Best small business website builders in 2021
Generally, the best website builders include business-related tools, and the best small business website builders among these make it easy to get a site online quickly and simply. All businesses have different requirements, so there’s no such thing as one top website builder for all users.
However, with so many options, it can be tough to choose just one: the top builders out there allow you to create a professional site with the functionalities your site requires, whether they be ecommerce, booking, subscription, or any other tool. Many of the best cheap website builders are among the best for small business, so budget is key but you might not have to pay over the odds to get your site online.
We evaluate the best small business website builders by taking a closer look at some of the leading options, and reviewed these services on their performance against key factors such as support, pricing, and ease-of-use. Read on to see which builders we recommend for constructing a strong online presence for your business’s needs.
The top 3 best small business website builders right now
1. Wix: best all-round builder for small businesses
Wix has hundreds of templates, a suite of business tools, a flexible editor, and a beginner-friendly drag-and-drop interface, all packaged within fairly-priced plans offered with a 14-day money-back guarantee: ideal for small businesses starting out online. You get the full builder included with the free package, and upgrades provide an ad-free experience plus a raft of extra features.
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3. GoDaddy: ease-of-use and high security
GoDaddy’s website builder is packaged with its web hosting services, and as well as being simple and easy to use, it offers compatibility and improved security as part of the package. Other features include excellent support and powerful analytics, and its drag-and-drop interface allows for personalization.
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How do you choose one of the best small business website builders?
Clearly identify your budget; identify the tools you require, and ensure the platforms you’re looking at include these; consider how much time you plan to spend building a website; and shortlist options, testing them out via trials or free plans, before making a decision.
What are the best small business website builders?
Wix is our pick of the best small business website builders. It’s a little expensive compared to its main competitors, but it comes with a suite of business tools that help you maximize your site’s performance.
On top of this, the Wix Editor is arguably the most powerful website building interface in the world. It enables pixel-perfect drag-and-drop editing, and there are more than 500 templates that you can use to get your site started.
Squarespace is the best option for professional templates and native tools, while GoDaddy and Strikingly offer brilliant website builders for those looking to get a simple site online quickly. Weebly is a great option for those wanting to add ecommerce functionality, using Square, one of the world’s leading payment processors.
1&1 IONOS’s MyWebsite is an excellent choice for scalable sites, while WordPress, despite not being a website builder in the technical sense, offers excellent design flexibility: though expect to spend time building your site.
HostGator’s Gator Builder is a decent budget option, and offers comparable design flexibility to Wix; Constant Contact is best if you’re planning to use email marketing to promote your business; and Zyro offers another beginner-friendly option.
Website builder | Cheapest business plan | Free version? | Free domain? | Storage | Bandwidth |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wix | $23 a month (Business Basic) | Yes | Yes | 20GB | From 2GB a month |
Squarespace | $18 a month (Business) | No | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited |
GoDaddy | $10.49 a month (Standard) | Yes | No | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Strikingly | $16 a month (Pro) | Yes | Yes | From 1GB per site | From 50GB a month |
Weebly | $9 a month (Pro) | Yes | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited |
1&1 IONOS MyWebsite | $5 a month (Plus) | No | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited |
WordPress | $25 a month (Business) | Yes | Yes, on annual plans | 200GB | Unlimited |
HostGator | $3.84 a month (Express Start) | No | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Constant Contact | $10 a month (Starter) | No | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Zyro | $3.90 a month (Unleashed) | No | Yes (with high-end plans) | From 1GB | From 3GB |
The best small business website builders available
Wix is a regular feature at the top of lists of the best website builder, and for our guide to the best small business website builders, it’s top for a good reason. Take advantage of the Wix ADI (artificial design intelligence) tool to get online fast, or use the more powerful Wix Editor to harness the full power of the platform.
One thing that stands out about Wix is the template library, which contains more than 500 attractive designs that you can base your site on. There’s also a great selection of add-ons available via the Wix App Market, and the free forever plan is up there with the best we’ve seen.
Wix is a little confusing to get started with, though, so expect to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the platform. It’s also at the expensive end of the spectrum, so it’s not a great choice for those on a tight budget. There are four business-specific plans, with Business Basic – at $23 a month, with 20GB of storage – more than enough for most small or medium businesses.
