Best easy website builders for small businesses in 2024 You can't create a website quickly, and simply, unless the builder is easy to use. Find out our top easy website builder picks here. Written by Ross Darragh Updated on 26 July 2023 Our research When reviewing website builders, our expert team of writers and independent researchers focuses in on the most important factors for small business owners. We look at the range of templates and designs available to choose from; how easy it is to get started building your site and customising it; the help and support options available; the range of available plugins, apps and extensions; the ability to customise a mobile design, and above all, the value for money – including any hidden pricing, ongoing fees, and initial setup costs. Written and reviewed by: Ross Darragh Writer Our independent reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers. The best easy website builder for small businesses is, from our extensive product testing, Wix. Not only does its intuitive drag-and-drop interface make customising your website a simple walk in the park, but the Wix ADI editor allows you to build a website in minutes, just by answering a few basic questions. Top 5 Easiest Website Builders Wix – Best OverallSquarespace – Best Design FlexibilityGoDaddy – Best for SimplicityHostinger – Most AffordableShopify – Best for Selling Online If you’re looking to create a website for your business, then we’d rate Wix as the easiest platform to choose. That said, there are some impressive competitors to consider, too, and we’ll look at each in turn to help you choose: Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward OUR TOP PICK Wix Squarespace GoDaddy Hostinger Shopify BEST FOR Best all-round website builder for small businesses BEST FOR Design flexibility & businesses looking to scale BEST FOR Ease of use and simplicity BEST FOR Cheap builder BEST FOR Best for dedicated sales features when selling online Price £7.50-£119 per month£6.75-£107.10 with code “TAKE10” Price £12-£35 per month, billed annuallyUse code “SU10” to receive a 10% discount on all Squarespace plans Price £6.99-£12.99 per month, billed annually (first term discounts available) Price £2.59-£8.99 per monthUp to 81% discounted with code “STARTUPS” Price £5-£259 per month, billed annually£1 for first month Ease of use 4.4 Ease of use 4.4 Ease of use 4.1 Ease of use 3.9 Ease of use 3.7 Visit Try Wix Visit Try Squarespace Visit Try GoDaddy Visit Get Hostinger Visit Get Shopify So Wix takes the top spot, but it isn’t the only game in town. Squarespace isn’t far behind, thanks to its industry-leading knowledge Help Center and customisable templates.This guide ranks the UK’s leading web builders in terms of the Ease of Use score we awarded them based on hundreds of hours of in-house product research and user testing. This process evaluated the logic of the web builder’s interface, how easy it is to make edits and move elements around, and how quick and simple it is to create a website from scratch, among other things.If you want support making a quick decision, our handy web builder comparison page breaks down four top platforms overall, so you can easily work out which one of our approved picks suits your needs.Or, read on for our review of the best easy website builders to help you decide which is the best choice for your small businesses. Get started with Wix in just two clicks We think Wix is the best easy website builder you can choose for your small business - try it for yourself with a free trial Free Trial You'll quickly see why it's our top choice! This article will cover: Wix Squarespace GoDaddy Hostinger Shopify Best easy free website builders How we test website builders for small businesses Next steps: Choosing the best easy web builder for your business 1. Wix – Ease of Use score 4.4 out of 5Wix rightfully earns its spot as the easiest web builder to use, achieving the highest Ease of Use score out of any provider reviewed by our research team, with a strong score of 4.4 out of 5 (we awarded Squarespace the same score, but we’ll get to that later!).This is thanks in large to its simple drag-and-drop editing interface and its ADI functionality that allows you to literally set up a website in minutes (yes minutes – we’ve tried and tested it). Wix 4.8 Number one website builder for price, features, and usability. Visit Wix Full review of Wix Free trial 14-day Price from £7.50 per month Flexible pricing plans Good balance of usability and complex features Customisable, 'drag-and-drop' templates Summary Wix is the most popular website builder in the UK. The platform has undoubtedly earned these accolades, with an unparalleled list of features and wide-ranging payment options for every budget. Whether you’re new to website building, or a seasoned expert looking for endless customisability, Wix is an excellent choice. Its pricing is also practical for small businesses, with the Business plan particularly good value at just £20 per month. Show moreless The one thing you want from an easy-to-use website builder is the ability to create your