- Review: Duda.co
- Rating: ★★★★
- Published: 11 May 2019
table of contents
Disclosure
This is a professional review blog which gets compensated for the products reviewed by the companies who produce them. All of the products are tested thoroughly and high grades are received only by the best ones. I am an independent blogger and the reviews are done based on my own opinions.
introduction
Duda review. Duda is an easy website builder but capable website builder was founded by a couple of programmers who foresaw the enormous impact that the original iPhone would have on web browsing. Thus the product produces sites that change to fit both large desktop monitors and small mobile screen.
Duda’s responsive website builder is not primarily about mobile websites. Obviously responsive websites are part of the deal meaning your website visitors will see an optimized site whether they are looking at it on a computer a tablet or a smartphone. But Duda wants to be much more than just another website builder. Not only is there a feature that will help you create multilingual websites there is also a unique website personalization tool. This enables you to send your visitor’s customized offers based, for example, on their browsing history or the city they live in.
All of this comes at a price however compared to their competitors, Duda’s website builder is not exactly cheap. Nevertheless, you can try it out risk-free there’s a 30 day trial period which is completely free and comes with no strings attached. Web store capabilities make Duda a full website commerce solution and its site builder interface makes DIY site building easy. Note that Duda has changed its main URL to duda.co from dudamobile.com for a long time. Our overview will give you an idea of how the website builder did in general and whether it’s worth its price.
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how user-friendly is Duda
Duda is a leading web design platform for web professionals and agencies of all sizes with powerful team collaboration and client management tools for building and managing websites at scale. Its platform enables you to build feature-rich websites that are perfectly suited to desktop tablet and mobile and automatically optimized for Google PageSpeed. Duda has partnered with some of the biggest players in the industry including Hibu, Italiaonline, 1&1, UOL, Sensis, and Publicar. Optimized for speed and efficiency at every stage of the site building process, Duda comes packed with the most cutting-edge features that enable you to build beautiful sites at scale. It has SMB customers with low-to-no tech skills but they need incredible websites. With Duda, customers can create a beautiful custom website in under an hour.
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DESIGN & ADDITIONAL FEATURES
The first menu item on the left design brings up a thorough set of options for customizing the design of your site as a whole. Choose from one of the color palettes available for your template or design your own. Customize the text font type, text size, line height used in every possible heading type throughout your site. Adjust the navigation to your precise specifications. You can even individually specify the navigation style of your site on a tablet or mobile devices. Customize the buttons on your site and specify what happens when you roll over them. Set the background image/color either for every version of your website at once or individually for each version like as desktop or tablet or mobile of your site.
Customize your header background and header logo. Essentially do whatever you want. This powerful set of design editing tools stands in stark contrast to the limited options available in most website editors and should get your creative juices flowing. It is an auto update and content import or export. It has a drag and drops and landing pages or web forms. It includes online booking tools, online store builder. It has pre-built templates and real-time editing. It has direct by SEO management and survey builder.
Templates
Duda’s 78 templates aren’t quite as crisp and pretty as those of Squarespace or Wix, but they’re definitely above average. They’re also highly customizable. Most importantly, they’re mobile-responsive and will behave nicely on tablets and smartphones. To start a new site, you choose one of 94 attractive, modern templates, sorted into categories such as Business, Portfolio, and Restaurant. Once you choose a template for your Duda site and start customizing, you can’t switch templates later as you can with Squarespace $12.00 at square space or symbolic or simply. This is because Duda sites though they fit the search engines criteria for mobile presentation aren’t responsive in the strictest sense meaning they don’t stretch and compress all elements as you resize the browser window. A large number of modern designs are included. Advanced users can take an empty template and start from scratch. All designs are optimized for smartphones and tablets making them responsive. The editor offers previews for every type of device.
The Editor
Duda is a forward-thinking website builder which is why I was disappointed to see that they don’t have a mobile editing app. It seems like the kind of builder that could easily accommodate one so I wouldn’t be surprised to see one at some point in the future. Duda does let you hide any element on your site when viewed on a tablet or smartphone (or a computer) however so you can customize the mobile look of your website to some extent. Furthermore, as part of a recent eCommerce update, Duda introduced a mobile app for eCommerce management. With this app, you can manage products, upload images, review orders, and more. Add your brand’s colors and logo to the white label editor and your customers will be able to edit their own websites without knowing that you’re using Duda.
