Any recommendation for website builders for a Wordpress site?

[Clinton]

I'm assisting a friend with a charity they're setting up. It will need a website - about 50 to 100 pages. There's a fair bit of content on each page. No selling or ecommerce though, no donations accepted onsite.

I'm not a developer or techie. I've owned a fair few websites in my time - all kinds of sites - but it's been a few years, probably closer to decade, that I've built a Wordpress site from scratch.

I'm looking around at website builders like Thrive, Elementor etc - the choice is absolutely monumental. But they all have a subscription model. You don't pay once and use forever and, for reasons I won't go into here, this can't be on a subscription. It has to be a one-off fee.

Sure, I can use the default WP themes, but they don't have a lot of features (from what I remember).

Some builders, like Thrive Architect, used to be on a one-off fee, I remember buying that about 7-8 years ago. The deal was that you get 12 months of free support but after that your site would continue to function and you'd get updates, but it seems like that's changing and they disable the software now if you don't pay your annual fee (and your site stops working).

Any suggestions on website builders that can produce a nice site, and easily, but without a monthly or annual fee?

 

[Clinton]

PS: It can't be tied to some hosting or other commitment because that's not really 'free'.

Also, the site will be on its own domain, so no HubSpot CMS or Webflow.

 

[Shopclicks]

I'm looking around at website builders like Thrive, Elementor etc - the choice is absolutely monumental. But they all have a subscription model. You don't pay once and use forever and, for reasons I won't go into here, this can't be on a subscription. It has to be a one-off fee.

There is a free version of Elementor. The Pro version has a lot more features and almost does away with most of the popular plugins outside of security. I have a 1000 site licence and I'd be happy to connect the site to my account free of charge, if it's for a charitable cause. You don't need a theme with all the bells and whistles as all of your on-page content, including header and footer can be built with Elementor.

I would also recommend Krystal Hosting and the Elementor Hello theme for page load speed.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Depending on the content type, you could get the basic site set up (with/without design costs) and your friend could add the pages, but it does depend on how you want the content presented. If simple pages or posts, if they can use Word, the can add content.

 

[YasmeenLondon]

Bricks builder has an LTD, the code it outputs is less bloated than other builders and you can build anything from very simple to scalable websites with it, but like anything, it has a learning curve.

 

[zomex]

I would also second your take to avoid the page builder plugins. They are honestly the worst part of the WordPress community. They produce bloated code, slow, are a nightmare to keep updated due to possible and sometimes likely breaks and they will keep you tied to them.

A better approach would be to look for companies who are known to produce premium themes which don't rely on any plugins. Avoid websites such as themeforest as almost all the themes there rely on 10+ plugins to even function.

You may even be better off using a free theme from the WP directory (more popular/new the better) and see if it has what you need before looking into premium themes.

Remember you can use plugins to add more functionality. E.g contact form 7 to add free forms to any theme.

 

[Shopclicks]

I would also second your take to avoid the page builder plugins. They are honestly the worst part of the WordPress community. They produce bloated code, slow, are a nightmare to keep updated due to possible and sometimes likely breaks and they will keep you tied to them.

Elementor is neither bloated or slow. By all means speed test the site in my profile. Built on Elementor.

 

[antropy]

Any suggestions on website builders that can produce a nice site, and easily, but without a monthly or annual fee?

Home

Concrete CMS is an open source content management system for teams. A website builder with built in tools make editing content easy.

www.concretecms.com

Paul.

 

[Clinton]

Elementor is neither bloated or slow. By all means speed test the site in my profile. Built on Elementor.

I probably won't end up using Elementor but just thought you should know that I couldn't see a site in your profile.

 

[Shopclicks]

I probably won't end up using Elementor but just thought you should know that I couldn't see a site in your profile.

It is there.

https://eco-optimise.co.uk/ It's just a demo site.

 

[zomex]

Elementor is neither bloated or slow. By all means speed test the site in my profile. Built on Elementor.

I'm not saying Elementor is so slow its even noticeable but it is inherently very bloated because of the nature of what it's doing. It's making it easy to build and have full control of a page without seeing any code. That always comes at the cost of bloated code behind the scenes. It's of course slower than if you were doing the same thing without it. But doing that requires more knowledge of building pages, using HTML etc and time.

