These are the best web design software programs to help you build a professional-looking website. Some of these let you design your website for free, and then charge you for hosting or other services. Others only work with their own hosting, which is fine if you want everything to be integrated, but might not fit into your larger tech plan.

We took a look at the best web design software available and found Webflow to be our pick for the best overall web design software. With an easy-to-use interface and lots of flexibility in terms of customization, this was an easy choice. It offers both free and paid plans, so it’s a good option even if you’re just starting out and don’t have a big budget.

There are lots of factors that go into which web design software is the right one for you, including what you’re building the website for—a personal page or a business page? What kind of functionality do you need? How much help are you going to need along the way? And there’s always cost: how much can you spend on web design software?

You can read more about our top pick and our runner-up pick below in our list of the best web design software.

Cnet Best Web Design Software

Quick Breakdown: Best Website Builders
Use Case Site Builder Free plan Paid plans
Best website builder for freelance & small business Wix Yes From $16/month
Best free website builder Wix Yes From $3.90/month
Best website builder for absolute beginners Jimdo Yes From $9/month
Best for small online stores Wix Yes From $27/month
Best for medium to large online stores Shopify No From $29/month
Best website builder for blogging and podcasting Squarespace No From $14/month
Best for photographers, artists and bands Wix Yes From $16/month
Best website builder for SEO Wix / WordPress.org Yes From $16 (Wix) or $6.99 (Dreamhost)/month
Best website builder for designers Webflow Yes From $16/month
Cheapest website builder (with use of own domain) Webnode Yes From $3.90/month

Hi, I am Robert Brandl and have been testing website builders for more than a decade. Back in 2009 I wanted to create a simple website, mainly to share photos and post articles. But back then, this was very hard if you didn’t know how to code.

Eventually, this need for an easy-to-use website tool led me to find my first no-code website builder, which was Weebly. This discovery made me start Tooltester, to help beginners just like you create your own website.

For a very long time, we even used the Webnode website builder to run this site and publish our content. But when it grew to more than 200,000 monthly visitors and 7 different languages – bigger than any website builder could support – we made the switch to WordPress.

Our team of researchers has since grown to a team of 5 digital experts, who are happy to help you along the way. Learn more about our methodology or leave a comment if you have any questions!

Tip #1: Have you already checked out our Smart Finder Tool? Simply answer 5 questions and we’ll show you which site builder best fits for your project! Give it a try.

What kinds of sites can be created with a website builder?
top website buildersThe great thing about website builders is that they offer templates for a range of different industries (check out these templates by Wix, for example). You pick the one you like and just add your own text and images. You don’t have to start from a blank slate, which makes it super easy to achieve impressive results in no time.

Website builders are perfect for small businesses, portfolios, photographers, online stores, restaurants, and hotels, as well as clubs and associations.

In contrast, sites that require a database (real-estate listings, job boards) aren’t so easy to create. They require a different tool and more time. Your best bet in this case: WordPress or Webflow.

And since we get this question frequently: No, hypercomplex sites like Airbnb, eBay, or Facebook are completely out of reach. You’ll need to hire a development team to build a website like that.

If you’re looking to sell digital downloads, specifically, then check out this complete guide.

And take a look at this guide if you’re looking for a dedicated landing page builder.

Tip #2: The ranking table on this page shows the best website builders. Please visit our dedicated research if you’re looking for the best ecommerce website builder (Shopify, WooCommerce etc.) or for detailed information on WordPress.

So which are the best website builders, and which ones should you avoid?

Find your favorite in our website builder ranking table
To help you navigate the table more easily, I added a color code for you:
Green: Excellent product
Yellow: Good product with some flaws
Red: It’s a ‘no’ from us

Website Builder Pricing Comments

1
wixWix

Designs like no other

Free: $0
Connect Domain: $5
Combo: $16
Unlimited: $22
Business & eCommerce: from $27
Pricing details

Try for free +Excellent templates
+It’s extremely flexible
+Powerful add-on marketing tools
+Extensive App Market
+Wix ADI
–Pricey
–Templates can’t be changed easily
–Media-heavy sites can be slower to load on mobile
Learn more
2
squarespace

Squarespace

Excellent for Blogging

Personal: $14
Business: $23
Online Store (Basic): $27
Online Store (Advanced): $49
Pricing details

Try for free +Templates and Designs
+Blogging feature
+Customer support
+Mobile Apps
–Usability of the editor
–Only one sub-navigation
–Page Speed
Learn more
3 GoDaddy Review
GoDaddy Websites

