7 Best Portfolio Website Builders

Our independent research projects and impartial reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers. Learn more

After thoroughly researching portfolio website builders, we’ve identified the seven 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 seven best portfolio website builders to help you find the right match for your specific needs. Check out the final list:

7 Best Portfolio Website Builders

  1. Squarespace Best for ultimate design control
  2. Wix Best for portfolio customization
  3. GoDaddy Best for building a portfolio quickly
  4. Shopify Best for selling products and services
  5. Pixpa Best for creative portfolios
  6. Hostinger Best for simple portfolio templates
  7. Webflow Best for complex portfolios

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!

Do you have web design experience?

Find Your Builder

Compare the Top 7 Portfolio Website Builders of 2024

Compare all seven portfolio builders and their key features below:

Swipe right to see more
0 out of 0

Squarespace

Wix

GoDaddy

Shopify

Pixpa

Hostinger

Webflow

Overall Rating
4.7
Overall Rating
4.5
Overall Rating
4.2
Overall Rating
4.0
Overall Rating
3.9
Overall Rating
3.7
Overall Rating
3.5
Starting from
Starting from
Starting from

$9.99

Starting from
Starting from

$7.50

Starting from

$11.99

Currently discounted at $2.49 + 3 months free (starting with the 48-month plan)

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

15-day free trial

Free plan or free trial

No

Free plan or free trial

Free plan

Number of templates

100+

Number of templates

800+

Number of templates

100+

Number of templates

100+

Number of templates

150+

Number of templates

120+

Number of templates

2,000+

Storage space

Unlimited

Storage space

2GB – Unlimited

Storage space

Unmetered

Storage space

Unlimited

Storage space

3GB – 100GB

Storage space

Unlimited

Storage space

1GB – 400GB

Social media integration
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter/X
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • Pinterest

 

Social media integration
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter/X
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • Pinterest
Social media integration
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter/X
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • Pinterest
Social media integration
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
Social media integration
  • Facebook
  • Twitter/X
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitch
  • Reddit
Social media integration
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter/X
  • LinkedIn
Social media integration
  • Facebook
  • Twitter/X
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Design Flexibility
4.7
Design Flexibility
4.4
Design Flexibility
4.0
Design Flexibility
3.9
Design Flexibility
2.8
Design Flexibility
3.5
Design Flexibility
4.4
View Squarespace Claim 50% off Visit GoDaddy Visit Shopify Visit Pixpa Visit Hostinger Visit Webflow

1. Squarespace

Best for ultimate design control

Pricing range: $16 – $49 per month

Editor's Choice

Squarespace

Best for ultimate design control

Outstanding

4.7

out of 5
  • 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 Review

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.

Squarespace scores a great 4.6 out of 5 for its website features, and it’s easy to see why. All of its plans come with tons of built-in tools, including Squarespace Video Maker and custom merch.

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).

Getting clients to contact you is next to impossible if you can’t be found online, so it’s reassuring that Squarespace makes it easy to tag your content correctly to ensure your pages are found by search engines. This is why it scores a perfect 5 out of 5 in our SEO research.

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!

Squarespace gives its subscribers unlimited storage across all of its plans, which means you can upload plenty of media files to your portfolio, such as images, music, and podcast episodes. You also get an allowance of 30 minutes when it comes to video storage – and this is available from Squarespace’s cheapest plan, Personal.

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.

The primary goal of most websites is to turn viewers into clients and views into opportunities. Most of Squarespace’s portfolio-specific templates come with built-in contact forms and member areas, but if you choose one that lacks this feature, you can easily add it.

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.

Orange background with Squarespace email campaign template on top for editing

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.

Squarespace scores 4.4 out of 5 for its ease of use, putting it in joint first with Wix. This is an area that saw a significant boost (11%) since last year’s research, largely because of its user-friendly interface and helpful prompts when building.

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.

