Best Website Builders For Mac

If you're looking for the best Mac website builder, the answer is Wix. During testing, Wix proved to be the best website builder for Mac users, scoring an impressive overall score of 4.8 out of 5, thanks to its easy-to-navigate user interface, massive feature list, and reasonably priced plans.

Rather than paying for Mac software, with Wix you pay a monthly fee – as low as $16 per month – which will allow you to create and publish your website on any platform, as it's hosted online. Wix offers exceptional deals and discounts, too, making it accessible to various budgets.

Since all of these web builders are hosted online, they work equally well with Macs and PCs. Therefore, aside from Apple compatibility, we've also considered some top priorities for Mac users, such as design features, ease of use, and customization options.

Trying to decide which one is best for your business isn't easy, though. Fortunately, we've put together a website builder quiz that can help you narrow down your search in just a few short questions.

In this guide:

• Top Website Builders for Mac
• Website Builders vs Mac Website Software
• Methodology: How We Find the Best Website Builders for Mac
• Verdict: What is the best website builder for Mac
• Frequently Asked Questions

Finding the right website builder has the power to make or break your online store. This is why we make sure every provider has undergone thorough research and user testing before they appear on our site.

When determining which is the best website builder for Mac users, we focused on a number of key metrics, including website features, design functionalities, value for money, customer support, customer satisfaction, and ease of use.

Then, after ranking the website builder against these key criteria in tests conducted this year, we award each provider with a unique set of scores. These results then help to inform us which solutions have the most value, and why.

As you can see, we take product research pretty seriously at Tech.co. If you'd like to know more about how we find you the best technology, learn more about our research process here.

Top Website Builders for Mac

The website builders we've rounded up don't actually require you to install anything from the Mac App Store, which is always nice to avoid when you can.

You access all of the website builders below through Safari, Chrome, or your preferred web browser of choice. This makes it quick and easy to create, edit and update a website – even if you're using a lower-powered MacBook Air, rather than a MacBook Pro.

Each website builder we rate is based on real-life use, with our testers having hands-on time with each service to work out what's great, and what's not so great.

Below are the top Mac Website Builders to come out of our testing:

• Wix – Best overall website builder
• Squarespace – Best for growing businesses
• GoDaddy – Best for quick setup
• Shopify – Best for selling online
• Hostinger – Best for uptime reliability
• WordPress – Best for blogging and publishing sites
• IONOS by 1&1 – Best for beginners
• Jimdo – Best value-for-money provider

Wix – Best overall website builder

After user testing its software and comparing it against the best solutions on the market, we've decided Wix is the most Mac-friendly website builder.

This is in part due to its massive feature catalog including a logo maker, CRM functionality, and its email and social marketing capabilities, helping Wix to a test-high 4.8/5 for features. But this shouldn't come as a shock, considering Wix is also the best website builder for small businesses as well as one of the easiest website builder for beginners, it's no surprise that the tool tops the charts for Mac users as well.

Wix is refreshingly easy to use, with an intuitive drag-and-drop system it's a great choice for new starters, as well as those with some experience. In fact, with our researchers awarding the platform a score of 4.4/5 for ease of use, it's one of the simplest to navigate on this list, sharing the top position with Duda.

If you're looking to spend some time away from the desktop, Wix also offers an impressive iOS app that lets users create and edit their website and manage their online store. This app is compatible with iPhones and iPads, making it accessible to all Apple users.

Wix users can also benefit from the ‘Wix App Market', which allows you to add functions to your site with just a click, from appointment booking to live chat. It also gives users powerful SEO tools to ensure that their website doesn't languish at the bottom of Google's search engine. For instance, Wix's Semrush keyword integration gives users access to over 21 billion keywords, and the platform's new SEO settings, which allow greater control over the process, definitely give businesses an advantage over their competitors.

Additionally, if you're new to website design and don't really know what you're doing, Wix's powerful ADI, dubbed Wix ADI, will design a website for you based on a few criteria you provide. Just answer a few quick questions and you'll be all set up fast and easy. The online tool supports Safari versions 5 to 16 flawlessly too, so its Mac compatibility is no concern.

