your guide to choosing a website builder.

• For General Websites

Best Website Builders

Highly recommended.

• 
  

Squarespace

• • Flexible and sophisticated.
  • Stylish, modern themes.
  • Excellent blogging tools.
• 
  

Weebly

• • Easy to use and packed with useful features.
  • A near perfect balance of customization and convention.

Good Website Builders

You can feel confident choosing one of these solid website builders.

• 
  

Virb

• • Great for showcasing photos and videos.
  • Modern, stylish themes.
  • WYSIWYG editor for pages is basic.
• 
  

Edicy

• • Great multilingual support.
  • Editor buttons make it a bit challenging to get page looking "just right".
• 
  

Yola

• • Simple to use website editor.
  • Lots of solid features.
  • Themes are a bit too simple.

OK Website Builders

Better options are available.

• 
  

Strikingly

• • The best way to create long-form, one page websites.
  • Lacks customization options.
• 
  

Adobe Muse

• • Designed for graphic designers to build websites without learning code.
  • Steep learning curve.
• 
  

Webs

• • Good features for membership sites.
  • Themes feel out-dated.
  • Nice app store, but lacks customization.
• 
  

Zoho Sites

• • Form editor is highly customizable.
  • Pretty basic. It’s main advantage is its integration with other Zoho products.
• 
  

Wix

• • Lack of structure can create long term website problems.
  • Full app store is a nice touch.
• 
  

GoDaddy

• • New version is an improvement.
  • Website editor is simple and easy.
  • Bad reputation among customers.
• 
  

OnePager

• • Limited to one page websites only.
  • Unfortunately too basic for most.
  • Easy to use, responsive themes.

Not recommended

These website builders lack important features, are too hard to use or treat customers poorly.

• 
  

Gutensite

• • Too difficult to use for non-technical users.
  • Solid templates, but little customization options.
• 
  

Vistaprint

• • Vistaprint is actually a disguised, lesser version of Webs. There are better options available.
• 
  

SnapPages

• • Unusual “apps” approach to building your website can be cumbersome.
  • Blog editor is easy to use.
• 
  

IM-Creator

• • Blank canvas lets you design from scratch.
  • Unfortunately, over the long term blank canvas editor runs into challenges.
• 
  

Google Sites

• • Awful templates.
  • Suitable for wikis or intranets- not for much else.
• 
  

Jimdo

• • No preview. You edit the live site.
  • Website editor is confusing to use.
  • Solid iOS editor.
• 
  

Webnode

• • Website editor is simple; easy to use.
  • Poor, outdated themes also lack meaningful customization options.
• 
  

Sitezulu

• • No mobile options.
  • Most features feel half-baked and unfinished.
• 
  

Webstarts

• • Themes feel amateur and outdated.
  • Obnoxious salesy tone.
  • Some things don’t work as expected.
• 
  

Homestead

• • Outdated and updating it seems to be a low priority.
  • Lazy mobile features and cheap upsells.
• 
  

Basekit

• • Steep learning curve is not suitable for non-coders.
  • Unintuitive theme editor.
• 
  

Moonfruit

• • Outdated, flash based website builder.
  • Cluttered, frustrating user interface.
  • No mobile options.
• 
  

iPage

• • Is actually just an early, more expensive and out-dated version of Weebly. You are much better off trying Weebly.
• 
  

Angelfire

• • Lacks features, is stale and outdated.
  • Its time has passed. There are better options now.
• 
  

CityMax

• • Form-based website editing is a pain.
  • Lacks meaningful customization options.
  • No mobile support.
• 
  

Web.com

• • Terribly designed. A real pain to use.
  • Cares far more about squeezing sales than customer satisfaction.
• 
  

Sandvox

• • Is a native Mac app, which ultimately creates more problems than it solves.
  • Poor font selection design.
• 
  

1&1

• • Terrible cancellation policies.
  • Is just an outdated version of Jimdo.
  • Just ... bad.
• 
  

Lifeyo

• • Small theme selection.
  • Buggy and disorganized.
  • Lack of mobile features.

• For Ecommerce Websites

The Best Ecommerce Website Builder

Highly recommended.

• 
  

Shopify

• • Incredibly easy to use and flexible.
  • Huge app store. POS add-on.
  • No external payment gateway needed.

OK Ecommerce Website Builders

Better options are available.

• 
  

Big Cartel

• • Easy style customizations.
  • Targeting artists and designers.
  • Overall: a simple, lite ecommerce option.
• 
  

AmeriCommerce

• • Interface is sleek but sometimes unintuitive.
  • Some themes are outdated.
  • App store feels incomplete.
• 
  

Supadupa

• • Good alternative to Etsy, but too simple for anything else.
  • No way to customize email notifications.
• 
  

Bigcommerce

• • Lots of features and an app store.
  • Some themes are outdated.
  • Interface is disorganized and unpolished.

Not recommended

These ecommerce website builders lack important features, are too hard to use or treat customers poorly.

• 
  

Core Commerce

• • Bland themes. Very little style options.
  • Poor mobile theme.
  • Interface is overwhelming and incoherent.
• 
  

Jumpseller

• • Simple interface.
  • No meaningful email notification customization.
  • Not enough features.
• 
  

Volusion

• • Difficult to use and unpolished.
  • Covers a lot of features.
  • Awful mobile theme.
• 
  

3dcart

• • No mobile templates.
  • Very confusing interface.
  • Some interesting "modules".
• 
  

Magento Go

• • Magento Go will be shutting down as of February 2015. So I do not recommend you sign up for it!

• For Photography Websites

Best Photography Website Builders

Highly recommended.

• 
  

Squarespace

• • Flexible and sophisticated.
  • Stylish, modern themes.
  • Excellent blogging tools.

Good photography Website Builders

You can feel confident choosing one of these solid photography website builders.

• 
  

Virb

• • Great for showcasing photos and videos.
  • Modern, stylish themes.
  • WYSIWYG editor for pages is basic.
• 
  

Format

• • Very easy to use.
  • Clean, understated themes. Perfect for showcasing photos.
• 
  

PhotoShelter

• • Easy to use website editor.
  • Lots of businesses features.
  • Mobile theme is buggy.

OK Photography Website Builders

Better options are available.

• 
  

Dunked

• • Limited to three themes.
  • Easy to use.
  • Missing a few key features.

Not recommended

These photography website builders lack important features, are too hard to use or treat customers poorly.

• 
  

Pixpa

• • Website editor is confusing and unintuitive.
  • Many themes are still flash based.
• 
  

Fotomerchant

• • Lack of good theme options.
  • Poor mobile support.
  • Some interesting sales tools.
• 
  

SmugMug

• • Too difficult to use. Has a steep learning curve.
  • Solid themes and mobile support.
• 
  

AllYou

• • Website builder is needlessly complex.
  • Photo upload is buggy.
  • Strong theme selection and customization.
• 
  

Viewbook

• • Missing some key features.
  • Theme customization is limited.
• 
  

RedFrame

• • Website editor is overwhelming and confusing.
  • Poor theme selection.
• 
  

Zenfolio

• • Bland, forgettable photo galleries.
  • Frustrating, unintuitive website editor.
  • Outdated theme selection.