Best Website Builders

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Best Website Builders in Canada

Best Website Builders

Whether you’re starting your own business or setting up your online portfolio, creating a website is an absolute must. However, unless you've devoted years to mastering HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or any other coding language, we highly recommend the beginner-friendly method of website builders. This guide will cover our 14 best website builders for Canadians who want to get their site up and running with minimal stress and time.

Reasons to use a website builder:

☑️ A website builder is more affordable compared to individual developers
☑️ Website builders are easy to use and reliable.
☑️ You can have a website up and running in less than 30 minutes—without any detailed knowledge of WordPress, CSS, or HTML

The question is — how do you go about choosing the best website builders in Canada? Well, you’re in luck! We took the initiative ourselves and signed up on numerous platforms, tried and tested their features, and selected the top website builder sites out there.

Website BuilderPlan CostLoad TimeUptimeUsabilityOur Rating
1. Hostinger Website Builder (formerly Zyro)$2.99 – $11.99430ms99.99%EXCELLENT★★★★★
2. Wix.com$11.00 – $35.00460ms99.99%EXCELLENT★★★★★
3. Constant Contact$0.00 – $225.00547ms99.95%GREAT★★★★
4. Pixpa$3.60 – $25.00440ms99.95%GREAT★★★★

* Yearly pricing

What is a Website Builder?

Website building platforms are tools for both beginners and seasoned creators to design websites without coding knowledge. These providers offer features like templates, drag-and-drop, pre-designed components, search engine optimization, online store setup, and mobile-friendly design. Note, it's up to you to choose a template, add content, and arrange text, images, and buttons; according to your website needs.
These platforms sometimes offer hosting and domain name options too, so that you can manage updates, backups, and security from a single dashboard. This way, you're able to focus on design and content rather than technical issues.

Free or Paid - What’s Better?

Money Choice Icon
Honestly, paid services always offer more than free ones. The only question is how many features you need.
For certain small projects, a free website builder would do just fine. But, bear in mind that with a free plan you probably won’t be able to connect your domain.
On the other hand, some premium services allow you to attach as many domains as you’d like. And most of these premium plans aren’t as expensive as you may think.

Customizability Options

Customize Icon
Although customizability always comes handy, it’s not something that should necessarily guide your decision. In fact, in many cases you probably won’t need it. But, if you do, then by all means choose a builder that allows for it.
In general, if you have to decide whether you need your site to be fast or customizable, your first choice should be speed, because that’s the thing that will make all the difference in your conversions and revenue.

Control

Control Icon
In most cases, if a website builder allows more customization, you’ll also have much more control over it. That being said, it usually means that such a website builder will be much less user-friendly, and will have a higher learning curve.
Therefore, you need to be aware what features you’re going to use, because all that level of control won’t do you any good if you’re not going to make the most of it. In fact, it might just complicate things.
And after all, you don’t want to spend more money than you absolutely need to for features you’re never, or rarely, going to use.

Coding Skills

Coding Icon
The great thing about many free website builders is that they require no, or almost no, coding knowledge. You just need to set it up, and get going.
Naturally, knowing some HTML and CSS could never hurt, it could only enhance your user experience. If you have some prior knowledge, you might want to look into getting a builder that allows some HTML customization, so you can play around a bit.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO Icon
We all know that a website is no good without proper SEO. If you don’t pay attention to optimization you won’t be able to attract new visitors, or clients if you’re running a business.
So, you should look for a website builder that allows some SEO tweaking, like playing around with keywords, meta tags and descriptions, alt tags and much more. Remember, SEO is not something to neglect!

Comparing the Top 14 Canadian Website Building Platforms

Let's have a quick look at some of the best website builders in Canada before diving into the details of each:

Website Builder

Why this one?

