What Should I Compare Before Picking a Website Builder?

When comparing website builders, focus on your site goals first, then check the platform’s ease of use, design flexibility, pricing, and key features.

What to compare

• Purpose fit: Choose based on what you need most, such as a simple informational site, services and bookings, or an online store.
• Ease of use: Look at how intuitive the editor is, especially if you want to build without technical skills.
• Design and templates: Compare template quality, design flexibility, and whether you can customise layouts easily.
• Pricing: Check the starting price, renewal cost, free plan availability, and any extra fees for domains, commerce, or add-ons.
• E-commerce features: If you plan to sell online, compare product tools, checkout options, sales features, and scalability.
• SEO tools: Make sure it has built-in SEO basics like meta tags, clean URLs, and helpful optimisation tools.
• Apps and integrations: Compare how well it connects with payment gateways, email tools, analytics, bookings, and marketing apps.
• AI features: Some builders now include AI site generation, text writing, image creation, and SEO help.
• Support and reliability: Check customer support options and whether the platform is stable for long-term use.
• Performance and limits: Compare storage, data transfer, mobile loading, and any plan restrictions.

Quick shortlist by use case

• Best for flexibility: Wix
• Best for services and bookings: Squarespace
• Best for online stores: Shopify
• Best for low cost: Hostinger Website Builder

If helpful, I can also turn this into a simple comparison checklist you can use before choosing one.