6 Best WordPress Alternatives to Create a Website
WordPress is versatile, but it’s not the easiest way to create a website. The best WordPress alternatives are more user-friendly, affordable, and full of features—from robust optimization, ecommerce, and online booking to third-party apps for even more functionality. Weighing the pros and cons to find out which of these WordPress competitors to use depends on your budget, intended design, and feature needs.
Based on our evaluation, here are the six best WordPress alternatives:
- Squarespace: Best WordPress alternative for small business websites overall
- GoDaddy: Top WordPress competitor for service businesses and sales teams wanting built-in appointment booking tools
- Wix: Great alternative for small business owners who want to build a custom-looking site
- Bluehost: The most beginner-friendly alternative for building a WordPress-backed website using a custom domain
- Weebly: Best for small ecommerce businesses that need a free or low-cost alternative to WordPress
- IONOS: WordPress alternative with the cheapest paid plans in general
Best WordPress Alternatives at a Glance
Best WordPress alternative | Free plan? | *Paid Plans Starting From | Key features for small business websites |
---|---|---|---|
14-day free trial | $16 |
| |
✓ | $9.99** |
| |
✓ | $16 |
| |
✕ | $2.95** |
| |
✓ | $12*** |
| |
✕ | $1 |
| |
*Monthly cost with annual billing; monthly billing is also available at a higher rate
**First year intro pricing, billed annually, and renews at a higher rate
***Monthly cost of first ad-free paid plan, billed annually
Squarespace: Best WordPress Alternative Overall
What We Like
- 14-day free trial (no credit card required)
- 100+ sleek, modern templates
- Switch templates any time
- User-friendly section-based builder
- Great built-in SEO tools
- Third-party apps, integrations, and add-ons to extend functionality
- 24/7 support
What's Missing
- Not the cheapest, and ecommerce plans get expensive—try Weebly for free ecommerce or IONOS for low-cost all-in-one paid plans
- Not as much customizability as Wix
- Membership, email marketing, and appointment booking tools require purchase of add-ons
How it compares to WordPress
- Much easier to set up and create a site using a website builder than it is with WordPress page builders
- A Squarespace site can be built and published in a few hours, whereas custom WordPress site development can even take weeks or even months
- The cost needed to host a WordPress site (hosting, domain & security) often exceeds the cost of Squarespace’s base plan, and that’s before purchasing premium themes and plugins needed to build and customize a WordPress site
- To get SEO tools comparable to Squarespace’s requires third-party plugins in WordPress
Starting cost
- $16 per month billed annually
- Ecommerce from $23/month
- Annual and monthly billing options
Squarespace tops our list of the best WordPress alternatives. It offers over a hundred visually-rich templates, an easy-to-use section-based editor, and tons of useful built-in tools like a search engine optimization (SEO) guide. If Squarespace’s tools don’t quite cover all your business needs, it also has a third-party application marketplace (though it’s not as comprehensive as Wix’s), as well as extensions and add-ons.
If you’re picky about having a modern website, Squarespace’s capabilities won’t disappoint. Aside from being the best WordPress alternative, it also tops our list of the best website builders for small businesses. In addition, Squarespace is a great WordPress competitor for beginners who need a professional and beautiful website up quickly, with enough customization in both design and features.
Ease of Use
Edit your website with Squarespace’s intuitive, point-and-click section-based editor.
As an all-in-one site builder, Squarespace is inherently easier to set up and use than WordPress. For example, creating a WordPress website generally entails purchasing web hosting, buying a domain, paying for an SSL certificate, installing WordPress, and uploading and activating themes and plugins. In contrast, upon purchasing a plan on Squarespace, you don’t have to worry as hosting, domain, SSL certificate, and themes are already included.
You can set up Squarespace and customize a template for your business’ website in minutes. For this type of easy setup and Squarespace’s top-of-the-line design and features, learn how to build a Squarespace website in five steps.
Squarespace also has a slew of marketing tools at your disposal. One newer feature is the Video Studio mobile app included in every Squarespace plan. Video studio uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help you keep your videos on brand, such as by providing a color palette that matches your website. The app also provides a step-by-step guide and templates to help you create effective video content to engage your audience and increase conversions.
However, as far as all-in-one website builders go, Squarespace’s editor is not the most beginner-friendly. We found that it took quite a while to get used to the minimalist interface and point-and-click editor, but once we got the hang of it, it was smooth sailing.
