Blocs vs Network Solutions: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

Blocs and Network Solutions both offer unique advantages, but they cater to different user needs and preferences.

• 
  Blocs (Overall Grade: 5.8/10)
  
  is a powerful and user-friendly website builder designed specifically for Mac users. It excels in design functionalities and templates, ease of use, and AI capabilities. Blocs is ideal for designers, developers, and anyone looking to create professional websites with minimal effort. However, it lacks built-in hosting and some advanced ecommerce features, making it less suitable for larger businesses or those seeking an all-in-one solution.
• 
  Network Solutions (Overall Grade: 5.4/10)
  
  provides a comprehensive website builder and hosting service, catering to small businesses and individuals. It offers a variety of templates, ecommerce capabilities, and strong customer support. Network Solutions is a good choice for users looking for an all-in-one platform with integrated hosting and domain services. However, it falls short in terms of modern interface, advanced customization options, and AI capabilities.

Best for ecommerce

Verdict

: Blocs is better suited for designers and developers looking for flexibility and integration with third-party ecommerce tools, while Network Solutions is more user-friendly for small to medium-sized businesses needing a straightforward ecommerce solution.

• 
  Blocs
  
  : Blocs is a powerful tool for Mac users, offering integration with various ecommerce platforms like Ecwid, Stripe, and Snipcart. This makes it highly flexible but may require a learning curve for beginners. It is ideal for those who want to leverage advanced design capabilities and third-party integrations to create a customized ecommerce experience.
• 
  Network Solutions
  
  : Network Solutions provides a more straightforward approach to ecommerce, with built-in features like customizable templates, secure payment processing, and inventory management. It is well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses looking for an all-in-one solution without the need for extensive customization or third-party integrations.

Best for informational & business websites

Verdict

: Blocs and Network Solutions are both capable platforms for creating informational and business websites, but they cater to slightly different user needs. Blocs is ideal for Mac users who prioritize design and ease of use, while Network Solutions offers a more comprehensive suite of services, including hosting and customer support.

• 
  Blocs
  
  : Blocs is a powerful website builder designed specifically for Mac users. It excels in design functionalities and ease of use, making it a great choice for designers and developers who want to create professional websites without coding. With a score of 7.5, Blocs offers a user-friendly interface and a variety of pre-designed blocks, making it easy to create modern, responsive websites.
• 
  Network Solutions
  
  : Network Solutions is a versatile website builder and hosting platform that caters to small businesses and individuals. It provides a wide range of templates and tools for creating professional-looking websites without coding knowledge. With a score of 7.4, Network Solutions offers comprehensive services, including domain registration, email services, and e-commerce capabilities, making it a one-stop solution for building and managing websites efficiently.

Detailed comparison

Winner: Blocs.

While both platforms offer a variety of templates and design options, Blocs edges out Network Solutions with its higher score in design functionalities and templates.

Blocs offers a vast selection of design templates, boasting over 36 layouts for various website types. These templates are designed to be responsive, ensuring optimal display across different devices. Furthermore, the templates are available for purchase in packages, with pricing dependent on the number of websites intended for creation.

Blocs Themes

On the other hand, Network Solutions offers a wide variety of templates and designs tailored to meet the diverse needs of its users. With hundreds of professionally designed templates, users can easily find a style that perfectly matches their vision and brand identity. However, Network Solutions does not provide a link to their themes page or any screenshots of their template page and template example.

<Network Solutions> Themes

🏆 Winner: Blocs

. With a score of 8.7, Blocs is highly regarded for its user-friendliness and versatility, particularly among Mac users. Network Solutions, scoring 6.8, offers a simple and accessible platform but falls short in terms of modern interface and advanced customization options. If ease of use is a priority, Blocs is the clear winner in this category.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Blocs

. Both platforms offer solid learning resources, but Blocs goes a step further with its comprehensive suite of learning resources for web design, catering to both beginners and advanced users through its learning portal and Blocs Academy.

Blocs and Network Solutions both offer ecommerce capabilities, but they cater to different user needs. Blocs, primarily a visual design tool for web designers and developers, supports ecommerce through integration with leading service providers like Ecwid, Stripe, Snipcart, Paddle, and Gumroad. This allows for features such as buy buttons, checkouts, and complete storefronts. However, it might present a learning curve for complete beginners or those looking for simpler, more intuitive ecommerce solutions.

