How to compare website builders without taking anyone's word for it
Seven questions, our plain answers, and the cases where another builder is the better pick.
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Short answer
Most website builders are editors: you get a template and a canvas and you do the building. Website Builder Studio is a builder in the literal sense: it writes the site from a conversation and checks every page before it publishes. If you want to place every pixel yourself, an editor fits better. If you want a real business site written and kept in shape, this fits better.
The four questions that separate website builders, and our answers
Most comparisons between website builders come down to feature lists, which tell you almost nothing because everybody has most features. These four questions actually separate them, and we have answered them against ourselves rather than against a competitor.
Who writes the words? On most builders, you do. That is the single biggest reason a site gets to eighty percent and stops. Here the builder writes them from your answers, and you correct rather than compose. If you want to write your own, you can, at no extra charge.
What stops a bad page from publishing? On most builders, nothing. You can publish a page with no title, duplicate content and a broken form, and it will go live looking fine. Here a page that fails a must-pass check does not go live, and the assistant says which check and why.
Where do the leads go? Into a dashboard, usually, which means somebody has to remember to look. Here every submission goes to your inbox, phone, CRM or Slack, and the delivery is verified rather than assumed.
What happens when you leave? Ask any builder this before you start, not after. Ours: once you have paid, published sites stay live for 30 days after you cancel, then may be taken down. Nothing is deleted and resubscribing republishes. Your domain was always yours.
Where we score badly, in our own words
There is no online store checkout, and if you need to take payment for products on the site, this is the wrong tool today. There is no blog, so if content marketing is your plan, that gap matters. English only. Legal pages are yours to provide; the builder does not write them, because generated legal text is a liability rather than a feature.
There is no drag-and-drop canvas either. For somebody who wants to place things by eye, that is a genuine loss and an editor-style builder is the better choice. We would rather say that here than have you find out in week two.
Seven questions to ask any builder
- Who writes the pages, you or the product? And from what: a template, or what you said about your business?
- What checks a page before it goes live, and what happens when a page fails?
- Where do form submissions go? To the tool you already use, or to a dashboard you have to remember to open?
- How are visits counted? With a script and a cookie banner, or on the server?
- What does connecting your own domain take, and who handles the certificate?
- What is the trial really: is a card required, and what happens on the last day?
- Can you leave with your files and your leads?
Our answers, plainly
- The product writes the pages, from a conversation about your business.
- Every page passes a check, many of whose rules follow public standards, including Google Search Essentials; a page that fails a must-pass check does not go live.
- Leads go to HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive, GoHighLevel, Slack, Microsoft Teams, email or any webhook.
- Visits and conversions are counted on the server, with no cookie added to your site.
- One DNS record; the SSL certificate is issued for you.
- 15-day trial with a card; cancel within 15 days of adding your card and you pay nothing; we say so under every plan button.
- You can export leads to a spreadsheet at any time and download your site files after 45 days of paid subscription.
Where an editor is the better choice
Pixel-level design control, online store checkout, blogging today, and languages other than English. We say this here so you do not find it out after a trial.
Named comparisons
We publish a head-to-head page only after we have used the other product ourselves, with the method written on the page and the places the other builder is better stated first. Those pages appear here as they pass that bar.
Pages in this section
- A better website or an SEO retainer
What a search retainer should actually deliver, how to tell a good one from an expensive one, and when the money is better spent on the site itself.
- A business website or a blogging platform
Publishing on a blogging platform reaches an existing audience and builds nothing you own. What that trade costs a business, and how to get both.
- A business website or an ecommerce platform
When a business genuinely needs an ecommerce platform, what that brings beyond a shopping cart, and what it costs a business that mostly sells services.
- A freelancer versus a product you talk to
A person you brief versus a product you talk to. Where a freelancer is better, who keeps the files and the leads, and what happens when they are busy.
- A hosted builder or a headless content system
What headless means, the problem it solves for publishing to several places, what it costs a small business, signs you do not need it, and what to ask.
- A hosted builder or a page builder plugin
A page builder plugin buys flexibility and hands you the maintenance: updates, security, backups. How it compares with a hosted builder and who each suits.
- A hosted builder or a static site generator
What a static site generator gives a technical team, why it suits developers and not business owners, and when it is genuinely the right choice.
