We think so, but in the interest of science and fairness I thought I'd go and test this out.
I created five website, with five different website generators.
What qualifies as a "website"?
This is more than just a holistic thought experiment, after all there are local businesses out there that buy a domain name and simply redirect it to their Facebook page. In this case their Facebook company page is fulfilling all the requirements of their website.
For this test however, we will not be including a Facebook page, Bandcamp page, Instagram, Goodreads bio, or any other "profile page" on a third party website.
For the purposes of this experiment we will use a definition of "website builder" as a tool that provides the following functionality:
- Allow us to upload a photo and some text about yourself
- Allow us to customise the color scheme and/or styling of the layout
- Allow us to link a custom domain (eg www.example.com)
If we can fulfil the above criteria then we are using a website builder. So let's take a look at some builders and try them out to prove our claim that Loxly is the fastest website builder in the world.
Wix
Wix is the kitchen sink of website builders. With so many great templates to choose from, and a ton of other things on top, Wix really is the most feature-rich website builder out there.
Wix does have its drawbacks however. It is not the cheapest solution, especially if you want a custom domain name. It is also geared up for features and not for raw speed. When I tested Wix out to create a website for this article it actually took me almost half an hour to scroll around, select a template and figure out the UI. So while certainly full of features, Wix is not the fastest tool for the job.
Squarespace
Squarespace is another website builder with a lot of options. It is a direct competitor to Wix, and similarly, Squarespace has plenty of bells and whistles to play around with. It is also, however, not great if you just need to create or edit a basic website. I tested out Squarespace and did find myself getting lost in the options a bit.
Creating this website in Squarespace took me 23 minutes, so in a similar ballpark to Wix.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy's website builder is a bit of a wildcard on this list. GoDaddy is primarily a domain name registrar, so you wouldn't immediately think of them when it comes to rapid website builders. GoDaddy's website builder is, however, incredibly simple, fast to set up and cheaper than both Wix and Squarespace.
Site123
While Wix, Squarespace and GoDaddy are great, they aren't really designed to be quick to build. They are designed to be extremely feature-rich and so it isn't really fair to expect them to be as simple and fast as a builder like Loxly. There are however, other website builders out there which are designed to be quick so let's look at one of them.
Site123 describes itself as "the most intuitive and easy to use website builder on the market". They achieve this "intuitiveness" through the initial builder experience. Instead of more traditional website builders that will give you a list of templates to choose from, Site123 will guide you through some questions to find out what you need a website for - then select a template for you based on your answers.
While this is a different and slightly novel approach, it still took me 16 minutes to get set up. I found myself answering from a list of multiple-choice questions none of which were particularly relevant to me, and that wasted some time.
Loxly
So now we come on to our own website builder Loxly. Loxly was built with speed and simplicity at the forefront. It is not the most feature-rich website builder out there, but with the ability to get stuck straight in with adding photos, URLs and social media profiles into the builder window it really was fast. 11 minutes it took me to build a website and click the "Publish" button to see my results.
Conclusion
I will admit this hasn't been madly scientific and I have only timed five website builders here. At Loxly however, we do firmly believe that we have a fast, easy to use tool that allows rapid website creation and management on the move. If you know of another website builder you think is fast then we'd love to know about it - even if only to test it out against the stopwatch!