If you’re an absolute beginner or just want to get your site up and running as quickly as possible, use a sectional editor like GoDaddy instead. For even more options, check out our list of the best Squarespace alternatives.
Squarespace Pricing
Personal | Business | Basic Commerce | |
---|---|---|---|
*Cost / Month | $16 | $23 | $27 |
Free Domain & SSL | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Built-In SEO | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Video Studio App | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Extensions (Plugins) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Advanced Analytics | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Premium Integrations | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Ecommerce | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
*On an annual billing cycle, monthly billing is also available at a higher cost
Top Reasons To Choose Squarespace
Squarespace’s well-rounded features make it our top WordPress competitor. Here are some of its standout features:
- Versatile, modern templates: Squarespace’s modern templates are diverse, applicable to most industries, and visually impactful. You won’t have a problem building a beautiful website with any of Squarespace’s templates as a starting point. In addition, unlike WordPress and most site builders, it’s easy to swap templates in Squarespace without having to rebuild all your content.
- Advanced SEO features: Squarespace is on our list of the best site builders for SEO. All plans have built-in SEO tools that take little to no prior knowledge of optimization to make use of and a checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything.
- All the capacity you need: Squarespace includes unlimited storage and bandwidth on all of its plans, so it’s a great option for media-heavy portfolio websites.
Want to learn more about Squarespace before signing up for a 14-day free trial? Read our full Squarespace review now.
GoDaddy: Best WordPress Competitor With Free Online Booking Tools
What We Like
- Free-forever version
- Online booking tools available on all plans—even the free plan
- Chatbots for site visitor engagement with all plans, starting from free
- Intuitive interface and sectional builder
- Budget-friendly pricing, especially for the first year
What's Missing
- Less customization design-wise than Wix
- GoDaddy’s artificial design intelligence (ADI) picks your template during setup whereas you can choose any template you want on Squarespace or Wix
- Expensive ecommerce plans compared to Weebly
How it compares to WordPress
- GoDaddy’s intuitive editor is much easier to use than WordPress blocks or most page builders
- Cheaper than WordPress (starting from free)
- Built-in appointment booking and site engagement chatbots, even on the free version—these aren’t available in WordPress without setup costs and plugins
Starting cost
- Forever free plan to use or to see if it’s the best site builder for you
- $9.99 per month with your initial 12, 24, or 36 month contract
- Ecommerce from $16.99/month
- Monthly billing is also available
GoDaddy’s all-in-one website builder is intuitive and designed for absolute beginners. It doesn’t have a true drag-and-drop editor, so sites are less design-customizable than WordPress or Wix. However, this can also be a good thing as you can create and publish your website far more quickly, covering all the website basics in the process.
GoDaddy really shines for its online appointment and booking system. Multi-service and provider one-time appointment booking is even available in the free version. This makes it a great WordPress alternative for small businesses offering services (e.g., salons, spas, coaches, and so on) or sales-forward operations wanting prospects for booking demos or sales presentation meetings online.
Also available starting from free are chatbots that can welcome site visitors, field basic questions, and forward information to you for follow-up. For all these reasons, GoDaddy is also one of the top free site builders.
The free version offers a great way for you to see what’s available in both the free and paid plans and access additional built-in features. For example, you can post to social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and manage your Yelp and Google Business Profile listings from the site builder’s interface. However, it’s not optimal for long-term use for a business website as it’s housed on a subdomain and includes GoDaddy branding.
Ease of Use
Build your site easily with GoDaddy’s sectional editor.
GoDaddy is one of the easiest site builders to use and is perfect for beginners. It only takes five easy steps to build a GoDaddy website.
Since it’s a sectional editor (i.e., choose from premade sections to flesh out your page) you won’t get the design freedom you’ll have with a drag-and-drop editor like Wix. However, this means that there’s less room to make design mistakes which can be a good thing for beginners who have never designed a site before.
Still, the design limitations may be frustrating to more experienced website builders. For this reason, we recommend GoDaddy as a top WordPress competitor to beginners, those who want a professional website up quickly, or those who want to make use of GoDaddy’s all-inclusive plans (along with its booking system).
