Site123 Website Builder Review

When you think of a website builder, you may think of Wix or Squarespace. But they both face some tough competition from Site123. The company offers many similar services to other website builders, so it’s a surprise that it’s not as popular.

So is Site123 the right website builder for you? Keep reading to learn about the performance, features, and more.

What are the Pros & Cons of Site123?

Here’s a quick list:

Pros

Easy to set up and use: Site123 has a three-step setup process, and each step includes information to help you create your site. Once you set everything up, it’s easy to use and design a unique website.

Offers different plugins: You can choose from many product integrations, so you can connect to Facebook or Twitter. Some tools make it easy to manage your website, while others let you communicate with customers.

Hosting and website builder in one: You don’t have to worry about finding separate hosts and website builders, so you can get started immediately.

Cons

Design and technical limitations: While Site123 makes it easy to build a site, you can’t export it if you decide to move to a different host. You also can’t change the layout of your website template.

More expensive than the competition: The cheapest plan is over $12 per month, which is a lot more than other website builders and third-party web hosts.

Overview

Site123 is a website builder and hosting company in one, and it faces competition from Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace. While it’s not as popular as others, Site123 offers plenty of features to get your website up and going.

They have data centers all over the world, so you and your visitors can easily view your site. The builder is easy to use, and you don’t need to be a designer or developer to make the most of it.

You can use Site123 to create a variety of sites, including:

• Personal Blogs
• Business Websites
• Online Stores

Before you decide if you should use Site123, consider how website builders work:

What is a Website Builder?

A website builder is a platform anyone can use to create a website. But don’t confuse it with website hosting, which is sometimes a different service. However, Site123 combines the two, so you don’t have to worry about connecting a host.

Using a website builder makes it easy to create a website without using a bunch of code. You can make small tweaks to make your site unique. In this review, you’ll learn about the various features, pricing, and flexibility. Consider if Site123 is the best platform to build your site:

Who is Site123 Best For?

Site123 offers a variety of plans and services for different needs. They may not be as well-known as other website builders, but you should consider it. Here are a few groups of people who can benefit from using Site123:

Personal

Do you want to create a personal blog or portfolio site? Does the idea of coding and HTML freak you out? Site123 doesn’t require any technical knowledge for you to build a site. You can create any site you want, so you can build your online presence today.

Business

If you have a small business, you may have other things to do besides build a website. In that case, Site123 makes it easy to build a website for your business. You can get it up and running in a few hours. That way, you can send customers to your site to learn more about you.

Ecommerce Sites

Running an online business requires the right website builder and hosting plan. Site123 offers two plans with ecommerce capabilities, so you can sell products and services.

You don’t need to set up a complicated website or design sales pages. Site123 helps you keep things simple, so you can make sales and grow your business.

Reliability and Performance

When considering a website builder, you should know about the platform’s uptime. Uptime refers to how often the site is up and accessible. If a site goes down, that affects the overall uptime.

Site123 doesn’t guarantee uptime on its website, but it’s very reliable when it comes to a site’s uptime. The average uptime is about 99.99%, which is better than some hosts and website builders.

Your site may go down a couple of times over the course of a few months. However, when the site is up, you can expect it to be pretty fast. If you keep your site relatively simple, it can load in under a second.

Site123 does offer a money-back guarantee, and you can use that if your site is frequently down. However, they may not offer your money back if your site goes down for maintenance or if you add certain third-party functions.

To get your money back, you’ll need to contact Site123 and cancel your subscription. You’ll need to fill out a specific form to start the refund and cancellation process.

While the small amount of downtime can add up over the course of a year, it’s usually not a big problem. You can expect your site to be up and running again within a few minutes.

But if you do have concerns, don’t be afraid to contact Site123 for help. They can move your site to a different server or find another way to solve your issue.

Tools & Features

Here are some of the important features and tools to consider from Site123:

Design

Site123 makes it super easy to design your site. You can choose a premade template and input your content immediately. There’s no need to mess with HTML or other coding languages, and you can add images and text.

However, changing the template you get or adjust the layout can be difficult. You can’t drag and drop different elements to make the site look exactly how you want it to. And if you do have coding knowledge, you can’t edit the HTML or CSS.

If you edit the menu, you’ll have to change it on each page, rather than all at once. This may not be a problem when you first create your website. But if you later decide you want more custom options, you’ll be out of luck.

Responsive Design

While there are some design limits, you also have to consider that Site123 offers responsive design. That means you can make your site look good on desktops, tablets, and phones.

You can preview the various layouts when you edit your site, so you can make sure everything looks good. As more people use their phones and tablets to browse the web, having a responsive website is more important than ever.

It doesn’t take long to review how your site looks on mobile. So take a couple of seconds to ensure all of your visitors can see the content on your site.

Technical

Because Site123 focuses a lot on ease of use and design, you don’t have a ton of technical capabilities. You can connect some plugins and apps to get more functionality. Some of the plugins let you market your website and connect to social media.

