Wix stands out as the best website builder for keeping up with the demands of a small business. It provides a huge range of templates and on-page components that enhance the customer experience, built-in SEO tools to get your site ranking, and ecommerce features to run a diverse product inventory.
Selecting a great website builder for your team can be a daunting task, especially considering the number of different features available and the drastic price differences between them.
In this guide, I’ll break down the best website builders for small businesses, based on my experience testing each one. I’ll also evaluate whether it’s worth opting for a free website builder, and the questions you can ask before you make the decision for your business.
Website Builders for Small Business Overview
If you don’t have time to read our reviews, you can just use our 1-minute website builder comparison quiz, which will sort providers based on your business’s size, goals, and needs.
- Wix – For a powerful platform with all-in-one website management features
- Squarespace – If your priority is sleek design options and an easy-to-use platform
- Shopify – For pure ecommerce features and strong growth tools
Click the links above to get started with one of these popular website builders.
Key Takeaways
- Wix is the best website builder for small businesses, because of its strong template offering and SEO toolkit
- For advanced designers, we’d recommend Squarespace, for its stunning template options that will help your business stand out from the crowd
- If you’re focused on growing your business through online sales, it doesn’t get much better than Shopify, thanks to advanced sales and marketing capabilities
- GoDaddy is recommended for a quick and easy setup, and Hostinger is perfect for businesses that want to maximize efficiency with various AI tools
- Typically, website builders can cost between $12 – $299 per month for small businesses, based on your needs
- While free plans can be beneficial, we’d recommend upgrading at the earliest chance to make the most out of top features
| Paid plan Monthly | Free plan | Pros | Cons | Rating Overall score based on features, value, support, ease of use, and customer score | Value for money Price factors including plan costs and feature tiers. | Try it today | ||
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| 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.1 | 4.1 | ||||
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| Try Wix | Try Shopify | Save 10% | Try GoDaddy | Save up to 10% |
What Is the Best Website Builder for Small Businesses?
According to our research, the best website builder for small businesses is Wix. In our most recent tests, Wix conquered the competition because it’s affordable, intuitive, easy to use, and packed with hundreds of customizable templates — but there are many website builders on the market.
Here are our top picks:
- Wix — Best for small businesses overall
- Squarespace — Best for advanced design options
- Shopify – Best for selling and growing online
- GoDaddy – Best for a quick and easy website setup
- Hostinger — Best for enhancing a site with AI tools
1. Wix – Best for Small Businesses Overall
Price from: $17/month
Check out our full Wix review
Our top pick, Wix, is an incredibly powerful website builder platform, packed with over 2,000 customizable templates, sophisticated features, and advanced business tools, so it should come as no surprise that it scores so highly in our roundup of the best website builders.
Pros
- Unrivaled selection of website features across design, sales, and support
- AI features can create a 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
- Light: $17/month
- Core: $29/month
- Business: $39/month
- Business Elite: $159/month
- 10% off any plan with code TAKE10
- 14-day free trial available
Why is Wix a good choice for small businesses?
Wix is a solid choice because it includes everything a small business would need – website building, marketing, e-commerce, and more, within a simple and intuitive platform that scored well on our ease of use tests.
As we just discussed, Wix has a template for almost every type of website you can think of, with over 2,000 available – giving it one of the biggest libraries we’ve found. Compared to options like Hostinger, then, Wix offers small businesses more of an opportunity to stand out.
Picking a template in Wix is easy because there are so many of them, and they’re of such high quality. Image: Tech.co testing
Most impressively, we’ve found Wix to be full of useful features that most other providers don’t offer, including automation. Wix will even let you set triggers for actions, like sending an email, when certain events take place on your site. So, while it’s a little more expensive than the likes of Hostinger, from a back-end perspective, you definitely get more bang for your buck.
Included in Wix’s arsenal are many different AI features, including the Wix AI website builder, an artificial intelligence design platform that helps speed up the website process. AI features can be a lifesaver for businesses looking to get set up quickly, and Wix offers much more compared to other builders like GoDaddy in this department which, in our experience, is more suited to simpler sites.
Likewise, after I had generated a basic site, I found the AI text generator really useful for building out my site content. It has a drop-down menu for every type of copy you’d typically find on a website, like product descriptions or FAQs.
I used Wix’s AI text generator to create copy for my site quickly. It wasn’t perfect the first time round, but way easier than starting from nothing. Image: Tech.co testing
For small businesses that may need extra support getting started, Wix offers a range of help & support services. 24/7 phone support is available, as well as support via social media, live chat, and knowledge center.
Better yet, we found the onboarding experience for Wix very straightforward, making it perfect for businesses with limited back-end knowledge or tech capability. London-based restaurant and Wix awards finalists The Five Fields also found Wix to be super intuitive, and told Tech.co it took advantage of its many useful business features during the building process:
“We can easily update the images with each season to give it a fresh look as well as the daily changing menu. The ability to distribute newsletters via Wix email marketing is a great benefit.” Matthew Widdowson, General Manager at the Five Fields Restaurant.
Using Wix, I created an automation that will send an abandoned cart email reminder to customers. Image: Tech.co testing
Wix’s SEO toolkit is particularly strong, thanks to its partnership with Semrush, which gives users access to over 21 billion keywords, and its revised search optimization settings give businesses greater control over their SEO data. I’d say this puts Wix well ahead of most of the competition when it comes to providing genuinely useful SEO support that goes beyond small prompts and tips you tend to find inside website builder platforms.
Wix was our best website builder for SEO and optimizing your business for Google. And with almost 92% of all web traffic going through Google, prioritizing SEO is a safe bet for any small business.
When I wasn’t sure what to do next, I used Wix’s easy-to-access SEO guides and tips to optimize my site for Google even further. Image: Tech.co testing
What's New in Wix? (November 2025)
Wix launched a new AI visual design platform back in May, known as Wixel. It allows users to create unique pages for their site, and helps edit existing photos and generate new designs.
Where Wix can improve
Wix’s processing fees are on the higher side. Per transaction, you can expect to incur 2.9% of the transaction amount + 30¢.
Another big downside is that there’s only unlimited storage space on the Business Elite plan. It’s not that the other plans have small amounts of memory – the Core plan has 50GB – but if you plan to include a lot of rich media on your websites (like video tutorials or product reviews), you might find you’re running out of storage sooner than you think.
Wix won’t be the best fit for every business, so scroll down to discover our other recommendations or read our in-depth summary of the best Wix alternatives.
How much does Wix cost?
Wix can cost between $17 – $159 per month. Here are the provider’s individual pricing plans:
- Light: $17/month
- Core: $29/month
- Business: $39/month
- Business Elite: $159/month
These plans are a tad pricey, but in our opinion, Wix offers more value for money compared to some other cheaper options.
Users will pay more for Wix than they will for Hostinger, for example, but you get a much wider array of useful features. Plus, the website builder offers a solid free plan that can get you started, which obviously gives it a big boost.
Check out our in-depth guide to Wix pricing for more information
2. Squarespace – Best for Creative and Design-Focused Businesses
Price from: $16/month
Check out our full Squarespace review
Priding itself on its aesthetic appeal, Squarespace offers the best-looking website builder templates on the market, hands down.
While Squarespace only offers 180 templates — which is a little weak in comparison to Wix and its extensive offering — they’re all very eye-catching and will no doubt help your business look the part.
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
- Basic: $16/month
- Core: $23/month
- Plus: $39/month
- Advanced: $99/month
- 10% off with code TC10
- 14-day free trial
Why is Squarespace a good choice for small businesses?
Squarespace is a good choice because of the visual design tools it offers, making it easy for businesses to show off their brand and attract the right customers. This, coupled with an easy-to-use interface, makes it a top choice on our list.
During our most recent group testing sprint, Squarespace was the builder most members of the group said they’d recommend to a friend.
The website builder strikes a fine balance between being user-friendly and still having lots of features and customization opportunities, making it a great option for non-technical teams that still want incredible results.
If creating a highly unique website is important to you, check out our guide to the most customizable website builders.
I loved the range of templates on offer from Squarespace – it might have less than Wix, but they’re just so stylish. Image: Tech.co testing
Squarespace is also a great option for growing businesses that want to expand their customer reach. If you’re using Squarespace version 7.1 – the most recent version of Squarespace – you can use the built-in Weglot integration to create a multilingual site, and there’s no limit to how many items you can store in your inventory.
On top of this, Squarespace offers an incredibly robust feature catalog, including tools for email and social marketing, which are crucial if you want to increase your recurring visitor rate.
The email designer is the best I’ve come across during my time testing websites:
An email marketing email I created with Squarespace. Image: Tech.co testing
There’s also an in-depth analytics board that will help you get a handle on how users are interacting with your site, which, paired with the platform’s design tools, ensures you can optimize the user experience.
If you find yourself needing additional support, Squarespace provides plenty of customer support options, including email and live chat, but it lacks phone support specifically.
Plus, Squarespace offers a much more comprehensive knowledge center than solutions like WordPress and Square Online, allowing users to solve problems and learn about the platform to an extensive degree.
Read our guide to Squarespace vs WordPress to learn more about how these tools compare
What's New in Squarespace? (November 2025)
- Users can now upload and use their own custom fonts on their websites, allowing your business’s branding to stand out to customers
- A new payment method, Pay Link, has been released, giving your customers the option to pay via a transaction webpage
What Squarespace needs to improve
While Squarespace has the most impressive-looking templates, the same can’t be said for its design functionality. I found the drag-and-drop functionality a little more limiting than some other providers on this list that deploy a similar feature.
That won’t matter too much to most users, but for small businesses that want to get hands-on and directly edit their site, it could be a big barrier.
Squarespace also doesn’t have the strongest AI tool set, which paled in comparison to Wix’s offering. For example, Squarespace is lacking in AI-guided SEO support, and the platform isn’t the best to turn to if you need specific AI content writing help, because of its limited features there also.
I was also surprised that Squarespace performed so poorly on our site speed tests. Turns out that a powerful, hefty feature catalog comes at a cost. Site speed is a vital component of SEO – if your site is slow, it won’t be useful to users, so Google is unlikely to rank it highly.
How much does Squarespace cost?
Squarespace costs between $16 – $99 per month. Here are the provider’s initial pricing plans:
- Basic: $16/month
- Core: $23/month
- Plus: $39/month
- Advanced: $99/month
All Squarespace plans include hosting, a one-year domain, 24/7 support, plus unlimited storage and bandwidth. The ecommerce plans in Squarespace pricing, however, add a bit more — the ability to sell and market products.
Find out more in our full Squarespace for Ecommerce review
3. Shopify – Best for Selling and Growing Your Business Online
Price from: $5/month
Check out our full Shopify review
Shopify is one of our top picks for ecommerce website builders, and the provider is certainly in a league of its own when it comes to sales and marketing features.
Users can take advantage of the 100+ payment gateaway options, multi-channel integration, and Shopify’s own payment processor, Shopify Payments. All of this and more makes Shopify a strong choice for businesses looking to maximize online sales and grow their brand.
Pros
- Vast selection of third-party integrations and apps
- Range of customer support including phone, live chat, and 24/7 options
- Excellent generative AI features to craft content
Cons
- Messy interface between backend and frontend
- No free domain, must pay extra
- Short 3-day free trial to try platform before you buy
- Starter plan: $5/month
- Basic plan: $29/month
- Grow plan: $79/month
- Advanced plan: $299/month
- Plus plan: $2,300/month
- Transaction fees from 2.9% + 30¢
Why is Shopify a good choice for small businesses?
Shopify should be on the radar of small businesses that want to build a high-quality website with powerful ecommerce and marketing tools that will propel their brand forward.
Because of this focus on ecommerce, I wasn’t surprised that Shopify’s setup process was primarily centered around the products you intend to sell, rather than the web design itself.
While this did mean our more creative testers felt they had a lack of freedom, Shopify doesn’t fall completely short in the design department.
Like Wix, Shopify also offers a broad range of templates, or ‘themes’ to build your site upon, created by its community of independent designers.
Shopify also offers one of the most advanced stock management tools, meaning that the platform can cater to more complex inventories as your small business begins to grow.
What’s more, Shopify’s POS software ensures you can sell online and in person and constantly keep your inventory up-to-date.
I found adding and categorizing inventory items in Shopify easy enough. Image: Tech.co testing
Unlike Hostinger and GoDaddy, Shopify does offer a wealth of apps that make transitioning to selling online for the first time simple and effective. For example, the Cart Whisper app will send pop-ups to users if they’re about to exit. It’s these kinds of plug-ins that make it a much more viable option for expansive sellers than other, more lightweight options like Hostinger.