On the other hand, Network Solutions offers a range of ecommerce features suitable for small to medium-sized businesses looking to establish an online store. Their platform includes customizable templates, an easy-to-use shopping cart, secure payment processing, and inventory management tools. However, their ecommerce solutions can be less scalable for larger businesses or those experiencing rapid growth.

Blocs ecommerce features:

• Stripe integration
• Snipcart shopping cart integration
• Gumroad integration
• Ecwid integration

Network Solutions ecommerce features:

• Marketing Tools
• Personalized Email
• Product Listings

Ecommerce themes & templates

Blocs provides a range of ecommerce-specific templates, allowing users to quickly launch optimized online stores or business platforms. These premium templates are designed to be fast, visually appealing, and SEO-friendly, ensuring websites look great on all devices and load quickly.

Network Solutions offers a variety of ecommerce templates designed to cater to businesses of different sizes and industries. Their templates are crafted to be responsive, ensuring a seamless shopping experience across various devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops.

Product page customization

Blocs primarily offers ecommerce features through third-party ecommerce platforms such as Ecwid, so the product page customization possibilities vary depending on which platform is integrated.

Network Solutions offers a range of ecommerce product page customization options to enhance the online shopping experience. Users can personalize product descriptions, images, and videos to showcase their items effectively. Additionally, the platform allows for the customization of product options such as size, color, and material, enabling a more interactive and tailored shopping experience for customers.

Payment processing

The Blocs website builder supports ecommerce through integrations with third-party ecommerce providers, suggesting flexibility in the use of various payment gateways without directly listing them. Blocs does not charge transaction fees or commissions, however such fees may be charged by the payment gateways or e-commerce platforms themselves.

Network Solutions’ website builder is designed for online stores, small businesses, and personal websites, offering essential e-commerce features including a built-in shopping cart and support for a wide range of payment options such as PayPal, PayFlow, USA ePay, CyberSource, PlugNPay, making it convenient for businesses to process transactions. Network Solutions does not mention that they charge commissions on transactions, commissions are charged by the gateways themselves.

🏆

Winner: Blocs

. With a score of 7.5, Blocs offers a user-friendly web design tool that enables the creation of modern, responsive websites without needing to code. It utilizes a block-based interface with drag-and-drop functionality, making web design accessible to designers and creatives without technical backgrounds. The app offers a variety of pre-designed blocks, integration options, and SEO tools to streamline the website creation process.

Network Solutions, scoring 6.3, offers a comprehensive suite of tools for website creation and management. It provides an intuitive website editor that allows users to design, edit, and publish their websites without needing advanced technical skills. With a wide array of templates and customization options, users can create professional-looking websites that are responsive and optimized for search engines.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: Blocs

. Blocs and Network Solutions both offer robust website builders, but when it comes to mobile editing, Blocs takes the lead. Blocs has a mobile editor app specifically designed for the iPad. This app provides a touch-first interface and includes all the essential features needed to create various types of websites, offering a flexible and efficient solution for building professional and beautiful websites on an iPad.

On the other hand, Network Solutions does not have a dedicated mobile editor app. This means that users cannot make changes to their websites on the go using a mobile device, which can be a significant disadvantage in today’s mobile-centric world. Therefore, Blocs is the clear winner in this category due to its dedicated mobile editor app.

Overall Result

:

Blocs wins

. Blocs scores 7.0, offering a trial version and the possibility to test some premium features, as well as a 14-day money-back guarantee. Network Solutions, scoring only 0.5, does not offer a free trial and only allows access to features after purchasing a plan. Their 30-day money-back guarantee comes with some potential difficulties in obtaining refunds.

Blocs offers a one-time payment plan, which can be more cost-effective in the long run, while Network Solutions offers monthly subscriptions with a variety of features.

🏆

Winner: Network Solutions

Network Solutions offers a variety of hosting options including shared, VPS, and WordPress hosting, catering to a range of needs with features like unlimited data transfer and scalable cloud-based environments. Their hosting plans come with significant storage options and free on-demand cloud backups. However, they face criticism for outdated features, confusing pricing structures. Blocs, on the other hand, does not offer hosting services.

