Best Web Design Software of 2022

Web designers rejoice – now you can create beautiful, responsive websites without looking at a single line of code!

What Is Webflow?

Webflow is an easy web design software for building fully customizable websites without HTML, CSS, or other programming experience. It’s the perfect tool for web designers – sophisticated enough for professional designs but straightforward and completely coding-free. 

Webflow Strengths 

Webflow is a one-stop solution for website design and hosting. 

It boasts gorgeous templates, allows you to customize every tiny detail, and there’s absolutely zero coding involved. The platform goes beyond drag-and-drop, helping you create responsive, semantic designs for your projects. 

Whether you’re making a blog, store, or corporate website, Webflow gives you a professional end-result, which is why it’s a favorite among web design studios.

Pricing

You can start for free, designing and customizing up to two projects and publishing them on webflow.io. If you need Webflow as your primary webpage designing tool, here are the premiums: 

Site Plans

These are added per-site, helping you create, edit, and publish your website. 

The Basic is $12/month paid annually or $15 billed monthly. It includes all the essentials - custom domain, up to 100 pages, 25,000 monthly visits, 50GB CDN bandwidth - but no CMS. 

The CMS plan is $16/month billed annually or $20 monthly. The monthly visits limit goes up to 100,000, 200GB CDN bandwidth, plus a CMS database with 2,000 items and up to three content editors. 

The Business plan is $36/month billed annually or $45 monthly. You can have up to 1,000,000 monthly visitors, 400GB CDN bandwidth, ten content editors, and unlimited form submissions. 

Ecommerce Plans

If you’re running an online store, Webflow helps you design a custom user experience, integrates marketing platforms, and even handles your payments. The plans include: 

• Standard for $29/month billed annually or $42 monthly. It’s only available for stores under $50K yearly sales volume, and there is a 2% translation fee. 

• Plus for $74/month billed annually or $84 monthly. The yearly sales volume cap is at $200K, without a transaction fee for sales. 

• Advanced for $212/month billed annually or $235 monthly. This plan doesn’t have a sales volume limit, supports up to 15 staff accounts, and lets you list 3,000 different products. 

Webflow Best Features 

• No advanced coding needed
• Hosting and security included
• Superb customization options
• Vast range of templates 
• Sleek designs for multiple niches
• Professional results

What We Disliked 

As far as website development software goes, Webflow is on the pricier side. It offers great value for money, but the platform still isn’t small-business- or beginner-friendly. 

Webflow User Reviews

Most Webflow reviews on website design software review websites come from graphic designers or the occasional business owner. Users say the platform saves time and yields impressive end-results. 

And, even though Webflow markets to non-coders, several developers have also praised the company.

We Recommend Webflow For... 

Webflow is the best tool for web designers and design studios with little coding experience. 

It delivers top-notch, highly professional websites, host them on secure AWS-based servers, and doesn’t require any coding from users.

Robust functionality, a vast choice of templates, and fully drag-and-drop design for the internet.

What Is Visme? 

Visme is a virtual design tool for creating a variety of visuals. From powerful presentations to interactive infographics, Visme is the best source of graphic content for your site – and it doesn’t take a design genius to make it work.    

Visme Strengths

Visme is one of the best “helper” web design programs. 

It won’t help you drag-and-drop a new website, sure. 

But Visme’s beautiful templates are great for creating content online. From engaging infographics to banners, email graphics, and even social media designs, Visme has you covered. 

It’s very user-friendly, too. You can learn to use the platform in a few minutes and create gorgeous graphic-designer-level content. 

Pricing

You can try out Visme for free – but you’re limited to five projects, a fraction of the templates, and JPG-only downloads. Since this is not really functional, Visme doesn’t count as web designing freeware. 

The low-tier Standard plan is $15/month (billed yearly) or $25/month (billed monthly). It includes premium templates and widgets, 15 projects per month, JPG and PDF downloads. 

But, to be honest, the Business and Enterprise subscriptions are the actually functional plans. Neither has a limit on projects; you can download in all formats and collaborate on designs. 

