Compare Duda и Format

Benefits:

I love everything about it, it can be a very simple platform that you can give it to your customers for drag and drop and as complicated as complet... Read more

I love everything about it, it can be a very simple platform that you can give it to your customers for drag and drop and as complicated as completely hard code the website for it to do whatever you want. Saves on time, loads faster, love the load balancing aspect of it. Takes out so many things that I used to worry about building it in a Wordpress, PHP environment.

Drawbacks:

I have not run into it yet. Even though there might be some, the team has been very efficient to handle them .

Summary:

I have enjoyed every part of it and geek out talking about it to clients or friends.

Benefits:

Duda is an incredibly easy platform to work with and produce really solid websites and engaging experiences. I've worked on Wordpress (always hated... Read more

Duda is an incredibly easy platform to work with and produce really solid websites and engaging experiences. I've worked on Wordpress (always hated it), Joomla, Drupal, Kentico, DotNet Nuke, and other platforms, but Duda is the ONLY platform I have found that makes it incredibly easy to go from design to live site with so little friction. The WYSIWYG ease of implementation has increased our profitability and productivity. It's an awesome platform and I highly recommend you check it out. You will be glad you did.

Drawbacks:

The toughest thing about using Duda is that clients and prospective clients these days ask what platform you're going to build in and since so many... Read more

The toughest thing about using Duda is that clients and prospective clients these days ask what platform you're going to build in and since so many have heard of Wordpress it take a lot to get them to feel comfortable with the switch to Duda. Once I walk them through the back end to demonstrate the CMS they usually have an "Aha!" moment and get on board.

Summary:

We're a small branding and marketing company and we don't usually have super large budgets to design, develop and deliver websites. Duda helps us d... Read more

We're a small branding and marketing company and we don't usually have super large budgets to design, develop and deliver websites. Duda helps us do that with very little complexity. It's a streamlined platform that delivers the punch and impact of more complex environments but without all of the junk that no one really needs or wants. The ease of implementation makes it possible for us to be more efficient and cost-effective on website builds.

Benefits:

Simple to bang out a website, the Interface is easy to use and even fun. I really like how the sites come together, you can easily see how they wil... Read more

Simple to bang out a website, the Interface is easy to use and even fun. I really like how the sites come together, you can easily see how they will look on desktop, mobile, and tablet.

Drawbacks:

Some limitations in how you put the sites together, it can be annoying to be stuck to the four column design that is common across the web. They've... Read more

Some limitations in how you put the sites together, it can be annoying to be stuck to the four column design that is common across the web. They've got a new feature rolling out that is supposed to resolve this.

Summary:

As a marketing company, this makes my life SO MUCH EASIER. I used to build in wordpress, which is fine, but this is about half the time, and the we... Read more

As a marketing company, this makes my life SO MUCH EASIER. I used to build in wordpress, which is fine, but this is about half the time, and the websites look the same. Very easy to add the things you want to make the sites really sing.

Benefits:

[Quick note before I start - I've used the platform since February 2015]. There are absolutely some pros to using duda. This isn't going to be a t... Read more

[Quick note before I start - I've used the platform since February 2015]. There are absolutely some pros to using duda. This isn't going to be a totally negative review. But this needs to be a massive eye opener for the team so they can understand in what areas they are failing their customers. First up, as a simple WYSIWYG editor, Duda isn't doing a bad job. Trouble is, in today's market this is more of a minimum expectation, rather than a unique or coveted feature. Back in 2015 when I first subscribed, Duda was aimed more at the end user - fast forward to the present and they have marketed themselves more towards agencies and freelancers. In terms of websites built per annum, they're certainly doing a lot better than in 2015. They do listen to the community, they do ask for feedback and act on it, and they do work on useful updates. They just do it all... really slowly. Duda isn't an open source platform and unlike other platforms they don't have a strong community of developers behind them. They do however have 'duda pro' developers, but their catalogue of work (like custom widgets) is small, uncomprehensive, and unreasonably expensive. Sure, you can absolutely code widgets and write custom code for your website, but we'll cover what a horror show that is in the 'cons' section. Look, I begrudge writing negative feedback, especially when I see the hard work being done by the Duda team, but there's just no point beating around the bush, Duda is just a troubled platform.

Drawbacks:

As mentioned above, I've used Duda for over 4 years, since February 2015, so make no mistake - I know this platform inside and out. First of all..... Read more

As mentioned above, I've used Duda for over 4 years, since February 2015, so make no mistake - I know this platform inside and out. First of all... eCommerce. This is by far and away probably the worst part of the platform. Duda has a longstanding integration with eCommerce platform Ecwid. On the whole, the Ecwid platform is very good - the issue is, is that the integration you get with Duda, is not fully featured Ecwid. It has a limited feature set, and is, quite honestly, terrible. In addition, many eCommerce platforms require 'apps' or 'add-ons' to expand their functionality, whereas, duda's catalogue of apps for their eCommerce integration is pathetically small. Unless your needs (or your client's needs) are very simple, just don't bother with it. Next up, custom code. When I first signed up to Duda, it was marketed to me in such a fashion where you expected adding custom code to be a breeze. And, of course, I'm not naive - I totally get that when adding custom code to a WYSIWYG editor there is going to be multiple cases of conflicting lines of code. But the functionality of Duda is quite basic, and sometimes you do need to augment that functionality with custom code, which is, well... an absolute nightmare. Don't expect support to help either - they'll just suggest you pay a 'duda pro' to fix it for you. Get to grips with not writing clean code - official support advice for CSS was to just bang !important on everything and bang it in the site wide stylesheet.

Summary:

Awful. But I'm honestly just not sure of viable alternatives. After using the platform for the past 4 years as an end user for my own, and for my p... Read more

Awful. But I'm honestly just not sure of viable alternatives. After using the platform for the past 4 years as an end user for my own, and for my partner's businesses, I'd really like to expand and provide a full web and digital agency offering. In terms of websites, this is totally duda's thing. Custom and white-labelled branding for the editor and site stat reports is a very nice touch and makes Duda a very appealing option for fully fledged agencies. Managing user roles is a breeze too. But the thing is, little bells and whistles are fine - but only if the platform is built on a solid foundation. At the moment, it's not. It hasn't been for the past 4 years. Support isn't great either. I currently have an open support ticket for a basic issue, which is still open after 5 days. It's now weekend so I don't expect a reply until next week. The issue should be a simple one to rectify and I have suggested a fix but it is up to their dev team to implement. Luckily this isn't a client's website, but imagine if it was? How rediculous this would look to the client. Over a week to fix a simple issue? Would you really want to build an agency with this level of support? Perhaps they reserve and prioritise their support team to the bigger agencies - I don't know. So if you're a freelancer or small agency maybe stick with the good old reliable CMS that most of the web is built on (you know the one) or fully research your alternatives before you dive into the Duda nightmare.

Benefits:

There's nothing I don't like about about this software. I can't wait to be completely switched over from my current website provider. My favorite t... Read more

There's nothing I don't like about about this software. I can't wait to be completely switched over from my current website provider. My favorite thing about this service is the ability to easily manipulate my website from the app.

Drawbacks:

Honestly I can't think of a single thing I don't like about Format. Other than maybe the fact that everything in life can't be this easy and friend... Read more

Honestly I can't think of a single thing I don't like about Format. Other than maybe the fact that everything in life can't be this easy and friendly.

Summary:

I'm able to use this service for all my online display needs. As a photographer, it's critical to be able to display my professional portfolio as w... Read more

I'm able to use this service for all my online display needs. As a photographer, it's critical to be able to display my professional portfolio as well as individual client galleries, a contact and services page and list of qualifications. This service allows me to EASILY customize and provide all of these.

Benefits:

GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL, and CREATIVE themes made for artists. The themes feel like you walked into a web site gallery! No unnecessary clutter that di... Read more

GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL, and CREATIVE themes made for artists. The themes feel like you walked into a web site gallery! No unnecessary clutter that distracts the viewer from the artwork. The software is kept up to date and its easy to use.

Drawbacks:

No problems , I like it once I learned how to navigate it.

Summary:

CUSTOMER SERVICE is top notch, and many of them are artists themselves. I love those folks, they're all very friendly and helpful.

Benefits:

I like the software quite a bit although like anything there is a learning curve and you have to have some design and web experience to get the mos... Read more

I like the software quite a bit although like anything there is a learning curve and you have to have some design and web experience to get the most out of it. I know that I could never afford the one-off coding that went into their system. When people complain about boring templates they don't realize that the Format app allows you to drastically change the look and feel of each template, enough so that you can be unique and make it your own. I think the customization of their templates is their most powerful attribute.

Drawbacks:

While the mobile versions look good on most phones, not so much with tablets. And while you can use the mobile app to possible correct a typo (mayb... Read more

While the mobile versions look good on most phones, not so much with tablets. And while you can use the mobile app to possible correct a typo (maybe) you really can't design a full website from your phone.

Summary:

Format decided that some of my edgier content violated their terms and services so they cancelled my service leaving me without a website. This cou... Read more

Format decided that some of my edgier content violated their terms and services so they cancelled my service leaving me without a website. This could have put me out of business or lost me important opportunities ~ we'll never know ~ and they wouldn't even tell me what exactly I did that violated their paragraph #428 Section 3, paragraph 16, line 87. Decent software but a bug fail on this aspect. Perhaps they folded when they got an anonymous compliant? Or maybe they just don't like art, free expression, ideas and open dialog? All I know is they are against my free speech even though I was very careful to be legal, polite and correct.

Benefits:

Amazing functionality and endless features that are constantly being improved and added to! The annual package is the most ideal solution for a sma... Read more

Amazing functionality and endless features that are constantly being improved and added to! The annual package is the most ideal solution for a small business owner like me who is focused on streamlining all of my storage, portfolio, proofing and website needs.

Drawbacks:

I would love to see an improvement to accessing site editing functions on mobile. I'm frequently traveling for work, and am often away from desktop... Read more

I would love to see an improvement to accessing site editing functions on mobile. I'm frequently traveling for work, and am often away from desktop/laptop access to my dashboard, which makes quick changes to the website difficult.

Summary:

I've tried seemingly every common website building company out there - I'm so happy with Format after two years that I'm constantly raving about it... Read more

I've tried seemingly every common website building company out there - I'm so happy with Format after two years that I'm constantly raving about it to my photographer friends. It negates any need for separate cloud storage, client proofing software, and website/portfolio design products.