GoDaddy Website Builder Pricing
Free | Basic | Premium | Commerce | Commerce Plus | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
*Intro Price Per Month | $0 | $9.99 | $14.99 | $16.99 | $29.99 |
*Renews At | $0 | $11.99 | $21.99 | $24.99 | $44.99 |
Free SSL | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Connect a Domain | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Create Custom Graphics & Videos | Limited | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Appointment Booking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Plugins | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Recurring Appointments & Payments | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Ecommerce & Social Selling | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Number of Products | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | 5,000 | Unlimited |
*On an annual billing cycle
Top ReasonsTo Choose GoDaddy’s Website Builder
The GoDaddy website builder is one of the simplest ways to get your small business website up and running. It’s one of the most beginner-friendly among WordPress competitors, and affordable since you can start for free. Here are other features that make GoDaddy stand out:
- Affordable prices: GoDaddy website builder premium plans start at $9.99 per month for the first year; it’s one of the cheapest ways to build a website with no limits as to storage and bandwidth.
- Inclusive plans: GoDaddy’s plans are all-inclusive and unlike Squarespace or WordPress, GoDaddy doesn’t have any add-ons that drive up the cost. Instead, you simply pick the plan most appropriate for your business’s needs.
- Online booking and appointment scheduling tools: GoDaddy is known for its robust appointment scheduling system. It’s built-in and easy to use and available on all GoDaddy plans (including the free plan). Because of this, we recommend GoDaddy as the best WordPress alternative for service-based businesses.
Read our full GoDaddy review to learn more about the builder.
Wix: Best WordPress Alternative for Site Design Customization
What We Like
- True drag-and-drop builder for the most design freedom and customizations
- Free-forever plan available
- More than 800 templates in its library
- Hundreds of third-party plugins available on the Wix Marketplace
- Solid marketing and SEO tools, even in the free version
What's Missing
- So much customization may be a hindrance to design beginners
- Limited website storage on all plans
- Paid plans are pricier than GoDaddy and IONOS
- Expensive ecommerce plans; you can sell on Weebly for much less
How it compares to WordPress
- Much easier to use than WordPress, and almost as fully customizable with its drag-and-drop builder
- Wix has inclusive plans whereas you have to get hosting, domain, SSL certificate, and more to build a WordPress site
- Wix is far more affordable, including a free-forever version
- With 800+ templates to choose from, you can build a custom site far more quickly with Wix, even if you have a user-friendly WordPress page builder and theme
Starting cost
- Free plan to use forever or to test the site builder
- Paid plans from $16 per month
- Robust ecommerce from $27 per month
Wix is a beginner-friendly site builder with extremely flexible design thanks to its true drag-and-drop builder. It also has a robust third-party app marketplace with hundreds of plugins for customizing your website’s features. For these reasons, it’s the best WordPress alternative for anyone wanting to create a visually unique website or add specific functionality.
Although its prices for paid plans are on the steeper side, Wix’s design capabilities are more than worth it. Especially if you want an alternative that’s nearly as customizable as WordPress without having to take the time to learn how to do it yourself. Plus, Wix’s base tier costs about the same as Squarespace’s, but with more design freedom.
Ease of Use
Get almost limitless website design customization options with Wix.
As an all-in-one website builder, Wix is easier to use than WordPress. For instance, it’s easier to add functionality available through Wix’s prebuilt features and third-party apps and the drag-and-drop builder rivals the ease of any WordPress page builder.
With that said, having so many design tools and options can hinder beginners with absolutely no site-building experience. The sheer amount of customization available makes it more complicated than WordPress competitors like GoDaddy, IONOS, or Squarespace.
Wix’s design capabilities can make you prone to mistakes. Fortunately, this is mitigated by intuitive functionality—for example, you can press Ctrl-X to undo a series of changes, similar to other types of software. To take a closer look, check out our step-by-step instructions for how to build your Wix website and take advantage of their free plan to test the site builder for yourself.
For the less adventurous or true beginner, thankfully Wix also has an ADI option. The Wix ADI is a separate editor that builds a website for you using artificial intelligence. This website is edited with a sectional editor and is easier to use than its drag-and-drop builder. The downside is that you don’t get to choose your own template and you sacrifice the customizability Wix is known for.
