The best small business website builders rank among the best website builders (opens in new tab) available, and provide users with business-specific features and tools to use when building a website (opens in new tab). They allow any business to build a website (opens in new tab) simply, quickly, and at a reasonable price.
The providers we found to be the best small business website builders enable you to create a site that’s professional, meets your business requirements, and offers functionality and tools to keep your business’s online presence ticking over: including ecommerce (opens in new tab), bookings, subscriptions or marketing.
If you’re on a budget, many top platforms rank among the best cheap website builders (opens in new tab), offering you a less-expensive but still-professional site creation platform that’s right for your needs, and enables you to save for other projects.
There’s no one builder that works for all business users and uses, and you can quite understandably be overwhelmed by the number available. We’re here to help: read on, and see which services we considered the best small business website builders across performance, ease-of-use, pricing, customer support, and more.
The top 3 best small business website builders right now
What are the best small business website builders?
Wix is our pick of the best small business website builders. It’s a little expensive compared to main competitors, but comes with a suite of business tools that help you maximize your site’s performance.
On top of this, the Wix Editor is arguably the most powerful website building interface in the world. It enables pixel-perfect drag-and-drop (opens in new tab) editing, and there are more than 500 templates that you can use to get your site started.
Squarespace is the best option for professional templates and native tools, while GoDaddy and Strikingly offer brilliant builders for those looking to get a simple site online quickly. Weebly is great for those wanting ecommerce functionality, via Square (opens in new tab), one of the world’s leading payment processors.
1&1 IONOS’s MyWebsite is an excellent choice for scalable sites, while WordPress, despite not being a site builder in the technical sense, offers excellent design flexibility: though expect to spend time building your site.
HostGator’s Gator Builder is a decent budget option, and offers comparable design flexibility to Wix; Constant Contact is best if you’re planning to use email marketing to promote your business; and Zyro offers another beginner-friendly option.
The best small business website builders available
Wix is a regular feature at the top of lists of the best website builder, and for our guide to the best small business website builders, it’s top for a good reason. Take advantage of the Wix ADI (artificial design intelligence) tool to get online fast, or use the more powerful Wix Editor to harness the full power of the platform.
One thing that stands out about Wix is the template library, which contains more than 500 attractive designs that you can base your site on. There’s also a great selection of add-ons available via the Wix App Market, and the free forever plan is up there with the best we’ve seen.
Wix is a little confusing to get started with, though, so expect to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the platform. It’s also at the expensive end of the spectrum, so it’s not a great choice for those on a tight budget. There are four business-specific plans, with Business Basic – at $23 a month, with 20GB storage – more than enough for most small or medium businesses.
Read our full Wix review (opens in new tab).
If you’ve heard of website builders, the chances are that you’ve heard of Squarespace. It’s one of the most popular site creation platforms in the world, and it’s easy to see why.
For one, Squarespace offers a neat selection of modern templates that you can use to start your small business site. All plans come with unmetered bandwidth and storage, and there’s a range of great ecommerce tools. The cheapest business-focused plan is the Business package, starting at $18 a month, with Basic and Advanced Commerce plans for those with online sales at $26 and $40 a month.
The editor is relatively powerful, but it doesn’t offer the pixel-perfect design flexibility that some of the other options on this list do. It’s also a little confusing, so you should expect to spend some time familiarizing yourself with it when you’re getting started.
Read our full Squarespace review (opens in new tab).
If your main priority is getting a basic site online as fast and efficiently as possible, the GoDaddy website builder could be your best option. Although it’s quite basic, the editor is simple and intuitive.
In addition, GoDaddy boasts a selection of basic ecommerce tools, a full analytics portal, and excellent support resources. There’s also a great free plan that you can use to test the platform, and four premium plans ranging from $6.99 to $17.49 a month, increasing to $9.99 to $24.99 a month after renewal. The Standard, Premium, and Ecommerce plans are ideal for businesses starting out, growing, or selling online.
On the downside, design flexibility is very limited. You won’t have access to any advanced tools whatsoever, which can make it hard to personalize your site. The templates are also quite basic, which can make it hard to build a business site with any sort of size or complexity.
Read our full GoDaddy review (opens in new tab) and our GoDaddy hosting review (opens in new tab).