Getting Better All The Time

Free: $0
Basic: $11.99
Standard: $21.99
Premium: $24.99
Ecommerce: $44.99

Try for free +Responsive layouts
+Easy to use
+Free marketing tools
–Limited SEO
–No app store
Learn more
4 webnode
Webnode

The Polyglot Website Tool

Free: $0
Limited: $3.90
Mini: $7.50
Standard: $12.90
Profi: $22.90
Pricing details

Try for free +Suited to multilingual websites
+Great for SEO
+Free email address included
–Limited ecommerce features
–Basic blog
–Missing some key features
Learn more
5 weebly
Weebly

Unmatched ease of use

Free: $0
Personal: $6
Professional: $12
Performance: $26
Pricing details

Try for free +Ease of use
+Responsive Themes
+App Center
+Team Management
–Limited Design Flexibility
–Multilingual Websites
–Slow development
Learn more
6 jimdo
Jimdo

Create a Website in No Time

PLAY: $0
START: $11
GROW: $22
UNLIMITED: $39
Pricing details

Try for free +Ease of use
+Attractive designs
+Mobile version
+Loading speed
–Limited features
–Few SEO options
–Design flexibility
Learn more
7 ionos logo
IONOS

Websites for businesses

Starter: $5
Plus: $10
Shop Starter: $12
Shop Plus: $20

Try for free +Good for multilingual sites
+Phone, live chat and personal support included
+Option to create backups
+Loading speed
–No free trial
–Issues with content suggestions
Learn more
8 webflow icon
Webflow

Ideal for Freelance Designers

Starter: $0
Core: $16
Growth: $35
Pricing details

Try for free +Powerful fusion of visual editor and CMS
+Customization options
+Perfect for client-work
+Great support material
–Not beginner-friendly
–No app store
–Few built-in extensions
Learn more
9
wordpress-alternatives

WordPress.com

WordPress for Starters

Free: $0
Pro: $15

Try for free +Free plan
+No installation or maintenance
+Support included
–Not the most intuitive
–Not the most cost-effective option for a WordPress site
Learn more
10 duda
Duda

The Language Genius

Basic: $14
Team: $22
Agency: $44 +Great for multilingual websites
+Website Personalization Tools
+Easy drag-and-drop editor
+Backup and Restore feature
–Relatively expensive
–Limited app store
Learn more
11
strikingly

Strikingly

Great for One-pagers

Free: $0
Limited: $8
Pro: $16

Try for free +Best in-class support
+Cheap for multiple websites
+Ease of Use
–SEO
–Limited Free Version
Learn more
12
One.com

The Budget Site Builder

Standard: $2.49
Premium: $7.48
Online Shop: $16.99

Try it out

+Very inexpensive
+Responsive templates
–No integrated blog
–Poor support quality
–Pricing not straightforward
Learn more
13
Site123 Review

Site123

Good for Languages

Free: 0€
Basic: 11,87€
Advanced: 15,58€
Professional: 21,14€
Gold: 26,70€

Try for free +Multilingual features
+Free plan with support
+Ease of use
–Ads
–Layout restrictions
–Limited access
Learn more
14 webstarts
Webstarts

Wix’s Little Brother

Free: $0
Pro Plus: $7.16
Business: $19.99

Try for free +Decent free plan
+Flexibility
–SSL costs extra
–Backend could use revamp
Learn more
15 web-com
Web.com

The Deceiving One

Starter: $10
Marketing: $15
Ecommerce: $20
(Discounted rates for the first month available) +Website builder and templates
–Billing terms (renewal every 4-weeks instead of 30 days, renewal prices hidden in fine-print)
–Exaggerated domain renewal rate ($38/year) + Whois Protection fees on top
–Cancellations by phone only
–No money-back guarantee
–Navigation only has one sub-level
Learn more
16 webs.com
Webs.com

Has Had its Best Days

Free: $0
Starter: $5.99
Enhanced: $12.99
Pro: $22.99 +Website editor
–Negative customer feedback
–Hardly any development
–Template designs
Learn more
A quick note about the prices you see here: they are usually charged yearly.

Tip #3: You can also compare all website builders conveniently side-by-side! Go to our comparison tool.

A buyer’s guide to finding your favorite website builder
Now that you’ve seen our ranking table, you might still be left wondering how to actually choose the best website builder for your specific project.

