The thing is, not all website builders are created equal. Some are better for selling things online, while others give you more freedom to customize the design of your site. And, let’s of course not forget about the slew of AI tools that have popped out recently. To help you figure out which one is best for you, we’ve tested the most popular ones out there. We’ve looked at what those website builders can do, how easy they are to use, and how much they cost.
So, come along as we journey through the best website builders of 2026. We’ll give you all the information you need to pick the one that’s right for you and get started on creating a fantastic website.
Let’s get building!
Top website builders available right now 🏆🏗️
Before we get into the heavier analysis, we wanted to give you an overview of the options we’ll be covering in more detail below.
| Tool | Editor Rating | AI Builder | Templates | Free Plan | Pro Plans From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ✅ | 800+ | ✅ | $17.00 |
| Squarespace | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ✅ | 180+ | $16.00 | |
| Shopify | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ✅ | 1100+ | $29.00 | |
| Webflow | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ✅ | 7000+ | ✅ | $14.00 |
| Bluehost Website Builder | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ✅ | 14,000+ | ❌ | $3.79 |
| Claude Code / Design | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ✅✅✅ | n/a | ❌ | $17 |
| Weebly | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ❌ | 50+ | ✅ | $10.00 |
| WordPress.com | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ❌ | Depends on plan | ✅ | $2.75 |
💡 Note that all builders have some level of ecommerce and blogging functionality so we didn’t include that in the comparison chart.
1. Wix
A good all-around builder with affordable prices
- Overall rating: 5/5
- Templates: 800+
- Blogging tool? ✅
- Ecommerce functionality? ✅
- Free plan? ✅
- Paid plans from: $17.00 / month
Wix is a versatile, user-friendly website builder that lets you start crafting a site for free. Wix has always been known for its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, but now it’s added strong AI features as well. Pair that with diverse templates, and building a website becomes very approachable for everyone.
Wix has you covered no matter if you’re building a small hobby site or a serious one for an online store or business. It’s also a tool designed to grow with your evolving needs. There are different tiers based on the scale of your site or budget.
Plus, Wix is also a fairly popular website builder of the bunch. The current numbers say that it runs 4.3% of all websites. 1
How it works ⚙️
To launch your Wix site, you first need to sign up for a free account. Then, Wix will ask you a few questions to simplify the website creation process. This is great because it means you get an experience that’s tailored specifically to you. The onboarding works through a chat interface:
Wix has questions, and then based on your answers, it will suggest a design for you:
Then, you can either choose a template from the 800+ templates available, or let the WIX AI create a website for you (an especially unique feature). Basically, you’ll answer more questions, and then the AI will actually pick a template for you based on your answers.
Want to learn more about Wix? Check out our Wix review or our Wix tutorial.
Ease of use and time investment ⏲️
No matter whether you choose the Wix AI or your own template, you’ll eventually land in the Wix editor to finish out customizing your site.
The Wix editor gives you a great deal of control over your site, but it also feels significantly more overwhelming than Squarespace’s editor because it presents so many options at once.
If you’ve built a few websites before, you might like all those options. But if this is your first time using a website builder, you might struggle with the learning curve:
If you want more functionality, you can add in 300+ apps from the Wix App Market.
Pros and cons 👍
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – Very easy to set up by anyone. – Offers design flexibility and many apps for functionality. – WIX AI tools are cool because they build most of your website for you. | – Wix won’t let you switch to another template if you have already built your site with a specific template. – When it comes to extra functionality, you are limited to what’s in the Wix store. You cannot install third-party tools. |
Pricing 💰
Wix offers a limited free plan with Wix ads and a Wix subdomain. Paid plans with your own branding and no Wix ads start at $17.00 per month. But serious businesses should spring for the $29.00 per month plan, at a minimum.
2. Squarespace
The best website builder for creatives (and others)
- Overall rating: 5/5
- Templates: 180+
- Blogging tool? ✅
- Ecommerce functionality? ✅
- Free plan?
