Why are we even comparing this two options?
In recent years, website builders have experienced a real boom in the digital services market. Ease of use, attractive costs, and excellent marketing have resulted in approximately 70% of new websites published on the internet were created using a website builder. On the other hand, traditional web agency market is not lagging behind at all. Companies are competing with promises of outstanding design and optimisation to win over undecided clients. Many freelancers, entrepreneurs, and bloggers looking to start their online business experience a real headache, caught in the middle of all the confusion. In this post, I will compare both solutions and try to help you make the right choice.
What is a website builder and how does it work?
A website builder is a tool that allows you to build a website on your own without the need of programming or graphic design skills. It typically operates on a “drag & drop” interface, meaning user can create layouts, add content, and include visual elements by intuitively dragging pre-made blocks. Anyone with even basic tech skills can easily use website builder.
Examples of popular website builders::
- Wix – known for large number of templates and ease of use.
- Squarespace – often chosen by artist and freelancers for its elegant design.
- Webflow – for more advanced users, it allows code export.
- Shopify – it specialises in e-commerce stores.
- WordPress.com – a simplified version of WordPress with built-in hosting.
Benefits of website builder:
- Read-made templates: dozens or hundreds of designs to choose from, often industry-specific (e.g., restaurant, portfolio, e-commerce).
- Built-in hosting and domain: all in one place – the user doesn’t have to worry about the technical aspects.
- Responsiveness: most website builders provide automatic adaptation of the site to mobile devices.
- Extensions and add-ons: the ability to add blog, contact forms, social media integration, and marketing tools.
- Technical support and updates: provided by the platform vendor, which relieves the user of this burden.
- Simple payment: most website builders offer a monthly or annual subscription, priced at around a few dozen PLN per month.
So, it may seem like website builder is the perfect solution for those who want to publish a good looking website quickly and cheaply.
Don’t rush into decisions!
At first glance, everything looks great, but it is worth remembering that website builders are not without their flaws. The biggest drawbacks of such solutions include:
- Limited flexibility: it will be difficult for you to implement custom features, animations, or graphic designs. Beyond the available templates, it is hard to optimise UX to the latest standards.
- Depending on the chosen platform: by choosing a service provider at the beginning, you become practically locked in for the entire lifespan of the website. Migrating to other hosting servers will also be difficult or impossible. This can prove particularly painful when the platform decides to significantly raise subscription costs.
- SEO and performance issues: many website builders generate “heavy” HTML code that noticeably slows down website performance and increases loading times. Limited access to SEO settings can negatively impact your website’s ranking, causing it to appear lower in search results.
- Hidden costs: many basic features, such as contact forms or business emails at your own domain (e.g. [email protected]), are hidden behind an additional fee. Platforms of this type also impose various limits, such as a maximum monthly number of products sold through the website, which require upgrading to a higher plan to bypass.”
- Lack of professional support: when experiencing website issues, the client is left at the mercy of mass support, which usually only shares generic advice instead of actually solving the problem.
What do you gain by ordering website from a good agency?
Above all, it gives you the assurance that your website will be professionally executed from start to finish. By entrusting this task to experts, you are freed from the burden of verifying whether the site meets accessibility standards, whether the navigation is intuitive for the customer and, most importantly, whether your offer is clear and well-presented. Deciding to collaborate with an agency brings significant branding benefits. A UI design crafted by professional graphic designers, combined with well-written code, can radically transform your customers experience of using your website. The website navigation will become more intuitive, and the site itself faster and smoother. In addition, the graphic design will be better tailored to the customers – reflecting the brand’s identity and the nature of its services. Many individual elements, like those mentioned above, come together to form a greater whole that drives the company’s online success.
What about the price?
Despite higher upfront costs, the amount spent on a custom website can pay for itself in just a few months, and no basic features are hidden behind a paywall. It is worth carefully analysing the offers and calculating whether using a website builder is worth it.
Conclusions
Personally, I would recommend using a website builder to anyone who needs a temporary solution (e.g. for a one-time event with a limited budget), or to those who haven’t registered a business yet and want to test a concept without incurring high initial costs. In any other case, and especially for those planning long-term online activities, a custom made website will be a better choice. Besides saving money in the long run, you also gain intangible benefits related to customer experience, which will be visible from the very first days of launching the site. If you are considering purchasing your first website, be sure to check out our offer! Remember that if you have any questions, our experts are always ready to advise you for free.