This is the comparison most small business owners want and few articles answer honestly, because most of them are written by people who sell one of the three. Here's the plain-English version without the affiliate angle.
The short version
| Squarespace | Wix | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easiest to run yourself | ★★★ | ★★ | ★ |
| Design polish out of the box | ★★★ | ★★ | ★★ |
| Flexibility | ★★ | ★★ | ★★★ |
| Cost per year | £180–£500 | £150–£500 | £50–£500+ (more variable) |
| SEO ceiling | Good | OK | Best — but only if set up properly |
| You can move away later | Hard | Very hard | Easy |
Squarespace — for "I just want a nice site that works"
Squarespace is the most opinionated of the three, which is exactly why it works for non-technical owners. The templates are good. The editor doesn't let you do anything actively bad. Mobile is handled for you. SEO basics are baked in.
Trade-off: you'll hit a ceiling if your business outgrows the templates. Custom integrations are limited, and migrating off Squarespace later is a real project.
Best for: service businesses, portfolios, consultants, single-location shops, anyone who wants to run the site themselves without a steep learning curve.
Wix — for "I want to drag things around"
Wix is the most flexible drag-and-drop builder. You can put almost anything almost anywhere, which is its biggest strength and biggest weakness. It's easy to build a messy, slow site by accident without realising it.
Wix has improved enormously on SEO and mobile in recent years. It's not the embarrassment it was in 2018. But it's still harder to leave than Squarespace, and the more you build, the more locked in you are.
Best for: visual people who want a lot of layout control, smaller ecommerce stores, sites with bespoke layouts on a budget.
WordPress — for "I want maximum power, and I (or my designer) can handle it"
WordPress runs roughly 40% of the web for a reason. It can do almost anything. It's open source, you can move your site anywhere, and the SEO ceiling is the highest of the three.
The catch: WordPress doesn't run itself. Plugins go out of date. Hosting matters more. Security is your problem. A neglected WordPress site is a hacked WordPress site within 18 months. If you don't have someone competent (you, an in-house person, or a maintenance arrangement with a designer), this is the wrong choice.
Best for: businesses with bespoke needs, anyone publishing a lot of content, sites that need to integrate with specific tools, anyone working with a developer or agency.
"What about Shopify, Webflow, custom builds?"
Worth a quick note since they're often in the same conversation:
- Shopify — the right answer if you're selling physical products at any real volume. Outclasses all three above for ecommerce. Limited as a general-purpose website.
- Webflow — what designers reach for when Squarespace isn't custom enough and WordPress is too much hassle. Sits between platform and custom build. Costs more.
- Custom (React, Next, TanStack Start, etc.) — what we build at Pagewright when a client needs something bespoke, very fast, or tightly integrated. Highest ceiling, highest cost, more involved to maintain.
How to actually decide
- If you (or someone you trust) will be editing the site weekly, pick the one that person finds easiest to use. Strong preference is the right tiebreaker.
- If the site needs to grow into something complex (members area, complex booking, multilingual, bespoke calculators), WordPress or custom.
- If you're selling 20+ products, Shopify.
- For most service businesses with five pages and a contact form, Squarespace is the boring right answer.
Where to go from here
The pillar guide on small business websites walks through what the platform choice fits into. If you'd like our take on which is right for your specific case, the contact page is where to ask.