Search results for

"best page builder for wordpress"

25
Jul
2020

Full JotForm Review (2025): Should You Use This Online Form Builder?

☑︎ This review was last updated in July 2025

Ah, online forms! One of those things you don’t know you need – until you need it really badly.

JotForm is one of the most popular solutions for this situation… but since you’re reading this, you are probably also wondering:

“Building and managing online forms sounds like a hassle! A great tool should be simple to use but also meet my specific needs and requirements. Should I trust JotForm to do the job?”

Let’s find out together. In this detailed review, we will analyze JotForm from every possible angle and cover the most popular questions –

  • 👶Is JotForm easy to use for beginners?
  • 🔒Security and privacy – should you trust JotForm?
  • 💸Which pricing plan should you choose?
  • 🏆Is JotForm better than the alternatives?

Before we discuss the unique features that distinguish JotFrom from alternative services, let’s get a quick overview of the service itself:

What Is JotForm?

Forms are everywhere! Every time an organization needs some kind of input from a large number of people – be it customers, employees, supporters, students, etc. – it uses some sort of form to collect this information.

The main idea behind JotForm is to make the entire process as easy as possible: from actually building the forms, to managing the gathered data.

…And it’s not just about surveys – the range of possible uses for JotForm also includes the following popular scenarios:

  • Applying or registering for events, jobs, scholarships, memberships – even loans or housing. Simplicity 🎯 is key here, since there’s typically a lot of information to be collected from a single person in such cases.
  • Giving feedback or evaluation, which also includes filing complaints, leaving reviews or ratings, or voting on a decision. Clarity 🔮 is critically important here, as well as the ability to analyze the data to form insights.
  • Getting in touch with an organization (or public figure) in order to ask a question, offer cooperation or simply share an idea. Since this type of form is often used by strangers first-time visitors, privacy 👁️‍🗨️ and data protection become additional concerns.
  • Making a reservation, which can mean anything from booking a table or scheduling an appointment, to hiring various services, to vacation rentals. Getting started with this type of form is much easier via ready-made templates 📑 that include all the necessary fields and interactions.
  • Obtaining new business prospects, both online and offline; the latter also implies the ability to use the forms on a variety of devices 📱 such as smartphones and tablets.
  • Ordering a product or service online is one of the use cases you wouldn’t typically expect from an online form builder, but JotForm possesses sufficient security 🔑 and payment integrations to build surprisingly efficient checkout forms.

…and we haven’t even mentioned niche cases and special requirements, such as collecting sensitive health data from patients! (e.g. under HIPAA in the United States)

JotForm promises to solve each of those challenges – but does it actually deliver? Let’s see what’s so special about this tool.

Unique Features of JotForm

Of course, JotForm is not the only way to build online forms – so are there any specific advantages to using it?

Actually, there are quite a few:

  • Conditional logic makes it possible to “teach” your form to react to the user’s inputs, automatically adding, removing, hiding, skipping or changing fields in response to specific answers.

You can also use any field the respondent completes as an input for the rest of the form – e.g. to alter the labels or recalculate values of other fields!

This opens up almost limitless possibilities for making your forms even more effective, e.g. easily building highly personalized thank-you pages:

JotForm: conditional logic

And yes, conditional rules are present (to some extent) in most form builders, even Google Forms – but none comes even close to JotForm in terms of flexibility.

  • Apps and integrations library is what really makes JotForm exponentially more powerful, by connecting your forms with hundreds of third-party services.

This allows you to add various cool things to your forms (like signatures or additional verification), export form data into your favorite project management or analytics tools, and even securely collect payments without the need for expensive e-commerce solutions!

Speaking of security:

  • Data protection and privacy features ensure safety both for the creators and the respondents: JotForm uses 256-bit SSL certificates on all forms and lets you decide exactly who can fill in the form and who can see the results.

You can also choose to additionally encrypt all form responses with an RSA-2048 key before they are submitted to you, which acts as a double insurance against anyone trying to intercept your users’ data.

In order to enable encryption, you will need to go to your form’s settings and click on the brown “Show more options” button.

In addition to these security features, we should mention several abbreviations that might sound familiar to you. Here goes:

JotForm is fully compliant with GDPR (European data protection laws) and PCI (for payment processing) – and if you need to collect health-related information from your respondents, you can upgrade for HIPAA compliance.

  • Advanced publishing options give you full freedom when it comes to delivering your forms to your audience. Again, JotForm really raises the bar here, compared to other similar tools:

There are numerous ways you can publish a form created in JotForm – as a direct link, a social media post, or even a fillable PDF document –

JotForm publishing

You can also email the form directly to your respondents or embed it into your website – the specific code for each popular web platform like WordPress or Shopify is generated for you automatically.

  • PDF constructor is another unique feature of JotForm that lets you easily convert form responses into professional-looking PDF documents – ideal for generating invoices, proposals, tickets, certificates, etc.

The best part here is that you don’t need to start from scratch: there are hundreds of ready-made PDF templates at your disposal.

…Which brings us to the next aspect of JotForm:

  • Template library contains thousands of pre-made forms for just about every situation, grouped by type and industry. A huge time-saver!

To better understand the role of templates in JotForm, let’s take a closer look at how the form builder itself works:

Form Builder and Templates

Getting started with JotForm is super simple: you can create a new account by filling in your name, email, username, and password – or even faster via the Facebook or Google sign-up:

Create a Free Account at JotForm ›

It takes about 30 seconds in total, and we’re ready to begin! Let’s click on the big green “Create Form” button and explore our options –

There are 3 ways to create a form: starting from a blank canvas, using a template, or importing an existing one (from a website, your JotForm account, or a PDF document).

In day-to-day situations you will most likely be using templates – they save so much time! – but for the sake of introduction it might be better to start with a clean slate 📖

The form builder has a simple interface that conceals a surprisingly rich array of tools and powerful features:

JotForm builder

You can add new fields and other elements by clicking on the dark-grey rounded button on the left on the screen [1] which opens an entire panel of various things you can use in your form.

Apart from the basic elements and payment gateways, take note of the third tab which contains a huge number of more advanced blocks, like automatic geolocation or taking a photo of the respondent.

If you click on an existing field, a circular cog button will appear [2] that opens the field settings panel. Here, you can change the label, size, and position of the field, as well as marking it as required.

The third important panel is for the overall form design – it’s opened by the blue paint-roll button [3] in the top right corner of the interface.

To be frank, this part of JotForm’s builder was the biggest positive surprise for us; the variety of options is far beyond anything we’ve seen in other form builders:

  • You can choose colors and backgrounds for every individual part of the form – or click on the button at the bottom to activate the advanced designer interface with a mind-blowing amount of additional granular settings.
  • You can adjust the form’s fonts, size, and position – and even add your own CSS code if you’re familiar with web development languages.
  • OR you can simply choose a ready-made visual template for your form! There are both free and premium themes available in JotForm’s store.

…While we’re still in the form builder, have you noticed the JotForm banner at the bottom of the screen? [4] It will appear on all forms published using the free account.

In order to remove the banner from your forms, you’ll need a subscription. How does it work? And is it worth the money? Here’s the gist:

JotForm Pricing

The nice thing about JotForm is that it’s a so-called freemium service – in other words, it has both a free and a paid version.

This means you can start building and using your forms without any financial commitments, and later upgrade if JotForm proves to be useful for your project.

What we particularly like about JotForm is that there is absolutely no difference in features between the free and the paid plans: you only need to pay for additional usage limits and for removing the branding below the forms.

With this in mind, the logic behind JotForm’s subscription plans is quite straightforward:

JotForm plan Free Bronze Silver Gold
Monthly cost $0 $24 $29 $79
Form limit 5 25 100 ∞
Responses per month 100 1,000 10,000 100,000
Available space 100 MB 10 GB 100 GB 1 TB
JotForm banners yes no no no

As you can see from our summary table above, JotForm scales together with your needs – while not putting any limits on the functionality.

Another thing worth noting is a 50% discount for registered non-profits and educational institutions, which is something you won’t find at other online form providers 🎓

Finally, JotForm offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on any paid plan, which means you can ask for a full refund during the first month, by contacting the support team using the contact form or via email (they reply 24/7).

Neat! By now we pretty much have all the information we need to answer our main question:

Should You Use JotForm?

There’s no doubt – JotForm is by far the most advanced form builder service we’ve laid our hands on (and we at Satori Webmaster Academy have tried them all).

Long-time readers of our blog will know that we especially like products which manage to stay simple and intuitive while packing powerful features that are good enough to satisfy even the most expert users

– JotForm is one such product. Its online builder is easy to use for beginners, but gradually reveals a huge variety of options and capabilities as you get to know it better.

Every single feature is available in the free version of the service, which means you don’t have to pay anything until you’re really sure JotForm is the right toolkit for your needs:

Start using JotForm for Free ›

We initially expected JotForm to be a complicated tool for the more demanding cases – now we’re using it across the board, even for the simplest, text-only forms (bye-bye, Google Forms!)

Regardless of whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or a part of a big team, JotForm makes it surprisingly easy to forget that online forms used to be a difficult and tedious task.

***

We hope this review was helpful and answered more questions than it created! Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below – let’s help each other make a sensible choice 💬

12
Sep
2018

Niagahoster Review: The Best Hosting in Indonesia? + Promo Code 50% Off

If you’re reading this then you’re probably deciding whether to get a hosting account with Niagahoster (sometimes also spelled Niaga Hoster). You might have heard good (or bad) opinions about it, but there are so many other hosting providers out there that it’s hard to make the final choice!

I’m not even speaking about which particular hosting plan to choose (Niagahoster offers 4 of them) and which additional services to buy if you want a stable and effective website.

This is why we’ve created this detailed guide.

Over the past 9 years, our team have tried and tested countless hosting providers, including Niagahoster, to be able to tell with confidence whether it is worth your money. By the end of this review, we will answer the following questions together:

  • 🏆Is Niagahoster better than other hosting companies?
  • 👉Which hosting plan should you choose at Niagahoster?
  • 🔍What is the difference between shared hosting and VPS?
  • 🔨Niagahoster’s website builder – should you use it?

As an added bonus, at the bottom of this page I will share with you a hidden way to save 50% (that’s right, an entire HALF) on your Niagahoster order, in case you decide to create an account with them. We will use our exclusive promo code to achieve this..

But first, we need to understand the primary factors which influence the quality of hosting and determine whether Niagahost is really worth its reputation.

The Quality of Hosting and Why It Is Important

From the first glance, all hosting providers look the same and offer the same service. What make one great and another less so is the invisible stuff: the hardware, the software, and the support you get.

Let’s look “under the hood” and see if Niagahoster is a Ferrari or more like Opel.

Firstly, let’s ask a more basic question: what is a hosting? In order to answer it, we need to introduce the concept of server:

In essence, a server is a specialized computer managed by the hosting company. It stores your website and shows it to anyone who wants to visit your web address, 24/7.

Simply put, a hosting is simply a collection of servers! This means that to understand if a hosting company is good or bad, we need to look at the quality of its servers and other infrastructure.

Our research suggests that Niagahoster is one of the first in Indonesia to offer Tier-4 datacenter servers to its clients. Previously, such hardware was only available to large corporations and popular web services, but thanks to Niagahoster it became affordable to ordinary people like you and me.

What is a Tier-4 datacenter, you might ask?

The name comes from the international standards developed by the Uptime Institute in the United States: all datacenters are subdivided into four tiers based on their quality, with 4th being the most secure and efficient tier.

Technical jargon aside, the main difference between a Tier-4 datacenter and a lower-rank one is complete redundancy. This means that all systems and networks have spare duplicates, so everything continues to work even if all active components fail.

While this sounds like an overkill at first, when you consider that your website

Thanks to its advanced infrastructure, Niagahoster is able to guarantee 99.9% uptime to its clients. This means that the company is legally obliged to keep your website available for at least 99.9% of the time.

The actual uptime reported by Niagahoster is even higher, closer to 99.999%. How high is that? This figure implies that during a year, your website might be unavailable for no more than 5.3 minutes!

This is quite good even by standards of large multinational companies – and it’s available to anyone for a fraction of the cost at Niagahoster.

How can Niagahoster afford to offer such quality at such low prices? The answer is simple:

It’s the largest hosting company in Indonesia, which allows it to scale its operations while staying profitable, where others would go bankrupt very quickly.

Apart from the datacenter quality, it is important to look at the individual servers. In the case of Niahahoster, each server is a IIX (Indonesian Internet eXchange) compliant machine with 32 Gb or RAM and 1Gbps network speeds. In other words, lots of power!

Each server is protected by BitNinja – an all-in-one security system against spam and malicious attacks, headquartered in Europe.

This combination of power, security and competitive prices is what seems to make Niagahoster so attractive – and has helped the company to gather millions of clients since its start in 2013, becoming the top-1 hosting provider in Indonesia.

Now that we understand the level of quality, let’s examine Niaga Hoster’s offer and see which hosting plan is the most sensible choice:

Niagahoster’s Offer Under a Microscope: Which Plan to Choose?

Essentially there are two different types of hosting offered by Niagahoster – shared hosting and cloud VPS (virtual private hosting), each with several possible configurations which determine the final price.

Before looking at the plans, we need to understand the difference between shared and VPS hosting, and for that let’s recall from earlier that hosting is provided on servers – powerful, always-on computers optimized for storing and serving websites to the public.

There are many ways in which a hosting server can be configured – this is where the various types of hosting come from. We’ve made a table to summarize the key distinguishing features for shared and VPS hosting:

Shared hosting Cloud VPS
Ease of use Easy for beginners Requires technical knowledge
Flexibility Several fixed configurations Very flexible – can change any detail at any time
Resource allocation Each server shared by many websites You get a guaranteed resource allocation across several servers
Price level Low-medium Medium-high

If we take housing for analogy, a shared hosting is like sharing an apartment with several other people – it’s a bit crowded and sometimes the bathroom can be occupied for too long, but the rent is quite low!

In the same comparison, a VPS hosting can be thought of as having a “golden member” status at a luxury hotel chain: you have an entire suite for yourself, and you can move freely between rooms and even different branches of the hotel chain. But it’s also much more expensive and requires some technical knowledge.

From the above, it should be clear that shared hosting is ideal for beginners who just want to test their online project without spending too much money. A virtual private server is great for developers and programmers who know what they’re doing :)

Armed with this knowledge, let’s now look at the available shared hosting plans to see which one is worth your money.

Niagahoster offers four plans for shared hosting clients, differing by the available computing resources and other features. To make things simpler for you, we will look only at the most important differences

  • The cheapest plan is called Baby; it does not include domain registration (you will need to pay separately for it, approximately Rp 110,000 per year). It also limits the number of email accounts to 1 and the storage capacity for your website’s files to 500 Mb.
  • The Student plan includes a free domain name as well as unlimited disk space and email accounts. It also allows adding more than one domain (purchased separately) if you decide you want to host more than one online project in the future.
  • The Personal plan has everything from the Student plan, plus you get automatic spam protection as well as private nameserver, which can be useful if you decide to switch to another hosting in the future (more flexibility for your online project).
  • The Business plan is very similar to the Personal plan, with only one major difference: a personal IP address. This can be useful if you are running a large website, but in most cases it’s frankly not worth the extra money.

To summarize, the Student and Personal plans at Niagahoster currently offer the best combination of power and affordability. We recommend one of these to most individuals and small businesses who wish to create their own website.

While the Personal plan costs more than the Student plan, at the end of this review we will show you a secret way to get Personal for almost the same price as Student, i.e. at a big discount.

Before we do that, we will summarize the advantages and disadvantages of using Niagahoster and formulate our verdict: is it worth your money?

Pros and Cons of Niagahoster

The following list has been compiled based on our own experience with Niagahost, following detailed testing and research. We are happy to share it with you today, so that you can make a more informed decision:

  • Niagahoster’s servers are located in an Indonesia-based datacenter, which means extra-high loading speed for your website (compared with US or European hosting).
  • High service stability (over 99.9%) is guaranteed by advanced equipment used by Niagahoster as well as special anti-failure measures maintained in its datacenter.
  • 2 free domains with any Personal or Business hosting purchase, allowing you to save extra money on registering a domain separately (typically costs around Rp 110,000 each).
  • Free SSL security forever via Let’s Encrypt, for any shared hosting plan. You can also purchase enterprise-grade SSL certificates by Comodo at additional price.
  • Easy setup for your hosting account and fast WordPress installation from within your hosting admin panel.
  • Powerful admin panel provided by cPanel, the most widely used hosting management system in the world.
  • Instant backups of your entire hosting account for added security – this way you will always have a copy of your data to restore if something bad happens.
  • Large knowledgebase with detailed guides on each aspect of hosting – from initial set-up for beginners to VPS management for professional developers.
  • Friendly and fast support via live chat, email, contact form, or by phone. The Niagahoster team responds quickly and helps solve any problems you might have.
  • Mediocre website builder with a narrow selection of themes that look visually outdated. We recommend installing WordPress and using any of the thousands free templates available on WP official repository, such as the multi-purpose Bento theme.

BONUS: Secret 50% Off Niagahoster Promo Code

Alright, since we’ve already determined that Niagahoster is definitely worth considering as your primary hosting provider, this section will provide an exclusive discount code for a 50% discount on a Personal or Business plan. Please note that that 50% value includes the discount that is already provided by Niagahost itself. Let’s begin!

  1. Visit the official Niagahoster website by clicking on the red button below. The website will open in a new browser tab so that you can still see this guide.

    Get 50% off Niagahoster ›

  2. Scroll down the Niagahoster website to the table which contains the four hosting plans. Click “Select now” on the “Personal” or “Business” plan (we recommend “Personal”, as it costs less while still containing all essential features.
  3. On the next page, choose the duration of the hosting package (we recommend 1 year, but you can also use 6 months if you feel it’s enough for you). After that click “Next”.
  4. You get a free domain with this plan! On the next page, choose the desired domain name and extension and click “Add to cart”. You can also register a second domain (e.g. you can have the same name with .co.id and .online extensions in order to secure your brand name), or skip this step.
  5. After choosing the domain names you will reach the page with your order details. Just click “Next” – the options offered here are quite useless.
  6. Click on the button to create a new account, which will finally bring you to the checkout page where you can apply our promo code.
  7. Scroll down to the bottom of the checkout page until you see the “Promo Code” section. Enter the following code into the box and click the grey “Apply” button twice (this is important):

    SALE50
  8. After you click twice you will notice changes on the right side of the page where your order price is being displayed:

  9. Congratulations! You’ve just saved some money on your Niagahoster purchase! You can now proceed to fill in the required information on the checkout page and make the payment.

