Creating a website once required a high level of coding and design skills. Today, however, a new generation of web design tools have facilitated the creation of a professional-looking site even for people who don’t know how to code. From easy drag-and-drop buttons, to more intense features for the creative users or people that are good with HTML and CSS, these platforms have features for everyone.
Whether you are a small business owner looking to take your trade online for the first time or just someone looking to make a quick site, choosing an easy-to-use website building tool will be the key to help it really take off. This post will take you through some of the options to design a website, informing you about them so that you can understand their pros and cons as well as when might be the best scenario for each tool. By the time we reach the end of this post, you should have a better idea of which platform will be better for your project, budget and technical confidence.
What is website design software?
Web design software provides a collection of tools and applications that help with the creative process, management, development, testing and creation of websites. They’ve also advanced quite a bit, transitioning from highly complicated desktop applications with lots of code to user-friendly browser-based systems.
There is a handful of broad types that most website builders in 2025 and beyond fit into:
- Drag-and-Drop Builders: These are the most beginner-friendly, enabling you to visually build your site by dragging elements such as text boxes, images and buttons onto the page. Examples include Wix and Squarespace.
- CMS Platforms: Content Management Systems such as WP bring with them more freedom and power. They are highly customizable with themes and plugins, but are perhaps a bit more difficult to learn.
- E-commerce Platforms: Tools tailored to creating online stores, such as Shopify also come packaged with product management, payments and inventory integrated into them.
- Prototyping Tools: Professional designers need tools like Figma for wireframing, mocking-up and building interactive prototypes without having to write a single line of code.
These products enable you to realize your vision, and the web is easier for everybody.
How to choose the right website design tool
The best platform to choose will largely be a matter of what it is that you are looking for. Here are the best of the tools for building websites in 2025, categorized by what they do most effectively.
Wix: Best for beginners and creative freedom
Wix has the distinction of being known as one of the most intuitive and flexible website builders, thanks to its user-friendly interface. Its heart and soul is the powerful drag-and-drop editor that offers you total control over where every element appears on your page. This freedom works really well for creative people who want the freedom to create a completely personalized site that isn’t limited by standard templates.
Key Features:
- Intuitive Drag-and-Drop Editor: Add text, images and other page elements exactly where you want right on your page with pixel perfect accuracy.
- Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence): Wix can create something personalized for you in just a few minutes with the information you add to your site if you don’t want to spend time constructing the site yourself.
- Extensive Template Library: Select a template from more than 800 beautiful designs covering various categories.
- App Market: Optimize your site with hundreds of third-party apps for bookings, e-commerce, marketing and more.
Wix is a great all-in-one portfolio site that’s perfect for small business, freelancers and more. It has strong e-commerce and booking tools for a blog (you can sell things directly on your site), whether you’re a cafe or a large apparel chain. But with so many choices, it can be overwhelming for total novices, and if you select a template, there’s no going back unless you start from scratch.
Squarespace: Best for beautiful design and portfolios
When you hear Squarespace, the first thing that comes to mind is beautiful, modern webpages without the technical side. It is the platform most photographers, artists, and designers gravitate toward when they want to show off their work in an appealing online portfolio. Though its editor is less flexible than Wix’s, structured sections mean that your site will always look sleek and professionally-designed, no matter how little design input you make.
Key Features:
- Award-Winning Templates: We’ve heard from countless entrepreneurs who have successfully scaled their businesses with beautiful Squarespace templates.
- Strong Built-in Features: Everything you need (blogging, e-commerce, forms) is built right into the site.
- User-Friendly Editor: Its section-based editor lets you organize site’s elements easily and quickly in designing while keeping a consistent look.
- Excellent Mobile Experience: Your squarespace site is automatically mobile optimized to look great on any smart phone, tablet or computer.
If what you care about most is looking good, Squarespace is it. It’s also a fantastic option for bloggers and small online stores. It’s a gorgeous, curated experience that allows your work to speak for itself. A small amount of creative freedom can be sacrificed for such convenience. The platform also has a limited app ecosystem, depending more on its strong native support.
Shopify: Best for e-commerce
When it comes to selling products online, there’s one name you probably already know: Shopify. It’s an all-in-one e-commerce platform built with you in mind, from the ground-up to support everything you need to start, run and grow your online store. From inventory management to payments, from local marketing to shipping and customer engagement, there is a tool for every job in Shopify’s app store.
Key Features:
- All-in-One E-commerce Solution: Access and manage all your product, inventory, payments, and shipping in on one place power-packed dashboard.
- Scalability: Shopify is suitable for merchants of various sizes, including small start-ups and huge organizations that process thousands of orders per day.
- Extensive App Store: Choose from the playground of thousands of apps to build your store with unique features such as subscription services, loyalty programs and advanced marketing automation.
- Multi-Channel Selling: You can take your products one step further than just selling on your website by listing them through social media channels, direct to an online marketplace as well as in person with Shopify POS.
Shopify is a no brainer for any e-commerce business. It has an extensive feature set and is scalable, so it will last as your business grows. The platform is really geared toward sales, so it lacks some of the content management features you’d find in WordPress or Squarespace for blogging. Having some free apps on your store might be also getting a little bit more expensive by adding paid application.
WordPress: Best for flexibility and scalability
WordPress is the world’s favourite Content Management System (CMS) and is used to power 43% of all websites online. Being open source, you own and control your site fully. WordPress – With a huge ecosystem of themes and plugins, WordPress can be customized to do just about anything, from a simple blog all the way up to a complex social network or large-scale e-commerce site (via the WooCommerce plugin).
Key Features:
- Unlimited Customization: Literally tens of thousands of themes and more than 60,000 plugins are available to design your site exactly as you please.
- Full Ownership: Since it is self-hosted, you own all the files and data on your website.
- Powerful Blogging Tools: WordPress was born as a blogging platform, and its tools for content management and content creation are still better than any of the other options.
- Strong SEO Capabilities: Many plugins such as Yoast SEO will assist you to optimize your site for search engines, and increase organic traffic.
WordPress is better suited for those who want the maximum freedom, and are comfortable with being a little more tech savvy. It’s great for sites with content, blogs, or businesses that will need custom, complex features in the future. Key disadvantages include a learning curve unlike all-in-one builders, you’ll have to secure hosting, install the software and maintain updates and security yourself.
Figma: Best for professional designers and teams
Figma is a collaborative design and prototyping tool, not a website builder like the other tools on this list. It’s the industry standard for professionals who design wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototypes without jumping directly into code development. Its browser-based tool lets you and your team members work in the same design file at the same time.
Key Features:
- Real-Time Collaboration: Design files can be opened, viewed and edited by multiple designers, developers and stakeholders at the same time.
- Powerful Vector Editing Tools: Make complex illustrations and scalable design systems with ease, using the familiar vector editor.
- Interactive Prototyping: Create clickable prototypes to simulate the user experience and test out flows before writing any code.
- Developer Handoff: Code snippets and design specs can be fetched from Figma, so no need for Zepplin, etc. it’s straightforward to find the element in your prototype once you see your web-page.
Figma is a must-have for pro design teams and indies that are doing complex web and app work. It simplifies the product design process from brainstorm to developer handoff. Keep in mind. Figma is a design tool only, you cannot build and launch a live site using it. The finished designs added in Figma will need a wig and stage to be constructed by a developer or made using a website builder.
Find the right platform for your vision
Selecting the best website design tool is going to have a big impact, over time saving you both work and money as you create that perfect final design. For novices and small businesses, all-in-one builders like Wix and Squarespace make it simple, not to mention affordable to get online without hiring a professional. For those, who are concentrate on selling products, Shopify offers to scale and make an unforgettable looking e-commerce. And for those who want complete freedom and control over design, the power of WordPress can’t be ignored.
Think about your individual requirements, technical ability and future plans. Many of these services provide free trials, giving you time to try out the service before making a decision. Choose the tool that matches your vision, and you’ll be a lot closer to having the website you want which helps you accomplish what you set out to achieve.
Also Read: Digital Marketing VS Website Design
