6 Best Portfolio Website Builders
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After thoroughly researching portfolio website builders, we’ve identified the six best options to discuss. We’ve found that Squarespace is the best portfolio website builder on the market, sitting at the top of our list with an overall score of 4.7 out of 5.
Squarespace is one of the easiest builders to use, and its impressive templates make it ideal for design-heavy portfolios. We’ve also noticed a considerable improvement in the number of built-in and third-party features on offer.
But we know that Squarespace won’t be the right fit for everyone. That’s why we’ve shortlisted the six best portfolio website builders to help you find the right match for your specific needs. Check out the final list:
6 Best Portfolio Website Builders
We put each of these website builders through our rigorous research process to find the best portfolio platform, and we’ll share more about how we put together this final list in a later section.
If you still need help deciding which website builder is the best for you, take our interactive quiz below to be paired with your perfect builder in no time at all!
Compare the Top 6 Portfolio Website Builders of 2023
Compare all six portfolio builders and their key features below:
BEST IN TEST | ![]() | ||||
Squarespace | Wix | GoDaddy | Shopify | Hostinger | Webflow |
Overall Rating 4.7 | Overall Rating 4.5 | Overall Rating 4.2 | Overall Rating 4.0 | Overall Rating 3.7 | Overall Rating 3.5 |
Starting from | Starting from | Starting from $9.99 | Starting from | Starting from
| Starting from $14 |
Free plan or free trial 14-day free trial | Free plan or free trial Free plan | Free plan or free trial Free plan | Free plan or free trial Free trial | Free plan or free trial No | Free plan or free trial Free plan |
Storage space Unlimited | Storage space 2GB – Unlimited | Storage space Unmetered | Storage space Unlimited | Storage space Unlimited | Storage space 1GB – 400GB |
Design Flexibility 4.7 | Design Flexibility 4.4 | Design Flexibility 4.0 | Design Flexibility 3.9 | Design Flexibility 3.5 | Design Flexibility 4.4 |
1. Squarespace
Best for ultimate design control
Pricing range: $16 – $49 per month
Squarespace
Best for ultimate design control
- Award-winning designs
- Ideal for creatives
- High-quality features
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $16 - $49 / month
Pros
-
Beautiful templates
-
Unlimited storage on all plans
-
Enhanced third-party apps
Cons
-
No free plan
-
Customization slightly limited
-
No 24/7 live chat
Squarespace Overview
If you’re looking for a well-rounded portfolio website builder, Squarespace is our top choice, scoring 4.7 out of 5 in our recent research. Anyone, regardless of skill level, can create a stunning and mobile-responsive website thanks to Squarespace. It’s also incredibly popular among photographers and artists because of its stylish and design-conscious templates.
Squarespace performs well across most of our research categories but particularly stands out when it comes to design, help and support, customer satisfaction, and ease of use – beating all of the other builders in each of these testing areas.
Squarespace Templates
For such a design powerhouse, it’s no surprise that Squarespace scores a mighty 4.7 out of 5 for its design flexibility. Squarespace offers award-winning templates and design elements to its users, meaning you can create a professional and high-quality portfolio with ease. Plus, its recently released web design system, Squarespace Blueprint, makes the building process even easier! The platform has been doing design right for a while – we only noticed a few new features and additions to its templates in this year’s analysis, maintaining its template score of 4 out of 5.
Squarespace Pricing
Squarespace’s plans start at $16 per month, billed annually. This basic plan gives you access to a great range of features, including unlimited bandwidth and 30 minutes of video storage, which is perfect for a visual-heavy portfolio!
However, Squarespace does score an average 3.5 out of 5 in our value for money testing. When looking for work with an online portfolio, you want access to strong marketing and SEO features for a cheap price – while these are available on Squarespace’s cheapest plan, Squarespace doesn’t offer a free plan which impacts its score.
And if you need extra features, you can access third-party apps via Squarespace Extensions, giving you plenty of room to enhance your portfolio without having to upgrade.
You can also subscribe to one of Squarespace’s paid tools, such as Squarespace Scheduling to take bookings from customers – prices start at $16 per month (billed annually). Alternatively, if you want to sell products with your portfolio site, you’ll need to upgrade to one of Squarespace’s ecommerce-friendly plans that start at $23 per month (billed annually).
There’s a suite of tools to enjoy via Squarespace’s SEO panel, including:
- SEO page settings
- Sitemaps
- Clean URLs for indexing
- Built-in mobile optimization
- Automatic SEO-friendly pages for products
- Google My Business listing
The platform also offers an in-depth SEO checklist to explain how to optimize each part of your portfolio, helping you improve your website’s visibility. This is essential to drumming up traffic and gaining some potential new clients.
Its on-site guides include both text and video, which is really helpful for different types of learners. Some people learn best by watching and repeating, but others might process information better by reading a text explanation instead. Thankfully, Squarespace caters to both!
A lot of other builders limit the amount of storage you can get on their cheaper plans. Squarespace gives you unlimited storage from day one, but Wix – which is our second highest-rated provider for portfolios – starts you out with a 2GB storage limit on its $16 per month plan.
For example, contact forms and other design elements can be added for free when editing your pages, but you’ll need to pay extra for member areas – subscriptions start from $9 per month, billed annually.
You can also add feature testimonials to your portfolio, as well as a blog and a newsletter sign-up. Social media icons and live social feeds connect your website with other platforms, allowing you to build a cohesive brand image.
