Hostinger Website Builder Review 2023 (was Zyro)Affordable Site Builder With Similarities to Wix

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Hostinger Pricing

Prices shown above include discount for 1-year subscription. Renewal prices after the first year are higher. Monthly pricing and discounted multi-year plans are also available.

Hostinger’s pricing page is a bit confusing, so we examined it in more detail. First, you have the countdown timer on the top part of the page. Don’t feel pressured as the deal is basically always on. We checked back the next day, and the clock had reset with six hours remaining.

Affordable Hostinger Website Builder prices

What we wish they would make clearer is that the prices shown on the website are for their discounted 1-year plan (or longer). The discount only applies during this initial contract period – after that, the subscription will renew at a higher price. Month-to-month prices are even higher still.

While it clearly states that the domain name is free for one year, it doesn’t mention the renewal fee anywhere on the page. You can find it on another page, indicating that a regular domain will cost a small business around $10 to $15 on average. The good news is that this price range is pretty reasonable. In our experience, many website builders (such as Web.com) use domain renewal to attempt to exploit you in this manner.

Pros and Cons of Hostinger

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A More Detailed Look at Hostinger’s Features

Choosing Hostinger Website Builder for Ecommerce

In spite of its limitations when compared to other popular website builders, Hostinger is ready for anyone who wants to sell online. The platform claims that you can create a store in under an hour with the help of their website templates, drag and drop editor, and AI tools (logo generator, slogan generator, business name generator, and even AI writer). You can sell physical and digital products, as well as services (plus, accept donations). All of these are very handy for budding entrepreneurs looking to set up their online presence.

An example of a Hostinger-built product page

But there is one major drawback. Hostinger Website Builder offers only basic ecommerce functionality and allows for up to just 500 products, which makes it suitable for small stores only. (Its previous Advanced Store plan, which used the more powerful Ecwid platform, is no longer being promoted and will soon be replaced with Hostinger’s own ecommerce solution).

With that in mind, let’s see what ecommerce options are available:

Number of products: Supports 500 products.

Payment options: 20+ online payment options. You can see the variety of online payment methods Hostinger accepts here.

Application fee: This fee covers the cost of hosting your payment processor on your website. You will have to pay 1% per transaction, which is something that competitors like Wix don’t charge.

Basic features: Email notifications, order management, inventory management, and secure online payments are included in each ecommerce plan. However, features like shipping and tax management, as well as the ability to add coupons and gift cards, are not available.

Overall, we think it’s a decent, affordable option if you’re looking to run a small store with local/national shipping only. If you’re looking to run a larger store targeting an international audience, solutions like Wix and Shopify have stronger capabilities and a longer track record in this market.

Beginner’s Guide to Using Hostinger Website Builder

Three fun ways to get your Hostinger website up and running.

To create your Hostinger website, you can start from scratch, use a template, or use the AI website generator.

You have access to over 150 templates, distributed across 16 categories. The platform shares a limitation with Wix in this regard: Although you can edit your template to your liking, you can’t switch to a new template without having to start over.

Some of the templates available in Hostinger

It’s impossible to overhaul a website’s overall visual appearance in a single step. You’ll need to transfer the content manually to the new site. That’s a drag if you want to overhaul your site’s look. Due to Wix’s high level of customization, you might be able to get away with this. When using Hostinger, however, this can be a real stumbling block.

If you’re not happy with the template, opt for the AI website generator. You’ll have to answer a series of five questions about your website needs and select a few basic design features to get started. The final question will have you choose between two designs. If you’re not happy with either of them, click the “Generate Again” button. Quite simple.

Clicking on the “Start Building” button will direct you to the editor. Since the screen is very bare, it can be intimidating. But there’s a video waiting for you and a Quick Start Guide that walks you through five key steps to get started.

Hostinger Website Builder Editor: Zippy and Intuitive

Using Hostinger’s editor

Hostinger’s editor is one of the website builder’s most exciting features. Compared to Wix, the dashboard looks a lot less intimidating. Everything is laid out clearly. The sidebar shows four main categories: Pages and navigation, elements, website styles, and blog. There’s a fifth one you can access if you paid for one of the ecommerce plans.

Each is home to all the elements and tweaks you might need. It’s pretty straightforward once you’ve gotten the hang of it and know where everything is situated. Thoughtful icons for duplicating, going up, down, undoing, redoing, and switching from desktop editor to mobile editor are all in plain sight.

Clear display, dashboard, and buttons

Speaking of mobile editors, you can easily switch between the mobile and desktop versions of your site when editing. The separate editor lets you modify elements to make the website more mobile-friendly.

Now onto the drag-and-drop feature. It’s honestly not as nuanced as Wix. It’s possible to move the design elements around, but the grid layout section’s restrictions limit how you can customize it.

On a more positive flip side, this is key to making the website building tool beginner-friendly. The grid layout serves as a guide that allows you to easily position different elements. So all you need is to drag your text, your icon–whatever you need–and it will arrange itself into its blocked section. Rather than spending hours fine-tuning every detail, this saves you time.

All in all, this simplicity makes it easy to use, but it might be limiting for advanced users with a keen eye for design.

