Pros and Cons of the Most Popular Website Building Platforms

Building a website on your own might be a difficult task if you don’t have coding skills. And every owner of a small business can’t hire a developer for their simple website. This is where the website development tools come into play.

There are a large number of such tools available in the market but they also come with disadvantages up to some degree based on the specific needs of the individuals. This article is intended to help you in this regard.

Let us have a look at some of the most popular website building platforms and see how they can help you in this case. We will be considering some intrinsic features to give you insights into their functions.

Squarespace

It is a New York-based web development company that has been very popular for such works. People often praise it for its simplicity and other essential features. It provides paid service starting from $12 a month and $18 a month. You can also use their stores for either $26 or $40 a month.

Squarespace is one of the best options if you want to build a website real quick. Here is your way to the official website. There are several additional features that you can opt for from Squarespace. One such feature allows you to add an online store to your website where you can manage your products easily.

Pros

You get the hosting facility here as well that is quite suitable for enterprise-level infrastructure. Beginners can find it really cool as there are a large number of website designs available here. Apart from that, it enables the users to include several templates on the same website.

Cons

Its limitations in integrating it with third-party services create problems sometimes. In case you opt for the e-commerce feature, you will get a limited number of payment gateways and you can’t include additional gateways in this case. It lacks the ability to support advanced marketing tools.

Strikingly

Strikingly is one of the best options available today if you want to build a highly efficient and responsive website in an easy way. The best part is, your website will be equally friendly to mobile phones and desktops.

It is one of the most preferred options today if you don’t have enough idea about coding and you want to build a website for your business/e-commerce store. We have even written a guide on how to make a website with Strikingly, that you may want to read.

It is highly recommended for the development of single-page websites. You can know more about it by clicking here.

Pros

It offers a 14-day trial for every plan. So, all those who want to try in order to know whether they are compatible with it or not should definitely find this feature awesome. One of the easiest ways to get started.

Just sign in and enter the necessary information. You are now good to go. The availability of a high number of templates that are suitable for phones and desktops is a big deal. All those templates are arranged based on the category to make it simple for you.

Cons

Such platforms offer a wide range of things but those items are not enough to satisfy the varying needs of every individual. There are some limitations in the number of designs you can choose from as you can’t make any changes to the pre-made sections.

Every affordable plan that you may choose here comes with some limitations regarding your ability to publish the number of sites or domains, etc. Lacks some of the highly critical technical features like open graph settings, schema, etc.

Webflow

Webflow is among some of the most popular website building platforms. This platform comes first into people’s minds when they think of building a website without using a single line of code. A large number of small and large businesses have gained benefits from it in getting production-ready websites without making many efforts. You may take a look at it with just a single click here.

Pros

Comes with a large number of templates in which you can make several changes based on your needs. It is quite a relevant option for designers. There are enough SEO tools to ease your efforts in many ways, a feature not found very often in website building platforms. Its ability to work directly with CMS data makes it exceptional in many ways.

Cons

Newbies often blame Webflow for having a really steep curve of learning. This makes it quite difficult for the amateurs to get used to it in the beginning. In case someone has no idea about these things and is looking for easy and affordable ways to build a website, they might be shocked in the beginning.

The two major plans here i.e. site and account are not cheap in any way. The Site plan gives you the ability to import your website while the account plan provides additional features.

Wix

This cloud-based website builder has always been on the list of the most popular website building platforms. It offers a unique and effective combination of an easy interface and powerful tools. This way, you may be sure of getting all you want from such a platform. You can explore their website by clicking here in case you want to know more.

Pros

Wix is quite rich in terms of the template. In that abundance, you can be sure of getting exactly what you want in terms of design. It is a completely hosted platform where you don’t have to worry about hosting at any point in time. Your ability to choose from several free and paid applications in order to equip your website with advanced features.

Cons

Free domain plans irritate several users as branded advertisements are shown in that case. You will need to opt for other plans in order to get rid of those ads. The process to shift your website away from Wix is quite complicated. Those who have opted for the Connect domain plan may also need to buy a separate domain name in some cases which make this deal quite expensive.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is among the most popular website building platforms when it comes to providing blogging and hosting services.

Run by Automatic, it comes with tons of features that make it one of the most preferred platforms in this category. You should never confuse it with the self-hosted platform called WordPress.org, that is a different thing. Click here to know more about WordPress.com.

Pros

It is powered by WordPress software and hence you don’t have to worry about backup and other such issues. A large number of these are available to choose from. Some of them are free while others are paid, you will surely find the one you need in this case. The built-in customisation tool also helps you make changes based on your demands.

Cons

Adding custom plugins will not be possible without upgrading to the business plan. People are not satisfied with the lack of e-commerce features in lower plans. Even if you upgrade to the premium plan, you will have to abide by certain terms and conditions.

Final thoughts

These were some of the most popular website building platforms available today. You might choose one from the list based on your taste and preferences. We hope the lists of pros and cons help you choose the better one.