9 Best Portfolio Website Builders

Best overall portfolio website builder

Editor's Choice

Squarespace

Best overall portfolio website builder

Outstanding

4.8

out of 5

• Award-winning designs
• Ideal for creatives
• High quality features

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $16 - $49 / month

Pros

• Beautiful templates – the best around
• Quality features developed in-house
• Unlimited storage on all plans

Cons

• No free plan (but good value for money)
• Customization slightly limited

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Squarespace is a website builder known for creating stunning, mobile responsive websites. It is popular among photographers and artists because of its affordable monthly premium plans and beautiful, design-conscious templates.

Squarespace Portfolio: Nikki Hoza

Nikki Hoza is an Art Director from the Bay Area. She has worked on a number of successful campaigns working with well-known brands like White Claw, Autodesk and Kong.

Squarespace templates allow me to create pages quickly but still allow me the flexibility to arrange it how I see fit and keep everything consistent across all my pages.

Why did you choose Squarespace?

I chose Squarespace due to the prebuilt templates that cater to creative work. Out of all the sites I looked at, they seemed the most sophisticated. Squarespace templates allow me to create pages quickly but still allow me the flexibility to arrange it how I see fit and keep everything consistent across all my pages.

Why did you decide to create a portfolio?

I’m an art director in the Advertising industry, and it is industry standard to have a portfolio.

What are the benefits of having a portfolio?

The benefit is I can easily share my work with recruiters and Creative Directors when searching for a new position.

Portfolio Preview

We like Nikki’s page 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’s Templates

When compared to other builders, it’s clear that Squarespace is head and shoulders above the rest for design functionality, which is why it earned the crown in this category with a high score of 4.7 out of 5. Its templates are crisp, clean, and full of white space, all of which give your portfolio a very high-end feel that can elevate you above your peers.

Squarespace is particularly ideal if you’re looking to build a marketing portfolio online. Several sites built around Squarespace’s templates make our list of the best marketing portfolio examples – why not go check them out?

All Squarespace templates are mobile-responsive to ensure your work looks great whenever and wherever it is viewed. Considering 70% of surveyed internet users worldwide said they’re using their phones more since the COVID-19 pandemic started, this is a key feature!

Squarespace’s portfolio templates also come with helpful features already built-in, including a blog, about page, and contact forms so new clients can easily get in touch.

Take the Nevins template in our gallery below, which puts your creative work front and center, while keeping the page clear of any unnecessary clutter.

Squarespace’s Key Features

Squarespace Ease of Use

In the past, Squarespace has often been known as the ‘difficult’ builder, but that’s just no longer true. Recent improvements have made its editor much easier to navigate. So much so, in fact, that when we tested it, its ease of use rating jumped up by 15% on its pre-2021 score, and now sits at 4 out of 5. That means you can build a beautiful portfolio without the added headache.

Squarespace uses section-based drag-and-drop editing. So you can’t drag anything anywhere, but neither do you need coding skills. This style of editor ensures your site will remain looking good no matter the changes you make.

If you do get stuck, Squarespace has the very best customer support. It was the only builder to achieve a perfect 5 out of 5 score in our research. It offers in-depth tutorial videos and help guides smooth over any issues you may encounter and the 24/7 customer support means problems get solved rapidly.

Squarespace Gallery

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Squarespace’s designs are sleek and clean – ideal for creative industries.

The Nevins template is our favorite Squarespace portfolio design.

Squarespace helps you out with a quick onboarding introduction to how its editor works.

Squarespace’s editor is clean and modern, with a menu bar and in-editor assistant to make building easier.

Squarespace’s Pricing: $16+

Squarespace’s plans start at $16 per month. This gives you a great range of features, including unlimited storage and bandwidth (perfect for image-heavy portfolios), which is more than you get on Wix’s cheapest $16 per month plan! Overall, Squarespace offers better value for money than its main competitor, scoring 4 out of 5 in this category.

See the full range of Squarespace’s plans in the table below, as well as the difference between its monthly subscriptions, and the (cheaper) monthly cost of its annual plans:

You can sell through your site from the Business plan up – the fully specialized ecommerce plans start from $27 in case you want to sell artwork directly through your portfolio. This is a potentially decent money spinner if you can grow your traffic.

When you sign up to Squarespace, you’ll automatically start on your 14-day free trial, without needing to enter any payment details.

Find out more

• Squarespace Review – Our detailed review looks in-depth 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

Best for creative freedom and customizability

People's Choice

Wix

Best for creative freedom and customizability

Outstanding

4.8

out of 5

• 800+ templates on offer
• Very intuitive to use
• Most recommended

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $16 - $59 / month

Pros

• Platform most recommended by our users
• Templates for a wide range of industries
• Free plan (with no pressure to upgrade)

Cons

• Paid plans are quite pricey
• Storage caps on all plans (max 50GB)
• Can’t switch template once site is live

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Wix is an easy-to-use and versatile website builder. It has a user-friendly editor that helps you create a beautiful portfolio website quickly, and is very affordable. It comes with great support for SEO beginners too, making it easy to grow your audience. Plus, Wix is our top-rated ecommerce builder and allows you to sell your work alongside showcasing it.