Wix no longer offers a free version but there is a 14-day free trial. By opting for a paid package and you can have a professional-looking website up and running in minutes, for minimal cost. With Wix's value for money score is only 3.6/5, however, as its plans are significantly more expensive than WordPress (4.4/5) and GoDaddy (4.4/5).

While you'll have to pay to get the best from Wix, you can get started for free easily

Squarespace – Best for growing businesses

Squarespace boasts over 113 stunning website templates allowing businesses and entrepreneurs to whip up a professional-looking website in no time at all, and they are the linchpin of the service.

With an impressive selection of templates to choose from, there are plenty of options for Mac users for businesses in any industry. With pretty much every facet editable, there really is no limit to how your site can look with Squarespace, but that doesn't mean it's the best option for Macs.

While Squarespace offers a fantastic range of features for businesses looking to create a website that looks the part, the interface can be a little confusing for first-time users. Squarespace used to lag slightly behind Wix on this front with a score of just 4 out of 4, but our 2023 test results suggest that's a thing of the past, with both providers scoring 4.4/5 for ease of use – which is great news for Mac users who are used to intuitive design.

Usability aside, one of Squarespace's top features is its brilliant blogging function. Posts look the same when they're being written as to how they will be on the finished page, removing the need to continually go back and forth, previewing the site. Additionally, for businesses that need help getting to grips with the software, Squarespace excels when it comes to help and support. Our research team recently gave its customer support options a score of 4.9/5, tying it level with Wix.

What we do like about Squarespace is that it is constantly updating its features. Just this year, Squarespace launched Fluid Engine: a faster, more customizable page editor, that makes it super easy for Mac users to build their website on desktop and mobile, proving it to be a solid second contender to Wix.

If you like the sound of Squarespace, you can try it for free for 14 days or find out more about its pricing

Shopify – Best for selling online

Shopify is a website builder that needs no introduction. It offers hundreds of practical features, but its strengths really lie in omnichannel selling. The platform allows businesses to sell across multiple channels including Instagram, Facebook, and Amazon, and it's also able to scale easily with growing online scores.

Shopify achieved a customer score of 4.8 out of 5 and a help and support score of 4.1 out of 5, the latter only bettered by IONOS, Wix and Squarespace.

Mac users can benefit from Shopify's full suite of features, including abandon cart recovery, product management, and dropshipping tools. On our 2023 testing, Shopify scored 3.6/5 for features, coming third behind Wix (4.8/5) and Squarespace (4.6/5).

However, despite its strong feature set, after user testing the product, we found that it's not as easy to use as lots of its competitors and scores just 3.7/5 for ease of use (Squarespace and Wix both scored an impressive 4.4/5). While this shouldn't put off Mac users with lots of digital experience, it might make Shopify less suited to businesses using website-building software for the first time.

The online tool is pricier than many of its rivals, too. While the website builder can be available for as little as $26 per month (paid annually in advance), larger stores can expect to pay as much as $299 per month for the service. Compared to cheaper providers like Wix and Squarespace — which offer website building services for as little as $14 and $16 per month respectively — these prices can look a little steep. What's more, with Shopify charging extra for transaction fees and additional integrations, it might not be the perfect option for businesses on a budget.

Interested in learning more about how much Shopify could cost your business? Read our review of its pricing plans here

GoDaddy – Best for quick set up

GoDaddy is a huge force in the web building industry, with 20 million users. One of the reasons for its popularity, aside from its extensive marketing budget, is the ease with which it lets users create new sites thanks to a sophisticated drag-and-drop system.

In testing, we found GoDaddy to provided the quickest setup process for a website, so you can establish your online presence in minutes.

What's more, having incorporated custom headers and URLs into its suite of SEO features, GoDaddy increased its SEO test score from 3/5 to 4/5 on our 2023 test. Aside from not having an SEO guidance page, it's got a very similar feature set to Wix and Squarespace.

