Hostinger Website Builder Review 2024: Pros & Cons

Hostinger Website Builder at a Glance

Should You Use Hostinger?

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Conceived from Hostinger’s previous foray into website building (Zyro), Hostinger Website Builder aims to provide users with the tools to create nearly any type of website with ease. Does it succeed?

After days of in-depth testing, I’m pleased to report that it does… mostly. The beginner-friendly user interface (UI), drag-and-drop editor, and interesting selection of AI tools make this website builder an outstanding choice for easy and fast website building. Add a generous dollop of creative freedom and a dash of very affordable pricing, and it quickly emerges as one of the best options among entry-level builders.

On the other hand, Hostinger’s back-to-basics approach means that, while it might be a viable choice for just about any kind of website, it won’t be the ideal choice for everyone. Experienced web designers and those with very specific visions for their website will probably be better off with a more versatile builder.

Hostinger is available in English, French, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and German.

Does this website builder offer enough features for your site, or should you consider a more advanced option? Read on to find out.

A Wide Variety of Modern, Good-looking Designs

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One of the greatest things Hostinger Website Builder offers is template variety. There are 150 responsive templates divided into 17 niche-specific categories, such as Home & Beauty, Photography, Entertainment, and more.

It’s not uncommon for a website builder to have professionally designed templates in one or two well-publicized categories, only for users to discover that the templates in less trendy niches look outdated and out of place. Fortunately, Hostinger isn’t one of them. Every category is filled with modern-looking templates that carry the right tone for their purpose.

Besides the sizable number of professionally designed templates, you’ll have access to an infinite number of uniquely generated templates thanks to Hostinger’s AI tools. All you have to do is type your niche into the search bar, and Hostinger will generate custom templates based on your prompt.

Or, if you want an even faster way to get online, you can use Hostinger’s AI website builder. You’ll need to provide your company name, type of website you want, such as a blog or a portfolio, and a short summary of your brand. Based on your input, Hostinger will generate a fully finished website for you1, complete with relevant text and images you can tweak later if you wish.

Granted, the AI-created templates and websites aren’t as high quality as the ones designed by humans (yet!), but they can provide a great starting point for your creative vision.

Design and Customization

In addition to the pre-designed templates and AI options, there’s also a whole category dedicated to blank templates with various functions. That’s not impressive on its own – Hostinger is hardly the only builder that lets you start from scratch. What is remarkable, though, is that – unlike with the vast majority of builders – building your site from a blank template is actually a viable option with Hostinger, even if you’re a beginner.

That’s because it’s remarkably quick and easy to customize a Hostinger template. If you want to go for a completely different look or feel, all you have to do is click on the “Website Styles” tab on the left hand menu (conveniently displayed as a paint palette). From there, you’ll be able to change the overall colors, fonts, and button styles of your site.

You can customize any particular element by simply clicking on it and making the changes yourself or with the help of AI tools. If there’s anything missing from the page, just click on “Add section” under an element and you’ll access a wide selection of premade sections, each made for a distinct purpose.

A Limited but Well-curated Toolbox

Hostinger’s set of features isn’t huge, but it covers a lot of ground. You’ll get basic building blocks that you can mix and match to create a good-looking and functional website.

For instance, you can add slideshows and set shapes and animations to enhance your site’s design. While it doesn’t have a comprehensive integration library, Hostinger offers some useful marketing apps to help improve your site’s performance, such as Facebook Pixel and Google AdSense.

Take Control Over Your Site’s Look With the Drag-and-Drop Editor

Much like an onion (and a Shrek), Hostinger Website Builder has layers. You can create a quality site just by editing the sections already built into a template. If you want to get a little more in-depth, you can easily add sections yourself. If none of the premade sections are to your liking, however, you can place individual elements (such as text, buttons, and images) anywhere on your site with the drag-and-drop editor.

This means your customization options are pretty much limitless, as you can arrange your layout in an infinite number of ways. Hostinger’s grid layout suggests alignments for page elements, but you aren’t forced to adhere to it – you can drag and drop elements anywhere you want.

Easy Features for a Fully Fledged Business

Many website builders charge an exorbitant amount of extra for e-commerce functionalities, and just as often, setting up your actual e-commerce store is enough to give you a headache. In contrast, Hostinger’s fairly affordable Business Website Builder plan gives you access to online store tools and set up is extremely simple.

All you have to do is click on “Online Store” in the editor, choose the name of your store, the country you’ll be operating out of, your national currency, and that’s it. Hostinger will then redirect you to your store’s dashboard, complete with its own step-by-step setup guide.

It’s not a limited dashboard, either. From there, you can easily add products (up to 500), manage orders, create categories for your products, and enable bookings. And if you have an international customer base or want to expand, Hostinger accepts over 20 different payment methods1 worldwide.

