Quick Sprout recommendations for website builders are based on months of research and testing. We’ll never point you to a product or service that we don’t believe in or have first-hand experience with. Our content is reader-supported, which means if you click on one of our links to a recommended website builder, we may earn a commission.
You want a website, but you’re not a coder, an engineer, or a designer. Maybe you’re not even super technically proficient. You just want a website. You want it to look good and work well and not take forever to build. Luckily these days, a website builder or a template can get you a professional-looking website in minutes. Literally minutes.
There was a time when you could really tell the difference between the site a web designer would build and one a novice could create. But these days, the playing field is leveled. I’ve built lots of websites, and most of them I didn’t use a designer for — I used a template or a website builder. (And, yes, I still made money off of those sites.)
To find the best, I reviewed 31 website builders, testing them on their ease of use, the professionalism and quality of the final product, customer support, and pricing. I have 4 favorites I recommend.
I narrowed down 31 website builders to my 4 top picks:
WordPress — No subscription fees Wix — Automates the tough choices Squarespace — Beautiful, modern templates Ucraft — Free one-page sites
If you’re looking for the easiest way to create a site, a website builder like Wix or Squarespace will certainly get you there. These are subscription services with drag-and-drop interfaces and we’ll explain the pros and cons of each of them in detail.
But you should also consider building your own website with WordPress. There’s no subscription fee and your site will be basically limitless. It’s not an all-in-one service, but it isn’t hard to sign up for the other pieces you’ll need (a domain name, hosting, and a theme). In this guide, I’ll walk you through this method too.
Methodology and criteria for my website builder reviews
Ease of use. There should be no technical proficiency required and no need for a designer or other outside help. We asked ourselves, How easy it is to get started? And, how long does it take to build a nice looking site?
A professional high-quality final product. A professional, well-designed website that reflects your business. We asked, What do the templates look like? How customizable are those templates? Can I add an ecommerce option to sell things on my site? Can I add a menu? A form? A map? Reservations?
Customer support. We wanted to know that it’d be there if you needed it, but we also expect everything to be intuitive enough that you don’t feel like you can’t go it alone.
Pricing. Pretty simple, but we didn’t just ask how much does it cost? We also asked, Which tier should a person start on and when will they need to upgrade? If it’s free, what’s the trade-off? Does it come with a free domain? Does it come with email addresses? Any other extras to be on the lookout for?
The 31 top website builders compared WordPress Best for content management Free open-source software forever You’ll need to buy a domain name (~$10 per year) and web hosting (~$8 per month)
I love WordPress. (We run Quick Sprout on WordPress.) And I’d recommend anyone starting a website really consider starting it with WordPress, especially if you’re running a content site. Why’s that?
WordPress runs a third of the internet and it has the best content management system — all available for free. Some huge names you’ll recognize run their sites on WordPress.
If you run WordPress you’ll be in fine company, including Vogue, Lucky Peach, and Beyonce’s own website.
Because WordPress is so popular there’s a huge community of developers and designers creating themes and plugins for you to use.
Unlike other website builders, WordPress isn’t a one-stop shop. You’ll also need:
A domain name – This is your website’s address. Ours is QuickSprout.com — you’ll need to buy yours. We recommend going to Namecheap. Domains are typically around $10–15 and Namecheap includes the only add-on you need for free: privacy protection. Hosting – This is where your website’s files will be stored, which allows a user to access your site. I recommend starting with a shared plan (the lowest tier) with either SiteGround, of if you don’t mind paying a premium, to go with WP Engine, which is optimized for WordPress. You can read more in our review of the Best Web Hosting Service. This will cost you about $8 a month, but there’s usually promotional pricing for half-off the first contract. A theme – A WordPress theme controls the look of your website and how all of the information in it works, so a theme is one part design and one part feature set. Every WordPress site comes with a basic theme, and there are thousands of free and paid themes you can select from in the WordPress themes directory. I like to use the $30 themes at Themeforest. If you go with WP Engine, your plan includes 35 or more themes already, which does a bit to defray the steeper price point.
Once you’ve gotten your domain name and your web host, you’ll be able to install WordPress within a few clicks and get your login credentials. They don’t call it WordPress.org’s “famous 5-minute installation” for nothing.
Log in and you’ll see that your site is pre-loaded with a starter theme. Using as different one? Simply install it. From here, you’re set to adjust your site’s settings, menus, and page structure, and start writing blog posts. WordPress is hands down the winner when it comes to running a content-driven site.
