Jimdo Review for 2022: Features, Pricing, Top Alternatives

If you’re looking for a simple, low-cost way to launch your website, there’s no doubt that you’ll be able to do that using Jimdo. With 12 distinct plans (10 paid and two free), Jimdo lets you choose the options best suited for your unique business needs — whether you’re creating a solely promotional website, or planning to sell products online.

This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about Jimdo, and also explores some top alternatives for businesses that require more in-depth and wide-ranging features from their website builder.

Started in Germany in 2007, Jimdo is a website builder that has been used to create over 25 million business websites all over the world. With Jimdo, you can choose from two methods to build your website — Jimdo Dolphin and Jimdo Creator — based on your coding experience. Regardless of the method you use Jimdo allows you to choose from a series of templates to quickly and easily customize, edit and launch your website.

Web building

Jimdo allows you to build your website using one of two tools, Jimdo Dolphin or Jimdo Creator.

Jimdo Dolphin is designed to accommodate business owners who have little or no website experience and want a tool that can get their site up and running as quickly and easily as possible. Powered by AI, Jimdo Dolphin takes you through the building process, asking questions about your business and industry to create a personalized website. As you answer questions through this process, Jimdo Dolphin will produce a streamlined website design, allow you to add from its selection of photos (as well as use your own) and automatically create a navigation menu and pages to fit your industry.

Whereas Jimdo Dolphin is the simplest way to develop your website, Jimdo Creator gives you more control over the building process, akin to competitor platforms such as Wix or Shopify. With Jimdo Creator, you’ll choose from a variety of pre-built templates and then customize and edit the template using a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor. Using this editor, you’ll be able to move and add elements to your site, edit photos and text and customize your navigation. You’ll also have the option to create your own custom template using HTML or CSS.

Domain and security

For all of its paid plans, Jimdo offers a one-year free domain name. If you already own a domain, you can connect it to your Jimdo account for free. If you use the free plan, you’ll be able to create a free subdomain with jimdosite.com or jimdofree.com depending on whether you use Dolphin or Creator. All Jimdo websites are protected by HTTPS encryption, even if you opt for the free plan.

Storage and bandwidth

The storage and bandwidth you receive with your Jimdo website will depend on the plan and creator method you choose. For both the Dolphin and Creator free plan, you’ll have 500 MB of storage and a bandwidth of 2 GB. As the plan levels increase, you’ll have access to greater storage and bandwidth, up to unlimited storage and bandwidth.

Design and templates

Whether you build your website using Dolphin or Creator, Jimdo provides you with a variety of professional templates to choose from. Although it offers templates based on your industry, you can pick whichever template you prefer and customize it to your business.

Jimdo allows you to adjust fonts and colors, add a blog to your website, upload photos and display photo galleries, embed videos and display Google Maps locations. Additionally, you can create password-protected areas of your site, create contact forms, enable file downloads and connect your social media accounts using built-in tools for Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Moreover, all Jimdo websites are automatically optimized for mobile — and from your Jimdo editor, you can view your site as a desktop, tablet or mobile version.

SEO and web analytics

With all of its paid premium plans, Jimdo includes a built-in SEO strategy and web analytics tools to help you promote and monitor your business website.

All four of the Dolphin plans offer advanced SEO through smart technology, which fills in your SEO settings for you. Dolphin also provides customized instructions to fully optimize your site. For the Creator plans, you’ll receive all SEO functions with the Business plan level and higher. These functions include SEO controls and Google previews, as well as advanced features for descriptions, settings, URLs and redirects. With the two highest level Creator plans, you’ll have access to rankingCoach, Jimdo’s professional SEO add-on.

Both the Dolphin and Creator premium plans grant you access to a web analytics dashboard to monitor your website traffic and performance. You also can connect your Jimdo site to Facebook and Google Analytics.

Online store

If you want to start selling online using your Jimdo website, you can choose from a handful of the plans that allow you to do so. With Jimdo Creator, you can start an online store using any of the plans — including the free one — but are limited in the number of products you can sell. With Jimdo Dolphin, you can only create an online store with the two highest-level premium plans.

