So you’ve reached the point that it’s time to build or revamp your website. Designing the most valuable website can come with a few challenges and overwhelming moments. We’re here to help limit the stress starting by helping you choose the best website builder.

When it comes to creating your website, you have many options. From Wix to Squarespace, GoDaddy Builder to Weebly, Shopify to Magento, and more! Each software, hosting site, and website builder come with a list of pros and cons, so you must consider what is most important to you when creating and managing your website.

Our top pick is WordPress because it’s flexible, user-friendly, mobile responsive, secure, affordable, and highly customizable. Yes, other sites offer their own benefits, which we’ll get into down below. Still, if you’re looking for an easy-to-use CMS, a great product, excellent features, control, and freedom, then WordPress is the clear winner.

Here are the topics that we’ll discuss to bring you one step closer to your best website:

 

In this article, you’ll learn why WordPress reigns supreme for creating some of the best websites around, as well as see a head-to-head comparison between WordPress and other website creation services. Before we get into that, let’s cover some industry terminology.

 

Website builder
Source: Unsplash

What is a website hosting service?

Web hosting can be compared to buying a piece of property to build your home. Instead of buying land to begin building your dream home, you’re buying a place (server) on the internet that will house and support you in building your dream website. Hosting your website precedes the website development process. You can’t build a house without land, just like you can’t build a website without a host!

So, for example, the BragDeal server will host your site, register your domain, and support software and plugins to enable the construction of your site right then and there. Many website builders will also offer hosting services. Once you have your online real estate, you can begin the process of building your website yourself or hire a professional web design agency!

What is a website builder?

In the simplest terms, a website builder is the tools and software required to build a website. Most builders are provided by your hosting company or web design team. The website builders (and content management systems) we’ll discuss further down include WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Drupal, GoDaddy Builder, Weebly, Magneto, Joomla, and Webflow. Some features you might want to consider before choosing the best website builder for you are:

  • Blogging tools
  • Photo Gallery
  • E-commerce store capabilities
  • Creation of contact and other forms
  • Social media integration features
  • Use of templates
  • Ability to customize
  • Ability to grow and expand the website and content
  • Security and customer service access
  • Plugins, add-ons, extensions, modules, etc
  • Ease of use
  • Tech experience required
  • Price and overall cost

 

Different website builders focus on different features, and you may be swayed in one direction or another based on their features. Regardless of what you use to create your website, we recommend using one that is scalable and supports the growth and expansion of your business! It’s difficult to predict where your business will go. Having a website that supports these changes can help expedite expansion and minimize stress in the future.

Changing and adapting your business model can be challenging. If you can take one thing off your plate, such as redesigning your website, your future self with thank you! For this reason (and many others) we strongly recommend WordPress, but in this case, we recommend it because it’s so flexible and adaptable. Didn’t anticipate needing an online store? No problem, you can easily build one with WordPress using the WooCommerce plugin (free plugin, we might add)! Want to start writing a blog? Great, WordPress supports that too. In fact, there’s virtually nothing you can’t do and can’t customize with WordPress.

 

How to build a website
Source: Unsplash

Is a website builder the same as a CMS?

CMS or content management system is software that allows you to create and modify digital content, such as the text and images on your website. You can think of a CMS as one of the most important tools for building a highly unique and custom website. Using a CMS can be extremely helpful if you are building a large website, anticipate future changes or growth, or want the flexibility to change and modify your content as you please. A website builder will get the job done, but it might not allow you the flexibility you need to build a one-of-a-kind website.

With a CMS, you can manage and modify your content as much as you want because they are very flexible. The main difference is that a CMS is a software that can be used on other servers, such as BragDeal, Bluehost, WordPress.com, or other hosting servers. A website builder provides software and tools that can only be applied to their specific platform. For example, Wix’s website-building tools can only be used with Wix. Essentially, a website builder is more limited in where and how you can use it and what it can do.

Compared to a CMS, a website builder is often easier to use because it doesn’t require coding experience, and the interface offers mostly drag-and-drop features. However, these easy-to-use features, although helpful for the novice web designer, require a lot of extra functionality to be loaded onto your site, ultimately slowing it down. A CMS, such as WordPress, allows you to customize your website more efficiently because it only loads features you use, which results in a more speedy and functional final project.

Some notable content management systems include WordPress, Drupal, Magento, Joomla, and Webflow (although Webflow is more of a hybrid, it’s a website builder with a built-in CMS). Website builders include Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, GoDaddy Builder, and Shopify. Although website builders are often easier to use initially and don’t require little to no security or maintenance work, they simply have fewer capabilities than a CMS. If you’re looking to create a small personal blog or a landing page for your website, then a website builder may suffice. However, if you are building your website to generate income, take your business to the next level, create an awesome online store, and want to give your users the best user experience, then opt for a CMS.