You can also add a meta description to each page, and you can create a slogan for your site. But that’s about it when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).

Site123 offers some control over the technical side of your site, but there are limits. You don’t have much control over the backend of your website, so it can be hard to scale your site.

And if you want more technical features, you’ll need to pay for a higher tier. But even then, you still have some limitations.

Product Integration

Site123 has an App Market where you can add various web apps to improve your site. You can connect to popular programs like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel. That way, you can track your website views and social ads.

The App Market has programs for everything from live support chat to payment gateways to online stores. If you know what kind of site you want, you can select the best products to integrate.

But keep in mind how much storage your website has. You could easily use up a portion of the 10GB from a Premium plan. Make sure you choose product integrations that you will use and consider upgrading if you need more apps.

That way, you can keep your site up and running, and visitors can access your content. If your site is for business, you can then make more sales to pay for the higher website plan.

Ecommerce Support

If you want to build an online store, Site123’s Premium plan is the best option. You can choose the type of ecommerce site to build, including an online store or a restaurant site. Then, you can name the site and create your account.

After you set up your website, you can go to the App Market and connect a payment gateway and other ecommerce tools, like bookings. If you sell products, you can list your products on your site and connect them to a cart.

No matter what type of business you have, creating an ecommerce site is essential. You can capture potential customers who visit your site even if you don’t sell anything online. Then, you can encourage those customers to visit your business.

Online Booking

If you offer appointments or reservations, you can connect a booking app to your site. An app makes it easy to book your services, and you don’t have to book through emails or calls manually.

You can set up your availability, and customers can book directly on your site. Whether you offer consultations or have a restaurant, online booking is useful.

For online appointments, you can use the booking tool to fill your schedule. And for restaurant reservations, you don’t have to spend time on the phone scheduling them.

You’ll have more free time to focus on your customers or other tasks. An online booking tool can help you grow your business without hiring any new employees, and Site123 makes it easy to connect one to your site.

Email Accounts

If you have a business, you want to have a professional email account with your business domain. Site123 offers email accounts for some of the paid plans, so you don’t need to use an email like yourbusiness@gmail.

You can use an email account with the higher paid tiers, including the advanced, professional, and gold plans. Site123 emails have encryption, so you can avoid online threats, and you can use your email safely.

The email doesn’t cost extra, so you can start using it when you set up your site. Then, you can contact customers manually, and you don’t have to clutter your personal email inbox.

Access to Images

One interesting feature of Site123 is the ability to access their library of images and videos. You can choose from the stock images in Site123’s library, and you can find images to fit your website’s niche.

They have images for everything, from food to education to medicine. The images are great if you aren’t a photographer and can’t afford to hire one. You can still add a visual appeal to your website, and you don’t have to pay for the images.

Site123 also offers free icons you can use when designing your site. So even if you have your own pictures, their icons can help users navigate your site.

Free Domain

When starting your website, you may not want to spend a ton of money. While you’ll have to pay for one of the premium plans, you can get a free website domain.

The free plan gives you a subdomain on Site123’s website. You don’t have to pay anything, and that subdomain will be free as long as you keep that site.

If you choose a premium plan, you will get a free second-level domain for one year. You can keep that domain free when you purchase an annual plan.

Storage

The free plan from Site123 offers 500MB of storage and 1GB of bandwidth. It’s a great option if you’re just getting started and want to build a simple website without spending money.

The premium plan has 10GB of storage and 5GB of bandwidth. If you upgrade to a higher premium tier, you can get up to 270GB of storage and 135GB of bandwidth.

Pricing Summary

If you’re building your first website, you don’t need a ton of features. You can start with the basics so that you can publish your site, and you can upgrade when you need more capabilities.

Here are the various plans from Site123 and their prices:

Free

The free plan is self-explanatory because you don’t have to pay anything to build your website. You can use a subdomain from Site123, so you also don’t have to pay for that.

With a free plan, you get 500MB of storage, which should be more than enough for a basic website. You’ll also get 1GB of bandwidth, and that can support a few visitors each day.

The free plan is excellent for testing out a website with little investment. If you find you need more features, you can upgrade, or you can stick with the free plan if you like it.

Premium

The premium tier offers four unique plans, so you can choose the one with the features you want. Here are the plans and their prices:

• Basic – $12.80 per month
• Advanced – $19.80 per month
• Professional – $28.80 per month
• Gold – $34.80 per month

With the basic plan, you get up to 10GB of storage and 5GB of bandwidth. You can get a free domain from Site123, or you can connect a domain you already own.

All of the paid plans let you remove the floating Site123 tag that appears on your site. They also all come with a free domain or a domain connection. However, none of the tiers offer unlimited storage or bandwidth.

The two features increase by three times between each tier, so you can get up to 270GB of storage and 135GB of bandwidth. You shouldn’t have any issues at first, but as you grow your site, you may not have enough room.