- Paid plans from: $16.00 / month
By the numbers, Squarespace is near the top when it comes to the popularity of website builders. It powers 2.5% of all websites on the internet according to current data by W3Techs. 2
Squarespace includes great-looking templates for a variety of niches, as well as an easy onboarding process that makes it easy to build a website even if you have no technical skills.
If you want to learn more, you can check out our Squarespace review or our Squarespace tutorial.
How it works ⚙️
Squarespace follows a very similar process to Wix. They start you off with an onboarding questionnaire:
It’s only three steps, but if you want to skip them, then you can jump straight into choosing a template.
The templates are divided by category and, as a general rule, have great modern, minimalist looks.
Once you choose your base template, you’ll need to create a Squarespace account (it’s free to start – so you can test things out with no credit card required).
Irrespective of which road you choose to go down, you’ll eventually wind up on the editor screen where you can put the finishing touches on your new website’s design. Squarespace offers some nice customization options, with clear options for colors, fonts, and more.
Not sure about Squarespace? Read these:
- Squarespace vs WordPress
- Squarespace vs Wix
- Bluehost vs Squarespace
- Best Squarespace Alternatives
Ease of use and time investment ⏲️
Because Squarespace has you start from one of the pre-made templates (or an AI-generated one), you don’t need to worry about building your website’s design from scratch.
Instead, you’ll basically just use Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor to:
- Edit the existing template data
- If desired, add new content, like more text, images, a newsletter form, etc.
Editing content is as simple as typing on the page:
And you can add new content by inserting new blocks.
Then, for general site management, Squarespace makes available quite a friendly dashboard:
All in all, you get a good deal of control without a huge time investment.
Pros and cons 👍
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – It comes with a rich package of features and integrations – one of the most generous on the list. – It provides a variety of templates with modern, unique, and gorgeous designs. | – It doesn’t come with an app marketplace. Even though it’s strong when it comes to its set of features, you can’t install extra functionality if you ever need it. |
Pricing 💰
Squarespace starts at $16.00 per month, billed annually. A small business will likely want the $23.00 per month plan, though.
3. Shopify
The best website builder for ecommerce stores
- Overall rating: 4/5
- Templates: 1100+
- Blogging tool? ✅
- Ecommerce functionality? ✅✅✅ – it’s Shopify’s main strength
- Free plan?
- Paid plans from: $29.00 / month
Shopify is a bit of a twist because it’s focused exclusively on ecommerce, rather than helping you create a multipurpose site. By the numbers, Shopify powers 5.1% of all websites on the internet, which makes it the second most popular way to make a website (only after WordPress). 3 It’s also the second most popular way to build an ecommerce store, behind WooCommerce.
Basically, it’s not the best website builder overall, but it’s probably your best option if you’re serious about creating an ecommerce store.
If you want to learn more, you can check out our Shopify review or our Shopify tutorial.
How it works ⚙️
Shopify operates on similar principles to the other website builders, but with a slightly different process.
Once you sign up for a free Shopify account, you’ll be asked to provide a little bit of information – though you can choose to skip this step if you’d like:
From there, it will drop you into the Shopify dashboard, where, among other things, you can choose a theme for your online store (i.e., your website):
In addition, you’ll be able to:
- Add products
- Install apps for more functionality
Ease of use and time investment ⏲️
Because Shopify is focused on ecommerce, it’s going to take you a bit more time to set up your store than a regular website builder.
In addition to the information above, you’ll also need to set up payment gateways, configure tax rates, shipping, and perform other housekeeping actions.
Shopify tries to make things as easy as possible, though. For example, the Theme Customizer/editor makes it easy to tweak your store. And even though it’s focused on ecommerce, you can still add other functionality, like a blog.
The blog even has a generative AI tool that will give you text based on a topic, which is kind of expected nowadays. Of course, though, nothing beats writing your product descriptions and content by hand.