Wix Portfolio: Byron Simon

Byron Simon is a model and entrepreneur, starting his own apparel range ``Southernly Simon``

I chose Wix due to it being so beginner friendly and they offer great startup services in case you are trying to start quickly!

Why did you choose Wix?

I chose Wix due to it being so beginner friendly and they offer great startup services in case you are trying to start quickly!

Why did you decide to create a portfolio?

I am expanding my modeling career pursuits and a portfolio was a must, I spent the last year growing it and have decided that it was time to go ahead and get the matching website to help scouts and agents find me easier!

What are the benefits to having a portfolio?

It gives me a reference point, my apparel brand is linked on it as well as a great focal point of the site: the resources! I have mentioned many resources from mental health to LGBTQIA+ outreach links to help advocate and foster a place of unity!

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’s Templates

Wix is a great platform to create your portfolio website on. It provides more than 500 templates, of which 41 are specifically created just for portfolios.

Wix uses drag-and-drop editing tools to let you customize your portfolio – you can drag anything anywhere, meaning you have full creative control over your site. Some people enjoy this level of freedom, while others find it difficult to create a consistent look across their entire site.

Despite its Marmite nature, Wix came in second place for design functionality during our research and testing, scoring 4.4 out of 5. This means it gets our official seal of approval, although we recommend taking advantage of its free plan and trying it out for yourself.

Wix’s Key Features

Wix Ease of Use

Wix is extremely easy to use – in fact, it came joint first (alongside Duda) in our ease of use testing, with a score of 4.4 out of 5.

When you’re actually building your site, hover-over tooltips are on hand to explain what features do, while dragging elements and dropping them wherever you think works makes designing your portfolio incredibly simple.

In our research, Wix received 4.3 out of 5 for its help and support, which, combined with its awesome ease of use score, makes it one of the most beginner-friendly builders out there.

Wix Gallery

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Wix templates are extremely eye-catching and make it easy for you to create a beautiful portfolio website quickly.

Using drag-and-drop tools, it was easy to rearrange the layout of this page and edit the image settings.

Wix provides in-editor support so that you don’t need to interrupt your building process to find answers to your questions.

Wix’s Pricing: $16+

Wix offers a free plan, which is a great starting point – but for anyone hoping to make a memorable impression, it’s really worth considering spending a little bit of money to push your portfolio to the next level.

Wix’s paid plans start at $16 per month. Paid plans let you use a custom domain name (or website address – essentially your portfolio website’s postcode) and removes all adverts too – letting visitors focus on the work you want to show off!

You’ll get up to 100GB of storage depending on the plan you choose, as well as unlimited bandwidth (the data used to power your website online) on all paid premium plans. This is ideal if you’re an artist, graphic designer, or work in a visual medium as it means you don’t have to worry about large file sizes draining your resources.

Additionally, Wix also offers a range of ecommerce plans, the cheapest of which will cost you $27 per month. This will allow you to sell your featured products if you wish. You can’t sell on any of Wix’s website builder plans, so if ecommerce is something that you might be interested in, you’ll need to make sure you upgrade to a specific ecommerce premium plan.

With premium plans you also gain access to more templates, more tools, and more apps from the Wix App Market – where you can find all sorts of cool apps that cover things like digital marketing, extra design styles, and additional interesting features for your online portfolio.

Ultimately, value for money is the one area that lets Wix down, with our research awarding it just 3.4 out of 5 here. This isn’t because Wix isn’t worth the investment – in fact, it’s the opposite. The quality of its offering has significantly improved over the years, so nowadays, you get what you pay for. In this case, that means top-quality. However, it is something to think about if you need to keep costs down.

Interested in Selling Your Portfolio Products Online?

If you’re looking to sell your work, Wix offers ecommerce plans starting from $27 per month, so you can have a host of selling tools at your fingertips!

Yes! I Want to Sell My Work on Wix!

Find out more

• 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.

The quickest way to build a portfolio

GoDaddy

Best for building a portfolio fast

Excellent

4.4

out of 5

• Fastest setup time
• Easy to work with
• Limited designs

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $6.99 - $469.99 / month

Pros

• Easy to use and quick to set up
• Good value for money
• Plenty of must-have features

Cons

• Templates can be slightly restrictive
• Designs can look quite similar

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GoDaddy might once have been better known as the place to go to secure a domain name, but in recent years, its website builder has been taking the digital world by storm.  It’s rocketed up the ranks to place third in our top nine portfolio builders, with an overall score of 4.4 out of 5.

It comes with a great range of must-have features and is perfect for creating a stylish portfolio quickly thanks to its ADI builder. However, it is worth noting that its customization outside of this function is limited, especially when compared to Squarespace and Wix.

