Hostinger Website Builder Review: Easy and Affordable
The Hostinger Website Builder is a tool that positively surprised me. In my opinion, it can compete with the better website builders out there.
Hostinger Website Builder review overview
Simplicity
Takes half a day to master. Convenient grid system.
Functionality
Especially suitable for simple websites (online portfolios).
Costs
About 2-3 times cheaper than competitors.
Our score:
4.5 / 5
Benefits
Disadvantages
Hostinger is a company that specializes in WordPress hosting and performs well in this area. So why would they want to venture into developing, maintaining, and marketing a website builder?
The answer to that question is probably: because they can.
Hostinger manages to deliver an elegant product that works intuitively and offers a nice collection of templates.
Of course, you'll be limited both on functional and aesthetic aspects – but that's par for the course with website builders.
To find out whether the Hostinger Website Builder is the right platform for your website, I wrote this review. So keep reading to learn more.
The Hostinger Website Builder: a brief overview
The Hostinger Website Builder is an all-in-one platform designed to simplify the process of creating and managing websites. It specifically targets users with limited technical knowledge. It's developed by Hostinger, a hosting provider with more than 2 million active users.
Hostinger's website builder offers an easy drag-and-drop interface that allows users to design websites without having to write any code. The platform targets individuals, small businesses, and professionals who want to establish an online presence quickly and affordably.
First, you choose one of the dozens of website templates or let AI put together a site for you.
Hostinger promotes their website maker primarily for complete beginners. WordPress sites ultimately remain their bread and butter.
Their Website Builder offers a good alternative for people who want to get a simple site online with minimal effort, and who simultaneously don't want to deal with the high prices of website builders like Wix and Squarespace.
Hostinger Website Builder: designs and functionality
Hostinger offers a bunch of excellent designs to choose from. You can also use their AI tool to create a starting point for your website. Their editor is intuitive.
Hostinger templates
Hostinger's selection of templates is extensive and diverse, and in my opinion, is not far behind that of more established website builders like Squarespace and Wix.
There are approximately 160 templates to choose from and practically every website type is covered.
The templates are beautifully designed but in my opinion they rely a bit too much on animations – elements that only appear when you scroll down and such.
However, this is a bit nitpicking because you can simply turn off these animations if you so desire.
The editor
The Hostinger Editor doesn't do anything groundbreaking. If you've worked with a tool like Wix before, you won't encounter many surprises.
You can easily add sections and make them higher or lower, change background colors and add elements such as buttons and images.
Hostinger works with a grid system that allows you to place elements practically anywhere on your web pages. You pick up an element and just drag it around.
The Hostinger Website Builder is easy to learn. But if you're having trouble figuring it out, you can always watch Hostinger's YouTube tutorial:
Website-wide changes
With the Hostinger Website Builder, you can also easily add website-wide changes. Think about turning animations on and off, adjusting your color palette, or modifying your fonts.
This was as easy as I had expected. The only small point for improvement, in my opinion, concerns the colors: it would be easier if you could also switch between ready-made color palettes instead of having to adjust each color on your website separately.
E-commerce functionality
You can create an online store with the Hostinger Website Builder where you can add up to 500 physical or digital products.
All the basic functionality that a webshop needs is there: you can manage orders, configure shipping and add VAT. You can also add discounts to your products.
Should you use Hostinger for an online store that you expect to generate tens of thousands of euros per month? No. The tool is just a bit limited for that. For big ecommerce ambitions, I recommend choosing one of the following dedicated ecommerce software solutions.
For an online store with more of a hobby-like character, however, the Hostinger Website Builder is more than adequate.
Building an AI site
Hostinger is pushing the AI functionality of their Website Builder quite strongly.
I found it to be a decent tool but I still prefer choosing a template. The AI-generated designs are a bit bland and interchangeable.
That being said, the AI functionality is perfect for people who have a hard time picking a template.
Add extra apps and tools
The Hostinger Website Builder lacks an online app/plugin store that competitors like Wix do have.
This is a shame, because this way you might outgrow their tool a bit faster than would have been necessary.
Hostinger's customer service
In comparison with many other website builders, Hostinger's customer service is quite good – as long as your expectations aren't too high.
Look, Hostinger is a company that targets the masses with their services and offers them for next to nothing. Of course, you can't expect to be treated with kid gloves.
Hostinger is a well-oiled machine that wants to keep the pressure on their support team as low as possible. That's why you always speak with an AI assistant first. If you can't resolve your issue after that, you may chat with a human. Its support is available 24/7.
In our Hostinger web hosting review you can learn more about my experience with their customer service.
Examples of websites made with the Hostinger Website Builder
c-gem.org.in
sparrowfliestatttoo.com
diplomaticlawncare.com
Hostinger Website Builder costs: affordable compared to competition
Hostinger is known as a budget web host and this is also reflected in the pricing for their website builder.
There are two website builder plans:
The most essential differences between the two plans lie in the AI and ecommerce functionality. The cheaper plan does not have a built-in AI Image Generator or AI Writer, and you also cannot create online shops with it.
Both plans have attractive promotional rates, and after renewal cost €5.99 and €7.99 per month respectively.
To put this in perspective:
| Package 1 | Package 2 | Package 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | €5.99 per month | €7,99 | N/A |
| Wix | €11 p/m | €22 p/m | €34 p/m |
| Squarespace | €11 p/m | €17 p/m | €24 p/m |
| Webador | €8.50 per month | €17 p/m | N/A |
The bottom line is that if you choose a website builder like Hostinger, you get user-friendliness and easy site maintenance at the expense of complete freedom in terms of design, functionality, and scalability.
With the Hostinger Website Builder (or any other website maker), you find yourself in a highly structured environment. On one hand, this is nice because little can go wrong, and even as a complete beginner, you can have your own site up and running in no time.
At the same time, this will become increasingly constraining for some people over time. Especially for those who want to transcend the proverbial “digital business card” and outfit their site with more complex functionality.
When you become a customer at Hostinger, you can try both their website builder and set up a WordPress site. You can also connect your sites to a temporary domain. If necessary, you can always test both platforms with them, should you still have any doubts about which is the best choice for you.
Conclusion: ideal for beginners who want a simple site for a fair price
My expectations for the Hostinger Website Builder weren't very high, but in the end I was quite impressed.
It's an easy-to-learn tool that's ideal for complete beginners who want to launch a beautiful, simple website with minimal time and effort. It's particularly well-suited for portfolio websites and other straightforward business or personal websites.
I'm also impressed with their pricing. What always slightly annoys me is that website builders often are so expensive. Not Hostinger: with them, you can use a website builder for less than ten euros per month, which even allows you to launch a simple online store.
A missed opportunity is the absence of an app marketplace and an online community.
Nevertheless, the Hostinger Website Builder gets my recommendation.