With its powerful yet intuitive editor and selection of beginner-friendly site creation tools, Strikingly is another great option for website building newbies. It’s designed specifically for landing pages and one-page sites, and it comes with a suite of unique features.
Standout among these are the simple store and blog modules, which you can use to add ecommerce and blogging functionality to your one-page site. The template library is a little limited, and the free account comes with a one-page restriction, but overall, there’s a lot to like here. When it comes to paid plans, the Pro and VIP packages are best for businesses, at $16 a month and $49 a month respectively.
Read our full Strikingly review. (opens in new tab)
Weebly is a great choice for small businesses that want to add an online store to their website. It features an excellent range of ecommerce features, and its online store tools are controlled by Square, one of the world’s most popular payment gateways.
On top of this, Weebly boasts a selection of templates for sites of all shapes and sizes. Its free forever plan is a neat option for those who want to try the platform before purchasing a subscription, and the premium plans are very competitively priced. For small businesses, Pro, Business, and Business Plus packages (at $9, $18, and $28 a month) offer the best levels of website services as your business grows.
Note, though, that the builder is a little limited. You will be restricted to predefined element positions, and it can be hard to achieve the design that you want.
Read our full Weebly review (opens in new tab).
1&1 IONOS MyWebsite is a beginner-friendly website builder that’s very competitively priced and backed by a selection of great features. Every plan comes with a free domain, unlimited storage, and unmetered bandwidth. There isn’t any free forever plan, but the introductory prices are very competitive.
One standout feature of the MyWebsite website builder is its excellent multilingual site tools. There’s a built-in translator, which can be used to translate your content into 62 different languages. Individual sites support up to 25 different languages at a time, which makes this a great option for small businesses targeting different language groups.
When it comes to pricing, MyWebsite offers the Plus and Pro site builder plans at $5 a month and $10 a month, while for more advanced sites its Now & List Local Essential and Creator + List Local Essential packages (free for the first month, then respectively $17 and $23 a month) offer website builders with marketing and advanced ecommerce functionality.
Read our full 1&1 IONOS MyWebsite review (opens in new tab).
Now, WordPress isn’t technically a website builder. But it’s such a powerful option for building small business websites that we just couldn’t leave it off this list. WordPress.org (opens in new tab), it should be mentioned, is the free blog and basic site builder, while WordPress.com (opens in new tab) is the paid website creation software and management tool.
At its simplest, WordPress.org is a free CMS that provides the dashboard and tools for you to create and manage your website. The design flexibility on offer is unrivalled, and you will have access to thousands of templates and plugins through the official WordPress stores.
Bear in mind that you will require one of the best website builders for WordPress (opens in new tab), and then one of the best web hosting (opens in new tab) services (namely, one of the best WordPress hosting (opens in new tab) platforms) to get online, though.
WordPress.com’s pricing plans differ when it comes to paying annually or monthly, with the annual plans including a free domain among other features, but costing more. For businesses, the Business plan is $25 a month, and includes 200GB of storage space alongside a raft of features and tools.
You have full code access and complete control over every aspect of your site, enabling you to build exactly what you want. Note, though, that WordPress can be a little confusing to get started with, and it will take you some time to get your site online.
Read our comprehensive WordPress review (opens in new tab).
Although it’s a relative newcomer to the website building world, HostGator’s Gator Website Builder stands out as excellent. All plans come with unmetered storage and bandwidth, as well as a free domain for the first year.
The builder is arguably the most powerful after Wix, and this is largely due to the advanced drag-and-drop interface. Unfortunately, there isn’t a free forever plan or a free trial, but prices are low and there is a 45-day money-back guarantee. Even the cheapest of the three plans, Express Start at $3.84 a month, features a free domain, three email campaigns a month, and a three product online store.
Scaling up from there, the most expensive plan is Express Store at $9.22 a month, which offers 10 email campaigns a month, unlimited products on an online store, and no transaction fees should you choose to utilize ecommerce.
Read our full HostGator review (opens in new tab).
Although it’s better known for its excellent email marketing tools, Constant Contact offers an intuitive, beginner-friendly website builder that’s great for small businesses. For starters, the builder is very easy to use, enabling even those with very minimal website building experience to get online fast and efficiently.
