Best WordPress website builders of 2024

PRICE
VERDICT
REASONS TO BUY
REASONS TO AVOID
VERDICT
REASONS TO BUY
REASONS TO AVOID
Person working on a WordPress post
Image Credit: Pixabay (Image credit: Pixabay)

Combining one of the best WordPress website builders with the WordPress website Content Management System (CMS) is a smart way to create a stunning website with all the tools you will ever need. 

Although WordPress does have its own website builder, many businesses opt for a third party provider like those we list below. This route offers a much greater level of flexibility and support, often making it the preference for serious businesses that want a professional online presence. 

We’ve done our research on the best website builders and have now created this list specifically for those looking for the best WordPress website builder. We have compared and assessed factors such as templates, features and usability, configuration options, pricing and support. 

You can now grab a bargain on some of the top website builders with our Black Friday website builder deals.

Have you considered hosting? Upgrading your WordPress hosting can improve site speed and usability. Check out our guide to the best WordPress hosting

The best WordPress website builders of 2024 in full:

Whether you are looking for the best overall WordPress website builder or something more specific, we list everything you need to know about the top 6 best WordPress website builders below. 

Best overall WordPress website builder

Bluehost

Bluehost is a Wordpress.org recommended host. (Image credit: Bluehost)
Best WordPress website builder for power and ease of use

Reasons to buy

+
Easy to build and customize your site
+
Vast library of templates and stock photos
+
Fast hosting with excellent uptime
+
Use Website Builder and WordPress on the same sites

Reasons to avoid

-
Big price hikes on renewal

Bluehost website builder is a cleverly designed tool with plenty to offer everyone, from total design newbies to the most experienced WordPress users.

We found it very easy to build our first site. There's absolutely no design experience required: we just answered questions about our site's purpose, the design, fonts, colors, and layout we preferred, and within seconds the website builder generated a stylish and professional site, complete with sample images and content.

Customizing our site was almost as simple. We clicked on headers and blocks of text, and typed to replace Bluehost's content with our own. The default website images were good, but we found it easy to replace them with our own or Bluehost's high-quality stock images. You can extend the site with forms, videos, maps, image galleries, blogs, and more, along with all the elements of a web store.

Bluehost’s website builder comes with quality web hosting, including fast SSD storage, free SSL, and Cloudflare's free speed-boosting CDN

There's no free plan, but Bluehost’s website builder pricing starts very low, especially if you sign up for a long-term contract. To save even more money, be sure to check out our Bluehost coupon codes.

Bluehost has some steep price hikes on renewal and backups cost extra after a trial period, but the great signup deals mean you'll still be better off with Bluehost’s website builder for a very long time.

Read our full Bluehost Website Builder review here.

Best free WordPress website builder

Elementor

The free version of Elementor provides more than enough functionality for a starter site (Image credit: Elementor)
Solid WordPress website builder with the best free version

Reasons to buy

+
Free version includes wide choice of templates
+
Useful community support
+
Over 40 widgets included for free

Reasons to avoid

-
Global editing only available on Pro

One of the most popular downloads from WordPress.org with over five million active installations, Elementor website builder delivers slick designs and easy-to-use functionality. What's more, Elementor's free plan is laden with features and includes over 40 widgets and more than 30 templates. 

Add-ons include essentials like video, text editor, headings, button and image boxes, but also more sophisticated choices including alert boxes, accordion content display, and an escalating progress bar.

Naturally, the Pro version—which starts at $59 per year—delivers a ton of bonus features, which is likely to be better for users building larger websites or those with commercial requirements (WooCommerce Builder comes with Pro). But as a basic, out-of-the-box option, Elementor's free plan is ideal for those getting to grips with website building. It even comes with templates for landing pages and maintenance mode, and the ability to preview your site on both mobile and desktop. 

Read our full Elementor review here. 

Best WordPress website builder for marketing

Visual Composer screenshot

Visual Composer includes a cloud hub of over 500 add-on elements (Image credit: Visual Composer)
Best WordPress website builder for marketing and conversions

Reasons to buy

+
Popup builder
+
Cloud library with over 500 elements
+
Theme editing options

Reasons to avoid

-
Free version is limited

Visual Composer has four pricing models, including a free version, which will give you a flavor of the builder's functionality, with 30 elements and 10 templates available. But to harness Visual Composer's full selection of tools, you'll need the premium option starting at $49 per year. 

This immediately removes the limits of the free version, providing over 200 elements, more than 100 templates, and the ability to edit wider parts of your website, including the header, footer, sidebars, and even the theme itself.

What's more, for those looking to build a website for commercial purposes, Visual Composer's Premium version comes with effective sales tools that include a popup builder, WooCommerce Support, and SEO optimization. 

Although the drag and drop can feel a bit wonky, the builder's tools are easy to understand and use and creating your own layouts feels like a breeze.

Best WordPress website builder for visual editing

Divi

Changes to your website can be done in real-time using the front-end editor (Image credit: Elegant Themes)

Divi

Best WordPress website builder for front-end visual editing

Reasons to buy

+
Full use of Elegant Themes toolkit
+
Real-time front-end editor
+
Global elements editor

Reasons to avoid

-
Annual cost at the higher end

Those wanting to use Divi website builder will need to sign up for an Elegant Themes subscription at $80.40 per year. However, it's worth adding that this will also include access to the entire Elegant Themes range of tools and themes.