Wix Pricing
Free | Combo | Unlimited | Business | |
---|---|---|---|---|
*Price per month | $0 | $16 | $22 | $27 |
Storage | 2GB | 2GB | 5GB | 50GB |
Bandwidth | 2GB | 2GB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Free Domain & SSL | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Built-in SEO | Basic | Basic | Site Booster | Site Booster |
Social Ads | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Plugins | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Ecommerce & Social Selling | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Digital Products | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Appointments | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Events | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Online Ordering | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
*On an annual billing cycle
Top Reasons To Choose Wix
Wix’s editor makes it the top WordPress alternative for customizability. Here are some of its best features:
- Drag-and-drop editor: Wix is known for its powerful drag-and-drop editor that provides almost unlimited design customization without any coding knowledge required. It even beats out Squarespace when it comes to how much design freedom you can attain via the Wix editor.
- Template selection: Wix far surpasses any builder on our list when it comes to the variety and selection of templates. Although its templates aren’t all as sleek as Squarespace’s, Wix has over 800 templates for different industries to choose from.
- App market: To further enhance your website, Wix has an app marketplace with hundreds of third-party plugins. It doesn’t compare to just how many plugins WordPress has, but it’s a very comprehensive selection for an all-in-one site builder.
- Industry-specific ecommerce store features: With the $27 per month Wix Business plan comes ecommerce, including industry-specific tools for restaurants (online ordering, reservations, and custom menus), companies needing online booking tools, ticket and event management, hotel and short term rentals, fitness professionals, and artists.
Take a look at our in-depth Wix review before creating your small business website on Wix.
Bluehost Builder: Best Alternative to Easily Build a WordPress Website
What We Like
- Easy drag-and-drop builder
- Customize with WordPress plugins
- Unlimited websites on any plan
- Low first-year pricing
- Domain, SSL certificate, and free email addresses are included
- Email marketing tools included free
- WordPress is installed for you and core updates are managed
What's Missing
- No free trial or free plan
- Not as many templates as Wix
- Renewal prices and upper tiers are expensive compared to IONOS
- Cost of plugins for desired site functionality can add up
- Managing plugin updates can be tricky and time consuming
How it compares to WordPress
- Bridges the gap between WordPress page builders and all-in-one website builders’ intuitive drag-and-drop editors
- Most beginner-friendly way to get a WordPress site
- Far less of a learning curve with Bluehost than using WordPress straight out, plus WordPress is installed and CMS* platform updates are managed for you
- Several features you’d normally need WordPress plugins for come standard, such as social sharing buttons, contact forms, and a countdown timer
Starting cost
- $2.95 per month for the first year
- Ecommerce with any plan (through plugins) or built into premium plans from $9.95 the first year
*Content management system
As a popular web hosting provider that’s on WordPress’s recommended list of hosting companies, not all are aware that Bluehost plans also come with a free WordPress site builder. In fact, Bluehost’s website builder isn’t exactly a direct WordPress alternative, but rather the best alternative for small businesses wanting a WordPress website.
The Bluehost Builder works hand-in-hand with WordPress to give you the best of both worlds. The site builder integrates with WordPress, giving you the customization of WordPress with the easy editing tools of a drag-and-drop website builder.
Ease of Use
Bluehost Builder should be first on your list if you’re looking for exactly what WordPress gives but without the steep learning curve. Although it’s a drag-and-drop builder, it also has Smart AI, a feature that helps you build your website effectively. Its one-click WordPress access means you can jump back and forth between Bluehost Builder’s interface and your WordPress website.
Though Bluehost’s editing capabilities make it extremely easy to use, beginners may still have trouble deciding how best to add specific functionality to their sites. That’s because the majority of the functions of a Bluehost site need to be downloaded as plugins through WordPress (and not all plugins are compatible with each other). For an easier time, we recommend an all-inclusive builder like GoDaddy instead.
Bluehost Builder Pricing
Basic | Pro | Online Store | |
---|---|---|---|
*Intro price per month | $2.95 | $9.95 | $24.95 |
*Renews at | $10.99 | $14.99 | $39.95 |
Storage | 50GB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Unlimited Bandwidth | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Free Domain & SSL | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Plugins** | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Ecommerce** | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Appointment Booking, Subscriptions** | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
SEO & Analytics** | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
*On an annual billing cycle
**Through WordPress plugin integrations
Top Reasons To Choose the Bluehost Builder
The Bluehost Builder is the best alternative for WordPress beginners who don’t want to learn how to set up, configure, and manage WordPress but still want all of the functionality that comes with WordPress themes and plugins. These are just some of Bluehost’s best features:
- WordPress integration: Bluehost Builder is powered through WordPress. With this builder, you can access almost all of WordPress’s plugins and build a fully customized website.
- Drag-and-drop editor: Though Bluehost is built on WordPress, it has its own interface. Its drag-and-drop editor is perfect for beginners who don’t know how to customize a website through WordPress or want to build a WordPress site more quickly.
- Affordable prices: Bluehost Builder plans start at $2.95 per month for the first year. While this isn’t as cheap as IONOS, it’s still more affordable than Squarespace, even on renewal, and includes up to five free email addresses, or unlimited emails when you upgrade to any higher tier.
Weebly: Best Alternative to WordPress for Retail & Ecommerce
What We Like
- Free plan available
- Affordable plans overall
- Easy to use interface and site editors
- Free ecommerce features on all plans (including the free one)
- Mobile-optimized templates
- Large third-party app marketplace for the Weebly Editor
- Ad-free paid plans include a free domain and SSL certificate
What's Missing
- Not as wide of a selection of themes as Wix
- Limited blog formats
- Free ecommerce isn’t available to non-US users
How it compares to WordPress
- Weebly offers a very beginner-friendly and free ecommerce plan, unlike WordPress where you have to find, install, and configure separate plugins
- Weebly’s plans are inclusive, meaning you can quickly build a professional site without having to download apps—just choose the plan with the features you need and start building your site right away
Starting cost
- Forever free plan to use or to see if it’s the best site builder for you
- Ad-free plans from $12 per month
- Ecommerce starting with the free version
- Monthly billing is also available
Weebly is another popular and beginner-friendly website builder. It currently has two editors: the Weebly drag-and-drop editor and the Square Editor. Both are intuitive and make it easy for anyone to build a professional website.
What sets Weebly apart from the competition is its free ecommerce features. It’s owned by Square and incorporates Square’s payment processing tools into all plans. This makes Weebly a great WordPress alternative for small sellers looking to expand their offerings online.
Ease of Use
Like Wix and IONOS, Weebly has two different editors. The original Weebly editor is a drag-and-drop that’s much easier to use than WordPress.
Weebly’s original editor relies on dragging blocks of content and editing them to flesh out your website. Its drag-and-drop system is the perfect mix of design freedom and intuitiveness; we found it slightly more customizable than WordPress, but still far less complicated to use than Wix.
Weebly’s original editor featuring its drag-and-drop blocks
The Square editor is a sectional editor (similar to what both GoDaddy and IONOS have), and is even simpler to use. Beginners will have no problem using either, but the Square Editor is just a little more intuitive. On the other hand, the Square Editor has a steeper learning curve than GoDaddy, and requires more clicking around to get where you want to go.
The newer Square Editor with its sectional interface
Again, both are still great options for beginners. It only really depends on whether you prefer the freedom that a drag-and-drop builder gives or the ease of a sectional editor. Learn how to use the Weebly website builder to create your site in a few easy steps.
Weebly Pricing
Free | Personal | Professional | Performance | |
---|---|---|---|---|
*Regular price (monthly) | $0 | $6 | $12 | $26 |
Free domain | Subdomain only | ✕ | 1 year | 1 year |
Free SSL | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Ad-free | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Storage | 500MB | 500MB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth | 500MB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Ecommerce | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Online Ordering & Reservations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Plugins | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Embed Code | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Advanced Ecommerce | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
*On an annual billing cycle
Top Reasons To Choose Weebly
Weebly is known for its affordable ecommerce plans, making it a top WordPress competitor for those looking to sell online. These are just some of the standout features Weebly provides:
- Ecommerce-enabled plans: Weebly has some of the most affordable ecommerce capabilities for any site builder, with online selling available on all of its plans (including the free plan).
- Affordable prices: Weebly’s prices are affordable, even if you upgrade to the second tier premium plan to get a free domain to host your website ad-free. This mid-tier plan also comes with unlimited storage, bandwidth, and even more ecommerce features, making it great value for money.
- Third-party integrations: Weebly’s original editor for personal sites comes with a variety of third-party integrations, just like Wix. With these integrations, you can expand on the functionalities of your website. You can also add integrations for shipping, taxes, and even dropshipping, further enhancing your site’s commerce abilities.
Before building your website, read our Weebly review for more information.