If you need help at any point, there are tons (literally tons) of guides on the internet. I recommend starting with WordPress’s support page, which will answer questions like Where to start, Writing posts, and Using themes.
Wix Automates the tough choices Paid plans start at $11 per month billed annually Free trial period: 14 days
It’s easy to choose Wix as one of the best website builders. It truly takes on the name. Wix’s artificial intelligence asks you a few questions and literally builds your website before your eyes — unique color palette, features, and design all in one. It’s one of the best tools I’ve seen to get a site that matches your vision, even if you don’t know yet how you’d articulate that vision. Honestly, building a site with Wix’s AI felt a little like getting my mind read.
Wix has been at the forefront of this revolution, and is looking to closely combine AI and website building.
—Why AI is the best tool to help build your next website, TechRadar
Wix does have a free tier, but I don’t recommend it. It has some of the most in-your-face “this was not paid for” company branding I’ve seen — an instant trust breaker. Wix free sites also have one of the most cumbersome domain structures: yourusername.wix.com/sitename so we’d be QuickSproutEditorial.wix.com/QuickSprout. Connecting your actual domain also allows you to attach a Google Analytics profile and add email accounts if you’d like ($5 per account per month, or about half that with an annual plan). Unfortunately, none of this pricing is very upfront. Wix wants you to connect your domain before you see the email pricing, for example. I found answers to pricing questions in the support center, not the user flow.
To start creating a Wix website, just click create site. You’ll be asked a question: What kind of website do you want to create? From there, the AI will help you build your website. (You can opt-out and go it alone at this point, too, but we appreciated the AI’s help.)
One of the first screens you’ll see when you build a website with Wix.
When I tested Wix, I loved how easy it was to find a template that matched our vision. The AI stayed with me as I edited the page. A little pink square in the bottom that looked like a chat pop-up helped me pick the next thing to edit and showed me how to do it.
The Wix AI matched my new site to my business’ existing online presence, used my logo to create a color palette for my site, which it pulled right from Instagram, and gave me a template pre-populated with that logo and our street address. Connecting images from existing social media accounts made it easy to pull in all the assets we already owned.
I was using a local yoga studio as an example and the site looked really close to the site the yoga studio actually has. It’s kind of a fun thing to try — pick a business you already know and see how close Wix’s AI comes to replicating it. What’s even juicier, is I bet they paid a web designer a bit of coin for their design, and I did mine for free with an AI assistant.
>As AI progresses, it will be harder and harder to know which site was built via AI and which was built via a designer. You can think of it like passing a “design turing test”, i.e. in the future humans will not be able to differential between the two. Then, it’ll have to get innovative. Instead of mimicking what it is learning from what’s created, it will get better and more experimental. It’s easy to see how soon most websites that are created use AI in some way.
—Wix VP & GM of Consumer Experience Nitzan Achsaf told TechRadar
There’s a lot of variety between the Wix themes, and the personality of each theme matches its name well. The Business Advisor had a spot-on graphic of an analytics dashboard, while Astrologer features an astral hero image.
Some of Wix’s business-centric themes.
Editing your desktop site with Wix does require some patience. To change the text on a text box, you’ll need to hover precisely in the right spot. I did some deep breathing and was able to find enough inner zen to make all the changes I wanted. The mobile editor has the serene helpful feel I wish the rest of the editor maintained. It’s super easy to click through the options for how your menu, quick actions, and scroll options work on your mobile page. What you change in the mobile editor doesn’t affect anything that happens on the desktop.
Wix’s editor requires patience — and some clicking around.
I prefer the easier-to-use mobile editor.
Take note: all of Wix’s plans are automatically set to auto-renew. Sticker shock is real, especially if you signed up with an introductory promo pricing (at the time of publish, premium plans were a full 50% off, for example). There are many frustrated customers on TrustPilot who’re unhappy with this. It is possible to turn off your auto-renew, but you’ll need to do it more than 14 days before your plan’s anniversary — and if you do it during your 14-day free trial, your trial will be cancelled immediately.
As for which paid plan to pick, you have 7 options: 4 “regular” and 3 “ecommerce.” The difference really boils down to whether you’ll be accepting payments on your site or not. If you’re not sure about how much bandwidth you need, you can always start with a smaller subscription: if you go over the limit, you’ll get a notice from Wix (with no penalty) and can use that as your signal to upgrade.
