The internet is the birthplace for new ideas and modern industries. Over the years, we have watched as new websites and businesses have been formed around interesting concepts and strategies. Now there are countless competitors in every industry and if you are looking for the best website in a certain niche, it can be hard to determine. Here are some of the online leaders, separated by category.
Etsy: Marketplace for Arts and Crafts
Etsy has long been the home for independent creators that want to profit off their homemade goods. These can range from t-shirts to wood sculptures, jewelry, paintings and more. It’s incredible to see the unique user base that has sprouted up here and how the platform continues to grow and add new features for users.
Etsy sets itself apart from other market platforms like Craigslist, Amazon, and eBay by specifically offering one-of-a-kind original items. This is not the place for bulk sellers or resellers. In addition, you can easily track items and contact buyers and sellers. More than 60 million new users joined Etsy in 2024 alone.
Global Poker: Online Gaming
In a sea of online poker platforms, GlobalPoker stands out as one of the best around. This is because of the numerous features this site has like online tournaments, many different poker variations to choose from, and even a “poker school” that teaches you the basics and finer details of the game.
Where other platforms focus on appealing to as many users as possible, Global Poker focuses on the user experience. They have crafted a great client to host the games and connect all of their users together without lagging or dropping users and have regular promotions for new and current accounts.
Zillow: Real Estate
Zillow was founded in 2006 by two former Microsoft employees and is a pioneer in the online real estate market. It has a massive database of over 150 million properties from around the world and is certainly one of the best places to begin your search for a new home, or list one you are looking to sell.
In addition, Zillow is also known for its education center that helps you determine the best course of action for buying or selling a home, as well as everything to do with your mortgage. When you are searching through your local area, Zillow also has numerous criteria you can fill out to find your perfect match immediately.
Kayak: Flights and Accommodations
There are countless sites online to find and compare flight prices, or indeed find car rentals for your trip, but Kayak manages to stand above the competition. Not only can you find everything you need for your vacation, like hotels, activities, and bundled packages, but they are virtually guaranteed to find you the best rates available. This is because they are simultaneously searching countless websites at the same time and bringing you the lowest prices.
Kayak launched in 2005 as a response to other popular travel websites like Expedia. Today, Kayak has millions of users each month and they are far ahead of their competitors. They are often considered to be the most successful company in this category.
Allrecipes: Recipes and Cooking
Allrecipes bridges the gap between a standard cooking website and a social media platform. First and foremost, the website is dedicated to culinary enthusiasts and people come from all over the world to share their homemade recipes and cooking tips. Their database has millions of recipes available for you to browse through and learn from, and each has a specific “kitchen view” that puts the ingredients and instructions side by side, so you don’t have to keep switching back and forth. For everyone, from serious cooks to those just picking up the hobby, this website is a great resource.
The social media aspects come from the engagement you can get from other users. Fans can follow your account and see all of your newest recipes as well as leave comments and ratings for your dishes. This is a platform with amazing potential and not many drawbacks.
Stack Overflow: Programming
For computer programmers, a website like Stack Overflow is not just a great asset, but an absolute necessity. While many other competitors have tried to replicate the success found here, they have ultimately been unable to. Stack Overflow is the best place to go to learn all about programming and to share your skills with other professionals. When a computer programmer runs into a problem they cannot figure out, or one of the countless quirks that can affect their code, they go to Stack Overflow to discuss the issue with like-minded developers.
Through the course of a year, Stack Overflow may see over 9 billion page views coming from their 100 million active users. On the platform, you can browse through forums and find others that have run into your problems, or post new questions to have others help you out. There are also libraries of content for your chosen programming language.
Rotten Tomatoes: Movie Reviews
In the past, all movie reviews came from critics and were printed in newspapers or magazines. Even today, many websites only have film reviews that come from just a few critics. Rotten Tomatoes came up with a unique concept that pits professional critics against average film enthusiasts and puts their scores side by side for the world to see. All review scores are calculated together to give one score that represents the feelings of all the users.
NBC Sports Edge: Fantasy Sports and Sports News
Sports fans have countless places to go online to indulge in their love of professional sports. There are specific websites that track individual players’ stats. There are others that will provide the latest breaking news and trade rumors, or fantasy sports charts so you can find the best players for your fantasy team. However, few manage to do all of these things in the same place, but the newly branded NBC Sports Edge is a great example of just such a thing.
NBC Sports Edge is a rebranded website, formerly known as Rotoworld. This website was one of the first to truly become a helpful resource for fantasy sports fans and today it serves millions of unique users every month. Some come for the tools like fantasy sports calculators for your team, others come for the community like the active forums of sports fanatics. Regardless of their reasons, NBC Sports Edge is a mainstay in the sports world and is not going anywhere soon.
