Are you currently going to effectively promote your business, but can’t decide what to start with? What you should know is that successful business development is unthinkable without reliable web presence.
Having a small business website is an advantage in itself. It helps achieve several goals at a time. Regardless of the niche you specialize in, a website remains the top notch destination for clients and business partners, who are interested in dealing with you.
As soon as you decide to run a small business website, you’ll come across various options. If you are ready to invest much into your website development, then you can hire a web design studio to do this work for you.
However, that’s not the best idea, if you wish to be in charge of the web building process to further manage and update your website when needed. One of the best and the simplest DIY options is using a website builder. These services allow building different types of projects, which range in functionality, feature sets and result provided.
If you are right about to launch a full-featured small business website, it really makes sense to find out more about the most popular website builders.
We Tested Out 10 Of The Best Website Builders for Small Business:
- Gator – Best FREE Website Builder for Small Business
- WordPress – Best Open Source CMS for Small Business
- Pixpa – Affordable Tool to Create a Small Business Website
- uKit – Small Business Site Builder for Personal Website
- SITE123 – Easiest Small Business Website Builder
- Wix – Simple and Handy Website Builder
- Shopify – Ecommerce Website Builder for Small Business
- Bluehost – Website Builder and Hosting for Small Business
- IM Creator – Free Website Builder for Non-Profit Business
- Weebly – DIY Website Builder with eCommerce
When it comes to the choice of the best small business website builder, most users feel somewhat puzzled just because they don’t know which service will work best for them. Let’s review the major options and advantages of the most featured website builders so that you could know what to expect from each of them.
Gator – Best FREE Website Builder for Small Business
| Product Name: | HostGator |
| Official Website: | hostgator.com/website-builder |
| Founded: | 2002 |
| Headquarters: | USA |
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Free plan: | No |
| Premium Plan: | From $3.84/mo |
Gator is the best free website builder for small business by HostGator, which is one of the most well-known hosting providers in the world. The system initially targets inexperienced users with little or no preliminary web design expertise. It comes with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, abundance of customizable templates and a quality integrated feature set. This helps cut down the web design hassle to the minimum. Gator can be used to run personal websites, blogs and small business projects, the major objective of which implies products/services promotion. The basic feature set of the website builder is as follows:
- Business Templates. The website builder offers responsive templates that are divided into thematic categories to simplify users’ choice.
- Social Media Integration. This is one of the strongest points of the website builder, which makes it possible to embed content from the world-popular services like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc, directly into your website.
- Integrated analytics. Gator also allows tracking useful information related to your website performance (traffic flow, conversion and website abandonment rates etc.) due to the set of analytic tools available in stock.
- App Market. The website builder has a huge integrated App Market, offering lots of free add-ons, widgets and applications for advanced on-page website customization.
- HostGator Hosting. The undeniable highlight of the website builder is the fact that it comes with HostGator hosting by default, which provides the unlimited storage space and bandwidth, irrespective of the subscription chosen.
- eCommerce. Gator comes with an integrated eCommerce platform that makes it possible to build, customize and manage full-featured online stores. You just need to choose a “Store” option and follow the guide to get started.
- Appointment Booking. The system has an advanced scheduling tool and a calendar that allows planning business tasks and special events.
- Logo Maker. This is a must-have element of any business website that makes your company recognizable among other niche competitors.
Is Gator Good For Small Business? The pricing policy of the website builder is rather moderate. The platform offers three pricing plans, the cost of which goes down depending upon the subscription term you choose. The platform has three paid plans, namely Starter, Premium and eCommerce. The cost of the plans constitutes $3.84, $5.99 and $9.22 per month correspondingly, granted that you opt for a 2-year subscription. Mind that Gator doesn’t offer a free plan or a trial, which means that you’ll have to pick the paid option right from the start.