Squarespace Stellar templates Plans start at $12 per month billed annually ($16 month to month) Free trial period: 14 days (plus a 7-day extension)
“Build something beautiful” is right. There’s no doubt that Squarespace wins the design and beauty contest here. The user interface has a bit of a learning curve and there’s not much of a Squarespace community to help you out, but the page you’ll end up publishing will be phenomenally good-looking.
Squarespace’s templates are all modern and beautiful.
Building a website with Squarespace can feel a little like building IKEA furniture: in the showroom it’s all so beautiful and simple, but somehow it feels a little more complicated to put together than promised. It can be hard to understand where exactly you are in the Squarespace editor. I kept getting notifications that I was editing demo content, or that I’d see the social logos once we connected our social media, or that we could unlock this or that feature with a paid subscription, but Squarespace didn’t go the extra step to make it easy to make that required move. It was a lot of fumbling through a beautiful interface, not exactly sure what changes were real, or where to head next. I also had some issues saving changes — an error message popped up and we had to move on, without our changes.
Editing a site in Squarespace has a bit of a learning curve.
Unlike IKEA, Squarespace is pricier than other website builders. That being said, I love the way sites built with Squarespace look, and think it’s one of the simplest ways to create a beautiful, contemporary site.
Ucraft Free one-page sites Paid plans start at $10 per month billed annually Free trial period: 14 days
If you need something super simple, you may be happy with the free Landing Page option from Ucraft: you can create a single, mobile-ready page and connect your domain for free. The free version doesn’t get rid of the Ucraft branding but it’s minimal and not invasive. The template has all the features I’ve identified in my anatomy of a high-converting landing page.
You can drop the branding and sell up to 50 products by upgrading to a $10 per month Pro Website plan, and sell up to 1,000 products on the $21 per month Pro Website plan. (Ucraft recently dropped its $6 per month Basic plan, and lowered the price of the Pro Website Plan from $14 to $10 per month.) If you have more items to sell, upgrade again, but note that once you upgrade, you can’t drop back down to a less expensive plan.
Ucraft’s themes are elegant and streamlined. It’s one-page free sites are designed to be a long scroll with anchored sections.
Build a Ucraft site using drag-and-drop blocks and elements.
Adobe Muse No longer in service Last updated March 2018
As of March 2018, Adobe has stopped releasing updates to its website builder software, Adobe Muse, acknowledging that simpler site builders like Wix and Squarespace have taken over: “For simpler websites, we’ve seen the emergence of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) website creators that use customizable templates to quickly create responsive websites that can be easily modified by the designer or a client.” — End of service for Adobe Muse
Cargo Collective Honorable mention Great for artist portfolios
Cargo Collective has amazing templates and designs perfect for artists and art galleries, but definitely not for everyone. If you’re after templates designed for displaying images and image galleries, definitely take a look.
Cindr Super fast set-up Very limited customization
True to its slogan, Cindr is very fast to use: add in new “blocs” and move them, but want to do much customization (say, if your team doesn’t have exactly 2, 3, 4 or 6 people on it…) and you’ll quickly get frustrated. I certainly was.
Duda Web design reseller Dealbreaker issues on homepage
There were too many deal-breaker annoyances on the Duda homepage — broken links, unclear organization, scroll bars on pages that don’t scroll, and typos — for me to recommend building your site with them. And it’s just as well, as Duda’s primary focus is on white-labeling and reselling web designs, not on creating and building your own site.
GoDaddy GoCentral Frustrating customer service Only 8 templates
I’ve never loved the customer support from GoDaddy and GoCentral is no exception. There are only 8 templates, and you can only make extremely limited font and color changes on them. No moving or resizing. The GoDaddy forums are full of frustration and confusion. Case in point: GoDaddy updated live templates so their headers no longer looked the same. Support recommended changing themes if you didn’t like the new header. What a nightmare.
Homestead Dated templates Not recommended
The
Read more: quicksprout.com
Posted by Cyrus-Shepard
At Moz, we know the value of premium SEO tools — we've built new tools for 10+ years. Paid tools are hugely valuable in SEO when you need advanced features, increased limits, stored data, or online support.