Here’s the good news: choosing a website builder is relatively risk-free nowadays. However, there are a couple of things that you should be looking into before deciding:

Free Trial: Make sure you can try the site builder for free. Most providers offer free plans (with some limitations) or at least a money-back guarantee policy. Personally, I’d avoid site builders that require your credit card details for a trial as this is not very common in the industry.
Support: Check which kind of support the website builder offers (e.g. phone, chat, forums, etc.). It’s worth testing the support before you commit to a paid plan.
Price: This can be tricky to figure out as offers are sometimes confusing. However, in all our website builder reviews, you’ll find clear details of the pricing plans and extra costs (e.g. domain name) for each provider.
Features: Obviously each project will have different needs. But here are some of the common things you may be looking for: a decent blogging system, customizable SEO options, mobile-friendly designs, a shopping cart, decent image galleries, possibility to password-protect pages or having registered users.
Domain name: You should be able to connect domain names purchased elsewhere, even if you can register a new domain with the web builder directly.
Email accounts: if you’re using your website for business you will want an email address with your domain name instead of mybusiness@gmail.com. Further down we lay out some handy tips regarding email addresses.
Cancellation policy: usually there is a free plan to try the site builder, a 14-days money-back guarantee, or even both. If that’s not the case, you should be slightly suspicious. Cancellations by phone only are another no-go we will call out.
Tip #4: Interested in video tutorials to create your website? You’re in luck! Currently, we have a Squarespace tutorial and another one for Wix.

The top website builders – our detailed study
Let’s now take a more detailed look at our research. These are the best (and worst) website builders:

1. Wix
   Websites like No Other

With 200m users, Wix is certainly the biggest website builder out there. It started out as a Flash-based platform originally. That’s why you may sometimes still hear old rumors of Wix not being able to rank well in search engines (which you can safely ignore). Today they are the most flexible website creator out there.

Their development speed is breathtaking, which also makes them the best website builder in our table. Hardly a month passes without Wix announcing a major new feature. Among them: Wix Bookings, a convenient self-service appointment booking system for your clients; and Wix Restaurants, a (commission-free) add-on that lets your customers book tables, order food from you and check out your menus.

They even offer their very own suite of marketing and business tools, Ascend by Wix, which includes a CRM, email marketing, automations, invoice generator and video maker (amongst other handy features).

Thanks to Wix ADI, absolute beginners can now use a guided website creation assistant to build an online presence in no time. And for those with more experience, powerful tools such as Editor X and Velo by Wix can give you greater control in developing fully-responsive, interaction-driven sites.

Wix Pros and Cons
What we like: their eye for design. One of the biggest advantages is that there are hundreds of well-designed templates that you can use for free. Adapting them to your needs is super straightforward. And then there is the huge range of features: thanks to their App Market you can easily add new features to your website (e.g. a newsletter subscription form, an events calendar, a forum, etc.). We’re especially big fans of their Members Area feature, which allows site members to log in and manage orders, payments, bookings and more. They’re also constantly improving the online store, which is a great option for smaller stores.

What they should improve: it’s not the best site builder to create larger websites of, say, 30+ pages. The navigation isn’t very deep and doesn’t allow for very complex structures. Also, it’s not possible to simply switch to an entirely new theme if you get bored of your existing one (other drag and drop website builders make this easier). Although their templates look great, many rely on heavy use of animations and media (e.g. images and videos), which can have an impact on loading speed (particularly on mobile devices). You’re also limited in what you can optimize yourself (compared to a CMS like WordPress). It’s something to keep in mind if search traffic is important to your site.

Free Trial: www.wix.com

Detailed Wix review

2. Squarespace
   Great for Blogging

Squarespace has been around since 2003 and speaks of “millions” of websites created on their platform. With a market share similar to Wix’s, it’s one of the undeniable big players in the website builder market. It’s hard not to like the clean design of their website and the powerful aesthetics. The question is, though, whether their product is just as good as their self-marketing.

To begin with, it’s not cheap: their lowest no-frills plan starts at $14 per month, and it’s one of the few website builders to not offer a free version. Squarespace’s claim to fame is to offer one of the best blog functions of all website builders, second only to WordPress. And as of recently, they are increasingly pushing their online store. So what else do you get?

A big draw card is the ability to choose from their numerous, and admittedly, beautiful themes. They are all tablet and smartphone-compatible and feature different types of photo galleries.

Notable add-on features include Member Areas, a scheduling tool for managing bookings, and email marketing. With regard to SEO, Squarespace recently improved their features so that you can now customize all relevant areas (page titles, descriptions, etc.).

