9 Best Website Builders for 2025

Discover the best paid and free website builders for your brand.

By: Michael Keenan
February 4, 2025
15 minute reading
Logos of popular website builders including Squarespace, Wix, Duda, WordPress, and HostGator on a green background

Hands down — your small business needs a website to attract customers and make sales. Whether showcasing products, booking services, or building your brand, your online presence can make or break your success.

Website builders have changed the web design industry. They allow small businesses to establish themselves online easily. These platforms offer intuitive tools, stunning templates, and powerful features that make creating a professional-looking site

Check out this guide to see the top 9 website builders for small businesses. You’ll learn how to choose the right website builder based on your business needs, goals, and budgets.

Our methodology for testing website builders

Fiverr is committed to providing objective reviews when comparing online tools. The author, Michael Keenan, has personally tested nine website builders to build sites from scratch for his freelance business, agency, local business in Arizona, corporate restaurants, and more. 

Each website builder was considered based on: 

  • Ease of use: We built a basic website with each platform, noting the process's simplicity. This included evaluating the drag-and-drop interface, template selection, and overall navigation.

  • Customization options: We explored each builder's design tools, testing how easily we could modify templates and add unique elements. We also assessed the range of design choices available for different website styles.

  • Integrations: We tested connecting each builder with common tools like Google Analytics, social media platforms, and e-Commerce solutions. We evaluated both the availability of integrations and their simplicity of setup.

  • Budget considerations: We compared pricing plans across builders, noting any hidden fees or essential features locked behind paywalls. We also considered the value offered at each price point relative to the features provided.

We’ve also welcomed users from various industries to share their experiences using the selected website builders. 

1. Wix 

Best for: Building a free website

Reasons to use Wix

  • Beginner-friendly with lots of tutorials

  • Over 900 website templates

  • Free plan without credit card 

Wix website builder dashboard featuring website for michael keenan

Wix

Wix Specifications

  • Free domain: Yes

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited with paid plans

  • Ecommerce: Yes

  • Mobile app: Yes

  • Analytics: Wix Analytics

Wix is a responsive website builder that allows users to build their own websites without coding knowledge or prior design experience. The process was intuitive, with a user-friendly editor that allowed for quick placement and adjustment of elements. New users should find the learning curve manageable, thanks to clear tooltips and guided tutorials.

Wix's extensive template library and customization tools offer easy modification of layouts, colors, and fonts for unique designs. Advanced users can add custom HTML/CSS for extra flexibility, though most won't need to touch the code.

Wix is a popular option for small businesses, The majority (31%) of website-builder sites are created with Wix. 

“I ended up choosing Wix for its affordability, user-friendly interface, and customization options,” says Dmytro Kondratiev, CEO of LLC services. “Since launching my website, I’ve seen a 40% increase in sales thanks to high site traffic.”

Wix has over 900 templates in its library, with drag-and-drop functionalities. Even though Wix is a no-code platform, custom code functionalities can be enabled to make source code changes. However, you’ll need HTML or CSS knowledge for this. 

If you need advanced customizations like an API integration or third-party payment gateway, you can get Wix web development services.

While Wix offers a free plan, it includes limitations like Wix branding and ads. Paid plans provide better value with features like free domain names and SSL certificates. E-commerce functionality is reserved for higher-tier plans.

Wix Features

  • In-built SEO and analytic tools for higher-tier plans

  • Import an existing website into Wix with the site transfer tool

  • Customize the look of your site by using pre-made themes already optimized for mobile devices

  • Build your own theme with HTML/CSS code

  • eCommerce functionality if you want to sell products online

  • Appointment booking and social media integration

  • Free domain name and web hosting package included in paid plans

Wix Pros

  • User-friendly platform

  • Attractive templates

  • SEO support

  • SSL certificate

  • Tools and integrations 

Wix Cons

  • Limited storage options, not great for very heavy websites

  • eCommerce plans are expensive

  • Loading speeds are slower than some competitors

  • No in-built SEO or analytics for basic plans

Who is Wix best for?

