A website is a must for both individuals and businesses. Luckily, you no longer require a developer or need to learn code in order to have your very own website. A professional website builder does the trick. The next question is, which one should you use?

There are so many website builders to choose from that it can get overwhelming. In this article, we’ll show you the best professional website builders available in 2022.

To help you make the best decision, we’ve ranked 6 popular website builders. We will introduce each website builder and provide a breakdown on ease of use, features, theme availability, pricing, support, and data portability.

There will also be a summarized pros and cons list for each website builder.

If you already have a website builder in mind, just click on it from the list below and you’ll skip to its section right away.

How to choose a website builder

A good website builder all depends on the type of website you’d like to build. Like any decision, it’s helpful to make a list of your website requirements and goals.

Requirements can be lengthy, however, here are 5 preliminary questions to consider:

Do you require a blog on your website?
Do you want to sell products and/or services on your website (Ecommerce)?
Do you need any special integrations (contact form, ad networks, shipping, etc.)?
Do you require SEO tools?
Do you need an industry-specific tools, such as a booking or photo gallery system?

If you’re just starting, relax! Remember, there are many websites already built which means you can gather ideas. Think of leaders in your industry or niche, go to their websites and see what components they have on their websites. This will help you build out your requirements and give you some inspiration.

Most people choose a website builder precisely because they usually include pre-made templates with a drag and drop interface. This means you don’t need to be technical or know anything about coding to build your own website.

Another important factor is budget. This depends on how much you are willing to spend. Luckily, there is a lot of competition in the website builder space which means as a consumer, you will have your pick of deals.

Free trials and generous money-back guarantee periods on most professional website builders also means you can test things out.

Once you’ve identified your website requirements and budget, you’re ready to pick your website builder and build your website.

How we rank website builders

Building a website is very exciting and our goal is to help you pick the right website builder to get the job done.

With that in mind, we took into consideration the following 6 factors to rank the best website builders available on the market today:

1. Ease

We considered the ease of use for each website builder, which means how easy it is to create a website from scratch for a non-technical user or absolute beginner.

2. Features

This is a big one, where some website builders really shine. We took a look at the top features including SEO, blogging and Ecommerce tools. Also, we considered if special addon features are available.

3. Themes

We also considered the number of themes and quality of designs website builders provide for different industries. Certain website builders cover just about any industry in existence, whereas others really focus on just a few.

4. Price

The website building industry is very competitive, which gives you a great advantage for solid deals. We took a good look at which builders offer the best value for your money.

5. Support

When you’re starting out or run into questions, support is a must-have. We ranked based on both support channels and the quality of support you’ll receive.

6. Portability

Portability means your ability to control and export your website data and content from one website building platform to another. Often overlooked, data portability is an important factor when it comes to properly managing your website.

With those factors in mind, let’s dive into the best website builders in 2022.

1. WordPress

WordPress currently powers approximately 42% of the websites on the internet, making it the most popular website building platform out there.

You’ll likely see both WordPress.org and WordPress.com mentioned when looking up WordPress – they are different and this section covers WordPress.org, i.e. self-hosted WordPress.

Self-hosted WordPress is our number one website builder because it provides powerful features, thousands of free themes, and excellent data portability.

Let’s take a look at why WordPress is such a great choice to build your website.

Ease

WordPress is very easy to use and requires absolutely no coding knowledge. Although it doesn’t come with a drag and drop builder out of the box, it does give you access to popular and free website building plugins (tools) such as Elementor and Beaver Builder to build your website with pre-made templates.

The WordPress dashboard provides a clean and straightforward interface to manage your content, media files (images, videos, etc.) and pages. There is also a menu and footer system built in so you can easily structure your website.

Features

One of the best things about WordPress is that it gives you access to thousands of free plugins. Plugins are tools that add advanced features to your website. With 1-click, you can create an Ecommerce store, membership website, booking platform, a social media website or a community forum.

Plugins also let you add advanced features such as a multilingual functionality, a contact form, call to action (CTA) buttons, SEO, and payment processing integrations.

WordPress also comes blog-ready, which means you can have a blog on your website or simply start a blogging website out of the box.

