Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.
How to Choose the Best Website Builder in (Compared)
Getting Started
The five software programs presented in this comparison belong to the family of "website builders." They all have in common that they offer an intuitive and easy to use editing interface, accessible to the novice. Whether Wix, Strikingly, Weebly, or Jimdo, all of these website builder softwares have the same value proposition: allowing anyone to create a website easily and relatively quickly. And it would help if you said that they all deliver on this promise.
A special mention perhaps for Wix, the market leader, which offers an incredibly well-kept and user-friendly editing interface.
Design
The operation is the same for the 5 software programs of the comparison: you choose a design template (a "template") that you then customize by adding your text, images, etc... In terms of design, three aspects must be evaluated: the number of templates proposed, the quality of the templates, and finally, the possibilities of personalization:
- Quantity: Wix races far ahead of its competitors, with more than 700 templates. Jimdo, from this point of view, is far behind with only 15 templates.
- Quality: Wix has the reputation of offering the most design templates. Their quality and variety are undeniable. All trades are covered, and visually, there is not much to say. But the other website building softwares in this comparison have nothing to be ashamed of. Weebly offers very elegant themes. Strikingly is only designed to create one-page websites. The proposed one-page themes are very beautiful, the design being an essential aspect of Strikingly sites. Only Site123 is below its competitors.
A sample of the "templates" (i.e. website designs) proposed by Weebly.
- Concerning the customization of designs, special mention for Strikingly, Wix, and Weebly - but the 5 website building softwares of this comparison allow you to customize your website's colors, the fonts used...
Functional richness
In this respect, the 5 software programs are not at the same level. Wix is the one that offers the most features, even in its free version. The free versions of the other softwares restrict much more access to native features. Weebly and Jimdo come a little behind but still offer an excellent functional richness. Let's face it, and all simple needs are covered. Site123 is the software with the fewest advanced features. More than its four competitors, Site123 emphasizes simplicity. at the expense of rich functionality. The ranking is, therefore, this one: Wix, Weebly, Jimdo, Strikingly, Site123.
SEO
Web design software has improved a lot over the last few years. They all allow you to customize the Title, Meta Description, or alt tags.
Like Wix, some offer virtual SEO wizards to guide you step by step in your website's SEO setup. But don't lose sight of the fact that your website's natural SEO depends on the quality and quantity of the content you publish.
You can have the best settings in the world. If your website has almost no content, your site will not be well referenced.
Like all the other software in this comparison, Strikingly allows you to customize the Title and Meta Description of the pages.
Help and support
When you want to create a website and a beginner, the quality of help and support is important.
Jim has a reputation for fast and efficient support.
Wix and Weebly offer several contact channels, but telephone support is only available in Shakespeare's language.
Site123's support leaves something to be desired: all documentation is in English. However, Site123 has recently added a chat feature in various languages.
Create your website for free with Wix, one of the reference CMS
More than 500 templates available
150 million users worldwide
The #1 software in its category for the Fabrique du Net
DISCOVER WIX
SEE THE COMPLETE TEST
tested and approved by the Fabrique du Net :
Blog
The 5 softwares allow you to create a blog, that is to say, to publish articles classified by category, including sharing buttons on social networks, images, videos possibly, but also to open a comments space or to create an RSS feed. But the functional depth is not the same depending on the software used. Weebly is, without doubt, the software that offers the most significant functional depth - but is more and more followed by Wix.
An illustration of Weebly's functional depth: comment management.
But beware, you'll never achieve the same level of richness of features as you can with WordPress. If you have complex needs or strong ambitions for blogging, we suggest you consider the WordPress option.
Mobile Version
More than half of web visits are made from a mobile device. Therefore, it is essential to have a website that displays correctly on small (smartphones) or medium (tablets) screens.
And the publishers of website building software have all understood this. The 5 softwares highlighted in this comparison offer responsive-design templates designed natively to display correctly on any media and with any screen size.
Wix goes further than its competitors by giving the possibility to customize the way the site is displayed on cell phones (position of the CTAs, for example).
Sending newsletters
All the software in this comparison offers a module for managing sending newsletters, except Jimdo, which offers connectors with MailChimp or SendinBlue. Strikingly's newsletter module is only available if you choose the VIP package.
Weebly offers an integrated module to create your newsletters and, more broadly, your emailings.
E-commerce
Among the editors, all of them offer e-commerce functionalities to integrate an online store section to your website. But the ecommerce features are only available in the most expensive packages.
