WebStarts Comparison and Review

Pros:

• Low monthly cost
• Limited free account available
• Highly customizable website builder
• Large number of templates available

Cons:

• Can't edit HTML of the website template
• No ability to accept online payments with this plan

Conclusion:

Overall, WebStarts Pro is a great website builder that is user-friendly with a lot of valuable features. The Pro builder scored 4 out of 5 stars for Ease of Use and Customer Support primarily because of the lack of a set-up wizard and no phone customer support. Besides those two drawbacks, the service is pretty much perfect. The support team is very knowledgeable and the website builder is extremely flexible, allowing you to build completely customizable and professional-quality websites for a low price.                

Ease of Use

WebStarts’ website builder scored 4 out of 5 stars for Ease of Use. Overall, the builder has a low level of guidance mainly because the service lacks a set-up wizard that is usually included in other website builders. However, WebStarts’ websites are easily customizable as it lets you drag and drop images, text, audio, video, slideshows, and more right onto a webpage. Uploading images is also very easy; you just select “insert image,” browse your computer and click upload. They also have a “bulk uploader” to add many pictures at once and an image library with over 200 free images to choose from.

WebStarts provides more than 100 templates to help you create your website. Their WYSIWYG allows you to freely move all elements on the site, but there are not options to lock elements or use justifications. If you’re familiar with HTML, you can also edit specific modules in the HTML code. The overall flexibility of the builder is well above average since it gives the user so much to work with; from dragging and dropping content blocks onto pages to HTML code editing within those blocks . WebStarts Pro also has an SEO Wizard available, making it easier to get your site to show up in search engines.

Customer Support

WebStarts received 4 out of 5 stars for Customer Support. The reason they didn’t get a perfect “5 stars” is because of their lack of phone and chat support, meaning you have to send an email to get a response. You can, however, upgrade to the “Pro+” builder to receive support over the phone. Besides that, their support team is very helpful and knowledgeable. And overall, the customer support offered by WebStarts compared to their competitors is definitely above-average. They also have FAQs and tutorials accessible through their website which are equally as helpful.

Account Features

WebStarts doesn't include any business email accounts (i.e.: yourname@youdomain.com) with their Pro Plan (you'll need to upgrade to the Business Plan to get up to 5 email addresses). However, using a Google Apps or Office 365 account for email probably makes more sense for most users.  The Pro Plan also does not include any online advertising credits. Because the Pro Plan doesn't offer domain registration, you obviously can't use the service to get Privacy Protection for domain registration.

Pricing

WebStarts Pro version costs $4.89 per month, billed annually at $58.68 per year. Once you pay for the builder, you can get your very own domain registered for free. But, if you’d like to get eCommerce features you’d have to sign up for a separate “Shopping Cart” account as neither the Pro version nor the upgraded Pro+ have these features. WebStarts Pro does not have a free trial, but if you want to try their builder out before paying for it you can sign up for a completely free account first. This free version comes with your own WebStarts subdomain (e.g. choosewhat.webstarts.com) but if you want to get your own personal domain name, you’ll have to pay an extra domain registration fee or simply sign up for the Pro account.             

Upgrades

Webstarts offers an upgrade plan called "Pro Plus" that starts at $7.16 per month that provides you with phone support, increased storage, bandwidth, as well as unlimited forms and slideshows to put on a limitless number of webpages. "Pro Plus" also offers a variety of other additional features such as $250 in ad credits, search engine submission, and the ability to add a forum and members-only pages to your website.