In addition to these handy features, Squarespace also offers email marketing software to expand your portfolio’s reach. You’ll get plenty of email layouts to choose from, allowing you to match your emails to your portfolio’s branding.
However, Squarespace’s Email Campaigns feature isn’t included in your monthly subscription. You’ll get a limited free trial to start with, but if you want full access then you’ll need to pay an additional fee – pricing starts at $5 per month.
So, if you’re looking to build an online portfolio, you can rest assured knowing that Squarespace will make the process headache-free!
Squarespace uses a grid-style editor, meaning you can’t drag anything anywhere, but you can create a clean and professional portfolio without any coding skills. This style of editor ensures your site will still look good no matter the changes you make, while building with a drag-and-drop editor, like Wix, can easily result in a messy-looking site.
If you do get stuck, Squarespace has some of the best customer support, scoring 4.8 out of 5, sharing the top position with Wix (again). It offers in-depth tutorial videos and guides in its Help Center, as well as 24/7 email and social media support. You can also reach out to Squarespace through its live chat feature, available Monday to Friday.
While you can enjoy its 14-day free trial, Squarespace’s four paid plans start at $16 per month:
- Personal: $16 per month (annual)
- Business: $23 per month (annual)
- Basic Commerce: $27 per month (annual)
- Advanced Commerce: $49 per month (annual)
You can sell through your website if you opt for the Business plan or above. These fully specialized ecommerce plans start from $27 per month and are useful if you want to sell artwork directly through your portfolio.
If you’re a student and have a valid school email address, you can get 50% off your first year with Squarespace. Simply head on over to Squarespace today and search for your school to get started!
Just remember, you can’t use this discount alongside any other offer codes.
Squarespace Portfolio: Nikki Hoza

Q&A
Why did you choose Squarespace?
Why did you decide to create a portfolio?
What are the benefits of having a portfolio?
Portfolio Preview

We like Nikki’s portfolio for its sleek design and cool animations that load as you scroll down. Give a great sense of discovery and speaks to her prowess as an art director.
Squarespace Gallery
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More Information
- Squarespace Review: Our detailed review takes an in-depth look at Squarespace to see if it’s the website builder for you.
- Squarespace Pricing Guide: Find out about Squarespace’s premium plans and how much they cost.
- Squarespace Offer Code: Get 10% off any Squarespace plan with our exclusive discount code.
2. Wix
Best for portfolio customization
Pricing range: free – $159 per month
Wix
Best for portfolio customization
- 800+ templates on offer
- Very intuitive to use
- Generous free plan
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $16 - $159 / month
Pros
-
High level of customization
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Templates for a wide range of industries
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Drag-and-drop editor
Cons
-
Expensive premium plans
-
Storage caps on all plans
-
Can't switch templates once site is live
Wix Overview
Taking second place, we have Wix with a score of 4.5 out of 5, offering its users total creative freedom and endless options to customize their portfolios.
Its easy-to-use editor helps you create a beautiful portfolio website quickly, and Wix’s free plan is a great starting point. Plus, Wix offers incredible SEO support and built-in functionality, such as email marketing and social media tools.
It’s also worth noting that Wix takes the cake on our list of the best overall website builders, and it’s our top-rated ecommerce builder – so you’re in good hands if you want to expand your site or sell your work alongside your portfolio.
Wix Templates
Wix is a great platform to create your portfolio website on. It has over 800 professionally-designed templates, of which 52 are specifically created for portfolios. For this huge range of options, Wix scores a perfect 5 out of 5 for its templates, and an equally impressive 4.4 out of 5 for its design flexibility. The builder uses a drag-and-drop editor that gives you a lot of creative control over how your portfolio will look – this is ideal for some, but overwhelming for others.
Wix Pricing
You can get started with Wix’s free plan and stay on this for as long as you’d like. However, for anyone looking to make a memorable impression, you should consider upgrading. Wix’s premium plans start at $16 per month, billed annually. There are four plans to choose between (plus an additional custom enterprise plan), with three of these dedicated to online selling – these plans start at $27 per month, billed annually.
However, you must upgrade to one of Wix’s paid plans to unlock the top features. These are jam-packed with high-quality internal features, including visitor analytics, the ability to create events, managing and adding videos to your site, and showcasing music.
With all of these powerful features, you won’t need to rely on third-party apps like Shopify. But don’t fret – Wix still offers a huge app store if you do need any extra services.
Wix’s SEO Wiz has been enhanced since last year’s research, but the most notable SEO improvement is Wix’s integration with the keyword support tool, Semrush. With this, your portfolio should easily target new clients who are searching the web.
- Free: 500MB
- Light: 2GB
These are Wix’s non-ecommerce plans, so they’re best suited to portfolios. But if you want to accept payments from clients through your portfolio website, then you’ll need one of Wix’s ecommerce plans which come with generous storage allowances:
- Core: 50GB
- Business: 100GB
- Business Elite: Unlimited
So, you’ll need to pay $159 per month (billed annually) for Wix’s Business VIP plan if you want unlimited storage. In comparison, Squarespace offers unlimited storage from its cheapest plan.
Wix lets you add a blog with a click of a button, which is ideal for content marketing and when sharing your expertise and updates with fans or clients. Keeping a blog is also a great way to create fresh content for Google to crawl (which is the term used to describe how Google reads and sorts your website content) and potentially boost your site’s rankings, too.