With a score of 3.5 out of 5 for value for money, Squarespace isn’t the strongest option if price is an important factor for you. For our portfolio website builder analysis, we’ve placed greater emphasis on free plans – this is something Squarespace lacks and its strongest ecommerce features (if you’re looking to sell) are only accessible if you pay more.

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.

Hello, Students!

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

Nikki Hoza headshot
Nikki Hoza
Art Director
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.

Q&A

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

nikki hoza homapage

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.

Get 10% Off Any Squarespace Plan

Save 10% on the cost of any Squarespace plan with our exclusive offer code. To redeem your discount, follow these steps:

  1. Copy the code below and go to Squarespace
  2. Create a Squarespace account
  3. Choose a paid subscription and enter the code at checkout
Click to copy code
Pick Your Squarespace Plan

More Information

2. Wix

Best for portfolio customization

Pricing range: free – $159 per month

Wix

Best for portfolio customization

Excellent

4.5

out of 5
  • 800+ templates on offer
  • Very intuitive to use
  • Generous free plan

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $16 - $159 / month

Pros

  • High level of customization
  • Templates for a wide range of industries
  • Drag-and-drop editor

Cons

  • Expensive premium plans
  • Storage caps on all plans
  • Can't switch templates once site is live
Wix Review

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 one of our top-rated ecommerce builders – 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.

Wix is the best for website features, scoring 4.9 out of 5 in our 2023 research. We were particularly impressed that its free plan offers a ton of powerful features, including social sharing tools and a mobile editor.

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.

One of the best ways Wix helps you build a successful portfolio is by making SEO as easy as possible – this is why it scores 5 out of 5 for SEO. We know SEO can be a daunting step when establishing yourself online (especially for beginners), but Wix has plenty of helpful guides to get you started. There’s even SEO Wiz, which creates a personalized, step-by-step guide for you to follow.

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.

Checklist of SEO steps in Wix's dashboard

Depending on the plan you’re on, Wix will offer varying amounts of storage to its users:

  • 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.

As we’ve established, Wix is the best portfolio website builder when it comes to website features. It should come as no surprise then that it has a whole ream of high-quality marketing tools for you to access and use to promote your portfolio.

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 is extremely easy to use – in fact, it came joint first with Squarespace in our ease of use testing, scoring 4.4 out of 5.

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.

Wix scores 2.7 out of 5 in our value for money testing – the lowest score out of all seven builders, sitting just below Webflow.

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

Byron Simon headshot
Byron Simon
Model
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!

Q&A

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

byron simon homepage

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 has the best website features, scoring 4.9 out of 5.

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

Very Good

4.2

out of 5
  • Get online quickly
  • Best value for money
  • Ideal for basic portfolio

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $6.99 - $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
  • No mobile editor
GoDaddy Review

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 seven 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).

GoDaddy sits in the middle of the pack, scoring 3.6 out of 5 for its website features – this puts it between Shopify and Webflow. When looking at marketing and blogging, in particular, we found that GoDaddy struggled to keep up with the competition, only offering its users a basic set of tools.

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.

GoDaddy has its own SEO wizard, like Wix, which is a beginner-friendly way for users to start optimizing their portfolios. Like its ADI builder, GoDaddy asks you questions about your site and creates a custom SEO plan for you to follow. It even suggests which keywords you should target to rank higher on Google!

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.

GoDaddy isn’t too forthcoming about how much storage you get with each plan, but it seems that you get unmetered storage and bandwidth across all plans. Unmetered storage means you’re not charged based on the amount of storage you use.

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.

Helping entrepreneurs build their online presence is something GoDaddy is clearly passionate about.

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.

Thanks to its ADI functionality, building a portfolio with GoDaddy is incredibly easy – since it does all of the hard work for you, we awarded GoDaddy an ease of use score of 4.1 out of 5. This puts it just behind the top dogs, Squarespace and Wix.

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.

According to our 2023 research, GoDaddy is the best value for money when it comes to portfolio website builders, scoring 4.3 out of 5. Compared with the builders ranking above, GoDaddy is considerably cheaper, with plans starting at $11.99 per month, billed annually.

