Network Solutions Website Builder Review: Is It Overrated? [2024]

Can The World’s First Domain Registrar Make A Good Site Builder?

That’s right – Network Solutions is the first-ever domain registrar, and for a long time, it focused entirely on web hosting and domains. But now it’s got a site builder, too, and that’s what we’re here for today.

Clearly, Network Solutions has been around for some time, but does all of that experience translate into a better site builder product? Is this service right for your site and business? Well, truth be told, probably not. While the site builder itself is fine, its services and infrastructure (along with a certain lack of transparency) hurt the whole experience for me.

In fact, if I’m being honest, you’d probably do much better with a more comprehensive (and far more transparent) builder – like Wix1 or Squarespace1.

Read on to see exactly what went wrong with Network Solutions. Then, you can decide if it’s the sort of thing you can live with, or whether the competition is better for you.

Network Solutions’ Templates Are One of The High Points

All in all, there are over 100 good-looking, modern, and clean site templates to choose from. This selection is pretty standard for website builders these days, and I was happy to see thought and attention put into the designs.

The templates are flexible and customizable. And they also come in single-page and multi-page variants, depending on whether you want to make a regular site, a one-page portfolio, or even a product landing page.

There’s also a blank option if you want to build your own template from scratch.

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You edit the templates in a block-based drag and drop editor, where you can add basic elements like text, images, buttons, sliders, maps, and blocks for embeddable code to a simple layout.

It looks pretty darned familiar if you’ve used any other site builders out there.

You can change quite a bit about the base template styles. This includes colors and fonts, but also the global styles of headings, links, buttons, quotes, and even horizontal rules/dividers. It’s a fair bit of convenient customization that will change the look of your whole site at once.

I only have two small but somewhat important complaints. The font/typeface selection is relatively limited – I’m sure you want more typographical choices if you can get them. And secondly, Network Solutions doesn’t support right-to-left languages such as Hebrew and Arabic.

Unfortunately, the Network Solutions site builder isn’t packed with great features. It’ll let you build a decent site, but not much else. We’ve compared all the best site builders in 2024, and well, you’re spoiled for choice.

Between AI-based tools like those provided by Wix and Zyro, streamlined experiences like Squarespace, and the massive add-on and app libraries that many site builders have, Network Solutions has stiff competition.

That said, this site builder is not bad – if you consider it in isolation. Its features feel well-made, and they are more than enough if all you want to do is get that five-page brochure site up and running, maybe with a blog.

There’s also a big emphasis on security features: Network Solutions has you set up a security PIN from the moment you sign up. The service heavily advocates two-factor authentication, a feature that has saved my hide repeatedly on other services.

Beyond security, here’s what you can expect:

Start a Quick and Simple Blog

Okay, so the blogging feature is very simple. Write your post, add tags, add a cover photo, and go. That’s about it. You can’t even schedule it to be published later, unfortunately. Simply put, don’t expect WordPress-level publishing features.

You can, however, add a comments section – if you ever feel like letting the people of the internet have their say in a public forum.

Accept Payments Easily

This feature is an add-on that costs less than a full e-commerce site, but you still have to pay extra for it. Basically, it allows you to accept payments and donations on your existing site without any fuss. It’s compatible with major credit cards and PayPal.

It’s a simple feature on the front end, but not everyone needs to build a whole online store, you know?

Build a Full E-commerce Site

The e-commerce plan comes with the usual stuff: set up a store, sell your products. All the site templates are e-commerce-friendly*, and you can even link your inventory with Facebook Marketplace as an extra sales channel.

E-commerce sites are, of course, only available on the most expensive plan. But Network Solutions tries to help you offset the costs by providing marketing tools to grow your business. These include:

• Social media marketing tools – get your Facebook on!
• A price-comparison engine – so your customers can see exactly how your products stack up against the competition.
• SEO tools – so people can actually find your store in search engines.

* It must be noted that there are premium templates that only come with the e-commerce plan.

Get a Free Domain With Every Plan

That’s right, every plan comes with free domain registration, although you have to pay to renew it. With the low cost of the cheapest plan for the first month, this is actually a pretty decent deal if you’re building a brand-new website, as domains usually cost $10-50 per year on their own.

That said, you’ll end up paying for it when you get hit with the renewal prices (more on that below).

