IM Creator Review 2024 – Looks Good, but What’s the Catch?

Overview

IM Creator is a decent website builder, but it won’t give you the full set of features you’ll get with the top website builders like Wix.

IM Creator offers one of the most cost-effective website builders in the industry. Its IM XPRS website builder provides fantastic value, giving you unlimited website hosting for a flat low monthly fee. Better still, this is one of the few website builders that offer e-commerce functionality with all plans.

IM XPRS offers a website builder with a robust set of templates with standard and advanced features that include store layouts, customer checkout, inventory management, and more. All templates are fully responsive, and you can even modify your website from your mobile device.

While this platform is a good fit for most personal and small business websites, it’s a little more challenging to use than some website builders. If you’re looking for something more intuitive, you can see which user-friendly website builders we recommended in 2024 by clicking here.

• Unlimited bandwidth and storage for a low fee
• E-commerce available with no upgrades needed
• Ability to modify website using IM XPRS mobile app
• Hundreds of modern, responsive templates available

Large Variety of Templates, But Block Design is Limiting

IM XPRS offers hundreds of customizable templates organized in 14 different categories. You can find templates for Business, Photography, Restaurants, Music, Weddings, E-commerce, and more. You can click on a template to view it, and then click on Edit if you wish to modify it.

One thing I like about this builder is that when you click to edit a template, you’re presented with a YouTube video that shows you how to modify its features. You can skip the tutorial by clicking on the Start Editing button.

These templates use content blocks, which IM Creator calls “stripes,” to add content to your website. The builder has stripes for most any function you need, including photo galleries, store layouts, contact forms, and more.

Each stripe on the template can be edited in multiple ways. You can modify an element such as a photo directly by clicking on it. You’ll be presented with options to change or replace that specific item. To add features to a section, point to the section and click the “+” symbol that appears. From here, you add items such as title, picture, video, and more.

To modify the setting of the stripe itself, click on the setting menu on the right-hand side of the stripe. You can adjust settings for the stripe, copy it, move it to a different area of the webpage, or delete it. To change the overall style of the website, you can click on the menu on the left side of the webpage.

Finally, to add new stripes, point to any stripe and look for a big blue “+” button at the top and bottom. Click on one of them to add a new stripe. There are over 20 categories, allowing you to add anything, from a bio to blogs, forms, logos, maps, storefronts, and more.

When adding a new feature, you’re not limited to just a single option. Each feature has multiple options to choose from, giving you greater design freedom. Once you find what you want, you can click on the green “+” button to add. Finally, a section for saving, previewing, and publishing the templates are at the top of the webpage.

The positive points about IM XPRS templates are that you have plenty of options, and their templates look fantastic. You won’t get simplistic designs here as you do with some website builders. You also get multimedia functionality, allowing you to add videos, high-quality photos, and more. Also, all templates are responsive, meaning they’ll work fine on all devices, including mobile phones and tablets.

The downside to these templates is that you’re locked into a block design. While you can move items around in blocks, you can’t custom-arrange items on your webpage. For most websites, however, this won’t be a problem.

Unlimited Storage and E-Commerce Without Expensive Upgrades

IM Creator’s IM XPRS product has several features that make it stand out from standard website builders. In addition to its library of templates, there’s expanded value-added functionality that makes the platform a better value than the average builder.

Unlimited Storage and Bandwidth

The majority of website builders will limit the amount of storage and bandwidth and force you to upgrade to pricier plans to get more. With IM Creator, you’ll get unlimited storage and bandwidth on your website.

This is perfect for media-rich websites or those that host large data files. It’s also perfect if you want to host an e-commerce website, as you can post as many products as you like along with unlimited photos.

Build a Webstore For No Extra Charge

Most website builders require that you upgrade to an e-commerce or business plan to host a webstore or conduct any form of payment transaction online. But IM XPRS comes with e-commerce functionality — no upgrades needed.

The website builder includes everything you need to build your webstore, including credit-card checkout services, a management console, and website analytics. ShopRocket, a well-known e-commerce product presently used in over 117 countries worldwide, powers the e-commerce products.