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 is the best value for money, plans start at $11.99 per month.

More Information

4. Shopify

Best for selling products and services

Pricing range: $29 – $299 per month

Shopify

Best for selling products and services

Very Good

4

out of 5
  • Huge app store
  • Popular with customers
  • Great ecommerce tools

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $29 - $299 / month

Pros

  • Multi-channel support
  • Strong marketing features
  • Room to scale your portfolio

Cons

  • Not beginner-friendly
  • Heavily reliant on third-party apps
  • Limited design options
Shopify Review

Shopify Overview

Claiming the halfway point of our top seven, 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.

Shopify offers its users fairly basic features, catering to growing businesses rather than portfolio websites. It also uses its app store as a way to fill in any gaps internally, unlike Wix, which has incredible built-in features. For this reason, Shopify scores 3.7 out of 5 for its website features.

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.

While Shopify handles a portion of SEO on your behalf – think page tags, meta descriptions, and your portfolio’s sitemap – you’ll have to look elsewhere for advanced SEO tools. In fact, Shopify’s SEO guide encourages you to check out the app store!

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.

All of Shopify’s plans come with unlimited storage space, making it a good choice for portfolios, especially if you plan to use lots of media to promote and sell your work.

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!

Shopify’s general website features are fairly simple in nature, but as a site equipped to support online stores, you’ll be happy to know that there’s no slacking to be seen when it comes to marketing tools.

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.

Sitting in fourth place for ease of use, Shopify scores 4 out of 5 in this category. This puts it just ahead of Hostinger, and while Shopify doesn’t take a podium position on this list, its rating is still to be applauded.

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.

Shopify gives users three plans to choose between. When billed annually, the prices are:

  • 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 scores 4.5 out of 5 for customer satisfaction, sitting just behind Squarespace.

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. Pixpa

Best for creative portfolios

Pricing range: $7.50 – $24 per month

Pixpa

Best for creative portfolios

Good

3.9

out of 5
  • Great for photographers
  • Very affordable plans
  • Connect with socials

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $7.5 - $24 / month

Pros

  • Mobile-friendly templates
  • Specialist website builder
  • Galleries for sharing and proofing

Cons

  • No free plan
  • Limited photos on cheapest plan
  • Restrictive website editor

Pixpa Overview

Pixpa takes fifth place, scoring 3.9 out of 5 overall. It’s an attractive builder for portfolios, marketing itself as a comprehensive package for creatives and photographers thanks to its tailored features and focus on visuals. But, while it’s an affordable option, Pixpa isn’t as well-rounded as other builders on this list, such as Squarespace and Wix.

Pixpa struggled in our testing with low scores for its design flexibility, help and support, and ease of use. But, if you’re looking for a specialist website builder that focuses on portfolios, then you should try Pixpa’s 15-day free trial to see if it’s the right home for sharing your work online.

Pixpa Templates

Pixpa scores an underwhelming 2.8 out of 5 for its design flexibility – the lowest rating out of the seven portfolio website builders. When setting up your portfolio, you can choose between 150+ mobile-friendly templates and filter these by categories, such as “Photography” and “Fashion & Style”. For greater template options and creative control, you’d be better off with Squarespace, which scores 4.7 for design.

That said, we were impressed by Pixpa’s range of design options during testing. We could choose unusual elements in the editor, such as “Before & After” sections, which could be particularly useful for photographers to show off their editing skills.

Pixpa Pricing

If you’re looking for an affordable and cost-effective option, consider Pixpa. The builder scores 3.9 out of 5 in our value for money testing, putting it just above Squarespace. You can choose between four pricing plans, starting from $7.50 per month for a one-year term. Unfortunately, Pixpa doesn’t offer a free plan but you can get started with its 15-day free trial before committing to a premium plan.

Pixpa scores 2.9 out of 5 for its website features, sharing last place with Hostinger. Pixpa targets photographers and creatives with its niche website builder, meaning its features and tools aren’t as well-rounded as Squarespace or Wix, for example.

