The Best Website Builders (In-Depth Review)

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Finding the right website builder is like choosing a life partner or career, only more important.

Whether you are setting up a small non-profit or are itching to take over the world with your handmade jewelry, the quality of your site will be a key factor in your success.

With a good website builder, someone with no technical experience can spin up an amazing site in no time.

Knowing what’s good is the first step, but the top options on the market have different strong points. The next step is figuring out which of the best website builders is the right fit for your needs.

I’ve been building websites for years. Let me walk you through the different types of website builders and how to choose between them.

After that, you can use my in-depth reviews of the top four options to make an informed decision.

The Top 4 Best Website Builders

Wix — Best for general use
Weebly — Best for beginners
Shopify — Best for ecommerce
WordPress — Best for content management

The Different Types of Website Builders

Why are you starting a website?

There are a multitude of reasons to want to start a website and they will affect the services and features you will need.

For instance, is your goal to set up shop as an ecommerce entrepreneur, dropshipping items from abroad?

Do you want to start a simple blog documenting your travel adventures?

Think deeply about what you want now, but also your roadmap for the future. Once you commit to a particular website builder, it can be difficult to change later on.

After getting a clear idea of your needs, you will then need to consider the different types of web builders available.

Keep in mind that many website builders fit multiple categories, serving each need to a different extent.

General-purpose website builders

There are thousands of reasons to create a website, and nowadays, it seems like every person and organization has one.

To service such great demand, some website builders have taken a holistic approach in terms of appeal and their tools.

For example, these sites typically have a lot of features that other types of website builders have, such as the ability to blog.

However, as they are multi-purpose in nature, you cannot expect these features to not be as in-depth and robust as more specialist platforms.

Some use cases for general website builders include:

Information websites – If your goal is to simply host information online, these general website builders can be quite useful. For instance, you may have a kitchen renovation company and want to start reaching potential customers online.
Personal branding – Managing your personal brand is becoming more important every day. It is particularly important for independent workers and entrepreneurs as well as for employees applying for jobs.