  • Small businesses

  • Freelancers

  • Creative professionals

  • Bloggers

  • Restaurants

  • Non-profits

  • Event planners

Wix Pricing

  • Free plan: $0/month (with ads)

  • Light plan: $17/month

  • Core plan: $29/month

  • Business plan: $36/month

  • Business Elite plan: $159/month

2. Squarespace

Best for: In-built SEO

Reasons to use Squarespace

  • Native features like email marketing, SEO, and social media integration

  • Strong track record for uptime

  • Beautiful templates for visual-heavy websites

The website builder UI for Squarespace for the brand Beauty and The Bins

Squarespace

Squarespace Specifications

  • Free domain: Yes

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited

  • Ecommerce: Yes

  • Mobile app: Yes

  • Analytics: Built-in

Squarespace is a website builder with 100+ templates and a drag-and-drop interface for quickly building a visually appealing website. 

Squarespace's interface is sleek and intuitive, making it easy to build a professional-looking site quickly. The drag-and-drop editor allows for effortless element placement, while the dashboard provides straightforward navigation between site sections. 

Squarespace shines with its native email marketing, SEO, and social media integrations. During our tests, connecting tools like Google Search Console was seamless. However, the platform offers fewer third-party integrations compared to some competitors.

Why is Squarespace the best website builder for increasing rankings? Because of these technical SEO features: 

  • Google Search Console integration: Analytics dashboard shows keyword performance and traffic sources

  • SEO Page settings: Customize page titles, descriptions, URLs, and images 

  • Sitemaps: XML format sitemaps are already added

  • Search engine indexing: Automatic markup on product and event pages

  • Mobile optimization: Mobile responsiveness is an SEO best practice

Squarespace also offers a free custom domain, SSL certification, and eCommerce features.

“I chose Squarespace because I wanted a straightforward and intuitive website builder so I could start quickly,” says James Beattie, founder of We Tested. “The customer service was super responsive whenever I ran into issues while designing, which sealed the deal for me.” 

Squarespace Features

  • 100+ templates, easily find one that fits your brand perfectly

  • Easy-to-use dashboard

  • Drag-and-drop sections, layouts, and custom code injection options.

  • Integrated SEO features (meta tags, page titles) and in-depth analytics to track performance.

  • Integration with Acuity Scheduling for managing bookings and appointments.

  • Wide variety of features such as email marketing, SEO, and social media integration

  • AMP formatting (accelerated mobile pages) for fast speeds on mobile devices

Squarespace Pros

  • Wide collection of themes and templates

  • Great for blogging

  • Ecommerce support 

  • Content creation tools

  • Advanced security and privacy

  • Excellent customer support 

Squarespace Cons

  • Bare bones eCommerce capabilities

  • Fewer add-ons and integrations with apps than similar website builders

  • Custom code features available only for Business plan

Who is Squarespace best for?

  • Photographers

  • Graphic designers

  • Artists

  • Bloggers

  • Musicians

  • Ecommerce businesses

  • Podcasters

Squarespace Pricing

  • Personal plan: $16/month

  • Business plan: $23/month

  • Commerce Basic plan: $28/month

  • Commerce Advanced plan: $52/month

3. Duda

Best for: Managing multiple websites

Reasons to use Duda

  • Great design tools and customization options

  • Slick templates

  • AI automation Tools

The Duda website builder dashboard with a template for agency owners

Duda

Duda Specifications

  • Free domain: No—must purchase one to connect to your site

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited

  • Ecommerce: Yes

  • Mobile app: Yes

  • Analytics: Built-in

Duda is an easy-to-use content management system (CMS) that lets you build your website in minutes. It was created by the same people as WordPress and shares many similarities with its predecessor.

The platform's clean and well-organized layout allows users to navigate between different site sections effortlessly. New users will appreciate the straightforward process of selecting and customizing templates. It’s very easy to modify layouts, colors, and fonts to match specific branding needs. 

Duda offers a powerful system for creating websites in 55+ languages, with multi-language responsiveness. While its app store is more limited than that of some competitors, the available integrations cover most essential needs. Connecting popular marketing tools and e-Commerce platforms was straightforward. 

“Duda is superior in every way. I can't imagine how our company would be able to manage building as many sites as we do daily with another platform.” Paul Altobelli, Website Product Lead at hibu.com.

Duda Features

  • Over 98 professionally-designed, responsive templates

  • Includes tools like white labeling, client permissions, stats & analytics, and client billing.

