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The best website builder for beginners is Squarespace, because its easy-to-use interface is sleek and intuitive without sacrificing customizability or functionality. Across our in-depth research, the platform instilled confidence in users for a variety of steps, including booking, scheduling, and checkout. Plus, with a helpful AI builder built in, you can get started quickly while still maintaining a lot of control over your preferred design.
There are a lot of other top website builders out there that are great for beginners, though, and we’ve collected some of the best below, including Hostinger, Wix, Shopify, and GoDaddy, so you can find the best option for your particular needs.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through all the features and pricing associated with these easy-to-use website builders, allowing you to make an informed decision for your business.
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Try Squarespace | Try Hostinger | Try GoDaddy | Try Shopify | Claim 10% off |
What Makes an Easy Website Builder?
Our research measured the ease of use of website builders to ensure you’d be able to make the right decision for your business. Here are the metrics we used to evaluate easy website builders:
- No coding required – If you have to be technically proficient enough to code your website from scratch, then that’s not an easy website builder.
- Drag-and-drop editor – There’s nothing easier than being able to simply drag and drop website elements where you want them.
- SEO tools – The best way to get your site discovered online is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and an easy website builder will have tools to help you get it right.
- Templates – With enough templates, you’ll be able to find a design that works for you, and you won’t even have to worry about editing the aesthetics of your site.
Which Is the Easiest Website Builder for Beginners?
Here’s the full list of our top-rated website builders for beginners:
- Squarespace — Easiest website builder for beginners
- Hostinger — Cheapest website builder
- GoDaddy — Quickest website setup
- Wix — Best all-in-one solution
- Shopify — Best for ecommerce
1. Squarespace – Easiest Website Builder for Beginners
- Price, billed annually: $16 per month
- Price, billed monthly: $25 per month
Squarespace is a popular website builder that is consistently found at the top of our in-depth research. Most notably, it’s an excellent option for creatives, offering a huge selection of beautiful templates that will give your site a seriously professional feel without much effort.

Pros
- Easiest website builder to use across our research
- Plenty of content-focused features for blogging
- Integrates with Acuity for booking and appointments
Cons
- Limited language support for international businesses
- AI site builder creates fairly generic output
- Performed poorly on-site speed tests in our research
Is Squarespace easy to use?
Yes, Squarespace is extremely easy to use, and its user experience is continually improving. It offers an intuitive interface with a smooth backend, and customizable, well-designed templates that you can change after you publish your site.
Getting started with Squarespace is a breeze. While it doesn’t offer a handy setup checklist like Hostinger, Squarespace does provide a structured, step-by-step AI Builder, allowing for user control and engagement while doing most of the heavy lifting for you.
After testing Squarespace ourselves, we found that it was especially adept at building content-based websites, thanks to its aesthetically pleasing template designs, intuitive text editor, tab sections, and scrolling banners. The AI text generator did provide some confusing content, though, so make sure to check before you put your site live.
Using Squarespace to create an online store is just as easy as creating a blog. It has templates designed specifically to work as online stores, and a really straightforward product management system that will let you manage prices and track stock. PayPal, debit/credit card, and Apple Pay payment options are also built in.

Squarespace let me generate new copy in a matter of seconds, with its AI-text generator. Source: Tech.co user testing
Squarespace was the easiest builder to navigate out of any solution we tested. Unlike Wix, Squarespace’s interface isn’t overloaded with features, and the software’s intuitive design makes it easy to work your way through your task list without many bumps in the road.
Even if you do get stuck, Squarespace has a robust support center featuring video tutorials, community forums, and live chat support. We were so impressed when we tested the help center out that we gave it a perfect score, making it the best tool we researched — even beating out Wix.
Find out more in our guide to Squarespace pricing or take a look at its templates and start building your site today

