Website builders and site creation tools

• CMSs: WordPress, Drupal, TYPO3 and Joomla are open-source software you install on your own hosting. The software is free, but hosting, updates and security are still yours to manage, either yourself or through a provider.
• No-code website builders: Wix, Squarespace, Jimdo, Webflow and Framer bundle the editor, hosting and SSL certificate into one subscription. Carrd is limited to one-page sites, and Duda is built for agencies that make sites for their clients.
• Ecommerce: Shopify and BigCommerce host the store for you; PrestaShop, Magento and OpenCart install on your own hosting.
• AI site builders: with Lovable, you describe the site or app you want and the AI builds it. Many no-code builders, such as Wix, Jimdo, GoDaddy and Hostinger, also offer an assistant that generates a first version of the site.
• Sites built into business software: with Odoo Website or Bitrix24, the website is a module of the company's software: forms land in the CRM, orders in sales.

A no-code website builder is the shortest path: pick a template, swap in your text and images, publish. Everything is included in the monthly subscription, with no server to manage. The trade-off is that you depend on the platform: switching tools often means rebuilding the site. Before committing, check what the tool lets you export (text, images, and for a store, products, customers and orders): with most no-code builders, the export stops at raw content, never the layout.

A CMS gives you more freedom: you choose your host, add the plugins you want, and the site stays yours. On the other hand, it takes a bit more technical skill, or help from a provider for installation, updates and security.

A website for a small business or a freelancer: Wix, Squarespace or Jimdo to move fast, WordPress to keep control over the site and its SEO. For a single landing page, Carrd is enough.

A site with a polished design: Webflow and Framer let you fine-tune every detail of the layout, the way a developer would, but without writing code.

An online store: Shopify is the simplest way to start selling quickly; PrestaShop or WordPress with WooCommerce work if you want to host your store yourself; Magento targets large catalogs.

In return, Shopify imposes its URL structure (/collections/, /products/, /pages/), which can't be changed, and takes a fee on every sale when you don't use its own payment system. Check both points before choosing, especially for a store migrating from another platform.

A corporate or multilingual site: Drupal and TYPO3 are designed for sites rich in content, languages and access permissions.

A site only attracts visitors if it gets found. Before choosing a tool, check that it lets you edit each page's title and description, choose your URLs, create 301 redirects (without them, switching tools loses the rankings you've earned), control indexing page by page (canonical, noindex, robots.txt), generate a sitemap, and that it produces fast pages. For a site in several languages, add hreflang tags to the list. On WordPress, plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math handle all this.

Once the site is live, add it to Google Search Console to track its visibility, and browse our selection of SEO tools to go further.