Format vs Yola: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

Format and Yola both offer unique advantages, catering to different user needs and preferences.

• 
  Format (Overall Grade: 5.8/10)
  
  is tailored for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, and designers. It excels in providing visually appealing templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for users to showcase their portfolios. However, its ecommerce capabilities are basic, and it lacks some advanced features found in other platforms. When comparing Format vs Yola, Format is ideal for creatives looking for a specialized platform to display their work professionally.
• 
  Yola (Overall Grade: 6.5/10)
  
  is a versatile website builder suitable for individuals and small businesses. It offers a wide range of customizable templates, robust ecommerce features through Ecwid integration, and comprehensive marketing tools. Yola’s user-friendly interface and extensive learning resources make it accessible to users of all skill levels. Considering Format vs Yola, Yola is a better choice for those seeking a more general-purpose website builder with strong ecommerce and marketing capabilities.

Best for ecommerce

Verdict

: Yola offers more robust ecommerce features compared to Format, making it a better choice for small businesses looking to sell products online. However, Format is ideal for creative professionals who need a platform to showcase their work with basic ecommerce capabilities.

• 
  Format
  
  : Designed for creative professionals, Format provides essential ecommerce features like inventory management, discounts, and multiple currency options. However, its ecommerce capabilities are limited, making it less suitable for businesses with extensive ecommerce needs. When comparing Format vs Yola, Format excels in showcasing products through high-quality imagery and detailed descriptions but lacks advanced ecommerce functionalities.
• 
  Yola
  
  : With its integration with Ecwid, Yola supports the sale of up to 1000 products without transaction fees and offers various ecommerce features such as shipping and tax configurations, product catalog management, and guest checkout. Yola’s customizable templates and advanced product page customization options make it a more comprehensive solution for ecommerce compared to Format.

Best for informational & business websites

Verdict

: When it comes to creating informational and business websites, Yola slightly outperforms Format. Yola’s diverse range of templates and comprehensive hosting and speed optimization strategies make it a strong contender for small businesses and individuals looking to establish a professional online presence. Format, while excellent for creative professionals, may not offer the same level of versatility for general business websites.

• 
  Format
  
  : Format is tailored for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, and designers. It offers nearly 100 customizable templates that emphasize high-quality imagery and mobile-friendly designs. The platform’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for users to create and manage their online presence without needing any coding knowledge. However, its focus on creative portfolios may limit its appeal for more general business websites.
• 
  Yola
  
  : Yola is designed to help individuals and small businesses create professional-looking websites with ease. It offers a drag-and-drop interface and a variety of responsive and customizable templates. Yola’s comprehensive approach to website speed optimization and managed cloud hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee make it a reliable choice for business websites. Additionally, Yola’s extensive range of plugins and integrations, along with robust security measures, provide a well-rounded solution for managing an online presence.

Detailed comparison

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Winner: Yola.

Although both website builders offer a range of design functionalities and templates, Yola edges out with a slightly higher score and a more diverse range of templates and designs.

Format is a website builder specifically designed for creatives, offering nearly 100 customizable templates tailored for various artistic disciplines. It emphasizes high-quality imagery and mobile-friendly designs, ensuring portfolios look professional on any device.

Format Themes

On the other hand, Yola offers a diverse range of templates and designs, catering to various types of websites, from personal blogs to professional business sites. Users can choose from a wide selection of themes, each customizable to fit their specific needs and preferences. With hundreds of templates available, Yola ensures that there is something for everyone, regardless of their niche or industry.

Yola Themes

🏆 Winner: Format

. Scoring 8.3, Format edges out Yola, which scored 8.0, in terms of ease of use. Format’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface and user-friendly platform tailored for creatives make it a slightly more accessible option for users without extensive technical skills. However, Yola’s simplicity and straightforward design tools also make it a convenient choice for individuals and small businesses.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Yola

. Both platforms provide a variety of learning resources, but Yola stands out with its comprehensive and up-to-date tutorials, guides, video tutorials, and a knowledge base aimed at supporting users of all skill levels. Format, on the other hand, offers a comprehensive help center with a wide array of articles and an official YouTube channel.