 

Why does WordPress create the best websites?

Best CMS
Source: Unsplash

 

Although you already know that WordPress is our top pick when it comes to building the best websites, let us tell you why:

WordPress Software is free to use

We might as well start with one of the most practical and important features of WordPress- its software is free to use and you have the freedom to modify it and build upon it without incurring extra fees or charges. That’s not to say signing up and using WordPress won’t cost you anything. You will need to pay for web hosting and a domain name, and perhaps some more premium features as your site comes together. Additionally, WordPress gives you the freedom to use many plugins and widgets at no additional cost, allowing you to create an extremely unique and custom website.

WordPress Software is easy to use

Best online editor
Source: WP Bakery

 

One complaint we’ve heard over the years is that WordPress can be difficult to use for novice web users. Although there is definitely a learning curve, WordPress is considered much easier to use than other content management systems, especially considering you don’t need to have coding knowledge to excel with it.

If you’re worried about navigating WordPress, we recommend consulting with a top Vancouver web design agency, which will have a team of experts ready to help you build your dream site from the ground up. Otherwise, WordPress’s dashboard makes managing and editing content quick and easy. It’s set up where you can view all your posts, adjust SEO and other features as you go, revisit previous versions, and more. It also offers a visual and text view to make adjusting and editing content easy, whether you have coding experience or not.  One of our favorite plugins is WP Bakery, which allows you to quickly edit your content while seeing what it will look like at the frontend, in real time on a variety of devices such as tablets or cellphones.

WordPress allows so many themes, plugins, and widgets

Ok, let’s do a quick overview of these terms. A theme is a pre-set template designed by WordPress that includes features such as colour scheme, layout, design elements, and other style features. A plugin is a piece of software that improves the functionality of your site and allows for the customization of themes and other website features. A widget is a type of plugin that allows interaction and is visually displayed on your page. A common example of a widget is a “share” button, which allows you to easily share content between sites or social media. Plugins offer nearly endless possibilities for extending the functionality of your WordPress website. You can customize themes, create a multilingual website, book appointments online, improve the sales and marketing on your site, improve SEO, enhance security, and more!

You can, of course, get many awesome themes, plugins, and widgets from WordPress. You can also get them from other online shops and marketplaces, such as ThemeForest, Elegant Themes Divi, or CodeCanyon. With that being said, the abundance of themes and plugins available for WordPress can be overwhelming. It can easily get confusing to know where to go and what to choose. Working alongside a professional web design company can help alleviate the stress of sifting through thousands of options because they’ll already have a list of their favourites and know what works best for your needs.

The best websites are SEO friendly

Custom Website
Source: Unsplash

 

For a quick refresher, SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of allowing your online content to be easily found when searched online. For example, if you plug a keyword phrase, such as “best web design agency Vancouver” into a search engine like Google, if your website has high SEO, you will be ranked higher than your competitors and, therefore more visible and easy to find. This makes a huge difference when web users are doing generic searches, allowing your website to be found more organically, as opposed to users having to search specifically for you. Although simply using WordPress will give you a leg up on the competition, it also allows you to boost your SEO with features built into the platform, such as alt text, tags, keywords, keyword density counter, headings, word counter, and other SEO analysis features. Additionally, for more advanced SEO tools, you can install plugins like SEOPress, or hire an SEO expert who knows what plugins to use and how to use them effectively.

SEO professionals have crunched the numbers, and websites that use WordPress get way more hits, with one study finding that 46% of WordPress sites receive organic traffic, compared to only 1.4% of Wix sites. One of our clients at BragDeal recently shared his website-building journey with us saying that he started his side hustle business using Wix, but as his online CPA firm grew, SEO became all the more critical. Wix was no longer able to fully support his needs, so making the switch to WordPress was a no-brainer.

“I believe WordPress has the functionalities to allow me to have more control over certain areas that can have a direct impact on SEO and rankings.”

 

– Tony Piao, Owner of Borderless Wealth

As one of the top web design agencies in Vancouver, we see this experience all the time. Many clients come to us after having initially set their websites up with a website builder, such as Wix or Squarespace, because they need to grow beyond the scope of their more simple websites. While these sites and builders definitely have their benefits, one of the major downfalls is they don’t offer the advanced features required to expand your business or enhance marketing and SEO.

WordPress has user registration

WordPress has an awesome tool that allows users to register to join your site to gain premium features. Perhaps registering with your site allows users to check out as a member, where their info will be saved for a more streamlined checkout in the future or grant them the ability to track their purchase. Other registration features may allow registered users to comment on your content or gain exclusive access to certain website features.

