Homestead is a cost-effective online website builder with a long-standing history (formerly Intuit). The company has a reputation as one of the earliest companies (since 1996) to offer template-based personal and business website building wizards. The company has over 12 million users to date. Read our Homestead review below.
OverviewWith a Homestead subscription, the cost for a simple non-eCommerce site is reasonable. Businesses that require robust eCommerce will spend a lot more. Based on a solid reputation, Homestead has been accommodating business owners for years. The downsides—Homestead templates have become a bit out of date and the cost to design for an expanding business is high.
Homestead is a well-rounded website builder with more pros than cons. Homestead offers a design platform that most computer savvy individual can manage, or they will design for you. The company has an extensive list of clients that are satisfied with their products and services. Homestead is worth looking into for your business website needs.
Who is it Recommended For?
Homestead web building is recommended for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and others who wish to create their website. A business website is often used to showcase and sell a company’s products and services online.
Is There An Area of Focus / Specialties?
Homestead is focused on simple designs for attracting audiences on today’s Internet. The company provides around 2,000 customizable web page templates for business website creation. There are some limitations when it comes to switching templates or designing your own.
Homestead offers some business branding options to get your business noticed. You can add some social media options such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and more.
This web builder provides some marketing tools and website analytics so you can track your website traffic. Paying customers receive daily customer support for designing their website. Homestead professionals will also develop a site for you.
What Are the Tech Specs / Limitations?
Once you set up an account and choose a design template from Homestead, you customize your pages with a logo, attractive typefaces, colors, images, and more. There are hundreds of images to choose from, or you can upload your own. Web page edits take a little practice, but it gets easier as you go along.
If your company is transitioning from small to large, the Homestead starter plan has some limitations. With this plan, you are limited to one web page and zero subpages. You will receive only 25 megabytes of website hosting space. If you select a template and add your data, it does not conform if you choose a different template.
Is There Adequate Scalability / Room To Grow?
With Homestead’s three different plans, the options for scalability and growth are sufficient. Website hosting space is limited in the starter plan, but it is improved in the second- and third-tier plans. The third-tier plan includes unlimited pages, which is what most expanding businesses need.
Homestead offers a 30-day free trial and competitive pricing for a website. Expect to pay more for eCommerce along with web hosting and domain services. The Homestead starter plan will serve a small business that requires no sales components. The Homestead small business plan will help a small eCommerce site so you can sell your goods and services. If you are expanding, you will need Homestead’s business plus plan. This plan offers additional web hosting space, unlimited pages, search engine optimization, and more options and features. You will pay much more for the business plus plan.
Once a website is created, and your web pages are established, Homestead includes web hosting and domain name services to make your site public. This way, you don’t have to contract with another company for these services.
What is the MoneyBack Guarantee Policy?
The three pricing plans offer companies what they are seeking for the type of business they run. Be aware, the fine print states that pricing, features, and services could change at any time without notice. While Homestead makes the statement, “No commitment, cancel anytime,” there seems to be no mention of a money-back guarantee.
What is Their Reputation?
Because Homestead has been around for a while, they have an excellent reputation in the industry. They have thousands of website under their belt. As more and more competitors infiltrate the web builder space, Homestead relies on their experience and support background as their strength.
Awards & Quality Certificates
While Homestead has helped in the design of a vast number of websites over the years, there are no obvious indicators of awards or certificates mentioned on the website.
Why Choose This Website Builder?
For those who want a well-founded website with the option to build their site or count on a consultant to help develop their site, Homestead has a solid history. It is an excellent choice for small business owners who want to get involved or learn from a Homestead consultant. As an early service provider, Homestead has a strong following. If you want to experience, legacy systems, and customer support, Homestead may be a right choice for your website design and hosting.
Key FeaturesThe experts and consumers are on the same page when it comes to their opinion of Homestead. Not only is Homestead overpriced based on the amount or features it offers and compared to the price points of competitors, but it also needs a major overhaul. While the interface may have lead the way in the early days of the internet, it has clearly had trouble keeping up with the pace of growth and technology. If Homestead doesn’t adapt, and soon, it will become completely irrelevant and only used by the most loyal and nostalgic of customers.
This is especially true when it comes to mobile responsiveness. Homestead lacks mobile site building tools even new sites aren’t responsive. Combine that with low storage and bandwidth capabilities and there are simply better choices on the market. For critics, Homestead was a great tool in a particular time and place, but no longer stacks up.
Positive feedback is the exception to the rule when it comes to Homestead. At most, the software receives a “fair” rating of about 2 out of 5 stars. The most overwhelmingly positive reviews from customers tend to be from users who have been with the company for over 15 years. They maintain that the software is easy to use and a reliable choice for small businesses. Those with relatively little design experience can quickly build a simple website.
In addition, satisfied customers report positive experiences with customer service. Users can contact support by phone, email, live chat or visit the community forum to try to find answers. Many users also used the software to expand their website into an eCommerce platform and were pleased.
There is plenty of consumer feedback on the web concerning Homestead’s services, and much of it isn’t all the flattering. It seems that users who came on board early in the game were initially very pleased with the program, but that Homestead has failed to keep up with the times and continue to offer the same level of performance. This leads to a certain point where users feel that the limited features are simply no longer worth the cost and the entire program lacks value. Mostly, current users report that Homestead is charging premium prices for outdated software.
Finally, there are quite a few complaints about customer service and websites suddenly being taken down without warning. These seem quite odd is certainly something to be aware of.
Design & CustomizationRegarding Homestead’s design and customization options, the company has been serving customers long enough to grow their offerings and capture some good feedback. Below are some points about Homestead’s design and customization features.
| Feature | Overview |
| Website Templates | Homestead offers hundreds of traditional templates for basic business needs. These templates are included in the $5.99 per month fee, as long as you only need one page, you don’t require subpages, and you don’t need a shopping cart. If you are selling goods and services and need eCommerce features, expect to pay $21 per month for a small site. Expect to pay $61 per month for enough hosting space and website pages to support a medium sized business.
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| Website Builder Interface | Homestead’s website builder interface in one of Homestead’s strengths. Working with content, images, and colors are relatively easy for average computer users. A user account and login offer access to user templates for quick changes and immediate updates to the website. |
| Page Style Customization | Page style customization includes the ability to personalize the website, modify content and elements, access some HTML/CSS code, and quickly see and edit components.
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| Site Navigation | Site navigation is standard, except the Homestead starter package provides only one page and zero subpage options. The more expensive business package will get you a few more website pages. The business plus package offers unlimited pages. |
| Content Management | Content is easy to change, style, and move. Customers log in to their account from the Homestead website to access their site and manage their content. |
| Photos and Galleries | The Homestead image galleries are some the best regarding website builders. The galleries are extensive, and inserting and manipulating photos is a cinch. |
| Mobile Site Building | Making a mobile friendly website using Homestead is not intuitive or automatic. For your site to display on a mobile device requires some added features and costs. |
| Social Sharing Integration | Social networking elements can be inserted and linked to the appropriate platform with little difficulty. |
| Design Services | Homestead offers to create a website for you. Some of their sample websites are available to view on the website. The designers offer a free consultation and a full-service package for $149.99/month. You receive a five-page website, keyword optimization, link-building, reporting, and training. |
Features & Tools Homestead is feature-rich and stands up well next to its competitors. Users will be pleased with the overall process and continuing maintenance and support for the website template.
| Feature | Overview |
| Website Setup | Getting started with a website using Homestead is pretty straightforward. Homestead offers a wizard in which you choose a design, customize it, and publish it. Naturally, it takes more than 15 minutes to get this all set up. |
| Web Design | The first step is to scroll through thousands of templates to select the page layout, style, and colors that align with your business brand. Homestead has plenty to choose from if you don’t need anything too modern. |
| The depth of Navigation | You’ll need to decide on navigation titles and pages for your website and menu options like About, Services, Blog, and Contact. There is a limit to one page with Homestead’s basic plan, but this may be acceptable for a small, steady business. As well, there are no subpage options. |
| Widgets and Apps | Today, widgets and apps are critical to small business owners. While Homestead is somewhat limited regarding widgets and apps, it does include eCommerce and marketing options for payment, search engine optimization, branding, and advertising tools that are shown to be quite successful. Expect to pay for the higher priced plan to get these features. |
| Monetization | The Homestead eCommerce solutions are adequate, and they have been serving thousands of companies over the web for years. Customers can quickly pay for the latest and easiest payment forms including PayPal, credit cards, etc. Use Google AdSense or banner ads via an HTML widget. |
| Visitor Statistics | Visitor statistics rank high on the list of customer needs for small businesses, and Homestead analytics are right on. Homestead uses RealTracker, or you can add Google Analytics. Users just need to factor in these requirements when they establish navigation, sitemaps, and website content. |
| Photos, Videos, and Audio | Photos, videos, and audio are also key to today’s successful websites, and Homestead does a good job of offering an easy interface for inserting and managing these components. |
