Top 10 Website building platforms

Latest news about Website building platforms

2023. Mobile website builder Universe launches AI-powered designer



Universe, the no-code mobile website builder, has introducined AI-powered website designer named GUS (Generative Universe Sites). GUS enables users to build and launch personalized websites directly from their iOS devices. With GUS, the process begins in the familiar Universe grid editor, but instead of starting from a template, users initiate a text conversation with GUS to initiate the website creation process. The dialogue starts with GUS asking, "What kind of website would you like to create today?" After providing some initial details about the desired website type, GUS will inquire about specific preferences, such as design, color scheme, or the number of pages needed for the website.


2023. Wix’s new tool can create entire websites from prompts



Website builder Wix has introduced a new tool called the AI Site Generator. With this tool, Wix users can simply describe their intentions, and the AI will automatically generate a complete website for them. This includes a homepage, inner pages, as well as text and images. Additionally, the AI Site Generator incorporates business-specific sections, such as events and bookings, aiming to provide customers with tangible value as they build and expand their businesses. Wix has been actively exploring the possibilities of AI, and the AI Site Generator is a significant step forward in their AI experiments. Prior to this, they introduced the text creator powered by ChatGPT, enabling users to generate personalized content for specific sections of their websites. Moreover, the AI template text creator generates all the text required for a given site. Alongside these tools, Wix also offers an AI domain generator to help users brainstorm and find suitable web domain names. These AI-driven capabilities complement Wix's suite of AI image editing, fine-tuning, and creation tools.

2023. Squarespace acquires Google Domains



Squarespace, a website building platform, has acquired Google Domains from Google for $180 million, leading to Google's exit from the domain name registration business. Squarespace will now take over as the domain name registrar for the existing 10.1 million domains registered with Google Domains. This acquisition positions Squarespace as one of the world's largest domain name registrars, trailing only GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Tucows in terms of total registered domains. Google initially launched Google Domains in 2014, but it remained in beta until March 2022. The service was primarily seen by Google as a means to enhance its business email and app product, Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite), as indicated by the sales copy on the Google Domains website.


2021. Microsoft is launching a free website builder



Microsoft has introduced its own website builder as part of the Digital Marketing Center platform. This tool enables businesses to create, execute, and manage advertising campaigns on various social media platforms and search engines. The website builder is available for free, indicating Microsoft's intention to attract small businesses to its advertising service. By leveraging content from a business's Facebook page or existing advertising campaign, the service automatically imports a significant portion of the content. It then utilizes this information to generate a complete website with a relevant layout. Users have the flexibility to modify the content and select alternative templates for customization before publishing their websites.


2021. Automattic acquires analytics company Parse.ly



Automattic, the profit-making company associated with the open-source web publishing platform WordPress, has recently completed the acquisition of the analytics provider Parse.ly. Parse.ly equips creators, marketers, and developers with tools to gain insights into content performance, demonstrate its value, and deliver personalized content experiences that yield meaningful outcomes. While WordPress and Parse.ly already exhibit compatibility, the objective is to enable Parse.ly customers to access WPVIP features (enterprise hosting and support for publishers) and enhance the availability of Parse.ly data to WPVIP publishers. Additionally, there exists potential to incorporate more commerce-related data into Parse.ly, considering Automattic's ownership of WooCommerce.


2021. Softr scores $2.2M for its no-code website and web app platform



Softr, a Berlin-based startup, aims to leverage the concept of no-code development by offering a user-friendly solution for building websites on top of Airtable without requiring any coding skills. Softr has developed a no-code platform that empowers individuals to create websites and web applications using data stored in Airtable. The concept revolves around utilizing Airtable for the database-related tasks while employing Softr's template-driven approach to website and web app creation, providing a balance between flexibility and ease of use.


2021. Website builder Webflow raises $140M



Webflow, a software company specializing in empowering businesses to create no-code websites, has announced the successful completion of a $140 million Series B funding round. Webflow's product falls under the category of companies advocating for the idea that software development for the internet should become easier, not more challenging, as time progresses. With ambitious plans ahead, the company aims to enhance its services to enable the creation of richer and more robust websites. According to the CEO, websites are an integral part of the software landscape, and he envisions no-code tools gradually assuming more complex software tasks. This expansion could foster the growth of the broader no-code market, potentially paving the way for startups to develop services that allow non-developers to rely less on engineering teams as time goes on.