  • The Agency plan enables more team members to collaborate and build multiple sites.

  • Team plans offer user permissions, collaboration features, and a widget builder.

  • Over 40 payment gateways with no transaction fees.

  • A connected content library helps manage images and files, while client-focused tools assist in branding and marketing.

Duda Pros

  • Intuitive drag-and-drop feature to easily add content to your site. 

  • No limits on how much content you can add to your site. 

  • Duda’s Website Personalization Tool allows you to customize your visitors’ user experience based on their location or online behavior.

Duda Cons

  • Duda offers an app store, but the range of applications is somewhat restricted compared to Wix, Shopify, and Weebly.

  • There's no free plan (just a 30-day trial period), and Duda's premium plans begin at higher prices than most competitors.

Who is Duda best for?

  • Agencies

  • Multilingual websites

  • Designers

  • Web developers

  • Small businesses

  • Franchises

  • Enterprises

Duda Pricing

  • Basic plan: $19/month

  • Team plan: $29/month

  • Agency plan: $52/month

4. WordPress.com

Best for: Customization 

Reasons to use WordPress

  • Over 8,000 free themes

  • Over 50,000 compatible plugins

  • Free version with lots of features

WordPress.com’s website builder UI for user Michael Keenan

WordPress

WordPress Specifications

  • Free domain: Yes, for one year

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited

  • Ecommerce: Yes, with plugins

  • Mobile app: Yes

  • Analytics: Yes, with third-party analytics plugins

Eighteen percent of marketers use WordPress as their content management system (CMS) of choice. WordPress.org is a versatile and customizable platform, popular for a variety of websites, including blogs, portfolios, eCommerce stores, and news sites. However, its user-friendly interface and extensive plugin library can also make it attractive for individuals and organizations with limited technical expertise.

Note that Wordpress.org and Wordpress.com are not the same. WordPress.org is a free version of the WordPress CMS, but doesn’t include hosting services.

WordPress.com is a paid hosting provider and website builder that hosts WordPress-powered websites.

WordPress.com offers above-average design flexibility—at the cost of a higher learning curve. Beginners with zero technical background can accidentally ‘break’ by using incompatible plugins, outdated themes, and custom code errors.

WordPress Features

  • High level of control over site design

  • Thousands of WordPress themes (free and paid)

  • Install WordPress plugins to customize your site's design and functionality

  • SEO optimization features

  • Social media integration

  • eCommerce capabilities

  • Accessible WordPress.com learning resources

WordPress Pros

  • User-friendly interface for beginners

  • Community support with resources and tutorials

  • Regular updates to enhance security and performance

  • Ability to build custom themes

WordPress Cons

  • Steep learning curve—business owners typically get Wordpress development for troubleshooting

  • Free plan has limited 1GB space and uses a subdomain (e.g., yoursite.wordpress.com)

Who is WordPress best for?

  • Bloggers

  • Ecommerce stores

  • Non-profits

  • News and media organizations

  • Portfolio sites

  • Membership-based businesses

  • Developers

WordPress Pricing

  • Free plan: $0/month

  • Pro plan: $15/month when billed annually

5. Shopify

Best for: Ecommerce businesses

Reasons to use Shopify

  • Sell through Instagram, Amazon, Facebook, eBay

  • 24/7 live support

  • Easily scalable so works for businesses of all sizes

Shopify’s ecommerce website builder UI with template for uplaterunning

Shopify

Shopify Specifications

  • Free domain: Yes, branded domain through myshopify.com

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited

  • Ecommerce: Yes

  • Mobile app: Yes

  • Analytics: Built-in

Shopify calls itself an "all-in-one commerce platform to start, run, and grow a business," and it powers the websites and online stores of millions of enterprises worldwide. Nineteen percent of the top 1 million eCommerce websites are made with Shopify, amounting to a total of 6.3+ million sites in 2023. 

Shopify comes with all the ecommerce features needed to run an online store. This includes inventory tracking, performance metrics, and customer payment subscriptions. Plus, it can handle high volumes of sales and traffic, with unlimited products, bandwidth, and storage. 

"We chose Shopify as a web builder for our small business because it helped us to get to market faster, and we didn't have the budget to hire a website developer to make the website from scratch,” says Sanjana Ragu, founder of Kosmic Rituals. “We also used Shopify hosting, and we're really happy with the site loading speed and analytics dashboard."

