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1. Wix.com

Wix Review

Monthly Starting Price $0.00

  • No coding skills needed with drag-and-drop builder
  • 100s of templates with niche-specific designs
  • Add features via the App Market and Wix Events
  • Easily create ecommerce functionality easily
  • Great way to build small sites on a budget
  • Get started on Wix now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★ 4.9 Our Review»
Wix: Our Expert's Review

Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com): Website building is where Wix shines. The thousands of templates, the intuitive editor, the industry-leading designs that cater to a variety of specific fields and use cases — all these facets represent a platform that excels at facilitating easy web design for the non-tech-savvy user. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
14-day FREE trial 2 GB - Unlimited FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

2. IONOS.com

1&1 IONOS Review

Monthly Starting Price $1.00

  • No coding skills necessary with MyWebsite Creator
  • Free domain name or transfer your existing site
  • FREE social media and marketing widgets
  • Pro templates with pre-filled text and images
  • Multilingual support and tools for SEO
  • Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★ 4.8 Our Review»
1&1 IONOS: Our Expert's Review

Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com): If you're in need of a one-stop shop for designing and launching a website, you should be pleased to hear that 1&1 IONOS offers its own custom website building tools for both desktop and mobile devices. In addition to a free domain and email address, along with unlimited storage space, the 1&1 IONOS MyWebsite platform includes all the essentials for starting a site from scratch. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB - Unlimited FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

3. Hostinger.com

Hostinger Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.69

  • Drag-and-drop design from custom tools
  • FREE access to hundreds of specialized templates
  • Built-in eCommerce and payment processing
  • Easily switch among widescreen, desktop, tablet, and mobile previews
  • Support for 31 languages and 99.9% uptime
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★ 4.6 Our Review»
Hostinger: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): Whether you're taking your first foray into website hosting or are a developer looking to save some time, a strong website builder can dramatically streamline the creation process and enable users to launch a website in five minutes or less. Fortunately for customers, Hostinger has invested heavily in crafting an impressive visual editor sure to appeal to users of all levels of experience. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 100 GB SSD - 200 GB NVMe SSD FREE (1 year) 3 minutes

4. HostGator.com

HostGator Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.29

  • Drag-and-drop design with the Gator™ site builder
  • Hundreds of mobile-friendly templates
  • FREE hosting, domain name, and SSL certificate
  • Easily add a blog, store, and social media
  • Analytics portal helps gauge site performance
  • Get started on HostGator now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★ 4.6 Our Review»
HostGator: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): Setting itself apart from the scores of competitors that rely on white-labeled website builder solutions, HostGator spent the time to painstakingly craft its own platform. Gator provides a frustration-free experience that pairs the simplicity of drag-and-drop design with the company’s powerful and respected web hosting services. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 40 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

5. Bluehost.com

Bluehost Review

Monthly Starting Price $1.99

  • FREE website builder (powered by WordPress)
  • Custom themes and easy integration with ecommerce tools
  • Expert support 24/7 via live chat, phone, and email
  • Longest-running WordPress.org recommendation
  • Pro services to design, build, and market your site
  • Get started on Bluehost now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★ 4.5 Our Review»
Bluehost: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): With Bluehost, new site owners have the drag-and-drop simplicity of the WordPress website builder at their fingertips. This makes launching a new online brand, store, or personal site from scratch relatively painless. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

6. SiteGround.com

SiteGround Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.99

  • FREE Weebly site builder or WordPress setup
  • Worry-free, automated webiste migrations
  • User-friendly Site Tools interface and staging area
  • Custom ticket and chat systems for 24/7 support
  • SuperCacher with static and dynamic caching
  • Get started on SiteGround now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★ 4.4 Our Review»
SiteGround: Our Expert's Review

Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com): Do you know you need to build a website but don't know where to begin. Well, SiteGround will give you not one, but two extremely popular and user-friendly options to create the online presence of your dream. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 40 GB SSD FREE (1 Year) 5 minutes

