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With so many new technologies and lots of user-friendly software, it's easier than ever to create a website. What's not so easy is navigating functionality, responsiveness, shopping carts, and effects for that website. For those things that truly make a website your own, you still need the skills and expertise of creative designers and coders who can put their knowledge together to create a user-friendly, appealing website that will meet your needs.
You have two choices: to hire these creative experts individually or to find great website templates whose creators have already done the heavy lifting and can make it possible for you to customize a template into something that reflects you or your company. Website templates can help you accelerate your website development or bypass most of it altogether for a fraction of the price you'd pay developers.
Friday, June 20th
Divi is the most popular theme in the world and is the ultimate page builder. Launched in 2013, it is the original drag-and-drop-based theme. Its parent company, Elegant Themes, has worked miracles in keeping Divi not only relevant but innovative. The elegant beauty of the Divi theme is that with this theme, you really don't need another one. Instead of shopping for new theme templates to update your site, you can choose from over 2,000 templates that can automatically convert your site into a new look. In addition, you can add your own customization to it without ever knowing one line of code. There are a myriad of third-party designers and vendors that offer even more extreme functionality to your Divi site, so you can do almost anything with it. Once you purchase Divi, you'll never have to look for another website template service again.
Intuitive visual builder can design from scratch
The Divi visual builder is so intuitive that even a new user could build a website from scratch. The inline editing and design interface makes it easy to develop that site for mobile devices, as you can edit and see exactly what it will look like on a phone, tablet, or desktop. You can quickly add and configure sections, rows with one or multiple columns, and modules of varying types of content into a flexible grid. You can also edit right on the front end.
Modules for almost anything
Divi offers modules that you can drag-and-drop and design into your page with one or two clicks. There are actually over 200 page elements to choose from, but here are a few of our favorites:
In the unlikely event you want something more specific, there are many Divi marketplaces that have really innovative modules. If you need something even more unique than what the marketplace offers, you can hire someone to make a specialized module just for you.
Accessibility improvements
While Divi isn't absolutely perfect out of the box, it is actually better at being more ADA and WCAG compliant out of the box than most other themes. With plugins available from third-party vendors, you can make it fully compliant. And with the robust community, there are plenty of tutorials on how to do this.
Hundreds of included features
Elegant Themes, the home of Divi, offers so many features included in your purchase of Divi that it is highly unlikely you will ever need to search for anything else. In addition to their world-renowned drag-and-drop visual builder with responsive inline editing, here are some of those amazing features:
If you want to define global styles for color, typography, spacing, margins, and other design elements, you can do so within global editing tools.
Supreme portability
Once you finish modifying a module, page, or a whole theme, you can store a copy of it in the Divi Cloud to use later or share it. You can also make copies of modules, parts of a page, or a whole page or customized theme and import it to another website or send it to another Divi user. You can also download these files to your own personal computer.
Implement advanced design without code
Divi allows a new user with no experience to implement hover states, shape dividers, 3D effects, and transform effects all without writing even a line of code. If you do want to code, you have total control over CSS and other custom codes via Divi modules and the Divi dashboard.
Mobile responsiveness by default
Divi's default is to automatically make your website adapt to every screen size. You can also use tools in Divi to disable modules depending on screen size (phone, tablet, or desktop). It is possible with Divi to create a completely different look for each screen size. It's all up to you, and it all happens with a few clicks.
Magazine theme design
Perhaps you started a small website, and over the years it's grown so much that you'd like to switch it to a newsletter- or magazine-style website. Divi has a product known as "Extra” if you want to make the switch to a dedicated magazine-style website.
Built-in WooCommerce support
Divi was one of the first to completely integrate WooCommerce within its theme. Divi has beautiful drag-and-drop modules for shopping carts, checkout, buttons, products, and other WooCommerce controls. Like everything else in Divi, it's a fully customizable experience, so you can personalize these elements to keep it in line with your product and company branding.
Marketing help
If you want to perform split testing, Divi has you covered. And if you'd like help with email opt-ins or social media sharing tools, you can install plugins that will make it easy. These plugins, Bloom and Monarch, are included with Divi.
Pricing
The Divi Plan is $89 per year and includes:
The Divi Pro Plan is $277 per year and includes everything in the Divi plan and:
These plans are also offered for a one-time fee of $249 for the Divi Lifetime Plan. The other is a discounted Divi Lifetime Plan plus Yearly Professional Services for $297 per year ($85 for the Divi Lifetime Plan plus $212 per year for professional services).
