Easiest Website Builders 2023 – 10 Easy Website Builders For The Technology Challenged
Your big idea or newest eCommerce project needs a website. Luckily, there are options out there that don’t require you to know how to code or have design skills to get that professional look. A good website builder does all the heavy lifting for you (and makes the process simple).
We’ve put together a list of the easiest website builders, designed to get your website off the ground more efficiently. Plus, we’ve answered some questions you may have about website builders. It’s everything you need to get started.
What is the Easiest Website Builder to Use?
These options provide simple design and operational solutions. You’ll get a professional look and a functional user interface, even if you’re not a web designer. Let’s take a look.
Wix — Best All-Around Free Choice
Wix provides a simple, straightforward solution to building your website. It provides a free option as well as upgrades to higher capacity storage and bandwidth. If you’ve never built a website before, this is a great place to get started.
Website Building
Wix makes it simple to get your website up and running. You can drag and drop elements in your design, building a single page or a more complex website. The elements look professional, and they work well with user navigation.
Wix recently unveiled an artificial intelligence-driven website builder designed to make it even easier for you to put together the website elements you need. It takes out all the guesswork, scraping your social media sites and LinkedIn profile for photos and relevant information.
Wix also has an option to preview mobile navigation, allowing you to make simple changes that apply only to the mobile versions.
Extra Features
Wix does offer photo editing tools and plenty of stock photography designed to get you started without a dedicated collection. You also get your choice of templates, available for a variety of different website needs.
Wix only provides limited storage and uploads. If you plan to upload your entire photography portfolio, you might need to upgrade from a free plan. You can also get domains directly through the website builder and integrate mailbox solutions there as well.
The paid tiers offer analytics and custom SEO plans to ensure your website gets found. You have options to integrate music features, video, and distinctive designs for restaurants or chefs to showcase menus.
Cost And Trial
Wix offers several different plans starting with a free option. You’ll have the Wix branding in your domain name, but it covers the basics for you. The next tier is a $13 per month combo option that provides basic website functionality with more robust storage.
$17 provides you with more storage and even more features designed for solo entrepreneurs or freelancers. From there, $22 gets you a pro plan with some robust business solutions, and $39 ensures you have enterprise-level features with priority customer care.
There are three tiers of specific business plans that integrate with robust eCommerce features and provide even more support. For true enterprise-level needs, Wix offers a custom call for pricing and design.
You can try any of these options for 14 days and receive your money back if you aren’t satisfied before the trial period is up. They accept most common payment methods.
Wix pros:
- ready-made templates
- free version
- multiple tiers including an always free option
Wix cons:
- Storage may be limited
- Templates aren’t easily customizable
- Loading speed is on the slower side
Squarespace — Best For Small Business
Squarespace boasts high design capability through customized templates, and it’s true. Businesses that want the look of a customized website without all the hassle of hiring a design team or learning code should be pleased.
It has plenty of add-on features and simplified pricing to make choosing your package easier. While it’s not quite as intuitive of design as some options on the list, once you get the hang of the interface, you’ll have a professional quality website in no time.
Website Building
The most significant appeal of Squarespace is the prepackaged templates you can use. Search based on recommended options for your particular industry — restaurants or photography, for example — and go from there.
The drag and drop features have a learning curve, but with a little experimentation, you’ll have your website. And if you find a template that you like better after the fact, you can private-demo it with all the information you’ve already entered.
Squarespace offers automatic mobile conversion designed to make your users’ mobile experience straightforward. You don’t have the option to apply changes or settings specifically to mobile, but Squarespace does an excellent job of converting things neatly.
Extra Features
Squarespace has a robust SEO program to help optimize your site and payment integrations with common eCommerce software. Their online store option is slightly more expensive than some other options, but without any transaction fees, your store could potentially save big going this route.
If you’re blogging, this is the website to start. They have blogging features and integrations like no other website builder on the market right now. The designs are flexible and feature top-level SEO customization choices.
Cost and Trial
Squarespace is slightly more expensive than some options with their cheapest choice coming in at $12 per month. However, their upgraded tiers do offer some functionality, and you get a 14-day trial without a credit card to demo your site.
$18 a month gets you a more robust business plan while their dedicated business and store options run between $26 and $40 per month. This is a good option for small businesses that want options for blogging as well as eCommerce and need the SEO support to boost traffic.
