Google Sites vs Carrd: What’s the Best Builder in 2024?

In the Google Sites vs Carrd comparison, there are several things to consider. It’s important to consider the type of website you’re looking to build. Google Sites is ideal in team collaboration and integrates easily with Google’s ecosystem, making it a strong choice for group projects, professional portfolios, and informational websites. Carrd, in its turn, stands out for its simplicity, affordability, and flexibility, particularly for creating visually appealing single-page websites. Let’s understand the important comparison features in detail.

Google Sites vs Carrd: Final verdict

Google Sites and Carrd each have their own unique advantages, but they are designed to meet different user needs and preferences.

• 
  Google Sites (Overall Grade: 5.6/10)
  
  is ideal for users looking for a collaborative platform that integrates effortlessly with other Google services. It is great at user management, security, and hosting quality, making it ideal for team projects, personal portfolios, and small business websites. However, its limited design features and lack of ecommerce capabilities may make it less attractive for those with more complex website requirements.
• 
  Carrd (Overall Grade: 6.1/10)
  
  stands out for its simplicity, ease of use, and affordability. It is perfect for quickly and efficiently creating fully responsive, single-page websites. Carrd offers a wider variety of templates and better design customization options compared to Google Sites. While not primarily built for ecommerce, it supports basic ecommerce functionalities through third-party integrations, making it a versatile option for personal profiles, landing pages, and small business websites.

Which one is the best for ecommerce: Google Sites or Carrd?

Verdict

: Google Sites and Carrd are not primarily designed for ecommerce, but Carrd offers more options and functions for small-scale online stores.

• 
  Google Sites
  
  : Google Sites lacks built-in ecommerce features, requiring users to rely on third-party integrations for functionalities like embedding payment buttons or linking to external platforms. This makes it less suitable for those wanting to set up an online store quickly and efficiently.
• 
  Carrd
  
  : Carrd offers basic ecommerce functionalities, including integration with payment platforms like Stripe and PayPal. It provides a selection of ecommerce templates and supports simple product listings. While not as feature-rich as dedicated ecommerce platforms, Carrd is a more suitable option for small-scale ecommerce needs compared to Google Sites.

Which one is the best for informational and business websites?

Verdict

: For creating informational and business websites, Carrd outperforms Google Sites with a score of 7.9 compared to Google Sites’ 7.2. Carrd’s simplicity, ease of use, and design flexibility make it an excellent option for those looking to quickly and efficiently build visually appealing, single-page websites.

• 
  Google Sites
  
  : Google Sites is a strong tool for creating structured web pages, especially for team projects and small business websites. Its integration with other Google services and collaborative features make it a popular choice for users who need to work together on a site. However, its design and customization options are somewhat limited compared to Carrd, limiting the user’s creative control.
• 
  Carrd
  
  : Carrd offers a simple platform for creating fully responsive, single-page websites. With a wide range of templates and customization options, it meets various needs, from personal profiles to business landing pages. Carrd’s user-friendly interface and affordable pricing plans make it a great option for individuals and small businesses looking to establish an online presence quickly. In comparison, Carrd’s design flexibility and ease of use make it the preferred choice for informational and business websites.

Google Sites vs Carrd: Detailed comparison

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Winner: Carrd.

Carrd offers diverse templates and designs, more customization flexibility, and more creative design possibilities than Google Sites.

Google Sites provides a limited selection of templates for various purposes, from personal blogs to business websites. These templates focus on user engagement, simplicity, and functionality, with some customization options to meet specific needs. However, compared to Carrd, Google Sites’s design customization is limited and less flexible.

Google Sites Themes

In comparison, Carrd provides a large templates and design selection to meet various needs and preferences. Users can select from a broad array of themes, from simple and minimalist to more complex and dynamic layouts, giving something for everyone. The platform regularly updates its template library with fresh designs, staying aligned with the latest web design trends.

Carrd Themes

🏆 Winner: Carrd

. With a score of 9.0, Carrd is designed for simplicity and ease of use. It’s a perfect choice for beginners and those who want to create single-page websites quickly. Google Sites, scoring 8.3, offers a user-friendly interface and integrates easily with other Google services, but it may lack advanced features desired by more experienced web developers.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Google Sites

. Google Sites’s learning resources range from practical guides for educators to inclusive digital skill development programs for the wider public. Carrd also offers a range of tutorials and documentation, but Google Sites’ resources are broader.