Our Verdict / Let’s Discuss Niagahoster!

To summarize, our research and tests seem to indicate that Niaga Hoster is one of the best (if not the best) hosting companies in Indonesia. This is achieved by using a Tier-4 datacenter with top-quality infrastructure, located in Indonesia instead of overseas.

Add to this professional-grade software, fast support, as well as very reasonable prices (plus our exclusive discount code 😉) – and you get a premium hosting service for a fraction of the cost.

Do you still have unanswered questions about Niagahoster? Or maybe you’d like to share your unique experience with this company? In any case, we will be happy to see you join the discussion in the comments section below this text.

06
Sep
2018

The Ultimate Review: Everything You Need to Know in 2025 + Best Deal Promo Code

☑︎ This review was last updated in July 2025

Hostinger is one of the most affordable options among the hosting giants today. But “big and cheap” doesn’t necessarily mean anything by itself –

⚓ Titanic was also big, and some of the tickets were quite affordable…

So instead of relying on marketing claims or crowd psychology, we decided to dig into real-world data and hands-on experience to see if Hostinger actually delivers.

Verdict summary: Hostinger is a strong contender in the value-for-money category, thanks to its low pricing, modern tools, and beginner-friendly options. Whether you’re building a small/medium business site or launching a personal blog, there’s a plan that likely fits.
Read expert review
Visit Hostinger website ›
Pricing: is it value for money? Read more
10/10
Servers: how fast and reliable is it? See data
7/10
Features: what do you get as a client? Details
9/10
Support: is it available and helpful? Find out
8/10

By the way, if you ended up here by typing hostenger, hosinger, or even hostiger into your browser — yes, you’re still in the right place 😄

We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about this hosting platform — and show you when it’s a great deal… and when it’s not:

How Big Is Hostinger?

To give you an idea of just how big Hostinger is, here are some figures: the company currently has over 3.5 million customers in 150+ countries.

And there are no signs of slowing down – according to their data, Hostinger is still expanding at a rate of 1 client every 5 seconds.

Hostinger facts

However, as you might expect, Hostinger hasn’t always been the international giant it is today. When it all started back in 2004, Hostinger grew out of a single idea:

People don’t want to pay for our marketing – just the hosting: simple, reliable, and as cheap as possible.

After many years, this principle still remains at the core of Hostinger, namely high-quality services at the most affordable price.

Let’s take a look at the offer:

Choosing the Right Hostinger Plan

As of 2025, Hostinger offers two main shared hosting options: Premium and Business.

Both include 1-click WordPress installation, free email, and a domain name — but they’re built for different needs.

Here’s a quick guide to help you decide:

  1. Are you launching a personal website or a small business project? Then the Premium plan is your starting point. It supports up to 100 websites, includes 100 GB SSD storage, and delivers excellent value for the price.
  2. Running an online store or expecting higher traffic? In that case, the Business plan is the better choice — it offers more RAM and CPU, WooCommerce-ready support, and comes with daily backups for peace of mind.
  3. Need full control and custom server setups? You’re probably looking for VPS hosting — with dedicated resources and root access for developers or advanced users.
  4. Building something big and want seamless scalability? Check out Cloud hosting – it’s the most powerful option in their lineup, combining guaranteed resources with premium uptime and load balancing.

TL;DR: Choose Premium for regular websites and blogs. Go with Business for e-commerce or heavier traffic. VPS and Cloud are best for custom setups and high-performance projects.

…Wait, but should I be choosing Hostinger at all? Ah, good, you’re still paying attention! In order to answer this question, we’ll need more data:

In the following parts of this review we will analyze Hostinger’s technical characteristics 🤓 as well as our own impressions from using this provider.

Let’s dive in!

Hostinger Uptime and Speed: How Reliable Is This Provider?

Apart from features and pricing, another extremely important criterion for choosing hosting is its stability – in other words, server uptime and speed.

To measure the uptime, or the proportion of time Hostinger’s servers are up and running, we can look at both self-reported and third-party figures.

The former are freely available on their server monitor page. It lists daily, weekly, and monthly statistics for all of Hostinger’s 150+ servers, which looks something like this:

Hostinger uptime

At the bottom of the table you can find the combined figures for all servers, which is what we’re interested in:

Look at the 30-day average to get the idea of how much time your website can be expected to stay offline within any given month.

As of July 2025 this figure is close to 99.9% – which implies that a hosted website should only experience about 42 minutes of downtime per month, which is a fairly normal result for most modern hosting providers.

This is also in line with 99.908% figure independently measured by Hrank, as well as within the bounds of Hostinger’s Service Uptime Guarantee – which is exactly 99.9% according to section 7 of their Hosting Agreement.

***

How about speed? This is a bit trickier, since it might depend on many different factors apart from the hosting provider’s hardware.

A web page’s loading time depends heavily on things such as the total size of images on the page, the number of active WordPress plugins, and other details that are not related to the hosting.

So it makes sense to conside only the response time – which is the average time (in milliseconds) it takes a server to respond to an incoming connection request (i.e. someone trying to access a website on that server).

According to third-party data by Hrank bots which , Hostinger’s average response time hovers around 800 ms:

Hostinger uptime

Hostinger’s average response time as measured by Hrank (lower is better)

In fact, it can be seen that Hostinger’s average response time has been declining (=faster websites) during the recent years, thanks in part to infrastructure upgrades.

Anything below 1000 ms first response time is a good result for a shared hosting provider, and Hostinger fares better than most other large international providers.

Alright, now that we’ve looked at the facts, let’s move from averages to our personal impressions:

Our Impressions from Using Hostinger

As we mentioned earlier, Hostinger has plans for just about any use case — but most users start with shared hosting, so that’s what we’ll focus on here.

After purchasing a plan (see below on who you can get the best deal), you’re taken straight into Hostinger’s custom-built admin panel.

This is where you’ll manage your hosting, domains, websites, and settings:

Hostinger dashboard

Unlike cPanel or Plesk, Hostinger’s dashboard is 100% their own creation — and honestly, that’s a good thing.

It’s clean, well-organized, and beginner-friendly without being dumbed down. Everything is laid out in tiles with intuitive icons, and there’s a top search bar to help you find any setting fast.

You can:

🖱️ launch a WordPress site with one click (literally),
⚙️ manage files and databases without leaving the panel,
📧 set up emails, cron, SSL, and caching in just a few clicks.

For most users, everything “just works” out of the box — which, let’s face it, is exactly what you want from a hosting provider in 2025.

In the age of artificial intelligence, Hostinger is not standing still either: there are plenty of AI-powered tools integrated directly into the setup:

  • AI Website Builder: a new AI-integrated WordPress theme that sets up your structure and homepage content automatically. It’s a huge time-saver, especially for beginners.
  • AI Content Assistant: within WordPress, you get access to Hostinger’s plugin that helps write blog posts and landing pages — optimized for SEO, and tailored to your site’s topic. The results can serve as good first drafts to break writer’s block.
  • AI Image Picker: Hostinger’s tools can automatically select relevant stock images based on your content. Not perfect, but again — very handy when launching fast.

If you’re starting from scratch, these tools can easily cut your build time in half ⏩

And if you’re already experienced, they’re still useful for wireframing or generating starter content to refine later.

Bottom line:

Hostinger’s admin interface and toolset strike a balance between beginner ease and pro-level flexibility — now with a dose of AI superpowers on top.

Speaking of AI, we can’t skip the new Horizons:

Hostinger Horizons: Next-Gen Website and App Builder

All major hosting providers offer some sort of AI-powered website builders (not to mention the actual site builders themselves) – but Hostinger is going one step further:

Hostinger Horizons is a new product that lets you create websites or even web apps based on a single prompt – think ChatGPT for web hosting.

We thought getting started with a website couldn’t get easier than what Hosting already offers, but we were wrong:

  1. Describe your idea: Simply tell the AI what you want to build – be it a website, a task manager, fitness tracker, or any other web app.
  2. Refine and edit: You can make live adjustments by chatting with the AI to tweak text, design, or functionality.
  3. Launch instantly: Deploy your site or app with a single click, complete with hosting and a custom domain powered by Hostinger.

“But there’s a multitude of recent startups offering website or app creation from text prompts” – an informed observer might comment…

Sure, but none offers the infrastructure, support, and (most importantly) 20-year track record of Hostinger.

Horizons is free to try for 7 days with 5 daily prompts. After that, you can choose between several plans depending on how many monthly prompts you need – from 50 on Explorer to 500 on Hustler:

Plan Prompts Best For Price
Explorer 50/mo Trying out Horizons, experimenting with ideas occasionally $9.99/mo
Starter

100/mo Students, beginners, or anyone just getting started $19.99/mo
Hobbyist 250/mo Freelancers, solo creators, and weekend project warriors $49.99/mo
Hustler 500/mo Startup teams, product builders, or anyone scaling an idea $99.99/mo

As with every AI powered product these days, the actual output quality may vary widely – and that depends a lot on your prompts :)

But the convenience and speed are hard to ignore –

You can now launch pretty much any kind of website or web service within hours or even minutes ⚡ without expensive developers or even having to know how to code!

Try Horizons for Free ›

This product will surely evolve further as the underlying tech progresses, so stay tuned as we update our review accordingly!

Let’s move on to the human side of things though:

Hostinger Customer Support

One of the most important aspects of any hosting provider is how they help you when things go sideways. So how does Hostinger perform?

Short answer: surprisingly well – especially considering how affordable the service is.

Hostinger offers 24/7 live chat support, available directly from inside your hosting dashboard (called hPanel). No need to send emails or open tickets — it all happens in real time, right where you’re managing your website.

Fun fact: Hostinger has phased out traditional email support in favor of fully focusing on live chat — which has significantly reduced response times.

During our recent tests:

  • We received our first replies in just a few seconds to 2–3 minutes, depending on the time of day.
  • The support agents were friendly, patient, and well-informed — even when we threw some technical curveballs at them.
  • Occasionally, they’ll send you a cheerful image (yep, even cat pics 🐈) while you wait — a nice touch.

In addition, Hostinger also provides a well-structured knowledge base, accessible from the “Help” section inside hPanel or directly from their website. It includes:

  • Step-by-step guides for setting up your site and managing your hosting account
  • Troubleshooting articles for WordPress, email, domains, performance issues, and more
  • Product explanations, service status updates, and feature breakdowns

Not a Hostinger customer yet?

You can still reach out using the contact form on their website — just keep in mind that priority is still given to logged-in users with active plans.

To sum up:

✅ 24/7 live chat directly inside hPanel
✅ Solid and easy-to-search knowledge base
❌ No phone support
❌ No standard email support

Overall, Hostinger exceeded our expectations when it comes to customer service — especially for a provider in this price range.

Refunds and Cancelling Your Hostinger Plan

Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on most of their services — including shared hosting, VPS, and domain transfers.

There are a few caveats to be aware of:

  • New domain name registrations are only refundable within 96 hours (and not at all for certain TLDs).
  • Some items like domain renewals, privacy protection, or SEO toolkits are not eligible for refunds.
  • Crypto payments are non-refundable (but that’s pretty standard).

If you want to cancel your current items, go to your dashboard, search for Deactivate Account, and follow the steps. It’s fast and doesn’t require contacting support.

⚠️ Want to completely delete your entire account? You’ll need to ask support – and if you’re in the EU, mentioning GDPR will get it done faster.

Hostinger FAQ

Before we go on to summarize the strong and weak points on Hostinger, here’s a collection of the most frequent questions we’ve seen on the web and in our comments:

Is Hostinger really free?

No — Hostinger used to offer free hosting many years ago, but in 2025 all of their plans are paid. The good news is, their prices are still among the lowest in the industry.

Is Hostinger good for WordPress?

Yes. Hostinger offers 1-click WordPress installation, built-in LiteSpeed caching, and optional AI tools for content creation and site structure. It’s a solid pick for both beginners and experienced WP users.

Does Hostinger offer phone support?

No — Hostinger does not provide support via phone. Their support is handled entirely through live chat inside your hosting dashboard, available 24/7.

Is Hostinger reliable?

Yes — based on our monitoring and third-party tests, Hostinger maintains a 99.9% uptime with decent global response times. It’s not the absolute fastest, but it’s impressively reliable for its price.

Can I change my Hostinger plan later?

Sure. You can upgrade/downgrate between Premium to Business or even switch to cloud/VPS hosting anytime through your dashboard. Unused time on your current plan is credited automatically.

Does Hostinger offer email hosting?

Yes — all hosting plans include free email hosting. You can create branded addresses (like you@yourdomain.com) and access them via webmail or connect to Gmail/Outlook.

Can I try Hostinger risk-free?

Yes — there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee on most services. If you’re not satisfied, you can cancel from your dashboard and request a refund. No awkward emails required.

Pros and Cons of Hostinger

Now that we’ve examined Hostinger’s products and services, as well as customer support – let’s summarize the positive and negative sides. We’ll try to be as objective as possible:

  • Great value for money: competitive prices for all hosting packages – as Hostinger puts it, “you only pay for the hosting, not for the marketing”
  • Flexible offers for any kind of client – from individuals and small businesses (shared hosting) to large companies and professional programmers (VPS and cloud)
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee – in essence, Hostinger promises that your website will be available online all the time. The figure translates into a maximum of 44 minutes of downtime per month, which in practice is close to 0 minutes of downtime according to our tests.
  • You get a free domain name with your hosting purchase if you choose at least a 12-month package
  • Plenty of useful AI features such as site builder, content writer, and image picker
  • Fast support from a friendly, fast, and helpful team that are always ready to solve your problems 24/7
  • No phone support – the standard way to get support as a Hostinger client is to use the 24/7 chat
  • Not built for sysadmin-level control – if you’re looking for root access, custom stacks, or full SSH playgrounds — this isn’t Digital Ocean. Hostinger keeps things beginner-friendly by design, which means some advanced tweaks are off-limits on shared plans.

Before we finish this review with a conclusion and a verdict (should you use Hostinger?), here’s a step-by-step guide for getting an additional discount off your Hostinger purchase:

Bonus: Hostinger Promo Code

Now, we’re not arguing that you should necessarily choose Hostinger – but if you do decide to go with this provider, it’s nice to have an option to save even more on your order, right?

Just follow these simple steps:

  1. Visit the official Hostinger website using the button below (the link opens in a new tab):

    Get the best deal at Hostinger ›

  2. Choose any hosting plan you like (see our quick guide above) and proceed to the checkout page.
  3. On the right-hand side, look for the grey text that says “Have a promo code?” Click the link next to it to open the coupon field.

    Hostinger promo code example

  4. Paste the code below into the box:

    special15
  5. Click the “+” button to apply it. If everything went well, you’ll see a confirmation message and the discount will appear in your total.
  6. Congrats! You’ve just unlocked an even better deal on your hosting — now go build something awesome.

In case the promo code mentioned above doesn’t work in your case, let us know in the comments below – we’ll investigate and do our best to make sure you receive a functioning one.

Verdict: Is Hostinger Worth It?

Taking everything into consideration, should you use Hostinger for your next web project?

Based on 10+ years of using Hostinger, we can conclude that this brand is the very embodiment of value for money: you pay a very, very reasonable price for what you get – Hostinger just… works 🧘

It’s far from standing still either – rolling out better experiences and even more powerful tools every month.

Conclusion: Hostinger is one of the best options in 2025 if you want to balance simplicity, speed, reliability, and price.
Try Hostinger Risk-Free ›

For those who do decide to try Hostinger: don’t forget to check out our step-by-step guide on how to save extra on your first order.

***

Still having questions about servers, plans, support, etc? Or maybe you are already using Hostinger and would like to share your experience?

👇 Join the discussion in the comments section below, let’s help each other make informed decisions!

Affiliate disclosure: if you found this review helpful, please consider supporting our blog by using the links in the text to purchase Hostinger services. This does not affect the price you get on your Hostinger offer, but it does help us continue creating high-quality guides!

01
Dec
2017

How to Start a WordPress Website in 2025: Beginner’s Guide to WP Setup

Here’s the thing: while WordPress is famously beginner-friendly, the first steps can still feel like assembling IKEA furniture without the instructions.

Domain names, hosting, themes, plugins, admin panels, SSL certificates, permalinks… what even is a permalink?

This guide is here to de-mystify all of it.

You’ll learn how to set up your first WP site the right way — from picking the right tools to clicking that shiny “Publish” button. No fluff, no jargon soup. Just a step-by-step walkthrough from someone who’s built dozens if not hundreds of WordPress websites since 2009.

Let’s get started 👇

What Is WordPress (Really)?

It powers a quarter of the Internet. It is by far the most popular way of creating and maintaining a website. It is free for anyone to use and modify in any way they want. But what is WordPress?

Let’s clear the fog: WordPress isn’t a website builder like Wix or Squarespace. It’s not a hosting service. And it doesn’t come with a neon “Launch Me” button either.

So… what is it?

WordPress is a free, open-source tool that helps you build and run websites. More precisely, it’s what’s called a Content Management System (CMS) — which is a fancy way of saying it handles all the behind-the-scenes stuff (text, images, menus, pages, users, settings) so you can focus on making your site look and work the way you want.

No coding required. Pinky swear.

It’s made up of three main ingredients:

  • WordPress Core – the actual CMS software that runs the show
  • Themes – these control how your website looks (layout, fonts, colors, the rest of the vibes)
  • Plugins – add-ons that make your site do more things (like contact forms, shops, SEO tools)

Think of it like this: WordPress Core is your house’s structure, themes are the interior design, and plugins are all the appliances and gadgets.

What can you do with WordPress?

