Carrd vs Zoho Sites: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

Carrd and Zoho Sites cater to different user needs, with Zoho Sites emerging as the more versatile platform overall.

• 
  Carrd (Overall Grade: 6.1/10)
  
  excels in simplicity and ease of use, making it an excellent choice for individuals and small businesses looking to create single-page websites quickly. Its user-friendly interface, affordable pricing, and mobile responsiveness are significant advantages. However, it falls short in areas like ecommerce, advanced features, and user management, limiting its appeal to users with more complex needs.
• 
  Zoho Sites (Overall Grade: 7.6/10)
  
  offers a broader range of features, including robust ecommerce capabilities through integration with Zoho Commerce, comprehensive marketing tools, and superior customer support. Its higher scores in hosting quality, security, and AI capabilities make it a more suitable option for businesses looking for a comprehensive website solution. While it may have a steeper learning curve compared to Carrd, the extensive learning resources and integrations with other Zoho products provide added value.

Best for ecommerce

Verdict

: For users seeking to build ecommerce sites, Zoho Sites offers a more robust and feature-rich platform compared to Carrd, making it the better choice for businesses of various sizes.

• 
  Carrd
  
  : While Carrd is praised for its simplicity and ease of use, it falls short in the ecommerce department. It’s best suited for simple, single-page websites and requires third-party integrations for ecommerce functionalities, making it less ideal for businesses looking to scale.
• 
  Zoho Sites
  
  : With a higher ecommerce score and seamless integration with Zoho Commerce, Zoho Sites stands out as a more capable platform for creating and managing online stores. It offers a wide range of ecommerce features, from product and inventory management to payment processing, catering to the needs of more complex and growing businesses.

Best for informational & business websites

Verdict

: With identical scores for informational and business websites, both Carrd and Zoho Sites offer unique advantages. Your choice depends on specific needs: Carrd for simplicity and single-page sites, Zoho Sites for more complex sites with integration needs.

• 
  Carrd
  
  : Excelling in simplicity and ease of use, Carrd is ideal for creating single-page, responsive websites quickly. It’s perfect for personal profiles, portfolios, and simple business landing pages. Carrd’s focus on minimalistic design and affordability makes it a great choice for individuals and small businesses aiming for an online presence without the need for extensive features.
• 
  Zoho Sites
  
  : Offers a broader range of features and customization options, making it suitable for more complex informational websites. With its integration capabilities, especially with other Zoho applications, Zoho Sites is the go-to for businesses looking for a comprehensive online platform. Its focus on responsive design, SEO tools, and ecommerce features provides a solid foundation for businesses to grow their online presence.

Detailed comparison

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Winner: Carrd.

Carrd edges out Zoho Sites by a small margin in this category, offering a slightly higher level of design functionalities and templates.

Carrd is a versatile platform that offers a wide variety of templates and designs, catering to different needs and preferences. Users can choose from a broad selection of themes, ranging from simple and minimalist to complex and dynamic layouts, ensuring there’s something for everyone.

Carrd Themes

On the other hand, Zoho Sites offers a diverse collection of over 150 templates, thoughtfully categorized into industries like Restaurants, Architecture, Health, and more. Each template provides a pre-designed layout with responsive design for various screen sizes.

Zoho Sites Themes

🏆 Winner: Carrd

. Scoring a solid 9.0, Carrd stands out for its simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for beginners and those seeking to create single-page websites quickly. Zoho Sites, with a score of 7.0, offers a robust platform but with a steeper learning curve, especially for those requiring advanced features, robust automation, and seamless data integration. If ease of use is a priority, Carrd is the clear winner in this category.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. While both platforms offer solid learning resources, Zoho Sites provides a wider range of high-quality learning resources for both beginners and advanced users, including a detailed beginner’s guide, comprehensive user guides, video tutorials, blogs, FAQs, community forums, and webinars.

When it comes to ecommerce, Zoho Sites has a clear advantage over Carrd. While Carrd is a simple and lightweight platform primarily designed for building one-page websites, it lacks robust ecommerce features. Users looking to incorporate ecommerce functionalities would need to integrate third-party services or use external links to platforms like Etsy or Shopify.

Carrd ecommerce features:

• Paypal and Stripe Integration
• External Widgets integrations
• Basic Product Listing options

On the other hand, Zoho Sites, while not having built-in ecommerce features, integrates seamlessly with Zoho Commerce, a dedicated platform designed for online store management. This allows users to create a website with Zoho Sites and easily incorporate ecommerce functionality through Zoho Commerce, providing clarity, flexibility, and scalability for businesses of various sizes.

