Website.com

What it is

Website.com is a website builder sold together with domain registration and hosting. The company pitches it at people who want a site without writing code: its pages say you can create a free website "without any design or coding knowledge", and even build the whole thing from a phone. It states that it is trusted by 3 million users over 10+ years, says over 3 million websites have been built with it, and shows a 4.6 out of 5 rating from 162,000+ reviews collected through Shopper Approved. The footer names the company as Website.com Solutions Inc., and the FAQ says its hosting servers are located in Vancouver, Canada.

The product covers 3 things in one account. There is the website builder with more than 500 templates. There is an online store builder for eCommerce sites. And there is scheduling software that adds online booking to a site. Around those sit the supporting products: domain names, web hosting, SSL, email hosting, and a web design service. A founder, freelancer or small service business is the reader it is built for.

What you build and how

You start from a theme. The company describes the process in three steps: start with a theme, customize with your own content, and be found online. Its layouts are meant to give a responsive site for any industry. The menu promises "over 500 customizable templates to choose from". In the editor you add and customize sections, choose font pairings, add images and put in your own text. When you are ready you click publish and the responsive site goes live. The site also lists free stock photos and a free secure web hosting service as part of the package. Its feature list names an image editor, website video and audio, SEO tools including a site map generator and on-page settings such as image titles, Google Analytics, social media integrations, contact forms and custom HTML, which gives a more technical owner a way to drop in their own code snippets.

If you would rather hand the job off, there is a web design service. The pages describe it as help from simple touch-ups to full-scale creation, and the home page lists design services starting at $295. The company says you keep total control of the site on the Website.com editor after the design is done.

The online store builder is aimed at "building your eCommerce website", and the home page lists Online Store at $15.00 a month. The store FAQ walks through the setup: open the Store Manager in the website builder, set up contact info, payment methods, shipping and tax rules, add products with images, prices and inventory, organize products into collections, and then promote the store with SEO and marketing features. The company says it takes no commissions on your sales, and its store template copy mentions product galleries, diverse payment methods and member checkouts. A multilingual builder is listed in the same menu, described as a way to cater to different regions and grow your audience; the home page says Elite plans and above can build a multi-language website.

Scheduling is the feature with the most detail. The scheduling page says "Accept online booking in minutes" and describes it as letting visitors book services or appointments directly through your website. What the page describes in the booking tools:

• Profiles for staff, with bios, contact info and website permissions.
• A place for clients and staff to manage appointments, with all details in one view.
• A calendar showing scheduled appointments.
• Payment setup, with prices, taxes and payment options, and a view of payments made or owing for appointments.
• Email confirmations and reminders, reschedule and cancel links that follow your booking policies, and member areas for tracking appointments.
• A fully responsive booking flow, so clients can book from any device.
• Three pre-made booking layouts: a dropdown of available times, pill buttons, and a weekly view of a full week's availability.
• Custom business and staff hours, booking and cancellation policies, and staff logins with different levels of access and different service offerings.
• Payment at booking by credit card, or pay later and in-person payment.

The company quotes some statistics on that page: 94% of customers are likely to choose a business with online booking over one without it, about 33% of customers prefer to book on mobile devices, and no-shows were brought down by 90% due to appointment reminders. These are marketing figures from the company, with no source given.

Plans, prices and limits

The entry point is the Website Essentials plan, which the company ties to registering a new, available domain. It says the plan "includes a website builder with your domain name registration, at no extra charge", and that the builder lets you make an ad-free, 3 page website with ecommerce tools, plus a domain email. So the website is free only in the sense that it comes with a paid domain. Domains from Website.com start at $8.77 a year. The home page lists these yearly prices: com US$14.77, net US$15.77, org US$16.77, biz US$24.77, info US$27.77, us US$8.77, ca C$15.77, uk US$8.77, eu US$9.77, me US$24.77 and asia US$16.77.

For more than 3 pages, there are paid website builder plans, which the company says "range from $4/month (promo price for the first year)". The scheduling page shows the full ladder, with a promotional price and a regular price:

| Plan | Promo price | Regular price | Storage | Domain email accounts | Bookings per month | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Personal | $4 a month (67% off) | $12 | 2 GB | none listed | 5 | | Elite | $7 a month (59% off) | $17 | 10 GB | 3 | 20 | | Business Basic | $15 a month (32% off) | $22 | 15 GB | 5 | 100 | | Business Standard | $20 a month (33% off) | $30 | 25 GB | 10 | 500 | | Business Advanced | $25 a month (40% off) | $42 | 50 GB | 20 | unlimited |

Every plan on that page lists a free domain for 1 year (a $20 value), unlimited website pages, HTTPS security, customizable web forms, online scheduling with unlimited booking services, removal of Website.com banner ads, premium support and a 30-day money back guarantee.

The home page also offers a free 30-day trial of the builder with no credit card required, and says you can start with a free website first. One more detail on hosting: the company's FAQ says hosting is included with the builder, that your content is stored on secure servers in Vancouver, Canada, and that Elite plans and above include professional domain email as part of the subscription. The plan list also shows HTTPS security (SSL) on every tier.

Who it suits and who it does not

A small business that books appointments, such as a trainer, a salon or a consultant, gets the most from it, because booking is the most fully described part of the product, with reminders, a calendar, payments, staff logins and a client view. Someone who needs a simple site and a domain at one price will like that the Essentials plan bundles them, and a person building their first site will find the template path and phone editing approachable.

The caveats are real. Essentials is limited to 3 pages, and the paid plans cap bookings per month, from 5 on Personal up to 500 on Business Standard, with unlimited bookings only on Business Advanced, so a busy practice needs to look at the top tier. The promo prices are listed against regular ones, so budget for the regular figure after the first year. Custom HTML is the only code option named, and the product is built around one owner's site, so a team that needs governed, multi-builder tooling is not the audience described here.