  • Create and manage pages and blog posts
  • Customize your site’s appearance (without breaking anything)
  • Add functionality like email forms, image sliders, shopping carts, forums — you name it
  • Collaborate with other users (admins, authors, editors, contributors — each with their own superpowers)

But here’s what WordPress doesn’t do by default:

  • It doesn’t give you a domain name like mycoolwebsite.com — you’ll need to buy that separately (check out our domain guide)
  • It doesn’t host your website — you’ll need a place to “put” it (here’s our definitive guide on choosing a hosting provider)
  • It doesn’t magically write or design your content for you (yet 😏)

Don’t worry — we’ll walk you through all of that in this guide, with links to our best tutorials along the way. But first: is WordPress still a smart choice in 2025?

Should You Use WordPress in 2025?

Before we get into tools and settings and fancy themes, let’s ask a more fundamental question:

Is WordPress actually the right choice for your project?

Because while WordPress is powerful, flexible, and everywhere — it’s not always the best fit. But…

  • If you want full control over your site (without paying monthly fees)
  • If you’re okay learning a few new things along the way
  • If you want the ability to scale, customize, and actually own your site

…then WordPress is still one of the best options in 2025.

But let’s look at the competition for a sec.

When not to use WordPress

If you’re just testing an idea, need a single landing page up today, or absolutely don’t want to deal with hosting, domains, or plugins — then you might be better off with a site builder like Wix, Squarespace, or Webflow.

Those tools bundle everything (including hosting), and give you drag-and-drop control out of the box.

But the tradeoff?

You pay monthly, get fewer customization options, and once you’re in — you’re in. Moving away later is like trying to leave a cult with stylish fonts.

Why WordPress still wins (for most people)

Here’s why over 40% of websites still run on WordPress:

  • You can start free — the software is open-source and the vast majority of plugins and themes cost nothing
  • It’s endlessly flexible — blogs, portfolios, shops, forums, newsletters, even entire SaaS apps can be built on WP
  • You’re not alone — if you run into a problem, someone’s already solved it (and blogged about it)
  • You keep control — no proprietary lock-in, no surprise shutdowns, no weird limitations

Major sites like TechCrunch, BBC America, and even parts of whitehouse.gov use WordPress. If it works for them, it’ll probably work for you too.

So unless you have a very niche use case or hate learning new tools, WP is a solid bet in 2025.

Next, let’s open the package:

What You Need Before You Start

Before you can install WordPress and start tweaking settings like a pro, there are two essential things you’ll need to get sorted:

1. Domain Name

That’s your address on the Internet — the yourwebsite.com part.

You can register one via services like Namecheap, GoDaddy, or through your hosting provider.

But don’t rush it — your domain name matters more than you think. We’ve got an entire guide on choosing a domain if you’re not sure where to start.

2. Hosting Provider

This is where your website will “live” — a server that stores your files and delivers them to visitors.

There are thousands of hosting providers out there, but not all play nice with WordPress. Look for one that offers:

  • 1-click WordPress installs (saves a ton of time)
  • Free SSL certificate (for that secure https://)
  • Decent support (preferably with live chat)

Short on time? Go for Hostinger. Feel like going into the nitty-gritties? Check out our hosting guide.

Optional: A Local or Staging Setup

If you want to experiment before going live, you can set up WordPress on your computer (a “local” site) or use your host’s staging environment. This is especially useful for playing around without breaking anything on the public version.

Tools like Local by Flywheel make it ridiculously easy.

* * *

Once you’ve got your domain and hosting ready, it’s time to install WordPress.

You’ve got two options — and we’ll walk through both of them next.

Installing WordPress (2 Easy Methods)

Alright — you’ve got your domain, your hosting, and that glint of ambition in your eye.

Let’s get WordPress up and running.

There are two main ways to install WordPress:

  • Easy Mode: one-click install via your hosting control panel
  • Manual Mode: doing it yourself (still pretty simple, promise)

Pick whichever feels more comfortable. They both lead to the same result: a blank but functional WP site you can start customizing right away.

Method 1: One-Click Install (Recommended)

Most decent hosting providers offer a WordPress installer in their dashboard — usually under funky names like “Softaculous”, “Installatron”, or just a WordPress logo.

It’ll ask you to fill out a short form:

  • Site Name and Tagline – you can change these later
  • Admin username – please don’t use “admin” 🙏
  • Admin password – strong and unique (a password manager helps)
  • Email address – use one you actually check
  • Install path – leave blank if this is your main site (more on that below)

Click “Install”, wait 30 seconds, and boom — you’ve got a website.

What’s this “install path” thing? If you leave it blank, WordPress goes into the root folder (your main domain). If you add something like blog, your site will live at yourwebsite.com/blog. That’s useful if you want to run multiple sites later.

Method 2: Manual Install (The Nerdy but Useful Way)

If your host doesn’t offer one-click installs, or you just want to flex some technical skills, here’s how to do it manually. Total time: ~10 minutes.

  1. Download the latest version of WordPress from the official repository at wordpress.org
  2. Create a new MySQL database + user in your hosting panel (usually under “Databases”)
  3. Unzip WordPress and rename the folder to whatever you want (e.g. myawesomeproject)
  4. Upload the folder to your server via FTP using FileZilla or your host’s file manager
  5. In your browser, go to yourdomain.com and follow the setup wizard — enter your database info, pick admin username/password, etc

That’s it — you’re in! You can now log into your WordPress dashboard by visiting:

yourdomain.com/wp-admin

Bookmark that link. You’ll be using it a lot.

Next up: the settings you’ll want to tweak right away (before adding any content or themes).

Must-Change WordPress Settings

You’ve installed WordPress — congrats! 🎉 Before you start designing or publishing posts, let’s take five minutes to dial in some key settings.

Why now? Because a few defaults are… not great. And fixing them later is going to be increasingly messy.

Here’s what to do right after installing WP:

General Settings

Go to Settings → General in your WP dashboard. Fill out:

  • Site Title – this shows up in browser tabs and search results
  • Tagline – optional, but good for SEO if it describes what your site does

Also check:

  • Timezone – set it to your actual location so posts and backups get the correct timestamps
  • Date + Time Format – personal preference, but it affects how things display to visitors

Discussion Settings

Head to Settings → Discussion. If you plan to allow comments (for a blog or community site), go ahead and leave “Allow people to post comments” on. If not — turn it off and enjoy the silence.

Other smart tweaks:

✅ Enable “Comment must be manually approved” (trust me on this one)
❌ Disable pingbacks + trackbacks (they’re mostly spam these days)
✅ Enable threaded comments (looks cleaner if you do allow discussions)

Permalink Structure

This one’s crucial for both humans and search engines. Go to Settings → Permalinks and choose:

✔️ Post name

This setting turns ugly URLs like yourwebsite.com/?p=123 into clean, readable ones like yourwebsite.com/awesome-guide. Much better.

Remove Sample Content

WordPress installs often come with junk like a “Hello world” blog post or a “Sample Page”.

Delete them from Posts and Pages to avoid weird stuff showing up in your menus or sitemap.

* * *

Once that’s done, your site is cleaner, safer, and better prepared for Google (and humans).

Next up: how to make your site actually look and work the way you want — with themes and plugins:

Your First WP Themes and Plugins

Now that your site is lean and freshly installed, it’s time to give it some personality — and power.

This is where themes and plugins come in.

Plugins: What Your Site Can Do

Plugins are where the magic happens. They add new features to your WordPress site — things like contact forms, SEO tools, online stores, performance boosters, you name it.

There are 59,000+ plugins in the official repo alone, but don’t go overboard. A few well-chosen plugins will do more for your site than 30 random ones.

Here are a few essential (and free) picks to get started:

  • Rank Math – an SEO plugin to optimize titles, meta tags, and search snippets
  • Akismet – filters out spam comments automatically (a must if you allow comments)
  • WPForms Lite – lets visitors contact you through simple, customizable forms
  • LiteSpeed Cache (or WP Super Cache) – helps your site load faster
  • Wordfence Security – protects against hacks, malware, and other bad stuff

Want to track your visitors? Add Google Site Kit — it connects Analytics, Search Console, and more right into your dashboard.

A Word on Plugin Bloat

Not all plugins are good for your site. Some are slow, outdated, or conflict with others. So:

  • Stick to well-reviewed, actively updated plugins
  • Only install what you actually need
  • Delete (don’t just deactivate) anything unused

Themes: How Your Site Looks

Themes control your site’s design — layout, fonts, colors, header style, blog format, all of it.

You can think of them as your website’s outfit. And yes, you can change clothes later without losing your content.

There are thousands of themes out there, but don’t just grab the first flashy one. Some are bloated, others are buggy, and a few are downright broken.

To keep it simple:

If you’re planning to use the new full-site editing features in WordPress, look for a block-based theme like Astra or GeneratePress. They play nicely with the native editor and don’t weigh your site down.

Next step? Finding a theme that doesn’t suck.
We’ve got a full guide on that → how to choose the right WP theme.

Next Steps: What to Do After Setup

At this point, you’ve got:

✔️ A working WordPress site
✔️ Clean settings
✔️ A theme that doesn’t make you cringe
✔️ Plugins doing useful things in the background

So what now?

Here’s a short roadmap for what to do next:

  • Create your first pages: usually a homepage, an about page, and a contact page
  • Add your first blog post: even a short “hello world” intro is a good way to test things
  • make sure visitors can actually find stuff
  • Set up backups: your host might handle this, or you can install something like UpdraftPlus

Optional but smart:

  • Explore new themes if you want a more custom vibe
  • Start thinking about speed optimization, caching, and security — we’ll cover all that in upcoming guides

WordPress Setup FAQ

— Do I need to know how to code to use WordPress?

Nope! You can build and manage an entire WordPress site without writing a single line of code. That said, knowing a bit of HTML/CSS or using a page builder like Elementor or the built-in block editor can give you more flexibility.

— What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

WordPress.org is the free, open-source version you install on your own hosting. WordPress.com is a hosted service — easier to start with, but much more limited unless you pay. If you want full control, use WordPress.org (which this guide covers).

— Can I change my theme later?

Yes! You can switch themes anytime without losing your content. Just keep in mind that layouts and widgets might need a little cleanup afterward, especially if you were using a page builder or a highly customized theme.

— Is WordPress secure?

WordPress is secure as long as you keep it updated, use strong passwords, and install reputable plugins. Adding a security plugin like Wordfence or Solid Security is also a good move — and always keep backups, just in case.

— Can I build a store or portfolio with WordPress?

Absolutely. WordPress can handle everything from online shops (using WooCommerce) to photo portfolios, membership sites, forums, or even full-blown SaaS platforms. It’s endlessly flexible if you’ve got the right plugins.

* * *

WordPress can feel overwhelming at first — but once you’ve gone through these steps, it starts to click.

You’ve got the framework. Now it’s about content, design, and making your site actually useful to visitors.

In case you’ve got questions about WordPress installation and initial setup, don’t hesitate to hit us in the comment section below – let’s discuss!

07
Aug
2017

Which is the Best Site Builder in 2025? Comparing vs vs

☑︎ This guide was last updated in July 2025

If you’re building a website and want zero hassle — no fiddling with hosting, no WordPress plugin rabbit holes, no late-night support chats — you’re in the right place.

💡 Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly are the most popular all-in-one site builders in 2025. But they each have their quirks — and what works great for a portfolio might be a nightmare for an online store.

So… which one should you use?

Start Here: Website Builder Choice Wizard ⚡

Not in the mood for 10,000+ words of comparison tables? Use our simple wizard to get a tailored recommendation based on your actual needs — not ads or buzzwords.

Still curious? Keep scrolling for:

  • A side-by-side feature comparison of the top builders
  • Real pros & cons based on hands-on use (not marketing copy)
  • 🏆 Our verdicts for different use cases — easiest, cheapest, best for ecommerce, best for photographers, and more
  • An honest look at how these platforms stack up against WordPress

And yes, we’ve tested all of them using real accounts — so no fluff, just the good stuff.

Why Does the Choice Matter?

So you’ve decided to build a website — and you want it live, like, yesterday.

Instead of wrestling with traditional content management systems (hi WordPress 👋), you’re smartly leaning toward an all-in-one website builder. These tools bundle everything — hosting, design templates, e-commerce, support — into a single tidy package.

Sounds perfect, right?

Well… almost.

Here’s the catch: while most builders *look* similar at first glance, their real differences only show up once you’re deep into the project. That’s when things like storage limits, theme restrictions, upgrade pricing, and feature lock-ins start to bite.

That’s why we put this guide together — to help you pick the best tool before you’ve sunk hours into the wrong one.

We’ve tested the top site builders using real accounts, evaluated them across 20+ criteria (like design flexibility, SEO tools, e-commerce readiness, and pricing traps), and pulled everything together in one place.

Let’s dive in!

Comparison Table

The table below contains certain important features of each of the three most popular website building services;

We intentionally did not include such items as “presence of an ad-free version” or “possibility to add your own domain name” because those have been industry standards for quite a while now and are naturally offered by all major site builder brands.

Website Builder Wix Squarespace Weebly
Year founded 2006 2004 2006
Free version yes no yes
Storage space (free) 500 MB N/A 500 MB
Extensions yes no yes
Backups yes no yes
Capabilities:
templates yes yes yes
start from scratch yes no no
analytics yes yes yes
SEO tools yes yes yes
e-commerce yes yes yes
multilingual yes yes via an app
email yes yes yes
Cheapest plan with:
adding own domains $17 $16 $15
ad-free website $17 $16 $15
online shop $29 $23 $0

While evaluating the dimensions which cannot be directly expressed as numbers or yes/no answers, such as “SEO toolbox” or “choice of templates”, we’ve aimed at being as objective as possible and using hard data where appropriate; still, those measures should be viewed on a relative scale used only to simplify comparison between the brands.

Now let’s dive deeper and look at each of the website builders separately; after that we will compare each pair one on one to finally reveal the most worthy solutions.

Wix: the Veteran That Still Got It

Wix is one of the oldest and most popular website builders out there — and it’s still going strong. Launched in 2006, it now powers millions of websites around the globe, from portfolios and blogs to full-blown online stores.

What makes it tick?

🎨 Drag, Drop, Done

Wix is famous for its “what you see is what you get” editor. You drag things around, drop text, tweak fonts and colors, and boom — you’re building a site in real time without touching code.

Want to start from scratch? Go ahead. Prefer to use a pre-made design and just tweak it? That works too. In fact, Wix has over 800 templates across every niche you can imagine.

Wix builder interface

⚙️ Features That Scale With You

Wix has a free plan that never expires — great for testing ideas or building personal pages. But once you’re serious, you’ll want to upgrade to a paid plan to unlock core features like:

  • Connecting your own domain name
  • Removing Wix ads
  • Adding more storage and bandwidth
  • Enabling e-commerce tools

The sweet spot? The “Combo” plan at $10/month — enough to connect your domain and remove ads. If your site grows, the “Unlimited” or “Business” tiers add more space and sales tools without breaking the bank.

🧠 Smart Stuff: Wix ADI

Wix also offers an AI-powered builder called Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence). It asks you a few questions, then builds a website for you — content, layout, colors and all.

Is it magic? Not quite. But it’s a time-saver for people who don’t want to deal with design decisions. You can still fully customize everything later.

📦 Wix App Market

Another strength: the App Market. Think of it as Wix’s version of a plugin store — hundreds of add-ons for SEO, booking, chatbots, event calendars, you name it. Some are free, some are paid, and all are designed to work smoothly with your site.

Create a free website with Wix ›

Advantages of Wix:
  • Largest library of templates in the industry
  • Custom domain and no-ads plan is affordable
  • Powerful App Market for expanding functionality
  • Wix ADI for beginner-friendly setup
  • Free version has no expiration
Weaker sides:
  • You can’t switch templates after you start editing

Weebly: Simplicity and Value

Weebly was built with one goal in mind: making websites dead-simple to create. If you want a site up fast — and don’t want to think too hard about layout grids, plugins, or pricing tiers — Weebly delivers.

In fact, of the “big three” builders, it’s arguably the easiest to learn.

🚀 Minimal Learning Curve

Creating a site with Weebly takes just a few clicks. The interface is clean and straightforward — drag content blocks where you want them, customize text and images, publish. That’s it.

Bonus: unlike Wix, you can change your theme later if you want a new look. That alone makes Weebly more flexible in the long run.

🛒 E-Commerce That Won’t Break the Bank

One of Weebly’s hidden strengths is its e-commerce pricing. Starting at just $8/month, you get a full-featured online store — complete with:

  • Secure checkout
  • Inventory tracking
  • Coupon codes
  • Abandoned cart retargeting

That’s less than half the cost of most competitors, and it includes support for multiple payment gateways: PayPal, Stripe, Square, and more.

📢 Built-in Marketing Tools

Weebly doesn’t just help you launch a site — it helps you grow it. Their integrated marketing suite includes:

  • Email campaign builder
  • Audience segmentation
  • Lead capture forms
  • Facebook ad integration

No extra plugins needed — just switch it on and start promoting.

Weebly builder screenshot

💸 Pricing That Makes Sense

Weebly’s pricing is refreshingly transparent. The entry-level plan that removes ads and lets you use your own domain costs just $8/month. That also includes $100 in Google Ads credit — not a bad deal if you’re just getting started.

If you’re looking for a quick, affordable way to launch an online presence (especially an online store), Weebly should be high on your list.

Create a free website with Weebly ›

Advantages of Weebly:
  • Very easy to use, even for beginners
  • Competitive pricing, especially for e-commerce
  • Integrated marketing tools included
  • Ability to change templates after launch
  • Free plan with no time limit
Weaker sides:
  • Design customization options are limited

Squarespace: Minimalist to the Core

If you’ve ever admired a clean, modern-looking website and thought “I want mine to look like that,” there’s a decent chance it was built on Squarespace.

Squarespace has built its reputation on designer-grade templates and an interface so smooth it could probably double as a meditation app. If aesthetic matters most to you — read on.

Squarespace design preview

🖼️ A Designer’s Dream (Even If You’re Not One)

Every Squarespace template is polished, image-focused, and mobile-optimized by default. If you’re a photographer, artist, or brand-conscious business, it’s an easy win. Just swap the demo content for yours and it’ll still look good.

