Weebly vs Yola: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

Weebly and Yola both offer user-friendly platforms for building websites, but they cater to different user needs and preferences.

• 
  Weebly (Overall Grade: 7.3/10)
  
  shines with its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, a wide range of templates, and robust ecommerce features. It stands out for its ease of use, design functionalities, and comprehensive plugins and integrations. Weebly is particularly strong in marketing features and customer support, making it a solid choice for small businesses and individuals looking for a versatile website builder that balances simplicity with functionality.
• 
  Yola (Overall Grade: 6.5/10),
  
  while offering a user-friendly experience and a variety of templates, falls slightly behind Weebly in terms of ecommerce capabilities and overall feature set. However, it excels in hosting quality, providing managed cloud hosting with a focus on security and reliability. Yola is a good option for users prioritizing ease of use and hosting quality, especially for basic websites and small online stores.

Best for ecommerce

Verdict

: Weebly offers a more comprehensive ecommerce solution with a higher score and better features for growing online stores, while Yola provides basic ecommerce capabilities suitable for smaller ventures.

• 
  Weebly
  
  : With a score of 7.1, Weebly stands out for its user-friendly ecommerce features, including unlimited product listings, secure checkout, and customizable shipping options. It’s designed for users who seek a balance between ease of use and ecommerce functionality.
• 
  Yola
  
  : Scoring 5.7, Yola offers essential ecommerce features through its integration with Ecwid, supporting up to 1000 products. It’s a good starting point for small businesses, but its ecommerce capabilities may not scale as well as Weebly’s for growing online stores.

Best for informational & business websites

Verdict

: Weebly slightly outperforms Yola for informational and business websites, offering a more user-friendly experience and a wider range of features suitable for creating and managing such sites.

• 
  Weebly
  
  : With a score of 7.9, Weebly stands out for its ease of use and comprehensive features. It’s particularly well-suited for users looking to create informational websites with a professional look, thanks to its variety of themes, robust blogging platform, and seamless integration with third-party apps. Weebly’s user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and WYSIWYG editing make it a great choice for both beginners and experienced users.
• 
  Yola
  
  : Scoring 7.4, Yola is also a strong contender for building informational and business websites. It offers a user-friendly platform with a variety of responsive and customizable templates, ensuring websites look great on any device. While Yola provides essential features like SEO tools and e-commerce capabilities, it falls slightly behind Weebly in terms of overall ease of use and the breadth of features.

Detailed comparison

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Winner: Weebly.

Although both platforms offer a variety of templates and design flexibility, Weebly edges out Yola with a slightly higher score.

Weebly offers a curated selection of templates, numbering in the low hundreds, which is fewer than some competitors. However, the emphasis is on high-quality, professionally designed templates covering various categories such as business, ecommerce, portfolio, blog, personal, and events. Weebly’s templates are praised for their clean, modern, and responsive design, with easy customization options for colors, fonts, layout, images, and content.

Weebly 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: Weebly

. Scoring 8.1, Weebly edges out Yola, which scored 8.0, in terms of ease of use. Weebly’s drag-and-drop interface, WYSIWYG editing, mobile-friendly templates, and a wide template selection make it accessible for both beginners and experienced users. Yola, while also user-friendly, is more suited for users who prioritize quick setup and ease of use over complex customization.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Weebly

. Both platforms offer solid learning resources, but Weebly provides a more diverse range of resources, including a Help Center, blog, video tutorials, webinars, and a community forum. Yola’s resources are comprehensive and up-to-date, but Weebly’s wider variety of resources gives it the edge in this category.

Weebly and Yola both offer ecommerce capabilities, but they cater to different needs. Weebly’s ecommerce solution is user-friendly with features like unlimited product listings, secure checkout, customizable shipping options, and discount promotions. However, it has limitations such as less design flexibility in templates, certain advanced features being available only with paid plans, transaction fees on the free plan, and the absence of built-in marketing tools, which may require integration with third-party solutions.

On the other hand, Yola provides an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop website builder with ecommerce capabilities through an integration with Ecwid, allowing for the sale of up to 1000 products without transaction fees and supporting 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. The platform’s themes are not specifically optimized for ecommerce, which might require users to undertake significant design modifications.