website in just a few clicks. With Wix, that is exactly what you get. You can even try it for yourself risk-free thanks to the free trial and the free plan. However, keep in mind the free plan is very limited and does include ads so its not a sustainable solution for a professional looking website.Wix is a closed-source builder, like all the others on this page, meaning you can drag-and-drop elements in a pre-configured template layout and build an entire site quickly even with very limited design skills and zero coding knowledge. However, Wix goes one step further in that it offers users two options when setting up their website.You can use Wix’s ADI function, which creates a website for you in minutes on the basis of some simple questions about the type of business you own, and what you want from your website.If you do want more control and to create your website from scratch, you can select Wix’s Editor option.So to keep things as simple and easy as possible, we would recommend making use of the quick and easy ADI option.Web building tools like WordPress don’t offer ADI, which is why they don’t feature on this list and scored poorly in the ease of use research category. Loading Other factors which place Wix at the top of our easy web builder list include its editor interface. Drag and drop any element on the page to change its position, and make changes easily to any images or sections of the page by simply selecting that component and selecting a number of edit options available to you.This will keep things simple even if you have used the ADI to create your website, as it allows you to change the fonts and colours to fit your brand identity.Wix also makes the Search Engine Optimisation of your site simple by offering some of the best SEO features of all the web builders we’ve tested, including SEO best practice prompts when building your site. Wix also has a partnership with SEO giant Semrush, which supercharges the builder’s offering by allowing users to access high-quality SEO keyword data directly through the Wix dashboard. Moreover, it announced earlier this year that SEO reports are now using Google Search Console data, which can help you better optimise and track your content.This in turn will help Wix users identify the ideal keywords to target and propel their website up the search rankings.Although Wix is undoubtedly easy to use, one downside is the fact that you can’t change design templates once your website is created. You’ll have to start all over again, so just bear that in mind during the creation process.To find out even more about Wix and its world-class website builder platform, visit our Wix review.Wix website builder pricingTo find out more about Wix’s pricing, be sure to visit our dedicated Wix pricing page. Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Free plan Light Core Business Business Elite Enterprise Price Free Price £7.50 per month£6.75 with code ‘TAKE10’ Price £14 per month£12.60 with code ‘TAKE10’ Price £20 per month£18 with code ‘TAKE10’ Price £119 per month£107.10 with code ‘TAKE10’ Price Bespoke What Wix users say: “It was all really good, the simplicity of it all, you literally drag and drop things off the menu into editor/webpage and then moving them about and resizing them is pretty easy.” 2. Squarespace – Ease of Use score 4.4 out of 5Squarespace’s templates are not only known for their slick design but are also very easy to customise.Scoring a very strong 4.4 out of 5 for ease of use, Squarespace is particularly valuable for creative businesses working in photography, graphic design, or art. We’d argue that the quality of its design offering means it actually offers a little more in terms of value for money than Wix.Speaking of this rival builder, you may notice that Wix and Squarespace were both offered a 4.4 score for ease of use — so why is Wix our top choice? Basically, while both perform extremely well regarding usability, Wix is our top choice of all the web building products we tested thanks to it offering the richest set of website features, an amazing app store range, and a strong customer score of 4.8. So it’s neck-and-neck with Squarespace for ease of use, but edges in front thanks to its strengths in other areas. Squarespace 4.6 Ideal for professional, creative website building and businesses that appreciate the best help and support available on the web builder market. Try Squarespace Free trial 14-day Price from £12 per month Use code "SU10" to receive a 10% discount on all Squarespace plans Over 100 stunning ready to use templates Best knowledge centre on the market Use code "SU10" to receive a 10% discount on all Squarespace plans Summary Squarespace scores extremely highly for creative professionals, and boasts impressive blogging tools. It features over 100 template designs which are fully adaptable to mobile devices, and visually, its websites are unmatched. Recently, vast improvements have been made in vital areas like UX, and the expanded feature list makes great value for money at £17 per month for businesses. However, these incredible designs and templates mean Squarespace's