Best Website Builders in 2020

Best
Website Builders
Windows Central
2020

The site that you create with the website builders by the companies below feature responsive design. This means when you design your website for viewing on a web browser, its layout will automatically reformat when viewed on a smartphone so that it looks like it was originally designed for the device. (Thus, you don’t need to go through the hassle of developing two versions of your website.) Also, these hosting companies allow you to build e-commerce into your website, although many of them charge you a little more for this.

The best deal for a package that includes a website builder and hosting is by Namecheap.

Best Deal Overall: Namecheap

Namecheap’s website builder is included for free with its shared hosting plans. It comes with over 200 templates (categorized under Business, E-Commerce, Entertainment, Personal, Social, and Technology). You can build e-commerce into your site with support for EasyPay, PayPal, and Skrill. And it lets you choose from over 45 written languages for your website. If you have a site already on another host, this builder can import its design over to your Namecheap account.

Namecheap’s shared hosting plans include unlimited bandwidth, backup of your website, database (MySQL), email, and SSL certificate. The amount of webspace is 20 GB, 50 GB, or unlimited. Your files are stored on SSDs.

The cheapest plan can host three of your domains. The other two allow for an unlimited number of domains. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.

GreenGeek’s website builder is included for free with its shared hosting plans. It comes with hundreds of templates available in dozens of categories. You can build e-commerce into your site with support for PayPal Express by default and other payment platforms such as 2Checkout, iPayment, and Skrill. Search Engine Optimization tools help your website get found in Google searches.

GreenGeeks sells three shared hosting plans. They come with unlimited bandwidth and storage on SSD, and several other things: backup of your website, domain registration, email with an unlimited number of accounts, SSL certificate, and unlimited MySQL databases.

The Lite plan can only be used to host one website and domain; Pro and Premium allow for an unlimited number. Premium also comes with a dedicated IP address. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.

HostGator sells three hosting plans that include a website builder: Starter, Premium, and eCommerce. The builder comes with templates available in five categories (Blog, Business, eCommerce, Portfolio, and Technology). It also includes an analytics tool that shows you how well your site is performing in terms of visitor traffic.

These three plans all have unmetered bandwidth and storage, and also include backup of your website, domain registration, and SSL certificate.

The eCommerce plan is the only one that lets you build an e-commerce site, and this plan costs the most at $9.22 per month. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 45 days.

Hostinger’s website builder is included for free with its shared hosting plans. It comes with hundreds of templates, and Search Engine Optimization tools to get your site found in Google searches. You can also build e-commerce into your website under any of these three plans.

The Single plan has the most limitations. Your site gets 100 GB of bandwidth. And it can only have one database (MySQL), one email address account, and host only one domain and website. Web storage is on SSD with 10 GB.

Under Premium and Business, there are no limits on bandwidth. Both plans include domain registration, and they can host an unlimited number of databases, email accounts, and domains and websites. Only Business provides SSL certificate. Web storage is on SSD with 20 GB for Premium, and 30 GB for Business. All three plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.

IONOS sells three hosting plans that are centered around a website builder. It comes with hundreds of templates available in 12 categories (such as Arts & Leisure, Construction & Real Estate, and Retail & Commerce). This builder makes it convenient to install features onto your site that your visitors can interact with, such as customer reviews, a maps and route planner, and a photo gallery. Your site can also have international support so that a visitor can view it in their area’s primary written language.

As for the hosting itself, all three plans come with unlimited bandwidth and storage, and website backup. You get free domain registration for as long as you keep subscribing to one of these plans, and an SSL certificate.

All plans come with email accounts; the basic plan includes five, but the other two (called Pro and Store) come with 10. Both Pro and Store include email marketing and SEO tools to help optimize your site showing up in Google search results. These plans also let you add tailored content to your website, which can present content specifically targeted to your visitors based on how often or what time they visit, or where they are located. The Store plan is the only one that lets you build an e-commerce site, and it supports payment through bank transfer, credit card, and PayPal and also across multiple currencies. The Store plan is the most expensive at $20 per month.

IONOS doesn’t state a money-back guarantee other than that you can cancel anytime.

Wix has over 500 templates that you can choose from to start building your site, organized under 17 categories such as Business, Online Store, and Portfolio & CV. Or, Wix can ask you a few questions about the kind of site you’d like to have; a template based on your typed-in answers will be created. And you can install from over 200 hundred web apps to add features to your site that your visitors can interact with (such as a forum, online store, or photo gallery). There’s an SEO tool to help make your site show up in Google searches.

For no money, you can build a site and let Wix host it, but it will have an ad by Wix and will be hosted under the Wix domain. To use your own domain and to have these ads removed, you need to upgrade to one of four paid plans. The bandwidth for them ranges from 2 GB to unlimited, and web storage ranges from 3 GB to 20 GB. To have an e-commerce site that accepts payment (such as by credit card, debit card, PayPal, or Square, and in over 40 currencies), you have to choose from one of three “Business & eCommerce” plans which start at $23 per month.

All of these plans come with domain registration and SSL certificate. They come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.

Bottom line

If you need to build a website from scratch, and put it online, but don’t know where to start, considering a company that provides a website builder when you sign up for a hosting plan can be a great solution to cut down on the hassle.

For the best value, take a look at Namecheap. Its website builder lets you build an e-commerce site that supports payments, and easily add features to your site for your visitors to interact with. On the hosting side, Namecheap’s include unlimited bandwidth, database (MySQL), email, and SSL certificate. You can build a website, and an e-commerce one, that has sufficient bandwidth and security without spending a lot.

Credits — Who worked on this guide

Howard Wen is the Web Hosting Researcher for Windows Central. Throughout his career, he’s written about technology for several publications that include Computerworld, MAKE, Popular Science, Salon, and Wired.

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.