I Tested Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: My Overall Winner in 2025

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Wix	Squarespace	WordPress.org
Overall Rating 4.8	Overall Rating 4.5	Overall Rating 3.4
Starting from $17 $15.30 with code “TAKE10”	Starting from $16 $14.40 with code “WBE10”	Starting from $2.95 (for Bluehost hosting)
Number of templates 900+	Number of templates 180+	Number of templates 10,000+
Apps 800+	Apps 40	Apps 60,000+
Recommended for Businesses promoting their online presence	Recommended for Creatives, portfolios, and service-based businesses	Recommended for Businesses running content-heavy websites
View Wix	View Squarespace	View WordPress
See our Wix Review	See our Squarespace Review	See our WordPress.org review

Overall, Wix is the best choice thanks to its extensive website features helping you build and grow your website. Squarespace is another strong option with the easiest editor on the market, visually-pleasing templates, and a powerful scheduling tool, while WordPress caters more to users looking to share and publish a high volume of content.

Curious about the costs of each builder? I’ll break it all down for you below:

Squarespace’s Costs

• $16-$52 per month (billed annually)
• 14-day free trial
• 10% off at checkout with code “WBE10”

Of the three platforms, Squarespace is the best value for money. With three plans to choose from, Squarespace’s pricing ranges from $16 to $52 per month (billed annually). Its cheapest plan, Personal, is best for simple personal sites or portfolios, but you’ll need to upgrade to the $23 per month Business plan or above if you want to sell online.

Wix’s Costs

• $17-$159 per month (billed annually)
• Free plan 
• 10% off at checkout with code “TAKE10”

Like Squarespace, you’ll need to upgrade from the cheapest option and choose Wix’s $29 per month Core plan or above if you’re looking to build an online store.

You can stay on Wix’s free plan for as long as you’d like, but it does come with limited features, like minimal 500MB storage space and ads on your website’s pages. To remove these ads, you’ll need to upgrade to one of four premium plans.

I recommend temporarily using the free plan for two weeks first. This gives you the chance to see if Wix is a good fit for your business before commiting to a premium plan, or trying another builder, like Squarespace.

WordPress’ Costs

• Free to install
• Need to pay for hosting, templates, and plugins
• Bluehost WordPress hosting from $2.95 per month (billed annually)

Though WordPress is free to use, I recommend treading carefully – you’ll need to pay for hosting, templates, and plugins, while all of this is included in Wix and Squarespace’s plans.

You can set your own monthly pricing depending on the hosting provider and any add-ons you decide to install. I recommend choosing Bluehost as your web host – prices for WordPress hosting start from $2.95 per month and include a custom domain for the first year and security benefits. One less thing to worry about!

If you’re happy to hunt around for good deals and enjoy having full control over your spending costs, WordPress can be a lot cheaper than Wix and Squarespace. That said, WordPress pricing can vary greatly depending on the site, whereas Wix and Squarespace offer more structure with their pricing plans.

• Wix Pricing: Free – $159 per month
• Read our Wix Review for a detailed look at the website builder

Wix has been our best website builder for 10 years in a row, scoring almost perfect marks in our hands-on testing. It offers unmatched features for all-in-one website management, such as personalized SEO and built-in email marketing tools, on top of high-quality designs and ecommerce functionality.

Editor's Choice

Wix

Best for promoting your business online

Outstanding

4.8

out of 5

• Caters to all industries
• For new businesses
• For building novices

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $17 - $159 / month

Pros

• Best website features
• Easy drag-and-drop editor
• 900+ template designs

Cons

• Can’t switch template once live
• Overwhelming choice of options
• Expensive upgrades when scaling

Wix Review

Use code TAKE10 for 10% off

Try Wix

What I Like About Wix

• Wix has the best features out of all the website builders we’ve tested. Your business can benefit from professional templates, a website editor with numerous creative tools, site analytics, and a marketing suite.

What I Dislike About Wix

• These website features can feel overwhelming at first. It took me a while to locate specific features from my dashboard, an experience that could slow down first time users.

My Experience With Wix

When testing Wix, I used the AI chatbot to help me create a custom website. It asked a few basic questions about my goals and target audience, all the while generating a tailored site plan based on my responses. 

For example, I said I wanted to build an online store to sell house plants and Wix’s AI chatbot created a catchy tagline and suggested the tone of voice should be “straightforward and nature-loving”.

The whole onboarding process takes about a minute from conversation to website creation, and I could easily customize the AI creation using Wix’s user-friendly drag-and-drop editor.

Wix’s AI chatbot is a particularly useful building tool for small businesses short on time or for individuals who lack technical confidence when it comes to these types of tasks.

Wix also comes with generative AI tools to help you get set up faster. This includes:

• An AI image creation tool – generate professional images for your website based on a prompt
• AI product descriptions – if you’re running an online store, you can create product copy in a specific tone of voice
• An AI email creator – for email marketing, Wix’s AI will put together email marketing templates based on the kind of campaign you want to send

Wix’s Key Features

Wix offers the best website features on the market, including website analytics and a full marketing suite. These are great for small businesses within any industry.

I was impressed by how much I could customize the email marketing templates, allowing me to tailor the format and style to match my brand. And, basic SEO is incredibly important for businesses launching themselves online, so Wix’s personalized SEO checklist is a great tool to help businesses boost website visibility and gain more traffic.

That said, Wix’s suite of built-in features and additional options in the app store can be overwhelming for some users. Your website might not need to offer appointments or take online orders, but these features are automatically included with your plan. In comparison, with WordPress, you can build your website from the ground up and only add what your site needs.

🚨 One thing I noticed during testing

I felt overwhelmed at times using Wix. Though the quality of the features is exceptional, I sometimes found it difficult to find what I was looking for. Because of this, I recommend signing up for the free plan and exploring the dashboard first. This gives you the chance to familiarize yourself with the platform, and pinpoint where to find the features you need.

Emma Ryan Lead Writer

What if I Need an Online Store?

Of the three platforms, Wix is the better option if you’re looking to set up an online store. While it doesn’t have the same scalability and impressive suite of features as Shopify, our top-rated ecommerce website builder, Wix does offer a lot of built-in ecommerce features, too.

For example, all Wix stores, from the $29 per month plan or above, get abandoned cart recovery and the ability to add discounts during checkout. However, you’ll need to upgrade to the $36 per month Business plan to automatically apply sales tax, unlock advanced shipping tools, and sell in multiple currencies.

The Winner

Wix is our top-rated website builder

Wix is the best website builder we’ve tested in 2025. Its impressive suite of built-in features, ecommerce capabilities, and over 900 professionally designed templates, cater to a broad audience. I highly recommend Wix’s website builder for small businesses looking to launch their brand online.

• Squarespace Pricing: $16 – $52 per month
• Read our Squarespace Review for a detailed look at the website builder

Squarespace is the easiest website builder we’ve tested and the best value for money. Because of Squarespace’s stunning templates and intuitive interface, I recommend it to both beginners and designers alike. It’s also a smart choice if you’re looking to build a creative or service-based website because of its design options and built-in tools.

Squarespace

Best for creative & service businesses

Excellent

4.5

out of 5

• For creatives
• For services
• For beginners

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $16 - $52 / month

Pros

• Easiest website builder
• Booking tools to offer services
• Best looking website designs

Cons

• Grid structure limits creative freedom
• No autosave when editing
• No free plan

Squarespace Review

Use code WBE10 for 10% off

Try Squarespace

What I Like About Squarespace

• When I tested out Squarespace’s editor, I found its templates visually appealing, with plenty of room for customization. Its aesthetic designs enable small businesses to establish a professional presence online, whether they’re offering services or showcasing a creative portfolio.

What I Dislike About Squarespace

• To assess some key features for small businesses, like low-stock alerts, you do need to upgrade to a higher plan. Additionally, some add-ons may require you to pay an additional fee, which can cause costs to build up.

My Experience With Squarespace

To get started with Squarespace, I was presented with two options: either use an AI-guided web design system called Blueprint AI, or choose from over 180 Squarespace templates.

If you want to build an artist website or create an online portfolio, I recommend choosing a template to get started. There’s greater variety and you can filter the catalog by industry – I particularly love the “Novo” template if you’re looking to showcase your work.

Squarespace Blueprint had an upgrade in late 2024, which improved the AI website builder’s effectiveness. I could now select a distinct brand personality for my store, from sophisticated to playful, and choose which fonts and color palette I’d like. The results were impressive, since I was left with a professional design that represented my brand well.

Once in the editor, I had no trouble moving elements or sections around with Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor. While this is similar to Wix, Squarespace provides an added structure with a grid overlay which helps you align elements with ease.

Squarespace continues to give you creative control as you build. Just like its broad range of templates at the start, I found that I could choose from almost 20 pre-designed section types in the editor, all with multiple styles available. For creatives, portfolios, and online stores, there are plenty of options, such as “Services” and “Testimonials”.

Squarespace’s Key Features

Squarespace offers a lot of useful features as well but be warned that some come with an additional fee. For example, low-stock alerts help online stores drive sales and create a sense of urgency, and the tool is completely free.

Squarespace’s Acuity Scheduling tool gives websites the power to offer bookable services, such as pottery classes or online tutorials, but its plans start from $16 per month – this is an additional fee on top of your regular Squarespace plan.

🚨 One thing I noticed during testing

Acuity Scheduling impressed me when I tested it, because I loved the number of easy-to-use features it has. You can create different types of appointments to display on your profile, set your availability, and also customize your scheduling page to make sure that it reflects your brand personality. Definitely consider this platform if you intend to offer services!

Emma Ryan Lead Writer

• WordPress Pricing: Free – with additional costs for hosting, domain names, and more
• Read our WordPress.org Review for a detailed look at the CMS platform

WordPress isn’t as beginner-friendly as Wix or Squarespace, but it’s trusted by large companies, such as NASA and Rolling Stone. Because of its nature as a CMS, rather than a website builder with everything built-in, users have to be more self-sufficient.