Though well-rounded, Hostinger’s set of e-commerce features isn’t as advanced as the ones offered by top builders like Wix and Squarespace. However, all the essential features are there, and Hostinger is arguably easier to use – so it’s a great option for small to medium-sized online stores.

Fully Functional Mobile Editor

Not only are Hostinger’s templates responsive, but you can also create and edit your website using just your phone. Hostinger’s mobile editor gives you access to all essential design options as well as AI features, a blog editor, and analytics tools. This means you can easily build and update your site on the go.

What’s really convenient is that you can switch between devices and work on your computer and phone without losing your edits. Hostinger has updated its mobile editor to feel like a smartphone app, but you can also access everything with your mobile browser if you prefer.

A Website Builder That Anyone Can Use

Hostinger Website Builder was clearly designed with ease of use front of mind. Everything from the UI to the feature selection, and even its approach to pricing is, above all, simple.

And it’s not just the front end that you can easily edit. The global site settings menu allows you to access important features such as your site’s favicon, integrations, and even usage analytics to measure your site’s performance.

Start Off on the Right Foot With a Full “Getting Started” Tour

The process for getting started with Hostinger takes – timer in hand – less than ten minutes. All you have to do is go to Hostinger’s site and select the plan you want – Premium Website Builder or Business Website Builder1. You’ll then be redirected to a page where you’ll have to fill in your payment information and account details.

With that sorted out, Hostinger takes you for a full “Getting Started” tour. From picking a template to editing your site styles and navigation, this quick tour shows you everything you need to know to start building a fully functioning site.

A Full Suite of AI Tools To Help You Through the Editing Process

Hostinger’s powerful AI tools are among its most standout features. All you need to do is answer three simple questions about your business, and Hostinger will generate a fully functional website for you.

You’ll need to enter your brand name, choose the type of website you want (e.g. a blog or a portfolio), and give a brief description of your business. Based on your answers, Hostinger will automatically choose your site’s color palette, fonts, and suitable royalty-free stock images.

Hostinger also gives you an AI content writer, which populates your site with relevant, SEO-friendly copy to help you rank high in search engines. You can access the AI Writer tool by simply selecting a text box. Then, you’ll need to type in a short description and AI Writer will come up with content. I’ll be honest, the text will still need a little refinement before sharing it with the public, but it gives you a fantastic foundation for you to edit into your voice.

Full Access to Hostinger’s Dashboard

As a part of Hostinger’s larger ecosystem, creating an account to use the website builder will also give you access to Hostinger’s full dashboard1. From the website editor, all you have to do is click on the arrow in the upper left corner and click on “All Websites.” From there, you can manage your domain names, email accounts, SSL permissions, and your hosting plan settings.

Extensive Knowledge Base, but Limited Direct Support

If you’re the self-learning type, you’ll definitely appreciate Hostinger’s collection of learning materials. Not only is the knowledge base filled with well-written, comprehensive articles and video tutorials, it’s also expertly categorized. It rarely takes more than a couple of clicks to find the right material for any topic.

When it comes to 1-on-1 customer service, Hostinger offers email and 24/7 live chat support. In addition to English, live chat support is available in 10 other languages, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese.

To evaluate the caliber of the support available, I reached out to live chat with a few queries about the website builder. In particular, I inquired about integrating RSS or livestream feeds into my website (an aspect the builder doesn’t specifically cater to, but can be done with a widget), modifying my site’s HTML code directly, and linking a third-party credit card processor to my e-commerce shop.

Even though I submitted my questions to the live chat on a Sunday, I only waited in the queue for approximately twenty minutes, which is a pretty reasonable response time in my experience. The response itself was perfectly adequate. The representative broadly answered my questions and linked me to the relevant articles for more in-depth answers.

I’ve had far, far worse experiences with customer support, and it didn’t hurt that my representative was at all points friendly and seemed genuinely interested in helping address my questions. That said, I’d like to have seen more support options available, such as phone support for more complex and urgent issues.

Hostinger Offers Fantastic Value

There isn’t a lot to say about this builder’s pricing. Not because it’s bad, mind you, but because Hostinger clearly took to heart its commitment to simplicity by offering two fully-featured plans for its website builder.

The Premium Website Builder plan offers good value with features such as the AI website builder, unlimited bandwidth and storage, up to 100 hosted websites and 100 free email accounts, and unlimited SSL certificates.

However, for only a slightly higher price, the Business Website Builder plan gives you access to all of the above, plus e-commerce functionality and additional AI tools, such as AI Writer, AI Image Generator, and AI Heatmaps.

The price does go up after the initial renewal period, but even after that, it’s one of the best value plans I’ve seen.

Hostinger offers a 7-day free trial of its AI website builder. Also, both plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee to let you test the features risk-free.

If you decide to commit to the long term, I recommend signing up for the longest period possible (48 months). That way, you’ll get the best monthly price, and more time before the renewal period kicks in.