Site Builder Report is the best-known, most trusted name in website builder reviews.
Our reviews take weeks or months of research and years of experience. To write our reviews, we have interviewed thousands of real-life users of website builders, tested customer support response times, and, of course, created many, many websites with different website builders.
The Reddit Factor
A part of our process (to ensure there’s no inherent bias creeping in) is checking relevant answers on Reddit—a community platform where users write their opinions about anything and everything, including website builders.
Below is a compilation of the top answers to some of the most upvoted “What’s the best website builder…?” questions on Reddit.
I’ve filtered out obviously promotional responses, answers from anti-website builders/purist web dev people, objectively wrong answers, and some replies like ones recommending Weebly (a once top website builder that’s gone bad over the last couple of years).
1. Squarespace
Squarespace is the best all-around website builder. It’s intuitive, thoughtfully designed, and has beautiful templates. Overall, Squarespace is an excellent choice for all types of websites: small businesses, bloggers, portfolios, online stores, and more.
In a sense, Squarespace is like 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 enough to meet most people’s needs.
These Reddit answers confirm:
The top answer, with multiple awards, to the question “What is the best website builder for a small business?” in the r/smallbusiness subreddit says:
“Squarespace is the best option out there imo. Easy drag and drop interface and they provide full solution (so you don’t need to worry about getting server and taking care of it, optimizing it, securing your website, etc etc - they do it all for you and in my experience this saves so much time and hassle.) They have some of the best free templates I have seen. They offer free trial with no credit card necessary.”
Another recent question in the subreddit r/smallbusiness was, “[Best website builder [for tutoring business]?](https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/145r7jw/best_website_builder/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)”. The top answer to it reads:
Website designer and developer here: Stick with Squarespace. They have a scheduling tool that will work for your purposes.
If you’re DIYing and you’ve never built a site before, please don’t go through the headache of using Wordpress unless you’re willing to hire someone. And not someone from Fiverr. The quality is too spotty and it’s more likely that you’ll end up with a garbage site that took way too long to build.
It’s better for you to get your site out quickly, get some revenue, then pay experts to rebuild it later.
To “Entrepreneurs, what is the best website builder for a small business?” question in the r/Entrepreneur, this was the top answer:
“I tried them all and for me squarespace wins the battle easily mainly because how freaking easy it is to use and how much time I save.
First - you don’t need to deal with maintaining a server/optimizing it/securing it etc - it’s all being done for you, that alone worth so much for me. Also their website builder interface is very easy to use. It’s a drag & drop interface that even someone like me who does not know even one line of code could have made a really great looking website (they also have tons of beautiful templates to choose from)
Didn’t have to deal with customer service much so can’t comment a lot about that, one time I had a question and I got a reply in the chat waiting for less then a min, so seems good.”
Another top answer in the same thread:
“I have used different website builders. But I have found Squarespace is one of the best website builder because it is very easy to use and it has involved many beautiful templates and quality features. If you want to use website builder for blogging and product selling then, it would be perfect choice.”
In the r/VoiceActing subreddit, someone asked: “What do you think is the best website builder for a voice actor?”. These are the top answers:
“I use Squarespace and I really like it.”
“Wix or Squarespace. Carrd is also perfectly fine and Carrd is free”
The top answer to “From your experience, what is best website builder that provides full customization?” in r/UXDesign subreddit is:
“If you’re set on building a website for your portfolio, +1 squarespace. Relatively cheap and it’s super easy to use, connect 3rd party apps, and add custom domains.”
A simple one line answer to “Preferebly free or low cost website builder for artist?” in r/ArtistLounge:
“I use Squarespace, and I’m very happy with it.”
Pros
- The best templates of all website builders
- Powerful features & functionality for all types of websites
- Intuitive, structured drag & drop editor
- Easy to use ecommerce
- Fast, well-versed customer support
Cons
- There's a slight learning curve
- Not great for enterprise-grade websites
2. Shopify
Shopify is the best website builder for online stores—it tames the complexity of ecommerce and removes many of the obstacles online store builders face. I recommend Shopify for anyone building an online store that ships physical products.
Shopify is great for stores of all sizes. You’ll see your favorite small creator uses Shopify to sell their handmade artworks. At the same time, Shopify is flexible, customizable, and scalable enough for billion-dollar businesses and the biggest creators (read Cristiano Ronaldo, MrBeast, Kylie Jenner, Selena Gomez, pretty much everyone) to trust their online stores with them.
If you compare it with the other top rankers in this list (like Squarespace and Wix), it’s miles ahead in everything ecommerce — it offers better shipping, inventory management, payment options, tax settings, ecommerce templates, ecommerce marketing features, sales channels, reporting, and more.
Most of the Reddit question asking for website builder recommendations for ecommerce has Shopify as the top answer.
Here are a few Reddit answers:
In r/webdesign subreddit, this was the top answer to “What’s the best website builder for an e-commerce? (or any alternative that could work)” question:
“Shopify is the best eCommerce builder. Webflow is good but when it comes to ease of use, Shopify is the best. Even a newbie can build the store without any prior knowledge of coding.”.
The simple “Best e-commerce web builder?” question in r/Entrepreneur has this answer at the top:
“I honestly wouldn’t use anything other than BigCommerce or Shopify, unless I really wanted the freedom to do a lot of custom code without issues. I’ve used both BC and Shopify, and I built my own business on BC. I shyed away from Shopify when I found out sometimes people’s stores get shut down without explanation and they struggle to get an explanation and never get the stores back up.
