Best Website Builders in 2022 (Exposed and Experimented)

Hey drag-and-drop enthusiasts!

Having trouble identifying the best website builder for your website?

If so, you’re in luck.

I’ve RESEARCHED and TESTED every website builder on the planet — so you don’t have to.

I’ve also been to countless web design and UX conferences to sample expert opinions on the best website builders. (The Festival of UX & Design 2021 was lit. Were you there?)

Based on my research, testing, and expert recommendations, below are the best website builders in the world right now!

To choose the best website builder for your site, you first need to write down the features you think your website should have.

For example, if you want to start a blogging business, some of the features your site would need include:

• A Blog Section
  
• Contact Form
  
• SEO Features
  
• CMS
  
• Social Media Integration
  
• Ability to Sell
• Downloadable Stuff (In case you want to sell stuff like eBooks)
  
• Sweet Site Aesthetics

The needs of a hotelier would be slightly different.

For example, hotel websites often need live chat support, a payment processing system, and a blog, as well as services and facilities sections.

For a retail or eCommerce business, you’ll want to find a builder that supports a shopping cart, blog section, payment processing system, contact form, live chat, Google Analytics, etc.

If you’re unsure about the features your site needs, check out your competitors for inspiration.

Kind of like how Game of Thrones stole ideas from Lord of the Rings.

1. WordPress.org
2. Wix
3. Squarespace
4. Webflow
5. Weebly
6. 1&1 IONOS

1) WordPress.org

Who doesn’t know WordPress?

Please don’t say you don’t, because I bet even aliens do.

This is the website builder Disney uses. Oh, and TechCrunch, Microsoft News, TEDBlog, BBC America, PlayStation, and Skype, too.

WordPress is one of the most popular website builders around.

There are two versions of WordPress – .org and .com.

WordPress.com is the version that hobby bloggers use, but it’s quite limited in terms of its features.

Its free plan even compels you to have WordPress.com in your domain name, e.g., yourwebsite.wordpress.com.

To unlock all the features of WordPress.com (custom domain, eCommerce tools, plug-ins, etc.), you’d be required to shell out close to $300 annually.

Wow.

The WordPress of choice for most bloggers, businesses, creators, and the entire global space at large is the WordPress.org version.

Who can use WordPress?

Absolutely everyone.

As you can see from the big names we mentioned earlier, WordPress is robust enough to run complex sites for large multinational corporations.

It is also simple enough to manage small business websites and create personal blogs.

What are the benefits of building a website with WordPress.org?

1. It’s free:

Did I hear you say free?

Yaaaaay!!!

WordPress is a free website builder. Meaning you don’t pay noshit to use it. (OMG! Notice the new word I just coined?)

The tools for building your site (templates, design tools, editors, etc.) are all free.

But you do pay for the hosting and domain.

More on this in the next section.

2. You get a self-hosted site:

All WordPress sites are self-f ***king-hosted – another big word – sorry, this writer loves big vocabs.

Self-hosted means that you’ll pay for and handle your domain and hosting all by yourself.

Side note: All other builders in this article offer hosted sites.

Wait a minute, how is the fact that I’m paying for my hosting and domain a benefit?

LOL, before you go bazooka on me, it’s very beneficial. Let me explain.

• Greater site control: Self-hosting your site gives you complete control over stuff like bandwidth, type of hosting (whether shared, VPS or dedicated), storage space, etc.

Having this sort of control means you can make your site as big or as small as you see fit.

• Greater SEO control: With self-hosting, you can control SEO stuff like site speed, meta titles/snippets, permalinks, keywords, and tags more easily.
• Advanced plug-in integration: Many free-hosted sites (like Wix and Weebly) limit the number of plug-ins you can install on your site.

With self-hosting, however, you can install any number of plug-ins you like.

What are plug-ins? They’re like your phone’s mobile apps. They improve the overall functionality of your site – the same thing that mobile apps do for phones.

For example, we use apps like AvastCleanup to make Android phones (All hail Androids!!!) run faster.

