Short on Time? These Are the Best Responsive Website Builders in 2024
- Expert’s ChoiceWixWix is a popular choice with our readers– The best builder for full creative control and the only one with dedicated mobile editing.
- SITE123 – A simple builder that’s perfect for those creating their first responsive website.
- Squarespace – The most elegant templates that look captivating on any screen.
What Makes a Site Mobile-Responsive?
If your site loads quickly and automatically changes its display for mobile devices, it’s responsive. But responsiveness is a spectrum. For example, your site might display certain pages on mobile better than others, even if the overall site is functional.
Your site can’t just look good on your phone but on other phones as well. Aside from trusting your template to automatically adjust, you may also need to manually edit certain elements, like images, to create a mobile-responsive site.
What We Look For in the Best Responsive Website Builders
The builders on this list are some of the best in their own right. That being said, I also made sure they offer features that make them ideal for responsive editing. The features I paid most attention to were:- Mobile responsiveness. I know, this one’s kind of obvious. But yes, the main thing I looked for in these builders is that they’re actually mobile responsive.
- Multisize previews. A responsive builder should let you switch easily between desktop and mobile previews of your site. I only included builders that give you accurate previews of what your final site will look like on different devices.
- Ease of use. It doesn’t help to have a website builder if you need six years and a Rocky-esque training montage to learn how to use it. Though some are easier to use than others, all these builders are user-friendly enough for beginners to use right away.
- Customization features. These builders don’t all give you equal freedom to customize your site, but all give you enough to make a site that looks uniquely yours.
Wix gives you the most design freedom of any builder on this list. Whatever your vision for your site, you’ll have access to the customization options you need to make it happen. With Wix, you can embed videos, performance analytics tools, and widgets like calendars and weather apps. You can also design your own custom elements with HTML or JavaScript. Another reason Wix comes out on top is that it’s the only builder with a dedicated mobile editor. This doesn’t mean you have to make two completely separate sites. Wix automatically translates the desktop version of your site into a mobile-friendly one for you. But you can then edit this independently, giving you full control over both the mobile and desktop experiences of your site. I won’t lie, it’s a bit of extra work, but only because you can fine tune your website in a way you can’t with other builders. If you’re looking for a builder that gives you full creative control over all versions of your site, Wix is second to none .
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Features
- Drag-and-drop editing. You can easily add and move elements anywhere you want on a page, allowing you to edit with few restrictions.
- Extensive app market. If you need to expand your site’s functionality, you can add over 300 apps to your site.
- 800+ niche-specific templates. Are you in the baby-photography business or the 3D printing one? Either way, you’re sure to find a Wix template you can easily adapt to your needs.
- SEO and marketing features. Wix includes a full suite of features to help you rank higher on search engines and market to your clients. This includes an SEO wizard and email templates for marketing campaigns.
Free plan available? | ✔ |
Previews available |
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Image optimization? |
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Starting Price |
$17.00 |
Wix is great if you’re happy to spend some time honing your site’s look and functionality. But maybe you just want to create a site fast. If you don’t mind compromising on customization, SITE123’s simple point-and-click editor will help you build a functional site in a matter of minutes. SITE123 offers over 180 templates for different niches and purposes. They look a bit similar but aren’t bad-looking. Many common elements, like maps, come with a series of alternative layouts or styles. This means you can get some design variation with just a couple of clicks. What I really like about SITE123 is that every template is fully mobile responsive by default. This takes the hassle out of converting your site to mobile. You can still make some changes to the mobile version of your site, such as your content spacing or menu height.
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Save 40 % when you sign up for SITE123's annual plan
Features
- Multilingual support. SITE123 comes with plenty of tools for making your site multilingual, from a built-in website translator to the ability to update SEO settings in other languages.
- Easy-to-use e-commerce. SITE123’s e-commerce system helps you sell products online without any trouble. The interface is very easy to use and even includes some advanced features like product variations, paid subscriptions, and donation buttons.
- Floating contact button. You can add a contact button that sticks to the bottom of the screen. You can customize how big the button appears on your mobile site, making it easier for mobile visitors to contact you
- Blogging. SITE123’s blogging tool is simple but covers the basics, like having contributors and post categories. You can also tweak how prominently it appears on the mobile version of your site.