A Business membership will set you back $29/user/month with annual billing or 49$/user/month if you pay monthly.  

If you’re interested in scaling up your Visme subscription, contact sales for the Enterprise pricing.

Visme Best Features

• Great for non-designers
• Modern, impressive designs
• Wide variety of templates
• Beautiful web graphics
• Completely customizable
• Perfect for infographics

What We Disliked

Unlike most web design apps, Visme isn’t great for small budgets. The limited free and low-tier plans turn off small businesses and startups, which is a shame since Visme would be very useful for them. 

Visme User Reviews

Visme reviewers praise it as the best infographic creation tool on the internet. It’s a popular choice among marketing people – but not so much among designers. 

While Visme has excellent customization options, pros usually go for even more granular control. I can’t blame them – they’ve already spent the months (sometimes years) you need to learn these tools.

We Recommend Visme For…

If you’re a non-designer, Visme is one of the best ways to create memorable online graphics. We recommend it for anyone who wants to establish a visual brand on their website – as long as their budget allows it. 

Sophisticated, vector-based user experience design. 

What Is Adobe XD? 

Adobe XD is a UI/UX design app for Windows and Mac (with just preview functions on the mobile version).  It boasts comprehensive prototyping, wireframing, and screen design functionality, but it’s still one of the easiest Adobe appsto date. And no, it doesn’t require any code. 

Adobe XD Strengths

With a sleek layout and powerful functionality, Adobe XD is the best professional web design software for UI/UX. 

You can create, customize, and collaborate on designs quickly and conveniently. And, with code-free prototyping, you can see how your website will look with zero developer background.

Pricing

You can get the XD Starter for free and enjoy all the essential features. From layout and design to prototyping and export control, the Starter has you covered. 

The XD Single app plan is $9.99/month and expands the collaboration, versioning, and cloud storage. You can work with unlimited shared documents and editors, go back 30 days in a file’s history, and store up to 100GB on the Adobe Cloud. 

Finally, the Creative Cloud subscription is $52.99/month, and it gives you all 20+ Creative Cloud apps. This includes Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and much more. 

Adobe XD Best Features

• Intuitive and easy(ish) to learn
• Affordable pricing
• Very robust and functional
• All types of artboards – from desktop to mobile
• Code-free prototyping

What We Disliked

While we do love Adobe XD, there are two details we weren’t so thrilled about:

• You can’t export the CSS from any design you created (this feature is available in Photoshop).
• There are no custom shapes. Weird, right? 

You can use this web design software on Mac and Windows, but the mobile functions are lacking. They only have preview apps – and it would be handy to add editing features on-the-go. 

Adobe XD User Reviews

Adobe XD has a reputation as one of the easiest Adobe programs – largely thanks to the detailed tutorials and user-friendly layout. Designers also praise the codeless prototyping, as well as the general wealth of functionality that the software offers. 

We Recommend Adobe XD For…

Adobe XD is one of the best UI/UX web design apps of the year. It’s perfect for design teams of all sizes – even just one.

The internet’s favorite design program is your best friend for online content. 

What Is Canva? 

Canva is a beginner-friendly design software with excellent free functions and an even richer premium. And sure, it may be one of the most well-known apps on the internet – and yes, also one of the best web design tools. 

It has hundreds of fully customizable website templates to choose from. Whether you’re putting your portfolio online or building a business webpage, Canva can help you do it for free (or very cheap)!

Canva Strengths

The greatest thing about Canva is just how accessible it is. 

It takes seconds to get started, you don’t need training, you don’t even need to pay for premium. As a website designing app, it performs admirably – full-featured, multiple templates, great customization. 

From putting together the landing page to designing sidebars, posts, and social media, Canva is an excellent DIY web visuals tool. And, it’s one of the few actually free web design software options. 

Pricing

One of the best things about Canva is you don’t need a premium membership to use it. Sure, the Canva Pro features make your life much easier, but you could design a website without them. 

