Weebly review and walkthrough: Is it the right website builder for your business?

Weebly is often considered one of the easiest website builders around. Especially for new business owners looking to make a name for themselves online. Whether you're selling digital products, baked goods, or services — having a website you can rely on is crucial to your success.

But is Weebly up to the task? In this Weebly review, we'll be uncovering everything the platform has to offer, including features, pros and cons, common questions, and pricing.

So let's dive in right off the bat with the pros and cons of this website builder.

What is Weebly?

As far as website building goes, there's a whole heap of different platforms out there to choose from — but Weebly is certainly one of the easiest. This simple platform is great for new and small businesses that need a basic website that doesn't require major technical knowledge.

It's fair to say that Weebly is affordable, easy to use, and functional — making it popular for those with a small budget and limited web design know-how. Plus, since the cost is minimal, even for the paid plans, it's easy to test with little risk.

But whether Weebly is the right website builder for you can depend on several factors, including your business scalability, marketing efforts, and how much creative control you'd like to have. Thankfully, if you do choose to explore the platform, getting started is straightforward and fast. Here's how.

Getting started with Weebly

One of the best things about Weebly is how easy it is to get started. After filling in some basic details, you'll be met with the screen above, allowing you to choose whether you want a business website or a personal website.

With the ecommerce side of things run by Square, for the sake of this Weebly review, we took that route to uncover how good Weebly really is for an online store.

After selecting this route, we were then asked to choose the type of merchant, with the options being:

• Individual/sole trader (no company registration number)
• Company (with a company registration number)
• General partnership (no company registration number)

Don't worry if you realize you've selected the wrong option; you can always make changes later on.

Once you've filled in these details, Weebly will ask you next how customers will receive their orders, giving the following options:

• Shipping
• Pickup
• In-house delivery

If your online store sells digital products, you can choose 'None of these apply to me' to continue.

Once you're through to the next step, you have the option to try the Square Online Plus plan free for 14 days. As you can see, the differences in what's included between the free plan and the paid plan are quite significant. But don't worry, we'll be going through all of Weebly's features next.

Want to start building a website, but want a no-code approach? Explore some of the best no-code website builders.

Weebly features

Let's talk through some of the features Weebly has to offer as a simple website builder.

Website themes

Much like other website builders, Weebly offers a bunch of different themes to use for your website. These templates take little editing and are pretty neat and clean, right out of the box. This is perfect for newbies setting up an online store or personal website.

However, they're just kinda alright. There's nothing mind-blowing about Weebly's themes, but at the same time, Weebly's templates tick the 'easy-to-use' and 'straightforward' boxes. However, it's worth noting which templates require an upgrade if you're on the free plan.

Once you have chosen one of Weebly's themes, you'll be pleased to hear it requires very little technical knowledge to start building your site and making changes. With sections already set up, you can move these around, customize them, or delete them completely and add new elements.

Unfortunately, there are some restrictions as to how much you can edit sections of your new Weebly site when working from one of Weebly's themes. If you're looking for full control over your customization, Weebly unfortunately falls short. But for those looking to get online fast, it does do what it says on the tin.

Weebly editor

If you're a fan of straightforward website building, you'll be pleased to hear that Weebly is user-friendly and intuitive. Customizing different elements of your website is clear and easy to understand, such as alignment, section height, and color style.

However, let's say you'd like to turn your main banner into a full-screen banner — this will require an upgrade from the free plan. Little elements and changes like this requiring an upgrade can be a bit irritating if you're on a shoestring budget or only want to use one 'premium' feature.

One thing we do like here, however, is how your Weebly site is automatically designed mobile-first. This ensures that your website is mobile responsive, and you do have the option to view it on desktop as well.

While the editor isn't necessarily a drag-and-drop editor like other platforms, such as WordPress, it's easy to add widgets from 'Add Section'. Then, changing elements and editing text is as simple as typing in your copy and saving your changes.

Some website builders make it difficult to find certain elements, such as your site's icon, title, and cookie consent information. Weebly, however, makes this easy to find under Website > Site Preferences. You can also customize your site address here and upgrade to add a custom domain.

Selling online

Once you've had a look at Weebly's themes and had a play around with the Weebly editor, it's now time to get started on your products. Adding a product to your Weebly website is straightforward.

There are several different types of items you can create, with Weebly even offering 'prepared food and beverages' for restaurants and food venues. This just shows that Weebly as a website builder is quite dynamic, helping you to create a website across a variety of industries.