Hostinger

Best for simplicity

Wix

Best for beginner website builders

Pixpa

Best for photographers and creators

Shopify

Best for drop-shipping businesses

Squarespace

Best for small businesses

Site123

Best for getting online quickly

HubSpot

Best for creating a website for free

SiteGround

Best for already-existing SiteGround customers

WebSelf

Best for affordability

BoldGrid

Best value for money

Weebly

Best for startups and online stores

Jimdo

Best for freelancer portfolios and landing pages

Yola

Best for code-free customizations

Web.com

Best for versatility

The Top 14 Canadian Website Building Platforms

Our review process is simple:

☑️ Narrow down the options to 16 of the most popular website builders
☑️ Open an account with each site builder and actually build a website to see how well it works
☑️ Testing each site’s loading speed

Then, comparing these features and strengths with the price of the website builder, we were able to compile a list of website builders that should suit anyone looking to get started.

Here’s what we found.

1. Hostinger - Best for Simplicity


Pricing:

  • Premium website builder Plan: $2.99/month
  • Business website builder Plan: $3.99/month
  • Cloud start-up Plan: $7.99/month

PROS

  • Free domain and email (2 mail boxes per site for 1 year)
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Intuitive drag-and-drop interface
  • Reliable uptime
  • Powerful AI tools
  • Built-in logo creator
  • Free SSL certificate
  • Unlimited storage and bandwidth

CONS

  • No free plan available
  • Limited photo editing features

Hostinger is an affordable website builder with over 150 fully customizable templates and several AI tools, including an AI image generator, AI writer, AI blog generator, AI heat maps, and AI SEO tools. This way, you can experiment with element placement, colour variations, and font choices effortlessly, with no coding or design expertise required.

2. Wix - Best for Beginner Website Builders


Pricing:

  • Light Plan: $17/month
  • Core Plan: $29/month
  • Business Plan: $36/month
  • Business Elite Plan: $159/month

PROS

  • Custom domain
  • 24/7 customer service
  • Over 2000 templates
  • 24/7 customer service
  • Smart drag-and-drop tool
  • Free domain for one year
  • Personalized SEO tools
  • Ecommerce support for small businesses

CONS

  • Only 14-day money-back guarantee
  • Unlimited storage only in the most expensive plan
  • More expensive than other competitors

What we love most about Wix is its range of tools and capabilities for users to build whatever they envision. Among these is the intuitive drag-and-drop interface for faster content deployment and the multi-site management feature, custom integrations, dedicated account support, and much more. Plus, they have an absolutely massive number of templates to choose from. Seriously.

Take a look at our Wix comparisons:

3. Pixpa - Best for Photographers and Creators


Pricing:

  • Basic Plan: $3.60/month
  • Creator Plan: $6.75/month
  • Professional Plan: $9/month
  • Advanced Plan: $11.25/month

PROS

  • 24/7 expert support
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Free SSL certificate
  • Integrated SEO tools
  • Specialized tools for artists and photographers
  • Password protection
  • Integrated ecommerce

CONS

  • Cannot publish during trial period
  • Only 200 templates
  • Basic plan has limitations with images and website pages

Since its launch in 2013, Pixpa has been offering some pretty affordable pricing plans, with a 15-day free trial, no credit card required, and features for creatives to boost their web footprint. There are 200 website templates to choose from and numerous built-in apps and integrations.

Read our full Pixpa review to learn more.

4. Shopify - Best Online Store Builder


Pricing:

  • Basic Plan: $24/month
  • Grow Plan: $79/month
  • Advanced Plan: $299/month
  • Plus Plan: Starting at $2,300/month

PROS

  • In-depth analytics
  • AI tools
  • 8,000+ apps
  • 24/7 chat support
  • Localized global selling
  • POS Lite
  • Marketing and SEO tools
  • Upgrade or downgrade anytime
  • Web hosting is included

CONS

  • Few free templates
  • Expensive plans
  • Short trial period

Shopify is one of the best ecommerce website builders thanks to its superior sales features like multichannel integration and a customizable checkout to boost your online store. Plus, you're free to pick from over 13,000 integrated apps and enjoy a 3-day free trial, no credit card required, regardless of the plan you go for.