🛠️ Everything You Need, Nothing You Don’t

Unlike Wix or Weebly, Squarespace has no app marketplace. What you get is a closed ecosystem — but it’s tightly curated and includes:

  • Free domain and hosting
  • Built-in blogging and scheduling tools
  • Basic e-commerce features
  • Email campaigns powered by Gmail integration

The upside: everything just works. The downside? If you want to add a specific feature that’s not in the box, you’re out of luck.

💳 Pricing & Plans

Squarespace has no free plan — only a 14-day trial — and pricing starts at $12/month for the “Personal” plan. For businesses or online stores, you’ll likely end up with the $18 or $26 plan depending on your needs.

Is it worth it? That depends. If design is your top priority and you don’t mind the higher price tag, Squarespace delivers a premium-feeling experience all around.

🛒 E-Commerce That Looks Good

Squarespace’s online store tools are beautifully integrated — but not cheap. The “Basic Commerce” plan costs $26/month, while the “Advanced” one is $40/month. These come with:

  • Inventory and order management
  • Automatic discounts and gift cards
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Custom checkout on your own domain

There’s no marketplace for extensions, so what you see is what you get. Thankfully, what you get is sleek and stable.

Create a website with Squarespace ›

Advantages of Squarespace:
  • Beautiful, minimalist templates — ideal for creatives
  • Smooth interface with powerful built-in tools
  • Advanced style editor for visual tweaks
Weaker sides:
  • No free plan — trial only lasts 14 days
  • No extension marketplace or plugins
  • Limited choice of languages
  • Higher transaction fees unless on Advanced Commerce plan

Head-to-Head Matchups

So which one is the best for you? As we’ve seen, they all have tons of features, and these largely overlap – so it’s not an easy choice.

The fact that migrating between these platforms is almost impossible means making the right choice is even more important.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how each pair stacks up — based on real use, not marketing fluff.

Wix vs Weebly

  • Ease of use: Weebly wins — it’s faster to learn and better for beginners. Wix offers more flexibility but comes with a steeper learning curve.
  • Design flexibility: Wix shines with hundreds of templates and full drag-and-drop freedom (you can even start from a blank canvas). Weebly is simpler, but more limited.
  • E-commerce: Both are solid, but Weebly is significantly cheaper — and includes more payment options by default.
  • Marketing tools: Weebly has built-in email campaigns and lead management. Wix needs third-party apps.
  • Pricing: Weebly is more affordable at every tier, especially for online stores.

Verdict: Tie 🤷 Go with Weebly for simplicity and savings, or Wix if you want maximum control and visual polish.

Weebly vs Squarespace

  • Design and UX: Squarespace is hands-down more elegant, both in terms of templates and editing experience.
  • Flexibility: Weebly lets you switch themes anytime — Squarespace doesn’t. Weebly also supports a wider range of integrations.
  • Marketing & features: Weebly includes email marketing and Facebook ad tools out of the box. Squarespace is more focused on aesthetics than growth tools.
  • Pricing: Weebly offers a free plan and cheaper e-commerce. Squarespace gets expensive fast — especially for stores.

Verdict: Weebly, unless design is your absolute top priority.

Wix vs Squarespace

  • Templates: Squarespace’s designs are gorgeous and tightly curated. But Wix offers 2x more templates and full drag-and-drop freedom.
  • Functionality: Wix has an App Market for expanding features. Squarespace has a closed ecosystem — smooth, but limited.
  • Backups: Wix lets you restore earlier versions of your site. Squarespace doesn’t (and yes, this has caused actual tears for some users).
  • Pricing: Wix is cheaper at every comparable tier — and the free plan has no expiration.

Verdict: Wix for flexibility, features, and pricing. Squarespace if you want a site that looks like it came out of a design magazine with zero tweaking.

What About WordPress?

You might be wondering — why not just use WordPress?

It’s a fair question. WordPress powers over 40% of the internet, and technically, you can build *any* kind of website with it. But here’s the thing: it’s not a website builder. At least, not out of the box.

🏗️ WordPress Is Powerful… But Not Plug-and-Play

WordPress is free, open-source software — which means you’ll need to sort out your own hosting, domain, theme, plugins, and updates. Yes, it gives you full control. But that control comes with complexity.

Website builders like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace offer everything under one roof: hosting, design tools, support, even email and marketing. With WordPress, you’re the builder, the handyman, and the tech support. Cool for developers — less so if you’re just trying to get a website online quickly.

🎨 Themes vs Templates

WordPress has tens of thousands of themes (free and paid), which gives you more design flexibility than any other platform. But it’s also a bit of a Wild West: quality varies, and most premium themes cost $30–$80. Many require extra plugins to look like the demo.

By contrast, Squarespace and Wix offer fewer templates — but they’re curated, supported, and look polished straight out of the gate.

🔌 Features = Plugins

Need SEO tools? Analytics? E-commerce? Booking system? You’ll be adding plugins. Lots of them.

That’s fine if you like tweaking things — but also means more setup, more updates, more things to break. Builders like Wix bundle most features right into the core platform (or offer them through a tightly integrated app store).

💸 Cost Breakdown

WordPress is technically free, but here’s what a basic setup often includes:

  • Hosting: $3–10/month (e.g. Bluehost)
  • Theme: one-time $40–$80 or more
  • Plugins: free for basics, but many advanced features require yearly fees

Compare that to a $10/month Wix or Weebly plan that gives you hosting, templates, SEO tools, backups, and support — no surprises.

🆘 Support: DIY or Bust

WordPress has no official support — just community forums. That’s great for power users, not ideal if you’re stuck and need quick help. Site builders offer live chat and dedicated support teams (you’re paying for it, after all).

✅ When WordPress Makes Sense

  • You need absolute control over your site’s design, structure, or backend
  • You’re building something custom, like a membership site or multi-language portal
  • You enjoy tinkering with tech or working with a developer

Otherwise? If you just want a beautiful, functional site without headaches, you’re better off with a website builder.

In any case, check out our WordPress basics guide for a pain-free start to your WP journey, should you choose that path.

Let’s move on to our final verdicts for each type of user 👇

Which One Should You Choose?

All three major builders — Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace — can help you create a great-looking, functional website. But each one has clear strengths (and trade-offs) depending on what you actually need.

To make it easier, here’s our quick verdict for common use cases:

🥇 Best Free Website Builder

Winner: Weebly

Both Wix and Weebly offer free plans, but Weebly includes useful extras like visitor stats and email marketing. Plus, no bandwidth limits — which Wix imposes on its free tier.

Squarespace doesn’t even offer a free version, just a 14-day trial. So it’s not in the running here.

🧩 Easiest Website Builder

Winner: Wix

All builders are relatively beginner-friendly, but Wix’s visual editor gives you full drag-and-drop freedom with a shallow learning curve. Templates look great and are easy to tweak. Honorable mention to Weebly for simplicity, but Wix takes it further.

📸 Best for Photographers & Creatives

Winner: Wix

Squarespace may win style points, but Wix wins on flexibility — 40+ gallery formats, photo-focused templates, and booking + store features all built in. And if you need custom layouts or client galleries, you’ll appreciate the control.

🍽️ Best for Restaurants

Winner: Wix

Wix offers restaurant-specific templates and a suite of dedicated extensions — from menus and reservations to online ordering. Squarespace includes some of these features too, but they’re more generic and less customizable.

🛒 Best for Small Online Stores

Winner: Weebly

If you want to sell products without overpaying, Weebly is hard to beat. It has everything you need to run a shop — product pages, inventory, checkout, coupons — starting at just $8/month.

🎨 Best Design Templates

Winner: Squarespace

Let’s give Squarespace its crown here. Its templates are beautiful, clean, and consistent. If your #1 goal is a site that looks like it was built by a professional designer — and you don’t mind fewer options — Squarespace is a solid pick.

Need help deciding? You can also try our Website Builder Wizard at the top of this guide — it gives you a personalized recommendation in under a minute.

Share Your Thoughts!

Got hands-on experience with any of the mentioned website builders that you’d like to share? Still have doubts about which one to choose? Want to recommend additions and improvements to this analysis?

Don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the comments section below!

Affiliate disclosure: some links in this guide are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you choose to make a purchase — at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we’ve tested and genuinely believe in. Thanks for supporting independent content like this!

26
Jun
2017

How to Choose a WordPress Theme in 2025 (Without Losing Your Mind)

☑︎ This guide has been updated for 2025

Choosing a WordPress theme can feel like walking into a massive warehouse with 50,000 outfits and zero mannequins.

They all promise speed, beauty, SEO, unicorn dust — but which one actually fits?

In this guide, we’ll break down:

  • what a theme really is (hint: it’s more than just “colors and fonts”)
  • whether you should go free or premium
  • and the 8 key things to look for when choosing the right theme for your site.

Whether you’re launching a blog, building a portfolio, or revamping your company homepage, this guide will help you avoid bloatware, design regrets, and support nightmares — so you can focus on growing your website, not babysitting it.

Let’s start from the top:

What Is a Theme?

Let’s clear up a common confusion right away: a WordPress theme isn’t just about how your site looks.

It’s the entire visual engine behind your site — layout, typography, color palette, navigation style, button shapes, blog archive design, mobile responsiveness, you name it.

Under the hood, a theme is made up of templates, stylesheets, and sometimes JavaScript magic that tells WordPress how to display your content. Some themes are barebones, others come packed with demos, animations, and bundled plugins.

But here’s the catch:

Not all templates are created equal — and more than that, they are platform-specific. A Joomla template won’t work on WordPress. A Wix layout won’t magically import into Drupal. Themes are CMS-specific by design.

So when we say “WordPress theme,” we mean: a theme built *specifically* for WordPress. And there are thousands of them. Literally.

Which brings us to the next point…

3 Ways to Design a Website (And Why Themes Win for Most People)

Let’s say you want to launch a new website. Broadly speaking, you’ve got three options:

  1. Hiring a designer + developer 🧑‍💻 can get you a stunning, custom-built website — if you’ve got several thousand dollars to spare. Even then, there’s no guarantee you’ll get something easy to maintain or update unless you also budget for ongoing dev help.
  2. Building it yourself from scratch 🔧 is awesome if you already know HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and have the free time of a hermit monk. If you’re reading this guide, chances are you’ve got better things to do than debug code at 2am
  3. Using WordPress + a theme 🎯 strikes the perfect balance for most people: it’s fast, affordable, and looks great right out of the box

Here’s why themes are the sweet spot:

  • They cost less than dinner for two — most paid themes range from $40 to $80.
  • They’re ready to go — no need to design every page from scratch.
  • Many come with pre-built layouts, demo content, and bundled plugins (like sliders, contact forms, or page builders).
  • Top themes are well-documented and often include support from the developers.
  • You can launch your site in a weekend — and still have time for Netflix.

Not sure what theme a site is using? Try our free WordPress theme detector 🔍

…Alright, now that we’ve seen why themes are a smart shortcut, let’s talk about how to actually pick a good one.

Checklist: What to Look for in a WordPress Theme

There are literally thousands of WordPress themes out there — and most of them look good in the demo.

But looks can be deceiving 😬

Here’s a no-nonsense checklist to help you avoid bloated, broken, or just plain bad themes:

✅ Who built it?

Stick to trusted theme providers — the ones who’ve been around, have solid reviews, and actually update their products.

We recommend starting with:

These marketplaces are highly competitive — which means developers have every reason to keep their code clean, secure, and modern.

✅ Does it look modern?

Good design evolves. Avoid anything that feels stuck in 2010.

Look for:

  • Clean layout with lots of white space
  • Clear, readable fonts (no Comic Sans 😅)
  • Mobile-first responsiveness
  • Minimal animations (bonus points for loading fast)

Always test the demo site on your phone and tablet before buying.

✅ Does the style match your content?

A sleek black-and-white portfolio theme won’t do you any favors if you’re launching a food blog 🍜

Ask yourself:

  • Do I need big visuals or tight paragraphs?
  • Do I want minimalism or lots of texture?
  • Is this theme built for the kind of content I plan to publish?

Don’t bend your content to fit the theme. Find a theme that fits your content.

✅ Is it made for your niche?

Sometimes a general-purpose theme works fine. But if you’re building a website in a specific field (fitness, law, real estate, etc.), you’ll likely benefit from a niche template.

These often come with:

  • Industry-specific icons, fonts, and layouts
  • Specialized plugins (e.g. booking tools for salons, property maps for real estate)
  • Pre-made demo content tailored to your use case

A niche theme can save you hours of setup and customization.

✅ Is it fast?

A beautiful theme that takes 7 seconds to load? Hard pass.

Speed affects everything — from SEO to bounce rate to your own sanity.

Use tools like:

to test the demo page of the theme before you commit.

Pro tip: an animated “pre-loader” looks cool, but it’s not a substitute for clean, optimized code ⚠️

✅ Does it include a page builder?

Unless you love hand-coding layouts, you’ll want a theme that works well with a page builder.

Most premium themes these days are compatible with:

  • Elementor
  • WPBakery (formerly Visual Composer)
  • The native WordPress block editor (a.k.a. Gutenberg)

Some even come with custom drag-and-drop builders included — just make sure they don’t lock you into weird shortcodes if you ever change themes.

✅ Is it SEO-friendly?

Look for:

  • Clean HTML structure
  • Schema support
  • Ability to set custom meta titles/descriptions
  • Compatibility with SEO plugins like RankMath or Yoast

Use SEO Site Checkup or W3C validator to scan the demo.

✅ Does it play nice with popular plugins?

At a minimum, make sure your theme supports:

  • WooCommerce (if you’re selling stuff)
  • Contact Form 7
  • WPML (if going multilingual)
  • Any builder plugin you plan to use

Bonus points if the theme includes tested styles and layouts for those plugins out of the box.

—

Feeling overwhelmed? Don’t worry — you don’t need a “perfect” theme. Just one that gets you 80% of the way there without slowing your site or boxing you in.

Up next: should you go free or premium?

Free vs Premium Themes: What Are You Really Paying For?

Let’s bust a myth right away: just because something costs money doesn’t automatically make it better.

There are some absolutely solid free WordPress themes out there — and we’ve even built one ourselves:
check out Bento if you haven’t already.

So what’s the deal with premium themes then?

Here’s a quick breakdown of what you typically get with each:

  • Free themes tend to be lean, clean, and… basic. Great if you want a minimal blog or starter site without fancy bells and whistles.
  • Premium themes often include full demo sites, multiple layout options, extra widgets, bundled plugins, and dedicated support.

That support part is worth emphasizing: when your layout breaks at midnight and Google doesn’t help, having a real human respond within 24 hours can save your project (and your sanity).

So which one’s right for you?

  • Go free if you’re comfortable with WordPress, don’t need fancy features, and have time to experiment.
  • Go premium if you want to save time, need a polished design out of the box, or just don’t feel like messing around with code and support forums.

🧠 Think of it like this: free themes are IKEA — affordable and functional, but you’ll do a lot of the lifting.
Premium themes are more like a well-designed prefab house — you pay a bit more, but it’s mostly move-in ready.

In the end, both can get the job done. It just depends how much time, energy, and design polish you want to invest.

Next up: where to actually find a quality theme that doesn’t suck.

Where to Find Great Themes (Without Wasting Hours)

So now that you know what to look for, the question becomes:

👉 Where do you actually find trustworthy WordPress themes?

Here are the 3 best places to start — all of them vetted, popular, and regularly updated:

  • ThemeForest
    – the largest WordPress theme marketplace in the world. Thousands of options, strong filters, detailed reviews. Just be picky — not all themes are created equal.
  • Elegant Themes
    – best known for their popular Divi theme and builder. A solid choice if you want a “design system” with lots of polish and flexibility.
  • TemplateMonster
    – a long-time provider with a wide variety of niche templates. Especially useful if you’re looking for something industry-specific.

You can also browse the official WordPress theme directory — it’s full of free options that meet core standards, although support and features can vary wildly.

💡 Pro tip: If you find a site you love and want to know what theme they’re using, try this:
free WordPress theme detector 🔍

It’ll sniff out the theme and sometimes even tell you which plugins are active.

—

Alright, you’ve got the tools and the roadmap.
Only one question remains: ready to pick your theme?

Still Stuck? Let’s Help You Decide

If you’ve made it this far and still feel torn between 2 (or 12) WordPress themes — don’t worry, it’s totally normal.

✨ The good news? You don’t have to figure it out alone.

Drop your situation in the comments:

  • What kind of site are you building?
  • What features or vibe are you going for?
  • Any themes you’re already considering?

We’ll reply with tailored suggestions — no upsells, no fluff, just real advice from people who’ve tried way too many themes so you don’t have to.

Or if you’d rather keep things private, shoot us a message directly via our contact page. Either way, we’ve got you.

Bottom line: the “right” theme is the one that gets you online faster, looks great to your audience, and doesn’t turn into a technical headache six months in.

You’re already ahead of most by reading this far — now let’s get that website up and running 🚀

26
May
2017

7 Amazing Examples of Salient WordPress Theme Based Websites in 2025

Salient is one of the top-10 ThemeForest best-selling themes of all time, created by an elite author ThemeNectar. First available in April 2013, the theme was a breakthrough in terms of design, giving rise to a plethora of later imitators. Salient has since accumulated 60,000+ happy users and evolved into a full-fledged website building environment, preserving and updating its distinct visual style.

We remember our team’s initial reaction on seeing Salient for the first time: “whoa! Now these guys sure know how to design!”. Cracking it open, we saw clean, rather efficient code, adding to our respect towards the theme’s creators. Salient is distinctly minimalist, but not excessively so; this allows using it to create crisp and clean websites which still retain their individual touch.

Take Salient for a spin ›

The Salient theme is choke-full of features and settings, the most prominent additions of the last years being the internal templating system, which complements the existing drag-and-drop content builder (already a standard in premium WP themes) by allowing to use entire pre-designed page blocks or even entire layouts easily and quickly.

