In a Nutshell
pros
- Enables rapid website creation
- Great 30-day free trial
- Easy-to-use
cons
- Limited design flexibility
- Basic e-commerce and analytics tools
What Is SimpleSite?
Danish-based website builder SimpleSite has been working in the industry for several years. Its beginner-friendly editor stands out because of its simplicity and extremely basic nature, which enables rapid site creation.
SimpleSite is a viable option for those with little to no web development experience. There are a few self-help resources to guide you through the site creation journey, but the editor is so simple you should be able to get online within a couple of hours.
Using SimpleSite
The SimpleSite website is easy to navigate and contains clear information about what the website builder does and how much it costs. Setting up an account is simple, though you will have to go through a short setup process. You can either sign up with Facebook or with an email address.
Once you’ve registered an account, you will be guided through a short tour of the website builder interface.
SimpleSite Features and tools
Step-by-step guidance
The SimpleSite editor includes full guidance to help you with every step of the site creation process. Every time you add a new page or content block, you will receive tips about how to optimize and get the most out of it.
Mobile editing
SimpleSite enables users to edit their website from their mobile devices. Moreover, this is done directly within a mobile browser, so you don’t even have to download an app.
Personalizable contact forms
Many website builders falter when it comes to adding flexible contact forms, but not SimpleSite. Its contact form tool enables you to customize your forms, adding the required fields and rearranging them as needed.
How to Create a Website with SimpleSite
To start your new SimpleSite website, sign up for an account and work through the guided setup process. It is relatively straightforward: it asks about the type of site that you’re planning to build, you can specify font pairings and color schemes, and there are even options for adding pages and contact details.
As the name of the platform suggests, the editor is quite simple. It doesn’t have any advanced editing tools whatsoever, and the block-based interface enables you to add a small number of different types of content blocks.
There are a few themes advertised on the SimpleSite main website, but it seems that these are examples and not designs that you can actually use. While testing, we had no option to select a theme during the sign-up process. There’s also no way to switch designs once you’ve started editing.
All websites built with SimpleSite are fully responsive, which is good to see. You can edit your site with the mobile editor that’s available through your web browser, and you can preview the mobile, tablet, and desktop versions of your site with the click of a button.
There are no keyboard shortcuts, and there doesn’t appear to be any real design assistance apart from the initial guided setup. Importing and exporting sites to or from SimpleSite does not seem possible.
Overall, SimpleSite editor could be a good option for those who want to get a very simple site online quickly, but you shouldn’t expect great design flexibility.
Adding Multimedia to Your SimpleSite Website
SimpleSite enables you to upload small image files with a maximum size of 10MB. JPG, PNG, and certain other popular file formats are supported. You can only upload one image at a time, though, and there are no native editing tools. You can also search for stock photos to add from the Pixabay stock photo library.
Video files can be uploaded directly from your device, and these have a maximum file size of 1GB. You can also use the URL to embed video media from Vimeo or YouTube. There’s no ability to import media from Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos, or any other third-party platform apart from those listed.
Marketing Functionality with SimpleSite Websites
SimpleSite offers little in the way of marketing tools. You can get up to five professional email addresses with each domain purchase, but there are no newsletter or email marketing tools. Social media integrations are limited to embedded links, and analytics are limited to simple visitor number tracking. There is a built-in blog tool, but this is quite basic and does little more than enable you to add and manage posts.
SEO Functionality and Add-Ons with SimpleSite Websites
Websites built with SimpleSite are simple and tend to perform well on search engines. However, there are no built-in SEO tools, and you can’t integrate third-party apps to add extra functionality. Analytics and reporting are rudimentary.
E-Commerce
All SimpleSite subscriptions support e-commerce, but the cheapest plan only enables you to add up to five products. The online selling tools are not robust at all, and every product has to be added separately and manually.
You can add PayPal and credit/debit card payment gateways. But the store manager is rather limited, so you probably won't be able to do anything more than sell a few products.
How much does SimpleSite cost?
There are two SimpleSite plans, along with a 30-day free trial, that you can use to test the platform. Prices range from $15.49 to $30.49 per month with monthly billing, or $11.25 to $26.25 per month with annual billing. Both plans have a free domain name and support unlimited pages, unlimited video minutes, and premium support. There’s a 14-day money-back guarantee for those who want a refund.
Price per month
$15.49
$30.49
Price per year
$135
$315
Images
Unlimited
Unlimited
Product listings
5
Unlimited
Free domain
Yes
Yes
Professional email addresses
5
5
SimpleSite Help and Support
SimpleSite offers email support, but live chat and phone are inconsistent. SimpleSite claims all requests will be dealt with within two days, but this may not be guaranteed.
There’s also a short FAQ section, which is limited at best because the questions and answers are quite brief. Within the website editor, there’s a selection of quick help guides that provide basic tips on simple site creation tasks.
How SimpleSite Compares to Other Website Builders
Pricing
$11.25 to $26.25
$4 to $45
$10 to $20
$14 to $49
Hosting included?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Number of templates
12
Thousands
150+
Almost 1,000
Blogging functionality
Basic
Good
No
Advanced
E-commerce functionality
Basic
Good
Good
Basic
Email marketing functionality
No
With plugin
No
Great
Responsive design
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Analytics & Reporting
Basic
Advanced
Limited
Good
SimpleSite vs WordPress.com
SimpleSite and WordPress.com are similar in that they target beginners who want to create their own basic websites. SimpleSite is easier to use, but WordPress.com boasts many more templates, an excellent plugin library, and more competitive prices.
SimpleSite vs Web.com
Web.com is a pricier website builder option compared to SimpleSite. SimpleSite offers slightly more design flexibility, but it doesn’t have the tools needed to create a more modern-looking website. While there are some limitations with SimpleSite, it’s easy to use and has everything that you need to create a very simple website.
SimpleSite vs Wix
SimpleSite and Wix are two wildly different website-building platforms. SimpleSite sits at one end of the spectrum, offering beginner-friendly solutions for those with little to no website-building experience who want to spend almost no time working on their site. Wix is much more powerful, and while it’s also targeted at beginners, it has more design and analytics tools to take advantage of.
Bottom Line
The SimpleSite website builder is functional and does what it aims to: Get your site running in as few clicks as possible. It's great if you want to create a brief site with simple text and media content. While not the most robust, SimpleSite's blog tool does its job. One standout feature that we especially appreciate with SimpleSite is that you get a free domain on any plan you choose. Overall, SimpleSite is a great option for those with no tech skills, who understand the importance of marking their presence online, and who want to get online quickly without worrying about site design.