Additionally, Wix comes with a massive app library, which is great for expanding your portfolio’s functionality. You can add a live social media feed, as well as integrate with one of the many email marketing solutions, such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact.
It’s also worth mentioning that a free version of Ascend by Wix is pre-installed on your account. It offers you a comprehensive business solution that provides amazing marketing tools, from social integrations and on-site live chat to email marketing. If you want to upgrade this feature, Ascend by Wix plans start at $10 per month.
Wix’s drag-and-drop editor is a familiar and intuitive system that makes designing your portfolio incredibly simple. Unlike Squarespace, Wix has hover-over tooltips on hand to explain what features do, and you can drag elements to wherever you want for an unrivaled level of control.
That being said, it doesn’t score a perfect 5 out of 5 rating because this type of interface and editor isn’t ideal for everyone. For many, the large number of tools and elements on offer can be overwhelming and it’s easy to end up with a messy-looking portfolio.
The good news is that Wix scores an eye-watering 4.8 out of 5 for its help and support – the same as Squarespace. This means that if you ever get stuck, you can contact Wix easily for assistance, whether that’s via 24/7 live chat or phone support. There’s also priority customer support available if you upgrade to Wix’s Business Elite plan.
This is largely because we’ve had to adapt our pricing algorithm to reflect marketwide price increases, which has impacted Wix negatively. It’s an expensive option, and what really lets Wix down is the fact that it locks its strongest features – including advanced SEO tools and localized currency – behind its premium plans.
If you want the best for your site, you’ll need to pay more for it if you go with Wix.
You can get started with Wix’s free plan, which is a great option if you’re looking to get your portfolio up and running quickly and affordably, but you’ll be limited when it comes to growing your site.
If you upgrade from the free plan – and we highly recommend that you do – you can expect these annual costs:
- Light: $16 per month
- Core: $27 per month
- Business: $32 per month
- Business Elite: $159 per month
The Core and two Business plans are equipped for selling online, so you’ll need to choose one of these if you want to allow clients to purchase directly from your portfolio.
Wix Portfolio: Byron Simon

Q&A
Why did you choose Wix?
Why did you decide to create a portfolio?
What are the benefits to having a portfolio?
Portfolio Preview

Bryan’s portfolio is simple yet effective: the photography is striking yet mature, as the portfolio’s typeface. Speaks of someone who values old-fashioned professionalism.
Wix Gallery
More Information
- Wix Review: If you’re looking for more information on Wix, then this is a great place to start.
- Wix Pricing Guide: We take a closer look at the costs of each Wix premium plan.
3. GoDaddy
Best for building a portfolio quickly
Pricing range: $11.99 – $44.99 per month
GoDaddy
Best for building a portfolio quickly
- Get online quickly
- Best value for money
- Ideal for basic portfolio
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $2.99 - $469.99 / month
Pros
-
Very beginner-friendly
-
Plenty of must-have features
-
ADI website builder
Cons
-
Templates can be slightly restrictive
-
Designs can look quite similar
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No mobile editor
GoDaddy Overview
And rounding out our top three is GoDaddy, scoring 4.2 out of 5 – the perfect choice for anyone looking to get their portfolio up and running quickly. It’s a platform with many hats, including a website builder, hosting plans, and domain name registration.
GoDaddy’s strength lies in the speed of its setup, and a lot of credit can be given to its ADI builder – simply answer a few questions, and artificial design intelligence will create a custom site just for you.
If you do choose GoDaddy, be prepared for fewer customization options and limited functionality, especially if you compare the builder to Squarespace or Wix.
GoDaddy Templates
When it comes to design, GoDaddy scores 4 out of 5. GoDaddy’s ADI builder does the work for you, which means you get your portfolio live super quickly, but it can be difficult to tweak the template to meet your exact needs. With block-based elements that make moving or resizing things tricky, it’s easy to find GoDaddy’s editor frustrating at points. But if you’re only after a basic portfolio, then GoDaddy’s a good fit for you. If you want more control, take a look at Wix.
GoDaddy Pricing
Of the six portfolio website builders, GoDaddy is the best value for money, scoring 4.3 out of 5 in our 2023 research. There are four paid plans to choose from, starting at $11.99 per month, billed annually. Its plans are very affordable, but if you only have a small budget, it’s worth noting that GoDaddy does offer a free plan (with limited features).
For example, if you want to add a blog to your portfolio, you’ll be limited to simply writing and scheduling posts – that’s all!
Its free plan is incredibly limited, so we’d recommend upgrading to its cheapest paid plan to unlock the following website features:
- Website and marketing analytics
- Consolidate customer messages in one inbox
- One-time appointments
- GoDaddy Studio (for branded content)
- Social media integration
- Email marketing
… and more. You’ll need to upgrade to the Premium plan or above for recurring classes, event scheduling, online payments, and ecommerce functionality.
However, it’s important to note that although basic SEO tools are included in GoDaddy’s cheapest plan, you won’t have access to advanced features. For example, you’ll need to upgrade to the Premium plan to access Google Smart Campaign and social post boosting – tools that help improve your site’s visibility on search engines and attract new customers.
GoDaddy also has a team of SEO experts to help you take that extra step – you talk through your goals and they put a plan in place. To put it simply, the SEO team will analyze your site and market before making regular SEO updates, improving your site’s chances of appearing in search results.