With all of its features, WordPress lets you build anything from a simple website, landing page or complex Ecommerce online store – there are no limits!

Themes

WordPress comes with access to over 7,500 free themes in industries ranging from business, Ecommerce, education, entertainment, food and drink, holidays, news, photography, portfolios, blogging, and much more.

WordPress also has an extensive library of premium themes that range in price for as low as $10 per year up to a couple of hundred dollars for multi-set packs of premium WordPress themes.

Premium themes are usually niche focused and offer professional level designs and support.

When you’re starting out, you’ll be covered on a free WordPress theme.

Price

Given that WordPress is a free and open-source website builder software, you have the choice to host it anywhere that offers WordPress hosting services. This gives you a lot of control over pricing as there many WordPress web hosts to choose from.

WordPress web hosting ranges anywhere from $2 per month, up to $30 per month for a single website. That’s quite a range and as a general rule, you’ll want to stick with a hosting company that provides reliable web hosting and support for WordPress along with a fair price.

Our top pick for WordPress web hosting is Skystra – at $7 per month, they provide solid value and reliability. You also get a 30-day money back guarantee.

Support

The support channels and quality of WordPress support will depend on the web host you choose. Choosing a knowledgeable WordPress web host is the most important factor in getting access to good WordPress support.

WordPress has the added advantage of having a vast online community of users and developers, on the WordPress.org forum, you can access WordPress volunteers who are ready to help with just about any type of question.

Portability

WordPress truly stands out as the best website builder for having portability built in. This gives you 100% control over your content and data.

If you build and host your WordPress website at a web hosting provider where things don’t end up working out, you can always move somewhere new.

Or let’s say you want better speed or support, you can simply migrate your website to a new WordPress web host or even your own server.

Pros

Here is a quick summary of the pros of using WordPress as your website builder:

It is free and open source
You can control costs and performance
Access to thousands of free designer-level themes
Build simple to complex websites, including Ecommerce
Plugins for advanced functions such as SEO, Ecommerce, and translations

Cons

There are also some cons when it comes to using WordPress, here are a few to consider:

Self-managed
Plugin and theme updates
Maintaining backups

Self-hosting means you will manage your own website, along with its updates, which does create a slight learning curve for WordPress. You will also have to maintain backups of your website, although many WordPress web hosts offer backups as an addon service, so you don’t need to worry about it.

2. Wix

Wix is a top-notch drag and drop website builder that comes with professional themes and tools to build your website, including advanced AI to design a website for you.

Ease

Wix is a beginner friendly website builder and easy to use. If you already have an idea of how you’d like your website to look, you can pick a theme and start building your website from a pre-made template.

If you’d like a website built for you, Wix has an AI (artificial intelligence) called Wix ADI that does the hard part for you. It asks you few questions about what you’d like on your website along with design preferences, and creates a website for you within a few minutes.

Features

Wix packs many advanced features, including Ecommerce, a booking system, and blogging platform. You also get advanced SEO tools to drive organic traffic to your website.

You can also access media galleries and professional design features to easily incorporate live animations and videos onto your website.

Another bonus is that any website built on Wix is automatically mobile-optimized, which means your website will look great across devices.

There’s even a cool logo maker that lets you create a unique logo for your brand in a few minutes and put it on your website.

Themes

Wix provides over 500 professional level themes to build your website, and new ones are constantly added.

You can access themes for a wide range of industries and use cases including a personal blog, travel blog, business resumes, small business, art, photography, personal coaching services, and many more.

The best thing about themes on Wix is that you can activate and edit a theme with 1-click. You can also easily change your theme.

Price

Wix is available for free, however with some conditions. You won’t be able to use your own domain name, you’ll get Wix branded one. Also, Wix will serve ads on your website.

This might work if all you want to do is try it out, however if you want a professional web presence, a paid plan works best.

To build a website with your own domain name, branding and no Wix ads starts at $10 per month.

The Wix Business and Ecommerce plans let you build an online store and accept online payments and start at $20 per month.