2020. GoSite snags $40M to help SMBs bring their businesses online



GoSite, a platform dedicated to assisting small and medium enterprises in website development and enabling them to operate various business functions online with minimal technical expertise, has secured a substantial $40 million in funding. GoSite represents an endeavor towards fostering inclusivity in the tech industry. Its customer base consists of local businesses like garages, landscapers, hair salons, accountancy firms, dentists, and others, who may not have previously utilized website building, hosting, or other services commonly employed by SMBs, such as Squarespace, Wix, GoDaddy, or Shopify. GoSite aims to provide these local enterprises with a comprehensive solution that addresses their unique needs and facilitates their online presence, including payment processing, online marketing, appointment booking, and accounting, among other functionalities.


2020. Squarespace adds support for memberships and paywalled content



Squarespace is introducing a new revenue-generating feature for websites built on its platform: Member Areas, enabling businesses to monetize exclusive content. This opens up possibilities for various scenarios, such as online publications implementing article paywalls, chefs offering paid access to cooking videos and recipes, or fitness instructors generating income from online classes. Squarespace supports different membership levels and facilitates the creation of member-only podcasts and newsletters. Moreover, site creators gain access to CRM data pertaining to each member, with plans to introduce additional segmentation tools in the future.


2020. Jam raises $3.5M to Figma-tize website improvement



Startup Jam is currently raising $3.5 million in seed funding for its collaboration platform, which seamlessly incorporates chat, comments, and task management directly into websites. This innovative platform enables developers and designers to efficiently track issues and provide suggestions in a quick and straightforward manner. Similar to modern productivity suites, Jam emphasizes integrations to ensure users can seamlessly incorporate it into their existing toolkits without disruption. The platform currently supports integrations with Slack, Jira, GitHub, Asana, Loom, and Figma, with additional integrations in the pipeline. The data synchronization between platforms is bidirectional, ensuring that information is consistently up to date. All these features are conveniently built into a neat sidebar interface.


2020. Digital design platform Ceros raises $100M



Ceros has secured a $100 million investment in a funding round led by Sumeru Equity Partners. The company offers a platform that enables clients such as NBC, United Airlines, Snap, McKinsey, IBM, Condé Nast, JP Morgan, Red Bull, and Pinterest to create captivating "digital experiences" without the need for coding. With the Ceros Studio, marketers and designers have full creative control, allowing them to collaborate, create, and iterate on content in real-time. This empowers businesses to produce visually stunning graphics and websites effortlessly.


2020. Mobile website builder Universe raises $10M



Universe, positioning itself as an Instagram-like platform for websites, is now entering the competition with Shopify as it secures $10 million in funding from Google's venture capital arm. Universe primarily targets small businesses, including artists selling prints, yoga instructors offering Zoom classes, and even farmers selling live bait, as demonstrated by one of their recent customers. Through the mobile app, users can easily create simple landing pages, incorporate text and photos, add a shopping "block" to enable order acceptance, and include product details such as photos, descriptions, and prices.


2020. Elementor raises $15M for its WordPress website builder



WordPress continues to foster a thriving ecosystem of startups specializing in developing tools and services that complement the platform. One such startup is Elementor, a user-friendly website building platform that seamlessly integrates with WordPress, enabling users to design and publish websites. With over 4 million sites already created using this tool, Elementor is experiencing rapid growth, with one million new sites being built every six months. Recently, the Tel Aviv-based company, established in 2016, secured its first round of institutional funding, raising $15 million. Elementor provides designers with a comprehensive suite of features, including a visual editor, an array of pre-designed templates, and widgets for various use cases. Paid users also enjoy additional functionalities such as support for creating popups, themes, and building WooCommerce sites. While many of these features are available for free, access to the premium tools starts at $49 per year for a single site and goes up to $199 per year for agencies managing up to 1,000 sites.


2020. Strattic raises $6.5M to bring static WordPress to the masses



WordPress continues to dominate the field of content management systems, surpassing its original intended usage. However, as WordPress sites become more complex, managing their lifecycle has become increasingly challenging, especially with the constant threat of security breaches and hackers attempting to exploit vulnerabilities. Strattic aims to simplify this process by transforming WordPress sites into static sites that no longer rely on database queries whenever a user accesses a page. With Strattic, users can still enjoy the familiar WordPress experience, but the company only activates a WordPress container when it is actively used, significantly minimizing the attack surface. The static sites are generated as changes are made, resulting in rapid loading times and reducing the potential for security breaches. To further enhance site performance, Strattic utilizes AWS's CDN (Content Delivery Network) solution.


2020. GoDaddy acquired social content startup Over



GoDaddy has recently completed the acquisition of Over, a startup known for its app that assists businesses in creating compelling photos and videos for social media. Over offers a wide range of customizable templates and layouts, enabling users to swiftly and easily generate visually appealing content. With over 1 million active users and more than 220,000 projects created daily, Over has gained significant traction in the market. This acquisition aligns with GoDaddy's strategy of enhancing its website-building tools, which were relaunched as Websites+Marketing, and includes additional features such as email marketing, search engine optimization, and expanding online presence on platforms like Facebook and Yelp.