Outstanding extra features: Marketing, And AI-Powered Tools

Hostinger’s Marketing Integrations

The website builder also integrates well with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, so you can track your website visitors’ behavior on both platforms and dig deep into your traffic. Furthermore, you can track your social media performance by using Facebook and Snapchat pixel, as well as Pinterest Tag.

Hostinger doesn’t have a suite of advanced marketing tools such as GoDaddy or Squarespace, for example, but the integrations it does offer not only generate a lot of data for easy optimization – they also serve as a goldmine from a marketing standpoint.

Knowing customer behavior can help you tailor your campaigns based on their preferences and characteristics. Hostinger can also help you establish relationships with clients or customers by setting up Messenger Live Chat or WhatsApp Live Chat to speak to them directly.

AI Writer

While creating website content, Hostinger’s AI Writer tool provides creative ideas. It’s not 100% effective, but it gives a good jumping-off point, especially for small business owners who don’t have a content team to save them. By selecting topics and categories, this tool will propose ideas. Let’s say, we want to generate web copy for a massage studio – here’s what AI Writer comes up with:

There’s also an option to “Go Wild.” Type in your ideas with keywords you want to include and click the generate text button to get interesting new suggestions.

Aside from this useful feature, other out-of-the-box Hostinger AI tools include:

• Slogan generator
• Business name generator
• Blog title generator
• Privacy policy generator
• Logo maker
• Heat map

While the generators work similarly to the AI web content generator, the logo maker and heat map tools are pretty innovative.

The logo maker is great for new entrepreneurs. Similar to other logo makers we’ve tested, it generates generic logo designs, which you can tweak according to your brand vision. Think: Canva. Design elements you can adjust include icon, color, font, and size.

The AI heatmap tool, on the other hand, analyzes images and suggests CTA button placement to maximize conversions. Its goal is to reduce time spent on A/B testing when you design your website.

Hostinger’s heat map tool analyzing Tooltester’s homepage

These AI tools are accessible on the web and are absolutely free. However, for the heat map tool, the suggestions will be visible to you right away when you build a website with Hostinger. This will save you time as you won’t have to upload screenshots for each page.

Hostinger Website Builder vs. Wix: Why The Comparison?

Hostinger and Wix templates are both clean and crisp, but Wix features more options and a more polished design

Hostinger and Wix both offer drag-and-drop editor functionality, but Hostinger’s gridlock feature can get in the way of customization. Template-wise, it has a lot of catching up to do. Wix has over 900 templates, while they have only 150.

There’s also a similarity in using AI (akin to Wix ADI) to generate custom templates. With a few details about your site and your design preferences, both site builders can provide suggestions tailored to your needs.

What makes Hostinger a good alternative to Wix is its price. If you compare its basic plan to Wix’s Combo plan, you’ll get more value for your buck–from fun AI branding tools to unlimited storage and bandwidth. As far as basic website presence and portfolio are concerned, the Hostinger website builder does an excellent job.

In terms of ecommerce functionality, Wix definitely has the upper hand. It’s got an extensive app market to expand your business tools, more room for products, better templates and customization, and a more robust platform overall. It’s got better-tiered plans geared towards business scalability.

Due to its star-studded ad campaigns, extensive app selection, and excellent ecommerce features, Wix is becoming a household name in the website building industry–especially among online store owners. So being perceived as a cheaper alternative to Wix is a huge win for Hostinger.

Hostinger Website Builder Review: Conclusion

Hostinger Website Builder is Wix’s more affordable counterpart. Wix is an excellent solution that comes with a lot of bells and whistles. However, for some users, it may not be wise to invest in a premium site builder. Hostinger, being a cost-effective website builder, can swoop in and appeal to these budget-conscious individuals. (You can compare website builders in our comparative table here.)

It also has a number of innovative features. Its editor was user-friendly and fast, which makes the user experience excellent for novices. We also appreciate the range of AI tools you’ll have in your website-building arsenal, making it one of the top website builders for creating a small business website.

For now, we wouldn’t recommend it to advanced users and people looking for the most competitive SEO support. But the good news is the company is adding new features regularly, so we might have to upgrade this Hostinger Website Builder review frequently.

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Hostinger Alternatives

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Are you looking for other website builders that meet your needs? Here are some of our suggestions:

Wix: Wix is our top choice when it comes to website builders – as long as you have the budget for it. You’ll get to enjoy better templates, more customizability and apps, and larger storage. See our Hostinger Website Builder vs Wix comparison.

Squarespace: Squarespace, another leading website builder, may be a better choice if you have a larger budget and need greater blogging capabilities. It’s just as easy to use but packs a lot more punch in every aspect, especially in terms of customization and ecommerce capabilities.

GoDaddy Website Builder: An affordable and very user-friendly option with strong marketing features (appointment scheduling and email marketing, for example).

WordPress.com: If you’re a blogger, or you own a business that regularly publishes blog content, WordPress.com remains an excellent choice. Zyro’s blogging features aren’t exactly cutting-edge yet.

Webnode: Zyro supports multilingual sites, but Webnode is superior in this regard. With the latter, you can create multilingual websites in a very intuitive way.

Jimdo: If your goal is to create basic websites, then Jimdo is the tool for you. You can opt for the free version if you only need 5 subpages to publish, instead of paying for Zyro’s most basic plan.

Having trouble figuring out what you need from a website builder? Find the right solution for your project with our Smart Finder.