Guides
Wix, Squarespace or a custom website: which is right for your business?
By the Mirador studio · Updated
Wix and Squarespace are fine for a simple site you want to build and update yourself. WordPress fits owners who edit often and want more flexibility. A custom-built site makes sense when speed on phones, a look of your own or features like booking flows matter to how you win customers. The right choice depends on who will look after the site and what it has to do.
When Wix or Squarespace is enough
Website builders are a good start for many small businesses. If you want to make the site yourself this weekend, they work.
- You'll build and update it yourself.
- You need a few pages: what you do, photos, hours, contact.
- You don't need custom features beyond a booking or contact form.
- A monthly subscription suits you better than a one-time project.
Where builder sites fall short
The trade-off for building it yourself shows up later, usually on phones and on Google.
- Speed: builder sites load a lot of code on every page, which can make them slow on a phone.
- Sameness: templates are shared by thousands of businesses, so your site can look like everyone else's.
- Control: you can only change what the builder lets you change, including some details that matter for search.
- Lock-in: you're renting the platform. Moving your site somewhere else usually means rebuilding it.
When WordPress fits
WordPress runs a large share of the web and is built for editing. It suits businesses that change their site often: menus, specials, services, news.
The catch is how it's built. Sites made with heavy page builders and stacks of plugins get slow and need constant updates. A custom WordPress theme keeps the easy editing and drops most of the weight.
When a custom-built site makes sense
A hand-coded site is built from scratch for one business. It's the fastest option, it looks like nobody else, and it can do exactly what you need: a guide that books the right appointment, an availability map, accounts or payments.
There are no plugins to update, so very little can break. The trade-off is that bigger edits go through a developer, which is what a care plan is for.
Side by side
How to decide
Three questions settle it for most owners.
- Who will update the site, and how often? Often and yourself: a builder or WordPress. Rarely: custom.
- Does it need to do anything special, like guided booking, an availability map or payments? Then custom.
- Is your current site already bringing in customers? Then keep it, and fix only what's holding it back.