GoDaddy also offers solid customer support options, including 24/7 phone support, for any issues that might crop up as you're building your dream page. However, we found its knowledge center more tricky to use than Wix and Squarespace's, which meant it only scores 3.1/5 for customer support.

Sounds good, but do we recommend it? In the past, we didn't think GoDaddy was a great option, but the website builder has added some serious functionality in recent years, allowing for more customization and better templates across all its plans. The website builder is also fully compatible with Windows and Mac devices, so we can confidently recommend them to anyone looking for a quick website.

GoDaddy provides Mac users with great bang for their buck too. Securing a 4.4 out of 5 score for value of money, second only to Jimdo (4.5/5), GoDaddy is more wallet-friendly than the frontrunners Wix and SquareSpace.

Check out our GoDaddy review for more info

Hostinger – Best for uptime reliability

Outside of a free plan, you won't find many website builders more affordable than Hostinger (formerly Zyro), which scores 3.6/5 overall according to our 2023 test results.

We've pegged Hostinger down as ‘one to watch' for some time now, and you can get started with the software for only $2.69 per month when you use code “TECH“ at checkout, a staggeringly low price for any website builder.

It's worth noting that this low price does come at a cost. Hostinger is definitely a more stripped-down version of a website builder, not providing most of the advanced features found on your average platform.

In fact, the software has only secured a score of 2.7/5 for website features, ranking it far below all other providers on this list except for Jimdo, and 3.4/5 for design functionality, with GoDaddy (3.5/5), Wix (4.1/5) and even the eCommerce-focused Shopify (3.8/5) scoring higher.

This is a bit of a double-edged sword, as the software is easier to use than most other website builders on this list, and is well-suited for beginners who have never built a website before. This makes it perfect for Mac users looking for a cheap option.

Check out our Wix vs Hostinger guide to see how these two options compare

WordPress – Best for blogging and publishing sites

WordPress powers over 500 million websites, so it must be doing something right. It's an ideal platform for running a blog, and while some users complain about its clunky Windows presence, its Mac application seems to run a lot smoother. 

As a website builder for creating professional-looking business-focused sites, it doesn't quite compete with our favorites, Wix and Squarespace, as it can't offer the same ease of adding extra features that those platforms can. WordPress only scores 2.9/5 for features compared to Wix's 4.8/5, and only 2.2/5 for design functionality, compared to Squarespace's 4.5/5.

In fact, we really wouldn't recommend WordPress to anyone that isn't starting a blog. It has almost no scalability for growing businesses or any kind of marketing features to improve your audience. What it is, however, is good value for money, scoring 4.4/5 – the joint best score for this assessment area out of all of the website builders we've tested so far in 2023.

The editor itself, however, is fairly intuitive and has a great “what you see is what you get” approach, so that as you're writing your page, you can see how it will look to your readers. Also, thanks to the huge, active user base, any issues you might come across are usually just a Google away, so if you do come unstuck, it likely won't be for long. And with a help and support score of 2.7 out of 5, you won't be getting much customer support elsewhere.

If you're more of an expert when it comes to website building and you still want to stick with WordPress, WordPress.org provides users with open-source access for free. However, it's worth noting that you're going to need a pretty serious knowledge base to design a website with WordPress.org, as the process can be quite complicated, particularly without any prior experience.

1&1 IONOS – Best for beginners, with great customer support

IONOs is a great option if you're looking for ease, simplicity, and a basic program that won't overwhelm you with customization options – which makes it a solid choice for beginners. It's also got a good range of customer support options but only scores 3.3/5 overall due to a lack of features and limited design functionality.

1&1 IONOS's simplicity does come with a catch. It only scores 1.9/5 for features, which was the lowest features score awarded on our 2023 tests.

For one, you're restricted to the fixed elements on any given page, and the editor function only really covers the bases. When we took the product out for a spin and built a mock website from scratch, we also found that the gallery of images on offer are poor. IONOS only scores 2.9/5 for design functionality, also the lowest score out of the providers featured in this article.