WordPress – Best Open Source CMS for Small Business
| Product Name: | WordPress |
| Official Website: | wordpress.org |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Headquarters: | Worldwide |
| Complexity: | Above average |
| Free plan: | Unlimited |
| Premium Plan: | from $2.95/mo |
WordPress – is the best open source Content Management System for small business websites. The platform has gained worldwide popularity due to its multifaceted feature set, powerful integration features and high end design customization options. The software was initially launched for blogging purposes, but it can also be used to start other types of projects, including small business websites. Everything depends on your objectives, web design endeavors and result you expect to avail in the long run. When it tackles the functionality aspect, WordPress offers the following features:
- Small Business Templates. There are thousands of small business templates (free and paid) out there that are specially designed for WordPress websites – just make sure you pick themes created by trusted web developers not to subject your project to potential malware threat.
- Customer Interaction Plugins. Along with niche-specific plugins, WordPress offers an extensive selection of customer interaction widgets/extensions (Live Chat, Zopim Live Chat, Support Candy, uCare, AH Tickets, Zendesk, Help Scout Desk etc.) required to make your small business website convenient for current and potential customers.
- Small Business Plugins. The system stands out from the crowd due to its powerful plugin integration options – it’s up to you to pick and integrate widgets, which work for your website most (WPForms, MonsterInsights, Yoast SEO, Constant Contact, OptinMonster, Sucuri, UpdraftPlus, WP Rocket, MemberPress, CSS Hero, LearnDash, G Suite, SEMRush, Pretty Links Pro, Shared Counts, WooCommerce are some of the samples to browse).
Is WordPress Good For Small Business? WordPress is free for download and installation. However, you’ll have to pay for the use of external plugins, themes, widgets and add-ons. Likewise, you’ll need to buy a domain name and pay for the hosting to make your website accessible on the web. WordPress officially recommends using Bluehost as the top notch hosting provider that can cover all the hosting needs of their users. The host is characterized by strong uptime rates, fast page load speed, affordable pricing policy, safety, huge marketplace with hundreds of plugins, add-ons, apps and scripts, extensive content marketing and SEO options, eCommerce focus and multiple applications to be integrated into business websites. The cost of using Bluehost will surprise everyone as the price of its cheapest plan constitutes $2.95/mo.
Pixpa – Affordable Tool to Create a Small Business Website
| Product Name: | Pixpa |
| Official Website: | pixpa.com |
| Founded: | 2013 |
| Headquarters: | India |
| Complexity: | Easy to use |
| Free plan: | Free 15-day trial |
| Premium Plan: | from $6/mo |
Pixpa – is an affordable tool to create a small business website, which mainly targets individual creatives willing to showcase, sell and promote their works. The platform works great for portfolio development yet its integrated functionality is also enough to set up blogs, small web stores or product galleries. One of the highlights of the service is that it does not require any coding skills – just follow a few easy steps to get started here. Other beneficial features include:
- eCommerce. Every Pixpa plan implies an opportunity to set up a web store to sell both digital and physical products. There are several sections available for customization here and it is also possible to adjust shipping, payment, order/product customization options etc.here.
- Landing Page Builder. If needed, you can create and customize a landing page with Pixpa to promote your small business website. Just add a corresponding section in the menu to see the list of available templates and to pick the one that works best for your project.
- Business Projects. Small companies willing to promote their creative services will also benefit from Pixpa. Offering a set of SEO and marketing tools, it also makes it possible to integrate Google Analytics to monitor your project stats.
- Client Galleries. As a portfolio-focused website builder, Pixpa allows using its Client Galleries feature to promote and sell your creative works. There is also a Mobile Gallery App to manage your works from mobile devices.
- Blog. Pixpa does not have advanced blogging tools yet it allows connecting a blog to your website to further customize the pages with regard to your project needs. It’s also up to you to schedule and edit posts, integrate media files etc. here.
- Integrations. There are over a hundred applications on Pixpa ranging from Hello bars and up to Shopify Buy buttons. The app store is available on all plans here, so everyone can choose and integrate the required add-ons.
Is Pixpa Good For Small Business? Small businesses working in such niches as video shooting and photography services as well as fashion or art can benefit from Pixpa, especially on its Professional and Advanced subscriptions. There is a free 15-day trial here and four premium plans – Basic, Creator, Professional and advanced. The cost constitutes $6, $12, $18 and $25 per month. If needed, you can cancel the subscription at no cost during the 30-day money-back period.
uKit – Small Business Site Builder for Personal Website
| Product Name: | uKit |
| Official Website: | ukit.com |
| Founded: | 2015 |
| Headquarters: | Russian Federation |
| Complexity: | Very easy |
| Free plan: | Free 14-day trial |
| Premium Plan: | from $9/mo |
uKit – is a small business site builder for personal website development. This is also one of the simplest and the most functional small business website builders for personal projects. The platform provides great price-quality correlation to beginners and web design pros, who have an intention to start their DIY business websites. The system has distinguished itself as a small business website builder and, thus, its entire feature set is focused on the completion of this task. uKit is extremely easy-to-use and it doesn’t require the awareness of coding skills. It is a nice solution for building websites for small company owners and private entrepreneurs, who are always pressed for time, lack web design knowledge and are not ready to invest much into website development. Here is the list of features uKit proudly offers it its subscribers:
- Responsive Business Designs. uKit enlists hundreds of free, responsive, customizable and niche-specific templates that can be switched anytime without content loss.
- AmoCRM Integration. This is a simple and quite intuitive system of accounting potential deals and clients that helps control sales volumes and simplifies the process of customer/order management to ensure efficient business promotion.
- eCommerce. The website builder provides users with an opportunity to launch and then manage a small web store in one of two ways – either by connecting an eCommerce widget to your website and setting up the parameters or by integrating the Ecwid plugin to start selling online.
- Business Widgets. uKit allows integrating business widgets, which can add functionality and business focus to your website (Timeline, Steps, Google Maps, Social Networks etc.).
- SendPulse Integration. The system seamlessly integrates with SendPulse – a popular widget that is used by those web developers, who wish to add and adjust online push notifications for their website visitors.
- uCalc. Another highlight of the website builder is its online calculator – uCalc, integration of which helps define the cost of products/services offered to the target audience.
Is uKit Good For Small Business? uKit is one of the best options for small business website development and it’s one of the most affordable website builders as well. The system doesn’t have a free plan, but it’s not quite necessary, considering the cost of its paid subscriptions. The price of the cheapest uKit plan constitutes $9 only, while the most expensive and advanced subscription will cost you $15/mo! By the way, you can save big, when paying for 3,6,12 or 24 months at a time as the system offers great discounts in this case. These prices are more than affordable for any small business – you will hardly find cheaper rates for such an extensive functionality!
SITE123 – Easiest Small Business Website Builder
| Product Name: | SITE123 |
| Official Website: | site123.com |
| Founded: | 2015 |
| Headquarters: | Israel |
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Free plan: | Unlimited |
| Premium Plan: | from $12.80/mo |
SITE123 – is the easiest small business website builder, which delivers a broad range of features and comes with a convenient WYSIWYG editor. The system makes it possible to develop personal and business projects, including those for small and large companies. The platform is known for its simplicity, intuitive web building approach and convenience. It has much to offer to web design experts and it’s also quite understandable for beginners. If you are right about to start a business project with SITE123, consider the list of its highlights now:
- Responsive Business Templates. The all-in-one website builder comes with a broad selection of free responsive templates that come up to multiple business spheres and can be effectively customized with regard to the niche you specialize in.
- Blogging/eCommerce Engines. The system comes with integrated blogging and eCommerce engines that make it possible to launch and manage powerful online stores and blog pages.
- Social Media Integrations. The platform allows boosting your business popularity via social network account connection that provides your partners/customers with the upcoming business news, updates, events and other related info.
- Multilingual Support. SITE123 offers multilingual support that lets you create the required number of website language versions based on the target audience you plan to reach abroad.
- Form Builder and Logo Maker. The tools make it possible to integrate online forms and design business logos to make your small business project stand out from the crowd.
Is SITE123 Good For Small Business? Small business websites created with SITE123 look appealing and are quite functional. The cost of using the service ranges from $12.80 and up to $34.80 per month when billed annually. There is also a free plan, the features of which are enough to test the system before opting for a paid solution. The rates differ with regard to the functionality implied by the plans.
Wix – Simple and Handy Website Builder
| Product Name: | WIX |
| Official Website: | wix.com |
| Founded: | 2006 |
| Headquarters: | Israel |
| Complexity: | Very easy |
| Free plan: | Unlimited |
| Premium Plan: | from $22/mo |
Wix – is a simple and handy website builder for small business, which has gained worldwide popularity due to its extensive set of niche-related features. The system abounds in design customization tools, features that comply with the needs of entrepreneurs, multiple free themes that belong to various industries and affordable pricing. This has made the platform a worthy pick for the development of all types of feature-rich small business projects. Wix does not require coding proficiency and, thus, you don’t have to bother about the intricacies of the web design process to run projects with it. To make sure the system comes up to your web design needs, consider the following advantages of the platform:
- Small Business Templates. Wix has a rich collection of quality templates, which comprises hundreds of free, industry-specific and mobile-ready themes that are completely customizable.
- Wix ADI. The integrated Artificial Design Intelligence tool will help you develop a small business website in the automated mode, even if you are not a web design pro – just provide the required company info and the system will do the rest of the job for you.
- eCommerce Platform. The website builder now lets you start small-to-medium online stores by integrating its Wix Stores widget – pick a template, upload your web store info, contact details, products and their specifications, enable eCommerce features and set up payment/shipping options to run a digital shop that will comply with your needs and expectations.
- Ascend by Wix. This is the advanced all-in-one business solution that grants access to over 20 professional business tools meant to simplify your business management processes as well as to start, run and promote your company, grow customer base, niche reputation and generate profit.
- Wix SEO Wiz. Due to the convenient and easy-to-use Wix SEO Wiz, you’ll be able to control the efficacy of your business website promotion by setting up SEO parameters, tracking website statistics, integrating required tools and widgets etc.
Is Wix Good For Small Business? Wix definitely works great for small business projects in terms of pricing. The free plan the system offers to each and every subscriber, can be effectively used to try out all the features of the website builder. However, it won’t cover the entire range of your web design needs, if you decide to launch a business website and make it accessible on the web. You’ll need a domain name as well as other tools to make sure your business website ranks high in the search engines and enjoys popularity with the target audience. Thus, upgrading to the paid subscription is a must. Wix offers a set of Business/eCommerce plans, the cost of which starts at $22/mo. This is a worthy investment for any small business website.
Shopify – eCommerce Website Builder for Small Business
| Product Name: | Shopify |
| Official Website: | shopify.com |
| Founded: | 2006 |
| Headquarters: | Canada |
| Complexity: | Average |
| Free plan: | Free 14-day trial |
| Premium Plan: | From $29/mo |
Shopify – is an eCommerce website builder for small business projects used to launch and manage professional online stores. The entire feature set of the platform as well as its tools are geared towards the development of full-featured eCommerce projects. The website builder is a nice choice for beginners as well as for professional web masters, who specialize in eCommerce website development. Shopify abounds in niche features – take a look at them now to find out how much the system has to offer:
- POS Software. Shopify comes with the advanced Point-of-Sale (POS) software, which grants a required set of features (the use of the external card terminal, automatic synchronization with Shopify account, offline order acceptance, ability to launch several user accounts, Quickbooks synchronization, report option etc.) to let you sell products at your own retail storefront.