There is also a Wix basic plan available at $5 per month, however considering Wix would still serve ads on your website, it’s best to skip over it.

Support

Wix provides 24/7 customer services across all of their paid plans. This includes access to live support channels over phone and chat. Wix also offers a call back service if you’d rather not wait on the line.

You can get support in English and 8 other languages including Hebrew, Spanish, German, and French.

There is ticket-based support available through their contact center as well.

Portability

This is perhaps the weakest point for Wix and many website builders, there is no data portability. What does that mean? That means, when you build your website with the Wix website builder, your website is locked to Wix.

If at one point you’d like to switch to a new website builder, you’d have to start your website from scratch.

Wix does however provide the option to export your website content.

Pros

Here is a quick summary of the pros of using Wix as your website builder:

Very beginner friendly, including an AI tool to build your website for you
Cool advanced tools available, like a logo maker
Modern and professional level themes
Free website builder plan available

Cons

There are also some cons when it comes to using Wix, here are a few to consider:

Ads are served on your website, unless you subscribe to a higher cost paid plan
No data portability, your website is locked
You have to pay quite a bit extra for Ecommerce

Although a pricier choice, Wix is a solid website builder for beginners looking to get a website online quickly for personal and business use.

3. Squarespace

Squarespace is another popular website builder known for its ease of use and professional website templates that cover numerous industries.

Ease

Squarespace is very easy to use, it comes with drag and drop functionality so you can pick a theme and start building your website or online store quickly.

You can personalize your website on Squarespace right off the bat by picking your color scheme, unique font style, and layout.

They put a big emphasis on letting you express yourself online, and give you the tools to make your brand stand out.

Features

You get a whole set of professional website builder features with Squarespace including scheduling software, SEO tools, email marketing, and a membership platform. You can even build a personal blog space.

Squarespace also offers enterprise level tools for big businesses to securely mange their website across multiple teams, get SEO consultation, website analytics, and optimize website performance.

There is a logo maker available as well.

Themes

You can access over 110 themes on Squarespace, although less than other website builders, the stunning designs and vast number of industries covered more than make up for it.

Build a website ranging from Ecommerce, art and design, a membership platform, events, weddings, fashion, health and beauty, restaurants, travel, and more.

You can even access nice landing page designs for over 15 industries. There are external development shops that sell premium Squarespace themes and template kits that range in price from $60 to $300.

Price

Squarespace starts at $12 per month for a simple website and goes up to $26 per month for an Ecommerce plan to build an online store.

There is no free website builder plan available on Squarespace, however all of their plans come with a 14-day risk free trial.

Support

Squarespace provides 24/7 support across all of their plans. You can get support by email, social media, or self-service on their extensive online guides and tutorials.

Although all support is performed through online channels and not phone or chat, we found the support offered decent in quality and quick when compared to other website builder companies.

Portability

Similar to other popular website builders, Squarespace has no data portability. This means that when you build your website on Squarespace, all of your data and website structure is locked to their website building platform.

Pros

Here is a quick summary of the pros of using Squarespace as your website builder:

Stunning website templates and themes
Fast performance
Access to enterprise level solutions
Advanced tools such as website analytics

Cons

There are also some cons when it comes to using Squarespace, here are a few to consider:

Less themes to choose from
No free plan
Lack of integrations

On that last point, Squarespace only integrates with Stripe, PayPal and Apple Pay for payment processing. Although these are popular, it can create some limitations for certain businesses that operate on a global scale.

4. Weebly

Weebly is another popular website builder that lets you build a website or online store easily and with no coding knowledge. It also comes with a free plan if you’d like to try things out.

Ease

Weebly is a very easy to use website builder. It is a fully managed website hosting platform, which means you can pick your website theme and build your website with a few clicks.

The website builder on Weebly comes with drag and drop tools, so you can pick a website theme, add content, and then customize the look and feel by clicking and dragging your mouse.

You don’t need to know code to build your website on Weebly, however it does allow you to add custom HTML, CSS, and Javascript if you want to add unique touches.

Weebly is also mobile-friendly, which means you can build your website from your cell phone on the go.