Read our full Shopify Review.

5. Squarespace - Best for small businesses


Pricing:

  • Basic Plan: $16/month
  • Core Plan: $23/month
  • Plus Plan: $39/month
  • Advanced Plan: $99/month

PROS

  • 14-day trial
  • Fully integrated ecommerce with business plans
  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • AI guidance
  • 184+ templates
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • SSL security
  • Free custom domain
  • SEO features
  • 24/7 customer support

CONS

  • Not as many templates as some providers
  • Expensive plans
  • Short trial period

Squarespace is good for most website needs. But, if we had to link it to a specific group of people, we’d say creatives who want a design-centric site and beginners who will appreciate its intuitive drag-and-drop editor would benefit from it the most.

The only thing about it is that it lacks a free plan; however, you can try it out using its 14-day trial period.

6. Site123 - Best for getting online quickly


Pricing:

  • Free Plan: $0/month
  • Premium Plan: $12.80/month

PROS

  • Free-plan option
  • User-friendly
  • 24/7 customer support
  • Supports multiple currencies and languages
  • Mobile friendly
  • SEO tools
  • No credit card required for free plan
  • All plans come with their own cloud hosting

CONS

  • Only 14-day money-back guarantee
  • Limited customization options
  • Few templates available
  • Free plan has very limited storage

Site123 is one of the few website builders offering a free plan, and it comes with 250MB of storage and bandwidth. Should you decide to upgrade, you'll be able to benefit from a free domain for your first year and 3GB storage and bandwidth, among many other features.

7. HubSpot - Best for creating a website for free


Pricing:

  • Free Plan: $0/month
  • Content Hub Starter Plan: $15/month
  • Starter Customer Platform Plan: $15/month
  • Content Hub Professional Plan: $450/month

PROS

  • Excellent marketing tools
  • Strong security ex: SSL certificates
  • Custom domain support
  • Free plan
  • Seamless HubSpot CRM integration
  • Free plan has up to 30 total website pages
  • 24/7 customer support

CONS

  • Free plan includes HubSpot branding
  • Slight learning curve for advanced tools
  • Poor customer support for free plans

Use HubSpot’s free drag-and-drop builder to design and customize your business website using any of the customizable, professionally crafted themes. Also, make sure to take advantage of the pre-designed page templates, personalized modules, style settings, and more to get your new website up and running before you know it. Besides all of this, the well-respected HubSpot name makes it one of our favorite free website builders on this list.

8. SiteGround - Best for Website Building Paired with Web Hosting


Pricing:

  • StartUp Plan: $2.99/month
  • GrowBig Plan: $4.99/month
  • Free Plan: $0/month

PROS

  • The website builder comes free with all of their hosting plans
  • You can use your own domain name
  • Built-in SEO tools
  • No page limit
  • Access to a library of 6 million professional images (free to use with all plans)
  • Web building and hosting solutions in one place

CONS

  • Renewal pricing is significantly more expensive
  • No free plans
  • Priority support only for high paying tiers, so lower plans have mixed customer support experiences

SiteGround has a lot to offer in terms of pairing your web hosting and website building needs. You get a lot with the entire package, including a massive library of high quality images to make your site really gorgeous. They also have enhanced security features, professional templates, AI tools, pretty much everything you need to build the site you want. Just be aware that some users find their customer support a bit lackluster.

9. WebSelf - Best for affordability


Pricing:

  • Starter Plan: $4.50/month
  • Growth Plan: $7.50/month
  • Advanced Plan: $14/month
  • VIP Plan: $37/month

PROS

  • Customizable backgrounds
  • User-friendly
  • All plans include web hosting
  • Free plan available
  • Image library
  • Built-in SEO tools
  • Try free for 30 days
  • 14 day money back guarantee

CONS

  • Starter plan does not come with email addresses
  • Starter plan still has WebSelf branding
  • Starter plan does not come with customer support

WebSelf lets you create a website affordably without worrying about high design and development costs. For a price, they also offer a customized website design for you, working with your specific goals and ideas. However, it is expensive and has limitations. Speaking of limitations, the Starter plan is woefully devoid of basic features, such as customer support and branding removal. If you decide to take advantage of WebSelf, we recommend at least going with the Growth Plan, so that your must-have needs are met.