Squarespace Blueprint asked me seven questions before creating my AI site, including what pages I’d like to add to my site. Source: Tech.co testing
Squarespace features
Squarespace has an extremely low learning curve and seamless user experience, cementing its position as the best website builder we tested for beginners. Its simple interface doesn’t reflect its capabilities, though.
Squarespace can make your website look fantastic, no matter your level of creativity. It might only have 186 templates to choose from, but since they’re developed in-house by Squarespace themselves, all of them are beautifully designed.
Squarespace offers a number of advanced web-building features too, from a custom site engine and custom Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to a mobile upload system, making the website builder perfect for beginners who are still looking to build a high-performing site – especially those prioritizing design, like artists, designers, and creative businesses.
What's New with Squarespace?
In an April 2025 update, Squarespace made it easier for users to find your site, allowing for a QR code creation tool directly on the platform. You can create multiple QR codes for your various pages, too, so visitors will be able to find exactly what they’re looking for.
2. Hostinger – Cheapest Website Builder
- Price billed annually:
$11.99 per month$2.99 per month for first two months - Price billed monthly: $11.99 per month
For beginners on a tight budget, Hostinger is not only easy to use, but it’s also incredibly affordable. With a starting price of only $7.99 per month and a special deal that can get you started for only $2.99 per month, the website builder is a clear choice for those trying to keep costs low while still taking advantage of an intuitive platform for those unfamiliar with the technology.

Pros
- AI generated site in three steps (60 seconds)
- Built-in heatmap for advanced site analytics
- Language translations capabilities
Cons
- No app market for third party integrations
- No email marketing in any paid plans
- No free trial or free plan for users
Is Hostinger easy to use?
Hostinger’s greatest weakness can also be considered its greatest strength: the service has reduced functionality when compared with the big website builders like Wix and Squarespace, but this also makes it easier to use. Users can build a website faster and quicker when their options are more limited, which is the reason it received such good marks when it comes to ease of use.
Check out our Hostinger vs Wix comparison guide for more info.
If that sounds like damning the site with faint praise, we can also confirm that Hostinger’s interface is also easy on newbies, with a grid-style layout that our researchers found comprehensive and usable. When we used the software, we found its AI automation features straightforward to get to grips with, which is ideal for users looking to create a site in little time and with minimal effort.

The drag-and-drop editor made it easy for us to make our site look exactly how we wanted. Source: Tech.co testing
Hostinger’s AI-powered website builder also makes setting up a breeze. All users need to do is enter their brand name, the type of business they want to create, and a brief site description — the tool takes care of the rest. This capability is a huge boon for users with little to no experience with website building, and those who want to take all the brunt work out of making a site.
You will also not find an app store as part of Hostinger’s service, meaning that there really aren’t many integrations that could be bundled with a Hostinger website. Email marketing is missing too, though Instagram marketing is included.

The AI chatbot from Hostinger gave us helpful insights on how to build our site better. Source: Tech.co testing
Hostinger features
Hostinger has released a raft of AI-powered features since our last round of research, too, like an AI-powered builder and AI blog generator that can write up to 2000 words for your site. This has made building a site with Hostinger significantly faster and easier. These new capabilities, in tandem with Hostinger’s tiny price tag, make it ideal for users who need a simple site that’s quick to set up and won’t break the bank.
While these AI features do exist on Hostinger, we did find them a bit rudimentary. The AI blog generator, for example, was able to substantially speed up the process of getting copy on our site, but the text was a bit jumbled and messy, leading to lots of necessary edits. The AI image generator suffered the same problem, with many of the generated images being largely unusable for the site.
Check out our Hostinger review for more information
What's New with Hostinger?
One of the biggest downfalls of Hostinger for beginners was the lack of an onboarding process. However, in a March 2025 update, Hostinger finally added a simple onboarding plug-in for WordPress, giving users a step-by-step guide for getting started and learning the platform with ease.
3. GoDaddy – Best for Quick Set Up
- Price billed annually:
$16.99 per month$9.99 per month
GoDaddy is a big name in the world of website development, and perhaps best known for its website hosting and 24/7 phone support. In our research, it was found to be the best website builder for getting your site up and running quickly, with an AI-powered process that can get you live in just a few steps.
Check out our GoDaddy review for more information.