If you’re not setting up a full-blown online store, Shopify Lite might be a better option. With this, you can add a buy button to an existing website or blog

Users might need help with Shopify since it uses point-and-click navigation over a drag-and-drop system. You can choose to use a Shopify app builder like PageFly or get  Shopify development services from Fiverr.

“I supplemented Shopify with PageFly for limitless customization. I've been able to improve my website's design and user experience, boost my conversion rates, and grow my business," says Ben Kuhl, CEO of Shelf Expression.

Shopify Features

  • Variety of professional templates and themes that are customizable with fonts, colors, and styles.

  • Thousands of apps to extend functionality, like SEO, marketing, inventory management, and customer support.

  • Built-in payment gateway and support for over 100 payment providers.

  • Manage your store on the go with Shopify’s mobile app.

  • 24/7 support via phone, chat, and email.

Shopify Pros

  • Has the highest converting checkout on the internet.

  • Ideal for beginners due to its intuitive setup.

  • Scales well for both small and large businesses.

  • Secure platform with built-in fraud analysis and SSL.

  • Wide range of apps and themes allows for significant customization.

Shopify Cons

  • Monthly subscription fees, plus transaction fees if not using Shopify Payments, can be pricey for small businesses.

  • Only eight free templates to choose from (additional paid templates available) 

  • If you have an existing website, it may be hard to transfer all your information into Shopify

Who is Shopify best for?

  • Retail businesses

  • Subscription-based services

  • Artists and makers

  • Dropshippers

  • Influencers

  • Small to medium-sized businesses

  • Enterprises

Shopify Pricing

  • Shopify Basic: $14/month

  • Shopify: $39/month

  • Advanced Shopify: $299/month

6. GoDaddy

Best for: AI website building

Reasons to use GoDaddy

  • Fastest loading speeds

  • Personalized recommendations

  • 24/7 tech support

GoDaddy’s website builder UI with template for art brand

GoDaddy

GoDaddy Specifications

  • Free domain: Yes, with annual web hosting plan

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited

  • Ecommerce: Yes

  • Mobile app: Yes

  • Analytics: Yes, through the Google Analytics plugin

GoDaddy is a website builder and hosting company founded in 1997. And is one of the oldest and largest around, hosting over 40 million websites globally.

When you start, the GoDaddy website builder asks a series of questions about your business type, name, and the purpose of your site. This step helps the AI understand your needs.

Based on your answers, the AI suggests industry-relevant templates and layouts. For example, if you have a restaurant, it'll recommend layouts specific to menus and reservation features.

Once your website is live, the AI continues to monitor its performance and gives recommendations to improve traffic or customer engagement. For instance, it may suggest adding a call-to-action button, optimizing SEO, or integrating social media.

GoDaddy Features

  • Offers a range of customizable templates for different industries.

  • Mobile-friendly templates.

  • Ecommerce capabilities like product listing and inventory management.

  • On-site performance and customer behavior analytics.

  • Built-in marketing tools like SEO, social media, and email

GoDaddy Pros

  • It's user-friendly and requires no coding experience, so you can build a site in minutes 

  • Offers the fastest loading speeds out of leading website builders

  • Responsive layouts that adapt to mobile devices

  • Provides an all-in-one solution for small business marketing

GoDaddy Cons

  • Not many options for customizing your template

  • Built-in SEO functionalities are poor compared to competitors

  • No app store is available, so integrations are limited

  • Launches a new website builder every few years, and older-version websites built are incompatible, leading to site owners having to rebuild regularly

Who is GoDaddy best for?

  • Small businesses

  • Entrepreneurs

  • Service-based businesses

  • Restaurants

  • Non-profits

  • Consultants

  • Personal websites

GoDaddy Pricing

  • Essentials bundle: $9.50/month paid annually.

  • Ecommerce bundle: $14.50/month paid annually.

7. Webflow

Best for: Advanced customization

Reasons to use Webflow

  • Design flexibility

  • Integrated hosting

  • CMS functionality

Webflow UI featuring various page design options for an investment company

Webflow

Webflow Specifications

  • Free domain: No

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited

  • Ecommerce: Yes

  • Mobile app: No

  • Analytics: Yes, with Google Analytics integration

Webflow is a website-building software that allows users to design, construct, and publish professional websites via visual canvas that requires no coding.