While Pixpa’s cheapest plan includes an SSL certificate, 24/7 support, multilingual capabilities, social media integration, and custom forms, it also has its limitations. Users will be restricted to 10 website pages and 200 images.

You’ll need to upgrade to the Creator plan or above to unlock unlimited photos, client galleries for sharing and proofing, ecommerce tools, advanced marketing tools (such as pop-ups), blogging features, and a free domain for the first year.

Pixpa includes integrated SEO tools on all of its website plans, helping you improve your portfolio’s visibility and boost your search engine rankings. A lot of your site’s SEO is handled for you – for example, Pixpa automatically generates sitemaps. But, if you want to be more hands-on, you can oversee your website’s SEO from Pixpa’s SEO Manager. This is available in the Pixpa dashboard under the “Marketing & SEO” tab.

From here, you can tweak your SEO title and description for your website and pages, toggle search engine indexing, and even review Pixpa’s SEO checklist to make sure you’re following best practices with your online portfolio, such as setting up 301 redirects or optimizing your content for keywords.

And, for an extra helping hand, we found plenty of SEO support in Pixpa Help, the website builder’s knowledge base full of tutorials and guidance.

When it comes to storage space, Pixpa is a bit vague with what’s included on the cheapest plan (Basic). However, storage for original images and files is listed for the more premium plans:

  • Creator – 3GB
  • Professional – 25GB
  • Advanced – 100GB

If you need additional space, you can add further storage capacity to your plan at any time for an extra cost. To do this, simply navigate to your settings and click “Billing and Subscription” and then “Add Space”. Pixpa will then present you with a range of storage plans for you to choose from.

We know high-quality marketing features are essential when building an online portfolio. After all, you want to promote and share your work and services with ease. Thankfully, Pixpa includes social media integration across all plans, allowing you to connect your website with your profiles on Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and more.

You can also build a loyal base of customers, fans, and potential clients, with Pixpa’s email subscriptions and newsletters. We had no trouble adding sign-up forms to our website during testing, and we appreciated the range of layouts available in the element library.

In addition to the above, there are also marketing pop-ups available if you’re subscribed to at least the Creator plan, and you can add announcement bars to your pages if you’re on the Professional plan and above.

Pixpa marketing pop up editor inviting readers to signup to a newsletter

Pixpa is let down by its ease of use, scoring 3.5 out of 5 in our research and sitting just above last place (which is held by Webflow). While Webflow’s editor is extremely advanced, Pixpa’s isn’t too overwhelming to use and it has an easy-to-navigate interface.

That being said, Pixpa uses a section-based editor which lacks the creative freedom of Wix’s drag-and-drop editor and Squarespace’s clean grid-style editor. With Pixpa, design elements need to be stacked on top of one another, rather than simply dragging an item to where you want it. This frustrated some of our users in testing who wished for more creative control, especially when building a design-focused portfolio.

Pixpa scores an average 3.9 out of 5 in our value for money research. There are four plans to choose between, starting from $7.50 per month (billed annually):

  • Basic: $7.50 per month
  • Creator: $12 per month
  • Professional: $18 per month
  • Advanced: $24 per month

These prices are for a one-year subscription, which gives you 25% off with its introductory deal. You can also pay monthly (though this is the most expensive route), or save 40% with Pixpa’s two-year deal if you’re happy to commit long-term.

As mentioned already, Pixpa is one of the most affordable options on this list. Pixpa’s cheapest plan is half the price of the leading builders, with Squarespace and Wix both starting from $16 per month, but it’s not quite as cheap as Hostinger’s plan which costs $2.99 per month.

And Pixpa’s affordable price is just as well since the website builder doesn’t offer a free plan to help you settle in. There is a 15-day free trial instead, but if you want to save on plan costs, we’d recommend Wix’s free plan as an alternative.

Get started with Pixpa’s 15-day free trial.

