Overview

• Squarespace

  The best overall portfolio website builder

  Try Squarespace

• Wix

  Great for users who want control.

  Try Wix

• Webflow

  Powerful portfolio design tool with a big learning curve.

  Try Webflow

• Framer

  An advanced tool like Webflow, but a bit easier with fewer features.

  Try Framer

• Carrd

  The easiest, cheapest one-page portfolio builder.

  Try Carrd
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Website Builders Rankings

• 1. Squarespace

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  Squarespace Overview (2:41)

  Squarespace is the best all-around website builder and is incredibly popular for portfolio websites.

  Think of Squarespace as the Apple of website builders — it’s intuitive and thoughtfully designed; all features are polished; the templates are beautiful; it’s a secure platform; and the editor is flexible and customizable for a whole variety of portfolios.

  Key Features

  • Customizable Templates: Access to a wide range of professionally designed, mobile-responsive portfolio templates that can be tailored to reflect your unique style and brand.

  

  • Portfolio Pages: Create dedicated portfolio sections with various layout options, such as grids and slideshows, to display your work in an organized and visually appealing manner.

  

  Changing Squarespace portfolio layouts

  • Fluid Engine Editor: Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor, Fluid Engine, lets you intuitively drag and drop blocks anywhere in a section. The blocks snap to an adjustable underlying grid, i.e., you can’t quite place elements pixel-perfect, but this structured approach gives enough customization while being intuitive and easy to use.
  • Integrated Features: Includes blogging capabilities, scheduling tools, photo galleries, forms, and business and marketing integrations.

  Pricing

  Squarespace plans start at $16 per month on annual plans. There is no free plan, but they have a free trial—no credit card is required. All annual plans also include a free custom domain name for one year.

  For most portfolio websites, the base plan is sufficient. You can move to higher plans if you need extra business and ecommerce features.

• 2. Wix

  Try Wix
  

  Wix Overview (3:27)

  Wix is the most popular website builder by market share. Like Squarespace, it’s a general-purpose website builder that is widely used for portfolio websites.

  If Squarespace is the Apple of website builders, Wix is the Android//PC equivalent. It has more features, but they are not as detailed or polished; you have more control, but it takes away from intuitiveness and ease of use; there are lots of templates, but the average template is not as good; there are lots of apps, but the integrations are not as seamless.

  Still, you can make a superb portfolio website with Wix if you know what you are doing.

  Key Features

  • Drag-and-Drop Editor: Wix has an unstructured editor that allows users to place elements anywhere on the page, providing complete design freedom. This makes it the most customizable no-code DIY portfolio site builder.
  • Extensive Template Library: Access to over 900 customizable, mobile-responsive templates, including a wide array of portfolio-specific designs, which can be tailored to reflect your unique style and brand.

  

  • Different Portfolio-Specific Pages: Add a portfolio page, a collections page, or a project page to your portfolio site. Each page has presets like project page presets that allow you to switch between layouts in seconds, providing flexibility in presenting your work.

  

  Playing with Wix's project page presets.

  • Other Features: Wix includes a suite of integrated tools such as blogging capabilities, contact forms, and other business solutions (live chat, ecommerce, etc.). These features enable you to enhance your portfolio by sharing insights, engaging with visitors, and managing client interactions seamlessly.

  Pricing

  Wix offers a free plan, but that’ll be on a bad wixsite subdomain and show a Wix ad at the top of your portfolio website (something you probably don’t want your clients to see).

  The cheapest Wix plan, and the one that’s sufficient for a portfolio website, is $17/month (paid annually). There are a few other plans going up to $159/month, but you likely won’ need them unless you have specific business/ecommerce tool needs.

• 3. Webflow

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  Webflow Overview (2:47)

  Webflow is tailored for those desiring advanced customization and control over their website design. It combines the flexibility of professional coding with a user-friendly interface.

  However, Webflow has a learning curve. Unless you are a professional web designer and/or willing to learn the platform (which can take days, weeks, or months), you likely can’t make a good portfolio website. In a way, you can by making quick changes to an existing template or hire a professional Webflow developer, but you get the point.

  Key Features

  • Design Without Limits: Webflow is basically a user interface for HTML & CSS code. So if you can do something in HTML & CSS, you can do it in Webflow—which means Webflow offers far more customization options than any other website builder!
  • 6000+ Professional Templates: There are 6000+ modern, well-designed Webflow templates on its marketplace (mostly paid), and hundreds of them are made specifically for portfolios. Almost all templates are stunning.

  

  Pricing

  Webflow has one free plan that’s sufficient for understanding the ins and outs of Webflow and even making a solid portfolio site if you don’t mind some Webflow branding.

  Then there are the paid plans, starting at $14/month (pre-paid for the whole year). However, you’ll need to spend at least $23/month if you want CMS for blogging or anything else. The more expensive plans are only needed for ecommerce or extra CMS items/collections.

• 4. Framer

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  Framer is an advanced tool, which means it has a learning curve. It will even take experienced web designers some time to learn how to use it.

  But once you learn it, Framer will allow you to create custom portfolio designs.

  Framer’s closest competitor is Webflow. While Framer is definitely easier to use than Webflow, it doesn’t have nearly as many features as Webflow.

  However, for a portfolio website, you have pretty much all the same features while also getting a more user-friendly design.

  Key Features

  • Stunning Templates: Framer has nearly 2000 visually stunning templates. Pretty much half of them are suited for portfolio websites.

  

  • Visual Design Interface: With Framer’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can design your portfolio more easily than that with Webflow (given you start learning Webflow and Framer at the same time). The interface is user-friendly, allowing for precise placement of elements and real-time visual feedback during the design process.
  • Excellent Animations: This is not a “key feature for portfolios,” but Framer has a powerful but easy-to-use animation tool. Using it, your portfolio site can feel outstanding.

  Pricing

  Framer offers several pricing plans to cater to different needs:

  • Free Plan: Ideal for non-commercial use, offering access to 10 CMS collections, 1,000 pages, and 5MB file uploads.
  • Mini Plan: At $5 per site per month, this plan is suitable for simple one-page websites, providing basic features with minimal limitations.
  • Basic Plan: Priced at $15 per site per month, it includes up to 1,000 pages, 2 CMS collections, and 10,000 monthly visitors, making it suitable for personal sites and small businesses.
  • Pro Plan: For $30 per site per month, this plan offers up to 10,000 pages, 10 CMS collections, and 200,000 monthly visitors, catering to larger websites with more complex needs.

• 5. Carrd

  Try Carrd
  

  An overview of Carrd. (2:06)

  Carrd is for simple websites that fit on a single webpage. It’s not for multiple-page portfolio websites but an excellent option for simple portfolio sites.

  Key Features

  • Very Low Price: Carrd is much cheaper than competitors. Plans with custom domains and no ads start at $19 per year. Other platforms in this list charge nearly 10x.
  • Purposeful Design: Carrd’s themes and features are just for creating one-page websites— there’s a sense of purpose in the interface. You can use other website builders to build one-page websites, but it never feels as intuitive as Carrd.

  

  Carrd Templates

  Pricing

  Carrd offers a free plan with basic features, allowing users to create up to three sites per account.

  For enhanced functionality, users can upgrade to Pro plans:

  • Pro Lite: At $9 per year, this plan includes features like custom domains, larger image uploads, and access to more templates.
  • Pro Standard: Priced at $19 per year, it adds features such as forms, widgets, and Google Analytics integration.
  • Pro Plus: For $49 per year, this plan offers all Pro Standard features plus additional customization options and elements.
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