Congratulations! You’re thinking of building your own brilliant WordPress website. But now you’re faced a multitude of questions, including, where is the best place to build my website? It’s a question that often leaves many new to website building scratching their head as they trawl through site builder after site builder, all claiming to be the number one. The good news is that you’re not alone and you’re in the right place. We’re here to help you find the best WordPress site builder for you.
Things to Keep in Mind
- You Get What You Pay For
It’s always tempting to choose the cheapest option but often this can lead to buyer’s remorse. While the budget is important and there are cheaper options that are fantastic solutions, price should not be the only deciding factor when looking for a WordPress builder. As a general rule remember: Cheaper does not mean better.
- Usability is Important
In line with deciding factors, usability is paramount. If you have chosen to build your website yourself and it’s your first time building a website, choosing a builder that you can actually use is a savvy move. You will spend a lot of time on your chosen builder. If you can’t easily navigate the dashboard or find the actual builder difficult to use, it can make the process frustrating and laborious.
Best WordPress Website Builders in 2020
Elementor
Elementor is one of the most popular builders on the market. Offering multiple ways to design your own website and landing pages, their theme builder is one of the easiest ways to build your own website. As well as the usual widgets you’d expect, Elementor also features the following:
Single Post Layout
Great for bloggers, simply design the layout of your blog pages with one centralised design that will reflect across every blog post.
WooCommerce
Elementor theme builders can be integrated with WooCommerce so you can fully customise your own storefront.
Page Search
Most if not all websites now have a search facility, so why not include one in yours? A search function will allow your visitors to easily find the pages and content they need.
Header & Footer Customisation
Customise your header and footer to fully reflect your brand.
Pricing
The only real difference in Elementor’s pricing structure is the number of websites you can have within your subscription. All the benefits that come with each subscription are the same. Most businesses only require one website and anyone that needs to build more than three websites will most likely be a developer.
One website costs users $49 for the year and gives you access to:
- 90+ widgets
- 300+ pro themes
- Theme Builder
- WooCommerce Builder
- PopUp Builder
- Support for 1 year
- Updates for 1 year
Elementor does offer a free version that is limited to the drag and drop builder and 30 widgets. This is a great option for those building a simple landing page.
Divi Builder by Elegant Themes
Second to Elementor is Divi, a drag and drop builder by Elegant Themes. It doesn’t matter what kind of website you need to build, it’s completely possible with Divi. Offering plenty of staple elements available to users that can be used across your website they include, sliders, blogs, call to actions, testimonials galleries, and forms. So whether you need to build a blog or an events website, Divi can make that happen.
Here are the main features that make Divi a popular option for website builders.
Drag and Drop
Drag and drop design makes it easier for beginners to design their own website. Without needing any code at all, users can add, delete, and change any elements on the builder to suit their brand and needs.
CSS Customisation
For some, the ability to customise any aspect of their website is a must. So if you have coding experience, want to roll your sleeves up and get stuck into truly customising your website, you can do so with Divi’s CSS controls.
Responsive Design
One of the most important aspects of web design is having a fully responsive website. Especially in today’s world when websites aren’t just viewed on desktop screens. Having a website that can be easily viewed via tablet and mobile is an absolute must.
Inline Text Editing
No messing around, simply type and go.
Design Organisation
Having your own custom designs on hand is useful when designing. Instead of uploading images and graphics every time you need them. You can simply upload them once and access them via your Divi folders whenever you need to add them to your website.
Revisions
Changing your mind is normal when designing a website. Having the ability to undo, redo, and go back through your site’s history is a great tool to have in your toolkit. You’ll never lose a version of your website that you might need to refer back to later on.
Pricing
Elegant themes offer two subscription options which act as a license to access any of their products including the Divi Builder. The first option is the “Yearly Access” subscription which costs $89 per year. The second is their “Lifetime Access” which is a one-off payment of $249. Both options give you access to
- Access To Divi, Extra, Bloom & Monarch
- Hundreds Of Website Packs
- Product Updates
- Premium Support
- Unlimited Website Usage
- Risk-Free Guarantee
The only difference between the two options is the price and lifetime access. The one-off payment will gain you access to these features for life which is great value for money if you won’t be changing builders anytime in the future.
Beaver Builder
With over 175,000 live websites built using their builder plugin, Beaver Builder is a great solution for those who need a website but don’t want to think too much about the design aspect. As they put it, “We did the hard part for you. Swap in some text and images and you’re done!”
All you need to do is pick a template, add your text and images and if you fancy it, change the fonts and colours to suit your brand. All of their designs are customisable and highly responsive. And because Beaver Builder separates the theme from the builder, should you choose to stop using Beaver Builder all of your content will revert back to the WordPress editor.
Pricing
Beaver Builder offers three subscription tiers: Standard, Pro, and Agency. The standard and pro subscriptions seem to be the best option for individuals. The standard subscription costs $99 annually and is best for those who already have a WordPress website. The Pro package will set you back $199 and offers everything the standard package does with the addition of the Beaver Builder theme and multi-site capabilities.
Themify
Themify is the place to buy your own drag and drop WordPress themes because this is their main offer, the actual themify builder plugin is free to install. Their designs are modular, making it quicker to modify and duplicate the layout. Themify is a popular choice for those who haven’t got much website design experience and the following features are designed to make building your website less painful.
Frontend & Backend
A frontend and backend allow users to preview their site so you can see how it will look before it goes live.
Revisions
Make easy revision with the undo and redo functionality.
Duplicate
Need more modules and rows? Simply duplicate them to save time.
Import & Export
Easily import and export lists of data into your module columns.
Responsive
Themify websites are fully responsive, ensuring that your website looks fantastic on any device.
Translation
The ability to translate a website into any language is an important tool for many businesses and Themify has this one in its toolkit.
Pricing
The Themify builder is completely free to install. However, if users wish to take advantage of other plugins such as WooCommerce, Contact Forms and Sliders, then you need to buy the add-on bundle for $39.
Brizy
Brizy is built on React, the open-source javascript developed by Facebook. Brizy’s drag and drop editor is one of the easiest ways to build your WordPress site. All designs can be edited in real-time and are fully responsive. A lot of their elements are included in the free version of their builder so you can easily use Brizy to build a fully functioning website without the worry of having to upgrade. Here are some of the other features other users like about Brizy.
Copy & Paste
Easily copy and paste elements from page to page without messing with the layout.
Autosave
No need to panic when your internet cuts out or if you accidentally close your browser, Brizy autosaves your edits as you go so you’ll never lose your work.
Undo & Redo
Want to work out whether you need that extra slider? No biggy, just add it and undo it if you don’t like it.
Mega Menu – Coming Soon
Brizy are developing what they call a Mega Menu, which will accommodate websites that require a large and complex header menu.
Pricing
Brizy are quite generous when it comes to the free version of their WordPress builder. Here’s what they offer for free:
- Drag & Drop
- Real-Time Editing
- 26 Builder Elements
- Responsive Control
- Contact Forms
- Sliders
- Global Blocks
- Saved Blocks
- Reorder Blocks
- Undo / Redo
- Autosave
- Right-Click Menu
The only things you can’t get with the free builder are access to:
- Headers and Footers
- Pop-up Builder
- Role Manager
Users can go pro for $49 per year which gives them the ability to host 3 websites. You can also buy a lifetime license for $299.