Zoho Sites ecommerce features:

• Product and Inventory management
• Order management
• Payment Processing
• Marketing and Promotions
• SEO and Analytics
• Security

Ecommerce themes & templates

Carrd provides a selection of 14 e-commerce templates aimed at users looking to quickly launch online stores for products ranging from e-books to physical goods. These templates are crafted with a focus on simplicity and conversion optimization, featuring designs that vary from dark themes to minimalist aesthetics. They are priced starting at $19 or $25, depending on the template, and require a Pro Standard account or higher due to the use of advanced elements and widgets.

In contrast, Zoho Sites offers a range of eCommerce website templates and themes designed to cater to various industries and business needs. These templates are customizable, allowing businesses to tailor their online stores to their brand and product offerings. Zoho Commerce, in particular, provides beautiful and highly customizable eCommerce store themes, aiming to enhance the online shopping experience.

Product page customization

Carrd offers a streamlined approach to ecommerce product page customization, primarily through integrations with third-party platforms such as Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, and Gumroad. Users can create product pages within Carrd by adding product details like name, description, image, and price, and then integrate a checkout button using Carrd’s Widget element for platforms like Stripe. Users can integrate third-party services for ecommerce functionalities, but the customization possibilities for product pages would then depend on the capabilities of those external platforms.

Zoho offers extensive product page customization options, allowing users to tailor the display of their products. This includes features like image galleries, sliders, and video integration, enabling businesses to present their products in a visually appealing manner. Additionally, Zoho facilitates the configuration of product variants like size and color options, as well as efficient inventory management directly from the product pages.

Payment processing

Carrd allows for payment-enabled forms for Pro Plus users or higher, integrating with Stripe Checkout for payment processing. This setup enables creating forms for various transactions like order forms or paid email lists. The process requires setting up the payment through Stripe, either via a preconfigured price or a custom price, and entering Stripe API keys. There’s no direct mention of Carrd charging commissions or offering POS capabilities within this documentation. For payment gateways, it specifically supports Stripe and Paypal.

Zoho Sites, in conjunction with Zoho Commerce, offers robust payment processing capabilities and supports integration with multiple payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Square, facilitating secure online transactions. While direct POS system integration and commission management might require leveraging additional Zoho tools or custom solutions, the Zoho ecosystem provides a comprehensive suite for businesses to manage both online and in-store sales efficiently. This integration ensures flexibility and security for businesses aiming to provide a seamless shopping experience across multiple channels.

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Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites, with a score of 7.5, is a user-friendly website builder that enables both businesses and individuals to create professional, responsive websites without coding skills, through its drag-and-drop interface. It offers customizable templates, SEO tools, social media integration, and ecommerce features, along with connectivity to other Zoho applications for enhanced functionality.

Carrd’s website builder editor, scoring 7.0, is designed for simplicity and efficiency, catering primarily to users looking to create single-page websites. It offers a user-friendly interface that allows for easy drag-and-drop functionality, enabling users to add, customize, and position elements such as text, images, buttons, and forms with minimal effort.

Mobile editor/app

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Draw: Carrd vs Zoho Sites

. Both Carrd and Zoho Sites do not offer a dedicated mobile editor app. However, they provide some level of editing capabilities on mobile browsers.

Carrd, known for its simplicity and efficiency, allows users to make changes to their single-page websites on a mobile browser. This feature can be handy for users who need to make quick updates or adjustments to their site while on the go.

On the other hand, Zoho Sites allows users to edit the visual aspects of the mobile version of their website, such as font size, color, background, and shadow. However, it does not support content changes through the mobile interface.

In summary, both Carrd and Zoho Sites offer limited mobile editing capabilities, with neither standing out as a clear winner in this category. Users should consider their specific needs and preferences when choosing between these two platforms.

Overall Result

:

Zoho Sites Wins

. Zoho Sites scores 8.8 in product testing options, significantly higher than Carrd’s 6.0. Zoho Sites offers a free version and a 15-day free trial during which all features of each plan can be tested. They also provide a 30-day money-back guarantee for monthly subscriptions and a 45-day window for annual subscriptions. Carrd, on the other hand, offers a 7-day free trial with the possibility to test premium features, but does not provide a free version or a money-back guarantee.

Carrd offers more affordable plans, but Zoho Sites provides more features and flexibility, especially for agencies managing multiple sites.

Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites offers managed hosting with a focus on speed, a high uptime of 99.9% with a guarantee, and 12 global data centers. Carrd, on the other hand, offers shared hosting without specific information on bandwidth or storage limitations and does not provide any statistics on uptime or information about its data centers. This gives Zoho Sites a higher rating in hosting quality.

🏆 Winner: Carrd

Both Carrd and Zoho Sites prioritize website performance and page speed, but Carrd has a slightly higher Website Speed Optimization score.

