The need for you to create an online presence for yourself or your business has made it necessary to look for a website builder in Japan that will give you what you want at an affordable price.
Website builders make it easy to design a website without having any technical skills whatsoever. It is as simple as typing on a Microsoft word office.
Many companies are now creating website builders to meet the increasing demand for websites worldwide.
You don’t have to spend weeks or months waiting for a website designer to develop a website for you and you also don’t need to spend a fortune paying for his or her service anymore.
However, if you want to build a complex website like Facebook or Twitter, you will have to hire web developers to get the result you desire.
But for an e-commerce website, an online marketplace, a personal website, a blog or a small business website. A website builder will do the magic.
A typical website builder in Japan has already made templates available for you to customise. You can achieve this by a method called “drag and drop”.
This method makes customisation very easy, all you have to do is drag templates and blocks you want and drop them in any position on your website you want.
You can also customise the font size, text and colour. You can also change the pre-made colours to your brand colour.
The post will consider some of the best web builders in Japan you can use to design your website.
Web builders in Japan
Some things to look out for when choosing a website builder in Japan are the pricing, ease of use and the number of templates. These are part of the things that will be discussed about the website builders in this post.
1. OLITT
OLITT is a website builder in Japan with modern website templates that you can use to design your website with ease.
They have PayPal, stripe and direct transfer payment gateways that customers can use to make purchases online for businesses.
They have hundreds of templates placed in different categories for easy selection.
What’s distinct about OLITT is the plan, they have one of the most affordable plans of all the website builders in Japan.
In fact, they are the cheapest of all the website builders mentioned in this post. Don’t be tempted to think they don’t offer good services.
They don’t compromise quality while giving you premium features. Continue reading to see the features and cost of their plan.
The cost of Olitt website builder in Japan
Olitt has two plans, the free and premium plans.
Olitt free plan
- 1 GB Storage
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- Connect your Custom Domain (1)
- Support via forum & KB only
- Google ranking with SEO
- DNS Management
- Security with SSL
- Discounted Domains
- Pre-built Websites (fewer)
- OLITT branding ads
Olitt premium plan
The plan costs ¥3840.26 per year
- Free hosting
- Unlimited Storage
- 1 Free domain for 1 year
- 10 Free Websites
- Connect Multiple Custom Domains
- Ticket & Live Chat support
- SEO & Marketing tools
- More Pre-built Websites
- Remove OLITT branding ads
- Social Media Integrations
- HelpDesk/Live Chat Integrations
- Google Analytics
- Hotjar
- Facebook Pixel
- Google Tag Manager
- MailChimp Integrations
- Custom JavaScript Integrations
- Accept online payments
- Simple Online Shop
- 30-day money-back guarantee
2. Goope.jp
Goope or Goupe is a website builder that allows people to take their business online by creating a homepage that displays business information, a shopping Cart and also has a reservation form set up.
This web builder in Japan helps to connect customers and shop without much hassle. You can create your homepage with their rich templates.
The steps are easy and straightforward. Goope is among the top used website builders in Japan.
Another interesting thing about this website builder is the fact you can easily update your information anytime on your mobile smartphone without having to use a laptop.
The cost of Goope website builder in Japan
Goope website builder has three packages, namely, light, standard and economy. The light plan which costs ¥1100 per month will give you a memory of 5 GB.
The second Plan (Standard ) will give you 50 GB of space and free SSL, the cost is ¥3,3300 per month.
3. Squarespace
The Squarespace website builder is one of the most popular website builders worldwide, it has been used to design millions of websites.
It has a free logo design for you to use and also has built-in SEO tools. You can easily create a blog with it.
The web builder even goes further to make life easy for its users by enabling smooth and hitch-free mobile editing. In other words, you don’t have to use a laptop to make changes to your website when a need arises.
The cost of Squarespace website builder in Japan
Squarespace has four plans namely; personal, business, commerce and advanced commerce.
The personal is the least expensive plan for small websites that are used for a resume or portfolio. The cost of this plan is $14 per month.
Next is the Business plan, the features of this plan meet the needs of a small business. You will be able to upload an unlimited number of products.
However, you will be charged 3% for every transaction you make. The cost of this plan is $23 per month.