However, this doesn’t mean your storage is unlimited. It’s unlikely you’ll reach GoDaddy’s cap, and it really shouldn’t be a problem for the majority of portfolios. If you use video as a medium, though, it’s worth considering whether GoDaddy is the right fit for your needs. You could opt for a builder with guaranteed unlimited storage instead, such as Squarespace.
No matter which plan you choose, your site will automatically come with helpful marketing tools, covering email, social media, and ads. While you can’t connect directly with third-party marketing apps due to GoDaddy’s lack of an app store, you’ll receive some really useful in-house features.
For example, its cheapest plan allows up to 100 email marketing sends per month, but this increases to 100,000 on the Commerce Plus plan. GoDaddy also supports Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can even use GoDaddy’s software to create social media posts that reflect your portfolio branding.
After your tailored website has been built, you can tweak your pre-made template to suit your brand once you get into the editor. However, customization and design flexibility are limited, so we’d recommend GoDaddy for basic portfolios. If you’re looking to build something unique or want more control, you’d be better off with Wix.
There are four paid plans to choose between:
- Basic: $11.99 per month, billed annually
- Premium: $21.99 per month, billed annually
- Commerce: $24.99 per month, billed annually
- Commerce Plus: $44.99 per month, billed annually
If you aren’t ready to commit to a premium plan just yet, GoDaddy also offers a free plan to help you find your footing. It doesn’t offer much in the way of features, but it does keep the costs down! Based on our research, we’d suggest upgrading to a premium plan as soon as possible.
GoDaddy Gallery
More Information
- GoDaddy Website Builder Review: Our in-depth breakdown of its strengths and weaknesses.
4. Shopify
Best for selling products and services
Pricing range: $29 – $299 per month
Shopify
Best for selling products and services
- Huge app store
- Popular with customers
- Great ecommerce tools
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $29 - $299 / month
Pros
-
Multi-channel support
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Strong marketing features
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Room to scale your portfolio
Cons
-
Not beginner-friendly
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Heavily reliant on third-party apps
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Limited design options
Shopify Overview
To kick off the second half of our top six, we have Shopify ranking as our fourth best portfolio website builder. This year’s analysis placed particular emphasis on builders that provide users with the ability to take bookings and payments for their services, which is why Shopify scores a decent 4 out of 5 overall.
Shopify leans heavily on third-party apps to complement its basic in-house features, and it isn’t the easiest editor to wrap your head around. That being said, Shopify is incredibly popular with customers thanks to its powerful sales tools and scalability – it scores 4.5 out of 5 for customer satisfaction. Squarespace is our top choice in this category, but Shopify sits just behind in second place.
Shopify Templates
Shopify offers 136 templates to choose from, covering a wide range of industries, from clothing to electronics to pet supplies. Because of this, Shopify scores a great 4 out of 5 for its templates. Unfortunately, only 12 of these themes are free to use, and the rest can be purchased for a one-off price between $180-$360. As for design flexibility, Shopify scores 3.9 out of 5, which is largely due to its complicated interface and lack of customization. It’s a powerful platform that shouldn’t be overlooked, just be prepared to spend some time figuring out what’s what.
Shopify Pricing
Shopify scores 3 out of 5 in our value for money category, putting the builder just behind Wix. There are three plans to choose from, with annual prices starting at $29 per month. Shopify is considerably more expensive than other builders, but remember that these plans all support ecommerce, and you can get your first three months for just $1 per month with Shopify’s introductory deal.
If you find yourself stuck or think a process could be streamlined when using Shopify, take a look at the 6,000+ apps and widgets available. You’ll likely find a solution to any problem – whether that’s Shippo, Pinterest, or DSers. The only downside is that most of these apps come with an additional charge, so bear that in mind before choosing Shopify.
That being said, there are a handful of SEO-related video tutorials and guides if you want to learn more. You just won’t have a checklist of tips or an SEO wizard – like Wix – to hand with Shopify.
Though Shopify’s plans are more expensive than others on this list, it can be worth the price if you get all the storage allowance you need. In this case, the sky’s the limit!
We know that marketing is important for portfolio websites, so we’ve taken the time to really investigate Shopify’s performance in this area and there’s a lot to unpack. Make the most of Shopify’s built-in features, including blogs and social media integration. Or you can target customers in a different way, whether that’s via email with personalized campaigns, or through direct messages with Shopify Inbox.
You’ll also have access to a detailed marketing dashboard, so you can view your data and track your portfolio’s performance.
Some of our website testers found Shopify a little tricky to get to grips with, largely because you have to bounce between the editor and backend for certain website elements.
If you’re prepared to dedicate time to learning the ins and outs of Shopify, you can create a powerful portfolio with ease. Still, we’d probably recommend Shopify to those with web-building experience as opposed to total beginners – unless you’re keen to sell a lot of products.
- Basic: $29 per month
- Shopify: $79 per month
- Advanced: $299 per month
Due to the lack of a free plan and its expensive prices, Shopify scores 3 out of 5 in our value for money category. However, you can start all of these plans from just $1 per month for the first three months – which cuts down the costs just a smidge!
Alternatively, if you don’t want to set up a whole online store alongside your portfolio, you can opt for the Shopify Starter plan for $5 per month. This will let you sell across social channels.
Shopify Gallery
More Information
- Shopify Review: Learn all about the popular online store builder and see if it’s a good fit for your portfolio.