sitespeed can be affected and this is definitely an area that needs improvement. The customisation of the site's features and functions could also be further improved, particularly when compared to Wix. Show moreless What makes Squarespace so easy to use is that you can create a visually stunning website within a short space of time. Users can create a site that looks and feels like it has been designed by a team of web developers.There are over 100 slick templates to choose from, and each has the ability to be fully customised using Squarespace’s drag-and-drop interface, similar to Wix’s. You can even reset style settings with the click of a button – without creating a new site.This will save you tons of time and stress deliberating which style will match the branding of your business.Squarespace’s Design Hero makes it straightforward for businesses to add portfolios and pages full of photographs and illustrations in one go. This is really handy, particularly if you run something like a wedding photography business and want to bulk upload images and portfolios as quickly as possible.The other great part about Squarespace that we found from our first-hand user testing is that it has a robust analytics section and integration support system. This gives you deeper insights into how your website is doing and gives you the flexibility to add other cool features into your website like links to join webinars.In fact, Squarespace has made huge improvements to increase its overall ease of use score, particularly when it comes to help and support and user experience. It now scores 4.4 out of 5 for ease of use whereas it scored an average of 4 out of 5 in our previous round of testing.This is largely due to users finding it so much easier to navigate and edit, as well as them finding it far easier to access support through an incredibly detailed knowledge centre.However, what can be a drawback of using Squarespace is that, unlike web builders such as Wix and GoDaddy, you won’t be able to set up your website using ADI software.So, if you are looking to set up your business website in minutes via answering a few simple questions, instead of trailing over design templates, Squarespace won’t be the right web builder for you.To find out even more about Squarespace and its website builder platform, visit our Squarespace review.Squarespace website builder pricingTo find out more about Squarespace’s pricing, be sure to visit our dedicated Squarespace pricing page. Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward BEST VALUE Personal Plan Business Plan Basic Commerce Advanced Commerce Price £12 per month Price £17 per month Price £23 per month Price £35 per month What the users say: “It effectively puts a lot together for you in one go, which I think was great and looks incredible.” 3. GoDaddy – Ease of Use score 4.1 out of 5GoDaddy is a great web builder for those small business owners who want to create a website with minimal fuss, and with little cost.Our research concluded that it is the second easiest website builder to use, scoring a strong 4.1 out of 5 in the ease of use category. This is due to its design templates being arguably the simplest to work with out of all the web builders, even when compared with Wix. GoDaddy 4.4 An easy-to-use website builder with good support for beginners Go to site Full review of GoDaddy Free plan Yes Price from £6.99 Great value for money Excellent SEO support Quick and easy to create a website Summary GoDaddy is known for making it easy for small business owners with little or no website building experience to start growing their business online. Whereas most website builders focus on giving users absolute freedom to create whatever type of website they desire, GoDaddy gets that for a website to be successful online, it needs to be optimised to ensure you're driving as much business as possible. Prices range from £6.99-£12.99 per month for a website. Show moreless GoDaddy offers clear and simple website design layouts. One factor that can often make web builders difficult to use is that even if they do offer ADI functionality, and countless template designs, these can often be overcomplicated.This is arguably the case with Shopify, but not with the likes of GoDaddy which, in comparison, provides easy-to-edit and pleasantly simple designs. When we did our first-hand user testing, we found it was easy to use different themes, upload images, and that the side menu made everything easy and convenient to use.As well as its simple, easy-to-use templates, GoDaddy also allows its users to restore their website, or unpublish the site if they publish by mistake. However, website restoration does come with a hefty price tag.You can even reset your site if you want to start again which, as many startups know, is something that can happen if you decide to rebrand.GoDaddy boasts simplicity, which is why it scores so highly on our list. However, it does fall short in other areas, particularly when it comes to features, even more so when it comes to its ecommerce capabilities.GoDaddy also recently updates its Clients and Sites dashboard to help you easily visualise all the widgets you need to understand how your site is doing. All you need to do is drag and drop onto the dashboard to get access to all the analytics you need in one page.It scored a measly 2 out of 5 in the ecommerce area of investigation and, because selling on the platform isn’t as plain sailing as selling on the likes of Wix, you may find that GoDaddy isn’t actually the easiest web builder to use, particularly if you are looking to create an online store.To find out even more about GoDaddy and its excellent website builder platform, visit our GoDaddy review.GoDaddy website builder pricingTo find out more about GoDaddy’s pricing, be sure to visit our dedicated GoDaddy pricing page. Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Basic Standard Premium GoDaddy Ecommerce Price £6.99 per month Price £8.99 per month Price £11.99 per month Price £12.99 per month What the users say: “I put together a website in an hour, which was quicker than what I thought it was going to take.” 4. Hostinger – Ease of Use score 3.9 out of 5Hostinger, although relatively new to the web builder space, still packs a punch when it comes to its ease of use. Plus, it’s already made it onto our ultimate list of top website builders on the market. Hostinger 3.8 Great first term discounts make this a very affordable website builder. Visit site Free plan No Renewal price from £1.49 Affordable first term deals Easy to use for beginners Free domain Summary Hostinger is a simplistic and low cost website builder with decent first term discounts. However, it's features are not as sophisticated as rival website builders and it doesn't offer much in the way of design flexibility. If you sign for any subscription between 12 and 48 months in length and use our code "STARTUPS" you can get up to 81% off, which includes a free domain, and a free 3 months! Show moreless As mentioned above, Hostinger is certainly one of the easier web builders to use. For starters, it offers the option to create your website using ADI, like Wix, saving you tons of time and effort trying to build your own website from scratch. You can use the AI web builder to generate copy and images.But what really makes it easy for you as a business owner, is that it can solve multiple problems at once. You can build a brand logo in Hostinger, take advantage of its AI writing capabilities to create quality content for your site in an instant, and use its free AI business tool to help you generate a business name.All of this additional functionality means you don’t have to invest unnecessary effort in these time-consuming (and expensive) elements of building a website. You won’t have to hire a branding agency to design your logo, and you won’t need to spend ages trying to write a blog post or ‘about us’ section if writing is not your forte. (For more information about AI content writing, be sure to check out our feature on digital marketing trends.)Although this additional functionality sets Hostinger apart from the likes of other more simple builders, it is certainly lacking in creative flexibility. With Squarespace you can add an abundance of additional features to already stunning designs (including great blog elements), while you don’t have such an arsenal at your disposal with Hostinger.To find out even more about Hostinger and its website builder platform, visit our Hostinger vs Wix review.Hostinger website builder pricing Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Single Premium Hosting Business Price £1.49 per month Price £2.59 per month Price £3.99 per month Did you know? 50% of consumers believe that website design is crucial to a business’s overall brand. Therefore, you want to make sure you can wield the full power of your website builder to wow customers. 5. Shopify – Ease of Use score 3.7 out of 5Shopify, a behemoth in the ecommerce space, offers users a relatively easy-to-use interface, which is why it scores an above-average 3.7 out of 5 for its ease of use.We’d say this is definitely one to check out if an online shop is the beating heart of your business. Shopify is able to preempt and predict what you might need next as a merchant in terms of the elements and sales features you require.This kind of automation is unmatched in the web builder space and streamlines the online store setup process for you, ensuring that your website is optimised for sales and tailored to the needs of your customers.To find out more about the best ecommerce platforms to set up your online store on, visit our review. Shopify 4 Shopify is the ideal platform for small retail businesses that want to build a website and start selling right away. Try Shopify FREE TRIAL 3-day PRICE FROM £5 per month Best range of apps and extensions for ecommerce sites Preempts and predicts what a merchant might need next in all aspects of creating a website Easy drag-and-drop functionality allowing you to design your website with limited fuss Summary Shopify is perfect for users looking for that all in one online store solution. Its ability to predict what a merchant will need next when