Learning to manage and update websites is important for many users. Especially users like bakery shop owners and home-based bakers. They appreciate website-building platforms that they can learn to use easily. One that lets them update their websites quickly and with less hassle. Working on building your bakery startup's online presence? Here are the top website builders for you.



1. Snapps.ai

• Bakery Templates: Snapps.ai has one professionally designed bakery template. It also has 10 pre-designed food-related templates. These can be found under the Brick & Mortar category. In total, Snapps offers 214 templates that you can customize to fit your needs. 
• E-commerce Functionalities: Snapps provides comprehensive functionalities for e-commerce. They come in three plans. The Standard Store ($24 per month); Advanced Store ($49 per month); and Unlimited Store ($99 per month). Your e-store plan is added on top of your Snapps hosting plan.
• Tools & Integrations: Snapps offers over 300 tools and integrations. These include localgrids, a local search tracking tool. It also has widgets for custom HTML and social media sharing. Snapps also provides SnapMe. This tool is a link management integration. Another is MyDomains which assists in hassle-free domain setup. Snapps.ai also provides AI tools for SEO-friendly images and content generation.
• Plans: Starts at $19 per month with the Single Site Pack. 

2. Squarespace

• Bakery Templates: Squarespace offers many food- and restaurant-themed templates. It has over 200 pre-designed templates. You can customize any of these to suit your bakery branding and needs. Squarespace's Loam template, in particular, is a popular template by bakeries.
• E-commerce Functionalities: You gain access to Squarespace Commerce. This is a set of tools and functionalities for creating your online storefront. It includes features for selling and managing orders, processing payment transactions, and more.
• Tools & Integrations: Squarespace offers many tools and integrations. You can integrate Facebook and Instagram for social media. Google Search Console can be integrated to optimize your site content. Squarespace has built-in analytics tools to track site performance, user behavior, and engagement. It also has tools like SEOSpace for boosting page results rankings. Squarespace also offers a Developer Mode for users with coding experience.
• Plans: Starts at $23 per month with the Personal Plan. Offers a 14-day free trial.

3. Weebly

• Bakery Templates: Weebly doesn’t have a dedicated bakery template. But it has 10+ food-themed temples you can use. You can also customize the colors and fonts you want for your bakery website. 
• E-commerce Functionalities: Weebly provides many e-commerce tools for building your online storefront. You can integrate functionalities like shopping cart features and abandoned cart management. You can add payment options, secure checkout, inventory management, and more.
• Tools & Integrations: Weebly is known for being very user-friendly. It is popular for providing tools that are easy to learn and use right out of the box. Go to Weebly's App Center to find the tools that suit your needs and goals. From marketing and social media to site performance tools and SEO. Weebly also offers a comprehensive SEO guide for beginners and first-time users.
• Plans: Starts at $10 per month with the Personal plan. Offers a free plan (limited; subdomain only)

4. Wix

• Bakery Templates: Wix offers many bakery templates for you to use. You can also use its other food-themed templates, too. In total, Wix has over 900 professionally designed and customizable website templates. 
• E-commerce Functionalities: Wix provides functionalities like seamless payment processing. It also has tools for adding pastry photos and images. You can add integrations for processing online and offline payments, and more.
• Tools & Integrations: Wix has a rich and comprehensive range of tools and integrations. Wix's App Market offers advanced tools and integrations for marketing and e-commerce. It provides integrations for SEO and site traffic functionalities. Its marketing integrations are particularly comprehensive and varied. It also offers an AI website builder functionality and a Logo Maker feature.
• SEO and Social Media: Wix offers resources to help beginners with SEO. It provides an SEO guide to help first-time users. Wix is also known for providing good SEO support and tools and many automated SEO elements. Wix also provides good site performance and speed. But it is not on the same level as Snapps.ai or Squarespace.
• Plans: Starts at $17.00 per month with the Light Plan. Offers a free plan (limited; subdomain only)

5. Jimdo

• Bakery Templates: Jimdo does not have a dedicated bakery theme. However, it has a restaurant category with highly customizable templates. These templates come with Menu blocks. These blocks can be used to add images and content like menu offerings, recipes, and new offerings.
• E-commerce Functionalities: Jimdo's several e-commerce functionalities. These are organized into three plans:  Basic ($18 per month); Business ($22 per month), and VIP ($45 per month). Jimdo does not charge any commission fees for payment processing. Unlike Castiron which charges 3% convenience fees for all transactions. 
• Tools & Integrations: Jimdo’s built-in tools and content block help make website-building simpler. Its built-in SEO tools also help with searchability and local search results. Social media sharing functionalities include Google Maps, Facebook and Instagram integration, and more.
• Plans: Starts at $11 per month with the Start plan. Jimdo offers a free plan called Play.

6. Mobirise

• Bakery Templates: Offers many bakery-themed templates that are customizable. Mobirise also offers over 100 Bootstrap and AMP themes and extensions.
• E-commerce Functionalities: Mobirise offers basic e-commerce functionalities. It provides integrations like an ordering system for online storefront websites.
• Tools & Integrations: Mobirise provides over 4,000 design blocks for easier website building. It also offers an Edit Code function. This function allows users with coding experience access to its Code Editor extension. Mobirise also provides integrations for SEO tools and social media sharing.
• Plans: Freeware. Easily downloadable through the App Store and the Play Store.

Mobirise started in May 2015. It is one of the few offline website builders available in the market. As a relative newcomer, Mobirise supports over 2 million websites. It is easy to use: all you need to do is input information about your website, goals, and target market or audience.