We love the flexibility this brings to a Weebly site, and it is especially helpful for newbie store owners.

After selecting the type of product, you'll then be able to fill out further information such as:

• Name
• Description
• Categories
• Variations
• Stock
• Modifications
• and more.

When adding a product, you also have customization options for both search engine optimization (SEO) and social media. This can help you to understand how your products are seen in search engines, as well as when they're shared on social media platforms.

Another great option here is to choose whether an item is available regularly as a subscription, and if you'd like to create a payment link or buy button to use and sell elsewhere.

With Whop, we make it easy to get paid with checkout links. Send customers direct to your whop and make the buying process as simple as possible, for a streamlined customer experience.

Weebly payments

Now that you've got your products and product pages set up and ready to go, you're going to want to decide how you want to take payments.

This is a key element of any online store. However, it's not that obvious right away as to where you can change these settings. Eventually, we found it, tucked under Settings > Checkout. Since an online store with Weebly is built with a Square account, your website will automatically use Square to collect payments.

It's worth noting the fees here associated with selling on Weebly. You can choose to accept payments by Apple Pay and Google Pay as well. While it takes some configuring, Weebly offers options for customers to also pay with Afterpay, the Cash App, and Square gift cards.

You can easily create payment links and buy buttons to sell items and tickets or even accept donations. Although Weebly allows you to start building your online store for free, you will need to account for these processing fees with each purchase.

Setting up an online shop but can’t think of a name? See our list of great ideas to help you find inspiration (and the best tools for the task).

Marketing

Congratulations on being ready to promote your new online store, but there's still more to learn. This Weebly review doesn't end after talking you through how to customize your new website and use Weebly's tools.

Now it's time to get stuck into your digital marketing. Building a solid brand for your online business doesn't end with customizing your products or homepage. Once you're in the marketing section of your account, you'll quickly see how Weebly offers a free email campaign using Square Marketing.

This automation is quick to set up, allowing you to stay in touch with your customers once they've made a purchase. However, it's clear to see that Weebly's automation tool is very limited.

For example, there is no ability to change the trigger of your automation beyond the two default options:

• When a customer purchases for the first time (to welcome new customers)
• When a customer makes a purchase but doesn't make a second one (to drive repeat customers)

Unlike more advanced features available in tailored email marketing tools, Weebly leaves no room to add extra conditions or follow-up email campaigns.

Once you've decided which route you'd like to take, you'll be happy to hear that Weebly's drag-and-drop editor makes putting your email campaign together a breeze. You can swiftly drag and drop different widgets, including text, imagery, payment sections, and even GIFs.

Once you're ready to send your campaign, simply click 'Review' then 'Pay and Send'. Now, here things feel a little misleading from the first screen telling us we had a free email marketing automation ready and waiting.

This is where Weebly informs you that you'll need to subscribe to Square Email Marketing for $15/month for up to 500 reachable contacts. To get started, you will need to enter your credit card details, but you won't be charged until after your 30-day free trial.

SEO

Another key ingredient in your marketing strategy is SEO. Any strong website builder will offer SEO tools to help your website show up in search engine results.

Under Website > SEO, you'll find some of these settings for your website overall. These settings are pretty basic, allowing you to change the meta title, meta description of your homepage, and how it displays on social media.

You can also set up 301 redirects here to ensure users don't land on broken links (404 pages). Don't forget, you can also change the meta descriptions of your products and pages as you create them.

Unlike other website builders, such as WordPress, there is little guidance or support with your SEO. While other platforms like Wix or Squarespace offer checklists and guides to help you optimize your online store.

Statistics

Once your website is up and running, keeping track of your business is quite straightforward from within the Reports section of Weebly. From here, you can keep an eye on sales trends, item sales, team sales, and even payment methods.

Plus, after working on your SEO efforts, you can see the effects on site traffic, site activity, sources, and even abandoned cart data. Unfortunately, yet again, Weebly will ask you to upgrade here if you would like to see more detailed traffic insights.

This is a bit of a letdown for Weebly, as it seems the platform continues to hide important features and tools behind its paid plans.

Although it does require a paid subscription, one thing we do like the look of here is Weebly's 'Purchase Funnel' feature, allowing you to see where steps in the buying process might be stopping customers from completing a sale.

Weebly App Center

While there are some gaps in Weebly's offering as a website builder, one of the most helpful features of Weebly is its App Center. From lead capture forms to testimonial builders, there are plenty of apps to choose from to increase your sales and website traffic.

