Best Website Builder and Design Software

by Mona BushnellLast Modified: March 1, 2018

Business.com / Marketing Solutions

Intro

Best Picks

Reviews

State of the Industry

Pricing

Negotiation

What We Tested, What We Found

Marketing Features of Web Design

How Easy Was It to Create a Site?

How to Make a Website

Similar Services to Site Creators

Common Website Builder Questions & Answers

Map

Services

The Best Website Builder and Design Software For 2018

Some web design tools and services are intended for personal use and lack the built-in functionality that serious business users need. To identify the best and brightest, our team reviewed some of the biggest names in the web design software and services business, taking careful note of usability, flexibility, integration, customer service and other factors that are important to entrepreneurs.

In our evaluation of web design software, we named Weebly Pro the best overall. Its no-code, drag-and-drop approach to building sites is easy enough for anyone to master, and the templates are well designed and suitable for a variety of business types. However, we didn't want to identify just one standout product. As excellent as Weebly Pro is, we recognized Wix as the best for template design and variety (it has over 500 templates). We also named Duda as the best software for mobile-specific web design. While most good web design programs offer responsive design these days, some industries may want to build websites specifically for mobile use, and Duda makes the building and previewing process easy even if you're on a phone or tablet.

Our final best pick isn't website design software but rather a custom website creation service from Blue Fountain Media. For some SMBs, the investment in a hand-designed, fully original website that does not use templates is worthwhile, and we were impressed with Blue Fountain Media's past design projects, customer service, approach to strategy, and options for integration and growth.

Best Picks

Best Templates

Website Design

Mobile

Best Overall

Best Web Builder Templates

Wix - Website Builder

Like many website design tools, Wix was created to make it easier to build beautiful websites without coding anything by hand. We named Wix the best template-based website builder because, in addition to being easy to use and highly functional, it has more website templates (over 500) than any other website design software we reviewed, and all of them are responsive to screen size.

When you first start using Wix, you can either jump right into the design process or watch video tutorials, of which Wix has many. The setup wizard walks you through each step of the web design process, and the first step is to select a category, or area of business. There are templates for a huge variety of businesses, including fashion and beauty, health and wellness, and food service. It's not just the quantity of templates available that makes Wix a fantastic website-building solution, but also the quality of the designs. No matter what type of business you own, you will find a suitable template through Wix.

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Best Website Design Software

Weebly - Website Builder and Design Software

You don't need any coding or design skills to use Weebly Pro. It greets users with a clean interface and a familiar layout that's immediately approachable. Buttons are clearly labeled, and if you hover over any icons, a helpful text bubble will tell you what the button does.

You begin the website design process by choosing from one of 18 attractive templates. Weebly Pro makes selecting a design easy by dividing them into categories like online store, business, portfolio and event. Once you select a template, you can easily add elements to each page using the drag-and-drop feature. Weebly Pro's editor reflects all the real-time changes you make, which makes previewing easy; in some systems, users must refresh the page after each change or open a separate preview window, but not in Weebly Pro.

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Best Mobile Website Design Software

DudaOne

Duda offers a great line of easy-to-use products for building responsive websites (including white label websites), but it's the company's fantastic mobile website builder that impressed us the most.

Duda's selection of features is thoughtful and solidly business focused. If you already have a business website (or Facebook page), you can take advantage of the free preview option and see what your site will look like with Duda's mobile design. If you don't have a business website, you can build a mobile site from scratch using a simple drag-and-drop interface that doesn't require any coding.

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Best Website Design Company

Blue Fountain Media

As a full-service website development and branding company, Blue Fountain Media offers SMB and enterprise clients websites that are professionally designed and fully optimized. While some "custom" web design companies use house-designed templates to create their products, Blue Fountain Media creates truly one-of-a-kind websites for each business it partners with.

Blue Fountain Media clients are led from the strategy and discovery phase through to the end of the production phase by a team of dedicated professionals who know the ins and outs of SEO best practices, graphic design, website architecture and more. In hiring Blue Fountain Media, you're not just getting a web designer – you're also getting the benefit of a lot of knowledge about how to make your website functional, accessible and easy to find, which is especially helpful for SMBs without business intelligence divisions.

Reviews

Check out all of our web design software reviews here.