Pros
- AI generated websites in two steps (30 seconds)
- Prompt customer support responses
- 30-day free trial available, which is longer than the two week standard
Cons
- No mobile website editor to modify pages on the go
- Overly generic website design with fewer templates than other builders
- No app market to branch out functionality across your site
Is GoDaddy easy to use?
GoDaddy’s web-building software is very easy to navigate, making it a great choice for those creating a site for the first time. We’d recommend the builder for those getting their bearings with the tech, before potentially moving on to platforms with a more sophisticated toolkit like Squarespace or Wix.
These days, it has one of the best AI website builders out there. As a user, you simply answer a few questions about what type of website you’re looking to build and in a few simple steps, it creates a slick-looking draft website for you.
Such a tool isn’t unique to GoDaddy – most of the brands on this list have an ADI of their own, Wix and Hostinger included. However, GoDaddy’s is impressively intuitive and will feel effortless to first timers.

GoDaddy’s builder includes an AI text generator on all plans. Image: Tech.co testing
Like Hostinger, some of the ease of use of GoDaddy comes from an overall lack of functionality, at least compared to options like Squarespace. Our research found that it’s not very customizable, so you’ll be stuck with how the templates are initially set up.
GoDaddy also won’t be perfect for every beginner. The platform doesn’t offer a tutorial for starters or useful guidelines like a set-up checklist. When we used the software ourselves, we had to resort to the help center when we were carrying out more advanced tasks, like adding separate web pages, too.
Unlike solutions like Squarespace, GoDaddy users aren’t able to make changes directly to their mobile site either, which could be a deal breaker for users who prioritize mobile compatibility.
GoDaddy features
Time is money for most small businesses. So, if you don’t have tons of spare time to create a site, GoDaddy will be a safe bet. The platform offers the quickest setup time of any other solution we’ve tested, making it ideal for users who don’t have tons of time to invest in the process.
GoDaddy’s page editor lets users add elements to the page by clicking a big plus button. This pulls up a list of options to add that are tailored to the type of site you’re trying to build. After giving the software a spin ourselves, we found its side menu particularly convenient because it allows you to easily keep track of each part of the process on one screen.
Design flexibility still isn’t as great as other options on this list, but it’s simple to build a site with GoDaddy. For example, block elements are fairly restricted, so users won’t be able to resize or move image blocks beyond certain parameters.
Like many website builders, GoDaddy offers an AI content generator, but the accuracy is hit or miss, so you’ll have to spend a bit of extra time checking your work to make sure there aren’t an AI errors.
What's New in GoDaddy?
AI chatbots are all the rage, and GoDaddy is getting in on the fun. In an April 2025 update, GoDaddy added an ecommerce-focused chatbot — dubbed the Shopping Assistant Chatbot — designed to help customers answer customer messages directly in web chat.
4. Wix – Best All-in-One Solution
- Price billed annually: $17 per month
Wix is our favorite website builder overall and performed extremely well in our in-house research and testing. However, while the website builder offers just about every capability in the book, when we tested the builder ourselves, we found its feature-rich software to be a little overwhelming for beginners, which is why it fell so far down the list.
Want to know more about Wix? Check out our full Wix review.

Pros
- Unrivaled selection of website features across design, sales, and support
- AI features can create site in 60 seconds
- Quality free forever plan available
Cons
- No template switching once published
- Number of features can be overwhelming for some beginners
- Steep price increase for scaling businesses with most expensive plan at $159 per month
Is Wix easy to use?
There are some aspects of Wix that were very easy to use. The built-in email marketing is great, particularly because it matches your site design to a tee, allowing for a consistent brand identity across all your content. The overall interface is also quite intuitive, with simple navigation tools and helpful AI tools.
The biggest issue with Wix when it comes to ease of use is the vast functionality of the system. Wix offers virtually every website builder feature under the sun, which means navigating around the massive platform can be a bit stressful, particularly if you haven’t used a website builder before.
This being said, its simple but detailed editing system means you’ll be able to create a completely original website without any stress — perfect for people who want their business to have a distinct, highly branded presence online.
Its excellent help and support features will help any beginner overcome challenges, too. Wix provides 24/7 support to all customers on paid plans and also has an extensive knowledge center. Due to its top-tier help center, Wix secured a near-perfect score for its support options, even beating Squarespace to the punch.

