Strikingly vs Portfoliobox: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

Strikingly and Portfoliobox both offer user-friendly website building experiences, but they cater to different audiences and needs.

• 
  Strikingly (Overall Grade: 6.6/10)
  
  is a versatile website builder suitable for small businesses and freelancers. It offers a wide range of templates, ecommerce integration, and SEO tools, making it a comprehensive platform for various online needs. Strikingly excels in ease of use, hosting quality, and marketing features, providing a robust solution for users looking to create professional websites quickly and efficiently. However, its customization options and plugin range are somewhat limited compared to Portfoliobox.
• 
  Portfoliobox (Overall Grade: 6.1/10)
  
  is tailored specifically for creative professionals, offering customizable templates and advanced features to showcase portfolios effectively. It stands out in design functionalities, ease of use, and security, making it an excellent choice for artists, photographers, and other creatives. Portfoliobox also provides a generous trial period and a comprehensive suite of learning resources. However, it lacks some advanced ecommerce features and has limited user management capabilities compared to Strikingly.

Best for ecommerce

Verdict

: Strikingly is more versatile and comprehensive, making it suitable for a broader range of online businesses, while Portfoliobox is tailored for creative professionals but lacks some advanced ecommerce features.

• 
  Strikingly
  
  : Strikingly offers a user-friendly interface with a drag-and-drop builder, making it easy to create professional-looking websites. It includes various ecommerce features such as product listings, inventory management, and SEO tools. Strikingly’s templates are modern and continuously updated, ensuring your ecommerce site remains visually appealing and functionally efficient. With support for multiple payment gateways and advanced customization options, Strikingly is well-suited for businesses looking to grow their online presence.
• 
  Portfoliobox
  
  : Portfoliobox is designed specifically for creative professionals, offering a streamlined process for setting up and managing online portfolios. While it supports ecommerce functionalities like product listings and payment gateways, it lacks ecommerce-specific templates and some advanced features. Portfoliobox is ideal for artists, photographers, and other creatives looking to sell their work online, but may not be the best choice for more complex ecommerce needs.

Best for informational & business websites

Verdict

: When comparing Strikingly vs Portfoliobox, both platforms are well-suited for creating informational and business websites, but Portfoliobox has a slight edge due to its tailored features for creative professionals.

• 
  Strikingly
  
  : Strikingly is a versatile website builder that offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and a variety of customizable templates. It is ideal for small businesses and freelancers who need a professional-looking website without the complexity of coding. Strikingly also provides essential features like ecommerce integration, blogging tools, and SEO optimization, making it a solid choice for those looking to build and manage their online presence with ease. With a score of 7.4, Strikingly is a reliable option for informational websites.
• 
  Portfoliobox
  
  : Portfoliobox is specifically designed for creative professionals, offering a range of customizable templates and advanced features to showcase portfolios effectively. It supports a variety of creative fields, including art, photography, music, and architecture, making it an excellent choice for those looking to promote their work online. Portfoliobox also includes ecommerce functionality, allowing users to sell their artwork or services directly from their websites. With a score of 7.5, Portfoliobox slightly outperforms Strikingly in this category, making it the preferred choice for creative professionals seeking a comprehensive and user-friendly platform.

Detailed comparison

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Winner: Portfoliobox.

If you’re a creative professional looking for a platform with more tailored design options and advanced features, Portfoliobox is the preferred choice.

Strikingly offers a wide variety of templates and designs for its website builder. With over 60 unique templates to choose from, users can find a design that suits their needs and preferences. The templates are modern, visually appealing, and customizable, allowing users to personalize their websites. Whether you’re creating a portfolio, blog, or online store, Strikingly has a template for every type of website. Additionally, the platform regularly adds new templates to keep up with the latest design trends.

Strikingly Themes

Compared to Strikingly, Portfoliobox is a user-friendly platform that allows for the creation of professional portfolio websites, accessible to individuals at any skill level. It offers over 30 customizable templates tailored to a variety of professional needs and preferences, including galleries, blogs, and online stores. The platform also provides features for enhanced functionality such as Adobe Lightroom integration, SSL security, marketing tools, and SEO-friendly options. With its intuitive design and comprehensive toolset, Portfoliobox serves as a versatile solution for creatives looking to establish or expand their online presence.

🏆 Tie

. Both Strikingly and Portfoliobox score an 8.1 in ease of use, making them equally user-friendly. Strikingly offers a straightforward drag-and-drop interface, modern templates, and essential features like ecommerce integration, making it ideal for small businesses and freelancers. Portfoliobox, on the other hand, is tailored for creative professionals, providing customizable templates and an intuitive interface for showcasing creative work.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Portfoliobox

. While both platforms offer extensive learning resources, Portfoliobox provides a more comprehensive suite of articles and video guides specifically designed for creative professionals. This focus on detailed and varied learning materials ensures users can effectively utilize the platform to enhance their digital presence.

Strikingly and Portfoliobox both offer ecommerce functionalities, but they cater to different needs and user bases. Strikingly is more versatile and comprehensive, making it suitable for a broader range of online businesses. Portfoliobox, on the other hand, is tailored for creative professionals looking to sell their work online but may lack some advanced ecommerce features.

Strikingly ecommerce features:

• Product Listings
• Inventory Management
• Coupons and Discounts
• SEO tools
• Analytics
• Social Media Integration

Portfoliobox ecommerce features:

• Product listings
• Payment Gateways integrations
• Shipping rates and tax calculations
• Order management

Ecommerce themes & templates

Strikingly offers a variety of ecommerce website templates tailored to meet various website building needs. These templates are designed by a world-class team of website designers and developers, focusing on modern trends and best practices to ensure your ecommerce site stands out. Strikingly’s collection is continuously updated with new designs to match the dynamic nature of online commerce, ensuring your website can remain visually appealing and functionally efficient.

Portfoliobox does not have ecommerce-specific templates, which may limit the visual appeal and functionality of online stores built on this platform.

Product page customization

Customizing product pages on Strikingly involves showcasing your products with high-quality images in the “Portfolio” or “Product Catalog” section, emphasizing a premium feel to attract buyers. Adding products is streamlined through the “Simple Store” section, where you can detail product types, names, descriptions, and manage inventory and pricing. Enhancements include social media sharing, categorization for diverse product ranges, and customization options like unique product URLs and region-specific pricing for a tailored shopping experience.

Portfoliobox offers a streamlined process for customizing product pages on its website builder. Users can create a product by adding details like title, description, and media, set a release date, and manage inventory and tax options. They can also edit product settings, such as the URL and shipping options, and apply discounts. These features are designed to help users effectively manage their online store and products within the Portfoliobox environment.

Payment processing

Strikingly supports secure payment processing through Stripe, Square, and other gateways like PayPal, offering a range of options for ecommerce sites. The transaction fees for using these services vary depending on the payment gateway and user location, with specific plans possibly incurring additional Strikingly fees, except for VIP users. The platform emphasizes the importance of selecting a payment gateway that aligns with your business needs, including consideration for international sales and multiple currencies to ensure a smooth checkout experience.

Portfoliobox supports selling prints, art, craft, or services online through its ecommerce solution, and notably, they do not charge any commission for transactions made through their platform. While specific payment gateways are not detailed, Portfoliobox mentions accepting credit card payments (Visa, Master, & Maestro) for its subscriptions, implying these may also be supported for transactions within its ecommerce functionality. However, there’s no explicit mention of POS (Point of Sale) capabilities, suggesting that the platform is primarily focused on online sales rather than physical retail or in-person transactions.

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Winner: Tie

. Both Strikingly and Portfoliobox score 7.5 for their website editors, each offering unique strengths tailored to different user needs.

Strikingly is a user-friendly website editor designed to help individuals and businesses create professional websites quickly and easily, without the need for coding knowledge. It features a drag-and-drop interface for easy customization of website elements, such as text, images, and videos. Users can choose from a variety of templates that can be personalized to fit their brand, making it possible to launch a unique online presence swiftly. Strikingly also emphasizes mobile responsiveness, ensuring websites look great on any device, and offers SEO tools and social media integration to enhance online visibility and engagement.

Portfoliobox offers a user-friendly website builder tailored for creative professionals, providing an array of tools for building and customizing portfolio websites. Features include blog management with a commenting system, customizable image galleries with security options, and the ability to sell digital products. It also supports SEO optimization, social media, and analytics integration for enhanced online presence. While praised for its ease of use and variety of features, some users may find it limited for advanced, detailed content needs.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: Strikingly

. Both Strikingly and Portfoliobox lack dedicated mobile editor apps, which limits their usability for on-the-go website management. However, Strikingly does allow users to edit their websites through a mobile browser, although the interface is noted to be very inconvenient. This minimal mobile editing capability gives Strikingly a slight edge over Portfoliobox, which does not offer any mobile editing options.

In summary, while neither platform excels in mobile editing, Strikingly provides a basic, albeit inconvenient, mobile editing option through a browser, whereas Portfoliobox does not support mobile editing at all.

Overall Result

:

Portfoliobox wins

. Portfoliobox scores 9.1, significantly higher than Strikingly’s 7.1, due to its more generous trial period and money-back guarantee. Portfoliobox offers a 30-day free trial with access to all features and a 14-day money-back guarantee, providing ample time and security for users to evaluate the platform. Strikingly, while offering a free version and a 14-day free trial with access to all features, lacks a money-back guarantee, which may be a drawback for some users.

Strikingly offers a range of plans from free to VIP, with discounts up to 30% for annual subscriptions, while Portfoliobox provides plans from Light to Pro Plus, with discounts up to 40% for annual subscriptions.

🏆

Winner: Strikingly

Strikingly offers managed hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and multiple data centers, making it a more reliable choice for users needing consistent performance. Portfoliobox, while providing managed cloud hosting with unlimited bandwidth, lacks disclosed uptime statistics and data center information, which may be a concern for users requiring transparency and reliability.

🏆 Winner: Strikingly

Strikingly outperforms Portfoliobox in terms of website speed optimization, thanks to its comprehensive strategies and higher average PageSpeed scores.

Strikingly employs a comprehensive set of strategies to optimize website speed, including the use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN), code minification, caching, optimized server response time, image optimization and compression, and responsive design. These strategies collectively contribute to better load times and higher PageSpeed scores, which typically range between 80-90/100 on average.

Portfoliobox, while also utilizing a CDN, caching, and responsive design, does not provide as detailed a strategy for speed optimization as Strikingly. The load times and PageSpeed scores for Portfoliobox can vary depending on the level of optimization applied, but the platform does not disclose specific average scores or improvements in Core Web Vitals.

Overall, Strikingly’s more detailed and comprehensive approach to website speed optimization gives it an edge over Portfoliobox in this comparison.

🏆 Winner: Portfoliobox.

Portfoliobox scores 7.2, offering a robust selection of plugins and integrations that cater to creative professionals. With support from platforms like Common Ninja and Elfsight, users can easily add advanced functionalities such as e-commerce tools, social media integrations, and interactive elements. Strikingly, with a score of 5.1, provides a more limited range of plugins, focusing on basic enhancements like social media sharing and contact forms. While Strikingly’s offerings are useful, Portfoliobox’s extensive and versatile plugin options make it the superior choice for those seeking to enrich their website’s capabilities.

Portfoliobox Applications

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Overall Winner: Strikingly

. Strikingly excels with its broader range of marketing tools, including advanced analytics and promotional features, making it a more versatile choice for various business needs. Portfoliobox, while strong in social media integration and basic analytics, is more tailored for creative professionals.

🏆 Winner: Strikingly

. Comparing Strikingly vs Portfoliobox, Strikingly takes the lead in this category with a customer support score of 7.2. Strikingly offers 24/7 customer support via email and live chat, ensuring users can get assistance at any time. For VIP users, phone support is also available, providing more direct communication. The platform is known for its quick and friendly responses, aiming to exceed customer expectations.

Portfoliobox, with a customer support score of 7.0, also provides 24/7 customer support. Their dedicated team is always available to offer professional guidance and assistance. While Portfoliobox ensures help is available whenever needed, it lacks the additional phone support option that Strikingly offers to its VIP users.

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Winner: Portfoliobox

. Portfoliobox excels in security with a comprehensive approach to data protection and website security. It ensures all domains receive free SSL certificates, employs two-factor authentication, and uses One-Time Passwords (OTPs) for critical actions. These measures, combined with compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), provide a robust security framework for users.

Strikingly also offers solid security features, including SSL/TLS encryption, two-factor authentication, and DDoS protection. However, its overall security score is slightly lower than Portfoliobox, indicating room for improvement in some areas. Strikingly’s proactive approach to implementing advanced security measures still makes it a reliable choice for users concerned about website security.

🏆 Winner: Strikingly

. Strikingly, with a score of 1.6, offers minimal AI capabilities, including a visual editor with layout suggestions and automatic image resizing. While these features are basic, they provide some level of AI assistance in website creation.

Portfoliobox, with a score of 0, does not offer any AI capabilities. It focuses on providing a user-friendly platform for creative professionals without incorporating AI-driven tools.

🏆 Winner: Strikingly

. When it comes to managing users and assigning roles, Strikingly offers a more robust and flexible system compared to Portfoliobox.

• Strikingly allows you to invite up to 10 teammates to edit and manage your site. You can assign different roles such as Admin, Editor, Store Manager, Blogger, and Agent, each with specific levels of access and permissions.
• Portfoliobox, on the other hand, allows only one user to manage and edit a website, which can be a significant limitation for larger teams or collaborative projects.

Strikingly User Roles and Access Levels:

Additional Features

User Feedback

Users appreciate features like the ability to import data from LinkedIn, a variety of attractive templates, and responsive customer service. However, there are some reported issues, such as unexpected subscription renewals and limitations in customization options. Despite these drawbacks, Strikingly is valued for its ability to quickly create professional-looking websites, making it suitable for personal projects, startups, and small businesses. While pricing and customer service options may not appeal to everyone, those seeking an uncomplicated website building experience with diverse design choices may find Strikingly to be a suitable solution for their needs.

Users overwhelmingly appreciate Portfoliobox for its user-friendly interface, making it straightforward for both beginners and professionals to create and manage online portfolios. The platform’s customizable design options, responsive layouts, and diverse template selection stand out as significant advantages, allowing users to express their personal style and showcase their work effectively across devices. However, some critiques include limited template options compared to competitors, a learning curve for less tech-savvy users, and minor glitches with features like autosave on different devices. Despite these challenges, the positive impact of Portfoliobox on users’ ability to present their work to potential clients and employers, along with its value in making portfolio creation accessible without coding knowledge, is consistently highlighted.

FAQ