Format vs Zoho Sites: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

Format and Zoho Sites 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 provides nearly 100 customizable templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, making it easy to create visually appealing portfolios. However, its feature set is somewhat limited for broader website needs, and its ecommerce capabilities are basic compared to Zoho Sites. Format excels in ease of use, scoring 8.3, and offers a comprehensive help center and YouTube tutorials for learning resources.
• 
  Zoho Sites (Overall Grade: 7.6/10)
  
  offers a more versatile platform suitable for various website projects, including business, blogging, and art. It provides over 150 customizable templates and a user-friendly visual editor. Zoho Sites outperforms Format in ecommerce, with a score of 7.4, offering robust features like product and inventory management, payment processing, and SEO tools. It also excels in hosting quality, website speed optimization, and security, making it a reliable choice for users seeking a comprehensive website building solution.

	Overall grade: 5.8	Overall grade: 7.6
Design functionalities & templates	7.0	7.4
Ease of use	8.3	7.0
Ecommerce	5.2	7.4
Website Editors	7.5	7.5
Product testing options	8.3	8.8
Price	7.9	8.6
Hosting quality	5.0	8.0
Website speed optimization	5.0	7.1
Plugins and integrations	4.9	7.3
Marketing features	5.3	7.6
Customer support	7.0	8.3
Security	7.4	8.1
AI capabilities	0.0	7.5
User Management	2.8	7.3

Best for ecommerce

5.2

7.4

Verdict

: Zoho Sites is the better choice for ecommerce, offering a more comprehensive set of features and better integration with ecommerce tools compared to Format.

• 
  Format
  
  : Format is designed for creative professionals, offering basic ecommerce functionalities such as inventory management, discounts, and multiple currency options. However, it lacks ecommerce-specific templates and advanced customization options, making it less suitable for businesses looking to scale their online stores. When comparing Format vs Zoho Sites, Format’s ecommerce capabilities are limited, scoring 5.2.
• 
  Zoho Sites
  
  : Zoho Sites excels in ecommerce with a score of 7.4, providing extensive product and inventory management, order management, payment processing, and marketing features. Its integration with Zoho Commerce enhances its ecommerce capabilities, making it a robust platform for businesses aiming to create and manage online stores efficiently. Zoho Sites offers customizable ecommerce templates and advanced product page customization options, making it a more versatile choice for ecommerce.

Best for informational & business websites

7.2

7.9

• 
  Format
  
  : Format is designed for creative professionals, offering customizable templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. It is ideal for showcasing portfolios and includes features like an integrated online store and client proofing. However, its feature set may be limited for broader website needs, and some users find its interface less intuitive.
• 
  Zoho Sites
  
  : Zoho Sites provides a versatile platform with a wide range of customizable templates and a user-friendly visual editor. It supports various website projects, including business, blogging, and art. With features like auto-save, custom domain names, and membership portals, Zoho Sites offers more creative control and advanced functionalities, making it a preferred choice for informational business websites.

Detailed comparison

7.0

7.4

🏆

Winner: Zoho Sites.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers more creative control and a wide array of design features, Zoho Sites is the preferred choice.

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. While it offers easy-to-use features and e-commerce tools for selling work directly, some users find its interface less intuitive and its feature set somewhat limited for broader website needs.

Format Themes

Compared to Format, 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. Customization options include visual elements such as colors, fonts, and images, as well as the ability to modify layouts and content using the visual editor. For advanced users on the Advanced Plan, there’s the option to leverage HTML and CSS for deeper customization.

Zoho Sites Themes

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8.3

7.0

🏆 Winner: Format

. With a score of 8.3, Format offers an intuitive and user-friendly platform tailored for creatives. Zoho Sites, scoring 7.0, provides a positive user experience but may present challenges for users requiring advanced features and seamless data integration.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites provides a wide 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. Format, on the other hand, provides a comprehensive help center with a wide array of articles and maintains an official YouTube channel that features tutorials and updates.

5.2

7.4

When it comes to ecommerce, Zoho Sites outperforms Format with a score of 7.4 compared to Format’s 5.2. While Format offers basic ecommerce functionalities tailored for creatives and photographers, Zoho Sites provides a more comprehensive ecommerce solution through its integration with Zoho Commerce.

Ecommerce themes and templates	4.0	6.5
Product page customization	5.5	7.0
Payment processing and commissions	4.5	6.8
POS capabilities	0.0	5.5
Payment gateways	6.5	7.2
Product numbers	5.0	6.0
Additional ecommerce features	3.5	7.3

Format ecommerce features:

• Inventory management and tracking
• Discounts
• Multiple currency options

Zoho Sites ecommerce features:

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

Ecommerce themes & templates

Format does not offer ecommerce specific templates, limiting its appeal for businesses looking to create an online store. On the other hand, 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.