Squarespace Pros and Cons
What we like: the designs are brilliant and also pretty flexible, letting you build out your site using prebuilt sections. We’ve also had pretty positive experiences with their support. Squarespace is also THE website builder to start a blog. No other site builder offers such sophisticated blogging capabilities, with features including commenting, multiple authors, Google AMP, and even the ability to host podcasts.

What they should improve: There is no backup and restore feature, which is a bit disappointing. It’s not the easiest drag and drop website builder to use, other alternatives are better suited for beginners. Finally, when we tested their page speed (also an important SEO factor), it wasn’t exactly impressive. A larger selection for external applications would be desirable as well (something comparable to Wix App Market).

Free trial: www.squarespace.com

Detailed Squarespace review

3. GoDaddy Website Builder
   One-stop shop for marketing

You may know GoDaddy for their domains and web hosting service, but it turns out they have their very own website builder, too. GoDaddy Websites + Marketing focuses on exactly that: providing you with a toolkit to build your website, and run all your email marketing, social media, blogging and SEO.

Their website builder has seen a few overhauls over the past few years, but this latest version has some key differences. For one, you can now build a website completely for free. You also have new features such as a social media content creator, password-protected pages, and in-built analytics.

Other useful add-ons include an appointment scheduler, email marketing tool, and messaging feature. These are (mostly) free to use.

Be aware, though, that SEO features are very limited on the lower-level plans, and that the eCommerce feature is only available on their highest-level plan.

GoDaddy Website Builder Pros and Cons
What we like: Its editor is very easy to use and can be used from mobile devices. And while the templates might not exactly ‘wow’ you, they are all mobile-responsive. It’s also great that you can use many of its add-on marketing features at no extra cost.

What they should improve: It’s a shame that you can’t access the full SEO features on the free and Basic plans, and even on the higher-tier plans, they are lacking in some key SEO areas. We also think they should do a better job of supporting websites built on previous versions, given their tendency to relaunch the builder every few years.

Try it for free: www.godaddy.com

Detailed GoDaddy review

4. Webnode
   The Polyglot Website Tool

Although not as popular as other tools like Weebly or Wix, it is still one of the most globally used website builders – especially among European users. Webnode is a hit and miss: some features are really advanced and almost unique in the industry, but it also lacks some basic functionality that can be a no-go for some.

A free domain name for most of their plans is included for the first year. On top of that, some tiers also come with custom email accounts (e.g. info@your-domain.com) for free. They are also a very popular free website builder.

Webnode Pros and Cons
What we like: The most exciting feature about Webnode is that they offer an easy way to create multilingual sites; very few website builders have a feature like that. We also like their designs, which are modern and responsive – so they automatically look good on all devices. Their SEO features are also solid and have everything that most sites will need. Plus, being able to add 2 sub-levels of navigation to your menu is a useful feature that not even better-known website builders offer.

What they should improve: Their blogging system is missing some key features like tags or a native commenting system. If you are looking to create an online store, look elsewhere – their solution is pretty basic. Unlike Wix or Weebly they don’t have an app store; these can be really convenient as they let you install extensions that enhance your site’s capabilities.

Free trial: www.webnode.com

Detailed Webnode review

5. Weebly
   Unmatched Ease-of-Use

Weebly used to be one of our favorite website builders. The ease of use of their website editor was (and still is) unmatched. So, it wasn’t surprising to learn that 40m websites have been created through their platform already.

But, things for Weebly have stagnated since being acquired by Square. All the focus seems to be going toward their ecommerce platform, Square Online, meaning that not too many features have been added to the Weebly website builder in recent years.

That being said, the features we used to love are still there – their membership area and the blog being two good examples. Their content management system is laid out to support large websites (we know of Weebly websites that easily have more than 150 pages). Best of all, you’re not constrained by any storage or bandwidth limits in their paid plans.

The Weebly Professional plan at $12 per month includes a site search feature as well as video and audio players, allowing you to stream media directly from your site. All in all, Weebly is a good choice if you want a simple and affordable site, but it may not support your requirements if you need to scale in the future.

Weebly Pros and Cons
What we like: their themes are not only stylish but also responsive, adapting perfectly to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. They have a clever page template system, allowing you to further customize it to your needs. Through the App Center you can add a wide range of extra functionality made by Weebly and third parties.

What they should improve: the lack of new features and templates makes the platform look and feel outdated compared to other website builders. While the App Center is great, you won’t find as many apps as in Wix’s App Market. Also, Weebly is not a great choice for a multilingual website. Finally, we also found their support a little slow to respond, with responses not being overly helpful.