Squarespace pros:
- Robust templates that look custom
- Extensive resources for blogging
- Automatic mobile conversion
Squarespace cons:
- Load speed is slower than some options
- Templates have a learning curve
- Slightly more expensive
Weebly — Best Free Option
Weebly has excellent website building capability, but it’s the design features offered in the free option that catches our eye. Weebly offers one of the most generous free options available, allowing you to get started for the first time without any investment upfront.
Weebly is smaller than Wix or Squarespace overall, but don’t let it fool you. It offers dynamic solutions for those who need complex websites. It provides unlimited storage at most tiers and good eCommerce integrations.
One great feature about Weebly is that you can download your site files. If you decide to move to another host, you won’t have to scrap your entire website just to do so.
Website Building
The template designs are straightforward and professional, allowing you to customize the elements you need for your design. Whether you’re blogging, running a restaurant, or handing a shop.
The editor itself is a little limited. However, unless you’re doing high-level edits, you probably won’t find that constraining at all. Instead, the boundaries make it easier to get your website up and running without spending endless amounts of time tweaking.
The free option still offers some of the best choices for your design needs and robust storage choices, unlike any other free website builder. Plus, if you decide to switch to a more robust host like WordPress later on when your business takes off, you’ll have
Extra Features
With some of the higher tiers, you get eCommerce capabilities such as tax calculators and shipping calculators. You can manage inventory and discount options. With useful analytics and SEO tools, you’ll be able to track and analyze your website traffic and performance.
The website editor does limit you in terms of specific tools and customization, but it does ensure that you have a bit of customization.
Cost and Trial
There are a few different levels of options, including a robust free edition. For around $5 per month, you can have your own domain name, but with Weebly ads, and upgrading to the $12 per month plan will get you an ad-free experience.
For the full experience, $25 will allow you to take advantage of their entire suite of features for eCommerce and shopping. This gives you a robust set of tools and ensures you’re up and running.
It offers a 14-day free trial to try out the upper-level features and will provide a simple option for you to figure out which tier you might need.
Weebly pros:
- Really robust free edition
- Generous storage
- Good free trial
Weekly cons:
- Limited full-service features
- Not as much mobile integration
- Limited language options
Duda — Best Language Customization
Duda isn’t as well known as other players in the field, but it provides simple customization and good language options. It’s emerged as a multilingual option with great support and analytics, considering the size.
Duda has several pricing tiers, and it includes agency options. With differentiated options and stylish templates, you’ll be able to ensure that you can get up and running.
Website Building
The website building features provide a simple templating system for building. There aren’t many add-ons in the basic tiers, but more enterprise options exist as you upgrade.
As far as multilingual support, there are few websites out there with more capability. In fact, it’s become a go-to for those building websites outside the English language exclusively. They take care of the basics.
Extra Features
One of the best features is the ability to customize your user experience based on markers like location or time of day. You can segment your audience and provide new solutions to reach them.
Smaller tiers don’t have the option of domain names or email integration, but Duda makes these accessible as you upgrade. The agency options give you the capability to control and create websites in batches.
Free eCommerce add-ons allow you to sell up to ten products, making it perfect for small shops or infopreneurs. Its differentiated features help you customize.
Cost and Trial
Pricing starts at $14 for the basic tier. You’ll get some basic blogging features and template customization. The plans go up to $74 for the agency option. This gives you the capability to build websites for other clients and manage the back office for businesses.
You can save 25% if you take advantage of annual billing. You can try any of the tiers for at least two weeks to see if you like it. You don’t need a credit card to start. They even have an enterprise option designed to pull out all the stops.
Duda pros:
- Multilingual support
- Free eCommerce add-on
- Audience segmentation tools
Duda cons:
- It’s a bit expensive
- There’s no app store
- No free options
GoDaddy — Best Basic Websites With Domain
GoDaddy is known most for domain hosting, but they do offer a simple solution for websites too. They have no-frills designs for those who just want a simple website option. It’s not very robust, but it will allow you to build a website and get it live in only a few hours.
It’s not too expensive and doesn’t have a lot of customization. However, it is simple and straightforward, designed to ensure that you can get your customized website. Some of the tiers have social media integration and email capability.
Website Building
GoDaddy doesn’t offer a ton of customization, but it gets the job done. Its primary approach is a simple fill-in-the-blank method that ensures your information is correct and gives you a website in just a few hours.
It’s a drag and drop set of blocks that allow you to customize templates and ensure all your information is easy to find. It’s responsive and has a mobile browsing version for many templates.
Extra Features
The abandoned cart recovery and inventory management with the top tiers is a wonderful option for business owners. It ensures you can get your website without much fuss. However, it doesn’t include a domain in any of the packages.
