Reviews
Fiverr Logo Design
Fiverr is the place to go when you want to hire a designer one-on-one. You can have a custom logo designed for as little as $5. As a designer myself, I was actually surprised by the quality you can get for such a low price.
Wix Logo Maker
Wix Logo Maker is free to try, easy to use, and inexpensive. The AI won’t do all of the work for you, but the editor offers advanced customization options. I tested Wix Logo Maker's most affordable plan to see exactly what you get, and I highly recommend it to anyone willing to invest some time in the design process.
Kamatera
Steady server performance makes Kamatera stand out against other VPS and cloud hosting providers. With its decent pricing plans and 30-day free trial, it's a great platform if you don't mind tinkering with your own servers. But if you're new to cloud and VPS hosting and there's no system administrator available, it might be a bit more of a challenge
Liquid Web
Liquid Web doesn’t aim to provide average hosting at bargain prices. It’s expensive, period. But if you don’t mind paying more to know you’re going to get high-quality service, Liquid Web’s premium hosting plans are worth it in my opinion. This host guarantees you the stability that shared hosting services simply can’t.
Nexcess
Nexcess is basically Liquid Web’s little brother, specializing in managed WordPress, Magento, and WooCommerce hosting. It has pretty interesting features, a fairly decent server infrastructure, and good support. There’s a lot to like, and it makes running an online WordPress-based business convenient. It’s still shared hosting, though, and it’s kinda expensive. Do I recommend...
Squarespace
Squarespace has been one of my favorites for a while, and writing this review has done nothing to change that. It’s not the cheapest option out there, but if you’re ready to build a site and even make some money off it, then I’d say go for Squarespace. It has plans both for personal sites and business users, and with a long list of interesting features, these plans definitely...
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a solid choice for your email marketing needs. There are few flaws (though they matter), and if you want a service you can integrate into almost any tool chain, ActiveCampaign’s feature-packed plans have few equals. While its decent feature set could potentially be let down by the rather high prices on more expensive plans, ActiveCampaign still provides...
Divi
Divi sets out to do one thing, and do it well: turn WordPress into a site builder. In that, it succeeds quite admirably. If you want to build lots of WordPress sites, Divi is absolutely worth the investment of time and money required. Those looking for a simple, cheap way to build their first website should probably look elsewhere first (like our list of the top website...
Sendinblue
Sendinblue is simple and easy enough to use, and its generous free plan gives you unlimited contacts and allows you to send up to 300 emails per day. I liked the automation tools in particular, and the option of custom-coded email templates is always welcome.
Looka
Looka is a reliable way to make good-looking logos. What it lacks in flexibility and fine customization options, it makes up for with beautiful designs. If you’re on a budget and want to create a decent-looking logo as quickly as possible, this might be the right logo generator for you.
99designs
99designs is one of the best logo design services in terms of customer experience, but it’s also pricey. However, if you need a long-term design provider, it’s worth the extra money just for the headaches you’ll avoid. When you start a contest on 99Designs, you get dozens to hundreds of designs to choose from, and you only have to pay for the winner. Even with some duds,...
DesignCrowd
DesignCrowd is a pretty good option, all things considered. The user interface can be very confusing at times, but you may well decide that the quite reasonable prices are worth it. If you want to save even more money but you need a professionally designed logo, you should head to Fiverr and hire a logo designer for as little as $5.
Editor X
Editor X has the potential to be one of the best site builders on the market, striking a balance between relative simplicity and sheer editing power. It’s a new product and still has a little ways to go, but if you design websites for a living, Editor X could make your life a lot easier.
Shopify
Shopify is simply fantastic for any retail-oriented business and loaded with options and features. The cheapest plan is more than enough to get your online business started, and overall I have no complaints. That said, some other e-commerce platforms make it easier to customize your site however you want, and they match Shopify’s pricing plans almost exactly. It’ll come...
WordPress
WordPress.com is a powerful and flexible website builder that requires a bit of a learning curve, but it’s worth learning if your website is a big part of your business strategy. It’s best for sites with loads of content, especially if you're willing to upgrade to one of its top-tier plans.
Blog Posts
10 Best (REALLY FREE) Website Builders in 2023
Several free website builders will let you design a decent site - but the one thing none of these builders will give you is a custom domain. If you want your site to look professional (and keep in tone with your brand), you need a paid plan. As far as I’m concerned, Squarespace is my absolute favorite. It has the best-looking templates around, and even its...
99designs vs DesignCrowd – Which Is Best for Logo Design? 2023
At first glance, 99designs and DesignCrowd may look essentially the same - but trust me, they’re not. You have to spend time with each one to see the true differences, and in this case, “spending time” means spending money. How else could you know which service is really better? Well, guess what? I spent the money so you don’t have to. As part of my quest to find the best...