When you develop an online store with Jimdo, you’ll be able to add products with individual product pages, utilize product variants and manage your orders. Jimdo will include shopping cart functionality, allowing your customers to shop and place orders via desktop, tablet or smartphone. Moreover, Jimdo will give you the ability to ship internationally and won’t charge an additional transaction fee on your orders.

In terms of payment processing, Jimdo will offer a few options depending on the plan that you use. If you create your store using Dolphin, you’ll be able to integrate with either Stripe or PayPal to accept credit cards and direct debits. On the other hand, if you use Creator to make your online store, you’ll be able to use PayPal with the Free plan and PayPal, Stripe, invoice, payment in advance, local delivery, local pickup, collect-on-delivery and mailed check with any of the premium plans.

Mobile apps

If you opt for any of the premium Dolphin plans, Jimdo will allow you to use two mobile apps in conjunction with your website, the Jimdo Boost App and the Jimdo Live Chat App. With the Jimdo Boost App, Jimdo will analyze your website data and offer personalized tips for marketing, design, SEO and more, which you can view and manage on the go. With the Live Chat App, you’ll be able to chat directly with visitors to your website, offering customer support to them in real-time.

If you have any of the Jimdo Creator plans, you’ll be able to utilize three mobile apps: Jimdo Creator, Jimdo Live Chat and Jimdo Analytics. With the Creator App, you’ll able to edit and update your Jimdo site while on the go, using your mobile device. The Jimdo Analytics App will give you the ability to connect your Google Analytics account and manage your web analytics data using your smartphone.

Integrations

You also have the option to connect third-party tools to your website. Jimdo is compatible with a variety of services, including those for booking and calendars, email communication, e-commerce, as well as general website and photo, video and audio tools. Some of the most notable compatible tools Jimdo lists on its website are Eventbrite, Google Calendar, Mailchimp, Disqus and Vimeo.

Customer support

The customer support you receive depends wholly on the type of plan you choose. If you use either the Dolphin or Creator free plan, you won’t have access to one-on-one support, however, you will be able to utilize any of the self-service resources on the Jimdo website.

If you have any of the paid Creator plans, you’ll receive premium customer support via email, which Jimdo will answer within one to two business days. With the paid Dolphin plans, on the other hand, you’ll also receive premium support, however, the time frame in which Jimdo will respond varies based on the specific plan. Three of the four paid plans receive support assistance within one to two business days, whereas the highest level plan receives support in less than one hour. Jimdo does all of its customer support over email and does not offer phone support.

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Jimdo offers free plans for both its Dolphin and Creator builders, as well as four premium, paid plans for each.

Jimdo Dolphin plans

If you decide to utilize Jimdo Dolphin, with the AI-based website builder, you’ll be able to choose from five different plans: Play, Start, Grow, E-commerce and Unlimited.

The Play plan is the free Jimdo Dolphin offering and includes the most basic features:

• .jimdosite.com subdomain.

• 500 MB storage.

• 2 GB bandwidth.

• 5 website pages.

• HTTPS security.

With the four paid plans, you’ll receive greater functionality. The first paid plan is the Start plan, which at $9 per month (billed annually) is well-suited for personal and creative projects. This plan will give you access to:

• Free domain for the first year.

• Ad-free website.

• Ability to connect your own business domain name.

• Ability to connect your email address.

• One forwarding email address.

• Customer support in one to two business days.

• 5 GB storage.

• 10 GB bandwidth.

• 10 website pages.

• HTTPS security.

• Advanced SEO.

• Jimdo statistics.

• Jimdo Boost App and Jimdo Live Chat App.

The next plan, Grow, is the best-selling Dolphin option and costs $15 per month, billed annually. This plan is great for creating a professional website, whether you’re a business owner or entrepreneur. The Grow plan will include all of the features of the Start plan, as well as:

• Five forwarding email addresses.

• 15 GB storage.

• 20 GB bandwidth.

• 50 website pages.