Pros and cons 👍
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – It is easy to set up and work with for any casual user. – It provides the full package of ecommerce features, including marketing, user interface, and design. | – It can become expensive if you want to expand your business and integrate advanced ecommerce features. – If you are an experienced user who wants to tweak the online store yourself, Shopify doesn’t leave much room for custom code or unique improvements. |
Pricing 💰
Shopify’s plans start at $29.00 per month. For more detail, we have a post that’s dedicated to explaining Shopify pricing plans.
4. Webflow
The best website builder for designers and developers
- Overall rating: 4/5
- Templates: 7,000+
- Blogging tool? ✅
- Ecommerce functionality? ✅
- Free plan? ✅
- Paid plans from: $14.00 / month
Webflow sits in a unique spot among the lineup here. It’s not purely a drag-and-drop tool per se, nor is it a full coding environment either. Instead, it gives you visual control over real CSS properties – you know, things like margins, padding, flexbox, grid, and animations – without having to actually write all that code manually. That makes it far more powerful than most builders, but also tad bit harder to learn.
Webflow currently powers 0.9% of all websites on the internet, according to W3Techs data from April 2026. That’s a smaller footprint than Wix or Squarespace for sure, but its user base has been growing steadily, doubling its share since 2021. 4
How it works ⚙️
To get started, you sign up for a free account and choose a template. Webflow offers over 7,000 templates, covering nearly every industry and use case. From there, you work inside the Webflow Designer – a visual editor that mirrors how a browser renders CSS.
Alternatively, you can also use Webflow’s AI tools to kick start your site creation.
Something I already mentioned here, Webflow doesn’t hide the design system from you, which sets it apart from other builders. You can see and adjust every spacing value, font rule, and layout setting directly. The output is clean HTML5 and CSS3 code, which you can even export if needed.
Webflow also includes a built-in CMS for content-heavy sites like blogs or portfolios. You define your content structure, and Webflow generates dynamic pages from it. SEO controls, like meta titles, Open Graph tags, canonical URLs, sitemaps are also all built in, with no plugin required.
Ease of use and time investment ⏲️
Webflow has a steep learning curve, that’s for sure. I mean, just look at the screenshot above. The designer module exposes a lot of options at once, and it assumes you understand basic web design concepts like box model, flexbox, and breakpoints.
If you’ve built sites before, or have a design background, Webflow starts to feel natural after a few hours. But if this is your first website builder, expect to spend real time getting comfortable. The payoff is a level of design control that Wix and Squarespace simply can’t match. But on the other hand, those two platforms are way more friendlier to newbies.
Pros and cons 👍
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – Full CSS-level control through a visual interface, no code needed. – 7,000+ templates for nearly any type of site. – Built-in CMS, SEO tools, and hosting in one platform. | – Steep learning curve for beginners with no design background. – Pricing is complex and can get expensive, especially for ecommerce. |
Pricing 💰
Webflow has a free plan, but it limits you to 2 pages, 50 CMS items, and a Webflow subdomain. Paid site plans start at $14.00 / month (Basic), with the CMS plan at $23 / month, with Business costing even more than that, all billed annually.
5. Bluehost Website Builder
A website builder that builds you a WordPress site the easy way
- Overall rating: 4/5
- Templates: 14,000+ (this is technically not Bluehost’s template count but the count of free WordPress templates available overall)
- Blogging tool? ✅
- Ecommerce functionality? ✅
- Free plan? ❌
- Paid plans from: from $3.79 / month
Bluehost Website Builder is a bit different from the other website builders on this list because it is not a standalone platform. It is based on WordPress.org, which means that it helps you create a website with WordPress.
If you ask me, that’s actually a perk. Why? Because starting a website on WordPress by yourself might not be the easiest thing to do. So Bluehost does the job for you by offering all the resources you need in one place.
How it works ⚙️
To start a WordPress website with Bluehost Website Builder, you first need to pick a pricing package. Then, choose your domain name, fill out the details about your account at checkout, and submit.
During the setup wizard, Bluehost is going to ask a couple of questions as to the type of site you want to build, and then based on that, it will suggest a design for you right away. For example, I told it I want to build a cafe website, so it gave me these:
At the end of the setup, you can enter your dashboard. From there, you can manage your WordPress sites: create pages, customize the design, install plugins and themes, and add content.