If you want to create a website and sell a few products on it, you can choose one of the 5 software of this comparison without any problem
if you're going to create a big ecommerce website with a lot of customization and functionalities.
We advise you to choose an ecommerce software like Shopify, which offers a much more complete back office. On this subject, discover our top 5 ecommerce software.
An ecommerce site created with Jimdo.
Adding HTML/CSS code
Adding HTML/CSS code allows advanced customization of your website. The 5 softwares of this comparison will enable you to add code for those who want to. Once again, Wix is above the others, thanks to its Wix Corvid application, which allows you to go very far in the code's personalization. Read about it, if you're interested, our complete review of Wix Corvid.
Export of the site possible
Only Jimdo and Weebly allow you to export your website, for example, hosting on another content management software like WordPress.
The other three (Site123, Wix, and Strikingly) can't change platforms.
Web Hosting - Find the right web host for you!
The choice of accommodation is always rather delicate. We have prepared for you a complete guide with the basics & a comparison of accommodation offers.
WordPress Hosting
Shared hosting
Large families: shared vs. VPS vs. dedicated
VPS/Cloud Hosting
Dedicated accommodations
Compare the best web hosting providers!
Free version
All the software in this comparison is available in a free version for an unlimited period of time. But beware, the free version gives access to a very limited number of features (except the free version of Wix, which is more generous). If you have very basic needs, you can stay tuned to the free offer. In any case, free offers allow you to test the software. Moreover, we advise you to register on 3 or 4 platforms to test the interface. There is nothing more efficient than choosing a website building software adapted to what you are looking for.
Like all free packages, Strikingly's free offer only gives access to a limited number of features.
Paid offers
Each software proposes 1 to 4 paying formulas, some of which are specifically dedicated to e-merchants. As we have seen, ecommerce packages are always the most expensive. The prices vary a lot depending on the formulas and the actors. Any advice for your selection work: youmust compare prices according to the functional scope desired for creating your website.
In the field of website building, website editors have taken a considerable place in recent years. If you want to create a website and don't want to use a professional developer, you will probably turn to one of them.
Indeed, in addition to being within your reach on the net, these web site building software are designed to make your job easier. This way, even if you don't have any coding skills, you will be able to create unique designs. But given the extent of the offer, how to choose?
This comparison presents the main software on the market to help you choose the best online website builder. There are free offers that may be sufficient, but also inexpensive offers that can overcome the limits of free offers.
Simply put: anything is possible.
You will have understood it, and there is no lack of tools to create a website or an online store. However, what criteria should you consider to make your choice and find the best site editor? We will try to enlighten you by raising a few key points to feel.
We are getting started and easy to use.
To choose the best website editor for you, the main criteria to consider are ease of use and simplicity of use. You must feel comfortable in your building and not waste time unnecessarily trying to find out how to do what you want to do.
To see how easy it is to use, you can take advantage of site builders' free trial periods. Then try to create a page, and you will quickly realize if you evolve smoothly in the editor. It is important that your platform is straightforward and organized so that you are comfortable with it.
Templates
Templates are the graphic themes available on your editor. They are templates of already established websites that you can use. In this way, you can create your site quickly with a very professional rendering, just by "filling in the blanks."
You should therefore pay attention to the templates offered by your publisher when choosing one. They are often divided into several categories according to your field of activity. Similarly, you can pay attention to whether they adapt to different digital media (smartphones, tablets, etc.).
Some web design software offers you a vast number of designs, but check that you can customize them as you wish and without difficulty.
Responsive site
Nowadays, a large proportion of Internet users are using the Internet from a mobile device. Therefore, you need to pay attention to the fact that your site is responsive. What does this mean exactly? Effortlessly, a responsive site is a site that adapts to all screen sizes that exist.
So whether your users visit your site from a mobile, tablet, or desktop, your site will always look its best. Make sure, however, that your publisher does not ask you to create two sites, one for computers, the other for mobile devices: you would lose a lot of time. Some site builders do this automatically, prefer the latter.
Performance and SEO
When choosing your favorite site editor, you should also consider the performance and SEO features it offers. The functionalities offered must correspond to your needs, depending on the type of website you want to create.
Also, you need to pay special attention to your editor's performance (loading speed, stability, etc.) as it determines your users' experience and SEO optimization. Of course, natural referencing or SEO is also a builder in the choice of your site builder.