Check out our full Wix review, our guide on how to make a website with Wix, and our comparison pitting Wix vs Shopify.
If you’ve heard of website builders, the chances are that you’ve heard of Squarespace. It’s one of the most popular site creation platforms in the world, and it’s easy to see why.
For one, Squarespace offers a neat selection of modern templates that you can use to start your small business site. All plans come with unmetered bandwidth and storage, and there’s a range of great ecommerce tools. The cheapest business-focused plan is the Business package, starting at $18 a month, with Basic and Advanced Commerce plans for those with online sales at $26 and $40 a month.
The editor is relatively powerful, but it doesn’t offer the pixel-perfect design flexibility that some of the other options on this list do. It’s also a little confusing, so you should expect to spend some time familiarizing yourself with it when you’re getting started.
Read our full Squarespace review; our guide on how to build a website with Squarespace; and our comparison pitting Wix vs Squarespace.
If your main priority is getting a basic site online as fast and efficiently as possible, the GoDaddy website builder could be your best option. Although it’s quite basic, the editor is simple and intuitive.
In addition, GoDaddy boasts a selection of basic ecommerce tools, a full analytics portal, and excellent support resources. There’s also a great free plan that you can use to test the platform, and four premium plans ranging from $6.99 to $17.49 a month, increasing to $9.99 to $24.99 a month after renewal. The Standard, Premium, and Ecommerce plans are ideal for businesses starting out, growing, or selling online.
On the downside, design flexibility is very limited. You won’t have access to any advanced tools whatsoever, which can make it hard to personalize your site. The templates are also quite basic, which can make it hard to build a business site with any sort of size or complexity.
Check out our full GoDaddy review and our GoDaddy hosting review; learn how to build a website with GoDaddy in our step-by-step guide; and see how it fared in comparison of GoDaddy vs Wix.
With its powerful yet intuitive editor and selection of beginner-friendly site creation tools, Strikingly is another great option for website building newbies. It’s designed specifically for landing pages and one-page sites, and it comes with a suite of unique features.
Standout among these are the simple store and blog modules, which you can use to add ecommerce and blogging functionality to your one-page site. The template library is a little limited, and the free account comes with a one-page restriction, but overall, there’s a lot to like here. When it comes to paid plans, the Pro and VIP packages are best for businesses, at $16 a month and $49 a month respectively.
To learn more about Strikingly and its website builder, make sure to check out our full Strikingly review.
Weebly is a great choice for small businesses that want to add an online store to their website. It features an excellent range of ecommerce features, and its online store tools are controlled by Square, one of the world’s most popular payment gateways.
On top of this, Weebly boasts a selection of templates for sites of all shapes and sizes. Its free forever plan is a neat option for those who want to try the platform before purchasing a subscription, and the premium plans are very competitively priced. For small businesses, Pro, Business, and Business Plus packages (at $9, $18, and $28 a month) offer the best levels of website services as your business grows.
Note, though, that the builder is a little limited. You will be restricted to predefined element positions, and it can be hard to achieve the design that you want.
Check out our full Weebly review; our Wix vs Squarespace vs Weebly feature; our Square Online review; and our guide on how to build a website with Square Online.
1&1 IONOS MyWebsite is a beginner-friendly website builder that’s very competitively priced and backed by a selection of great features. Every plan comes with a free domain, unlimited storage, and unmetered bandwidth. There isn’t any free forever plan, but the introductory prices are very competitive.
One standout feature of the MyWebsite website builder is its excellent multilingual site tools. There’s a built-in translator, which can be used to translate your content into 62 different languages. Individual sites support up to 25 different languages at a time, which makes this a great option for small businesses targeting different language groups.
When it comes to pricing, MyWebsite offers the Plus and Pro site builder plans at $5 a month and $10 a month, while for more advanced sites its Now & List Local Essential and Creator + List Local Essential packages (free for the first month, then respectively $17 and $23 a month) offer website builders with marketing and advanced ecommerce functionality.
Check out our full 1&1 IONOS MyWebsite review, and our feature pitting HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy.
Now, WordPress isn’t technically a website builder. But it’s such a powerful option for building small business websites that we just couldn’t leave it off this list. WordPress.org, it should be mentioned, is the free blog and basic site builder, while WordPress.com is the paid website creation software and management tool.