BoldGrid - Best value for money


Pricing:

  • WordPress Page Builder Plan: $2.50/month
  • WordPress Website Builder Plan: $5/month
  • WordPress Creator Bundle Plan: $8.25/month

PROS

  • User-friendly drag and drop editor
  • Expansive design tools
  • Video guides and tutorials
  • Responsive design
  • Fair pricing
  • You can try it for free

CONS

  • Limited widget types
  • Some pre-made blocks look outdated
  • Doesn’t provide domains
  • Doesn’t offer web hosting

BoldGrid is a straightforward page builder with a visual editor for pages and posts. It's mostly known by freelancers for its WordPress themes and plugins like Total UpKeep and W3 Total Cache, and while it doesn't have features like a WooCommerce builder or mega menu, it does cover the basics.

11. Weebly - Best for start-ups and online stores


Pricing:

  • Free Plan: $0/month
  • Personal Plan: $10/month
  • Professional Plan: $12/month
  • Performance Plan: $26/month

PROS

  • Simple to use
  • Available ecommerce options
  • Budget-friendly plans
  • Access to numerous apps
  • Free plan has great features, such as shopping cart and SEO tools
  • Hundreds of stylish, free themes
  • Unlimited storage and bandwidth
  • Free SSL security
  • Chat and email support for all plans, even the free ones

CONS

  • Phone support only available for the Professional and Performance plans
  • Limited customization options
  • Weak social media integrations

Weebly’s wallet-friendly plans make it super easy to create a website without overspending. In fact, the platform, now part of Square, was created with the goal of giving everyone the necessary tools to grow their business from an idea to a fully launched and expanding venture. Remarkably, their tools streamline marketing, analytics, shipping, taxes, and inventory management for online stores.

12. Jimdo - Best for freelancer portfolios and landing pages


Pricing:

  • Free Plan (Website): $0/month
  • Start Plan (Website): $11/month
  • Grow Plan (Website): $17/month
  • Business (Online Store): $21/month
  • VIP (Online Store): $28/month

PROS

  • Mobile optimized
  • User-friendly
  • No fees on sales; thus you keep 100% of your revenue
  • Free plan available
  • You can effortlessly change templates without losing any content

CONS

  • Limited customization options
  • A few SEO restrictions
  • Slow support
  • The selection of available templates is quite limited.

Jimdo makes building a website super easy and affordable—you can start with a free plan and potentially move to the paid options, which begin at $11 a month. You get to pick from mobile-friendly templates, add multimedia content, and benefit from features like a dedicated mobile editor with no commission on sales.

However, while it's excellent for straightforward sites like portfolios, landing pages, or small online stores, it misses out on advanced features and customization options.

13. Yola - Best for code-free customizations


Pricing:

  • Free: $0/month
  • Bronze: $6.95/month
  • Silver: $16.95/month
  • Gold: $30.95/month

PROS

  • User-friendly interface
  • Diverse templates
  • Intuitive design tools
  • Convenient domain registration
  • Extensive customization
  • Tutorials and webinars
  • Responsive layout
  • Mobile-friendly design
  • Millions of stock images, even for the free plan

CONS

  • Lacks advanced options
  • Challenging for unique layouts due to its design limitations
  • Higher pricing than competitors for the paid plans
  • Very basic ecommerce features
  • Limited SEO tools

Yola is a user-friendly website builder aimed at small businesses needing a code-free way to create professional sites. It offers reliable hosting with 99.9% uptime, a library of professional templates, and helps you get listed on major search engines like Google and Bing.

