Website builders have improved enormously over the past few years. Wix and Squarespace can both produce professional-looking results for straightforward use cases. But they also have real limitations that matter as your business grows. Here's what you need to know before choosing.

Wix

Wix is the most widely used website builder in the world. Its drag-and-drop editor is genuinely easy to use, and the app market offers hundreds of add-ons for e-commerce, bookings, forms, and more.

Wix
Plans from £13–£29/month (billed annually)

Pros

  • Very easy to use with no technical knowledge
  • Large template library
  • Extensive app marketplace
  • Hosting, SSL, and updates included
  • Free plan available to get started

Cons

  • Generated HTML is bloated — poor performance scores
  • Limited SEO control compared to custom or WordPress
  • You can't export your site — you're locked in to Wix
  • Template switching requires rebuilding from scratch
  • Costs increase significantly for e-commerce

Squarespace

Squarespace is the builder of choice for creatives, photographers, and portfolio sites. Its templates are among the best-looking of any builder, and the platform is consistently well-designed — though less flexible than Wix.

Squarespace
Plans from £15–£20/month (billed annually)

Pros

  • Polished, professional templates
  • Clean interface — easy to manage content
  • Good for portfolios, photography, and service businesses
  • Hosting and security included
  • Better performance than Wix on most metrics

Cons

  • Less flexible than Wix for custom layouts
  • Limited third-party integrations
  • You can't export the site — locked in
  • Advanced features require higher-tier plans
  • Not ideal for complex functionality

Custom website

A custom-built site is designed and developed specifically for your business. There are no templates, no platform restrictions, and no lock-in. You own the code, choose the hosting, and can change provider at any time.

Custom website
From £900 for a landing page — £1,500–£3,500+ for a full business site

Pros

  • Full design freedom — no template constraints
  • Significantly faster load times
  • Better SEO control from the ground up
  • No platform lock-in — you own everything
  • Scales with your business without arbitrary limitations

Cons

  • Higher upfront cost than a monthly subscription
  • Requires a developer for changes unless you have a CMS
  • You're responsible for hosting and backups
  • Longer build time than spinning up a builder account

How do they compare on SEO?

SEO is where the differences become most pronounced. Website builders have improved their SEO tools considerably, but structural limitations remain.

Wix has made significant SEO improvements, but pages are typically heavier, Core Web Vitals scores are often poor, and some technical controls are still limited or hidden.

Squarespace provides cleaner HTML output and better performance than Wix on average, but the platform still restricts some technical SEO options.

Custom sites give you complete control over page structure, schema.org markup, URL design, performance optimisation, and crawl directives. A well-built custom site will consistently outperform a builder site in technical SEO.

That said: technical SEO is one factor among many. A Squarespace site with excellent content and good links can outrank a custom site with poor content. The builder won't kill your SEO — but it does create a ceiling.

When to choose each

Wix or Squarespace make sense when: you're starting out, budget is very tight, you need to get something live quickly, or you're confident you'll manage the site yourself and don't anticipate outgrowing the platform.

A custom site makes sense when: you want full control, performance matters, SEO is a priority, you're investing in the business for the long term, or you've already hit the limitations of a builder and need more.

The hidden cost of builders: at £20/month, Squarespace costs £240/year. Over five years, that's £1,200 — and you still don't own anything. A custom site built once, hosted for £10–15/month, often works out cheaper over three to four years, and you end up with an asset rather than a rental.

If you're weighing WordPress against a custom site, the comparison is a bit different — read WordPress vs custom website for a detailed breakdown. To understand pricing for a custom build, see what's included at each level. Or get in touch to discuss what's right for your situation.