5 Best Website Builders (Tested & Ranked)

0:00 The time has come for me to build a new website.

0:03 The last time I made a new site for my business, it was a rush job.

0:07 And I think we can all agree my old site was “meh” at best.

0:11 I know there are better tools available today that will let me

0:14 finish my site much faster and help make it look so much better.

0:18 I'm Nick and today we're going to build my new website five

0:21 times with five different tools and get an idea of how they work.

0:25 Each of these tools will let you design and even

0:28 publish for free with some options for upgraded subscriptions,

0:31 and all of them can help you link your own custom domain.

0:35 To start, we're partnering with Framer,

0:37 which ended up being my favorite all-around website builder

0:40 because it's super easy and fast to get started,

0:42 but it scales up significantly if you want more powerful features.

0:46 The first thing I noticed was that I loved the templates.

0:49 Let's let somebody else handle the initial design work.

0:52 And whether you use a template or start with a blank page,

0:56 you can always work with Wireframer, which is Framer's AI design assistant.

0:59 I removed a few things from the template and rewrote some placeholder text.

1:03 And when you select any object on the page,

1:06 you have a properties panel on the right

1:08 with an incredible amount of adjustments you can make.

1:11 And this is where you would go to swap out pictures from a template,

1:15 but also to change the size, links, and even animations on objects.

1:20 On the left, there are three tabs.

1:21 There's a tab where you can choose which page you want to work on.

1:24 And the assets tab helps you manage styles.

1:27 From the styles, I was able to quickly

1:30 change the color of buttons across my site.

1:33 If we zoom out, we can see

1:35 that every Framer project starts with three break points.

1:39 These are alternative layouts of your site for desktop, tablet, and phone.

1:43 The changes you make are updated across all breakpoints,

1:47 but you can make specific adjustments to the tablet

1:50 and the phone layouts if you need to.

1:53 Next, there's the overall design philosophy.

1:55 The design tools start easy,

1:56 and you can stick with the easy tools, but if you need them,

2:00 there are significantly more powerful features that work

2:03 a lot like other professional design apps.

2:06 Some people even use Framer for their design

2:08 work as an alternative to apps like Figma.

2:11 So, let's say you wanted to add a video to a page.

2:15 From the insert menu,

2:16 you can add a new section with a pre-made layout or add individual objects.

2:20 You can drag an object from the insert menu directly to your page,

2:25 then use the properties panel to modify it.

2:27 If you were embedding a YouTube video,

2:29 this is where you would put in the link for your own video, among other things.

2:33 But if you want far more control over the layout,

2:36 you might start in the layout menu where you can create your own frame layouts.

2:41 And you can design specific layouts outside of the page canvas,

2:45 something that Framer borrows from Figma.

2:48 This lets you get everything looking exactly

2:51 how you want without disturbing your page.

2:54 And if you're not a Figma designer,

2:56 Framer has a secret weapon to help you get running fast.

2:59 Framer Academy is a huge library of video courses

3:02 and tutorials to help you learn everything you need.

3:05 Using tips from Framer Academy,

3:06 I was able to design that custom layout for my sample videos.

3:10 I can easily compare that to what is already on the page.

3:14 And when I'm ready, I can move the frame I don't

3:17 want out of the page and move my new layout in.

3:20 And when you're ready, the publish button immediately publishes your site

3:23 with an address on Framer’s subdomain.

3:26 But Framer can also help you register a new

3:28 domain or link your own if you already have one.

3:31 And we didn't even see Framer's robust content management system

3:35 that can help you manage your assets as you grow

3:38 your business or the plug-in system so you can add

3:41 more features like an online store or third party app integration.

3:44 But I was able to build out a site

3:47 that mixes simple layout with more complex designs, which I'm very happy with.

3:52 The next builder I wanted to check out is Wix.

3:55 Wix is designed to help you through the entire process.

3:58 You might feel like it's sort of holding your hand through everything,

4:01 but it does make the process very easy.

4:03 When you first sign in, Wix will start by asking questions about your goals.

4:07 I found that this helped me consider

4:09 some valuable options that I hadn't thought of.

4:12 After all those questions, you land on the dashboard,

4:14 and Wix wants to walk you through some of the back-end setup tasks,

4:18 including buying a new domain.

4:19 But I wanted to design my site and preview

4:22 it before linking a domain or buying a subscription.

4:25 Fortunately, you can do that by going straight to the design site button.

4:30 You can choose a template or you can use Arya,

4:33 the AI chat assistant, to build the site.

4:35 It already filled in a prompt based on the questions it asked earlier.

4:39 When it finishes generating the site,

4:41 the editing system and the site preview are

4:44 together in one single interface called the Harmony Editor.

4:47 You're already seeing what the site will look like in a web browser and you

4:51 can switch between the desktop or phone version

4:52 of the site and do your work there.

4:55 When you select an object, like a picture,

4:57 your adjustments are all the way up at the top.

4:59 This is where you can swap in your own pictures or add a link.

5:03 If you select a text box, you can change the font and other styling options.

5:08 Now, I asked Arya to include YouTube videos on my page.

5:12 You'll probably recognize the video that they chose for the placeholder.

5:15 I'll select one and use the replace video button

5:18 to paste in the link for my own video.

5:22 Moving, resizing, or adjusting objects is very straightforward.

5:25 You can basically just drag and move things anywhere.

5:29 And when you're ready, you can publish the page,

5:32 which makes it live and accessible on the web with a Wix subdomain.