Free trial: www.weebly.com

Detailed Weebly review

6. Jimdo
   Solid All-Round Package for Beginners

Jimdo is a German website creator with more than 20m websites to its name. Ease of use is also their credo. That’s why they introduced Jimdo Dolphin (“no coding required”), a new system that promises a working website in only 3 minutes. Surprisingly, it’s true! It’s ideal for small local businesses that already have some information online on Google Maps and Instagram, for example. Jimdo will then just pull the information and create the website for you.

All you need to do is to adjust your layout, colors, and add some more copy to it. From all the website builders we have tested, Jimdo will definitely get your website created the fasted.

It’s a solid website creation suite accompanied by a basic online store. All their templates are fully responsive and display well on desktop and mobile devices. They also have the Jimdo Creator, which is their classic editor that includes some basic coding features.

Weebly Pros and Cons
What we like: Jimdo is really the fastest way to create a small, good-looking business site. Since they are offering a free plan you can easily try it out and won’t have wasted much time even if you don’t like the end result. Adding a basic online store is just as easy albeit it’s very limited.

What they should improve: they lack many features compared to website builders like Wix and Squarespace. Most importantly, there is no blogging feature or way to password-protect any of your pages. Their templates could be more flexible, the online store should boast more features and a marketplace for apps (external add-ons) would be really desirable.

Free trial: www.jimdo.com

Detailed Jimdo review

7. IONOS – MyWebsite
   Websites for businesses

The MyWebsite builder from German internet giant IONOS by 1&1 is aimed primarily at businesses. With that target market in mind, very useful features like the online business card and industry-specific templates have been built into the redesigned editor.

It’s easy enough to create a website with a modern-looking website design by dragging all the elements like text and images and dropping them where you’d like them to appear – it’s as simple as that! What’s also great: all designs can be optimized for tablets and smartphones.

Another highlight is the option to share updates with specific groups of people. For example, you can set it up so that only visitors based in New York or Boston (for example) get notified about a special discount.

Moreover, IONOS offers their own hosting services, e.g. WordPress hosting, which we also tested.

IONOS MyWebsite Pros and Cons
What we like: It’s so straightforward to add your website in multiple languages! Hardly any of the other providers offer this (Webnode and Site123 being the exception). It’s also a bonus that you get a free domain and email address included as well as access to the customer support hotline and live chat. Another special perk is that you are assigned a single point of contact when you first sign up, so you’re all taken care of.

What they should improve: Although online store functionality is unfortunately not built in as standard, it is available as an add-on by Ecwid. I did like the website builder, but it’s a shame that IONOS by 1&1 doesn’t offer any option of a trial without signing up. So unfortunately, you have to make do with the 30-day money-back guarantee. Fortunately, it’s no problem to cancel online. We’re also not crazy about all the package options and prices you have to wade your way through before you can get going.

Free trial: www.ionos.com

Detailed IONOS review

8. Webflow
   Creating Websites for Clients Easily

Webflow is not your typical drag and drop website builder. Headquartered in San Francisco and backed up by some big-name funding, Webflow combines powerful CMS capabilities with an intuitive visual editor. It’s fast becoming the platform of choice for designers, freelancers and agencies.

With Webflow, designers have complete control to build responsive websites, without the need for any coding. They can also take advantage of Webflow’s dynamic content to build and re-use elements such as templates, helping to ensure design consistency (while also saving a lot of time and effort).

Because of this, Webflow is often compared to WordPress – with the added benefit of being a lot easier to use. Prices start at $12/month, and there are different available plans for individual sites, and for those who need multiple websites.

Webflow Pros and Cons
What we like: Webflow really puts you in the driver’s seat, giving you control of every aspect of your website’s design – responsiveness, styling, interactions; you name it. SEO options are solid, and its guaranteed uptime of 99.99% is impressive. Accessibility seems to be a big focus for them, with features such as smooth-scrolling, visual impairment simulations, and an Audit panel all baked into the builder. You also get plenty of support through their Webflow University, which is packed with courses, videos and other great resources.

What they should improve: Although you do get access to plenty of support materials along the way, we really wouldn’t recommend Webflow if you’re an absolute beginner. It requires a lot of hands-on work, especially for extra features such as a blog or online store. Webflow doesn’t come with many widgets or even an app store, which would be handy. The pricing is a little complicated, with different plans for individual sites and for those who need multiple sites. And the more features you need (e.g. site search, code export), the pricier it gets (see more about Webflow pricing in our guide).