You can safely add contributors and coworkers

User registration online
Source: Unsplash

 

Another great feature offered by WordPress is the ability to assign contributors to your account. This allows other web users or coworkers access to your site, with varying degrees of access. For example, if you hire a content writer to create all your blogs, you can grant them access to upload the content to the backend of your account but not post content live themselves. This is an excellent way to ensure checks and balances, protecting your website while allowing appropriate access to ensure the most efficient and collaborative work. Some other user roles that WordPress offers include administrator, editor, author, follower, and subscriber.

Additionally, WordPress allows you to mark certain users as contractors, freelancers, consultants, or agencies to help you keep track of who has access to your site and who they are. Administrators have the most access and permissions and can easily change the roles of other contributors. If you plan on having a website that requires multiple team members to work collaboratively on your content, WordPress is the right choice.

Social and multi-media friendly

WordPress is compatible with a variety of media such as text, images, audio, and video files, making it the best choice if you intend to use a multi-media approach to your web design. The best web content is usually composed of a variety of different media, which gives users the option to either listen to a video demo, read a description, or browse pictures. We all digest content differently, and by diversifying your content, you appeal to more people. Additionally, WordPress allows you to quickly and easily share and highlight your social media! Through plugins and widgets, you can add social media icons to your page or even set up auto-scheduling to multiple social media sites and post directly from WordPress. Yes, you read that correctly! You can post to social media through WordPress (using plugins), an excellent feature if you find managing multiple sites and social media platforms difficult.

WordPress is secure

WordPress security
Source: Unsplash

 

One of the most important features of any website is security and privacy. WordPress is committed to keeping your data private and secure. Additionally, the software is constantly being monitored and updated to ensure safety and security for all users. Most servers that host WordPress will also provide an SSL certificate, or secure sockets layer, which is the global standard for online security that adds a necessary layer of protection to you and all those who interact with your website. Websites with an SSL rank higher on Google’s algorithm and other search engines, which increases your SEO! Additionally, WordPress has a powerful spam filter that keeps your site free of junk and potentially harmful content.

Good customer service

Did you know more than 40% of the world’s top 10 million websites use WordPress? It’s the top content management system in use today. One of the many benefits of having such widespread usage is the demand for support that comes with it. You can’t become the world’s top website-building software and platform without having an excellent team behind you, and WordPress certainly does. WordPress.com offers a toll-free support line (1-877 273-3049), unlimited email support with any for-pay plans, and quick-start support sessions that allow you to talk one-on-one with a WordPress support team member.

Great network and community

Best Web Platform
Source: Unsplash

 

Unfortunately, the WordPress support team will have some limitations to what they can help with, such as third-party plugins and applications, content creation, and editing code other than HTLM and CSS. Luckily, the great WordPress community is so expansive that there is virtually no question that can’t be answered, no snag that can’t be unsnagged. One of the many benefits to WordPress software being open-source is that you can use it, change it, and distribute it; and tech-savvy users and code-experts are constantly doing this! Perhaps you hire a professional or read a forum to teach yourself. Either way, there are endless resources to turn to when you need a little extra help.

Now that we’ve made a clear case for why WordPress is our top pick, you may be wondering how it fares in comparison to the competitors. Below is our head-to-head analysis with Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Drupal, GoDaddy Builder, Weebly, Magento, and Joomla. We’ll compare e-commerce capabilities, plugins and apps, blogging, overall usability, and more!

So, without further ado, let’s start comparing.

 

WordPress vs. Wix – Which one is better?

Best web design
Source: Unsplash

 

Wix is an Israeli software company that provides cloud-based development to its millions of users worldwide. Wix prides itself on making web design and mobile sites easy to use with its online drag-and-drop tools. Wix offers hosting and provides various plans ranging from $5 USD to $35 USD per month for their personal plans and $20 to $35 per month for their business plans. There’s even a free version available if you don’t require a custom domain and don’t mind advertisements. Each plan offers a range of storage space, from 500MB to 50GB, 24/7 customer support, and a free SSL certification.

Wix e-Commerce capabilities

Wix supports online store creation with its three business plan options, but you can set up a shop gallery with any plan. However, to receive payments through your website, you will need a premium plan. You can edit your online store within Wix’s capacity and use the many apps available to customize your shop.

WordPress, on the other hand, does not come with e-commerce features built-in. Instead, it relies on plugins, such as WooCommerce. WooCommerce is an excellent e-commerce service that creates some of the best online stores, allowing enhanced customer engagement, tracking features, delivery status updates, and inventory management. When compared here, Wix is far less flexible, has fewer features, and provides no inventory stocking alerts.

