The 5 Best Website Builders for Small Business in 2021
1. GoDaddy - 4.6/5
GoDaddy is our choice for the best website builder due to its simplicity and affordability. GoDaddy’s website builder allows you to have a fully functional, quality business website within a matter of minutes. Features include website security, analytics, 24/7 support, and more. There’s also a free trial offered, so you can decide whether the service is best suited for you and your company.
Total Cost: Free to $24.99/month
- The website builder is incredibly user-friendly, so even if you aren’t a tech-savvy person, you’ll be able to easily navigate through the tool.
- Depending on the plan you choose, you can gain access to helpful features for your business, such as email marketing tools and a branded content creator.
- There are customization tools offered that allow customers to schedule appointments and make payments through your business website.
Overall, GoDaddy is a great option for entrepreneurs ready to build their business websites quickly and seamlessly. The straightforward pricing plans and customer support make it a service you can fully trust. Build your business website today by clicking the button below, or read our full GoDaddy review!
2. Weebly - 4/5
Weebly offers a variety of plans at very different price points, so they're able to accommodate a wider range of circumstances. Whether you're looking to start a medium-large scale online store or a simple website to represent your brand, they have a package with the right features and price point.
Total Cost: Free to $38/month when paid annually. Weebly doesn't list their month-to-month prices.
- Their Android and iOS apps are the most advanced in the industry. They’re the only provider that allows you to edit and manage your site/online store from any mobile device.
- Over 200 add-on apps/widgets are available, including SiteBooster and McAfee Secure.
- They’re the least expensive service that allows users to customize the HTML/CSS coding on their sites.
Weebly's free version is also a nice perk. Although we wouldn't recommend building a business website on it, it's a great way to tell whether or not you enjoy using their basic platform. Plus, Weebly isn't limited to WordPress, so it's a viable option for a larger number of folks -- hence their user-base of 40 million.
3. Squarespace - 3.9/5
Squarespace has expanded their reach by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Their gorgeous, modern themes are being used by millions.
Total Cost: $12 to $46/month.
- Squarespace is known for their sleek designer-quality templates that allow folks with a need for excellent visuals (artists, photographers, clothing designers, etc.) to stand out and gain credibility.
- They automatically include unlimited storage, bandwidth, pages, galleries and blogs in all of their packages, which is pretty stellar for as low as $12/mo.
- You can view a dozen examples of active websites using each of their themes to get a feel for what your finished site could look like.
Their 24/7 customer support is also a big selling point, but keep in mind that Squarespace is a rapidly growing operation so the quality of that support is hit or miss. Rather than diving in head-first, we recommend leveraging their free trial to determine whether or not they're the right provider for you.
4. Wix - 3.8/5
Wix has gained a larger user-base than any other website builder on this list. Over 100 million folks across the world have taken advantage of their low prices and easy drag-and-drop design platform.
Total Cost: Free to $25/month. Wix also offers Yearly Savings Plans which can save you up to 45%, but they don't list the exact price differences on their site.
- Wix's SEO-focused Site Booster app makes the website optimization process much easier for beginners.
- Their Artificial Design Intelligence auto-suggests layouts, color combinations, fonts and more based on your preferences.
- They offer a 14-day 100% money-back guarantee, so if you're not pleased with their services you'll have an easy out.
Like most website builders out there, Wix has gotten mixed reviews. It’s VERY common for folks to get frustrated with these platforms because they go in expecting to create a masterpiece in minutes. Is it easy to create a basic landing page on Wix? Yes. But for anything more, you're going to have to invest some time.
5. Jimdo - 3.7/5
Jimdo’s free version is easily the most generous in the industry -- a surprisingly complete website builder rather than a narrow preview. While there are a few small downsides to working with Jimdo (learn more in our review), their user-friendly platform has attracted millions of users and earned them hundreds of glowing reviews since they started in 2010.
Total Cost: Free to $20/month when paid annually. Unfortunately, Jimdo doesn't offer a month-to-month option.
- Their 8.6/10 satisfaction score on TrustPilot is incredibly impressive in this industry. Most folks praise the quality of Jimdo's customer support and the platform itself.
- Their iOS and Android apps are also user-friendly and well-integrated.
- If you plan on building an online store through Jimdo, you'll never be faced with any transaction fees, regardless of the package you choose.
One thing to keep in mind is that Jimdo's online stores don't currently match the level of sophistication of other providers like Weebly. They lack many extra features like gift cards and abandoned cart recovery, which can make a big difference in your sales. Also, they're currently only set up to accept payment via PayPal (no credit cards).
Pros and Cons of Using a Business Website Builder
Website Builder Pros
- No matter which provider you choose, business website builders are significantly less expensive than hiring a professional designer to build your site. Most of the time the outsourcing process requires more time and money because you’re working with smaller operations.
- Built-in apps, widgets, and dashboards can make managing your website a lot less demanding and more productive.
- Most of these providers have extensive customer service solutions. Some of them are available 24/7 to help you with any problems that might come your way.
- Website builders can make the process of selling physical or digital products online much easier, with tons of advanced feature options.
- There are tons of freelancers and agencies that specialize in web design on these platforms. So, for example, if you run into trouble with a core SquareSpace theme, you could work with an independent SquareSpace-specific design agency for much more personalized support.
Website Builder Cons
- The templates these platforms offer can be somewhat restrictive. Some allow to you customize the theme coding, but many others don't.
- The number of design, app and widget options can be intimidating to some folks. Deciding on a color scheme is hard enough, much more trying to decide which of the dozens of “contact form” widgets are the best choice.
- The ideal platform for bloggers is still WordPress, and while most website builders make it possible to add a blog to your store or site, finding one to match your style and monetization goals can be rough.
Which Business Website Builder is Best?
It’s difficult to pick one favorite out of this list because no single provider is right for all of our readers. There’s quite a bit of nuance involved, and sometimes the only way to tell which website builder is the best fit for you is to them out yourself.
That said, GoDaddy earns our #1 ranking for their generous packages, branding and marketing features, and great customer support. We think they're the best long-term solution if you want to take online marketing really seriously. Click below to build your business website with GoDaddy today!