After Grow, Jimdo offers the E-commerce plan, which is the first of the Dolphin options that allows you to create an online store. This plan costs $19 per month, billed annually. In addition to the capabilities of the previous two plans, the E-commerce plan includes:

• E-commerce store and online shopping cart functionality.

• 0 percent commission on sales.

• Product variants.

• Direct debit, credit card or PayPal payment methods.

Finally, the last Jimdo Dolphin plan, Unlimited, costs $39 per month billed annually. This plan has the most to offer, with all of the functionality of the previous plans, plus:

• 20 forwarding email addresses.

• Less than one-hour response for customer support.

• Unlimited storage.

• Unlimited bandwidth.

• Unlimited websites pages.

• Professional design analysis from Jimdo expert.

Moreover, Jimdo provides a business listing service, to help increase your visibility online, for an additional $4 per month.

If you use either the E-commerce or Unlimited plan to create an online store, you’ll need to pay the credit card processing fees from the provider you choose, either PayPal or Stripe.

Jimdo Creator plans

With Jimdo Creator, you’ll also have five different plan options to choose from: Free, Pro, Business, SEO Plus and Platinum.

If you choose the Free plan, you won’t have to pay for your website, and you’ll receive a jimdofree.com subdomain, 500 MB in storage, 2 GB in bandwidth and the ability to sell up to five products.

With any of the four paid plans, on the other hand, you’ll have access to much greater functionality. The first paid plan, Pro, will cost $10 per month billed annually, and will offer:

• Free domain for the first year.

• Premium customer support (via email within two days).

• HTTPS security.

• 5 GB of storage.

• 10 GB of bandwidth.

• Jimdo statistics.

• Ad-free website.

• Option to add an email bundle with 10 email addresses with 10 GB of storage and 20 forwarding email addresses.

• Ability to sell up to 15 products.

Just like the Dolphin Start plan, the Pro plan is great for working on creative or personal projects.

The next plan, Business, is the best selling of the Creator offerings and costs $20 per month, billed annually. This plan includes all of the functionality of the Pro plan, as well as:

• Unlimited storage.

• Unlimited bandwidth.

• Full SEO functionality.

• Ability to sell an unlimited number of products.

• Discount codes.

The Business plan is well-suited for small businesses, entrepreneurs and even freelancers.

The fourth Creator plan, SEO Plus, is almost identical to the Business plan but has additional SEO tools. For $30 per month, billed annually, the SEO Plus plan allows you to access the rankingCoach professional SEO add-on.

Finally, the last Jimdo Creator offering is Platinum, which provides the greatest functionality for your website or online store. On top of all of the features of the previous plans, Platinum also offers an expert website review, where a Jimdo expert will help you through the process of creating your website, offer feedback and provide a final review once your website is completed. This plan will cost $40 per month, billed annually.

Note that if you take advantage of any of the plans that offer a free one-year domain name — for either Dolphin or Creator — that you’ll have to pay $20 per year for the domain after the initial one-year ends. If you already own a domain name, you can connect it to your Jimdo website for no additional cost.

If you utilize any of the Creator plans to sell products online, you’ll have to pay any associated payment processing fees to accept credit or debit cards.

Where does Jimdo stand out as a tool for small businesses?

Variety of options

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of Jimdo is the variety of options it offers as a web builder. First, Jimdo offers two distinct ways to build your website, using Dolphin or Creator. If you’re trying to get your website launched as quickly and easily as possible, it’s great to have an option to use the Dolphin AI to allow you to do so. This is also a worthy option for business owners with little web experience.

Choosing Creator gives you the ability to spend a little more time editing and customizing your site but is by no means overly technical or difficult. Between these two building choices, Jimdo allows you to choose from a total of ten different plans — giving you a unique ability to find a solution that fits your business best. With all of these different options, Jimdo can accommodate businesses from a variety of industries and sizes.

With the ability to add third-party tools, utilize mobile apps and create a website, blog or online store, Jimdo also provides substantial flexibility and accessibility.

Usability

With a variety of options to choose from, Jimdo certainly seems to focus on the user with its service offerings — making usability one of its top benefits. Not only does Jimdo appeal to users in regards to its plan offerings, it also provides a platform that is generally user-friendly.