7. BoldGrid.com

BoldGrid Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.99

  • Fotolia and Flickr image databases
  • Pre-built and customizable content with GridBlocks
  • Responsive themes with tablet and mobile editing
  • Generates clean, efficient, and compliant HTML
  • SEO, gallery, and forms plugins
  • Get started on BoldGrid now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★ 4.2 Our Review»
BoldGrid: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): After taking the BoldGrid suite of plugins for a test drive, we experienced how the company makes WordPress more accessible for beginners and much more efficient for professional developers. Because BoldGrid requires a separate hosting account and WordPress installation, it is a little more challenging for wide-eyed beginners to get started than it is for other website builders. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
90 days 90 GB SSD - Unlimited SD FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

8. Nexcess.net

Nexcess Review

Monthly Starting Price $5.00

  • Code-free design tools for eCommerce stores
  • Templates for retail, food, clothing, and services
  • Custom WordPress integrations and optimizations
  • 24/7/365 support via phone, chat, and email
  • Try StoreBuilder for 75% OFF for 3 months
  • Get started on Nexcess now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★ 4.2 Our Review»
Nexcess: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): Already boasting a powerful platform for running WordPress and WooCommerce, Nexcess makes creating and growing your online store even easier with StoreBuilder system. Billed as an "intelligent website assistant," StoreBuilder asks entrepreneurs about their company's products, services, industry, experience, and content to help formulate a custom storefront. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 15 GB - 800 GB New or Transfer 7 minutes

9. Web.com

Web.com Review

Monthly Starting Price $14.99

  • Dedicated expert support helps you get started
  • Social media scheduling and email marketing
  • 100s of templates for sites, blogs, and online stores
  • Unlimited storage for photos, videos, and music
  • FREE domain name registration
  • Get started on Web.com now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★ 4.0 Our Review»
Web.com: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): Aimed at first-time users and customers seeking simplicity, Web. com offers a very quick and easy solution for getting a website online. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
N/A Unlimited FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

Review Breakdown: Website Builders

While browsing web builder reviews, please note: WYSIWYG is wonderful and drag-and-drop design is great for beginners, but there's more to website creation and maintenance. You need a provider you can trust long-term. Our experts tested the top site builder hosts, and the following table reveals the top 10 website builders of 2024.

Here are 2024's best website builder reviews:

2024's Best Website Builder Hosting
Rank Web Host Price Domain Expert Rating
1 Wix $0.00 FREE (1 year) ★★★★★ 4.9
2 1&1 IONOS $1.00 FREE (1 year) ★★★★★ 4.8
3 Hostinger $2.69 FREE (1 year) ★★★★★ 4.6
4 HostGator $2.29 FREE (1 year) ★★★★★ 4.6
5 Bluehost $1.99 FREE (1 year) ★★★★★ 4.5
6 SiteGround $2.99 FREE (1 Year) ★★★★ 4.4
7 BoldGrid $2.99 FREE (1 year) ★★★★ 4.2
8 Nexcess $5.00 New or Transfer ★★★★ 4.2
9 Web.com $14.99 FREE (1 year) ★★★★ 4.0

Looking for something other than website builder?

Cheap Web Hosting

Cheap Web Hosting

If price is your top deciding factor when choosing a web host, check out our recommendations for cheap web hosting plans. Our reviews cover the cheapest hosts with the most budget-friendly features. See all reviews »

Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated Server Hosting

Looking for a dedicated server to host your website? Choosing the right host can make all the difference. See what our team discovered when comparing the various dedicated hosting options. See all reviews »

VPS Hosting

VPS Hosting

While not a good solution for beginners, virtual private servers offer ideal computing resources and scalability for those who are comfortable managing advanced settings. Check out our reviews of the top VPS options. See all reviews »

WordPress Hosting

WordPress Hosting

If WordPress is your platform of choice, you'll want to read about our experiences installing and maintaining WP with various hosts before deciding on a hosting plan. See which one has our highest recommendation. See all reviews »

The Best Website Builder Reviews: Website Building and Hosting Made Cheap 'n Easy

Alexandra Anderson
Alexandra Anderson,
Contributing Expert

Our web builder reviews represent one of the most fun parts of our jobs. Getting to play around in the backends of so many interfaces, timing how quickly we can get a functional site design up on the web, browsing themes, and envisioning how readers can leverage these platforms into exciting new online ventures is a blast.