To customize your site’s design, just enter the standard WordPress panel and do everything there. The block interface is easy to use, has drag and drop, and all the features are easily available:
Ease of use and time investment ⏲️
The Bluehost Website Builder editor is intuitive and simple enough for the casual user. You can use the left-side menu to insert elements, create menus and pages, customize the design, and check settings.
You can drag and drop elements to create your own pages either from a pre-built template or by putting together existing sections. Each element is customizable via the right sidebar.
You can also choose to customize your entire site using WordPress’ default block editor or customizer by clicking on the WP Admin icon in the left menu.
Pros and cons 👍
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – You can start a WordPress website the easy way – in just a few minutes – without having to deal with the classic and more burdensome installation from scratch. – You get access to the full WordPress dashboard. – It comes with over 14,000+ free WordPress themes for any niche and industry + even more premium themes. It’s cheap. | – It’s a tad but less intuitive than the other proprietary builders. This one is basically Bluehost using WordPress as the core of its builder. |
Pricing 💰
The pricing plans for Bluehost start at $3.79 per month. If you want more resources or server power, more storage, prices vary from $6.79 to $30+ per month.
6. Claude Code / Design
A next-gen AI tool that builds websites through conversation
- Overall rating: 3/5
- Templates: None – builds from scratch
- Blogging tool? ✅ (can be built in)
- Ecommerce functionality? ✅ (can be built in)
- Free plan? ❌
- Paid plans from: $17 / month
Claude Code and Claude Design by Anthropic are not traditional website builders. Instead of picking a template and dragging blocks around, you describe what you want and the AI writes the actual code and creates the design. That means the output cane be a real, production-ready website and not locked-in, platform-specific, but it’s kind of on you to prompt the tool in a way that makes this possible.
Claude Design, launched in April 2026, extends Claude’s abilities into full visual creation. You can generate prototypes, landing pages, whole websites or web apps, as well as marketing assets just by talking to it. This specific module is powered by the latest Claude Opus models.
Together, these tools represent a completely different model from builders like Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, or even Webflow. You’re not tied to any platform and can generate a site for any framework. It’s just a matter of knowing what to ask for exactly. Then, of course, the question of hosting that site is on you individually – Claude doesn’t provide that.
How it works ⚙️
Note; Claude Code and Claude Design are two different things, kind of. You can build your site through one or the other, the experience and process are going to be different.
Claude Code starts in a terminal or IDE. You describe the website you need, and Claude writes the code – usually HTML, CSS, JavaScript – directly into a folder on your computer. You can then preview the site locally and keep refining it through conversation. Then, when done, you can export that site to a server and host it publicly.
Claude Design works in the browser. It has a proper UI and canvas. You can describe your idea, answer a short quiz, or, you can use a built in wireframing tool and show Claude what you want roughly.
It will generate a first version. From there, you can leave inline comments, tweak text directly, or use custom sliders to adjust spacing, colors, and layout in real time.
One standout feature is the design system integration. During setup, Claude Design reads your codebase and design files to learn your brand’s colors, fonts, and components. Every project after that inherits that system automatically.
When a design is ready to build, Claude Design packages everything into a handoff bundle you pass to Claude Code in one step.
Ease of use and time investment ⏲️
Claude Code is not a point-and-click tool. You’ll use a terminal most of the time. For people with zero command-line experience, there’s a real learning curve.
Claude Design is much more accessible. It’s browser-based, so non-designers, product managers, founders, and everyone basically can go from a rough idea to a shareable prototype rather quickly.
Using Claude’s tools vs a traditional website builder is kind of a life choice. You’re shifting away from standard tools where “things are happening in the UI” and instead opting for a chat interface where you instruct AI to do the work for you and then you only give feedback on the results.
