Weebly vs WordPress

May 22, 2023 | Author: Sandeep Sharma
13
Weebly
Building a website on Weebly is unlike any other alternative website builder. Our drag & drop website builder makes it dead simple to create a powerful, professional website without any technical skills required. Over 6 million people and small businesses have joined Weebly to build their online presence. Content elements (like text, photos, maps, and videos) are added to your website by simply dragging & dropping them into place. Text is edited just like in a word processor. Building your website is done in real time, right from within your web browser.
49
WordPress
WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine.
Weebly and WordPress are both popular website building platforms, but they differ in terms of their ease of use, customization options, and target audience.

Weebly is a user-friendly website builder that offers a drag-and-drop interface, making it accessible for users with little to no technical knowledge. It provides a range of pre-designed templates and a straightforward editor that allows users to customize their websites easily. Weebly is suitable for beginners or individuals and small businesses looking to create a simple, visually appealing website without extensive customization requirements.

WordPress, on the other hand, is a highly flexible and customizable content management system (CMS) that powers a significant portion of websites on the internet. It offers a vast ecosystem of themes, plugins, and customizations that allow users to create unique and highly functional websites. WordPress provides more control and scalability, making it suitable for individuals, businesses, and even larger enterprises that require advanced features, e-commerce capabilities, and extensive customization options.

See also: Top 10 Website building platforms
Weebly vs WordPress in our news:

2023. Automattic launches an AI writing assistant for WordPress



Automattic has introduced an AI assistant for the widely used content management system Wordpress.com. Now, when composing a post or page, users have the option to incorporate an "AI Assistant" block into their content. By inputting prompts in natural language, users can avail themselves of the AI assistant's text generation capabilities. Beyond providing content suggestions, the AI assistant can facilitate the creation of organized lists and tables within blog posts. Additionally, it has the ability to adjust the tone of a post, adding elements of informality, skepticism, humor, confidence, or empathy. The assistant can also generate post summaries and propose suitable titles. Initially, the Jetpack AI Assistant block offers a complimentary trial allowing users to submit 20 requests. Subsequently, a subscription fee of $10 per month is required to access this feature.


2021. Automattic acquires analytics company Parse.ly



Automattic, the profit-making company associated with the open-source web publishing platform WordPress, has recently completed the acquisition of the analytics provider Parse.ly. Parse.ly equips creators, marketers, and developers with tools to gain insights into content performance, demonstrate its value, and deliver personalized content experiences that yield meaningful outcomes. While WordPress and Parse.ly already exhibit compatibility, the objective is to enable Parse.ly customers to access WPVIP features (enterprise hosting and support for publishers) and enhance the availability of Parse.ly data to WPVIP publishers. Additionally, there exists potential to incorporate more commerce-related data into Parse.ly, considering Automattic's ownership of WooCommerce.


2018. Weebly brings more e-commerce features to mobile



Website builder Weebly has introduced several new e-commerce features for their mobile app. These features enable users to perform various tasks directly from their smartphones, such as shipping and printing labels, responding to customer inquiries through embedded Facebook Messenger on Weebly sites, approving customer reviews, creating customized coupon codes, and managing all aspects of their online store, including product listings and pricing. The company expressed its vision for transforming the mobile phone into "the new back office" in a blog post.


2018. Weebly launched Photo Studio service



Weebly has introduced a new service called Photo Studio, specifically designed for entrepreneurs seeking stunning and polished product photos for their online stores. The process is straightforward: you send your product(s) to Weebly, and their Photo Studio team captures high-quality professional images on your behalf. Once completed, you receive a download link to access the product photos, and Weebly promptly returns your shipped items. Currently, Weebly offers three professional product photos per product at a cost of $10 each.


2017. Weebly adds Square integration


Square, a highly regarded tool for independent businesses, previously presented challenges when it came to managing an offline inventory alongside your Weebly storefront. However, thanks to the new Weebly + Square integration, you can now effortlessly handle credit card processing both online and in person. This integration also offers an array of tools to seamlessly combine your online business with offline sales. With the integration, you gain the ability to import your products and synchronize your online and offline inventory, ensuring automatic updates and facilitating easy sharing and tracking of products across systems. Square's payment processing functionality is now available across all paid plans, accompanied by features such as Square product import, inventory synchronization, and special offers that include a giveaway for a free credit card reader and reduced transaction rates.


