6 Best Website Builders for Novices: Great for Beginners 2025

Most website builders claim to be incredibly easy to use, even if you’ve never built a site before. In reality, some are frustratingly complicated. Others are intuitive, but the simplicity comes at the expense of function, so you end up with few features and minimal customization options.

Having put numerous platforms to the test, I’ll tell you all about the website builders that are an absolute breeze, making the whole building experience pleasant – and even fun.

Whether you need to create a portfolio, a blog, or an online store, these are my top six website builders for novices. They all have intuitive editors that let you easily design your web pages, with tips and guidance available when needed. Some even have free plans so that you can get started right away.

Wix stands out as a clear winner, offering total creative freedom while staying beginner-friendly and affordable. Read on to find out more.

What We Look For in the Best Website Builders for Novices

When testing website builders, I searched for user-friendly platforms offering many useful features for creating a professional website. With these priorities in mind, I checked for the following:

• Intuitive interface. I chose builders with easy-to-use editors that simplify website creation, even without technical skills.
• High-quality templates. Templates are the design framework for your website. To get started, just pick the design you like – these builders feature many beautiful templates.
• Built-in features. I’ve chosen website builders with integrated features like free image libraries, blog editors, and marketing tools so you can manage everything from one place.
• Free plans/trials. Most website builders on this list let you get started for free – some will even let you publish your site on a free plan. If you want to try out more advanced features, these options make it easy to upgrade.
• Customer support. I considered builders that provide extensive support through articles, videos, guides, and responsive customer service to assist you throughout the process.

1. Wix: The Perfect Mix of User-Friendly & Powerful

Wix offers 2000+ beginner-friendly templates, with categories ranging from portfolios to community groups. Wix’s templates come with pre-installed apps, like contact forms and social media buttons, and the platform simplifies website creation for novices with a comprehensive onboarding checklist and an AI builder that lets you skip templates and editing altogether.

Once you’ve picked a template, Wix’s drag-and-drop editor lets you add content and personalize your layout. In the Wix App Market, you’ll also find hundreds of extra apps to add to your site with just a few clicks, from live chat apps to a complete online shop.

Wix’s free plan is great for beginners. However, upgrading to a paid plan is worth considering if you want to upload many images and videos to your site. Wix’s Core plan includes unlimited bandwidth, 50 GB of storage, and e-commerce capabilities, which will be enough for most sites.

Wix offers a 14-day money-back guarantee with every Premium plan, provided you pay by credit card.

Features

• Wix AI tools. Wix uses AI to speed things up if you’re looking for an even easier solution. Answer a few questions about your industry and what you want your website to look like, and it will automatically create designs for you to pick from. There are also AI tools to help you write content and edit your images.
• Wix SEO Setup Checklist. This feature makes it easy for people to find your website. It provides you with a simple checklist, tips, and tutorials on how to help your site rank well on Google.
• Email marketing tools. You can use a simple drag-and-drop builder to create email campaigns and send them to your mailing list to reach more clients.
• Easy invoicing. If you plan to build an online store, you can request and track payments within your Wix dashboard, making it easy for customers to pay you directly.

Read our expert in-depth Wix review for a deeper dive.

2. Squarespace: Sleek Designs & Social Tools for Creatives

Squarespace offers striking, mobile-responsive templates to make your site stand out. They’re also easy to customize, as you’ll get instructions in the editor for actions like deleting a page or changing a font. It’s a shame Squarespace doesn’t include an autosave feature in its editor. If you close the page mid-edit, you risk losing unsaved changes.

Squarespace is popular among creatives for its high-resolution image support and powerful content creation tools. The Video Studio app helps you create engaging videos, while the Unfold app offers custom Instagram story templates to enhance your social media presence.

Squarespace’s Personal plan offers good value, with features like SSL security, unlimited bandwidth and design-focused AI. Upgrading to the Business plan is worth considering if you want advanced functionality, like e-commerce features and a professional email address from Google Workspace. You can use Squarespace’s 14-day free trial to test the platform before committing to it.