GoDaddy’s real niche is slinging domains, so their websites aren’t quite as robust. However, for an all in one option once you’ve got your domain, it is easy to jump over and customize your website.
Cost and Trial
The $10 plan is a simple solution for a basic website, but you can go all the way up to the $25 eCommerce plan. At that tier, you do have a few choices and some robust tracking and analytics features to help get your business off the ground.
You can try out some of the features for free without a credit card. You can try everything out and test out some of the capabilities before you commit fully. It’s simple and straightforward. The pricing structure includes a few different options for you, whether you want essential blogging or something more robust.
GoDaddy pros:
- The pricing structure is straightforward
- Drag and drop website design gets you up and running quickly
- Good eCommerce add-ons
GoDaddy cons:
- No domains offered
- Website templates are restrictive
- The basic option doesn’t have many features
Jimdo — The Fastest Choice
Another one that typically falls outside everyone’s radar is Jimdo. This is a German option that promises to set up a website for you in three minutes or less using their “no-code” builder. It’s easy to use and provides integration for a simple website and store.
This one doesn’t have a lot of frills, but if you’re looking to get in the game quickly, it works. It does have some features designed for multiple types of stores and businesses. It has some useful language integrations.
Website Building
The website builder is simple and provides a simple way to get up and running with no coding at all. The elements are simple to manipulate thanks to a Jimdo Creator that helps facilitate the process.
The site takes the information you have that’s already online and pulls it into a cohesive site without you having to repeat yourself. The process is straightforward and works well to capture the essentials without losing any critical information.
It’s one of the fastest ways to get your website built. Choose from an accessible layout, coordinating colors, and with information you already have online, your website will be up and running in minutes.
Extra Features
The site offers some eCommerce options, but there’s no external app store or add-on features. The templates convert well to the mobile browsing options, and the page loading speed is decent. They offer domains with the paid sites, but it’s easy to integrate a domain you already have with the simple features you need.
The most significant feature is the speed at which you’re able to get a website built, but that’s where it mostly ends. However, for those of you who need a quick, speedy website, this is a good option.
Cost and Trial
They offer a completely free version with all the basic sub-features and Jimdo’s branded domain as your address. The next tier starts at just $9 per month and from there $15. You get more features and your own branded domain name.
For businesses and enterprise options, the $39 tier offers everything you need to set up shop. With this option, you’ll get unlimited and priority support, unlimited storage, and in-depth professional analysis. You also have the opportunity to add business listings to get more customers.
Jimdo pros:
- Ultra-fast set up
- Automatic information from internet crawling
- Includes domain with paid tiers
Jimdo cons:
- Not many features
- The eCommerce option is limited
- The editor takes a learning curve
Strikingly — Best For Landing Pages
If you don’t want a full-fledged website, this option allows you to create something quick and straightforward. For one-pagers, Strikingly includes simple templates that make things easy. They’re responsive and offer automatic mobile conversion.
The support features are useful, and if you need nothing more than a landing page for an event or simple product launch, this is a straightforward option.
Website Building
“Website” is a bit of a stretch since these are simple, one-page web locations. However, you could have your event page up and running in just a small amount of time, with some of the simple options that you can manipulate.
The load speeds are decent, and with automatic mobile conversions, you get a responsive user interface. The templates are simple but may take some getting used to. However, that learning curve is small, and you should only need a little experimentation to get it right.
Extra Features
There aren’t a lot of extra features here, but the top tier plan includes up to three different landing pages. The single-page option doesn’t always rank well with Google, so you’ll need to understand how to leverage it.
To get simple features available in most free sites, you have to upgrade. This is a niche type of site is a simple way to make a side page or to ensure that you have a companion landing page set up for a special event.
Cost and Trial
There is a free version, but to get all the features, you’ll need to sign up for a higher tier. They cost $8 to $49 per month, and you can go for yearly or multi-year contracts and save money. They offer up to five years allowing you to lock in a price for a long time.
While you may not be interested in those multi-year plans, annual billing can save you some money for your page while you figure out how long to keep it. You can also get a custom email for $25 per year.
Strikingly pros:
- Landing pages are simple to build
- Fast set up with automatic web scraping
- Responsive mobile conversion
Strikingly cons:
- Only single pages available
- Tiers can be pricey
- Not a lot of integrated features available
Shopify — Best For ECommerce
If you want to focus more on selling products than something like blogging, Shopify can help you set up your eCommerce centered website. It provides you with really user-friendly options for setting up your shop and eCommerce integrations to keep things convenient for your customers.