GoDaddy’s Templates

Instead of starting by picking a template, GoDaddy asks you a few questions about your site, and uses your answers to automatically create a website for you. You can then  tweak and customize this design until you’re happy. This method of building is called ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) and makes GoDaddy the fastest builder to create a portfolio with.

Even though GoDaddy does it all for you, its designs always come out looking slick and professional, which is why it scored 4.3 out of 5 in our design functionality category. However, if you want to have more creative control over the end product, you might find GoDaddy’s editor a bit frustrating. It uses block-based elements, which make moving or resizing things tricky. You’ll need to stick to the set structure.

GoDaddy’s Key Features

GoDaddy Ease of Use

Thanks to its ADI functionality, building a website with GoDaddy is incredibly easy – mostly because it does all of the hard work for you! However, it does come with a degree of customizability, and you can tweak your pre-made template to suit your brand once you get it into the editor.

GoDaddy’s ADI builder means that not only is it very fast to create a website, it’s also extremely easy. Anyone can sit down and create a GoDaddy website! This is why we awarded it a total score of 4.1 out of 5 in our ease of use testing, making it the second easiest-to-use builder out of the 14 we analyzed.

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GoDaddy’s templates are all mobile responsive, but are tailored toward simple, functional portfolios.

GoDaddy automatically builds your site based on your answers to a few simple questions.

The websites GoDaddy creates aren't always the most modern looking.

GoDaddy’s editor may not be the most advanced, but it is easy to use and very simple to get to grips with.

GoDaddy’s Pricing: $6.99+

GoDaddy’s monthly plans are really reasonable, too. For a portfolio website, you’re looking at around $6.99 per month.

GoDaddy has four paid plans ranging from $6.99 to $29.99 per month when billed annually. For a professional portfolio, you’ll likely need the $13.99 per month Premium plan, as it’s the cheapest plan to include SEO. All plans come with a generous one-month free trial.

However, if you only have a small budget to get started with, GoDaddy is one of the few website builders that offers a free plan. Although this is much more limited than its premium packages, it’s a good option if you need to keep your costs down. We just recommend that you don’t stay on it forever!

Do You Need to Get Your Work Online Quickly?

GoDaddy is the fastest way to create an online portfolio – it does most of the work for you. You could publish your portfolio today!

Yes! I Want to Build With GoDaddy

Find out more

• GoDaddy Website Builder Review – Our in-depth breakdown of its strengths and weaknesses

Best for building a technically polished portfolio

Duda

Stylish portfolio designs

Very Good

4

out of 5

• Very structured designs
• Good for multiple sites
• An expensive option

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $14 - $59 / month

Pros

• Balance of creative freedom and guidance
• Very easy to use
• Widgets for bookings, events etc.

Cons

• No free plan, and the cheapest is $14/mo
• Limited support on cheapest plan
• Poor internal marketing tools

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Duda is a website builder that comes with super stylish designs for an ultra-sleek portfolio. Its templates are very structured, meaning your portfolio’s design will always remain consistent and professional – although you don’t get much creative freedom.

Duda’s Templates

Duda is an ideal choice for anyone who wants a stunning portfolio without the responsibility of full creative control over your site. You get over 90 templates to choose from, all of which are clean, simple, and stylish.

Your site’s design is very dependent on the template you choose – unlike Wix, for example, you can’t totally redesign your layout, so make sure you pick a template you like. All templates are totally mobile responsive, so your work will look its best on smartphones and tablets as well as on desktop.

Duda’s strengths really lie in its designs, and this shone through in our research – it received 4.1 out of 5 for design flexibility, which puts it toward the front of the pack alongside the likes of Squarespace, Wix, and GoDaddy.

Duda’s Key Features

Duda Ease of Use

Duda came joint top in our ease of use testing, earning a top score of 4.4 out of 5, sharing the title with Wix. In fact, it’s 22% easier to use than the average website builder because of its focus on delivering an enjoyable user experience, which Duda delivers through clear, structured templates and section-based drag-and-drop.

You can edit within your template’s guidelines, making this an ideal builder for anyone who wants a great-looking site without having to put too much work into the design themselves. However, if you start trying to get too creative, you’ll find Duda challenging to get results from, as customizability can be quite limited.

Duda Gallery

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Duda has over 90 templates, all of which are modern, attractive, and easy to customize.

Duda lets you insert new sections onto your site, meaning you keep your template’s structured design while you customize.

Duda does let you drag elements around the page...

...but you can only drop things where the blue “Insert Here” boxes appear.

Duda’s Pricing: $14+

Duda has three price plans:

• Basic: $14 per month (billed annually)
• Team: $22 per month (billed annually)
• Agency: $44 per month (billed annually)

The Basic plan includes multi-language options, HTTPS encryption, and lets you build one website. You only have access to email support on this plan, which is less than ideal.