Create a Multilingual Site With Ease

If you need to create a multilingual website, IM Creator will allow you to make as many copies of your website as necessary without incurring additional fees or needing to install and update suspect plug-ins or apps to your website.

While some builders permit you to translate your website into only a few languages, IM Creator empowers you to create multiple versions of your website. You have the freedom to host your website in ten languages if you desire. The help section even provides a helpful tutorial on how to create your multilingual website.

Fully Responsive and Mobile-Friendly

All IM XPRS templates feature fully responsive designs which allow your website to be viewable in any mobile device, including atypical devices such as smart-watches and Google Glass.

Also, with the XPRS mobile app, you can modify your website directly from your mobile device. This allows you to update your website while you’re away from your computer, when traveling, or whenever you decide that changes are necessary.

Nice Variety of Features, But Can Be Confusing for Beginners

There’s good news and bad news with IM XPRS regarding usability. In some areas, the website builder excels, as it gives you plenty of variety regarding website features. For example, if you want to add a blog to your website, you’re not locked into one general blog style. This gives you greater design freedom over other builders.

However, this website builder can be a bit more confusing to use than other builders like Wix. While it does offer point-and-click design, some of the functionality can be downright confusing. Menu items are not always clearly defined, and some users may get frustrated having to point to a menu and then highlight every item to find the option they need.

Also, certain elements can be confusing to add. One of the best examples of this is adding video. I attempted to add video, and it didn’t present a visible element to modify. Then when I clicked the stripe, it gave me an option to edit the video but still didn’t tell me where to place it. And in another section, I attempted to add video, but I couldn’t even access the menu item to click on the video option in the first place.

The good news is that this builder does offer mobile website editing via the IM XPRS mobile app. You can build or update your website from a tablet or smartphone the same way you can from a desktop. This is great for unexpected updates or when you’re on the road and don’t have access to your home computer.

Pros

• Hundreds of responsive templates in multiple categories
• Wide variety of customizable features, including e-commerce features
• Ability to modify website elements without advanced coding
• No limits on media or video content

Cons

• Lack of drag-and-drop functionality — you get point-and-click only
• Ability to arrange items only inside pre-configured blocks
• Beginners will need extra time to get comfortable with builder

Limited Options for Customer Support

Overall, IM Creator’s support is disappointing, but it does have one major bright spot.

The majority of the support comes from self-help tools. The Support Center has two sets of self-help tools for the IM XPRS product:

• The FAQ section is divided into general FAQ and e-commerce. However, the number of topics is minimal. There are only ten topics for the general FAQ and just a single topic for e-commerce.
• The HowTos section is a bit better and provides step-by-step guides for topics including Billing, Advanced Editing, Post Publishing, and more. Most of their guides are detailed and great for helping you set up your website or deal with common issues such as optimizing for SEO or requesting a refund.

One thing that IM Creator provides that you don’t see from the majority of providers is a downloadable user guide. The guide walks you through setting up and managing your website. This is something I wish all website builders offered and something that sets IM Creator apart from the rest.

Outside of the self-help tools, your only option for support is the online ticketing system. I submitted a ticket, and it stated that I’d get a response in about 12 hours. It took about 30 minutes, but it was clear that the support agent wasn’t as knowledgeable as they should be, as they had difficulty answering a simple question about the types of databases that this hosting supports.

IM Creator really needs both live chat and telephone support to serve customers better. A more robust FAQ section would be ideal. I’d like them to put the same time and care into the rest of their support that they put into creating their user guide.

Flat Rate Pricing Includes Unlimited Hosting

IM Creator doesn’t restrict your access and force you to pay for expensive plans to unlock all features. The primary Premium account has a single flat-rate monthly fee that includes the following:

• Unlimited hosting
• Unlimited access to themes
• Ability to connect your domain
• E-commerce capabilities

Most website builders such as Wix or SimpleSite will limit your website’s storage and bandwidth and force you to upgrade if you want more storage or if you want to host an e-commerce website. With IM Creator, you’ll be able to host both personal and e-commerce websites for the same price. For e-commerce users, you can save hundreds each year over websites such as Weebly or Shopify.