Whether you’re a freelancer, independent consultant, or small-business owner, the digital economy has shown it’s more important than ever to have a business website. And while it’s great to learn new skills, at the end of the day, you need to focus on your core business.
Luckily, free website builder tools and templates mean you don’t have to be a coding whiz to create a simple business website.
Website builder software makes it possible to quickly create your own website with web design tools, domain hosting, and coding and template options. This software may also include widgets for social networking integrations, eCommerce functionality, credit card processing, and multimedia. Some tools also include a built-in SEO tool to help your website perform better on search engine results pages (SERPs).
To help you decide, we put together this list of three top-rated, free website builder tools from GetApp's website builder Category Leaders report. The Category Leaders report uses ratings from end-users in five key areas: ease of use, value for money, functionality, customer support, and likelihood to recommend. Products are listed in alphabetical order; you can find our selection methodology at the bottom of the page.
Bookmark is an eCommerce site builder tool designed to help small businesses leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create custom websites and online stores. You can monitor your performance metrics, website traffic, views, and website visitors' geographical location or language.
Bookmark's drag-and-drop interface offers a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) website builder tool so you don’t have to publish your code to see the results of style tweaks. Users can customize their eCommerce websites or blogs by adding backgrounds, products, and coupons.
Its AI-enabled design assistant, AiDA, uses machine learning algorithms to provide industry-specific suggestions about website elements and layouts. You can also use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption capabilities and HTTPS protocols to protect data and payment transactions.
Websites created with Bookmark can integrate with several third-party shipping solutions and social media platforms. Customer support is offered via FAQs and live chat.
Pricing
Bookmark’s free plan includes a Bookmark subdomain, 500MB storage, 1GB of bandwidth, cloud hosting, SSL security, a blog, and mobile-responsive website design.
Paid plans start at $14.99 per month; Bookmark offers discounts if you pay for an annual subscription.
Edit style functionality in Bookmark website builder tool (Source)
IM Creator is a site builder that allows you to easily create and edit a responsive website. This tool also enables users to create scalable eCommerce sites. A unique IM Creator feature is that the product can also be fully white labeled (when your company purchases another business' digital services and then offers it to customers under your own brand name), allowing you to create a complete website building business if you’re so inclined.
IM Creator is SEO-friendly and web standards compliant. Their sites look great on multiple operating systems, tablets, mobile devices, and most browsers.
Pricing
IM Creator’s free plan includes a URL in the form of imxprs.com/free/username/, up to 50MB hosting, access to its entire templates collection, and basic support.
To upgrade, the premium tier starts at $8 per month.
Available templates in IM Creator’s free website builder tool (Source)
Weebly is an eCommerce site builder solution designed for small and midsize businesses. It offers inventory management, website management, and mobile app management. This system offers two deployment options: cloud-based (a third party hosts your software in the cloud) and on-premise (you host the software on your own servers).
Weebly offers web hosting and online store management, so users can create mobile-responsive business websites using default templates and drag-and-drop functionality. It also features shopping cart management, so users can add carts and checkout pages to their websites. Weebly users can also add filtered product searches on product and category pages to help customers shortlist items.
Weebly offers online support, FAQs, and video tutorial support options.
Pricing
Weebly’s free plan includes SSL security, shopping carts, inventory management, in-store pickup, an automatic tax calculator, and coupons.
Paid tiers start at $9 per month.
Website editor on Weebly website builder (Source)
Building a professional website doesn’t have to be a stumbling block for your small business. In fact, custom websites can be overly costly and impractical for the quick updates needed in today’s new normal.
With the wealth of free website creation tools out there, it’s just a matter of finding the right one.
Check out GetApp’s list of top-rated Website Builder Category Leaders report, where you can see what software applications rose to the top based on ratings from end-users in five key areas: ease of use, value for money, functionality, customer support, and likelihood to recommend.
You can also visit our website builder directory where you can filter by company size and organization type to help return customized results.
Products in this list were included in GetApp's Category Leader for Website Building, 2020. Category Leaders products that do not offer free versions were not considered.
Products also had to meet our website builder market definition: website builder software makes it possible to quickly create your own website with design tools, templates, domain hosting, and coding options. This software may also include widgets for social networking integrations, credit card processing, and multimedia. Several of these applications also include built-in SEO tools to help your website perform better in searches. Some related applications can be found in the content management software and landing page software categories.
