If you are searching for the best web development software, then you may feel a little confused about where to start building a website. For most of us, the thought of building a website or doing anything web development-related is a daunting task. Well, there is no need to worry as we can tap into technology to create a fully-functional and good-looking website with the right web development or design software.
Here is a list of 12 best website development software, both free and paid. They will enable you to create, edit, and update web pages without breaking a sweat. And, if you are a newbie or have no coding experience, you can edit/create web pages using WYSIWYG editors included in this collection.
1. WordPress – The most popular website building platform
Pricing: Basic - Free for life, Personal –$5/mo, Premium –$8/mo, Business – $25/mo, E-commerce-$45/mo
Editorial ratings: ★★★★★
WP is a blogging platform developed in PHP language and it supports building your website on your own server with PHP/MySQL database. As one of the best web development tools, the software can be used as CMS (Content Management System) to set up a commercial website, as long as you choose a reliable WordPress development company. Its features include: the WYSIWYG text editor, co-authoring with multiple authors, permalinks optimized for search engines, static page, Trackback/Pingback, member registration/login,etc.
Main features:
- Easy to install and get started, with dozens of site-building tools included.
- Rich third-party plugins for the use of expanded features, flexible and powerful.
- Various site templates and themes are free to use.
- SEO optimized, and friendly for high SERP.
- Robust community support, with thousands of developers contributing and reviewing WP, safe and active.
2. Mockplus – An all-in-one web prototyping tool
Pricing: Individual - $199/yr, Team (10 users) - $1999/yr, Enterprise (30 users) -$9999/yr
Editorial ratings: ★★★★★
As an all-inclusive design tool for designers and developers, Mockplus can be used to create faster, smarter and easier website prototypes with simple drag-and-drop, supporting mobile and desktop apps prototyping too. With a singular mission to keep users focused on design itself rather than the tool, the software has offered a number of incomparable features to make better design and development.
Main features:
- A set of ready-made components (3000) and icons (200) are included for your rapid prototyping.
- It offers quite a few features to improve the design efficiency of making repetitive webpage elements and layouts, such as the Repeater, Auto Data Fill, Format Painter and Paste Style.
- The most comprehensive way to preview and test out your project, including Export to the image, Export to demo package, publish to online and offline HTML, view on a mobile app using QR code, etc.
- The MindMap and UI Flow design mode can help quickly reflect design ideas and layout project structure.
3. Macaw – The best web design software for code-savvy people
Pricing: Free
Editorial ratings: ★★★★
Out of the best website design tools, Macaw sets itself apart by providing the same flexibility as your favorite image editor but also writes semantic HTML and CSS. Also, it gives the possibility to make a responsive webpage with beautiful typography and system fonts, letting you style the elements at once. If you are looking for free website design software with a moderate learning curve and flexibility, then don’t miss out the software.
Main features:
- Save your design elements in your own library for later use.
- The Alchemy tool can convert your design elements to CSS or HTML codes.
- There is a real-time layout engine letting you manipulate your design elements with ease.
- Your whole website will be optimized for all devices.
4. Weebly – The easiest web builder among the newbies and professional designers
Pricing: Basic – Free, Connect - $4/mo, Starter - $8/mo, Pro- $12/mo, Business - $25/mo
Editorial ratings: ★★★★
As one of the most popular website development tools among people who want to start their own sites, Weebly is very easy-to-use and aimed at personal, business and professional websites. Above all, it enables you to make site-building work without any coding experience, meanwhile you can choose to edit the HTML/CSS if you have the coding background.
Main features:
- More than 40 layout designs, including website maps and portfolios to help you spark in web design and development.
- Lots of info buttons, pop-ups, lists and email sequences to take good care of your workflow.
- Easy switch between responsive and trendy templates/themes available on the application.
5. Adobe Dreamweaver – One of the most trustworthy web developer tools
Pricing: Individuals - $9.99/mo to $82.99/mo, Business -$33.99/mo to $79.99/mo
Editorial ratings: ★★★★
This is a proprietary web development tool from Adobe Systems, available for both macOS and Windows. Besides, it provides a nice environment for you to work on the web, which combines with a code editor along with a live view. Another cool thing is the software offers free trial, which gives you some time to experiment and see whether it’s right for you.
Main features:
- It offers an adaptive grid.
- It enables you to write and edit any code, which includes JavaScript, HTML, CSS and XTL.
- Its WYSIWYG interface lets you view how the end result will look like while creating.
6. Bootstrap - The most popular HTML, CSS, and JS library in the world
Pricing: Free, Pro - $15/mo, Enterprise - $29
Editorial ratings: ★★★★
Bootstrap is a free and open-source CSS framework directed at responsive, mobile-first front-end web development. It contains CSS-based and JavaScript-based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation, and other interface components.
