The 6 Best Portfolio Websites Builders in 2024

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In today’s world, a portfolio is more than just part of the application process – from freelancers to entrepreneurs, a portfolio is a vital tool in anyone’s career. Instead of just telling about your abilities and experience, you can show them and let your work do the talking for you.

The best way to create a portfolio is to use a website builder. Not only is it easily accessible by anyone, but you can also design it from the ground up, taking your visitors on a journey of who you are and what you can do. Overall, the best portfolio-building platform is Wix, but your portfolio will differ depending on which industry you work in. We’ve researched and collected the six best portfolio website builders and organized them according to whether you need a portfolio for showcasing your creative, business, or technical skills.

Our Top 6 Portfolio Website Builders:

  1. Wix Our top choice for portfolios
  2. Squarespace For artistic portfolios
  3. GoDaddy For marketing portfolios
  4. Hostinger For writing portfolios
  5. Pixpa For photography portfolios
  6. Webflow For computer programmer portfolios

Short on time? Find the best platform for your art with our 3-minute quiz.

What type of portfolio do you need?

Find Your Builder

Best for Professional Portfolios

Professional portfolios are used for job interviews to advertise your previous successes and employment history. Used often in advertising roles, they need to strike a balance between features and design functionality. As well as images, they may also feature more quantifiable success measures like graphs and data sets, proving your competency for the role for potential employers.

Top Choice: Wix

Starting price: $16 per month
Read our full Wix Review

Editor's Choice

Wix

Our top choice for portfolios

Outstanding

4.8

out of 5
  • 800+ templates on offer
  • Very intuitive to use
  • Generous free plan
dollar icon svg

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $16 - $159 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg High level of customization
  • icon yes svg Templates for a wide range of industries
  • icon yes svg Drag-and-drop editor

Cons

  • icon no svg Expensive premium plans
  • icon no svg Storage caps on all plans
  • icon no svg Can't switch templates once site is live
Wix Review

Wix is our best overall portfolio website builder and the number one choice if you need a portfolio when applying for jobs. It has over 800 professionally designed templates across multiple industries, giving you a great starting point for your portfolio. If you want more choice over your portfolio’s design, then Wix’s ADI feature uses artificial intelligence to design a personalized website for you – simply answer Wix’s short questionnaire.

Bryon Simon's website with artistic self portraits
Byron Simon used Wix to create his portfolio, which reflects his own unique style. Click on the image to visit Byron Simon's portfolio.

Once you’ve chosen your template, the drag-and-drop editor lets you place the features you want – and trust us when we say there’s a lot. Wix has enough features and integrations to keep any website creator happy and it’s all in one place to boot. For portfolio users, this includes mixing images, videos, blog posts, and live data sets all on the same page. Better yet, you can always transition your portfolio site to an online store if you ever decide to start your own business – think of it like an investment, rather than a single-use site.

A portfolio-specific page in Wix's website editor
Once in the editor, I could easily add a portfolio page to my website and browse through Wix's layout choices.

Additionally, employers like to see quantitative data to back up your portfolio (especially for marketing and advertising positions), and Wix is the only builder on this list that has in-built dataset integration, earning it the highest feature score in our research with 4.7 out of 5.

I was able to easily add this dataset feature from within Wix's "CMS" editor. I used Wix support to find the right settings.

If you want more freedom with Wix’s design or are creating a web development portfolio and want to show off your skills, Wix Studio is a new platform that lets you design your portfolio using code. Getting your portfolio noticed on the web won’t be an issue either, as Wix has some of the best SEO capabilities and marketing on this list, letting you add a live social media feed like LinkedIn for instance, letting employers see your posts right on your portfolio.

I tested out Wix Studio, which allows you to code. Here, you can see Wix's SEO settings for my "About" page. Still nice and easy to set up!

What’s the Best Value Plan?

Wix has pricing for four premium plans:

  • Light – $16 per month
  • Core – $27 per month
  • Business – $32 per month
  • Business Elite – $159 per month

With a value-for-money score of 3.7 out of 5 in our research, Wix’s plans can be expensive for just a portfolio. These prices are the average monthly price for a year-long subscription paid in full, and the longer the subscription you pay, the less the monthly price. Wix does have a free plan, but you’ll have to contend with Wix banner ads and a Wix domain name, which can make you look unprofessional to potential employers.

