A lot of WordPress web hosts offer a great deal of additional features to convince you to use their services. These may include free premium themes and plugins, automatic backups, and even custom website builders. But should you use them?
Well, these website builders are not available unless you purchase that specific WordPress hosting service. This can be a plus since you won’t need to pay for premium website builders, such as Divi or SeedProd, but it can also have some limitations.
In this article, we’ll talk about how these WordPress website builder and hosting combos work. We’ll go over several examples, discuss their pros and cons, and talk about alternatives. Let’s get to it!
What are WordPress website builders and hosting services?
WordPress website builders are plugins you can use to design web pages without having to learn code. These tools favor a visual approach, often providing pre-built page templates and “blocks” or “modules” like images, buttons, paragraphs, headings, and other elements:
The primary goal of website builders is to enable more people to create sites, even if they don’t have a background in web development. Some of these plugins, such as Elementor, have millions of active installations. Therefore, it’s safe to say that a significant percentage of WordPress users find them helpful.
Due to the popularity of website builders, several WordPress hosting providers have started offering their own set of tools to help you build your site. These are products that you can only access if you’re paying for a hosting plan with a specific provider. In some cases, these website builders don’t provide many customization options, compared to full-fledged page builder plugins.
Before we take a look at specific WordPress website builders and hosting services, it’s important to mention plugins again. If you’re considering signing up for a hosting plan to get access to a website builder, remember that there are free and premium plugins that offer similar (and often better) functionality, all without tying you to a specific hosting service.
Examples of WordPress website builder and hosting platforms
In this section, we’ll introduce you to three hosting services that offer WordPress plans. These plans all come bundled with custom website builders and they each offer a different experience.
Our goal is to give you insight into how a WordPress website builder and hosting plan works, and whether they’re worth your time and money.
1. DreamHost
DreamHost offers multiple types of hosting plans with different options for WordPress users. You can opt for shared or managed plans, as well as Virtual Private Servers (VPS).
DreamHost focuses heavily on providing extras with hosting plans. Their WordPress website builder is one of them, but DreamHost also bundles an AI “business advisor”, and a library of over 200 themes (including premium options).
The DreamHost website builder is fairly similar to the Block Editor. It encourages you to use one of DreamHost’s website templates and then customize it using blocks. If you’re familiar with how the Block Editor works, you’ll be able to hit the ground running with DreamHost’s website builder.
2. Hostinger
Hostinger is a web host that’s known for its budget prices. The company offers some of the most competitive prices for regular hosting and WordPress hosting plans, with options starting as low as $2.99 per month.
When it comes to website builders, Hostinger offers two options. Their dedicated website builder has its own hosting plan and it doesn’t work with WordPress since it’s designed to be a custom solution.
Hostinger’s WordPress plans come with a set of site builder tools. When you launch a WordPress website using Hostinger, the platform will prompt you to use a series of AI tools to help you build it.
This AI website builder will help you select a theme from Hostinger’s library and set up the necessary pages for your site. It also offers content creation tools to help you fill your website.
While these website builder tools can be useful, they don’t offer a lot of options in terms of customization. For that, you’ll need to use the WordPress Block Editor.
Hostinger’s AI builder can help you publish a WordPress site fast. However, if you’re looking for a full-featured website builder for WordPress, this might not be the best option.
3. GoDaddy
GoDaddy is perhaps one of the most well-known hosting providers on the market. Their managed WordPress plans are well-regarded in terms of performance.
Similar to Hostinger, GoDaddy offers a dedicated website builder tool that’s separate from their WordPress plans. With their managed WordPress hosting plans, you get to leverage an AI website builder.
You can choose from the GoDaddy collection of themes (over 1000 options) and set up a starter website with pre-built pages. You can also use their AI tools to help you generate content for those pages, helping you launch your site faster.
When compared with other website builders, GoDaddy lacks most customization options. Their AI builder is great for simple websites that don’t require custom features, but it might not be a good option for more complex websites.
The pros and cons of bundling a WordPress website builder and hosting
In theory, it makes sense to pair hosting plans with website builders. This can help web hosting providers attract customers who want to create a simple website without the need for custom elements or functionality.
With some website builders, you can just select a template, customize it, and you have a website ready to go:
With that in mind, let’s go over some pros of using a WordPress hosting service that comes with website builder tools:
- You don’t need to pay for a license for a premium website builder plugin.
- WordPress web hosts typically bundle other extras with their plans, such as free access to premium themes and plugins.
- Most website builders enable you to choose from a collection of page templates, which you can use to kickstart your website’s design.
This combo can be useful if you want to build a simple website and you want to get it done fast. However, there are also downsides to using website builders that come bundled with hosting services:
- If you want to continue to use the site builder, you have to remain with the same web host.
- Migrating a website that’s built with one site builder to another can be challenging, which makes it hard to switch if you want to use a tool that comes with more features.
- Most of the website builders that come with hosting plans aren’t as advanced as dedicated WordPress website builder plugins, such as Divi.
Overall, what website builder you use should depend on the features you need. Since WordPress enables you to choose from many fantastic page builder plugins, it makes sense not to tie yourself to an option used by a single hosting platform.
Why use a WordPress agency instead
If the prospect of having to learn to use a website builder that’s tied to your hosting plan doesn’t appeal to you, there is an alternative. Depending on your project, it can make more sense to work with a WordPress agency instead.
The right WordPress agency can help you build the website you need for your personal project or business. Working with an agency can be more expensive, but it will save you a lot of time and enable you to focus on other tasks.
At Freshy, we offer WordPress development and design services. You’ll have a project manager who will coordinate with developers and designers to bring your project to life:
Even if you already have a website, our team of designers can revamp it and ensure that it aligns with your branding. Plus, your website will be accessible and mobile-friendly.
If you want to have a team of WordPress experts at hand while you work on your website, you can opt for our retainer service. With this arrangement, we’ll help you with any WordPress difficulties you may encounter, like security issues and glitches.
We also offer Divi development and design services. We can help you if you’re having difficulties using the Divi website builder, and we’ll make sure that your site offers the best user experience.
Conclusion
When you’re looking for a WordPress web host, it can be tempting to sign up for a service that offers perks like a website builder. However, we would caution against choosing a hosting provider just because of its site builder. With WordPress, you have access to a large selection of website builder plugins you can use without having to rely on your web host.
If you’d rather not tinker with a website builder, consider working with an agency instead. A WordPress agency with a great trajectory can help you build almost any kind of website you want. With Fresy, you’ll get access to a team of expert WordPress designers and developers as well as a dedicated project manager to help coordinate with them.
At Freshy, we offer WordPress development and design services for businesses of all sizes. Talk to us and we’ll give you a quote for your next WordPress project!
Featured image: Pexels
