Website builders are platforms that allow you to build your own website from scratch without requiring much technical or coding knowledge.

They are generally catered towards beginners – particularly, individuals who want to get a website up and running without requiring a developer.

The platforms make it easy to add all kinds of content and a variety of features to your website like images, videos, text blocks, buttons, sliders, animations, e-commerce functionality, etc.

_{Note that they’re different from page builders, which are commonly associated with Self-hosted CMS and provide plugin/theme functionality to easily structure the layout of webpages.}

Website builders like Wix allow you to design and build entire websites with different content, features, and widgets.

Here are some distinctions for website builders in general:

Built on proprietary software (not open-source)

You are limited in what you can configure or modify in terms of code and certain audit fixes are not possible, as they require code modification outside of your control.

Hosted on their own infrastructure

This infrastructure is optimized for the performance and delivery of the website builder software. Often, the infrastructure includes a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

No access to servers

You will likely not have control over any server configuration, settings, and options.

Examples of Website builders include Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly.

Check out our guide for providing a faster website builder-based experience.