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We have tested over 50 no-code website builders. Broadly put, you can categorize them into two types:
Most people looking for a “no code” solution don’t understand coding, so they are likely looking for a beginner-friendly platform. Plus, a modern, beginner-friendly website builder has ample features and customizability to fulfill most people’s requirements. Therefore…
Our roundup prioritizes beginner-friendly options while also including advanced choices. I have also included analogies comparing website building to cooking to make it easier for you to understand each platform.
Best overall no-code website builder
Most customizable beginner-friendly no-code website builder
Powerful design tool with a learning curve. Technically no-code.
It's easier than Webflow but has fewer features and customizability, too.
More basic than Squarespace or Wix while being equally beginner-friendly.
Type: Beginner-friendly no-code website builder.
Analogy: Squarespace is like cooking with pre-prepped meal kits - you get quality ingredients and recipes, with room to customize and make it your own, but within a structured framework.
Squarespace is the best all-around no-code website builder. It’s an excellent choice for all types of websites: portfolios, blogs, ecommerce, small businesses, churches, etc.
It has an intuitive and thoughtful design, a whole range of polished features for all types of websites, superb templates, and a great drag-and-drop editor to make your website without coding know-how.
Squarespace is known for its clean, modern, and mobile-friendly templates. They have over 180 of them—all free, all beautiful. I think Squarespace has the best templates of any beginner-friendly no-code website builder—look at them
Squarespace has lots of features—many of which are better and more powerful than competitors. For example, Squarespace has the best template customization, blogging, scheduling software, donation system, photo galleries, restaurant menus, podcasting features, and more. Squarespace also has Squarespace Extensions, a marketplace where you can find a select few third-party extensions to add functionalities to your site.
The Squarespace editor Fluid Engine lets you drag and drop blocks anywhere in a section. The blocks snap to an (adjustable) underlying grid. This makes it customizable enough while being easy to use. (See the video below for a demonstration)
Beyond websites, Squarespace also includes marketing and business tools for managing your online presence. For example: scheduling software, email marketing, social media tools, SEO tools, memberships, and more. Having all these tools managed by Squarespace means the integrations work seamlessly.
The most powerful ecommerce website builder is \\\\\[Shopify](https://www.sitebuilderreport.com/best-ecommerce-builders)— but Squarespace is easier to use. Squarespace’s ecommerce is a good alternative for users intimidated by Shopify and looking to build a small-mid-sized online store. Read our Squarespace vs Shopify comparison.
Squarespace is like the Apple of website builders—it is intuitive and thoughtfully designed. There’s a certain focus on user experience, even with the tiny things. For example, Squarespace includes a handy tool that lets users adjust the focal point of an image. Another example: Squarespace elevates the page by placing the toolbar below, ensuring you have a full view of the web page when editing.
This shouldn’t be a point, but unfortunately, some website builders have misleading pricing (example: \\\\\[Web.com](https://www.sitebuilderreport.com/best-website-builder#are-there-website-builders-i-should-avoid)). Squarespace does not have misleading pricing. You should expect that the advertised price is the same price you’ll find on your invoice. I appreciate that.
One way to make software easy to use is to make it simple and not very customizable. That's not Squarespace. While Squarespace is not "difficult to use", it does have too many features to be the "easiest" website builder. You should expect a small learning curve with Squarespace— similar to learning Microsoft Word or Google Docs for the first time.
Squarespace Overview (2:41)
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.
The base plan is perfect for non-business/non-ecommerce websites like personal sites, resume websites, portfolio websites, wedding websites, etc. However, you need to choose a Commerce plan otherwise, which starts at $27/month if you pay annually.
All annual plans include a free custom domain name for one year. 👍
Type: Beginner-friendly no-code website builder.
Analogy: Wix is like cooking with meal kits similar to Squarespace but with an overwhelming variety of optional add-ons - you can customize about as much as Squarespace, but the extra choices can make your kitchen cluttered and complicated.
Wix is the most popular website builder by market share and the most customizable DIY no-code website builder. Like Squarespace, you can use it to make all types of websites, including blogs, ecommerce, business sites, wedding websites, etc.