Product page customization

Format offers limited specific details on product page customization, focusing on showcasing products through high-quality imagery and detailed descriptions. Zoho Sites, however, offers extensive product page customization options, including features like image galleries, sliders, and video integration, enabling businesses to present their products in a visually appealing manner.

Payment processing

Format integrates with major payment gateways, including Paypal and Stripe, but charges a commission on sales. It does not have built-in POS (Point of Sale) capabilities. 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.

7.5

7.5

🏆

Draw: Format and Zoho Sites

. Both Format and Zoho Sites score 7.5 for their website editors, indicating a similar level of quality and user-friendliness.

Format’s website editor is specifically designed for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, designers, and illustrators. It offers a range of customizable templates tailored to showcase portfolios in a visually appealing manner. The editor is highly user-friendly and accessible for beginners, with features such as drag-and-drop image import, social media integration, SEO tools, and e-commerce capabilities.

On the other hand, Zoho Sites offers a more versatile website builder suitable for various website projects. Its user-friendly editor features an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface and a visual editor for easy customization without coding. It supports advanced functionalities like auto-save, custom domain names, form builders, blogging, and membership portals.

Mobile editor/app

4.0

5.5

🏆

Winner: Zoho Sites

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

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 allow content changes through the mobile interface. Despite this limitation, Zoho Sites offers a slightly better mobile editing experience than Format, hence it scores higher in this category.

8.3

8.8

Overall Result

:

Zoho Sites Wins

. Zoho Sites scores 8.8, slightly higher than Format’s 8.3. Both platforms offer a free trial period, with Zoho Sites providing a slightly longer duration of 15 days compared to Format’s 14 days. Zoho Sites also allows testing of all features of each plan during the free trial, while Format only allows testing of premium features. Both platforms offer a money-back guarantee, with Zoho Sites providing a more flexible policy for annual subscriptions.

Free Plan	No	Yes
Trial Duration	14 days	15 days
Testing Premium Features	During free trial	All features of each plan during trial
Money Back Guarantee	30-day money back guarantee	30-day for monthly, 45-day for annual

7.9

8.6

Zoho Sites offers a better price score than Format, indicating better value for money.

Both builders offer discounts for annual subscriptions, with Format offering a 30-60% discount depending on the plan, and Zoho Sites offering discounts ranging from 16% to 37.5% depending on the plan. Neither builder offers a specific enterprise plan, but Zoho Sites offers options suitable for enterprise needs through their Agency Plan and add-on packs.

	Offerings	Offerings
$5-$15	Basic ($12.00/month): Offers core services like mobile-optimized site, up to 10 web pages, and up to 70 high-resolution images. 3 client galleries, up to 2GB file transfers. No video uploads or custom code editor. Value for price: 5.0	Starter ($8.00/month): Offers basic features suitable for small websites, including 5 pages, 500MB storage, 10GB bandwidth/month, SSL hosting, domain connection, ad-free experience, and more. Ideal for personal blogs or small business websites. Value for price: 6.5
$20-$30	Pro ($24.00/month): Includes all from Basic, plus unlimited web pages, 1500 high-resolution images,15 mins video hosting, 100GB cloud storage, a free custom domain, Online Store with up to 15 products, 50 client galleries and up to 5GB file transfers. Value for price: 7.5	Pro ($23.00/month): Upgrades significantly on the Starter plan, offering 50 pages, 100GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, 50 forms, and advanced features like social share button, audio player, comment box, scheduled blog post, and dynamic content. Best suited for professional sites that require more resources and functionalities. Value for price: 8.0
$30+	Pro Plus ($36.00/month): Adds on Pro features with priority support, unlimited pages and high-res images, 120 mins video hosting, and 1TB cloud storage. Online Store with up to 1000 products, 250 client galleries and 10GB file transfers. Value for price: 8.5	Agency ($32.00/month): Tailored for agencies managing multiple sites, providing a bundle plan that offers significant savings and flexibility. Includes all Starter features with the option to add Pro features as needed. Value for price: 9.0

5.0

8.0

Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites offers managed hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and has 12 global data centers, providing efficient and reliable hosting services. On the other hand, Format does not provide detailed information about its hosting services, which results in a lower hosting quality score.

Do they offer hosting?	Yes	Yes
Data Centers:	Not disclosed	12 globally: Canada(Montreal and Toronto), US(Quincy and Dallas), India(Mumbai and Chennai), Australia(Sydney and Melbourne), China(Beijing and Shanghai), Japan(Tokyo and Osaka)
Type of hosting:	Not disclosed	Managed Hosting
Uptime:	Not disclosed	99.9%
Uptime Guarantee:	No	Yes, 99.9%

5.0

7.1

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

Both Format and Zoho Sites prioritize website performance and page speed, but Zoho Sites has a higher website speed optimization score and provides more detailed strategies for speed optimization.