More Information

6. Hostinger

Best for simple portfolio templates

Pricing range: $2.99 per month + 3 months free (if you sign up with the 48 month plan)

Hostinger - Web Builder

Best for simple portfolio templates

Good

3.7

out of 5
  • 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 Review

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 close to the bottom of the seven builders with a score of 3.5 out of 5. This puts it just ahead of Pixpa which scores 2.8 out of 5. With Hostinger, 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. If you sign up for 48 months instead of 12, you can also get the first 3 months for free!

Hostinger receives a low score of 2.9 out of 5 for its website features, making it one of the weakest options out of the seven portfolio website builders, sharing last place with Pixpa. With only one plan on offer and no app market, you’re stuck with what you get – and that’s not a lot, especially when compared with the likes of Squarespace or Wix.

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.

Unfortunately, Hostinger is also let down by its limited SEO tools, meaning it’ll be hard to promote your portfolio to clients effectively. Its plan comes with AI-powered SEO tools to help boost rankings and traffic, and you can edit your page SEO settings in the backend. But without advanced keyword support and built-in integrations, Hostinger’s strength doesn’t lie in SEO.
With Hostinger’s Website Builder & Web Hosting package, you can enjoy unlimited storage and unmetered traffic, all for a low price. So, no matter the scale of your portfolio, you’ll be in good hands with Hostinger!
Hostinger offers an assortment of marketing tools to support your portfolio website. These include integrations with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Hotjar, and Facebook Pixel – they help you monitor your website’s analytics and customer needs so you can create effective marketing campaigns.

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.

Hostinger scores 3.9 out of 5 for ease of use, sitting just above our weakest performers on this list, Webflow and Pixpa. Hostinger uses the familiar drag-and-drop editor, which is a great interface for beginners and very simple to wrap your head around. Alternatively, you can hand it all over to AI – Hostinger’s employed ChatGPT to build a website for you, which is similar to GoDaddy’s ADI builder.

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!

On a positive note, Hostinger is one of the best options when it comes to value for money, scoring 4.2 out of 5 in this year’s research. This isn’t too surprising considering its single plan is also the cheapest option on this list, costing just $2.99 per month (billed annually).

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 is the cheapest portfolio website builder, starting at $2.99 per month, plus 10% off with code WBE.

More Information

7. Webflow

Best for complex portfolios

Pricing range: $14 – $212 per month

Webflow

Best for complex portfolios

Above Average

3.5

out of 5
  • 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 Review

Webflow Overview

Webflow completes our list of the top seven 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 seven – 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.

Webflow sits near the bottom of the pack for website features, scoring 3 out of 5 in our 2023 research – this puts it just above Hostinger and Pixpa. This is because what Webflow has to offer is pretty basic, and you’ll need to upgrade to at least the CMS plan (for $23 per month) to unlock useful tools, including a site search function and the ability to schedule posts.

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.

Unfortunately, Webflow offers no SEO support on its free plan, so you’ll have to shell out for this feature. Once you’re on the Basic plan, you’ll unlock:

  • 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.

Storage space is limited with Webflow – the allowance depends on the plan you choose.

  • 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.

Once your site is live, Webflow is a little underwhelming for website marketing, focusing its attention on web design instead of growth. Despite its lack of built-in tools, you can deploy a range of third-party apps, such as Google Analytics and Mailchimp to find what you need.

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.

If you want to build a portfolio website builder, Webflow is the hardest to use – it scores a low 2.1 out of 5, putting it at the bottom of our top seven. As we’ve already mentioned, Webflow uses a section-based editor instead of the user-friendly drag-and-drop style. This means the builder has a steeper learning curve than others, such as Squarespace, and is better suited to those with website building experience.

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.

Webflow ranks just above Wix in our value for money category with a score of 2.9 out of 5. There are three “General” plans, and three online store options:

  • 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 scores a perfect 5 out of 5 for its templates.

More Information

Are There Other Noteworthy Portfolio Website Builders?

You may have skimmed our list expecting to see certain portfolio builders appear in our top seven. 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 seven.

#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!

Format homepage inviting visitors to sign up
Format is a great portfolio website builder for photographers. Click the image to visit Format!