Tappinn Review

State of the Industry

The demand for easy, no-code website-building options from individuals and SMBs alike has rocked the state of the website design industry and irrevocably changed the landscape. Years ago, the only way to build a website was to do it yourself or hire a professional to do it for you. Gradually, programs popped up with limited templates that allowed basic website creation, but they were limited and typically built without mobile viewing in mind. As mobile connectivity has grown, the demand for responsive design has exploded, and today most website design software automatically scales to any screen. Programs today also allow users to do things like embed media and integrate with outside apps like Google Maps and PayPal.

While enterprise-level clients still consistently choose dedicated web design teams to create corporate websites, SMBs are happily helping themselves to DIY services that allow for quick creation with minimal tech skills. The proliferation of inexpensive web design tools that have hosting built into the subscription has changed not only how SMBs build websites but how the public views SMBs without websites. Websites are now considered mandatory in many SMB industries, and website design tools make the process of creating and maintaining a site painless.

Pricing

When you consider pricing for web design, you should separate DIY software solutions from professional services that create custom sites for specific clients. As you might expect, the former is significantly less expensive, and the latter varies more based on design specs and client needs. Most no-code web design platforms offer free trial versions as well as tiered subscriptions that increase in price and functionality at each level. Most entry-level subscriptions cost $5 to $10 per month, per website, while intermediate subscriptions tend to be in the $10-$20 monthly range. Higher-end drag-and-drop design packages, which often include more customization options and better analytics, usually start around $25 a month and can increase into the hundreds for specialty platforms geared toward larger businesses. Pricing for a website design service is more difficult to flesh out, since the variation is so vast, but even a basic website will cost you at least a couple thousand dollars, and that price will climb with each feature or design element you add. If your business is moving out of the SMB and into the enterprise realm, or if the specifics of your website design are essential to your daily business, it will be money well spent. Just make sure you request price quotes from a few different website design services before you make a final decision.

Negotiation

If you opt for website design software, there's no need to negotiate for a lower price; our top pick overall costs just $12 a month. However, if you go the full customization route and work with a team of web designers, you should have a plan in place.

The biggest obstacle SMBs face when they go for custom creation is heading into the process without a clear goal or plan, and then getting talked into dozens of extra features that aren't necessary, which will inevitably result in higher maintenance costs going forward. For this reason, the aim of your website should be clearly defined and meticulously detailed long before you approach a web design service. Issues like security needs, ongoing maintenance, SEO, integration with other products or systems, and must-have features should all be covered. This level of planning will not only help you get what you want, it will also help the designers you're working with.

It is nearly impossible to provide a range of prices for services like custom web design because the scope is so broad. A responsive website created by an individual web designer that only lists basic company information is, of course, much less expensive than an agency-built site that has a custom chatbot, integration with multiple systems, embedded videos and different login permission levels. One thing you can do to keep your costs low is only include the features you need in your build, and ask early on about the maintenance or support plan costs you will incur going forward.

Which Website Builder Is Best?

For the past 12 years, we've monitored the industry and evaluated website building software. In addition to evaluating the various design tools, marketing features and hosting options each application promotes, we focused specifically on the usability of each web builder.

Every application is intended to be user friendly, as claimed by the applications' developers. We put these claims of usability to the test. We purchased plans for each of the applications on our lineup, created a hosting account, along with a landing page, and tested each interface. For comparison, we used the most popular package, typically the pro plan for each application. In doing so, we had access to far more features than the basic, starter package but, like any efficient small business owner would do when they create a website, we were focused on keeping costs down.

Usability

There are dozens of web creation applications to choose from, and you'll invariably find that the interface and design of one application appeals more strongly to you than others. For our evaluation of this category, we evaluated applications strictly on whether they provided the capabilities needed to quickly create a website with as few hurdles as possible, especially for someone with little to no coding experience.

The industry has changed to the point where WYSIWYG editors are common. Every one of the applications on our list utilizes a drag-and-drop format. The best website builders have a walk-through that shows you how to make a website quickly and effectively. Surprisingly, though, not every program on our list has a setup wizard. Jimdo lacked any kind of setup wizard.

In addition, we valued those website creators that gave us full rein to customize our site. A small sample of proprietary themes and templates is nice, but we took note of the services that allowed us to import our own theme and edit the HTML for more in-depth customization. We awarded additional points to software that allowed us to edit or create custom HTML and CSS code as well as the programs that allowed us to import our own templates or gave us complete creative control over existing templates.

Building a site is going to take a lot of time (as it did for us), but once it's created, it's time to publish it. As part of our evaluation, we graded each of these services based on how easy it is to get your site established on the major search engines. As we created both blogs and business landing pages, we scored the level of search engine optimization (SEO) tools each service provided. We evaluated how easy it was to add metatags, keywords and titles for each article and page and whether the web builder company submitted your site to search engines or if you had to submit it yourself.