Features

• Affordable scheduling tool. Squarespace’s booking tool lets clients view your availability and book appointments directly on your site. You can also set up automated appointment reminders and collect payments.
• Blogging platform. You can use Squarespace’s beginner-friendly blog editor to create engaging content and let readers share your posts on social media.
• Free logo maker. Squarespace’s free logo-making tool can help you build a brand and make your website more recognizable.
• Robust e-commerce. Squarespace lets you create an online shop by choosing one of its e-commerce templates. You can also offer discounts, get automatic tax calculations, and sell on social media.

Read our expert Squarespace review for more details.

3. Hostinger Website Builder: Simple AI Tools for First-Time Builders

Hostinger focuses on user experience, allowing you to build your website easily while maintaining creative freedom. Its well-organized template catalog, complete with a hover preview option, lets you explore and choose the perfect template for your website type.

If you can’t find a suitable template among the professionally designed options, Hostinger’s AI tool comes to the rescue. When you type your niche into the search bar, you’ll receive an AI-generated template. While these designs may not always be perfect, you’ll find them a good starting point.

Hostinger’s interface provides seamless access to essential tools. I found it easy to add elements during my website build – just a simple click on the “+” button in the sidebar brought up the tools I needed. Although it doesn’t provide a free plan, Hostinger offers a 7-day free trial for the AI website builder and a 30-day money-back guarantee on its two paid plans, ensuring a risk-free experience.

Features

• Niche-specific templates. Access a wide variety of professionally designed templates tailored to different industries, simplifying the process of creating a site that aligns with your goals.
• Integrated hosting and SSL. Enjoy built-in hosting and SSL certificates, ensuring your site is secure and accessible without additional setup.
• AI Content Generator. Get help creating text for your website, making it easier to fill your site with professional-looking content.
• Free email accounts. Set up email addresses matching your domain, giving your business a professional touch.

Read our expert Hostinger Website Builder review for more details.

4. IONOS Website Builder: Great Value for a Low-Cost Starter Site

IONOS Website Builder is an easy-to-use, affordably-priced website builder, making it a practical choice for launching a website quickly and cheaply. However, the plan you choose will determine the features and functionality you get.

With the IONOS Website Builder Starter plan, you get ready-made page sections and color palettes, and a relatively small font selection. It’s enough to build a decent-looking website, but it won’t let you create a unique look. The affordable Plus plan includes more sections and font types, helping you personalize your website design.

Regardless of your plan, you get a free professional email, a one-year domain, and SEO tools. However, the Pro plan also provides 50 GB of web space, an online booking tool, and an AI text generator (Beta version) to help you write content quickly. You can test both plans risk-free with IONOS’s 30-day money-back guarantee.

Features

• Integrated photo editor. Crop, resize, or add overlays to photos directly in the editor, giving you complete control over how visitors see your images.
• Competitor monitoring. This built-in tool allows you to track your competitors’ social media and Google activity to keep up with the latest trends and identify areas that need improvement.
• RankingCoach and ListLocal. RankingCoach is a tool that helps you optimize your site to rank high in search engines. ListLocal also boosts your ranking by listing your company details in online directories.
• Built-in privacy tools. On both plans, you get IONOS’s prebuilt cookie banner to keep your site transparent and show that you care about your visitor’s data protection.

Want to learn more? Read our expert IONOS Website Builder review.

5. SITE123: Simple & Multilingual, Ideal for Beginners

SITE123 features one of the easiest editors on the market – it’s not as feature-rich as Wix, but it’s intuitive if you’ve never used a website builder before. Just click on whatever element you want to change and all editing options appear in the sidebar. You don’t get as much design control as you would with a drag-and-drop editor, but the simple building process makes up for it.

No need to worry if you lack your own photos – SITE123 provides a free image library. If you have pictures to showcase, there are versatile gallery designs. It supports full-screen image displays so visitors can see your photos in all their glory.