In the case of ecommerce, both Google Sites and Carrd are not primarily designed for this purpose. However, they offer some features through third-party integrations.

Google Sites does not have built-in ecommerce features, but users can add ecommerce functionality by embedding third-party tools or widgets, linking to external ecommerce platforms, or using buttons that connect to payment processors. For example, Google Forms can be used for order forms, and services like PayPal can handle transactions. To create a full-functional ecommerce platform with Google Sites, you’ll need to rely on these external integrations or services.

Google Sites ecommerce features:

Google Sites itself does not have built-in ecommerce features.

However, Carrd gives basic product listing options and integrates with payment platforms like Stripe and Paypal. It also offers a selection of ecommerce templates. Carrd is primarily designed as a simple, lightweight platform for building one-page websites and does not come with strong ecommerce features out of the box. Users looking to add more full-scale ecommerce functionality should use third-party services or link to external platforms like Etsy or Shopify.

Carrd ecommerce features:

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

Ecommerce themes & templates

Google Sites does not offer any ecommerce templates. In contrast, Carrd provides 14 ecommerce templates for users looking to quickly launch online stores. These templates are designed with simplicity and conversion optimization in mind, featuring a range of styles from dark themes to minimalist aesthetics. They are priced at $19 or $25, depending on the template, and require a Pro Standard account or higher to access advanced elements and widgets.

Product page customization

Google Sites does not have product page customization features, as products can only be listed by embedding third-party platforms. In this case, all customization is handled within those platforms.

In contrast, Carrd offers a more efficient approach to product page customization. It has integrations with third-party platforms like Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, and Gumroad. Users can create product pages in Carrd by adding details such as the product name, description, image, and price, then integrate a checkout button using Carrd’s Widget element for platforms like Stripe.

Payment processing

Payment gateways can be integrated into Google Sites using external tools or links, rather than built-in features. This can be done by embedding HTML code for payment buttons from services like PayPal, Square, or Stripe, or by linking to an external checkout page. Third-party ecommerce widgets also provide an option for adding payment functionality. That said, Google Sites does not have the complete ecommerce features that dedicated platforms offer.

Carrd allows Pro Plus users and above to create payment-enabled forms. It integrates with Stripe Checkout for processing payments. This feature supports many transactions, such as order forms or paid email lists. Users can configure payments through Stripe, either by setting a fixed price or using a custom amount, and must enter Stripe API keys to complete the setup. Carrd does not mention charging commissions or offering POS capabilities in its documentation. For payment gateways, it specifically supports Stripe and PayPal.

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Winner: Tie

. Both Google Sites and Carrd earned a score of 7.0 for their website editors, each providing distinct advantages.

Google Sites’s a user-friendly website builder allows users to create and design websites. Its drag-and-drop interface allows you to add, customize, and arrange elements such as text, images, and videos on web pages effortlessly. The tool also has many templates and design options to help users get started quickly and create professional-looking sites. Since Google Sites integrates with other Google services, you can easily include Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Maps into the website.

Carrd’s website builder editor is designed for simplicity and efficiency, primarily for users who want to create single-page websites. It features a user-friendly interface with drag-and-drop functionality, making it easy to add, customize, and position elements like text, images, buttons, and forms. The editor also offers a variety of pre-designed templates and responsive design options for websites to look professional and perform well across devices. Carrd also includes basic SEO tools and integrates with external services. It’s an excellent choice for personal projects, portfolios, and small business landing pages.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: Carrd

. Neither Google Sites nor Carrd offers a dedicated mobile editor app. However, Carrd allows users to edit their websites on a mobile browser, which gives it an edge over Google Sites. This feature can be useful for people who need to make quick changes on the go.

As mentioned, Google Sites does not support mobile editing, which can be a significant drawback for users who prefer to work on their websites from a mobile device.

Carrd wins in this category due to its mobile browser editing capability.

Overall Result

:

Google Sites wins

. Google Sites scores 6.9 in product testing options, slightly higher than Carrd’s 6.0. Google Sites offers a free version and a 14-day trial period during which some premium features can be tested. Carrd, in contrast, does not offer a free version but provides a 7-day trial period for testing premium features. Neither platform offers a money-back guarantee.