Wix vs Squarespace 2023: Is the Popular Choice Really Better?
When trying to decide between Wix and Squarespace, the right choice seems obvious - Wix lets you build a fully functional site for free, while Squarespace only gives you a 14-day free trial. And why would you want to pay for something you can get for free? Well, I'm here to tell you why. Wix wouldn't be offering a free plan unless it had something to gain. If you need a...
Wix E-Commerce Review – Good for Your Online Store? [2023]
If you’re reading this article, chances are pretty good that you want to build an online store, and you really don’t want to get bogged down in technical stuff. Well, you’re in luck. Wix of drag-and-drop fame, Wix of the pretty decent free plan, THE semi-old-school site builder Wix... has an e-commerce platform. It’s simple to use, fairly flexible, and designed to give the...
18 Best (and Worst) Web-Based Video Editors for 2023
Have a video that you want to improve? Want to join clips together, or cut out rough spots? Can you guess where this incredibly obvious series of questions is going? Yep, what you need is a video editor. There are tons of them that you can use online without installing any software. And some of them are actually quite good. I write for a living, but I also make videos for...
Kinsta vs FastComet: Which Cloud VPS Is Best? [2023]
FastComet embodies just about everything you’d expect from a traditional web hosting company, with various types of servers and services for a range of clients, from hobbyists to big companies. Kinsta has taken a specialized approach, offering cloud VPS-based WordPress hosting only, at prices that reflect a premium-level service. Still, both want to be your provider of...
6 Best Windows Cloud Hosting Providers: An Easier Way [2023]
Some days, you just want to run your ASP.net-based website on a Windows server and be done with it. Other days, you might want to set your team up with thin clients and a remote Windows-based desktop. Whatever the case, you’re here because you need some cloud-powered Windows hosting, and the “obvious” choice just isn’t doing it for you. Yes, Azure is powerful, and who...
Accessibility Color Checker: How To Check Your Website [2023]
Right now, the WCAG 2.1 guidelines are your best guide to making sure people can actually read what’s on your websites, especially people with low vision or similar visual disabilities. But WCAG 2.1 compliance can be a little tricky. For example, you need to reach a minimum text to background contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1*, and that’s to say nothing of Level AA and Level AAA...
6 Best Linux Cloud Hosts: Easy to Deploy, Easy to Use [2023]
Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure all run on crazy powerful hardware. All of these providers (even Azure) make it possible to build your app or website on a Linux operating system. But these platforms are incredibly complex to anyone who hasn’t spent a good part of their career learning about servers and how the cloud works. Plus, not everyone in the...
NameSilo Review: The Best Domain Name Manager? [2023]
NameSilo does one thing extremely well: domain name registration Sometimes all you want, or need, is to just buy a domain name and point it at your server. There are some great services for just that sort of thing, and NameSilo is one of them (hope you don’t mind a spoiler), but it offers so much more. NameSilo is one of those ambitious services that wants to do a...
The Ultimate Guide to Choosing and Buying a Domain Name
You might know you need a domain name, but aren’t sure where to start. Or, you might have heard from a friend that you need one if you want a website, but you’re not quite sure what a domain name is. I make a living thinking and writing about nerd/web stuff, and I’ve been a web designer off and on for half my life. I can help. If you already have a general idea of what...
7 Best Hostinger Alternatives – Tried and Tested in 2023
Hostinger is pretty great, but it has a lot of competition, and I do mean a lot. As you might expect, the quality of that competition varies greatly. While some hosting companies actually outperform Hostinger, others tend to repeat Hostinger’s mistakes or outright mimic its flaws. Specifically, while Hostinger’s overall performance rocks, we’ve encountered hosts that have...
InterServer VPS Review 2023: It’s Cheap, but Is It Any Good?
InterServer has a long-standing reputation for hosting that’s cheap, fast, and good. In theory, it’s the holy trifecta of service. When we tested InterServer’s shared hosting, my teammates and I were pretty impressed. I wanted to see if the company’s VPS service was just as good. I went undercover as a real, paying customer and signed up for one of InterServer’s VPS...
Fiverr vs 99designs: Is the Popular Choice Really Better? [2023]
99designs is a huge name in the design industry, but also very expensive. On the other hand, Fiverr is cheap, but are those low prices too good to be true? I decided to find out where you can get the best quality design for the best price, and there was one clear winner. Fiverr. The winner is Fiverr. I personally tested both of these hiring platforms thoroughly, as part of...
24 Best FREE Photoshop Plugins & Filters: Still Good in 2023
Photoshop hardly needs an introduction. People who have never touched a desktop know what it is. Its name is used as a verb, no matter how hard Adobe has tried to stop that particular trend. It’s the universal symbol of photo editing, retouching, and digital art. But hey, every program has its limits, and that’s why Adobe has encouraged the development of a massive...