Its unstructured editor is its most defining feature—it allows you to drag and drop any element to any spot on a page. This gives you more control than Squarespace but reduces the intuitiveness and ease of use. Moreover, Wix has more features and templates than Squarespace, but they are not as detailed or polished.
Note: This section focuses on Wix’s classic editor. Wix also has Wix Studio, which is more of an advanced no-code website builder that is not as good as the advanced options we have listed in this roundup.
Wix’s unstructured editor lets you drag and drop elements anywhere you want on a page—without constraint. You can see a video explanation here. Almost no other website builder provides a drag-and-drop interface like this—every other website builder has constraints.
Wix has more features than any website builder: ecommerce, forums, ticket sales, restaurant ordering, music distribution, appointment scheduling, multilingual websites, and more.
Wix offers more themes than most website builders—though the quality is inconsistent. But if that’s not enough, you can also create your own theme from scratch — Wix’s unstructured editor means you can make significant changes to your Wix template.
Wix has an app store and a huge selection of 500+ widgets and plugins to add to your website or ecommerce.
Wix includes several small business and marketing tools for managing online presence: CRM, social posts, SEO, email marketing, live chat, and more.
Unlike the top two on this list, Wix has a free plan. And it is the most featureful free website builder plan. However, there are quite a few limitations regarding bandwidth, ads, storage, etc.
Notice what I did here? Wix’s drag-and-drop editor is listed as both a Pro and a Con. Here’s why: while the unstructured editor gives users freedom, it also introduces bugs and workarounds that can get very frustrating. This is a complicated issue, so I’d suggest you read my Wix review or look at the videos comparing the Wix editor to the Squarespace editor to learn more.
This is a question of tradeoffs. Wix isn’t as difficult to use for regular DIYers as Shopify and WordPress, but you should still expect learning Wix to take some time. There are easier website builders out there— but those website builders don’t have as much functionality and freedom as Wix.
Wix Overview (3:27)
Wix pricing plans cost between $17/month and $159/month—these are divided into four plans. The first two are suited for websites, and the other two are a good fit for business and ecommerce needs. They also offer a free plan (see: free website builders) but no free trials of paid plans—there’s a 14-day money-back guarantee, though.
Annual pricing plans include a free custom domain name for one year. 👍
Type: Advanced no-code website builder.
Analogy: Webflow is like working in a professional kitchen - you have high-end equipment and complete creative freedom, but you need to understand cooking principles to use them effectively
Without a doubt, Webflow is the most customizable no-code 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. So either you need to learn it (which can take days, weeks, or months, depending on your technical experience) or hire a professional Webflow developer to make your website.
Therefore, Webflow is particularly popular with professional web designers or users with some technical experience. You might have seen it as a top pick in articles similar to this one, but those listicles are likely from web designers for web designers.
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!
Webflow is the only website builder with a full CMS. This is powerful! A CMS lets you create custom collections with fields like rich text, images, files, and more. Plus, they’ve \Logic, a feature that allows visitors to make submissions to the CMS!
Webflow includes a separate, friendlier interface (called Editor) that you can hand off to clients and teams. They also allow white-label client billing. Webflow also announced Webflow Apps, their plugins/app store, in November 2022—which already has over 50 apps for ecommerce, content management, workflows, etc.
You can choose from over 6000 modern, well-designed third-party templates (paid & free) from the \Webflow Website Templates marketplace. Though great, editing them can be overwhelming if you don’t understand coding and the platform.
Webflow does not shy away from complexity. Understanding the fundamentals of web design (HTML and CSS) will give you a head start. Someone I know took over a month to learn the basics of HTML, CSS, and then Webflow from Webflow University, only to make a website inferior to what you’d be able to make with a simple website builder.
I wouldn’t recommend building an ecommerce store in Webflow right now. Webflow’s ecommerce plans with no transaction fees start at $79. That’s way too expensive—especially compared to Shopify (which starts at $29) and Squarespace (which starts at $27). Also, Shopify is a much more robust ecommerce platform with assumably lower complexity than Webflow—so the only time Webflow ecommerce makes sense is when you want to use its design interface and the store is secondary.