Free plan available? | ✔ |
Previews available |
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Image optimization? |
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Starting Price | $12.80 |
3. Squarespace: The Best Builder for Visual-Heavy Websites
Squarespace is the best choice if you want a fast-loading, eye-catching site . It offers over 160 gorgeous-looking templates and an intuitive editor that can help you create elegant, visually captivating websites, even if you don’t have any design experience. Squarespace doesn’t offer as much design flexibility as Wix, as you can only drag and drop elements on a fixed grid. On the plus side, this makes it difficult to screw up your site’s visual consistency while still giving you a decent amount of freedom to customize its design. Squarespace does let you edit your site’s mobile layout separately, but only on its Fluid Engine editor. If you use the older classic editor, Squarespace will automatically rearrange your site’s sections to fit on different screens. Having the option is nice, but if you like any older Squarespace templates, note that they won’t support Fluid Engine.Save up to 36 % on your Squarespace plan today!
Plus get a free domain for one year!
Features
- Mobile App. With Squarespace, not only is your site mobile-responsive, you can also edit it directly on mobile using Squarespace’s Android and iOS apps.
- E-commerce features. If you plan to sell products (digital or physical) on your site, Squarespace offers a bunch of tools to help you sell and keep your inventory up to date.
- Advanced SEO. Not only can you customize how your pages look in search results or see analytics, Squarespace’s default site setup is search engine friendly. That includes mobile versions of your site, which are automatically optimized for search engines.
- Squarespace extensions. You get access to dozens of free and premium extensions to extend your sites’ functionality. These can help you to create email marketing campaigns, manage your invoices, generate feedback surveys, compress images for mobile, and more.
Free plan available? | ✘ |
Previews available |
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Image optimization? |
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Starting Price | $16.00 |
Webador may be the simplest builder on my list. It has over 50 templates for a range of industries. Some of Webador’s templates look a bit dated on desktop, but it’s less noticeable on mobile. You can easily change them up with Webador’s drag-and-drop editor. Part of why Webador is so easy to use is that it doesn’t have an extensive set of features, even compared to other simple builders like SITE123. But it has some solid basics, like blog and storefront tools. Plus, all plans get unlimited traffic, which means your site should perform well even if your content suddenly gets popular, for example. In addition to having a free plan, Webador is one of the most affordable builders around. However, its first paid plan comes with branding and lacks many of the best features, like useful analytics, so its higher tiers are better for most businesses.
Features
- Mobile bar. Some paid plans let you add a mobile bar, a banner that displays several useful buttons on the mobile version of your site. The bar can include a phone icon that lets mobile visitors call your business with a single click.
- Edit images. Webador’s site editor includes a basic image editor that has resizing and cropping tools. This is a great fix if any photos you add look weird when automatically adjusted to mobile.
- HD videos. On the highest tier, you can add up to 5 GB of HD videos. The video display is optimized for smartphones and tablets.
- Google search integrations. The top two paid plans can integrate with Google Analytics and Google Business Profile. Those plans also let you add your domain name to Google Search Console, which helps index your site and makes analytics easier.
Free plan available? | ✔ |
Previews available |
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Image optimization? |
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Starting Price | $5.00 |
5. IONOS: Responsive Builder With Low-Cost Business Tools
MyWebsite Now from IONOS is a user-friendly builder for creating professional, fast-loading sites. Though the editor isn’t as jam-packed with customization options as some, the business tools and decent pricing make IONOS a solid option. IONOS offers 18 industry-specific templates and an AI-powered site generator. It’s not a huge offering, and even within the available templates, there could be more variety. However, IONOS is great for building fast-loading sites that look and feel professional thanks to its impressive font, color, and animation options. What’s more, IONOS sites adapt automatically to look good on all screens, including mobile. The lack of more advanced features means I can’t recommend IONOS for the most comprehensive sites. However, IONOS has generous storage and handy marketing tools, like AI content creation. As IONOS’ plans have low introductory prices, this makes it a good option if you want to get your brand off the ground affordably.Features
- Competitor tracking. You can get instant alerts about the social media activity and search result ranking of competing websites. This way your site won’t just be responsive but competitive.
- Quick-loading dynamic elements. IONOS handles websites with video elements and animations really well. It’s not the only builder to offer these features, but IONOS stands out thanks to its impressive loading speeds.
- Business email. Every plan gives you a free professional email address ending with @yourdomain, even if you purchase your domain from a third-party seller.
- Website performance checker. IONOS offers tools to check your site’s responsiveness, load speeds, and security. This can help you make informed decisions about how to improve your site’s performance.