Marketing Features of the Best Website Design Software Applications

SEO
Having an awesome website won't raise awareness of your organization or boost sales if no one knows about it. Although search engines favor content over SEO tricks, it's still important to have the ability to submit your website to search engines and enable metatags.

We evaluated each application's SEO tools, including the different ways each application has you input metatags, and whether the program automatically submits your site to search engines or if you have to do it manually.

Those programs that automate SEO practices and offer quick ways of inputting metatags received a higher score than those that lack these features and put the onus on you to submit your site to search engines.

Analytics
Analytics help you see how your website is performing and how and where you can improve. We evaluated the different analytical tools each application comes with. All of the software on our list employs Google Analytics, but many programs offer their own analytic tools that track different data points.

Weebly, Squarespace, Yola, Jimdo, Strikingly and Aabaco all have proprietary analytics that they track, giving you a more thorough analysis of who your audience is and what they are looking for.

We examined the metrics provided by each application on our list. We awarded the highest scores to the programs that not only track industry-standard data points, like the number of visitors and page views, but provide additional data, such as bounce rates, referring pages, behavior, and mobile data points.

Weebly offers some of the most helpful data points that help you pinpoint the areas of your site that are bringing in the most audience and what parts of your site need adjusting according to audience behavior.

Hosting
Besides offering web design solutions, the best website design software also hosts your site. Most programs offer free custom domain hosting for at least the first year of your subscription.

While this feature is touted as free, you typically have to pay for setup fees or to register your domain privately. If you do not, viewers have access to your private information.

Storage
Finally, storage is important, especially if you have video or image-heavy webpages. The hosting services we evaluated all include a huge number of webpages, but if you have a large store, consider plans that allow for a higher number of pages.

If you intend to create more than one site, be sure to find a web design software solution that allows for this. Finally, having a custom domain and the ability to add several custom email addresses is important for branding and presenting a professional image.

Design & Multimedia: How Easy Was It to Create a Site?

Setup Wizards
We looked for a variety of features and tools that improve the user experience when creating a website. We awarded software that offers setup wizards or visible guidelines high scores based on the quality of the wizard, as these features significantly streamline the setup process and teach you how to use the design tools effectively.

Templates
After initial setup, we looked for programs that offer a large selection of website templates or the option to import them. Templates should be highly customizable and responsive to the devices they are being viewed from.

Drag-and-drop capability makes it easy to shift elements, such as images or widgets. Applications with HTML or CSS editors are very helpful, because the software works for both novices and experienced web designers alike.

Industry-Standard Features
In addition to design tools, look for industry-standard features that improve usability, ranging from integrated blogging systems to responsive themes that transfer to mobile devices.

The ability to edit your website on a mobile device is a plus, since it lets you work on your website wherever you are. Some software, like Aabaco, does not have responsive themes; instead, third-party companies optimize your website for mobile devices.

How to Make a Website

The best web creation software should be easy for new users but also have a substantial selection of tools to cater to those with coding experience. Typically, the individuals using these programs are looking to establish their brand online, whether it's to gain visitors on a popular blog or to have an online storefront for a small or medium business.

As you search for the best paid professional website creators, it's important to find the one that caters to your interests and business goals specifically. Wix, for example, allows you to select an industry type as you choose the theme of your site. From there, you still have control over the elements that go on the page, but it provides an industry-specific background and a host of images that correspond to the type of service you've chosen. The templates range from a restaurant to a community page or an art portfolio, among several others. Most of the services on our lineup limit the number of sites you can create; however, Weebly, Duda and SpaceCraft all offer an unlimited number of both websites and webpages.

Most of the services on our list allow you to build unlimited pages. Strikingly provides the lowest allotment, limiting you to 20 pages per site. However, that still allows plenty of space for a blog. After you create your website, the web design console provides a preview of a determined page. This page can serve as your home page, direct online storefront or whatever you decide to make it. Typically, the web design software has predetermined pages already built into the template to speed the design process. These include contact pages, home pages, about us and maps of your business's location.

The best web creators come packaged with a blog manager. Many new site creators are looking to give their blogs some credibility by adding professional design and the .com that comes with any paid host. Blogging pages are intended for dynamic content that continually is updated rather than landing pages that remain largely static.