With an impressive 4.9 rating on Trustpilot (from 23,000+ reviews), Divi is certainly tried and tested among WordPress users, with its standout feature being the intuitive front-end visual editor. You can edit your site in real time, meaning the changes you make will be reflected exactly as seen. The global elements and styles editor also allows users to make site-wide design changes without needing to tweak each individual element or section. 

Pre-designed layouts number over 800, with new layouts added each week along with royalty-free imagery, icons, and illustrations. Layout packs can also be filtered by theme, ranging from restaurant to wedding, and yoga studio to florists.

Best WordPress website builder for landing pages

SeedProd

SeedProd provides pre-designed templates tailored to sales and conversions (Image credit: SeedProd)

SeedProd

Best WordPress website builder for landing pages

Reasons to buy

+
Ideal for effective landing pages
+
Preset templates include lead squeeze
+
Works with other leading sales plugins

Reasons to avoid

-
Wider website editing capabilities not included

Sign up with the website and landing page builder SeedProd and you'll immediately get access to 200+ customizable themes, layouts, page and block templates. These aren't random designs you'll never use, either: attractive and engaging landing pages include essentials such as Coming Soon, Sales, Opt in, Webinar, Login and Thank you, as well as system pages such as Maintenance Mode and 404.

Visual style is important, but SeedProd has very practical benefits, too. It can track your subscribers over time, for instance, showing running totals and new subscribers, no external service required. But if you need more, it integrates easily with top marketing services providers such as MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, Sendy, Zapier and more.

Clever low-level features give you options rarely seen with other providers. You need a landing page on a new domain, for instance? Normally you might have to buy hosting for the domain, install WordPress, add and use your builder. SeedProd's Domain Mapping allows you to create multiple landing pages and point them to as many other domains as you need, no extra WordPress installs required.

Best WordPress website builder for developers

Oxygen

Oxygen’s one-off fee comes with lifetime support and unlimited site licenses (Image credit: Soflyy)

Oxygen

Best WordPress website builder for developers

Reasons to buy

+
Lifetime support included
+
One-time payment
+
Unlimited site license

Reasons to avoid

-
More difficult for beginners

Like the above website builders, Oxygen can be used by non-programmers, with a drag-and-drop editor, flexible layouts, and a custom header builder. But Oxygen also brings developer-friendly elements to the table, with opportunities for those well-versed in HTML, CSS, PHP, and JS to take even more control of the design process. This opens up more avenues for bespoke building than some of the others listed here, though it also adds a layer of complexity that could alienate complete newbies. 

Also unique in relation to its competition is the one-off price which starts at $129 rather than an annual cost, which comes with a promise of lifetime support and lifetime updates. You can also use the builder on as many sites as you wish, thanks to an unlimited license. 

What's more, Oxygen's creators are so confident in their offering that they provide a 60-day full refund guarantee for anyone not entirely happy with the website building capabilities.  

Note: According to Oxygen they will soon be moving to an annual fee, so now is a great time to sign up for the service. 


How to choose the best WordPress website builders for you?

There are several things to consider when choosing the best WordPress website builder for you. 

Start by assessing your own knowledge, experience, and ability with website builders. If you have very little, then you will want to look for a website builder that is beginner friendly for WordPress newbies. On the other hand, if you want greater flexibility and have the skills, a more advanced option could be right for you. 

It is also important to consider what you want to achieve and which tools you will need to do that. For example, if you want to start an online store, then you may need advanced ecommerce tools such as the ability to manage stock or dropshipping functionality. 

Reading the marketing materials is a good way to get a rough idea of whether a website builder is right for you. However, a free trial is a much better way to make sure your website builder of choice can do what you want. So, look out for trials and money-back guarantees when picking your website builder. 

Price also plays a role. Many platforms provider an enticing introductory offer that goes away after a set period (usually 12 months). So, make sure the renewal price will still be affordable to you. You should also check their higher tiered packages to assess whether they will provide you what you need (at a reasonable price) as you grow.

The best WordPress website builders: How we test

When testing the best website buiders we start by signing up for the platform and creating sites using every WordPress website builder that's on our line-up.

Our experts test and compare the overall performance, ease of use, speed, pricing, as well as useful customer support help and information. Our tests are thorough, as we aim to get an accurate picture of the service you'll experience should you commit to one of the WordPress website builders on our list.

We have a full guide to how we test website builders if you want to find out more. 

Best WordPress website builders: FAQs

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com: What is the difference?

In many ways WordPress.com and WordPress.org are very similar. This is because they offer the same Content Management System (CMS) and website builder.

When you sign up for WordPress.com you get website hosting as part of your plan, along with access to the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) and a free website address. WordPress.com offers a free plan (with limitations) and premium plans with improved features.

WordPress.org is an open-source software, which means is can be downloaded, used and modified by anyone for free. With WordPress.org, you just get the software (CMS and website builder), so you will need to purchase website hosting and a website address separately.

Read our deeper dive into the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

Why use WordPress?

WordPress is the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS) in the world and for good reason. Building a website on WordPress is easy for beginners, especially when you use one of the best WordPress website builders we have listed above.

Unlike some of its competitors, WordPress also offers a great level of flexibility, allowing you to easily upgrade certain aspects of your website such as website hosting as your website grows. It also offers an extensive marketplace of website ‘plug-ins’ that allow you to quickly and easily add functionality to your website such as ecommerce and marketing tools.

TOPICS
Alexis James

Alexis is a freelance writer and journalist from the north east of England. His love for creative technology stems from the day he was gifted his first ever digital voice recorder (a beloved Olympus WS 110), which brought with it the wonderful realisation that he'd never again have to rely on his iffy shorthand…

With contributions from