The ThemeNectar team is doing a great job in terms of providing timely and friendly support for the item. During our review we’ve created several “test tickets”, ranging from newbie questions to customization to developer-level inquiries; each was answered within 2 working days (most of them much faster), and none of the underlying issues was left unsolved.

Let’s See What This Baby Can Do

We won’t overwhelm you with dozens of Salient-based websites – instead, let’s look at 7 noteworthy real-life examples of the theme in action, hand-picked by our design and development team:

1. Senz

The creators of the original storm umbrella with the easily recognizable tilt, Senz use Salient for their official website. It makes extensive use of the theme’s WooCommerce compatibility to render and manage a complex online shop.

The front page slider is worth a separate mention: it features both beautiful static-image backgrounds as well as animated backgrounds and built-in animations for text elements to make it more dynamic. The front page itself is organized into several blocks using the theme’s visual content builder, ranging from product grids to full-width call-to-action sections, making it anything but boring.

2. Design Garden

This gorgeously-designed website is a learning platform created by Sabina Radeva, an Oxford, UK, based designer and illustrator. Sabina uses the Easy Digital Downloads plugin ecosystem to offer online courses to her Design Garden visitors, which blends in well with Salient.

The entire website is sprinkled with Sabina’s lovely illustrations; the theme does not stand in the way, letting the author express her talents while providing that minimalist touch to everything from navigation to the blog feed.

3. Manifesto

Let’s head to Canada and check out Manifesto Festival’s homepage for a change. This annual hip-hop culture event has been brightening Toronto’s youth scene for over a decade, and its unique essence has been successfully captured by the website’s style. Using basic colors (red, black, white), contrasting elements, bold typography and large elements, the page conveys the feeling of authenticity and freedom of expression.

The front page makes use of full-width image grids as well as clever call to action button placement to simultaneously maximize its “wow!” effect and visitor conversions. The previous years’ Manifesto editions are also worth checking out from the top menu, all those pages are also built with Salient’s visual composer.

4. Lion’s Share Digital

The Austin, TX based web design and development agency’s ambitions are reflected in their telling name. The Lion’s Share website is there to express their drive for growth and service excellency. Salient readily offers the necessary elements: large, basic fonts; colourful, full-width sections, plenty of room for imagery.

This is a great example of Salient’s full-screen header in action: on entering the website, we are immersed into an epic video presenting the brand. The rest of the page is comprised of visual composer elements tailored to give it a dynamic and colourful vibe.

5. StorNext

If you’re starting to get an impression that Salient is only good for design-focused web pages, think again. Here’s StorNext, a specialized provider of highly distributed file storage system solutions. A good example of a no-nonsense website by IT specialists, for IT specialists:

Content is king here, and Salient successfully helps the right things stand out. The website integrates a plethora of plugins, including a client-facing live chat, which works flawlessly with the theme. Another interesting thing to mention here: the StorNext website has been specifically tailored to closely resemble its parent company’s page, quantum.com – showing how easily Salient morphs and flexes to fit any design requirements.

6. Mota

Another high-tech company on our list, Mota is a hardware maker: they produce a range of cool gadgets, focusing on drones and wearables. In this case, Salient needed to support a website with a large and complicated structure, which it handles pretty well with the built-in MegaMenus.

The theme’s visual style fits perfectly with the company’s image: a future-facing manufacturer of highly advanced electronic devices. The individual product pages deserve a special mention: there’s an example of Salient’s custom visual content builder in its full glory; parallaxed images, subtle animations, specs and FAQ sections – all come together to create professional-looking and functional product presentations.

7. Gravual

Last but not least, one of our personal favourites, Gravual, is a tiny design boutique based in Antwerp, Belgium. The entire thing breathes minimalism and style, and scales extra-neatly on smartphone screens thanks to Salient’s smart grids.

This one’s a good example of Salient’s single-page capabilities: the entire website is essentially presented on the front page, with separate sections branching off where and when needed. The site’s also available in Dutch, showcasing the theme’s multilingual functions.

Your Examples?

Building a website on Salient or know any other noteworthy examples? Drop a line in the comment section below, we’ll consider including it in the list!

16
May
2017

The Ultimate Review 2025 – a Next-Gen Web Platform or Yet Another Site Builder?

☑︎ This review was last updated in July 2025

Let’s be honest:

most website creation options either feel like 🪀 plastic toys (site builders), a tangled mess of 🛠️ plugins and duct tape (WordPress!) – or 😵‍💫 code-heavy affairs that seem to reinvent the wheel every time.

That’s exactly the problem Webflow claims to solve:

It pitches itself as the holy grail: powerful enough for developers, visual enough for designers, and simple enough to (eventually) figure out even if you aren’t either of those.

So… is it?

We’ve been using Webflow since 2016, through dozens of own and client sites, experiments, and “eureka’s” – and this guide is the outcome.

We’ll cover the 😇 good, the 🤬 bad, and the 👹 confusing-as-hell (looking at you, pricing plans).

But first — here’s the short version:

Verdict summary: Webflow stands out as a rare blend of creative freedom and technical precision. While it comes with a learning curve and a pricing model that needs a whiteboard to decode, it rewards those who commit with unmatched design power, clean code, and streamlined hosting.
Read expert review
Try Webflow for Free ›

Design Freedom: pixel-perfect + responsive? Explore Designer
9/10
CMS: flexibility and ease of use? Read more
8/10
Hosting: speed and reliability? See breakdown
9/10
eCommerce: ready for serious shops? Find out
6/10
Ease of use: learning curve vs power? Our take
7/10

If you’ve ever felt torn between drag-and-drop simplicity and raw coding power — Webflow may just be the bridge you’ve been looking for.

Let’s see if it holds up.

So, What Exactly Is Webflow?

In plain English?

Webflow is an all-in-one web development platform that lets you design, build, and launch websites without touching code – unless you want to!

Think of it as the 👼 lovechild of Figma, WordPress, and VS Code:

You drag. You drop. You adjust. And behind the scenes? Webflow automatically writes production-grade HTML, CSS, and JS in real time.

However! Unlike most no-code tools that hide the technical stuff under layers of glitter, Webflow embraces the logic of front-end code – making it visual and accessible.

If you understand how margins, flexboxes, and breakpoints work (or are willing to learn), this thing is a rocket ship.

Webflow also bundles in:

Whether you’re a designer sick of depending on developers, or a dev who wants to prototype faster – Webflow is one of the few tools where both sides can meet in the middle.

⚡ What’s New in 2025?

Webflow hasn’t been sitting still since its creation back in 2013 – here are the biggest recent updates and features:

  • Localization 2.0: native multilingual support (finally!) with automatic subdirectory setup and string-based translation interface
  • Components update: reusable components now support conditional logic and dynamic slots for complex layouts
  • DevLink beta: tighter Webflow-to-React integration for teams using Webflow as a visual front-end for custom apps
  • Memberships 1.0 create gated content, login/signup flows, and even paid plans — directly in Webflow
  • Improved Figma plugin: export frames straight into Webflow with better layout preservation and style mapping

You can find more about how these affect real-world projects in the relevant sections below — or skip straight to our final verdict.

In the following sections we will deal specifically with Webflow’s core components:

Webflow Site Designer: Simplicity vs Precision

Webflow’s core superpower is the Designer — a visual interface that lets you build websites with pixel-perfect control.

But unlike clunky drag-and-drop tools, this one actually respects how the web works: every section, div, and style tweak maps directly to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the background ✨

That means you get to control everything…

Webflow Designer

…but it also means you’ll need to understand how the web is structured (or at least be ready to learn).

The good news?

In 2025, Webflow offers 3 distinct ways to start your next website, on a scale from less to full hardcore mode:

  1. 🧠 AI Site Builder Beta This is the newest — and possibly most controversial — option:

    Describe the kind of website you want, pick a visual style, and Webflow’s AI will generate a complete homepage (or multi-page layout) with real sections, dummy content, and best-practice styling.

    Unique in 2025? No. But still great for quick wireframes, MVPs, or getting past “blank canvas syndrome”.

    The designs aren’t flawless, but they give you a clean base to iterate on — and everything stays 100% editable within the Designer.

  2. 🎨 Start from a Template: if you want to skip setup and dive straight into customization, Webflow offers a library of 100+ templates (about 30 are free and the rest are paid).

    Some are minimal and fast-loading; others come packed with animations, CMS collections, and prebuilt pages – everything from simple themes for personal projects and practice – to premium templates ($40–80) created by third-party Webflow experts

    Each template is fully editable, of course = so you can tweak layout, colors, content structure, and responsiveness however you like.

  3. 💻 Blank Canvas (a.k.a. Real Webflow Mode): the classic Webflow experience – for those who want full creative and structural control.

    You start with a single empty page and drag in layout elements like Sections, Containers, Grids, Flexboxes, Div Blocks – as well as text elements, images, buttons, forms, videos, and custom embeds.

    Every pixel, margin, animation, and media query is under your control. But so is every responsibility — because you’re building the structure yourself:

    Want a centered box? Add a div, set it to “relative”, give it dimensions – welcome to the real web, baby.

If that sounds scary, don’t worry — Webflow has toggles and guardrails (like visual CSS controls and device views) that guide you as you go.

Explore Webflow Site Designer ›

The Interactions view lets you easily set up things like hover effects, scroll-based reveals, page load animations, and click/trigger-based transitions – no JavaScript required (you know, unless you want to!)

It is also worth mentioning that Webflow’s responsive design system is one of the best around:

  • Each layout breakpoint (desktop, tablet, mobile landscape, mobile portrait) is built-in
  • You can visually adjust styles for each screen size, and changes cascade down — just like CSS
  • You can even set custom breakpoints in addition or instead of the standard ones if needed

…and if you mark yourself as a non-coder during sign-up, it will even automate mobile styles for you!

Bottom line: whether you’re starting with AI prompts, a template, or the blank page – Webflow gives you the tools to make it truly your own.

Now let’s look at how Webflow handles structure:

Webflow’s Content Managemen System

A website isn’t just boxes and buttons – it’s all about content.

And Webflow’s CMS lets you structure that content like a pro – even if you’ve never touched a backend before 🫣

Unlike traditional site builders that treat everything as static blocks – or WordPress, where you pray your plugin stack doesn’t explode – Webflow gives you a visual but schema-based approach to managing content.

Think: Notion meets Airtable… but for websites.

At the heart of it all are Collections – reusable content types that you can freely define based on your needs. For each Collection, you can define any number of properties, of fields.

For example:

  • Blog posts with title, author, publish date, featured image, tags, body
  • Portfolio projects with galleries, links, testimonials, and categories
  • Team members with roles, avatars, bios, and social links

Webflow CMS

Once you’ve created a Collection, you can:

  • Auto-generate dynamic pages, for example /blog/how-to-make-webflow-dance
  • Display Collection items in any number of lists, grids, or sliders, as well as filter and sort content by any field
  • Use conditional visibility to show/hide layout blocks based on specific field data

Te best part – all of this is done visually: no databases, no PHP functions, and no “custom post type” plugins.

…And for devs who still want data control – yes, Webflow’s CMS can connect to external tools via APIs and custom embeds.

The Webflow Editor

For live content editing (after your site is published), Webflow also offers the Editor – a front-end tool for content updates.

Think of it as a “client-friendly” mode:

🖱️ Click any text or image on the live site to edit it
➕ Add new Collection items without entering the Designer
🔒 Keep layout locked while letting non-techies update the content

Quite handy for solo creators, teams – or clients who want blog control without touching design.

Multilingual? Now Natively Supported

For years, multilingual sites were a pain in Webflow – requiring third-party tools like Weglot or hacky CMS workarounds.

But all that is in the past, with Localization 2.0:

🌐 Define languages and assign subdirectories (like /fr/ or /de/)
🈯 Translate individual fields, images, and SEO tags per locale
🔁 Switch language visually via dropdowns or dynamic links

Note that it’s a paid add-on right now – but it works out of the box and integrates deeply with the CMS, which makes it a huge step up.

Bottom line: Webflow’s CMS gives you 90% of what a headless CMS can do – without the head trauma.

Next step – publishing your masterpiece:

Deployment and Hosting

With Webflow, you just… click a button. Seriously – deployment is built right into the Designer UI:

– hit “Publish”, choose your staging (test) and/or production domain, and your site goes live in seconds.

Webflow publishing

No cPanel. No FTP. No DNS nightmares (okay, maybe just once, but Webflow’s DNS panel is one of the cleanest out there).

You can publish to:

  • a 💸 free staging subdomain in the form of [yoursite].webflow.io
  • any custom domain via some DNS setup
  • multiple environments at once if you’re on higher-tier plans

Once deployed, your site runs on Webflow’s global infrastructure – let’s take a peek inside:

What’s Under the Hood?

Webflow Hosting is powered by Amazon Cloudfront and Fastly which deliver world-class performance, pretty much on autopilot:

  • Auto-scaling backend: no need to upgrade your server or do any manual actions during traffic spikes
  • Built-in SSL: every site gets a free and perpetual HTTPS certificate, activated automatically
  • Smart cache: your content updates go live across all regions in seconds, no cache management required

This isn’t shared or even managed WordPress hosting. It’s more like 🚀 managed enterprise-grade cloud – without the devops.

In this regard Webflow is closer to a site builder philosophy – no server management, no plugin updates, no compatibility patching, etc –

it just… works.

Bottom line: Webflow hosting gives you speed, scalability, and security without lifting a finger. Just click “Publish” — and it’s live.

Next up: how easy is it to sell on Webflow?

Webflow eCommerce: Still a Work in Progress

One of the most requested features in Webflow’s history? Selling stuff.

And yes – Webflow eCommerce is now fully integrated into the platform. That means you can:

🏪 Create custom product pages
🛒 Build your own cart and checkout flows
🖼️ Design every inch of your online store – no rigid layouts
🎛️ Manage inventory, orders, taxes, and emails from the same dashboard

So… is it ready to take on Shopify?

Not quite — but it’s getting closer.

The main strength of Webflow eCommerce is the same as the rest of the platform: complete design freedom.

No rigid storefront themes. No plugin spaghetti. You design every single page — product, cart, checkout, even emails – like any other Webflow page.

This is a game-changer if you’ve ever fought with Shopify Liquid templates or WooCommerce CSS overrides.

Other nice touches:

  • Supports physical + digital products
  • Custom fields for variants, specs, downloadable files, etc.
  • Customizable checkout and thank-you pages
  • Branded email receipts and abandoned cart flows
  • Native Stripe + PayPal payment integration

For designers and product-focused brands who want pixel-perfect storefronts, this is a dream come true.

However, it’s still worth noting that as of 2025, Webflow eCommerce is still evolving – and some advanced features are missing or limited compared to Shopify or even WooCommerce:

  • No built-in multi-currency support
  • No POS (Point of Sale) integration
  • No native subscription products
  • Limited discount logic (incl. cart-level rules)
  • Customer accounts are only available through Memberships

Some of these features are on Webflow’s roadmap – but others may never arrive natively. So if you’re running a large store, or need serious ERP/POS logistics, use Shopify and sleep well.

But for smaller shops, one-product brands, digital sales, and custom storefronts with a strong visual identity – Webflow is still a very tempting option.

Bottom line: Webflow eCommerce is ideal for small-to-medium custom storefronts – especially when branding, design, and flexibility matter more than pure feature count.

Alright, now for the meaty part: let’s look at the pricing!

Webflow Pricing

Yes, Webflow’s plans are a mess. But it starts making a lot of sense once you get used to the underlying principles.

Here’s the important thing to understand:

Webflow uses a layered pricing system with two different components: workspaces for your overall account and sites for each individual project (i.e. websites you build).

To help make sense of all this, we’ve created this “master diagram” explaining all of Webflow’s pricing plans in a more visual way:

Webflow pricing

Workspaces are used to organize groups of sites with separate access and collaboration features – think agency-level project management.

When you sign up you get 1 workspace seat by default, to which you can add one or more sites.

Site Plans (Hosting per Website)

The main difference is in how many static pages, CMS items, and max traffic you get:

  • Starter (Free): 2 pages, 20 CMS collections, 50 CMS items, 1 GB bandwidth, 50 form submissions (lifetime). No custom domain.
  • Basic – $14/mo: Ideal for small sites and landings; 150 static pages, unlimited forms, 10 GB bandwidth.
  • CMS – $23/mo: Best for blogs and content‑rich sites; adds 20 collections, 2,000 items, 50 GB bandwidth, site search, and 3 editor seats.
  • Business – $39/mo: For high‑traffic sites; 300 pages, 40 collections, up to 10,000 items, 100 GB+ bandwidth, file uploads, 10 editors.
  • Enterprise: Custom solution for large-scale needs — includes unlimited capacity, dedicated support & SLA. Contact sales to get a quote.

If you want to sell things on your website, you’ll need to use one of the three site plans for online shops:

eCommerce Plans (Add Store Functionality)

These are designed specifically for selling online – but still built on top of the above Site plans:

  • Standard – $29/mo: Up to 500 products, 2% transaction fee.
  • Plus – $74/mo: 1,000 products, zero Webflow fee.
  • Advanced – $212/mo: 3,000 products, 0% fee, team accounts, no limits on sales volume.

All include CMS, custom checkout/cart, emails, Stripe/PayPal, taxes, and basic integrations – key differences lie in how many products you can list and how much you pay in transaction fees.

Now let’s (carefully!) add the workspace layer:

Workspace Seat Plans (Team & Agency Access)

As we mentioned earlier, workspace seats determine who can collaborate on specific projects and with what level of access:

  • Free seat: View-only/reviewer access (e.g. content proofing or client corrections).
  • Limited seat – $15/mo: For content editors/marketers with restricted permissions.
  • Full seat – $39/mo: Full access — Designer, site settings, billing, the whole shebang.

Whew…

Alright, what if I need both Site + Seat? 🤔 Here are some basic principles:

  • A full team building high-end sites needs at least 1 Full seat + paid Site plan per project.
  • Simple personal sites can run solo on a site plan without buying seats.
  • Need to give editing permissions to a client? A Limited or Free seat may suffice for straight CMS updates.

Bottom line: It’s not cheap – but if you want pro-level design, hosting, CMS, and team collaboration in one bundled platform, Webflow’s pricing reflects that value – especially with the new seat flexibility as of 2025.