Wix plugins and apps

Wix has over 200 free and paid apps you can add to your site to increase its functionality and make it fit your needs. In comparison, WordPress offers more than 50,000 plugins, many free to use without having to upgrade your plan with your host, with advanced plugin support.

web design editor
Source: Wix

Wix blogging

Adding a blog to your site is quick and easy, and Wix provides all the basic features for blogging in a user-friendly interface. You can add pictures and videos, change the formatting, save in drafts, and schedule to publish later. WordPress also offers many user-friendly blogging functions with advanced benefits and features that are so flexible you can customize nearly anything, including your blog!

Wix overall usability

Wix uses a simple drag-and-drop interface that requires no coding experience and gives users clean and simple websites quickly. Wix sites made with premium plans are also mobile responsive and give you the option to edit in mobile view. One of Wix’s best features is that it is easy to use, however, it does not allow you to switch templates once you’ve committed to one. While WordPress has a steeper learning curve, it offers so much in terms of capabilities and flexibility. Essentially, it offers everything Wix does and much more!

Wix Vs. WordPress final verdict

Wix does build beautiful websites. If you have a small business, a personal blog, or need a landing page, having a simple interface may suit your needs. However, in terms of services provided, capabilities, flexibility, plugins, blogging features, and e-commerce features, WordPress takes the win.

 

WordPress vs. Squarespace – Which one creates the best websites?

Web design Vancouver
Source: Unsplash

 

Squarespace is an American website building and hosting company that provides software as a service (SaaS) for website building and hosting. Squarespace uses pre-set templates, web design layouts, and others drag-and-drop elements to create a more custom website that suits your needs. Squarespace is a one-stop shop for hosting and building a website, but it is not a CMS. Therefore, it is not as flexible or customizable as WordPress. Plans start at $12 USD per month and go up to $40, with a free 14-day trial. Squarespace offers unlimited bandwidth and storage, as well as 24/7 customer support and a free SSL certification.

Squarespace e-commerce capabilities

Squarespace supports fully integrated e-commerce stores in 3 of its 4 plans. Their business plan has a 3% transaction fee, and their two e-commerce plans do not. For not being known as an e-commerce site builder, Squarespace has excellent online store design features and great inventory and analytical tools. Still, stores are not very flexible and customizable, unlike WooCommerce used by WordPress. Additionally, Squarespace’s e-commerce tools take some time to learn and master.

Squarespace plugins and apps

Squarespace’s version of a plugin or app is called an extension, and they are offered by third parties to help you optimize and expand your website. Squarespace.com offers a catalogue of places to get both free and for-pay extensions. As we mentioned above, WordPress has tens of thousands of plugins for use- a catalogue that’s unmatched.

Squarespace web design
Source: Squarespace

Squarespace blogging

Squarespace is a great platform for blogging and offers all the basic features to create an awesome blog, including headers, pictures, alt text, drafting and publishing options, and the ability to turn off comments. That being said, WordPress originated as a blogging platform and has all the best features for customizing blogs, creating high SEO content, and making it all very easy in the process.

Squarespace overall usability

Although not as user-friendly as Wix, Squarespace is considered easy to use once you spend a little time getting the hang of it. It offers a visual editor and allows you to drag and drop elements as you please. It has excellent templates and design features and creates some truly beautiful websites. A significant downfall of usability is that it has no auto-save features, which can be a nightmare if you lose your progress. So, be sure to be diligent with your saving if you use Squarespace!

Squarespace Vs. WordPress final verdict

Squarespace is great for those who are not tech-savvy and are looking for a basic website with a nice visual design and layout. However, if you are looking for a one-of-a-kind website, custom web design with limitless capabilities, the option to grow, and the flexibility to change and modify as you go, WordPress offers many more options than Squarespace.

 

 

WordPress vs. Shopify – Which one builds the best e-commerce store?

Best e-commerce
Source: Unsplash

 

Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce company that acts as a platform for online stores. It allows users to quickly and easily set up online stores for the sale of both digital and physical goods, using many of their many templates. While Shopify does allow for modifying and customizing, it uses custom code which requires professional skills.  Plans start at $ 9 USD per month for Shopify Lite and go up from there to $29, $79, $299, and then to $2000 (and above) per month for Shopify Plus. A free 14-day trial is offered, with no credit card required and Shopify offers unlimited bandwidth and storage, 24/7 customer support, and a free SSL certification with the purchase of any plan. Although Shopify is designed with e-commerce in mind, you can also set up a website with them, regardless of whether you have an online store or not.