Our recommendation is the Light plan. You can’t sell products on this plan, but for a professional portfolio, you probably won’t need to. Plus, we have a unique 10% off at checkout offer for our readers if they use GET10 at checkout.

Further Information:

Alternative: GoDaddy – For Marketing Portfolios

Starting price: $9.99 per month
Read our full GoDaddy Review

GoDaddy

For marketing portfolios

Very Good

4.2

out of 5
  • Get online quickly
  • Best value for money
  • Ideal for basic portfolio
dollar icon svg

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $6.99 - $469.99 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Very beginner-friendly
  • icon yes svg Plenty of must-have features
  • icon yes svg ADI website builder

Cons

  • icon no svg Templates can be slightly restrictive
  • icon no svg Designs can look quite similar
  • icon no svg No mobile editor
GoDaddy Review

If Wix’s prices for a professional template seem too high (money isn’t always flowing when job-hunting after all), then GoDaddy provides a great alternative solution for only $9.99 per month. It has many similarities to Wix, such as also having a free plan and using ADI software to build a personalized portfolio template.

I asked GoDaddy to build a portfolio website for me, and it did so in minutes. I easily replaced the header image, tailoring it to my own style.

However, these customized designs and premade templates aren’t on the level of Wix or Squarespace as they lack the same professionally-made aesthetic quality, and only score 3.4 out of 5 for design functionality in our research. There are also fewer features offered, including no SEO on the Basic plan. That being said, if you are short on time, GoDaddy may be the builder for you. GoDaddy’s editor is so streamlined that you can have a functional portfolio ready in under an hour!

List of GoDaddy's most popular website elements
GoDaddy had a decent range of elements to add to my demo website, including portfolio-specific sections.

If you do pay extra for SEO, you’ll be given some truly great marketing and SEO capabilities, like integrating Google’s Business messages and email automation. If you need marketing examples for a portfolio, you can track your own website’s success as proof of your abilities. Talk about two birds with one stone!

After I'd customized my site's design, I explored the settings and quickly found where I could manage my inbox and connect Google's Business Messages.

What’s the Best Value Plan?

GoDaddy’s pricing comes in four premium plans, plus its free plan:

  • Basic – $9.99 per month
  • Standard – $10.49 per month
  • Premium – $14.99 per month
  • Ecommerce – $16.99 per month

We recommend the Standard plan. For only 50 cents extra from the Basic plan, you get SEO capabilities like meta tag editing and recommended keyword suggestions, which are crucial for showing your prowess in marketing and getting your portfolio seen by as many eyes as possible.

Further Information:

Best for Creative Portfolios

The most popular type of portfolio is a creative portfolio. This is a portfolio for presenting and curating your creative body of work to potential clients and employers, typically used by artists, photographers, animators, makeup artists, and models. For a creative portfolio, you need to pick a website builder that prioritizes design functionality and photo galleries.

Top Choice: Squarespace

Starting price: $16 per month
Read our full Squarespace Review

Squarespace

For artistic portfolios

Excellent

4.6

out of 5
  • Award-winning designs
  • Ideal for creatives
  • High-quality features
dollar icon svg

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $16 - $49 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Beautiful templates
  • icon yes svg Unlimited storage on all plans
  • icon yes svg Enhanced third-party apps

Cons

  • icon no svg No free plan
  • icon no svg Customization slightly limited
  • icon no svg No 24/7 live chat
Squarespace Review

When creating a creative portfolio, your artistic talents should extend to the website design and follow a clear design philosophy that mirrors your artwork as a testament to your skills. Clients want to be impressed by your creativity, and no website builder has more impressive creative functionality than Squarespace, having some of the best-designed portfolio templates we’ve seen.

nikki hoza art director's home page with images of a dog and leaves
We love this Squarespace-built portfolio from Art Director Nikki Hoza, with its sleek style and cool animations highlighting her creativity. Click on the image to visit Nikki's portfolio.

As well as the exquisitely designed templates, Squarespace has the best user experience score we’ve seen with 4.7 out of 5. Its drag-and-drop editor lets you place elements wherever you want, and from our own experience, it’s actually hard to make a bad-looking website. While not having true ADI like Wix or GoDaddy, Squarespace Blueprint is a feature that can build you a personal template for your portfolio simply by answering a few questions.