Most website builders are simple solutions for businesses, but Webflow is a real contender for a fully custom-developed website. Unlike other drag-and-drop tools, Webflow offers granular customization and visual manipulation of every website element. 

But this comes at the cost of ease of use. Webflow has a steep learning curve for anyone without coding knowledge. While Webflow is a no-code platform, its user interface will be familiar and easy for HTML and CSS coders.

Interested in using Webflow for your website? You might have to roll up your sleeves and spend some time at Webflow University. The other option: outsource your Webflow website building to a Fiverr expert, which would still work out cheaper than hiring a developer to build the entire site from scratch.

Webflow Features

  • Drag-and-drop interface for building layouts without coding.

  • Add custom HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for advanced designs.

  • Features for building online stores, managing products, and processing payments.

  • Built-in SEO settings, such as metadata customization and clean URLs.

  • Fast, secure hosting with CDN, SSL, and backups.

  • Advanced animations and interactions without writing JavaScript.

  • Team collaboration features for designers, developers, and clients.

Webflow Pros

  • Offers complete control over your website design, plus you can integrate your own HTML code or export your website's code if you switch platforms later

  • 1500+ HTML templates

  • Webflow University offers helpful materials, including courses, videos, articles, and a user forum

  • Interactions and animation tools

  • Power Webflow layouts with custom CMS content

Webflow Cons

  • Free plan has monthly caps—up to 1k website visits and 1GB CDN bandwidth 

  • Steep learning curve

Who is Webflow best for?

  • Designers

  • Developers

  • Marketing agencies

  • Startups

  • Freelancers

  • Portfolio websites

  • Educational institutions

Webflow Pricing

  • Starter plan: $0/month

  • Basic plan: $14/month when paid annually

  • CMS plan: $23/month when paid annually

  • Business plan: $39/month when paid annually

8. Hubspot

Best for: Integrated sales and marketing tools

Reasons to use Hubspot

  • Scalable with robust integrations.

  • Learning resources.

  • Lead generation and management. 

Hubspot’s website builder featuring a website for a freelance writing community

Hubspot

Hubspot Specifications

  • Free domain: No

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited

  • Ecommerce: Yes, integrates with most ecommerce platforms

  • Mobile app: Yes, CRM tools app

  • Analytics: Built-in

Hubspot is best known for its CRM (customer relationship management) software, but it also has a powerful drag-and-drop website and landing page builder. 

The interface, reminiscent of familiar word processors, made content creation and layout adjustments straightforward. The AI website builder option further simplifies the process for those needing quick results. However, navigating between HubSpot's various tools might require a learning curve for new users.

HubSpot offers a range of pre-built website themes and templates, which I found to be modern and professional. Customization options are adequate for most users, allowing for easy adjustments to colors, fonts, and layouts. However, advanced users might find the customization depth somewhat limited compared to dedicated website builders.

HubSpot's strength lies in its integrated ecosystem. It offers seamless connections between the website builder and HubSpot's CRM, marketing, and sales tools.

Hubspot Features

  • Free drag-and-drop tool

  • Pre-built website themes and templates

  • No prior coding or design knowledge is necessary

  • Free SSL security certificate

  • Free premium cloud hosting

Hubspot Pros

  • Integrates with HubSpot tools

  • AI website builder option

  • Built-in SEO tools

  • Scalable with modular features

Hubspot Cons

  • No live customer support

  • Hubspot branding on all website pages

  • Can’t modify system pages (such as 404 error)

Who is Hubspot best for?

  • Marketing agencies

  • SaaS businesses

  • Service providers

  • Ecommerce businesses

  • Educational institutions

  • Consultants

  • Small businesses

Hubspot Pricing

Free

9. Weebly

Best for: Freemium users

Reasons to use Weebly

  • Intuitive website builder

  • Basic ecommerce tools 

  • Powered by Square

Weebly website builder featuring a website for a spa

Weebly

Weebly Specifications

  • Free domain: Yes, a free Weebly subdomain

  • Bandwidth: Unlimited

  • Ecommerce: Yes

  • Mobile app: Yes

  • Analytics: Yes, with the Google Analytics plugin

Weebly is one of the best free website builders and is a great option for simple service businesses and ecommerce websites. But note that Weebly doesn’t offer advanced online store features like Shopify and BigCommerce. 