There’s no sugar-coating it: Duda is expensive. The Team plan is the only one that offers a free 14-day trial. This is a good way to try out its more advanced features, but is a little frustrating if your budget doesn’t stretch to $22 per month. On average, it’s around 59% more expensive than Squarespace.

For these reasons, Duda only scored 1.2 out of 5 for value for money. This puts it right at the bottom, meaning that it offers the worst value for money out of all 14 builders we tested.

That said, if you’re looking to build several different portfolios, the Agency plan might be a good option, as this lets you build up to four websites for $44 per month (billed annually).

Do You Like Duda’s Stylish Portfolio Designs?

We can’t get enough of Duda’s designer templates, and we bet your clients will feel the same! You can try it free for 14 days.

Yes! I Want to Visit Duda Now

Find out more

• Duda Review – learn more about who Duda is best for, and whether it’s right for you in our full review

Best for simple and cheap portfolio websites

Hostinger - Web Builder

Best for simple and cheap portfolio websites

Good

3.8

out of 5

• One to watch
• Innovative AI tools
• Straightforward and easy

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $2.69 - $39.99 / month

Pros

• Great customer score in our research
• Experimental AI branding tools
• Grid layout is ideal for beginners

Cons

• Doesn’t come with an app market
• Poor social media and marketing tools
• Switching templates can get tricky

Read Review

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Zyro Portfolio: Steven Mollet (AKA Stounson) – Artist

Zyro hasn’t been around as long as the other website-building behemoths on this list, but it’s already making waves in the digital world. It’s incredibly easy to use, pairing a straightforward grid-based drag-and-drop builder with sleek, modern templates. However, it’s still finding its feet, and lacks some of the advanced functionality you get with more established website builders.

Zyro’s Templates

Despite how easy it is to use, Zyro’s templates don’t look cheap or unprofessional – in fact, each one is stylish and perfectly optimized for a number of different screen sizes, making them perfect for housing a sleek portfolio website.

Besides, if you can’t find a template that suits, you can build one from scratch, taking control of every single element. Alternatively, you can let Zyro do all the hard work and opt to use its ADI builder.

Zyro scored 3.1 out of 5 for its design functionality, which puts it in the middle of the pack. However, there’s still room for improvement. For example, Zyro’s customizability has its limitations, and it can be quite hard to change the base template too drastically. This can make it hard to give your website its own unique stamp.

Additionally, it can be quite tricky to switch templates once you’ve published your site. You’ll need to disconnect your plan from your current design, before attaching it to another one. Plus, you’ll then need to do all of your reformatting again. Essentially, it’ll feel like you’re starting from the beginning.

Zyro’s Key Features

Zyro Ease of Use

Zyro is one of the easiest website builders to use, and it scored 4 out of 5 in our user testing. Its grid-based, drag-and-drop editor makes customization a breeze. Unlike GoDaddy, Zyro allows a good dose of creative freedom, whilst still keeping things simple. If you’re a beginner, or you don’t have the time to fuss around with a complex design, Zyro is a great choice.

You could argue that the reason Zyro is so easy to use is that its editor doesn’t come with as many features as its competitors might, and we’d have to agree. However, if you don’t need all the bells and whistles, this shouldn’t be too much of a deal-breaker.

Zyro Gallery

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All of Zyro’s portfolio templates are slick and minimalist – perfect for showcasing your work!

Add additional elements to your site using the easy-to-navigate toolbar.

Zyro’s templates are organized into sections. You can add new sections anywhere, and drag-and-drop the elements you want to feature inside them.

Zyro’s gallery sections have a ton of space for lots of high-resolution images.

Zyro’s Pricing: $8.90+

Zyro has four different pricing plans to choose from:

• Basic: $8.90 per month
• Unleashed: $12.49 per month
• eCommerce: $24.49 per month
• eCommerce Plus: $29.99 per month

Overall, Zyro performs very well for value for money, scoring 4.2 out of 5 and putting it in fourth place in this category. The Basic plan is a good option if you’re just starting out, however, we’d recommend jumping straight to the Unleashed plan if you want to scale your website and attract more visitors.

You won’t be able to sell on either of these plans, though. If you want to make sales through your portfolio, you’ll need to choose one of the two ecommerce options.

It’s worth noting that Zyro frequently runs special discounts on their plans, reducing the total cost by up to 69%! This means that you could bag the Unleashed plan for just $1.90 per month!

Do You Want to See How Easy It Is to Get Online with Zyro?

Zyro is one of the simplest builders out there, making it a breeze to get your website up and running! Plus, it’s affordable too! Check it out using its generous 3-month trial!

Yes! I Want to Visit Zyro Now

Find out more

• Zyro Ecommerce Review – take a closer look at what Zyro has to offer and who it’s best for

Best for building a portfolio for free 

Best Value For Money

Weebly

Best for building a portfolio for free

Good

3.7

out of 5

• Beginner-friendly
• Fast, guided setup
• Free and cheap plans

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $10 - $29 / month

Pros

• Very easy to get started with
• Plenty of great SEO tools
• Half the price of Squarespace

Cons

• Limited customization opportunities
• Poor formatting on mobile
• Dated and unimpressive designs

Read Review

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Weebly is one of the easiest and most affordable portfolio website builders, making it a great choice if you’re just starting out or want a simple portfolio building experience.

Weebly Portfolio: Jonny Dry

Jonny Dry is a multi-award winning film director and screenwriter.

The website enabled me to have a space on the internet that was fundamentally mine and a reflection of the work that I do, rather than everything scattered across different web platforms.

Why did you choose Weebly?

I would have probably used Squarespace given a choice, however, the price of Weebly alongside its site builder was simply the best balance between price and functionality. I tried the likes of Wix and the initial process was so protracted and the site builder so complex that I stopped and tried Weebly. Immediately it was clear that the layout was far more intuitive and I could see results much more quicker.

Why did you decide to create a portfolio website?

Given the variety of work that I undertake, I needed a space to bring all of that together in a coherent way. As I’ve grown as a filmmaker for example I’ve begun projects that aren’t necessarily for me but for a third party. The website enabled me to have a space on the internet that was fundamentally mine and a reflection of the work that I do, rather than everything scattered across different web platforms.

What are the benefits of having a portfolio?

Aside from the practical benefit of having everything in one place that I can send to people in support of applications, it has also been of significant personal benefit. Since the process of designing the website forced me to seriously consider how I wanted to be perceived. For me, the website needed to be an online business card or CV but one that could be designed to reflect me and my values, rather than the prescriptive layout of Linkedin for example.

A strange thing to say as well is that the website has also led me to take more ownership over the work I’ve produced. When I’m able to include website links in email signatures or on applications and project pitches, I’ve found that I mentally take more pride in what I’ve done and am bolder about marketing myself.

Portfolio Preview

Jonny’s portfolio is simple and clean. It resembles a prestige film or theatre poster, which is fitting. The cool cream background with the black and white images gives a sophisticated impression.

Weebly’s Templates

Although Weebly’s template designs aren’t quite as eye-catching as Squarespace’s, they are simple and clean, meaning they provide the perfect backdrop for a no-nonsense portfolio that’s all about showcasing your work.

Despite this, they are relatively basic. Each template is made up of sticky blocks that aren’t that easy to move, meaning that customization potential is limited. You’ll only be able to make changes within the boundaries set by your chosen template, so it’s much harder to put your own stamp on things.

Weebly’s templates also aren’t the most mobile-friendly, and can look messy on smaller screen sizes. Even if you barely edit your chosen layout, expect to see some irregular formatting when you move away from the desktop.

Because of this, Weebly only scored 2.5 out of 5 for design in our research. This puts it a long way below the likes of Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy. As a result, we’d recommend choosing one of these if you want template designs that are more modern, have more customizability, and are properly optimized for mobile.

Weebly’s Key Features

Weebly Ease of Use

Weebly’s editor is a simple drag-and-drop editor that lets you move on-page elements as you see fit – ideal for the less tech-savvy amongst you! It even includes an in-built form editor, making it easy to add a form and encourage people to contact you directly through your website.

However, there are some limitations. Despite adopting the drag-and-drop format, you won’t have total free reign. You’ll need to keep elements within their pre-set blocks, giving you less freedom of movement than you’d have with Wix.

Because of this, Weebly only scored 3.4 out of 5 in our ease of use testing, putting it in a relatively disappointing seventh place. Despite this, it has its strengths: we can’t dismiss its clear onboarding and uncluttered (although slightly outdated) editor.

This makes it ideal for small, simple portfolios or for anyone that wants to build a portfolio website quickly and cheaply. Editing is super simple so you don’t need to worry about any learning curve at all. The SEO options are good and cover the essentials, making it perfect for beginners looking for a helping hand.

Weebly Gallery

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Weebly’s templates keep things simple - helping you create a great-looking portfolio quickly and easily, without wasting time fiddling with every little on page detail.

Weebly’s editor uses blocks and sections to create your portfolio, making editing nice and straightforward.

Weebly’s Pricing: $6+

One of the best things about Weebly is its affordable prices. Its value for money is so good that it scored full marks in this area, achieving a perfect 5 out of 5. Unlike Squarespace, Weebly comes with a free plan,  so you can build and publish without spending a cent.

Weebly’s cheapest paid plan is the $6 per month Personal plan, which is extremely affordable when compared to main competitors Wix and Squarespace.

However, to remove adverts, get real value for your money, and build a truly professional portfolio, you’ll need the $12 per month Professional plan.

Yes, it’s double the price of the Personal plan, but it’s more than worth it because of all the extra features the Professional plan unlocks – including unlimited storage and a free domain.

Weebly also has tons of apps which is a great way of scaling your site without having to upgrade your plan. You can simply add any extra features you need one by one, making it a budget-friendly option for growing your portfolio.

Do You Need an Affordable Portfolio Builder?