- Shopify Pricing: Is Shopify worth the price? Check out our pricing review.
5. Hostinger
Best for simple portfolio templates
Pricing range: $2.99 per month
Hostinger - Web Builder
Best for simple portfolio templates
- Suitable for simple sites
- Affordable plans
- Easy to use
Paid Plans: $2.69 - $39.99 / month
Pros
-
Drag-and-drop editor
-
24/7 live chat
-
Get online quickly
Cons
-
Limited room to grow
-
Very basic templates
-
Difficult to create a unique portfolio
Hostinger Overview
Another new addition to our list of the best portfolio website builders is Hostinger, taking the sixth spot with a score of 3.7 out of 5 in our 2023 research. Its Website Builder + Web Hosting plan makes it easy and quick to get online, and we’d recommend Hostinger to freelancers who want to promote their work.
To put it simply, Hostinger works best for basic sites. If you want to create a unique portfolio with heavy-design elements, this won’t be a good fit. Its templates are basic and, with a single plan and no app market, it’s difficult to grow online. Because of this, Hostinger is the weakest option for website features, design flexibility, support, and customer satisfaction.
Hostinger Templates
Hostinger is really let down by its design and template options, sitting at the bottom of the six builders with a score of 3.5 out of 5. There are 100+ designer-made templates to choose between, and a drag-and-drop editor to make things simple, but it’s difficult to customize the website to your liking.
Hostinger Pricing
Hostinger is one of the best value for money portfolio builders, sitting just behind the top-performer, GoDaddy, with a high score of 4.2 out of 5. Hostinger offers a single plan, starting at $2.99 per month, saving you the hassle of browsing various plans to find the perfect one. Plus, it’s the cheapest option on this list!
For example, you can expect basic ecommerce features, the ability to take online bookings, marketing tools, and unlimited storage. While this pales against competitors, you should be pretty comfortable if you’re looking to build a simple portfolio website.
Drawing on the power of AI again, Hostinger also has an AI heat map tool that helps website owners keep track of and predict visitor behavior. Not only will this inform relevant updates to your portfolio, but it’ll also help you target your clients effectively since you know what’s important to them.
However, once you’ve settled into the editor yourself, Hostinger’s customization options are limited and the lack of design elements makes it difficult to put your own stamp on the site. You also can’t swap templates once your website is live – so be sure you’re happy with your choice before publishing!
However, it’s also worth noting that this price is simply an introductory price – the plan’s fee will increase to $11.99 per month after the first year. The good news is even the renewal price is much cheaper than others, especially if you consider that Squarespace and Wix both start at $16 per month.
Hostinger Gallery
More Information
- Best Website Builders: See where Hostinger ranks in our overall list of the best website builders.
- Hostinger Web Hosting Review: Check out Hostinger’s hosting plans too.
6. Webflow
Best for complex portfolios
Pricing range: $14 – $212 per month
Webflow
Best for complex portfolios
- Advanced customization
- Strong design options
- Lots of free templates
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $14 / month
Pros
-
No ads on free plan
-
Good for experienced builders
-
Lots of free templates
Cons
-
Steep learning curve
-
No drag-and-drop editor
-
Not beginner-friendly
Webflow Overview
Webflow completes our list of the top six portfolio website builders, scoring an overall 3.5 out of 5 in our recent round of research. So why should you consider this builder when it’s at the bottom of our list? Well, first of all, it’s still made the top six – and that’s a feat in itself since we tested over 50 platforms before narrowing down our recommendations.
Secondly, we think Webflow is the perfect option for people with building experience. Its advanced editor caters to designers, avoiding the beginner-friendly drag-and-drop editor and favoring padding and section blocks instead. In our ease of use research, it scores a low 2.1 out of 5, making it the hardest builder to use. But, if you have the skill or time to learn, you shouldn’t have any trouble creating your dream portfolio.
Webflow Templates
Webflow scores an impressive 4.4 out of 5 for its design flexibility, putting it level with Wix in second place. What sets Webflow apart from other builders is the level of customization on offer and its generous range of industry-related templates. With 2,000+ templates available, it’s no surprise Webflow scores 5 out of 5 for these alone. You can even filter the selection by portfolios to find your perfect starting point!
Webflow Pricing
With a score of 2.9 out of 5, Webflow isn’t the best value for money. There’s a free plan to kick things off, and six premium plans to upgrade to – three for website building, and three for selling online. Webflow’s paid plans start at $14 per month, billed annually. However, for the price you pay, and the steep learning curve involved, we think there are better options out there, such as GoDaddy.
With all plans – including the free plan – you’ll have unlimited backups, mobile optimization, and weekly email support. But you’ll need to opt for a paid plan if you want to remove ads, have access to a custom domain, and create up to 100 static pages.
- 301 redirects
- Sitemap controls
- Help optimizing SEO rankings
- Open Graph meta tags
- Search support to improve site visibility
These are all valuable tools when promoting a portfolio online – it’s just a shame that you have to pay for them.
- Free: 1GB
- Basic: 50GB
- CMS: 200GB
- Business: 400GB
- Standard: 200GB
- Plus: 400GB
- Advanced: 400GB
The same can be said for your site’s capacity for visitors. Your maximum monthly site visits vary, with the free plan permitting 1,000 per month while the Business plan jumps up to 300,000 per month.