Plus, the drag-and-drop interface allows anyone to quickly build a website while adding elements like photos, videos, maps, and forms. In terms of their free plan, there are some generous features, such as access to SEO and marketing tools, automatic image optimization, and AI design tools.

14. Web.com - Best for versatility


Pricing:

  • Website: $4.99/month
  • Website + Marketing: $7.99/month
  • Ecommerce: $9.99/month

PROS

  • Affordable prices
  • Industry-specific templates
  • Support available via email, phone, and 24/7 live chat
  • Easy-to-use
  • Plenty of AI tools
  • Free domain and domain privacy for the first year
  • SSL certificate included
  • Free 1 hour expert design support with all plans

CONS

  • No free plan
  • Limited customization
  • Lacks advanced features
  • Renewal pricing is significantly higher

Web.com ranks highly among the best website builders for small businesses. Sure, it misses some advanced features and lacks a free plan, but the three options available are still versatile enough to help you quickly reach your goals. It's USP?

Being a one-stop shop—you'll find everything from expert design services to search engine optimization and an AI domain generator. For those with a bigger budget, they also offer customized website designs and copy from their expert designers.

A Quick Breakdown of the Top Website Builders in Canada


Website BuilderRating (out of 5)Lowest PriceFree TrialKey Features
Hostinger4.5$2.99 Per monthYesAI tools, drag-and-drop, free SSL, unlimited storage, uptime
Wix4.7$17.00 Per monthYes2,000+ templates, custom domain, SEO tools, ecommerce support
Pixpa4.2$3.60 Per monthYes200 templates, 100+ apps, SSL, SEO tools, ecommerce
Shopify4.6$29.00 Per monthYes8,000+ apps, analytics, AI tools, POS, global selling
Squarespace4.4$16 Per monthYes184+ templates, SEO, ecommerce, unlimited bandwidth, custom domain
Site1234.0FreeYesFree plan, SEO, mobile-friendly, multi-language support
HubSpot4.3FreeYesMarketing tools, SSL, CRM integration, 1,500+ apps
SiteGround4.1$2.99 Per monthNoHosting, uptime, drag-and-drop, mobile themes, ecommerce
WebSelf4.0$4.50 Per monthYesSEO tools, image library, ecommerce
BoldGrid4.2$2.50 Per monthYesDrag-and-drop, design tools, video guides, responsive design
Weebly4.1FreeYesEcommerce, numerous apps, themes, SSL, chat/email support
Jimdo4.0FreeYesMobile optimized, no fees on sales, SEO, templates, free plan
Yola3.9FreeYesDrag-and-drop, templates, domain registration, responsive design
Web.com4.3$4.99 Per monthYesTemplates, AI tools, domain privacy, SSL, 24/7 support

How to Choose the Best Website Builder for You


All of the top website builders we've listed have something special to offer. Picking one comes down to what features you need most. Here are seven tips to help you out:

  • User-friendly – Choose platforms that immediately feel easy to use. Features such as drag-and-drop tools can really make your life easier.
  • Cost and value – Think about your budget and weigh the costs of different plans. But don't look just at the numbers; consider what you're getting for your money, like custom domains and storage. Aim for the best value, not just the lowest price.
  • Design options – Check that the templates available match the style of your brand.
  • Support availability – Choose website builders that have support—live chat, phone, and email—ready for whenever you might need it. Remember, many free or low-cost tiers don’t include this support.
  • Necessary features – Make sure you know what specific features your site needs. Are ecommerce functions important? SEO tools? Or are you after easy marketing integrations and mobile optimization?
  • Growth potential – Pick a builder that can grow with your business. It should offer advanced features and higher-tier plans for the future, so you won't have to switch platforms later.
  • Trial and refund policies – Make the most of free trials and money-back guarantees. They let you try out platforms and see if they fit your needs without any financial risk.

Frequently Asked Questions