Features

The Weebly website builder comes with a host of advanced features for both your website and online store. You can access custom fonts, advanced animation effects, a professional image editor, video backgrounds, and even a site search bar to help your visitors navigate your website.

Weebly really shines when it comes to Ecommerce features, powered by Square, a payment processor, you get access to customized cart email templates, SEO tools, advanced website analytics.

You also get tracking, shipping, and inventory tools. These tools come built into Weebly, making it a one-stop solution website builder.

Themes

The website builder on Weebly gives you over 40 well-designed themes to choose from to build your website or online store.

The theme categories include business, online portfolio, personal, events and blogs. They also have a featured category where the nicest themes are highlighted.

All of the Weebly themes are provided for free, however there is the option to purchase premium themes from web development shops.

Price

Weebly has a free plan available for both building a simple website or an online store. The free plan is handy to get started however it does not let you use your own domain name and places limits on features and performance.

We recommend going on a paid plan to get access to the full set of Weebly website builder features and enhanced website performance.

Weebly starts at $7 per month, this include basic Ecommerce features and lets you connect your own domain name. For better performance and access to advanced tools, plans range from $15 to $30 per month.

Weebly also charges a 3% transaction fee on all purchases made through your online store, unless you are on their $30 per month plan.

Support

Weebly provides chat and email based support on all plans, even the free plan, which is quite rare!

If you’d like to get access to phone based support or fast track priority support, that is available on the higher paid plans.

Portability

Weebly is a closed source website building platform, this means any website you build on Weebly is locked to them.

If you ever wanted to build on a new website builder, you’d have to rebuild your website.

Pros

Here is a quick summary of the pros of using Weebly as your website builder:

Excellent Ecommerce tools and integrations
Free plan available, even for Ecommerce
Fast performance

Cons

There are also some cons when it comes to using Weebly, here are a few to consider:

Lack of themes and theme categories
3% transaction fee on purchases
Lack of resources and online guides

One of the best things about Weebly is the ability to build either a website or online store for free, with access to support.

5. Shopify

Shopify is a robust Ecommerce website builder and business platform. It currently powers just about 1.5 million websites around the world. That means about 3.6% of websites use Shopify.

Its focus is solely on Ecommerce and tools to power online stores.

Ease

Shopify simplifies the process of building an online store and accepting online payments. It is a fully managed interface and hosting platform, which means Shopify does all of the software side management for you.

You start by adding the products you’d like to sell, create pages for your store, pick a theme, and then customize the look and feel.

Once you’re done that, you can customize advanced settings for shipping, taxes, payment gateways, and accepted forms of payment for your customers.

With your products, theme, and payment settings in place, you can launch your online store with a few clicks. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Features

Shopify is an Ecommerce website builder and its features are geared online stores.

Shopify provides Ecommerce features such as the Shopify point of sale (POS) to let you sell items in person by using an App, gift cards, online sales channels, payment fraud analysis, manual order creation, discount codes, financial reports, and even customer service tools.

There are also advanced Ecommerce features on higher plans which include tools such as lower credit card and transaction fee processing rates, customer reporting, and real-time calculated carrier shipping rates for orders and deliveries.

You can even access marketing tools such as email marketing, a live chat tool, and an ads manager for your Google and Facebook ad campaigns.

Themes

The Shopify Ecommerce website builder gives you access to 9 free themes in different styles. The free themes come included on your Shopify website builder subscription.

You can also access over 70+ premium Shopify themes through the Shopify theme store. Although these are paid, they do provide variety and cover a range of industries including art and photography, clothing and fashion, electronics, home and garden, furniture, and even toys and games.

There are also over 1200 premium Shopify themes available through external web development agencies. Although these are not developed by Shopify, you can use them on the Shopify website builder and your online store.

Price

Shopify has a range of prices, depending on the type of business and online store you’d like to build.

The Shopify Lite plan lets you build a basic online store and accept online payments for $9 per month. Although it doesn’t include all Shopify features, it does come with the basics of order, payment and customer management tools to run your business.

The standard Shopify plans start at $29 per month and go up to $299 per month to get access to advanced features, including the POS to be able to sell in a physical retail location.

