It’s widely known that Site123 is a beginner-friendly platform that simplifies website creation for individuals. Many site owners credit their success to this tool for making the process so straightforward. However, the question remains: Does everyone have a great experience using Site123? Is it truly the right fit for everyone?
I conducted a detailed Site123 review in 2024 to answer these questions. The goal was to identify who benefits most from this website builder and who might face limitations. By the end of this analysis, you’ll understand whether Site123 is the right platform for building your site.
SITE123 Review: Top features
While Site123 is not the most popular website builder in the market, it certainly is one of the most effective ones. It's the 17th most popular website builder in the US market, which may look like a slight drawback. However, don't worry.
Once you read my full Site123 review article, I believe I will be able to convince you by highlighting its core benefits and features. So, let's begin shall we?
1. Ease of use
When I started my Site123 review, I wanted to answer one key question: how easy is it to create a fully functional website using this platform? To find out, I dove into its features and tested how quickly and efficiently I could build a site.
Site123 makes website creation incredibly simple. From the moment I clicked “Create a website, the process felt seamless. The platform asked for my site and its name, and within seconds, it generated a complete website tailored to my needs.
For instance, when I selected Restaurants and Foods, Site123 instantly built a site that was practically ready to use. It included an order form, opening hours, a menu, an “About Us” section, a contact form, and even a map showing the restaurant’s location—everything a customer would expect from a professional site. All I needed to do was replace the placeholder content with my own.
If the design wasn’t what I envisioned, Site123 made it easy to make changes. In my experience, the platform’s point-and-click interface is intuitive and effective. Although it doesn’t use a traditional drag-and-drop system, I found it straightforward to insert pre-built sections into specific web page areas with a single click.
Each section offered multiple layout options; I could preview them before choosing. If I changed my mind, switching to a different layout was simple, and my previous customizations were preserved. I even used Site123’s AI-powered text generation to help me create content quickly, which was a nice bonus.
After working with Site123, I can confidently say it’s one of the easiest website builders I’ve used. I created and launched a fully customized website in under an hour, including the time it took to fine-tune the designs and layouts. For anyone looking for a quick, user-friendly solution, Site123 delivers.
2. Design and flexibility
One major weakness I uncovered during my 2024 Site123 review is the design limitations in its editor. While it’s a user-friendly platform, its restrictive design options can be frustrating if you want more customization.
For starters, Site123 doesn’t allow you to create custom sections. Instead, you can choose from its pre-made sections and layouts library. Once you’ve selected a section or layout, your design options are minimal.
You can only adjust styling, such as altering the background or text colors. Unfortunately, you can’t move elements within a section to reposition them. If you want to rearrange items, your only choice is to switch to another layout that better matches your vision—assuming one exists.
Additionally, Site123 uses a single-column design for its pages, which means you can’t place elements side by side, like a contact form next to a map. You’re restricted to stacking sections vertically. On the bright side, the editor does allow you to reorder sections by moving them up or down within the page structure.
While these limitations exist, there are still some helpful customization options. For instance, I could modify the content within sections, such as adding more items to FAQs or menus. I could also customize the site’s brand colors, fonts, and structure, including headers and footers. Site123 even lets you add custom colors and fonts, which is a nice touch.
Overall, my findings show that Site123 is the best website builder but has clear limits regarding design flexibility. If you want more creative control or advanced customization options, Wix and Hostinger Website Builder are much better alternatives.
3. Templates
If you’ve used Site123 before coming across this 2024 review, you might believe the website builder doesn’t offer templates. However, that’s not entirely accurate. After thoroughly analyzing the platform and creating multiple websites, I realized that Site123 does have templates—just not in the conventional sense.
The templates are integrated into the interactive setup process. When you select the type of site you want to create during the initial steps, the builder essentially uses this input to assign a relevant template to your personal website. So, while you’re not explicitly picking from a list of templates, you are indirectly choosing one.
Based on my evaluation, Site123 offers around 16 templates corresponding to the different site types available during setup. That said, these templates are remarkably similar—about 90% identical. The main differences lie in the images used and the inclusion of specific sections tailored to the site type. For example, a community website might include a donation section, while a restaurant website will feature a menu section.
If the lack of diverse, visually unique templates feels like a dealbreaker, and you prefer browsing through various modern options, Wix is a fantastic alternative. With over 800 unique designer templates categorized by website type, Wix provides greater flexibility and variety for your design.
4. Third-party integrations
We understand the importance of connecting your favorite tools to your website to streamline workflows and enhance functionality. These tools, often provided by third parties, can significantly elevate your site’s capabilities. I reviewed how well Site123 supports third-party integrations during our 2024 analysis.
I found that Site123 makes adding custom tools to your website easy. Its editor includes a plugin store with over 40 third-party tools and integrations. These tools are organized into analytics, live chat support, marketing, and webmaster tools. A search bar is also available, making locating the specific tool you need simple.
For situations where the required integration isn’t readily available, Site123 supports custom code. If the tool you want to use provides integration through custom code, you can embed it directly into your Site123 website, adding much-needed flexibility.
Additionally, Site123 offers apps to extend its functionality further. These apps include form builders, audio and video players, and tools to enhance basic eCommerce capabilities.
While Site123’s plugin options are helpful, they are limited compared to competitors like Wix and Squarespace, which offer more extensive integration ecosystems. For instance, features like dropshipping or print-on-demand for merchandise sales aren’t natively supported in Site123 but are readily available in alternatives like Wix.
5. Blogging options
I have great news if you plan to start a blog using Site123! After thoroughly reviewing Site123’s blogging features, I can confidently say it’s an excellent tool for bloggers.
Creating a blog with Site123 is incredibly simple. Just like other pages on the platform, Site123 provides pre-designed blog templates. All you need to do is pick a layout you like and start crafting your posts.
What impressed me most was the level of thought in the blogging tool. It allows you to modify almost every aspect of your blog settings.
Key Features of Site123 Blogging Tool:
From my perspective, Site123 offers a fantastic blogging experience, especially for those looking for easy to use and integrated tools. However, if you’re after advanced features like a more sophisticated editor or deeper customization options, Wix might be a better fit for your blogging needs.
6. SEO features
After exploring Site123’s blogging features, I decided to dive into its SEO capabilities since these two aspects go hand in hand. SEO is essential for any website aiming to attract organic traffic, so choosing a website builder that supports strong SEO practices is a priority for me.
From my tests, I found that Site123 performs well in terms of SEO. The builder offers the most essential features and a few advanced options. For example, I could set SEO titles, meta descriptions, featured images, custom URLs, image alt texts, and keywords for each page or post.
Additionally, Site123 allows site verification on webmaster tools like Google Search Console by submitting a sitemap.xml file. If there are pages I didn’t want search engines to crawl or index, I could hide them. However, one limitation I noticed is the inability to directly modify the robots.txt file, which restricts control over how bots interact with the site’s content.
One feature I found particularly helpful was the SEO Adviser. It performs an SEO audit of your site, highlighting areas for improvement. This tool showed me which SEO settings were properly configured and which needed attention. It also supports setting up 301 redirects, which can prevent 404 errors and help maintain SEO performance.
That said, there are a couple of drawbacks. I found that Site123 struggles with mobile-friendliness, which could hinder traffic from mobile users—a significant portion of today’s web audience. Additionally, the SEO Adviser tool is only available on higher-tier plans, so budget-conscious users won’t get full access to Site123’s SEO potential.
Overall, Site123 gives you solid control over your website’s SEO. By following best practices for your content, you can achieve good rankings, but for more advanced SEO features or better mobile responsiveness, you might want to explore other options.
7. eCommerce features
If you plan to build an online store with Site123, you’re probably wondering about its compatibility and features. To answer that, I decided to review Site123’s eCommerce tools.
One feature Site123 offers is shipping, but I don’t find it particularly useful. This feature only lets you manually set shipping rates for your products, and there are no advanced options like real-time rates. It also doesn’t integrate with any shipping carriers, meaning you’ll have to handle everything manually.
While Site123 has some useful eCommerce features, I found during my Site123 review that many are locked behind higher-tier plans.
For example, you can only accept credit card payments if you subscribe to the Professional package—otherwise, you’re limited to offline payments. You'll have to opt for the Gold package to unlock the essential features needed to run a successful online store.
Site123 pricing
Well, here comes an important part. I always believe a website builder has to be cost-effective. Otherwise, what's the point of using such platforms if you end up paying thousands of dollars? That being said, let's take a look at Site123's pricing.
Site123 pricing structure
1. Free: $0
2. Premium: $5.80/month
I've used many website builders before but I never saw such a cheap pricing plan. Site123 really nails it down when it comes to the cost-effectiveness of its website builder, and it is full of essential features. You can even connect your premium domain when you choose the paid plan.
Ready to use Site123 Website Builder?
After testing Site123 in various areas, I’ve identified its strengths and weaknesses. So, who should use Site123?
Site123 is an excellent option if you’re looking to create a simple, affordable website without the need to start from scratch.
It works well for basic online stores that need to support multiple currencies, languages, and essential eCommerce features. Additionally, Site123 is a solid choice if you want a website builder with above-average SEO and blogging capabilities.