2019. Zoho Sites gets new Style Editor



Zoho Sites introduces a groundbreaking tool that combines design, flexibility, and simplicity, taking customization to new heights. Our innovative Style Editor equips you with a comprehensive range of customizable design tools for each element, granting you complete authority over your site's design. Previously, achieving this level of design customization necessitated technical expertise in CSS editing. However, unless you have an in-house web designer, hiring one solely to make a few adjustments would be financially impractical. Now, you can rely solely on yourself to craft intricate style customizations. The Style Editor offers various options to personalize the background, typography, border, shadow, and spacing of every element on your page.


2018. Wix launched new suite of products for support, sales and marketing



Wix has introduced a comprehensive suite of management and marketing tools known as Ascend. With Ascend, you can effortlessly handle all your customer interactions in one centralized location. It empowers you to efficiently capture leads, nurture relationships, process payments, and more. Wix is also in the process of developing a workflow editor that will enable automatic responses across your website and other channels based on customer behavior. Ascend by Wix is available as a separate subscription, with pricing options ranging from $9 to $45 per month. While other website builders like Squarespace and Weebly (now owned by Square) have also incorporated marketing tools, Ascend sets itself apart with its ambitious expansion, offering a comprehensive range of 20 products covering chat, memberships, email marketing, and search engine optimization. Some of these products may already exist within Wix but are now consolidated under the Ascend umbrella.


2018. Website builder Strikingly raises $10M



Strikingly, a platform for building websites, has successfully secured a Series A+ funding round, raising $10 million. Since its launch in 2012, Strikingly has stood out from other website builders by focusing on the creation of easily built, yet visually appealing mobile-responsive sites. While mobile responsiveness is now a standard feature for website builders, Strikingly continues to distinguish itself from competitors such as Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, and WordPress through its exceptional user-friendliness. The company proudly claims that the average time required to launch a new website using Strikingly's editor is just 10 minutes.


2018. Weebly brings more e-commerce features to mobile



Website builder Weebly has introduced several new e-commerce features for their mobile app. These features enable users to perform various tasks directly from their smartphones, such as shipping and printing labels, responding to customer inquiries through embedded Facebook Messenger on Weebly sites, approving customer reviews, creating customized coupon codes, and managing all aspects of their online store, including product listings and pricing. The company expressed its vision for transforming the mobile phone into "the new back office" in a blog post.


2018. Weebly launched Photo Studio service



Weebly has introduced a new service called Photo Studio, specifically designed for entrepreneurs seeking stunning and polished product photos for their online stores. The process is straightforward: you send your product(s) to Weebly, and their Photo Studio team captures high-quality professional images on your behalf. Once completed, you receive a download link to access the product photos, and Weebly promptly returns your shipped items. Currently, Weebly offers three professional product photos per product at a cost of $10 each.


2018. GoDaddy site builder integrates with Google My Business



Website hosting and small business marketing firm GoDaddy has partnered with Google to streamline the process of setting up and verifying a Google My Business (GMB) profile. Through an integration with their GoCentral website builder, GoDaddy now offers automated GMB registration and submission. This integration enables swift transfer of business data from the website to GMB, significantly reducing the verification time from weeks to days. The GMB integration is available with the Business Plus and Online Store hosting plans. It's important to note that claiming and populating a GMB profile directly on Google remains free of charge. Furthermore, GoDaddy provides comprehensive reporting on GMB-driven traffic and related actions, including profile/listings views, calls, directions requests, and website visits. Notably, it is interesting that Google's own service, Google Sites, has not yet been integrated with GMB.


2018. Zoho Sites adds pre-built website sections



Zoho has unveiled the latest version of its website-builder, Zoho Sites, featuring an upgraded user interface and several new functionalities. The inclusion of pre-built website sections, such as layouts and templates, allows for quick access to design solutions. Moreover, new page elements like content containers, icons, and dividers provide users with additional creative tools to experiment with page design. The introduction of the Element editor further enhances customization options within the platform. Excitingly, users now have the ability to incorporate videos and parallax images as background elements on web pages. Additionally, Zoho Sites offers the option to create private websites, restrict visibility to within your organization, and publish websites exclusively for intranet usage.


2018. Google Sites now lets you publish protected content



Google has introduced a significant update to its website-building platform, Google Sites, offering organizations greater control over content access. With this update, creators and administrators now have the ability to selectively choose who within their organization can view specific sites. By entering individual names in the "Invite People" box and selecting "Specific people can view when published" from the drop-down menu, organizations can determine the audience for their content. This update is particularly important as it enables organizations to maintain privacy and control over confidential information, thereby encouraging the adoption of the new Google Sites. Currently, this feature is available exclusively on the web, but Google has announced that it will be extending its availability to the Google Drive mobile apps on Android and iOS in the coming weeks.


