16 Free Web Design Software Tools to Make a Great Website

Discover how the MURAL team used Webflow to evolve their design system. Learn the fundamentals of web design and development through this comprehensive course. Publish straight to the web or export clean, semantic code for production.

• If you want more design freedom, choose from hundreds of templates or even start from scratch and drag and drop the website design features you need in the Wix Editor.
• However, be advised that these tend to be much more limited than paid-for stock image sites.
• There are lots of website designing tools available in the market.

Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress. Affinity Designer is available for simple pricing of $49.99 one-time payment. This allows you to experiment with different funnel designs, compare them against each other, and discover which version converts best. This is the reason why WordPress now powers 45% of all websites on the internet. Check out our plans or talk to sales to find the plan that’s right for you.

Our Picks: The Best Web Design Software of 2023

That’s why we want to outline the best website design software available to help you build a great website. Squarespace is another intuitive website builder with affordable pricing plans and tons of professionally designed themes to choose from. WordPress.org is suitable for users of all levels, from beginners to advanced designers and coders. You’ll benefit from WordPress’s vast array of themes, plugins, and customization options. It provides an entirely visual and intuitive interface where you can drag and drop website elements without tinkering with the code. However, Webflow provides web design options and uses vocabulary that pros might be more familiar with.

Explore beautiful HTML landing page templates in the landing page builder to get started. Plus, you get a suite of built-in SEO tools to help you compete in organic search. From selling online, starting a blog and organizing events to promoting your business and building your community, create a website that can grow with popular web design programs you. Along with that, Visual Studio Code offers a more modern debugging solution, getting rid of print statements and instead letting developers debug from the editor. Pair that with built-in Git commands and integrations for one of the most impressive text editors on the market for an excellent text-editing option.

Create content-rich pages with Webflow’s CMS

That said, novices may find XD’s learning curve a bit steep, and even many professionals prefer other tools on this list. Canva is the simple and easy-to-use equivalent of Adobe Illustrator. While the latter is one of the best web design software for seasoned graphics designers, the former is ideal for beginners. While the main focus is on HTML, Bluefish supports a huge range of other languages including PHP, Java, JavaScript, SQL, XML and CSS. Unlike visual WYSIWYG web design tools, the text interface makes for much cleaner code.

That said, actual designers should enjoy the simplicity of how you can quickly design something then hand the project off to development. The Balsamiq software produces a result similar to a drawing you would complete on a piece of paper. Therefore, there’s not much of a learning curve, and you don’t have to mess with any of the bells and whistles that only complicate the process.

It is a drag and drop tool which means you can simply point and click on any item and change its appearance. You can add images, videos, sliders, contact forms, widgets, and more. After you have set up your WordPress site, simply install and activate Divi on your website and start editing. It works with almost any WordPress theme, and you can also use the Divi theme, which comes with enhanced features for the builder.

However, our top picks include WordPress, Adobe Dreamweaver, Sublime Text and openElement. The visual CSS editor is also available if you want to get your hands dirty with code. For experienced coders, openElement is a great free option for website design.

You can use Canva either on a web browser or as a downloadable app for Mac, PC, Chromebook, iOS, or Android. You can get it for $99, but you’ll need to renew your license every year to continue to receive updates. Squarespace starts with a 14-day free trial and moves up from $12/month yearly from there. Daily design news, reviews, how-tos and more, as picked by the editors. Vectr is a free, cloud-based illustration tool with features similar to Sketch and Adobe Illustrator. To share prototypes using its cloud service, you can opt for a free plan or upgrade to one of InVision’s paid offerings, which allows for more collaborators and projects.