Vendor stability and longevity
Elegant Themes was the original drag-and-drop innovator and has shown time and time again over the last decade that it knows how to continue adapting and innovating to stay relevant. Elegant Themes has an active website where you can find a video tutorial on just about everything you'd ever need to know. There is a whole industry built up around the Divi theme, with dozens and dozens of free and paid resources online to assist you in how to do whatever you dream of designing. There are also online communities that offer free help and conversation regarding Divi. Nick Roach, the founder of Elegant Themes, is often known to interact with these communities and has an approachable personality. This approachability is what keeps Divi on top, making them one of the most stable companies in the WordPress ecosystem.
5-star support
If you get stuck, help is literally a click away via chat. Divi knows customer service, which is one of the reasons why it is number one. Divi is not just innovative in design but in customer support as well. They can use a special feature to log in to your website and see what code or problem you have and find a solution. They often offer helpful code examples you can just cut and paste into your website. Divi is used by nearly one million customers who have given it over 23,000 5-star reviews. This is truly impressive. They also offer a money-back guarantee, which shows how confident they are that you'll love working with them.
Beautiful layout library
One of the best things about Divi is its layout library. Beautifully and elegantly organized, you can click on the layout and see a live demo. You get a preview of each page of each website layout before you visit. All of the layouts show what kind of sophistication even a basic user can have right out of the box.
Easily find a designer
If you want a truly unique website, you can hire from a multitude of freelancers who love and know Divi. If you want to do almost everything by yourself but need a special module or tweak, there is a large talent pool of people who are passionate about Elegant Themes' products who can help.
#1 for website templates
Divi goes above and beyond being a mere website template. It gives even the most non-technical user the ability to achieve a professional, highly advanced and responsive, truly unique and customized website design that can be changed at any time at a price that can't be beat - with one of the highest rated customer service ratings we've seen. Divi is #1 in our book, and we are happy to give Divi our highest recommendation.
Envato is the industry standard when it comes to marketplace assets. Over 2 million customers a year purchase items straight from the designers who create them. Boasting $1 billion in community earnings, this is the place to go for design assets. You can buy per item, or you can join the community for discounts. All the assets on Envato come with licenses - lifetime commercial licenses are included. Categories include ThemeForest, AudioJungle, VideoHive, GraphicRiver, CodeCanyon, and more. Millions of people around the world visit Envato to take advantage of smart templates and even to learn new skills.
One-stop shop
Envato really has everything you would ever need to design, build, and launch your next website. From fonts to videos to stock photography, your website can be as unique as you are. Their website template catalog has over 6,500 mobile responsive templates, over 4,200 of which are also Retina-Ready for high-resolution Mac and iOS displays.
Filtered searches save time
There are many online asset repositories, but few provide the great filters and search engine that Envato offers its customers. It's not time-consuming to narrow down your choices to find exactly what you need here. You can combine a keyword query with four categories (Admin Templates, Email Templates, Site Templates, and Landing Page Templates) and four properties (Responsive, Retina Ready, PSD Files Included, and SKETCH Files Included). You can sort by newest or by popularity, but we do wish we could also filter by tags, price, and file types.
Learn new skills with EnvatoTuts+
Most people looking for template designs are trying to save time or they aren't very familiar with web design. Envato offers a whole website dedicated to teaching you time-saving skills or giving you a great education in how to design a website. EnvatoTuts was launched in 2007 to teach users with tutorials in subjects like using Photoshop. It has become the leading publisher of online courses, with over 5 million people visiting each month to learn new skills. Envato has contributors and members from all over the world, and they try to give you the best education possible. Most teachers have been with Envato for more than 10 years.
Great variety of CMS supported
No matter what content management system you prefer, Envato has you covered. Just a few of the software Envato's template supports are:
There are so many other assets involved in developing a website, from email templates, videos, an excellent music repository, graphics, fonts, to special codes - and Envato has it covered.
Simple membership-based pricing that won't hurt your pocketbook
Membership on Envato starts at $16.50 per month for individuals. The team plan starts as low as $10.75 per member per month. If you have bigger needs, you can contact someone at Envato, and they can help with large-scale packages. With an Envato account, each month you'll also receive 12 hand-selected files, fonts, presentations, videos, and other assets.
Licensing requirements
Licensing is very easy with Envato. When you download something, you can also download the license for your specified use. You just can't resell, redistribute, or use items in on-demand services.
Envato cares about community
Envato offers students a nice 30% discount. But even more generous is their discount of 50% off for registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations. The process for receiving this discount is very easy and painless. Companies that give back always impress us, and Envato knocks it out of the park on this one.