Free trial: www.webflow.com

Detailed Webflow review

9. WordPress.com
   WordPress for starters

The software WordPress, which was first designed to create blogs, now powers 43.3% of all websites on the Internet. It is extremely powerful, customizable, and flexible. You can create any kind of website with it, from ecommerce to real estate site or a full online newspaper.

While the software itself is free and open-source, there is a version that is more like other website builders on this page. It’s found through WordPress.com, and it comes with web hosting, pre-installed plugins, a selection of themes, and dedicated support.

This is all great because it’s things you usually have to do and find yourself. So WordPress.com does make it easier than ever for anyone to create a WordPress site.

The free plan gives you enough to try it out. However, for an ad-free website (plus access to plugins, premium themes and advanced SEO settings), you’ll need the Pro plan, which costs $15.

WordPress.com Pros and Cons
What we like: It’s very easy to get started. There is no maintenance or complex installation process, and you can get a decent looking blog for free (hosted on their preselected domain). The support is good, fast, and even there to help with third-party plugins you install on your site.

What they should improve: It’s not the easiest backend to get used to for beginners. While the fact there are only two plans (Free and Pro) makes pricing simple to understand, it may not suit users who need a budget solution – especially as there are cheaper WordPress hosting providers. The 50GB storage limit on the Pro plan means it’s not ideal for users who want to upload a lot of big files (e.g. videos).

Free trial: www.wordpress.com

Detailed WordPress review

10. Duda
    The Language Genius

Duda’s website builder started out in 2008 and is special in many ways. For once, they get all the basics right: the templates look great, you get all the SEO settings you need, the blog is decent and there is an online store.

On top of that, there are two areas where they manage to outshine their competitors: for once, you can create multilingual websites with it (an area that barely any site builders masters). Plus, they also offer what they call “website personalization tools”. Using them you can show fully customized content to your visitors, for example, based on their location or the time of the day. A very powerful feature!

All this comes at a price: Duda is not exactly cheap. The lowest plan (Basic starts at $14 per month and doesn’t include a domain name or email accounts. An interesting thing to note is that Duda sells their website builder to other web hosting companies, such as IONOS (where it’s called MyWebsite Creator). There, you can get pretty much the same product at a much lower price.

Duda Pros and Cons
What we like: ease of use, their stylish templates, and their unique site personalization tools. Also, in our eyes, Duda is second to none for multilingual websites.

What they should improve: although there is an app store with third-party applications, the available apps are relatively limited. Prices are quite steep compared to the competition.

Free trial: duda.com

Detailed Duda review

11. Strikingly
    Great for Onepagers

Strikingly has its focus on one-page layouts. This can be especially interesting if you want to create a landing page, say for event registrations. Their responsive designs are indeed striking (no pun intended) and look great on mobile devices. You can either start with their ad-sponsored free plan or upgrade to the Limited ($8), Pro ($16) or VIP plan ($49 per month). Limited also includes a 5-product online store, whereas VIP increases this limit to 500 products.

Strikingly Pros and Cons
What we like: if you are planning to build multiple sites, the PRO plan can be interesting as it includes up to 3 sites. We found their support to be top-notch and it’s pretty easy to get your head around Strikingly.

What they should improve: single-page websites are not Google’s favorite so it might not be too easy to rank well. Something simple like adding an external code snippet requires you to upgrade to the PRO plan, which is comparatively expensive (unless you will actually create the full three websites that are included).

Free trial: www.strikingly.com

Detailed Strikingly review

12. One.com
    The Budget Site Builder

One.com is one thing: cheap. This Danish provider stormed into the website builder (and hosting) market a few years ago offering the lowest prices we’ve seen. They also provide hosting, which is really convenient if you need to use both a website builder and a CMS like WordPress.

But One.com can get expensive. If you are going to need more than 5 pages, you’ll need to get the Explorer plan ($7.48/month). Then it is almost as expensive as Weebly and Webnode (both ranked higher than One.com), and rather limited in features if compared to these.

One.com Pros and Cons
What we like: They have templates that look modern and are responsive. These will make your site look great on any device. They also offer solid support that you can reach by email or live chat. Another positive aspect is that they are extremely generous with the storage they offer.

What they should improve: Sadly it has some important limitations. For example, if you need a blog it needs to be added separately using another editor. You won’t be able to password-protect your site either as this feature is not included. Another flaw is that their ecommerce system is very basic and only suitable for the smallest online stores.