2017. Weebly launches new image editor



The capacity to swiftly upload, modify, and publish photos from your phone or camera can significantly differentiate your business and maintain the interest of both new visitors and returning customers. Recognizing this, Weebly has developed a cutting-edge Image Editor that empowers you to produce superior imagery for your website while retaining complete control over photo editing directly within your browser. The newly introduced Image Editor offers enhanced speed compared to its predecessor and introduces a comprehensive array of powerful image editing tools. Some notable features of the new Image Editor include image cropping, 29 additional filters, text overlay on images, an undo button, and various other functionalities.


2016. Weebly platform combines websites, eCommerce and marketing


The latest iteration, Weebly 4, introduces a comprehensive platform designed to foster growth through seamlessly integrated Websites, eCommerce, and Marketing. This version signifies a significant enhancement to the entire Weebly experience, encompassing a range of new features that enhance the modernity and aesthetics of your website. Moreover, it includes a more robust eCommerce platform aimed at boosting sales, as well as integrated email marketing and SEO tools to attract and engage new customers. Notable additions in the Weebly 4 upgrade encompass next-generation web design, a completely revamped eCommerce engine that refines crucial features for building a thriving online store, and distinctive email marketing capabilities that prioritize engagement and foster intelligent user interaction.


2016. WordPress.com turned on HTTPS encryption for all sites



WordPress.com is implementing automatic HTTPS support for all its sites, requiring no user action. Each website is now equipped with an SSL certificate, which is indicated by a green lock in the address bar. Besides the heightened security, this improvement has the added benefit of Google's preference for HTTPS-supported websites over those limited to HTTP. Consequently, your WordPress.com website is expected to achieve higher rankings in Google search results.


2016. Website builder Weebly adds marketing emails



Weebly, a website building service tailored for small businesses, has introduced Promote, a dedicated platform for creating marketing emails. Weebly CEO David Rusenko emphasized the significance of email marketing, which ranks as the second most important concern for small businesses, right after their websites. However, a substantial portion of Weebly users fail to capitalize on existing email marketing tools due to their complexity and difficulty of use. To address this issue, Promote enables users to construct marketing emails using the familiar drag-and-drop tools they already employ to build their websites. Currently, Weebly Promote is exclusively available to existing Weebly platform users, but the company plans to extend access to a broader audience in the near future. The pricing for Weebly Promote starts at $8 per month.


2015. WordPress.com goes Open Source and gets a desktop app



The fully hosted version of WordPress, known as WordPress.com, has recently undergone a significant update. The first major change is the complete separation of WordPress.com from the WordPress core. It now functions as an admin interface that interacts with the WordPress core similar to other third-party interfaces and apps. This is achieved through the utilization of a REST API, enabling tasks such as fetching posts, publishing new content, and uploading photos. Secondly, the WordPress.com development team has transitioned to an entirely new stack. Instead of relying on PHP and MySQL, they have built the platform using JavaScript and API calls. Consequently, when accessing the website, the server distributes a fully functional WordPress client that primarily runs within the user's browser. Lastly, the entire system is open source and hosted on GitHub. Additionally, a new Mac app is available for download, offering an alternative way to access WordPress.com. Similar to the Slack desktop app, it harnesses web technologies and desktop features to provide users with a comparable experience to the WordPress.com website, along with extra features like notifications. Windows and Linux apps are currently in progress and will be released in the future.

Author: Sandeep Sharma
Sandeep is a marketing expert with a wealth of knowledge in various domains: customer relationship management, social media management, advertising, search engine optimization, website building, Sandeep has established himself as a multifaceted professional. He honed his skills while working at Salesforce and Hubspot, where he gained invaluable insights into the industry. Now, as the proud owner of a small advertising consulting agency, Sandeep continues to provide innovative and effective strategies to businesses, helping them thrive in the competitive landscape of digital marketing. You can contact Sandeep via email sandeep@liventerprise.com