But for 70 percent of other tasks, a free tool often does the trick. There are literally hundreds of free SEO tools out there, so we want to focus on only the best and most useful to add to your toolbox. Tons of people in the SEO community helped vet the SEO software in this post (see the note at the end). To be included, a tool had to meet three requirements. It must be:
Widely used by the SEO community Broadly useful with a reputation for delivering above-board value Actually, truly free
The tools are categorized by SEO function. Click on a button below to jump to that specific section.
Categories:
Analytics Crawling/Indexing Keyword Research Link Tools Local SEO Mobile SEO Multi-tool On-page SEO Research Site Speed WordPress
The best tools to analyze search performance, monitor SERPs, keywords, and competitor analysis:
1. Bing Webmaster Tools 
While Google Webmaster Tools gets all the glory, folks forget that Bing Webmaster offers a full sweet of website and search analytics. Especially useful are keyword reports, keyword research, and crawling data.
Get it: Bing WebmasterAlso useful: Yandex.Webmaster
2. Data Studio 
If you need to merge data from different sources (say Search Console and Google Analytics), visualize, and share it - this is Google Data Studio's comfort zone. For an idea of all the SEO tasks and dashboards that you can build for free, check out these Google Data Studio Resources from Lee Hurst.
Get it: Data Studio
3. Enhanced Google Analytics Annotations 
How do you know if your dip in traffic (or rise) is associated with a Google Algorithm update, or perhaps a major holiday? This is a highly-recommended Google Chrome plugin that overlays additional data on top of your analytics, so you can easily send screenshots to clients showing exactly how outside forces impacted traffic.
Get it: Enhanced Google Analytics Annotations Alternatives: Panguin Tool, Zeo Tools
4. Google Analytics 
The big kahuna, and the most widely-used web analytics package on earth. For being free, Google Analytics is surprisingly robust and plays well with other Google products, including Optimize, Search Console, and Data Studio. Some folks have privacy concerns with GA — though Google swears they don't use this data for search rankings.
Get it: Google AnalyticsAlternatives: Clicky, Open Web Analytics
5. Search Console 
Probably the most useful free SEO tool on this entire list, it's hard to imagine doing modern SEO without access to the data inside Google's Search Console. This is the most reliable location for information on how Google crawls and ranks your site, and is one of the only places where you can get reliable keyword data.
Get it: Search Console
6. Keyword Hero 
Did somebody say (not provided)? Keyword Hero works to solve the problem of missing keyword data with lots of advanced math and machine learning. It's not a perfect system, but for those struggling to match keywords with conversion and other on-site metrics, the data can be a valuable step in the right direction. Pricing is free up to 2000 sessions/month.
Get it: Keyword Hero
7. MozCast 
The brainchild of Dr. Pete and the original Google SERP tracker, MozCast is the go-to algorithm tracker whenever there's a big update, or not. Also useful are the SERP tracking features showing the prominence of such features as ads and knowledge panels.
Get it: MozCast Also useful: Algoroo, Rank Risk Index, Ayima Pulse
Specific tools to make sure your site is crawlable and optimized.
8. Beam Us Up 
If you need a free, desktop crawler, you can't do better than Beam Us Up. While it doesn't have as many features as Screaming Frog, it does offer 100 percent free crawling with no limits. Windows only.
Get it: Beam Us Up
9. Link Redirect Trace 
A free Chrome extension, lots of SEOs recommend Link Redirect Trace as the "all-in-one redirect path analyzer." The extension reveals information about HTTP headers, rel-canonicals, robots.txt, and basic link metrics from LinkResearchTools. The "Save Screenshot" feature is super useful too.
Get it: Link Redirect Trace
10. Redirect Path 
Similar to Link Redirect Trace, Redirect Path is a nifty tool from the good folks at Ayima that shows redirect paths and header information for every URL you visit. Gotta admit, I've used this extension for years and it's almost "always on" in my browser.
Get it: Redirect Path
11. Screaming Frog 
Aside from having one of the best Twitter accounts of any SEO tool maker, Screaming Frog is the most popular desktop-based crawler available today. Many people don't realize that there's a free version that allows for up to 500 URLs per crawl. While not as fully functional as the paid version, it's great for small projects and smaller site audits.
Get it: Screaming Frog
12. Screaming Frog Log File Analyzer 
Most folks in the SEO space are familiar with Screaming Frog, but many don't realize that the Frog also offers a standalone free/paid Log File Analyzer tool. The free version is very robust, though limited to 1000 lines.
