COMPARED OCTOBER 2026
Best website builders for Christmas light installers (2026)
We scored 6 website builders on the 9 things a Christmas light installation business needs, the same way for all of them, including Zarla, which is ours.
Free to build · Pay when you publish
What's the best website builder for a Christmas light installation business?
For most Christmas light installers, Zarla is the best website builder: it scored highest, 17 of 18 across the nine tests we ran on six builders, and it does the most to get you found on Google and has a before-and-after slider built in (level with WordPress.com).
The full scores are below, with every builder's weak spot, ours included.
What Zarla builds for a Christmas light installation business: Zarla's Christmas lighting website builder.
Build the website
Start your Christmas lighting website now
Add your business name and your town to the sentence, and Zarla builds the site, with a page for each service and town you list. You edit it in chat and publish when you're ready.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
Zarla for Christmas light installers, in plain facts
Zarla is an AI website builder for small businesses. Describe your Christmas light installation business in a sentence and it writes the whole site, every page and every word, in about 30 seconds; after that you change it by typing what you want.
- Customers can attach up to five photos to a quote request.
- Customers book online and pay a deposit, through your own Stripe account.
- A before-and-after slider is built in: your own before and after photos in one frame, with a handle visitors drag.
- Price: Free to build and preview. You pay when you publish, on the Premium plan, which includes booking, the leads inbox and invoices.
- Page speed: in our sample of real sites (Google PageSpeed, measured September 28, 2026; Mighty Sites' on October 12, 2026), Zarla had the fastest median of the six builders here, 86 on phone and 99 on desktop. The samples differ (theirs are sites that rank on Google, Mighty Sites' the customer sites it lists, ours random customer sites), as the method below explains.
In this comparison: first of six, with 17 of 18 points.
THE SCORES
How do website builders for Christmas light installers compare?
A tick is worth 2 points, a dash 1, a cross nothing, and every test counts the same, so the most anyone can score is 18.
| Test | Zarla | Wix | WordPress.com | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Mighty Sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customers send photos with a request | Yes — Up to five photos on a quote request | Yes — File upload field (paid plans) | Yes — File uploads in forms (Business plan) | Yes — Attachments on the contact form | Yes — File upload field in forms | Partly — Contact form has no upload; paste in another company's form |
| Book online, with a deposit | Yes — Deposit through your own Stripe | Yes — Deposits in Wix Bookings, from Core; still rolling out | Partly — With a booking plugin | Yes — Pay part up front | Partly — Deposits in Acuity, a separate subscription | Partly — No booking built in; link another tool |
| Before-and-after slider | Yes — Before-and-after layout; your own photos drag to compare | Partly — Not built in; apps, or Harmony's AI can write one | Yes — Image Compare block | Partly — Not built in; widget code in an HTML section | Partly — Not built in; plugin or pasted code, from Core | Partly — Not built in; paste another company's widget code into a section |
| Finished first draft | Yes — Whole site written in about 30 seconds | Yes — Aria writes pages and starter copy | Yes — AI builder on paid plans | Yes — Airo writes a first site | Yes — Blueprint AI writes a multi-page site | Partly — Trade template with pre-written copy and photos |
| Edit by chat, new pages by AI | Yes — Type a change; ask for a new page | Yes — Aria edits and adds pages by chat | Yes — AI assistant edits and adds pages, on any paid plan | Partly — AI writes text; chat editing is a separate product | Partly — AI chat edits text and images; no new pages | No — No AI editing; you click a section to change it |
| Local search set up for you | Yes — Area map, town pages, Google reviews | Partly — Google reviews via apps; no town pages | Partly — Only with plugins | Partly — Google reviews section; no town pages | Partly — One-pin map; Google reviews by embed | Partly — Google reviews and a map by pasting a widget's code; no town pages |
| Search coaching | Yes — SEO coach; page ideas from your Search Console | Partly — SEO Assistant; Search Console shown as charts | Partly — Search Console verification; SEO via plugins | Partly — SEO wizard; Search Console rankings only | Partly — Search Console keywords shown as data | No — SEO settings (advanced ones on Business); no coaching |
| Fast pages, measured | Partly — Phone 86, desktop 99 | Partly — Phone 65, desktop 77 | Partly — Phone 51, desktop 69 (10 WordPress sites, any host) | Partly — Phone 56, desktop 80 (7 phone, 6 desktop sites) | Partly — Phone 56, desktop 74 | Partly — Phone 53, desktop 70 (8 sites) |
| Leads, quotes, invoices and payments together | Yes — Leads inbox, online quotes, invoices, payment links | Yes — Contacts, price quotes clients accept online, invoices, payments | Partly — Payments block; quotes and invoices need a plugin | Partly — Inbox, invoices, payments; no quotes built in | Yes — Contacts, estimates clients accept online, free invoices, payments | Partly — Leads in its dashboard; no quotes, invoices or payments listed |
| Score | 17 / 18 | 14 / 18 | 13 / 18 | 12 / 18 | 12 / 18 | 7 / 18 |
Checked on each builder's own website and help pages on September 28, 2026, and the before-and-after slider test on October 2, 2026, and the leads, quotes, invoices and payments together test on October 4, 2026, and re-checked every answer on October 12, 2026, the day Mighty Sites joined and all its answers were read; speed measured on September 28, 2026 (Mighty Sites' on October 12, 2026). When two builders tie on points, the one with fewer crosses goes first.
