Weebly vs WordPress are two names that you might have encountered when searching for tools to build a website. Both are widely-used platforms that power numerous types of sites.
Choosing the right platform is important since it has a major impact on building and managing your site. However, it can be confusing to decide which one to use, especially for those with little to no experience in building a website.
In this article, we will look closely at what a website platform is and discuss six crucial factors to consider when choosing between Weebly vs WordPress.
What Is a Website Platform?
A website platform is a term used to describe a set of software utilized to put together a website. Website owners can use various types of platforms to create and manage their web pages, with the most popular being content management systems (CMS) and website builders.
CMSs and website builders are highly popular because they enable users to quickly and easily build a website without having to code it from scratch. Therefore, more people can own and run their own websites regardless of technical expertise.
Nowadays, users are offered a plethora of choices when building a website. There are numerous CMSs and website builders in the market, and sometimes it can be hard to decide which one to use.
That is why it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each option to help you make an informed decision.
Factors to Consider When Comparing Weebly vs WordPress
Before choosing between Weebly vs WordPress, it is crucial to identify various aspects of both platforms and compare them to your preferences and needs. Let’s look at how these tools perform in the six most crucial factors.
Hosting Options
In order for a website to go live, its website files need to be hosted on a service called web hosting. The hosting methods available may vary depending on which website platform you choose.
WordPress is an open-source CMS that requires you to install the website in your own web hosting. In other words, this is a self-hosted solution. Although it adds another step to your website-building process, WordPress offers users more freedom to choose their own hosting provider. That become one of the reasons why WordPress is often recommended for making websites for some people.
The ability to choose the best provider can give you many benefits, considering that hosting is one of the essential parts of a website’s performance. It’s also a budget-friendly option since you can look for more affordable hosting.
Self-hosting your website also means that you own all of your website content without being bound to a third party’s terms of service.
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On the other hand, Weebly is a completely hosted solution. It includes a web hosting service in its pricing plans. This benefits those who prefer the convenience and don’t want to spend more time looking for a provider and going through the registration and hosting maintenance process.
Depending on your purpose and technical expertise, you might look for a more hassle-free website building experience regardless of price and flexibility.
However, this means your website would be highly dependent on Weebly’s hosting performance, and it might be harder to migrate to another provider as your website scales.
Ease of Use
Nowadays, most website platforms offer an intuitive user interface so that a site can be ready to use in minutes without any coding or lengthy design process. Managing a website is also easy with simple configuration menus.
WordPress users can start building their website by choosing a pre-made template and customizing it later.
The WordPress theme customizer lets you change various elements, including color scheme, background, and header style. Users with more advanced technical skills can also customize code to make their website appearance more unique.
Additionally, although WordPress requires you to install the CMS to your hosting, most providers offer a feature that lets you complete the process in just a few clicks.
Users who choose Weebly can benefit from their drag-and-drop page builder. This is a highly useful feature, especially for those with little to no website development experience. All you need to do is choose a feature block like buttons, gallery, or contact form, then place it in a preferred section on your page.
The customization process can be done with a few simple clicks. Weebly also doesn’t require any additional setup or installation process. If you want to create a website quickly, then Weebly is a better option.
Flexibility
The degree of customization users get is the main difference between WordPress and Weebly. This is important, as you’ll want a unique website to express specific characteristics that match your branding and site purpose.
Since WordPress is open-source software, users have limitless possibilities when it comes to customizing their websites. This ranges from changing the site’s front-end to adding functionalities and improving performance by editing code.
If you can code, then it is entirely possible to build any type of website using WordPress. Considering that WordPress powers around 455 million websites globally as of 2021, the platform possesses great potential.
On the other hand, Weebly does not give as much flexibility to its users. Most of its core functionalities are locked from public access, meaning you can’t modify them. The freedom to integrate third-party tools to your website is also limited.
With this option, however, there is less probability of encountering errors since Weebly manages the platform and decides which software is used. This makes website building and maintenance tasks more streamlined and hassle-free, which is ideal for beginners.
Cost
Budget is one of the most important factors to consider before choosing a website platform. The price you pay might depend on your purpose of creating a website, your available budget, and the degree of features you expect to get from the platform.
Users can download WordPress for free on their website. The cost of running a WordPress site mainly stems from getting a hosting service and registering a domain name. Users might also pay an additional fee if they use premium themes and plugins.
Because of that, the cost of running a WordPress website varies considerably depending on how the web owner chooses to run it. The best approach is to conduct research and create a cost estimation before building a WordPress website.
Weebly as a website builder has a more fixed cost structure. It offers four different pricing plans ranging from the free basic plan to the Performance plan that costs $26/month. These pricing options offer different features and functionalities that match users’ varying needs and preferences.
Since Weebly shows you a clear price list and what features come with them, planning a website budget is a lot easier, even though it can be more costly.
Features and Plugins
Plugins are additional software that gives your website additional functionalities or changes how they work. For example, some plugins can add eCommerce functionalities, while others make your site load faster.
WordPress has thousands of plugins with various functionalities. They can help website owners with different tasks such as enhancing search engine optimization (SEO), adding payment gateways, or analyzing performance.
The WordPress community develops these plugins, ranging from free to premium ones. Therefore, WordPress users can easily find plugins that fit their needs. However, there is a downside to having many different developers creating these plugins.
For example, some plugins are not compatible with others and might cause errors in your WordPress site. Errors caused by plugins are common occurrences in the WordPress community, and there are numerous tutorials and forum threads dedicated to troubleshooting them.
On the other hand, Weebly doesn’t offer as many plugins as WordPress. However, all of them are developed specifically for the platform. Users are less likely to encounter problems when using these additional apps for their websites.
Weebly apps are categorized into different categories, including eCommerce, social, communication, and marketing. If you only need to add standard functionalities to your website, the Weebly App Center provides a good selection.
Customer Support
There is always the chance of encountering a problem when creating a website, and sometimes, you can’t troubleshoot a problem alone. That is why having helpful customer support can be a determining factor when choosing a website platform.
WordPress doesn’t have a dedicated support team to help users troubleshoot problems. However, it has a large and active community where people can discuss and share their knowledge regarding how the platform works.
Many users visit these forums to search for discussion threads or submit questions about an error they encounter. There are also numerous online articles and tutorials discussing common WordPress issues, making it relatively easy to find a solution for your problem.
However, Weebly is a better option if you prefer having a dedicated and expert team to help you troubleshoot a problem. They offer phone support, live chat, and 24/7 email support. Their website also has an extensive library of guides where users can find helpful information regarding the platform.
Conclusion
Weebly and WordPress are two big names in the website platform industry. They both enable users to build various types of websites easily and quickly. However, they cater to different needs and preferences, so it is important to know more about their characteristics before making your decision.
In this article, we have learned about the definition of a website platform and how important it is for your website building process. We also looked at six essential factors to consider when choosing between Weebly vs WordPress, including:
- Hosting options
- Ease of use
- Flexibility
- Cost
- Features and plugins
- Customer support
Based on the factors mentioned above, it is safe to conclude that WordPress is suitable for those with slightly more advanced technical skills that prefer a high degree of flexibility.
On the other hand, Weebly is a great option for beginners who want to build their website fast and value convenience above complete customizability.
Hopefully, this article has helped you decide which website platform best suits your needs. Good luck with your website creation journey.