Get it: Screaming Frog Log File Analyser
13. SEOlyzer 
SEOlyzer is a log analysis tool recommended by Aleyda Solis in her very excellent SEO podcast Crawling Mondays. SEOlyzer is a terrific log analysis tool with some cool features like real-time analysis and page categorization.
Get it: SEOlyzer
14. Xenu 
Gotta be honest, although Xenu has been on every "free SEO tool" list since the dawn of, no way did I think it would make this one. This Windows-based desktop crawler has been virtually unchanged over the past 10 years. That said, a lot of folks still love and use it for basic site auditing, looking for broken links, etc. Heck, I'm leaving here for sentimental reasons. Check it out.
Get it: Xenu
Keyword Research 15. Answer The Public 
It's hard not to love Answer The Public. The interface has an almost "Cards Against Humanity" rebel vibe to it. Regardless, if you want to generate a massive list of questions from any keyword set, this is your go-to tool.
Get it: Answer The Public
16. Keyword Explorer 
OMG. 500 million keyword suggestions, all the most accurate volume ranges in the industry. You also get Moz's famous Keyword Difficulty Score along with CTR data. Moz's free community account gives you access to 10 queries a month, with each query literally giving you up to 1000 keyword suggestions along with SERP analysis.
Get it: Keyword Explorer
17. Keyword Planner 
Google's own Keyword Planner was built for folks who buy Google ads, but it still delivers a ton of information useful for SEO keyword planning. It uses Google's own data and has useful functions like country filtering. Be careful with metrics like competition (this is meant for paid placements) and volume — which is known to be confusing.
Get it: Keyword Planner
18. Keyword Shitter 
Yes, it's called Keyword Shitter. It pains me to write this. That said, it says what it does and does what it says. Type in a keyword and it, um, poops out a poop-ton of keywords.
Get it: Keyword Shitter
19. Keywords Everywhere 
An SEO favorite! Install this browser extension for Firefox or Chrome, and see keyword suggestions with volume as you cruise the internet. Works in Google Search Console as well. This one is a must-have for keyword inspiration.
Get it: Keywords Everywhere
20. Ubersuggest 
Sometimes I make fun of Neil Patel because he does SEO in his pajamas. I'm probably jealous because I don't even own pajamas. Regardless, Neil took over Ubersuggest not long ago and gave it a major overall. If you haven't tried it in a while, it now goes way beyond keyword suggestions and offers a lot of extended SEO capabilities such as basic link metrics and top competitor pages.
Get it: Ubersuggest
Tools to find, evaluate, and process backlink opportunities.
21. Disavow Tool 
Google makes the Disavow Tool hard to find because most site owners usually don't need to use it. But when you do, it can be useful for getting penalties removed and some SEOs swear by it for fighting off negative SEO. If you choose to use this tool, be careful and check with this guide on disavowing the right links.
Get it: Disavow Tool
22. Link Explorer 
Link Explorer is arguably the biggest, most accurate link index in the SEO world today, boasting 35 trillion links. The free account access gives you 10 queries and 50 rows of data per query every month, plus adds basic link metrics to the MozBar as you browse the web.
Get it: Link Explorer
23. Link Miner 
Link Miner is a free Chrome extension developed by Jon Cooper, one of the masters of link building. Use it to quickly find broken links on each page, as well as see basic link metrics as you search Google. Simple, easy, and useful.
Get it: Link Miner
Free tools to optimize your on Google Maps and beyond.
24. Google My Business 
Basically, this is the #1, must-have tool for Local SEO — especially if you live in a market served by Google. It allows you to claim your business, manage listing information, and respond to reviews — among other things. Claiming your business profile forms the foundation of most other local SEO activities, so it's an essential step.
Get it: Google My Business
25. Google Review Link Generator 
The Google Review Link Generator by Whitespark solves a simple problem - how do you give your customers a URL to leave a Google review for your business? Reviews drive rankings, but Google doesn't easily provide this. This generator makes it easy.
Get it: Google Review Link Generator
26. Local Search Results Checker 
One of the hardest parts of Local SEO is figuring out rankings from any location — especially when Google stubbornly wants to serve results from the location you're in. BrightLocal solves this with a quick local ranking tool that can virtually drop you into any location on earth to check actual local rankings.