THE LIST
The best website builders for Christmas light installers, ranked
- 1
Zarla
Best forOwners who care most about getting found on Google, or about a before-and-after slider.
What it costsFree to build and preview. You pay when you publish, on the Premium plan, which includes booking, the leads inbox and invoices.
Features- Describe your business in a sentence and Zarla writes a complete first draft in about 30 seconds
- A service-area map and, when you list your towns, a page for each one
- Type changes in plain words, or ask for a new page, and the site updates
The CatchBuild my Christmas lighting website — freeZarla is newer than the big names, and you change things by typing or clicking rather than dragging elements around a canvas. It also doesn't export your site as files to host somewhere else.
- 2
Wix
Best forA strong all-rounder if you like building and fine-tuning the site yourself.
What it costsCore, the cheapest plan with bookings, is $29/mo billed yearly. Light is $17/mo without bookings, and there's a free plan on a wixsite.com address. (their pricing page, checked 28 Sept 2026)
Features- An AI builder that writes your pages from a description
- Aria, an AI agent in the Harmony editor that edits the site and adds pages by chat
- Wix Bookings with online payments and deposits
The CatchBookings need the Core plan rather than the cheapest one, and pages for each town you serve are yours to write.
- 3
WordPress.com
Best forOwners who care most about a before-and-after slider.
What it costsPersonal is $4/mo billed yearly; form file uploads need Business, $25/mo billed yearly. Plugins can add their own cost. (their pricing page, checked 28 Sept 2026)
Features- An AI website builder on paid plans
- An AI assistant that edits and creates pages, on every paid plan
- Thousands of plugins
The CatchBooking, reviews and invoices each come from a plugin you choose, may pay for and keep updated, so the setup and upkeep are on you. Photo uploads on forms need the Business plan.
- 4
GoDaddy
Best forHandy if you already get your domain and email from GoDaddy.
What it costsWebsites + Marketing plans are priced by country, and GoDaddy's page didn't show us a US price, so check it for yours. (their pricing page, checked 28 Sept 2026)
Features- Airo writes a first website for your business in Websites + Marketing
- Online appointments with a deposit
- Photo attachments on the contact form
The CatchEditing by chat, and asking the AI for new pages later, happen in Airo AI Builder, a separate GoDaddy product with its own credits; in Websites + Marketing, pages for each town you serve are yours to write.
- 4
Squarespace
Best forGood if polished design matters most and you don't mind adding a separate booking tool.
What it costsBasic is $19/mo and Core $29/mo, billed yearly, after a 14-day free trial. Online booking is a separate Acuity Scheduling subscription. (their pricing page, checked 28 Sept 2026)
Features- Blueprint AI writes a multi-page starting site
- Design-led templates
- Invoices and online payments on every plan
The CatchOnline booking is a second subscription, Acuity Scheduling, on top of the website plan, and it's managed in a different place.
- 6
Mighty Sites
Best forOwners who want a simple template site live quickly and take bookings and payments somewhere else.
What it costsStarter is $9/month for a one-page site; Business, $19/month, adds more pages and Google Business Profile sync. There's a 7-day free trial with no credit card. (their pricing page, checked 12 Oct 2026)
Features- A trade template with its own copy and photos, live in about a minute
- Edit by clicking on the page, from your phone
- A photo gallery and a contact form on every plan
The CatchIt fills a trade template rather than writing the site for your business, its plans list no booking, quotes or invoices (reviews and maps come from widgets you paste in), and the Starter plan is a one-page site.