IONOS has so many different products that it wasn't immediately obvious what contact avenues were relevant to their website builder. However, it does have a good selection of options, including phone support, which Squarespace doesn't offer – and it helped IONOS to a score of 4.5/5 for help and support.

Another good thing about IONOS is is its price. There are four website builder plans available. The Essentials plan costs $4 per month for a year and $6 per month thereafter and the Starter plan is $6 per month for a year and $8 per month thereafter. The Plus plan is the best value though, as it'll only cost you $1 per month for the first 12 months and then $12 per month from then on, while the Ultimate plan costs $10 per month for 12 months and $16 per month after that.

Jimdo – best value for money provider

Jimdo is another website builder that makes actually getting your website live on Macs incredibly easy.

Thanks to the ADI, you can input a few simple criteria, and the platform will build the website for you, getting you live in just a matter of minutes with professional caliber web design. You don't even have to be an expert! With reasonable monthly prices, we've given the provider a decent value-for-money score of 4.5, too.

Again though, these low-tier website builders have some pitfalls and Jimdo is no different. Since 2022, Jimdo's overall score has dropped from 3.5 to 3.1 out of 5, largely because of its lack of blog functionality, marketing tools, and limited SEO features. The website builder scored a 2 out of 5 for overall website features as well, placing it behind other budget solutions like Hostinger and Duda.

Simply put, the software will not be adequate for larger companies that need a wide range of functionality. Therefore, stores with more complex requirements are better off choosing more robust solutions like Wix or Squarespace, or Shopify. Still, if you need a website live fast, Jimdo could provide you with the platform you need.

Website Builder vs Mac Website Software

While a web-based website builder is the most popular option, there is also dedicated software available that can do the same job. Software has fewer benefits compared to online services like Wix — quite often you'll have to pay more upfront, with potentially expensive licenses, you can only use them on the machine they are installed on, and some may have high requirements that won't pose a problem to newer Macs, but which older models might struggle with. On the other hand, a website service is accessible from any machine, costs a few bucks a month, and guaranteed to run on your device.

The one appeal of dedicated software, is that you are fully in control – as they are not online, you are not relying on another person's service, and you can also use them offline, so they don't require an internet connection. If you're the sort of person who likes total control, then dedicated site building software may appeal.

We take a brief look at some of the most popular options.

Sandvox

Sandbox makes big claims about its accessibility, stating that users will be able to create a website in under an hour. With a drag and drop interface that's not too hard to believe, and those with coding experience can inject their own CSS or HTML to really make their website their own. It also offers in depth guides and on hand customer support should you need it.

RapidWeaver

RapidWeaver doesn't require any prior experience, and it's a decent starting point for newcomers who simply want to create a functioning website. Integrated SEO tools make sure that your site will be spotted by Google and rank well, and there are dozens of themes to choose from. The automatic navigation system means that your site won't suffer broken links.

Methodology: How We Find the Best Website Builders for Mac

At Tech.co, we conduct our own independent research into website builders, as well as all of the other software and services we write about. If we don't have the data, we don't write the article.

We have spent more than 1000+ hours, in total, testing and reviewing website builders, so you don't have to.

As part of our website builder analysis, we took a close look at features, design functionality, average customer scores, storage, SEO tools, value for money, and the help and support offered by the biggest players in the industry. We also subjected each website builder to a rigorous usability test, analyzed site speed, and noted any additional features that could earn them points.

In our 2023 tests, marketing functions, ecommerce features, and design functionality impacted our scoring algorithm more significantly than in 2022. Our market and audience research showed that they'd all increased in importance to people looking to expand their businesses online. All told, our research subcategories now include:

• Features: SEO and blogging tools
• Design functionalities: Design tools (themes, mobile editors, general flexibility)
• Value for money: Price factors like plan costs and features included
• Help and support: Type of support (phone, email, or live chat) and support hours
• Customer score: Customer and user testing feedback
• Ease of use: Software and user interface flexibility

Although we have commercial partnerships with some of the providers we talk about, our research allows us to remain editorially independent. Read the table below to see the full results.

Frequently Asked Questions