I’ve also used WordPress and Magento. I just don’t like WordPress, personally. I think BC and Shopify are the most idiot-friendly, or the best combo of being idiot-friendly and having a lot of ways to get the functionality you want easily. When app makers create ecommerce apps, they do it with Shopify in mind, first and foremost.”
[Fact: BigCommerce has moved to serving Enterprise clients almost exclusively.]
The answer that recommended Squarespace to “What is the best website builder for a small business?” in r/smallbusiness also mentioned:
“Shopify is another great option. I just love the simplicity of their platform, and they also provide a full solution (server, payment processing etc.) They also have 14 days free trial (no credit card is necessary) so you can just give it a try and see if it works for you.”
[Note: The 14-day free trial is no more, but their new way to allowing users to test out the platform for essentially free is better — check out Shopify Pricing to learn more]
And this in r/ecommerce:
Pros
- An extensive range of ecommerce tools, from ones needed to create the store and increase conversions to ones for selling across channels like social media and POS.
- The biggest app store with over 10,000 plugins.
- A range of high-converting official & unofficial themes.
- Shopify is the most innovative ecommerce builder company. It focuses on entrepreneurs and their ecommerce needs like no other company.
- Excellent help center, community, & customer support
Cons
- There's a learning curve. You might need external help sometimes to get things just right.
- The Shopify plan is appropriately priced, but other costs can add up really quick.
3. Wix
Wix is the most popular website builder by market share. Its unstructured editor is its most defining feature— it allows you to move any element to any spot on a page. This allows for plenty of freedom.
It will work best for users who want to be able to control everything… and are comfortable with the risks that come with control.
If Squarespace is the Apple of website builders, Wix is the Android//PC equivalent. It has more features, but they are not as 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.
Here are some of the top Reddit answers in favor of Wix:
To “What is the best website builder? Recommend your top website builders, please. (Reddit request)” question in the subreddit r/webgeeks, the top answer is:
“Well, since you’re not a web designer, I say try wix.com.
In my experience, it’s the simplest and most “easy on the eye” as you put it. I created my agency’s website using it in like a day, and it was super simple. You can just drag and drop elements until you get the look you want. Not to mention, they have a gazillion templates and super cool animations.
They also have this really cool assistant-thing that helps you with design. I found that really useful. And it’s actually free so you can play around a lot.”
The “What do you think is the best website builder for a voice actor?” question in r/VoiceActing has a couple of other answer (below the one recommending Squarespace) that recommend Wix:
“I’ve used squarespace and wix. I liked squarespaces templates better but it was a lot harder to use than wix and wix has more usable features IMO.”
“I use wix, and if you want to check out how mine turned out, it’s right here at www.micahsmithvo.com
Wix was fairly easy to use, mostly just choosing options and drag and dropping. That being said, there is a lot of stuff you can do with wix in the new editor, even implementing code in some places. I suggest you try it out!”
A simple post asking “Best Website Builder” in r/ArtBusiness has this answer at the top:
“I use Wix. No major complaints. It’s extremely similar to Squarespace, and both run about $200 per year for the eCommerce level that has a shop feature. On either one, you can sign up and build the entire website before committing to purchasing a plan and making it live.
(They also sponsor a ton of youtubers, so you can definitely find a discount code for your first year)”
Pros
- The most flexible DIY website builder.
- A huge range of features & functionalities for all types of websites.
- 800+ themes.
- 500+ plugins & apps.
Cons
- Unstructured drag and drop editor gives full design freedom but can make designing complicated.
- The learning curve is steeper than that of direct competitors like Squarespace.
4. Webflow
Webflow is the most customizable website builder on this list. If you can imagine it, you can probably make it with Webflow.
Just be aware: Webflow has a learning curve. Webflow is particularly popular with professional web designers or users with some technical experience. Understanding HTML & CSS will make learning Webflow much easier!
Technically-savvy Reddit users often recommend Webflow, like:
This answer to “Best website builder for design/artist portfolio” in r/web_design:
“webflow (currently its also free for students)”
Or this answer to “Best DIY website builder / host?” in r/Entrepreneur:
“WebFlow is best! I suggest using the CMS plan and using CMS”
Pros
- You can design without limits if you know coding and are familiar with the platform.
- Webflow has outstanding tutorials to help users understand the platform (which they need as the platform is not intuitive).
- 2000+ modern templates.
- A good range of professional tools.
Cons
- Steep learning curve.
- More expensive than most other website builders.
5. WordPress
WordPress is not a website builder— it’s a content management system (or CMS). However, many Reddit users do recommend it in the “best website builders” discussion.
Here are a few of the top answers from Reddit:
The top answer to “What is your preferred website builder for your business?” in r/smallbusiness is:
“WP [WordPress] and use a pagebuilder like Oxygen or Elementor”
The most upvoted relevant question, “What is the best website builder for a small business?” in r/smallbusiness mentions:
“Wordpress can work as well if you willing to invest the time and actually like dealing with stuff like plugins, getting a good server and optimizing it etc. like other mention if you go with WP than Elementor is a must to give your website unique design without spending a lot of money on a web designer /coder etc.”
Pros
- Free & open source. Though, you need to pay for hosting, themes, plugins, etc., making its price similar to any other in the list.
- Superb blogging.
- 30,000+ themes and 60,000+ plugins.
Cons
- Hard to learn and use.
- You are responsible for the security and maintenance of the site.
- There's no official customer support. However, you can find a lot of tutorials and third-party support.
Further Resources
The above list sort of follows our top website builders rankings, but if you want to check out our comprehensive lists: