Emily Gibson
A website is one of the top requirements for the 21st century. Whether you are a freelancer, own a small business or pursuing a career, you need a website.
Building a website required that you pay a web developer in the early days of the internet. You also had to wait for days, even weeks, before you could get a functional website.
But these days, you can build a website within minutes. That’s possible due to website builders.
As the name implies, a website builder helps you to build websites. You don’t need to know any fancy computer language and most website builders come with good web hosting too. Basic computer knowledge is sufficient to get you started on your first website.
However, website builders are not created equally. Some of them are focused on specific niches, while others try to provide essential features for all categories. There is also cost, ease of usage and reliability to consider.
A simple Google search will reveal hundreds of website builders out there, each claiming to be the best. There is absolutely no way to tell if a website builder is good or not for the complete beginner. You have to test them out – every one of them!
But if you’re reading this article, you don’t have to go through that stress any longer. Our team scoured the internet for website builders, checked out the features and tried them to see how they work.
We reviewed a number of both popular and not so popular website builders. In the end, we came up with a list of the 10 best website builders in 2021.
So let’s get on with it!
Best Website Builders UK Quick Comparison
If you haven’t got time to read the whole article, here is a quick run down of the 10 Best Website Builders for UK users we will be looking at:
Wix Best Overall Website Builder
+ Innovative drag and drop editor
+ Powerful web app integrations
+ FREE SSL certificate
Zyro Best Modern Website Builder
+ Brilliant blogging tools
+ Quick launch eCommerce solutions
+ FREE SSL certificate
Squarespace BEST ALL-AROUND WEBSITE BUILDER
+ Powerful blogging tools
+ Integrated SEO & Analytics
+ Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage
Duda Best Website Builder for Creatives
+ Easy drag-and-drop editor
+ Modern responsive website templates
+ Unlimited Sites and Bandwidth
Weebly Best Free Website Builder
+ Integrated email & digital marketing
+ Advanced eCommerce tools
+ FREE SSL certificate
Jimdo best website builder for ease of use
+ High quality image library
+ Great social media integration
+ FREE SSL Certificate
Godaddy Website Builder Best Website builder for beginners
+ Beautifully crafted website templates
+ Backup and Restore feature
+ FREE SSL certificate
Ucraft Best for building landing pages
+ Website language detection
+ Free icon and image library
+ FREE SSL & Unlimited Bandwidth
Gator Builder best website builder for basic websites
+ Excellent eCommerce management tools
+ Free access to Unsplash image library
+ FREE SSL certificate & Free domain
Constat Contact best for simple & Quick websites
+ Email marketing integration
+ Powerful eCommerce platform
+ FREE SSL certificate & CDN
How We Choose the Best Website Builders
We signed up for and paid for all the website builders we reviewed. There are several ‘free’ website builders that offer paid features. Conversely, there are also several ‘must pay for’ website builders with no free features.
We signed up to all of them and created demo websites with them. We then ranked the website builders based on our experience using the following criteria:
Whether you’re a beginner looking to create your first website, or seasoned pro who wants to a simple quick alternative to building a site, this article will help move you forwards.
Scroll down to discover more detail of the Best Website Builders, and for additional advice on how to choose the best one for you!
The 10 Best Website Builders UK
Let’s take a deeper look at the most popular website builders in 2021 that are suitable for beginners.
#1. WIX – Best Overall Website Builder
Wix Pros
Wix Cons
Wix Features
Wix makes it to the top of our list of the best website builders for beginners because of three reasons. It is beginner-friendly, easy to use and offers a lot of tools and features.
The best part is that it has a free plan option, so you can give it a try without spending a dime.The basic plan is free. It comes with a mobile editor to optimise your site for mobile devices, SEO tools (to help people find your website on Google), social sharing and other tools on the app store.
Designing is easy with the drag and drop website editor. Wix offers over 500 plus professionally designed website templates to choose from.
Wix Pricing
Wix offers a generous free plan that works well for small projects and household businesses. But if you want a professional site without limitations, you should check out its paid plans.
Wix Website Plans
Free: £0
Connect Domain: £3 /month
Combo: £6 /month
Unlimited: £8.50 /month
VIP: £18 /month
Business & eCommerce Plans
Business Basic: £13 /month
Business Unlimited: £16 /month
Business VIP: £22 /month
#2. Zyro – Best Modern Website Builder
Zyro Pros
Zyro Cons
Zyro Features
Zyro is perhaps the future of website builders. It is simple, easy to use, and comes with AI features that will blow your mind away. This website builder streamlined its features to a core set of tools to build all kinds of websites. The elements are easy to understand and implement.
The most significant feature is the Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. You can use them for a variety of functions. These functions include coming up with a business name, designing a logo, creating a tagline, and even composing text for your website.
As a bonus, you have complete control over your site. You can change the layout, colour and even install a new theme.
The only downside is that Zyro is a simple website builder. While that is not a bad thing in itself, professional website developers might be limited by the inability to add more functionality to the site.
Zyro Pricing
Zyro offers four paid plans. There are massive discounts on all plans at this time of writing.
Basic: £11.80 /month (currently £1.50)
Unleashed: £11.90 /month (currently £1.90)
Ecommerce: £16.40 /month (currently £5.90)
Ecommerce plus: £19.80/month (currently £9.90)
#3. Squarespace – Best All-Round Website Builder
Squarespace Pros
Squarespace Cons
Squarespace Key Features
Squarespace is arguably one of the best website designers for creative designers and bloggers. They offer beautifully designed templates that are mobile-compatible and well designed. There is also an online store feature for people into eCommerce.
It offers complete flexibility and has recently added an SEO feature. Only a few website builders can match Squarespace when it comes to the top-tier blogging feature.
If you are interested in testing Squarespace, you have a 14 days trial period, after which you have to go for a paid plan. There is no free plan offer.
Also, it is not the most recommended choice for beginners. While it uses a drag and drop builder, new users will have to use the builder for a bit before getting the hang of it.
Besides that, their page speed is relatively slow when compared to other website builders.
Squarespace Pricing
Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan, but you can try out any paid plan with a 14-day trial period. That should be enough time to decide if you want to commit to a paid plan.
Personal: £10 /month billed annually or £13 monthly
Business: £15 /month billed annually or £21 monthly
Online Store (Basic): £20 /month billed annually or £24 monthly
Online Store (Advanced): £30 / month billed annually or £37 monthly
#4. Duda – Best Website Builder for Creatives
Duda Pros
Duda Cons
Duda Key Features
Duda is a fully packed website builder. The templates are beautiful and professionally designed. There are SEO tools to improve optimisation. The blogging system is above average, and there is an online store to boot.
It also has two features that will blow the competition out of the water. First, it is a solid website builder for creating multilingual websites.
Secondly, it provides website customisation tools that can help you take your web content to individual visitors. For instance, you can decide what content to show visitors based on their local time or location.
Sadly, there is no app store for those who want to integrate third-party apps. Plus, the basic plan doesn’t include email accounts or even a domain name.
Duda Pricing
Duda’s excellent features come at a price. It doesn’t have a free plan, and their paid plan may be expensive for some people. Still, if you are looking for a website builder for a multilingual website, you should check them out.
Basic: £10 /month billed annually or £14 monthly
Team: £16 /month billed annually or £21 monthly
Agency: £32 /month billed annually or £43 monthly
Custom: Create your own plan
#5. Weebly – Best Free Website Builder
Weebly Pros
Weebly Cons
Weebly Key Features
Weebly is the top choice when it comes to ease of use. In fact, no other website builder currently matches up to it. Their features are also top-notch. They have an online store, membership feature, and mobile-responsive website templates.
Their content management system is equipped to handle both simple and complex websites. It can manage websites that have more than 100 pages.
Furthermore, there is no storage or bandwidth constraint in any of their plans. eCommerce is also available on all the paid plans. This makes it one of the best eCommerce website builders for 2021.
The only drawback is the website builder’s structured templates. If you are a complete beginner, you will appreciate the structure. If you want full creative control, then the builder might seem too rigid. Furthermore, there is no support for multilingual sites.
Weebly Pricing
Business & eCommerce Plans
#6. Jimdo – Best Website Builder for Ease of Use
Jimdo Pros
Jimdo Cons
Jimdo Key Features
Jimdo is a website builder that offers ease of use and efficiency when building a website. Their star feature, ‘Jimdo Dolphin’, allows you to create a fully functional website in just 3 minutes.
It works perfectly for businesses that are listed on Google maps and a complete profile on Instagram.
The builder also comes with an online store. Although the online store is basic, it is enough for small businesses to get started. The ‘Jimdo Creator’ includes coding features for those who want a bit more control.
While Jimdo is a fantastic builder, it offers limited SEO tools compared with other website builders on this list. Plus, their templates have limited flexibility, and their online store has limited apps.
Jimdo Pricing
Jimdo pricing plans are affordable. If you have second thoughts, you can try the free plan for as long as possible.
Website Plans
Play: £0
Start: £9 /month billed annually
Business: £15 /month billed annually
Grow Legal: £20 /month billed annually
Unlimited: £39 /month billed annually
Business & eCommerce Plans
Basic: £15 /month billed annually
Business: £19 /month billed annually
VIP: £39 /monthly billed annually
#7. GoDaddy Builder – Best Website builder for Beginners
GoDaddy Pros
GoDaddy Cons
GoDaddy Key Features
GoDaddy is famous as a domain and web hosting company. But they also have their website builder. GoDaddy essentially wants to provide a complete package: domains, hosting, and website building. This makes it one of the best website builders and hosting sites.
You can use the GoDaddy service to build a website for free, thanks to their new plan. You can also add up other features such as the social media content creator, restricted-access pages, marketing tools, messaging features, and so much more. All of these features are available on the free plan.
Furthermore, it has a beginner-friendly website editor. You can use the editor from a mobile device. If you are looking for the best website builder for an iPad, you should consider GoDaddy. Besides, there are a lot of free templates to choose from.
If you are looking to build a basic website, then you should give GoDaddy a shot. Those who want a very complex website might have to look elsewhere.
The major drawback is that the SEO tool isn’t available on the free plan and has limited functionality on all paid plans except the top-tier plan. The eCommerce feature is also limited to the top-tier plan. This makes the prices for the other paid plans a bit hard to justify.
GoDaddy Pricing
GoDaddy has a free plan that should work for small projects and testing the website builder’s general functionality.
Besides, all paid plans come with a 30-day trial period. The paid plans have limited SEO tools except for the top-tier plan – the eCommerce plan.
Free: £0
Basic: £6.99/month billed annually
Standard: £9.99/month billed annually
Premium: £14.99/month billed annually
Ecommerce: £19.99 billed annually
#8. Ucraft – Best for Building Landing Pages
Ucraft Pros
Ucraft Cons
Ucraft Key Features
Ucraft isn’t a popular website builder. However, what it lacks in popularity, it makes up for in features. First, the editor is design-focused. If you are looking to build a visual website with pictures and videos, this is probably the website builder.
Also, if you are inclined towards blogging and text, the editor has you covered with its comprehensive tools and many templates to choose from.
The builder also comes with SEO options and security features. The SEO customisation option helps you optimise all your pages to rank high in search results.
The security feature is the SSL certificate that is included in every website you build. The SSL certificate simply means that the site is secure and your data isn’t being leaked out to hackers.
You can try all of its features with the free plan offer. Plus, you also get a free custom domain name on any of the paid plans.
Ucraft has a better learning curve when compared to other website builders like Wix. That means you are not likely to make any serious mistakes before you get to understand the layout.
A significant issue is the limited templates and functionality. But this is not precisely a deal-breaker when you compare it to other builders. On its own, Ucraft can ‘float your boat’.
Ucraft Pricing
Ucraft comes in 2 pricing categories – personal and branded
#9. Gator Builder – Best Builder for Basic Websites
Gator Builder Pros
Gator Builder Cons
Gator Builder Key Features
Gator builder by Hostgator is the ‘lite’ version of the Hostgator website builder. It is faster and easier. To build a website, you simply need to answer some questions, and the system will provide a website template based on your answers. You can edit the template and rearrange elements as you like.
It comes with email marketing to help you leverage CRM. The builder is also integrated with Unsplash, so you can access quality images for free. This is what makes it one of the best website builders for small businesses.
The interface itself is straightforward to understand and use. You can change anything by simply clicking on it. Plus, you have options to rearrange the sire, add animations, and even set up entrance sequences for your images.
Gator Builder Pricing
Gator has three paid plans. You have the option to upgrade or downgrade from any of the plans any time you wish.
The plans are designed to ensure you can use them without needing any website building experience. Besides, all plans have unmetered bandwidth.
Express start plan: £2.78 /month
Express Site: £4.33 /month
Express Store: £6.77 /month
#10. Constant Contact – Best for Simple & Quick Websites
Constant Contact Pros
Constant Contact Cons
Constant Contact Key Features
Constant Contact is a website builder that targets beginners. The website builder provides a questionnaire. Using your answers to the questionnaire, the tool will assign you a suitable template for your needs. You can then tweak the template to your taste.
Thanks to the website builder’s integration with Unsplash, you can access over 550,000 free images. This resolves the issue of getting professional-grade pictures for beginners.
Those who want to sell online can take advantage of the online store and suite of eCommerce tools. There is full support for digital products and services plus tools for measuring and retaining sales and customers. You can manage all of these from the website builder’s intuitive dashboard.
It also provides analytics features. This can help you track relevant stats for your website, such as the number of visitors, browsers, locations, and so much more.
If you ever run into issues, you can get help through their numerous support options. These include live support, self-help library, phone support, and social media accounts.
