Top 13 Professional Web Design Software & Tools for Beginners

The tools we use to create website designs have consistently evolved and changed over the years. To help businesses choose the right web design software, we’ve made a concise and easy-to-understand guide for you.

The softwares within this list were chosen based on popularity, functionality, ease-of-use, and pricing.

Without further ado, let’s jump right into it!

1. WordPress
2. Squarespace
3. Weebly
4. Shopify
5. Appy Pie Website Builder
6. Wix
7. Constant Contact
8. Webflow
9. Gimp
10. Adobe Photoshop
11. Adobe XD
12. BootStrap
13. Flutter

1. WordPress

Often considered the godfather of web design, WordPress powers nearly 30% of the internet’s websites. WordPress’ fame is proof of how excellent their web design tool is.

WordPress is the best website design tool for beginners. It is easy to create a website with WordPress and you find hundreds of tutorials and courses online to help you do the same. WordPress can be used to create websites without coding. However, if you want to add plugins you may need to code a little bit.

WordPress offers two kinds of web design software. One is wordpress.org and the other is wordpress.com. Wordpress.com is a complete website building solution whereas wordpress.org requires you to host the website yourself although it gives you the freedom to design a website as you want.

More about WordPress:

• Type of Platform: No-Code/Low-Code
• Pricing Plan: $3-$55/month (wordpress.org is free)
• Suited for: Beginners/Intermediates
• Used for: Websites

2. Squarespace

Squarespace is an extremely sophisticated website building tool. It helps create modern, well-designed websites within a few clicks. What sets Squarespace apart is its user-focused and secure website builder. It can help create the most dynamic and attractive websites.

Squarespace uses a template-based builder format. It is well known for its excellent customer support and is the preferred builder of choice for bloggers and vloggers.

More about Squarespace:

• Type of Platform: No-Code
• Pricing Plan: $12-$40/month billed annually
• Suited for: Beginners
• Used for: Websites

3. Weebly

Weebly is another popular tool for building websites. Weebly is a drag-and-drop website builder that can be used to build a website with no fuss.

Weebly is easy-to-use and has a very intuitive interface. Weebly is a no-nonsense web design tool and offers an attractive and simple pricing package. Weebly also offers a consistent stream of fresh website designs, everyone will love to use. They also provide a large library of themes.

More about Weebly:

• Type of Platform: No-Code
• Pricing Plan: $0-$25/month
• Suited for: Beginners/Intermediates
• Used for: Websites

4. Shopify

Shopify is another popular web design tool. Unlike the other tools on this list, Shopify is a dedicated website builder for eCommerce websites. Shopify eCommerce builder provides an intuitive drag and drop builder to create professional websites for eCommerce business.

Combined with Shopify’s payment processing software, it makes for a simple and excellent eCommerce website builder that is perfect for small businesses.

More about Shopify:

• Type of Platform: No-Code
• Pricing Plan: $29-$299
• Suited for: Beginners/intermediates/Professionals
• Used for: eCommerce

5. Appy Pie Website Builder

Appy Pie Website Builder is a new web design tool in the market. Appy Pie is a well-known brand in the mobile app development industry. They specialize in creating no-code software that allows the creation of business apps and websites without coding. Their unique website builder can create dedicated business websites and progressive web apps without coding even a single line.

Appy Pie lets users create a complete website without ever needing to edit or use the source code. Their website also comes with in-built analytics and SEO tools to help grow your website.

More about Appy Pie:

• Type of Platform: No-Code
• Pricing Plan: $0-$25/month
• Suited for: Beginners/Intermediates/Professionals
• Used for: Websites/PWA

6. Wix

Wix is one of the largest website building software tools available online. Wix is known for its vast theme and design libraries. Wix directly competes with WordPress and powers nearly 7% of the world’s internet websites.