Great customer reviews
When we reached out to Envato's customer service with account questions, the response was always fast and friendly. Even a cancellation is handled quickly and professionally. Envato customers really enjoy the customer support and how easy it is to find what you are looking for on their website. They also appreciated that Envato is basically a one-stop shop for your website design needs. You can even get assets for print and social media asset creation. Some negatives were problems with the search engine, account issues, and an at times less-than-user-friendly shopping cart experience. We did not experience these issues at Envato, so it would seem that they've improved the experience overall.
Website templates, design and marketing made easy
Envato really does it right. We have been very pleased with their customer service and with the quality of most of their products. Website templates are available for every walk of life. Their completely headache-free pricing structure is a refreshing bonus. The fact that they are willing to give back to the community through education and generous discounts for nonprofits and students really sets them above most other website template providers. For these reasons, Envato is one of our top picks.
Elementor, launched in 2016, was the second full drag-and-drop page builder that allowed users to add text, images, sliders, and other modules to their pages without worrying about coding. It was the first to offer live page editing, meaning that the changes could be seen immediately rather than having to do work on the back end and then preview the work. Elementor is built on that drag-and-drop, live editing concept and helps those who don't know a lot of code to create a beautiful website. Elementor is not a website template company per se, but they carry over 100 template kits that include everything to make an incredible website, along with other assets that will help you get the perfect vibe for your online creation.
See your changes as you make them
Not only can you see your changes live, but you can also instantly see what your page will look like on up to seven different sizes and kinds of screens.
Lots of features
The paid version of Elementor offers an impressive number of features. Some features are available in a more limited way on Elementor Core, the free version. Some of our favorite features were:
For global settings such as color, typography, and other controls, Elementor has a settings management interface that allows you to establish the foundation of the common aesthetics for every page. The extensive documentation is important as live support is limited to the paid version.
Theme kits library
Elementor has a library of 100+ website templates that you can download and use immediately or customize to give it a personal flair. You can customize colors and fonts or add 3D motion elements.
Lots of templates and help for online stores
One of the best things about Elementor is its support for WooCommerce, one of the most popular store platforms in the world. This alone will save you a lot of headache if you are trying to make an online store. The templates are already set up and include lots of great features and support. The templates are beautiful, too.
Marketing made easy
There are so many features for easy marketing in Elementor that it will surely save you time when designing your website. Landing pages, forms, pop-ups, and dynamic content are all made easy. It also easily supports third-party marketing tool integrations such as email marketing, social media, analytics, and optimization.
24/7 support and community presence
Elementor has been around a long time and has a robust online community. If you have the paid version of Elementor, you can also access customer support 24/7 via live chat. But, that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a myriad of groups on social media and community forums you can join to ask questions and get answers from people who use Elementor for their web designs. Agencies, studios, developers, and designers are often happy to help if you get stuck with a problem or have a question. Many offer more in-depth customization for a fee.
Plans can include website hosting and other options
Elementor is probably one of the best values for website templates, especially if you're going to have an online store or plan on making more than one website. Elementor makes it easy to begin by offering lots of WooCommerce templates, and it's ready to go for you to add products. They also offer hosting plans, so you don't have to search for one that plays well with your template and builder. If you have your own server or already have a hosting service you love, you can simply opt to pay for the templates and builder instead of hosting.
Prices are reasonable but sometimes confusing
Elementor's business model is more of a "freemium” model. While Elementor Core (the free version) can function, it doesn't really work if you have more than a very simple one-page site, and the free version doesn't include hosting or support. So, it may be disappointing for those looking for a totally free solution for getting a robust website. There are lots of add-ons and third-party assets that will cost you, so the cost of Elementor is somewhat confusing. It really depends on what you end up needing, whether or not you purchase a premium template, and what kind of features you want your website to have. Here are some of the options you have with introductory pricing:
Without hosting, you have the following choices:
If you need more than one website activation but less than 25 as with the Expert Plan, you can also get the Advanced Solo Plan with up to 3 website activations for $99. All purchases come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Excellent for more experienced users
While Elementor and Divi are neck and neck in terms of functionality, versatility, and advanced features they offer, we did find Elementor's learning curve to be steeper. In order to get a template up and running, the folks at Elementor have a less intuitive process that can sometimes stump a beginner. Some users trying to use Elementor will find that things that should be easy are unnecessarily complicated and may get frustrated in learning the way Elementor wants the user to do things. They may even have to add custom code to achieve the same results as a one-click resolution in Divi. Elementor's pricing structure is a bit more confusing and limited than Divi. There seem to be unforeseen expenses with Elementor, which can become frustrating. However, even though it was edged out slightly by Divi, this is still an excellent source for website templates.