Carrd, a platform for building fully responsive, single-page websites, focuses on mobile responsive design, caching, and Cloudflare CDN for speed optimization. Given the simplicity of websites built with Carrd, load times are expected to be minimal, and page speed scores are expected to be high. However, Carrd does not disclose any information related to Core Web Vitals improvements.

On the other hand, Zoho Sites, a user-friendly website building platform, prioritizes regularly testing and implementing updates, optimized code and libraries, and cache balancing for speed optimization. The load times for websites built with Zoho Sites are below 2-5 seconds on average, and the average PageSpeed score ranges from 70 to 80 out of 100. Zoho Sites is also implementing various performance optimization techniques for Core Web Vitals improvements.

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites.

Zoho Sites scores 7.3, offering a diverse range of plugins and extensions, as well as integrations with Zoho’s suite of applications and third-party services. Carrd, with a score of 5.8, offers a range of plugins and extensions, but these are more limited in scope and require paid plans for access to some features.

Zoho Sites Applications

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Overall Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites offers a more comprehensive set of marketing tools, including advanced email marketing, blogging, and social media integration. Carrd, while offering basic marketing features, relies heavily on third-party integrations.

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites outperforms Carrd in this category with a customer support score of 8.3 compared to Carrd’s 6.2. Zoho Sites offers 24/7 customer support through various channels including live chat, email, and phone. They also provide a comprehensive knowledge base and community forum where users can find answers to common questions and interact with other users.

On the other hand, Carrd provides 24/7 support via email with a typical response time of 24 hours. However, they do not offer enterprise support, which is a significant disadvantage for businesses that require dedicated support.

🏆

Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites has a higher security score of 8.1 compared to Carrd’s 7.6. Zoho Sites offers secure private data storage and protection through advanced encryption and access controls. The data is stored in highly secure data centers and is regularly backed up to ensure its safety and availability. In terms of website security, Zoho Sites uses SSL encryption to protect data transmission and offers two-factor authentication for added security. The platform also regularly updates its software to address any potential vulnerabilities.

On the other hand, Carrd collects personal information and uses cookies for website operation, data gathering, and enhancing user experiences. It implements measures to protect personal information online and offline. Carrd ensures website security by automatically enabling SSL for all sites published on .carrd.co URLs. This SSL certification extends to custom domains and subdomains, automatically issued via Let’s Encrypt once DNS records are in place. These measures signify Carrd’s commitment to data security and encryption, safeguarding websites against unauthorized access and hacking.

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites, with a score of 7.5, leverages AI capabilities to enhance the user experience. It offers AI-powered ecommerce features, such as personalized product recommendations and sales predictions. Zoho Sites also uses AI for content generation, providing intelligent suggestions for headlines and paragraphs. Additionally, Zoho Sites has an AI assistant, Zia, that boosts productivity, sales, and customer service processes.

Carrd, on the other hand, does not have any AI capabilities. It focuses on providing a simple and straightforward platform for building single-page websites. While this makes Carrd easy to use, it lacks the advanced features offered by AI.

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Both Carrd and Zoho Sites offer different approaches to user management.

• Carrd is primarily designed for individual use or small teams, with each account managing its own sites. The platform introduced a Team feature to allow multiple users to collaborate, but traditionally, Carrd sites are managed by a single account holder with full control. The specifics of access levels and permissions for collaborators, if available, are less detailed but generally include editing capabilities.
• The number of users who can edit a Zoho Sites website and their access levels depend on the chosen plan. The Free Plan allows only the owner to edit, while paid plans like Pro, Business, and Enterprise offer access for up to 10, 25, and 50 users respectively. Zoho Sites provides four access levels: Admin, with full editing rights and user management; Contributor, who can edit content and create pages but not manage collaborators; and Author, limited to editing text content without access to settings or user management.

Additional Features

User Feedback

Carrd is highly praised by users for its user-friendly interface, excellent customer support, and attractive templates, which make website creation effortless and enjoyable. The drag-and-drop builder, affordability, and mobile-friendly designs are highlighted as significant benefits. However, some users express limitations, such as the inability to create multi-page websites or a desire for more design options. Overall, Carrd is praised for its affordability, ease of use, and suitability for creating quick, simple webpages.

Zoho Sites receives mixed reviews, with users praising its user-friendly interface, extensive template library, and seamless integration with other Zoho products, which simplifies website development and management for small businesses. However, some users express dissatisfaction with its limited design flexibility and the inability to create custom features. Overall, Zoho Sites addresses the need for cost-effective website solutions, particularly for those without coding knowledge, offering a one-stop-shop for building and managing websites with varying degrees of customization and integration with other business tools.

FAQ