Shopify e-commerce capabilities

Shopify is designed for e-commerce and is regarded by some users as setting up some of the best online stores. You can host your site, create a domain, and build your website and online store all with Shopify. Shopify offers 70+ professional themes, built-in mobile commerce capabilities, options to customize your store, great store management features, marketing and SEO, advanced inventory features, and more!

Although Shopify offers everything you need to succeed online, it is a newer platform. Compared to WordPress, which has a much more significant history of success, Shopify has fewer capabilities due to its age.

Shopify plugins and apps

The Shopify app store offers a wide variety of free plugins to further customize your online store and website.

But again, Shopify is built on a custom code language called Liquid. Unlike more common coding languages such as HTML and PHP, developers need to know liquid. Therefore, you’ll need to not only hire a professional to handle the customizations but you’ll need to find someone with direct experience writing the code. 

Even worse, if you need to change platforms in the future, you’re stuck! With WordPress, you can easily move your website to a new platform. Since you’re locked into using Shopify’s code, you’ll need to design a new site from scratch when you go. This isn’t just a headache for business owners. It’s costly and time-consuming.

Best online store
Source: Shopify

Shopify Design Options

When it comes to design, WordPress is a clear winner regarding options. Although Shopify does offer various store themes that make it easy to create your online store, the WordPress theme universe is limitless in comparison. Not only are there thousands of options compared to Shopify’s hundreds, but most WordPress themes are free or very minimal cost.

Even better, most WordPress themes do not require custom coding knowledge. Your web development team can easily integrate page builders like Elementor and Divi to make future changes and updates simple. WordPress offers much more control over design and allows you to easily add slider, hero, and video elements wherever you would like.

Shopify Payment Options

Obviously, one of the primary benefits of setting up an online store is the ability to sell products and process payments. Like WordPress, Shopify allows you to process payments and offers multiple processing solutions. Although WordPress exceeds Shopify in most other departments, we’ll call this one a tie when it comes to payment processing options. However, Shopify does add a per-transaction fee for any payment solutions outside of their own Shopify Payments option. Therefore, you’ll incur additional fees based on your plan if you use third-party solutions such as PayPal, Stripe, and Square.

Shopify blogging

While Shopify websites come with a built-in blogging engine, it’s quite limited. Blogs are an excellent addition to any online store for both user experience and SEO results. Because Shopify puts e-commerce first, some of its other website features are more limited. So, you won’t get the benefits of this valuable resource with Shopify as you will with WordPress. WordPress supports full integration of an advanced e-commerce store as well as premium blogging features. In this department, there’s no compromise.

Shopify overall usability

Shopify makes setting up an online store very easy. The free WooCommerce plugin is also easy to use and is open-source software, making it extremely flexible. While you don’t have to be tech-savvy to create and manage your store, you’ll need custom code experience to make any significant modifications and customizations.

Shopify Vs. WordPress final verdict

Although Shopify is a great platform for building an online store, WordPress undoubtedly surpasses Shopify in flexibility, usability, and capabilities. Additionally, WordPress easily supports multiple income stream monetization. For brands looking to expand their business beyond product sales, WordPress allows you to capitalize on various income streams including subscriptions, membership access, content marketing, online courses, and more.

One of the other benefits of using WooCommerce (through WordPress) is that the store belongs to you. If Shopify shuts down, so does your store. On the other hand, if you have a server issue with WooCommerce, you can simply take your information and data and move it to another server. Hands down, WordPress is the clear winner for all business sizes and industries when compared to Shopify.

 

 

WordPress vs. Drupal – Which CMS is better?

 

Best CMS
Source: Drupal

 

Similar to WordPress, Drupal is a free, open-source CMS that allows you to self-host, manage, modify, and edit all your content. It’s free to download and use, but you will still need to pay for hosting and a domain. Drupal is considered very secure and has a great community to provide support online, as well as many resources through Drupal.org.

Drupal e-commerce capabilities

Drupal offers Drupal Commerce, which is free open-source software that builds your online store. There are also many modules (Drupal’s version of a plugin) available to further expand your e-commerce shop, as well as many third-party extensions. In addition to WooCommerce, WordPress has thousands of other plugins to further create, modify, and customize your online store.

Drupal plugins and apps

Drupal has thousands of modules and hundreds of themes available for use. It also has many third-party modules available that integrate seamlessly with its software. Unfortunately, as with every other website builder and software on this list, WordPress takes the cake when it comes to the plugins and themes available. There is simply no comparison.

WordPress code
Source: Unsplash

Drupal blogging

Drupal and WordPress both offer very advanced and flexible blogging capabilities.