The platform also offers powerful multi-channel integrations with major platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Instagram, allowing small businesses to reach their customers, wherever they are.
Shopify’s industry-leading reporting features also make it easy for users to track and analyze sales, helping small businesses gain an edge in an increasingly competitive landscape.
I generated multiple product descriptions using Shopify’s Magic tool. Image: Tech.co testing
Another standout Shopify feature is Shopify Magic, the company’s powerful AI tool, integrated deeply into its website builder with the ability to complete tasks such as generating product descriptions and image adjustment. Aside from Wix’s suite of AI tools, it’s probably the most advanced on the market.
What's New in Shopify? (November 2025)
- You can now turn the prompts you give Shopify’s AI assistant, Sidekick, into “skills”. These can be accessed quickly via shortcuts, shared across teams, and you can also discover new “skills” from other merchants
- Shopify Flow, the platform’s ecommerce automation service, now has some new triggers. Merchants can react immediately to split fulfilment orders, payment disputs, and discount generation
What Shopify needs to improve
Shopify is slightly pricier than its rivals, which is what prevents it from appearing any higher on our list.
In terms of value, its most advanced plans will only be a sensible purchase for rapidly-growing small businesses expecting to soon ship huge numbers of products. These types of companies will be able to get a return on investment more quickly thanks to the lower transaction fees and ecommerce features that push people to make purchases.
The other key downside I found when using Shopify is the design functionality. Because it’s designed to help people set up an online store, which is no easy task, it feels like the design has been relegated to a secondary consideration.
We would recommend businesses wanting extensive and beautiful design options to head over to Squarespace instead.
How much does Shopify cost?
Shopify can cost between $5 – $2,300 per month. Here are the plans available:
- Starter: $5/month (not suitable for small businesses)
- Basic: $29/month
- Grow: $79/month
- Retail: $89/month
- Advanced: $299/month
- Plus: $2,300/month
Shopify is one of the more expensive providers on our list, undoubtedly. Currently, the provider has a deal live that allows you to try any plan (apart from the Plus plan) for $1/month for the first three months, which is a great way to give their advanced plans a try and see if they work for your business.
Of course, you’re likely to make more money with Shopify due to its focus on selling products, but with website builders like Wix and Squarespace now offering lots of ecommerce features, you can get the same functionality for cheaper.
This makes Shopify’s pricing less justifiable than it would have been a few years ago, when ecommerce website builders were a lot more primitive.
From left to right: The transaction fee rates for Shopify’s Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Enterprise plans. Image: Tech.co testing
As Shopify is an ecommerce builder, you’ll also have to take into account any transaction fees, which I’ve included above. While these can vary from plan to plan, they’ll still make a dent, particularly for small businesses trying to keep costs low.
Check out our complete guide to Shopify pricing for more information
4. GoDaddy – Best for Small Businesses Wanting to Get Set Up Quickly
Price from: $10.99/month
Check out our full GoDaddy review
During testing, GoDaddy impressed our users with how easy it was to set up a site using its AI tools and website builder, particularly in comparison to Wix and Shopify.
GoDaddy’s AI tool, GoDaddy Airo, can create a website for you in minutes, which allows businesses to skip all the specifics off the bat. For small businesses that want a first draft quickly, and enjoy a smooth setup process, GoDaddy should definitely be considered.
Pros
- AI generated websites in two steps (30 seconds)
- 24/7 phone support available for all plans
- Free forever plan can publish site
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
- Basic: $10.99/month
- Premium: $15.99/month
- Commerce: $21.99/month
Why is GoDaddy a good choice for small businesses?
Where GoDaddy will really suit small businesses is in the way it utilizes AI to create a quick and seamless setup experience.
But it doesn’t stop helping you out there. In fact, GoDaddy offers a range of AI-powered features to support social strategy, including an AI-generated social calendar and social post creator.
Overall, its marketing and social media tools are extensive, and the performance data it provides is pretty easy to understand, which makes it a great choice for businesses that want an all-in-one platform for managing their site and their social media schedule.
While GoDaddy’s AI functionality may be lagging behind competitors such as Wix, the platform still offers AI text creation and AI content writing. I go into more depth about GoDaddy’s AI functions below.
I loved using GoDaddy’s marketing overview page, in particular, the recommended social post of the day was a unique touch. Image: Tech.co testing.