In the same way, we can use plug-ins like WP Rocket to improve our WordPress website’s speed.

3. Theme-rich: WordPress is brimming with thousands of eye-catching website templates waiting to be installed and customized to your taste.

Depending on your type of site, you can choose templates designed for business, personal branding, eCommerce, fitness, medical, finance, non-profits, food, beauty, travel, restaurants, magazines, etc.

4. Simple and flexible: Like Wix and Squarespace, you don’t need any coding knowledge to build a WordPress site.

Just keep dragging and dropping items, templates, text, and images until you’re satisfied.

5. Makes SEO easier: WordPress sites are naturally built for search engines.

This means that if you build your website with WordPress, you have a better chance of beating the Great Wall of Google.

Sounds like someone from WordPress is DOING the DO with someone from Google (hmmm, winks!!!)

Wix and Squarespace looking at Google and WordPress like

LOL! Actually, WordPress sites rank better on Google because they make it easy to set up “custom permalinks”, and search engines love those.

Wait, WTF are permanents (sorry, permalinks)?

Permalinks are the parts of the URL after the .com. For example: “.com/meet-the-team.”

Got that? Ok, let’s get back on the road.

Another reason WordPress ranks better is because it permits the use of extra SEO plug-ins for editing meta titles, tags, descriptions, sitemaps, alt-names of images, and so on.

In short, WordPress gives you plenty of tools to boost your SEO.

2) Wix

Wix is one of the best website builders on the market.

Its drag-and-drop editors are simple enough for a beginner, which means you don’t need to know a line of code to create a professional-looking site.

Goodbye to the days of hiring whizkid coders!

I could go on and on about all the good stuff Wix has going, but that’s gonna take the whole day.

So, what I’m going to do instead is give you a breakdown of the benefits you get from Wix.

What are the benefits of building a website with Wix?

1. Simplicity: To create a website on Wix, you just need to drag any of Wix’s templates that catch your attention and then drop the template onto a fresh page. You have tons of editors to fine-tune the template to your taste. And at the side is a menu bar for adding images and apps (like live chat support).
2. Versatility: Wix has more templates across more niches than any website builder in the world. It has templates for:

• Small businesses
• Freelancers
• Cafes and restaurants
• Musicians
• Chefs
• Online coaching
• Pet owners
• Hotels and hospitality
• Photographers
• Graphic designers
• eCommerce

You name it.

No matter your industry, you’ll find Wix templates to match.

• ADI (Artificial design intelligence) availability: If the template-based drag-and-drop system is kinda overwhelming for you, you can use WixADI instead.

What the heck is ADI?

ADI is an AI system that designs a website for you by asking you a series of questions, like the type of website you’d like, and your design preferences.

ADI design is best for people that need to design a website really fast.

3. Coding with HTML: For the never-leave-the-past-behind geeks, Wix allows you to edit the raw HTML code behind your template in an old-fashioned way, using Corvid by Wix.

4. SEO integration: Websites built with Wix tend to rank better than sites built with other platforms. This is thanks to Wix’s superior built-in SEO Wiz.

Who doesn’t want a #1 ranked website?

5. Security: All Wix websites come with built-in SSL security certificates. This means your site visitors will see that little padlock icon next to your site’s URL.

SIDEBAR STORY | Some time ago, I wanted to buy a pair of Nike Vapor Max sneakers online.

So, I started searching. After scouring about seven stores, only one had the color that appealed to me.

Unfortunately, this store didn’t have the Black Padlock icon in its URL.

Scaaaaaaam!!! So, I ran for my life.

6. Plan price: Wix has a free plan, as well as a two-week money-back guarantee on all its packages.

What’s the best-priced plan? The Business Unlimited. You get unlimited everything – bandwidth, features, apps, etc.

The Pro plan is good, too. With this one, you get free logo design (logos cost roughly $50, you know?).

See screenshots of Wix websites:

3) Squarespace

Squarespace is what you’re looking for if website aesthetics matter to you more than anything else.