What should a Christmas light installation business website include?
Christmas lighting is sold in a few weeks and installed in a few more. Homeowners decide on your photos and on whether you still have a date, so the site has to show both and make booking quick.
- Your own installs, after dark. Rooflines, trees and whole houses lit, each captioned with the town, so a homeowner can picture their own street.
- What a package covers. Whether you supply the lights or lease them, the design, the install, any call-backs in the season and what happens after the holidays, so homeowners compare like with like.
- When you install. The weeks you put lights up and how far ahead people usually book you, so a homeowner knows when to ask.
- Homes, businesses and HOAs. Residential and commercial work read differently, so give each its own page and its own way to ask for a price.
- Permanent lights, if you sell them. Lights that stay up all year are a separate search and a bigger job: say what they start at and how the colors are controlled.
How did we score the website builders?
The 9 tests, and what it takes to get a tick:
- Customers send photos with a request. A photo of the front of the house, the roofline or the trees saves you a drive and lets you quote with confidence. Tick: customers can attach photos to the form on the website plan.
- Book online, with a deposit. Someone who can pick an install date and pay a deposit on the spot is someone who turns up. Tick: it comes with the website plan. Dash: it needs a second subscription or a plugin.
- Before-and-after slider. The same house by day and lit up at night sells the install better than any description of it. Tick: a before-and-after slider is built into the builder, with both photos in one frame and a handle visitors drag. Dash: none built in, so you add one from an app or plugin, or as custom code (some editors' AI can write that code for you). Cross: there's no way to add one. This test is only about the slider: an ordinary photo gallery can still show the two photos side by side.
- Finished first draft. The season is short and busy. The website has to be ready before the first quote request, not after it. Tick: it writes the whole site, pages and words, from a description of your business. Dash: templates, or AI that only writes some of it.
- Edit by chat, new pages by AI. Packages, prices and the install dates you still have free change every week once the season starts. Updating them should take a sentence. Tick: you type a change and the site updates, and you can ask for a new page and get one.
- Local search set up for you. Homeowners search for Christmas light installation in their own town, and every town you hang lights in is its own search. Tick: a map of the areas you cover, a page for each town, and your Google reviews on the site, all built in. Dash: some of that, or only with add-ons.
- Search coaching. Christmas light installation, permanent holiday lights and commercial displays are separate searches, and each is a page worth having. Tick: something that checks your site and tells you what to fix, plus a Google Search Console connection that turns your search data into ideas for new pages. Dash: one of the two.
- Fast pages, measured. Homeowners book on their phone, often in the evening after seeing a neighbor's house lit up. We measured this ourselves with Google's PageSpeed test on real sites built with each builder. Tick: a typical phone score of 90 or more, which Google calls good. Dash: 50 to 89. Cross: under 50.
- Leads, quotes, invoices and payments together. A season of quotes, deposits and final bills lands in a few weeks, so they should all live in one place. Tick: a leads inbox, quotes your customers accept online, invoices and online payments, all built in. Dash: some of them, or only with plugins.
How we picked them. Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy (its Websites + Marketing builder) and WordPress.com are the four ChatGPT names most often when we ask it which website builder to use for trades like this one. Mighty Sites, a template website builder for service businesses, is here because ChatGPT named it for this trade on October 12, 2026, citing Mighty Sites' own comparison of builders for holiday lighting companies, which puts Mighty Sites first. Zarla is ours.
How we scored them. Same tests for everyone, each worth the same. We checked every answer on the builder's own website and help pages on September 28, 2026, and the before-and-after slider test on October 2, 2026, and the leads, quotes, invoices and payments together test on October 4, 2026, and re-checked every answer on October 12, 2026, the day Mighty Sites joined and all its answers were read. godaddy.com blocks automated reading of some of its pages, so where we couldn't open one, we read GoDaddy's page as Google indexes it. When two builders tie on points, the one with fewer crosses goes first.
How we measured speed. Google's PageSpeed test, three runs each on phone and desktop, on up to ten real sites per builder. For the others we used the first sites built with them that came up in Google for home-service businesses in five US cities (for WordPress, any WordPress site). Zarla sites don't rank in those searches yet, so we picked ten at random from our customers' published sites and don't name them. Mighty Sites joined later, so we ran the same PageSpeed test on October 12, 2026, on the customer sites Mighty Sites lists on its own home page, some of them outside home services and one outside the US. It's a sample, not a promise about any one site.