It Would Be Easier If The Main Site Had More Information

The site leaves out a lot of key information about the site builder, especially the pricing, which seems rather important to me. In fact, all of my interactions with support (down below) involved some pricing or finance-related questions because Network Solutions doesn’t provide any of that information upfront.

There is a pricing page, but you have to Google it, and it’s broken, broken, broken.

The information on the features is painfully sparse as well. You know, the features, the things you use to sell a… never mind. I’m complaining about the marketing here, because first impressions can absolutely break an experience. The lack of information sent me down a few rabbit holes, I can tell you.

However, if you do buy in, the dashboard where you manage all of your Network Solutions products is serviceable despite being a bit dated. The learning curve is fairly short, and you could say the same for the site editor – it’s pretty standard stuff, as seen above.

Beyond that, there are a couple of things that Network Solutions offers to make your life easier, including:

Have Your Site Designed For You

You can have regular and e-commerce sites designed and built for you, to your specifications, by the Network Solutions staff. Naturally, this costs a fair bit extra, so it’s not the budget option.

On the other hand, there’s no easier way to build a website than to have someone else do it for you. If you have the extra money and you really like working with Network Solutions, this might be the way to go.

Find All The Pictures You Need With an Unsplash Integration

We’re seeing more and more site builders integrate with stock image libraries, and Network Solutions is no exception. Stock images are no substitute for custom images and photos produced by your company, but they’ll do the trick in a pinch.

They’re especially good for spicing up blog posts.

Keep Your Site Safe With The Cyber Security Service

The cyber security service is another add-on that costs extra. If you’re concerned about hackers – which you should be if you run an e-commerce site – you can hire a dedicated team of security specialists to keep an eye on your site.

Having a security team intimately familiar with the software and servers doesn’t hurt.

The Support Team Was Okay… When They Talked To Me

My support experience was lackluster overall. If you want to learn to do things on your own, well, there’s a knowledgebase, but it’s not great. It doesn’t cover much beyond the basics.

To get in touch with a support person, you have three options: live chat, phone, and a ticket/email system. The phone line is available all week, from 7 AM to 12 AM EST. Live chat is available from Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 11 PM EST.

I can’t tell you the hours for the ticket system because I never got a response there.

Live chat

I asked for basic pricing information because, as you might remember, I couldn’t find it on the site without going most of the way through the sales process.

I received a response in minutes. Unfortunately, that response was, “Go through the signup process, and you’ll get to see the price.” I understand why that was the answer, but it’s not a good answer. It’s just not.

Ticket/Email

I simply asked, “How much does the Website Builder package cost after renewal?” As of yet, I have not received a reply, which is not a good look.

Phone

Over the phone, II asked if it was possible to use GIFs in the site builder and for information about cancellation and refunds. You know, because that information isn’t easy to find. Not even in the legal policies.

The agent didn’t seem that knowledgeable and asked me “which website builder” I was referring to. Making me think the team handles a lot of different products at once.

He was able to get back to me with the information I needed after some research, so I can’t fault him too much. I suspect poor planning on the company’s part.

Anyway, there’s no GIF support, but you can get refunds within 30 days of the initial purchase. At least that.

There’s no free trial and no free plan, so you’ll need to drop some cash (at least a few US dollars) to try the service out for yourself. It isn’t a huge amount, but demos are standard practice in the industry.

In this section, we have assigned a low score to Network Solutions because it lacks transparency regarding pricing. Finding the renewal prices proved to be cumbersome. To access the prices, I had to initiate my initial order, proceed to the Renewals section located on the website, and only at that point were the prices revealed within the shopping cart interface.

Those are downright tacky sales tactics.

Sure, you can start on the cheapest plan for $6.95 per month, but then the prices go up significantly for monthly renewal. Think five times as much. Now, you can get a discount if you pay for 1-to-10 years in advance, but it’s not as cheap as it should be, and it only gives you access to the basic site builder.

The mid-range Website and Online Marketing plan only adds the automatic submission of your site and business profile to search engines. You can do that yourself for free.

The Website, Marketing, and Store plan is the most expensive and provides e-commerce features by default.

All in all, while the prices aren’t outright crazy, I don’t think the product is worth paying this much for it.

Cancellations & Refunds

You can cancel at any time and get a refund within the first 30 days of your purchase. But you’ll have to contact support for that – there’s no automated way to do it.