Get it: Local Search Results Checker
27. Moz Local Check Business Listing 
How consistent is your business information across the local search ecosystem? Moz Local lets you quickly check how your business shows up across the web in the major data aggregators that Google and others use to rank local search results. Very handy to understand your strengths and weaknesses.
Get it: Moz Local Check Business Listing
Tools to optimize your website in Google's mobile-first world.
28. Mobile First Index Checker 
Mobile versions of websites often differ significantly from their desktop versions. Because Google has switched to mobile-first indexing, it's important that major elements (links, structured data, etc.) match on both versions. A number of tools will check this for you, but Zeo's is probably the most complete.
Get it: Mobile First Index Checker
29. Mobile SERP Test 
It's amazing how mobile search results can vary by both location AND device. MobileMoxie's mobile SERP test lets you compare devices side-by-side for any location, down to specific addresses.
Get it: Mobile SERP Test
30. Mobile-Friendly Test 
The gold standard for determining if your page meets Google's mobile-friendly requirements. If your page passes the test, then Google counts it as mobile friendly, which is a bonafide (albeit small) ranking factor. If your page isn't mobile-friendly, it will give you specific areas to address.
Get it: Mobile-Friendly Test
Free SEO tools that have so many functions, they have their own special category.
31. Chrome DevTools 
The sheer number of SEO tasks you can perform—for free—with Chrome DevTools is simply staggering. From JavaScript auditing to speed to On-Page SEO, some of the best features are hidden away but totally awesome. Need some specific ways to use it for SEO? Check out these resources here, here, and here.
Get it: Chrome DevTools
32. Marketing Miner 
Marketing Miner has a low profile in the United States, but it's one of the best-kept secrets of Eastern Europe. If you need to pull a lot of SERP data, rankings, tool reports, or competitive analysis, Marketing Miner does the heavy lifting for you and loads it all into convenient reports. Check out this list of miners for possible ideas. It's a paid tool, but the free version allows to perform a number of tasks.
Get it: Marketing Miner
33. MozBar 
One of the original SEO toolbars, the MozBar has seen significant upgrades over the years. Log in with a free Moz account and get link metrics as you browse the web, perform on-page analysis, and SERP analysis. The free version is super-useful by itself, while Pro users get additional functionality like advanced keyword suggestions.
Get it: MozBar
34. SEMrush 
Like Moz, SEMrush offers a full suite of all-in-one SEO tools, and they have a free account option that works well if you only work with a single website, or only need a quick peek at top level data. The free account level gives you access to one "project" which includes basic site auditing, as well as limited keyword and domain reporting.
Get it: SEMrush
35. SEO Minion 
SEO Minion is a very popular Chrome extension that goes beyond most SEO toolbars. Some of the quick functions it performs include analyzing on-page SEO, check broken links, Hreflang checks, a SERP preview tool, and a nifty Google search location simulator. Definitely worth trying out.
Get it: SEO Minion
36. SEOquake 
Out of all the SEO toolbars available on the market, SEOquake is probably the most powerful, and comes with a plethora of configuration options — so you can configure it to adjust to your SEO needs. Aside from offering a boatload of data for every URL you visit, you can also perform basic on-page audits, compare domains, and export your data.
Get it: SEOquake
37. Sheets for Marketers 
Sheets for Marketers isn't a tool per se, but a website that contains over 100+ free templates to perform a huge number of tasks using Google Sheets. Find powerful free sheets for everything including competitive analysis, site audits, scraping, keyword research, and more. This is a website for your bookmarks.
Get it: Sheets for Marketers
Tools to help you maximize your..
Read more: moz.com
As a content management system, WordPress offers one of the easiest and quickest ways to set up your own blog or website. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can select from one of hundreds of templates, as well as create interactive content such as contact forms.
The usefulness of WordPress has not been lost on website hosting providers. In this guide, you’ll discover some of the very best vendors on the market today who offer managed WordPress hosting.
This is a great way to avoid the time and trouble of hosting your content from scratch as managed WordPress hosting providers take the trouble of creating and maintaining your website away from you.
The best Managed WordPress hosting provider of 2019
WP Engine might be a slightly more onerous proposition for the casual user, but a more demanding audience will love WP Engine's speed, power and high-end premium features as well as the profusion of high quality WordPress themes it can provide through StudioPress
We've also highlighted the best WordPress hosting
WP Engine
WP Engine is the leading WordPress digital platform. It hosts excellent uptime, WordPress specific security and unlimited monthly transfers.