Some essential features are missing from the cheaper plans. For example, CMS isn’t included in the $14/month Basic plan; the first few plans don’t get the best security; the global CDN access is only available from $39/month Business plan; etc.
Webflow Overview (2:47)
Webflow has two types of plans:
They also have separate plans for freelancers and agencies offering Webflow services.
Type: Advanced no-code website builder.
Analogy: Framer is like cooking in a modern kitchen with smart appliances - they guide you through advanced techniques and recipes while preventing common mistakes, making complex dishes more approachable.
Framer is an advanced tool — which means it does have 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 totally custom designs.
Framer’s closest competitor is Webflow. And while Framer is definitely easier to use than Webflow it doesn’t have nearly as many features as Webflow.
Framer has a learning curve but it’s easier to learn than Webflow. If you have familiarity with Figma you’ll probably be able to get up and running quickly with Framer.
With the Figma to HTML plugin you can actually copy and paste elements from Figma directly into Framer.
Framer has powerful but easy to use animations tools. It’s honestly the best I’ve found in any website builder.
I would only recommend Framer if you have some background in web design — and even then, you will still need to take some time to learn Framer.
Framer lacks many of the powerful features of it’s closest competitor Webflow. Here are some of the limitations of Framer:
Framer has a good free plan, but you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to add a custom domain and use it to the fullest.
The cheapest Framer plan is $5/month (billed yearly), but it’s only suitable for landing pages. If you want more pages, CMS collections, and other advanced features, it has a $15/month plan for basic sites, a $30/month plan for growing sites, and up to $200/month and enterprise plans for businesses. Each plan also has add-ons if you want to add more collaborators, locales (for localization), etc.
Type: Beginner-friendly no-code website builder.
Analogy: Hostinger is like cooking with a basic meal kit - you get pre-measured ingredients and simple recipes with a few customization options, which are suitable for making standard dishes without complications.
Hostinger’s website builder is an excellent value-for-money proposition, but it’s fairly new and lacks advanced features. You can see Hostinger Website Builder as a tamed-down version of Squarespace and Wix—it has pretty much the same customizability (thanks to a similar drag-and-drop editor) but way fewer features.
Hostinger Website Builder is among the cheapest website builders, starting at just $2.99/month (for a 1-4 year commitment, renews at $9.99-$6.99/month afterward). And it’s better than many website builders that cost 2x that!
NOTE: See ‘Tricky Pricing’ in Cons section.
This is the biggest plus of the Hostinger Website Builder. The editing experience is a blend of Wix and Squarespace editors—you can choose to use a grid layout like Squarespace, where you can drag and drop elements in a grid; or you can turn the grids off and use it like the unstructured Wix editor wherein you can drop elements anywhere, and they’ll stick there to pixel perfection.
Hostinger includes AI tools for making your logo, writing copy, and predicting visitor interaction on your website.
You can easily implement a language switcher and translate website content with the Hostinger Website Builder, making it a good choice for reaching international audiences.
Hostinger offers a selection of 140+ templates across categories like fashion, photography, portfolio, services, etc.
The Hostinger Website Builder falls short compared to platforms like Squarespace and Wix in terms of advanced features. A few examples: you can’t add a comment section to your blog; ecommerce is limited to 500 products; you can’t add a background video; there’s no option for password-protecting certain pages; the editor blocks and sections are basic: you can’t add multimedia, menu, calendar, etc. On top of that, there’s no app store to extend the builder’s functionality.
Although you get 140+ fully customizable and responsive templates, the designs are comparatively basic. They aren’t as aesthetically pleasing as Squarespace templates or the best Wix templates. I am yet to see a “stunning” Hostinger Website Builder-made website.
The cheaper website builder plans of Hostinger use shared hosting, which isn’t the best for performance, scalability, and security. In comparison, website builders like Squarespace use cloud hosting for all plans, ensuring great performance and uptime no matter the traffic bumps. Hostinger also offers cloud hosting plans, but those start at $9.99/month (renews at $19.99/month).
