The 5 Best WordPress Alternatives of 2025

ByJoost Boer Updated on

Short on time and want the answer right away? Wix is the best WordPress alternative for most people because it strikes an excellent balance between functionality and ease of use.

While I'm a WordPress enthusiast through and through, I have to admit that the platform isn't the be-all and end-all. In fact, there are several completely legitimate reasons why you might want to look elsewhere:

  • More challenging to master than some alternatives. You don't need to be a technical genius to create a website with WordPress, but the fact remains that you'll still face something of a learning curve.
  • More time spent on maintenance. The WordPress core, your theme, and plugins… All things that need to be kept up-to-date to maintain your website's security.
  • Too many choices. WordPress is open source and powers more than 40% of all websites. This popularity means there are tens of thousands of plugins to choose from and thousands of themes. And then there's also the matter of choosing the right hosting provider. Sure, a site like WebsiteGecko can help you with all these questions, but the fact remains that the sheer number of options can be overwhelming for some people.

Just to be clear: no website builder or CMS is perfect. They all have their limitations. So make sure you carefully consider both the advantages and disadvantages of each WordPress alternative I mention below.

The 5 best WordPress alternatives

  • Wix – Best balance between user-friendliness and functionality
  • Webador – Best for complete beginners
  • Squarespace – Perfect balance between beautiful templates and simplicity
  • Shopify – Best for online stores
  • Ghost – Excellent alternative for online publishers

Wix – Best balance between user-friendliness and functionality

  • Website builder with ecommerce options
  • Excellent website editor
  • 100+ free site templates to choose from
  • Add unlimited number of products
Try for free

For most people, Wix is the best WordPress alternative. You can create attractive websites with minimal effort without sacrificing too much functionality.

Of course, Wix is a closed platform, so you can't add nearly as many plugins to your site as you can with WordPress, which is open source. Nevertheless, you can still create a wide variety of websites with it, particularly in the smaller and less complex segment.

Benefits of Wix

  • Easy to master. Despite the countless design options, the Wix editor works extremely well. It's well-designed, intuitive, and stable. All functionality within the Wix dashboard is logically organized and easy to find.
  • You can try it for free. And that's not all. You can also use Wix for free with a subdomain. This might be a good option for you if your site doesn't serve any business purposes.
  • Many design options. Both in terms of available templates and the customizations you can make yourself.
  • Add extra functionality to your site through the app marketplace. You have hundreds of apps to choose from – from booking systems to additional ecommerce features.
  • Beautifully designed templates. Few website builders offer sleeker templates than Wix.

Downsides of Wix

  • Not the cheapest option. The cheapest Wix plans aren't worth it for serious websites. Things only start getting worthwhile with their Combo plan, which costs €8.50 per month and includes 3GB of storage.
  • Switching templates is a nightmare. Wix's templates are very attractive. However, make sure you choose the right template from the start, because if you want to change later, you'll have to rebuild your entire website from scratch. This is a particularly glaring limitation that could be catastrophic for larger websites.
  • Not suitable for serious bloggers. Wix is fine for an occasional simple blog post. But don't expect to build a blog with it that will generate thousands of euros per month. The blogging capabilities fall significantly short for this purpose.

Wix pricing

  • Free. Try a free Wix plan with subdomain.
  • Connect Domain. €4.50 per month. You can connect your own domain name but you'll still have Wix advertisements on your site.
  • Combo. €8.50 per month. From this plan onwards, Wix is worth considering for business websites.

Useful resources

Webador – Best for complete beginners

  • Super easy for beginners
  • Fast loading times
  • Website builder and ecommerce platform in one
  • Perfect for small businesses
See price

Webador is an incredibly simple website builder that you should be able to master within 30 minutes (I'm not exaggerating). This tool has already managed to attract 120,000 customers.

Webador is only suitable for extremely simple websites that don't need much flexibility in terms of design and functionality. Think of a basic business site that serves as an online business card or a small online store with just a handful of products.

Benefits of Webador

  • Extremely easy to learn. I managed to build a simple test site with 5 pages in less than an hour.
  • You can switch templates. Unlike Wix, you can give your site a completely new coat of paint with just one click.
  • Webador sites load quickly. Webador sites are exceptionally well-coded and run like lightning.

Downsides of Webador

  • Designs often look outdated. It's a matter of personal taste, but many of Webador's designs appear to be 5-10 years behind the times.
  • Functionality and customization options are minimal. There's no platform for apps/plugins, and when it comes to design possibilities, you're quite constrained within a rigid framework.

Webador pricing

  • Free. Try the tool for free on a subdomain. Not suitable for business-oriented websites.
  • Lite. 5 euros per month. You can connect a domain name, but you'll still have to deal with Webador advertisements. This plan doesn't support an online store either.
  • Pro. $8.50 per month. Suitable for simple business websites, but you're limited to selling only 10 products on an online store.
  • Business. 17 euros per month. No restrictions.