SITE123 has a free plan, but it includes limited design options and doesn’t let you connect a custom domain. If you upgrade to SITE123’s Premium plan, you get 3GB of storage, multilingual features, e-commerce functionality, and a free domain for one year.

Features

• Activities Panel. SITE123 offers a centralized dashboard that tracks recent updates, edits, and user activities on your website. It helps you monitor changes and manage notifications efficiently.
• Extensive App Market. You can use SITE123’s apps to enhance your website’s functionality, like forms, booking tools, and marketing tools. Some are free, but others cost an additional fee.
• Multilingual features. SITE123 lets you display your site in multiple languages, and built-in multilingual SEO features help you rank higher on search engines in your chosen languages – ideal for attracting an international audience.
• Accessible support. SITE123 is very easy to use, but if you get stuck, live chat support is available in English (24/7) and 16 other languages (at various times).

Read our expert SITE123 review for more details.

6. Webador: Best for Small Stores on a Budget

Webador’s responsive and beginner-friendly editor lets you create a simple website in 10–15 minutes. Its drag-and-drop editor allows beginners to design attractive websites with no prior experience. Webador comes with a selection of customizable professional templates, although one downside is that you can’t easily preview them.

Webador is particularly useful if you want to build a small online shop. From your e-commerce dashboard, you can track orders, generate checkout forms, and manage custom discounts. Most importantly, Webador doesn’t charge transaction fees, which makes it an excellent choice for e-commerce businesses on a budget.

With Webador’s free plan, you can add unlimited pages to your site, access all templates, use free stock images, and create a blog. If you’re looking for e-commerce capabilities and advanced features like adding contributors and creating custom forms, upgrading to Webador’s Pro plan is worth considering.

Features

• Free domain name. Most website builders charge extra fees for custom domains, but with Webador, the price of your domain name is included in your plan.
• Adaptable templates. Webador doesn’t have template categories; instead, it shows you a variety of published websites currently using each template. That gives you an idea of the diverse styles and looks you can create.
• Effective media sharing tools. Webador offers widgets for file sharing and media streaming, including audio and video players and a document-sharing system.
• Rating system and comments. You can add a five-star rating system and a comment box anywhere on your page, simplifying visitor engagement.

Read our expert Webador review for more details.

Build Your First Website With These Beginner-Friendly Builders

All the website builders on this list offer user-friendly editors, great templates, and helpful customer support, making them easy to use. However, they do not provide the same level of functionality. Your choice should depend on your specific needs.

Wix is my top recommendation if you want creative freedom and loads of storage for images and videos. Wix’s templates have many built-in features, and you can always add more through its large app market. Despite extensive customization options, Wix is still beginner-friendly.

On the other hand, if you rely on social content to help you build an audience, Squarespace is worth a try. You get built-in social media tools to help you craft eye-catching content. Squarespace also has gorgeous templates to ensure your website looks sleek and professional.

Or, if you’re looking for an easy-to-use AI website builder and AI web content generator, you’ll find Hostinger very capable. Plus, it has built-in hosting and SSL certificates to ensure your website is secure.

Here’s a quick recap of everything we’ve touched on so far:

FAQ

Which website builder is the easiest to use?

If you want a smooth, frustration-free start, Wix is the best option. It guides you through every step, from choosing a template to customizing your site. You can even let its AI build a complete site for you based on a few simple questions.

Is Wix beginner-friendly even if I’ve never built a website?

Yes. Wix is built with beginners in mind. It offers drag-and-drop editing, helpful tooltips, and pre-installed apps like contact forms and social media buttons. You can get a fully functional website live without any technical skills.

Are there free tutorials for website building beginners?

Yes. Most platforms offer beginner-friendly resources like video tutorials, step-by-step guides, and live chat support. If you’re using Wix, you can check out this Wix Starter Guide for a clear walkthrough on how to build and launch your site. It’s a great place to begin if you’re starting from scratch.

Can I build a website with no experience?

Absolutely! Good website builders are fast and efficient, and they help you create a website quickly, even if you’re a total beginner. If you get stuck on a problem, you can find the information you need through the platform’s support resources.