The third one is the commerce plan, this plan has advanced e-commerce features that will meet your business needs, you will be given analytics and video studio tools.
And the Advanced commerce package is for businesses that have grown and need more advanced features to meet their needs. This plan has advanced shipping, advanced web analytics and advanced discounts. It costs $49 per month
4. Mailchimp website builder
MailChimp is popularly known as an email marketing solution, but they have added the MailChimp website builder to their products to enable users to take their business online with ease.
They have done well to incorporate their email services into their plans. They offer features like behavioural targeting, reports and analytics, build in forms, Google workspace etc.
Other features like online appointment booking, e-commerce, and easy drag and drop technology that is offered by other website builders are also offered by them.
The cost of Mailchimp website builder in Japan
They have four plans for you to select from, the plans include email services.
The plans are free, essential, standard and premium.
If you want to test their services, the free plan is for you, you will be given a marketing CRM, a creative assistant, MailChimp form and landing pages.
The Essential plan offers email and landing page templates, a customer journey builder, custom branding, A/B Testing, and 24/7 email & chat support in addition to the free plan features above. The cost of the plan is ¥1,436.93 per month.
In addition to the Essential plan, the standard plan offers customer journey builder + branching points, send-time optimization, behavioural targeting, custom templates and dynamic content. You will be charged ¥2,223.70 per month.
Finally, MailChimp Premium plans offer advanced segmentation, multivariate testing comparative reporting, unlimited seats & role-based access a d phone & priority Support. This plan costs ¥39,058.25 per month.
5. Nicepage
Nicepage is a website builder that has more than 10,000 responsive website templates. It also has WordPress, Html and Joomla website builders.
You can download a desktop version of the sites and use it to design your website offline at your convenience.
It also has rich layout galleries, animations, menus, forms and sliders that you can select to design your website.
The cost of Nicepage website builder in Japan
Nicepage has the starter, personal, business and Pro plans.
The starter plan is a free plan that you can design just 1 website and 5 pages. You are limited to just 50 blocks and 1000 monthly visitors.
The second plan is called the personal plan, this plan costs $59. You have lifetime access, you can design 5 sites, use 200 blocks and your website can accommodate 25,000 monthly visitors.
Next is the Business plan which costs $129 per month. You can design 50 websites and also use 500 blocks for your design. The Website you design can accommodate 100,000 monthly visitors.
Finally, they have the Pro plan that offers an unlimited number of sites, 1000 design blocks, 100+ grid styles and more. The package costs $119 per month.
6. Strikingly
Strikingly is also a good website builder in Japan because it is easy to set up and use.
You will be able to set up your website in less than an hour, their website has testimonials of big names like Seth Godin using their services.
They offer analytics, sign up forms, blogs, e-commerce, social feed and many other services.
The cost of Strikingly website builder in Japan
You can select a monthly, yearly, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years plan. The discount increases with an increase in duration.
They have limited, pro and VIP plans. Their plan varies greatly.
The Limited plans give you very limited options, you will be able to design 2 limited websites, you will be charged a 5% transaction fee, you have just 1GB space, and you are limited to 5 pages. The plan costs $8 per month.
The most used plan on their platform is the Pro plan. This plan offers 20 GB space, 100 pages, 300 products, 2% transaction fee, product reviews, 3 pro sites and they will also remove the Strikingly branding that is on the website. This plan costs $16 per month.
For businesses with a need for advanced features, VIP will cover up for them. The VIP plan offers 100 GB space, unlimited product listing, 0% transaction fee, live chat, multilingual & auto-translation and many other advanced features. The cost of this plan is $49 per month.
7. Weebly
Weebly is also a popular website builder known for simplicity and ease of use
They have starter guides that will show you how to go about designing your website on their platform.
You will have access to access to hundreds of templates on their platform.
The cost of Weebly website builder in Japan
It has four packages, connect, Pro, Business and Business plus.
Weebly Connect costs as low as $5 per month, but your website will have Weebly ads on it.
The Pro plan costs $12 per month, it doesn’t have Weebly ads and you will even be given a free domain.
Weebly Business costs $25 per month, you will be given a free domain also.
Finally, Weebly Business plus will give you access to free email marketing and a free domain. This plan costs $38 per month.