| Blogging | A blog site can be added via a unique blog manager module, but it is not simple for a novice user. |
| Google Maps | Homestead lets you easily insert Google maps. |
| HTML Editor | There is some access to adding HTML code, but this may require some support from Homestead. |
| Forms and Surveys | There’s a little more work involved in Homestead’s forms and surveys, but the support channel is a useful resource. |
| Storage Space | Users find 25mb hosting storage a bit limited on the basic package. The second tier package will provide 5gb, and the third tier package will provide 10gb. |
| Newsletter Tool | The email feature allows for newsletter mailing. |
| Forum | A Homestead customer forum is available to subscribers. |
| E-Commerce / Online Store | The Homestead third tier package has good eCommerce and online store options, but Homestead customers will pay a high premium. |
| Gateway Integration | Homestead offers traditional gateway integration for eCommerce payment options. |
| SEO Friendly | There are good options for editing meta tags and descriptions plus page titles, and this feature includes a very particular error checker. |
| Site Limited Access (Password Protection) | Users have a password protected account login for editing their site. |
| Google® Analytics | Users can add Google Analytics to their environment. |
| Website Security | Homestead views security as a high priority, and the sites incorporate customer password protection and great website security. This company has been in business long enough to offer the best eCommerce security options on the market, a Homestead plus. |
| Multiple Languages | The Homestead platform is limited to the English language. |
| Mobile Optimization | Homestead does not offer automated formatting for mobile devices. It can be achieved, but not easily. |
| CDN Technology | Content Delivery Network (CDN) for high availability and high performance was not tested. |
Plans & Pricing Homestead offers customers a free 30-day trial as most web builders do. The company is upfront with their pricing options on the website. Customers select from three practical monthly pricing plans based on the state of the business.
Pricing Plans Offered
Consider the following factors regarding pricing:
Customer Support With nearly 20 years in the business, Homestead’s customer support is one of the sound benefits customers can expect. There are several options for customers to get support or receive help to create their website pages:
Overall, Homestead provides professional customer services nationally during weekday hours, and callers can expect friendly services and fast turnaround times. The support analysts, for the most part, are competent and offer good advice for those who are building their website with Homestead.
Ease of Use Since the benefit of an online web builder is to offer a comfortable experience for establishing a website, Homestead meets that need. It is important to take advantage of website builders’ free trials to get a feel for how easy or hard the process is going to be. Everyone’s skill levels and business needs are different, so ultimately selecting the right company is a personal choice.
The features customers count on with Homestead web builder include the common templates, designs that align with your business, an intuitive interface, simple login, and edits, drag and drop technology, control and manipulation, price, and value. As well, customers find a fast and efficient support system for the company, and the online help platform is not bad.
The simplicity of Interface. The interface is simple for novice users; for any beginner, it will take a time to acclimate themselves to any online web builder.
Suitable for Beginners / Advanced Users. The website builder offered by Homestead is an enough natural way for a novice to advanced computer users to build a website. For a beginner with a startup business, it is a good choice. A more advanced user may desire a web builder that offers added access to the code for personal customization.
Retain Control Over The Website At All Times. The uptime statistics for Homestead are overall good when you consider the time and high numbers of clients for this company. Clients get the control they need from their Homestead accounts.
In-Editor Help Provided. Homestead offers a variety of help options including in-editor help, forums, blogs, and customer phone and chat support.
Businesses change, companies grow and shrink, and website needs change with the Internet landscape. Homestead is acceptable in offering a scalable solution that is readily adaptable to surrounding change. As you get started, be sure to consider the state of your business and determine growth opportunities and scalability as it coincides with Homestead’s offerings. Ask questions to learn more about this ability when you reach a vendor consultant.
Conclusion Homestead is a website builder with a solid background and an all-inclusive package including a natural user interface, domain names, and web hosting. The features list is robust, with only a few items of concern, mainly around modern templates, mobility and transferability. Take a look the overall pros and cons of selecting Homestead for building your business website.
Customers have been somewhat disappointed recently, but that is because Homestead templates are out of date compared to those of new competitors coming on the market. Users have been satisfied for years, but the competition leaves Homestead in a position where they need to upgrade their templates, pricing models, and mobility features to stay on top.
Homestead may be right for a small, manageable business in which a business owner needs only a simple design to display their services. It may also be adequate for a medium-sized eCommerce company that is not likely to snowball. Homestead gives the ability to manage efficiently content and components at a reasonably competitive price.
For expanding businesses that require modern template designs, mobility options, and scalability, there are other website builders on the market worth testing out. Homestead’s free 30-day trial is the best place to find out for yourself.
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