Demo portfolio website built by Squarespace, showing how to drag a text box in the editor
Squarespace's grid-style editor made it easy for me to keep elements aligned and visually pleasing.

For most creative portfolios, you’re going to need plenty of images and galleries. Squarespace gives its subscribers unlimited storage across all of its plans. You also get an allowance of 30 minutes when it comes to video storage – and this is available from Squarespace’s cheapest plan for $16 per month (billed annually). You can get more video allowance by upgrading to pricier plans. Wix – our highest-rated provider for portfolios – starts you out with only a 2GB storage limit on its $16 per month plan.

Library of portfolio elements in Squarespace's website editor
I could choose from a range of portfolio-specific elements to add to my pages.

What’s the Best Value Plan?

Squarespace’s pricing comes in four premium plans:

  • Personal – $16 per month
  • Business – $23 per month
  • Commerce Basic – $27 per month
  • Commerce Advanced – $49 per month

We recommend the Personal plan for creative portfolios. You’ll get unlimited storage to share as many images as you need, plus a 30-minute allowance for video. There’s a 14-day free trial you can use so you can test its features, and once you do decide, at Website Builder Expert we’re currently running a 10% discount for our readers if you use the code WBE10 at checkout.

Further Information:

Alternative: Pixpa – For Photography Portfolios

Starting price: $4 per month

Pixpa

For photography portfolios

Good

3.5

out of 5
  • Great for photographers
  • Very affordable plans
  • Connect with socials
dollar icon svg

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $7.5 - $24 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Mobile-friendly templates
  • icon yes svg Specialist website builder
  • icon yes svg Galleries for sharing and proofing

Cons

  • icon no svg No free plan
  • icon no svg Limited photos on cheapest plan
  • icon no svg Restrictive website editor

Unlike the others on this list, Pixpa is a dedicated portfolio builder, with a special focus on photography portfolios. This means you can only build portfolios with it, and gain access to niche features, especially for photographers. You have access to over 25 options when it comes to gallery layouts, as well as exclusive features such as Progressive Image Loading, which reduces the slowdown that can occur on your site if you have too many high-quality images.

Selection of Pixpa templates
Pixpa immediately directed me towards choosing a template for my portfolio after signing up.

Pixpa also has over 150 mobile-friendly templates to choose from across industries like Wedding Photography and Fashion and to protect your images from potential plagiarists and thieves, you can use Pixpa’s watermark feature. However, if photos aren’t the main focus of your portfolio, then you’ll find Pixpa very featureless – its starting plan lacks features like blogging, a domain name, and custom fonts.

Gallery layout options in pixpa's website editor
I could choose from a range of gallery layouts to add to my test portfolio.

Additionally, for a portfolio website builder, it is disappointing that there’s even a limit on how many images you can upload (200 on the Basic plan). However, the prices are a lot more reasonable than Squarespace and Wix. Overall, Pixpa may be lacking some features, but for photography portfolios it’s still the best option as no other builder is as dedicated to a particular medium.

I loved how tailored Pixpa's settings are for photographers, with detailed download settings and permissions at my fingertips.

What’s the Best Value Plan?

Pixpa has four premium plans:

  • Basic – $4 per month
  • Creator – $7.50 per month
  • Professional – $10 per month
  • Advanced – $12.50 per month

We recommend the Creator plan for creative portfolio users – the image limit in the Basic plan holds it back from being able to show the full breadth of your creativity, while the Creator plan gives you unlimited images. The average price is also still lower than many on the list, and it serves as a great alternative to Squarespace.

Best for Technical Portfolios

Technical portfolios are like creative portfolios but are less reliant on images and video to show off your ability. Computer programmers and game designers need to be able to integrate their work into their site, which requires a more open-source website builder.

Top Choice: Webflow – For Computer Programmers

Starting price: $14 per month

Read our full Webflow Review

Webflow

For computer programmer portfolios

Above Average

3.3

out of 5
  • Advanced customization
  • Strong design options
  • Lots of free templates
dollar icon svg

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $14 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg No ads on free plan
  • icon yes svg Good for experienced builders
  • icon yes svg Lots of free templates

Cons

  • icon no svg Steep learning curve
  • icon no svg No drag-and-drop editor
  • icon no svg Not beginner-friendly
Webflow Review

Webflow is a web development platform with over 3.5 million users worldwide. Instead of simplifying the website building process for beginners like Wix or Squarespace, Webflow is more similar to professional web development. As such, it can have a steep learning curve – but for those who want to show off their programming or web design skills, it’s perfect.