Still, Canva Pro is worth it for the tons of added value (and time-saving functions). Plus, it only costs $12.95/month or $119.40/year for up to five people. You can use 420,000+ graphic templates, 75+ million stock images, Brand Kits to establish your image, and 100GB of cloud storage for all your designs. 

If you’re running a bigger team, the Enterprise solution is $30/month/person. You get advanced user controls, built-in workflows, unlimited storage, single sign-on (SSO), and 24/7 live support. 

And, if you’re a non-profit or educational institution, contact Canva – it’s free for you.

Canva Best Features

Overall, Canva is the best website design software for small budgets paired with big ideas. 

• Full-featured free version
• Easy-to-use
• Fun, great-looking templates
• Multiple collaboration features
• All the web graphics you ever needed 

What We Disliked

Canva’s major downside is popularity. It’s a fantastic product – user-friendly, robust, and affordable. So, it draws a lot of people, and they’re all using the same templates.

Even though Canva has a vast library, things are bound to get repetitive. So, make sure you always customize your Canva designs, or your website will turn out exactly like thousands of others.

Canva User Reviews

We didn’t call Canva the “internet’s favorite design program” for nothing. People love it – it has super high rankings virtually everywhere. 

Users praise the ease-of-use, intuitive layout, and solid results. For some, it’s the first time web design doesn’t feel frustrating and time-consuming. Canva also gets praise as one of the best web design software apps for Android and iPhone. 

Of course, the one issue that comes up over and over again is repetitiveness. The price of popularity, right? 

We Recommend Canva For…

Canva is the best web design software for beginners on a tiny budget, as well as schools and non-profits.

Every designer’s favorite photo editor, but can it hold up to more specialized tools? 

What Is Adobe Photoshop? 

Adobe Photoshop is a design tool – a raster graphics editor, to be exact. 

It’s the biggest, most popular photo editing software, sure. But Photoshop’s powers go far beyond that. When Adobe came out with the program, this was the most powerful editor on the market, and it’s still one of the most well-rounded and versatile pieces of graphic design software. 

But what about web design? 

You can use it for a wide array of web-related tasks: 

• Image adjustment and optimization – not only can you retouch the pictures, but Photoshop’s web optimization features are also the golden standard for publishing graphics on the internet. 
• Creating visual elements – banners, buttons, icons, etc. Photoshop helps you build any graphic element from scratch.
• Designing web layouts – from simple wireframe designs to finished layouts. 

And a lot of people know Photoshop. 

It’s a titan in the graphic design space – virtually everyone has some experience with it. This is convenient because it means the community is great, you can find templates for practically anything, and collaboration is a breeze. 

Adobe Photoshop Strengths

We could write an entire article on why Photoshop is the best. 

But, when it comes to web design, here are the top features: 

• Artboards for creating multiple canvases, screens, and views within the same file
• Libraries to store project-specific assets (fonts, colors, layers, etc.)
• Smart objects for making edits without discarding the original version
• Asset export to generate images and save them in the same location as the original PSD file

Pricing

To get Photoshop, you can either pay for the single app ($20.99/month) or subscribe to Creative Cloud ($52.99/month).

Which one to choose?

We highly recommend Creative Cloud for access to other top website designing software like Adobe XD and Dreamweaver. 

Adobe Photoshop Best Features

• Incredibly versatile 
• Packed with features
• Powerful image editing and optimization
• Popular in the industry
• Vibrant community 
• Plenty of free tutorials, templates, and tips

What We Disliked

The apparent downside of Photoshop is that it’s overwhelming and takes time to learn. Apart from the steep learning curve, the lack of responsive design functionality is also not great. 

Adobe Photoshop User Reviews

Photoshop is an essential app in every designer’s toolkit – the reviews reflect that. While some people aren’t happy with the ever-increasing Creative Cloud price, it’s still the industry-standard software. 

And, sure, most web designers agree Photoshop is not the best website design software by itself, they still use it for a large portion of their tasks. 

