Best Website Builders of June 2023- Free & Paid

Best 5 Drag & Drop Website Builders

Wix

Wix is a website builder that has dominated most if not all the “Best Website Builders” lists. The possibilities of different types of websites one can create with Wix are endless.

Right from a basic blog to sharing your ideas, a gallery of the photos you have clicked, or a portfolio of the work you have done, creating a fully sophisticated online store can be done with the help of the Wix website builder.

And it would be wrong to compare Wix with other normal website builders. Because most of website builders are the experts in either letting you create a blog or an online store. But Wix comes with the best of both worlds, which is a rarity in the sea of website builders.

Pros of Wix:

• Comes with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface
• Suitable to create any type of website like Blog, Online stores, Magazines
• Presence of futuristic ADI using Artificial Intelligence
• Available in Free version and Trial version
• 14-days free trial
• Massive template collection

 Cons of Wix:

• The premium plan allows a single site
• No live chat option
• Wix sites are not transferrable
• Very basic features in Free Version.

Pricing of Wix:

Free Version:     

• Have your site on a subdomain       
• Too many ads

            
Premium Plan:   

• Priced at INR 29/mo. - Free SSL
• Free Domain for 1 year - Unlimited Bandwidth
• Premium Support - Customized Favicons

Out of many things that go in favor of Wix, ease of use leads the line. Wix is known to be extremely user-friendly, thanks to the drag and drops user interface that lets users put together their website just by dragging and dropping the elements. In case if you lack creative juices while creating your website, coming to your rescue are more than 100 free templates. Wix also bundles a Free Logo maker and Free Favicon pack with the website builder. The different ways you can create a website in Wix don’t just end right here. There is a unique and innovative option called ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence). This feature can help you create a full-size website in just a matter of a few clicks. You just have to give a few inputs about your preferences and Wix ADI will have your website completely ready in just a few seconds.

You can also use the apps available for Android or iOS to make it easier for you to edit your website on your phone when you are away from your computer. There is also an App Market that includes hundreds of website apps that you can add to your website and make your website completely ready to rock.

A downside of Wix is that you cannot transfer the sites you have created with Wix. There is no option for self-hosting in Wix. This type of website builder is called as all-inclusive website builder. The term all-inclusive means that you get everything you need from creating your website to hosting your website, and domain name rather than installing small bits for every small action. 

If you opt to buy the Wix website builder, you will be offered web hosting too. Along with hosting, they also provide Free SSL. You can get Wix at a special price of Rs.29/mo.

You can try their service as they provide 14 days trial period. But if you are not sure if you want to spend some bucks, Wix also comes with a free variant. Unlike the paid version, you will not be able to connect your domain name. There will be Ads by Wix on your site. You can pay and upgrade anytime to enjoy the power of Wix to the fullest.

Site123 

Wix should be your go-to website builder if you want to build a fully sophisticated website. But what if you want to build a very basic website, without spending too much on the features that are not necessary for your website? Site123 website builder is your solution.

Site123 website builder lets you create a basic-level blog, business website or an online store with ease. But the downside is that you will not get the level of flexibility that you get in Wix or other top website builders. There are tons of templates that are highly responsive and are well optimized for mobile devices.

Pros of Site123

• One of the easiest ways of creating a website
• Very less or no learning curve
• Supports multilingual versions of the same website

Cons of Site123

• Limited freedom of creativity and flexibility
• No option of changing the template once your site is live.
• The premium plan is pricier compared to its competitors.

Pricing of Site123

Free Version: 

• Have your site with a free custom domain
• No support for email accounts

Premium:

• INR 445/mo.
• Free domain for 1 year
• 10 GB storage
• Connect a custom domain

Flexibility is limited only to doing basic tasks like changing fonts, uploading images, and other basic modifications. But once your website is public, there is no way you can change the template you have chosen. This is a strange restriction that can surely spoil the user experience. Instead of a drag-and-drop interface, you get a wireframe layout where you can upload your content. This surely is easier to do than the drag-and-drop method but keeps the customizability to a minimum.

There is support for up to 25 different social media platforms and can help you in upping your social media game to a marginal extent. But one standout feature of Site123 that most of the popular website builders miss is the support for creating multilingual websites. You will not need to worry if you have an international audience and will not need to maintain different versions of your website depending on the language.

You can use the free version of Sites123 but the features on offer are very limited and you don’t get support for any email accounts with the free version. But if you opt to buy the premium version, it is priced at $5.80/mo. You get 10 GB of storage space. The premium plan also comes with a Free SSL certificate and you do get a domain name free for a year.

As already mentioned, Site123 is not the most ideal choice for high-end websites. If you want a simple website builder with no gimmicky features to create a simple website, Site123 must be your choice.