It guides you through the website process and the shopping process, helping you track inventory and tax rates, among other things. It has an active community forum and robust customer service.
Website Building
Shopify makes it easy to get your storefront set up. It guides you through the process, helping you make decisions based on your product and location. Even if you don’t have a ton of experience setting up an online store or in retail, you’ll get a website going.
It’s fairly limited in terms of what you can put on your site, but Shopify’s primary purpose is selling products. You won’t want this option if you’re primarily a blogger selling one or two products, for example. If your primary mode is products, this is the one for you.
Extra Features
The ability to quickly calculate taxes, shipping, and other essential aspects of online retail is critical to eCommerce success. You’ll get inventory management and be able to gather valuable customer information through a straightforward process.
Upgrading to some of the bigger plans unlocks features like gift cards and accounts for more than one staff member. It also helps reduce transaction fees, and with several app options to support more specific types of stores and customers, it’s a robust eCommerce option.
Cost and Trial
The downside of Shopify is the cost. Basic plans give you the coverage for basic stores. At $29 a month, it starts off on the expensive side. The bigger option is $79 per month for multiple accounts and increased features — a big jump for many small businesses.
They do have an enterprise style choice at $299 per month, with robust features and excellent customer support. Each tier offers the same guidance as you set up and allows you to build something with no coding experience.
You can try Shopify’s plans for 14 days without entering a credit card, giving you enough time to set up and get going. You’ll quickly see if what you need is covered in the basics or if you’ll have to get something bigger.
Shopify pros:
- Full retail guidance for online store setup
- Convenient features like tax calculations
- Offers enterprise choices
Shopify cons:
- More expensive than some options
- Fewer features for standard websites
- A big jump from the basic plan to the next tier
BigCommerce — Best For Large Store Operations
BigCommerce picks up Shopify’s slack and offers robust eCommerce options for stores that move a lot more product. It’s not as intuitive, so you’ll need some experience building a site. The trade-off is more features for less.
BigCommerce specializes in larger stores with more employees and staff. You have the option to link your store to other eCommerce sites like Amazon or eBay. The storage is excellent, and you’ll have enough bandwidth to support whatever you need.
Website Building
BigCommerce does offer guidance as you’re setting up, but it has a small learning curve as far as the web editor goes. However, with some experimentation, you’ll set up your site and get going fairly quickly.
It comes with unlimited bandwidth and storage as well as account settings for different staff. You’ll incorporate all this into your website with no middle man, giving you the power to change your website as your needs require.
Extra Features
BigCommerce offers plenty to large stores that need to pivot like small operations. It integrates with many third-party apps and provides vital analytics to help you drive sales. It has features specifically designed for different industries, including fashion and food.
The platform allows you to differentiate, driving higher conversions. It automatically optimizes mobile browsing and integrates fully with WordPress if you’ve already gotten a site set up there. Open APIs allow you to customize your checkout experience.
Cost and Trial
The cost is the same as Shopify, but you get unlimited bandwidth and storage starting at the lowest tier of $29 per month. The bigger tiers unlock options like launch coaching and data migration.
You get a lot more with the Big Commerce tiers, but the transaction fees can add up depending on your yearly sales numbers. It can also get expensive to add on features and apps. Do the math and take advantage of the 15-day free trial to determine which tier serves you best.
BigCommerce pros:
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth
- Differentiation options
- eCommerce guidance
BigCommerce cons:
- Web editor needs a learning curve
- Transaction fees are tricky
- The standard plan only supports a small annual revenue
HostGator Website Builder
HostGator is a web host with a huge following. If you’ve purchased a domain here, it makes sense to use their web builder. It has a straightforward operation and helps guide you through the setup process without coding.
Those of you without HostGator can take advantage of it as well. These are two separate components with separate logins so that you can bring your hosting from anywhere. This makes it convenient and flexible.
Website Building
The templates are straightforward and look highly professional with little effort from you. They require no coding and a step by step tour helps you get all your information built into the site. It’s straightforward and leads you through the entire process.
HostGator gives you a lot of customization through progressive drop-down tools. You can drag and drop different elements, or you can use the plus icon to add your own elements manually. It offers social media options and lower levels of hosting allow you to add some eCommerce add-ons.
Extra Features
There are eCommerce options, as well as analytics and traffic tracking. You do get robust analytics tools to help you customize, pivot, and make better decisions overall. It converts to mobile browsing well and even allows you to separate traffic stats between the two.