Drupal overall usability

One of the biggest downsides to using Drupal is its steep learning curve. Although it is incredibly flexible, customizable, and secure, you will likely need to hire a professional developer to use the software. If you are tech-savvy or planned to hire out anyway, this may not be a downfall to you. Still, if you want to be involved in the development and creation of your website, coding and tech experience are a necessity.

Drupal Vs. WordPress final verdict

As far as CMSs go, WordPress is just much easier to use than Drupal. Although Drupal is considered very secure and is just as flexible and customizable as WordPress, it has a difficult-to-use interface, a steep learning curve, and fewer resources, such as community support and available modules/plugins.

 

WordPress vs. GoDaddy Builder – Which one’s better?

Website Hosting
Source: Unsplash

 

GoDaddy Builder is an American internet company that offers an entire suite of services to help you build your website from the ground up. It has domain names, hosting, and building services with many themes and templates to choose from and add-ons to help customize your site. Because GoDaddy is also a hosting site, you can even host WordPress software with them! Plans range from $12.99 CAD per month to $39.99 per month. GoDaddy also offers a free plan, but you will not get a custom domain or have control over advertising on your page. They have a 24/7 support team and a free SSL certification.

GoDaddy Builder e-commerce capabilities

GoDaddy builder offers an e-commerce option at $39.99 per month, which is the only plan that supports building an online store. Unlike WordPress, where you can use WooCommerce with any plan, with GoDaddy you must have an e-commerce plan to build a store.

GoDaddy Builder plugins and apps

GoDaddy is compatible with plugins, but you may need a premium account. GoDaddy has also developed several plugins for WordPress software.

Best hosting platform
Source: GoDaddy Builder

GoDaddy Builder blogging

Although you can certainly post blogs, the software is not really set up for creating blogs or frequent posting. It is definitely not the best blogging platform around compared to WordPress which is designed to have a blog with excellent SEO features, quick editing options, and the ability to go over revisions if necessary.

GoDaddy Builder overall usability

GoDaddy Builder is an easy-to-use platform with a small learning curve, and you can quite easily develop a professional-looking site without hiring a web developer. With that being said, its capabilities are quite limited, especially when compared to a content management system.

GoDaddy Builder Vs. WordPress final verdict

GoDaddy is a great one-stop shop if you want to buy a domain, have hosting, and then build your website. On the other hand, if you want more options, WordPress comes equipped with more tools, features, and functions. WordPress is a better product in its flexibility, blogging capabilities, and e-commerce options. GoDaddy is a good service if you know what you want and will stick to your plan, but it’s not the best option if you want to customize your website or leave room for growth.

 

WordPress vs. Weebly – Which builds the best websites?

e-commerce vancouver
Source: Unsplash

 

Weebly is an American web hosting service that allows you to build and launch your website. In 2018 Weebly was acquired by Square Inc. gaining a lot of its resources, helping them establish themselves as a great e-commerce building site. Their plans start at $ 7 CAD per month and go up to $30. Storage is unlimited with their professional and performance plans, and they offer 24/7 email support and a free SSL certification.

Weebly e-commerce capabilities

Thanks to Square, you can build an e-commerce store with any of Weebly’s plans, including their free one. However, stores are quite simple and not nearly as flexible or advanced as the options available through WordPress plugins.

Weebly plugins and apps

Weebly has hundreds of apps in the Weebly App Center, some free and some premium ones for purchase. However, compared to WordPress, Weebly does not even come close to plugins and customizable features.

Square commerce
Source: Weebly

Weebly blogging

Weebly has many easy-to-use blogging tools, including scheduling features and social media sharing. It is a great option if you have a small business and want to show off your portfolio, connect with your target audience, or have a blog.

Weebly overall usability

Weebly is about a medium on the easy-to-use scale and includes a drag-and-drop interface, custom fonts, image editors, and more. It also offers a helpful SEO guide to help drive traffic to your site. With that being said, its interface is limited, and there’s no Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) feature, which leaves you having to manually create your website.

Weebly Vs. Squarespace final verdict

Both Weebly and WordPress offer good e-commerce options, where Weebly’s will be easier to set up, and WordPress’s will be more advanced. As far as other features go, WordPress offers a much more expansive set of features to create both an amazing website and online store.

  

WordPress vs. Magento – Which CMS is best?

content management system
Source: Unsplash

 

Magento is an American open-source e-commerce platform designed to build e-commerce stores from the ground up. In 2018 Magento was acquired by Adobe and may also be referred to as Adobe Commerce. Magento’s software is free to use, but you will need to pay for hosting. Magento’s plans base the price on your annual Gross Merchandise Value and Average Order Value. Magento e-commerce sites are designed to handle large stores, big inventory, and huge sales!

