Website speed really matters. If your site loads slowly, visitors won’t stick around – and that can hurt both your business and your search rankings. There are tons of website builders out there, but not all are built with speed in mind. In this article, we’re taking a close look at some of the slowest, most bloated website builders that might be holding your site back.
1. Wix
Wix is a well-known website builder, but it’s notorious for generating heavy and sluggish websites. Its reliance on JavaScript and the numerous plugins available can weigh down your site’s performance, leading to frustratingly long loading times.
A user on the Wix Forum lamented about failing PageSpeed for performance no matter all the efforts:
“I went down a 4-hour rabbit hole doing everything under the sun to optimize my page and it still fails on Google PageSpeed for performance… I stripped pretty much everything ‘fancy.’ I killed all animations… I’m at a loss.”
-Matthew_Eric, Wix Studio Community Forum
A user on the Wix Studio Community Forum expressed frustration with Wix’s editor:
“I am just about ready to cry today. You can’t do anything fast in here – waiting 2 seconds for every change to click in, then having to restart every 10 minutes when what’s on the screen just won’t stabilize anymore.”
-Dawn_McVittie, Wix Studio Community Forum
2. Weebly
Weebly offers a user-friendly interface, but its simplicity comes at a cost. The builder tends to generate code that is not optimized for speed. Many Weebly websites suffer from slower loading times, which can deter users and impact SEO.
A Reddit user shared their experience with Weebly’s performance:
“It can get very slow on websites that have a moderate amount of elements on the pages. Everything is slower, editing, moving elements, even publishing.”
-u/websitebuilderfan (Reddit)
Another user with similar experiences:
“I’m not a power user, just keeping up a basic blog running on Weebly Starter. Just trying to do very basic things like build out a new page I’m getting an endless spinning loading wheel. This happens when dragging in new elements. “
-u/bloggerjoe (Reddit)
3. Squarespace
Squarespace is beloved for its beautiful templates, but they often include hefty CSS and JavaScript files. While these templates look stunning, they can hinder your website’s performance, especially on slower connections.
This user agrees:
“I’ve been using Squarespace since 2017 for various sites and clients and I’ve never seen it work so slowly in my life… This might be the turning point for me to switch systems.”
-webiwebi (Squarespace Forum)
And at the bottom of a long list of users complaining about the sluggish Squarespace website builder as well:
“It is nearly impossible to edit anything on my site anymore. Reaching out to support hasn’t been helpful. I’ve done it all. Cleared cache, switched browsers, restarted router, removed extensions, hardwired internet to my laptop, used incognito mode, and removed code. When will they admit it’s something on their end and provide a true fix?”
-BellaB (Squarespace Forum)
4. GoDaddy Website Builder
GoDaddy’s website builder offers simplicity, but it falls short in terms of speed optimization. The builder generates a lot of unnecessary code and scripts, which can contribute to slow loading times.
A user commented on Reddit:
“I experienced frequent glitches and slow loading times with GoDaddy’s Website Builder, impacting my site’s user experience.”
-u/webmaster2025 (Reddit)Another user reported:
“Experienced slow loading times with my GoDaddy site, which can lead to a poor user experience and higher bounce rates.”
-u/slowhost (Reddit)
5. Joomla
Joomla is an open-source content management system (CMS) that is highly flexible but tends to be slower compared to more streamlined platforms. Its complex architecture and numerous extensions can result in performance issues.
A user reported significant slowdowns after upgrading:
“Upgrading from Joomla 3.7.5 to Joomla 3.8.x made our page load time go from 4.5 sec up to 9 sec.”
-u/techsupport (Reddit)
“My Joomla site is very slow. Although I make the necessary settings from the global configuration and the htaccess file, the result does not change.”
-u/joomlaguy (Joomla Forum)
A Reddit user noted issues with Joomla’s Smart Search:
“The backend indexer always falls over… many missing articles that can’t be found with a front page search.”
-u/DJBenz (Reddit)
6. Drupal
Drupal, another open-source CMS, is robust and flexible, but it’s known for being resource-intensive. It often requires more server resources to run smoothly, making it a slower choice for smaller websites.
A user expressed concerns about their site’s speed:
“Having a fast website is very important to me, and it is just dreadfully slow and I can’t seem to implement fixes.”
-u/slowdrupal (Reddit)Similar to:
“There’s some sort of sub-optimal LAMP/Drupal configuration that’s occurring here. As the case with most these types of problems, you run through the common checklist of Drupal slow stack performance problems.”
-u/drupaldev (Drupal Stack Exchange)
Another user discussed performance degradation after an upgrade:
“This hit me today as well. Upgraded a site from Drupal 8.6.x to 8.7.x, and immediately noticed a performance issue… requests took 30-40 seconds to load.”
-u/bkosborne (Drupal)
A user shared their experience with a slow Drupal site:
“Regardless of these approaches, the site is still very slow… Cloudflare support informed that TTFB on site is pretty slow.” (Drupal)
7. WordPress with Heavy Themes and Plugins
While WordPress itself is quite efficient, the speed of a WordPress site heavily depends on the theme and plugins used. Overly complex themes and a multitude of plugins can significantly slow down your website.
A user on Reddit shared their experience:
“Hey everybody – I’m building out a site here on WordPress and my site over the past week has gotten INSANELY slow. Backend + Frontend, loading up pages can’t almost take a full minute to load.”
-u/wordpressuser (Reddit)
8. Web.com
Web.com offers website building services, but their websites are often filled with unnecessary code and scripts, leading to sluggish loading times and poor performance.
A user reported:
“Website commissioned and hosted by web.com is super slow to load (handshake). They say it is fine.”
-u/MyChocoloates (Reddit)
A user expressed frustration with Web.com’s website builder:
“I cannot get access to the website builder 95% of the time to work on my website. I HATE Web.com – this has not been resolved and I WILL NOT continue using your very lousy service if this continues.”
-Mark I., New York (SiteJabber)
Another user reported slow website access across devices:
“The website is sooooo slow to access, but the service is okay. I don’t know why it’s too slow from any devices I tried to get in.”
-Paweena P., Thailand (SiteJabber)
Another Reddit user described their experience with Web.com’s website builder:
“I have been with web.com for 5 weeks now, and it’s pretty much been a disaster… My sites have been down for 5 weeks! Do you know how damaging that is for an independent artist?”
-u/AnonymousUser (Reddit)
Choose Wisely for Optimal Performance
While the platforms mentioned here may offer certain advantages, it’s crucial to consider website speed when choosing a website builder. Opting for a sleek, streamlined, and efficient platform like UltimateWB can ensure your website loads quickly and provides a seamless user experience. With UltimateWB, you have the power to create fast-loading websites that keep users engaged and satisfied.
Are you ready to design & build your own website? Learn more about UltimateWB! We also offer web design packages if you would like your website designed and built for you.
Got a techy/website question? Whether it’s about UltimateWB or another website builder, web hosting, or other aspects of websites, just send in your question in the “Ask David!” form. We will email you when the answer is posted on the UltimateWB “Ask David!” section.