Weebly ecommerce features:

• Unlimited products
• Inventory management
• Product reviews and ratings (Paid plans)
• Secure checkout
• Shipping options
• Abandoned cart recovery (Paid plans)
• Basic analytics
• SEO tools
• Marketing integrations (Paid plans)

Yola ecommerce features:

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

Ecommerce themes & templates

Weebly provides ecommerce-specific themes with a decent range of styles, offering built-in features like product galleries and optimized checkout flows. While customization options include adjustments to colors and fonts, limitations exist compared to dedicated platforms, with a smaller theme selection and less design flexibility, potentially requiring additional costs for premium themes with advanced features.

Yola offers a range of templates for building websites, including those suitable for ecommerce, but the variety and design quality may not match those provided by other leading website builders. The templates are customizable, especially for users on higher-tier plans (Silver or Gold), which allow for deeper customization, including CSS editing. While Yola supports ecommerce functionality, the emphasis on the number and variety of ecommerce-specific templates is less pronounced, suggesting a more generalized approach to template offerings.

Product page customization

Weebly allows a decent level of product page customization through its user-friendly interface, offering options for layout, colors, fonts, backgrounds, and content. While not as extensive as dedicated ecommerce platforms, it enables personalized and visually appealing product pages. Advanced customization, including custom CSS and app integrations, is available with paid plans, but limitations exist in design flexibility compared to dedicated platforms.

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. Furthermore, Yola supports variable pricing for these product options, enabling you to adjust prices based on the specific variant chosen by the customer.

Payment processing

When it comes to payment processing, Weebly seamlessly integrates with popular payment processors such as Square, Stripe, PayPal, and others, enabling secure and convenient online transactions for your store. Users can choose their preferred gateway, set up payment processing within Weebly’s settings, and benefit from features like secure checkout and, on paid plans, options for recurring payments and international transactions.

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. The platform focuses on e-commerce functionalities rather than direct POS system capabilities, with options to manage payment methods through the My Yola dashboard for subscriptions and new product purchases.

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Winner: Weebly

. Weebly, with a score of 7.6, stands out for its drag-and-drop simplicity, catering to beginners with an intuitive interface and visual editing. The editor features a range of pre-designed templates, customization options, and content management tools, making it accessible for users without coding knowledge. While offering ease of use, it has some limitations in design flexibility and advanced features, with certain functionalities requiring a move to paid plans.

Yola’s website builder editor, scoring 6.7, is designed for ease of use, allowing users to create professional-looking websites without needing coding knowledge. It offers a drag-and-drop interface, enabling users to easily add, customize, and position elements like text, images, and buttons on their web pages. The editor also provides access to a wide range of templates and customization options, including color schemes, fonts, and page layouts, to help users achieve their desired website look and feel. Additionally, Yola supports responsive design, ensuring websites look great on both desktop and mobile devices.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: Weebly

. Both Weebly and Yola offer mobile editing capabilities, but they cater to different needs and skill levels. Weebly has a mobile app that allows users to manage and make basic edits to their websites on the go. While it offers features like content management and basic design customization, it has limitations, such as no advanced editing capabilities or extensive design flexibility, making it best suited for quick content updates rather than major design changes.

On the other hand, Yola does not have a dedicated mobile editor app. It is possible to make some small changes using a mobile browser, but this is far less convenient and flexible than a dedicated app. Therefore, Weebly is the clear winner in this category due to its dedicated mobile app and the greater range of editing capabilities it offers.

Overall Result

:

Weebly wins

. Weebly scores 8.3 in product testing options, slightly higher than Yola’s 7.5. Both platforms offer a free version and a 30-day money back guarantee. However, Weebly stands out by allowing users to explore all features of any paid plan and offering a full refund within 30 days if the user is not satisfied. Yola also allows testing of premium features during the 30-day refundable period, but it does not offer a trial version.

Weebly and Yola both offer a range of plans to suit different needs, with Weebly scoring slightly higher in terms of price.

Winner: Yola

. Both Weebly and Yola offer hosting services with their plans, but Yola stands out with its managed cloud hosting, automatic and manual backup services, and specific data centers in the US and EU. Weebly, on the other hand, offers shared, cloud-based, and managed hosting but has been critiqued for slow page loading times and does not offer automated backup services. Despite Weebly’s higher uptime guarantee, Yola’s comprehensive hosting services earn it a higher rating.

🏆 Winner: Weebly

Both Weebly and Yola prioritize website performance and page speed, with Weebly focusing on load balancing and CDN, and Yola emphasizing CDN, caching, code minification, server response time improvements, and image optimization. However, Weebly gets a slight edge when it comes to website speed optimization.

Weebly has significantly enhanced its Core Web Vitals performance by implementing measures such as automatic image optimization, lazy loading for content, code minification, and caching. These improvements, along with streamlined JavaScript usage and an enhanced server infrastructure, aim to boost website loading speed and responsiveness. The load times range from 2s to 4s, and the average PageSpeed score is 80+/100.

On the other hand, Yola emphasizes on LCP, FID, CLS improvements for Core Web Vitals. It uses strategies like CDN, caching, code minification, server response time improvements, and image optimization for speed optimization. However, both load times and PageSpeed scores vary widely, depending on the optimization and website complexity.

🏆 Winner: Weebly.

With a score of 7.5, Weebly offers a more comprehensive range of plugins and integrations compared to Yola, which scores 6.3. Weebly’s App Center and API access for developers provide a wide range of functionalities, from marketing and analytics tools to ecommerce solutions and productivity features.

On the other hand, Yola offers over 70 free apps and widgets, with a focus on social media integration, e-commerce tools, and user experience enhancements. However, Weebly’s broader range of integrations and higher score give it the edge in this category.

Weebly Applications

Yola Applications

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Overall Winner: Weebly

. Weebly edges out Yola with a slightly higher score in marketing features. Both platforms offer a range of marketing tools, but Weebly’s integrations with leading email marketing platforms and its comprehensive social media integrations give it the upper hand.

🏆 Winner: Weebly

. Weebly takes the lead in this category with a customer support score of 7.3. Weebly offers a variety of support options, including an extensive Online Help Center with articles and tutorials, a Community Forum for peer-to-peer assistance, and Email Support for submitting tickets. Live Chat is available during limited hours, and Phone Support is offered to Pro and Business plan users in the US and Canada during specific hours. The Online Help Center and Community Forum are accessible 24/7. While Weebly doesn’t specifically target large enterprises, its features and support options, especially in the Business plan, cater to smaller businesses with enterprise-like requirements. This includes a dedicated account manager, priority phone support, and enhanced onboarding and training resources for Business plan users, emphasizing personalized assistance and efficient issue resolution.

On the other hand, Yola offers 24/7 email support to all users, with priority support for Bronze, Silver, and Gold customers promising responses in under 24 hours. Paid plan subscribers receive premium support with prioritized requests. Additionally, Yola provides a call-you-back service for personalized assistance and supports inquiries via social media channels like Facebook. However, Yola does not have an enterprise level support, as they don’t have an enterprise plan.

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Winner: It’s a tie

. Both Weebly and Yola prioritize user data privacy and website security, scoring equally in this category.

Weebly ensures the security of user data through encryption, access controls, and compliance with data privacy regulations. It also provides robust website security with secure data centers, routine system updates, SSL encryption, and compliance with PCI standards for secure transactions.

Similarly, Yola employs robust security measures including SSL encryption, DDoS mitigation, firewalls, regular software updates, and data backup and recovery. It also prioritizes the security of users’ private data through encryption, access controls, and compliance with data protection regulations.

Both platforms offer two-factor authentication and user permission controls, further enhancing their security measures.

🏆 Winner: Weebly

. Although both Weebly and Yola lack native AI capabilities, Weebly allows for third-party AI integrations. This gives Weebly users the opportunity to enhance their website building and management experience with AI-powered tools, giving it a slight edge over Yola in this category.

🏆 Winner: Yola

. Both Weebly and Yola offer multi-user editing capabilities, but the number of users and the level of access they have varies depending on the plan chosen.

• Weebly’s Free Plan allows only one user, suitable for personal or simple projects, while the Personal Plan accommodates two users, making it appropriate for small businesses or collaborative efforts. The Professional Plan permits up to 10 users, catering to growing businesses or teams with specific roles, and the Business Plan offers unlimited user access.
• Yola 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.

Weebly User Roles and Access Levels:

Yola does not provide a detailed breakdown of user roles and access levels.

Additional Features

User Feedback

Square Online (formerly Weebly) receives positive reviews for its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and quick website development features, making it suitable for small businesses. Users highlight its role in efficient appointment booking, saving time in coordination and scheduling. However, some express a desire for more advanced building tools and better pricing. The platform is recognized for streamlining website and payment operations, though opinions on customer service and design limitations are mixed. Overall, it is considered a good, affordable solution for small businesses.

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