- A hosting company's builder versus a site written for you
A comparison of the builder bundled with a hosting plan and a website written for your business: convenience, who writes the words, and when bundles win.
- A link-in-bio page or a real business website
A link-in-bio page is a short list of buttons. A business website answers questions and can be found by search. Here is when each one is enough.
- A no-code app builder versus a website built for you
An honest comparison of a no-code app builder and a website written for your business: what each does well and when the app approach is the better choice.
- A web design agency versus a builder you talk to
People, strategy and custom design versus software and a conversation. Where an agency is better, what its clients get here, and how both can work together.
- A website built by a relative or friend
The honest risks of a website built as a favor, what to agree before it starts, and how to recover a site when the person who built it has moved on.
- A website or a booking platform page
Booking platforms give you a profile and take a cut. What they do well, what the commission really costs, and how to move customers to direct booking.
- A website or a directory listing
What a paid directory listing is actually worth to a small business today, how to judge one before paying, and what to do with the ones you have.
- A website or a landing page tool
What landing page tools are for, why your own domain usually wins, what you lose by working outside your site, and when a separate tool earns its place.
- A website or a marketplace profile
A marketplace brings work today and takes a share of every job; a website produces work you keep. What each provides, what it costs, and how to use both.
- A website or a portfolio platform
Portfolio platforms show work beautifully and bury the business. What they do for creative professionals, and what a site does that a profile cannot.
- A website or a social page
A social page reaches people who know you; a website reaches people searching. Compare reach, depth, control and being found, and how the two work together.
- A website or an email platform page
Email platforms now build hosted pages. What those pages are good for, where they fall short, and why they should not be your only web presence.
- A website or only a business profile
A business profile handles map results, hours and reviews but cannot explain your work. Where the two reinforce each other, and the minimum site worth having.
- Do-it-yourself, self-hosted websites versus a hosted builder
Self-hosting, themes, plugins and security versus a hosted builder that writes and checks pages. Where doing it yourself wins, and what you give up and get.
- Editor-style website builders versus a builder that writes the pages
Editor-style website builders hand you a canvas and a blank page. Who writes the pages and what checks them is the real difference, and where an editor wins.
- Hiring a website creation company, or using a builder that writes the pages
Hiring a website creation company and using a builder solve the same problem differently. What each costs, who owns the result, and how to tell which you need.
- Hiring in house for the website
When a small business is big enough to employ somebody for the website, what the role really covers, and the risk of a single point of knowledge.
- How to compare website builders
A practical method for comparing website builders: what to test, which features never matter, and the questions that decide it in an afternoon.
- Template websites versus pages written from your answers
A template with your words pasted in versus pages written from your answers. Why a town swap is refused, and when a template is perfectly fine.
- The franchise site or your own
What a franchisor-supplied site does and does not do for a location, what your agreement usually permits, and where local effort actually pays.
- Using an offshore developer
What actually goes wrong with offshore website projects, how to structure one so it does not, and the questions that separate good work from cheap work.
- What a free website builder is really offering
A free website builder always has a catch worth finding: what is included, what the card is for, what happens on the last day. Our answer, plainly.
- What drag-and-drop website builders do, and what this one does instead
How drag-and-drop website builders work, why this builder does not offer a canvas, what you do instead, and who should genuinely choose the drag-and-drop kind.
- What to ask a website provider
The questions that separate a provider who will still be useful in two years from one who will not, covering ownership, standards, handover and cost.
Questions people ask
Are you cheaper than the big builders?
Plans start at $99 a month, which is more than most editor-style builders' entry tiers, because the product writes and checks the site rather than handing you a canvas. Compare what you get, not only the number.
Can I move my existing site over?
The assistant can read your existing website during the interview and build the new site from what it finds plus your answers. It does not import the old pages as they are.
Do you rank sites better than other builders?
No one can promise that, and we do not. What we promise is what the product does: every page passes a check before it publishes, and many of the checks follow public standards, including Google Search Essentials.
Why are there no head-to-head pages yet?
Because we publish one only after using the other product ourselves and writing the method on the page. They appear here as they pass that bar.
Keep reading
See your website built from a conversation
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