Weebly is packed with great SEO and blogging tools, it’s easy to use, and it’s half the price of Squarespace!

Yes! I Want to Try Weebly Now

Find out more

• Weebly Review – Our detailed Weebly review tells you everything you need to know about the platform
• Weebly Pricing Guide – We explain the costs involved with Weebly’s premium plans

Best for hobby portfolios looking to stay small

Jimdo

Best for portfolios built using ADI

Good

3.6

out of 5

• Cheap plans with no ads
• Limited website features
• Top ADI builder

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $9 - $24 / month

Pros

• The best cost per features option
• Clean, professional ADI websites
• Dedicated mobile editor

Cons

• Limited SEO tools
• Poor marketing tools
• Restricted support on cheapest plans

Read Review

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Jimdo is a fairly straightforward website builder that uses ADI technology to create websites quickly and efficiently. It offers pretty good value for money and is a great cheap option if you want to sell through your portfolio, too. But for a more full-rounded portfolio, you might want to consider a more versatile builder like Squarespace or Weebly.

Jimdo Portfolio: Lunaphelia – Photography

Jimdo’s Templates

Overall, Jimdo scored 3.1 out of 5 for design, which puts it in the middle of the pack. Jimdo offers a good range of attractive website designs, although you won’t find much in the way of creative freedom in its editor. Expect to see lots of chic white space perfect for showing off your work.

That said, Jimdo’s ready-made websites won’t knock your socks off. They’re fit for purpose, but once built, you won’t be able to change much about them, which might be frustrating for some. Plus, this also means that many of their designs come out looking very similar – not ideal when you’re trying to build a unique brand!

However, it does have its strengths, one of which is its mobile editor, which gives you all the tools you need to make sure that your website looks good, no matter what screen size your visitors are viewing it on. You can also switch templates at any time if you want to.

Jimdo’s Key Features

Jimdo Ease of Use

Jimdo scored 3.4 out of 5 in our ease of use testing. Generally, our users enjoyed using it because of how simple its ADI builder makes the whole process. All you need to do is answer a few questions and voila – you have a website that’s pretty much ready to go.

This makes it a good option for beginners, or those short on time. Here’s the website that Jimdo created for us – all we had to do was answer a few questions!

It provided features we had selected as important, and kept the styling in keeping with our design choices. Admittedly, it’s not the best looking website we’ve ever made, but it does the job!

Jimdo Gallery

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Make sure you select the no-coding-required option to access Jimdo’s ADI builder.

Answer a few questions on what kind of website you want to create.

Jimdo asked us to choose our preferred style and color scheme before creating the site.

It’ll create a starting website from your question answers, although you can still make changes in the editor, too!

Jimdo’s Pricing: $9+

In our research, Jimdo scored 4.8 out of 5 for value for money, making it a serious contender if you’re conscious of keeping your budget under control. It has three pricing plans to choose from:

• Play: $0 per month
• Start: $9 per month
• Grow: $15 per month

It also offers two ecommerce plans – Basic and Business – which cost $15 and $19 respectively.

Jimdo is one of the only builders that offers a free plan, however, it does come with some pretty hefty limitations. You won’t be able to build more than five website pages, and the ones you do have will be covered in ads. There’s no help and support, either, so you’ll be on your own if you get stuck!

That’s why we recommend opting for the Start plan at the very least. Although this does come with a monthly cost, $9 isn’t too much to pay, especially because it gets rid of all those pesky ads for a more professional feel. Not only that, but you’ll be able to create up to 10 pages, as well as access more comprehensive SEO tools.

If your needs aren’t too demanding and you don’t want to spend too much money (the ad-free plan costs just $9 per month), then Jimdo is a solid choice for anyone looking to make a simple portfolio website.

Are You Setting Up a Personal Portfolio?

Keep things small and manageable with Jimdo, a straightforward builder with some neat perks such as cheap sales tools.

Yes! I Want to See More of Jimdo

Find out more

• Dig deeper into Jimdo’s pros, cons, features, pricing, and more with our detailed Jimdo Review. 

Best for building a single-page portfolio

Strikingly

Best for building a single-page portfolio

Above Average

3.4

out of 5

• Helpful support team
• Uninspiring designs
• Limited website features

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $8 - $59 / month

Pros

• On-page help and support
• Good storage space for small builders
• Relatively easy for beginners

Cons

• Slow site speed
• Poor value for money
• Others do it better

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Strikingly is a simple website builder that aims to make it easy for anyone and everyone to create an online portfolio. This welcoming philosophy is reflected in its beginner-friendly editor and helpful support resources. However, Strikingly lacks scalable features and truly stylish designs. Since we first reviewed this builder, it’s only continued to fall behind the industry standard, seeing a 12% drop in its overall score. Anything bigger than a basic portfolio will struggle on Strikingly.

Strikingly Preview: Monica Garcia-Alonso

Monica is an artist making remarkable fused glass works from her website Fosambart.

It’s extremely easy to create a good-looking site from the basic templates.

Why did you choose Strikingly?

It’s extremely easy to create a good-looking site from the basic templates. I had some help from a friend to tweak some things but fundamentally the site is built on a completely standard package.

Why did you decide to make a portfolio?

It offered a complete package in one – I had a couple of false starts because I wasn’t sure whether I wanted just a display site or to actually sell things.

What are the benefits to having a portfolio?

I’ve been learning as I go and generally it’s very easy to use. I can even use it for my visitors to sign up and I can email them updates all within one package. Everything is done from the dashboard.

Portfolio Preview

Monica’s simplistic portfolio design only shows off her dynamic art better.

Strikingly’s Templates

If you’re looking to build for free, you should know that Strikingly comes with a free plan, but that this only allows you to build one-page websites. This doesn’t seem the most obvious choice for a portfolio website, but for smaller showcases it’s a nice, simple way to present your work.

However, the majority of Strikingly’s templates are quite outdated compared to its competitors. It scored 2.8 out of 5 in our testing, which isn’t ideal for a website that relies on aesthetics to promote work in the best light.

Strikingly’s Key Features

Strikingly Ease of Use

Overall, Strikingly is very beginner-friendly, and easy to use for people of all abilities. It scored 3.4 out of 5 in our ease of use testing, putting it in line with the likes of Jimdo and Weebly. Its focus on accessibility makes it awesome for technophobes, but can make it feel limiting to anyone with more experience.

If you have big dreams for your portfolio, you’ll probably become frustrated with Strikingly before too long, and find it too constraining.

One of our favorite things about Strikingly, however, was how much it caters for beginners with its help and support resources, scoring 3 out of 5 in this area.

Helpful starter videos, articles, a great knowledge base, plus the option to submit a message to Strikingly support staff, all add up to make Strikingly ideal for beginners looking for a little more help and support as they build their portfolio.

When we tried out Strikingly’s live chat support, our pricing query was read and replied to within one minute – that’s pretty impressive! On top of that, the ‘Happiness Officer’ who replied was helpful, friendly, and answered our question straight away.

Strikingly Gallery

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You can browse Strikingly’s template page for inspiration and examples of other portfolio sites created with this simple builder.

Strikingly is pretty basic, but this makes it very easy to use. You can click to edit, and use the side-bar menu for bigger changes.

Strikingly’s live chat support is speedy and helpful, and the Happiness Officer answered our questions straight away.

Strikingly’s Pricing: $8+

Strikingly scored a disappointing 2.9 out of 5 when it came to value for money. This is because, although it has a generous free plan that you can stay on for as long as you like, and its paid plans are pretty affordable, its features aren’t as advanced as we saw on its competitors.

There are three paid plans to choose from:

• Limited: $8 per month (billed annually)
• Pro: $16 per month (billed annually)
• VIP: $49 per month (billed annually)

To build a multi-page website you’ll need at least the $16 per month Pro plan, which is a shame as other builders let you do this on their cheapest plans. $16 is also pretty steep, especially when you consider what you get on Squarespace and Wix for the same price.

However, if you don’t want to grow beyond a one-page website, Strikingly is a good option, and although its Limited plan lives up to its name, smaller portfolios might find it offers just what they need at an affordable price.

First Time Building a Portfolio Website?

Strikingly is beginner-friendly, and comes with awesome help and support – perfect for building a basic portfolio.

Yes! I Want to Try Strikingly

Find out more

• For more information on Strikingly’s features, plans, and templates, check out our in-depth Strikingly Review. 

Best for portfolios with an international reach

IONOS

Best for portfolios with an international reach

Above Average

3.2

out of 5

• Awesome load speed
• Restricted customization
• Outdated overall

Paid Plans: $0.5 - $35 / month

Pros

• Tools for international growth
• Edit and amend settings all in one place
• Templates for all industries

Cons

• No free plan or trial
• Limited customization tools
• No advanced marketing features

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1&1 IONOS is a simple website builder that shines thanks to its incredibly cheap pricing plans. You can build your portfolio and get it live for just $1 per month for the first year! It’s also got all the tools you need to appeal to an international market, too, broadening your global reach.

1&1 IONOS’s Templates

When it comes to choosing a template for your portfolio, 1&1 IONOS has plenty of choices. It comes with templates for every industry, so there’s something for everyone.

However, our users reported that the designs are all pretty basic, and feel outdated. They look nice and clean, but there’s not much to set them apart, because they all feature similar layouts.

Despite this, you can swap templates at any point, if you want to. You will need to do some reformatting though, and as you’ll see, customizing your IONOS template isn’t as easy as it might seem – the degree of personalization you can apply is pretty limited. It’s not surprising that IONOS only scored 2.5 out of 5 in the design category.

1&1 IONOS’s Key Features

1&1 Ease of Use

Despite producing pretty basic-looking websites, building and customizing your portfolio with 1&1 IONOS is more difficult than you might think. It only scored 2.8 out of 5 in our ease of use testing.