If you need to store a lot of videos or large files on your site, you’ll use up your storage faster. And if you have more people visit your site, it can crash if you run out of bandwidth. While you can upgrade, you may still max out the gold plan.

Cancellation

If you use Site123 but later decide to move your website and cancel your subscription, you should consider the cancellation policy. Site123 will give you your money back if you cancel within 14 days of signing up.

The policy only applies to your initial purchase, so you can’t use it for automatic renewals. If your plan is almost ready to renew, cancel the service before they charge you. However, you won’t get a partial refund for plans you cancel long before they expire.

You can cancel your plan through your account by going to Billing & Payments. But if you’re still in the 14-day window, you should contact customer support to get a refund. 

Which Plan is the Best Value?

The basic plan in Site123’s premium set of plans is the best option for a lot of people. It offers enough storage and bandwidth for you to get started, and you can use your own domain rather than a subdomain on Site123.

While the plan is more expensive than similar options from competitors, it gives you access to features like mailing lists and ecommerce options. Whether you’re looking to build a personal blog or an online store, the basic premium plan is a great place to start.

Security

No matter what type of website you have, you need to consider security. Even if you don’t sell products or services, having an unsecured website can leave you vulnerable to hackers and other issues.

Site123 offers a free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, and you can use it with a subdomain or your domain. The certificate encrypts your website and its content, and Site123 will apply the certificate automatically.

Having an SSL certificate can help your visitors feel safer on your website. If you take online payments, your customers can trust that the certificate will protect their payment information. Google may also rank your site higher when you use an SSL, so you can get more visitors.

Customer Service

Site123 offers live support at all times and throughout the year, so you can get help with your site or account. Their live support team can answer any questions and work with you to solve issues.

However, you can also use the Support Center, which has answers to some common problems. The Support Center has sections for everything from the website editor to the app market. You can also get answers to questions about billing and payments or SEO.

Before contacting Site123 directly, check out the Support Center. The center may have the answers you need to build or redesign your website.

FAQs

Here are some answers to common questions about Site123:

Do I Need a Paid Version?

One of the benefits of Site123 is that you can start making your website for free. However, the free plan has many limitations that upgrading can solve.

You don’t need to pay for the gold plan, but the basic premium plan can double your website storage and bandwidth maximums. Upgrading will also get rid of the Site123 branding, so you can make your website look more professional.

However, the free version is plenty for building a personal blog.

Can I Use Site123 On X Operating System or Browser?

Site123 operates entirely through the web, so you can use it on any browser and operating system. Whether you have a Windows or Mac computer, you can use Site123 to create your website.

How Many Servers Does Site123 Have?

Site123 has a network of hundreds of servers all over the world. Because of that, they can store your website anywhere, and that can make it easier for visitors to access your site. The company keeps their servers up to date, so you can maintain a fast website.

Is Site123 Good for SEO?

When building a website for your business, you need people to find it. Luckily, Site123 has a few tools you can use to optimize your website for search engines.

You can create a slogan for your site, and you can include keywords relevant to your site topic. That way, you can have a better chance of Google selecting your site for the right keywords and phrases.

For individual pages, you can also add a meta description, which is what will show up under the link to your page on search results. You can use the description to entice people to click on your link and view your site.

Do You Need to Hire a Designer?

If you want to make the most of your site, you can hire a web designer. But Site123 makes it easy to design your website yourself. You don’t need to use any coding languages, so you can set up your website quickly.

Should I Get My Domain From Site123?

Because Site123 offers a free domain with your paid account, it can be a good deal. However, things get tricky if you decide to move to another website builder or host.

If you buy your domain through Site123, you’ll need to transfer it to another domain registrar. You can keep it with Site123, but you may have a hard time connecting it to your new website.

Getting your domain through Site123 is an excellent option if you plan to stick with the platform. You can get the domain for free when you renew your account each year. If you get a domain elsewhere, you’ll have to pay for the domain, and you’ll have to pay to connect it.

Connecting your domain costs about $10 per month, so be sure to consider that when budgeting for your website. However, the extra fee can be worth it if you think you may change hosts in the future.

Can I Take My Site to Another Platform?

While Site123 offers a lot of features, it does have about as many limitations. So if your site outgrows Site123, you may decide to move to another website builder or host.

Unfortunately, Site123 does not let you export your website content. If you decide to leave, you’ll need to copy and paste each page individually. You will also need to choose a new template and customize that once you set up your new platform.

Final Thoughts

Site123 is an excellent tool for designing a website cheaply and easily. You can start for free, and you can upgrade to a paid plan as your site grows. You’ll also get access to a bunch of apps and an SSL certificate to make your site even better.

Lastly, you don’t need any technical knowledge to create a site. The platform provides everything you need, so you can get started right away. No matter what site you want to build, consider Site123 for an easy option.