Web design software for Windows
Mobirise is free web design software for Windows: one 105 MB installer, ready-made blocks you drag onto the page, and editing that keeps working without internet. When it's done, send it to your host by FTP, put it on GitHub Pages or keep the HTML files in a folder.
Updated October 2026 · by the Mobirise team
What Windows users should know first
- What you install
- MobiriseSetup.exe, about 105 MB, from history.mobirisesite.com, which also holds the version history. The current release is 6.1.12.
- Supported systems
- Windows 7 or later, so Windows 10 and 11 PCs are covered. The same app is also built for macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later and for Debian-based Linux such as Ubuntu.
- How you build
- Pick blocks from a library, place them on the page, then click into any heading or photo to replace it. Per-block parameters adjust spacing and background, change the column count and decide which parts are shown.
- Cost
- No charge for private or business use; the free version ships one basic theme holding 200+ blocks. The KIT plan, $149 a year, gives you the whole catalogue of 220+ premium themes with the extensions, and takes the Mobirise branding off.
- AI drafts
- Sum up the site in a short line, or hand Mobirise AI a drawing or a screenshot, and four designs come back, each with copy and pictures in place. Without paying you get 3 generations each month.
- With no connection
- Editing, previews and the themes and blocks already on your disk keep working. Going online is only necessary for AI generation, for publishing, for signing in or buying, and for getting updates or new themes.
- Where the site goes
- Upload by FTP or FTPES to any host, publish on GitHub Pages, or keep the files locally; every plan allows this without limits. There is also a free HTTPS address on mobirisesite.com for up to 3 sites.
- What it writes
- Bootstrap 5 pages saved as ordinary HTML, CSS and JS files, with images turned into WebP automatically. Changing the code by hand needs the Code Editor extension that comes with the paid plans.
- Weak spots
- There is no freeform placement, phones don't get a layout of their own, and HTML from other programs can't be opened.
What a connection is still needed for, and when offline work pays off, is covered in our offline website builder guide.
“A free, simple, drag and drop mobile responsive Web site builder”, Network World review, 2015
Three kinds of web design software for Windows
If the goal is a working website, three groups of tools matter. They differ in who writes the HTML and where the project is stored.
You arrange, the program writes the code
WYSIWYG Web Builder, CoffeeCup Site Designer and Mobirise install on your PC and generate the markup while you place objects or blocks. They are what most people mean by a Windows website builder, and they suit small firms, clubs and freelancers who want a site without studying HTML. Mobirise sits here, using finished responsive blocks rather than a blank canvas.
You see and shape the markup
Adobe Dreamweaver, Pinegrow and Bootstrap Studio put the HTML and CSS beside a live view. They reward people who understand classes, grids and media queries, and they open existing projects as readily as new ones. The learning curve is longer and the control is finer.
Nothing to install, hosting included
8B AI, Webflow, Wix and Squarespace run in Edge or Chrome on a PC exactly as they do elsewhere. The editor appears once you sign in, but the project lives on their servers and every change needs a connection. Mobirise works this way too at a.mobirise.com, running the very engine the installed app uses.
Image editors and mockup apps often appear in these roundups too. They draw layouts and graphics; turning a mockup into real pages still takes a tool from one of the three groups.
Seven tools for building sites on Windows, compared
The programs people most often shortlist when they look for website design software for PC, from free to subscription. Six install on your PC; 8B AI is included as a browser-only reference. Rows where other tools are stronger stay in.