One thing to bear in mind, though, is that not all of Weebly's apps are free. While Weebly offers a free plan, it's worth weighing up the pros and cons of the platform.

If you do choose to use premium apps from the Weebly App Center, you could find yourself with expensive monthly payments just to maintain your website.

Pros and cons of Weebly

Now that we've covered what features Weebly offers, let's take a closer look at what Weebly does well, and where the platform could improve.

Benefits✅

User friendly

For newbie web designers, Weebly is a simple and relatively straightforward website builder. Within a few clicks, you can typically find what you're looking for. Many of Weebly's ecommerce features are easy to use and set up well for mobile, right out of the box.

For those looking for more creative control, however, a Weebly website might lead to frustrations when it comes to advanced features and customization options. For a basic online store or website, Weebly certainly helps users to get online, with little need for web design experience.

However, Weebly as a website builder overall and its editing capabilities can be a bit disappointing. For some, its simplicity is a dream — for others looking for a unique site, a Weebly website might not tick those boxes.

Weebly templates

If you're new to website building, Weebly's templates (both free and paid) offer a great starting point for your business. This means you can pretty much get started immediately, with no need for advanced web design knowledge.

Many of the templates available are very clean and easy to use, with a good selection of customization options — especially for newbies. For the more advanced user, some of these features might be a little too simple and put you at a disadvantage, since you can't customize your site completely.

Lots of opportunities to sell

One area that Weebly excels in is its opportunities to sell a variety of products. Setting up your online store is quite straightforward, whether you're selling digital downloads, services, or physical products.

Even on the free version of Weebly, any new business owner will be well-equipped to start selling quite quickly. Setting up shipping options is simple, too, giving you control over how your orders are fulfilled.

Mobile-first approach

As a website builder, we love how Weebly encourages users to build on a mobile view of their website. Not only does this ensure that your website is mobile responsive, but it also helps website owners deliver the best user experience to their visitors across all devices.

Many other platforms instantly start you off editing the desktop view of your website, with options to make changes on mobile or tablet view to ensure it is mobile responsive.

Free plan

Whether you're looking to keep costs low or you simply want a straightforward website builder without complex functionality, Weebly offering a free plan is certainly a plus.

Of course, as we've covered throughout this Weebly review, some aspects will require you to upgrade — whether you want to use a specific Weebly template or use their email marketing tools. However, overall, a free website builder, Weebly certainly ticks a variety of boxes when it comes to building a basic site.

Drawbacks❌

No AI website builder

Unlike other website builders, Weebly doesn't offer any AI web design tools. Since AI is spreading like wildfire, especially in the world of digital marketing — it's a shame Weebly hasn't caught up with this area of web design.

Poor scalability

Although Weebly has some great built-in features, some limitations could hold back your business growth. It's fair to say that Weebly has everything a basic website builder could need, and it's pretty ideal for an in-person business at the very start of its journey.

But does it stand up as a reliable website builder for growing brands? Probably not. 

Need to upgrade to use some themes

If you're new to website builders and Weebly in particular, it can be a little frustrating finding features behind a paywall when you're just finding your feet.

When website building isn't your forte but one of Weebly's templates takes your eye, you'll be asked to upgrade from the free plan to use it. But it's not just the templates that may require an upgrade, since many helpful features are also beyond their free plan.

Some helpful features and tools are behind paid plans

As you start building your new website, it's a little frustrating to find that more advanced features are there to see beyond Weebly's free plan. Of course, you can edit things like colors, font options, and your site's logo — but other site elements such as buttons and badges require an upgrade.

Finding some elements can be confusing

When we started putting a website together, the Weebly editor made it easy to add new sections and customize them accordingly. However, if you add something in the wrong place, the Weebly editor doesn't make it obvious how to rearrange these sections.

Thankfully, we found the option under the three little dots next to 'Done' when editing a section, but this could be easily missed.

Limited customization options on the free plan

Many of Weebly's tools and features require payment, and their free plan is quite limited.

For example, when choosing the height of a section, the options are simply XS, S, M, and L. While this may not be the end of the world for a basic website, some users will certainly want more control over these elements.

No custom domain without a paid plan

As a business owner, you'll naturally want your online store to look as professional as possible. Whether you're at the very beginning of your journey or a few months (or years!) in, your brand and presence mean everything.

If you're trying to keep costs to a minimum, opting for a Weebly site can be a little frustrating since you can't connect a custom domain without upgrading to at least the personal plan. However, as we've covered in the next section of this Weebly review, the cost isn't going to set you back too much.