Rob Hope launched One Page Love in 2008 in Cape Town, South Africa, and continues to this day to curate examples of beautiful one-page websites and resources almost daily. One-page websites contain all the information on one page with no clutter.
Convert your visitors
When your website wants a visitor to do something - to interact - it becomes a landing page, and the action that is taken by the visitor is called conversion. The whole point of a one-page website is to get those conversions with no distraction. Rob has carefully curated the best of the internet when it comes to these templates. In 2022, the template website and the podcast were joined under the company Love Curated. And this truly is a labor of love on Rob Hope's part: it's one of the most beautifully curated repositories we've seen.
Absolutely stunning
It is not often you can find something on the internet that has never been done before, and we were absolutely floored when we saw One Page Love. It is simply stunning. Quietly elegant, this website is dedicated to finding the best of the best for the designer who is attempting to simplify and elevate a website space.
Incredible inspiration
Even if you are going to be making a thirty-page website, it would be almost criminal not to look at the designs Rob Hope has curated at One Page Love. It is incredible to see how much creativity can happen when a designer is working within the limitations of a one-page design. The results are jaw-dropping at times and can inspire anyone who is about to embark on building a website. With most users experiencing the internet on a small mobile device, one-page websites make a lot more sense than they used to, and One Page Love is a showcase of the best of simple, uncluttered functionality all encapsulated in what is truly, in some cases, a work of art.
Curated for almost every mainstream platform and more
One Page Love has scoured the web to find you the most beautiful one-page and landing page templates that work with builders like Wix and Squarespace, but also lesser known builders like Card and Framer. One Page Love doesn't forget the love for some of the most popular platforms like WordPress, Elementor, and Bootstrap. There are also templates built on HTML, Hubspot, Spotify, Tailwind CSS, and more.
Curated resources included
One Page Love has also curated the best resources for web designers and developers. From trends to tutorials to interviews with designers and more, this is one of the most beautiful roundups of resources we've seen on the internet. One Page Love also has an e-book that is normally $79, but sales run regularly. At the time of this review, there was a 40% off deal in place. The e-book contains 100 tips that are beautifully simplified for a clutter-free learning experience. Each tip features a few paragraphs, visual references, and related resources. Your purchase includes a rich-media version, PDF, audiobook, and Notion cloneable.
Partnered with Webflow
One Page Love features templates from many different platforms, including Webflow. While you can choose a template using WordPress or Wix, One Page Love has a lot of love for Webflow, an innovative page builder that isn't just a page builder - it is a solution for website building that lets marketers, designers, and developers come together to build, manage, and optimize the entire experience. Webflow boasts client names like Orangetheory, TED, Philips, Dropbox, and The New York Times. Their pricing is extremely competitive. You can choose their free account with a subdomain or choose the paid account starting at about $14 per month.
Not your typical template website
One Page Love is not your typical website template service. It isn't flashy, and it isn't in itself a true template provider. Its philosophy of one-page and landing-page sites being simple yet effective is reflected in its own presence on the web. You're not going to find other assets like photos or audio files here. You aren't even going to find templates to download. Instead, One Page Love is a curated repository of the best that other places have to offer. One Page Love has weeded out the scams and lower-quality templates and only gives you the best to choose from, all while giving a detailed review of each template, as well as an overview of cost, what's included, and links to live demos and downloads. One Page Love curates inspiration as well. We highly recommend this website to anyone who is looking for inspiration or beautifully curated templates for landing pages.
Strong choice
While it may be a little heady for the newbie, a short time spent on this website will save you hours and hours of mistakes later on, even if you are doing a multi-page site. It doesn't include multi-page website templates, or it would have been rated even higher. One Page Love is well worth looking at, even if only for inspiration.
At first glance, Template Monster appears to be a cut-and-paste of other digital asset marketplace repositories, but upon taking a closer look, you can tell it's a little bit better than average. Boasting over 20,000 website templates, Template Monster is, well, a monster: so much to choose from, all from individual digital designers. Variety is the name of the game here. You can pay per purchase or sign up for a membership. It's got a lot going for it.
Huge catalog of tools
Template Monster offers an enormous online catalog of over 410,000 individual assets covering website templates, presentation templates, video and audio assets, and 3D models. You can browse website templates and other assets by multiple categories, discounts offered, styles, most recent, and so much more. One of our favorite features is being able to search by what forms are included with the template, which is pretty helpful.
Template and theme pricing
Template Monster has a pretty flexible pricing structure, depending on your needs and licensing requirements. You can purchase website templates individually, starting at around $30. You can add on extra support, installation and setup, customization, must-have, or all-in-one store setup. You can also pay for compliance with EU standards. All of these add-ons can change the price from under $50 to thousands of dollars. With all of these different options, you can customize your experience to stay within budget.
