WordPress vs Squarespace vs Wix: What’s the Best Platform for Your Business Website?

If you’re trying to figure out whether you should build your website on WordPress, Squarespace or Wix, you’ve probably already fallen into the internet rabbit hole of people telling you that their platform is the best.

And honestly? They all have their place.

The right platform depends on what you need your website to do now, how you want it to grow, and how much control you want over it. Your website is probably going to be one of the most important pieces of your business, so choosing a platform based solely on what looks easiest today can come back to bite you later.

At The Launch It Co. we’ve been building websites on WordPress for more than 20 years, so yes, we have a favourite. But we also know that WordPress isn’t automatically the right choice for every single person.

So let’s break down WordPress vs Squarespace vs Wix, without making this more complicated than it needs to be.

WordPress vs Squarespace vs Wix: The basics

WordPress

When we talk about WordPress, we mean self-hosted WordPress.org. It’s an open-source content management system that you install on your own hosting account. That means you have a lot of control. You can choose your hosting, theme, plugins, integrations and how your website is built. WordPress is designed to be flexible, which is a big reason it powers such a huge portion of the web.

The catch? Someone has to look after all of that flexibility. Updates, backups, security and performance are things you need to stay on top of. That might be you. Or, ideally, someone else.

Squarespace

Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder. Your hosting, templates, and core website tools are all managed within the same platform. This makes it appealing if you want a relatively straightforward website without having to think about hosting or plugin updates. It also has a reputation for making it easy to create a polished-looking site without needing to know how to code.

The trade-off is that you’re working within the Squarespace ecosystem. You have plenty of options, but you don’t have the same level of freedom you get with WordPress.

Wix

Wix is another hosted website builder, with a drag-and-drop editing experience and a huge range of built-in features and apps. It’s easy to get started, which makes Wix appealing to business owners who want to DIY their website. It also offers more SEO functionality than it did in the past, including customizable URLs, meta tags, structured data, and redirects.

But, like Squarespace, you’re still building within Wix’s system. That can be totally fine for a smaller website, but you’ll notice the limitations as your business grows and your website needs become more complex.

So… what’s actually different?

The biggest difference between WordPress, Squarespace and Wix comes down to control versus convenience.

With Squarespace and Wix, the platform handles most of the technical infrastructure for you. That’s convenient. You don’t have to worry about choosing a hosting company or updating your website software.

With WordPress, you have more freedom to choose how everything works. You can switch hosting providers, change themes, add functionality, connect different tools and build something very specific to your business.

Think of it a little like renting versus owning. A hosted platform like Squarespace or Wix is more like renting a space. The building is already there, a lot of the maintenance is taken care of, and you can move in relatively quickly. But you have rules about what you can change.

WordPress is a lot like owning, and you get the keys. You have more control over the space, but someone needs to be responsible for looking after it. For a business website that you expect to keep for years and continue growing, we really like having those keys.

What website platform has the best design?

This is where WordPress really shines for us. Squarespace has some beautiful templates. Wix has tons of design options. You can absolutely make a good-looking website on either platform. But when we’re designing a website for a business, we don’t want the website to look like it came from a template with your logo dropped in.

We want it to feel like your business. WordPress gives us the flexibility to create custom layouts, incorporate your branding properly and build pages around your content and goals instead of forcing your content into a particular template. That flexibility is especially helpful for businesses with strong branding, unique services, lots of content or plans to add more functionality later.

Which website platform has better SEO?

This is one of the questions we get a lot. The good news is that Squarespace can absolutely be optimized for search engines. It includes built-in SEO features and tools for things like page titles, descriptions, alt text and other SEO basics.

So this isn’t a case of “Squarespace = bad SEO, WordPress = good SEO.” SEO is much bigger than the platform you choose. Your content, site structure, technical setup, page speed, backlinks and overall strategy all matter.

Where WordPress gets the advantage is control. There are more ways to customize your website and expand your SEO setup as your strategy becomes more sophisticated. You have access to a huge ecosystem of plugins and tools, plus the ability to make deeper technical changes when needed.

If SEO and content marketing are going to be a major part of your long-term strategy, the flexibility you get with WordPress is valuable.

Which website platform is best for you?

WordPress is best if…

• You want your website to grow with your business.
• You want a highly customized design.
• You’re planning to invest in SEO or content marketing (now or later).
• You need integrations, advanced forms, memberships, ecommerce or other custom functionality.
• Or you simply want more control over your website long-term.

Squarespace is best if…

• You want a relatively simple website that looks polished right out of the box.
• You have a smaller service-based or portfolio website and don’t anticipate needing a lot of custom functionality.
• You’re comfortable working within the platform and want a more contained, all-in-one experience.

Wix is best if…

• You want to DIY your website and get something online quickly.
• You like having lots of built-in features and apps to choose from.
• Your website is relatively simple and you don’t anticipate needing a lot of customization down the road.

What does a website cost?

This is another area where it’s easy to get distracted by the monthly price. With Squarespace or Wix, you generally pay a monthly subscription that includes your hosting and access to the platform.

With WordPress, the software itself is free, but you’ll need hosting. You may also pay for premium plugins, themes or other tools depending on what your website needs.

And then there’s the cost nobody talks about enough: your time.

If you’re spending your evenings troubleshooting plugin updates, trying to figure out why your contact form stopped working or Googling how to fix your website after an update… that “cheap” website suddenly doesn’t feel so cheap.

The platform we’ll choose every time? WordPress.

Okay, we’ve made it this far without being too biased. But here’s where we’re going to admit it: We love WordPress.

We’ve been working with it for more than 20 years, and we’re still here for a reason. We love that we can take a business with a very specific vision and build a website around it. We love that we can add functionality as a business grows. We love that there are endless ways to customize and improve a site instead of eventually hitting a wall because the platform doesn’t support what you want to do.

And perhaps most importantly, we love that we’re not locked into anything. WordPress gives us the flexibility to build something that works for your business now while leaving room for what comes next.

That doesn’t mean WordPress is completely hands-off. In fact, one of the biggest misconceptions about WordPress is that you can build it and then forget about it. You can’t.

But you also don’t have to be the person who looks after it.

Love WordPress, but don’t want to deal with the tech stuff?

This is exactly why we offer WordPress hosting and maintenance. We can handle the behind-the-scenes stuff like website updates, backups, security and performance monitoring, so you can focus on running your business instead of wondering whether your plugins are up to date. You get all of the flexibility of WordPress without having to become a part-time website administrator.

So, WordPress or Squarespace?

If you’re still wondering whether you should choose WordPress or Squarespace, or Wix vs WordPress vs Squarespace, here’s our simplest advice:

Choose the platform based on where your business is going, not just where it is today.

If you need a simple website and want to keep things as easy as possible, Squarespace or Wix could be a perfectly good fit.

But if your website is an important part of your marketing strategy, you want a custom design, you’re serious about SEO, or you want the flexibility to keep adding to your website as your business grows, we’d choose WordPress. Every time.

And if the thought of managing WordPress is the part that’s making you hesitate, that’s where we come in. We design, build, host, and maintain WordPress websites for businesses that want a website that looks great and doesn’t become another thing on their to-do list.