We Recommend Adobe Photoshop For… 

Adobe Photoshop is practically a must for any graphic designer. It’s not a specialized website platform, though, so you’ll need additional tools like Adobe XD or Illustrator to finish your project.

Sketch is fresh, purpose-driven, and powerful – everything you want in a design tool.  

What Is Sketch? 

Sketch is a vector graphics editor made for collaborative design for screens. It’s a relative newcomer to the market but exploded in popularity in th UI/UX design space. 

Sketch makes it easy to build an interactive prototype for both mobile and desktop. Sketch Cloud makes it easy to collaborate and validate designs, as well as create easy access libraries for project-specific assets. 

Sketch Strengths

Sketch is hands-down the best professional web design software because it’s so purpose-driven. 

Unlike other popular tools (Photoshop, I’m looking at you), Sketch is built for easy prototyping. 

The beautiful, clickable previews, along with the simple collaboration and easy learning curve, make Sketch one of the most popular tools among designers and developers alike. 

Pricing

As an individual, you can get the Mac app for $99 as a one-time payment. This gives you one year of updates and cloud workspace, as well as a license to the software itself. 

You can renew the updates for $79/year or keep using the native app without paying extra. 

Running a design team? Sketch costs $9/contributor/month or $99 paid annually. It comes with your own shared Cloud workspace, along with unlimited viewers and handy team management controls. 

You can also try out Sketch risk-free with the 30-day free trial. 

Sketch Best Features

• Interactive prototyping made easy 
• Straightforward collaboration
• UI/UX-design-focused
• Clean, intuitive interface
• Quick to learn 

What We Disliked

If you want a tool for Windows or Linux, look elsewhere. Sketch is only available for Mac, and you get just one device per license. 

Sketch User Reviews 

Sketch is quickly gaining traction in the graphic design community. New designers prefer it for its sleek layout and easy prototyping. It’s a more specialized tool than other options, and UI/UX professionals are catching on. 

Of course, the lack of a Windows app does bother people, but other than that, Sketch is a very well-liked app. 

We Recommend Sketch For…

Sketch is great if you’re new to web design. Sure, if you prefer Adobe programs, you can use them, but these days most web designers do it out of habit. Sketch is a much better fit for responsive web and mobile design, and we expect it will only gain more ground with time.

Faster output, fantastic quality – Bootstrap Studio is your drag-and-drop best friend for responsive design. 

What Is Bootstrap Studio? 

Bootstrap Studio helps you design and prototype responsive web pages in a drag-and-drop environment. It makes using the Bootstrap framework easier than ever – though some HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills always come in handy.  

Bootstrap Studio is a fully offline software for web designing, too. There are no ongoing fees or usage limits - purchase the license once and enjoy it for a lifetime. 

Bootstrap Studio Strengths

Bootstrap Studio puts the power over CSS, HTML, and JavaScript into your hands. It yields clean and efficient code faster than a developer ever could. 

The drag-and-drop interface is easy for beginners to learn, while more advanced users can still import and edit CSS, SASS, JavaScript, and HTML. 

Bootstrap Studio also boasts a vast library of responsive layout templates, as well as site elements like headers, footers, and galleries. With thousands of ready-made options, full control over customization, and linked components functionality, Bootstrap Studio helps you get the design just right. 

Once the website is ready, they include free web hosting into all of their licenses. The Site Platform gives you fast publishing, it’s securely encrypted, and you can link your custom domain for free. 

Pricing

Bootstrap Studio Standard costs $29 and gets you a lifetime software license, plus a year of updates. Fast hosting is also included in your license for free. 

Since Bootstrap is continually coming out with new versions, the Lifetime license is $60. It gets you everything in Standard, plus lifetime free updates. 

Bootstrap Studio Best Features

• Drag-and-drop interface
• Multiple premium templates
• Ready-made elements library
• Real-time preview across devices
• Import and edit code
• One-time licensing fee

What We Disliked

Bootstrap doesn’t offer a free trial. It’s also not integrated with WordPress (which powers one-third of the internet), nor does it support React or Angular, both of which are vital design tools. 