Still, it’s a shame Webflow hasn’t improved its internal functionality, especially when it’s competing against the likes of Wix, which has so many amazing built-in features, including social sharing and Wix Multilingual to support your content around the world.
We have to admit that our website testers didn’t enjoy their experience with Webflow either, ranking it as their least favorite with a customer satisfaction score of 2.3 out of 5.
- Basic: $14 per month
- CMS: $23 per month
- Business: $39
- Standard (Ecommerce): $29
- Plus (Ecommerce): $74
- Advanced (Ecommerce): $212
There’s also a free plan if you aren’t ready to subscribe fully, and an Enterprise plan for those with large-scale businesses. For portfolio creators, we’d recommend the CMS plan out of the six plan options, due to its enhanced storage space, CMS tools (including post scheduling and API access), and search function.
Its starting plan is fairly affordable – with a similar price to GoDaddy – but Webflow doesn’t put much on the table, with weak website features and little in the way of additional tools, such as SEO or marketing. You’re better off spending your money with GoDaddy, for instance, since you’ll get more for your cash!
Webflow Gallery
More Information
- Webflow Review: Learn more about Webflow in our detailed review.
- Best Free Website Builders: See what we think of Webflow’s free plan in our list of the top free builders.
Are There Other Noteworthy Portfolio Website Builders?
You may have skimmed our list expecting to see certain portfolio builders appear in our top six. If you’re wondering if there are other portfolio builders that we haven’t included, then the answer is yes.
There are plenty of portfolio builders out there, and many of them are very popular. We’re passionate about giving the best advice to our readers, so we only recommend builders that we’ve put through the entirety of our rigorous research process, from start to finish.
However, that’s not to say we haven’t tried other builders, too. Here’s a quick rundown of other notable portfolio builders that deserve a mention, even if they didn’t quite match up to our top six.
#1. Format
Starting price: $4 per month
Free trial: 14 days
Our summary: Format is a website builder aimed specifically at photographers, scoring 2.5 out of 5 in this year’s research. It’s good at what it does and provides helpful features such as image protection, but its niche focus makes it limiting for other professionals. If you’re a photographer, though, it’s worth checking out!
#2. Pixpa
Starting price: $4.80 per month
Free trial: 15 days
Our summary: Pixpa is an attractive builder for creatives. It’s affordable and comes with tailored features, such as client-proofing. Pixpa aims to be a comprehensive package for creatives and does a good job with its niche, scoring 3 out of 5 in our 2023 research.
That said, Pixpa’s not as well-rounded as other builders we’ve tested. Again, it’s best for photographers – its primary purpose is to help creatives show off photos, and its blogging and SEO tools aren’t quite as strong as we would like.

#3. Fabrik
Starting price: $9.17 per month
Free trial: 14 days
Our summary: Fabrik is a portfolio builder geared towards creatives – we like the fact it feels more inclusive than both Pixpa and Format, welcoming filmmakers, artists, and models, as well as photographers. Plus, it has a ton of features to keep its creatives moving forward online!
So, why didn’t it make our top six list? Well, we thought the designs could’ve been sharper, and customization options need some development. For creatives in need of plenty of freedom to extend their brand online, Fabrik may be too limiting. But it still deserves a mention as a popular alternative to traditional website builders.
Tips for Picking a Portfolio Website Builder
Using a website builder to create your own digital portfolio is becoming an increasingly popular choice for professionals with all sorts of backgrounds, including designers, artists, models, writers, filmmakers, and photographers. But portfolios are no longer reserved for creatives.
Creating an online portfolio is an essential part of sharing your work, connecting with new clients, and presenting all of your work in one place. These days, having an online presence is vital for getting noticed, and portfolio website builders give you the tools to take your work to the next level.
Not only that, but it also helps you to sell your work, too. Website builders, like Wix, come with a wide range of ecommerce tools and features, helping you sell online while also showcasing what you do.
But first, you need to pick the right website builder for your portfolio. You’ve got a lot of choices, so how do you even know where to start?
To point you in the right direction – and save you a lot of time and effort when shopping around – it’s worth remembering that the very best portfolio website builders will help you:
- Showcase your work and stand out from the crowd
- Get found and gain an audience
- Generate industry contacts and new business opportunities
- Save money (by being affordable and scalable)
- Save time and effort (by being easy to use)
- Sell your work online

Website builders make it incredibly easy to create your own stunning portfolio website and show off your skills to the world.
Let’s imagine a gallery full of your work and no one else’s, entirely dedicated to showing off your skills and that anyone could visit at any time. This would give you more exposure, less direct competition, and the chance to show off your work in the best way possible – this sounds pretty great, right?
Now, what if you could completely design and build that gallery yourself – even if you didn’t know the first thing about construction?
The best portfolio website builders provide lots of templates specifically designed to help you show off your work in the best way possible.
You’re free to edit and amend the demo content as you see fit, so if you like a certain feature, like a mosaic-style gallery, then simply replace the images in the frames with your own photos or content!
This puts your creative work front and center for users and it’s incredibly easy and time-saving.
As templates are pre-designed with portfolio stores in mind (but are still totally editable too), visitors have no trouble finding the content they’re looking for. Navigation has already been optimized to be simple and straightforward – whether it’s a gallery or images, links to writing examples, or even a contact page to get in touch with you.