Apps
Website personalization is activating personalization with triggers such as time of day geo-location number of visits and more. Choose from ready-made actions such as popups and notification bars or create your own action. Engage visitors by showing customized actions at the right time, and watch conversion rates soar. Mobile management App for eCommerce: The Duda eCommerce Store supports using a mobile app for both iOS and Android which allows you to instantly manage your store wherever you are using your mobile phone.
The fastest website builder out there: Optimized for speed and efficiency at every stage of the site building process. Duda comes packed with the most cutting-edge features that enable you to build beautiful sites at scale.
In the early days of Duda, we were considered a mobile-only company because we made desktop sites look beautiful on mobile. Sounds like a great idea isn’t it? Yet it was not an easy sell because back in the days when dinosaurs ruled the earth the consensus was that “mobile software companies are difficult to do and won’t become big businesses. Mobile-oriented companies and especially mobile apps were not considered to be a real business. We had a 70% increase in conversion by simply adding a personalization rule that triggered a notification bar during Restaurant Week.
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Pros & Cons
THE PROS
The platform’s look and feel are end-user friendly. It’s simple icons make learning your way around fast and easy. It has the look of a drag-n-drop tool but is packed full of functionality which is key! Everything from being able to quickly and easily make parallax scrolling, to creating and inserting entire pages or sections. This is huge when you want to use your favorite section from a different template.
Personalization features are wonderfully easy to use. The build workflows are intuitive (nicely done Duda!) so you don’t feel like you need to be an expert coder (or a coder at all) to make these custom features to work. Client management is great – it also allows me to assign interns to assist with specific site builds without giving them the ‘keys to the kingdom’. Team management works well for my designers who need access to all sites rather than a select few. There are so many things I love about this platform it would be hard to list them all, but the ease of use and functionality, are among the top.
Duda’s website builder offers a unique experience for entry level designers and site owners to build and maintain a professional, polished website while allowing the custom flexibility for advanced developers to create a unique, beautiful design. It is Easy to use and advanced features. The generous free plan includes eCommerce. Personalization rules are helpful & innovative. It is impressive eCommerce and multilingual sites. Clear interface. Strong mobile site building. Free site option. It is social media integration. Powerful site-traffic analysis. Capable web store tools. Even free accounts can sell products online.
THE CONS
No third-party widget store. No email newsletter integration. No ability to port the site to another host. No review would be complete without looking at the downsides. Every piece of software will have complaints. Let’s look at the specific cons I found with using Duda as your website builder. Limited customer support no live chat or phone. The blog feature is limited. It is an expensive paid plan. It is a weak app in the marketplace and can’t change hosting.
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pricing & plans
Duda lets you create an online presence for free. Duda doesn’t limit the number of free sites or neither page you can create however nor the bandwidth of those frees sites that are quite generous. Unlike site builders such as Weebly, Duda even let’s free accounts sell up to 10 products, though free sites include Duda ads.
Say what you will about the tenets of the free minimum business model at least it’s an ethos. Duda offers its responsive website builder in four tiers: Free, basic, team, Agency and site for life. The pricing and feature information is laid out here.
Free
Natively responsive website and website personalization tools. It has limited analytics and tracking and web hosting on Amazon cloud. It is free community support, branded Duda domain and Duda ads. It has a10 Product Store and PayPal, Stripe & Global Gateway Payment Providers two Product Categories. Order and Customer Management Tools
Basic
A basic tier offers $14.25 per month.You can use your own domain and create multilingual websites. 1 website included sites hosted on AWS. It offers 10 product online store. Email support.
Team
Team tier offers $22.50 per month to build online stores with more than 10 products. One website included Sites hosted on AWS email chat & phone support your brand & logo on every part of the platform access to team & client management features.
Agency
This tier offers $74.00 per month Create up to 8 websites with 10 team members. 8 websites included Sites hosted on AWS Priority Support via email, chat & phone. Your brand & logo on every part of the platform Access to team & client management features. Extensible Widget Builder & Robust API.
Site for Life
A one-off lifetime subscription they seem to have removed the ‘Site for Life’ option, we’re still trying to get confirmation from Duda at $299.00. All prices are per month with the yearly payment option except Site for Life plan. Domain not included.
If you just want to convert an existing site for mobile viewing, you pay $7.20 per month, which includes a 10-product store. Enterprise accounts add management and training services for negotiated pricing.
For Duda customers with hundreds or thousands of websites under management, Duda offers special Tiered Discount Pricing, your own Dedicated Account Manager, Unlimited API Access & Advanced Support and a wide range of additional high-value managed services.