🏆 Winner: Network Solutions

Both Blocs and Network Solutions prioritize website performance and page speed, but Network Solutions takes the lead with a higher website speed optimization score.

Network Solutions, a website builder and hosting service, focuses on website speed optimization through strategies like CDN, web caching, image optimization, and SEO optimization. It also emphasizes improvements in Core Web Vitals, specifically LCP, FID, and CLS. However, the load times and PageSpeed scores can vary widely, depending on the optimization, hosting type, and website complexity.

On the other hand, Blocs, a website builder designed specifically for Mac users, uses WebP Generation as its key strategy for speed optimization. However, Blocs does not disclose any information about its Core Web Vitals improvements. The load times and PageSpeed scores can vary depending on the optimization and website complexity.

🏆 Winner: Blocs.

With a score of 6.8, Blocs leads the way in terms of plugins and integrations. It offers a variety of custom-made add-ons and extensions that enhance web design capabilities, facilitating a richer web development experience. Network Solutions, with a score of 4.8, also offers a variety of plugins/extensions to enhance the functionality of websites built through their platform. However, Blocs’ emphasis on ease of use and learning, providing extensive resources, tutorials, and community support gives it the upper hand.

Blocs Applications

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Overall Winner: Network Solutions

. Network Solutions edges out Blocs with a slightly more comprehensive suite of marketing tools, including PPC advertising management. Both builders offer SEO tools, email marketing, blogging, social media integration, and analytics and reporting. However, Blocs does not have built-in ads and promotions features.

🏆 Winner: Network Solutions

. In the comparison of Blocs vs Network Solutions, Network Solutions takes the lead with its 24/7 live chat support, ensuring users can get assistance at any time. This round-the-clock availability is a significant advantage for users who may encounter issues outside of regular business hours.

Blocs, on the other hand, relies heavily on self-service options such as articles and a community forum. While this can be sufficient for users with basic needs, it may fall short for those requiring more personalized or immediate support. The lack of direct support channels can be a drawback for users facing complex issues, making Network Solutions the more robust option in terms of customer support.

🏆

Winner: Network Solutions

. Network Solutions provides a comprehensive range of security services, including encryption, strict security measures at data centers, access controls, regular security checks, data recovery plans, malware protection, and SSL/TLS certificates. This ensures that customer data is well-protected and that websites are secure from threats.

On the other hand, Blocs does not provide any specific information about their security measures. As it does not offer hosting, the security measures depend on the hosting provider chosen by the user. Therefore, Blocs cannot compete with Network Solutions in terms of security.

🏆 Winner: Blocs

. Although both Blocs and Network Solutions have limited AI capabilities, Blocs offers a more comprehensive AI experience with its AI Assistant that allows for content generation and editing directly within a Blocs project. This feature is seamlessly integrated and can significantly enhance the assistant’s accuracy and functionality.

Network Solutions, with a score of 1.1, provides an AI copywriting tool on higher plans but lacks any other AI features.

🏆 Winner: Network Solutions

. Both Blocs and Network Solutions offer limited user management capabilities.

• Blocs allows only one user to build and edit a website.
• Network Solutions’ website builder offers very limited multi-user functionality and access levels compared to other platforms.

Given the limited user management capabilities of both platforms, Network Solutions slightly outperforms Blocs with a user management score of 3.2 against Blocs’ 1.4.

Additional Features

User Feedback

Blocs website builder is praised for its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, making it accessible to users with varying levels of web development expertise. Its extensive library of templates and customization options, including the ability to add custom CSS and JavaScript, facilitates the rapid creation of diverse and visually appealing websites. However, users report encountering bugs and express a desire for more sophisticated customization features, indicating room for improvement. Overall, Blocs is valued for significantly streamlining the web design process, supported by a strong community and educational resources, despite its learning curve and occasional technical glitches.

User reviews of Network Solutions are mixed, with some praising its prompt customer support and variety of domain management options. However, there are widespread complaints about the platform’s outdated business practices, high costs, and poor customer service. Users often find the website’s layout confusing and report instances of misleading promises regarding refunds. Overall, while Network Solutions has some positive attributes, its drawbacks suggest that users may want to consider alternatives.

FAQ