The 20+ best website builders for 2020
Not more than 30 years ago, building a website was a job that only the most skilled programmers could do. It was in 1990 when HTML was first developed, and then it came into use a few years later. For a time, HTML was the only way to create a web page. Each item on the page was done manually and required a lot of effort and skill.In 2020, this is no longer the case, as website construction has gone from being just a chore for developers. Anyone, even website owners with little or no experience, can create and publish a website in just a few hours, using website builders. Before that, it is the choice of the correct platform on which to build your website which may be slower than the actual website development.
Our advice is to start with a free trial and try some options before making the final decision. The Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) and drag-and-drop website building block features will come in handy if you're a beginner.
1.Wix - more than just a drag & drop website builder
From 0 to 35 $ / month
Wix is a very popular cloud-based website builder and the favorite choice of over 177 million website owners. It offers a large number of ready-to-use themes and a wide market of applications that adapt to any type of functionality you want to find on a website, from creating an online store to obtaining orders for your restaurant.
The Wix Editor offers perhaps the most intuitive drag-and-drop solution for website owners to modify the content and layout of their website without the need to hire a developer. What's more, if you don't have a lot of free time, you can have Wix ADI artificial intelligence create a website for you just by answering a few questions.
Being a cloud-hosted solution, your chances of your Wix website going offline are close to 0, so you never have to worry about maintaining a server or breaking your customers' trust with a slow website.
In recent years, Wix has developed Corvid, a programming language in its own right, and an amazing tool that can extend Wix websites to achieve any kind of functionality. The days of being a simple drag and drop website builder are over, Wix being our top recommendation for both big business and small business. Install website analytics for your WiX website by clicking here
2. Wordpress - the world's most popular CMS
From 0 to 45 $ / month
WordPress is more than just a website builder that allows users to create a site in predefined templates with drag and drop elements. There is a difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org, the first is the website building app and the second is the elaborate open source content management system. If you have your own domain and hosting, you can easily install the latter at no cost.
Wordpress powers 35% of websites on the internet, according to their marketing claim, and has been a top choice for professional and amateur web developers alike for years.
There are over 55,000 Wordpress plugins and thousands of Wordpress themes, so there is a wide variety of options when it comes to improving and customizing your Internet presence. Another plus is the incredibly large and active Wordpress developer and user community. Thanks to this, finding solutions to very specific web design and functionality problems is usually very easy.
But be aware that a Wordpress site can be high maintenance at times, as themes and plugins need to be constantly updated. Otherwise, there is a risk that malware and hackers will attack your website through old versions of its themes and plugins if you don't install updates with the latest security patches.
Install website analytics for your WordPress website by clicking here.
3. Squarespace - growing in popularity
From 12 to 46 $ / month
Squarespace continues to grow in popularity year after year due to its focus on design quality and creativity. It is a great website builder for artists of all kinds, from photographers to designers and chefs, but also for small businesses and shops.
It has free web hosting and a great set of built-in marketing tools like advanced email marketing campaigns, SEO, and social media integrations. Our personal favorite is Instagram integration, which allows users to buy from a website directly through Instagram.
With Squarespace, no coding skills are needed, one can build perfectly functional and attractive web pages without knowing any HTML. As Winona Ryder seems to have done to promote the sale of a photo album from her hometown: welcometowinona.com.
Squarespace continues to grow in popularity year after year due to its focus on design quality and creativity. It is a great website builder for artists of all kinds, from photographers to designers and chefs, but also for small businesses and shops.
It has free web hosting and a great set of built-in marketing tools like advanced email marketing campaigns, SEO, and social media integrations. Our personal favorite is Instagram integration, which allows users to buy from a website directly through Instagram.
With Squarespace, no coding skills are needed, one can build perfectly functional and attractive web pages without knowing any HTML. As Winona Ryder seems to have done to promote the sale of a photo album from her hometown: welcometowinona.com.
4. Shopify - probably the easiest e-commerce platform to use
From 29 to 299 $ / month
Shopify is, without a doubt, one of the best web platforms to create an online store. This e-commerce website builder is known for its ease of use, intuitive design, and numerous marketing features.
A Shopify store can connect to social media channels and multiple markets like Amazon and eBay. This means that the sale of your products is not limited to your website since it will have multiple channels connected to each other, all working through the same inventory system.
It's not the cheapest option out there, considering that transaction fees are paid for Shopify as well, but with the easy-to-use builder and advanced inventory management system you could say it's worth paying a bit more.
5.Weebly - "The easiest way to build a website"
From 0 to 38 $ / month
Weebly is an easy-to-use drag-and-drop web page builder with responsive themes.
