Our guide to the best website builder for musicians explores five of the top-ranking contenders, and looks at each provider’s top features, their ease of use, and any associated costs, so that you can make an informed decision.
What is the best website builder for musicians?
The best website builder for musicians needs to be able to adapt to serve bands and musicians of all shapes and sizes. Our top choice therefore is a service created by musicians for musicians, Bandzoogle, which offers features and pricing specifically tailored to musicians and bands of all levels and experience. Its features and tools include crowdfunding and subscription options, merchandise and ticket sales functionality, and the ability to sell music directly to site visitors via a digital music store. Wix and Squarespace are more general website builders, but are highly competitive thanks to their wider scope of templates, including some that are music-based (from Wix more so than Squarespace). These highly popular platforms are a testament to their ease of use and intuitive nature, which allow those with no design or coding experience to create attractive and effective websites for musical needs. For musicians and bands aiming to take their revenue to the next level, the likes of MusicGlue and Difyd2c come with a raft of ecommerce and marketing functions and solutions, which help take care of everything from ticket and event sales to merchandise design and distribution.
The best website builders for musicians right now
As its name reveals, Bandzoogle is specifically designed for musicians, an advantage that ensures it sneaks ahead of more generalist competitors as the best website builder for musicians. Created in 2003 by Canadian founder Chris Vinson, after he was inspired by the experience of creating his own band website, Bandzoogle boasts a musical heritage that is reflected in the dozens of musician-led features on offer. Users need no coding knowledge in choosing from dozens of preset templates, which can be easily replaced one for another without losing content. Third-party apps, social platforms, and services including YouTube, Twitter, Soundcloud and PayPal can be seamlessly integrated, while the platform also boasts a range of ecommerce functions. The pricing structure is clean and uncomplicated, divided into three options (opens in new tab) based on your level. Tailored to “bands starting out,” the Lite package costs $9.95 a month, or $8.29 a month if paying the annual cost upfront. For this you’ll get the basic starter pack of 10 pages, 10 tracks, and 100 photos. The Standard plan is aimed at “bands growing a fanbase” and costs $14.95 a month (or $12.46 if paying annually). Standard users get 20 pages, on which they can include up to 50 tracks and 500 images. Finally, the Pro plan ($16.63 or $19.95 a month if paying annually) is “for established bands”, which not only removes all restrictions on pages, songs, and photos, but also allows for video headers and custom fonts. All plans come with unlimited support, a free domain name, and premium hosting. Read our full Bandzoogle review (opens in new tab). Servicing 200 million users in 190 countries, Wix is a website-building titan. It’s therefore no surprise to see it top our rundown of the best website builders (opens in new tab). Although it’s just pipped to the post in this round-up—mainly due to the edge Bandzoogle enjoys in being designed by musicians—there’s no doubt that Wix has a much broader scope of preset designs to choose from. There are over 500 templates at your disposal, and what’s more, they’re siloed into categories that include music-specific themes like Band, Solo Artist, DJ, and Producer. This makes it easier to find a template to suit your requirements. Another option is to use the innovative Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) feature, which requires you to answer a few questions before providing a bespoke template for you to use. The Wix App Market allows users to populate their site with hundreds of add-ons, including third-party apps widely used in the music industry such as streaming services like Spotify, or ticketing tools like Bandsintown. You’ll get 2GB of bandwidth and 3GB of storage space with the Combo plan (opens in new tab), costing $14 a month. You’ll need to upgrade to the Unlimited plan, at $18 a month, for no restrictions on bandwidth and a boost to 10GB of storage. The Pro plan costs $23 a month, and comes with storage of 20GB, while the VIP option provides priority support and up to 35GB of storage for $39 a month. Read our Wix review (opens in new tab). Like Wix, Squarespace is a more generalist option used by creatives and businesses of all types. Nonetheless, it offers no shortage of music-related themes and features. You can browse its musicians and bands category for templates that include singer-songwriter, producer, and new album page, though it’s notable that there aren’t as many music preset templates as with Wix or Bandzoogle. What ranks it alongside its rivals as the best website builder for musicians is its lack of restrictions on storage and bandwidth. This means that, whether on the lowest cost subscription or the