Need a quick solution? While all the builders on my list will get the job done, my personal favorite is Squarespace. It has the best-looking templates around, and all the tools you could possibly need to build your website, integrated straight into its editor (so you don’t have to look for them elsewhere).
You can take advantage of Squarespace’s 30% discount on annual plans to save on your subscription.
There are dozens of site builders out there to choose from, but they’re not all right for you and your future website. You’re looking for an easy solution that makes sites that are pretty to look at. And isn’t expensive. And doesn’t waste your time.
You’re looking for that fast, cheap, and good trifecta. But can you really get all three?
Well, thanks to my extensive testing, I’ve uncovered the best of the best site builders. I’m an on-again off-again web designer myself, and even I can’t help but be impressed by a lot of what these apps and companies have achieved.
I think you’ll be impressed, too, and likely find one that works for you.
Short on Time? These are the Best Drag-and-Drop Website Builders in 2021:
- Elementor– The best way to create a WordPress site without having to code.
- Wix – Has 900 free templates, the most flexible drag-and-drop builder ever, and over 300 apps to customize your site’s look and functionality
- Squarespace – Has gorgeous designs, e-commerce and blogging features, and is quite easy to use
- GoDaddy – Is the new-ish kid on the block, with a dead simple editor, as well as e-commerce and marketing features
What We Look For in the Best Drag-and-Drop Website Builders
With so many site builders out there, here’s a short list of the criteria I used to narrow down my options:
- General ease of use – Every site builder on this list is, if not immediately easy to use, at least easy to learn. The whole point is not to make web design your next career move.
- Good-looking templates and themes – Do I need to explain this? No I don’t, because you’re smart, good looking, and have a fantastic personality.
- Customization – No matter how good a template looks, if it doesn’t reflect your branding, that’s going to cause problems down the road. Every site builder here lets you (at the very least) swap out the colors, imagery, and typography of your site so you can maintain a consistent visual presence online.
- Add-ons and apps, e-commerce and blogging – A site builder that lets you just put some pages up is good enough…for a middle-school project. A site builder that lets you run a whole business online by extending your site’s basic functionality is better.
#1. Wix – Is Currently (and for the Foreseeable Future) the Best of the Best
Wix is first on the list, and frankly has been first on pretty much all of our site builder lists for a long time. That’s because Wix is very hard to compete with in terms of features, functionality, and sheer bang for your buck (or other currency of choice.)
It’s affordable, it has an absolute smorgasbord of templates and features, and it’s got a community of enthusiastic users to match. Plus there are lots of extra apps, like the Wix Logo Maker, a whole lot of marketing tools, and more.
The only thing that might trip you up is the site editor itself. It’s actually so flexible that it allows you to make choices that can mess up the look of your site. Fortunately, the Undo button
Notable Features
- Extremely flexible site builder – This is one of the only site builders that has “true” drag-and-drop design functionality. That is, you can drag your text and buttons to any position on the page you want. Literally. You can build the exact design you want.
- Over 900 templates – That’s right, over 900 templates designed for every conceivable purpose, and industry. And if you really want to, you can even choose a blank template to design your site from scratch.
- Exceptional app store, e-commerce, and blogging – With over 300 apps to choose from, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be able to add the exact features you want, whether that’s pricing tables, maps, fancy image galleries, or even bookings.The blog system is somewhat simple, but still perfectly serviceable for a good old company blog.
- Robust e-commerce app – Wix Stores is technically… well… an app. But that doesn’t mean it’s not powerful, and fully featured with inventory management, tax and shipping calculation, and pretty much everything else you’d need for a small-to-medium sized online store.
- Wix SEO Wiz – One of Wix’s side services is an SEO tool that literally uses machine learning to do most of your SEO work for you. It’s free, too. Hard to argue with that.
#2 – Elementor
WordPress is the most popular CMS on the planet, and with good reason. However, if you can’t code, creating a WordPress website may prove challenging. With Elementor, you can create dynamic WordPress websites without having to write a single line of code. More than just a plugin, Elementor offers users a wide variety of features with which to create the perfect website. These include a best in class drag and drop editor, 90+ widgets and hundreds of designer made templates, a WooCommerce website builder and Full Site Kits. is there to help you out.
Notable features:
Intuitive drag and drop editor
Elementor provides users with a clean, clear and intuitive environment in which to create and update landing pages, blogs and other pages.
WooCommerce website builder
Elementor is the ideal solution for those looking to build an e-commerce store powered by WooCommerce. WordPress’ premier ecommerce plugin, WooCommerce is used by millions of SMB owners and online store runners.
You can leverage Elementor’s drag-and-drop interface to design your single product page templates and your shop archive pages (the pages that list all of your products or the products in a certain category). In addition to designing your store’s templates, you’ll also get dedicated WooCommerce widgets that you can use to insert WooCommerce content anywhere on your site.
Full Site Kits
Elementor’s Kits Library contains dozens of complete, designer-made website kits. These kits include all the elements and attributes a website needs in one single kit. All you have to do is click import.
Kits eliminate the need to tackle each page component (e.g. header, footer, color palettes) individually. With just a few clicks, you can customize a kit to fit your needs and vision, and, voila, you’re up and running with a complete website!
#2. Squarespace – The Professional Site Builder for Beginners (And Semi-pros)
Now here’s where I offer my personal opinion: I like Squarespace best. If I wasn’t obsessed with managing my own server and building my own sites from scratch to feel like a Real NerdTM, Squarespace is where I’d go.
But Squarespace is more expensive than just about every other site builder on this list. So if budget is your top priority, that’s something to keep in mind.
Notable Features
- A great-looking online store – Squarespace’s commitment to beautiful design extends to its full suite of online store features. As long as you have even a few decent photos of your product, whatever you sell is going to look high-end.Plus you get inventory management, tax and shipping fee calculation, selling via social media, and PayPal/Stripe/Square integrations. The practical stuff is all there.
- Solid blogging features – The blog system has all the features you’d expect, with categories, tags, multiple authors, post scheduling, and more. What I really like is that you edit your blog posts the same way you edit the rest of your site: in the site builder. As you write, you’re actually seeing exactly how your post will look when you publish it.
- Third-party integrations – Squarespace doesn’t have an “app store” as such, but it is integrated with a whole bunch of third party platforms by default. You can easily add Google Maps, an OpenTable restaurant booking form, Google AMP, Google Ads, Google Analytics, Dropbox image sync, and even Flickr. (Remember Flickr?)
- Marketing, SEO, and scheduling tools – Squarespace has a built-in email marketing platform, SEO features, social sharing buttons, and even an analytics tool of its own. Everything’s right there in the same dashboard as the site builder, so you can market your content with minimal effort.