#2. 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 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 seven 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.

Fabrik homepage inviting visitors to sign up
Fabrik welcomes all creatives, not just photographers. Click on the image to see more of Fabrik!

Buying Guide: Tips for Picking a Portfolio Website Builder

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 – we’ve answered some burning questions about portfolio website builders to help you:

What is an online portfolio?

An online portfolio is a digital collection of your work, usually housed on a website. It makes your work easily accessible to potential clients and employers. In this digital day and age, online portfolios are an excellent way to showcase what you’re capable of.

Is Squarespace good for a portfolio?

Squarespace is our top-rated portfolio website builder for a reason, scoring 4.7 out of 5 in our 2023 research. Its user-friendly editor, award-winning templates, and beautiful design elements allow you to create a stunning portfolio. Plus, Squarespace comes jam-packed with powerful features and tools to help with SEO and marketing, which are essential when promoting your work online.

Can I make a portfolio website for free?

Technically, yes. But you’ll need to upgrade for the best features and a professional-looking appearance. If you want your own website it’s going to cost a few dollars one way or another.

What template is best for a portfolio?

Squarespace is the best builder for portfolios due to its customization and variety of great-looking templates. The best template is the one you think looks the best, and this will differ depending on which sector you’re in.

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.

What are three key things a portfolio builder should have?

A good portfolio should have:

  • Customizable, high-quality, mobile-friendly template designs
  • Affordable price plans
  • Good marketing and SEO tools to get your work in front of clients

What’s a free and easy website builder for a portfolio?

For a free and easy website builder for a portfolio, we recommend Wix. It has the joint highest ease of use score in our research with 4.8 out of 5 and a free plan you can sign up for today. Use one of Wix’s portfolio-specific templates and see how the professionals do it!

More Information

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

Website Builder Expert Product Testing Process diagram

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 seven portfolio website builders:

7 Best Portfolio Website Builders

  1. Squarespace Best for ultimate design control
  2. Wix Best for portfolio customization
  3. GoDaddy Best for building a portfolio quickly
  4. Shopify Best for selling products and services
  5. Pixpa Best for creative portfolios
  6. Hostinger Best for simple portfolio templates
  7. Webflow Best for complex portfolios

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.

Squarespace is our highest performing portfolio website builder.

FAQs

Pixpa allows you to upload batches of photos into galleries, but anything over 200 images at once will require some form of code, regardless of the website builder.
Many web design professionals use Webflow, as you can get the most out of your site design using its extremely precise editor. However, for beginners or those who don’t have the time we recommend Squarespace, as it has excellent design tools combined with easy use.
The cheapest website builder for artists is Hostinger, which has a starting plan for only $2.99 per month.
Written by:
emma ryan author bio
I’m a Senior Writer at Website Builder Expert, which means I’m part of a great team that produces and updates content for the website. I specialize in writing highly-researched and accessible guides, comparisons, and reviews that provide readers with everything they need to know about getting started and growing online. I’ve also written about small businesses for Startups.co.uk, video optimization for Industry Today, and HTML for Digital Information World. While working for Website Builder Expert, I’ve gained expertise in website builders, ecommerce platforms, and hosting providers through hands-on testing and research analysis. I’ve also attended expos to further my industry knowledge – all of this helps me pitch fresh article ideas for the website. Additionally, I manage our website’s comments which allows me to have a good understanding of what you, our readers, care about.
Researched by:
natasha_willett
I love to understand human behavior and the cognitive biases that drive us to do what we do. For over nine years I have worked as a mixed method researcher – research using a mix of numerical data and personal experiences – across a range of sectors, from insurance and policy development to finally arriving at Website Builder Expert five years ago. Fascinated by consumer decision-making, I meticulously built our leading ranking methodology to explore where providers like Wix sit within a competitive industry and what value they truly bring to our audience.
As a member of the Market Research Society, I’m an advocate for high ethical, commercial, and methodological best practices. All of this combines to give you the most ethical recommendations based on real data.

20 comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *