| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Affordable starting prices, from $1.95 to $3.95 for your first month | No free plan, like Wix, or even a free trial, like Squarespace, so you’ll need to purchase a plan to test the builder |
| Relatively affordable monthly plans, starting at $10 for the basic site builder | Limited customizability |
| Decent template selection with over a hundred modern templates | No third-party marketplace |
| Clean interface and block editor so you can build a professional website in just a few steps, similar to using a site builder like Squarespace | Not worth the money for the very basic features it offers, considering there are other site builders out there–like Squarespace–that do so much more for a similar price |
| Not a great platform for ecommerce with no digital products or gift cards, or even abandoned cart recovery, unlike Shopify and Squarespace | |
| Only has very basic SEO and only on its Marketing and eCommerce plans; in comparison, Squarespace has built-in SEO on all of its plans | |
See our full Web.com review below.
Who Web.com Is Best For
Web.com’s prices are attractive, but its features are just a little too basic, especially when you compare it to plans in the same price point from Squarespace, Weebly, and GoDaddy. Web.com’s biggest failing is its lack of search engine optimization (SEO), especially on its cheapest plan.
Web.com is recommended for:
- Individuals looking to create a personal website: If you’re not looking for a professional plan, then it can work as a personal website. Its low price point and unlimited storage and bandwidth for $10 per month are good for sites that don’t need to grow their audience.
Who Web.com Isn’t Best For
Web.com allows you to build a professional website within minutes. But despite being able to quickly build a site with Web.com, it has limited features and design capabilities for the price, and we wouldn’t recommend it for anyone looking to build a website for their small business.
Web.com is not recommended for:
- Businesses looking to get found online: Web.com has no built-in features on its cheapest plan (at $10 per month) and even goes one step further by not allowing search engines to index your website. By upgrading to the Marketing plan at $15 per month, you get this feature along with features like SEO titles and descriptions. However, in comparison, Weebly’s $12 per month plan already has built-in SEO and advanced analytics.
- Ecommerce businesses: To get ecommerce access, you’ll need to upgrade to Web.com’s $20 per month plan. It doesn’t sound expensive, until you take into account that it limits you to selling up to 500 products. This doesn’t include digital products—as Web.com currently doesn’t allow the sale of digital products. For better ecommerce in the same price range, try site builders like Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace.
- Dropshippers: Aside from the lack of ecommerce features, Web.com also doesn’t have a third-party marketplace, so you can’t connect dropshipping integrations. If you’re setting up a dropshipping business, we recommend using a site builder like Shopify instead. It’ll give you all the tools you need to grow your business successfully with a wide array of third-party applications.
- Service-based businesses: Web.com lacks a booking and reservation system, making it a poor choice for service providers. Instead, try out GoDaddy with its fantastic built-in booking system. On its cheapest plan at $9.99, you already have access to one-time appointments.
- Real estate agencies: Web.com’s lack of a third-party marketplace also extends to real estate integrations. There’s no way to connect MLS integrations to your Web.com website. If you’re running a real estate agency, we suggest trying out these top real estate site builders instead.
Note that Web.com used to be extremely expensive, but recently reduced its prices to be more in line with other site builders. Still, when it comes to its price-per-feature ratio, there are other more robust options out there that are not only beginner-friendly, but also give more bang for your buck. We recommend trying out Wix, Squarespace, or any of our top website builders instead.
Web.com Pricing
Although Web.com doesn’t have a free trial, it offers cheap prices ($1.95, $2.95, and $3.95, respectively) for your first month. After the initial billing, the prices jump up. Aside from its DIY site builder, you can reach out to Web.com for a custom website package complete with professional design and customization.
Starter | Marketing | eCommerce | |
|---|---|---|---|
Pricing | $10/mo. | $15/mo. | $20/mo. |
Free Domain | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year |
Connect to Domain | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
SSL Certificate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Professional Email | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Storage | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Blog | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Products | N/A | N/A | 500 |
Ecommerce Tools | N/A | N/A | ✓ |
SEO Tools | N/A | ✓ | ✓ |
For more information, select a plan from the drop-down menu below:
Starter
$10 per month doesn’t break the budget, but the Starter plan is extremely basic. For this amount, you get access to the DIY Site Builder, which utilizes a block editor, a free domain name for one year, and unlimited storage and bandwidth. There’s not much else to recommend this plan, especially as a top site builder like Squarespace starts at just $12 per month (complete with built-in SEO tools, which Web.com lacks at this price point).
Marketing
For $5 more at $15 per month, you get access to Web.com’s Marketing plan. As mentioned previously, Web.com’s plans and pricing page isn’t too clear. All it states is that, for this price, you get everything in the Starter plan plus a business profile in local directories (Web.com doesn’t state which directories these are). On this plan, Web.com also allows your site to be indexed in search engines and adds SEO titles, descriptions, and alt text to your images.
This plan is the most disappointing of all the Web.com plans. All the SEO features that they include (e.g., XML sitemap submissions and SEO titles and descriptions) are standard for most other site builders, like Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, and even Weebly on its most basic plans. At $15 per month, we highly recommend skipping this plan entirely and using one of the aforementioned site builders instead.