- Product Management Options. Shopify allows for extensive product management options to ensure a convenient shopping experience for users – you can create and update product lists, integrate and customize a shopping cart and add a “Buy” button, design the required amount of product cards etc.
- Versatile Integration Options. The software makes it possible to integrate with popular and feature-laden marketplaces, such as Xero, Quickbooks, Amazon and other popular accounting software to increase your web store performance.
- High End Marketing Features. Entrepreneurs will be able to create online receipts, analyze and browse web store statistics, control account balance, use advanced Shopify features like Shopify Ping, App Store, BOGO discounts, Shopify Tap & Chip Reader and more.
- Web Store Management Tools. The software lets you choose from multiple web store management options and tools (access to customer profiles, groups and accounts, email layouts and templates, dropshipping and order fulfillment options etc.) that boost your web store performance.
- AR Feature. Another Shopify highlight is its advanced Augmented Reality (AR) tool, which allows seeing the products offered for sale in the 3D mode to let potential buyers see its advantages in details.
Is Shopify Good For Small Business? Shopify is one of the best platforms that works great for the development of eCommerce websites – from small ones to hypermarkets. The software offers a free 14-day trial period to test its feature set and four paid subscriptions. The cost of the cheapest plan constitutes $29/mo when billed annually, which is a surprisingly reasonable offer.
Bluehost – Website Builder and Hosting for Small Business
| Product Name: | Bluehost |
| Official Website: | bluehost.com |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Headquarters: | United States |
| Complexity: | Average |
| Free plan: | No |
| Premium Plan: | From $2.95/mo |
Bluehost – is the most trusted and functional platform that provides website builder and hosting for small business projects all in one place. The company has been around for years, being officially recommended for professional use by WordPress. The system has won the loyalty of millions of users worldwide, ensuring smooth performance of websites hosted with it as well as safe data preservation. The main advantages of the company are provided below:
- High Page Load Time. Bluehost guarantees smooth website performance and comes with a pack of integrated features and tools that boost project functionality, regardless of the overall website load parameters and traffic volume.
- Bluehost Marketplace. The hosting provider offers a powerful integrated marketplace of plugins, extensions, scripts and add-ons that ideally boost small business website customization and performance.
- Enhanced Security. Bluehost uses hotlink protection tools along with the Spam Hammer, Spam Experts and other safety features to take special care of your website security and data preservation.
- Flexibility. The system ensures seamless integration with multiple extensions, add-ons, external services and plugins, which contribute to worthy and high end performance of your small business website, irrespective of the traffic amount.
Is Bluehost Good For Small Business? Bluehost is a reliable and functional hosting provider for small business websites. You won’t find any free plans here, but this is compensated by the affordable cost of its premium subscriptions. The price of the cheapest plan constitutes $2.95/mo. What you get at this cost is free SSL Certificate connection option, unlimited bandwidth, opportunity to connect a free domain name to your business website (if you don’t have the one yet) and many more advantages.
IM Creator – Free Website Builder for Non-Profit Business
| Product Name: | IM Creator |
| Official Website: | imcreator.com |
| Founded: | 2011 |
| Headquarters: | USA |
| Complexity: | Average |
| Free plan: | Yes |
| Premium Plan: | From $8/mo |
IM Creator – is a free website builder for non-profit business websites, which comes with a convenient drag & drop editor, multiple design customization tools and affordable pricing to come up to any needs and budget. The system is known for its simple and intuitive web design approach and absence of coding knowledge that makes it a great pick even for beginners. IM Creator works best for artists, creatives and entrepreneurs, who intend to start quality projects with no web design background required. The major IM Creator highlights are listed below:
- Blogging and eCommerce. The website builder comes with integrated blogging and eCommerce platforms that make it possible to start and customize feature-rich blogs and web stores with regard to your project specialization.
- Responsive Designs. The system offers quite a nice collection of templates, which are free, responsive and tackle various business niches – just choose the one that suits you most and customize it as you need.
