Final verdict
Appy Pie and Strikingly both offer user-friendly platforms, but they cater to slightly different needs and preferences.
-
Appy Pie (Overall Grade: 7.2/10)
excels in ease of use, AI capabilities, and customer support. It is particularly well-suited for users who prioritize simplicity and quick deployment. Appy Pie’s extensive range of templates and AI-driven features make it a practical choice for individuals and businesses looking to establish an online presence with minimal effort. When comparing Appy Pie vs Strikingly, Appy Pie stands out for its intuitive design and robust support system. -
Strikingly (Overall Grade: 6.6/10)
offers a versatile platform with a strong focus on design functionalities and templates. It is ideal for users who want more creative control and a modern, visually appealing website. Strikingly’s comprehensive learning resources and superior hosting quality make it a solid choice for those who need a reliable and customizable website builder. In the Appy Pie vs Strikingly comparison, Strikingly is the preferred option for users who value design flexibility and a premium feel.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
Design functionalities & templates |
6.8 |
7.2 |
Ease of use |
8.3 |
8.1 |
Ecommerce |
7.2 |
7.2 |
Website editors |
7.7 |
7.5 |
Product testing options |
8.9 |
7.1 |
Price |
7.4 |
8.1 |
Hosting quality |
6.9 |
7.2 |
Website speed optimization |
5.0 |
7.9 |
Plugins/extensions and integrations |
6.4 |
5.1 |
Marketing features |
7.5 |
7.2 |
Customer support |
8.2 |
7.2 |
Website security |
7.5 |
7.5 |
AI capabilities |
7.2 |
1.6 |
User management |
7.3 |
7.3 |
Best for ecommerce
Verdict
: Appy Pie and Strikingly both score 7.2, making them equally viable for ecommerce, but they cater to different needs. Appy Pie is ideal for those seeking mobile compatibility and ease of use, while Strikingly offers a premium feel with strong social media integration.
-
Appy Pie
: Appy Pie’s Website Builder is tailored for users who prioritize mobile compatibility and quick deployment. It offers essential ecommerce features like product and inventory management, multiple currencies, and various payment gateways. When comparing Appy Pie vs Strikingly, Appy Pie stands out for its user-friendly interface and focus on mobile-first designs, making it a practical choice for businesses looking to establish an online presence with minimal effort. -
Strikingly
: Strikingly excels in providing a premium feel with its customizable templates and strong social media integration. It offers a range of ecommerce features, including product listings, inventory management, and SEO tools. Strikingly is ideal for users who want a professional-looking website with advanced customization options and seamless social media integration. However, it may require more effort to fully utilize its features compared to Appy Pie.
Best for informational & business websites
Verdict
: Both Appy Pie and Strikingly score equally at 7.4, making them both solid choices for informational and business websites. However, their strengths cater to slightly different user needs.
-
Appy Pie
: Appy Pie’s Website Builder is designed for ease of use, making it ideal for users with minimal technical skills. Its drag-and-drop interface and wide array of templates allow for quick and efficient website creation. This platform is particularly suitable for individuals and small businesses looking to establish an online presence without delving into complex design or coding. -
Strikingly
: Strikingly offers a user-friendly platform with a focus on professional-looking designs and customization. Its drag-and-drop interface and modern templates make it a versatile choice for businesses that need a polished online presence. Strikingly also provides additional features like ecommerce integration and SEO tools, making it a comprehensive solution for managing and growing a website.
Detailed comparison
Design functionalities & templates
Design FunctionalitiesRepresents how well each platform allows for creative design and customization of websites.Score Components:
- Template Variety (30%): Range and quality of design templates.
- Customization (30%): Flexibility and options for design alterations.
- User Interface (20%): Ease and intuitiveness of the design process.
- Responsiveness (10%): Adaptability to different devices and screen sizes.
- Innovation (10%): Unique design features and tools.
🏆
Winner: Strikingly.
Strikingly offers a wider variety of templates and designs, more customization flexibility, and better mobile responsive design.
Appy Pie offers a wide array of website templates with over 10,000 options, catering to various needs and budgets. These templates are mobile-friendly and customizable, allowing users to edit colors, fonts, layouts, and add features. However, layout modifications are limited, and fine-tuning the mobile experience has constraints.