WordPress

WordPress needs no introduction to a person who knows a thing or two about websites and the usual stuff around creating it. WordPress is more of a Content Management System (CMS) than just a website builder. WordPress lets you do more stuff than you can do with other website builders. CMSs usually have a learning curve as opposed to website builders that have very less or no learning curve. But the flexibility that you get with WordPress is unmatched. You should get used to the user interface of WordPress with time.

Pros of WordPress

• A huge number of templates and plugins are on offer
• Advanced CMS
• High optimization and responsiveness are possible
• Highly Popular and consists of the largest community 

Cons of WordPress

• Prone to hacking due to open source nature
• The steeper learning curve for beginners
• High-end themes are expensive

WordPress Pricing

Free Version:

• Self-host your website or host your site on a subdomain.
• 3GB Storage Space 

Personal:

• Priced at INR 200/mo.  
• Connect your own domain
• Support via email & live chat           
• Free Domain for one year

Premium:

• Priced at INR 350/mo.                
• Comes with advanced features
• Unlimited Free Themes    
• VideoPress Support

Business:  

• Priced at INR 800/mo.                     
• Advanced SEO tools
• 200GB Storage space                       
• Install plugins

eCommerce:  

• Priced at INR 1440/mo.     
• Best for online stores
• Support for unlimited products or services

WordPress has a lot of things going for it when thrown head-to-head with other website builders. First of all, WordPress is the most popular option for creating websites. Over 35% of the website over the internet are powered by WordPress. That is considerably great given the fact that there are more than 50 website builders in the market. If you choose WordPress, you are backed by a huge community of enthusiasts that constantly keep things posted that you might need in the future during your journey with WordPress.

Free plugins and free themes are the results of the efforts of the developers in the WordPress community and you can get any type of plugin for any of your website needs. The open code access of WordPress has enabled the developers with the ability to create these different plugins. And the support plugin in WordPress is next to none. Nowhere else you will see more plugins being supported than in WordPress. With the use of proper SEO plugins, you can also website a top-ranked one. You get the option to edit the permalinks, Meta tags, add categories to posts, and more.

We have talked about the themes provided by other website builders. But the number of themes you can get with WordPress is stands next to none. You can change the complete look and feel of your website by choosing a perfect theme. In addition to using the themes from WordPress’s theme directory, you can also install themes that you have downloaded from other sources. You can access your website from your phone with the help of the WordPress mobile app, anytime anywhere. With the help of this app, you can do all the stuff that you would otherwise do on your PC.

WordPress is available both in the form of a free version and a premium version. And then there is the concept of WordPress.Org and WordPress.Com. The WordPress.Org works just like the free version of Wix. You will have your website without your custom domain name being used. Your site will also have annoying ads. But WordPress.Com lets you either host your website with hosting from WordPress or any other web hosting provider. 

Read More: The Best WordPress Hosting Services

The premium version of WordPress is fully managed by WordPress and you can choose from three different plans. The prices start at Rs. 250/mo. You get Jetpack Essential Features, support via Email and live chat, and more. You are also free from all the Ads if you choose any of these three plans and decide to host your website with WordPress. But if you want to run an online store, you are required to choose higher-tier plans as you do not get support for payment processing with the basic package.

Weebly

Weebly is a website builder that you can use to create blogs, portfolios, online stores, magazines, and business sites. In fact, with Weebly, you can create your website in a matter of a few minutes and get them live as fast as you create them. Like Wix, Weebly is also an all-inclusive website builder. So you are free from the tedious task of looking for the best web hosting provider. But you have to be content with only what is provided to you by Weebly. 

The interface of Weebly is neatly put together to provide you with an intuitive user interface that makes creating your website a work of ease. 

Pros of Weebly:

• Easy to use Drag and Drop interface
• Reasonable Pricing
• High Speed and Security

Cons of Weebly:

• Less optimization and marketing tools
• No possibility of transferring any website created with Weebly.

Pricing: 

Free:

• Your site will be on a subdomain (exsite.weebly.com)
• Best for temporary or student websites
• Free SSL

                 
Connect:

• Priced at $5/mo. -Free SSL Security
• 500GB Storage -Connect a custom domain

Pro:

• Priced at $12/mo.
• No annoying Weebly Ads
• Site search option
• Unlimited Storage

Business:

• Prices start from $25/mo.  
• All the features required for online stores are bundled with this plan.

Weebly comes with an easy-to-use user interface where you get the Drag-and-Drop option to create your website. While this interface is not as seamless and sophisticated as that of the one you get with Wix. The interface in Weebly is a kind of mixture of the one that you get in CMS and the Drag-and-Drop interface. Liking this feature is subjective. Some may find it helpful, while some may find it as a limitation.

When we are talking about an all-inclusive website builder, it is obvious that you cannot look for other cheaper web hosting alternatives to host your website as web hosting comes bundled with the plans on offer. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. Because sometimes you will be charged very high if you opt for premium plans and sometimes you might have to compromise when it comes to the speed and security of your website.