The free version of Weebly is an affordable way to build a nice-looking site for a hobby or even a small business. Weebly app center has multiple plugins for social media, traffic, e-commerce, and much more.
Unlike other beginner website builders, Weebly has an optional code editor, so if you're familiar with HTML your site can also be customized through the code.
Pricing plans include web hosting and technical maintenance along with security updates, while domains can be purchased separately from Weebly starting at $ 12 / year.
6. Constant Contact - Building an intuitive website
From 0 to 20 $ / month
Known primarily as an email marketing tool, Constant Contact also has a website builder. If you do not have any experience in creating a website, Constant Contact can be a great advantage. It is artificial intelligence-powered software that makes building a website an intuitive process. No coding skills are needed to create a functional and visually pleasing website.
It even has a free version with unlimited storage, social media integration, support, and SSL. The only downside is that it charges a 3% commission per sale if you have an online store. The free version may work for some, but if you decide to go for an annual payment plan you will get a free domain, so the upgrade will be worth it.
Constant Contact email marketing and store management tools will help you improve your online presence without too much effort
7. Bitrix24 - web construction joins CRM
From 0 to 159 $ / monthBitrix24 is more than just a website builder, it is a complete and powerful CRM tool used by companies around the world.
Building a website on Bitrix24 is free for small businesses. This free version comes with a ton of built-in functionality like email marketing, online store product catalogs, forms, customer relationship management system, social media marketing automation, and live chat.
Bitrix24 websites also come with free web hosting and an unlimited number of web pages and bandwidth allocation. The block-based editor is responsive and easy to use. And all the information that the user/visitor fills in the forms on the website or in the support chat is automatically transferred in the CRM system and can be used later for the generation of leads and sales.
The Bitrix24 website builder is still in its beta version with many new features that will be added soon. Overall, the Bitrix24 site builder is of good quality and definitely worth a try. See more about this in this very detailed video.
8. Godaddy - from hosting service to website builder
From 10 to 25 $ / month
GoDaddy used to be known as an industry leader in hosting services, but today, they also offer a quick option for building any type of website or online store.
The whole process begins with the user answering a few questions, and based on the answers, GoDaddy's ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) will generate a site in just seconds. Afterward, the theme can be chosen, edited, and personalized until reaching the final form.
GoDaddy websites come with an SSL certificate, built-in email marketing, and search engine tools, but the main advancements remain that it is very easy to use and quite cheap compared to its competitors.
9. Drupal - mainly for advanced users
Open-Source CMS
Yes, open-source means it is free, but the user will still have to pay for the themes and modules (plugins) they add to the website.
Drupal is a flexible content management system in which you can build both web pages and elaborate applications. Knowledge of web development is required to use this platform to its full potential.
Drupal is a powerful and complex tool in which you can build any type of website, from a simple blog or a landing page to a web portal or CRM worthy of a company.
Install website analytics on your Drupal website by clicking here.
10. Joomla - educating users
Open-Source CMS
Joomla is a platform for web developers and at first, it may seem a bit difficult to install and manage, but it can have a constant learning curve.
The special thing about this open-source platform is that one of its main objectives is to train and educate people in its use. Video-tutorials make the platform more accessible and the learning process is flexible and free!
Although more limited in number than its competitors, Joomla has numerous plugins that make the construction of a website or an online store more malleable.
Install website analytics on your Joomla website by clicking here.
Bonus Websites
Jimdo - building a fun website
From 0 to 39 $ / month
Jimdo was created based on the idea that website building should be a fun process, and this makes it a great platform for beginners. It has smart web design features, for example, if you upload a photo or logo the template colors will change to match that. This is just one of Jimdo's many design tricks, but overall web pages are easy to modify and adjust to your own personal style.
Jimdo has search engine optimization tools and social media integrations, which is pretty common for most website builders, but it also has a feature that makes it stand out from the crowd. Automatically updates the privacy terms and conditions of a website so that the owner no longer has to worry about privacy policies and RGP compliance.
Magento - from CMS to Commerce Cloud
Open-Source CMS
Magento is now part of the Adobe suite and with this merger came a serious makeover for the entire product. Magento is an e-commerce solution used by small businesses as well as companies around the world.
It can still be used as an open-source content management system, where it is downloaded and installed on your own server for free. But for eCommerce websites with higher sales volume and more traffic, Magento Commerce & Magento Commerce Cloud are also available. These provide more functionality, cloud hosting, and website data management. They also come with higher costs.
This platform has numerous built-in solutions that make the life of the store owner much easier. It has advanced inventory, shipping and payment management, search engine optimization tools, customer service, and more than 5,000 other extensions available.
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