1. Best overall: Banzoogle
2. Best for music integration: Wix
3. Best for unlimited storage: Squarespace
4. Best for e-commerce: Music Glue
5. Best for merchandise: Difyd2c
Music is designed to be shared, and an artist or band can effectively do this by building a website with one of the best website builders for musicians. A site can help you get as many people as possible to hear your music, provide an effective platform from which to play music and share it, and also advertise concerts, sell merchandise, or provide regular updates to fans.
We've extensively tested all the top website builders for musical artists. Music online is easily the principal way consumers find new artists, with 67% of the industry's total revenue coming from online streaming, according to the IFPI Global Music Report 2023.
Our guide to the best website builder for musicians explores five of the top-ranking contenders and looks at each provider's top features, ease of use, and any associated costs so that you can choose the right builder for your site.
The quick list
In a rush? Here’s a concise overview of the top website builders tailored for musicians. Read the detailed reviews below to look deeper into their features and benefits.
The best website builder for musicians
Bandzoogle, specifically crafted for musicians, offers a variety of preset templates you can use with no coding knowledge. It seamlessly integrates with platforms like YouTube, Twitter, SoundCloud, and PayPal.
The best website builder with third-party music integration
Wix is a giant in the website-building realm, offering over 500 templates, including music-specific themes. The Wix App Market allows integration with popular music industry apps.
The best website builder with unlimited storage and bandwidth
Squarespace, a versatile platform, offers a plethora of music-related themes and features. It has unlimited storage and bandwidth across all subscription levels, allowing you to upload vast amounts of content.
The best website builder with ecommerce for musicians
Tailored for musicians with products to sell, Music Glue offers features for ticketing, merchandise sales, and fan rewards. It’s designed for bands aiming to scale up their sales and promotions.
The best website builder for designing, creating, and shipping merchandise
Formerly known as Difymusic, Difyd2c is a comprehensive platform for the creative industries. It offers a holistic service, from designing and shipping merchandise to handling customer inquiries.
The top 3 website builders for musicians right now
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The best website builders for musicians of 2023 in full
Best overall
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 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 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.
Best for music integration
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. 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 3GB of bandwidth and 2GB of storage space with the Combo plan, costing $16 a month. You'll need to upgrade to the Unlimited plan, at $22 a month, for no restrictions on bandwidth and a boost to 5GB of storage. The VIP plan costs $45 a month, and comes with storage of 100GB.
Read our Wix review.
Best for unlimited storage
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 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 $23 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 $27 a month, while the Advance Commerce option costs $49 a month.
Read our Squarespace review.
Best for ecommerce
Like Bandzoogle, the team behind Music Glue has 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, Music Glue 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 demonstrates—including Metallica, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Kinks—Music Glue 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 targeted at bands and artists, the monthly subscription of around $7 (as a British company, Music Glue charges £4.99 a month) begins only once you start selling products.
Note that Music Glue 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.
Best for merchandise
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 Difyd2c team can even provide help with designing, creating, and shipping merchandise. It will also handle customer services and inquiries through a ticketing system, while detailed reporting includes sales and inventory management.
Its DIY plan charges a one-off registration fee of €9.99 (around $12), which is collected on your first sale. After this, Difyd2c earns only a 5% commission on all sales. The mid-tier option includes the use of Difyd2c's in-house logistics and management team and charges 20% commission plus €1 (around $1.20) on every product shipped.
The best website builder for musicians, compared
Website builder | Starting price | Bandwidth | Storage |
---|---|---|---|
Bandzoogle | $8.29 a month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Wix | $16 a month | 2GB | 3GB |
Squarespace | $16 a month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Music Glue | $7 a month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Difyd2c | $12 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
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, Music Glue’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-canceling headphones and the best outdoor speakers before you make your next purchase.
How we review the best website builders for musicians
When reviewing website builders for musicians, we use a range of methods to evaluate the quality of each platform. Our approach is designed to provide a comprehensive assessment that takes into account the specific needs and goals of musicians who are looking to create a website.
A website builder that is easy to use is essential for musicians who may not have a lot of technical expertise. We evaluate how user-friendly each platform is by assessing the ease with which users can navigate through the interface, customize templates, and add content.
For musicians, it's important to have a website that reflects your personal style and brand. We test the design and customization features of each website builder to ensure that users can create a website that looks professional and unique.
Musicians have specific needs when it comes to website functionality. We evaluate how well each website builder caters to these needs by testing features such as audio and video playback, event calendars, merchandise sales, and fan engagement tools.
A slow website can be frustrating for visitors and may negatively impact search engine rankings. We evaluate the performance and speed of each website builder to ensure that users can create a website that is both fast and reliable.
Cost is an important consideration for musicians who may be working with limited budgets. We evaluate the pricing and value of each website builder by comparing the features and benefits of each platform with their respective price points.
Overall, our testing approach is designed to provide a thorough evaluation of each website builder for musicians. By taking into account the specific needs and goals of musicians, we aim to help our readers make informed decisions about which platform is best for their needs.
You can read more on our testing methodology page.
Next steps with 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, the best ecommerce website builders, and the best website builders for photographers.
Another option open to you is WordPress via the best website builders for WordPress, though you'll need the best WordPress hosting.