IONOS: Best Cheap WordPress Alternative for Small Businesses
What We Like
- All-in-one plans with extremely cheap introductory prices
- Simple section-based editor in the Starter plan or get more customization with the MyWebsite Creator editor in the Plus and Pro plans
- Inclusive plans include a free domain and SSL certificate
- Free email account for the life of the contract (not just 1 year)
- Ecommerce available with any plan (for an extra fee)
- Built-in SEO included on all plans
What's Missing
- No free trial or free plan, unlike Wix, Weebly, and GoDaddy
- Limited template designs in Starter plan are outdated compared to Squarespace’s
- Fewer templates to choose from than Wix, especially in Starter plan
- Editing with the Starter plan is very limited; try Wix for better design features or upgrade to a Plus or Pro plan
How it compares to WordPress
- IONOS plans are cheaper than WordPress, with introductory prices starting at $1 per month
- Plans include all you need to build a website (hosting, domain, SSL certificate, site builder, templates, and so on) while WordPress itself is just a CMS
- Images are automatically optimized to improve your site’s speed with IONOS, this requires plugins on WordPress
- Built for site speed and optimization, unlike WordPress, which can get slow and clunky depending on your site’s code, file sizes, number of plugins, and more
Starting cost
- $1 per month
- Advanced editor starts at $5 per month, with or without a store
- Ecommerce plans start at $1 per month the first year
IONOS is a top web hosting provider offering plans that include a built-in website builder. It’s known for its super affordable plans with prices starting at $1 per month for its website builder plans, making it one of the cheapest alternatives to WordPress. IONOS is also one of the providers included in our list of the best drag-and-drop website builders.
Unlike Weebly’s cheapest plan, all IONOS plans enable you to build a professional ad-free website with added value such as a free domain (for one year), a free SSL certificate, and unlimited storage and bandwidth. Another standout feature with IONOS is the inclusion of a professional email account for the life of the contract, as many site builders only include this the first year.
Like Wix and Weebly, IONOS has two different site editors. The best option for the fastest and easiest site-building is the MyWebsite Now editor, which comes with the Starter plan. Customization with this editor is limited, however, as are the number of available templates.
IONOS’ Plus and Pro plans come with the far more sophisticated MyWebsite Creator editor. You also get more templates and far more design customization options in a section-based editor, comparable to GoDaddy or Squarespace. Like Wix, you can start with a blank template with the Creator editor for full design freedom out of the gate.
Subscribe to IONOS’ Plus or Pro plans for more templates and site customization.
Ease of Use
The Starter plan’s MyWebsite Now editor is the faster option for building a website with IONOS.
Customizing templates in the basic site editor that comes with the Starter plan is easy (if not very flexible). For example, you can edit each section through content blocks, but you can’t change the layout of the sections themselves.
The upside to this is that there’s very little room to make mistakes which is great for beginners building a website for the first time. It’s also great that for an additional fee, any plan can include an online store with ecommerce capabilities.
The main difference between the Plus and Pro plans is the number of products you can feature. All plans (including the Starter plan) include features you often pay more for with other website builders such as integrated email marketing, booking tools, an events calendar, and SEO and site-boosting tools that help your site rank on Google and other search engines.
IONOS Pricing
Starter | Plus | Pro | |
---|---|---|---|
*Intro price per month | $1 | $5 | $10 |
*Renews at | $5 | $10 | $15 |
Regular price with store | $15 | $20 | $35 |
Site editor | MyWebsite Now | MyWebsite Creator | MyWebsite Creator+ |
Free Domain & SSL | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Unlimited Storage and Bandwidth | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Google Pagespeed Optimization | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
17,000+ Royalty-free Images | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Blogs | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Business Apps | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Appointment Booking | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
*On an annual billing cycle
Top Reasons To Choose the IONOS Website Builder
IONOS may not be the most well-known website builder, but we found it to be one of the best WordPress alternatives. Here are some key features to focus on from IONOS:
- Very affordable plans: With introductory pricing starting at $1 per month (which only jumps up to $5 per month on their regular rates), IONOS is one of the cheapest WordPress alternatives you can use to build a professional website for your startup or small business, especially for long term.
- Inclusive plans: Not only are IONOS’s plans ultra-cheap, but they also come with inclusions such as no-limit storage and bandwidth, free domain names, no ads, free SSL certificates, and free professional emails. If you’re looking to build a small business website on a budget, you can’t go wrong with IONOS.