creating a website is a brilliant feature, and its countless apps give you complete control over your business, enabling you to grow through diverse multi channel integration options and automated SMS and email marketing. It is definitely better suited to store owners with complex, larger inventories and because there are fewer built in features, using the platform can get expensive compared to other feature-filled competitors like Squarespace and Wix. As a web builder, it offers reliable website hosting, domain name registration, and stock photos. And to top it off, you'll get access to a 24/7 customer support team. Show moreless Shopify’s interface is described by users as “clean and refreshingly intuitive”. Although it isn’t the simplest platform to use because of its complex terminology and themes, once you get the hang of it, you will find it easy to use.Built with ecommerce businesses in mind, the platform makes it simple to add a number of sales-centric features to help your business improve conversions. This includes abandoned cart recovery, unlimited product pages, and the installation of apps to implement discounts and customer loyalty options.In addition to this, users can benefit from the fact that Shopify is an entirely customisable platform so, should you require a bespoke feature, it can assist, directly within the builder, on the template you choose, or through its app market.Alongside other website builders like Wix and Hostinger, Shopify also has its own take on AI in the form of Shopify Magic. It’s a suite for free AI-enables features that are integrated across Shopify’s products and workflows. From our first-hand user testing, we found it to be genuienly useful as it lets you play with different tones of voice and write copy. This can help save you lots of valuable time.However, this ‘endless customisation’ can make Shopify a bit overwhelming for some users, and this is apparent in its interface, which is ladened with buttons, drop-down options, and other feature elements.You will also find that, like Wix, once you have selected your template with Shopify, you will need to reform your entire site if you decide to switch themes. This is a confusing and time-consuming process and is far from what you want from an easy-to-use web builder.Shopify website builder pricing Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Starter Basic Shopify Shopify Advanced Plus Price £5 per month Price £19 per month Price £49 per month Price £259 per month Price From £1650 per month Free trial? Free trial? Free trial? Free trial? Free trial? What the users says: “Once you become familiar with the platform it is relatively easy to amend any of the elements on the page.” Best easy free website buildersNot only are the above web builders all incredibly easy to use, but they also offer either a completely free plan or a free trial period to get you started.This will certainly help you sample a web builder platform before making a decision on whether to go with that provider, which is great for ensuring you aren’t wasting your hard-earned money on a solution that isn’t going to deliver what you need.However, you need to be aware that even the best free web builders have limitations, including the fact that you can’t sell on the platform (this includes Wix) and, in some cases, your site won’t even go live until you’ve upgraded to a premium plan (this is the case with Squarespace).Your best bet is to select the plan that most suits your needs and gives you the capabilities you require. Select the free trial option to ensure it is the right fit for your business, and then upgrade to the paid version of the plan if you are happy!In the meantime, check the table out below to see which web builders offer a free plan, free trial, or both. Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Wix GoDaddy Squarespace Hostinger Shopify Jimdo Free plan Free plan Free plan Free plan Free plan Free plan Free trial Free trial Free trial Free trial Free trial Free trial Cheapest paid plan Light – £7.50 per month Cheapest paid plan Basic – £6.99 per month Cheapest paid plan Personal – £12 per month10% off with code SU10 Cheapest paid plan £11.99 £2.49/month for first term on a 48-months subscriptionRenews at £12.99 £5.99/month Cheapest paid plan Starter – £5 per month Cheapest paid plan Start – £9 per month Visit Try Wix Visit Try GoDaddy Visit Try Squarespace Visit Get Hostinger Visit Get Shopify Visit Try Jimdo Our methodology: how did we choose the best easy website builders?We’ve gone beyond just collating the information you can see on provider pages and have conducted thorough first-hand testing of all providers to bring you all the insights you need to choose the right provider for you. Our independent researchers have searched the web for the best website builders you can get your hands on at the moment and compared them across the following six categories:Website features: this measures how powerful and broad the features website builders offer are. These can range from powerful SEO tools that help you optimise your content to intuitive interfaces that make