Similar Services to Site Creators

Each service on our list puts the control of designing and launching a website into your hands. However, if you have a significant budget to make a great-looking, professional online persona, it might be worth checking out web design companies. These services take the work out of your hands. They run site creation and maintenance. Also, they devote a lot of the funds you pay for the service to marketing your site.

Each website creation application comes with a basic hosting plan that is essential to giving your site a professional domain. However, if unlimited storage and subdomains is your priority, take a look at our web hosting comparison. These hosts have a few more options of builders, with an emphasis on WordPress.

The best professional website creators come packaged with a mobile builder that creates a mobile version of your pre-existing website automatically. With many search engines penalizing websites that are not responsive to mobile devices or that lack a mobile equivalent, mobile web builders have never been more important. If you currently manage a desktop-only site, we recommend you take advantage of a mobile website builder to convert your site to mobile, or at least creating a mobile version of your site, to reach a wider online audience.

While this will require you to maintain two separate sites, the benefits of a mobile website will greatly increase your SEO. If you need more information about creating desktop sites, mobile sites or apps, check out our articles on website builders and other software you can use to kick-start your web presence.

2 Aquarium Drive

Camden, NJ

WebiMax - Website Builder and Design Software

SpaceCraft

328 Gibraltar Dr

Sunnyvale, CA

DudaOne

577 College Ave

Palo Alto, CA

HibuNA,

Squarespace - Website Builder

225 Varick Street

New York, NY

Jimdo

Stresemannstr. 375

Hamburg,

GoDaddy Business

14455 North Hayden Road

Scottsdale, AZ

Aabaco from Yahoo

701 1stAve

Sunnyvale, CA

Weebly - Website Builder and Design Software

460 Bryant Street

San Francisco, CA

Buildrr

250 International Parkway

Heathrow, FL

Onbile

Av. Cortes Valencianas 26

Valencia,

The Creative Momentum

1801 Old Alabama Road

Roswell, GA

Coco Design

3 West Garden Street

Pensacola, FL

Maxburst

565 Broadhollow Road

Farmingdale, NY

Big Drop

111 John Street

New York, NY

DBurns Design

520 Broadway

Santa Monica, CA

Webvanta

One Harbor Drive

Sausalito, CA

Blue Fountain Media

102 Madison Ave

New York, NY

Qfuse

23 Savoy Road

Framingham, MA

Tappinn

203 S Cutler Street

Spring Lake, ME

goMobi

2 La Touche House

MoFuse

2348 Post Road

Warwick, RI

Yola

909 Montgomery Street

San Francisco, CA

Services

List of 28Best Website Builder and Design Software

Wix - Website Builder

http://www.wix.com

How does the popular Wix compare against other website design software services? Find out at Business.com.

WebiMax - Website Builder and Design Software

http://www.webimax.com

WebiMax goes beyond website design for your company; you get SEO and simple-to-use tools so you can maintain your site's content. Read more about it here.

Strikingly

https://www.strikingly.com

Strikingly offers unlimited storage plans and excellent website design software, especially if you prefer the one-page website style.

SpaceCraft

https://gospacecraft.com

SpaceCraft is web design software that takes advantage of many third-party apps for data analysis, SEO and coding for other tools. Read about it here.

DudaOne

https://www.dudamobile.com

Duda is easy-to-use website design software for building mobile-responsive and eCommerce-capable websites. Read our review to learn its pros and cons.

Hibu

https://hibu.com

Hibu is a web design company that offers marketing and advertising to drive local business to your company's website. Read more about it here.

Homestead

http://www.homestead.com

Homestead is an easy-to-use Mac website creation software with several helpful features and strong help and support. Learn more in our review.

Squarespace - Website Builder

https://www.squarespace.com

Squarespace is a versatile website design software service that is good for beginners and experienced users alike. Learn more in our review.

Jimdo

https://www.jimdo.com

Jimdo is a good web design software app for people building their first website. Discover its features in our review.

GoDaddy Business

https://www.godaddy.com

GoDaddy is a popular website host, but it also offers a simple-to-use website design software solution. Learn more about it in our review.

Aabaco from Yahoo

https://secure.webhosting.yahoo.com

Yahoo offers a website-building program, Aabaco, for small business owners though some features are limited. Read the complete review at Business.com.

Weebly - Website Builder and Design Software

https://www.weebly.com

Weebly's accessibility and range of features make it the best choice for website design software. Discover its pros and cons at Business.com.

Buildrr

https://buildrr.com

Along with website building, Buildrr applies marketing to establish your company's online presence, such as SEO. Learn more about this web design company here.