Our Wix site is very customizable, offering lots of design options across every page. Source: Tech.co testing
Wix features
Creating a website from scratch is incredibly daunting, especially for beginners. Fortunately, Wix has more than 900 templates on offer – tons more than our runner-up Squarespace’s 186 limit — which will give you the perfect guidance to create your site rather than starting from the beginning. Once you’ve picked your favorite template, you’re free to customize as you see fit with almost total control of all the elements and colors on your pages.
Like most website builders in 2025, Wix features an AI Website Builder feature that can get your site started in just a few simple steps. The system operates just like a chatbot, asking basic questions and providing you with previews of your site that you can either accept or provide more insight to get it exactly how you want it.

Like today’s AI chatbots, we just had a simple conversation with the Wix AI website builder about what we wanted in our website. Source: Tech.co testing
5. Shopify – Best for Ecommerce
- Price from:
$29 per month$1 for the first month
Shopify is one of the best ecommerce website builders on the market today. It’s got some of the most robust online store features available, with advanced functionality like inventory management built into the platform. On top of that, it offers a massive app library that allows us to add a lot of services to the system, speeding up the setup process and making it easy to turn your website builder into an all-in-one hub for your business.

Pros
- The most ecommerce features across our research
- Vast selection of marketing integrations
- Built-in VR compatibility for showcasing products
Cons
- Monthly fees for POS system integration
- Scheduling and booking requires add-on
- No tutorials for setup, tough for beginners
Is Shopify easy to use?
Like Wix, Shopify is a vast and extremely functional website builder, which can be a bit intimidating for beginners. With robust ecommerce functionality, including advanced features like inventory management, there are a lot of bells and whistles that you might need to get the hang of.
However, when it comes to the basics, like adding products to your online store or customizing invoices, Shopify offers an intuitive platform that is fairly easy to operate. Even better, Shopify allowed us to add unlimited products with our own CSV, so we didn’t have to edit it to fit Shopify’s templates.
Shopify also offers a suite of AI tools — dubbed Shopify Magic — designed to make site building easier than ever. Included in this pack are AI product descriptions, which let users write high-quality product summaries in seconds, and Sidekick, an AI-enabled commerce assistant designed to help users grow their businesses. There’s also a new AI site theme builder, which allows us to create a custom site for our brand in just a few quick steps.
Since most web building novices won’t have massive software budgets, the average price of Shopify’s plans may act as a deterrent for many, too. If this is an obstacle for you, we’d advise using affordable solutions like Hostinger or even considering free website builders.