- Beginner-friendly interface: Though IONOS isn’t the most powerful all-in-one site builder (try Wix or Squarespace for that), its sectional interface makes it easy for beginners to build a professional website in just a few hours.
How We Evaluated WordPress Alternatives
In looking at WordPress competitors, we considered the customization capabilities that each site builder offers for both design and functionality. We also looked at how easy it is to use each of these site builders, and the affordability of pricing. The best WordPress alternative for your business will have a good combination of the three.
Our top WordPress alternative is Squarespace. Squarespace makes it easy for anyone to build a professional and sleek website for an affordable price. It’s overall extremely intuitive, with a great drag-and-drop editor and tons of built-in features and third-party plugins. Plus, unlike WordPress, it’s an all-in-one solution with hosting, domain, and site builder all in one price. Take advantage of the 14-day free trial to see if it’s the right option for your business.
Click on any of the tabs for more information about how we evaluated these Wix competitors.
30% of Overall Score
Cost is important, especially for small businesses with limited budgets. WordPress alternatives were rated for the services they offer on each of their plans. Not only did we look at their basic prices, but we also took into account additional costs like premium integrations, extra features, and other expenses not included in each plan.
30% of Overall Score
Features like high storage and bandwidth limits are important to note when choosing the best website builder for your business. We also looked at built-in features, like SEO and analytics tools, as well as if these site builders offer anything extra, like free domain names.
15% of Overall Score
All site builders have unique features that make them better for one business vs another. A few have specific features your business might need that aren’t available with competitors, such as ecommerce tools, booking systems, and payment options.
15% of Overall Score
While WordPress is a great content management system (CMS) to use especially if you’re looking to build a highly customized website, it’s known to be unfriendly to beginners. Not only are there so many ways your site could go wrong, but its learning curve is quite steep and takes more than a few steps to build a proper website. The best WordPress competitors allow anyone, even complete beginners, to build a professional website in just a few hours.
5% of Overall Score
Good developer and community support is always a bonus when it comes to choosing the right site builder for your business. To determine the best, we compared support hours, the different channels to reach out for help, and the quality of support you get.
5% of Overall Score
With tons of first-hand experience in building websites, we judged each of the site builders based on how easy and intuitive we found them, how useful we think their features are, their prices, the quality of the services they offer, and reviews from real customers online.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is there a reason not to use WordPress?
WordPress is popular as it gives virtually unlimited customization for both website design and functionality. It can be budget-friendly; however, when you start adding up the cost of hosting, domain, email accounts, themes, and plugins, the price can escalate quickly. Plus, it’s not the easiest, especially for beginners, as there is a significant learning curve. Fortunately, there are great all-in-one website builders out there you can use to build your website more easily.
Is Wix or WordPress easier?
Wix is far easier to use than WordPress. Before you can even start building a WordPress website you’ll need to get hosting, a domain, an SSL certificate, and install WordPress. It’s not intuitive to use, so you will need to buy a page builder or premium theme to get any visual drag-and-drop type of editing ability.
With WordPress, you’ll have to sort through thousands of plugins for tools like web forms, appointment booking tools, and so on, and then you have to update and maintain all of those elements over time. Get more details in our list of the top WordPress tips and tricks. If you do go with WordPress, top web hosting providers like DreamHost and WordPress-recommended Bluehost have hosting plans with WordPress site builders which does reduce some of the hassle and learning curve.
With Wix, it’s all built in, including an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder and hundreds of plug-and-play app integrations. You can literally build a professional business website with Wix and get it online in a matter of hours, and paid plans include your domain and SSL certificate.
What is the cheapest alternative to WordPress?
Several of the WordPress competitors listed here offer free-forever plans, making it possible for entrepreneurs and startups to get online at no cost. However, this isn’t optimal for small businesses as the website resides on a subdomain and displays ads. IONOS offers the cheapest alternative to WordPress with ad-free site builder plans that start at $1 per month for the first year.
Bottom Line
WordPress may be the gold standard for building a fully custom website, but its steep learning curve makes it difficult to build a website quickly, especially if you don’t have experience. Using an all-in-one website builder can help you set up a small business website quickly and easily. We recommend Squarespace for its overall great design capabilities, robust third-party plugins, useful built-in features, and fairly affordable pricing.