Hostinger Website Builder always has the $2.99/month “deal” on, which I find is a bit deceptive — they create a false sense of urgency.
Then, the renewal price written on the landing page is $6.99/month, but it only applies if you buy & renew the 4-year plan.
Also, we can never know when they’ll start charging the base price (which gives subpar value for money). It’s important to consider this because it’s a closed system — i.e. if you want to move away from Hostinger Website Builder, you’ll need to create your website from scratch on whatever new platform you choose.
Video Overview
Pricing
The Hostinger Website Builder landing page mentions only one pricing — $2.99/month (prepaid for 1-4 years, then renews at $6.99/month).
However, you get the website builder with all Hostinger hosting plans. Its web hosting/shared hosting plans start at $1.99/month (renews at $3.99/month), and cloud hosting starts at $9.99/month (renews at $19.99/month).
Shopify is the best no-code website builder for online stores—it tames the complexity of ecommerce and removes many of the obstacles online store builders face. Shopify will work for stores of all sizes. It is easy enough for small creators and scalable enough for billion-dollar businesses and celebrities (example: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylie Jenner, Selena Gomez, pretty much everyone).
If you compare it with the other top website builders 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. However, it’s important to remember: Shopify is purpose-built for ecommerce, and others are general-purpose website builders.
Ecommerce happens across many different channels today: Facebook, Google, Etsy, TikTok, or even in person through a point of sale system. Shopify is the ecommerce platform that brings these channels together in one place—so you can have one store that sells across all these different platforms.
If there's specific ecommerce functionality you need, Shopify probably provides it. Shopify includes email marketing, live chat, local delivery route planning, point of sale systems, product reviews, dropshipping, and much more.
The Shopify app store has over 13,000 apps from third-party developers that you can use to customize your store.
Shopify is extensible and customizable—so long as you're a developer or can hire a developer. Want a specific look for your website? You can hire a developer to code a custom template. However, DIYers can make a good store if they are happy with basic customization + they can also choose awesome themes to make a great store.
The official Shopify Theme Store has 200+ themes—all optimized for performance and ecommerce conversions. However, you can also choose from thousands of themes from a theme marketplace—for example, Theme Forest has over 1,700 Shopify themes available!
Shopify removes many of the obstacles that stand in the way of starting an online store. Here are two examples:
Shopify Payments: You don't need to connect to a 3rd party payment processor because Shopify includes a payment processor called Shopify Payments. But, of course, you can also connect to your own payment processor if you'd like—Shopify allows integration with 100+ third-party payment processors.
Shipping Rates & Taxes: Shopify includes smart defaults for shipping rates and taxes (which you can change later). I've found the automatic shipping rates to be pretty accurate—though mileage may vary!
It's not correct to call Shopify easy to use— it's too powerful to be simple— instead, Shopify is intuitive. Shopify's interface is always organized and clear. This is really, really nice— especially when you compare Shopify to competitors like WordPress/WooCommerce and Volusion, which have disorganized interfaces.
Shopify is powerful, but make no mistake, it has a learning curve. It will almost certainly intimidate less tech-savvy users. However, you can set up a good store by watching a few tutorials and using well-designed, relevant themes and apps.
Shopify does not have a drag and drop editor. Instead, it has a WYSIWYG page editor that works more like editing a Microsoft Word document. It's not user-friendly. I'd suggest Squarespace or Wix if having stylish content pages or blogging is important to you and you don't have coding skills or the budget to hire a developer.
### Video Overview
Shopify Overview (4:12)
### Shopify Pricing
Shopify has three main plans that cost between $29/month and $299/month (paid annually). However, you can try it for free (without a credit card) for three days and pay $1/month for the first three months to test the platform. Beyond that, there is Shopify Plus (an enterprise plan) and Shopify Starter (a $5 plan that adds Shopify’s ecommerce functionalities to your current non-Shopify site through their Buy Button channel). One criticism of Shopify is that there are often additional costs beyond the monthly plan. For example: you may need to buy a custom Shopify template or an app from the Shopify app store. Learn more about all the costs in our detailed Shopify Pricing guide.