Shopify Plus is the enterprise-level solution for online stores that have high volume sales and traffic. These plans start at $2000 per month and offer a fully integrated and managed platform for high activity online stores.

Transaction fees are something to keep in mind as well, unless you use Shopify Payments (Shopify’s in-house payment processor), all purchases will be charged a transaction fee ranging from 0.5% to 2% by Shopify. This is on top of regular payment processing fees.

There is no free plan, however Shopify offers a 14-day free trial on all of their plans.

Support

The Shopify Help Center provides support through phone, live chat, email and online forums. Support is 24/7, 365 days per year across plans.

You can also access an extensive and well fleshed out online library of resources that contains how to guides and tutorials.

Portability

Shopify is a closed source website builder, this means that the online store you build on Shopify can only be hosted and managed by Shopify.

There is however an option to export and store your product data into a CSV file.

Pros

Here is a quick summary of the pros of using Shopify as your website builder:

Fully managed Ecommerce website builder
Advanced Ecommerce features
Customer service and retention tools
Point of sale tool, to allow for in-person purchases

Cons

There are also some cons when it comes to using Shopify, here are a few to consider:

Very little free themes available
High transaction fees
Pricey to get all features

If you’re looking for a feature packed Ecommerce website builder, Shopify definitely is one of the best website builders available on the market today.

6. GoDaddy Website Builder

GoDaddy is a big player in the hosting and domain name industry. They offer a range of services for websites, including the GoDaddy website builder.

The GoDaddy website builder is a straightforward and easy to use builder to build a range of professional websites.

Ease

The GoDaddy website builder is very easy to use and does not require any coding knowledge. You pick a theme, put in content and publish your website, simple as that!

The GoDaddy website builder also comes with several templates and website blocks pre-loaded, that you can drag and drop onto your website.

For greater practicality, you can also build your website on your cell phone or tablet device.

Features

You get a lot of advanced features with the GoDaddy website builder, including Ecommerce and marketing.

There is also a robust online appointments platform available that comes with tools for recurring appointments, appointment reminders through email and text, as well as appointment payments.

You also get access to a unique smart learning tool called InSight, which provides data-driven tips to improve your website and online business strategy based on your industry.

Marketing integrations include Google my business, SEO tools, email marketing and the ability to manage your social media presence.

Themes

The GoDaddy website builder comes with free website templates and themes in a wide range of industries, including home services, fashion and beauty, photography, Ecommerce, blogs, music, professional services, non-profit, and many more.

GoDaddy provides you a range of free website themes to build your website, around 50 of them, and they’re always adding more.

Price

The basic GoDaddy website builder plan starts at $9.99 per month and goes up to $24.99 per month for Ecommerce features.

All of the plans let you connect your own domain name and come with an SSL certificate.

You can also get a 1 month free trial on any of their plans, which is a pretty generous amount of time.

One great thing about using the GoDaddy website builder is that you will not be charged additional transaction fees for purchases made on your online store.

Support

GoDaddy provides 24/7 support across all of their website builder plans. GoDaddy Guides are available through phone and live chat around the clock.

You can access their support through an online community forum and social media as well.

They also provide an extensive library of how to guides and videos, which give advice on practically every aspect of building your website with their website builder.

Portability

Similar to other website builders, the GoDaddy website builder is closed source and the data or website built on it cannot be hosted or exported elsewhere.

Pros

Here is a quick summary of the pros of using the GoDaddy website builder:

Social media and AI integrations
Professional pre-made templates
Long free trial period
No transaction fees on purchases (for Ecommerce)

Cons

There are also some cons when it comes to using the GoDaddy website builder, here are a few to consider:

Not many themes
Performance isn’t the best
Support wait times can be long

Although not as fleshed out as other website builders, the GoDaddy website builder offers an affordable and straightforward website building platform for both beginners and advanced users alike.

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Infoceptor's editorial team handpicks all of the products and services it recommends, regardless of external influences. Affiliate links appear in some of our stories. We may receive an affiliate commission if you purchase something through one of these links, which helps us stay independent and support our great team.