- Integration Options. The platform makes it possible to boost your business website performance by integrating quality widgets and add-ons (Google event schedule list, PDF viewer, Facebook comments, OpenTable reservation form, SoundCloud are some of the best samples to use).
- Social Media Integration. IM Creator provides versatile social media integration options to let you create and design social media buttons to boost your project performance on the web.
- Multilingual Support. The service guarantees multilingual support to users, who intend to run business websites in different languages to comply with their professional requirements, project specialization, objectives and other parameters.
Is IM Creator Good For Small Business? The website builder was obviously created with business focus in mind. Along with niche-specific features, it offers reasonable pricing to fit any budget. To start with, IM Creator is absolutely free for non-commercial projects. Students, creatives and entrepreneurs, who intend to use the system for professional website creation, can subscribe to its cheapest plan, the cost of which currently constitutes $8/mo.
Weebly – DIY Website Builder with eCommerce
| Product Name: | Weebly |
| Official Website: | weebly.com |
| Founded: | 2006 |
| Headquarters: | USA |
| Complexity: | Average |
| Free plan: | Yes |
| Premium Plan: | From $10/mo |
Weebly – is a quality DIY website builder with eCommerce focus, which targets all user categories and can be applied to start small-to-large online stores. The system was initially meant for blogging purposes, but it was acquired by Square in 2018. Since that time, it has got powerful eCommerce specialization. It takes some time to master the platform, but the result is surely worth that. The main system highlights encompass:
- eCommerce Functionality. The website builder delivers exceptional integrated eCommerce features/tools (templates, integrated shopping cart, product/order management, website promotion, marketing tools etc.).
- Weebly App Center. The platform allows browsing its App Center to let you pick add-ons and widgets (LiveChat, Call-Out-Box, PinPoll etc.) suitable for further integration into your project.
- Blogging. You can use the system to connect a blog to your website and to customize it with regard to your business specialization.
- Weebly Promote Tool. The platform contributes to the effective management of email marketing campaigns and their proper online availability.
- Video Hosting Options. With Weebly, you can upload and publish video files, choosing one of two ways – either by adding it directly to the system server or by integrating it with YouTube for further accessibility.
Is Weebly Good For Small Business? When it comes to small business website development, Weebly proves to be a nice option to go for. It offers moderate pricing policy to fit any budget and requirements. Along with a free plan that lets you test the system and improve your skills, you can choose from three paid subscriptions. The cost ranges from $10/mo up to $26/mo when billed annually.
Is It Possible to Create a Small Business Website for Free?
There are many website builders that make it possible to create small business projects at no cost using their free plans. They generally do not require any coding proficiency or web design expertise, which makes them a nice pick for beginners. Access to free niche templates, integrations and blogging/eCommerce features is available here as well.
Free options, however, are not enough, when it comes to small business website creation. The thing is that free plans frequently come with notable limitations. These include ad banners, limited bandwidth and storage space, subdomains etc. This will hardly contribute to a worthy business website presentation. If you need a professional-looking website with more advanced features, no limitations, quality customer support and high end tools, upgrading to a premium plan definitely makes sense.
Bottom Line
Having a full-featured small business website builder is an advantage in itself. This is the best selling tool that can effectively boost your business promotion, thus contributing to traffic growth and profit generation.
Even if you are not a web design professional, it is still possible to start and manage your business website on your own. This is how you avoid the necessity to invest huge budgets in hiring web designers. Likewise, you won’t run a risk of getting a low quality project in the long run or face security concerns. It’s you, who controls the entire process of website creation from scratch and this is where website builders will be of great help.
The choice of a website builder that will meet your web design needs is quite responsible, but this fact doesn’t have to frustrate you. Prior to making the final choice, consider all the features the platforms mentioned in the article can offer you. Realization of your actual web building needs is the key to your success.
Whether you want to take your existing business online or start earning on the web, the first step is to create your own website. Any of the above mentioned website builders will help you with this.
