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Shopify If Wix is the clear favorite for most website building needs, Shopify fills that role for an e-commerce store. The platform offers an easy and user-friendly way to get an e-commerce website store up and running online, and it supports business owners throughout the process with their e-commerce tools.
Given that its user base is fairly defined, Shopify doesn't offer a plethora of plan options, and its prices come in above the market average. The "Basic Shopify" plan is $29 a month and covers most of the basic needs for an online store, while the $79-a-month plan offers gift cards and more staff accounts.
Big, Commerce Big, Commerce lives up to its name -- it's best for medium- to large-scale online stores that can cash in on the lack of added transaction fees and unlimited product variants. The store site builder might not be quite as easy to use as Shopify's, but the amount of time you spend getting used to it could save you a lot of money down the road.
No transaction fees -- they even have a discount deal worked out with Pay, Pal where you can save an additional 0. 5% to 1% -- strikes us as a major deal-maker depending on your size, so if you're a bigger operation, take advantage of the 15-day trial and give Big, Commerce a shot.
By first establishing your priorities and direction, it will be easier to find a match for the best website builder and avoid buyer's remorse down the road. In terms of pricing, most builders offer two to four different price tiers, each with a different set of features. This can make comparing services difficult, since they don't make it easy to line up apples-to-apples, but that's a big reason why we've created this handy guide! Generally speaking, you can get a good individual website built for around $8 to $10 a month with an annual subscription.
That being said, each site builder has pros and cons when it comes to level of usability or ease-of-use based on the features, flexibility and intuitive design of the editing interface. On one end of the spectrum you have a builder like Wix, which is very easy to use but also comprehensive -- the sheer number of options and tools makes it hard to whip up a site quickly.
Most people will want to devote enough time to their site that it serves its purpose of representing you online in a good light, so we generally recommend you take the time to learn your editor and take advantage of the many options available. How much design control do you want? Wix offers a pretty comprehensive suite of site editing tools.
There are builders like Squarespace that have a fairly rigid design structure, but still let you customize fonts, colors and content, and on the other end of the spectrum you have a site like Wix, that lets you place objects anywhere on your site (at your own risk!), or Duda, which allows you to customize the mobile experience or create custom user experiences based on browsing history.
The number of navigation levels, for example (which you can think of like file folders (or Inception): a page within a directory within another directory would represent three levels of navigation), can be an important consideration. Most pages probably use two levels -- sections and the pages within each section, but online stores and other types of sites might need more.
If you're afraid of commitment or think you might want to switch as your business or services evolve, go with a service like Weebly or Duda that allows you to download your website files for easy use on another host. The other big factor here is the free trial period.
Word, Press has the steepest learning curve among all the website builders on this list. For that reason, we only recommend choosing Word, Press if you’re a blogger or you’re technologically savvy and want complete control over your site. Starting at $2. 95/mo (with Bluehost), Word, Press is an attractive option for bloggers and tech-savvy business owners alike.
Squarespace: Best Choice for Service-Based Businesses If you’re in the service industry, you may want to consider building your website with Squarespace. Although this platform is also used by creatives, it offers elegant, polished website templates that are attractive to service industry business owners as well. Squarespace offers Squarespace Scheduling, a fee-based add-on that will give you the ability to schedule appointments and accept payments online.
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