Weebly, I’m not going to lie. When I first heard about them (again!) I was surprised to learn they have a brand new website building platform.
When we first got into building websites around 6 or 7 years ago, they were nothing much to talk about. They were making website builders before website builders was a thing.
However, it looks like they really stepped up there game and I’m pretty impressed with how far they have come. Especially in the eCommerce space.
What Can you Expect?
I’m pretty surprised how easy they make it.
Right when you sign up they ask you a series of questions to help you get up and running as smoothly as possible.
- Do You want to start a website or online store?
- What is the name of your store?
- Etc etc
Is it a good product? Can it be used in different languages?
What I really like is that the majority of their platform is in logs it of different languages. Making it super easy if you don’t speak English that well. Lots of other platforms, do a really bad job of serving non-english markets.
What we really liked:
Their platform made it pretty easy for management of larger websites. Typically these types of “drag and drop” builders make it really hard to manage a lot of content.
Whereas Weebly did a pretty good job of making this easy.
For their Ecommerce plans, they also have an Abandoned Cart function for their more expensive.
Pros & Cons
PROS
- Includes a free domain when you sign up for their services.
- Includes SSL with all paid services, helps stop hackers
- Really easy to use drag and drop system. It is the only drag and drop system we’d use to run a legitimate business.
- Advanced Ecommerce plans has Abandoned Cart Email functionality.
Cons
- Most the big discounts come from when you pay yearly.
- Unless you sign up for their best/VIP services, there is a 3% transaction fee every time you sell something.
How much does it cost?
Similar to lots of other platforms, they split up their pricing by eCommerce or a Normal website.
Free Plan
For all the free versions you’ll see the Weebly 商標, the advertisement for their product. Nothing in life is free, if you want to take advantage of their free stuff, you’ll be a giant ad for their services.
The Free setting is great if you want to play around, however for legitimate businesses it doesn’t look professional.
**Some of the prices below might reflect one year paid in advanced, but keep in mind they also have monthly payment options.**
eCommerce Packages
As its name implies, this is great if you want to start an online store. They make it pretty easy to add products and more importantly, sell stuff on your website.
Starter: $8 USD/ Month
This is fine if you are start starting out and want to validate an idea. There is a 3% transaction fee and you can only post up to 10 products. The checkout page would also be on Weebly.com
Includes a free domain, no weebly ads.
Pro – $12 USD/month
This is fine if you want to have a basic ecommerce store. However you can only post up to 25 products. They also only give you email & chat support.
Includes a free domain, no weebly ads.
Business – $25 USD / Month
With this plan you can have unlimited products and have checkout on your own domain. Also allows for Coupons & discounts..
It is also worth nothing when you sell something, they have a 0% Transaction fee.
Includes a free domain, no weebly ads.
This plan is okay if you have a decent marketing budget. But frankly, if you have a larger budget you should get the “Performance/績效版” for only an extra $10 USD / month. They offer a lot more useful stuff.
Performance $38 USD/ Month
If you are running a professional ecommerce store, this is really the one that you need.
Outside of no ads, no transaction fees, unlimited products and all the good stuff we mentioned previously, they also include Abandoned Cart Emails
What is an Abandoned Cart Email?
This is the one you need the most. Let’s say someone decides to buy your product, halfway though they stop for whatever reason. Perhaps their kid started crying, they forgot, got busy etc.
This software will automatically follow up with them via email to remind them to purchase your product. Very cool.
Typically this type of software pays for itself, because customers who forgot to buy from you, will be reminded.
Website Packages
For when you only want a website.For example if you are a local business or service business.
Connect $4 USD/month
Connect
Allows you to connect a domain . Pretty much, you can build a free website and still have a professional looking domain.
We actually don’t’ recommend this option, to us it’s kinda strange. They will still show the Weebly Advertisements.
Starter $8 USD /Month
Fine if you want a basic website without ads. They also include a free domain, which is pretty cool. Perfect if you just want a website to represent your brand and not much else.
Includes a free domain.
Pro $12 USD/Month
If you want to start a business, this is really what you need. In short, their is where you get most the service you’ll need to run a legitimate website.
Includes a free domain.
Business | $25 USD / Month
As its name implies, this is for serious business owners. If you actually have a marketing budget, this is the one you’ll need. Mostly because you’ll need the more advanced tracking.
Includes the free domain.
Recommendation:
- Great for people who want to start a legitimate business.
Not Recommend for:
- People who have a “for fun” project. Serious people only.
FAQ
What is Weebly？
Weebly is an easy to use website building platform. It is well known because non-techie business owners can use it to build a legitimate website.
Can you update to a more expensive plan AFTER you have already purchased ?
Should you purchase your domain from weebly? Or is it better to use a service like GoDaddy.
This depends on your tech skill level. Weebly gives you the domain for free for 1 year, however its $20 a year after the first year.
Their are cheaper domain providers, such as GoDaddy or namecheap. However they are pretty hard to use if you have never set a DNS before.
Is Weebly Free?
It is only free if you use their free domain. For example:
Website.weebly.com.
Which includes their ads. Meaning they give you a free website in exchange for free advertisements.
Final Verdict
Regular Website: Pick the best one for your budget.
Ecommerce: Honestly, the plan we liked the best was the most expensive. This is due to the abandoned cart features. If you have a marketing budget and plan on running a serious store, we suggest taking a serious approach and getting this one.