As a popular and powerful framework, Bootstrap is designed for front-end developers to make beautiful designs for websites with HTML, CSS, and JS. With the most advanced development features, Boostrap is well-received by discerning technical users around the world.
Main features:
- A great example library of free Bootstrap form templates & examples available, including custom components, frameworks, navbars, and experiments.
- It's built with default Bootstrap components and utilities with little customization.
- Team features and multiple support options provided.
7. Codepen - The best online code editor and open-source learning environment
Pricing: Free, Pro - $8
Editorial ratings: ★★★★
CodePen is a web development environment to build, test, and discover front-end code to learn and debug. It's a friendly development environment for front-end designers and developers to find design patterns and inspiration.
Main features:
- The build & test editor allows you to see and test the code using multiple methods.
- Helps developers and designers to better understand how the website is built and how code works.
- Find inspiration and share works with the front-end community.
8. MAMP - A local web development solution for macOS and Windows
Pricing: Free, MAMP Pro - ￥229-469
Editorial ratings: ★★★★
MAMP is a good open-source integration software that can be installed in macOS and Windows. It provides three main products, including MAMP Pro 5, MAMAP, and NAMO. MAMP is a free local server, MAMP Pro 5 is a commercial, professional frontend utility that enables Mac OS X users to install Apache server, MySQL, PHP, accelerator and PHPMyAdmin with ease.
Main features:
- Enables professional web developers to manage the development environment easily.
- Simulates real test environment to test PHP script by opening the local mail server.
- A powerful configuration for local debugging.
- Low learning curve.
9. Github - The world's leading software development platform
Pricing: Free, Pro - $7/mo, Team - $9/mo
Editorial ratings: ★★★★★
If you don’t know GitHub, you are not a truly qualified developer. As a development platform, it connects over 40 million developers from all over the world and provides inspiration for them to find the best solutions, high-quality suggestions, and open sources. Also, it offers services such as code review, project management, and bug tracking for every project.
Main features:
- Built-in review tools provide seamless code review.
- The project management tools help to identify, assign, and keep track of progress.
- About 6 million hosted Git repositories.
- Connect with 40 million like-minded developers and projects with collaborative features.
10. Photoshop - Best photo, image, and design editing software
Pricing: Free
Editorial ratings: ★★★★★
Because Photoshop is an essential web development tool these days, more people are being enticed to master this software. With its powerful features, it has become an integral part of website building.
Main features:
- Create and enhance photographs, illustrations, and 3D artwork.
- Design websites and mobile apps.
- Edit videos simulate real-life paintings and more.
11. AngularJS - Excellent front-end JavaScript framework
Pricing: Free
Editorial ratings: ★★★★★
AngularJS is an excellent front-end JS framework that is used in many Google products. It is a library written in JavaScript, which can be added to an HTML page.
More website design and development resources
Pricing – Free, Pro - $59/yr, Essential Bundles - $276/yr, Growth Bundle - $523/yr
Editorial ratings: ★★★★★
Next, is the powerful combination of Astra WordPress theme and Starter Templates by Brainstorm Force.
Astra is a lightweight WordPress theme with over 1.6 million users and 6,000 five-star reviews. Starter Templates includes over 180+ ready-made, professionally-designed templates you can import into WordPress and customize using popular page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder and the Gutenberg block editor.
It is lightweight, fast-loading and designed to deliver exceptional websites for businesses or individuals. It’s compatible with WooCommerce, LMS and other plugins and provides a full suite of tools to help you build a fully functioning website in hours.
Main features:
Complete WordPress theme with everything you need
Over 180 Starter Templates ready to import with a couple of clicks
Compatible with leading page builders so anyone can build amazing websites
The high-performance theme that loads fast and scores 100% on Pingdom
SEO-friendly and compatible with most leading WordPress plugins
13. Spectra - Fastest Website Builder for WordPress
Pricing- Free, Growth Bundle - $187/ yr
Editorial ratings: ★★★★★
Spectra is a visual block editor plugin designed to take the default WordPress editor further. It adds 28 blocks, a library of professional-quality templates, wireframes and patterns you can use on any web design.
Spectra was created by Brainstorm Force, the people behind the free Astra theme (premium bundles available), using the same philosophy as the theme, to be fast and easy to use while delivering superb features. While most of these tools claim to provide a website with 99.99% uptime, it's always advisable to monitor your website's uptime using a third-party online service, such as Pulsetic, as an example.
Main features:
Adds 28 blocks to the WordPress editor
Adds a number of templates, wireframes and patterns
Visual page builder with intuitive tools
Fast, zero bloat and very easy to use
Works in exactly the same way as WordPress so there’s no learning curve
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