You’ll need to source and manage your own web hosting, security, and overall website maintenance. So, it’s not for the faint of heart. However, because of its blogging tools and large plugin library, I recommend WordPress for individuals looking to create a content-heavy website.

WordPress.org

For content-heavy sites

Very Good

3.4

out of 5

• Famous for blogging
• Limitless customizations
• Requires separate hosting

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $2.95 - $5.45 / month

Pros

• 60,000+ plugins to customize your site
• Build from scratch with total control
• Powerful blogging tools

Cons

• Steep learning curve for beginners
• You manage security, hosting, updates
• No in-house support team or resources

WordPress.org Review

We recommend using Bluehost

Try WordPress

What I Like About WordPress

• If you want to create a content-heavy website, I recommend WordPress. Its large plugin library (that allows you to add additional features to your site) and blogging tools makes it ideal for content-heavy websites, like business blogs or informational pages.

What I Dislike About WordPress

• WordPress isn’t for beginners. You’ll need to source your own hosting and domain, while it’s likely that you’ll need to use code to build your site – a tough task for business owners with little technical experience.

My Experience With WordPress

Unlike Wix and Squarespace, you’ll need to download and install WordPress before you can start using the platform. But, before your site can go live, you’ll need to organize a hosting provider for your site. I recommend Bluehost since it has close ties with WordPress already, offering automatic WordPress updates, and its plans start from $2.95 per month.

Coding knowledge or prior website-building experience will be useful if you choose WordPress since the editing process will be more intensive than traditional website builders.

There’s no built-in drag-and-drop editor and you can’t browse a library of pre-designed elements to simply place on your site’s pages. Instead, you can edit code or control content in the backend settings. Because of this, I don’t recommend WordPress for beginners – Squarespace is much easier to use and will help you get online without a headache.

That being said, there are alternative design options with WordPress. You can use the Gutenberg editor for starters – this is the best route for anyone less tech-savvy. The block-style editor lets you stack basic elements on your pages, such as galleries and your latest blog posts.

Alternatively, you can rely on plugins to simplify the building process overall – I recommend checking out the Elementor plugin if you want to stick to a drag-and-drop editing experience.

WordPress’ Key Features

Expect basic built-in features with WordPress, such as comments management and a suite of publishing tools to schedule and revise blog posts at your leisure. This makes WordPress ideal for anyone looking to simply share content online, as opposed to setting up an online store or visual portfolio.

Because of its nature as an open-source platform, you’ll need to explore WordPress’ library of over 60,000 plugins if you want added functionality. For example, you can install Jetpack for a boost to your site’s security and speed, or Yoast SEO to help optimize your content effectively.

You have complete freedom when it comes to building a site from scratch – you choose what to install and add. Your site caters to your needs alone, making it unique in every way. With Wix, for example, customers share the same resources, like themes, design options, and SEO tools.

You can add as many or as few plugins as you need to your WordPress site, but I don’t recommend installing everything you see – make sure to check the reviews, ratings, and compatibility first. Downloading plugins does come with risks, such as vulnerability to malicious attacks. In July 2023, over 200,000 WordPress accounts were put at risk after hackers exploited a weak plugin.

If you’re looking for an easier alternative, consider Wix or Squarespace. You could even try WordPress.com which offers more guidance and structure when creating a website from scratch. WordPress.com’s plans range from free to $45 per month (billed annually).

For an accurate assessment of Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress, we’ve rigorously tested leading website builders using our research process to bring you up-to-date recommendations.

We’ve conducted over 300 hours of data collection to determine which builder comes out on top, helping you find the right fit for your business. Our testing encompasses six core categories:

1. Website functionality – 30%
2. Design features – 25%
3. Pricing – 15%
4. User experience – 15%
5. Help and support – 10%
6. Reputation – 5%

From these categories, we get unique insights and ratings to share with our readers.

I’ve also tested out the builders myself, using these findings to add informed, first-person insights to this article and help you decide.

If you still can’t choose between Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress, try our four-question quiz to get a personalized website builder recommendation based on your needs.

I’ve carried out a deep dive into Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress, but which is my overall winner? Wix is the best website builder we’ve tested, offering top website features and beautiful templates for a wide range of industries. The detailed sections above should help you decide which platform is the right choice for you, but to recap my recommendations once more:

• Wix is best for promoting your business online with its impressive range of built-in tools spanning design, marketing, and ecommerce
• Squarespace is more suitable for creatives or service-based businesses because of its stunning templates and elements, as well as its built-in tools for building engagement with clients and scheduling services
• WordPress is a great option for content-heavy sites thanks to its suite of publishing tools, but I don’t recommend it for beginners due to the complex editor and lack of built-in features

Want even more options? Read our guide to the best website builders to compare the other top platforms on the market.