Welcome to our Weebly review! We’re going to introduce you to one of the easiest to use website builders around.
Weebly is a well-known beginner’s website builder with over 50+ million websites built on its platform. In 2018 Weebly was acquired by Square (not to be confused with Squarespace), though since then, updates have been a little slower.
Although there have been fewer updates, this doesn’t necessarily mean that their platform isn’t good. There’s no point in fixing something that already works, which is what I’m here to test. I’ve signed up to Weebly’s website builder to test their platform, look at their features, weigh up their pricing, and present to you the pros and cons of signing up to Weebly.
Without further ado, let’s start this in-depth Weebly review.
Table of Contents
Weebly Review: Who Is Weebly Suitable For?
If you’ve never built a website before, Weebly is an extremely beginner-friendly service to start with. It may not offer the most extensive features or flexibility as some other website builders like Wix or Squarespace, but it’s still a great tool to consider.
Weebly offers a free plan, similar to Wix, where you can create a website for free, with free web hosting, and basic features. You’ll be lumped with a Weebly subdomain, which doesn’t look very professional, as well as Weebly branding on your website, but the plan never expires.
If you’re considering giving Weebly a try, I would recommend them for:
- Beginners
- Blogs and personal websites
- Small business websites
Weebly Review: Pricing And Plans
Weebly offers 4 website plans and 3 eCommerce plans. It’s worth noting however that the Pro and Business plans feature in both the website and eCommerce pricing structure.
Firstly, we’re going to take a look at Weebly’s website pricing plans. For the purpose of this article, I’ve removed any reference to eCommerce features from the Pro and Business plan so we can just focus on website features for now. More on eCommerce later!
All of Weebly’s pricing plans include a free SSL certificate and SEO features. You’ll get access to basic support, too, unless you upgrade to the Pro or Business plans. If you choose to sign up for Weebly’s free plan, you’ll get 500MB storage which is quite limited, and your domain will be a subdomain like www.mysite.weebly.com.
If you want to create an online store with Weebly or sell products/services online, you will need to look at Weebly’s eCommerce plans. These are tailored towards selling online and include advanced features that will come in handy.
All of Weebly’s eCommerce plans include access to the community forum, chat, email, and telephone support. The Pro and Business plans include a free domain and Google Ads credit up to $100. The Business Plus plan includes the same as the Pro and Business plans as well as email marketing to the value of $96.
Weebly Review: Pros and Cons
So far in this Weebly review, Weebly seems good, offering a free plan to allow customers to essentially try before they buy. However, website builder services are catered towards specific markets and users, so what works well for someone may not work as well for another. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons I found after signing up for Weebly.
Pros
- Weebly is incredibly easy to use, for beginners it’s hard to find a better website builder that caters to those who have never built a website before
- The selection of Weebly themes is all mobile-responsive. They not only work well but look great too, though there aren’t as many as we would like
- Weebly’s App Center is full of third-party apps you can install on your website, there’s also a good selection of Weebly apps too
- If you have multiple people working on your website, you can add other editors and give them access depending on what they need
- Weebly’s membership areas allow you to restrict or open up parts of your site to members only
Cons
- Weebly’s editor isn’t at all complex, but this also limits the design flexibility available. You can’t move elements around the site in many places, which may work well for those who prefer structure, but not for people who prefer more freedom
- There’s no built-in functionality for multilingual websites
- Although Weebly offers eCommerce plans, I wouldn’t recommend them for building an online store as there are other website builders like Squarespace and Shopify that do a much better job with more features
Weebly Rating
Weebly Features
Because Weebly is designed to be incredibly easy, their features aren’t as overwhelming as other website builders. For basic functionality they’re great, there’s no doubt that there’s enough to indulge in to make a good website, so let’s take a look at what’s on offer as we continue our Weebly review.
Domains
Weebly offers a free domain with their Pro plan and above, worth around $20. The Free and Connect plans don’t include a free domain, but if you choose the Connect plan you will be able to connect your own custom domain which you’ve purchased elsewhere. If you want to keep all your eggs in one basket, you can purchase your domain through Weebly which will cost $19.95 per year or $16.95 per year on a 2-year basis, saving you 15%.
Apps
Weebly’s App Center has everything you need to add to your existing website, from apps that boost traffic to social apps, eCommerce apps, and even simple tables you can add to your site. The App Center is very simple to use, offering a search bar, categories, or popular choices at the top of the page. You can easily view whether an app is free or offers a premium version from the main page on the App Center, or you can click on an app to find out more.
eCommerce
Weebly offers plenty of eCommerce features and plans that are suitable for online stores. While I wouldn’t recommend them over another website builder like Shopify, you can always test the waters with Weebly before moving to another service later on. All major payment options are supported, along with a free SSL certificate on all plans. You can add product videos, set up automated taxes, and manage your inventory easily.
SEO
Weebly’s SEO tools are pretty good. As you might imagine by now, they’re extremely user-friendly. You can edit titles, meta descriptions, and add image alt tags. You can also freely edit URLs to make them your own. The use of headings is unfortunately limited which is frustrating, as this can really help structure your site so it can be read better by search engines like Google.
Security
All of Weebly’s plans include a free SSL certificate, so you won’t have to worry about your website not being protected by HTTPS. You can also download a backup of your site, however, this is a manual process and you won’t be able to restore the backups.
Support
Weebly’s customer support is extensive and helpful. There’s access to FAQs, community forums, chat, email, and telephone support. Email support, in my experience, has always been quick and answers questions in detail.
Weebly Alternatives
If you’ve exceeded all of Weebly’s features and are ready to grow your website even more, or perhaps you’re not a beginner and want more of a challenge, there are alternative website builders out there. Here are my recommendations for the best Weebly alternatives.
Wix
Wix is a user-friendly website builder, much like Weebly, with a lot more functionality and flexibility. There's also a free plan, so if budgeting is an issue, the free plan should fit your needs. Wix has website and eCommerce plans as well as a wealth of templates and features to build a professional website or online store.
Squarespace
Squarespace has a bit more of a learning curve in comparison to Wix or Weebly, but the features are extensive. They offer beautiful templates and in their version 7.1 update, there's a lot more flexibility. Each template is based on the same underlying strucutre, so you can create your website exactly how you want it to. They offer website and eCommerce plans.
Shopify
If creating an online store is your priority, Shopify offer eCommerce solutions to suit a range of budgets. You can sell products and services, including digital products, manage your inventory, set shipping rates, and lots more. Shopify is more advanced than Weebly in terms of its features and functionality for online stores, though it could be overwhelming for beginners.
Weebly Review: Is Weebly The Right Option?
After reading this Weebly review, it’s fair to assume that if you’re a beginner or want a user-friendly website builder, then YES, Weebly is a great option.
By now it’s probably quite obvious that Weebly has been designed to offer the simple creation of websites. Their templates are decent, though there’s not much choice, what they do have is good enough to create a professional website.
If you’re not sure whether Weebly is right for you, their free plan will give you an idea of the features they offer and will allow you to try their editor without any fees. However, if you’re ready to give Weebly a proper try, their website plans are affordable and offer more in the way of features.
Flexibility is quite limited with Weebly, but some people prefer this kind of rigid structure. If you have some coding knowledge, you may find it frustrating that you’re not able to customize your website beyond what you have in front of you.
Weebly is undoubtedly the easiest website builder to use, but on top of that, I recommend Weebly for:
- First-time websites
- Small websites or blogs
- Selling a few products online
- Membership websites