Bootstrap Studio User Reviews 

Most users praise Bootstrap Studio as an excellent web design software for beginners. Beginners in Bootstrap that is. 

In an industry so focused on output, web designers are thrilled to have a tool like Bootstrap Studio at their fingertips. The drag-and-drop layout and extensive templates speed up workflows, while the coding environment helps you fine-tune the details. 

Bootstrap reviews are overwhelmingly positive, though some users point out the lack of critical integrations and poor customer service as potential downsides. 

We Recommend Bootstrap Studio For...

Bootstrap Studio is the best choice for front-end developers and web designers who want faster results without sacrificing quality.

One WordPress theme to rule them all – Divi is one of the most popular themes in the world for a good reason. 

What Is Divi? 

Divi is Elegant Theme’s flagship theme as well as one of the top WP page builders, targeted at web designers and agencies. 

It works straight out of the box – just install it, as you would any other. Now, you can customize the design almost 100% from the front end. The easy-to-use page builder tool, along with the beautiful ready-made templates, make building a website faster than ever. 

If you want to get down to the nitty-gritty, you can also edit the code. To be honest, we don’t really see why you’d want to, but it’s your call. 

Finally, the split testing functionality helps you create and optimize pages for high conversion rates with just a few clicks. 

Divi Strengths

As far as web design tools go, you want them to create beautiful results as efficiently as possible. Divi accomplished both of these tasks:

With hundreds of ready-made website layouts, you don’t have to create pages from scratch. Instead, you can pick a template to customize in the easy-to-use visual environment. 

Handy features like inline text editing and drag-and-drop building make workflows a breeze. But, if you want more control, you can have it. You can seamlessly add your custom CSS, and it integrates perfectly with the visual controls.

Pricing

To get Divi, you need an Elegant Themes membership, which costs $89/year or $249 for lifetime access.

Once you buy Divi, you can use it on as many sites as you want. Plus, you get additional themes like Extra, Bloom, and Monarch.  

Divi Best Features

• Comprehensive drag-and-drop editor
• Vast library of gorgeous templates
• Great for all types of websites
• A/B testing to find the best design
• Global modules to create reusable assets
• Full control and easy editing

What We Disliked

While Divi packs impressive value, there are still a few details to polish. There is no popup builder, which is a bummer for ecommerce sites. Some users have reported glitches when they build longer pages, too. 

Divi User Reviews 

Divi is the theme of choice for thousands of freelancers and agencies around the world. It’s one of the most high-value web design solutions, and so versatile people of all niches can use it. 

Reviewers praise the one-stop-shop solution that Divi is for all their WordPress design needs, as well as the truly inspiring visual editor and beautiful templates. 

We Recommend Divi For…

Divi is the best web page design software for web design professionals, studios, and marketing teams looking for value and control over their WordPress sites.

There are popular website builders, and then there is Wix. With over 160 million websites hosted on the platform, let’s look at what people like about the software:  

What Is WiX? 

WiX is beginner-friendly software for website design and publication. It boasts a straightforward drag-and-drop editor, plus hundreds of visually impressive templates and layouts.

WiX also has a large App Market to add extra functions, plus a development environment if you want to tailor the code. 

Wix Strengths

WiX is among the best website platforms for small websites and web design beginners. It has all the essentials pre-loaded for you. From hundreds of templates, layouts, and apps to a beginner-friendly visual editor. 

It’s a powerful tool for non-designers, but there’s more: 

If you want to go one step further, WiX Code extends the functionality beyond simple DIY web building. The coding environment allows you to tailor how your WiX site behaves. And, since it’s a serverless built-in, online IDE, you can just add the code, hit publish, and you’re done. 

Pricing

You can use WiX for free, but you won’t have a custom domain or unlimited bandwidth.