| Mobirise | WYSIWYG Web Builder | Bootstrap Studio | 8B AI | Pinegrow | Adobe Dreamweaver | CoffeeCup Site Designer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Apps for Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.13 or later and Debian-based Linux, plus any browser | Windows only; Mac and Linux get a separate product | Linux, macOS, and Windows 10 or newer | Runs in a browser, phones too; nothing to install on Windows | Windows, macOS, Linux, plus a browser edition | Windows 10 (version 1903 or later) and 11, macOS | Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.13 or later |
| Price and billing | Free, commercial use included. Yearly plans: KIT $149, with every premium theme and extension; BASE $199 and GROW $249, which add hosted sites on your own domain plus more AI | $59.95 one-time for version 21 (an autumn sale showed $39.95 on the day we checked); updates until the next major version | $29 one-time (Standard, upgrades for a year) or $59 for Lifetime | Designing costs nothing; to publish, Pro at $9 per month on yearly billing | $149 once (with a year of updates), $99 a year or $12 a month | US$22.99 a month on an annual plan billed monthly | $99 one-time; the licence is perpetual and includes a year of upgrades |
| Skill needed | None to start; HTML only if you add the Code Editor | None for simple pages; breakpoints take practice | Low to moderate; knowing Bootstrap helps | None; one sentence about the site is enough | Moderate; built around real HTML and CSS | The highest here: a code editor with visual aids | Moderate; CSS classes, grid and flexbox |
| Works offline | Yes for editing and previews; AI and publishing go online | Yes, as a desktop program; its AI goes through an OpenAI account | Yes, fully, according to the vendor | No | Edits local files on your PC; AI and publishing go online | Yes, with an online licence check every 30 days and a 99-day grace period on annual plans | A desktop app; its one-click hosting is online |
| AI | Four designs per request, starting from words, a drawing or a screenshot; 3 generations monthly free, BASE 100, GROW 1,000 | Text-to-website and image-to-website in version 21, through your own OpenAI account, which may cost extra | AI Assistant for edits and whole pages, with your own API key | Free plan: one sentence produces a complete design; Pro adds edits by chat and 100 credits monthly | AI Assistant for markup, styles and pages built from images; Pinegrow credits or your own key | None described on its product page | None mentioned on its product page |
| Responsive approach | Bootstrap 5 blocks adapt by themselves; no phone-only layout | Flexible or absolute layouts, with breakpoints, layout grid, flexbox and CSS grid | Bootstrap 3, 4 or 5 grid with visual controls | Automatic in each generated design | Bootstrap, Tailwind or plain CSS; edit several screen sizes side by side | Bootstrap 5.3, 4 or 3 templates, or your own CSS | Bootstrap 4, Foundation 6, Materialize or no framework; custom breakpoints |
| Publishing | FTP/FTPES upload to your host, GitHub Pages, or export to a folder, all on any plan; a free subdomain for 3 sites | Its own uploader speaks FTP, FTPS and SFTP; it can also publish to a local drive | SFTP to any server, static export, or the vendor's hosting (free for a year with Standard) | The vendor's hosting with SSL and your own domain on Pro; HTML export on Pro | Pinegrow Online, SFTP, GitHub, Netlify or Cloudflare Pages | FTP, SFTP, FTPS, WebDAV or a network folder | CoffeeCup's own hosting, or exported HTML and CSS for any server |
| Edits HTML made elsewhere | No; foreign HTML can't be imported | Yes, it imports HTML pages | Yes, by dragging the files in | Not listed in its plans | Yes, any HTML site | Yes, as a code editor | Not stated on its product page |
| Best for | Free sites from ready-made blocks, with AI drafts and hosting of your choice | Freeform, pixel-placed pages on Windows for a one-time fee | Bootstrap projects with code access at the lowest one-time price | Trying an AI design at no cost before paying to put it online | Developers who edit existing HTML, Tailwind or Bootstrap projects visually | Coders who already pay for Creative Cloud | CSS-minded designers who want a framework choice and a perpetual licence |
We checked every cell on 13 October 2026, using only the vendors' own sites: pricing pages, product pages and help documentation. All prices are US dollars before tax. A one-time licence covers the version you buy plus the update period shown, while a subscription such as Pinegrow's stops the app when it ends. Let a Mobirise plan lapse and your published sites remain online, while the app falls back to its free edition. Sales come and go and many roundups quote older figures, so confirm each figure with the vendor at the moment you buy.
Which Windows tool to choose
No single website builder for Windows suits everyone. It depends on whether you touch code, how you prefer to pay and where the site should live. Our picks include tools that aren't ours.
- Free, and the files stay yours
- Mobirise: the app costs nothing, publishes any number of sites to your own hosting and offers AI drafts when you're online.
- Placing elements anywhere
- WYSIWYG Web Builder: absolute layouts in a Windows-only program, a one-time licence and a 30-day trial.
- Bootstrap on a small budget
- Bootstrap Studio: full code access and imports of existing sites.
- An AI design before you spend
- 8B AI in the browser: you pay only when you want the design published.
- Visual edits to HTML you already have
- Pinegrow, which also handles Tailwind projects.
- A professional code editor
- Dreamweaver, especially if your Creative Cloud plan already includes it.
- CSS grid and a framework choice
- CoffeeCup Site Designer, with a perpetual licence.
- Hosting handled for you
- Wix or Squarespace in the browser, if you don't need the files.
- A blog with plugins
- WordPress, a content system rather than a design program.
Bootstrap tools get a closer look on our Bootstrap builder page.
From installer to a published site on Windows
Almost the whole job happens on your PC. You need a connection to download the app and again to publish; everything in between can be done on a train or somewhere with no signal.
1. Download and run the installer
Get MobiriseSetup.exe from the download page and install it like any other Windows program. At about 105 MB it downloads quickly even on a modest line.
