Weebly vs WordPress is arguably the most impressive battle. Which one do you pick? Both these services have come a long way despite the competition, and they both provide excellent services. But at the end of the day, choosing the right platform depends solely on your budget, goals, needs, and wants.
While WordPress.org owns precisely 43.3% of websites on the entire web and steadily growing, Weebly stands at 0.6% of websites on the whole internet and is gaining popularity due to its easy-to-use platform and beginner-friendly website creation method.
This article discusses the critical difference between Weebly and WordPress and everything you need to know before choosing the right platform for you or your company.
The difference between Weebly and WordPress
Ease of use – WordPress may seem intimidating
Weebly is hands-down one of the most uncomplicated website builders for both personal and business websites to exist in this day and age. With its beginner-friendly drag and drop editor, you can move around contents to your site and create your website without using any types of codes at all.
Weebly also has a very supportive team that assists you if you ever need help with creating your website and even after.
On the other hand, WordPress.org needs a lot of work before getting your site up and running. WordPress is a DIY platform where you have control over everything that has to do with your website. The steps to create a WordPress website starts with finding a domain name of your preference and purchasing a web hosting service.
After installing WordPress from a good website hosting service, you can find plugins that help you create or personalize your website the way you want it. Learning codes is essential if you decide to build your website on WordPress to modify codes effectively.
Even though Weebly is easier to use, you can create a more advanced and professional-looking website on WordPress.org.
Flexibility and design – Is Weebly limited?
WordPress is an open-source website builder, so you have the freedom to design and modify your website using codes and free plugins. There are thousands of themes on WordPress to choose from, and WordPress has both free themes and WordPress Premium themes which may cost extra and are not intended for people working with a tighter budget.
With its flexibility, there are high chances of malware sneaking through your purchase from websites that appear shady. You have to make sure you buy templates of your liking from reputable sources.
WordPress also offers various plugins that can rightfully upgrade the functionality of your website and add more flexibility to it. Still, again, you have to make sure it doesn’t negatively affect the performance of your website by testing it out before deploying it since plugins are well known to cause issues beyond the developer’s controls.
On the other hand, Weebly is not an open-source website, so it doesn’t offer as much flexibility as WordPress, but that doesn’t mean you can’t edit all of the codes. You can change the code using Weebly’s code editor if you know CSS codes and HTML. Weebly offers over 55 templates that are all free to use, and they also have a tutorial on how to customize its themes.
With Weebly, you can easily pick out one of its free themes, add it to your website directly and effortlessly, and work on building the perfect website with the range of modern themes they offer. Unfortunately, there are no Weebly premium themes since public access is closed off.
Pricing – All you need to know
WordPress hosting cost
You can build your website with WordPress.org by paying for your hosting service, which will cost you around $7/month. But if you seem to be on a tight budget, you can easily find WordPress hosting for cheaper. You will also need to buy a domain name before proceeding, which costs around $10-$15/year.
Next, if you’re planning to buy a premium template, it can cost you around $30-$60, depending on the provider. You can also opt for free plugins, but if you’re willing to go premium? Most premium plugins’ costs range from $15-$50.
Your entire investment may vary and can reach up to $200 depending on the plugins and templates you choose for your website. And if you end up hiring a coder or someone to help you build your website, the cost tends to go even higher.
Weebly hosting cost
Weebly’s hosting cost is relatively more compared to WordPress. Weebly starts with a free basic plan that is suitable if you want to create a primary site with few features.
The three premium plans are as follows:
Connect
Connect starts at $5/ month when paid annually, and it offers a custom domain like all the rest of the plans.
Pro plan
The pro plan starts at $12/ month when paid annually. It offers a range of features like Phone support, HD video and audio, password protection, advanced site stats, acceptance of payments through a 3rd party provider, and unlimited storage.
Business plan
The business plan is priced at $25/month if paid annually. It offers all the features that the pro plan offers and more features like Membership registrations and targets customers that are sellers with their advanced ecommerce features.
User support – Customer support
Weebly is known for its 24/7 customer support, and they have help guides to help you get through any problems related to your website.
On the other hand, WordPress does not offer customer support, but they have an online web forum that lets you post any questions and wait for someone to reply. However, it is not guaranteed that you’ll be offered assistance. The best way is to find a coder to help you with your problems regarding WordPress.
Conclusion
Weebly is easily the best website builder for beginners and small businesses alike since they offer a hassle-free way to launch your website. Weebly can build you a great website if you’re okay with the limitations.
On the other hand, even though WordPress needs a lot of work and hours spent on research to build your website, its flexibility makes all the work worth it.