Not all templates are created equal
Be aware that Template Monster is a marketplace with thousands of different individual sellers. This means that you may hit on a great designer, or you may end up downloading a theme that is not as high-quality from a less-than-excellent seller. Also, it's important to double-check the themes before you commit to anything. Many of the templates require paid plugins or content management systems in order to run correctly. If you are a newbie, find a friend who understands the "fine print” to look over it, so you can understand exactly what comes with it and what doesn't.
Lifetime pricing
With Template Monster, you can pay $499 (normally $799) for a single lifetime access fee to get everything you need for pretty much any website. That includes a lot:
Annual or month-to-month pricing
If you don't need lifetime access but you'd like to save a little money, you can sign up for a monthly or annual subscription for as low as $14 per month. Payment is made through secure methods, and you can cancel anytime.
Customer reviews are very positive
Customers really seem to consistently like Template Monster. People really rave about the variety and choices from basic to advanced, interactive templates complete with video and animation elements. If the reviews are any indication, users overwhelmingly like Template Monster and say their favorite things are their great customer service and selection of advanced themes and templates. The majority of negative reviews were a result of people not reading that "fine print” and misunderstanding what it was they were paying for. This leads us to believe that most people who use Template Monster are either experienced with web design or are willing to spend time reading and researching before they make a purchase.
Solid choice if you have experience - or are willing to learn
If you have experience creating a website or editing one, or if you are willing to take the time to educate yourself before jumping into Template Monster's options for website design and creation, you can consider this a slightly above average option for website templates.
Bootstrap Made focuses on design based on user experience within the Bootstrap framework, which is known for its ability to enable responsive and mobile-first websites, so these templates are fully responsive and compatible with different browsers. Bootstrap Made really prides itself on making templates that are easy to use. For premium subscribers, there is a builder that has front-end, drag-and-drop functionality, so you don't need to know code to make a nice-looking, functional, and responsive website.
Categorized selections
Bootstrap Made has 94 total templates to choose from, 38 of which are free. Free templates have a footer that can be removed only with a paid membership. Here are some of the most prolific categories:
While there are other categories like restaurants or health, these only contain, on average, one to two different templates. It's clear that Bootstrap Made is geared to business and corporate websites, who may not have a real need for a service like this.
Templates for different versions of Bootstrap
All templates are available with the current Bootstrap 5 version, and they are updated as new releases of the software come out. Templates are also available for people who prefer Bootstrap 4.
Licensing and costs
There are three tiers of licensing to choose from at Bootstrap Made.
Be aware of the caveats
There are caveats that cover all levels of Bootstrap Made membership - you cannot resell or redistribute any of the templates or create a page builder with them. You also cannot include them in a content management system, like Joomla or WordPress theme repositories. With the lack of variety in templates, it doesn't seem worth it to pay $199 for a lifetime membership, but it also doesn't make sense to pay for a quarter or a year if you are trying to design a website for the long term. There just isn't a great option for someone who wants to do work for clients or commercial projects for more than a year.
Paid only email-based support
For customer support, you have to have a login and username to access the ticketing system. Unfortunately, those who use the free version of Bootstrap Made do not have access to support.
Confusing website
It's not clear how Bootstrap Made monitors user websites, nor how they could identify the difference between a personal and client website. Perhaps it's based on an honor system? The website is somewhat confusing on whether or not there are 38 free templates or if all 94 are available for free download. It also contradicts itself, saying in the pricing tables that the free license is for personal projects only, but on the licensing page it states you can use the free version for personal or commercial projects. While there is a wordy licensing page, it still didn't explain enough for us to feel comfortable with the way things operate with this company.
Useful but too pigeonholed
Bootstrap Made would be a good fit if you have a real affinity for the Bootstrap framework and are working on a business or company website. While they are proud of their 94 templates, many look similar, and there is no real variety in any categories but business and company websites. The site also doesn't have a lot of details about what kind of commitment you are making with your purchase or how it really works. For these reasons, we feel like Bootstrap Made is not a top of the line template option, but it may be useful for your needs if you're doing a website for your own business or a one-off event that you are having.
With social media's rise in popularity over traditional websites and with most people accessing the internet using a mobile device, Canva is an all-in-one design solution for employees, influencers, teachers, students, and the average person who has little knowledge of the technology behind the internet. For over a decade, Canva has made it a goal to make it possible for anyone to create and publish anything digital (or print), from social media to websites and beyond. Some might say Canva excelled more in dumbing down the art of marketing and design - but regardless of how you look at it, Canva has been very successful in its goal. While far from perfect, it IS possible for almost anyone to use their website templates and design a site.
