Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, or Have It Built?

If you need a website for your business, you have four realistic routes: build it yourself on Wix, build it yourself on Squarespace, run it on WordPress, or pay someone to build it. Each one is the right answer for somebody. This post sets them side by side: who each one fits, what you'd do yourself, what it costs, and the catch.

I build websites for a living, so weigh my view accordingly. Prices are US prices as of October 2026, each linked to the company's own pricing page. And if an old link to the "Building Your First Website with WordPress and Elementor" series brought you here: that series is retired, and this post replaces it.

The short version

Wix

Who it fits: someone who wants to try building the site before paying anything. Wix's free plan comes with hosting and a drag-and-drop editor.

What you do: everything on the page. You pick a template, write the words, add the photos, and set up the forms and search settings. Wix runs the servers.

What it costs: the free plan isn't meant for a business. To connect your own domain and remove Wix branding, you need a paid plan (Wix plans). As of October 2026, billed yearly and paid up front:

• Light: $17/mo
• Core: $29/mo
• Business: $39/mo
• Business Elite: $159/mo

Each paid plan lists a free domain for the first year. Check the features before you pick the cheapest: Light's list doesn't include accepting payments, while Core's includes payments and scheduling.

The catch: a Wix site can't move. Wix's own help center says the site must run on Wix's servers, because its technology doesn't support outside hosting (Wix Help Center). If you outgrow Wix, you rebuild somewhere else.

Squarespace

Who it fits: someone who will build the site themselves and is ready to pay from the start. There's no free plan: you get a 14-day trial, then choose a paid one (Squarespace pricing).

What you do: the same as on Wix: the template, the words, the photos and the settings. Every plan includes Squarespace's managed hosting and an SSL certificate.

What it costs, as of October 2026:

Yearly plans include a free domain for the first year. If you sell online, Basic adds a 2% transaction fee on store sales, on top of card processing; Core and the plans above it don't.

The catch: you can't take the whole site with you. Squarespace exports some content to a file you can import into WordPress: layout pages, one blog, and text and image blocks. Store pages, style settings and custom CSS don't export (Squarespace Help Center). Leaving means rebuilding the design.

WordPress, the free software

"WordPress" means two different things: free software you run on a host you choose, and WordPress.com, a paid service that runs it for you. The difference decides who does the work.

Who it fits: someone who wants full control, wants to be able to move the site to any host, or will publish a lot of content.

What you do: more than on any builder. WordPress.com's own comparison puts it plainly: with WordPress.org you download the software, find and pay for a host, install WordPress on it, and then build and maintain the site on your own (WordPress.com Support). You also choose a theme and plugins, and keep all of it updated. My post on what it takes to look after a WordPress site lists that work.

What it costs: the software is open source, licensed under the GPL (WordPress.org), and free to download; WordPress.org describes downloading it as the route for anyone comfortable getting their own hosting and domain (WordPress.org download page). Its plugin directory lists over 75,000 free plugins (WordPress.org plugins). Hosting, a domain, premium themes and paid plugins cost whatever their sellers charge, and hosting varies too much from one host to the next to put one number on it.

The catch: the upkeep never stops. WordPress, your theme and each plugin ship their own updates, and someone has to apply them, check the site afterward and keep backups you can restore. If that someone is you, count the hours. If it's someone you pay, count the bill.

WordPress.com, the hosted service

Who it fits: someone who wants WordPress without running a server.

What you do: the design, the words and the settings. WordPress.com provides the hosting and handles updates, security and backups (WordPress.com Support).

What it costs, as of October 2026 (WordPress.com pricing):

There's also a free plan, but it shows WordPress.com ads to your visitors. Every paid plan lets you use your own domain, turn the ads off and install plugins (WordPress.com Support).

The catch: the low yearly prices are for the first year and renew higher, as the table shows. And as on any builder, you're still the designer and the writer.

Having it built

This is what I sell, so here is how mine works. Other designers price and work differently; my post on reasons to hire a professional web designer covers how to compare them.

Who it fits: a business whose site has to bring in work, run by someone whose hours are better spent on the business than on the site.

What you do: fill in an intake about your business, the pages you want and the look you like. Send your words and photos. If you don't have them, I find stock photos for you on every plan, and I write the words on Premium (on Starter and Deluxe, copywriting is an add-on). Then review the design: two rounds of revisions are included. I build the site in Next.js and host it on Vercel. It goes live about 30 days after you finish intake, depending on how quickly content and approvals come back.

What it costs: Starter is $2,400 for five pages, Deluxe $4,080 for seven and Premium $6,720 for ten. Pay in full for 10% off, or half now and half before launch. From launch day, the care plan is $79 a month. It covers hosting on Vercel with SSL, daily backups, uptime monitoring, and security and dependency updates, and it's month to month with 30 days' notice. You can see sites I've built in my portfolio.

The catch: it's the most cash up front, and you can't edit the pages yourself. Changes after launch are $150 an hour, in 15-minute increments with a 30-minute minimum, or $675 for a prepaid block of five hours. If you want to publish blog posts on your own, the edit-your-own blog is a $500 add-on. Will I Be Able to Edit My Own Website? explains how changes work. In return, the site is yours: once the build fee is paid in full and the site launches, the design, pages and code belong to you, and if you ever end the care plan, I hand over the code so you can host it anywhere.

What it adds up to

Over three years, billed yearly, plan fees come to $612 on Wix Light, $684 on Squarespace Basic and $1,404 on Wix Business. A Starter site with three years of care comes to $5,004 paid in full, or $5,244 in two halves. In cash, the builder wins by roughly $3,600 to $4,600.

What that gap pays for is your time and a design made for your business rather than fitted into a template. My post on the real cost of a "free" website builder works through the whole sum, including the domain, email, apps and your own hours at your own rate.

When a builder is the right call

A builder, or WordPress.com, is the better choice when:

• you enjoy making the site and have the hours,
• you need something online this week,
• you're testing an idea and don't want to bet $5,000 over three years on it, or
• all you need is a page with your hours, your phone number and a map.

Those are real reasons. Start on Wix if you want to begin on a free plan, or on WordPress.com if you want WordPress without a server, and come back when the site has to bring in work.

If you already run WordPress

If you have a WordPress site that works, you may not need any of the above. Moving it means rebuilding the pages and redirecting every old address. I host and look after existing WordPress sites case by case, on LiteSpeed servers I run, on a written quote. Content and design changes aren't included. A $500 deposit starts the quote; it's refundable until you accept, and credited to the work. Ask for a quote.

Questions that settle it

• Who will build it, and when? If the honest answer is "me, on weekends, eventually", count those weekends at your own rate.
• Who will change it, and how often? On a builder, you will, whenever you like. On a site I build, I will, by the hour, except for blog posts if you add the edit-your-own blog.
• Does it need to take payments or bookings? Check the plan, not just the platform: Wix Light doesn't list payments, and Squarespace Basic takes 2% of store sales.
• Could you ever want to leave? A Wix site stays on Wix. Squarespace exports part of your content. A WordPress site, or a site I build, can move to another host.

Where to start

If one of the builders fits, start there. If the site has to win you work and you'd rather spend your hours on the business, my plans are Starter, Deluxe and Premium: one build fee each, then $79 a month for care from launch. See what each plan includes, or start with yours.