Focus	Image and video optimization	Regular testing and updates, Optimized code
Performance Tools	Not specified	Not specified
Key Strategies	Image and video optimization	Optimized code and libraries, Cache balancing
Load Times	Varies depending on optimization and website complexity	Below 2-5 seconds average
Page Speed Scores Range	Not specified	70-80/100 average
Core Web Vitals Improvement	Not disclosed	Various performance optimization techniques

Format, a website builder designed for creative professionals, focuses on image and video optimization to enhance website speed. However, it does not disclose specific details about its load times, PageSpeed score ranges, or Core Web Vital improvements.

On the other hand, Zoho Sites, a user-friendly website building platform, implements regular testing and updates, optimized code and libraries, and cache balancing as part of its strategies for speed optimization. It has an average load time of below 2-5 seconds and an average PageSpeed score of 70-80/100. Zoho Sites also implements various performance optimization techniques to improve Core Web Vitals.

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4.9

7.3

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites.

Zoho Sites scores 7.3, offering a diverse range of plugins and extensions that span various categories like marketing, design, social media, SEO, payments, and more. It integrates many extensions into their paid plans, providing users with access to more features as they upgrade. On the other hand, Format, with a score of 4.9, offers support for a limited selection of plugins/integrations, including Adobe Lightroom, Mailchimp, and Google Analytics. However, its overall capabilities for expansion through plugins and integrations are notably limited.

Zoho Sites Applications

5.3

7.6

🏆

Overall Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites offers a more comprehensive set of marketing features, including advanced SEO tools, robust email marketing capabilities, multi-author blogging, extensive social media integrations, detailed analytics and reporting, and a range of ad and promotion features. Format, while offering a decent set of marketing tools, falls short in comparison, particularly in terms of its limited social media integrations and reliance on external services for analytics.

SEO Tools	Basic SEO tools for managing page titles, meta descriptions, and image alt tags	Advanced SEO features including meta tags, descriptions, keywords, custom URLs, and analytics
Email Marketing	Basic email marketing features with integration of branded email and email form subscriptions	Robust email marketing features with customizable templates, analytics, and integration with other Zoho applications
Blogging	Basic blogging features with blog posts and comments	Advanced blogging features with multi-author support, content scheduling, social media integration, email subscription forms, and RSS feed
Social Media Integration	Direct Instagram integration for displaying Instagram feed on the website	Extensive social media integrations with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and tools for embedding social media feeds and buttons
Analytics and Reporting	Integration with Google Analytics for tracking visitor traffic and page views	Detailed reports on website traffic, visitor demographics, and integration with Google Analytics for advanced tracking and reporting
Ads and Promotions	Basic promotional features with discounts and discount codes	Advanced ad and promotion features with Google Ads campaign management, special offers, discounts, and coupons

7.0

8.3

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Comparing Format vs Zoho Sites, Zoho Sites takes the lead in this category with a higher customer support score and a more comprehensive support system. Zoho Sites offers 24/7 support through live chat, email, and phone, along with a detailed knowledge base and community forum, ensuring users have access to reliable and prompt assistance whenever needed.

Format also provides 24/7 customer support through email and live chat, with a globally distributed tech support team to ensure round-the-clock availability. However, it lacks the extensive community resources and enterprise-level support that Zoho Sites offers, making Zoho Sites the better option for users seeking robust and accessible customer support.

7.4

8.1

Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites scores higher in security with a score of 8.1 compared to Format’s 7.4. 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. The platform uses SSL encryption to protect data transmission and offers two-factor authentication for added security. Additionally, Zoho Sites regularly updates its software to address any potential 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.

0.0

7.5

AI Builder
AI Ecommerce features		AI-backed product recommendations, sales predictions, workflow automation, and customer service enhancements
AI Content Generation		AI content generation through Zia, Zoho’s AI content assistant
Additional AI features		Sales predictions, workflow automation, and customer service enhancements through Zia, Zoho’s AI assistant

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites, with a score of 7.5, leverages AI capabilities to enhance the user experience. It offers AI-backed ecommerce features, AI content generation, and additional AI features provided by Zia, Zoho’s AI assistant. These features significantly improve the productivity, sales, and customer service processes.

On the other hand, Format, with a score of 0.0, does not have any AI capabilities. This lack of AI features may limit the functionality and user experience offered by Format compared to other website builders that utilize AI technology.

2.8

7.3

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Managing your online team with Format and Zoho Sites involves different approaches to website editing access.

• Format allows only one user to manage and edit websites.
• 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

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

Format

24 reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars

Zoho Sites

111 reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars

Format is highly praised for its user-friendly website builder, especially by creative professionals like photographers and designers. Users appreciate the ease of adding images, the variety of modern templates, and the platform’s suitability for those without technical expertise. The mobile app and proofing section are particularly well-received, although some users desire more customization options for mobile views and mention minor limitations in template flexibility and SEO functionality.

Zoho Sites, on the other hand, receives mixed reviews. Users commend 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 is seen as a cost-effective solution for those without coding knowledge, offering a one-stop-shop for building and managing websites.

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