How to Build a Website in 2026: The Best Tools for Beginners

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You want a website — that part’s clear. What’s less clear is how to actually make it happen if you’ve never built one before. Fortunately, many of today’s website products are built for beginners with no design or coding experience.

In this article, you will learn about the popular options available to the novice website builder, and put yourself in a position to make your dream website a reality!

The democratization of website creation

In the early years of the internet, building websites was a very manual process that required skilled designers, coders and copywriters — and the price tag for even a simple website could be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Today the barrier of entry has been leveled so that anyone with basic computer skills can create a functional, aesthetically appealing website. And the costs are a small fraction of what they once were!

How did we get here? Three advancements — drag and drop functionality, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors and predesigned templates — have eliminated the need for the most laborious and technical skills once required for every website build. And the emergence of AI is showing the potential to further this evolution.

What You See is What You Get (WYSIWYG) Editors

Early in the days of the Internet, everything you saw on a page — text, images, graphics — all required code to determine how the content appeared. HTML code was required to dictate image size, font style and size, graphic placement and so on. WYSIWYG editors provided users with a familiar, MS Word-like interface that made content additions as easy as creating a document. Users can layout the content the way they wanted it to appear and the coding is done in the background. WSIWYG editors have made the creation and maintenance of web pages a task that just about anyone could do.

Drag and Drop Functionality

Similar to WYSIWYG editors, drag and drop functionality allows novice users to manipulate elements of the website layout and structure with their mouse. Drag and drop functionality is a foundational aspect of what makes today’s website tools so accessible to the novice. Whether you are adding pages, building menus, or manipulating layouts, you are using drag and drop functionality to seamlessly execute tasks that once could take hours if not days.

Predefined Website Templates

Long ago, a website began as a blank canvas that required graphic designers to bring to life via a prototype — a time-intensive and costly process.

Today, you can skip the designer thanks to the availability of website templates — pre-configured designs that can be easily adapted to just about any use case. For instance, Wix, a popular website builder offers a wide array of templates that can be customized for just about any purpose, including but not limited to:

• Online stores of all kinds
• B2B companies
• Trades
• Consultants
• News and events
• Local stores and service providers
• Blogs

These templates are designed to ensure that you have all the relevant functionality and design aesthetics that are commonly used with other websites in your niche, but don’t lock you into a cookie cutter design: you can personalize your template with your choice of colors, fonts, images, videos and content.

Most website builders offer a variety of themes and templates for free as well as premium versions that can carry a one-time or ongoing cost.

The growing influence of AI on website creation

Artificial intelligence has the potential to make an already simplified process even easier. If the potential of AI is realized, the development of a website will require nothing more than some well-thought-out prompts. Many of the leading website products on the market are incorporating AI functionality into their platforms. It may take some time before AI can be relied on to fully automate the process, but the early returns are very promising. Learn more about how AI is reshaping website creation.

Website builders & WordPress: The go-to options for your first website

Now that you know about important developments in the way websites are built today, let’s take a look at the popular products available on the market — website builders and WordPress — so you can confidently take the next step in your journey!

These platforms have all the bells and whistles — design templates, WSWIG editors, drag and drop functionality, AI functionality — that make website building accessible to the beginner, but they also have some key differences.

Website builders

Website builders are all-in-one platforms that provide the novice with all the necessary components for you to build and manage your website: predesigned templates, hosting, media libraries and more. Popular website builders include Wix, Shopify, and Squarespace.

Pros and cons of website builders

Website builders offer a lot of benefits to the novice, such as a user-friendly interface, a single point of contact for support and billing and predictable pricing. However, once you become a customer of a website builder, migrating to a new provider can be extremely difficult if not impossible. If you decide down the road that you want to try a different website builder, you will likely need to rebuild your entire website.

How much do website builders cost?

Website builders are subscription-based services that run from roughly $15 a month for the base plan up to $50 and above for more advanced plans. To determine which plan is right for you, first think through your needs. Look at existing websites that represent your vertical or niche. Take stock of the size of the site, the functionality and the volume of media (images, videos, and audio). Make a list of your requirements and then compare plans across website builders.

Some of the considerations that will determine which plan is best for you include:

• Level of Customization: The more customization involved with your website the more you may pay. Lower tired plans may offer very basic templates with limitations on design and branding — which may be perfect for you!
• Storage: Limits on storage speak to how much content – pages, video, images, audio, apps – you will be able to have on your site.
• Bandwidth: The more users that are simultaneously accessing your website, the more bandwidth you will need. A website with global reach that gets millions of visits a month has significantly higher bandwidth needs than a website for a local business that may just get a few thousand.
• Functionality: Website builders often charge extra for features like online scheduling, credit card transactions and gated account access.
• Support: Higher tier plans will often come with more hands-on support while lower tier plans may provide community-only or limited email support.

As your website grows, you may find yourself needing to upgrade to a higher-priced plan — a good problem to have. Scalability is a particularly important consideration with ecommerce websites, which can cost you thousands of dollars a month as they grow beyond a certain point.

WordPress

Widely considered the ‘backbone’ of the Internet, WordPress is the most popular tool used to build websites today; according to a study on the website Themeisle, WordPress constitutes 43% of all websites in 2025, with the next closest product (Shopify) coming in at just 4.8% (source).

There is a lot of overlap between WordPress and website builders, however there is one key difference: WordPress is an open-source platform and website builders are proprietary. What does that mean? To access Wix website building tools, you must be a Wix customer. WordPress, however, is offered by many companies, including name.com, via a hosting service that you pay for monthly.

Pros and cons of WordPress

WordPress has thousands of free and premium templates as well as a massive library of plug-ins – software that you can install to enhance the usability and functionality of your website.

Because it is not a proprietary platform – it is open source and belongs to no single entity –  WordPress websites can be moved from one hosting provider to another if you decide to make a change in the future. This can be a huge benefit over website builders.

However, getting support for your WordPress website can be more challenging. While there is a seemingly endless amount of online resources – communities, forums, videos – there are no guarantees that your hosting provider will have dedicated resources to provide one-on-one support.

How much does WordPress cost?

WordPress hosting comes with a significantly lower price tag than most website builders. At name.com a WordPress monthly plan with unlimited storage, free daily backups and a free SSL certificate is just $6 a month. Similar to website builders, adding features to enhance your website may result in incremental costs.

WordPress vs. Website builders: Which one is best for you?

Both WordPress and website builders are great options for the novice. WordPress is more affordable and is portable if you decide to change hosting providers. However, if you prefer a solution that is a little less technical and offers more dedicated support, a website builder could be a better route.

Choosing the right domain name

Regardless of which product you use to build your website, one of the most important choices you’ll make is still one of the simplest — choosing a domain. Your domain name is your company’s digital address, and it must be instantly recognizable and relevant. The best names are short and easy to recall.

Standard .com domains typically cost around $12 for the first year, while specialized TLDs like .inc can run up to $350 annually. Also consider renewal fees when shopping for a domain.

Many website builders provide an easy way for you to find and register a domain name, so you won’t need to use a different service like a domain registrar. However, the cost of the domain may be marked up. If you do decide to buy your domain from a registrar like name.com, or you already own your domain, any reputable website builder will provide instructions for connecting that domain to your new website.

Custom email

A professional website deserves a professional email address. Using your own domain (like [email protected]) instantly makes your email appear more credible and trustworthy. As is the case with domains, many website builders will offer an email product (WordPress does not). Just be warned: not all email products are created equal. We have all become accustomed to products like Outlook and Gmail; it is important to know that the usability, functionality and accessibility these products offer may not be available with a proprietary email service.

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Summary

Building a website is now highly accessible to beginners, thanks to the “democratization” of web creation through tools like WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, drag-and-drop functionality, and pre-designed templates, which have eliminated the need for coding and graphic design expertise. These advancements have drastically lowered the cost of entry, and the growing influence of AI is expected to simplify the process even further, potentially requiring nothing more than well-thought-out prompts to generate a full website.

Website builders are subscription-based (typically $15 to over $50 per month) and offer a seamless, user-friendly experience with bundled services like hosting and support; however, they may make it extremely difficult to migrate your site to another provider. In contrast, WordPress is the most popular tool globally, and because it is open-source, it is highly portable between hosting providers and significantly more affordable (with hosting often starting around $6 per month). While WordPress offers a massive library of templates and plug-ins, support can be less dedicated, relying more on online resources and communities. Regardless of the platform chosen, beginners must also secure a recognizable domain name and consider setting up a professional, custom email address.

Sources:

TechRadar. Wix website builder review 2025. https://www.techradar.com/reviews/wix

WordPress. WordPress Market Share, Statistics, and More. https://wordpress.com/blog/2025/04/17/wordpress-market-share/