As small businesses step into 2025, competition for online visibility only increases, making it tougher to survive and thrive.
Therefore, it has become even more crucial that they make their decisions very carefully. One of those decisions is picking the right website builder. There are a plethora of options available online but whats the best one for a small setup like you?
In this blog, you will find the top 5 picks for website builders for small businesses, their standout features as well as pros and cons.
đź’ˇThere are some important things a small business must do BEFORE picking a website builder. Give them a read before moving onto the list!
Table of Contents
- What to Do Before Building Your Website
- Best Website Builders for Small Businesses
- How to Choose A Website Builder for Small Businesses
- Why Choosing the Right Website Builder Matters for Small Businesses
Things You MUST Do Before Picking A Website Builder
There are a few things that you need to do before you proceed to the process of creating your website.
Of course, you are designing your website to grow and improve its exposure. As a result, you have to ensure that the ground for your website is well laid.
Here are some tips that will help you make sure that your site’s online appearance is secure to grow.
1. Choose a Domain Name
The first step is to choose a domain name.
Domain name is the main URL that will represent your website. For example “codrops.com”. Your domain name is how people will find and remember you.
Choose something short, brand-aligned, and easy to spell. For example, if you run a bakery called “Sweet Bites,” a domain like sweetbites.com would work perfectly.
However, remember you cannot just choose a name. You may decide on something but it may already be taken by someone.
Pick a domain registrar and see if your domain name is available.
For example, the image below shows that “findyourtech.com” was already registered in 2014 and is not available. There are also suggestions for “findyourtech.org” or “findyourtech.net” since they are available.
2. Find A Reliable Hosting Provider
If you don’t pick a reliable hosting provider, you might be setting yourself up for failure. Why? Because your hosting provider decides the performance and security of your website: the two things you cannot compromise on.
Plus, a quality host makes sure that even when you have traffic spikes, things are running smooth.
One such host is Cloudways. Features like built-in caches, Cloudflare Enterprise add-on, and automatic backups give websites 99% uptime and top-notch security (I mean they mitigate 520,000+ login attacks/day on 200,000 websites!).
There is a reason why more than 600,000 WordPress websites trust Cloudways as their host.
It takes just a few clicks i.e. less than 5 minutes to set up your website with Cloudways.
To begin, head to Cloudways.com > Get Started.
- Enter your details and click on Start Free.
- Verify your email address to complete the signup process.
- Next, click the Launch button to launch your cloud-managed server.
đź’ˇIn Cloudways, you can launch a server with any particular app. The Application can be WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, PHP, and Laravel.
To launch the server along with the application, you need to follow the steps below.
Step 1: Enter Server & Application Details
- Choose the latest version of your application that you want to launch.
- Name your Application and Server.
- Select your Project.
Step 2: Select the Cloud Infrastructure
The second step is to choose the Cloud Provider.
Cloudways is a PaaS (Platform as a Service) provider and offers the flexibility of choosing cloud infrastructure providers of your preference.
I chose a DigitalOcean server for this tutorial.
Step 3. Select the Server Size
With the DigitalOcean server, you have the option to host your application on 1GB to 192GB servers.
I chose a 2GB Premium server, which has 2GB RAM, 50GB NVMe Disk, 2TB Bandwidth, and 1 Core Processor.
- Now select the server location
- After entering the Server & Application Details, click the LAUNCH NOW button.
Give it a few minutes and that’s it. Your server is ready!
3. Plan Website Structure
The structure of a website is more important than ever now. It decides the look of your website, sure, but also helps your site achieve accessibility and therefore a good relationship with Google crawlers – which will of course hold accessible sites in high regard.
Think about how your website will flow. What pages do you need?
4. Prepare Content In Advance
Don’t wait for your website to be built for you to create content. You need to prepare all your content in advance. This not only includes content for your homepage or contact pages but also any blog posts you are planning to send live.
As a small business, you must focus on building topical authority and producing quality content.
Best Website Builders for Small Businesses
Now that you understand what you must do before picking out a website builder, let’s explore the top options for you.
Head-to-Head Comparison
Here is a head-to-head comparison between our top 5 choices to make your job easier.
| Builder | Initial Release | G2 Rating | Pricing | Standout Feature |
| Wix | 2006 | 4.2 (1,676) | $14/mo | AI-driven design options (Wix ADI) |
| WordPress | 2003 | 4.4 (9,166) | Free | Largest plugin ecosystem |
| Shopify | 2006 | 4.4 (4,578) | $29/mo | Integrated payment solutions |
| GoDaddy | 2007 | 4.1 (184) | $9.99/mo | Affordability with expert support |
| WebFlow | 2012 | 4.4 (588) | Free or $14/mo | Create no-code but full control of CSS, html |
Wix
Wix is one of the most popular website builders for small businesses, powering over 2.7% of websites worldwide.
