WordPress, Squarespace, Wix or Shopify: which is right for a small business?

One of the first questions in any website project is "what should it be built on?" There isn't one right answer. Each platform suits a different kind of business, and the cheapest monthly price isn't always the cheapest choice over a few years.

Here's an honest comparison of the four platforms small businesses ask me about most, with current UK prices.

The four platforms at a glance

Prices are UK plan prices checked in October 2026 and can change. Builder prices are usually shown before VAT.

WordPress

WordPress is free, open-source software that you install on your own hosting. According to W3Techs figures reported in 2026, it runs around 42.6% of all websites, far more than any other system. That popularity means lots of developers, themes and plugins, and you're never locked in to one company.

• Good: very flexible, you own everything, works for small brochure sites through to large sites with blogs, bookings and shops (using WooCommerce).
• Watch out for: it needs regular software and plugin updates to stay secure, and cheap hosting can make it slow. This is exactly what website care is for.

Squarespace

Squarespace is an all-in-one builder: hosting, design templates and security are included in the monthly fee. UK plans currently run from £12 a month on the Basic plan to £79 on Advanced, billed annually.

• Good: polished templates, nothing to update yourself, and easy to edit.
• Watch out for: you're tied to Squarespace's features and pricing, and the Basic plan takes a 2% fee on physical product sales on top of card processing.

Wix

Wix is another all-in-one builder with drag-and-drop editing. UK plans currently start at £9 a month for Light, which can't sell online, with Core at £16 and Business at £25 a month, billed annually.

• Good: quick to get started and easy to make small changes yourself.
• Watch out for: you need at least the Core plan to sell, sites can be hard to move away from Wix, and drag-and-drop freedom can make it easy to end up with a messy layout on phones.

Shopify

Shopify is built specifically for online shops. In the UK, the Basic plan is £19 a month billed annually (£25 monthly), and Shopify Payments charges 2.0% + 25p per online card transaction on that plan. Using a different payment provider adds a further 2.0% fee on Basic.

• Good: excellent checkout, stock and order management, and lots of sales channels.
• Watch out for: fees on every sale add up, many useful features are paid apps, and it's more than a simple brochure site needs.

What about hosting?

With Squarespace, Wix and Shopify, hosting is included. With WordPress you choose your own. For a small business site, hosting typically costs around £5 to £30 a month. Very cheap shared hosting can be slow, and speed matters: Ofcom found most time online is spent on smartphones, often on patchy rural connections.

So which should you choose?

• A simple brochure site you'll rarely change: Squarespace or a lean WordPress site.
• A site with a blog, lots of pages or plans to grow: WordPress.
• An online shop with lots of products or orders: Shopify, or WooCommerce on WordPress for smaller shops.
• You want to do it all yourself, quickly: Wix or Squarespace.

Whatever you choose, make sure the domain is in your name and you can get your content out if you ever need to move. If you'd like a recommendation for your business, I'm happy to talk it through.