Where GoDaddy also shines is in its booking features, making it easy for businesses to manage appointments and events online. The builder has an integrated booking tool and offers integrations to third-party calendar apps and booking platforms such as Bookeo.
Businesses that opt for GoDaddy can also enjoy built-in commerce features that can help with selling online. With the Commerce plan, you’ll be able to sell up to 5,000 products, manage shipping, and securely process payments. Apple Pay, PayPal, and Google Pay are also supported.
Likewise, GoDaddy’s analytics tool, InSight, is able to track your website’s performance and offer personalized advice on navigating the online landscape.
What GoDaddy needs to improve
Like I said, GoDaddy is slightly behind competitors when it comes to AI, particularly when it comes to supporting website creation. GoDaddy’s AI tools can’t help with article writing, spelling and grammar, or tone of voice editing.
Another area where the platform could look to improve is in SEO. GoDaddy does have AI-guided SEO support; however, during testing, our users identified that this could lead to keyword stuffing.
Otherwise, GoDaddy doesn’t have canonical tags, schema markup, or a designated SEO app, which could be difficult for businesses wanting to increase their website’s visibility and traffic.
Compared to competitors, GoDaddy asked me very few questions before designing my site. I was disappointed by the lack of creativity in the original template. Image: Tech.co testing.
Additionally, we wouldn’t guide creative and design-focused businesses towards GoDaddy. Our researchers found in testing that website templates weren’t the most modern or aesthetic, and we were disappointed to find that you couldn’t edit your mobile site without changes being made to the desktop version.
It’s also important to note that GoDaddy doesn’t have an app market, so I’d recommend that businesses looking to use multiple apps on their site look elsewhere.
What's New in GoDaddy? (November 2025)
- GoDaddy hasn’t released many new features since November 2024, when it released GoDaddy Airo, the provider’s AI assistant
- That same year, it also allowed users to customize font colors throughout their website, rather than having it all be one color
How much does GoDaddy cost?
GoDaddy can cost between $10.99 and $21.99 per month for a website builder. On top of a free plan, it offers four pricing tiers:
- Basic: $10.99/month
- Premium: $15.99/month
- Commerce: $21.99/month
Pricing-wise, GoDaddy is similar to the top providers on our list. It’s basic plan is slightly cheaper than Wix’s and Squarespace’s, although, small businesses would most likely benefit more from the Premium plan, where they can enjoy SEO tools and email marketing campaigns.
The Commerce plan, moreover, mostly suits businesses trying to scale up, so may not be suited to the needs of smaller firms specifically. That being said, GoDaddy is a great budget option for small businesses overall.
For a direct comparison between GoDaddy and our top pick, Wix, you can check out our versus guide.
5. Hostinger – Best for Small Businesses Wanting to Enhance with AI
Price from: $1.95/month + 3 months free
Check out our full Hostinger review
Hostinger is a great website builder for small businesses with admittedly limited tech capabilities, making up for it with an extremely reliable and very simple-to-set-up website builder.
In particular, its AI web builder can not only get your website up and running, but is able to generate copy and images quickly and effectively, perfect for businesses wanting to take advantage of the time-saving element of AI features.
Check out our AI website builder guide for more information
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
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Plans from: $2.24/month (with code 'TECH')
- Free domain included (first year)
Whis is Hostinger a good choice for small businesses?
With Hostinger, small businesses will be able to get the best out of AI tools, maximizing efficiency and reducing time wasted on designing the perfect website.
Better yet, it provides a stripped-down, easy-to-use platform with simple grid-based templates that any member of your team will be able to pick up with ease. I was able to generate a website in just three steps, which took less than a minute to complete.
In fact, Hostinger has made significant improvements since our 2023 tests, many around the user experience. I found the platform a lot less clunky than when I tested it two years ago, and the setup process felt significantly quicker too.
Hostinger seems to have prioritized developing and integrating AI into the platform than it has developing fundamental website features, which is why it lags a bit behind Wix. For example, it’s missing SEO tools like canonical tags that a lot of competitors now provide, yet it’s got an AI logo and text generator.
A logo I used on one of my websites, created by Hostinger’s AI logo generator. Image: Tech.co testing
The most impressive AI feature is definitely the heat mapping tool, which will show you which parts of your site users are clicking on. For small businesses looking to understand and attract their audience further, this tool is particularly handy.