Magento e-commerce capabilities

No other way to say it, e-commerce is their specialty, and the platform comes with some excellent features built-in. Unlike WordPress, where you need a plugin such as WooCommerce to create the best online store, Magento has it as part of their software from the start. It offers catalogue management, SEO features, advanced advertising and marketing, easy checkout and payment options, analytics and reporting, and more!

Magento plugins and apps

Magento has a variety of extensions and plugins for use that can be found at either the Magento Marketplace or through another extension developer.

Magento blogging

Although blogging is possible with Magento, it’s not set up for this and you will need a plugin. Kind of like how WordPress is set up for blogging and you need a plugin for e-commerce, Magento is the opposite.

E-commerce CMS
Source: Magento

Magento overall usability

Magento is not simple to use, especially in comparison to WordPress. You will likely either need to be tech-savvy yourself or hire out. With that being said, because it’s a CMS, once you know how to work with the software it is very flexible and customizable.

Magento Vs. WordPress final verdict

If your main priority is large-scale e-commerce then Magento may outshine WordPress initially. However, with WooCommerce and the many other plugins available, WordPress can create an amazing online store as well. If you are looking for more intuitive and flexible software to work with and great blogging capabilities, then WordPress is likely a better bet all around.

 

WordPress vs. Joomla – Which is the best CMS?

CMS Vancouver
Source: Joomla

 

 Joomla or “Joom!a” is a free open-source CMS used for publishing, modifying, and making websites. Like all content management systems, one of the glaring pros is its flexibility. Also like all other CMSs, you will need to pay for a domain and hosting. Joomla has been around since 2005. Still, it has not gained the same traction as WordPress, partly because it’s more difficult to use. Nevertheless, Joomla still offers many advanced website-building tools and is very flexible.

Joomla e-commerce capabilities

Although not an e-commerce store specialist, Joomla has many awesome e-commerce plugins and extensions to set up a great online shop. Like WordPress, it requires additional software to set up an online store.

Joomla plugins and apps

Joomla has over 5,000 extensions, further increasing its flexibility in creating a custom website.

Best content management system
Source: Unsplash

Joomla blogging

Joomla’s flexibility and customizability make it a great platform for blogging if you know what you’re doing with its software. WordPress has pages set up for blogging, whereas Joomla has a generic article page that you can modify to your liking.

Joomla overall usability

Not only is Joomla techier and more difficult to use than WordPress, but it also has fewer themes and extensions/plugins. Additionally, Joomla has a smaller community and network, meaning there are fewer resources to turn to when trying to fully customize your site. This can make it more difficult to use, as well as drive the price up with development costs.

Joomla Vs. WordPress final verdict

Comparing CMS to CMS, WordPress is much more user-friendly, has more themes, templates, and plugins, and can do everything Joomla can do and more!

 

WordPress vs. Webflow – Which is the top CMS and site builder?

Top CMS
Source: Unsplash

 

Webflow is an American company that launched in 2013 and has been steadily increasing in popularity ever since. It provides software as a service (SaaS) that allows users to build responsive websites for any screen (mobile, desktop, or tablet). It uses a visual editing software tool that automatically generates code and comes with a CMS built into the platform. This makes the software unique, flexible, and all-encompassing. You can get started with Webflow for free with a free trial or with a Starter plan, and prices increase from there depending on whether you have an Individual plan, Team plan, Site plan, or Ecommerce plan. Costs range from $ 15 USD paid monthly to $235 or more for its Enterprise plans.

Webflow e-commerce capabilities

Webflow supports the creation of an online store, but it’s more limited compared to WordPress/Woocomerce. With that being said, everything you need to create a fully functional store that sells physical or digital products is available to you, including branding, product display, payment, custom checkout, custom shopping cart, and more! You’ll need a plan to set up your store, but Webflow has several e-commerce plans to choose from, starting at $29 USD billed annually. Additionally, they use stripe as a payment service which charges a 2% transaction fee. Transaction fees for WooCommerce will fluctuate depending on hosting and payment gateway.

Webflow apps and plugins

Webflow prides itself on not needing to use plugins because the platform and built-in CMS allow flexibility and customizability within the site. However, you can use plugins and integrations to further customize your site if you wish. WordPress, as you know by now, is the king of plugins and third-party integrations!

WordPress alternative
Source: Webflow

Webflow blogging

Webflow is a great platform for blogging and offers many easy-to-use features to help customize your blog. Its visual editor is especially handy when writing and designing your blog because you can see what it looks like in real-time. Similar to WordPress, it has SEO features built right in, which ensures your content is found more easily.