The help assistant in Shopify provides us with step-by-step instructions to solve our issues. Source: Tech.co testing
Shopify features
Shopify offers an unmatched selection of features that are geared towards building your online store and managing your digital inventory. Even better, Shopify had the highest customer score across our research, which means the average user is considerably happy with the website builder on a regular basis.
The biggest problem for Shopify is that its price is pretty intimidating. The starting price comes in at $29 per month, which is much higher than most others on this list, and it hides a lot of valuable features behind the more expensive plans, which get as high as $299 per month.
However, Shopify’s price point isn’t always high. Its current deal lets users get started with the software for $1 for the first month – offering a great opportunity to retailers looking to trial out the website builder.
Check out our guide to Shopify pricing for more information
What's New in Shopify?
In an April 2025 update, Shopify added a new Add-to-Cart limit, which will ensure that ecommerce businesses can stay ahead of their inventory needs. This will prevent you from accidentally divulging inventory counts to your customers and keep you informed of your customers needs.
Buying Guide: How to Choose an Easy Website Builder
If you’ve made it this far in our easy website builder guide, you’re probably in the market for one yourself. However, you might be a bit overwhelmed by all the pricing plans, features, and options that you’ll need to consider before making your decision.
Still, finding a website builder doesn’t have to be difficult – you just have to know what to look for. Here are a few things to consider when choosing a website builder for your business:
- Price – Your budget needs to be considered when it comes to purchasing a subscription to a website builder.
- Features – Depending on what you actually want to do with your website, you’ll need to know what kind of features are available.
- Ease of use – If you aren’t proficient in business software or coding, you need to know how easy it will be to get a website up and running.
- Customer support – Expecting a lot of problems with your site? Make sure your website builder has excellent customer support before you buy.
Tech.co has done a lot of research into website builders, which is why we recommend you take our website builder quiz. You’ll get in-depth recommendations for providers, all based on your responses to specific questions that measure your particular needs for a website builder.
How much does it cost for a website?
With a good discount, the cheapest website builders can start at just a few dollars a month, although $5-$12 per month is more common. Website design agencies can create custom websites for a higher price – between $250-$650 for small sites, and $3,250-$13,000 (or more) for large ones with complex elements.
Should I build my own website or pay someone?
You’ll likely want to use a website builder to create your own site if you don’t have any out-of-the-ordinary needs, since high-quality templates exist within all of the top website builders for ecommerce sites, restaurant websites, and sites for retail or other stores. However, a third-party agency is worth paying for if you need a unique website and have a large enough budget.
How can I make a simple website for free?
Wix is the top service for building a website for free. However, all of its free plans come with some limitations, such as bandwidth caps, hard-to-Google URLs, and ads. We’d recommend opting for a paid plan instead – with the right discount, services like Wix start at just a few dollars per month.
How hard is it to make a website?
Using a website builder to create a website is fairly simple: log in, pick out a basic template to model your website after, use a drag-and-drop editor to tweak elements of it, choose a color scheme, upload a few images, and you’re done. It doesn’t need to take much more than a day, although knowing a little color theory can go a long way.
Can a beginner build a website?
By using website builders, beginners with no coding experience can create a site from scratch. You don’t need to be a professional coder to build a polished, high-performing website. According to our independent research, Wix is the best website builder to use for beginners because of its user-friendly interface and versatility. However, Hostinger and GoDaddy are also quality options for beginners.
Building a Website For the First Time: What Beginners Need to Know
When you come to building your first website, you should remember these five key points:
- Pick your name, purpose, and theme ahead of time – You don’t want to start building your website before you’re ready. Take some time to think about what you want, how you want it to look, and what you want it to do before you build a website
- Use a website builder – They’re cheaper than web developers, and give you a website you know how to use. We like Wix, due to its prices, range of features, and ease of use. See how it ranks against rivals in our website builder comparison table.
- Think about your audience – Consider the people you want to visit your site, and what they should do once they’re there. It will help you make informed decisions during the creation process.
- Don’t be intimidated – Most website builders offer loads of help and support options, so you’ll be able to fix any problems that might come your way.
- Prioritize design – This is your site, your portal to the entire internet, so make it fun! Remember that websites are inherently visual too. Think carefully about the images, videos, and logos your site uses and make sure they reflect your business’s brand.
- Optimize your site for SEO – If you want your site to get seen, you’ll need a dedicated SEO strategy. Identifying your site’s top keywords, creating relevant content, and optimizing your copy and images are a great place to start.
It can be tricky to know where to start when it comes to building a website – especially if you’ve never done it before. In the following sections, we’re going to answer all the questions you might have when starting out.
Can you create a website for free?
Should you want to, you can even create a website without paying a penny; there are a lot of free website builders — including Wix — that allow you to play around with the interface before committing to a monthly outlay.
However, it’s not all good news with a free. When it comes to publishing it, you’ll likely have to put up with ads from your website builder of choice, which won’t make your site look professional. You’ll also be missing out on some really useful features that could make your website better for your users, help make you more money, or give you more exposure.
And since studies show that 49% of customers have left a brand due to poor customer experience in the last year, a good site will do more than atone for its cost.
Read more – 5 Reasons You Should Never Make a Website for Free
Should you pay for a website developer or use an easy website builder?
Nowadays, website builders allow ordinary people, like you and me, to create world-class websites in a way that simply wouldn’t have been possible 10 to 15 years ago.
Moreover, website builders are almost always cheaper than opting for a website developer. You won’t have to pay a large deposit upfront, nor will you have to pay an excessive monthly or yearly retainer on a contract that could span multiple years. Instead, you’ll have complete control of your payment options on a month-to-month basis, which can be turned on or off as and when you feel like it.
One downside, though, is that a website builder will require slightly more of your time. Got more money than time? Hiring a website developer could be right for you. But, by creating the site yourself, you will be able to make the exact site you want, rather than a developer’s approximation of your requests. You never know, you might even enjoy it.
Read more – How Much Does a Website Designer Cost?
How to Create a Website With AI
In 2025, the majority of popular website builders — including those on this list — are equipped with AI features that make building a website easier than ever. Even if you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, these automated tools can take just a few suggestions and turn them into a full-fledged website for your business.
As for what these AI features look like for each provider, it can vary depending on which one you go with. Wix, for example, offers an AI website builder feature that acts like a chatbot to get you started. The system asks you some basic questions about what your website will look like, what kind of information you want on it, and what you want it to do. From that, the platform builds an entire, functional website based on your suggestions. It’s that easy!