Pros and Cons of Webflow

Time for a sanity check. Here’s a no-BS overview of where Webflow shines — and where it still needs work:

  • Full visual control over layout and styling — no rigid templates, no code required (unless you want to)
  • Clean production-grade code output — exportable and dev-friendly
  • Built-in CMS with schema-based collections — perfect for blogs, portfolios, directories, and more
  • Best-in-class responsive tools — device breakpoints, mobile preview, cascading styles
  • Instant publishing to staging or custom domain — with no servers, FTP, or cPanel needed
  • Enterprise-grade hosting on AWS/Fastly with global CDN, built-in SSL, and auto-scaling
  • Native localization (finally!) — supports multilingual content and subdirectory-based language versions
  • Fully customizable eCommerce checkout, product pages, emails, and cart logic
  • Flexible pricing — build for free, scale later; new seat model makes team workflows more affordable
  • Active roadmap — major updates like Memberships 1.0, DevLink for React, and AI builder released in past 12 months
  • Steeper learning curve than Wix, Squarespace, or classic site builders — especially for total beginners
  • eCommerce still lacks depth — limited multi-currency, no native subscriptions, no customer accounts (outside Memberships)
  • Pricing complexity — separate plans for site, eCommerce, and workspace seats can be hard to decode at first
  • CMS item limits on lower-tier plans — easy to hit 2k or 10k item caps for large content-driven projects
  • No built-in backup/version history on CMS content (only for design elements)
  • Some integrations require 3rd-party tools (Zapier, Make, Memberstack) for advanced workflows or payments
  • Still limited plugin ecosystem — unlike WordPress, there’s no giant library of user-created add-ons (yet)

Overall, Webflow is a pro-grade platform for people who want precision, performance, and polish – not shortcuts or crutches. The price is higher, the learning curve is real, but the payoff is big.

Blitz: Frequently Asked Questions

Before we conclude with the verdict, here’s a compilation of the most popular questions we receive about Webflow:

What is Webflow?

Webflow is a hybrid website-building platform that merges the visual flexibility of a design tool with the control of custom code. It lets you create, manage, and publish fully functional websites – no coding needed, but with full code-level precision under the hood.

How much does Webflow cost?

Webflow uses a dual pricing system: account plans and site plans. Account plans manage how many projects or collaborators you can have, while site plans control each site’s hosting level. Prices range from free to $36/month depending on your needs—see our full breakdown in the pricing section above.

Is Webflow easy to use?

Webflow certainly has a learning curve, especially for first-time users. But once you get the hang of its layout and logic (which mirrors HTML and CSS structure), it becomes an intuitive and powerful visual development tool. It’s easier than hand-coding, but more advanced than traditional site builders like Wix or Squarespace.

Who is Webflow best for?

Webflow is best for designers, developers, agencies, and entrepreneurs who want full creative control without writing raw code. It’s also great for teams that need to collaborate on design, content, and publishing in one centralized platform.

Does Webflow support eCommerce?

Yes, Webflow includes an integrated eCommerce platform. You can build custom storefronts, manage inventory, design checkout flows, and send branded emails. While it’s still evolving, it already rivals many specialized platforms for customizability and UX. For more details, see the ecommerce section above.

Webflow vs WordPress: a replacement?

For many use cases, yes. Webflow replaces the need for WordPress plugins, themes, and manual hosting setup by bundling everything into a seamless, visual platform. However, WordPress still offers more plugin variety and community support for edge-case needs.

Alright… that was lot of information to take in! So what’s the bottom line? In other words –

Our Verdict: Should You Use Webflow in 2025?

After testing and building in Webflow since 2016, across dozens of projects and updates, here’s the final verdict:

Webflow is one of the most powerful website development options on the market — if you’re willing to climb the learning curve, it’ll reward you with pro-level tools, smooth workflows, and zero plugin headaches.

☝️ Mind you, it’s not for everyone –

If you want to slap together a one-pager in 10 minutes, or rely heavily on third-party integrations, WordPress or Squarespace may still be a better fit.

But if you care about:

  • design freedom without code,
  • clean front-end output,
  • a flexible CMS with native localization,
  • scalable hosting and eCommerce all in one place,

…then Webflow is definitely worth your time.

It’s a platform that seamlessly grows with you – from solo portfolio to agency client work to full-blown product sites with gated content and dynamic catalogs.

Try Webflow for Free ›

Thank you for taking your time to read our analysis of Webflow! Have you found this review helpful? Got something to add or disagree with certain points? Let’s discuss in the comments section below!

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you choose to use them — at no extra cost to you. If you found this guide helpful, using our links is a great way to support the site. Thanks!

10
Feb
2022

The Definitive Review – Should You Use This Hosting in 2025?

There are old, time-tested hosting providers; there are popular ones, with millions of clients; there are those which constantly evolve and reinvent themselves…

And then there’s a small group of hosting companies at the intersection of all three categories –

SiteGround is firmly in that cohort.

In this detailed review, we will examine this host under a magnifying glass to uncover answers to the most popular questions:

  • 🦄What’s special about SiteGround?
  • 💳How to choose a suitable hosting plan?
  • 👎Are there any drawbacks to using SiteGround?
  • 🎯Who should use SiteGround and Why?

Let’s start by looking at the things that you probably won’t find anywhere else – things that make SiteGround unique:

What’s Special About SiteGround

Seriously, though?

SiteGround focuses on WordPress as well as other popular content management systems and site builders, there are several pricing plans depending on your needs, 24/7 support…

Sounds familiar.

What really sets SiteGround apart are its technological solutions, custom-built by its technical team; more specifically:

  • A set of measures to maximize your website’s ⚡ speed, which we will discuss separately in the next chapter,
  • State-of-the-art 🔐 security features to prevent and mitigate any potential attacks, analyzed in detail in this section,
  • Some of the best 💵 prices among hosting providers of its caliber, especially when we factor in the large first-period discounts,
  • Powerful 🛠️ client tools for convenient collaboration, testing, and migrations, built in-house by the SiteGround team (we’ll talk about this one right here!).

As we just mentioned, SiteGround users get more than just a server – there’s an entire array of administrative tools to make your life easier:

  • The flexible user system allows access to other team members, clients, or third-party experts to help you run your web projects,
  • You can create test copies of your live website in one click, and transfer any changes back to the original – again, in a single click,
  • Freelancers and agencies will like the white label feature, which allows you to provide hosting services to clients under your own brand.

All the tools above function on top of a solid hardware and software infrastructure for maximum performance and stability:

Infrastructure and Speed

Here’s a surprising fact: SiteGround, one of the largest hosts in the world, doesn’t own any actual physical servers!

Instead, it uses Google Cloud for its key infrastructure…

Yes, you understood correctly – when you’re hosting with SiteGround, your website is stored on Google’s servers.

This is not something unusual in our day and age –

– in fact, most modern hosting providers, both big and small, focus on the value-adding services 🚀 and outsource the actual hardware to the few companies like Google and Amazon that have huge scale advantages but don’t provide user-friendly interfaces.

SiteGround clients can choose between several regions when creating a new website, including Europe, United States, Asia, and Australia:

The blue dots on the map represent the 150+ locations of the Cloudflare CDN network, included on every SiteGround plan –

Your website automatically loads from the CDN node that is the closest to each particular visitor, bringing serious improvements in speed.

To further improve page loading, SiteGround websites run on uniquely optimized software (PHP, MySQL, Brotli compression, etc.), which results in some of the fastest response times in the industry:

– this is the main reason why SiteGround has held top positions in HRank ratings for years ⚡

Finally, each website comes with a unique, pre-installed WordPress plugin, that allows you to easily control the server settings and adjust the caching parameters.

Speaking of WP plugins…

Security at SiteGround

There is another WordPress plugin made by the SiteGround team to work specifically with client sites:

SiteGround Security helps prevent the most common threats and attacks on your website, as well as react quickly in case of an attack, e.g. by logging out all users and resetting passwords.

It’s not the only WP security plugin in existence, of course – but it’s still nice to have all the various features in a single place, fully integrated with your hosting provider.

On the server level, three key measures help ensure maximum security for every SiteGround client:

  • Firewall and an AI-based filter for automatically protecting against attacks and hacks 🦺
  • Daily backups in several independent server centers in different geographical locations ensure that your website can be restored after any disaster 💽
  • Monitoring systems that check each server’s status and performance every 0.5 seconds, 24/7 🔍

At this point, you might argue that every premium web host has these features – and you’d be right.

There’s just one nuance:

SiteGround manages to offer all that goodness for a price that is closer to “mainstream” hosting providers:

SiteGround Plans and Pricing

At first glance, it looks a bit confusing: four different types of hosting, each having several pricing plans…

But take a closer look, and you’ll notice that the plans in the Web, Shared, and WooCommerce hosting types are actually identical!

That’s because all of them are essentially the same kind of shared hosting, with three pricing tiers for different client needs.

With that in mind, let’s forget about hosting types and focus on discussing each pricing plan in more detail:

  • StartUp is quite straightforward – you get one website and enough server resources to handle decent traffic. Unless you are migrating with a large project, it’s always worth starting with this plan and then deciding if you need to upgrade.
  • The GrowBig plan allows you to create unlimited websites, which means it’s suitable for those who run several projects or have high visitor traffic (over 20,000 per month).
  • Finally, on the cheekily named GoGeek plan you get even more computing resources, as well as the white label solution that allows you to offer web hosting to your own clients – great for agencies and freelancers.

As we mentioned earlier, the best part of SiteGround’s offer is the fact that all the professional-grade features are available at very reasonable prices –

For example, here’s a price comparison for premium hosting providers which use Google Cloud as their infrastructure platform:

The dashed line indicates the full price that applies after the first billing period at SiteGround – even that is way below the alternatives, and we’re not even considering the heavily discounted introductory pricing (i.e. the solid dark column).

There are four billing cycles available at SiteGround, with monthly being the most expensive and hence the least useful –

You can always opt for a (discounted) longer billing cycle and use the 30-day money-back guarantee if needed.

While you will end up paying less per month on average with the 3-year option, the largest first-period discount 🤑 is available for the 1-year billing cycle, where the amount spent right now is much lower:

Get a 69% discount on SiteGround

One more thing worth mentioning is cancellation: with SiteGround, it’s as easy as clicking on a button in your hosting admin panel, no need to contact support.

When you cancel, you can choose to continue using your websites until the end of the current billing period or to remove everything right away.

Pros and Cons of SiteGround

Before we move on to the final verdict on SiteGround, let’s summarize this hosting provider’s stronger and weaker sides:

  • You get premium-grade features and tools at a much lower price than most other managed WordPress hosts
  • Optimized software stack built on top of the Google Cloud infrastructure ensures consistently smooth and speedy functioning of your websites
  • Every account gets a slew of security features for threat prevention and mitigation, including firewall, live monitoring, and automatic backups
  • Cloudflare CDN is included at no additional cost with every SiteGround account, improving both speed and security
  • There are no visitor limits on any of the plans, as opposed to most other premium hosting providers
  • Powerful tools for collaboration and client management, making life easier for freelancers and agencies
  • Security, optimization, and migration plugins for WordPress built by the SiteGround team to work seamlessly with the hosting
  • 24/7 customer support via live chat, both for potential and existing clients
  • The cloud hosting offer at SiteGround is less attractive than its managed WordPress solutions, being up to 2x more expensive than e.g. comparable Digital Ocean machines
  • Resource availability may be limited for websites or accounts that regularly use up too much of a server’s computing power
  • The tool for creating a test/development copy of your website is not available on the StartUp plan

And now for the bottom line:

Verdict: Is SiteGround Worth It?

20 years in business and millions of clients – can a hosting provider get any more credible than that? 👓 Let’s see:

Throughout its existence SiteGround has clearly tried to maintain its status as the “affordable premium” host, combining professional quality with competitive prices.

As a matter of fact, it’s somewhat easier to define who should NOT use SiteGround as opposed to everyone else (who should) –

  • If your budget is substantial and you’re looking for the most advanced Google Cloud based hosting for a large project, take a look at Kinsta instead,
  • If you are part of a developer team that needs scalable cloud hosting with full control over all server settings, a self-service solution like Digital Ocean is probably best for you.

Apart from that –

Whether you just need a website for your organization or you make websites for your own clients, SiteGround has everything you need and more, built on a rock-solid technical foundation 💎 as well as years of expertise 🏆 and reputation.

Get a 69% discount on SiteGround

Have an opinion on SiteGround or a personal experience you’d like to share? Head over to the comments section – let’s help each other make better decisions!

17
Mar
2020

Das ultimative -Review 2025 – Next-Gen-Webplattform oder nur ein weiterer Baukasten?

☑︎ Dieses Review wurde zuletzt aktualisiert im July 2025

Mal ehrlich:

Die meisten Tools zur Website-Erstellung sind entweder 🪀 Spielzeug mit Baukasten-Flair, ein Wust aus 🛠️ Plugins, Problemumgehungen und Geduldsproben (hallo WordPress!) – oder 😵‍💫 Code-Labyrinthe, bei denen jedes Projekt bei null anfängt.

Webflow will genau dieses Dilemma auflösen:

Die Plattform verspricht den heiligen Gral: mächtig genug für Developer, visuell genug für Designer, und gerade noch verständlich für alle anderen – mit etwas Geduld.

Aber stimmt das?

Wir verwenden Webflow seit 2016 – für Kundenprojekte, eigene Seiten und viele kleine Experimente. Dieses Review ist das Resultat dieser Reise.

Wir zeigen dir die 😇 Highlights, die 🤬 Schwächen und die 👹 “Wie bitte?!”-Momente (schaut euch mal diese Preisstruktur an).

Aber zuerst – hier das Kurzfazit:

Fazit in Kurzform: Webflow ist eine seltene Mischung aus kreativer Freiheit und technischer Präzision. Ja, es braucht Einarbeitung – und ja, die Preisstruktur ist… speziell. Aber wer dranbleibt, wird mit einer eleganten Plattform für Design, Code und Hosting belohnt.
Zum vollständigen Review
Webflow testen ›

Design-Freiheit: pixelgenau + responsiv? Zum Designer
9/10
CMS: flexibel & benutzerfreundlich? Mehr dazu
8/10
Hosting: schnell & stabil? Zur Analyse
9/10
eCommerce: bereit für echte Shops? Zur Einschätzung
6/10
Benutzerfreundlichkeit: Lernkurve vs. Power? Unsere Meinung
7/10

Wenn du dich je zwischen Drag-and-Drop-Bequemlichkeit und vollwertigem Code gefragt hast, ob es da draußen nicht doch eine goldene Mitte gibt – könnte Webflow genau diese Brücke sein.

Lass uns herausfinden, ob sie trägt:

Was genau ist Webflow?

Kurz gesagt?

Webflow ist eine All-in-One-Plattform für Webentwicklung, mit der du Websites gestalten, bauen und veröffentlichen kannst – ganz ohne Code. Außer du willst!

Man könnte sagen, es ist das 👼 Liebeskind aus Figma, WordPress und VS Code:

Du ziehst, du platzierst, du justierst – und im Hintergrund generiert Webflow automatisch HTML, CSS und JavaScript auf Produktionsniveau.

Doch im Gegensatz zu anderen No-Code-Tools, die Technik lieber hinter Glitzer und Icons verstecken, setzt Webflow auf echtes Frontend-Verständnis – nur eben visuell umgesetzt.

Wenn du weißt, wie Margins, Flexbox oder Breakpoints funktionieren (oder Lust hast, es zu lernen), wird Webflow für dich zum Raketenantrieb.

Was alles mit dabei ist:

Egal ob du Designer bist und keine Lust mehr auf Entwickler-Abhängigkeit hast, oder Developer und einfach schneller Prototypen bauen willst – Webflow ist eines der wenigen Tools, wo sich beide Welten auf halbem Weg treffen können.

⚡ Was ist neu in 2025?

Seit dem Start 2013 hat sich bei Webflow einiges getan – hier die spannendsten Neuerungen:

  • Localization 2.0: endlich native Mehrsprachigkeit mit automatischer Subdirectory-Struktur und stringbasiertem Übersetzungseditor
  • Components Update: wiederverwendbare Komponenten unterstützen jetzt Bedingungslogik und dynamische Slots – ideal für komplexe Layouts
  • DevLink Beta: engere Integration mit React für Teams, die Webflow als visuelles Frontend für eigene Apps nutzen
  • Memberships 1.0: baue Login-Bereiche, gated Content oder sogar kostenpflichtige Mitgliederpläne – alles direkt in Webflow
  • Verbesserte Figma-Integration: überarbeiteter Plugin erlaubt direkteren Export mit besserer Layout- und Stilübernahme

Wie sich diese Features auf echte Projekte auswirken, zeigen wir in den jeweiligen Abschnitten – oder du springst direkt zu unserem Fazit.

Im nächsten Schritt sehen wir uns die wichtigsten Bausteine von Webflow im Detail an:

Webflow Site Designer: Einfachheit trifft Präzision

Das Herzstück von Webflow ist der Designer – eine visuelle Oberfläche, mit der du Websites bis auf den letzten Pixel gestalten kannst.

Aber im Gegensatz zu klobigen Drag-and-Drop-Baukästen respektiert Webflow, wie das Web wirklich funktioniert: jede Sektion, jedes Div, jede Stiländerung wird im Hintergrund direkt in sauberes HTML, CSS und JavaScript übersetzt ✨

Du bekommst also volle Kontrolle über alles…

Webflow Designer

…aber das bedeutet auch: du solltest verstehen, wie Webseiten aufgebaut sind (oder zumindest bereit sein, es zu lernen).

Die gute Nachricht?

In 2025 gibt es drei verschiedene Wege, ein neues Webflow-Projekt zu starten – von einsteigerfreundlich bis komplett hands-on:

  1. 🧠 AI Site Builder Beta: Die neueste – und wahrscheinlich umstrittenste – Option:

    Beschreibe, welche Art von Website du willst, wähle einen Stil, und Webflows KI erstellt dir automatisch eine vollständige Homepage (oder ein ganzes Multi-Page-Layout) – mit echten Sektionen, Dummy-Content und brauchbarer Gestaltung.