highest, users can upload as much music, imagery, and video as they wish without worrying about site speed or performance. All plans (opens in new tab) include a free custom domain, SSL (secure sockets layer) security, and SEO (search engine optimization) features, though you’ll require at least the Business plan at $18 a month (when paid annually) to use the premium website-building blocks and features, marketing analytics, and basic ecommerce functions. However, if you’re planning on a high-level of sales of tickets and merchandise, you’d be advised to opt for the commission-free Commerce plans. The Basic Commerce plan is available for $26 a month, while the Advance Commerce option costs $40 a month. Read our Squarespace review (opens in new tab). Like Bandzoogle, the team behind MusicGlue have a strong claim to be the best website builder for musicians, courtesy of the fact that they’re first-and-foremost music lovers and industry experts. Unlike Bandzoogle, however, MusicGlue is primarily a commerce tool aimed at bands and musicians with an established product to sell and a dedicated audience to target. As its existing roster of clients demonstrate—including Metallica, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Kinks—MusicGlue offers a service tried and tested by some of the best in the business. This means that users get sophisticated features tailored to ticketing (including anti-tout technology), merchandise sales, and even a fan club reward system. Its analytics package features tools that offer in-depth insight into conversions and data tracking, while the platform supports 23 languages and 26 currencies. For this reason, its site-building options and templates are maybe not as diverse as those of some others on this list, but you’ll not be charged a penny for building your site. With the Lite package (opens in new tab) targeted at bands and artists, the monthly subscription of around $7 (as a British company, MusicGlue charges £4.99 a month) begins only once you start selling products. Note that MusicGlue will also charge a 2% commission on all sales through its platform. For managers, record labels, and promoters, there is a Premium package that offers bespoke pricing. Formerly known as Difymusic (short for Do It For Your Music), this innovative platform claims to be France’s leading direct-to-consumer distribution and ecommerce solution for the creative industries. Now known as Difyd2c to reflect its widening scope from its music-focused origins, its services include an all-encompassing agency and logistics service with clients such as Universal Music, Deezer, Facebook, and Live Nation. Its off-the-shelf ecommerce platform lets you launch an official store in minutes without the requirement for a developer, and the Difyb2c team can even provide help with designing, creating, and shipping merchandise. It will also handle customer services and enquiries through a ticketing system, while detailed reporting includes sales and inventory management. Its DIY plan (opens in new tab) charges a one-off registration fee of €9.99 (around $12), which is collected on your first sale. After this, Difyd2c earns only from a 5% commission on all sales. The mid-tier option includes use of Difyd2c’s in-house logistics and management team, and charges 20% commission plus €1 (around $1.20) on every product shipped.
How to choose the best website builder for musicians
Choosing the best website builder for musicians is naturally dependent on your needs and preferences. If you’re a new band only just getting to grips with online promotion and yet to build up an audience to warrant selling merchandise, then plumping for the low-cost starter Wix plan—with its seamless integrations with music players from Spotify and Soundcloud—or the Lite package offered by Bandzoogle might be just the ticket. Conversely, if you’re keen to scale up promotion and sales to an already-engaged audience, MusicGlue’s slick commerce tools are a big reason the platform has attracted an impressive client list. What’s more, you’ll not pay anything to build your website, allowing you to get to grips with the platform before deciding if you wish to continue. Just remember that once you do start selling, a percentage of all sales will be claimed by the platform. Ultimately, the key is to weigh up your musical priorities, budget, and aims, and make your educated choice accordingly. If you’re an audiophile—and you probably are—then also check out our guides to the best noise-cancelling headphones (opens in new tab) and the best outdoor speakers (opens in new tab) before you make your next purchase.
Further reading on website builders
It’s worth taking a look at our other buying guides for website builders, including our rankings of the best small business website builders (opens in new tab), the best ecommerce website builders (opens in new tab), and the best website builders for photographers (opens in new tab). Another option open to you is WordPress (opens in new tab) via the best website builders for WordPress (opens in new tab), though you’ll need the best WordPress hosting (opens in new tab) from the best web hosting (opens in new tab) services too.