Webflow overall usability

Webflow is considered easy to use and requires no coding experience. With their dashboard and visual editing software, you can create your design, write your content, and view your layout all with a live preview. What you create on the backend is what appears on the front end. Although the platform comes with many templates and features, those new to the platform may find it a bit confusing at first. Still, those savvy in web design appreciate the many features the software and CMS offer. WordPress and Webflow have a similar learning curve, with WordPress slightly higher in terms of features, capabilities, and design elements.

Webflow Vs. WordPress final verdict

Both are good platforms and similar in terms of ease of use. However, WordPress software is more flexible and offers a wider host of capabilities than Webflow. Support for both communities is quite significant, which is helpful when tackling the learning curve associated with each platform. But because of WordPress’s more widespread use, it also provides more resources for support. Nevertheless, both are great platforms that will get your website built sufficiently and effectively. WordPress simply offers a little more!

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of WordPress

AI website development
BragDeal: Image Generated with AI

Most individuals understand the powerful impact of Artificial Intelligence. AI can be used to lock our phones, access our most sensitive information, and even test how furniture will look in a room before we buy. As businesses continue to focus on and improve their online presence, AI techniques will need to be considered in the future. For many industries, it’s a smart way to accomplish more by doing less, increasing sales and conversions.

Although the concept of AI dates back to 1956, today many applications and websites leverage AI technology to prevent fraud, verify customer data, evaluate potential risks, and more. WordPress uses AI to enhance management processes, automate complex jobs, and tailor website content to meet your viewers’ expectations and boost your search engine results. 

AI-powered plugins make your website faster, better, and more accessible. WordPress is already offering several AI plugins that offer a wide variety of advantages to business owners. Chatbots enhance website interactions, speech recognition improves search capabilities, and personalized ads improve your user experience. AI plugins can even be used to customize marketing campaigns to match consumer behavior. 

Here are some WordPress plugins that help improve your website using AI:

  • SEOPress integrates with OpenAI to generate SEO metadata based on your post content. This can be particularly useful in optimizing larger websites, as it can be used for bulk action with hundreds of pages. 
  • Akismet enhances the security of your website by detecting and blocking spam comments before they are even marked as pending. This tool is useful in securing your website against spam, bots, and other hackers, improving your SEO ranking, and saving you time. 
  • AI Engine allows you to customize a chatbot, even giving it personality characteristics. You can create custom options for translation, correction, discussion, and content awareness. It’s a great way to enhance the user experience. 
  • Bertha AI is a great resource for updating your website. It can suggest long-tail keywords, SEO description tags, and product descriptions. It can also create images based on your description. 

 

Although these examples just touch upon the features of AI-driven plug-ins, it’s clear that this will become a staple feature for future websites. While you don’t want to overdo it with the use of AI (some auto-generated content can be picked up by Google as spam), there are several ways you can incorporate these plugins into your website for improved online success. As AI continues to become a key component of online success, we can expect WordPress to remain a forward-thinking leader in taking advantage of this valuable resource to transform websites across all business industries. 

Conclusion – Which CMS/Web builder creates the best websites?

Web Design Vancouver
Source: Unsplash

WordPress is the runaway winner in terms of plugins, apps, extensions, and modules, showing the true impact of this powerful platform. When comparing options for e-commerce, WordPress allows you to build a functional, captivating store using the WooCommerce plugin. You have all the options you can imagine when building your online store, access to virtually any payment processing solution, and advanced customization with WordPress.

Regarding blogging, what can we say? WordPress was created as a blogging site, and it still reigns supreme today. It’s easy to use, especially for businesses that post content frequently. You can customize each blog to be unique to you and your brand. WordPress offers the most plugins, themes, and other features ensuring that it lands on top in terms of blogging capabilities.

As a CMS, WordPress is the most usable by a landslide. It is the top CMS in the world today because it’s easier to use, more intuitive, and offers more valuable resources than Drupal, Magento, Joomla, and Webflow combined!

 

best website
Source: Unsplash

 

Overall, the platform that builds the best websites is undoubtedly…

 

WORDPRESS!

Look, we’re not trying to come off as biased, it’s just how it is. WordPress is clearly the most valuable asset across all categories and consistently comes out on top in terms of functions, capabilities, the best UX, community support, and just about every other feature. When we look at web design as a whole, WordPress software is unmatched. It has had no significant competition in the past, and we can bet it will continue to be the top choice for years to come as it stays on top of the latest industry trends and practices.

Designing the best website starts with having the best website host, builder, and CMS on your side. It may feel overwhelming at first, trying to maximize features and minimize price without compromising content or the end result. But that’s what we’re here for, and it’s why we’ve done the work for you! To build and design the best website for your business, use WordPress.

If you still need a bit of convincing (or are ready to start building your website today), feel free to reach out to us here at BragDeal.

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