All wordpress themes have to be maintained whether they use elementor or not. The more layers you have of a theme such as it being built using Elementor the more you risk issues down the line with compatibility.

 

[zomex]

Home

Concrete CMS is an open source content management system for teams. A website builder with built in tools make editing content easy.

www.concretecms.com

Paul.

So basically WordPress if it had 99.9% less developers, themes, plugins, features, community.

 

[Shopclicks]

It's of course slower than if you were doing the same thing without it. But doing that requires more knowledge of building pages, using HTML etc and time.

Why on earth anyone would want to build a site using only HTML in this day and age, I have no idea. A lot of my clients like to edit their content themselves. They are far better off with Elementor than learning how to use HTML. It's the theme used and a lot of other factors which slows page load speed, not Elementor.

PageSpeed Insights

pagespeed.web.dev

 

[zomex]

Why on earth anyone would want to build a site using only HTML in this day and age, I have no idea. A lot of my clients like to edit their content themselves. They are far better off with Elementor than learning how to use HTML. It's the theme used and a lot of other factors which slows page load speed, not Elementor.

PageSpeed Insights

pagespeed.web.dev

Yes there are many factors which contribute to a websites speed but one of those factors is plugins. Elementor creates bloated code and is an extra plugin to your website which is slower than not using it. The reason you're using Elementor is because you do not know how to create pages without it. If you did i.e HTML you could create a faster website is what I was saying.

Page builder plugins including Elementor will make your website slower than it otherwise would have been.

Also your website is extremely basic with barely anything to it. Of course it's going to be fast when you have 2 images Using Elementor to create that website is overkill because there is absolutely no design structure to your content. You could create that with the default WordPress editor using blocks.

 

[Shopclicks]

The reason you're using Elementor is because you do not know how to create pages without it. If you did i.e HTML you could create a faster website is what I was saying.

That a bit presumptive. I can build in HTML but why would I? Building websites with Elementor makes them more affordable because the build process is faster.

How much faster do I need my sites to load? I have a test page with a 9mb video hero hosted on the site which gets 95-99 on PSI. The content makes very little difference.

Also your website is extremely basic with barely anything to it.

But it is built with Elementor and is still fast loading. You've claimed that Elementor slows load speed???

 

[zomex]

That a bit presumptive. I can build in HTML but why would I? Building websites with Elementor makes them more affordable because the build process is faster.

How much faster do I need my sites to load? I have a test page with a 9mb video hero hosted on the site which gets 95-99 on PSI. The content makes very little difference.


But it is built with Elementor and is still fast loading. You've claimed that Elementor slows load speed???

You claimed Elementor is not bloated which is false.

The best way to sum up what I'm saying is you've used Elementor to create a very basic website. You could have created that using default WordPress (e.i Gutenberg). That would have been faster because you no longer need Elementor which adds significant code/bloat to your website.

Yes your website is fast because it's a basic website with only 2 images and you have other areas covered (caching, good hosting etc). Your website would be even faster if you were using default WordPress instead of WordPress + Elementor:

Gutenberg VS Elementor - HTML Bloat - Gutenberg Hub

I’ve recently replicated the Elementor’s official home page in Gutenberg as an experiment & to create a tutorial. That tutorial […]

gutenberghub.com

Yes it is slower and yes it is bloated but it is also true that it's barely noticeable or impactful and 10% bad does not take away from 90% good making page building easier.

I am suggesting to the OP that it is not always necessary to use a page builder. It depends on the requirements for the website and who is going to be creating/maintaining the content.

I am unfollowing this topic for both our sake. It's a waist of time going back and forth on this.

All the best with the new website @Clinton

 

[Shopclicks]

Yes your website is fast because it's a basic website with only 2 images and you have other areas covered (caching, good hosting etc). Your website would be even faster if you were using default WordPress instead of WordPress + Elementor:

Like I said, the content makes next to no difference. Be it graphics, images, backgrounds, video, Woocommerce, etc. If done properly, always in the green.

 

[fisicx]

Getting back to the original question.

Don’t use a page builder when assembling the site. Use a free theme and add all the content, navigation and whatever then work out if you still need a page builder. It’s possible you can do what you want with the many and varied built in blocks.

Once the site is built experiment with different themes until you get the look and feel you want.

