The directory board · 10 trades filed
The right website builder for your trade, not the average one
Ten trades, ten deep guides, one stamped pick per trade — priced at real monthly cost, not the teaser rate.
Latest filings
all guides →A few stamps from the board
Four of the ten sections, and the score this desk gave each pick for its trade.
Square Online
Restaurants
Joy
Weddings
Bandzoogle
Musicians & bands
GlossGenius
Salons & spas
Every list of the best website builders ranks the same ten tools for an imaginary average customer — and nobody runs an average business. A salon lives on a booking calendar that keeps chairs full. A band needs to sell merch without a platform skimming every sale. A church needs online giving that doesn't cost the congregation a service fee nobody agreed to. The right website builder depends on the trade, so this desk treats every trade separately.
Generic rankings fail because the deciding feature usually hides below the pricing table. Wix's cheapest plan can't accept a single online payment. Squarespace won't book a class on any website plan without a second subscription. Square's free store charges a higher card rate than its paid ones. None of that shows up in an overall star score — it shows up on your first month's invoice.
Three questions, answered in order
Every guide on this board answers the same three questions before it names a winner. First: what does a site in this trade actually need to do — not features in general, but the two or three jobs the business can't open without. Second: which builder does those jobs with the least pain. Third: what it will really cost per month once processing fees, mandatory add-ons and renewal pricing land. When a figure can't be verified first-hand, we write "around" instead of pretending.
How the board works
Ten trades, one deep guide each — restaurants, churches, real estate, nonprofits, weddings, gyms, salons, membership sites, musicians and medical practices. No fifty-item listicles: each guide names exactly one top pick, scored for that trade rather than overall, and prices the specialists honestly whether or not they pay us a cent.
Every pick also arrives with its catch printed on the ticket. Square's free store carries a 3.3% + 30¢ online card rate. Bandzoogle's cheapest plan has no merch store at all. Joy wants your registry in return for the free site. A pick without its catch is an advert, and this desk doesn't file adverts.
A few stamps from the board: Square Online takes restaurants at 8.4 — its free plan is a complete ordering store you pay for per sale rather than per month. Joy holds weddings at 8.5, because free genuinely means free, with the custom domain as the only real bill. Bandzoogle earns 8.3 for musicians by taking 0% commission on music and merch sales. And GlossGenius takes salons at 7.9 with a real booking website and a flat card rate.
Start with the board
The fastest route in is the full board: our guide to the best website builders by industry lines up all ten trades with from-prices and the one-line reason each pick won. Budgets get respect here — most trades on the board can open for under $30 a month, and two of the ten can open for nothing. If you want the scoring machinery first, the method is laid out in how we rank. And if your trade isn't filed yet, the board grows — tell the desk which trade should be next.
Asked at the site office
What's the best website builder for my trade?
There is no single best — the right builder depends on your trade, because a restaurant, a salon and a contractor need different things. We publish one deeply-researched pick per trade rather than a generic winner.
What's the best website builder for a restaurant?
A restaurant needs menus, hours and often online ordering or reservations handled cleanly — that's what our restaurant pick is chosen for. A generic "best builder" list ignores exactly the features that matter here.
What's the best builder for a salon or spa with bookings?
Prioritise native appointment scheduling over a bolted-on plugin, so clients can book without friction. Our salon guide names the builder that handles bookings best and what plan it takes.
Do tradespeople actually need a website?
Yes — for most trades a simple, credible site plus a way to get quotes beats relying on a social profile you don't own. It doesn't need to be elaborate; it needs to be found and trusted.
What's the cheapest website builder for a small trade?
For a simple trade site, a budget builder or a host bundle covers it for a few dollars a month — you rarely need a premium plan. Our per-trade guides price the realistic option, not the top tier.