Gone are the days when you need to invest hundreds and thousands of dollars to get a website up and running. Nowadays, even beginners and small businesses that do not have the technical expertise or resources to hire professional services can create their own online spaces thanks to website builders. These platforms lower the barrier to entry for owning a website, enabling users to build sites without the need to learn how to read or write code.
Learning how to create a webpage using a website builder like Strikingly is quite simple. You start off with a website template which you are free to transform into a unique page using different editing tools. Incorporate your own choice of colors, fonts and other design elements. Add your content and features through the drag and drop editor and in a few minutes, you have a fully functional website that will represent your brand to your target audience.
Strikingly - bringing your ideas to life
As an internet company, Strikingly believes in empowering individuals and small business owners through modern and mobile responsive free webpage design. The platform aims to provide them with all the tools they need to create a webpage that can compete with bigger brands. Rather than claim that we are a one size fits all solution, however, Strikingly chooses to state that it is a specialized service - suited for a specific group of people looking to get their websites up in minutes without coding. It serves a particular need just as other website builders such as Sitebuilder are known for specializing in certain types of webpage design and development.
To that end, we take a look at how Strikingly compares to Sitebuilder to help you make an informed decision when it comes to choosing a platform according to your needs.
Account opening process
One of the key differences between Strikingly and Sitebuilder is in the signup process. For Strikingly, users can start a website completely free of charge. The platform has hosted thousands of websites on free accounts. Signup is also simple - users need to enter an email address and they can start building a free webpage by choosing a website template.
Meanwhile, Sitebuilder doesn’t offer free accounts but it does provide reliable assistance with domain registration so users looking to have a custom domain can immediately connect their website name to their website. Signup is also quite straightforward. Sitebuilder has a social login feature allowing users to sign up using their Facebook or Gmail account. After that, they only need to choose a site domain, enter their payment details and start building a webpage once the transaction is confirmed.
Website templates
One of the main strengths of Strikingly’s platform is that access to its entire collection of webpage design templates is not limited to paid accounts. Free account users have the freedom to choose from a wide variety of designs to enable them to create standout websites at a lower cost. Sitebuilder, being a paid service, features a good number of website templates to choose from, although, according to many users, the platform could do a lot more and give a wider range of options considering that you have to pay to get your website up with this tool. Sitebuilder struggles to stay competitive with other similar website builders because of this.
User interface
Both Strikingly and Sitebuilder feature pre-filled website templates that you can edit according to your needs. This enables you to visualize the general design of your website once it goes live. Both have a straightforward website editor that doesn’t require you to write or read code. It’s also easy to add photos either from their integrated stock image library or from your personal drive.
In terms of customization, Sitebuilder can be a bit limiting for a paid service. Compared to other brands that feature purely paid accounts, it comes up short in terms of freedom of customization. Some users also find it frustrating to edit styles and layouts on Sitebuilder making it difficult to create a standout webpage on this platform.
Meanwhile, Strikingly provides as much freedom of customization as you can get without the steep learning curve. You can start with a simple webpage and further customize it according to the needs of your content. It is a perfect platform for people who are just starting out but they still want to end up with a professional-looking site.
Pricing
Finally, we look into value for money. At a glance, Sitebuilder seems like one of the more affordable website builders in the industry with paid plans starting at $10 per month for a two year plan which includes a free domain, ad-free features, and pretty much all the basic ingredients you need to start a website. If you are looking to build an online store, the ecommerce platform is only available on the most expensive plan so you will need to directly scale up to that price range on the onset.
Meanwhile, value for money is where Strikingly is strongest. Users can start with a free account and get access to a wider suite of features including ecommerce solutions. You can actually start an online store for free and scale up as your inventory grows. Paid accounts start at $8 per month. Free accounts can build an unlimited number of webpages, which is great for supporting content marketing campaigns.