Webflow's portfolio template in the editor
Webflow's templates are simple but I chose the basic portfolio theme to get started.

What makes it perfect for technical portfolios, especially for computer programmers and game developers, is that its advanced customization means you can integrate your skills or demos into your website as long as you can code it. You also get access to Webflow’s marketplace of user-created content. From templates to animations to features, users can share and download their creations with each other.

Webflow's website editor showing its gallery elements
I didn't have many stylish options to choose from but I could add pre-designed elements to showcase the work.

Compared to the novice-friendly Squarespace, Webflow is only really suited for users proficient in coding or possessing advanced design skills, as you do get more control over your site’s design. Webflow has over 2,000 templates to choose from across a spectrum of industries, with most of them being free. Webflow also has a free plan you can use, and unlike Wix, it has no ads, so you can use it and still be professional – though you’ll be limited by 1GB of storage and 1K visitors per month.

Webflow's backend dashboard showing integrations
I could easily connect my test portfolio with useful tools, such as Google Analytics, to monitor my site's performance.

What’s the Best Value Plan?

Webflow has five premium plans, split between general and ecommerce plans – plus its free plan:

  • Basic – $14 per month
  • CMS – $23 per month
  • Standard (ecommerce) – $29 per month
  • Business – $39 per month
  • Plus (ecommerce) – $74 per month
  • Advanced (ecommerce) – $212 per month

Depending on the size of your website, we recommend either the free or the Basic plan. They have low storage and traffic limitations, but if you’re using your portfolio just for job-hunting, then you’ll find it suitable. If you want a home for all your projects, you may need to upgrade your plan for bigger storage.

More Information:

Alternative: Hostinger – For Writing Portfolios

Starting price: $2.99 per month + 3 months free (if you opt for the 48-month plan)

Read our full Hostinger Review

Hostinger

For writing portfolios

Good

4.1

out of 5
  • Suitable for simple sites
  • Affordable plans
  • Easy to use

Paid Plans: $2.99 - $109.99 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Drag-and-drop editor
  • icon yes svg 24/7 live chat
  • icon yes svg Get online quickly

Cons

  • icon no svg Limited room to grow
  • icon no svg Very basic templates
  • icon no svg Difficult to create a unique portfolio
Hostinger Review

If you need a simple portfolio on the more budget-conscious side and don’t need to populate it with hundreds of images, then Hostinger could be the builder for you. For only $2.99 per month, you can have a perfectly functional portfolio website – and if you sign up now for a 48-month plan you can get the first three months free.

Hostinger's Felicity template for portfolios
I chose Hostinger's Felicity template to get started because of its portfolio focus.

Hostinger’s cheaper starting price makes it perfect for writing portfolios, as money can often be a bit scarcer between freelancing jobs or getting books published. It’s a relief, as Hostinger isn’t really complex enough to handle much else. The included features are limited compared to Wix and Squarespace, and there isn’t much room to grow. This also applies to its templates, which are very basic and lack customization.

Hostinger's AI text generator in use in the website editor
With a few keywords, I could use Hostinger's AI text generator to create content and copy for my dummy portfolio.

However, like Wix and GoDaddy, Hostinger uses AI to build you a personal template based on your answers to a questionnaire. Hostinger’s ADI is not as developed as those providers, but if you like AI website builders, Hostinger is a major forerunner. It has an AI assistant, AI meta tags, AI writer, AI logo maker, and even an AI Heatmap that tells you where your visitors have clicked. Thanks to these features, Hostinger scored 4.5 out of 5 for user experience in our research, meaning it should definitely considered if you want an easy time building your portfolio.

Hostinger's website SEO settings
I could tweak my portfolio's SEO settings with ease.

What’s the Best Value Plan?

Hostinger has three paid plans:

  • Premium – $2.49 per month (+ 3 months free in the 48-month plan)
  • Business – $3.69 per month
  • Cloud Startup – $8.99 per month

For a simple writing portfolio, we recommend the Premium plan. It has everything you need to show off your writing skills while also being easy on the wallet. Readers can also take advantage of 10% off using code WBE at the checkout.