It has a small app section but excellent customer service options for working through challenges. The customer service hours vary between the hosting tiers but are overall responsive.
Cost and Trial
The tiers are highly affordable, especially if you pay annually rather than month to month. Starter plans begin at around $3.46 per month billed annually and include a free domain, SSL security, and customizable templates.
There is a premium plan and an eCommerce plan available for more significant operations, and those are highly affordable as well. After the introductory term, your subscription price will go up. However, you’re still looking at significantly lower hosting prices than some others.
HostGator pros:
- Yearly plans come with domain and SSL
- Modern, easy to use templates
- Highly affordable monthly and yearly rates
Hostgator cons:
- Doesn’t offer a free plan
- No email marketing plan associated with the site
- Limited apps and add-ons
Why Choose A Website Builder
A website builder ensures that you can get your site up and running quickly, but it’s more than that. Websites can be complicated — they require security, mobile optimization, and correct linking for analytics. Miss any one of those markers, and your website goes down.
A website builder helps you get a professional-looking site with all the security needs in place and ensure that your user flow is correct. You won’t need to know a single bit of code, and you won’t have to pay someone to handle it for you.
The ability to handle changes in real-time on your site is a massive plus with website builders. You won’t have to wait for someone to make changes for you, giving you complete control over your site’s look and feel without sacrificing professional design.
How To Choose A Website Builder
There are a few different things you need to consider when choosing a website builder. Here are some features and components to look out for.
Free Trial Options
A free trial provides you with the biggest benefit because you get to go in and actually work with the elements. Free trials aren’t a deal-breaker, but if you don’t have experience with websites, you may like being able to experiment for free.
Free trials offer a few different options. The best ones don’t even require you to enter a credit card, making it low stakes and low effort. Others require credit card details that you later cancel before the trial period is up.
Whichever one you choose, a free trial could be an essential factor in deciding which builder you should use. You’ll see which ones operate in a way that makes sense to your brain and mode of operation.
Templates
The availability of templates is a big part of why you use a website builder in the first place. Templates should be professional, modern, and easy to use. If you don’t like the look of your website builder’s templates, that’s not the one for you.
The first thing to do is to check for templates that match your own design style. The next step is to ensure that those templates offer logical arrangements for your particular type of online presence. If you blog, you need robust blogging tools. If you sell physical products, you need reliable eCommerce features.
Templates should also have automatic mobile conversions since a majority of users now browse using their mobile device. Even better — if you can make customizations to the mobile option separate from the regular site.
Other Features
Templates should have a security-first design, ensuring that your audience and customers are safe. Security measures also protect your site from hacking or other interruptions in service. Make sure your website builder is transparent about security features.
You’ll also need analytics built into the site to ensure that you know how to reach your audience. Robust analytics and SEO tools give you what you need to attract your audience without needing a deep level understanding of Google algorithms.
Some website builders have more apps and add-ons than others, but not all of these will fit your unique situation. Take a look at what features and apps are available to see if you will be able to use them and even need them at all.
Choosing A Website Builder — Step by Step
Make it easier on yourself by asking these questions to narrow down your builder and make your final decision.
- What is your site’s purpose? — You won’t like Shopify if your real dream is blogging. Align your website builder and template with your site’s primary goal. Plenty of site builders can do both, but make sure your primary purpose is covered.
- How fast do you need to move? — If you have time to experiment, you may enjoy more robust sites like Wix or Squarespace. If you want to get up and running in minutes, a feature like Jimdo’s AI-driven website builder can satisfy that.
- How much customization do you need? — Website builders don’t offer complete control, but they do vary in how much flexibility you have within templates. Free trials are great ways to find out if the flexibility serves your purposes.
- What’s your traffic? — Different builders offer different levels of bandwidth and storage. Consider your audience and your growth when you make your choice. Look also at how easy it is to scale up.
- Are you selling products? How much is your revenue? — If you plan to sell something, look at eCommerce features. If you have one product, that’s very different from a full-fledged online retail setup.
- What’s your hosting option? — If you’ve already got a web host, you’ll need a compatible website builder. If you don’t have a domain, including one in your website builder could be convenient. Choose accordingly.
Get Your Site Up With a Website Builder
Building a website doesn’t have to take forever. A good website builder can provide you with a professional-looking site with excellent navigation — all without knowing a single bit of code. This flexibility and professionalism is vital in today’s online economy.
Our ten choices can get you started no matter what your industry or purpose. They’re simple to use but look great. You’ll get your website started and get back to what you do best — working in your industry and making a difference. Ensure your website is right there with you.