When it comes to ecommerce, both Format and Yola offer basic functionalities. Format, designed specifically for creatives and photographers, provides features such as product management, currency options, and discounts. However, its ecommerce capabilities are basic and may not suit those looking for extensive ecommerce features. On the other hand, Yola, through an integration with Ecwid, allows for the sale of up to 1000 products without transaction fees and supports multiple currencies and payment services. However, its ecommerce features may be limited by the lack of tiered options for scalability and a conventional CMS dashboard, as well as the absence of a marketplace for extensions and plugins.

Format ecommerce features:

• Inventory management and tracking
• Discounts
• Multiple currency options

Yola ecommerce features:

• Shipping and Tax configurations
• Product Catalog Management
• Ability to checkout as guest
• Analytics and reporting
• Promotions features

Ecommerce themes & templates

Format does not have ecommerce specific templates. Yola, however, offers a range of templates for building websites, including those suitable for ecommerce. The templates are customizable, especially for users on higher-tier plans (Silver or Gold), which allow for deeper customization, including CSS editing.

Product page customization

Format offers limited specific details on product page customization directly, but its e-commerce features suggest a focus on showcasing products through high-quality imagery and detailed descriptions. Yola’s eCommerce platform offers a variety of customization options for your product pages, including the ability to manage product options and combinations. This feature is especially useful for selling items that come in different sizes, colors, or models, allowing customers to select their preferences directly from the product page.

Payment processing

The Format website builder offers integration with major payment gateways, including Paypal and Stripe. It charges a 15% commission on the Pro plan and 5% on the Pro Plus plan. However, the platform does not have built-in POS (Point of Sale) capabilities. Yola supports various payment gateways for online store transactions, such as PayPal, Sage Payments, and American Express, allowing users to choose based on their specific needs, including geographical availability and fee structure. While Yola doesn’t directly charge commission fees for transactions, the chosen payment gateway might impose its own fees, including transaction and possibly monthly fees.

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Winner: Format

. Format, with a score of 7.5, is a website builder specifically designed for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, designers, and illustrators. It offers a range of customizable templates that are tailored to showcase portfolios in a visually appealing manner. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, users can easily create and manage their online presence without needing any coding knowledge. Format also includes features like an integrated online store, client proofing, and blogging tools, making it a comprehensive platform for creatives to share their work and connect with potential clients.

Yola, scoring 6.7, is a user-friendly website builder designed to help individuals and small businesses create professional-looking websites without the need for advanced technical skills. It offers a drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for users to add and customize elements on their web pages. Yola provides a variety of templates that are responsive and customizable to ensure that websites look great on any device. Additionally, it includes features such as SEO tools, e-commerce capabilities, and the option to publish a site with a custom domain, making it a comprehensive solution for creating and managing an online presence.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: Yola

. Both Format and Yola do not offer a dedicated mobile app for editing. However, they allow some level of editing through a mobile browser. Format’s interface on a mobile browser is the same as the desktop version, which can be difficult to use on a smartphone.

On the other hand, Yola allows for some small changes using a mobile browser, which might be slightly more convenient for users. Therefore, Yola edges out Format in this category with a score of 4.5 compared to Format’s 4.0.

Overall Result

:

Format wins

with a score of 8.3 against Yola’s 7.5. Format offers a 14-day free trial during which users can test all premium features. On the other hand, Yola does not offer a free trial but allows users to test premium features during a 30-day refundable period. Both platforms offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Yola offers a wider range of price plans, including a free option and add-ons for online stores, while Format’s plans are more tailored towards creative professionals.

Winner: Yola

. Yola outperforms Format in hosting quality, offering managed cloud hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and data centers in the US and EU. Format, on the other hand, does not provide detailed information about its hosting type, uptime, or data center locations, which makes it difficult to assess its hosting quality.

🏆 Winner: Yola

Both Format and Yola prioritize website performance and page speed, but Yola has a more comprehensive approach to speed optimization, which gives it an edge over Format.

Yola’s approach to enhancing site speed includes a variety of strategies such as using a Content Delivery Network (CDN), caching, code minification, server response time improvements, and image optimization. These strategies help to improve the load times and PageSpeed scores of websites built with Yola. Additionally, Yola places an emphasis on improving Core Web Vitals (CWV), specifically the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

On the other hand, Format’s approach to speed optimization is primarily focused on image and video optimization. This is particularly important for Format’s target audience of creative professionals who often have media-rich websites. However, Format does not disclose any specific information on their Core Web Vitals improvements. The load times and PageSpeed scores for websites built with Format can vary widely depending on the level of optimization and the complexity of the website.

