What’s trending in the UAE? Website Builders!
Bootstrapping a business entails certain challenges that you may not be able to overcome initially. These tools are meant for that special phase of yours. Without any professional help, you’ll be able to set up a simple website for your start-up. Here you’ll see a brief review of the top nine website builder tools popular in Dubai – a place where web design services are gaining ground.
Website Builders Make You Independent
A Website Builder helps you build websites without any technical or expert assistance. How? They host a range of preset templates that fit almost any business in this world. You can select the template of your choice and drag and drop the elements using the mouse pointer. Forget the hassle of coding!
Therefore, what used to be an expensive, tedious and experts’ affair has now turned out to be something cheap and fast that any greenhorn can accomplish.
Most of the website builders give you the privilege to develop your website on their platform either for free (with ads) or as a trial version for a limited period of time.
Top 9 Website Builder Tools in UAE : 2018 Statistics
Let’s take a look at the Top nine website builders in the UAE.
As you can see from the chart above, Wix holds 35% of the market share after which comes 1&1 MyWebsite with 23.7%, Squarespace with 9.8% and Weebly with 8.8%.
As you can see from the chart above, Wix holds 35% of the market share. Then comes 1&1 MyWebsite with 23.7%, Squarespace with 9.8% and Weebly with 8.8%.
| Ranking | Technology | Websites Built | Market Share |
| 1 | Wix | 277 | 31.73% |
| 2 | 1&1 MyWebsite | 188 | 21.53% |
| 3 | Squarespace | 78 | 8.93% |
| 4 | Weebly | 70 | 8.02% |
| 5 | Adobe Muse | 61 | 6.99% |
| 6 | GoCentral | 54 | 6.19% |
| 7 | Google Sites | 28 | 3.21% |
| 8 | Webflow | 15 | 1.72% |
| 9 | Mobirise | 13 | 1.49% |
Review of the Top 9 Website Builder Tools
Let’s review the top nine website builder tools in UAE market. (as arranged in descending order based on the market share)
Wix
Probably the most-popular tool in the UAE for do-it-yourself beginners! Few of you reading this blog would have already used it. Adaptable to any devices and browsers, this builder is loaded with the latest themes, an app store and a unique AI algorithm to enable fast designing. The major flipside to Wix is the absence of a data backup function, which is not available so far.
Pros:
- Responsive to any device and browsers.
- Wide range of themes
- Fast designing
Cons:
- No data backup feature
Price:
- Connect Domain – $7/month (for Annual plan: $5/month)
- Combo – $14.50/month (for Annual plan: $11/month)
- Unlimited – $16/month (for Annual plan: $14/month)
- E-commerce – $20/month (for Annual plan: $17/month)
- VIP – $30/month (for Annual plan: $25/month)
1&1 My Website
Ideal for small and medium businesses, as it offers what others don’t – a Business Card. Ever dreamt of expanding your business to other nations? It is now possible. With the integrated translation feature for over 60 languages, you can converse with everyone in their own mother tongue. It allows you to touch base with their technical support team over phone and helps to migrate your existing operational blog to your site. Unlike Wix, 1&1 My Website offers data backup as well, so restoration is just as easy. Hey, it is too early to take a decision now! Sadly, they don’t offer any trial version. It does come with a money back guarantee though but time-bound.
Pros:
- Offers Business Card
- Integrated translation feature for 60 languages
- Allows you to migrate your personal blog
Cons:
- No trial version
Price: (for 12 months)
- Basic – $0.99/month for 1 month (then $9.99/month )
- Personal – $2.99/month for 2 months (then $6.99/month)
- Plus – $9.99/month for 3 months (then $19.99/month)
Squarespace
Intuitive! Squarespace knows what troubles a designer more. Yes, it is editing, of course. On this platform, editing content is easy as you can do it without having to go back to the administrator. It is feature-rich with integrated G-Suite and Getty Images plug-in. If you have plans to introduce a shopping cart for your business in the future, then this is just made for you. But what could appear as a downside would be the pricing factor for e-commerce. One of the other things that may irk you in future would be its clumsiness in dealing with too many menus.
Pros:
- Enables super easy editing of content
- E-commerce upgrade possible
Cons:
- E-commerce upgrade is a bit expensive
- Site management gets difficult with more menus
Price:
- Personal – $16/month (if choosing Annual plan: $12/month)
- Business – $26/month (if choosing Annual plan: $18/month)
- E-commerce basic – $30/month (if choosing Annual plan: $26/month)
- E-commerce advanced – $46/month (if choosing Annual plan: $40/month)
Weebly
It is just as easy to work as it can be pronounced, especially if you are a beginner with only some fire left to set up a website and no coding knowledge. Even if you plan to create a 100 page website, weebly won’t succumb. It is suitable for larger sites. It allows you to share login access with your teammates and integrate third party apps along with certain inbuilt ones. The only pitfall you could see in this is the design limitations. But this will not affect you as long as you don’t come across Wix.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Robust
Cons:
- Limited designs
Price:
- Starter – $14/month (for one-year plan: $18/month and two-year plan: $5/month)
- Pro – $18/month (for one-year plan: $12/month and two-year plan: $9/month)
- Business – $35/month (for one-year plan: $25/month and two-year plan: $21/month)
- Performance – $46/month (for one-year plan: $38/month and two-year plan: $35/month)
- Connect* – $7/month (for one-year plan: $4/month and two-year plan: $3/month)
- *Only available when you upgrade from a free plan
Google Sites
If you belong to the clan of Google fans, then you will like it for sure. But it lacks choice of themes and design features. If your intention is making money online with blogs, just stay away from this as you’ll find no provisions to key in the meta title and description. The interface it provides is pretty bare, with no dummy content. It is not easy to get a domain name of your choice on Google Sites unless you have a physical address. If you are looking at fluidic integration with G-Suite, then go for it.
Pros:
- Integrated G-Suite
Cons:
- Poor interface
- Difficult to get custom domain names
Price:
- G-Suite subscription plan – $5/month and $10/month
Webflow
Choose this only if you are a pro-designer. Sites built out of this, look sleek and modern as they are equipped with trendy designs. However, the template-choice is very limited and interface looks clumsy. Another cool thing about Webflow is their brilliant video tutorial, which of course is of no use to beginners.
Pros:
- Ideal for professional designers
Cons:
- Clumsy interface
Price:
- Basic – $15/month (for Annual plan: $12/month)
- CMS – $20/month (for Annual plan: $16/month)
- Business – $45/month (for Annual plan: $36/month)
Mobirise
Unlike Weebly or Wix, Mobirise is a software that you can install on your pc. So it comes with its own complications while hosting it; you’ll have to configure an FTP network. Other than that the features they offer are pretty much at par with the competition, like the drag and drop function, cool templates, etc.
Pros:
- Freedom work offline being a software
Cons:
- Manual FTP setup needed
Price:
- Software comes free but extensions have to be bought together or separately
- All-in-One package – $129
- WOW Slider – $29
- PayPal Shopping Cart – $29
- Icons – $19
- Code Editor – $69
GoCentral
GoCentral from GoDaddy is a pretty cheap option with an easy to use interface for DIY guys, that means it won’t take much time to set up your website with GoCentral. But what sucks is their features and designs, which won’t impress any pros.
Pros:
- Easy to use
Cons:
- Average features
Price:
(Billed annually)
- Personal – $5.99/month (1 month free trial)
- Business – $9.99/month (1 month free trial)
- Business Plus – $14.99/month (1 month free trial)
- Ecommerce – $19.99/month (1 month free trial)
Adobe Muse
Adobe Muse is meant for designers, not novices. It won’t scare you if you are acquainted with their designer softwares. It works pretty much the same fashion viz. copy and paste function, text synchronizing, etc. In fact unlike, Weebly and other builders, you can design the page yourself. It is intelligent with a wonderful list of widgets and extensions, all responsive. What you may probably find difficult would be the absence of templates, but it is no great thing to worry about as you can buy it from third-party sources.
Pros:
- Ideal for designers
Cons:
- Limited in-built templates
Price:
- Adobe Muse CC – $14.99/month
- Business – $29.99/month
- Creative Cloud – $49.99/month
Verdict
Although, it can never be denied that these revolutionary Website Builder Tools have made some people jobless, it actually helped a lot of small and medium-sized businesses make their online presence in a matter of day, on a shoestring budget. And why would they unnecessarily expend money in a website when their business is just budding?
It doesn’t mean designers are not necessary for building a website. They are important. But the need to hire them may arise only when your website gains importance and starts generating revenue.
Generally, website builders are opted by bloggers, students and young start-ups as it gives you control over your expenses. But they often fall short when it comes to serious business and in the long run. When you consider website customization, SEO, site-speed, professional look, storage, etc. these tools will never suffice. If you are looking to give your audience an immersive Mobile responsive online experience, we suggest you build a website with the help of a good web design company.
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GMI’s Research Team is a panel of knowledgeable experts from various fields such as digital marketing, social media, and web development, all united by a common goal—to educate. We enjoy exploring everything from the latest industry trends and emerging technologies to people and demographics, both in the UAE and beyond. Through our blog posts, we share valuable insights that help businesses and marketers stay informed and prepared for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
