WYSIWYG HTML editor
A WYSIWYG HTML editor lets you shape a web page by looking at it while the program writes the markup. See where the preview can mislead you and how Mobirise, our free block-based editor, compares with five other tools.
Free for personal and commercial sites.
for the app and its HTML export
The Mobirise desktop app exports your site as static files on every plan. Opening the code inside the editor takes a paid plan.
WYSIWYG HTML editors at a glance
Editor facts gathered by the Mobirise team, October 2026.
WYSIWYG stands for “what you see is what you get.” In an editor of this kind you work on the page as it looks, not on its source: you click a heading and type, drop in a picture or change a color, and the program writes the HTML and CSS behind each action. That makes HTML web page design possible without typing tags, though the screen shows a close preview, not a guarantee.
Classic design-view editors, block builders, visual CSS designers and code editors with a live preview.
The visual editor and its HTML export cost nothing on Windows, Mac or Linux, starting you with 200+ blocks. On the free plan, published pages include Mobirise branding.
Plain .html pages styled by Bootstrap 5, with its scripts alongside. Any host that serves plain files can deliver them; no code runs server-side.
To read or change the markup itself, you need the Code Editor extension, which ships with the KIT, BASE and GROW plans and works per block or per page.
Mobirise can't load a site or template built elsewhere. Pinegrow, Dreamweaver, Bootstrap Studio and CoffeeCup can.
Blocks reflow for phone, tablet and desktop, and you preview each width. There is no separate phone layout.
Which visual HTML tool fits your job
There is no single best WYSIWYG HTML editor, so choose by the work you need done. For several of these jobs a rival is the better answer, and its card says so.
Mobirise
You see the finished look while you drag blocks into place, retype their text and tweak block parameters; the free app then writes a static Bootstrap 5 site. The catch: foreign HTML won't load, and viewing the code costs a plan.
Pinegrow Web Editor
Loads any existing .html file and puts a live visual view next to its markup; Tailwind CSS is supported as well. The catch: $18 a month, $149 a year or $199 once.
Bootstrap Studio
Drag-and-drop Bootstrap components, a built-in code editor and offline projects, for $29 or $59 one-time. The catch: you stay inside Bootstrap's component model.
Adobe Dreamweaver
Live View lets you click into the rendered page and change its wording, pictures and classes, with the source still in charge. The catch: a subscription, $22.99 a month on the single-app plan, and no Linux version.
CoffeeCup HTML Editor
A split preview redraws the page as you type; there is a free edition, and the full version is $29 once. The catch: Windows only, and you write every tag.
Webflow
A visual designer built on CSS, with each breakpoint set by hand; exporting the code needs a paid plan. The catch: the panels mirror CSS, so it rewards people who already know it.
8B AI
Type a sentence and get a complete site design; the free tier lets you look at the real HTML and CSS behind it. The catch: it lives in the browser, and going live, the full export and chat edits require the Pro plan ($9 monthly, paid annually).
Elementor
A page builder plugin for WordPress sites. The catch: you get no standalone folder of HTML, because the pages need WordPress running on your server.
A caveat: Mobirise is ours, so treat this list as written by an interested party. Details on each rival were taken from its vendor's product and pricing pages, and where a rival handles a job better, we name it.
Six visual HTML tools side by side
Rows chosen for people who care about the HTML itself: what you edit on screen, how open the code is, and whether outside files load.
| Feature | Mobirise | Pinegrow Web Editor | Adobe Dreamweaver | 8B AI | Bootstrap Studio | CoffeeCup HTML Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you edit on screen | The page itself: blocks dragged in, text typed in place, settings per block | The rendered page beside its source files | Mostly code; Live View allows edits on the rendered page | A generated design, reworked through AI chat on Pro | Bootstrap components dropped onto a canvas, with a code panel | Code, with a live preview in a split screen |
| Typing your own code | Via the Code Editor extension (KIT, BASE, GROW), for a block or a page | Yes, with two-way sync to VS Code | Yes, it is the main mode, with code hints | No hand-editing listed; the free tier shows the real HTML and CSS | Yes: HTML, SASS, JavaScript and JSON in an editor modeled on VS Code | Yes; it completes code and checks your markup |
| Loads an existing .html site | No, just projects started in Mobirise | Yes, any existing site | Yes, existing Bootstrap pages too | Not stated by the vendor | Yes, by dropping existing pages, stylesheets, scripts and pictures into a project | Yes, local files or pages opened directly on a server |
| Framework the exported HTML uses | Bootstrap 5 | Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, or none | Any; ships with Bootstrap 5.3.8, 4.4.1 and 3.4.1 | Custom markup of its own; no Bootstrap | Bootstrap 5, 4 or 3 | Your own markup; free responsive templates to begin with |
| Runs on | Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel build), Debian-based Linux, a browser, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux; a browser edition too | Windows and macOS | Browser only | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows only |
| Price and billing | $0 for the editor and its HTML export. Yearly plans: KIT at $149 unlocks the Code Editor and premium themes; BASE ($199) and GROW ($249) also bring hosted sites and AI | $18 a month, $149 a year, or $199 once; free trial | Single-app plan at $22.99 a month, annual commitment paid monthly; free trial | Designing is free; Pro, needed to publish, is $9 a month billed yearly | Paid once: $29 Standard or $59 Lifetime | Free edition, or a $29 perpetual license that includes a year of upgrades |
Where “what you see” stops being true
The editor draws the page once, on your screen. Every visitor brings a different browser, device and set of fonts.
In most current visual editors the canvas is a real web page drawn by a browser engine, so much of what you see is genuine: the same tags, the same styles. The gaps open where a visitor's setup differs from yours. Three of them catch nearly everyone.
Fonts
A visitor sees your font only if the page loads it from the web or ships it with the site. If not, their device substitutes another typeface and headings rewrap. Check that the theme supplies its fonts.
Screen sizes
The canvas shows one width at a time. A headline that fits a laptop can wrap into several lines on a phone, and a row of columns may stack. Step the preview through each width before you publish.
Scripts
Sliders, menus, forms, maps and embedded video often behave differently inside an editor, or sit paused on purpose. Treat them there as stand-ins, test the exported page in real browsers and send a test form from the live host.
Four families of WYSIWYG HTML editors
All of them show the page while you work. They differ in what you touch: the page, ready blocks, CSS properties or the code.
Classic design view
A document-like canvas over the HTML, usually beside the code; Dreamweaver's Live View is today's form of it. Suits people who maintain hand-built sites and want to fix text without hunting through tags.
Block-based builders
Pages come together from finished sections or components, as in Mobirise or Bootstrap Studio, while the program writes the markup. Many call this kind an HTML page builder. Right for anyone who wants a site without code; many simple website builders for beginners work this way too.
Visual CSS designers
Webflow, or Pinegrow on your own files: you style elements in panels that map onto CSS properties. Suits designers who already think in boxes, classes and breakpoints.
Code editors with live preview
CoffeeCup HTML Editor and its kind, often listed as WYSIWYG HTML editors with preview: you type the HTML and a pane beside it redraws the page. They suit people learning HTML, and developers who write every tag yet like to see its effect at once.
Building your own app rather than a website? Then the editor you want is a component: a rich-text box you embed in a form, a CMS or a help desk so your users can format text. TinyMCE and CKEditor 5 are the full-featured veterans, with paid cloud plans and add-ons; Quill is a lighter open source WYSIWYG HTML editor; TipTap is a headless toolkit built on ProseMirror, so you design its toolbar yourself. They output snippets of HTML inside your product, not whole pages, which is why they sit outside the table above.
What you set visually in Mobirise, and what takes code
Most of a page is made by pointing and clicking. The Code Editor extension covers what the panels leave out.
Blocks
Every page in the editor is a column of prebuilt sections. Pull a new one in from the side panel, and delete any you don't need.
Words and heading tags
Type straight onto the page. Each title takes whichever H tag you pick, so the page outline is yours to set.
Photos
Click any photo to swap in your own. Resize big files before adding them; the tips below explain why.
Block parameters
A panel for each block sets its spacing, background, visible parts such as the title or buttons, and the column count.
Fonts and colors
The Style Editor is where you pick the typefaces and the color palette the blocks use.
Code, when you need it
An extra attribute, a custom CSS rule or reworked markup goes through the Code Editor extension, included in KIT, BASE and GROW.
A limit to know: the HTML you lay out is the HTML every device receives. Mobirise offers no phone-only layout, and no element can be hidden at just one screen size.
The files you get from an export
Exporting from the desktop app costs nothing on any plan. Building in the browser instead? There, downloading the code requires BASE or GROW.
Pages and images
One HTML file per page, with ordinary headings, paragraphs and links, plus your photos and the theme's graphics inside the exported folder.
Styles and scripts
Bootstrap 5's CSS and JavaScript, the theme's own styles, the choices you made in the panels, and the scripts behind menus and sliders.
Nothing on the server
No PHP, no database, no admin panel, so the site runs on any ordinary web host or on GitHub Pages.
Export works one way. Mobirise builds from its own project, not from HTML, so edits made to the exported files in another editor stay outside it. Make code changes in the Code Editor, or treat hand edits as the final step.
How to keep visually made HTML clean and fast
Visual tools add some weight by design. These habits keep it down, in Mobirise or any other editor.
Outline with headings, not sizes
Give each page a single H1, nest H2s and H3s beneath it, and choose each tag by its rank in the outline. How big it looks is a styling job.
Shrink photos first
Resize each image to about the widest it will appear and save it as WebP or a well-compressed JPEG. One camera original can outweigh the rest of the page.
Style in one place
Restyling buttons one by one leaves a trail of one-off rules. Set fonts and colors centrally, in the Style Editor or your tool's equivalent, and the CSS stays short.
Test outside the editor
Open the exported page in more than one browser, run the W3C validator and a speed test such as PageSpeed Insights, and fix what they flag before launch.
A Mobirise theme or free HTML website templates?
Each gives you a finished look on day one. The difference lies in who authors the markup and which editors can load it afterwards.
A downloaded template
A folder of files someone else wrote. Edit it in a code editor or a visual tool that opens outside HTML, such as Pinegrow, Dreamweaver, Bootstrap Studio or CoffeeCup. Read the license: some free templates require a credit link.
A Mobirise theme
A library of blocks that lives inside the app rather than a folder of files. You compose pages from it visually, and the export produces the HTML. Free users get 200+ blocks in a single basic theme; KIT unlocks every premium theme and extension, over 220 in total.
Moving a template's look over
Mobirise can't open a template made elsewhere, even one built on Bootstrap 5. Rebuild the look with blocks, or give Mobirise AI a screenshot as its prompt and edit the four drafts it returns, if the template's license allows it.
Who Mobirise suits as a visual HTML editor
Mobirise is right for some jobs and wrong for others. Here is how to tell which side yours falls on.
A good fit
- You want to lay out pages visually and never type a tag
- You need plain files for your own host without paying for a plan
- You build client sites from consistent, responsive blocks
- You work on a laptop offline and publish later
- You want an AI draft first, then hand edits in the same editor
Another tool fits better if
- Your job is fixing an old hand-coded site or a downloaded template: Dreamweaver, Pinegrow or CoffeeCup HTML Editor
- Your project calls for Tailwind or no framework at all: Pinegrow
- You want pixel-level control and per-breakpoint styling: Webflow
- You would rather pay once for Bootstrap work: Bootstrap Studio
- You want to write and preview code for free: CoffeeCup's free edition
- The site already runs on WordPress: Elementor
Questions about visual HTML editing
What is a WYSIWYG HTML editor?
An editor where you change a web page as it appears on screen while the program writes the HTML and CSS. The acronym promises that the page you edit is the page you publish. In practice the two are close but not identical, because fonts, screen width and scripts depend on each visitor's browser.
Is Mobirise a drag and drop HTML editor?
Yes, at the level of blocks: you drag finished sections from a side panel onto the page, then type into them. You don't drop single elements at arbitrary spots; the layout comes from the blocks and their parameters. More on that way of working: free drag-and-drop website builders.
Can I edit the HTML code in Mobirise?
You can, once you have the Code Editor extension, which comes with KIT ($149 a year), BASE and GROW. It shows the markup and CSS of a single block or the entire page. Files exported on the free plan also open in any text editor, but edits made there never flow back into the project.
Can Mobirise open an HTML template I downloaded?
No. A marketplace template or a hand-coded site is plain HTML, and Mobirise works only with projects created inside it. Dreamweaver, Pinegrow, Bootstrap Studio and CoffeeCup HTML Editor all load existing HTML; in Mobirise you would recreate the look from blocks.
Is there a free WYSIWYG HTML editor?
Yes. The Mobirise desktop app costs nothing for hobby or business sites, and so does its export, though free sites display Mobirise branding. CoffeeCup has a free edition of its HTML Editor if you'd rather type code. 8B AI generates designs at no charge, though publishing them is paid. We compare more no-cost options in our list of free website design software.
Is HTML from a visual editor worse than hand-written code?
Usually it is heavier, because visual tools add wrappers and classes that hand-written pages skip. Output built on a framework such as Bootstrap 5 stays readable and predictable; for the framework side, see Bootstrap website builder. For the smallest possible markup, write it yourself in a code editor.
Is there an offline WYSIWYG HTML editor for Mac, Windows or Linux?
Yes. The Mobirise desktop app has builds for Windows, for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and for Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux systems, and editing needs no connection. Bootstrap Studio, which keeps projects offline, and Pinegrow also run on all three systems, while Dreamweaver has no Linux version and CoffeeCup HTML Editor runs on Windows alone. Mac users will find more choices in our guide to Mac website builder software.
Does Mobirise work offline?
In the desktop app, yes: visual editing, previews and any theme or block you have installed keep working without a network. A connection is required for AI, publishing, signing in, purchases, and fetching updates or themes you don't have yet. More on that split: offline website software.
Is there an online WYSIWYG HTML editor for Android or iPhone?
Mobirise has no app for Apple devices, but on iPhone and iPad its browser builder works online in Safari or any other mobile browser. On Android, the Mobirise AI app, installed from Google Play, generates designs, translates, publishes and exports HTML. 8B AI is browser-based too.
Make your first page today
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