2018. Squarespace introduced Conversion Metrics



The introduction of new Conversion Metrics in Squarespace provides valuable insights into the performance of buttons and forms, allowing you to assess visitor engagement and interaction on your website. These metrics enable you to understand how visitors engage with your website, whether it's by contacting you, booking services, subscribing to your mailing list, or responding to an event invitation. The Conversion Metrics offer features like Pinpoint engagement, Spot patterns, and Filter by device, providing comprehensive information to identify opportunities for optimizing conversions. Armed with this data, you can confidently make informed changes to forms and buttons, test alternative versions, refine their placement, choose effective wording, and experiment with different styling options. By leveraging these metrics, you can enhance the user experience and maximize the conversion potential of your website.


2018. Website builder Duda integrates with Q&A service Yext



The renowned website builder Duda has partnered with Yext, the leading provider of Digital Knowledge Management solutions. This collaboration aims to streamline the process of managing a successful online presence by seamlessly integrating crucial business information, such as locations, operating hours, and product offerings, from Yext into Duda. The integrated solution ensures data synchronization across various web platforms. By directly importing business data into the Duda platform, website creation becomes faster, while simultaneously maintaining the consistency of essential SMB information across their website and the extensive Yext Powerlistings Network, which includes major platforms like Google, Apple, Facebook, Bing, and Yahoo. Moreover, Duda will leverage Yext's Knowledge Tags to incorporate Google-friendly schema markup, enabling search engines and other services to extract and display comprehensive website information in search results. This integration enhances the overall quality of information and improves the search experience across the internet.


2018. Pantheon speeds up WordPress by 3x



Using the HTTP Archive, which is presented by Google at WordCamp US and tracks performance data for a vast number of websites in the Alexa top 1M, a Pantheon developer demonstrated that the median WordPress site hosted on Pantheon performs three times faster compared to other platforms. The metric used to measure this performance is the time to first byte ("TTFB"), which plays a critical role in website performance and impacts user experience as well as various business outcomes. A faster TTFB is associated with several benefits, including improved SEO results, increased content engagement, and higher conversion rates for online purchases.


2018. Wix integrates with Instagram



The website building service Wix has introduced a new feature that enables users to seamlessly share their Instagram photos and videos on their websites. With the Instagram Feed App, you now have the ability to incorporate links to individual Instagram posts, allowing visitors to navigate directly to your site. You can select from a range of layouts to display your Instagram content, customize colors and fonts, and effortlessly include links to any photo or video within your feed. This feature provides an excellent opportunity to attract new followers and promote products from your Wix Stores collection, among other possibilities.


2017. Jimdo now allows to add Search Bar to business websites



The inclusion of website search functionality enhances the user experience by allowing visitors to easily find their desired content on your website. This exciting new feature is now accessible to all JimdoBusiness websites utilizing Jimdo Creator. With the flexibility it offers, you can effortlessly add the search element anywhere on your website. Once integrated, you have the ability to search for specific items or words within your website. Additionally, you can personalize the placeholder text within the search bar, replacing the default "Search ..." with something more tailored like "Looking for something in particular?" Moreover, you have the control to specify which sections of your website should be included in the search results.


2017. Wix unveiled advanced code editor


Wix has expanded its capabilities beyond simple website creation with the introduction of the innovative Wix Code platform. This new platform empowers creators, developers, and designers to effortlessly build sophisticated web applications that are perfectly tailored to their business requirements. With Wix Code, coding becomes hassle-free and serverless, providing a seamless experience. You can effortlessly set up database collections, design content-rich websites, incorporate custom forms, utilize APIs to modify site behavior, and much more. All of these functionalities are integrated with the user-friendly Wix Editor, ensuring ease of use and offering stunning visual components. Additionally, any application or website you create using Wix Code is SEO compatible, ensuring maximum visibility and reach.


2017. Jimdo adds Booking app



If you have a website created with Jimdo Creator and offer services, events, or courses that require appointments, our new Jimdo Booking app for Android is the ideal solution for you. With this app, you can easily create a booking calendar directly from your smartphone, which will be displayed on your website for visitors to see. Once your calendar is set up, visitors can conveniently book your services directly on your Jimdo website. Whenever someone makes a booking, you will receive a push notification right in the app, ensuring that you stay informed about the number of bookings you have received. Stay up to date and effortlessly manage your appointments with the Jimdo Booking app for Android.