5:36 You'll need to upgrade to a subscription if you want to connect

5:40 your own domain or have Wix help you register a domain.

5:43 and you can set that up and access

5:46 other management tools by going back to the dashboard.

5:48 So, if you want a building tool that handles

5:51 as much of the work for you as possible, Wix is a good option.

5:55 I was able to build a great looking site without much work.

5:58 Now, what if a familiar interface is your biggest priority?

6:01 You might want to take a look at Canva.

6:04 Of course, Canva is the go-to tool for designing graphics and assets,

6:08 but many people are unaware that Canva can also build websites.

6:12 On the main page, there is an option to use the Canva AI,

6:16 but if you start there,

6:17 any changes you want to make to your site will need to be done in the AI chat,

6:22 not in Canva’s traditional editing tools.

6:24 So instead, I recommend you click the create button on the homepage.

6:28 Go to the websites category, then choose the option for website,

6:32 and you can describe what you want in the chat field,

6:35 and click search to find a template that matches your description,

6:38 or click generate to get the AI to generate something based on that description.

6:43 When you find a template or a generated site that you like,

6:46 just click it to work with that design.

6:48 The site that you get here can be edited exactly how you

6:52 would edit a graphic or a poster that you're designing in Canva.

6:55 So, if you already know Canva, this makes things much easier.

6:59 And there's a publish button when you're done.

7:01 You can create an address on Canva’s subdomain or Canva

7:05 can help you register a domain or link your own.

7:08 If you already use Canva, then you already know how most of the tools work.

7:13 Canva is a design-focused platform that may already be familiar

7:17 to you even if it's not as powerful as the other builders.

7:21 Next, what if you need to build a website really fast?

7:24 I think that Google Sites can get you

7:26 from zero to published site as quickly as possible,

7:29 but it does come with some pretty serious limitations.

7:32 You can make a blank site or open the template

7:35 gallery and you'll find a pretty limited selection of templates.

7:38 We can pick a template that's pretty close to what we need.

7:41 Not the greatest design, but good for a quick job.

7:44 You can still make style adjustments by going to the themes

7:47 tab and choosing a different theme and color palette.

7:49 You can go to the pages tab to see all

7:52 of the pages on your site or add more pages.

7:55 Now, starting on the homepage, you can edit the placeholder text.

7:59 When you select a piece of text, you get the formatting tools,

8:02 including the very important option to add a link.

8:05 It's easy to replace pictures either by uploading

8:08 new pictures or choosing pictures from your Google Photos.

8:11 And of course, you can select a picture and add a link to that as well.

8:15 I'll switch to another page where there is a universal placeholder.

8:19 Click the plus button to add a picture,

8:22 video, calendar event, or even Google map location.

8:24 This is a great way to add embedded YouTube videos.

8:28 Go to the insert tab to add more elements or build out your site manually.

8:33 When you preview your sites, you'll see that they are responsive and can

8:37 be previewed for a computer screen, tablet, or phone.

8:40 You can click the publish button, and Google handles all of the hosting duties.

8:44 And if you do need to connect your own domain,

8:47 you can do that in the settings for your site.

8:49 Now, this is not the most feature-rich or beautifully designed site,

8:53 but I was able to get it online in record time.

8:57 Now, finally, let's say you like the speed and simplicity of Google Sites,

9:02 but the template selection is just too limited.

9:04 You might want to take a look at Carrd.

9:07 After you set up your free account on Carrd,

9:09 you can click the button to make a new site.

9:11 You start with a huge library of beautiful templates,

9:15 but Carrd only makes single page websites.

9:18 So, if you're looking for a multi-page customer portal

9:21 with e-commerce integration and a separate page for employee spotlights,

9:24 that's not what Carrd is for.

9:27 Carrd lets you build single page websites that look great very quickly.

9:31 Your page is full of objects which are generally held inside a container.

9:36 So, you can select individual objects and move them around

9:39 or select and move the container that holds all of the objects.

9:43 When you select an object or a container, the properties panel opens.

9:47 And in that panel, you can change the content

9:49 and the format of what you have selected.

9:52 If there's a placeholder picture,

9:53 you can swap in your own picture and modify it.

9:56 Or if you want to remove something,

9:58 there is a delete button in the properties panel.

10:01 To add objects, you can click the plus button at the top.

10:05 Sometimes you'll need to add a new container first.

10:07 You can set up a container with multiple columns

10:10 so you can control the spacing for multiple videos, pictures, or other objects.

10:14 Then you can add objects to that container.

10:17 You can embed YouTube videos.

10:19 And with that placeholder selected,

10:21 you can go to the properties panel and add the address for your video.

10:26 The editing canvas is your website preview and you can see how

10:30 your website will look on a desktop computer or a mobile device.

10:34 And of course, you can publish for free.

10:37 There is an option to connect your site

10:39 to a domain that you've already registered,

10:41 but that does require a subscription.

10:43 So, if you want something that looks great,

10:46 comes together quickly to share a relatively small amount of information,

10:50 Carrd is a fantastic option.

10:53 So, now I have five great options for my new website.

10:56 And I'm hoping that you found a favorite or two from this list.

10:59 For me, I'll be going live with the site that I built on Framer.

11:03 It's great to know that I'll be able to add an online

11:06 store or organize assets in a custom CMS later if I need to.

11:10 To keep learning, annd for more videos like

11:12 this, be sure to subscribe to this channel.