Best Website Builders of 2024- Free & Paid

Wix should be your go-to website builder if you want to build a fully sophisticated website. But what if you want to build a very basic website, without spending too much on the features that are not necessary for your website? Site123 website builder is your solution.

Site123 website builder lets you create a basic-level blog, business website, or online store with ease. But the downside is that you will not get the level of flexibility that you get in Wix or other top website builders. There are tons of templates that are highly responsive and are well optimized for mobile devices.

Flexibility is limited only to doing basic tasks like changing fonts, uploading images, and other basic modifications. But once your website is public, there is no way you can change the template you have chosen. This is a strange restriction that can surely spoil the user experience. Instead of a drag-and-drop interface, you get a wireframe layout where you can upload your content. This surely is easier to do than the drag-and-drop method but keeps the customizability to a minimum.

There is support for up to 25 different social media platforms and can help you up your social media game to a marginal extent. But one standout feature of Site123 that most of the popular website builders miss is the support for creating multilingual websites. You will not need to worry if you have an international audience and will not need to maintain different versions of your website depending on the language.

You can use the free version of Sites123 but the features on offer are very limited and you don’t get support for any email accounts with the free version. But if you opt to buy the premium version, it is priced at $5.80/mo. You get 10 GB of storage space. The premium plan also comes with a Free SSL certificate and you do get a domain name free for a year.

As already mentioned, Site123 is not the most ideal choice for high-end websites. If you want a simple website builder with no gimmicky features to create a simple website, Site123 must be your choice.

Weebly comes with an easy-to-use user interface where you get the Drag-and-Drop option to create your website. While this interface is not as seamless and sophisticated as that of the one you get with Wix. The interface in Weebly is a kind of mixture of the one that you get in CMS and the Drag-and-Drop interface. Liking this feature is subjective. Some may find it helpful, while some may find it as a limitation.

When we are talking about an all-inclusive website builder, it is obvious that you cannot look for other cheaper web hosting alternatives to host your website as web hosting comes bundled with the plans on offer. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. Sometimes you will be charged very high if you opt for premium plans and sometimes you might have to compromise when it comes to the speed and security of your website.

But that is not the case with Weebly. Because the packages offered by Weebly are high in security and speed. The speed and security of your website are ensured.

Talking about the optimization and marketing features, Weebly comes with an HTML editing option, so you can add most of the optimization and marketing tools to your website. But Weebly offers less or no support to add custom email collection tools, custom website analytics tools, and A/B testing software, you will be limited from doing the optimization and marketing that you would be able to do if you choose other options over Weebly.

Another drawback that comes with choosing Weebly is that you cannot migrate your website to other platforms. Say, for example, you have your site created in Weebly and once the tenure is over, you want your website on WordPress. This is completely impossible. This is a severe drawback and something that you should keep in mind if you are thinking about long-term plans for your website.

WordPress needs no introduction to a person who knows a thing or two about websites and the usual stuff around creating them. WordPress is more of a Content Management System (CMS) than just a website builder. WordPress lets you do more stuff than you can do with other website builders. CMSs usually have a learning curve as opposed to website builders that have very less or no learning curve.

However, the flexibility that you get with WordPress is unmatched. You should get used to the user interface of WordPress with time.

WordPress has a lot of things going for it when thrown head-to-head with other website builders. First of all, WordPress is the most popular option for creating websites. Over 35% of the website over the internet are powered by WordPress. That is considerably great given the fact that there are more than 50 website builders in the market. If you choose WordPress, you are backed by a huge community of enthusiasts who constantly keep things posted that you might need in the future during your journey with WordPress.

Free plugins and free themes are the results of the efforts of the developers in the WordPress community and you can get any type of plugin for any of your website needs. The open code access of WordPress has enabled the developers with the ability to create these different plugins. And the support plugin in WordPress is next to none. Nowhere else you will see more plugins being supported than in WordPress. With the use of proper SEO plugins, you can also website a top-ranked one. You get the option to edit the permalinks, Meta tags, add categories to posts, and more.

We have talked about the themes provided by other website builders. But the number of themes you can get with WordPress is stands next to none. You can change the complete look and feel of your website by choosing a perfect theme. In addition to using the themes from WordPress’s theme directory, you can also install themes that you have downloaded from other sources. You can access your website from your phone with the help of the WordPress mobile app, anytime anywhere. With the help of this app, you can do all the stuff that you would otherwise do on your PC.

WordPress is available both in the form of a free version and a premium version. And then there is the concept of WordPress.Org and WordPress.Com. WordPress.Org means self-hosted platform, You will need to purchase the Web Hosting Service and Domain name and create a website in your hosting panel.

Read More: The Best WordPress Hosting Services

The premium version of WordPress is fully managed by WordPress and you can choose from three different plans. The prices start at Rs. 250/mo. You get Jetpack Essential Features, support via Email and live chat, and more. You are also free from all the Ads if you choose any of these three plans and decide to host your website with WordPress. But if you want to run an online store, you are required to choose higher-tier plans as you do not get support for payment processing with the basic package.

Wix is a website builder that has dominated most if not all the “Best Website Builders” lists. The possibilities of different types of websites one can create with Wix are endless.

Right from a basic blog to sharing your ideas, a gallery of the photos you have clicked, or a portfolio of the work you have done, creating a fully sophisticated online store can be done with the help of the Wix website builder.

And it would be wrong to compare Wix with other normal website builders. Because most website builders are the experts in either letting you create a blog or an online store. But Wix comes with the best of both worlds, which is a rarity in the sea of website builders.

Out of many things that go in favor of Wix, ease of use leads the line. Wix is known to be extremely user-friendly, thanks to the drag-and-drop user interface that lets users put together their website just by dragging and dropping the elements. In case you lack creative juices while creating your website, coming to your rescue are more than 100 free templates. Wix also bundles a Free Logo maker and Free Favicon pack with the website builder.

The different ways you can create a website in Wix don’t just end right here. There is a unique and innovative option called ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence). This feature can help you create a full-size website in just a matter of a few clicks. You just have to give a few inputs about your preferences and Wix ADI will have your website completely ready in just a few seconds.

You can also use the apps available for Android or iOS to make it easier for you to edit your website on your phone when you are away from your computer. There is also an App Market that includes hundreds of website apps that you can add to your website and make your website completely ready to rock.

A downside of Wix is that you cannot transfer the sites you have created with Wix. There is no option for self-hosting in Wix. This type of website builder is called an all-inclusive website builder. The term all-inclusive means that you get everything you need from creating your website to hosting your website, and domain name rather than installing small bits for every small action. 

If you opt to buy the Wix website builder, you will be offered web hosting too. Along with hosting, they also provide Free SSL. You can get Wix at a special price of Rs.29/mo.

You can try their service as they provide 14 14-day trial period. But if you are not sure if you want to spend some bucks, Wix also comes with a free variant. Unlike the paid version, you will not be able to connect your domain name. There will be Ads by Wix on your site. You can pay and upgrade anytime to enjoy the power of Wix to the fullest.