So make sure that your future publisher has techniques to help you be well referenced in search engines. For example, the titles or descriptions of your pages should be customizable.
Accompaniment and reliability
Another builder you have to pay attention to when choosing the best site editor is its availability. Your builder must be reliable: check the customer reviews on this subject or the editor's seniority to get an idea.
You have probably realized that the offers of building of sites on the net abound. We present them to you in this top 7 best website editors in order to help you in your choice.
2. Jimdo
Our favorite in this ranking is the Jimdo website building software (read our review of Jimdo). Jimdo is one of the most popular website builders today. It was developed in Germany in 2007, and since then it's been constantly evolving to make website design easier. Its main strength is its ease of use.
Indeed, this website editor is very easy to use, even for novices. For example, you will have no trouble creating a travel agency site, a blog, or an online sales site.
It offers a very intuitive, almost playful interface and allows you to customize your site easily, without the need for coding. As a result, Jimdo is a speedy editor, and it only takes a few minutes to create a site.
Also, Jimdo offers you a free package to take advantage of its basic features. Also, it's adapted for e-commerce and provides you with an optimized and responsive site. In short, SEO aspects are taken into account, and your site fits on every screen. Not bad.
In addition to all these features, Jimdo offers a few bonuses. For example, you can create a logo for your company, and in the same way, you can create a multilingual website or manage your site from any medium with its application. All of these advantages make Jimdo the top-ranked web editor in the world.
However, we can raise two negative points. Indeed, the prices may be slightly higher than those of its competitors, and the number of templates proposed may seem limited. However, considering the quality of service Jimdo offers and the level of customization it offers, these drawbacks should be put into perspective.
3. Squarespace
In this top of the best website editors, the third place goes to Squarespace (find here our opinion about Squarespace). Developed since the early 2000s in the United States, Squarespace has established itself worldwide as a publisher of choice. To do so, this site builder has made available to its users a very easy to use tool, where all the functionalities are managed automatically.
To offer you a quality service, this site editor offers you more than a hundred worked themes with a very professional look.
This is also a significant asset.
Squarespace creates for you a site optimized for SEO and responsive. This means that your site will be referenced at best in search engines and will fit on all screens.
Its interface is very intuitive and easy to use, and there is absolutely no skill required to use it, which is also a major asset. Also, Squarespace offers free web hosting, as well as the possibility to create an online store. What more could you ask for?
However, Squarespace has some flaws. Indeed, several features are paid and its free version is limited to 14 days. Moreover, the customer service is not very reactive, which can cause problems.
Finally, your site's customization can be limited: some elements are not modifiable, and several menus are not entirely translated into multinational.
In any case, this is one of the best website builders currently available and will satisfy you no matter what kind of website you want to create, although it does not supplant Jimdo or SiteW.
4. Weebly
In sixth place in our ranking, we find the website building software Weebly, founded in 2007 in the United States. Weebly was designed with one main goal in mind: to help novices create a site without encountering computer programming problems.
Thus, Weebly allows you to create a site autonomously, even if you do not know to code. For your site, this editor offers you a very large choice of themes, simple and customizable. Also, its interface is very intuitive and guarantees an impressive simplicity of use.
This way, you can manage your pages from your dashboard and modify them infinitely by simple drag and drop movements. Weebly also offers you the possibility to create all kinds of websites and even an online store with simplified management. However, several flaws darken the picture.
Indeed, the applications and plugins you can add are largely paid for, added to your subscription.
Since the free version is also relatively limited, you will surely have no choice but to subscribe to a paid offer. But the main flaw of this site builder is probably its SEO performance.
Indeed, they are not good, and despite your efforts, your site's referencing will probably be difficult to optimize.
In short, if computing isn't your cup of tea and you're looking for simplicity, Weebly may be an option, but its performance is average.
5. Webnode
We find the best website building software at the fifth place of this top editor Webnode. Created in 2008, this software has evolved to conquer the whole world. In the same way as its main competitors, Webnode allows you to create a website without any technical knowledge in this field.
Webnode wants to save you time in this building by offering you an editor that gives you an immediate overview of your site. You can modify the pages directly on their preview so that you can see the final rendering immediately. In a concern of accessibility, Webnode proposes you to create a multilingual site, translatable into more than 40 languages.
Among the other assets that Webnode presents, we can note that this web designer offers you many graphic themes.