But that is not the case with Weebly. Because the packages offered by Weebly are high in security and speed. The speed and security of your website are ensured.

Talking about the optimization and marketing features, Weebly comes with an HTML editing option, so you can add most of the optimization and marketing tools to your website. But Weebly offers less or no support to add custom email collection tools, custom website analytics tools, and A/B testing software, you will be limited from doing the optimization and marketing that you would be able to do if you choose other options over Weebly.

Another drawback that comes with choosing Weebly is that you cannot migrate your website to other platforms. Say, for example, you have your site created in Weebly and once the tenure is over, you want your website on WordPress. This is completely impossible. This is a severe drawback and something that you should keep in mind if you are thinking about long-term plans for your website.

Now talking about the pricing, the good news is that Weebly comes with a Free version along with the Premium variant. The free version, as it is obvious, comes with Weebly ads and your website will be hosted on a subdomain. But the good thing is that you get a Free SSL certificate with all the plans including the Free Version.

But if you want more features and the ability to connect a custom domain to your site, then the Premium line-up kicks off with the Connect Plan. This plan is priced at just $5/mo. and you get the option of connecting your custom domain. But the downside of this plan is that, despite being a paid plan, you still get Weebly ads on your website. This is not something we like. 

The following plan is a Pro pan and is priced at $12.mo. This is the plan that we would recommend as you can get rid of annoying ads and also get unlimited resources, Free domain name. And if you are creating an online store, the best possible option is to spend a few more bucks and opt for the business plans that start at $25/mo. You will get all the necessary features that you will need to create and run an online store with these plans

Should I Use a Website Builder to Create a Website?

For beginners, before getting into the list of best website builders, they must be introduced to the concept of website builders.

As a beginner, it is natural to have a lot of confusion and questions. Because the sea of the web is so deep that getting hold of every aspect in this sea can take time.

The first question lies in, if and when you should use a website builder to create your website. Because there are other ways of creating a website too.

You can create a website by building it from scratch with the help of programming languages too. Perhaps this was how websites were being created initially and is known as the traditional way of creating websites. If you want to create a large-scale and complex website, you have to opt for the method of coding.

If you have expertise in programming languages, you can create your website yourself. And if you are not a geek who can do the coding by yourself, you have to hire an expert programmer to create a website.

In most cases, to create a website, website builders are the best option to choose. For example, if you want to create a small website for your start-up, if you want to create a personal blog, or portfolio website for your work, or if you want to set up an online store, you can choose a website builder.

Read More: The Best eCommerce Website Builders to Create Online Stores/eCommerce Websites

Read More: The Best Portfolio Website Builders

Advantages of using website builders

• Low cost

Compared to other methods of creating a website, website builders can let you build the website of your dream at minimized expenses. This is possible as you will not have to hire an expert programmer to create your website. With the help of website builders, you or your techie friend can create a website without breaking a sweat. And the same website builder can be used to create several websites too. And maintenance of the websites created using these website builders is also cheaper compared to other methods of creating a website.

• Ease of use

One of the main reasons website builders were introduced was to overcome the difficulty and complexity that was involved in creating a website using the traditional method of coding. Website builders provide easy-to-use interfaces where all that one has to do is just click or drag-and-drop, or just give some inputs. You will not have to break your head by being a victim of the complexity of coding and the errors that come with it.

• Availability of Templates

Templates are the USP of many website builders. Because ultimately a template serves as a cornerstone of any website. Templates make the process of creating a website a cakewalk for you. You can choose the template that suits your website’s requirements not just in terms of look and feel, but also its functionalities.

• Less time consuming

Not using a website builder to create a website is not only a costly affair but also time-consuming. If you are expert enough to create your website by yourself, you will need a lot of time to finalize the elements of your website. The processes that follow will need more time. And imagine if you are getting your website created by someone else, finding an expert programmer itself is tedious. And then conveying to him/her everything you need on your website is more complex. But if you are opting to create your website with the help of a website builder, you are guaranteed to save a lot of time as opposed to creating your website using other methods.

• Flexibility and scalability

Last, but least, you get next-level flexibility with website builders. You can not only play with the font styles, colors, and images but also add any element, anywhere on your website, in a matter of just a few clicks. If your website turns out to be a hit and you want to scale it up, that too can be done with ease without much effort, if you choose the right website builder.

To make the task of choosing the best website builder easier for you, we have put together a list of top website builders, serving different purposes and functionalities. Because two different people might want to use website builders for different purposes. One might want to create a blog, and the other, an online store.

Conclusion:

These are our picks for top website builders. Choosing only the three best website builders out of the crowd is quite a task. We have chosen these website builders considering a few aspects like ease of use, features offered, flexibility, support for themes, and value for money. And unsurprisingly, all three websites builders different aspects of their USP. We have concluded these three to be the best among others. And it is up to you to choose the best one according to your website needs.