7. Shopify

• Bakery Templates: Shopify has over 13 free and 194 premium templates. They are categorized into “Collections.” For bakery startups, check the Food and Drink templates and Restaurants Collections. Below is the Andaman template. It is a popular Shopify theme used for home bakery businesses. 
• E-commerce Tools and Functionalities: Shopify offers over 6,000 tools and integrations. It offers tools like online store management and sales and fulfillment. It provides inventory systems management, customer retention, abandoned cart recovery, and more. 
• Tools & Integrations: Shopify provides integrations for SEO, social media, and site performance improvement. It offers tools for enhancing customer engagement and managing marketing campaigns. You will also gain access to business management tools.
• Plans: Starts at $19 per month with the Basic plan. Offers a three-day trial.

Shopify is a good website-building platform for bakery startups to use. However, using this platform can be costly. Using Shopify to create bakery websites is overkill. This is especially true for bakery businesses operating on tight budgets. It isn't user-friendly and is not recommended for beginners and first-time users. Still, if you have the time, budget, and willingness to learn, it is a platform worth considering.



8. Castiron

• Bakery Templates: Castiron offers many bakery templates. It also provides guides for first-time users. Castiron also offers other food-themed templates. Castiron website templates are customizable, responsive, and free. 
• E-commerce Functionalities: Castiron provides food business management tools. It also offers access to functionalities suited for small bakery and food-themed businesses. Castiron provides integrations for online store creation, payment processing, marketing, and more. 
• Tools & Integrations: Castiron offers more tools and features than other website builders. Except, perhaps, Shopify. But in terms of website-building, Castiron limited tools and integration. It provides integrations for SEO, social media, and site performance. Another limit is that users can build their websites under a Castiron subdomain. 
• Plans: None for website builder. Offers a 14-day free trial. 

Castiron is an e-commerce marketplace platform. It aims to attract awareness and attention to its subscribers (users). Castiron is an exclusive marketplace composed of bakeries, restaurants, and kitchen-based entrepreneurs. According to this Redditor, Castiron moved to the marketplace model in early 2024. With this move, Castiron made its website builder free to use.

Why is It Important for a Bakery to Have an Online Presence?

Having a bakery website builds up your brand’s credibility. It boosts your business’s online presence and searchability. That is important because bakery startups rely on online visibility.

Establishing your online presence means establishing your brand as an authority. Your website must be a reliable source of information about your industry. To achieve that you need to post quality content. Post about your bakery, recipes, limited pastry promotions, or events. Choose a website builder that has AI tools to help you create quality web content and blog articles. Look for a platform that helps generate high-quality images, too. These will help provide a solid foundation for your SEO and social media campaigns.

Boosting your sales is another reason why it’s important to build your online presence. To boost your marketing and sales, you need to make it easy for online users to find you. You need to make it easier for potential customers to see your products and order from you. More and more people search and discover baked goods and pastries online. When they find your bakery website, make sure they stay as long as possible by adding great content. If you've added an e-commerce functionality like a booking form, even better. Potential customers love it when you make it easy for them to place their orders on your website.

Which is Better: A Website Builder or Marketplace Platform?

Using a website builder is better than signing up to a marketplace platform. A website builder operates on a freemium model. That is, it offers a free plan or trial period to users. This is so users can try and test all the features and functionalities before they commit to a premium plan. If your goal is to launch your website quickly, a website builder is best for you. 

Joining a marketplace platform will take too long. You may be overwhelmed by all the steps you need to accomplish. Building your website is the least of the things to do on a marketplace platform. Committing to it means less time focused on your bakery startup. 

Another reason to use a website builder over joining a marketplace is competition. Marketplace platforms like Castiron provide an online space where you can be discovered. But that marketplace can be crowded. It pits you against other bakeries. Commission fees, or convenience fees, are another reason why it's better to use a builder. With a website builder, you pay for the tools and features you need. With a marketplace like Castiron, you are charged a 3% convenience fee. That fee is charged on all your transactions within a calendar year. That is costlier than your average website builder premium plan. 

A website builder will provide you with many benefits, including: 

• Helping build your website faster and with less hassle.
• Being more affordable than hiring a professional or agency.
• Making site building easier for beginners (they are designed specifically for such users). 
• Not needing coding experience or knowledge when using it.
• Offering options for web page design customization.
• Having full control over your site’s layout, colors, fonts, and style.
• Building an online storefront or adding e-commerce functionalities easily.
• Updating or adding content to your website post-launch is easy and convenient to do.

If you want to build your website quickly and with as little hassle as possible, choose a website builder. That way, you can build and launch your site, and return your focus to growing your bakery business.



The Best Website Builder for Bakery Startups is Snapps.ai

The best website builder for bakery startups is Snapps.ai. At its core, Snapps is a website builder that is easy for bakers and pastry chefs to use. With Snapps, you can highlight your menu and latest creations through your website. You can share your bakery story and promotions. 

Snapps has three e-commerce plans to fit your needs and maximize visitor experience. It also has advanced AI-driven features to help grow your bakery's online presence. Are you a first-time user? Don't worry. Snapps provides guides to help you set your website up.

As a baker, your passion is in creating and working with your hands. No other craft creates an instant multi-sensory impact that attracts customers and passersby. But in today’s market, you need more than sweet scents to entice and captivate new customers. And you have to do it online. With Snapps.ai, you can create a website that reflects your unique baked offerings. You can spend less time developing your website and more time rolling in dough.