Free trial: www.one.com

Detailed One.com review

13. Site123
    Good with Languages

site123
Languages seem to be Site123’s thing. Not only is the editor available in more than 20 of them (including languages such as Turkish, Arabic, Romanian), they also feature multilingual websites. The editor is relatively restrictive, a bit like GoDaddy Websites. If you just want to get the website job done, without becoming too creative this might suffice. But you have to be aware that their template system can be a bit on the restrictive side.

The cheapest plan that allows you to use your own custom domain name starts at 11,87€ per month. Compared to other website builders it’s a bit pricey as they will still show a small footer ad in this plan.

Site123 Pros and Cons
What we like: their focus on languages and the fact that they have a decent free plan. Their editor is also very easy to use and support is usually fast to answer.

What they should improve: more design flexibility would be nice. Also, for a price of 11,87€ per month, there should be no ad on the website.

Free trial: www.site123.com

Detailed Site123 review

14. Webstarts
    Wix’s Little Brother

webstarts
This All-American website creator claims to host almost 4m websites, of which quite a few are probably free ones. The Webstarts editor and features reminded us a bit of Wix. Their design section has a few gems in it and they also pride themselves on being super flexible. But to be honest, it doesn’t quite live up to Wix’s high standards.

Webstarts Pros and Cons
What we like: the free plan is relatively attractive as it offers 1GB of storage and bandwidth. Thankfully the ad isn’t very visible. There is a blogging tool and the Business plan also includes a decent online store.

What they should improve: it’s pretty annoying these days to pay extra for an SSL-encrypted site. Webstarts’ $8 per month charge is outright abusive. The mobile-optimized view isn’t included in their cheapest paid plan, which is a bit of a bummer.

Free trial: www.webstarts.com

15. Web.com
    The Deceiving One

web-com homepage
Alright, you’ve made it this far down the list, now brace yourself.

If you’ve been to other review sites like ours, you may have seen Web.com at the top of their ranking tables. I’ll explain why in a minute.

It’s not that Web.com is a terrible website builder. The product is actually quite okay. It’s easy to use, the templates are pretty nice; under normal circumstances we’d recommend it. But if you look at their terms, you’ll notice that not much is normal about Web.com.

First of all, you need magnifying glasses to figure out their pricing system. The low price of $1.95 per month quickly skyrockets to $10 after the first month. Having said that, I must note that a “month” is 4 weeks for Web.com. That’s right, in Web.com’s calendar, the year has 13 months. And who on this planet dares to charge $38 per year for a .com domain name? Right, Web.com. Not to forget the $1.95 per month on top for privacy protection and $2.33 for an SSL certificate. Needless to say, there is no money-back guarantee.

So back to why so many other website builder review sites love to recommend them: their commissions are some of the highest of the industry. And now you also know how they are able to pay them. At Tooltester we prefer to recommend decent products that don’t try to take advantage of our readers.

Web.com Pros and Cons
What we like: the website editor is really solid. They use a grid system, which makes it easy to understand for beginners. The templates aren’t bad either.

What they should improve: apart from all the aforementioned pricing shenanigans, I don’t think any web company should ask their customers to call them to cancel. Obviously, they are only doing it to convince you otherwise. And if you are still interested to hear what I don’t like about the product, be my guest: as organized as the grid system editor is, it’s not very flexible. And you can’t create very deep websites, as the navigation lets you only add one sublevel.

best web design sites

Pablo Picasso said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Works of art, music and movies are frequently inspired by other artists, singers and filmmakers. So it comes as no surprise that many professional web designers and content developers also take inspiration from other sources, tweaking them to work for a client’s brand or business. After all, if you see something that works, why not make it work for you?

The old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t quite apply to web design. Instead, modern web designers adopt the mantra “Even if it ain’t broke, make it better.”

Being able to recognize smart web design choices and implement them in ways that enhance your designs is just good strategy. To get started, here are seven websites that web designers can check out for inspiration.

1. Behance[Screen capture] Behance.com home page. Adobe’s social media site is a great place to find world-class website design inspiration.
   Our first site, Behance is a social media site owned by the king of creative software, Adobe. The inspiration is not the website itself, but its focus: carefully curating and showcasing the most outstanding creative projects from around the web. Think of Behance as a buffet of the best of the best—artists, designers, photographers, retouchers—all on display for you to pick through and peruse. It’s an online gallery of exceptional web design and artistic expression.

What makes Behance worth mentioning here stems from the financial backing and authority of Adobe. Its a tightly-run site that is also instantly connected to a significant creative community that submits, reviews and favorites the most impressive work.