Its drag-and-drop editor and large template library make it easy to design, but the real standout is its built-in business tools.
With features for accepting payments, managing bookings, live chat, web forms, and a basic CRM, Wix helps streamline essential operations — all from one platform.
What Sets It Apart: It has AI-driven design options (Wix ADI).
Pros and Cons
âś“ Automatically optimize all mobile sites
âś“ Automatically installs all security updates
âś“ Many pre-made templates
âś— Unable to change templates once chosen
âś— Difficult to download and export data
WordPress.com
Who doesn’t know about WordPress? I think most of us have one way or another experimented with WordPress as a CMS. It powers almost half the websites on the internet, for a reason, including many small businesses.
If you choose the open-source WordPress software, you’ll need to handle your own hosting and installation. But for a more beginner-friendly option, WordPress.com offers a website builder experience that’s perfect for small businesses looking to avoid the technical setup.
What Sets It Apart: Largest plugin ecosystem with more than 100K free and paid themes and plugins.
Pros and Cons
âś“ Supports SEO to increase website traffic
âś“ Flexibility and freedom
âś“ Supportive community
âś“ Offers much extensibility
âś“ Easy to use without needing a developer
âś— WordPress not responsible for security and backups
âś— Website owners need to pay for a domain name + a hosting account with a web host
Shopify
Shopify can be the ideal website builder for any small e-commerce business out there. Of course, you’ll need a solid e-commerce builder with features like inventory management and multichannel selling.
Shopify is a top choice since it offers tools like abandoned cart recovery, tax calculation, and discount codes — even on its basic plan. It’s perfect for businesses with a growing or complex inventory.
If your catalog is really small, Wix will work as well but if you plan to scale, you could directly start with Shopify.
What Sets It Apart: Integrated payment solutions and a smooth setup process.
Pros and Cons
âś“ Easy to use, even for beginners
âś“ 24/7 support through live chat
âś“ Has a wide range of themes and apps
âś— Charges a percentage of your sales
✗ Less flexibility over store’s code compared to some open-source platform
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is a good choice for those small business owners who think they would need expert guidance on every step of the way when building their website.
It offers a free plan and affordable premium plans starting at $9.99/month (billed annually). The Basic plan is cool for getting online without breaking the bank. It’s great value, offering standard features like SEO and marketing tools at a lower cost than platforms like Wix.
What Sets It Apart: Affordability combined with expert support.
Pros and Cons
âś“ Easy to use interface
âś“ Fast setup
âś“ 24/7 support
âś“ You can get the domain name from here too
âś— Limited design flexibility
âś— Lacks advanced tools for complex sites
âś— Not great for online stores
âś— Not great for scaling (good for SMBs only)
WebFlow
Webflow is a no-code tool that lets you build custom websites effortlessly. What makes it special is that you can design in real-time with a visual builder.
Also, you can build any type of website you need—from blogs and portfolios to online stores and landing pages.
Though there’s a bit of a learning curve, Webflow University offers easy-to-follow courses to guide you every step of the way.
What Sets It Apart: Lets designers create websites without code, but also gives them full control (CSS, HTML).
Pros and Cons
âś“ Design flexibility
âś“ Several features for search engine optimization
âś“ Wide range of pre-built integrations
âś— Limited third-party integrations
âś— Can be comparatively pricey
âś— May require more technical knowledge compared to other options
How to Choose A Website Builder for Small Businesses
Choosing a website builder for a small business can be a daunting task considering there are so many options out there.
Small businesses do not have the luxury to pick just anything from the market. They have to consider multiple factors like the amount of money they can spend and the kind of technical resources they have to build their site.
Ask yourself the following questions before picking the right website builder for your business:
Business Needs
- What’s the purpose of my website?
- Do I want to sell products, showcase a portfolio, or provide information?
Budget
- How much money can I spent monthly or yearly on a website builder? Is it realistic?
- Is it worth spending X amount of money?
Design Options
- Do I care about design?
- What aesthetic/look do I have in mind?
Ease of Use
- Am I tech-savvy myself or can I hire someone technical resources?
Scalability
- Do I want to grow bigger in the future?
- Do I want my website the ability to cater to more and more pages and features?
Optimization
- Does my website need to have built-in SEO and other marketing tools?
Support
- How important is customer support to me?
- Will I heavily rely on good customer support?
Trials
- Before I actually build a website, do I want to experiment with different builders to gain experience?
Why Choosing the Right Website Builder Matters for Small Businesses
Picking out the right website builder should never be a random decision because it definitel has a huge impact on your business. Here’s how.
The right website builder will:
âž•Simplify your process by being easy to use.
âž•Create just the right first impression on the site visitors.
âž•Grow wiht your business instead of hampering scalability for you.
âž•Save your small business a lot of time i.e. one of your most important assets.
âž•Save money on design and development.