ActiveMobi

http://activemobi.com

Read our unbiased review of ActiveMobi. See how ActiveMobi compares to the rest for 2018.

Onbile

http://www.onbile.com

Onbile may sound like a strange service but is actually one of the best mobile-website builders.

The Creative Momentum

http://thecreativemomentum.com

The Creative Momentum is a web design company that works with you to give you the look and power you want for your business's website. Learn more about it here.

Coco Design

http://www.cocodesign.com

Coco Design is a web design company that gives you more than a good-looking website; it offers marketing and hosting services too. Learn more about it here.

Maxburst

http://www.maxburst.com

Maxburst is a web design company that can also help you with your brand identity, SEO, marketing, maintenance and advertisement. Learn more about it here.

Big Drop

http://bigdropinc.com

Big Drop is a web design company that offers SEO, responsive design and web hosting with file backup. Learn more about it here.

DBurns Design

http://www.dburnsdesign.com

DBurns Design offers website design, marketing strategies, branding services, social media help and SEO. Read more about this web design company here.

Webvanta

http://www.webvanta.com

Webvanta is a web design company with a focus on mission-based businesses, effective SEO and hosting services. Read more about it here.

Blue Fountain Media

http://www.bluefountainmedia.com

Blue Fountain Media is a web design company that also offers marketing, web hosting and maintenance of SEO optimization. Read more about this company here.

Qfuse

http://qfuse.com

Qfuse is an all-purpose mobile-marketing service. How does it rank as a mobile-site builder? Read our review to find out.

Tappinn

http://tappinn.com

Tappinn is an all-around mobile marketing tool. Why shouldn't it be your first choice for a mobile-website builder? Find out at Business.com.

goMobi

http://gomobi.info

goMobi has almost every feature you could hope for in a mobile site builder. Check Business.com to see where it fits among the competition.

MoFuse

http://mofuse.com

MoFuse is an impressive mobile-web builder with a surprising amount of features. How does it rank against the competition at Business.com?

Yola

https://www.yola.com

Yola Silver web design software is excellent for beginners, with its intuitive interface and numerous help features. Learn more in our review.

Site123

https://www.site123.com

Site123 offers users an opportunity to create a website, even if they make lack technical coding skills or prior experience designing a website. The tool features an "advanced wizard," which helps users select pre-made layouts and designs.

Price Quote Categories

Best Website Builder and Design Software

by Mona BushnellLast Modified: March 1, 2018

The Best Website Builder and Design Software For 2018

Best Picks

Best Web Builder Templates

Best Website Design Software

Best Mobile Website Design Software

Best Website Design Company

Reviews

Wix - Website Builder Review

Weebly - Website Builder and Design Software Review

DudaOne Review

Blue Fountain Media Review

Hibu Review

WebiMax - Website Builder and Design Software Review

Aabaco from Yahoo Review

ActiveMobi Review

Big Drop Review

Buildrr Review

Coco Design Review

DBurns Design Review

GoDaddy Business Review

goMobi Review

Homestead Review

Jimdo Review

Maxburst Review

MoFuse Review

Onbile Review

Qfuse Review

SpaceCraft Review

Squarespace - Website Builder Review

Strikingly Review

Tappinn Review

The Creative Momentum Review

Webvanta Review

Yola Review

State of the Industry

Pricing

Negotiation

Which Website Builder Is Best?

Usability

Marketing Features of the Best Website Design Software Applications

Design & Multimedia: How Easy Was It to Create a Site?

How to Make a Website

Similar Services to Site Creators

Common Website Builder and Design Software Questions & Answers

How do I choose the best web building tool?

How do I create a fluid and professional website?

Which website platform is more user-friendly, WordPress or SquareSpace?

What do I need to do to improve my conversion rates on my website?

Does the website design matter?

Is it possible to get a website built for $500 - $1000?

Map

Services

List of 28Best Website Builder and Design Software

Wix - Website Builder

http://www.wix.com

WebiMax - Website Builder and Design Software

http://www.webimax.com

Strikingly

https://www.strikingly.com

SpaceCraft

https://gospacecraft.com

DudaOne

https://www.dudamobile.com

Hibu

https://hibu.com

Homestead

http://www.homestead.com

Squarespace - Website Builder

https://www.squarespace.com

Jimdo

https://www.jimdo.com

GoDaddy Business

https://www.godaddy.com

Aabaco from Yahoo

https://secure.webhosting.yahoo.com

Weebly - Website Builder and Design Software

https://www.weebly.com