When the iPhone was launched in 2008, the founders of Duda, Itai Sadan and Amir Glatt, saw the potential it would have for web browsing. As a result, they launched a DudaMobile, a mobile-only website builder. DudaOne followed shortly, a responsive site builder for creating responsive websites that look no matter if it's viewed on a desktop or a mobile device.
Today, Duda has evolved to be an all-in-one website builder. It caters to the creative industry, from freelancers and digital agencies to digital publishers and hosting companies. It's headquartered in Palo Alto, USA, and hosts over 16 million websites at the time of writing.
As a one-stop-shop, Duda gives you all the tools needed to build and grow your website without a single line of code. That is, it gives you a variety of templates which you then customise and when the time comes to publishing it, Duda will host it.
Pros and cons of Duda
Duda's a straightforward website builder that is easy to get into, albeit a bit on the expensive side.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Solid SEO features also for products in the online store
- Multi-lingual support, although blog posts and ecommerce products can't be translated (as yet)
- All templates are responsive and look good an different kinds of devices like desktops and mobiles
Cons
- No free plan
- Ecommerce feature is a paid add-on
- Expensive pricing, but there is a 14 day free trial
Who is Duda for?
Duda positions itself as a "business" website builder. It wants to help web design agencies and SaaS platforms scale quickly. The websites created with Duda are well-suited for a wide range of small business types and you can build anything from an online store to portfolio and blogs.
Even though Duda markets itself as a business website builder, anyone can use it, especially, since it's an all-inclusive service and doesn't need web development skills. Moreover, most people now think of their websites as some sort of business either way.
How easy is Duda to use?
If you've already used other website builders, Duda will feel familiar to you. The controls to save your work, publish your site, upgrade your account, and undo/redo edits are arranged in the top navigation. The options and controls for the layout of your site can be accessed via the sidebar on the left. The interface is self-explanatory and all you have to do to make your edits is to click on the element and add them. With its drag-and-drop editor, you place the widgets and elements where you want them.
To help you save time, you can duplicate any of the web pages you already built and reuse it in another part of your site. Another convenient feature is that you can save time by importing content from another website to populate your site (it's only available on the second tier and higher).
Needless to say, as it is with all the website builders offering a drag-and-drop editor, you can occasionally be annoyed when you try to realise ideas that are not covered with the templates.
Duda design and templates
When you start with a new project, you choose one of the free templates and customise it to your liking. Their design may not be on par with Squarespace's but they're all designed from ground-up to be responsive and look good on all kinds of devices, from mobiles to desktops.
You can also start with a blank template and build your own from scratch. Each element in the editor has its Settings tab in which you'll find the code editor for you to further fine-tune your design.
How to manage your ecommerce store in Duda?
Out of the box, Duda includes a solid set of tools for you to run your online store. Of course, the feature set that is available to you will depend on the ecommerce add-on you choose.
You'll manage your store with all its daily tasks in the section "Store management". It supports both selling digital and physical goods, provides you with an automatic tax calculator, coupon codes, and product categories.
Duda integrations
Duda's App Store is quite limited, but offers some useful CRM and listing management integrations.
What marketing and SEO tools does Duda have?
Since Duda markets its solution mainly to agencies, publishers, and SaaS providers, their toolbox for marketing is well-specced and include
- Lead generating landing page template
- White label sales decks
- White label handouts
- White label support portal
- Email header images
But these are categorised as resources under client management and only available from the second tier on.
SEO
You can add the site title, site description, and keywords that are valid site-wide. More importantly, if you run a web store, you'll want to add meta tags to your products, which is supported in Duda.
Blogging
The blog functionality is easy to use and you'll create a basic blog in no time at all. You can change the layout, add more elements just like for your web pages. You also have the option to enable the RSS feed.
Payment options
With the ecommerce add-on "Standard" and up, you'll have 40 and more payment gateways to choose from. Mind that each of them has their own transaction fees and costs.
Duda security
All plans include SSL encryption so your site is protected. There's no dedicated backup function. To keep a backup of your site, duplicate it.
Duda customer support
Support can be contacted via phone, chat, and email; Basic, the cheapest price plan offers only email support. It's support center is well-organised and comprehensive.
Duda pricing
Duda's pricing is categorised into website builder subscriptions and ecommerce add-ons. Since their target market is agencies, SaaS platforms, and hosters, on the higher plans you got features like team collaboration and client management.
If you want to run an online store, you need to add the ecommerce add-on. When you first register, you have a 14 day free trial period with unrestricted options to all features in the plan Team. You can try out features like the team functionality or content import functionality.
Is Duda the right solution for you?
Duda can be used by your common, everyday user, but it’s particularly well-suited for web designers and agencies who need to create many websites quickly for their clients. It's a good choice for small and medium size business who want to build a multi-lingual website and reach an international audience.
If you're planning to run a larger ecommerce store, you may want to check out Shopify or Magento. Lastly, if you value crisp templates, want more creative freedom, or more affordable prices, take a look at Squarespace or Weebly.
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