WP Engine includes many great tools needed for web hosting. These range from automated backups to 24/7 support (phone support on Growth and Scale packages).
You can use WP Engine’s ‘actionable intelligence’ to gain insight into the performance of your pages, content and applications.
WP Engine has four different price plans. All include free migration and free page performance. If you pay for a year’s subscription upfront, you get three months free.
Prices start off at $35 per month which include a 60-day risk free guarantee. WP Engine also have a ‘Custom’ tier for larger businesses who want a plan more tailored for their individual needs.
Some users have asked for a mid-range pricing option between the $35 and $115 tiers with the most expensive tier, Scale, costing $290 per month and offering support for up to 15 sites. At the moment, if you choose monthly billing, there is a 10% discount on all plans for your first payment.
You can sign up for WP Engine here
GoDaddy Pro
GoDaddy Pro is part of GoDaddy Inc, founded in 1997. It offers users a more robust, wider range of tools for developers and businesses. While it doesn't mention WordPress in the opening few introductory phrases, GDP is actually wholly focused on WordPress installs.
GoDaddy Pro offers client management tools and advanced support. This solution allows developers to add multiple clients and manages their accounts from one single dashboard.
GoDaddy gives users access to a management dashboard. From here all products and clients can be viewed. The dashboard can alert the user via SMS and email to any issues the client may have.
As GoDaddy Pro has been designed to make developer’s lives easier, the platform is user-friendly and everything is at your fingertips via the dashboard.
Access to the dashboard is free and includes reporting and basic maintenance for as many WordPress sites as needed. Paid services include cloud backups, migration, uptime monitoring and automated security checks. These can be purchased as add-ons to your free plan.
Users have noted that bandwidth monitoring is not included.
You can sign up for GoDaddy Pro here
Bluehost
Bluehost is a web hosting company owned by Endurance International Group. It was founded in 2003. It’s part of a web hosting family that includes HostMonster, FastDomain and iPage.
Bluehost tries to make the daunting task of starting a new web site easy. It offers plenty of options to those new to web hosting while still offering tools for the more experienced user.
All new subscribers can set up a WordPress site with a single click of their mouse. Also, newbies can rely on Blue Spark, a specialized service that helps new users with everything WordPress related.
Bluehost are currently offering all their WordPress plans at a reduced rate. Prices start at $2.95 (£2.2) a month for a single WordPress site complete with 50GB of website space. The ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’ packages are on offer for $5.45 (£4.10) per month. These both include unlimited WordPress sites and unlimited website space. The ‘Premium’ package includes domain privacy and SiteBackup Pro. Furthermore, WP Pro plans are available, which bring additional improvements and features with prices starting at $19.95.
More inexperienced users have reported that the dashboard can be difficult to navigate if you do not know all the terminology.
You can sign up for Bluehost here
WordPress VIP
WordPress VIP is a fully managed cloud platform. Users of VIP have access to expert guidance, code review and around the clock support.
Users get their own Git repository and ZenDesk account. Once your code is ready, you send it to the VIP team. Experts at VIP go through each line of code in your repository. This can take 4-6 weeks. If any issues are found, they’re raised on GitHub. Once these have been removed the code is transferred to your project and you are online. VIP adhere to strict coding standards.
One of the main attractions of VIP, is their ‘always on’ support. VIP engineers watch for any issues that may arise and fix them proactively on behalf of the client. Once rectified, a report will be sent to you explaining what occurred.
Users will need to contact VIP directly in order to get a quote.
Some users have reported delays with setting up and building sites.
You can sign up for WordPress VIP here
SiteGround
SiteGround was founded in 2004. It provides shared hosting, cloud hosting and dedicated servers.
SiteGround lets you choose from one of their four data centers on which to host your website. These are based in the US, Amsterdam, Singapore and the UK.
SiteGround offers users CloudFlare CDN, free SSL certificates and daily backups of their website’s data. All of their shared hosting plans include managed WordPress.
The platform’s customer support includes live chat as well as a phone in option. All support services are available 24/7.
The ‘StartUp’ plan begins at $11.95 (£9.28) per month ($3.95 for initial payment) which includes one website, 10GB web space and is suitable for 10,000 visits monthly. The ‘GrowBig’ plan for $19.95 (£15.47) monthly ($5.95 for initial payment) allows for multiple websites, 20GB of web space and is suitable for 25,000 visits. SiteGround’s ‘GoGeek’ plan starts at $34.95 (£27.08) per month ($11.95 for initial payment) which includes 30GB of web space and is suitable for 100,000 visits monthly. SiteGround do not offer a free trial but do have a 30-day money back guarantee.