    Einzigartig in 2025? Nö. Aber für schnelle Wireframes, MVPs oder kreative Blockaden absolut nützlich.

    Das Ergebnis ist nicht perfekt – aber ein solider Ausgangspunkt, den du komplett im Designer anpassen kannst.

  2. 🎨 Start mit Vorlage: Wenn du das Grundgerüst überspringen und direkt loslegen willst, bietet Webflow eine Bibliothek mit über 100 Vorlagen (ca. 30 kostenlos, der Rest kostenpflichtig).

    Manche sind minimal und schnell, andere enthalten Animationen, CMS-Strukturen und komplette Unterseiten – von einfachen Themes für private Projekte bis zu Premium-Vorlagen ($40–80), die von Profis aus der Webflow-Community gebaut wurden.

    Natürlich sind alle Templates vollständig editierbar – du kannst also Layout, Farben, Inhalte und Responsivität komplett nach deinem Stil anpassen.

  3. 💻 Blank Canvas (a.k.a. echtes Webflow-Modus): die klassische Webflow-Erfahrung – für alle, die maximale Kontrolle wollen.

    Du beginnst mit einer leeren Seite und ziehst Layout-Bausteine wie Sections, Container, Grids, Flexboxen oder Div Blocks hinein – dazu Texte, Bilder, Buttons, Formulare, Videos oder Custom Embeds.

    Jeder Pixel, jede Animation, jeder Media Query ist deine Entscheidung. Aber auch deine Verantwortung – denn du baust die Struktur selbst:

    Du willst ein zentriertes Kästchen? Dann erstelle ein div, setze es auf „relative“, gib ihm Maße – willkommen im echten Web, mein Freund.

Wenn das abschreckend klingt: keine Sorge – Webflow bietet Hilfen und visuelle Kontroll-Elemente (inkl. CSS-Menüs und Gerätevorschau), die dich Schritt für Schritt durchleiten.

Webflow Site Designer ausprobieren ›

Das Panel Interaktionen macht es kinderleicht, Hover-Effekte, Scroll-Reveal, Page-Load-Animationen und Klick-Trigger zu erstellen – ganz ohne JavaScript (es sei denn, du willst natürlich!).

Auch das responsive Design-System von Webflow gehört zu den besten am Markt:

  • Alle wichtigen Breakpoints (Desktop, Tablet, Mobile quer & hochkant) sind eingebaut
  • Stile für jede Bildschirmgröße können visuell angepasst werden – und Änderungen vererben sich automatisch, ganz wie in echtem CSS
  • Du kannst sogar eigene Breakpoints definieren, falls die Standardansicht mal nicht reicht

Und falls du dich beim Anmelden als „kein Coder“ markierst, übernimmt Webflow sogar mobile Stile für dich automatisch.

Fazit: Egal ob du mit KI, Vorlage oder leerem Blatt startest – Webflow gibt dir alles an die Hand, um deine Website wirklich zu deiner eigenen zu machen.

Im nächsten Schritt schauen wir uns an, wie Webflow Inhalte strukturiert:

Webflows Content Management System

Eine Website besteht nicht nur aus Boxen und Buttons – sie lebt von Inhalten.

Und das CMS von Webflow hilft dir, diese Inhalte wie ein Profi zu strukturieren – selbst wenn du noch nie ein Backend gesehen hast 🫣

Im Gegensatz zu klassischen Baukästen, bei denen alles statisch ist – oder WordPress, wo du bei jedem Update hoffen musst, dass dein Plugin-Stapel nicht implodiert – setzt Webflow auf einen visuellen, aber schema-basierten Ansatz zur Inhaltsverwaltung.

Denk an: Notion trifft Airtable… aber fürs Web.

Das zentrale Element sind die sogenannten Collections – wiederverwendbare Inhaltstypen, die du komplett selbst definieren kannst. Jede Collection enthält beliebige Eigenschaften bzw. Felder, die du nach Bedarf festlegst.

Beispiele gefällig?

  • Blogartikel mit Titel, Autor, Veröffentlichungsdatum, Vorschaubild, Tags und Hauptinhalt
  • Portfolio-Projekte mit Bildergalerien, Links, Kundenstimmen und Kategorien
  • Teammitglieder mit Funktion, Avatar, Kurzbiografie und Social Links

Webflow CMS

Sobald du eine Collection erstellt hast, kannst du:

  • Dynamische Seiten automatisch generieren, z.B. /blog/webflow-tutorial
  • Collection-Inhalte in beliebigen Listen, Grids oder Slidern anzeigen – mit Filter- und Sortierfunktion basierend auf jedem beliebigen Feld
  • Layout-Blöcke mithilfe von konditionaler Sichtbarkeit ein- oder ausblenden – je nach Inhalt

Das Beste: All das funktioniert visuell – ohne Datenbanken, ohne PHP-Funktionen, ohne Plugins für „benutzerdefinierte Beitragstypen“.

…Und für alle, die trotzdem die Kontrolle brauchen: Ja, das CMS von Webflow lässt sich via API oder Embeds auch mit externen Tools verbinden.

Der Webflow Editor

Für die laufende Bearbeitung von Inhalten (nach Veröffentlichung deiner Seite) gibt es den Webflow Editor – ein schlanker Frontend-Modus für Content-Updates.

Man kann ihn sich als „Kundenfreundlicher Modus“ vorstellen:

🖱️ Text oder Bild direkt auf der Live-Seite anklicken und bearbeiten
➕ Füge neue Collection-Einträge hinzu – ohne in den Designer zu müssen
🔒 Das Layout bleibt geschützt, während Kunden Inhalte ändern können

Ideal für Solo-Creators, kleine Teams – oder Kunden, die bloggen möchten, ohne das Design zu berühren.

Mehrsprachigkeit? Jetzt nativ integriert

Lange Zeit war Mehrsprachigkeit ein leidiges Thema in Webflow – man musste Drittanbieter wie Weglot nutzen oder komplizierte Workarounds basteln.

Doch das hat sich mit Localization 2.0 geändert:

🌐 Definiere Sprachen und eigene Subdirectories (z. B. /de/, /fr/)
🈯 Übersetze einzelne Felder, Bilder und SEO-Metadaten je Sprache
🔁 Wechsle die Sprache visuell über Dropdowns oder dynamische Links

Wichtig: Dieses Feature ist derzeit kostenpflichtig – funktioniert aber nativ und nahtlos im Zusammenspiel mit dem CMS. Ein riesiger Fortschritt im Vergleich zu früher.

Fazit: Das Webflow CMS deckt locker 90 % von dem ab, was ein „Headless CMS“ kann – nur ohne die Kopfschmerzen.

Nächster Schritt – wie bringt man seine Meisterwerke live? 🛰️

Veröffentlichung und Hosting

Mit Webflow veröffentlichst du deine Website buchstäblich per Klick. Kein Witz – Deployment ist direkt in die Designer-Oberfläche integriert:

– einfach auf „Publish“ klicken, Staging- oder Produktionsdomain auswählen – und deine Seite ist in wenigen Sekunden live.

Webflow publishing

Kein cPanel. Kein FTP. Keine DNS-Albträume (okay, vielleicht einmalig, aber das DNS-Panel von Webflow gehört zu den übersichtlichsten überhaupt).

Du kannst veröffentlichen auf:

  • eine 💸 kostenlose Staging-Subdomain wie [deineseite].webflow.io
  • jede eigene Domain über DNS-Einträge
  • mehrere Umgebungen gleichzeitig – falls du ein höheres Abo hast

Nach dem Deployment läuft deine Website auf Webflows globaler Infrastruktur – hier ein Blick unter die Haube:

Was steckt technisch dahinter?

Webflow Hosting wird betrieben über Amazon Cloudfront und Fastly – zwei Schwergewichte in Sachen Performance und Verfügbarkeit:

  • Automatisch skalierbare Infrastruktur: kein Server-Upgrade nötig, auch nicht bei Traffic-Spitzen
  • SSL inklusive: jede Seite erhält automatisch ein kostenloses, dauerhaft aktives HTTPS-Zertifikat
  • Intelligentes Caching: Inhalte werden weltweit in Sekunden aktualisiert – ganz ohne manuelle Cache-Verwaltung

Das ist kein Shared Hosting und auch kein „Managed WordPress“ – es ist eher 🚀 Enterprise-Cloud ohne DevOps-Aufwand.

In dieser Hinsicht orientiert sich Webflow eher am Website-Builder-Prinzip: kein Server-Setup, keine Plugin-Updates, keine Kompatibilitäts-Patches –

es funktioniert einfach.

Fazit: Webflow Hosting liefert dir Geschwindigkeit, Skalierbarkeit und Sicherheit – ganz ohne Aufwand. Du klickst „Publish“ – und es ist live.

Als Nächstes: Wie gut funktioniert Webflow fürs Verkaufen im Netz?

Webflow eCommerce: Noch nicht ganz Shopify – aber nah dran

Eines der meistgewünschten Features in der Webflow-Geschichte? Verkaufen können.

Und ja – Webflow eCommerce ist inzwischen voll in die Plattform integriert. Du kannst damit:

🏪 Eigene Produktseiten erstellen
🛒 Warenkorb- und Checkout-Flows frei gestalten
🖼️ Jedes Detail deines Shops designen – keine starren Vorlagen
🎛️ Produkte, Bestellungen und Mails im gleichen Backend verwalten

Also… kann es Shopify ersetzen?

Noch nicht ganz – aber es kommt näher dran.

Der große Vorteil von Webflow eCommerce ist derselbe wie beim Rest der Plattform: maximale Designfreiheit.

Keine starren Store-Themes. Keine Plugin-Hölle. Du gestaltest jedes Element – von der Produktseite über den Warenkorb bis zu den E-Mails – wie jede andere Webflow-Seite.

Das ist ein Game-Changer, wenn du je mit Shopify Liquid oder WooCommerce CSS-Overrides kämpfen musstest.

Weitere Pluspunkte:

  • Unterstützt physische und digitale Produkte
  • Eigene Felder für Varianten, technische Daten, Downloads usw.
  • Anpassbare Checkout- und Dankeseiten
  • Gebrandete Bestellmails und automatische Warenkorb-Erinnerungen
  • Integrierte Bezahlung via Stripe und PayPal

Für Designer und produktzentrierte Marken, die Wert auf ein pixelgenaues Frontend legen, ist das fast ein Traum.

Allerdings sollte man nicht verschweigen: Stand 2025 ist Webflow eCommerce noch in Entwicklung – und einige Funktionen fehlen oder sind eingeschränkt im Vergleich zu Shopify oder WooCommerce:

  • Kein integrierter Multi-Währungs-Support
  • Keine POS-Integration (Point of Sale)
  • Keine nativen Abo-Produkte
  • Rabatt-Logik (z. B. auf Warenkorbebene) nur eingeschränkt möglich
  • Kundenkonten nur über das Memberships-Feature verfügbar

Einige dieser Punkte stehen auf der Webflow-Roadmap – andere könnten nie nativ umgesetzt werden. Wenn du also einen großen Shop mit komplexer Infrastruktur oder POS-Anbindung brauchst, gilt: nimm Shopify und schlaf ruhig.

Aber für kleinere Shops, One-Product-Brands, digitale Produkte oder kreative Custom-Stores mit starkem Designfokus bleibt Webflow extrem attraktiv.

Fazit: Webflow eCommerce eignet sich hervorragend für kleine bis mittlere Shops, bei denen Branding, visuelle Freiheit und Flexibilität wichtiger sind als reine Feature-Masse.

Okay – Zeit für den spannenden Teil: Was kostet das Ganze?

Webflow Preisgestaltung

Ja, Webflows Preisstruktur ist… chaotisch. Aber sie ergibt Sinn – sobald man das Grundprinzip verstanden hat.

Der wichtigste Punkt dabei:

Webflow verwendet ein zweischichtiges Preismodell mit zwei Komponenten: Workspaces für dein gesamtes Konto und Site-Pläne für jedes einzelne Projekt (also jede Website).

Um das Ganze verständlicher zu machen, haben wir diese Grafik erstellt, die alle Webflow-Pläne visuell erklärt:

Webflow Preisstruktur

Workspaces dienen dazu, Websites in Gruppen zu organisieren, inklusive getrenntem Zugriff und Teamfeatures – ideal für Agenturen oder Freelancer mit mehreren Kunden.

Wenn du dich anmeldest, bekommst du automatisch 1 Workspace-Sitzplatz, zu dem du beliebig viele Websites hinzufügen kannst.

Site-Pläne (Hosting pro Website)

Hier entscheidet sich, wie viele Seiten, CMS-Inhalte und wie viel Traffic deine Website verkraftet:

  • Starter (kostenlos): 2 Seiten, 20 CMS-Sammlungen, 50 CMS-Items, 1 GB Bandbreite, 50 Formular-Einsendungen (lebenslang). Keine eigene Domain möglich.
  • Basic – $14/Monat: Ideal für kleine Seiten & Landingpages. 150 Seiten, unbegrenzte Formulare, 10 GB Bandbreite.
  • CMS – $23/Monat: Perfekt für Blogs und Content-Websites. 20 Sammlungen, 2.000 Items, 50 GB Bandbreite, Site-Suche, 3 Editor-Zugänge.
  • Business – $39/Monat: Für Seiten mit hohem Traffic. 300 Seiten, 40 Sammlungen, 10.000 Items, 100 GB+ Bandbreite, Uploads, 10 Editoren.
  • Enterprise: Maßgeschneiderte Lösung für große Projekte – mit unbegrenztem Volumen, SLA und dediziertem Support. Preis auf Anfrage.

Wenn du auf deiner Website Produkte verkaufen möchtest, brauchst du einen separaten eCommerce-Plan:

eCommerce-Pläne (für Online-Shops)

Diese Pläne erweitern die normalen Site-Pläne um Shop-Funktionalität:

  • Standard – $29/Monat: Bis zu 500 Produkte, 2 % Transaktionsgebühr an Webflow.
  • Plus – $74/Monat: Bis zu 1.000 Produkte, 0 % Webflow-Gebühr.
  • Advanced – $212/Monat: Bis zu 3.000 Produkte, 0 % Gebühr, unbegrenzter Umsatz, Team-Zugänge.

Alle Pläne enthalten CMS, Checkout, Warenkorb, Bestell-E-Mails, Stripe/PayPal, Steuerberechnung und Basis-Integrationen. Unterschiede gibt es bei Anzahl der Produkte & Transaktionskosten.

Und jetzt (vorsichtig!) zur zweiten Schicht:

Workspace-Pläne (Zugriff & Zusammenarbeit)

Wie erwähnt, definieren Workspaces wer an welchen Projekten mitarbeiten darf – und mit welchen Rechten:

  • Free Seat: Nur Leserechte (z. B. für Feedback oder Kundenkorrekturen).
  • Limited Seat – $15/Monat: Eingeschränkte Bearbeitung (z. B. für Redakteure/Marketing).
  • Full Seat – $39/Monat: Voller Zugriff: Designer, Einstellungen, Hosting, Abrechnung – alles.

Puh…

Was heißt das jetzt konkret?

  • Ein komplettes Team braucht mindestens 1 Full Seat + Site-Plan pro Projekt.
  • Persönliche Einzelprojekte kommen auch ohne bezahlten Sitzplatz aus – Site-Plan reicht.
  • Für Kunden reicht oft ein Free oder Limited Seat, wenn nur Inhalte gepflegt werden sollen.

Fazit: Günstig ist es nicht – aber wenn du Design, Hosting, CMS und Zusammenarbeit auf Profi-Niveau willst, liefert Webflow das Komplettpaket. Besonders mit den neuen, flexiblen Sitzplatz-Modellen ab 2025.

Vorteile und Nachteile von Webflow

Zeit für einen ehrlichen Check: Wo glänzt Webflow – und wo gibt’s noch Nachholbedarf?

  • Volle visuelle Kontrolle über Layout und Stil – keine starren Templates, kein Code nötig (außer du willst)
  • Sauberer, produktionsreifer Code – exportierbar und dev-freundlich
  • Integriertes CMS mit schema-basierten Collections – ideal für Blogs, Portfolios, Verzeichnisse und mehr
  • Top responsives Design-System – mit Breakpoints, Gerätevorschau und vererbbaren Styles
  • Sofortige Veröffentlichung auf Staging oder Custom-Domain – ganz ohne Server, FTP oder cPanel
  • Enterprise-Hosting via AWS/Fastly – mit globalem CDN, SSL und automatischer Skalierung
  • Native Mehrsprachigkeit (endlich!) – inkl. Subdirectory-Struktur und feldgenauer Übersetzung
  • Vollständig anpassbarer eCommerce – inkl. Checkout, Produktseiten, Mails und Warenkorb-Logik
  • Flexibles Preismodell – kostenlos starten, später skalieren; neue Sitzplatzstruktur senkt Teamkosten
  • Aktive Weiterentwicklung – große Updates wie Memberships 1.0, DevLink für React und AI-Builder in den letzten 12 Monaten
  • Deutlich steilere Lernkurve als bei Wix, Squarespace oder klassischen Baukästen – gerade für Einsteiger
  • eCommerce noch nicht voll ausgereift – kein Multi-Currency, keine nativen Abos, keine Kundenkonten (außer via Memberships)
  • Komplexe Preisstruktur – Site-, eCommerce- und Workspace-Pläne sind anfangs schwer zu durchblicken
  • Limits bei CMS-Items in kleineren Tarifen – große Content-Sites stoßen schnell an die 2k/10k-Grenze
  • Kein CMS-Backup oder Versionsverlauf – nur für Design-Elemente verfügbar
  • Einige Integrationen erfordern Drittanbieter (z. B. Zapier, Make, Memberstack) für komplexere Workflows oder Bezahlmodelle
  • Noch begrenztes Plugin-Ökosystem – im Gegensatz zu WordPress gibt es (noch) keine große Add-on-Bibliothek

Fazit: Webflow ist eine Plattform für Profis, die Präzision, Performance und Design-Freiheit suchen – keine Abkürzungen. Ja, sie ist anspruchsvoller und teurer – aber das Ergebnis lohnt sich.