Let’s cover some of the highlights of choosing a web host for site building, and then feel free to poke around our reviews to learn about the virtual playground that awaits.

What Is Website Builder Hosting?

A website builder is software that lets you build a website without code. Site builders typically offer ready-made, customizable templates that you can edit with a user-friendly interface. The customization process involves choosing colors, fonts, and images. Site builders are an incredibly simple and effective way to build a website without any prior experience.

Website builder hosting refers to renting server space from a web hosting company that provides you with a free website builder as part of your package. You can find many different types of website hosting with builders, including WordPress website builders and online store builders.

In addition to a free website builder, you may also get a free domain name, email marketing tools, social media tools, and live chat support. With dozens of website design tools and templates at your disposal, you can make a beautiful website in no time.

Now, getting a free website builder with a paid hosting plan shouldn’t be confused with free web hosting. The difference here is that free web hosting doesn’t offer the same security, features, and quality that a paid plan does. So, do yourself a favor and choose an affordable web host instead of a free plan.

How Much Does Website Builder Hosting Cost?

You can expect to pay anywhere from $1 to $50 a month for website builder hosting. However, your cost depends on the type of server, features, and add-ons your host offers.

Shared hosting will offer the cheapest website builder solution, while a VPS or cloud server plan will be more expensive. If you opt for a premium managed plan, you’ll pay extra as well.

You can get a free plan from Wix, but it won’t come with a custom domain name or as many design options. If you’re concerned about staying within a limited budget, consider IONOS, HostGator, Bluehost, or Hostinger. These providers offer plans for less than $5 monthly. These providers offer robust design tools, eCommerce functionality, and a free domain name for your first year.

Choosing the Best Website Builder: Software vs. WYSIWYG Editors

There are two paths one can take to build your website: template-based content management systems, like WordPress or Joomla, or a drag-and-drop website builder provided in a hosting package.

One option involves opening up an app in your hosting control panel and using a point-and-click methodology to customize a site. This is the WYSIWYG website builder route — where what you see is what you get.

The second option involves a one-stop shop for hosting and a WYSIWYG website builder, where what you see is what you get. Both are easy and affordable, so don’t let software installations or funny acronyms scare you away!

Best Website Building Software and Which Host to Use For Each

Using a self-hosted platform, like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, is arguably more suited for experienced site owners, but plenty of first-timers have taken on WordPress and fallen in love. We tested the top hosts for WordPress, as well as Drupal and Joomla, so be sure to check out our recommendations for hosting with these popular website building software programs.

Best Host for WordPress: InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting caters to WordPress users with hosting packages featuring the content management and blog building software pre-installed. With unlimited disk space at your disposal, you can build custom, responsive websites designed to grow. If you consider yourself somewhat of a WordPress site collector, you’ll appreciate that InMotion Hosting lets you host unlimited WP sites on one account.

Best Host for Joomla: SiteGround

Installing Joomla can be done in one click with SiteGround — just log into your cPanel dashboard and install the CMS software directly. While Joomla is a platform more suited for developers and seasoned site owners looking to build websites and manage content, it’s hard to beat the cost of SiteGround. Plus, you get a boatload of storage and custom domain perks, which extend SiteGround’s value as a host overall.

