So, you’re thinking about starting a website. You’ve researched all the website builders and have finally narrowed it down to Weebly or WordPress.
Which one will you choose?
There are pros and cons to both Weebly and WordPress. While one platform might be the best fit for one individual, it might not be for another.
By learning about these different features, website builders can determine which platform best fits their needs.
This article will compare Weebly vs. WordPress and help you figure out what platform is right for you!
Weebly vs. WordPress
Weebly is designed for those who want to start a basic website that is not overly complicated to make. The Weebly Website Builder is great for beginners and those who sign up with Weebly can create a website within minutes.
WordPress is the most popular website builder with the most flexible customization. However, WordPress is far more complex than Weebly and caters to those who want a more advanced website.
Weebly Plans
Weebly offers four different plans.
The first option is free, but it does not offer a custom domain name and displays Weebly advertisements.
Next, there’s the Personal plan which is $6.00 a year and connects you to a custom domain name. Keep in mind, this plan still comes with ads.
Then, there’s the Professional plan which costs $12.00 annually. This plan is the most recommended because it is both cost-efficient and comes with unlimited storage and other features. This plan is great if you’re a small business, freelancer, or entrepreneur.
Finally, there’s the Performance plan which is $26.00 a month. This plan provides many eCommerce features like generating online payments through PayPal, item reviews, shipping labels, and abandoned cart emails.
WordPress Plans
WordPress also offers a free plan. However, a domain name is mandatory to create a site on WordPress.
Next, WordPress offers a Personal plan at $4.00 a month which has other benefits like removing ads.
The most popular WordPress plan is the Premium plan. This plan is $8.00 a month and offers a variety of features that are great for freelancers.
Lastly, WordPress offers the Business plan and the eCommerce plan. The Business plan is $25.00 a month and offers over 50,000 plug-ins, advanced SEO tools, and other features. The eCommerce plan offers payments in over sixty countries, with high-quality shipping carriers, and online store design features.
WordPress is cheaper initially, but with costs for plug-ins and other features, Weebly can wind up to be the more cost-efficient choice.
Weebly Editing
Weebly’s website editor is simple in comparison to WordPress. The editor is drag and drop which makes your website much easier to customize.
Before editing, you will pick which type of website that you wish to make, business or personal.
After, you will select a theme, choose a domain, and begin customizing your site. Unlike WordPress, you will not need to know coding to start your website.
Weebly also offers over 80 templates to choose from. Yet, the one downside to this is that Weebly is much more limited on templates and unique customization compared to WordPress.
That being said, you can build a much quicker website with Weebly and it is perfect for those who do not need a big, fancy website stuffed with content.
WordPress Editing
When it comes to editing, WordPress is far more advanced. Rather, than the easy drag and drop option, for WordPress, you must build your site through the dashboard and by using plugins.
In some cases, you may also need to be familiar with coding to add certain features to your site.
While WordPress supplies countless themes and plugins and gives you the freedom to create your website exactly how you want it, the editing process can definitely be overwhelming for those who haven’t had any experience.
Weebly eCommerce
Weebly is definitely eCommerce friendly. This is especially true with the Performance plan, which offers much more advanced eCommerce tools.
After purchasing a plan, you’ll be given the tools you need to sell online without having to download any plugins like WordPress.
If you choose, you can add some third-party plugins which will advance your sales even more.
Overall, eCommerce on Weebly is straightforward.
WordPress eCommerce
WordPress is also great for eCommerce but is only possible with the use of plugins. WooCommerce is one of the best-known plugins for eCommerce and is easy to use.
Other plugins include BigCommerce and MemberPress.
Both Weebly and WordPress are great for eCommerce, but the price that comes with plugins may be a drawback for some people.
Security on Weebly
Security for your Weebly website is very efficient. This is because almost every security setting is already built-in.
As long as your SSL is turned on in your Weebly settings, your website is likely to remain protected.
Maintaining your Weebly site is simple because you do not have to worry about backing up your site to keep it secure. All of this is done for you.
Security on WordPress
WordPress is also secure, but themes and plugins that are not updated on time put your site at a much higher risk of security breaches. That being said, it’s vital to really be on top of your site’s security measures.
It’s important to always back up your themes and plugins and ensure they are not outdated.
WordPress also provides other security plugins you can download to protect your site.
While WordPress provides a variety of resources to keep your site secure, your site is more likely to remain safe using Weebly since everything is done by the company.
Blogging on Weebly
Weebly provides a handful of features to help you start blogging. Like its other features, blogging on Weebly is also straightforward.
Weebly allows bloggers to add pages, categories, tags, a customized sidebar, and comments. Likewise, Weebly also allows you to schedule posts and provides options for SEO.
Weebly also offers its own email service called Weebly Promote. This is great for marketing and can drive more traffic to your site.
Blogging on WordPress
WordPress also provides the same features that Weebly provides. These include pages, categories, tags, SEO features, etc.
However, with WordPress, you can customize more content in your settings or through the use of plugins. This goes for marketing as well.
While there’s endless customization when blogging on WordPress, once again, plugins are a necessity.
Weebly or WordPress?
After weighing out the advantages and disadvantages to both Weebly and WordPress, Weebly ultimately serves as the best hosting platform. While WordPress is great for those who are more advanced, Weebly is great for the everyday blogger.
Weebly provides everything you need to start a website and saves you the stress of plugin costs and updates. With Weebly, you’ll also never have to worry about coding skills.
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