Pros and cons 👍
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – You own the code outright and can host it anywhere. – Claude Design is included in existing Claude subscriptions at no extra cost. – The design-system integration keeps every output on-brand automatically. – Handoff from design to working code is built into the workflow. | – Claude Code has a real learning curve for non-developers. – Usage limits can be aggressive. Some users on the $200/month plans are reporting they’re burning through their weekly quotas on a single complex prompt. – Code quality is solid but not always production-ready without a human review. – Claude Design is still in preview – a lot can change. |
Pricing 💰
Claude Design is included in all Claude paid plans. The Pro plan starts at $17 / month (paid annually), while the Max plan starts at $100 / month and gives you 5x or 20x more usage. Both Claude Code and Claude Design count against your subscription’s usage limits, and heavy sessions can eat through those limits fast. There is no free plan for those tools, but Claude.ai (the web interface) does offer a limited free tier for basic access.
7. Weebly
A solid option for all types of sites
- Overall rating: 3/5
- Templates: 50+
- Blogging tool? ✅
- Ecommerce functionality? ✅
- Free plan? ✅
- Paid plans from: $10.00 / month
Weebly has been a long-standing website builder in the industry. It can help you create both standard websites and ecommerce stores. It’s kind of similar in principle to Wix and Squarespace, but just has its own spin on how the main features and site customizations are delivered. 5
Weebly currently powers 0.4% of all the websites on the Internet. 6 In case you want to compare it against Wix, we have a full Weebly vs Wix comparison post.
How it works ⚙️
Like the others, you get started with Weebly by signing up for a free account.
From there, you can choose from a variety of themes (the exact number depends on what type of site you’re building – e.g. a store vs a business site):
Ease of use and time investment ⏲️
Once you select your website theme, Weebly will launch you into the editor. If you want to edit existing content, you can just click on the live preview. And if you want to add new content, you just drag it over from the options on the left:
Again, Weebly’s editor doesn’t go quite as deep as Wix. But it does a good job of keeping things simple while still giving you enough control to customize your site.
And if you need additional functionality, you can connect to the Weebly app store.
Pros and cons 👍
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – The editor is straightforward, easy to grasp, and has drag-and-drop functionality. – It comes with third-party integrations. – You get SSL certificates in all plans, including free. | – The editor’s features are basic – a good fit for a simple website. If you need a complex one, you won’t find advanced capabilities in Weebly. – It offers only around 50 templates. |
Pricing 💰
Weebly has a branded free plan. To remove the branding, you’ll have to go for the tier two paid plan, which starts at $10.00 per month (billed annually).
8. WordPress.com
The best website builder for people who want flexibility
- Overall rating: 3/5
- Templates: varies based on plan
- Blogging tool? ✅
- Ecommerce functionality? ✅
- Free plan? ✅
- Paid plans from: $2.75 / month
WordPress.com is a service that gives you an easy way to create a website built with the open-source WordPress software. It’s an offer that’s kind of similar to Bluehost’s but not entirely. WordPress powers 42.5% of all the websites on the internet, and WordPress.com gives you the simplest way of getting into the WordPress ecosystem. 7
The open-source WordPress software, AKA WordPress.org, is free software that you can install on your own web hosting. It’s a great way to make a website, but it’s not quite a “website builder” because you’re the one responsible for installing and maintaining the software.
WordPress.com is a service based on WordPress that brings a more website builder-like experience to WordPress by handling all of the setup and maintenance for you. But, as long as you pay for the WordPress.com Business plan, you still get access to pretty much all of the flexibility of WordPress, including the ability to install your own themes and plugins.
With plugins, you can add pretty much any feature to your site. You can even create a WordPress-powered ecommerce store powered by the WooCommerce plugin.
How it works ⚙️
Unlike self-hosted WordPress, you can get started with a website powered by WordPress.com just by registering for an account.
From there, WordPress.com will launch you into a simple setup wizard where you can add details for your site, choose a theme, and make some other basic choices.
Adding new posts is also quite simple. It’s basically a standard WordPress interface:
You can find a WordPress plugin for literally any feature imaginable, which means that WordPress gives you perhaps the most flexibility of all the platforms shown here. Check out some of the most popular plugins to get some ideas.