8. WordPress
WordPress is an open-source content management system that can be used to design websites with ease.
WordPress comprises themes and plugins. Themes are templates available for you to customise, while plugins are software that adds functionality to your website.
The only extra thing you need to do is to buy hosting and a domain. There are lots of hosting solutions available for you to choose from.
We recommend Truehost web hosting because of its quality service and affordability.
The cost of WordPress website builder in Japan
WordPress CMS is free, but you will need to buy hosting and a domain name.
Additionally, if you want more customisation you will have to make a one-time theme payment. Anyways, there are lots of free themes and plugins you can use.
In a nutshell, using a WordPress theme will require you to buy a hosting and domain which varies based on the type of package you want to buy and the hosting company you are buying from.
Check Truehost pricing here.
9. GoDaddy website builder
GoDaddy is a name to reckon with when it comes to providing hosting solutions. Like most hosting providers, they also have a website builder.
They have modern website templates and their website builder is easy to use.
Your website will be equipped with SEO and analytics tools to improve your website visibility online and to give you insight into the behaviour of your visitors respectively
The cost of GoDaddy website builder in Japan
GoDaddy website builder has four plans; basic, premium, commerce and commerce plus.
The basic plan has very limited features, your website can host only 100 email marketing sends per month, and your website won’t rank on Google, but you will have a premium SSL certificate. The cost is $6.99 per month and $11.99 per month on renewal.
GoDaddy premium plan costs $13.99 per month and $21.99 power month on renewal. You will be able to send 25000 emails to your customers directly from your GoDaddy dashboard and your website will rank on Google.
The next plan is for small businesses, it is called Commerce. It has e-commerce features to meet your business needs.
You can list 5000 products, and your customers can buy directly from your website but you are limited to 50 orders per month. You have online inventory and you will be able to give discounts to your customers through coupons and sales badges. The cost of the plan is $14.99 per month and $24.99 per month on the renewal
For more advanced features you need to buy the Commerce plus plan. In addition to the commerce plan, you will have automated sales tax calculations and forms and your orders per month will be increased from 50 to 1000. The cost of this plan is $29.99 per month and $44.99 per month on renewal.
10. Zyro
Zyro is a website builder that boasts of hosting over 250,000 small business websites. They are fairly new in the market compared to their counterparts.
They make payment easy by having lots of payment gateways. Customers can use PayPal, Master Card, Visa card, stripe and other payment gateways to make purchases on your website.
You will also have access to AI tools like logo maker, AI writer, Favicon generator, Image background remover and a lot more. These tools make it easy for you to design and customize your website without having to look for resources elsewhere.
The cost of Zyro website builder in Japan
Zyro has a website plan, business, online store and advanced store plan.
The website plan cost $2.9 per month. It offers free hosting, free SSL and Google analytics. The features are limited compared to other plans.
The business plan which costs $4.9 per month offers 100 product listings, blogging tools, inventory management, email notifications and other features.
Next is the online store plan, with this plan you will have access to WhatsApp and messenger live chat on your website, Gift cards, 70+ payment gateways, 100% free commission and more. It costs $8.9 per month.
Zyro’s biggest plan is the advanced online store. With this plan you can upload up to 2,500 products, you also have unlimited storage, abandoned cart recovery, subscription sales, customer groups and a lot more. The plan costs $15.9 per month.
11. Shopify
Shopify could be considered the best e-commerce website builder in Japan because it has lots of integration.
All the plans on Shopify are for e-commerce and online stores, they have millions of users on their platform.
If you are looking for advanced online store features, Shopify is the right platform.
The cost of Shopify website builder in Japan
Shopify web builder has three packages, namely, basic, Shopify and Advanced.
The basic package cost is $29 per month. 2 members of your staff will be given access to the admin dashboard and you will be charged 2% for purchases on your website.
The Shopify package costs $79 per month. This package gives 5 members of your staff access to the admin dashboard and you will be charged 1% for purchases on your website.
The advanced package costs $299 per month. This is the highest package and is suitable for scaling businesses requiring advanced reporting.
15 members of your staff have access to the admin dashboard, 8 inventory locations and just a 0.5% charge for purchases.
12. Jimdo
Jimdo is a website builder founded by Mathias Henze. The website gives you a flexible mobile optimized website.