Best Host for Drupal: SiteGround

Again, Drupal’s out-of-the-box security and SiteGround’s SSD speed are a match made in hosting heaven. The teams behind Drupal and SiteGround are each avidly committed to building robust technologies to benefit their users. Let it be known, we did warn you that Drupal is typically not for first-time site owners, but, frankly, neither is SiteGround. These two hosting and website building powerhouses are exceptional — a dynamic duo fit for proficient website owners and developers.

Best Online Website Creators Provided By Site Builder Hosts

Route B is by way of the hosted site builder. Many platforms provide easy-to-use, drag-and-drop site builder tools to ease customers into the idea of web design. Next, we’ll talk about a few providers who really hit this out of the park.

Best for a Simple Website Builder: Wix

Drag-and-drop builders are strongest when made simple. This is a challenge for hosting service providers, as each step forward in simplicity risks two steps backward in intuitiveness. Balancing ease of use with functionality, the Wix web builder comes with tons of industry-specific templates. You can choose your aesthetic starting point, and point and click to customize to your heart’s desire.

Wix also offers the best free website builder for beginners. You can sign up for a free plan at no cost and upgrade to a paid plan to take advantage of more advanced features. What’s more, Wix recently released its proprietary AI website generator, making the process even more seamless.

Best for a Cheap Website Builder: Bluehost

Who doesn’t love cheap hosting services? As much as everybody wants to go for free or the lowest price possible in any shopping endeavor, we frequently remind hosting shoppers to look at the overall value a hosting or site building package offers. Is a 99-cent website builder really worthwhile if you’re limited to one page, the design options are dull at best, and you barely have control over the color palettes?

Instead, aim for a professional website builder with a trusted reputation in the industry. Weebly is one of the foremost names in the site building arena, and Bluehost web builder plans include Weebly as a standard. As difficult as it is to top Weebly’s site builder prowess, Bluehost’s price is hard to beat, making it stand out as the best and cheapest website builder.

The Top Website Builders For Every Niche

Do you need a website builder for personal or professional use? Is it just you, or you and a team making this site happen? Will you need eCommerce functionality? Let’s discuss.

Best Website Builder for Small Business

Business owners have a lot to think about — there are product roadmaps, staffing decisions, profit and loss projections, and marketing. Who has time to worry about website creation when you’d rather be focused on your trade?

InMotion Hosting caters its plans to small business website needs, and its professional website builder is no exception. BoldGrid works on top of WordPress to turn the site builder software into an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface for impressive custom designs. Easily add shopping carts and payment processors, and you’re ready for sales. Backed by InMotion Hosting customer support, server reliability, and SSD speed, your business’s web design is in the best hands.

Best Website Builder for DIYers

Maybe your upcoming project is for personal use — an online résumé, portfolio, or the like. If that’s the case, surely time is of the essence, and yet you don’t want to sacrifice the look and feel of your personal branding.

A custom site builder comes standard across iPage shared hosting plans, meaning you get one of the web’s most intuitive and versatile builders with the support of one of the most trusted web hosts. You’ll enjoy the thousands of unique themes and templates almost as much as you’ll appreciate the ridiculously reasonable price.

Go From Novice Website Maker to Site Building Master

You don’t have to be a website building professional to get an online presence that looks like it was made by one! Sign up for a plan, play around with themes, and see for yourself. Get your hands on one of the builders above, and you’ll want to come up with an online project to take on — if you don’t have one in mind already. May the site building odds be ever in your favor!

About The Author

Alexandra Anderson’s interest in website administration was sparked in her teens, priming her for a fast-paced career in managing, building, and contributing to online brands, including HostingAdvice, Forbes, and the blogs of prominent hosting providers. She brings firsthand experience reviewing web hosts, perfecting website design, optimizing content, and walking site owners through the steps that add up to a successful online presence. With a master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech, she combines her extensive writing experience and technical understanding to unpack some of the most complex topics that daunt novice website owners, as well as the subjects that excite veteran technologists within the HostingAdvice readership.
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Alexandra Anderson