Useful Resources

Squarespace – Great balance between beautiful templates and simplicity

  • Very attractive templates
  • Easy to use editor
  • Good for simple websites
  • Use code START10 for 10% discount
Try for free

Squarespace is almost as easy to use as Webador but has considerably more striking designs.

Webnode is an American company that now counts millions of people among its customers and primarily focuses on independent entrepreneurs (designers, coaches, personal trainers, online store owners).

Benefits of Squarespace

  • Beautiful templates. When it comes to appearance, in my opinion they're the best of all website builders.
  • Super easy to learn. It shouldn't take more than an hour to get the hang of the platform.
  • Perfect for multilingual websites. No additional plugins required.

Downsides of Squarespace

  • Expensive. Significantly pricier than WordPress and Webador.
  • Extremely high prices for domain names. Approximately twice the market price.

Squarespace pricing

  • Personal. 11 euros per month. Ideal for simple personal websites.
  • Business. 17 euros per month. With this plan, you get access to comprehensive website analytics and can accept payments.
  • Commerce Basic. 24 euros per month. No more transaction fees associated with your customers' payments.

Useful resources

Shopify – Best for online stores

  • Perfect for web shops of all sizes
  • Huge app store for extra functionality
  • Easy to use
  • Decent prices
See price

Unlike the other options in this overview, Shopify focuses exclusively on ecommerce. It's a robust platform that's extremely easy to learn. Compared to the WooCommerce WordPress combination, Shopify provides almost all the functionality you need out-of-the-box. There's no need to search for the right plugins for payment systems and similar features.

Benefits of Shopify

  • Extremely comprehensive ecommerce platform. The standard version of Shopify already meets the needs of the majority of small and medium-sized online stores. Any missing functionality can always be added through one of the thousands of apps available in the Shopify app store.
  • No restrictions on the number of products you can add. Some plans from other providers place limits on the maximum number of products allowed.
  • Established company with an excellent reputation. Shopify has been around for years and is the market leader in ecommerce.

Downsides of Shopify

  • Limited free themes. You'll (significantly) pay for the truly attractive themes.
  • Limited blogging capabilities. Inconvenient if you want to attract customers through content marketing.

Shopify pricing

  • Basic. 21 euros per month. For the most simple online stores.
  • Shopify. 59 euros per month. For growing online stores or businesses that also sell in a physical retail location.
  • Advanced. 289 euros per month. For growing online stores with multiple employees that need advanced reporting capabilities.

Useful resources

Ghost – Excellent Alternative for Online Publishers

Ghost CMS

Ghost is a relatively unknown CMS that has managed to build a small but dedicated group of loyal fans since its founding in 2013. Ten years later, you'll find only a few hundred thousand Ghost websites on the worldwide web. It focuses on professional publishing with open source tools.

It's used by both individual bloggers and large organizations. The business model revolves around a free, open source core application, funded by a premium platform.

Benefits of Ghost

  • Well-designed user interface. Easy to pick up, especially compared to WordPress
  • Speed. Ghost is built on Node.js, which is known for its speed and efficiency. This is beneficial for your visitors and great for SEO.
  • Pure focus on content. Ghost is ideal for bloggers, writers, and publishers, as it offers a distraction-free writing experience and primarily focuses on creating and managing content.

Downsides of Ghost

  • Limited functionality. Ghost can't match the extensive features or plugins offered by WordPress.
  • Learning curve. Setting up and customizing Ghost isn't extremely easy.
  • Cost. Ghost can get expensive when you use their premium platform.

Cost of Ghost

  • Starter. $9 per month.
  • Creator. $25 per month.

Things to consider when choosing a WordPress alternative

I regularly hear of people who turned their backs on WordPress only to reluctantly return later. The reason for this is often that they miss the customization options as well as the fact that for almost any website functionality you can think of, there's a plugin available.

Many people's aversion to WordPress often stems from choosing the wrong WordPress theme or plugins. Make a mistake here, and your WordPress experience can truly become a nightmare.

If you want to give WordPress another try, I have a few resources here that can help you:

Important note: When choosing a WordPress alternative, keep this in mind:

  • What functionality do you need? Not just now, but also a year from now. Consider things like implementing a reservation system.
  • What is your budget? Some website builders can quickly end up costing 2-3 times more per month than a WordPress website.
  • Scalability. Does the platform align with your ambitions? For example, if you have an online store that eventually needs to generate millions in revenue, then Shopify is a considerably better choice than Webador, for instance.

In conclusion

Here are the best WordPress alternatives once more:

  • Wix – Best balance between user-friendliness and functionality
  • Webador – Best for complete beginners
  • Squarespace – Perfect balance between beautiful templates and simplicity
  • Shopify – Best for online stores
  • Ghost – Excellent alternative for online publishers
Joost Boer

Joost has been building websites since 2014. On WebsiteGecko he shares practical advice on creating a profitable website, WordPress and web hosting.