At its simplest, WordPress,.org is a free content management system (CMS) that provides the dashboard and tools for you to create and manage your website. The design flexibility on offer is unrivalled, and you will have access to thousands of templates and plugins through the official WordPress stores.
WordPress.com’s pricing plans differ when it comes to paying annually or monthly, with the annual plans including a free domain among other features, but costing more. For businesses, the Business plan is $25 a month, and includes 200GB of storage space alongside a raft of features and tools.
You have full code access and complete control over every aspect of your site, enabling you to build exactly what you want. Note, though, that WordPress can be a little confusing to get started with, and it will take you some time to get your site online.
Find out which website builder for WordPress is best in our buying guide; discover how to build a website with WordPress; and read our WordPress review covering its hosting and website builder. Make sure to read our guide to the best WordPress hosting to see which providers we ranked highly.
Although it’s a relative newcomer to the website building world, HostGator’s Gator Website Builder stands out as excellent. All plans come with unmetered storage and bandwidth, as well as a free domain for the first year.
The builder is arguably the most powerful after Wix, and this is largely due to the advanced drag-and-drop interface. Unfortunately, there isn’t a free forever plan or a free trial, but prices are low and there is a 45-day money-back guarantee. Even the cheapest of the three plans, Express Start at $3.84 a month, features a free domain, three email campaigns a month, and a three product online store.
Scaling up from there, the most expensive plan is Express Store at $9.22 a month, which offers 10 email campaigns a month, unlimited products on an online store, and no transaction fees should you choose to utilize ecommerce.
Check out our full HostGator review, and our guide on how to build a website with the HostGator website builder.
Although it’s better known for its excellent email marketing tools, Constant Contact offers an intuitive, beginner-friendly website builder that’s great for small businesses. For starters, the builder is very easy to use, enabling even those with very minimal website building experience to get online fast and efficiently.
All plans come with unlimited storage and bandwidth, basic ecommerce features, and a nifty little SEO toolkit to help you optimize your search engine rankings. On top of this, you will benefit from the platform’s excellent email marketing tools if required, making this a leading choice for businesses that plan to use this marketing stream extensively. The cheapest plan, Starter, is $10 a month, and comes with a wide range of business and ecommerce support tools.
There are a few downsides, though, including a notable lack of advanced blogging tools. You will also have to pay for a premium plan before you can publish your site. In saying that, the free version does let you test the builder.
Read our Constant Contact review.
Zyro is one of the most intuitive website builders in the world. The designer is a little on the simple side, but it’s still more than good enough for those looking to get a simple site online with a minimum amount of fuss.
One standout feature is the company’s excellent customer service, which includes online live chat and email ticketing. There’s also a neat set of AI tools, including an AI writer, logo builder, and blog title generator. Benefit from simple ecommerce tools if you want to add an online store, and select a design from the template library base your site on.
On the downside, Zyro has no free forever plan. Prices are quite deceptive, and you can expect to pay significantly more than the advertised price when it comes time to renew your subscription. The Unleashed plan for businesses is $3.90 a month, and offers unlimited bandwidth, storage, free emails for three months and a free domain for a year, with more advanced plans offering ecommerce functions.
Check out our full Zyro review to learn more.
How to choose from the best small business website builders
There’s no one solution that works for every website, when it comes to the best small business website builders. Find the best choice for you by keeping a few important elements in mind when you look, and ensure your choice is correct by remembering the building blocks of small business website creation.
First of all, think about why your small business needs a website; clearly identify your budget and the tools required. By ensuring the platforms you’re evaluating include what you need, you can make sure your choice suits your business: for example, ecommerce features aren’t always included, so it’s important to keep such points at the forefront of your mind when looking.
Next, consider how much time you plan to spend building the site. Easy-to-use builders like Weebly and GoDaddy can help get a site online quickly, where as more powerful and customizable builders like Wix or Squarespace allow you to spend longer perfecting your design.
Finally, remember that most website builders offer either a free trial or free forever plan. This means you can save money and time by shortlisting your options, testing out those with trials or free plans, and find the right small business website builder for you instead of jumping into a paid subscription before you’re sure.
Further reading on website builders
Find out more about building a website and how to build a website in our features focusing on website building, and learn more about drag-and-drop editors too, as most small business website builders utilize this technology.
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