Business eCommerce Plan
$22.50/month for 100 Product Store (annual plan)
$29.00/month for 100 Product Store (monthly plan)
$36.75/month for 2500 Product Store (annual plan)
$46.00/month for 2500 Product Store (monthly plan)
All of the Above PLUS:
30+ Payment Providers
Unlimited Product Categories
Product Reviews Integrated with Facebook
Generate Coupon Codes – 2500 Product Store Only
Sell Digital Products – 2500 Product Store Only
Duda plans can be paid for using your credit card (Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, Discover, Diner’s Club, JCB, Carte Bleue), or with PayPal.
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support & features
Support features
Your own domain name
Domain names and email hosting aren’t included. You can either register a domain through Duda or link an existing one to your Duda website as well. SSL encryption is available in all paid plans. Find more information in our FAQ.
Depth of navigation
You can go up to three levels deep. This should be sufficient for most use cases, but it may be restrictive for some projects
Widgets (small tools to add extra functionality)
There is no app store, but the editor offers a wide range of useful features. You can also use the Website Personalization Tool to add interactive elements: an information bar, pop-ups, special offers, etc.
Monetization
Yes, you can insert advertising (e.g. banners).
E-Commerce. This e-commerce solution is based on Ecwid’s online shop system. Every plan comes with 10 products. If you need more, you can upgrade to 100 or 2500 articles.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Any and all relevant settings can be adjusted to match your needs. Google will like the fact that Duda SSL encrypts your website, which can benefit your rankings. Duda also prides themselves with fast loading pages. Duda also prides themselves with fast loading pages.
Blog
Easy to use: Just a single click to add, and it automatically includes RSS. Unfortunately, comments are only available via Facebook.
Visitor statistics
An analysis tool is included. However, you can use Google Analytics just as well.
Contact form
A wide variety of customization options.
Password protection
While individual pages can be protected by a password, you cannot create user accounts.
Newsletter tool
Not included. You will have to use another provider.
Add HTML code
You can always add HTML code. Beyond that, you can edit the template itself in the developer mode.
Storage space – Duda offers unlimited storage space.
Backups & Restore
It is possible to backup and restores your Duda website. Every time your site is published, a backup gets created automatically.
Support
Depending on your plan, a comprehensive FAQ, chat, email and telephone support are available. There are also a few videos you can check out.
Fun Factor
The editing process is flexible and fast. It doesn’t take long to figure out how everything works.
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faq's
What Duda features can be white labeled?
The entire Duda platform — the editor, dashboard, preview screens, auto-generated client emails, and more — can be placed under your brand. Simply add your brand colors and logo and you’re set to go! There is also an unbranded support portal that can be made available to your clients.
Are Duda websites SEO-friendly?
Very! Duda websites have a unique architecture that makes them super SEO-friendly so your clients’ sites receive a high rank in Google and Bing search results.
How do I cancel Duda?
Duda offers a free trial you can check out with no strings attached. Should you be using a paid plan, you can cancel it within the first 30 days in order to get your money back. Should you cancel the plan after the first 30 days, it will terminate as detailed in your contract.
Is there a cheaper way to get a domain/email hosting for my Duda website?
Yes! Instead of signing up with Google Domains, you can also opt for a plan at Namecheap that already includes email hosting. Namecheap is 100% compatible with Duda.
What is DudaPro?
DudaPro is for agencies, developers, and resellers who want to offer their client’s fully customized websites as a product. It gives them full control over a website project. Each website created with a DudaPro account will receive a rebate.
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Conclusion
From our perspective, Duda is ideal for small and medium-sized website projects. The design templates are not only nice to look at but anyone can customize them even without programming skills. The only thing that we don’t like is that you cannot pick a different theme once you have made your initial choice. However, if you want more control than that Duda have you covered: Just switch into “Developer Mode” and start experimenting. The layout and visual style remind us of Weebly a lot. And similar to Wix you can add animations too, perhaps, breathe a bit of life into your site.
Duda’s Website Personalization Tool is especially interesting. It lets you customize your visitors’ user experience even further you can show first-time visitors a welcome video, for example, or provide offers tailored specifically to visitors from certain cities. The possibilities are almost endless because you can create your own actions. We do have to deduct some points for the shop. When compared to Shopify or Weebly the prices are just a bit too high. An app store would have been nice as well Weebly and Wix both have one. This makes adding new features much easier.
Where Duda truly shines is languages: it’s our top recommendation for multi-lingual websites. No other site builder makes it as easy (and SEO-friendly) to serve international visitors.