Generous toward non-profit organizations and teachers
Canva offers their services completely free of charge for nonprofits, educators, and students. Canva has made the process to apply for a free account pretty much painless. We really love it when companies truly give back, and this is a plus for Canva.
Lots of ready-made templates
A quick perusal of the Canva website design spotlights shows hundreds and hundreds of one-page website templates that look professional and classy. These are templates that just need small adjustments and minimal effort to personalize them with your information. Whether you want to create a beautiful resume, set up a classroom page for your students, or plan a wedding, there are many choices that would appeal to almost everyone. You can further filter results to only show blue templates, for example. Other filters include style, theme, and price. Unfortunately, even with all these choices, most Canva templates…look like Canva templates. There is a uniformity to the designs that people recognize, and it may not be a good fit for you if you don't want people to know you are using a Canva template for your website.
Familiar drag-and-drop interface
Many people already use Canva for social media publishing, print publishing, and more, so it isn't a leap to delve into a simple website design with Canva. Using the same tools, teachers with absolutely no coding experience can create something that looks professional. It's all drag-and-drop and instantly updated in real-time. Using the teams feature, would-be website builders can collaborate together and update and change the website while talking to each other remotely.
Easy one-page website exporting, but anything else is difficult
Canva doesn't produce files for you to give to your web designer, but you can export code for your website to be embedded on a platform like WordPress or Moodle without too much headache. All updates occur in the familiar environment of Canva instantaneously. You can use a subdomain and allow Canva to take care of everything, or you can purchase a domain and publish it via Canva. Unfortunately, the ease of use comes with a caveat: you are limited to a one-page website unless you want to do research and employ unwieldy, time-consuming, and complicated methods.
Instant updates, quick turnaround time to produce a website
If you need a website in a hurry, if you are required to produce a website for a school project, or if you are a teacher who doesn't have time or energy to put into designing a website from scratch, Canva might meet your needs. You will never have to wait on a designer to update your content, as you can log in to Canva and instantly update your website without having to know or understand code or website design.
Keeps style continuity between your website and your social media
Because Canva designs are very similar, and because they have a branding feature, you can maintain the continuity of your brand across all of your digital and print content. From social media to presentations, from websites to print flyers and ads, everything will look similar. One downside to this is that Canva does have a "look.” No matter how professional and pretty Canva designs look, there is a sameness that can't be escaped. In short, people can tell when you've used Canva for your designs.
No SEO or other special features
Canva does not seem to have an option for true SEO. In fact, if you are hosted on their subdomain, you are most likely helping Canva's SEO more than your own. There are limited insights available about web traffic and views. Canva is trying so hard to be a design solution that it seems to ignore SEO or search ranking solutions. This wouldn't matter as much if your website traffic is going to come from social media, but if you are a legitimate business that depends on SEO or search rankings for traffic, Canva will not be the best fit.
Cost
Canva has four different pricing plans:
One of the best things about Canva is that the Canva Pro is available completely free of charge for teachers, students, and nonprofits.
Poor reviews
Canva, for all its name recognition and bells and whistles, gets consistently bad reviews for customer service. People complain repeatedly about paid-for products that were never delivered and a glitchy platform. Others had horrible issues with content that was altered or deleted by Canva. Still others complained that they had absolutely no response from customer service when they ran into Canva-caused issues.
Really bad AI and terrible search feature
Canva has decided to embrace the availability of AI on its platform, and customers aren't happy. AI elements look terrible, and there is no way to filter them out. Although Canva boasts literally millions of elements, you can only see them a few at a time. The search feature does not filter out premium results, so those with free accounts have to scroll through endless premium results they cannot use. It is a time-waster and an exercise in frustration.
Easy to sign up, hard to cancel
Reviewers of Canva repeatedly report being stuck with unwanted charges and no response from customer service. Some have had ongoing charges for up to 2 years when they canceled in the middle of the free trial. Still others complained of the spammy emails received even when they didn't complete the sign-up process for a free trial. Even if you don't have a paid account, customers report that when you cancel online, it doesn't take effect.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should
Canva had a goal to allow anyone to design...anything. It is a lofty goal, and their platform has made design accessible and achievable for almost anyone. However, this approach comes at a cost. Canva website templates all have a sameness that is inescapable. Because they've tried to do everything, they aren't able to focus on doing anything really well. As a result, everything from Canva is very vanilla and mediocre. Canva is passable but hardly an elegant solution. Canva offers instant websites, but it comes at the cost of quality and flexibility. If you create a website with Canva, you are stuck with Canva since it won't work without a subscription. Good luck trying to cancel that subscription. So many customers have complained about accounts that continue to exist for years after the initial cancellation request, which leads us to believe that you should expect problems if you decide to leave Canva. No matter how many solutions they offer, they don't contribute to a quality product. For these reasons, we can't recommend Canva as a website template provider.