 

[Shopclicks]

Once the site is built experiment with different themes until you get the look and feel you want.

Or start with a fast theme and Elementor and only build it once

Yes it is slower and yes it is bloated but it is also true that it's barely noticeable or impactful and 10% bad does not take away from 90% good making page building easier.

You'll find that Elementor have made huge improvements in the 4 years since the article you posted was published.

 

[zomex]

You'll find that Elementor have made huge improvements in the 4 years since the article you posted was published.

Improvements yes, but like I said the nature of what Elementor does will always cause a lot of bloat and every extra plugin you use will add more code and page load to your website. So if a website can be built without using a page builder plugin it will always be faster than with. That can't be disputed, it's a fact. Now that's not to say it's going to be a noticeable difference, it's only 1 aspect of a websites speed. But there is a difference not to mention if you use Elementor you have another plugin you need to keep up to date. At anytime they can change their plugin function causing your website to break, remove the free plan etc.

The only design your website is using is a basic 2 column layout which is something you can do easily using default WordPress (Gutenberg).

 

[YasmeenLondon]

Improvements yes, but like I said the nature of what Elementor does will always cause a lot of bloat and every extra plugin you use will add more code and page load to your website. So if a website can be built without using a page builder plugin it will always be faster than with. That can't be disputed, it's a fact. Now that's not to say it's going to be a noticeable difference, it's only 1 aspect of a websites speed. But there is a difference not to mention if you use Elementor you have another plugin you need to keep up to date. At anytime they can change their plugin function causing your website to break, remove the free plan etc.

The only design your website is using is a basic 2 column layout which is something you can do easily using default WordPress (Gutenberg).

Mate it's not all doom and gloom, I've seen some really horrible custom themes and some really good websites done with elementor, it's all about how competent you are with the tools you're working with and the overall strategy.

I am a HUGE champion of fast page builders but my agency's website is a custom theme, not every tool works everywhere and this conversation of "best website framework" or "best page builder" is pointless and doesn't help OP.

Page builders with life time deals or truly free page builders is the original question.

 

[Small Business Ltd]

Have you looked at Elegant Themes (DIVI) on Worpress? They offer a one off lifetime fee, but may be expensive for the charity ($187 at the time of this reply). I build all my websites using DIVI nowadays and have done for several years. Prior to this and other development tools, I also used a number of themes at ThemeForest. Not that it's applicable to your scenario, if you were to have more requests for more websites, with DIVI, the one off lifetime payment allows you to use the same license key for as many websites as you wanted to build for other people. If looking at other paid for themes or free ones, the problem I saw with these was that after a period of time (free or paying ones) they stopped getting updated, so you may need to replace a free or paid one with a different one, if it stopped getting updated, which may cause problems with page configurations. DIVI also comes with many free templates to help get you started. Good luck with the build and choosing the build platform.

 

[fisicx]

Noooooo! Not Divi. Its one of the worst: dated, bloated and poorly responsive.

 

[zomex]

Noooooo! Not Divi. Its one of the worst: dated, bloated and poorly responsive.

I agree. Using DIVI is taking everything great about WordPress and throwing it in the bin. At a time it was regarded as the best theme on the market. That was a good 8-10 years ago now.

 

[Kay Mankoo]

Take a look at Breakdance page builder, we've been using it quite a bit recently, it's much faster than Elementor, and super smooth to work with. It works without a theme, so no need to rely on theme updates, which also means it's a lot leaner on the browser and server.

 

[fisicx]

Or....

Don't use a page builder.

 

[YasmeenLondon]

Getting back to the original question.

Don’t use a page builder

Or....

Don't use a page builder.

But there are very good use cases for page builders, OP specifically asked for Page Builder with LTD recommendations, not sure repeating the same comment twice is helpful.

 

[fisicx]

But there are very good use cases for page builders, OP specifically asked for Page Builder with LTD recommendations, not sure repeating the same comment twice is helpful.

Having spoken to @Clinton they were looking a page builder because they hadn’t appreciated what you can now do with blocks. It’s a simple charity site that may need additional functions. Start with a standard theme, experiment with blocks and if you can’t achieve what you want then consider a page builder.

 

[Russ Michaels]

If you want the easiest solution with no skills or coding required, then try https://www.brizy.io/
This builder is built on WordPress,