building a website a painless process.Design functionalities: we measure how creative a website allows you to be with the design. This includes analysing the range of templates, how easy it is to edit the look of a website, and any other creative freedom the builder empowers you with.Value for money: this one focuses on how valuable your investment in the website builder is. We weigh out the value of your subscription with the range of features and functionalities you’re entitled to so you can decide if your investment will be worth it.Help and support: we analyse how helpful providers are at rescuing users from any website building SOSs. We put particular weight on this one because we know that your site going down for a couple of hours can have hefty repercussions on your numbers.Customer score: we don’t want you to just take our word for – we also search the web to see what real users thought of the website builder. We average customer scores on review websites like Capterra and G2.Ease of use: we test all the providers to see how easy it is to actually use them.Our researches meticulously calculated the scores for each category for each provider and based on these numbers, they awarded each website builder an overall score. Therefore, you can rest assured that our expertise is both qualitative and quantitative – both experience and data back our insights. Next steps: Choosing the best easy web builder for your businessTo recap, the best easy website builders are:1. Wix: ease of use score 4.4 out of 52. Squarespace: ease of use score 4.4 out of 53. GoDaddy: ease of use score 4.1 out of 54. Hostinger: ease of use score 3.9 out of 55. Shopify: ease of use score 3.7 out of 56. Weebly: ease of use score 3.7 out of 5As stated, Wix is, without a doubt, the best easy web builder to use. Not only is its ADI software the most efficient of all the options available compared to other builders, but its drag-and-drop interface and clear, extremely user-friendly design make it super easy for users to edit their website and navigate to other sections of the builder.If you’re interested, we’d recommend you put Wix to the test with a free trial. You could have a website up and running by the end of the day!Regardless of our opinion, you should always compare web builder platforms before signing up with a provider. The last thing you want is to be paying for a service that doesn’t fulfill the needs of your business, even if it is, generally speaking, a great product.This is where our custom-built comparison page comes in. We’ve broken down four top web builders so you can easily work out which of our approved picks suits your needs. Simply click on the link to find out more. Or click on any of the links to our partners above to go directly to their website. FAQs Which website builder is the easiest? From our thorough research, analysis, and user testing, we have concluded that Wix is definitely the easiest website builder to use. Particularly if you are a startup or small business owner who is just starting out. Wix is incredibly simple to edit, and its drag-and-drop interface makes it super flexible to change your website. Its ADI editor allows you to build a website in minutes, just by answering a few basic questions. What is the easiest website builder for beginners that's free? The easiest website builder for beginners that’s free is either Wix or GoDaddy. Both offer free plans, and both have a high level of functionality and features available at the free level. However, with Wix’s free plans, you will be subject to ads. And you can’t sell or set up an online store on the free plans for either of the platforms. What is the simplest way to build a website? The simplest way to build a website is by using a closed-source, website builder. Particularly if one has ADI functionality. By using a closed source builder, the platform already has all of the elements and designs of a website set up for you - and it's easy to add features and plug-ins. If you were to build a website from scratch on what is called an open-source platform, you will have to develop all of your site elements using code, which is not easy. Startups.co.uk is reader-supported. If you make a purchase through the links on our site, we may earn a commission from the retailers of the products we have reviewed. This helps Startups.co.uk to provide free reviews for our readers. It has no additional cost to you, and never affects the editorial independence of our reviews. Share this post facebook twitter linkedin Tags News and Features Written by: Ross Darragh Writer Ross has been writing for Startups since 2021, specialising in telephone systems, digital marketing, payroll, and sustainable business. He also runs the successful entrepreneur section of the website. Having graduated with a Masters in Journalism, Ross went on to write for Condé Nast Traveller and the NME, before moving in to the world of business journalism. Ross has been involved in startups from a young age, and has a keen eye for exciting, innovative new businesses. Follow him on his Twitter - @startupsross for helpful business tips.