Its prices are also very accessible, and they are slightly lower than those of its main competitors.
However, this design, simplified to the maximum, has a few flaws that you will quickly notice if you want to go a little further. For example, your site's customization is very framed, which is a good thing from an easy point of view but can block your site's flexibility. You won't necessarily be able to change everything you want.
Similarly, if you want to open an online store, the e-commerce tools that Webnode offers seem to be poorly developed, especially in the management aspects, finally, a significant drawback is to be noted: customer support is only available 5 days a week.
Therefore, you may find yourself stuck in front of a problem for two days before you get a solution.
6. SiteW
In the second position of this top of the website building softwares, we find the website editor SiteW.
This website builder was developed in 2007, and since then, it is continually evolving. So, whether you want to create a blog, a personal website, a "showcase" website, or an online store, SiteW will be able to help you.
Like its main competitors that you will find in this comparison, SiteW allows you to create a website quickly, without having to worry about its hosting, domain name, or SEO features. This editor's main advantage is that it offers a so-called "freemium" offer so that you can benefit from its features for free.
Also, SiteW presents great possibilities in customizing your site with advanced features. Moreover, it is a multinational company, which means that everything has been thought and designed in the multinational language. So you will not have any problems with menu names, feature naming, or customer support.
However, SiteW has several limitations. Indeed, its overall performances (speed, stability, optimization, etc.) are average compared to those of its competitors. Also, the free version that SiteW promotes to you is limited. Finally, the editing tool is not intuitive, which can cause problems if you are not comfortablebuilding websites.
7. WebSelf
At the fourth place of this ranking of the best web editors, we find WebSelf.
This website builder created in 2009 benefits from a great experience in the field, since the company at the origin of its development dates back to 1989.
WebSelf is also very easy to use website building software, even for people with no coding or computer programming knowledge. One of the main advantages of this site builder is the number of graphic models it offers you. You have an extensive choice of designs to create a site that looks like you.
Also, the appearance of these themes is very professional for optimal rendering. You can add and modify content in a straightforward way by letting yourself be guided through its relatively intuitive interface. Also, the rates applied by WebSelf are very reasonable: they are instead in the low average of the rates charged for this kind of service.
Finally, a positive point not to be overlooked is that customer support is available in multinational. This way, you can easily consult it to solve your problems. If it is true that WebSelf is an outstanding web editor, it presents some negative points. Among these disadvantages, we can note an absolute lack of fluidity in its use.
Indeed, some functions are rather poorly expressed, and your use may be affected. In the same way, SEO performance is far from being as good as with the top publishers in this ranking. This is an aspect to take into account for the referencing of your site in search engines.
8. E-Monsite
Just like SiteW, E-Monsite is a multinational website builder (our opinion on E-Mon site here). Launched in 2004, this software has progressed very quickly to become one of the leading names in today's website building market. Like its competitors, the E-Mon site manages your website's hosting, and this hosting is based in France, which is an asset.
Among its other advantages, we can note that this web editor has a very large choice of themes. Thus, you can create a unique site, which looks like no other. Designed to facilitate the building of websites, E-Mon site offers you, in addition, important customization tools to modify your site at your convenience.
In addition, the E-Mon site has excellent SEO features for the search engine optimization of your website. However, if this website builder holds the last place in our ranking, many drawbacks make it less attractive.
Indeed, the first negative point to raise is that E-Mon site users' feedback is globally bad.
Several features are missing for smooth use: there is no live preview, and the drag and drop function is not available. Moreover, the designs are not really up to date. Finally, one of the main flaws of E-Monsite is its pricing.
Indeed, this can be very high due to the many additional fees that may apply to access specific options. Even if the E-Mon site wants to address anyone who wants to create a site - from beginners to experts - it seems that this publisher cannot compete with names like Jimdo or Weebly, for example.
Criteria to choose the best website editor
Also, be sure to choose software that has good customer support. The support available to you is an essential builder in your choice. Your support center should be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a phone line being preferable to a chat room.
Conclusion
All the turnkey solutions offered on the web promise you incredible performance, but to create a site, you must pay attention to a large number of criteria and, above all, define your needs well.
We hope that you now have a clearer idea of which publisher will be the best for your site with this ranking. Some propose a more simplistic approach than others. Others are less easy to use but can offer more services.
Finally, to get the most out of your website, you can choose from top publishers like Jimdo, SiteW, or Squarespace to get the services of one of the best website publishers on the market.