2. Open a theme or import an AI draft
Begin with the free basic theme, a premium theme on a paid plan, or a Mobirise AI design that Import by Link pulls into the program.
3. Build and check, offline if you like
Add blocks, edit text where it sits, replace images and use Clone Block to repeat a section. Preview the page at three widths, phone, tablet and desktop, to see how the layout reflows.
4. Publish where you choose
Use FTP or FTPES for the hosting account you have, push to GitHub Pages, or export into a folder on the PC and move it wherever you need.
5. Edit and publish again
Change the project on your PC and send the update the same way. New releases of the app appear on the download page, listed in the version history.
Good fit and poor fit on a Windows PC
A good fit
- Freelancers, clubs and small firms looking for a no-cost Windows program and a site they can host wherever they like
- People working from a laptop on an unreliable connection
- Anyone who wants an AI first draft, then full manual control in a desktop editor
- Agencies whose simple client sites must go to the client's own hosting over FTP
- Offices with mixed computers: the same app installs on Windows, macOS and Linux
Look elsewhere if
- Exact pixel placement matters to you; WYSIWYG Web Builder supports absolute layouts
- You need to keep editing an existing HTML site; Pinegrow, Bootstrap Studio and Dreamweaver can open one, Mobirise can't
- You spend your day in code and want an editor built around it, such as Dreamweaver or Pinegrow
- You want settings for phones only, such as hiding a block on small screens; Mobirise adapts every block automatically
- You'd rather pay once for premium themes; Mobirise's paid plans are yearly
- You run a big shop with large inventories and complicated delivery rules; a commerce platform fits better
The two Mac builds and their installers are explained in our guide for Mac users.
Windows web design FAQ
What is the best web design software for Windows?
The answer turns on your way of working. For a free program that builds from finished blocks and adds AI drafts, Mobirise is a sensible first try; for freeform pages on a one-time licence, WYSIWYG Web Builder; for Bootstrap with code access, Bootstrap Studio or Pinegrow; for professional hand-coding, Dreamweaver. The table above sets out price, offline use and publishing for each.
Which website design software for PC is free?
Mobirise costs nothing on Windows, whether the site is private or for a business. You get a basic theme and over 200 blocks, and you can send any number of sites to a host of your own; free sites carry Mobirise branding. The other desktop programs compared here are paid, though several offer a trial first.
Does it run on Windows 10 and Windows 11?
Yes. Mobirise supports Windows 7 and every later release, so both are covered by the one MobiriseSetup.exe installer.
How do I install Mobirise on Windows?
Download MobiriseSetup.exe from history.mobirisesite.com and run it. When setup finishes, open Mobirise, choose a theme and start adding blocks. From then on you can build without a connection.
Can I design a website on Windows without internet?
Yes. After installation the app edits pages, uses the themes and blocks already on your PC and shows previews offline. Tasks that need a server, such as AI generation, publishing, or fetching updates and extra themes, wait until you reconnect.
Will I have to write HTML or CSS?
No. You build from blocks, edit text in place and adjust layouts through each block's parameters, while the program writes the code. For hand edits, the paid plans include a Code Editor extension that exposes the markup and styles of each block and page.
Can I upload the site to my own hosting from Windows?
Yes. This works on the free plan too, not only on paid ones. Mobirise publishes over FTP or encrypted FTPES, pushes to GitHub Pages, or writes the finished files into a folder that you can copy anywhere. You pay only your hosting provider and domain registrar.
Can I edit a website I built in another program?
No. Mobirise reads only its own project format, which rules out importing a site from Dreamweaver or another editor. You can rebuild it from blocks, or let the AI draft a new version from a description or screenshots, then publish to the same domain. If you must stay with the old HTML, Pinegrow, Bootstrap Studio or Dreamweaver suit the job.
How does the Windows app relate to the online builder?
Both run one Mobirise engine; on Windows it comes wrapped as an installable program. The browser version at a.mobirise.com needs no installation and works on any device; the Windows app adds offline editing and free export to your own hosting. Import by Link transfers sites generated in Mobirise AI to the desktop program.
Is Mobirise free for commercial sites?
Yes. The free version may be used for business and client work, and the published pages show Mobirise branding. Yearly paid plans add premium themes and extensions and remove the branding; BASE and GROW also host sites on your own domain and raise the AI allowance. New customers can ask for a refund within 14 days of the first order.
Install Mobirise on your PC
A free website builder for Windows, with the same download available for macOS and Linux. Not ready to install? Generate a draft with Mobirise AI first; Import by Link pulls it into the desktop program when you are.