You can even browse app markets (most website builders have one in some form or another) for additional display options or extra features to show off your work and make it stand out in a crowded marketplace. It’s essentially the same as downloading apps for your smartphone or tablet!
Whether you are an artist, a photographer, a model, or any other kind of creative, you need a platform to showcase and show off your catalog of work. Portfolio website builders provide you with wide-ranging selections of eye-catching templates that help you stand out from the crowd, lots of gallery and display options to make your work pop, apps to add attention-grabbing features, and encourage simple navigation so visitors can quickly see everything you have to offer.
The best portfolio website builders can help boost your online visibility, make it easy to connect your website with social media accounts for cross-platform promotion, and provide marketing tools to help you get the word out to fans and potential clients.
Website builders offer pretty good SEO (search engine optimization) tools that can improve your site to help it rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
It’s easy to add “alt tags” to images and “meta data” to webpages – both of which act like a description of your portfolio website that helps search engines sort and categorize it, similar to a blurb on the back of a book.
Having “alt tags” and “meta data” is essential to rank higher and get found by people online.
You can also add a blog to your website through most website builders, which can be a great way to show off your knowledge and promote your creative work.
This is known as content marketing and can also help you rank higher in SERPS because Google scans the content on your page and picks out the words relevant to what someone is searching for.
For example, if you’re a photographer and write a lot of blog posts about the types of film you use when shooting landscapes, then you’ll stand a better chance of ranking when someone searches for “best camera film for landscape photography”.
Maintaining a blog is an easy and important way of creating regular new content for your site and visitors.
There are also marketing tools available to use to promote your portfolio and spread the word about your work.
Most website builders offer some form of email marketing tool, such as Squarespace’s Email Campaigns, which is ideal for sending out news and updates to your audience.
You could even download an app to connect your social media feeds with your website.
Imagine syncing your portfolio updates with your Instagram account for super simple, cross-platform marketing that can really build you a dedicated audience!
Platforms like Wix and Squarespace provide several marketing tools to help you push your portfolio to the next level. Create specialized email marketing campaigns to notify subscribers of updates to your portfolio, integrate with social media, and share your work across multiple channels, or even add a blog to show off your knowledge and expertise. People can’t appreciate your work if they don’t know it exists, so take advantage of the marketing tools provided by website builders to promote yourself to fans and potential clients.
Since this will be the first time most prospective clients are seeing your work, it’s important that you make a great first impression – just like if it was a job interview.
The portfolio website builders we recommend in this article are ideal for getting yourself noticed in the best way possible.
Having lots of templates to choose from is a big plus point for anyone building a portfolio website because it gives you a lot of options to choose from when deciding how to make a great first impression.
User-friendly editors keep website design simple and uncomplicated, so it’s painless to create a specific contact page or add a contact box, meaning people can easily submit inquiries or reach out to you.
Remember, people like convenience, so if it’s difficult to get in touch with you then you could lose out on potentially lucrative business opportunities!
Make it easy for visitors to buy work directly from your portfolio – convenience is key, and that’s exactly what Square Online Checkout links give you and your visitors.
But wait, what are those?
These checkout links allow you to add buttons to your portfolio website that take direct payments from visitors. This means you can sell products through your site. No hassle, no fuss, and, best of all, no expensive fees!
All you need is a free Square Online account, and you can create and add these checkout links to your portfolio – simply copy and paste them onto your website. There are no charges or subscription costs to use Square Online Checkout links, just a 2.5% transaction fee per sale. That makes it more budget-friendly than an expensive ecommerce plan!
Just imagine how much time you would save if you could do away with cold emails and cold calls in an attempt to drum up business. Just add a contact form and let people get in touch with you directly.
Website builders make it easy to add contact pages and forms to your portfolio website so that prospective clients can contact you directly. This does away with the need for you to send cold emails or make stressful cold calls asking for business and so is a huge time-saving opportunity. And if you add SEO boosting apps and features to help your website rank higher and get found in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) then you’ll be on your way to generating lots of new business.
Using a website builder is a far more affordable option than hiring a professional designer.
Nearly all website builders offer a free plan, which is great if your needs aren’t too demanding.
However, if you want more storage, more templates, or a custom domain (like a personalized website address) then it’s worth considering a paid premium plan.
For a relatively cheap price, you’ll not only be able to build your own portfolio website, but you won’t even need to worry about things like hosting, storage, and site security – they’ll all be taken care of!
This is a huge time, effort, and money saver because you’d otherwise need to spend time researching, comparing, and paying for it out of your own pocket if working with a designer.
Paid plans also give you more storage space and bandwidth, which are both important to help your website grow.
Having more storage lets you add more content to your portfolio to keep users engaged, while bandwidth is the name for the data used to power your website when people visit and is provided by your website builder of choice.
Having more bandwidth means you can support more visitors and higher levels of traffic.
It would take years for you to rack up a bill on a website builder that would match the cost of hiring a website designer, so we think it makes much more sense to remove as much financial stress as possible if your budget is tight.
Our recommended portfolio website builders are usually easy to use, and they keep things within budget, too. Paid monthly premium plans are affordable and work out much cheaper than the ongoing costs you’d be stuck with if hiring a costly web designer or developer to create your site from scratch. Paid plans also include hosting, storage, and bandwidth – all of which would prove increasingly expensive if you had to sort them all out separately by yourself.
The drag-and-drop editors used by website builders make it incredibly easy to create a stunning, professional-looking website in no time at all – even for the biggest technophobe.