Wix, however, has a complex learning curve and takes some getting used to. Once you understand its features, Wix can help you create some of the most innovative web designs. The only drawback is its complicated pricing structure and the sheer number of hidden costs that come with it.

More about Wix:

• Type of Platform: No-Code/Low-Code
• Pricing Plan: Varies by Region (Over 9 Unique plans per region)
• Suited for: Professionals
• Used for: Websites/PWA

7. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a popular email marketing software. However, the brand also offers a competent website builder. Constant Contact is good for building small business eCommerce websites. With its plethora of email marketing tools, marketing your website is a piece of cake. However, the builder is fairly basic and is suited for people that want to make generic web designs.

More about Constant Contact:

• Type of Platform: No-Code/Low-Code
• Pricing Plan: $0-$25/month
• Suited for: Beginners/Intermediates
• Used for: eCommerce

8. Webflow

Our last website building tool on this list, Webflow is a hosting and website design software. It lets you create some of the best business websites possible. Webflow is a design software that is suited to almost every demographic.

Webflow is both a code-heavy and no-code builder. What this means is that, if you want to code your website, you have the freedom to do so.  Webflow provides the website code in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and gives users complete freedom to design their website as they want.

More about Webflow:

• Type of Platform: No-Code/Low-Code/Normal Code
• Pricing Plan: Starts at $12 (Enterprises have custom rates)
• Suited for: Beginners/Intermediates/Professionals
• Used for: Websites/PWA

9. Gimp

Moving to other aspects of web design, we come to an often ignored but equally important element of web design. Creating visually appealing website graphics must be taken care of.

Gimp is one of the best graphic design software you can use for designing your website graphics. From blog images to product page photos, GIMP can be used to make anything you want for your website. The best part is that GIMP is completely free to use.

More about Gimp:

• Type of Platform: Graphic Design Software
• Pricing Plan: Free
• Suited for: Beginners/Intermediates
• Used for: Web Graphics

10. Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is another popular tool (it is no surprise that it makes our list!). Photoshop is excellent for making website graphics for your business. The only drawback to Photoshop is the exploitative pricing Adobe offers. It is more suited for businesses with larger budgets and dedicated design teams.

More about Photoshop:

• Type of Platform: Graphic Design Software
• Pricing Plan: Starts at $20.99/month
• Suited for: Professionals
• Used for: Web Graphics

11. Adobe XD

Adobe XD is an underrated software. It is a graphic design software specially designed for creating website graphics. XD is meant for team collaboration. XD allows for multiple designers to work on a design together helping design teams around the world.

Everything from web page design to infographics can be created with ease on XD. However, it suffers from the same problems that Photoshop does. Adobe’s exploitative pricing makes it fit only for larger organizations with dedicated design teams.

More about XD:

• Type of Platform: Graphic Design Software
• Pricing Plan: $9/month/user
• Suited for: Professionals
• Used for: Web Graphics

12. BootStrap

Bootstrap is a unique website design tool. Its sole purpose is to help businesses create mobile-friendly websites and progressive web apps. Bootstrap is meant for people with limited coding knowledge and it allows users to create websites with HTML5.

More about Bootstrap:

• Type of Platform: PWA Website Builder
• Pricing Plan: Free
• Suited for: Intermediates/Professionals
• Used for: PWAs

13. Flutter

Flutter is another platform like Bootstrap that is best suited to design PWAs for the web. Flutter is completely free and one of the easiest website-building platforms you can find.

Flutter is best for businesses that want a website or app but lack the budget to make either using the other software given on our list. With it, you can build a PWA for free! You can even create native mobile apps!

More about Flutter:

• Type of Platform: Website/App Builder
• Pricing Plan: Free
• Suited for: Professionals
• Used for: PWA, Website, Apps

Conclusion

That was our list of the best web design software that you can get today. Each of the tools can help your business create a unique online presence. There are more web design tools not included in the list. Whatever tool you choose for your business website, remember that the only true limit to good web design is your imagination. Good luck!