With both Jimdo Dolphin and Creator, you can quickly and easily set up your website, choosing and customizing a theme, uploading images and videos, connecting additional tools and more. As anyone can see by creating a free account, the Jimdo Dashboard is clean and easy to navigate, allowing you to manage your business website without unnecessary time and hassle.

Despite these two substantial benefits, there are also drawbacks to Jimdo.

Limited features

Although Jimdo gives you the ability to create and launch a website, start a blog and sell products, its features are relatively limited, especially compared to competitors on the market. Weebly, which also offers a free plan, can simply provide a wider range of functionality — giving you the option to utilize email marketing tools, over 300 third-party apps and extended e-commerce and customer support capabilities.

Additionally, the most basic level of Weebly that includes online store functionality, Weebly Business, offers more features than Jimdo Creator Platinum and is significantly less expensive. Weebly is not the only competitor that has more to offer, as alternatives like Squarespace, Wix and Shopify, seem to give you more capabilities for your business website, at a comparable cost.

One of the most notable limitations of the Jimdo service is customer support. Although each of the paid plans includes “premium support,” Jimdo only offers support via email, and it takes one to two business days to receive assistance from the Jimdo team. Squarespace offers 24/7 customer support with all of its plans, and Weebly provides chat and email support for its first two options, adding phone support to its two highest-level plans.

Pricing

There’s no doubt with plans ranging from $0 to at most, $40, Jimdo is pretty affordable, and yet, there are a number of competitors that simply offer better prices for the same, if not greater service.

Weebly can offer a wider range of features for a cheaper cost than Jimdo. Weebly’s most expensive plan, at $38, is cheaper than either the Dolphin Unlimited or Creator Platinum plan and offers greater functionality.

Similarly, Squarespace offers its Advanced Commerce plan at $40, the same price as the Jimdo Platinum, but includes advanced features like 24/7 customer support, promotional pop-ups and banners, customer accounts, abandoned cart recovery, subscription selling and more.

There are a number of alternative website builders you’ll want to look into as you try to decide whether Jimdo is right for your business. With similar service offerings and pricing plans, two options that are particularly worth considering are Wix and Weebly.

Wix

For a Jimdo alternative that offers a free plan and multiple web builder options, you might consider Wix. Like Jimdo, Wix is a web builder that allows you to create, customize and launch your business website. With Wix, you can use its drag-and-drop website builder to create your site, utilize the Wix ADI or code your own site using Corvid by Wix.

Wix gives you the option to use its web builder for free or opt for four premium website plans, as well as three premium business plans. Wix includes features such as 500 template options, free hosting, contact management, social tools, web analytics, email marketing and more. Wix also offers capabilities specifically designed for certain businesses, such as restaurants, events, video, photography and service-based businesses.

With the Wix Business Basic premium plan, you can accept payments online, utilize unlimited bandwidth, connect Google Analytics and more — making this plan similar, if not more functional than the $30 Creator SEO Plus plan and $19 Dolphin E-commerce plan.

Weebly

Weebly is another website builder that allows you to create and customize your business website with the option to use its free service or choose one of its paid premium plans.

If you choose the free Weebly plan, you’ll be able to choose and edit your theme using the Weebly drag-and-drop editor. Weebly does not offer an AI-building option. Weebly does include SSL security, SEO tools, lead capture, contact forms and chat and email support with all of its plans.

With its Pro plan, you’ll be able to launch an online store, receiving shopping cart functionality, online payment acceptance, advanced stats and phone-based customer support. At $12, the Pro plan is cheaper than the Jimdo Dolphin E-commerce plan but offers comparable service. Plus, if you opt for the $25 Weebly Business plan, you’ll receive functionality you don’t see with any of the Jimdo plans from inventory management to product reviews to pop-up notifications.

Weebly is known for its user-friendly platform, strong feature set and low-cost plans. Although perhaps not as exhaustive in functionality as Wix, the combination of affordability and capabilities in Weebly’s service offerings make this a significant Jimdo alternative.