What we didn't score. Price, because every plan bundles different things (each builder's own price is on its card, and Zarla's is on our pricing page), and how long it takes to get a site live, which we plan to time and add here. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Other trades. The same tests for cleaning businesses, junk removal companies, car detailing businesses, pressure washing businesses, plumbers, pet sitters and dog walkers, handyman businesses, construction companies, moving companies, remodelers, towing companies, tree service companies, painters, electricians, HVAC companies, roofing companies, landscapers, window tinting businesses, mobile mechanics, pool service companies, home care agencies, blinds and shutters companies.
Questions owners ask
Photos of homes you've lit, what a package covers (the lights, the design, the install and what happens after the holidays), the towns you cover, reviews, your insurance, and a quote form that takes a photo of the house. Our guide to starting a Christmas light installation business covers pricing and the season's timeline.
Well before your first install date. A new site takes time to show up on Google, and the homeowners who plan ahead ask for prices before the lights go up on their street. Whichever builder you pick, get your photos, your packages and a way to ask for a quote online first, and add the rest as the season goes.
On five of the six, yes. Zarla's quote form takes up to five photos of the job, and Wix (a form field on its paid plans), Squarespace, GoDaddy and WordPress.com (on its Business plan) let a form take photo uploads too. Mighty Sites' contact form has no upload field; its own guides show other companies' widgets pasted into a page, which is how you'd add a form that takes photos, so it gets the middle mark.
Zarla and WordPress.com have one built in. In Zarla you switch a photo gallery to its before-and-after layout, and your own photos of the houses you've lit, by day and at night, show in one frame with a handle visitors drag; WordPress.com has an Image Compare block. Wix, Squarespace and GoDaddy don't have one built in: on Wix you install a third-party app from its App Market or ask the AI in its Harmony editor to write one, and on Squarespace (from its Core plan, as a plugin or pasted code) and GoDaddy you add code from another company. Mighty Sites doesn't have one built in either; its own guides show another company's widget code pasted into a section, which is how you'd add one.
Building and previewing one can cost nothing; a live site on your own domain costs money on every builder here. Wix has a free plan on a wixsite.com address, and Core, its cheapest plan with bookings, is $29/mo billed yearly. Squarespace Basic is $19/mo billed yearly after a 14-day free trial, and online booking is a separate Acuity Scheduling subscription. WordPress.com Personal is $4/mo billed yearly; photo uploads on its forms come with Business, $25/mo billed yearly, and booking comes from a plugin. GoDaddy prices Websites + Marketing by country. Mighty Sites' Starter plan is $9/month for a one-page site, and Business, $19/month, adds more pages, after a 7-day free trial. Zarla is free to build and preview, and you pay when you publish, on the Premium plan. These are each builder's own US prices, read on its pricing page on September 28, 2026 (Mighty Sites' on October 12, 2026, from the plans on its home page).
With Zarla, the first draft takes about 30 seconds: every page, written for your Christmas light installation business, including a quote form and, when you list your towns, a page for each one. What's left is your own night photos, your packages and the towns you cover. Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and WordPress.com can also write a first draft with AI; how long the rest takes depends on how much you set up yourself. Mighty Sites says its sites go live in 60 seconds from a trade template with pre-written copy and photos, and no AI prompts. We haven't timed them side by side yet.
Zarla sends a quote as one link: the customer picks an option, ticks any extras and accepts it, and Zarla drafts the invoice for what they chose, with any deposit you asked for, ready for you to send. Wix has Price Quotes that clients accept online and that can turn into an invoice. WordPress.com needs a quote plugin from another company. GoDaddy sends invoices, with a payment schedule for deposits, but has no quotes built in. Squarespace sends estimates and proposals with an Accept button, from its Basic plan. Mighty Sites' plans list contact and lead forms, and no quotes or invoices, so a quote a customer accepts online needs another tool. Job-management software such as Jobber and Housecall Pro goes further: the customer can pay the deposit as they approve the quote. We read each of these on the company's own pages on October 4, 2026 (Mighty Sites' on October 12, 2026).
Yes, it's one of the stronger choices: Wix placed second of six here, with 14 of 18 points. Of the tests that are particular to Christmas light installers, it gets a tick on "Customers send photos with a request" and "Book online, with a deposit". The catch: bookings need the Core plan rather than the cheapest one, and pages for each town you serve are yours to write.
See your Christmas lighting website before you decide.
Add your town to the sentence and Zarla builds the first draft, free. You pay only when you publish.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.