It integrates features that enable users to book appointments on your website. And it also has a free logo designer for you to design your logo if you don’t have one.
You have access to a free image library that you can choose pictures from while designing your website.
While some website builders charged their users for transactions, Jimdo doesn’t charge a dime when transactions are made on your website.
The cost of Jimdo website builder in Japan
Jimdo has two categories of plans, one for websites and the other one for online stores.
Jimdo website plan
The website plans are Start, Grow and unlimited.
The start plan is for a simple personal website, you will be given a free domain and it is ad-free. The cost of this package is $9 per month.
The Grow plan costs $15 per month. In addition to the starter package features, you will be given SEO/ visitors statistics and you will have personalised support within 4 hours.
Finally, the Unlimited plan gives you additional unlimited storage, professional design analysis and premium support within 1 hour. It costs $39 per month.
Jimdo online store plan
There are also three plans for this category, they are basic, business and VIP.
The basic plan gives you all the basic tools for small online stores and you will also be able to manage and export data. This plan costs $15 per month.
The business plan on the other hand costs $19 and will give you additional features such as product variants, social marketing and social selling.
The last one in this category is the VIP plan, with this plan you will have unlimited storage and professional design review in addition to the business plan features. This plan costs $39 per month.
Top trending websites in Japan
According to SimilarWeb.com, the top trending websites in Japan as of October 2023 are:
- Google.com
- Yahoo.co.jp
- Docomo.ne.jp
- Youtube.com
- Twitter.com
- News.yahoo.co.jp
- Amazon.co.jp
- Rakuten.co.jp
- Wikipedia.org
- Google.co.jp
These websites are ranked based on their average monthly traffic and the duration of visits. Other websites that are also popular in Japan include social media networks like Instagram and Line, as well as e-commerce websites like Amazon and Rakuten.
Popular websites in Japan
The most popular websites in Japan as of October 2023 include:
- Google.com
- Yahoo.co.jp
- Docomo.ne.jp
- Youtube.com
- Twitter.com
- News.yahoo.co.jp
- Amazon.co.jp
- Rakuten.co.jp
- Wikipedia.org
- Google.co.jp
- Instagram.com
- Pixiv.net
- Fc2.com
- Livedoor.jp
- Line.me
- Syosetu.com
- Dmm.co.jp
- Ameblo.jp
- Blog.jp
- Nicovideo.jp
These websites cover a range of categories including search engines, news and media, social media networks, e-commerce, and entertainment. Additionally, some of the most visited entertainment websites in Japan include cmoa.jp, comic-walker.com, shonenjumpplus.com, and netflix.com.
Other popular websites in Japan include news.yahoo.co.jp, www.yahoo.co.jp, search.yahoo.co.jp, qiita.com, mail.yahoo.co.jp, and nicovideo.jp.
Furthermore, some favorite Japanese websites mentioned by users include NHK Easy for news, Nico Nico Douga for videos, and Cookpad for cooking recipes.
Leading web development company in Japan
Based on the search results, here are some of the leading web development companies in Japan:
a). Robosoft Technologies Inc.
This company is listed as a top web development company in Japan on Clutch.co and The Manifest.
b). Newwave Solutions
Newwave Solutions is listed as a top web development company in Japan on Clutch.co, GoodFirms, DesignRush, and TechBehemoths.
c). DigiSmiths.com
DigiSmiths.com is listed as a top web development company in Japan on GoodFirms and TechBehemoths.
d). Arsaga Partners, Inc
This company is listed as a top web development company in Japan on Clutch.co.
e). SOTATEK JSC
SOTATEK JSC is listed as a top web development company in Japan on DesignRush.
These companies have been recognized for their expertise in web development and have received positive reviews and ratings.
Conclusion
If you are looking to design a website in a short time without spending a fortune then you need a website builder in Japan.
A website builder will make your website beautiful, responsive and functional.
Most of the website builders in Japan are good but the prices are a bit high for small business owners that are just starting. Therefore, we have concluded that Olitt is the website builder that gives you high value for your money.
They offer premium features for a whole year at a giveaway price, of ¥3840.26 for a whole year; you won’t get that anywhere.
Remove Squarespace from the list. It doesn’t support Japanese or the Japanese currency.