Nearly all major website builders provide an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor that pretty much does what it says. You select an element, such as text or image, and then you drag it to where you want it on the page and drop it there – simple.
Drag-and-drop editors are also known as “What You See Is What You Get” editors (WYSIWYG), which means that any changes you make in the editor will be reflected on your live website.
Drag-and-drop website building is incredibly easy and doesn’t require you to know anything about coding at all, which does away with fiddly code tweaking and lets you focus on creating a stunning portfolio website.
This will save you time because you’re essentially editing in real-time, so you know exactly how your portfolio will look to visitors.
But some readers might not be able to afford a few hours to dedicate to building a portfolio website. In this case, just work with the pre-designed templates and edit as much or as little as you want, then publish it to the web. Squarespace Blueprint, for example, would be a good design tool to use in this case.
For added peace of mind, website builders provide lots of help to keep your building experience running smoothly and ensure you don’t run into trouble.
It’s important to have support available when you need it – it helps to solve issues quickly, so you can carry on working and don’t waste time waiting around for an answer.
Among the available support options are Wix’s in-editor tooltips that explain what tools do if you hover over the little question marks, and Squarespace’s in-depth tutorial videos and wide-ranging support guides.
A portfolio website isn’t just about showcasing your work. In fact, if you choose the right builder, you can sell your pieces, too!
Website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify offer ecommerce functionality. However, this is only available on some plans. For Wix, one of our top-rated ecommerce builders, there are three plans to choose from, starting with the Core plan, which costs $27 per month.
If you’d rather build your portfolio with Squarespace, its Business plan will allow you to sell online and costs $23 per month. Shopify, on the other hand, will set you back $29 per month.
Regardless of which builder you choose, it’s important that you make sure to choose an ecommerce plan if you want to sell online. If you’re not sure whether you want to sell yet, you can always upgrade at a later date.
More Information
- Best Photography Website Builders: Are you a photographer looking to showcase your work? We compare your best options.
- Best Website Builders for Artists: If you’re an artist, take a look at our review of these top performers.
- How to Make an Online Portfolio: Once you’ve found your perfect portfolio builder, check out our helpful guide to start creating!
- How to Create a Personal Website: If your needs are diverse, explore our walkthrough on how to build a personal website.
Our Testing Methodology
Before we can confidently make any recommendations to you, our readers, we carry out in-depth testing on the website builders themselves. This is an important step – we want our articles and reviews to be data-led and based on experience with the platforms.
So, how do we determine the best portfolio website builders?
First, we take a look at our standard research categories and then combine these ratings to make an overall score. You can read more about these research areas below:
- Website features – weighting: 18%
We focus on what each website builder offers and the quality of these features. This includes looking at app markets, blogging tools, internationalization capabilities, domain name, email address, storage space, site speed, and more. For portfolios, we’re especially interested in service features (for clients to view work, book sessions, or buy products), SEO (to get more eyes on your portfolio), and marketing tools (to help target your audience effectively and land more clients).
- Design flexibility – weighting: 37%
For portfolios, we know that the look of your website is incredibly important. We take a look at the templates and theme choices provided by each builder, whether it has an ADI builder or similar web design support, the flexibility of design, UX, and the quality of its image and mobile editor.
- Value for money – weighting: 10%
We want you to get your money’s worth when choosing a website builder, so we pay attention to the quality of features vs the price point, the average pricing plan, and whether or not a free trial or plan is offered.
- Help and support – weighting: 5%
Our testing for help and support covers restore options, available customer support channels (e.g. live chat or phone support), and the builder’s knowledge center. We also make sure to look at what help options are offered on the lowest monthly plan.
- Customer satisfaction – weighting: 5%
To support our research, we also examine review sites and online comments to see what others are saying about the builders. Our rating considers brand recognition, market analysis, UX, and whether customers are likely to recommend the builder to others.
- Ease of use – weighting: 25%
Making your portfolio website should be hassle-free. Not only do we test every portfolio website builder ourselves (to help us speak from experience when writing our recommendations), but we also get everyday people and businesses – such as entrepreneurs, bloggers, and artists – to try the platforms out.
The Website Builder Expert product testing process
Best Portfolio Website Builders: Recap
To recap, Squarespace is our top-rated portfolio builder for a number of reasons, scoring 4.7 out of 5 in this year’s analysis.
Squarespace provides a selection of beautiful and professionally-designed templates, which act as a great base for your portfolio website. It’s also incredibly easy to use, and a very scalable choice, with tools and premium plans to accommodate and encourage your portfolio’s long-term growth.
But, if Squarespace isn’t your number one choice, here’s a reminder of our top six portfolio website builders:
6 Best Portfolio Website Builders
Close behind Squarespace is Wix and GoDaddy, both with their own strengths and weaknesses. Wix is a great choice if you’re looking for tons of creative freedom, powerful built-in features, and customizability. Meanwhile, GoDaddy allows you to build a professional-looking website in no time, especially with its handy ADI builder!
Whichever builder you choose for your portfolio, come back and let us know how you got on.
FAQs
However, we really like the Cami template for portfolios. It looks clean and professional while also standing out. The animations are a nice touch, creating a level of interactivity that many website templates don’t.
- Customizable, high-quality, mobile-friendly template designs
- Affordable price plans
- Good marketing and SEO tools to get your work in front of clients
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