The search filters on the site include categories well-known to designers and artists. For example, Behance’s “galleries by top creative fields” includes categories like “graphic design, photography, architecture, advertising” and more. “Galleries by top creative tools” breaks down categories by tools like “Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator” and so on. Web designers would be wise to check out the dedicated search field for web design inspiration.

2. One Page Love
   [screen capture] onepagelove.com home page. Particularly helpful for landing page designs, come here to be inspired by the designs of these one page websites.

Like Behance, One Page Love is a hub where you can browse inspirational web designs and template layouts. The difference is that One Page Love is dedicated solely to one-page websites.

Not every website you design is going to be a single page. Most websites you design will have more than one page. That said, One Page Love is a great resource for landing page design inspiration.

One Page Love even offers learning resources and articles covering topics like landing page tutorials and landing page trends.

3. Awwwards
   [screen capture] awwwards.com home page. The site showcases and grants prestigious awards for the best in web design.

Awwwards is more than just a website dedicated to the curation of award-winning web design. It’s also an organization that’s highly respected for giving out those kinds of awards.

Awwwards is an outlet and podium for top talent around the world, and their annual award winners represent the global crème of the crop of web designers, web developers, and design agencies.

This means you’ll find inspirational design elements and completely conceptualized web design functionality on full display. Recent winners feature bold design choices, expressive color palettes and attractive UI/UX design from agencies and designers in countries all around the world.

Awwwards even gathers together industry-specific websites to showcase inspirational examples of what certain industries are doing with their web design. The page offers a look at almost 100 different inspiring websites for web design agencies.

4. David Hellman and Best Website Gallery
   [screen capture] davidhellman.com home page. David Hellman’s personal bookmarked collection of favorite websites has become a customary site that web designers visit to source specific inspiration.

Digital designer and developer David Hellman first started Best Website Gallery back in 2008, and the site has served as his personal pool for design inspiration ever since.

David calls the website his “visual bookmark collection,” but Best Website Gallery has become an inspirational epicenter for countless designers and developers. The site’s simple-but-effective tagging feature lets visitors quickly whittle down and browse through thousands of different websites. Search for specific industries, industry trends, agency examples and even color choices. Want to see what’s big in the world of green, blue, or orange web design? Best Website Gallery has you covered.

Additionally, David’s own website is an excellent example of web design aesthetics and UI/UX functionality done well.

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5. ABDZ
   ABDZ.com home page layout and design

ABDZ (also called Abduzeedo) has followed and shared design trends from around the world for over a decade. It started as a blog and branched out into design curation and tutorial territory.

ABDZ focuses on visual design elements more than anything, which means it’s a helpful resource for creative web designers looking for inspiration. The website pulls inspirational material from a wide variety of mediums. As a result, designers can find visual and typographic trends and topics from digital design, print design, and even art installation design.

6. Brutalist Websites
   [screen capture] brutalistwebsites.com home page. Web designers visit this site for unconventional ideas and inspiration.

In the modern web design world, UI and UX expectations shape how designers create and curate web content. Brutalist Websites chooses to showcase sites from around the web that take traditional UI/UX design trends and turn them on their head.

Bold, often counterintuitive design choices are front and center in most of the featured sites on Brutalist Websites.

Click-and-drag website builders have made it easier than ever to create your own website. The result is web design that looks and feels the same as everyone else’s. Check out the websites featured on Brutalist Design for inspiration if you’re looking to design something different and a little strange.

7. Pinterest
   [screen capture] Pinterest home page. You can find a plethora of web design inspiration on this well-known social site.

Pinterest is essentially the internet’s dream board. If you can dream it, you can find it on Pinterest. Fortunately, this is true for more than just wedding planning and interior decorating. Pinterest provides an easy way to find inspirational web design.

You’ll need to sign up to get past the Pinterest castle wall, but once inside, you’ll be able to search and scour the web for just about anything your web designer mind can imagine. Need specific design element inspiration? How about good examples of UI/UX features? You can probably find what you’re looking for on Pinterest.

Web Design Professionals Still Do It Best
The Creative Momentum’s team has the skills to make your site look great. Someone touches a tablet devise displaying a wireframe picture.
Click-and-drag isn’t always the best option for web designers and business managers. In fact, trusting your web design and website development to experienced professionals is often the best way to get what you want. Chances are, professionals have dealt with challenges similar to yours in the past, and seasoned web designers keep their finger on the pulse as far as industry trends are concerned. They’ll probably have a few web design tips and tricks for you as well!

Conclusion

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