This kind of functionality is something that some businesses pay a lot of money for, and I like the way it gave me the freedom to actually make changes based on real data, rather than just what I thought looked good.
Hostinger’s heatmapping tool meant I could alter my design to be more amenable to website visitors. Image: Tech.co testing
What's New in Hostinger? (November 2025)
- In October, Hostinger offered merchants the option of collecting marketing consent from customers directly at checkout. If customers consented, merchants can send personalized offers, product news, and promotions
- A new element called Affiliate Finds lets users add customizable affiliate cards that automatically match the design of their website
What Hostinger needs to improve
When I used the platform, I found Hostinger noticeably more restrictive than Wix in several areas, most notably design functionality and ecommerce options.
One big downside is that Hostinger doesn’t integrate with any marketplaces. Other providers, like Square Online, can be connected to Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart, Google Shopping, and Wish, as well as several others.
There’s also no way to integrate with a POS system, which makes it a less attractive option for businesses that already have physical stores.
To make matters worse, the website builder doesn’t have an app store, so you’ll be stuck with the basics when it comes to building your website. Customization is understandably limited, but at this price, you can’t expect too much.
Check out our Hostinger vs Wix comparison guide for more info
How much does Hostinger cost?
Hostinger typically costs between $12.95 – $18.95/month. Here are how the two plans line up:
- Premium Website Builder: $12.95/month
- Business Website Builder: $18.95/month
If you make the most of current deals, however, you’ll be able to get the Premium plan for only $1.95/month + 3 months free if you opt for a 48 month term, and the Business plan for $2.75/month + 3 months free also with a 48 month term.
Outside of these deals, it’s possible to get Hostinger even cheaper. When you opt for a 12-month subscription, you’ll only pay $3.99/month on the Premium plan, and $4.99/month on the Businesses plan. For a 48-month plan, Premium will be $2.99/month and Business only $3.99/month.
If these time frames feel like a big commitment, you can also get up to 78% off by using the code TECH at checkout. The premium will cost $7.99 per month when you renew after the first three months, and the business plan costs $8.99 per month, but that’s still an incredible deal compared to other options on this list.
With only two pricing plans, Hostinger makes it as easy as possible to set up a website, with minimal customization options. However, the premium plan is limited. There are no AI tools aside from the initial builder, and no ecommerce features at all.
Even the business plan is missing some key features, most importantly an app store, but if speed, ease of use, and affordability are important to you, Hostinger is likely your best bet.
Are Free Website Builders Worth It?
Although there are some genuinely useful free website builders, like Square Online, you’ll be better off with an upgrade if you want to sell a wide range of products, market them in targeted ways, and make the design your own.
Most free website builders have limited features, so you’re always going to end up missing something. For example, Square Online’s free plan doesn’t include website themes or expanded site customization.
It’s also common for website builders to lock their SEO support features away on their paid plans, which are crucial to ensuring your site is visible to users searching for your products, as well as the analytics tools you’ll need to make data-driven improvements.
Site123 is a basic, free website builder – but as you can see, half of its features aren’t accessible. Image: Tech.co testing
But perhaps the biggest issue is that lots of free plans force you to display ads for the provider on your site, and some make you keep their name in your URL. In this way, many free sites make you a walking advertisement for the website builder itself.
Do You Own Your Own Website?
Although all website builders have slightly different rules, if you’re a paid plan user and you’ve purchased your own custom domain (which you can do through most popular website builders), then it’s yours. Your site isn’t owned by Wix, Squarespace, or any other provider you’ve chosen to build one with.
You also own all the content on your website, but certain website builders will reserve the right to use your site and content in their promotional material.
This also means that you’re exclusively responsible for all the content that appears on your site, as well as for losing it. You can’t blame your provider in this scenario.
What to Look for in a Website Builder for Small Businesses
What you should look for in a website builder will depend entirely on your business’s needs, but there are some features that our researchers found to be especially beneficial to small businesses.
Below, we run through the most important website builder features, specifically for small businesses.
Choice of templates
First impressions count, and if your website looks great, customers are more likely to think your business is great, too. This means you’ll need to find a builder with a good range of template designs, and hopefully ones that are tailored to the industry you’re working in.
Squarespace is inarguably one of the best on this front, providing plenty of stunning templates that will be sure to impress any visitor. Experts and users agree that Squarespace not only has a lot of great templates, but that they also look beautiful compared to other options.