More Information:

Buying Guide: Tips for Picking a Portfolio Website Builder

While we’ve shown you the best portfolio website builders, we understand you may still need a bit of direction on how to pick the right portfolio website builder for you. Your choice will differ depending on your needs, but we’ve broken it down into three essential goals that every portfolio should accomplish:

Showcasing – Are you able to show off your best work on your portfolio? Whether this is simply through images and video or specific integrations like with programs, your portfolio needs to be able to present your work in an engaging and professional manner – whatever the medium.

Storytelling – Are you able to tell a convincing story through your portfolio’s presentation? Whether you want to show how your achievements grew in past roles or your creative evolution as an artist, a portfolio website builder needs to have an easy-to-use editor you can use to present yourself in the best way possible.

Searchability – Are you able to be found online through your portfolio? The benefit of an online portfolio is that it exists for all to see, and with good SEO tools, your portfolio can be found by the right person at the right time, perhaps leading to opportunities you never saw coming.

How We Test

Before we can confidently make any recommendations on the best portfolio builder we carry out in-depth testing on the website builders themselves. This is an important step – we want our articles and reviews to be data-led and based on experience with the platforms.

We analyze builders in six key areas and then give it a score out of five which averages out to an overall score. However because portfolios are different from online stores, so are their user demands. Therefore, different categories will have different weighting when it comes to their overall score to reflect the actual wants and needs of our readers.

Here are the unique weightings for our portfolio category:

  • Design Functionality – 35%
  • Website Features – 30%
  • User Experience – 20%
  • Help & Support – 5%
  • Customer Score – 5%
  • Value for Money – 5%

6 Best Website Builders for Portfolios: Summary

A portfolio can be used to present your body of work professionally to employers or just as a place to hold all of your previous work. Either way, you will need a website builder in which you can show your work and your own inherent creativity, but also build a presence and bring a certain level of professionalism.

For that reason, Wix is our best overall portfolio website builder. It allows you to make a portfolio that will impress your clients or employers in any industry and medium while also giving you fantastic freedom of choice in its creation. For the perfect mix of professionalism and creativity, Wix is our number-one choice in portfolios.

But there are many different options for portfolios, just like there are many different careers. If you are still unsure of what a portfolio should even look like, then read our guide on How to Make an Impressive Online Portfolio in 10 simple steps.

That’s all from us here. We wish you luck with your new portfolio!

FAQs

Pixpa allows you to upload batches of photos into galleries, but anything over 200 images at once will require some form of code, regardless of the website builder.
Many web design professionals use Webflow, as you can get the most out of your site design using its extremely precise editor. However, for beginners or those who don’t have the time we recommend Squarespace, as it has excellent design tools combined with easy use.
The cheapest website builder for artists is Hostinger, which has a starting plan for only $2.99 per month.
Written by:
headshot of Sam Jagger
Being a Writer for Website Builder Expert isn’t just typing words on a laptop. Each day, I’m finding new and innovative ways to help you get online in a mode you feel comfortable with. And it’s a task I do with enthusiasm and gusto. Not only do I have experience building with all the providers we talk about - creating websites such as this Strikingly demo - but we also have our wonderful, constantly updated research fielded by our researchers, so you can be reassured that what we say is an honest reflection of our professional opinions. I’ve written articles and featured guest posts for apps like UXPin on web design in the modern age, as well as answered over 100 user comments on the site and delved into the world of choosing a domain name and adding Bitcoin payments to your site in my own pitched articles. All of this is to say that when I want to get you online - I mean it! Outside the office, I have attended the eCommerce Expo and built up a ton of industry knowledge through talks, workshops, and guided learning sessions with noted experts. The internet is made for everyone, so come online and let us help you get there.
Researched by:
natasha_willett
I love to understand human behavior and the cognitive biases that drive us to do what we do. For over nine years I have worked as a mixed method researcher – research using a mix of numerical data and personal experiences – across a range of sectors, from insurance and policy development to finally arriving at Website Builder Expert five years ago. Fascinated by consumer decision-making, I meticulously built our leading ranking methodology to explore where providers like Wix sit within a competitive industry and what value they truly bring to our audience.
As a member of the Market Research Society, I’m an advocate for high ethical, commercial, and methodological best practices. All of this combines to give you the most ethical recommendations based on real data.

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