Like today’s AI chatbots, we just had a simple conversation with the Wix AI website builder about what we wanted in our website. Source: Tech.co testing
Other website builders offer tools that can help you create the website you want once it’s already built. GoDaddy, for example, offers the Airo system, which provides users with a wide range of generative AI tools that can help you create logos, product descriptions, social media marketing slogans, and even a catchy custom domain.
All that to say, it’s never been easier to build a website thanks to AI features, so if you’re at all hesitant about getting started, rest assured, these platforms are made for beginners at this point.
For more information, check out our AI website builders guide to learn more
We take our impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful product recommendations.
After conducting an initial exploration to identify the most relevant, popular, and established tools in the market, we put them through their paces with hands-on testing to see their real strengths and weaknesses. In this case, we put 16 website builder products to the test across 398 areas of investigation.
Based on years of market and user needs research, we've established a website builder testing methodology that scores each product in six core categories of investigation and 33 subcategories; this covers everything from customer feedback to design, ease of use, and more.
Our main testing categories for website builders are:
- Website Features: the capabilities and functionalities offered by a website builder, e.g. blog functionality, SEO capability, and marketing capacity.
- Design Functionality: the aesthetic appeal and visual layout of a website created using a website builder. It encompasses aspects such as page templates and customizable themes.
- Customer Satisfaction: external customer opinion. This is the feedback and ratings given by customers who have used a particular website builder – the market position and reputation a website builder holds.
- User Experience: how user-friendly and intuitive a website builder is for people with varying levels of technical expertise.
- Value for Money: the balance between the cost of a website builder and the benefits it provides. It considers factors such as pricing plans, subscription models, and available features.
- Help and Support: the assistance and resources available to users when they encounter issues or need guidance while using a website builder.
When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as we know some aspects matter more to our readers than others, which are simply "nice to have." After hundreds of hours, our process is complete, and the results should ensure you can find the best solution for your needs.
At Tech.co, we have a number of full-time in-house researchers, who re-run this testing process regularly, to ensure our results remain reflective of the present day.
Verdict: Easiest Website Builder for Beginners
If you’re building a site for the first time, we’d recommend using Squarespace. Not only does it boast the best user experience out of any platform on this list, but it also offers the best templates and design features, making it a perfect match for users building creative sites for the first time. It also offers an AI builder that can get your site live quickly and easily, while still maintaining a lot of control over your design.
Other website builders for beginners include Hostinger, which offers a very low starting price, GoDaddy, which has the fastest setup process in our research, Wix, which provides the most website functionality, and Shopify, which is perfect for ecommerce businesses that are just getting started.
Click the links below to get started with one of these builders today, or take our in-depth survey for specific recommendations based on your business’s unique needs.
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