Creative Market is a marketplace for designers to sell their creations, from website templates to fonts to royalty-free photos and audio - just about any creative digital asset you need can be found here. Boasting more than 4 million resources created by artists in 190 countries, they are one of the foremost designer repositories. Also offered with the product files are licenses to use them for different projects. They also offer a 72-hour refund window for accidental purchases or when an unintended payment method was used.
Multiple CMS types and categories
Creative Market has designers who provide website templates for a myriad of platforms. Whether you are using WordPress for a blog or Joomla for a company website, you can find a template or other resources here. If you are starting a shop with Shopify or Wix, they've got you covered. There's even a WordPress plugins directory.
Curated inspiration
If you're stuck trying to design a website, Creative Market has a blog that talks about design trends as well as a "Staff Picks” section that can inspire you.
Website template search filter
With over 4 million assets, Creative Market can sometimes feel like you are looking for a needle in a haystack. Luckily, there is a filter where you can search by keyword or phrase or narrow it down to certain categories, price ranges, file types, and software types.
A great refund policy - if you want credits instead of cash
Creative Market offers a 72-hour refund policy if you make a mistake in ordering or in payment method. This is pretty unique to repositories like this and is a plus for us when looking at Creative Market. Unfortunately, there are reports that Creative Market issues "credits” rather than cash back in most cases.
Savings on credit-based membership plans
Customers can pay per item at full price or sign up to save anywhere from 5% to 20% on everything in the market with a month-to-month membership. If users want even more savings, they can switch to an annual membership and save up to 25% off everything in the market. Creative Market utilizes a credit system for its memberships. Here is an example of the monthly plans you can choose from:
With your Creative Market membership, you also get monthly free assets of varying types valued at up to $1,000. Credits roll over, but the website explains that if you run out of credits and need more before the month is up, you will need to upgrade your plan.
Too many assets to have a low-quality search engine
Smaller repositories might be able to get away with a subpar search engine, but a repository as large as Creative Market should have a stellar way to search for specific items. Having a lot of choices is amazing, until it starts to be a time-waster having to sort through too many options with filters that don't help to tailor the results.
Problems with scam sellers and bad AI-generated images
Another problem related to being too large is not enough quality control. Creative Market customers have complained of receiving terrible, deformed AI content without being able to resolve it with customer service. Broken WordPress and Shopify themes have been reported to customer service, but nothing is resolved, and customers reported needing to go to their bank to get a chargeback to address the issue.
Quality has deteriorated over the years
Designers have reported that in the beginning, Creative Market was great to work with and had high standards. From 2020 on, designers have noticed a huge decline in quality, all while having to agree to a 50/50 split with creators for profits (a very steep cut).
Customer service responses online seems to blame the customer
The overall attitude of Creative Market's support team in addressing problems seems to be in almost gaslighting the customer and not taking responsibility for a lack of quality control.
There are many others that do it better
Due to the lack of quality control and the reported decrease in quality at Creative Market over the years, we suggest that you look elsewhere for a website template. While fonts perform strongly on the Creative Market website, it has just gotten too unwieldy and large to guarantee a quality product when it comes to website templates. Combined with the consistent negative customer service reviews, we can't recommend it. There are many other places that will serve you better for website templates.
A visit to Dream Template is the equivalent of taking a time machine back to the ancient beginnings of the internet. As you peruse the outdated templates and look at old Flash files, you can almost hear the sound of dial-up. For most of these templates, you'd have to find an emulator or some sort of sketchy Russian spyware to actually use them. In fact, the whole website smacks of a front for some sort of scam.
Ancient technology
If you are looking for a truly vintage look from the first days of dial-up, you will find it at Dream Template. Remember Geocities? If you are going for that vibe, you may find this website useful. You will have to bring all the code up to date, but it may be worthwhile for educational purposes to show people how coding has evolved and how much more difficult building a website was back in the dawn of the internet.
One-time cost
Dream Template costs a one-time fee of $59.95 for unlimited downloads. This is exorbitant considering the lack of quality and modernization here.
Terms of service are outdated
The terms of service remind users that none of the Dream Template themes can be downloaded to a diskette or CD. This alone shows that the website hasn't been updated or touched since the turn of the century.