Carrd’s pricing plans are more budget-friendly compared to Google Sites. Thus, it becomes a great choice for individuals and small businesses. However, Google Sites offers more advanced features and greater scalability, which make it a stronger option for larger organizations.

 

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Winner: Google Sites

Google Sites offers cloud-based managed hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. It operates 21 data centers globally. It means the hosting service is fast and strong. Carrd, in contrast, offers shared hosting but does not provide any statistics on uptime or information about its data centers, making Google Sites the clear winner in this category.

🏆 Winner: Carrd

Both Google Sites and Carrd focus on website performance and page speed, but Carrd wins with its simple, single-page design that minimizes load times and speeds up the page.

Carrd, with its focus on simplicity and ease of use, guarantees minimal load times and high page speed. It uses mobile responsive design, caching, and Cloudflare CDN as its key strategies for speed optimization. However, Carrd does not disclose any information related to Core Web Vitals improvements.

Google Sites uses automated optimization, CDN, mobile optimization, browser caching, code minification, and the use of AMP as its key strategies for speed optimization. It also emphasizes on LCP, FID, CLS improvements for Core Web Vitals. In its turn, Google does not disclose statistics about website Page Speed scores or load times.

🏆 Winner: Google Sites.

Google Sites scores 6.4, offering a broad selection of plugins and extensions to enhance website functionality. It integrates with various Google services and third-party platforms like Elfsight and Common Ninja. The integrations provide features such as social media feeds, review displays, chat support, ecommerce tools, and interactive widgets. Carrd, with a score of 5.8, also offers a range of plugins and extensions, both free and paid, but falls behind in terms of the variety and depth of functionalities available.

Google Sites Applications

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Overall Winner: Carrd

. Carrd has many more marketing features, including SEO tools, email marketing via third-party integrations, blogging, social media integration, analytics and reporting, as well as support for ads and promotions. In contrast, Google Sites offers basic SEO settings and Google Analytics integration but does not have email marketing, blogging, and ads and promotions functionalities.

🏆 Winner: Google Sites

. In the comparison of Google Sites vs Carrd, Google Sites wins with a customer support score of 7.2. Google Sites offers many forms of support options, including a Help Center, community forums, and direct support for Google Workspace customers. Enterprise users benefit from 24/7 phone and email support.

Carrd provides 24/7 email support with a typical response time of 24 hours. While this is sufficient for many users, Carrd, with a score of 6.2, does not have the inclusive support options and enterprise-level support that Google Sites offers.

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Winner: Google Sites

. Google Sites, with a security score of 9.3, offers important security measures including SSL encryption, two-factor authentication, and automatic malware scanning. It also benefits from Google’s regular security updates and compliance with international data protection standards. Google Workspace offers private data storage and protection through data encryption in transit and at rest, strict access controls. It also follows international data protection regulations like GDPR.

Although it may not offer the same security level as Google Sites, Carrd, with a security score of 7.6, also guarantees website security. It automatically enables SSL for all sites. Carrd collects personal information and uses cookies for website operation, data gathering, and improving user experiences. It takes measures to protect personal information online and offline.

🏆 Winner: Tie

. Neither Google Sites nor Carrd offers AI capabilities. Both platforms focus on providing a simple, user-friendly interface for building websites, but do not incorporate AI tools or features into their platforms.

🏆 Winner: Google Sites

. Google Sites and Carrd offer different approaches to user management.

• Google Sites allows multiple users to collaborate with different roles, including Owners, who have full control, and Editors, who can modify content but not site settings. There’s no strict limit on the number of users who can edit a site, allowing flexibility in management and development. Viewers can only see the site, with no editing permissions. This structure supports collaborative website building with varied levels of access and control for different users.
• Carrd is primarily designed for individual use or small teams, with each account managing its 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.

Unfortunately, there are no detailed user roles and access levels tables available for both Google Sites and Carrd.

Additional Features

Google Sites vs Carrd: User Feedback

Users consistently claimed that Google Workspace is easy to use, collaborative, and a go-to solution for various professional and educational needs. The platform’s simplicity and user-friendly interface enable effortless website creation and sharing of information within organizations. While some users desire more customization options and additional features, overall, Google Workspace remains highly valued for its versatile workflow facilitation.

Users praise Carrd for its user-friendly interface, excellent customer support, and attractive templates. They claim that website creation is 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.

Google Sites vs Carrd: FAQ