Looking for a website builder for your startup? One that’s affordable, easy to use, and has all the built-in tools you need to run and grow your business?
Whether you’re a local brick-and-mortar business or an e-commerce startup, you need a professional website that attracts customers and makes buying what you’re selling easy.
How do you find a website solution designed for everyday entrepreneurs short on time, resources, and “tech skills”?
This list has you covered. Here’s a breakdown of the best website builders for startups in 2024:
Let’s get started.
1. Wix
Wix is a website-building tool for beginners great for individuals or startups.
Need help with SEO? Wix has a questionnaire you fill out for easy SEO optimization. After you’re done, it suggests keywords and phrases related to your industry so you can include them in your content.
The best part? Wix takes the guesswork out of website construction, from assigning the domain name to creating landing pages for different user engagements, including blogs and a secure online store feature.
Pricing starts at $16 per month.
2. Squarespace
If WordPress were a PC, Squarespace would be Apple. That’s because it’s very well designed and has everything you need beautifully built into the product.
Unlike WordPress, which relies on a community of third-party plug-ins. While that may give WordPress more options, if you are looking for a turnkey website builder, Squarespace is what you want.
Squarespace has stunning templates for every industry, e-commerce tools, blogs, SEO, forms, newsletters, and social media tools all standard. Whatever you need to do, Squarespace makes it easy.
Pricing starts at $16 per month.
3. Mailchimp
Mailchimp has moved beyond just email, offering a complete integrated marketing solution for startups and growing small businesses. And Mailchimp understands that building a website is part of that complete solution.
Mailchimp has taken the guesswork out of website construction, like its email campaign tools, even for people with no design background. Each page guides you with a tutorial suggesting plug-ins, including a secure payment page for online shopping.
Mailchimp offers a free version and premium plans starting at $10 per month.
4. WordPress
WordPress is the most popular website builder on the planet. Over 40% of websites use it.
Anyone can use WordPress, from single bloggers to Fortune 500 Companies. And for good reason. It’s great for blogging, user-friendly, and has thousands of third-party plug-ins that allow you to do anything with little to no coding.
Pricing starts at $4 per month.
5. HostGator
Unlike many other web hosting sites, Host Gator utilizes AI to create a website layout and basic plugins based on a questionnaire filled out by the user.
Instead of time-consuming drag-and-drop layouts and plug-ins, the AI feature allows sites to be created in minutes. Plus Host Gator comes with a free SSL certificate for all plan types.
Pricing starts at $3.84 per month.
6. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is another one of those all-around great e-commerce platforms, and in particular, gets points for being easy to use, even for people with limited technical knowledge or skills.
The platform is very user-friendly, making it easy to put together a site, and if you encounter any difficulties, the company has really good customer support. It has several built-in features, such as pamphlets, coupons, shipping, and analytics.
It’s also set up to easily integrate with social media and other platforms such as eBay and Google Shopping.
Pricing starts at $29.95 per month.
7. Shopify
Shopify is the leader in eCommerce platforms, scalable from one-person businesses to large companies. Shopify integrates with everything from Quickbooks to Etsy.
And there is a marketplace of freelance Shopify experts to help with email and social media marketing, SEO, and overall web layout. These experts can also help with Google Business Profile (GBP) and Google Ads Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.
Pricing starts at $29 per month.
8. Weebly
Weebly is great for first-time entrepreneurs on a budget, offering a free website builder with easy-to-follow tutorials. Even if you’ve never built a website, you can use Weebly to create a responsive and user-friendly one. It’s part of the Square product suite, integrated with all Square products.
With Weebly, you can start with the free version and then upgrade when right.
Premium plans start at $6 per month.
9. GoDaddy
GoDaddy offers more than just domain names. That’s a great place to start when building a website from scratch. And GoDaddy can help from A to Z.
Whether building a website to show off your portfolio or setting up a store to sell anything from cookies to digital recipes to baking classes, you can do it all with GoDaddy’s Websites + Marketing product suite.
Pricing starts at $9.99 per month.
10. shift4shop
Shift4shop is a super simple website builder that is easy to use and packed with features.
Shift4shop sites also have a solid track record for growing small business sales. The platform has been designed with SEO in mind, so it is set up to give you your best chance of ranking on Google and driving more traffic to your store.
Plans are low-priced and straightforward, making them easy to understand, though some businesses will find the single-price packages limiting.
Shift4shop offers a free version. Premium plans start at $29 per month.
Editor’s Note: The article is part of the blog series Start Your Business, brought to you by the marketing team at Unitel, the virtual phone system priced and designed for startups and small business owners.