Lack of social media integrations

Apart from adding your Instagram feed, Weebly is pretty limited when it comes to social media. A lack of other integrations is a little disappointing and puts Weebly at a disadvantage to other platforms.

Looking to build a community around your brand? We curated a list of great website platforms to grow and monetize your business.

How much does Weebly cost?

You'll be pleased to hear that building a Weebly website won't break the bank. This is often one of the biggest worries for new businesses, especially those starting an online store with a small budget.

For any entrepreneur, website building can be a scary hurdle to overcome, with fears of expensive subscriptions such as third-party apps, hosting, and selling fees. Thankfully, a Weebly website won't set you back hundreds of dollars.

In fact, you can get started at no cost with the free plan. Of course, like any website builder, there are some restrictions across their free and tiered plans. This means you might not have access to all the tools you need to build your website right away.

Here's a quick breakdown of how the features differ across their free and paid plans.

• You get a basic website with Weebly branding on the free plan, 500 MB of storage, and a Weebly subdomain.
• Upon upgrading to the Personal plan for $6/month (billed annually), you can create a custom domain name, remove Weebly branding, and access more advanced tools.
• With the Professional plan ($12/month, annually), you get everything in the personal plan plus unlimited storage, site search, password protection, and advanced website-building tools.
• The Performance plan adds ecommerce capabilities for $26/month (billed annually).
• The Business plan costs $29/month (billed annually) and gives more advanced ecommerce features.

Grow your business with Whop

There we have it! Hopefully, we've covered everything you could need in this Weebly review, to help you make an informed decision on this simple website builder.

But if you do find that Weebly isn't quite up to the task of building your website, why not make Whop your storefront? If you want to sell digital products, Whop is the ultimate choice here. Our all-in-one social commerce platform allows you to create your own storefront, track customers and payments, and build a community — all in one place.

Whether you're selling ebooks or creating online courses, Whop makes it easy to get started and sell in a matter of minutes. Unlike Weebly, there's no confusing setup, frustrating limitations, and pushes to upgrade your account.

When you sign up with Whop, you have the full flexibility of our all-in-one platform, with apps extending your store even further, whether you want to run giveaways, take calendar bookings, or sell access to exclusive files and templates.

We'll handle everything you need, including payments. If you're ready to give it a try, sign up to Whop today and start building your brand.

Weebly FAQs

Still wondering if Weebly is for you? Here are some common questions about the popular website builder.

Is Weebly good for beginners?

Weebly is suitable for beginners with no coding knowledge or web design know-how. It's easy to use, with drag-and-drop functionality, allowing you to get stuck in and build your site quite quickly. It's a great option for small businesses, no matter what you're selling.

Is Weebly free?

Yes, Weebly has a free version. Although it is a good starting point for new and small businesses, there are some aspects you may need to pay for — such as premium templates.

As you'll see at the start of this Weebly review, there are some differences in the features available across the free and paid plans. As you familiarize yourself with the platform, you'll soon find out which features you may need and what's worth upgrading for.

Can I add a custom domain to Weebly?

Yes, you can. Simply go to 'Domains' in your dashboard, where you can buy, connect, and manage domains associated with your site.

Does Weebly use plugins?

No, it uses apps to extend its capabilities. Much like how WordPress plugins are both free and paid, Weebly offers a variety of apps in the same way.

Can I import my products from another website?

Yes! When you go to your item library in Weebly, you have the option to import your products from another website builder.

All you need to do is ensure the first row of your file contains column headers and product names and that an item and its variations have the same category, description, and item name.

What's the difference between Weebly and the Square website builder?

You may have noticed a small Square logo throughout the Weebly website and dashboard. While you might think you've landed on another platform, they are actually one and the same.

Square is actually a payment processing platform, which bought Weebly in 2018. As a part of this, Square helps you to both take payments and build your website. This partnership has allowed Weebly to offer more templates and greater flexibility while using Square as its primary payment processor.

Does Weebly have a good support center?

Weebly has quite a comprehensive support center, filled with articles designed to answer popular queries and issues. You can also contact Weebly via their Support Assistant and by email.

By default, the online bot (Support Assistant) will aim to point you in the direction of an article to help with any problems you may have.

Are there any good Weebly alternatives?

If you're not sure if Weebly is the right website builder for you, there are certainly some great alternatives to consider, including:

• Whop
• Wix
• Shopify
• Squarespace
• WordPress