🏆 Winner: Yola.

Yola scores 6.3, offering a variety of plugins and integrations that enhance functionalities such as social media integration, e-commerce tools, marketing and SEO enhancements, and customer engagement features. Format, with a score of 4.9, offers a limited selection of plugins/integrations, including Adobe Lightroom, Mailchimp, and Google Analytics. However, compared to Yola, Format’s capabilities for expansion through plugins and integrations are notably limited.

Yola Applications

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Overall Winner: Yola

. Yola stands out for its more comprehensive marketing tools, especially in SEO, email marketing, and ads and promotions. Format is strong in blogging and social media integration, ideal for creative professionals.

🏆 Winner: Format

. Comparing Format vs Yola, Format takes the lead in this category with its 24/7 customer support available through email and live chat. The global distribution of their tech support team ensures round-the-clock assistance, which is highly beneficial for users who may need help at any time.

Yola, on the other hand, offers 24/7 email support with priority responses for Bronze, Silver, and Gold customers. While Yola also provides a call-you-back service and support via social media channels, it falls short in comparison to Format’s more immediate live chat option. Despite this, Yola’s premium support for paid plans is a notable feature, ensuring that users on higher-tier plans receive prompt assistance.

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Winner: Yola

. Yola’s security measures are more comprehensive, with a higher security score of 8.3 compared to Format’s 7.4. Yola employs robust security measures including SSL encryption, DDoS mitigation, firewalls, regular software updates, data backup, and recovery, as well as security audits and testing to safeguard users’ websites. These measures help protect against various threats such as data interception, denial-of-service attacks, unauthorized access, and system vulnerabilities.

Format, on the other hand, emphasizes the security of user data through encrypted data storage, both in transit and at rest, and employs strict access controls to ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive information. The platform regularly updates its security measures to protect against new threats and complies with data protection regulations like GDPR. Users are also provided with resources to help secure their accounts, including strong password guidelines and two-factor authentication options. However, specific details about Format’s security measures were not directly mentioned, the website builder does offer SSL security across its plans, which is a fundamental security feature for any website.

🏆 Winner: Tie

. Both Format and Yola lack AI capabilities. Neither platform offers AI-driven design, SEO optimization, customer behavior analysis, sales predictions, inventory management, or content generation. This lack of AI capabilities may limit the user experience and functionality of both platforms.

🏆 Winner: Yola

. Yola and Format offer different levels of user management capabilities.

• Format allows only one user to manage and edit websites, which might be limiting for teams or collaborative projects.
• Yola, on the other hand, supports multi-user editing capabilities, allowing different levels of access and control based on the plan chosen. The primary account holder, often referred to as the Owner or Administrator, possesses comprehensive control over the website, including the ability to edit content, manage settings, and extend invitations to collaborators for website modification. Collaborators or Editors, invited by the account holder, can edit the website to varying degrees, which might range from content editing to page management, depending on the permissions granted by Yola’s platform. The number of users permitted to edit a website and the scope of their roles and permissions may vary, typically increasing with higher-tier subscription plans.

Additional Features

User Feedback

Users highly praise Format for its user-friendly website builder, particularly noting the ease of adding images and the effectiveness of customer service. Many reviewers appreciate the variety of modern templates and the platform’s suitability for users without technical expertise, especially photographers. Format’s mobile app and proofing section receive special mentions for their convenience and functionality. However, some users desire more customization options, particularly for mobile views, and mention minor limitations in template flexibility and SEO functionality. Overall, Format is celebrated for its ability to provide a professional online presence easily and efficiently, solving users’ needs for showcasing work and attracting new clients.

Yola seems to have received mostly positive reviews. Users appreciate its professional templates, ease of use, affordability, and customer service. They find it ideal for website creation, especially for those without specialized knowledge. However, some users express dissatisfaction with aspects such as data security, customization limitations, and lack of certain features like chat support. Overall, Yola appears to solve the problem of easy website creation and maintenance for businesses and individuals, offering a range of templates and tools at a reasonable price point.

FAQ