Negative customer reviews
We scoured the web to find what customers thought about Dream Template. We could not find any positive reviews. Most reviews expressed frustration that they never received the template and could not login after paying to become members. Customers could not get a response from customer service after multiple attempts to contact the vendor. Most customers got charges reversed through their banks. Curious, we went back further in time and found that even several years ago, customers were complaining of highly overinflated prices for templates that were delivered broken. Even then, customers could not get in contact with customer service.
Avoid this service
Dream Template is an example of how the internet can become cluttered with useless, outdated products that do not deliver and take money from unwitting consumers. Even if Dream Templates was once a supported, legitimate service, the fact that they are still asking people to pay for broken, outdated templates that will not work is concerning for us. Our advice: stay away from this website.
The Templates website launched in 1996, and it shows. Still boasting a late 1900s vibe, this is not the place for modern web design. If this company is trying to sell itself on template design, it is failing. Templates' own website is clunky, ugly, and slow. Many pages are gone, the live demo doesn't function, and some of the templates require additional purchases from other websites to run. When you purchase something from the shopping cart (one of the only things that isn't broken on their website), you are redirected to Template Monster (which is another service much higher up on our list).
Appears to be a front for outdated Template Monster designs
This website appears to be a dummy website that redirects users to Template Monster, so nothing on the Templates website is going to be accurate. Whatever licenses or support you are receiving will not be from Templates, but Template Monster.
Reports of terrible quality
In 2017, customers complained that the templates offered on this site were a mix of some decent templates (the redirects to Template Monster) with "a majority of bad templates and templates incorrectly organized.” Customers complained that they would spend more time redesigning and fixing it if they wanted the templates to work.
Live chat is defunct, like almost everything else
We tried to access the website's live chat feature, and we were just taken to a page that never did anything. When going to submit a ticket, we were directed to a page that listed a single email address and nothing else. The FAQ and Refund Policy page links landed us on a 404 page. Even the empty shopping cart links didn't go anywhere. At this point, we decided the website was more like a ghost town than a nostalgic-yet-functioning oddity.
Blog is just redirecting to other websites
The blog section of the website seems updated, but it is mostly just a vehicle to get you to click on links to other websites like Indeed, Template Monster, and Miro. There is clearly some attempt at SEO, which we think is somewhat disingenuous. This website offers nothing of itself but links to other websites.
Broken live demos and other problems
Some live demo pages wouldn't load properly or at all. Many other problems abound, including glaring typos, outdated verbiage, and ads for web hosting that seem scammy.
Stay away from this service
This website domain was created in 1996, and we honestly can't figure out why it's still around. Perhaps the search engine ranking was high for the domain name, so the owner wanted to keep it. Templates also redirects its ads to Siteground or Bluehost hosting, which is strange. Our only other thought is that it is sitting there as a front for spyware, so we cannot recommend this website template "company” at all.
That being said, the world of website templates can be complicated and difficult to navigate. For example, website templates are not your website; they are more like the "dressing” of a website. Most websites need a platform. Think of a costume - lying on the floor or hanging in the closet, it cannot keep its shape. In order to keep it from losing its shape, we find a form or mannequin on which to put the costume. Website templates need a form in order to function, and that is generally a content management system. It is up to you to find out if the templates you like come with a CMS or if you have to install that before you use your template.
You also need to ask if the website template comes with a page builder. A page builder will take your website design to a new level without having to use coding. Most page builders employ the use of drag-and-drop visual editing. Some page builders are better than others when it comes to flexibility and generating responsive design.
And, don't forget hosting. When planning a website, you will need to decide where the website information is stored and broadcast to the internet. Some website templates offer compatible hosting service included, some have suggestions for hosts that understand their templates and platform, and still others don't have any recommendations.
Plus, keep in mind that the modern web is an entirely different experience from the origin of the internet. In the beginning of the world wide web, people experienced the internet from a desktop computer screen. Modern users, however, almost always access the internet via multiple devices, primarily mobile phones. Modern web design usually has built-in functionality that will be responsive to the type of device the end user is operating to access your website. If a template "breaks” on a small phone, then it's not a good template.
Finally, a website template marketplace is full of separate vendors. Don't forget that "marketplace” websites are full of separate vendors with their own way of designing and their own skillsets. Some might be extremely skilled and reasonably-priced, while others might border on being a scam. Be sure to research the individual vendor. Often, marketplaces become so large that quality control just can't investigate each vendor. It's up to you to do your own research.
Here are some criteria you can use to make comparisons and ultimately decide on a website template for your site:
To assist you in finding the best website template, Top Consumer Reviews has evaluated and ranked top vendors on the market today. We're confident that this information will make finding a website design and template a fun rather than frustrating experience.
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