Wix vs. Squarespace vs. a custom website

Wix and Squarespace are a good fit if your business is simple, you have some free evenings, and you never plan to move the site anywhere else. A custom site is the better fit if you want someone else to build and look after it, if the site has to do a specific job for your trade, or if you want to be able to take it with you later. For most local service businesses, the real difference isn't the design. It's who does the work after launch, and how hard it is to leave.

We build custom sites, so read this knowing that. We've tried to be fair to the builders, because for some businesses they're the right call.

What each option actually is

Wix and Squarespace are site builders. You pick a template, drop in your text and photos, and the company runs the site on its own servers. You pay a subscription for as long as you want the site online at your own domain.

A custom website is built for your business by a person or a studio, and runs on hosting that you or they manage. "Custom" covers a wide range, from a WordPress site with a purchased theme to one written from scratch. What they have in common is that the site isn't tied to one company's editor.

Who maintains it

On a builder

The platform takes care of the parts you'd never want to touch: the servers, security updates and the SSL certificate. Everything else is yours. You write the pages, swap the photos, change the hours for the holidays, and fix the layout when it looks wrong on a phone.

That works well for an owner who likes doing it, or who has someone on staff who does. A restaurant with a manager who posts the specials every week can run a builder site happily. Where it goes wrong is a familiar pattern: the site gets built over a few weekends, then nobody opens the editor for two years, and the prices, the service list and the photos quietly go out of date.

On a custom site

Someone builds it for you, and someone has to keep it running: hosting, software updates, backups, and the changes you ask for. That can be you, your developer, or a monthly plan. The upside is that you send a message and the change gets made. The risk is depending on one person. If your developer stops answering, you need the logins and a copy of the site to hand to someone else.

What you own

Your words and your photos are your own work whichever way you go. Keep copies of them somewhere outside the website.

The site itself is a different story. A builder site exists only inside the builder. Wix says so plainly in its help center: a Wix site "needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers," because its architecture "does not support external hosting" (Wix Help Center). The pages, the layout and the way it all fits together stay with Wix.

The domain is the piece you should own on any of the three. The same Wix article notes that you can buy and manage your domain with another provider and connect it to your Wix site. If the domain is registered in your name, at a registrar where you have the login, you can point it at a new site whenever you want. More on that in who should own your domain.

With a custom site, ask what you get. You should have the logins for the domain and the hosting, and be able to get a copy of the site's files if you leave.

Moving away later

• Wix: a Wix site can't move to another host. If you leave, the site gets rebuilt somewhere else. Your domain comes with you if it's registered in your name.
• Squarespace: you can export part of the site as a file in WordPress format. Squarespace's own export guide lists what comes along, such as regular pages, text and image blocks and one blog, and what doesn't, including style settings, custom CSS and store pages. It also says many features rely on the platform's own code, "so some content doesn't export." In practice, the design gets rebuilt.
• Custom: if you have the files and the logins, another developer can move the site to new hosting without starting over. If you don't, you're in the same spot as with a builder.

Moving may not be on your mind today. It comes up when the business grows, or when you want something the builder can't do.

Speed on a phone

Any of the three can be fast or slow. The usual culprits are the same on all three: huge photos straight off a phone, a video playing behind the headline, and a stack of add-ons for chat, reviews, booking and pop-ups, each loading its own code.

The difference is how much you control. On a builder, part of what loads on every page is the platform's own code, and you can't trim it. You can still keep a builder site lean by going easy on add-ons and resizing your photos. On a custom site, a page can load only what it needs, but only if the person building it cares about that. A custom site stuffed with plugins can be slower than a careful Wix site.

So don't choose on reputation. Test the actual site on your own phone and with Google's mobile speed test. How fast your website should load on a phone explains what the numbers mean.

Lock-in, in plain terms

Lock-in isn't a scam. It's what you trade for convenience:

• The subscription doesn't end. For as long as you want the site at your own domain, you keep paying the platform.
• Add-ons add up. Booking, online ordering, extra forms and store features can come as paid apps or need a higher plan, each with its own monthly fee.
• Your tools live there too. If your online ordering, appointment calendar or store runs inside the builder, leaving means replacing those as well, not only the pages.

A custom site has its own kind of lock-in: one developer who holds all the logins. The fix is simple. Everything in your name, and the logins in your hands.

Which one fits which business

• A one-person handyman or a food truck with a short list of services and time to do it yourself: a builder is fine, with the domain registered in your own name.
• A restaurant or a shop with someone on staff who enjoys updating the menu, the hours and the photos: a builder can work well, as long as that person stays.
• A plumber, HVAC company or electrician whose site's job is bringing in calls from specific towns, with nobody free to maintain it: custom, with someone looking after it.
• A contractor who wants a quote form that takes photos, or a price calculator for decks or fences: custom, because the site has to do something specific to the trade.
• Anyone who plans to grow, open a second location or sell the business one day: ownership matters more, so avoid anything you can't take with you.

Questions to ask before you pick

• Whose name is the domain registered in, and do I have the login?
• If I leave, what can I take with me: the files, the design, or only the text?
• Who updates hours, prices and photos, and how fast does it happen?
• What will I pay each month once I add the features I actually need?
• Who do I call when something breaks?

Add up what you'd pay over a few years either way, then compare. What a small business website costs walks through the pricing models you'll run into.

Where we fit

The first version of a site from us is free and takes 2 days, so you can click around a real site before deciding. If it isn't for you, you owe nothing. The price is fixed and agreed on a 15 minute call before any work starts. You pay once and the site is yours, on your own domain with SSL. The care plan is optional and covers hosting and SSL, updates and backups, and changes when you need them. Without it, the site is still yours and keeps working.

If you already have a Wix or Squarespace site and wonder whether it's holding you back, run it through our free website checker first. It uses Google's own mobile speed test plus checks for getting calls, phone fit and Google search, so you'll know what needs fixing before you decide whether to move.