand, is an easy-to-use website builder with a drag and drop template solution for creating a website.
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