Some users reported issues with being automatically logged out when signing in on multiple devices.
You can sign up for SiteGround here
DreamHost
DreamHost is owned by New Dream Network, LLC which was founded in 1996. It’s both a web hosting provider and a domain name registrar.
DreamHost’s ‘Shared Starter’ plan starts at $2.59 (£2) per month. This includes a shared hosting server, 1 WordPress website, unlimited traffic, 1-click SSL certificate, fast SSD storage, 24/7 support and an upgrade to add email.
The ‘DreamPress’ package starts at $16.95 (£12.8). This includes all of what the ‘Shared Starter’ plan has to offer along with 30GB SSD storage, JetPack free preinstalled, daily backups and a few other things.
All of DreamHost’s hosting solutions are a fully managed service.
Inexperienced users have reported issues with getting started.
You can sign up for DreamHost here
InMotion
InMotion Hosting is an employee-owned and -operated domain name and web hosting company founded in 2001.
InMotion offers dedicated, shared, virtual private server and WordPress hosting along with several Ecommerce tools.
Their WordPress hosting plans start off at $4.99 (£3.8) per month (for initial payment) and include one website, 40GB SSD storage and is suitable for 20,000 visitors a month. InMotion have six price plans available and all of them offer unlimited data transfers.
Besides having numerous price plans for each of their hosting options, InMotion have numerous free add-ons, free ecommerce tools and unlimited emails. While they do not have a free trial, they do include a 90-day money back guarantee.
Some users have complained that InMotion is not as competitively priced as other hosting providers.
You can sign up for InMotion here
HostGator
HostGator was founded in 2002. It provides shared, reseller, VPS and dedicated web hosting.
HostGator’s Website Builder comes with a handy drag and drop feature. The builder includes a wide range of themes. Some of the features are pre-built to help make the process easier and faster.
HostGator claim that load times for WordPress sites are up to 2.5 times faster than other providers due to their superior server architecture.
The utility offers a WordPress Cloud Interface where you can manage backups, access all your email accounts and other hosting options. You can also allocate server bandwidth from here.
HostGator offer three WordPress cloud hosting plans. The ‘Starter’ plan is currently $5.95 (£4.64) per month for 1 site, 100,000 visits per month, 1GB free backups and a free SSL certificate. The ‘Standard’ plan is on offer at $7.95 (£6.19) per month for 2 sites, 200,000 visits per month, 2GB backups and a free SSL certificate.
HostGator’s ‘Business’ plan is also on offer at $9.95 (£7.73) per month. This includes 3 sites, 500,000 visits, 3GB backups and a free SSL certificate.
According to online commentators, the purchase price for additional domains can be quite steep.
You can sign up for HostGator here
1&1 IONOS
1&1 (called 1&1 IONOS since October 2018) is owned by German company, United Internet. It was founded in 1988. It offers domain registration, cloud servers, virtual private servers and dedicated servers.
1&1 boasts excellent customer support and easy to use web creation tools. More inexperienced users might find this provider more suitable to their needs.
1&1’s ‘Basic’ packages starts at $1 (£1 for UK) per month for the first 6-months and then $9 (£6 for UK) per month thereafter. This includes 1 WordPress project, 25GB SSD storage, unlimited visitors and managed WordPress. Upon registration you are offered a domain name free for 12 months. This is only valid upon purchase of any of their plans.
Users that sign up for the ‘Business’ plan receive 2 WordPress projects, 100GB SSD storage and unlimited visitors. This plan starts at $1 (£1 for UK) per month for the first 12 months and then $11 (£8 for UK) per month thereafter.
The ‘Pro’ plan starts at $1 (£1 for UK) for the first 6 months and then $15 (£1 for UK). It includes 5 WordPress projects and 200GB SSD storage, as well as SiteLock malware protection and RailGun CDN.
Online commentators have complained about long periods of downtime.
You might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides:
WordPressCloud hostingE-commerceDedicated serverSmall businessWindowsManagedGreenBusinessColocationEmail hostingResellersVPSSharedCheapWebsite buildersBest website hosting
Read more: techradar.com