This is an excellent choice for beginners who simply want a website that works. Those who are seeking more control will have to decide if this is good for them.
Constant Contact Pricing
Constant Contact pricing isn’t entirely straight forward. There is only one plan on the website builder pricing page. The plan includes essential features such as site building, Contact tiering, marketing tools, and eCommerce.
When you look deeper, you will find an email plan that adds some email marketing features and an Email Plus plan that unlocks all the features available on the website builder.
All plans come with a 60-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can also get up to a 30% discount by paying 12 months in advance.
Email plan: £15 /month
Email Plus plan: £30 /month
So, what exactly is a Website Builder?
Generally speaking, a website builder is a software program or tool that helps you build a website. A website builder allows you to create a website without using codes. While offline website builders exist, our focus is on online website builders.
Online website builders are web-based; you don’t need to install any software. The basic requirements are an internet connection and a good web browser. This gives you the ability to work on your website from multiple devices and from anywhere in the world.
Plus, online website builders come with web hosting services, so there is no extra cost. Finally, you need zero coding skills to use most online website builders. All the website builders listed in this article are online website builders.
How does a Website Builder work?
You start by creating an account. Most website builders have free plans to test some of the features without having to pay a penny. Those who don’t have a free plan offer a free trial period. During that period, you can test the features before committing to a paid plan.
After creating an account, you choose a design template that meets your needs. Editing a design template is easy as many website builders use a drag-and-drop editor to design websites.
While the degree of flexibility and control varies from one website builder to another, you can edit many components. These include theme colour, font, and appearance. You can also add elements and widgets such as photo galleries, social sharing buttons, contact forms, and more.
You should know that some website builders are particularly suited to specific needs. In this review, we highlighted the core features that make a website builder suited to several functions.
Once you are done with your website, just hit the publish button, and your website will be available for everyone to see.
How do you choose the Best Website Builder?
It is impossible to say one website builder is the best. This is because each website builder has its specific target. Some are design-focused, while others are optimised for eCommerce. That means the best website builder depends on what you want in a website.
In this article, we listed the 10 best website builders to ensure you find the best one that suits your needs. If you are feeling a little overwhelmed, we are here to help. However, it is up to you to make the final decision.
Here are handy pointers to help you choose the best website builder:
Why do I need a Website Builder?
There are three ways to build a website:
Your choice depends on your budget, your specific needs, and your level of technical skills. If you are building a hyper-complex website, then you should consider hiring a web developer.
However, this comes at a considerable cost. The cheapest price a web developer would charge you is above a thousand pounds (£1000). If you are considering a hyper-complex website, be prepared to spend more.
You can save costs by using a website builder. Unless you are looking to build a website like Facebook or eBay, there are website builders that can meet your needs at a fraction of the cost of a web developer.
Most website builders’ plans rarely cross the £100 range. Web builders that charge above that usually provide top-tier features that are worth every penny.
The third option is to learn how to code. If you have always wanted to be a developer, this is perhaps the motivation you need. However, you will be spending time instead of money.
Depending on your skill level, it can take you months to build a basic website. Plus, you will have to pay for web hosting too. The last drawback is that you won’t have a support system to rely on. You are the cavalry.
In summary, choosing a website builder is the best. It saves you time, money, and unnecessary headache.
Who are Website Builders good for?
Website builders are useful for creating many kinds of websites. Some are focused on specialised niches such as online resumes or landing pages.
On the other hand, some cater to a wide range of needs. There is hardly any functionality you need that these web builders can’t help you with.
What are the benefits of using a Website Builder?
There are many benefits of using a website builder. These benefits range from saving costs to saving time. Here are some advantages to using website builders. Some of them may apply to you, while others won’t.
What are the downsides of using a Website Builder?
The Final Verdict
Which Website Builder is Best for the UK?
There are a lot of different website builders. In this article, we have highlighted the top 10 website builders and listed out their best features. Which one you choose depends on your particular need.
However our favourite by far is Wix!
Basically, all the websites reviewed are suitable for both beginners and intermediate. They also have features that are common among them, such as content management and blogging tools.
If you are unsure of where to start from, we recommend trying Wix. If you are into the blogging niche, WordPress is a good option. Squarespace is highly recommended for starting a small online store.
For websites with many pages – say 30 pages and above – consider Weebly. They have an efficient system for managing a large number of pages.
Duda, Jimdo, and Zyro are good options, depending on what you need in a website builder.
Thankfully, many of the best website builders offer a free plan or free trial period. Take advantage of that to test the website builder. In the end, you will most likely find the one that works best for you.