Premium plans for regular websites include: 

• Combo - $13/month with 2GB bandwidth, 3GB for storage, and 30 minutes for video.

• Unlimited - $17/month with unlimited bandwidth, 10GB for storage, and one hour for video.

• Pro - $22/month with 20GB for storage, two hours for video, and additional perks like a professional logo design.

• VIP - $39/month with priority support whenever you need it. 

The plans for ecommerce websites are: 

• Business Basic - $23/month with payment processing, unlimited bandwidth, and 20GB for storage.

• Business Unlimited - $27/month, adding free logo design.

• Business VIP - $49/month, throwing in access to priority support.

• Enterprise - $500/month includes professional onboarding and advanced features. 

All WiX plans are billed annually and include a one-year free domain name. Pro and above also include ad vouchers and handy apps like the Site Booster. 

WiX Best Features

• Easy-to-use
• Very popular and well-liked
• Large template collection
• App Market add-ons for extra functionality
• WiX Code for robust controls
• Useful additional features (including a one of the best logo makers)

What We Disliked

Our main issue with WiX is that the premium plans are only for a single site. You can easily buy Divi and design thousands of websites for cheaper. 

The other problem is that WiX sites are non-transferrable. If you decide to switch away from WiX, you’d have to build the site again from scratch. 

WiX User Reviews 

A lot of review sites place WiX on their top 10 web design software lists. And hey, we are one of them. 

WiX is well-loved by billions of users, and there are plenty of online reviews to confirm that. People praise the intuitive layout, beginner-friendly editor, and impressive final results.

As far as larger companies go, most businesses prefer a more flexible option, especially since the top-tier WiX plans aren’t the most cost-effective. 

We Recommend WiX For…

WiX is among the best web designing tools for beginners and smaller sites.

Adobe’s responsive design champion is a reliable tool for designers and coders alike. 

What Is Dreamweaver? 

Dreamweaver is one of Adobe’s most comprehensive web design applications. It’s a multiplatform site development tool with tight integrations in the Adobe universe. Dreamweaver lets you build and customize websites in a visual interface or touch up the code that lies beneath.

Dreamweaver Strengths

Dreamweaver is an investment piece for any serious website development project. It’s a highly scalable piece of software, too. Whether you’re building a simple page or designing a complex, multi-platform website, Dreamweaver has your back. 

It’s a treasure trove of tools for web design, which perfectly fits into the Adobe universe. First-time users might face a learning curve, but Dreamweaver is the perfect addition to your toolkit if you already use Photoshop and Illustrator. 

The layout contains two views to help you build your website: 

• Design view shows all elements in a page, including the ones that might be hidden until a user clicks on them. 

• Live view for project preview on desktop and mobile, plus a simple click-to-edit function. 

And, you can see the code in one pane and the previews in another. This way, you can immediately see the progress you’re making. 

Finally, just like other Adobe programs, Dreamweaver’s web design software is available for Windows 10 (and older versions), Mac, and Linux. 

Pricing

As with other Adobe products, you can subscribe to Dreamweaver alone for $20.99/month with an annual commitment, or become a Creative Cloud member for $52.99/month. 

Dreamweaver Best Features

• Live and Design view for comprehensive previewing
• IDE alongside the visual editor
• Excellent integrations
• Easy-to-learn if you use Adobe programs
• Very scalable 
• Click-to-edit feature in Live view

What We Disliked

While Dreamweaver is among the best website design software options, it’s still on the pricier side. And, if you’re not familiar with other Adobe programs, it will take a bit to learn the ropes of Dreamweaver.  

Dreamweaver User Reviews 

Users praise Dreamweaver as a powerful addition to their web design toolkit, which integrates visual edits with coding. 

Adobe-centered businesses use it extensively to design and fine-tune their responsive pages. Hardcore coders, on the other hand, aren’t so thrilled about it, preferring more robust editors like Atom and Brackets.   

We Recommend Dreamweaver For…

If you’re already familiar with Adobe programs, Dreamweaver is the best web design software for responsive pages.