We analyzed 10 of the most famous website builders. We offer our brief overview.

Sites are created for a variety of purposes. Companies are trying to promote their brands. Shops sell goods. People develop blogs or make good money on advertising.

There are numerous problems with creating sites. Where to find the right platform? How to choose a suitable template? How to make your site unique? However, all these decisions have to be paid. The developer and designer cost much. But it’s a better solution.

If there is not enough money to pay for the developer — don’t worry. You can use website builders. You will spend a minimum amount of time adjusting the Internet resource. The secret is simple and intuitive tools for work. You can do without additional learning.

There are site builders for saving money. They offer quite interesting opportunities for users. Hundreds of templates, significant speed, high reliability and affordable price. However, builders are also different.  Like any of us, the platforms have similar and distinctive features. We compared them to the most important parameters and formed our own rating.

We took into account dozens of parameters and proposed our own site builder rating for the 2019 year. But let’s start with the general information. And then we will give information about builders and some advice.

Who needs site builders?

Site builders are the best option for small businesses or individuals. But other users can work, too. For example, such tools are useful for:

• founders of a small business;
• writers;
• musicians;
• photographers;
• freelancers;
• bloggers;
• artists;
• etc.

The list can be extended. Usually, this group of users includes organizations and people who do not want to overpay for their own site but would like to have good quality results.

We independently checked each developer. Each of the options below is simple and reliable. We have analyzed builders for several of the following criteria:

• PLAN COST;
• LOAD;
• UPTIME TIME;
• USABILITY.

We suggest you get acquainted with the sound analysis of the 10 best builders. We will move from leader to outsider.

Wix.com

Wix.com is a very simple one. Made for small businesses.

Wix.com: Disadvantages

The high cost of each account. There is $ 6 per month (Google G Suite is used).

There is no online chat, but customers get help by phone and tickets.

Wix.com: Advantages

Wix.com is one of the most popular in the world. It is trusted by more than 100 million customers. There are several reasons why the builder is used by a large number of clients.

First, it was cheap. The minimum cost for online store owners is only $ 20. After payment, both important tools booking and event logging options are available.

A lot of templates for sites — more than 500. Options for any categories and sites. You do not need developers and designers.

The features of the service are simplicity and comfort when you apply it. Hundreds of different options for customizing. You can change your site in just a few seconds. The drag-and-drop feature is interesting.

Imagine your future site and create it with the Wix tools. There are no limitations. What matters for e-commerce, you can customize your payment methods. And there are options like:

• music player;
• invitation and order;
• upload video to your own gallery;
• online order.

We had some questions and wanted to test the work of the support department. Detailed answers were received after 12 hours. Not fast enough, but high-quality. We rate customer service as “Good”.

We created a test site. Over the past 6 months, the site has been operating in 99.98% of cases. The average speed is 581 ms, which is quite a good indicator. The builder provided the reliable work of our site.

The service provides discounts depending on the time of subscription. For example, you can purchase an annual fare of $ 132 and receive a free domain. Also, pay attention to 100% confidentiality. And tariffs for 2 or 3 years can save 216 dollars.

Can we recommend this builder?

Yes, of course.

We checked dozens of services. Among them, Wix is ​​one of the simplest. And its advantages are simplicity, reliability and speed.

Wix has many templates to choose from. And they are actually made of high quality.

Another plus — additional features. They will allow you to create virtually any site. Simple blogs on multiple pages or complex websites of restaurants, hotels or stores with dozens or hundreds of positions — you can do this with Wix.

We will add some small prices here as well. Wix is ​​also a platform for your site that is created for fun or a hobby.

The features of Wix have already been used by millions of small businessmen and ordinary people. You may be the next client.

Constant Contact

Key benefits — simplicity and professionalism.

Constant Contact: Disadvantages

If you wish to send emails, you have to pay 6 USD. GSuite Google is used. This practise is common among many builders in our ranking.

Phone help is charged. This is one of the biggest disadvantages of this service.

Constant Contact: Advantages

All of the builder’s fees are not limited. There are no bandwidth or storage limits. Maximum comfort for your work.

All the necessary tools for your online store. Although these opportunities are offered by any participant in our rating.

An excellent plus of this builder is the ability to synchronize with your Facebook page. Only 5 minutes — and photos, posts and other information will be on your site.

As with the previous version, Constant Contact is simple and intuitive for users. You will not read dozens of instructions pages to figure out what to do. Hundreds of templates are useful for any client and decorate various sites. You select any page item and have an access to the settings.

You do not pay for the domain. The builder gives you it for free. No additional ads and other inconvenient reasons.

Unlike the leader of the rating, there is also online help besides chat and email. You write on Live Chat and after a few minutes, you get a professional answer. The information is really useful. Workers react calmly and instantly to dozens of different issues. Explanations are understandable. You are not directed to a document, which actually means solving the problem yourself. Service workers help quickly, qualitatively and professionally.

If you choose a plan for 1 or 2 years, then you will become the owner of a free annual domain. The cost of the plan — is only 192 dollars in 24 months. And if you buy a domain separately, you have to pay 16 USD.

Intelligent features of the service are at a high level. You get the ability to fully and quickly set up sites. As a result, your Internet resources look attractive and they are optimized and loaded promptly on both mobile phones and PCs.

You own a domain name during the first year. Tools for the online store are included in the free plan. Also, the plan includes many other opportunities for business development on the network.

The essential advantage of a builder is the lowest price to work with an online store in our rating. Get access to quality features at an affordable price. But saving a few dozens of dollars can be diverted to other needs.

Don’t forget about the high speed and considerable duration of uninterrupted work on the site. As a result, a constant designer is characterized by ease of use, reliability, low prices and a wide range of tools.

Site123

Wonderful builder for the smallest sites.

Site123: disadvantages

It’s inconvenient to increase the number of accounts. To do this, you must upgrade the plan to a higher rate. It is impossible to buy at least one account separately.

The support line was disappointing. Service workers told us that they are not aware of the number of users, the number of templates and some other essential information. We were expecting honesty, but in addition to general phrases, we did not get much more important.

The support staff perhaps did not want to look for answers. And if you ask standard questions, you can get a link to a large document, where there is a hidden answer. There is not much professionalism and customer orientation. Fortunately, support is trying to help customers 24/7.

Site123: advantages

The builder offers free access. You can use the tools and decide on collaboration with the platform. A good way to find out about the features of Site123.

The cheapest plan costs $ 22.80. Dozens of answers to frequently asked questions about the designer’s work are in a special section on its website.

Unfortunately, the support team did not respond to the number of site templates, but we can say that they are roughly 250 pieces. They have an attractive appearance and are designed for a variety of industries.

Convenient tools allow you to quickly change the location of pages or posts. To do this, you just have to click and drag the desired items from one place to another.

Site123 guarantees seamless work of the site 99.97% of the time. Constant Contact has a better rate, although this constructor is quite significant.

Prices are loyal if you plan to develop a small site. Fees are quite affordable for a blog or site on multiple pages. The annual payment amount is $ 129.60 per year. This includes the domain.

Site123: Recommend or not

If you have a simple site, then this constructor will suit you perfectly. You will be able to choose the desired option among dozens of template variations.

Indicators of uptime and speed are acceptable. However, the quality of customer support is at a rather mediocre level.

Site123 is also suitable for large sites with complex structures and hundreds of pages. However, you will have to overpay.

This website builder is a good alternative if we compare it with the developer’s work. Instead, the pricing policy for fairly large sites is rather unpleasant.

Jimdo

The builder is easy to use, but there are not a lot of templates.

Jimdo: disadvantages

GoDaddy Website builder’s users are choosing among the 1500 topics. If you decide to choose Jimdo then only 16 templates will be available.

It’s hard to talk about the original look of your site. And if your competitor chooses the same design…

If you buy the cheapest plan, then support will help you for only 1 or 2 days. If you have a problem that needs to be resolved urgently, then you are not lucky. You do not have a where to call.

The performance of your site is rather low. 49 accidents have occurred over the past half-year. Speed ​​is low: only 917 ms. Most likely, your site will run slowly and there is a high probability of visitors losing due to problems with its work.

Jimdo: advantages

Cost of designer services — $ 9 per month. And you have to pay 108 USD per year. Forget about bills hidden behind an asterisk.

You can quickly test site tools. You get test access and can work for up to 20 minutes. If you like it, then continue to work, if not — then forget about it.

The cost of another email account is only $ 1. The price is 6 times less than the ranking leaders offer.

Like other designers, Jimdo provides a free domain for up to one year. In the future, using this name will have to pay an extra $ 20 a year. The cheapest plan for an online store costs $ 19 per month.

Many members of our rating offer a free opportunity. The customer may not pay, however, get acquainted with the functionality of the builder. Most users think of it from the beginning. But it’s too perfect for the truth. If a client uses a free version, it encounters the following three issues.

Problem # 1 — Where is the domain name?

You worked very well with the settings of your site. You may have lost many hours. It seems that you only have to do only one: press the “Publish” button and enjoy the result.

But you have forgotten one small nuance — you need a normal domain. For example, builders offer you web addresses like YourBusiness.My-Free-Site.com or your business. Constant Contact.com.

Is it professionally? Of course not.

Is it unique? Of course not.

Will users have serious thoughts about your site? Of course not.

If you want to create a site with a professional or business orientation, then customer confidence is one of the important success factors. Of course, your YourSite.com domain. or YourBusiness.com is much better.

The builders provide “free domain name”, but there are certain restrictions that we will talk about soon.

Problem # 2 — Builders limit the plan

The word “free” is sweet. But then you read the small font and everything becomes in place. You get limited functionality. You must pay to use the features that are not available. For example:

If you want to choose among more than 10 templates, you have to pay.

If you would like to receive an email account in [email protected] format, you must pay.

If you want to use a contact or video form, add photos or videos, you must pay.

If you want to create a small e-commerce store, you have to pay.

If you need help from the support service, you must pay.

If you want to get acquainted with the statistics of the site, you must pay.

In any case, you have to pay. And this list is still far from the end.

Of course, builders assure that they give the user free access. Instead, your opportunities are so limited that you have to buy access to new services. As a result, you pay more than the cheapest plan.

However, your experience of using a “free” builder will not be unique. Thousands of users encounter this problem. It’s hard to spend $ 1 to get acquainted with the full functionality of the builder. Therefore, it’s better to read reviews and watch video reviews rather than lose your time and money being disappointed.

Problem # 3 – You do not control your site

Probably you spend a lot of time adding your site to new articles, instructions or positions in the online store. It seems that everyone in their places and your site is close to the ideal.

Customers are transitioning and registering on your site. And then your Internet resource becomes inaccessible. You are writing to the support team and after a waiting period of about 30 minutes, you receive a disappointing message. You are reported to be very sorry, but you have violated the terms of using the free version of the site, so access to it has been suspended. If you want to continue using it then you need to pay money. Perhaps it is a bit rough, but the essence of these messages is reduced to this.

A normal site builder costs from $ 5 to $ 20 a month. You also get a domain (sometimes with an additional charge), and access to the full functionality and the site is not excluded because you have something touched. However, you need to analyze which designer is best for you and make the right choice.

Builders of sites: which one is best to choose?

In most cases, site builders are a great opportunity for beginners or small businesses. You become the owner of the worksite in a few days and do what you need.

Which standard option is the best? Use Wix or Constant Contact to implement the schedule.

Which option is suitable for beginners or owners of an online store? Probably it’s Wix.

Which site builder is best for designers, photographers or sites with lots of photos? Most likely, you will find Squarespace builder templates.

Conclusion

Website builders offer great opportunities for site owners. You can actually create an online store, company website or blog. Of course, your originality is limited. But you can improve it with text and images.

The key advantage of website builders is cheapness. You save money on programmer and designer. Instead, you can afford a larger budget for filling the site.

Choose the right site builder for your needs. Make the right decision and realize your dreams.