Free plan available? | ✘ |
Previews available |
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Image optimization? |
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Starting Price | $1.00 |
6. Shopify: Best for Creating a Mobile Shopping Experience
Don’t let its placement on this list bother you: Shopify is perfect for some, just not everyone. Shopify focuses exclusively on e-commerce. That means Shopify has about 180 high-quality and mobile-responsive templates, but most of them cost extra. One nice bonus is that most themes come with different color scheme presets. Shopify has a quite capable site builder, but its customization tools are oriented towards building an online store. The site editing interface is intuitive considering the level of customization settings it has, but it could still be tough for beginners. And that’s aside from all the non-site building features Shopify has, like shipping settings. Because it’s essentially a website builder bundled with a wide set of e-commerce tools, Shopify plans are a bit pricey. The learning curve may also be an obstacle for some. But if you have advanced e-commerce needs, Shopify is perfect for building an online store that looks good on any screen.Features
- Strong hosting. Not only do all Shopify plans get unlimited storage and web traffic, but Shopify has a 99.99% uptime rate and good site load times.
- Analytics. Shopify plans have some of the most capable analytics on this list. You can view live metrics on your site’s traffic and reports on your customer lists, marketing campaigns, sales, finances, and more.
- Multi-channel selling. You can connect your store and product catalog to marketplaces like Amazon and social media sites like Instagram or TikTok. Your Shopify site will be mobile responsive, and you can take advantage of that by reaching a mobile audience of social media users.
- Shopify App Store. With over 8,000 free and paid apps, the Shopify App Store offers no shortage of tools to improve your site. That includes tools for building mobile landing pages and optimizing images.
Free plan available? | ✘ |
Previews available |
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Image optimization? |
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Starting Price | $29.00 |
Other Notable Responsive Website Builders
If you didn’t quite click with the website builders I listed above, or if you just want to know more about your options, don’t worry. Here are a couple of other builders that can make responsive sites:7. Web.com
Web.com has dozens of clean, responsive templates. The site editor is intuitive, although customization is a bit limited due to its row-based layout. You can also use Web.com’s AI builder to generate a unique template. Plus, its plans often have low introductory pricing and include a domain and professional email during the introductory period. The downside is that outside of the introductory period, Web.com’s features are a bit limited relative to the price. For example, the first pricing plan doesn’t come with social media and email marketing tools. But if the combination of style and simplicity appeals to you, Web.com is a solid option.8. WordPress.com
WordPress.com lets you create a WordPress site without having to code or manage your own hosting. However, the editing interface can still be tricky for beginners. Thanks to its unique relationship with the WordPress content management system (CMS), WordPress.com is second to none in terms of scalability. It also offers the best blogging features available. WordPress.com has over 200 native themes for your site, of which some cost extra, plus thousands of third-party themes. The native themes are mobile-responsive, but it’s case-by-case for third-party ones. WordPress.com’s true potential comes out when you pay extra for higher-pricing plans or themes.Choosing a Responsive Website Builder for Your Site
If you’re serious about starting your website, you need to be sure it’ll work properly on all devices. Thankfully, the best website builders will handle this for you. If you’re looking for full control over your site’s design and don’t mind spending a little extra time bringing your vision to life, then Wix is the best choice for you. It gives you the most control over the mobile version of your site while remaining easy to use. SITE123 is perfect for beginners, or anyone who needs a website as fast as one, two… You get the idea. The point-and-click editor makes it incredibly easy to create a responsive website in very little time. Finally, if you want a trendy, minimalist website that works well and includes powerful e-commerce and SEO features, I recommend Squarespace. The high-quality templates and visual features make it a great choice if design is your top priority. You can check this table for a quick recap on how the different builders fared in my test:Free Plan | Best Feature | Best For | Starting Price | ||
Wix | ✔ | Full creative control | Those who want a unique website | $17.00 | |
SITE123 | ✔ | Incredible ease of use | Beginners, people trying to get online quickly | $12.80 | |
Squarespace | ✘ | Stunning template designs | Those who want a visually striking website | $16.00 | |
Webador | ✔ | Affordable, simple editor | Beginners on a budget | $5.00 | |
IONOS | ✘ | Affordable business tools | Businesses just starting out | $1.00 | |
Shopify | ✘ | E-commerce solution | Building a mobile-responsive store | $29.00 |