Pro tip: Looking to boost your local SEO? No matter which site builder you use, you can create a Google My Business profile yourself and list your site on applicable online directories.
eCommerce
Web.com’s most expensive plan is its eCommerce plan at $20 per month. At this price, you get everything in the Marketing plan, the ability to sell products on your website (and connect your site to Facebook Marketplace), plus built-in ecommerce tracking and tools. Although it may seem relatively affordable at $20 a month, you’re limited to only 500 physical products with no option to connect other marketplaces or any dropshipping integrations.
At this price point, you should consider builders like Wix (with ecommerce plans starting at $23 per month) or Squarespace (online selling starts at $18 per month). There are even cheap website builders with free ecommerce like Weebly, or powerful ecommerce builders, such as Shopify. All these great ecommerce platforms will be of much better value and will allow your store to grow without the limitations of Web.com.
Web.com Features & Key Insights
To determine whether or not Web.com’s DIY Builder can stack up against more popular site builders like Squarespace and Wix, we looked at Web.com’s ease of use, selection of templates and design abilities, features, and customer support. We determined that Web.com needs more unique features, plus better basic offerings, to be able to compete with the top builders. Here’s a more in-depth look at our breakdown.
Ease of Use
Web.com’s block editor
(Source)
Web.com’s biggest draw is its ease of use. It has a relatively clean interface and a block-based editor where you can add either premade or empty blocks to flesh out your website. While it’s a far cry from the customizability that you get with Wix’s drag-and-drop editor, it’s still a lot more customizable than a sectional builder like GoDaddy, for example.
All in all, it rates highly for how easy it is to use. For a complete website beginner, it might take a little more time to get used to Web.com’s Features and Blocks (i.e., its elements and premade sections), but it shouldn’t take you longer than a few hours and four steps.
Templates & Design
A preview of a website you can build on Web.com
(Source: Web.com)
Web.com has over a hundred templates, but it still can’t hold a candle to Wix, which has over 800 templates at your disposal. Still, Web.com’s template selection is modern enough and easy enough to customize.
It’s not bad for a beginner builder, but keep in mind that the nature of block editing means limited customizability and design freedom. Similar to our experience, you may end up being frustrated by the limitations that Web.com’s editor imposes.
Unique Features & Capabilities
What Web.com lacks is the uniqueness of its product. It may be an affordable builder, but there’s nothing Web.com does that isn’t done better by other site builders. In fact, it even has features that are downright awful. For example, it prohibits search engines from indexing your website until you upgrade to its second tier. Moreover, its “built-in SEO tools” are all extremely basic anyway, so there’s nothing much to entice you.
Still, if you’re looking for a relatively affordable way to set up a blog, a personal website, or even a landing page for your business, then Web.com’s cheapest plan may interest you. However, if you want your site to have enough room to grow, we highly suggest using a more powerful builder like Squarespace or Wix instead.
Ecommerce
All of Web.com’s features are extremely basic, and its ecommerce is no exception. It’s relatively affordable at $20 per month (comparable to other site builders). However, it has a product cap of 500, not including variants (definitely enough for a small business, but it won’t leave you much wiggle room to grow your store). Take note that Web.com also deals with physical products—it doesn’t let you sell digital products or gift cards.
It lacks other, more advanced offerings too. It doesn’t have abandoned cart recovery or any shipping integrations (like dropshipping apps), and it only has very basic store tracking and analytics. Overall, if you’re serious about selling online, we’d recommend building on a proper platform like Shopify or even an all-in-one site builder like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly.
Customer Support
Web.com has 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, and email, plus an hour of dedicated support from their professional design team when you sign up for any one of its plans. It also has a blog, but it’s more of a knowledge base than a help center.
For help on how to use its site builder, check out its YouTube channel. From experience, this gives the most updated information about the website builder, as Web.com doesn’t have very many tutorials online.
What Users Think of Web.com
While you can find many high ratings online, these Web.com reviews mostly deal with its hosting capabilities. On the other hand, the few Web.com site builder reviews we’ve found have been mixed. Some users were impressed with how easy Web.com is to use and its low prices, while others were frustrated about the lack of design and the poor features it offers.
Here’s how Web.com fared with its users:
- PCMag: 3.5 out of 5 stars
- ITProPortal: 2.5 out of 5 stars
- TechRadar: 4 out of 5 stars
These reviews are in line with our experiences with Web.com’s DIY Site Builder. It’s by no means the worst site builder we’ve ever used, but it still falls short of being a good builder. Our main complaints are its lack of features and its very basic offerings for the prices that you pay.
Bottom Line
Web.com’s site builder isn’t the worst we’ve seen, but it’s a far cry from the likes of Wix, Squarespace, and other top builders. Its block editor allows you to build a basic site affordably, but if you’re looking for any sort of advanced features like SEO, marketing, and ecommerce, then you’re better off building elsewhere. At its current state, we can’t recommend it to any small business looking to build a professional website when there are much better options available in the same price range.
You Might Also Like…
- Market your business online and build a professional website now.
- Our top recommended builder is Squarespace. See why with our Squarespace review.
- Need a fully customized website? Read our Wix review and try it out.