All plans come with unlimited storage and bandwidth, basic ecommerce features, and a nifty little SEO (opens in new tab) toolkit to help you optimize your search engine rankings. On top of this, you will benefit from the platform’s excellent email marketing tools if required, making this a leading choice for businesses that plan to use this marketing stream extensively. The cheapest plan, Starter, is $10 a month, and comes with a wide range of business and ecommerce support tools.
There are a few downsides, though, including a notable lack of advanced blogging tools. You will also have to pay for a premium plan before you can publish your site. In saying that, the free version does let you test the builder.
Read our Constant Contact review (opens in new tab).
Zyro is one of the most intuitive website builders in the world, from leading web host Hostinger (opens in new tab). The designer is a little on the simple side, but it’s still more than good enough for those looking to get a simple site online with a minimum amount of fuss.
One standout feature is the company’s excellent customer service, which includes online live chat and email ticketing. There’s also a neat set of AI tools, including an AI writer, logo builder, and blog title generator. Benefit from simple ecommerce tools if you want to add an online store, and select a design from the template library base your site on.
On the downside, Zyro has no free forever plan. Prices are quite deceptive, and you can expect to pay significantly more than the advertised price when it comes time to renew your subscription. The Unleashed plan for businesses is $3.90 a month, and offers unlimited bandwidth, storage, free emails for three months and a free domain for a year, with more advanced plans offering ecommerce functions.
Read our full Zyro review (opens in new tab).
Small business website builder FAQs
How do you choose one of the best small business website builders?
When you’re trying to choose one of the best small business website builders, it’s worth keeping key factors in mind to help make a good choice. First of all, decide why exactly you need a small business website, and clearly identify your available budget, as well as the top tools you require.
If you want ecommerce tools, remember that not all builders offer ecommerce. Remember also to check if you require web hosting on top of your builder: this isn’t likely, but it’s important in particular if choosing WordPress.
Consider how much time you can spend building your site: choose a beginner-friendly builder like Weebly or GoDaddy if you want a site finished quickly and easily; opt for a more powerful option like Wix if you want to spend more time finalizing your site’s look and feel.
What’s key to remember, however, is that most builders are available on free trials or free-forever plans (opens in new tab). As such, it can quite literally pay off to spend time researching builders before you choose; testing each out for free; and then opting for the paid plan from the provider you’ve earmarked.
How we review small business website builders
We review all website builders in similar ways, whether reviewing those focused on small businesses, ecommerce, or free blogs. First of all, we test the builder and editor by creating custom sites. In doing so, we can then say for sure where the platform resides on the difficulty scale, between beginners and advanced users.
We test our site’s uptime and response times once online, as these metrics are integral to website performance. If your business site is offline or slow to respond, you can lose custom, money, and time.
On a more specific, small business-focused site basis, we examine specific small business tools and features, which could be ecommerce-related, or could be more targeted elements like AI tools or content creation. We compare builders to competitors, and discuss and explore in detail what each pricing plan offers, so you know which one to invest in for your business site.
Other common areas of our reviewing process include examining platform-specific features, as well as trialling customer support and service responsiveness and knowledge. The last thing you want is to have a problem with your business site, and then have a slow-to-respond, less well-informed support service.
Further reading on website builders and web hosting
Learn more about drag-and-drop (opens in new tab) editors too, as most small business website builders utilize this technology. If you’re wondering about web hosting, discover the differences between web hosting, WordPress, and website builders (opens in new tab); and learn more about what web hosting is (opens in new tab), and how to choose a web hosting service (opens in new tab).
When it comes to the providers above, check out our step-by-step guides outlining how to make a website with Wix (opens in new tab), with Squarespace (opens in new tab), with GoDaddy (opens in new tab), with Square Online (opens in new tab), with HostGator’s website builder (opens in new tab), and with WordPress (opens in new tab).
We also put providers up against one another in comparisons pitting Wix vs Shopify (opens in new tab); Wix vs Squarespace (opens in new tab); Squarespace vs Shopify (opens in new tab); GoDaddy vs Wix (opens in new tab); Wix vs Squarespace vs Weebly (opens in new tab); and HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy (opens in new tab).
https://www.tomsguide.com/buying-guide/best-small-business-website-builders
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