On the other hand, Strikingly offers a wide variety of templates and designs for its website builder. With over 60 unique templates to choose from, users can find a design that suits their needs and preferences. The templates are modern, visually appealing, and customizable, allowing users to personalize their websites.
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Ease of use
Ease of useReflects the platform’s overall user-friendliness.Score
Components:
- Learning curve (40%): Quickness and ease of getting started.
- Interface design (30%): Simplicity and intuitiveness of layout.
- User guidance (20%): Quality of tutorials and support.
- Flexibility (10%): Adaptability to various user skills.
🏆 Winner: Appy Pie
. Scoring 8.3, Appy Pie is acclaimed for its simplicity and intuitive design, making it highly accessible for users without coding skills. Strikingly, with a score of 8.1, offers a user-friendly platform but falls slightly short in comparison to Appy Pie. If ease of use is a priority, Appy Pie is the clear winner in this category.
Learning Resources
🏆 Winner: Strikingly
. While both platforms offer solid learning resources, Strikingly goes a step further with its comprehensive support center with written and video resources, ensuring users can navigate the platform effectively.
For ecommerce
EcommerceMeasures the platform’s effectiveness in supporting online business activities.Score Components:
- Ecommerce themes and templates (20%): Variety and design of templates.
- Product management (25%): Ease of managing and organizing products.
- Payment options (25%): Variety and convenience of payment methods.
- Ecommerce features (20%): Features for managing an ecommerce store.
- Integration (10%): Compatibility with external e-commerce tools and services.
Both Appy Pie and Strikingly offer a range of ecommerce features, making them suitable for businesses looking to sell products or services online. However, they differ in their approach to ecommerce, with Appy Pie focusing on mobile compatibility and Strikingly emphasizing a premium feel and social media integration.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
Ecommerce themes and templates |
6.0 |
6.5 |
Product page customization |
7.0 |
6.0 |
Payment processing and commissions |
6.5 |
6.8 |
POS capabilities |
6.0 |
5.0 |
Payment gateways |
7.5 |
7.0 |
Product numbers |
6.5 |
5.5 |
Additional ecommerce features |
7.0 |
6.5 |
Appy Pie ecommerce features:
- Product and Inventory Management
- Shopping Cart
- Multiple Currencies
- Promotions and Discounts
- Order Management
- Shipping Options
- Analytics
- Tax management
Strikingly ecommerce features:
- Product Listings
- Inventory Management
- Coupons and Discounts
- SEO tools
- Analytics
- Social Media Integration
Ecommerce themes & templates
Appy Pie offers a small selection of ecommerce website templates, designed to help users create online stores quickly and efficiently, without the need for coding skills. These templates feature mobile-first designs, customizable product galleries, and various other features aimed at enhancing the online shopping experience. On the other hand, Strikingly offers a variety of ecommerce website templates tailored to meet various website building needs. These templates are designed by a world-class team of website designers and developers, focusing on modern trends and best practices to ensure your ecommerce site stands out.
Product page customization
Appy Pie’s Website Builder provides users with extensive customization options for product pages, enabling the creation of unique online stores or product showcases without requiring advanced coding skills. Users can personalize product details like descriptions, images, and pricing. Strikingly, on the other hand, allows users to showcase their products with high-quality images in the “Portfolio” or “Product Catalog” section, emphasizing a premium feel to attract buyers. Adding products is streamlined through the “Simple Store” section, where you can detail product types, names, descriptions, and manage inventory and pricing.
Payment processing
Appy Pie offers a user-friendly platform for integrating payment processing and POS capabilities into mobile apps and online stores, supporting multiple payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Square for secure and versatile customer transactions. Strikingly supports secure payment processing through Stripe, Square, and other gateways like PayPal, offering a range of options for ecommerce sites. The transaction fees for using these services vary depending on the payment gateway and user location, with specific plans possibly incurring additional Strikingly fees, except for VIP users.
Website Editors
Website EditorsEvaluates the platforms’ website building and editing capabilities.Score Components:
- Customization tools (40%): Range and power of editing features.
- Editor usability (30%): User experience within the editor.
- Design flexibility (20%): Freedom in layout and design changes.