Blitz: Häufige Fragen zu Webflow

Bevor wir zum finalen Fazit kommen – hier sind die Fragen, die uns zu Webflow am häufigsten gestellt werden:

Was ist Webflow?

Webflow ist eine hybride Plattform zur Website-Erstellung, die die visuelle Freiheit eines Design-Tools mit der Kontrolle von handgeschriebenem Code verbindet. Du kannst voll funktionsfähige Websites gestalten, verwalten und veröffentlichen – ganz ohne Programmierkenntnisse, aber mit Code-Präzision im Hintergrund.

Wie viel kostet Webflow?

Webflow hat ein zweischichtiges Preismodell: Workspace-Pläne für dein Konto und Site-Pläne für das Hosting einzelner Websites. Die Preise reichen von kostenlos bis etwa $36/Monat – je nach Umfang und Anforderungen. Alle Details findest du in unserer Preissektion oben.

Ist Webflow einfach zu bedienen?

Webflow hat definitiv eine gewisse Einstiegshürde, besonders für Anfänger. Aber sobald man das Layout- und Stilprinzip verstanden hat (ähnlich wie HTML/CSS), wird es zu einem intuitiven und sehr mächtigen Tool. Es ist einfacher als Hand-Coding, aber komplexer als klassische Baukästen wie Wix oder Squarespace.

Für wen ist Webflow am besten geeignet?

Webflow eignet sich besonders für Designer, Entwickler, Agenturen und Gründer, die maximale gestalterische Freiheit ohne Programmierung wollen. Auch Teams profitieren davon, weil Design, Inhalte und Veröffentlichung in einer Plattform zusammenkommen.

Unterstützt Webflow eCommerce?

Ja, Webflow enthält eine integrierte eCommerce-Funktion. Du kannst individuelle Produktseiten, Warenkorb und Checkout gestalten, Lagerbestand verwalten und gebrandete E-Mails verschicken. Noch nicht ganz auf Shopify-Niveau – aber was Designfreiheit angeht, sehr stark. Mehr dazu in der eCommerce-Sektion.

Webflow vs. WordPress – ein Ersatz?

Für viele Anwendungsfälle: Ja. Webflow ersetzt Plugins, Themes und Hosting-Konfiguration durch eine einheitliche, visuelle Plattform. Allerdings bietet WordPress nach wie vor eine größere Auswahl an Plugins und Community-Lösungen für Sonderfälle.

Alright… that was lot of information to take in! So what’s the bottom line? In other words –

Unser Fazit: Solltest du Webflow in 2025 verwenden?

Wir nutzen Webflow seit 2016 – über Dutzende Projekte, große Updates und kleine Entdeckungen hinweg. Und hier ist unser abschließendes Urteil:

Webflow ist eine der leistungsstärksten Plattformen zur Website-Erstellung auf dem Markt. Wenn du bereit bist, die Lernkurve zu meistern, bekommst du Profi-Tools, saubere Workflows – und nie wieder Stress mit Plugins.

☝️ Aber Vorsicht: Für jeden ist es nicht –

Wenn du in 10 Minuten eine Onepager-Seite zusammenklicken willst oder auf viele externe Integrationen angewiesen bist, fährst du mit WordPress oder Squarespace wahrscheinlich besser.

Aber wenn dir wichtig ist:

  • Designfreiheit – ganz ohne Code,
  • sauberer Front-End-Code ohne Bloat,
  • ein flexibles CMS mit nativer Mehrsprachigkeit,
  • skalierbares Hosting & eCommerce in einer Plattform,

…dann ist Webflow definitiv einen Versuch wert.

Die Plattform wächst mit dir – vom Solo-Portfolio über Agenturprojekte bis hin zu umfangreichen Produktseiten mit Login-Bereich und dynamischem Katalog.

Webflow kostenlos testen ›

Danke, dass du dir die Zeit genommen hast, unsere Analyse zu Webflow zu lesen! War der Beitrag für dich hilfreich? Möchtest du etwas ergänzen oder widersprechen? Lass uns unten in den Kommentaren diskutieren!

Einige der Links in diesem Artikel sind sogenannte Affiliate-Links. Das bedeutet, wir erhalten eventuell eine kleine Provision, wenn du über einen solchen Link etwas kaufst – für dich ändert sich am Preis natürlich nichts. Wenn dir dieser Guide geholfen hat, ist das eine schöne Möglichkeit, unsere Arbeit zu unterstützen. Danke!

22
Jan
2020

The Ultimate HostGator Review 2025: Should You Trust the Friendly Reptile?

HostGator has been around for so long that we’ve all gotten thoroughly used to the friendly blue crocodile with a broad toothy smile.

But is it really safe to be friends with it?

Let’s find out! In this in-depth review, we will take a thorough look at HostGator, analyze its background, offers, pricing, support – and come up with an answer to the following question: should you choose HostGator over other hosting providers?

In the course of our journey, you will find out how their mascot Snappy used to look like in 2D, as well as other (arguably more relevant) things you need to know about HostGator:

  • 👥Who owns HostGator and why is that important?
  • 🧭Which hosting plan should you choose, if any?
  • 🐊Is HostGator better than other large providers?
  • 💵Can you save money on your HostGator order?

Regarding that last one – near the end of this review we provide an exclusive discount code that can be used to decrease your bill for certain HostGator products, if you do decide to give it a try.

One small note before we jump in: if you were searching for keywords like host gator or gator host and found this review – this is indeed the same company, so you’re in the right place 😉

With that out of the way, let’s examine our specimen carefully, from the head to the tip of its tail: grab a magnifying glass and a ruler, and don’t forget to keep your hands out of its jaws even when it’s sedated – just in case!

The Head: What Is HostGator?

As its name suggests, HostGator is a web hosting company. This means it provides services that enable you to create and manage websites. Here’s a fun fact:

According to W3Techs, almost 2% of websites in the world use HostGator as their hosting provider (out of W3T’s sample of top 10 million websites).

That’s a lot of websites!

In fact, the above data places HostGator firmly in the top-10 of the global hosting industry.

However, any big company must start with a single client; and for ‘Gator that happened in 2002, when a university student from Florida named Brent Oxley decided he wanted to become an Internet entrepreneur.

HostGator history

From “Lacoste” to 3D – the evolution of HostGator’s mascot

The venture grew aggressively for a decade, until it was sold to another company in 2012. And that company was none other than… the Endurance International Group (EIG)!

Now, why did I introduce it in such a theatric way?

Because Endurance is an active and unique player in the hosting market, and hence a frequent hero of our reviews:

EIG positions itself as an “integrated provider of all things necessary for small and medium businesses to build their web presence”. More specifically though, according to their latest annual report more than of 50 its 77 (!) brands offer the same service – web hosting.

In other words, Endurance is a company which specializes on buying up existing web hosts and extracting maximum money from their brands.

Alright, you might say – but does it really affect HostGator clients in any tangible way?

Of course! In fact, in all kinds of good and bad ways:

  • Stability and reliability: as one of the leading names in the brand portfolio of a large multinational corporation, HostGator has very low risk of closing down abruptly or declaring bankruptcy.
  • Operational efficiency: everything about HostGator has been optimized and then optimized again, based on the parent company’s deep industry experience from its massive portfolio of hosting brands.
  • Focus on money extraction: EIG buys existing businesses, and it usually pays a LOT in such deals. This means it must focus relentlessly on getting that money back as profits. Anything that doesn’t directly lead to higher returns on investment doesn’t seem to bother Endurance and its subsidiaries too much.
  • Conveyor-like approach: since none of the brands in Endurance’s portfolio has been grown from scratch, you’re not dealing with a founder’s vision, a unique idea or value proposition – just one of 50+ very similar brands that present slightly different facades while using the same back-end.

It’s of course up to you to decide whether the benefits of being a part of the Endurance Group outweigh the potential disadvantages.

Their business strategy is not “good” or “bad” per se – it’s just that, a strategy. However, it is worth keeping in mind the likely implications: for example, that there’s no motivation for brands like HostGator to offer exceptional quality – just optimized sales techniques and good-enough infrastructure.

We’ll look closer at these and other details of HostGator’s offer in the next part of our review:

The Body: Products and Plans

Alright, it’s time for the meaty parts!

HostGator’s product line consists of a dozen different items, but in this review we are going to focus on their flagship offer: shared hosting, i.e. what they refer to simply as “web hosting” in their main navigation menu.

(at the end of this section, we will still provide a brief overview of other products, as well as explain why they’re not worth discussing in detail here)

Before we continue – what’s a “shared” hosting, just in case?

As its name suggests, shared hosting implies that the resources of each specialized computer, or server, are divided between several clients.

This means less computing power for your website in particular, but it also means significantly lower costs compared to other types of hosting, while still being provided with sufficient autonomy and performance.

This tradeoff seems worth it for most online projects, because the vast majority of websites on the Internet are using shared hosting nowadays.

When it comes to shared hosting, HostGator clients can choose between three plans (four in some countries):

HostGator shared hosting

The main difference between the cheapest plan and the medium-priced plan is the ability to set up more than 1 domain, so if you are looking to create a single website, you should go for the cheapest option. You can always upgrade afterwards if you decide to expand your online empire 👑

The more expensive plan(s) don’t really offer much value compared to the middle plan, that is – you end up paying 50-90% more for a couple of additional features that aren’t really worth it unless you don’t care about the budget and just prefer the best stuff whenever you make purchases.

This implies that, in most cases, for those who need several websites the middle plan is the optimal choice. While the difference with the top plan seems small when expressed on a monthly basis, it can compound to a lot of extra costs over the years.

Here are some of the things we appreciated about HostGator’s web hosting plans, as well as some of the things we didn’t particularly like:

  • Frequent discounts and special offers make HostGator’s shared hosting one of the most affordable on the web, especially if you pay for 2 or 3 years in advance.
  • Possibility to use a coupon during the checkout is something found in only a few web hosts. In the case of HostGator, you can refer to the last part of our review for just such a code; it’s not a big deal in terms of the size of the discount, but if you do end up choosing ‘Gator as your provider, it’s nice to know there’s a chance to save some extra money.
  • Free SSL certificate included by default; having a secure connection (and a https:// in your web address instead of http://) is considered an absolute must nowadays; among other things, SSL affects your site’s rankings by the Google search algorithm.
  • Free domain for 1 year if you choose any of the annual billing cycles. This is just a nice touch that lets you save a little extra during the purchase. Do keep in mind though that anything you buy at a discount will renew at the regular price. About that:
  • Renewal prices are higher than the initial price tags, so your next period’s hosting bill will be higher by as much as 60%. At least HostGator has the decency to communicate these standard rates clearly on its checkout page, as opposed to some other less scrupulous hosting providers.
  • Pre-selected extras during the checkout process (in some regions) is a slightly annoying technique which forces you to pay close attention in order not to accidentally pay for something you don’t really need, like a “hacker protection” add-on (WordPress has great free security plugins).

What’s that? Oh, right, we promised to explain why we skipped other HostGator products!

These include several advanced types of hosting as well as a site builder – and both can be better understood through the context of HostGator’s status as a part of the Endurance Group.

Apart from shared hosting, the ‘Gator offers cloud, managed WordPress, VPS, dedicated, and even Windows-based hosting packages. They all have one thing in common though:

– none of them is HostGator’s focus area or primary expertise.

The vast majority of its clients are on shared hosting, and that’s what HostGator was doing from the start, long before it was integrated into Endurance.

Here’s a simple rule you might follow:

If you’re not sure which type of hosting you need, you probably need shared hosting, and HostGator is a good candidate.

The reverse is also true most of the time:

If you know for sure that you need something other than shared hosting, you probably don’t want to use HostGator. E.g. if you need cloud, try Digital Ocean or a similar specialized provider.

As for the “Gator Website Builder”, it’s simply a rebranded version of another tool from Endurance’s portfolio (the creatively named Site Builder).

They use a clever system of varying prices and discounts to make it look even more distinct, but if you do the math both tools will cost you exactly the same in the end.

This means that if you subscribe to the Gator Website Builder you’re essentially buying from a completely different brand. Which is not “bad” by itself, but warrants a separate review at the very least (spoiler: there are much better site-building tools than Site Builder, e.g. Weebly).

To sum up…

  • Products: HostGator is a smart choice if you want to create one or more websites and have no special requirements (like a dedicated server or cloud infrastructure);
  • Plans: choose between the cheapest and the second-cheapest shared hosting plans, depending on how many websites you need;
  • Pricing: take advantage of lower prices by opting for longer billing cycles, but don’t forget that your next bill will be somewhat higher.

Next, let’s look at some of the less obvious but still very important characteristics of HostGator that you might encounter in the long run –

The Tail: Reliability and Support

Websites are usually long-term projects. This means that when you’re choosing a hosting company, you’re making a choice for many years.

It is thus essential to think beyond the immediate discounts and consider things that may make a difference over time – like service stability and customer support.

The most informative way to gauge the reliability of a given hosting provider (and compare it to others) is to measure two things:

  • uptime, or the percentage of time an average server is up and running, and hence your website is available to the public;
  • response time, i.e. how long your visitors have to wait for the first reply for incoming connections.

According to independent data by Hrank, uptime across HostGator’s servers was around 99.96% for the past 6 months; this is well inside its 99.9% uptime guarantee limit:

HostGator uptime

HostGator uptime data according to Hrank

If we look at the daily data, we can spot certain days with less than 99% uptime, i.e. with more than 15 minutes of downtime per day – however, such behaviour is normal as long as the overall figures are good enough.

Average response time for HostGator hovers at around 1100 milliseconds, or 1.1 seconds – which is not particularly impressive for an international hosting provider.

Your website’s speed will still depend much more on your choice of WordPress plugins and the size of images you use, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the server itself will still add some extra time on top of that.

If you strongly prefer to minimize server response time above all else, you can check out e.g. Hostinger for better server speed in most regions (it has its own weaker points though, so read the review carefully before making a decision!)

***

When it comes to customer support, HostGator offers everything you might need as a hosting user, most importantly 24/7/365 live chat and phone support as well as an extensive library of helpful articles.

HostGator chat

By far the most convenient way of getting in touch with the ‘Gator people is via the chat, and after trying it on several occasions we had no complaints:

  • The support team has a friendly attitude; replies tend to be quick and to the point. Most of our inquiries were solved within minutes from starting a chat.
  • The answers we got were typically detailed enough to be helpful, while short enough to be readable.
  • The 24/7 tag is not an empty promise – our chats saw responses within 1-2 minutes even in the middle of the night.

To sum up, HostGator’s clients can expect their websites to stay online for >99.9% of the time, while maintaining reasonable (though not exceptional) connection speed.

The support team is significantly more proficient and helpful compared to some of the smaller Endurance brands like PureHost or Netfirms; no negative comments in this area.

***

Now that we’ve examined the beast from head to tail, we can see clearly that there are both advantages and weak sides in using HostGator.

Which side of the argument is more compelling though?

Pros and Cons of HostGator

To find out, it wouldn’t hurt to summarize our findings – this will help us come up with a clear verdict in the final part of our review:

  • HostGator are specialists in shared web hosting with a lot of experience, resulting from a massive client base and a decades-long track record.
  • There are few, if any, hosting providers that can match HostGator in terms of pricing; you can be sure to find large discounts and special offers most of the time, especially if you opt for longer billing cycles.
  • You can get a free domain name with your hosting order; keep in mind that the domain will renew at its normal price after 1 year.
  • The average server uptime is comfortably over the 99.9% figure mentioned in HostGator’s service guarantee. This is a standard level for shared hosting and implies less than an hour of total expected downtime per month.
  • Since 2012 HostGator is a part of Endurance Group, a large multinational holding, which makes it a much more stable hosting provider than most of its competitors.
  • You can get 24/7/365 support using HostGator’s live chat, both if you have an existing account or just considering to become a client. The support team is knowledgeable and friendly.
  • In fact, thanks to a large archive of educational and help articles you won’t even need to use the chat that often.
  • The owner of HostGator, the Endurance Group, is focused on extracting cash flows from acquired hosting providers, which might imply less motivation for HostGator to innovate and go that extra mile for its clients.
  • Server response time, which influences your website’s loading speed, is alright but not great for a hosting provider of this magnitude.
  • When buying HostGator services one should always keep in mind that the special prices listed on their website are valid for the first billing cycle only.

Exclusive HostGator Coupon (Checked in July 2025)

Before we move on to the conclusion, here’s a quick way to save some extra money on a HostGator purchase if you choose a short billing cycle (12 months or shorter).

During the checkout, locate section 5. on the page and enter the following code instead of the pre-filled one, then click on “Validate” and check if your final price gets reduced.

Or just click the following link to apply the code automatically to the 12-month shared hosting plan:

Apply HostGator Discount ›

The coupon code affects both the hosting package and the extras, providing a discount ranging from 10% to 25% compared to the default code.

SATORI

IMPORTANT! To reiterate, this coupon is only valid for 1, 3, 6, and 12 month billing cycles! For two- or three-year options you are better off with the HostGator’s own coupon that is applied by default.

Alright, now for to the conclusion –

Final Verdict: Should You Use HostGator in 2025?

After a closer look at HostGator’s background, products, plans, support, and technical characteristics, can we recommend this provider?

For most online projects (probably including yours), shared web hosting from ‘Gator is indeed a suitable option, offering great value for money together with reliability and support ensured by one of the largest industry players 😎

In particular:

  • For a single website, choose the cheapest shared hosting plan, it has everything you’ll need.
  • If you need more than one website, go for the second-cheapest plan and consider longer billing cycles (2 or 3 years) for better prices.

On the other hand, if you’re a professional web developer and you know that you specifically need a more advanced type of hosting (like cloud or dedicated), take a look at the specialized providers such as Digital Ocean.

***

Do you still have any questions about HostGator? Or maybe willing to share your first-hand experience? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below, let’s help each other make more informed decisions!

Affiliate disclosure: we may receive commission for purchases made after following some of the links in this article. This does not affect the price you pay in any way. In fact, if you found this review helpful please consider using our links to support our project 🌱