Top website builder for artists in 2023, survey reveals
Picking the best website builder for artists enables you to present your artwork online, without the need for any coding knowledge. These days, a website is essential because selling online is a major route into market. Even if you don’t actually sell your work online, having a website will showcase your work to a larger audience.
Though a lot of artists use platforms like Instagram or Behance, a customised website will make your work look way more professional, which can mean more commissions and higher price points. You’ll also get more creative control over how you present your work, as the platform’s interface won’t limit the format. Imagine it like a digital gallery, which allows you to control the size and layout of your pieces. Plus, you can categorise pieces, so potential buyers can navigate your collection more easily. Added to that, you can decide which biographical information and contact details you want to publish.
With the best website builders for artists, this is all quick and easy. Many builders have a range of templates that are simple to customise (customisation varies from platform to platform). We’ve chosen our favourite website builders in this guide, making our selections based on artists’ reviews and our own experience of the ease of use, versatility, features and prices (for more on our process, see our how we test and review guide, and be sure to look out for links to reviews throughout the guide).
We’ve aimed to offer options to fit different budgets, and for each option, we’ve summed up the pros and cons and we suggest who it’s best for. We’ll start with quick links to our top three options, and then dive into the full list. If you’re not looking to create a site for art specifically, then take a look at our general guide to the best website builder. And if you are hoping to depend on Instagram for now, see our guide to how to sell on Instagram.
The best website builder for artists: our top 3
The best website builders for artists in full
The $12 / £10 a month that Squarespace charges on its basic plan isn’t a great deal, especially when you consider how much extra money your own artist website could potentially make you. But if your budget won’t stretch that far, then Wix has a basic plan at a more affordable $8.50 / £6.50 a month, that’s worth investigating.
Unlike Squarespace (above), Wix is not specifically aimed at creatives, but at the mass market. And its templates tend to be functional rather than beautiful. But if you’re interested in saving money, that may be a compromise you’re willing to make, especially considering that its interface is easier to use than Squarespace’s. (For more details, see our Squarespace vs Wix comparison).
Wix’s drag-and-drop editor offers more than 800 templates, including a lot of art-focused templates(opens in new tab) to choose from, many of them for specific things such as art photographer, illustrator, art gallery, and so on. And if even that’s too complicated, you can take the ultra-easy route of using Wix ADI, where you answer questions and the platform just designs a website for you (JimDo, number 6 on our list, offers a similar approach).
In short, this is best cheap website builder for artists today, and there’s even a ‘Free forever’ option that will give you a basic website for no cost at all. Be warned, though, that your site will be plastered with ads, you’ll have a Wix-branded URL, and storage and bandwidth will be limited. To learn more, check out this selection of artist websites created with Wix(opens in new tab), and our Wix review.
In theory, having your own website gives you ultimate control over how your work is presented online. However, if you lack design and coding skills, you’re limited to using the templates that are available. This means that the best website builder for artists will normally be one that has great-looking templates. For this criterion, Squarespace wins hands down, making it our top pick.
Aimed specifically at creatives such as artists, illustrators and photographers, Squarespace goes to great pains to allow you to present your portfolio in style. Its templates are crafted by professional designers, and they really are lovely. You don’t need to know anything about coding: just pick a template, then drag and drop your images and text into it.
Admittedly, Squarespace’s interface isn’t the easiest to use: there’s a bit of a learning curve involved. But you do get helpful advice pop-ups wherever you hover your cursor, so it doesn’t take too long to get up to speed. Squarespace is also one of the more expensive web builders. But if you want a website that can really show your work at its best, we reckon it’s worth the extra cash. You also have the option of adding a blog or an online store to sell prints and other items. In theory, it could pay for itself and more over time.
There’s no free plan, but Squarespace does offer a 14-day free trial, with no credit card needed, so you won’t get charged accidentally by forgetting to cancel the trial. For more details, see our Squarespace review and our comparison of Squarespace vs Wix (the next on our list).
Do you take a lot of time to perfect your art, painstakingly working on every minute detail until you get it right? Then the chances are, you’ll want to do the same with your website, and won’t be satisfied with just dropping in your images into a pre-built template. In which case, if you’re prepared to put a little time and effort, Voog is the best website builder for you.
Voog has quite a limited number of templates, but they’re very well-designed and look impressive on all desktop, tablet and smartphone screens alike. And more importantly, you get a huge range of options for customising them to your heart’s content, especially when it comes to blogging and ecommerce.
You still don’t need to understanding coding to do so, although if you do, there are some great database and API tools to help you tweak things further. Either way, if you have problems, support is available 24/7 via live chat, email, and phone.
Another distinctive feature Voog offers is setting your site to be available in multiple languages. You can either set the language to change automatically depending on a visitor’s location, or let them to pick the language themselves. Either way, if you want to promote your art beyond the English speaking world – and art is a universal language, after all – this could prove very useful. See our Voog review for more.
WordPress is website building software that powers around a third of the web. And if you have some familiarity with it, then Bluehost is well worth considering.
Bluehost doesn’t just offer some of the best web hosting, it also offers its own website builder. And what’s different is that it runs on top of WordPress. So once you’ve built your site using the easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, you have many options to finesse things further using one of the thousands of WordPress plugins.
On the basic plan, Bluehost’s web builder isn’t as cheap as those of rivals like Wix. But then again, on those cheap plans you’ll get ads and clunky domain names. So if you want a professional look for your site, Bluehost represents good value. Particularly if you want ecommerce features, which are a lot cheaper than Wix has to offer. For more, see our Bluehost web builder review.
As we said earlier, you don’t need to understand code to use any of these website builders. But maybe you’re an artist who generally finds using computers and web technologies intimidating and difficult? If that’s the case, Jimdo is a great option when it comes to ease of use for beginners.
Anyone can use this website builder to get a site up and running: it really couldn’t get much simpler. Because you don’t actually have to build the site yourself: the system will automatically do it for you.
Here’s how it works. You start creating your site without committing any money or supplying a credit card – just choose the ‘free’ option when you get to the payment page. Then Jimdo will ask you a series of questions about what you want your website to do.
You can respond to (or skip) a series of prompts that makes it super-easy to do things like change the fonts and add your own images and text. This guided approach makes Jimdo great for those for whom even a template-driven platform like Squarespace is overwhelming. (Wix, number two on our list, offers a similar approach via its Wix ADI service).
Yes, Jimdo’s templates are pretty basic and not exactly beautiful. But if you want something quick and easy, that may be a compromise you’re willing to make. That said, Jimdo isn’t just for newbies. If you know how to code, you can install widgets that allow you to modify the HTML and CSS of the templates.
On the negative side, Jimdo lacks live chat or phone support, so if you get stuck, you have to fill in a form. And you can’t expect the fastest response unless you’re on the most expensive plan. See our Jimdo review for more.
Do you need a website as an artist?
Yes, you could showcase your work on a social media platform like Instagram, but people are going to take you less seriously. On your own website, conversely, you can choose how your work is presented, who comments on it, and make it easy for people to find exactly what they’re looking for. Plus potential customers and clients won’t be distracted by all those pesky numbers for followers and likes which, although we don’t like to admit it, do influence our view of creatives to an unhealthy degree.
What is a website builder?
What’s the best website builder for artists?
What should I include on my artist website?
You’ll also need an ‘About me’ page, so people know who you are and what makes your art different, and a ‘Contact me’ page so they can get in touch. For more advice, read our article 10 tips for a killer design portfolio.
What’s the best free website builder for artists?
That said, it can be a good way to get started building your own website. If that idea attracts you, we recommend Wix(opens in new tab), as it’s free plan is pretty good, and when you decide to upgrade, its paid plans are quite cheap too.
What’s the best cheap website builder for artists?
How can artists build an online store?
There are countless other features to help customise your store, including integrating it with your social media accounts. Overall, you’ll pay more than with other website builders, but the extra income may potentially more than compensate for that.
If your main interest in having a website is to sell paintings, prints and other artworks direct to the public, we recommend Shopify. The website builder that’s most focused on creating e-stores, Shopify is fundamentally geared towards helping you become a successful online retailer, whether you’re selling other people’s products or your own.
Shopify has some nice looking templates, the interface is easy to use, and it offers all the ecommerce features you can shake a stick at. Be warned: unlike Squarespace or Wix, most of the templates aren’t free, and the service as a whole is on the pricey side. That said, if it helps you sell more, then that extra cost should be worth it in the long term.
The platform offers excellent technical support, its payment system works with a variety of providers, and you get a huge range of options for customising your store. Learn more in our Shopify review, and our comparison of Wix vs Shopify.
Fabrik is special in that you choose which creative discipline you’re showcasing, and its intelligent themes work accordingly to present your work in the optimum way. This includes artists, but also photographers designers, 3D artists, illustrators, agencies and more. You upload your high-res images and the AI does its magic, arranging your work in the perfect way for every device from mobile to billboard.
You can arrange your work in galleries and, crucially, you retain creative control over the final product as you can tweak any suggestions made by the intelligent system. There are blogging tools but ecommerce has to be set up through a plugin (Fabrik has tutorials to take you through this). The finish is gorgeous, and you can switch from theme to theme easily.
Plus, it runs with Google Analytics. We reviewed it back in 2016 and loved it, and it’s turned into something even better since then (see our Fabrik review if you’re interested).