- Update and maintenance ease (10%): Simplicity of updating and maintaining the site.
🏆
Winner: Appy Pie
. Appy Pie, with a score of 7.7, offers a user-friendly, cloud-based platform that allows individuals, professionals, and small businesses to create mobile-friendly websites without needing to code. It offers a drag-and-drop interface, customizable templates, and various features like social media integration, ecommerce capabilities, and SEO tools. This makes it an ideal solution for quickly creating a wide range of websites, from landing pages to online stores, tailored to users’ specific needs and brand identities.
Strikingly’s editor, scoring 7.5, is designed to help individuals and businesses create professional websites quickly and easily, without the need for coding knowledge. It features a drag-and-drop interface for easy customization of website elements, such as text, images, and videos. Users can choose from a variety of templates that can be personalized to fit their brand, making it possible to launch a unique online presence swiftly. Strikingly also emphasizes mobile responsiveness, ensuring websites look great on any device, and offers SEO tools and social media integration to enhance online visibility and engagement.
Mobile editor/app
🏆
Winner: Appy Pie
. Both Appy Pie and Strikingly do not have a dedicated mobile app for editing websites. However, they allow users to edit their websites using a mobile browser. Appy Pie’s mobile editing experience is rated higher than Strikingly’s, indicating that it provides a better user experience for mobile editing. Strikingly’s mobile editing interface is noted to be inconvenient, which could be a significant drawback for users who prefer to make changes to their websites on the go. Therefore, if mobile editing is a priority for you, Appy Pie would be a better choice.
Product testing options
Product Testing OptionsAssesses the options for trying out platform features before commitment.Score Components:
- Trial quality (40%): Extent and usefulness of the trial or free version.
- Feature accessibility (30%): How many features are available to test.
- Trial duration (20%): Length of the trial period.
- Ease of transition (10%): Smoothness of moving from trial to paid plans.
Overall Result
:
Appy Pie Wins
. Appy Pie scores 8.9 in product testing options, while Strikingly scores 7.1. Appy Pie offers a longer trial period of 30 days compared to Strikingly’s 14 days. Both platforms allow testing of all premium features during the trial period. However, neither platform offers a money-back guarantee.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
Free Plan |
No | Yes |
Trial Duration |
30 days | 14 days |
Testing Premium Features |
All features during free trial | All features during free trial |
Money Back Guarantee |
No | No |
Price
PriceLooks at the cost-effectiveness and value for money of each platform.Score Components:
- Plan value (40%): What each pricing tier offers.
- Transparency and clarity (30%): Clearness of pricing structures.
- Flexibility of plans (20%): Range of options to suit different budgets.
- Hidden costs (10%): Additional expenses not included in the plan.
Strikingly offers a wider range of price plans, including a free option, and generally scores higher in terms of pricing. However, Appy Pie offers a significant discount for annual subscriptions and provides a custom enterprise solution.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
Free |
No offering at this amount. |
Free ($0/month): Includes Strikingly.com subdomain, unlimited free sites, 5 GB monthly bandwidth, 500 MB total storage per site, simple store with 1 product per site, and 5 pages per site and 24/7 support. |
$10-$15 |
No offering at this amount. |
Limited ($12/month): Allows connection to custom domain, includes 2 limited sites, unlimited free sites, 50 GB monthly bandwidth, 1 GB total storage per site, free domain with yearly plans, and allows selling a single product and 5 page per site. Value for price: 6.5 |
$15-$25 |
Start ($18/month): Suitable for personal projects, offering 50 GB storage and access to professional theme templates, domain connection, no Appy Pie ads, CSS & Java customization, etc. Value for price: 6.5 |
Pro ($20/month): Offers 3 pro sites, unlimited free sites, unlimited bandwidth, 3 GB total storage per site, simple store with 300 products per site and up to 100 pages per site, site membership, custom forms, multiple pages, and removal of Strikingly branding, among other advanced features. Value for price: 8.5 |
$30+ |
Grow ($36/month): Aimed at small businesses, providing unlimited storage, advanced marketing and monetizing tools, multiple payment gateways, etc. Value for price: 8.5 |
VIP ($59/month): Includes all Pro features plus 5 pro sites, 10 GB total storage per site, priority customer service, English phone support, account management, and allows selling unlimited products. Value for Price: 9.0 |
location. As a result in rare cases the prices displayed here can differ from the ones you see on their
websites.
Hosting quality
Hosting
qualityExamines the reliability and performance of the hosting solutions.Score Components:
- Uptime (40%): Consistency and reliability of website availability.
- Speed (30%): Loading times and performance.
- Bandwidth and storage (20%): Sufficiency of resources provided.
- Data centers (10%): Quality and distribution of hosting infrastructure.
Winner: Strikingly
. Strikingly edges out Appy Pie with a slightly higher hosting quality score. Strikingly’s managed hosting, 99.9% uptime guarantee, and undisclosed but multiple data centers provide a reliable and secure hosting environment. Appy Pie, while offering a proprietary hosting service with a 99% uptime guarantee and reliance on Amazon Web Services (AWS), falls slightly short in comparison.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
Do they offer hosting? |
Yes, included in all paid plans |
Yes, included in all paid plans |
Data Centers: |
Relies on Amazon Web Services (AWS) |
Uses multiple data centers to guarantee a secure and highly available service at scale. However, they do not disclose detailed information about their data centers |
Type of hosting: |
Proprietary hosting service |
Managed Hosting |
Uptime: |
99% |
99.9% |
Uptime Guarantee: |
Yes, 99% |
Yes, 99.9% |
Website Speed Optimization
Website Speed OptimizationEvaluates optimization of website loading timesScore Components:
- PageSpeed Score (30%): Google’s score indicating performance optimization.
- Loading Time (30%): The average time until a website is fully interactive.
- Mobile Optimization (15%): Optimization effectiveness for mobile devices.
- Resource Optimization (15%): Optimizing images, scripts, and other heavy resources.
- CDN Usage (10%): Use of CDN to enhance speed across geolocations.
🏆 Winner: Strikingly
Strikingly has a more comprehensive approach to website speed optimization compared to Appy Pie, which does not directly implement specific speed optimization strategies.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
Focus |
User-driven optimization |
CDN, Code Minification, Caching |
Performance Tools |
User-driven optimization |
Optimized Server Response Time |
Key Strategies |
No specific strategies |
Image Optimization and Compression, Responsive Design |
Load Times |
Varies widely |
Varies depending on different factors |
Page Speed Scores Range |
Varies widely |
80-90/100 average |
Core Web Vitals Improvement |
No information disclosed |
No information disclosed |
Strikingly has a more comprehensive approach to website speed optimization, with strategies including CDN, code minification, caching, optimized server response time, image optimization and compression, and responsive design. This results in an average PageSpeed score of 80-90/100. However, load times can vary depending on different factors, and Strikingly does not disclose any information about Core Web Vitals improvements.
On the other hand, Appy Pie, as a website building platform, doesn’t directly implement specific speed optimization strategies for your website. Instead, they offer various tools and features that can help you optimize your website’s speed on your own. Both load times and PageSpeed scores vary widely, depending on the optimization and user’s location. Appy Pie does not disclose any information on their Core Web Vitals improvements.
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Plugins and integrations
Plugins and integrationsMeasures the range and effectiveness of additional plugins and integrations.Score Components:
- Variety of options (40%): Range of available add-ons.
- Integration smoothness (30%): Ease of integrating plugins into the site.
- Quality of plugins (20%): Functionality and reliability of the options.
- Custom integration capabilities (10%): Support for custom or third-party integrations.
🏆 Winner: Appy Pie.
With a score of 6.4, Appy Pie leads over Strikingly, which has a score of 5.1. Appy Pie offers a wider range of plugins and extensions, with over 100 options available in their marketplace. These plugins cover various categories such as marketing, design, social media, SEO, analytics, payments, and more. On the other hand, Strikingly offers over 20 plugins, focusing on enhancing design elements, integrating social media, and enabling ecommerce. Both builders offer a range of integrations, but Appy Pie’s broader selection gives it the edge in this category.
Marketing Features
Design FunctionalitiesRepresents how well each platform allows for creative design and customization of websites.Score Components:
- Template Variety (30%): Range and quality of design templates.
- Customization (30%): Flexibility and options for design alterations.
- User Interface (20%): Ease and intuitiveness of the design process.
- Responsiveness (10%): Adaptability to different devices and screen sizes.
- Innovation (10%): Unique design features and tools.
🏆
Overall Winner: Appy Pie
. Appy Pie edges out Strikingly with a slightly higher score, indicating a more comprehensive set of marketing tools. Both platforms offer SEO tools, email marketing, blogging, social media integration, analytics and reporting, and ads and promotions. However, Appy Pie’s focus on ease-of-use and quick deployment may make it a more practical solution for businesses looking to establish an online presence quickly and efficiently.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
SEO Tools |
|
|
Email Marketing |
|
|
Blogging |
Platform supports content creation and management, which can be leveraged for blogging purposes. |
Integrated Blogging Platform, Customizable Blog Settings, Content Creation Flexibility |
Social Media Integration |
Simplifies content sharing and audience engagement on major social platforms |
Strikingly enables embedding and linking to social media platforms to enhance online presence |
Analytics and Reporting |
Integration with Google Workspace may offer insights into web traffic and user behavior. |
Basic site performance tracking is available, with options for integrating advanced tools for deeper insights |
Ads and Promotions |
Tools for creating and managing promotional content |
Offers essential tools like discount codes, coupons, and abandoned cart recovery to boost sales and customer engagement |
Customer Support
Customer supportEvaluates the quality and availability of support options.Score Components:
- Response time (40%): Speed of support responses.
- Support quality (30%): Effectiveness and helpfulness of the support.
- Availability (20%): Range of support channels (phone, chat, email).
- Resource richness (10%): Quality of self-help and educational materials.
🏆 Winner: Appy Pie
. When comparing Appy Pie vs Strikingly, Appy Pie takes the lead in customer support with its 24/7 availability through live chat, email, and phone. Users benefit from extensive documentation and tutorials, ensuring they can find solutions to common problems independently. Additionally, Appy Pie offers enhanced support for enterprise-level customers, including priority support and dedicated account managers.
Strikingly also provides 24/7 support via email and live chat, with phone support available for VIP users. While Strikingly’s support is praised for its quick and friendly responses, it lacks the dedicated enterprise support that Appy Pie offers, making Appy Pie the better choice for businesses seeking comprehensive and personalized customer support.
Security
SecurityLooks at the platforms’ security measures and data protection.Score Components:
- Data protection (40%): Safeguards for user and customer data.
- SSL and encryption (30%): Implementation of secure connections.
- Compliance (20%): Adherence to industry security standards.
- Regular updates (10%): Frequency of security updates and patches.
It’s a tie
. Both Appy Pie and Strikingly take security seriously, ensuring that users’ data and websites are well-protected. Appy Pie offers secure private data storage and protection with advanced encryption and strict access controls. They also ensure website security through SSL encryption, regular security audits, secure hosting, two-factor authentication, and password protection for user accounts.
Strikingly, on the other hand, ensures the protection and secure handling of personal information through their Privacy Policy. They employ industry-standard security measures like SSL/TLS encryption for transactions and store passwords using secure hash functions. In terms of website security, Strikingly offers features like two-factor authentication and DDoS protection, reflecting their commitment to security through their proactive approach towards implementing advanced technology infrastructure and security measures.
AI Capabilities
AI capabilitiesMeasures the effectiveness of AI-driven features and tools.Score Components:
- Automation efficiency (40%): Impact of AI on streamlining processes.
- Personalization (30%): AI-driven customization for users or customers.
- AI-Assisted design (20%): Role of AI in website design and functionality.
- Data analysis (10%): Use of AI in interpreting user data and analytics.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
AI Website Builder |
Appy Pie offers an AI website builder for easy and quick website creation |
Strikingly lacks a full AI website builder |
AI Ecommerce Features |
Personalized shopping experiences and chatbots for 24/7 customer service |
Strikingly does not have AI ecommerce features |
AI Content Generation |
Advanced AI algorithms for generating top-notch content |
Strikingly does not have AI content generation tools |
Additional AI Features |
Chatbots, virtual assistants, and AI-powered analytics |
Strikingly does not have any built-in AI features |
🏆 Winner: Appy Pie
. Appy Pie, with a score of 7.2, offers a range of AI features including an AI website builder, AI ecommerce features, AI content generation, and additional AI features such as chatbots, virtual assistants, and AI-powered analytics. These features make website creation quick and easy, enhance the shopping experience, simplify content creation, and help businesses automate customer interactions and make data-driven decisions.