Still, with over 2000 website templates to choose from, Wix is also a valuable option.
Ecommerce options
If your business sells products, you’ll need an ecommerce function. Most website builders will allow you to sell products on the website you’re building, although not typically with every plan.
The Wix ecommerce package is especially good for small businesses because it’s great value for money, but our researchers found that it lacks a few inventory features.
Website builders often add fees per transaction on cheaper ecommerce plans — if you’re selling in high volumes, or work on low-profit margins, you’ll want to read the small print.
Squarespace will let you send abandoned cart reminders to customers, reminding them to return to their order. Image: Tech.co testing
Tracking and analytics features
Top website builders provide numerous ways for users to better understand how their customers come to, interact with, and leave their websites – the same way you’d want to know how many people come into your store every day.
Crucially, analytics features will help you decide whether you need to change your design, move things around, or change the tools you use. This type of information will help you adapt your website and pick up customers you might be missing out on.
We’d recommend a website with a Google Analytics plugin — this is the gold standard for analytics tracking.
App selection
A website builder needs to have a good app selection if you’re planning to create a business website. These apps will help you stand out from your competition by providing a wide range of functionalities that can handle everything your business needs to be successful.
Contact forms, appointment or reservation booking, coupon codes, gift cards, chatbots, and more can all be added to your site, as long as you pick the right website builder.
Take note, though; a lot of website builders will charge extra for these kinds of add-ons, so make sure your budget has room before going crazy on third-party integrations.
Wix has one of the most diverse app markets in the website builder space, and even includes user reviews of each app so you can work out if you need it. Image: Tech.co testing
Branding
If you’ve spent years building up your brand’s name and logo recognition, the last thing you want is to have a website covered with someone else’s branding. Most website builders will remove adverts when you sign up for a paid-for package, but not all of them will remove their branding.
We’d suggest choosing a plan that will allow you to put your branding front and center, not someone else’s.
Wix, for example, offers a free forever plan that will let you get your site online at no cost to your business. However, it will be covered in Wix ads, and you’ll have to endure a non-customizable URL.
In this way, free forever plans are really just extended free trials, and moving onto a paid plan eventually should always be the goal.
How We Test and Rate Website Builders for Small Businesses
At Tech.co, we conduct extensive research into the products and services we review. We’ve been testing, ranking, and rating website builders for years, continuously building on our methodology, which now includes over 200 different parameters, site speed testing, and separate scoring weightings for free, paid, and ecommerce-focused sites.
These parameters and criteria are sorted into seven umbrella assessment categories, so our readers can quickly understand the areas in which they excel. These categories occasionally change in response to the pace of product development and business priority shifts. They are as follows:
- Website functionality: What SEO, blogging, and AI assistance tools are offered?
- Design features: How useful are the themes and mobile editor?
- Help and support: What types of support are offered, and with what hours?
- Reputation: What are customers already saying about the builder?
- Pricing and value for money: How many features does a plan offer in relation to its cost?
- User experience: Is the software intuitive to use, and how did our users find using it?
Although we have commercial partnerships with some of the products we talk about on our site, it’s our independent research that allows us to stay editorially independent. Our on-site product rankings and ratings are determined exclusively by the results of our investigations and testing.
Our Verdict: The Best Website Builder for Small Business
After extensive testing, I can confidently crown Wix as the best website builder for small businesses. Wix has everything from SEO best practice prompts and keyword support to advanced ecommerce features like revenue and conversion tracking.
However, if you’re running a really large ecommerce operation, I’d suggest looking at Shopify too. Its AI tool, Shopify Magic, can generate everything from product descriptions to blog content and email copy.
If you want to find out which website builder plan is best for you, check out our website builder quiz. It only takes a minute to fill out, and you’ll get actionable recommendations based on your business needs.
With more than 5.4 billion Google searches every day, having a website is the best way to effectively compete with your competitors. If you’re looking for a website builder that will help to build an effective, professional-looking website, you can’t get any better than Wix.
Shopify is an ecommerce website builder, designed for much larger stores, whereas Wix is the best website builder for small businesses, according to our research.
Wix offers a more user-friendly interface in comparison to Shopify, but it’s also cheaper and offers a better return-on-investment for businesses with 300 products or less.
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