Users get a free version, but it doesn’t include a custom domain. This can be a deal-breaker for many small businesses since having ‘Weebly’ in the domain might reduce credibility. 

Weebly's drag-and-drop builder is highly intuitive and user-friendly. While limiting some design freedom, the grid-based structure ensures that even beginners can create professional-looking sites quickly.

Weebly's free plan is generous, making it an excellent option for users on a tight budget. However, our analysis showed that the lack of a custom domain on the free plan could be a significant drawback for businesses

If you don’t have the time to work on Weebly’s builder, consider getting Weebly website development services on Fiverr. 

Weebly Features

  • Drag-and-drop builder with customizable templates.

  • Full online store capabilities, including payment and inventory management.

  • Edit and manage the site via mobile apps.

  • Create and customize a blog.

  • Integrate third-party apps for additional features.

  • Tools to optimize search engine visibility and monitor performance.

Weebly Pros

  • Accessible for beginners.

  • Can get the website live quickly.

  • Affordable plans.

  • Responsive templates

Weebly Cons

  • Drag and drop is structured to a grid, preventing design freedom

  • Limited in-built SEO features

  • Slower in rolling out new features

  • Difficult to migrate from Weebly to another platform

  • Customer service isn’t always responsive

Who is Weebly best for?

  • Freelancers

  • Small business owners

  • Personal bloggers

  • Simple ecommerce stores

  • Restaurants

  • Artists

  • Consultants

Weebly Pricing

  • Free plan: $0/month

  • Personal plan: $6/month

  • Professional plan: $12/month

  • Performance plan: $26/month

Build your own website today

There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to using a website builder. Business owners should weigh the pros, cons, and pricing based on their type of website.

If you’ve put off designing your website for long enough, get started with an easy site builder so your website is up and running. You can always work on scaling and growing your website along with your business in the future.

If you need help creating your website, you’ll also find plenty of assistance from Fiverr’s wide range of web builder experts.

Sign up to Fiverr today to get started. 

Website builders FAQs

What is a website builder?

A website builder is a tool that allows you to put together a website without coding or programming. It typically has a visual interface and a set of templates, widgets, and themes that can be used to customize the look and feel of the website.

What are the benefits of using a website builder?

With a website builder, anyone can create a professional website quickly and improve their online presence. Website builders can also offer mobile responsiveness as a top feature and don’t need to be coded separately for different devices. Other benefits of a website builder include in-built performance tracking, hosting, and domain management. 

What is the cheapest website builder?

Webflow, Weebly, Wix, and WordPress all offer free plans with basic functionality. For more advanced features, however, Zyro and Jimdo are the most affordable.

How long does it take to build a website? 

While most website builders boast that they allow you to create an online business website within minutes, the reality is that it takes a little longer to complete this task. You must also consider adding content, images, pages, and subpages to your website, all of which can take hours or days—depending on how much you’ve already prepared.

How much does a small business website cost?

Even if you use a website builder with a free plan to create your site, you must still factor in upfront costs such as: 

  • Domain registration (averaging $12 - $60)

  • Website hosting (averaging $35 - $600)

  • SSL certificate (averaging $0 - $200)

  • Your website template or theme (averaging $0 - $200)

  • Apps and integrations (averaging $0 - $100)

  • Support with elements such as digital marketing, SEO, or content creation (which, depending on the level of assistance you receive, can cost anywhere from less than $100 to a few thousand dollars).

Which website builder is easiest to use?

Weebly’s simple interface and drag-and-drop editor make it the easiest website builder for those with zero experience designing websites.

Can you build a website alone?

It is possible to build websites alone using one of the website builders aimed at design novices. However, if you require complete control over your site's design and customization, and want the highest level of functionality, hiring a web designer is the ideal choice. With Fiverr, you can find thousands of experienced web designers who can create a website within your budget.

About author

Michael Keenan Content writer and strategist

Michael is a marketer and entrepreneur living in Guadalajara, Mexico. Through storytelling and data-driven content, his focus is on providing valuable insight and advice on issues that readers care about most.