Ease of use and time investment ⏲️
While the self-hosted WordPress software is a little more complex than your average website builder, the WordPress.com service does a good job of simplifying things.
The setup wizard can have you up and running with a working website in just a few minutes. For simple sites, that might be all you need.
Unlike self-hosted WordPress, you won’t need to worry about security or maintenance when you create your site with WordPress.com since all that is handled by the platform natively.
Pros and cons 👍
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – You can use the WordPress block editor to create posts and pages – which has a simple, visual interface. – You can install thousands of third-party plugins and themes if you’re on a paid plan. | – It’s not the most straightforward platform when it comes to editing and customizing your site as it might require additional research beforehand. |
Pricing 💰
While WordPress.com does have a free plan and some cheap plans, we don’t recommend those plans if you’re looking for a full-featured website builder. The paid plans start from $2.75 / month if you’re willing to pay for three years upfront.
Conclusion 🤔
No single website builder will work best for everyone. The right pick comes down to what you’re trying to build and how much you’re willing to spend. Here’s how I’d break it down:
- Wix is the strongest all-around choice. It’s flexible, has solid AI tools, and works for most types of sites. If you’re not sure what you need, start here.
- Squarespace is the go-to for creatives. Its templates look great out of the box, and the editor stays clean and simple.
- Shopify is the clear winner for online stores. It’s built for ecommerce from the ground up, and it shows. If selling products is your main goal, don’t look elsewhere.
- Webflow is built for designers who want real CSS-level control still without having to write all the code by hand. The learning curve is steep and pricing gets complex, so skip it if you’re a beginner.
- Bluehost Website Builder is a smart choice if you want the power of WordPress without the setup headache. The price is hard to beat, especially for new site owners.
- Claude Code and Claude Design let you build a site by describing what you want to an AI. You own the code and can host it anywhere, but usage limits hit fast and Claude Code requires terminal experience.
- Weebly is a decent pick if you want something simple and low-cost. It’s not the most powerful option, but it gets the job done for basic sites.
- WordPress.com suits people who want long-term flexibility. With access to thousands of plugins and themes, you can build almost anything.
My overall advice: if you’re new to building websites, go with Wix or Squarespace. If you’re selling online, go with Shopify. If you want room to grow and don’t mind a bit more work, Bluehost is worth the effort. If you have a design background and want full control, Webflow is worth the learning curve. And if you’re comfortable with AI tools and want to own your code outright, Claude Code and Claude Design are worth exploring.
Website builder FAQ 🙋
As we finish out our collection, let’s run over some common questions you might have…
Squarespace and Wix are the easiest to get started with. Squarespace’s editor is cleaner. Wix gives you more options, which can feel overwhelming at first. Claude Design is also accessible for non-developers since it’s browser-based.
Shopify. It’s built specifically for ecommerce and covers everything: products, payments, shipping, and marketing. The other builders support selling too, but Shopify is the strongest pick if that’s your main goal.
Wix, Weebly, WordPress.com, and Webflow all offer free plans. Squarespace and Shopify offer free trials instead.
Bluehost starts at $3.79 per month. WordPress.com is $2.75 per month. Webflow starts at $14.00 and Claude Pro at $17.00 per month.
Webflow gives you the most control among visual builders – it exposes real CSS properties through its interface. Claude Code goes even further since it writes code with no platform lock-in.
Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Bluehost, and Webflow all include AI features. Weebly and WordPress.com don’t. Claude Code and Claude Design are AI-first – the whole workflow runs through conversation.
Bluehost Website Builder and WordPress.com both make that easy. They handle the setup for you so you don’t have to install or maintain anything yourself.
Have any other questions about picking the best website builder for your business? Leave a comment and we’ll try to help out!
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- https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all ↩︎
- https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all ↩︎
- https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all ↩︎
- https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-webflow ↩︎
- https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/26/17286954/square-weebly-buying-acquistion-365-million-website-store-retail ↩︎
- https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all ↩︎
- https://wpshout.com/wordpress-statistics/ ↩︎