Website aesthetics?🤔 (That’s a big word; WTF is that.)

LOL! Website aesthetics refer to the website’s theme, color, tone, brightness, contrast, and style. In short, anything that makes a website look visually appealing.

So, in this case, we mean that Squarespace is great for anyone who wants to build a visually impressive website.

Still not clear?

Ok, maybe this will be (I swear I’m not gonna repeat myself).

SQUARESPACE IS GOOD FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS THE CONTENT ON THEIR WEBSITE TO LOOK AS GOOD AS ITS REAL-LIFE VERSION.

Want an example of such a person? (My Ghaad, you’re no different from Chloe O’Brian of 24.)

A retail store owner who wants to show off stunning visuals of his or her products.

Sidebar Note: See how I used his and her above. Equal rights! Never forget to exercise that.

Back to work.

Other examples include:

• Photographers
• Travel bloggers
• Gaming/betting website owners
• Fashion, beauty, and lifestyle gurus

What are the benefits of building a website with Squarespace?

1. Tons of template designs: Squarespace has plenty of spell-binding templates to choose from. You can browse templates by category and industry if you like.

Say you want to create a stylish and modern travel website. You can browse the travel category to find the best templates.

2. Template-in-template: Squarespace allows you to use multiple templates for the same website at the same time. This is good for cases where you want to combine multiple designs for different products or services.

3. Getty Images photos: You can search through FREE and PAID stock photos to use.

This makes sense, especially if you don’t have high-resolution photos of your own products or services.

4. eCommerce integration: Squarespace allows you to add an online store to your website, with a simple interface to manage your products, orders, analytics, discounts, and more.

5. Special service for bloggers: Squarespace makes it easy for bloggers to operate and manage their blogs from a mobile app.

If you’re a blogger, you can use the Squarespace BLOG APP to publish content on the go.

You also get additional tools to publish and sync your posts with Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

6. SEO integration: Squarespace gives you the tools you need to boost your site’s SEO, including titles, keywords, alt texts, and a very thorough introductory guide to SEO.

7. Pricing:

4) Webflow

Webflow is not your average website builder.

Like most builders, they give you a plethora of design templates to choose from. But, in addition, you get a feature to create your own templates.

You’ll probably ask:

Why would I want to create my own templates when I can choose from Webflow’s library?

Because customizing your own templates gives you the chance to be as creative with your website as possible.

Think of it like this:

You want to create a digital agency website, so you scan through Webflow’s library.

There, you see a template that looks like this:

But you’re not so impressed with it.

Instead of editing and customizing this template until it suits your taste, Webflow lets you create something entirely new and creative.

Who is the Webflow builder good for?

Webflow is generally good for:

• Front-end developers and designers building websites for clients
• Anyone who wants more customization options than what’s available with a traditional website builder, but still needs a bit of assistance
• Teams who need to collaborate with each other or with clients. Webflow lets you create Team areas in your account, so you can share your website project and give permission to others to view/make suggestions or edit the content.

Important note (DO NOT SKIP THIS FOR ANYTHING)

Of all the builders on this list, Webflow is the most code-intensive.

If you have no background in stuff like HTML/CSS (I really hate coding, ewwwww), I strongly recommend you check the “I don’t write code” option during the sign-up process. This way, Webflow will automate a significant part of the builder for you, starting with a pre-made template.

Whoa, how’s that for a ride?

Tired already? Please don’t be; we’re two builders away from calling this a day.

5) Weebly

Weebly is the most beginner-friendly website builder out there.

At its core, it’s simple to use, its interface is easy to navigate, and its editor tools are the least sophisticated of all the builders I’ve seen.

Who is Weebly good for?

Bloggers, creators, and anyone with a small business portfolio.

I wouldn’t go for Weebly if I was looking to build a sophisticated or super-advanced site.

Just something simple and straightforward.

What are the benefits of building a website with Weebly?