This is mainly because the layout of each template makes it very difficult to have much creative control over how your website looks. The editor is arranged in sections, and this makes it very difficult to move things around as you see fit. Even choosing a color scheme is trickier than it should be!

However, it’s clear that dividing the templates up into sections is one way of making sure that your website remains clean and tidy. It’s also simple to add extra elements and pages to your design. Each new page starts out as a blank canvas, so you’ll be able to flex your creativity here!

1&1 IONOS Gallery

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1&1 IONOS comes with a set of features that are perfect for building a basic portfolio website.

1&1 IONOS has three plans to choose from and you can add an optional store to each if you want to.

There are plenty of templates to choose from, all split by industry for convenient browsing

1&1 IONOS’s Pricing: $1+

In our research, 1&1 IONOS achieved its highest score in the value for money category, where it was awarded 4.2 out of 5. This makes it even better value for money than Wix and Squarespace!

However, this is mostly down to its excellent introductory prices. It has three website builder plans to choose from:

• Starter: $1 per month
• Plus: $5 per month
• Pro: $10 per month

These kinds of prices make 1&1 IONOS one of the cheapest website builders you can start with, although it is worth noting that these are only applicable for the first year. This means that when you renew your subscription for a second term, the yearly cost will jump up, so you’ll be paying the following:

• Starter: $5 per month
• Plus: $10 per month
• Pro: $15 per month

1&1 IONOS doesn’t offer a free plan or free trial, so you’ll need to be willing to splash the cash before you can truly know if it’s the right builder for you – a pretty big disadvantage compared to other competitors.

Do You Want to Make the Most of 1&1 IONOS’s Cheap Prices?

1&1 IONOS is perfect if you’re looking for a basic but affordable website builder to create your portfolio site.

Yes! I Want to Try 1&1 IONOS Now

Find out more

• If you want a more in-depth overview of 1&1 IONOS, check out our thorough 1&1 IONOS Review.

You may have skimmed our list expecting to see certain portfolio builders appear in our top nine. If you’re wondering if there are other portfolio builders that we haven’t included, then the answer is yes.

There are plenty of other 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 thorough research process from start to finish.

However, that’s not to say we haven’t tried other builders, too. Here’s a quick run-down of other notable portfolio builders that deserve a mention, even if they didn’t quite match up to our top nine.

#1. Format

Starting price: $3.50 per month

Free trial: 14 days

Our summary: Format is a website builder aimed specifically at photographers. 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: $4.27 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 an all-in-one package for creatives, and does a good job with its niche.

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: $6.75 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 nine list? Well, we thought the designs could have been sharper, and customization options a lot more developed. For creatives looking for 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.

Using a website builder to create your own digital portfolio is becoming an increasingly popular choice for professionals all sorts of backgrounds, including designers, artists, models, writers, filmmakers, and photographers. But portfolios are no longer reserved just for creatives.

Creating an online portfolio is an essential part of sharing your work, connecting with new clients, and presenting all 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, to help you sell online whilst also showcasing what you can do.

But first up is picking 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

Further Information

• Are you a photographer looking to showcase your work? Our Building Websites for Photographers Comparison could help you!
• If you’re an artist, take a look at our review of the Best Website Builders for Artists.
• Once you’ve found your perfect portfolio builder, check out our helpful guide on How to Make an Online Portfolio to start creating!
• Or, if your needs are diverse and wide-ranging, explore our walkthrough to How to Create a Personal Website to get inspired!

Final Breakdown of the 9 Best Portfolio Website Builders

We carefully identified the most important factors for building a successful portfolio and ranked these builders accordingly. Looking at affordability, design, SEO, ease of use, and more, we tested and scored each builder to produce this definitive top nine list.

Squarespace is our top-rated portfolio builder for a number of reasons.

It provides a selection of beautiful and professionally-designed templates, which act as a great base for your portfolio website. It’s designed to make creatives’ online lives easier, so even if you’re pressed for time, you can build a great-looking online gallery. Plus, its much-improved ease of use makes it accessible for virtually anyone!

Squarespace is also a very scalable choice, with both tools and plans to accommodate and encourage your portfolio’s long-term growth.

Jump on its 14-day free trial and see if you agree with our verdict – for its stunning, visual designs and high-quality features, we recommend Squarespace as the best all-round portfolio website builder.

If you end up loving Squarespace’s free trial, we’ve got a little exclusive deal for you – get 10% off your first Squarespace plan by entering the code WBE at checkout. A special treat for our readers!

Close behind Squarespace are Wix and GoDaddy, which each have their own strengths. Wix is great for creative freedom and customizability, whilst GoDaddy allows you to build a beautiful and professional website in no time at all!

We looked at a whole range of other portfolio website builders, so you should find your perfect choice in this list. Some are better than others, but only you can know which one is best for you.

Whichever builder you choose, once you’ve created your portfolio, come back and let us know how you got on!