Strikingly, with a score of 1.6, lacks a full AI website builder and does not have AI ecommerce features, AI content generation tools, or any built-in AI features. Therefore, it falls short in terms of AI capabilities compared to Appy Pie.
User Management
User ManagementAssesses the platforms’ capabilities in managing user roles, permissions, and accessibility.Score Components:
- Role Customization (40%): Flexibility in creating and defining user roles and
permissions. - Ease of Management (30%): User interface and tools for managing users.
- Access Control (20%): Effectiveness of access control measures for different user
levels. - Scalability (10%): Ability to manage a growing number of users efficiently.
🏆 Winner: Tie
. Both Appy Pie and Strikingly offer different user access levels based on the plan chosen.
- Appy Pie’s website builder offers different user access levels based on the plan chosen. For the Free Plan, one user has full editing privileges. Paid plans include the Starter Plan (3 users), Hobby Plan (5 users), Professional Plan (10 users), and Enterprise Plan (unlimited users). Each plan designates an Admin with full access and additional Editors with varying editing rights. Additionally, paid plans allow for customization of roles, enabling tasks such as content editing or design adjustments.
- On a Strikingly website, you can invite up to 10 teammates to edit and manage your site. You can assign different roles to these teammates, such as Admin, Editor, Store Manager, Blogger, and Agent, each with specific levels of access and permissions.
Strikingly User Roles and Access Levels:
Role | Description | Access Highlights |
---|---|---|
Admin | Has access similar to the site owner but with specific limitations. | Can edit content, manage store and events, and view analytics, but cannot add/remove teammates. |
Editor | Can make changes to the site with some restrictions. | Edits site content but lacks access to store management, settings panel, or analytics. |
Store Manager | Primarily focused on e-commerce functionalities of the site. | Manages products, orders, and store settings, with no capabilities to edit non-store content. |
Blogger | Specialized in writing and managing blog posts. | Can write and manage blog posts, with optional publishing rights. |
Agent | Dedicated to managing audience interactions, primarily through live chat. | Has access to audience data, can respond to live chats, and send individual messages, with no site editing access. |
Additional Features
|
|
|
---|---|---|
SSL Certificate |
|
|
Custom Domain |
|
|
Free Custom Domain Included |
|
|
International Domains |
|
|
Mobile Responsive |
|
|
Page Speed |
|
|
Website Builder Mobile App |
|
|
Convert a Website To An App |
|
|
Website Analytics |
|
|
Multilingual Sites |
|
|
Multiple Users |
|
|
User Feedback
Appy Pie garners positive feedback for its user-friendly interface and excellent customer support, offering low-code solutions for app and website building without requiring coding experience. Users appreciate its ease of use, extensive features, and ability to create apps and websites quickly. While some express a desire for more customization options and templates, overall, Appy Pie serves as a valuable tool for businesses and individuals seeking to create apps and websites efficiently, solving the problem of complex coding requirements and providing a platform for easy communication and engagement with users.
Users appreciate Strikingly for features like the ability to import data from LinkedIn, a variety of attractive templates, and responsive customer service. However, there are some reported issues, such as unexpected subscription renewals and limitations in customization options. Despite these drawbacks, Strikingly is valued for its ability to quickly create professional-looking websites, making it suitable for personal projects, startups, and small businesses. While pricing and customer service options may not appeal to everyone, those seeking an uncomplicated website building experience with diverse design choices may find Strikingly to be a suitable solution for their needs.
The making of this blog
We followed a clear, step-by-step process to write and research this article.
FAQ
Which platform is better for beginners, Appy Pie or Strikingly?
Can I use both Appy Pie and Strikingly for selling products online?
How do Appy Pie and Strikingly differ in terms of design and customization?
What are the major differences in pricing between Appy Pie and Strikingly?
Which platform offers better customer support, Appy Pie or Strikingly?