1. Sweet, customizable templates: All of Weebly’s themes are simple, stylish, and mobile-responsive.

2. Basic drag-and-drop editor tools: Building a website with Weebly is like creating a PowerPoint presentation.

You can add, edit, replace, and do as you like with any item you choose using Weebly’s box of editor tools.

Note: Items include templates, actual images, text boxes, buttons, etc.

See what a live Weebly site build looks like:

3. SEO integration: Weebly is really big on SEO, so they provide you with all the things you need to rank high on the SERPs (search engine result pages).

• A sitemap
• SEO-friendly HTML formatting
• Meta descriptions
• SEO advise and tips on boosting site ranking
• Responsive design
• Keyword optimization

4. Coding editor: Those with coding skills can take their site customization even further with Weebly’s built-in coding editor.

5. eCommerce integration: Weebly is so focused on small business owners that it offers eCommerce tools on all its plans (even the free plan!).

6. Smooth plug-in integration: Unlike most builders which toss all their plug-ins into one store, Weebly has a cute categorization of apps, making it easy to find the best plug-in for your needs.

Apps are sorted into the following categories:

• eCommerce
• Communication
• Marketing
• Social
• Site tools and features

Price plans:

6) 1&1 IONOS

1&1 IONOS will never offer the SEO edge you get from WordPress.

1&1 IONOS will never give you the design sophistication of Squarespace.

1&1 IONOS will never provide the sort of versatility that Wix has.

Yet, it’s just as good a website builder as those three!

(How’s that for irony?)

If 1&1 IONOS pales in comparison to WP, Squarespace, and Wix, then what the heck is it doing on this list?

To say the closing prayer. LOL, kidding, kidding, kidding.

The REAL reason 1&1 IONOS has made its way into this list is because it offers three unique features, which are:

1. It helps you build multilingual websites, or websites in many languages.
2. It helps you build corporate websites, or white-collar websites.
3. It incorporates targeted marketing into your website (don’t be confused; I’ll explain this part very soon).

What is the significance of these features?

1) Multilingual websites: This is particularly good for anyone hoping to expand their visitor base into many countries and regions.

For example, with 1&1 IONOS, you can easily create a website that targets audiences in the USA, France, China, Indonesia, India, Africa, and so on.

Examples of businesses that may need this kind of audience extension include:

• Betting companies
• Online retail stores (global eCommerce businesses)
• Payment processing companies
• Businesses operating in countries with more than one language
• Travel and tourism businesses
• Businesses whose analytics reveal traffic from multiple countries
• Anyone interested in targeting audiences other than the English-speaking folks.

I bet you’re already thinking to yourself, “How many languages does 1&1 IONOS support?”

Well, 1&1 IONOS supports up to —— languages.

Go online and find out the number yourself. Don’t be lazy.

62 languages! Ta-daaaaaah……….

2) Corporate websites: 1&1 IONOS has features specifically tailored to suit the needs of white-collar businesspeople like accountants, lawyers, engineers, financial managers, realtors, analysts, etc.

What makes 1&1 IONOS specifically good for these kinds of businesses?

• It has a free domain for the first year
• It offers a corporate email account
• It has a plethora of website design templates for corporate businesses
• It gives you built-in email marketing
• It provides safe web hosting for corporate businesses

3) Targeted marketing in the website: 1&1 IONOS offers a special tool that lets you change your site’s content based on who’s viewing it or what time of year it is.

Let’s say you’re a dental practice and you want to let new customers know that they can get a free consultation. You can set your site up so that new visitors see the free consultation offer, but others don’t.

Can you imagine that?

This works for seasonal deals as well. You can change what people see on your site to reflect the calendar month.

There you have it.

The six best website builders in 2021.

We’ve talked about WordPress, which is SEO-friendlier than the rest; Wix – great for a wide variety of website purposes; Squarespace – perfect for aesthetically pleasing websites; Webflow – amazing for custom design; Weebly – great for simple and fast web designs; and finally 1&1 IONOS – the king of multilingual websites.

Feel free to choose the platform that’s most applicable to you.

Bye for now!!!