Webs.com Review: A Ghost Town of a Website Builder

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Robert Brandl

Robert Brandl

Author

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With more than 50 million websites hosted on their servers, we are talking about one of the largest site building companies worldwide. They have already been around since 2001, starting out as Freewebs, one of the first free services to create websites.

However, things have taken a turn for the worse. In 2011 Vistaprint took over despite already having a website builder in their portfolio. Here’s what Vistaprint has changed since they acquired Webs:

  • Carried out one last major update in 2012
  • Stopped product development after that
  • Reduced the free plan to 5 pages only
  • Closed down the official Webs blog in 2017
  • Added some Vistaprint ads to the backend of the editor

As far as pricing is concerned there is a 30-day money back guarantee for all paid plans. The lowest ad-free plan starts at a relatively affordable $6.99 (or $5.99 if you sign up for 2 years directly). Unfortunately, the free version of their website builder is limited to 5 pages only.

Videos

  • See Webs.com in action here
See Webs.com in action here video

Screenshots

Webs Pricing

$0

Free

Up to 40 MB of storage, displays a Webs.com ad. Limited to 5 pages.

$6.99

Starter

Unlimited pages, a custom domain name and 1GB of storage.

$14.99

Enhanced

Sell up to 20 items, 5 GB of storage and gain access to their premium themes.

$29.99

Pro

For those looking to sell unlimited products, it comes with phone support and unlimited storage.

Monthly prices for 1-year contracts. Domain name included. Please note that on their website they are showing prices for 2-year contracts, that’s why they seem cheaper than what you see here.

Pros and Cons of Webs

  • Pros
  • Cons

Pros

  • Website Editor

    As outdated as it is, the editor is actually a relatively effective drag and drop builder, which is very easy to use.

Rating Details

Ease of use Info popup

Intuitive, but the number of features makes it a little tricky to use in places. However, not all bugs have been ironed out (see comment section below).

Choice and flexibility of design (templates) Info popup

Many of their designs look a bit outdated. It is possible to adjust colors and styles but not the source code. Features a mobile website version as well.

Advertisement-free Info popup

The free version features a Webs ad in the footer. Your mobile website will show a small ad if you don't upgrade to Pro or pay an additional fee.

Languages Info popup

Their marketing website is available in 8 languages while the interface is English-only. No special feature to create multi-lingual sites.

Your own domain name (e.g. .com or .net) Info popup

Re-direct your existing domain or register a domain via Webs.com (included in premium packages).

Depth of navigation Info popup

Two sub-levels, with a drop-down menu.

Widgets (small tools to add extra functionality) Info popup

Video tool and photo gallery options are included. They used to have an app store similar to Wix (they actually had it long before them). But for some reason, it got removed years ago.

Mobile App Info popup

  • iOS
  • Android

No mobile app available.

E-Commerce Info popup

Online store with quite a few options. The only way to check out is Paypal though.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Info popup

Meta tags, meta descriptions and page titles can all be edited (for some SEO features you need a paid plan). The URL is generated from the name of the menu item.

Blog

Very basic: no option to moderate comments before they’re published. No HTML widgets apart from YouTube videos. It’s possible to assign categories and schedule posts for future publication.

Visitor statistics Info popup

Clicky is the default tracking tool, but you can also add Google Analytics.

Contact form

Easily customizable with different field types

Password protection & member areas Info popup

Allows you to set up protected areas with individual user logins. Users can communicate with each other like in a social network, e.g. Facebook.

Newsletter tool Info popup

Send email blasts to members of your site. Premium users can also use certain HTML elements (pictures and formatting).

Add HTML code Info popup

Allows you to add other widgets and tools.

Storage space

40 MB+

Free: 40 MB, Starter: 1 GB, Enhanced: 5 GB and Pro: 10 GB.

Backups & Restore Info popup

There’s no possibility to create a backup or restore your content.

Support

  • FAQ
  • Chat
  • Email
  • Telephone

Self-help, ticketing system and Live Chat. Responsive Live Chat for premium users.

Fun Factor Info popup

Creating a website with Webs isn’t much fun at all.

Overall Rating

2.2

An easy-to-use website builder with a decent range of features. The major downside is that Vistaprint hasn’t been invested anything in the past few years and it starts showing. If you want your website to be future-proof, better choose one of their competitors.

Conclusion

Webs.com is an outdated website builder that hasn’t received any updates for years. The only really positive thing is that it’s very easy to understand and the Starter plan is relatively affordable. But it looks like Webs is dying a slow death as it’s obviously not getting any more love by their new owners.

It’s a pity as we’ve been following them around since 2010. And back then I would have bet that they will be a dominant site builder also 10 years later. The opposite is true.

All in all, we strongly recommend you to check for better alternatives.

Example Sites

Webs-Patrciaolufemi

Patricia Olufemi

Fashion Model

Webs-Lennixtartan

Lennox Tartan Design

Design

Webs-El-Faro

El Faro

Restaurant

FAQ

Yes, Webs.com has a membership feature. Your visitors can set up individual profile pages and access content that you specify. Learn more in this article.

Yes. Simply sign up at google.com/webmasters and paste the code they provide under “Website Settings.” Choose the “Meta-Tag verification” method.

Webs released their Site Builder 3 in 2012. According to our user’s feedback and to some extent also our own experiences, we can agree with that. That’s why we have repeatedly downgraded Webs. Please check our comment section below for more details.

Currently not. Here is what their support section says:

We do not fully support non-Latin based characters. Additionally, the way special characters or symbols appear on your website may vary based on what browser the visitor of your website is using.

Yes, they are.

Webs Alternatives

Not sure what website builder you should use? Let our smart finder decide for you in 2 minutes.

The author

Learn more about us

Robert Brandl

Founder and CEO

Hi, my name is Robert Brandl! I used to work in a digital marketing agency where I managed website and email marketing projects. To optimize my client's campaigns, I always had to find the optimal web tools. Tooltester offers this knowledge to you, hopefully saving you endless hours of research.

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We keep our content up to date

06 Feb 2019 – General update
25 Oct 2017 – Minor text updates
17 Jan 2017 – We feature the restore & backup section in the table
08 Apr 2016 – Pricing update and storage update.
09 Sep 2015 – General updates (template ratings etc.)
20 Nov 2014 – Prices have increased.
11 Aug 2014 – Another downgrade as we keep receiving user comments about technical issues.
14 Mar 2013 – We’ve added information about password protection.
05 Dec 2012 – We downgraded Webs’ rating again as our readers pointed us to a couple of major and minor bugs (see comments).
06 Nov 2012 – There are a still a couple of bugs in Webs’ new editor. That’s why we decided to downgrade the overall rating from 4.5 to 4 stars. Please check our comments section and this thread for details.
05 Oct 2012 – We downgraded the blogging feature from 4 to 3 stars (see comments for details).
23 July 2012 – Review of Webs’ new SiteBuilder 3.
22 Nov 2011 – Check out the results of our Webs’ server performance test.
30 Aug 2011 – Webs has added an integrated mobile website builder
17 Mar 2011 – General update: Webs has added a couple of well-designed templates.
12 Jan 2011 – General update, but support was not reviewed at this time.

THE BEHIND THE SCENES OF THIS REVIEW

This article has been written and researched following a precise methodology.

Our methodology

Comments