Finding one of the best website builders to build a website is key to ensuring that your new site works smoothly, giving you a robust and attractive online presence whatever your type of site is. While there are many builders available, a number clearly rise above the rest.
Three leading options for building a website are WordPress.com, Wix, and Squarespace, all of which provide reliable, high-quality site creation for everyone from absolute beginners to web development experts. These three can be found competing for top place across lists of the best ecommerce website builders, the best small business website builders, and the best free blogging sites.
In our comparison of WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace, we compare main features, performance, support services, and prices, to better help you decide which is best for your new website.
WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace: Features
As three of the world’s most powerful website builders, Wix, WordPress.com, and Squarespace naturally come with a great selection of advanced features.
All three come with ecommerce features, but Wix and Squarespace clearly excel here. Wix’s three online store plans give you access to a suite of advanced tools, and Squarespace comes with powerful integrations including coupon and discount code support, zero transaction fees, and abandoned cart recovery.
Again, all three builders are packaged with various blogging options, but WordPress.com is clearly the best choice. It offers a great selection of blog-specific templates, a clear yet simple editing interface, and a suite of tools to help you get the most out of your blog. Wix or Squarespace offer access to specialized blog templates and some basic blogging tools, but they aren’t nearly as powerful as WordPress’s.
Wix has one of the largest template libraries of any website builder we’ve tested. It has over 500 different designs, which are cleverly categorized by the type of website you need, and you can even search for templates with the neat search box. Squarespace’s library is smaller, but its themes are very high quality and regularly updated. If professional design is your priority, Squarespace could be the best option.
WordPress.com does things a little differently. All plans provide access to a small library with a selection of free and premium themes. However, a Premium, Business, or eCommerce subscription will give you access to the WordPress.org template library, while Business and eCommerce subscribers will also be able to upload their own themes.
WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace: Performance
Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress use fundamentally different editing interfaces. In terms of flexibility and the number of design tools on offer, Wix’s editor clearly outperforms the other two. However, WordPress.com is a great option for beginner-friendly editing, while Squarespace makes it easy to create professional sites without much experience.
For starters, the performance of the Wix editor is exceptional. It uses a drag-and-drop editing interface that supports pixel-perfect customization. You can personalize nearly everything you can imagine, and even have a level of code access if you require it. However, it can be quite hard to get the hang of, purely because the sheer number of tools on offer can make it a little confusing.
WordPress.com sits at the other end of the spectrum. It does give you a small amount of design flexibility, but uses an outdated, block-based editing interface. Fortunately, there are plenty of attractive templates to base your website on, but don’t expect to find too many customization options here.
Squarespace sits somewhere in the middle, with a decent amount of design flexibility, a great selection of professional templates, and a number of native app integrations. It doesn’t offer the customizability of Wix, but it remains an excellent option if you’re willing to put the work in to create an attractive site.
Wix is clearly the best performing website builder here, but Squarespace isn’t far behind, and WordPress.com certainly isn’t terrible either.
WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace: Support
Squarespace offers excellent support services, with a responsive, 24/7 email ticketing system and live chat that’s available from Monday to Friday, 4am to 8pm EST. On top of this, it has an excellent knowledge base with in-depth guides that cover numerous advanced topics.
Wix is similarly great, with 24/7 phone and ticket support, along with a useful chatbot. However, its live support is sometimes slow, which can be frustrating. Like Squarespace, Wix has a decent selection of self-help resources, although they don’t tend to be quite as detailed or comprehensive.
WordPress.com offers different levels of support with different plans. All users will have access to the company’s knowledge base, but email support is only available for paying users. Basic live chat is available for those with a Premium plan or higher, while 24/7 priority live chat only comes with a Business or eCommerce subscription.
Overall, Squarespace clearly wins here, with Wix taking second place. In saying that, WordPress.com’s support is still more than good enough—you may just have to wait a while for a response if you’re using a low-end plan.
WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace: Pricing and plans
Both WordPress.com and Wix offer basic free forever plans, while Squarespace has a 14-day free trial. All three builders support standard websites and at least some form of e-commerce, and all come with a selection of different paid plans.
WordPress’s paid plans start at just $4 a month for a Personal subscription that allows you to connect a custom domain. Premium ($8 a month) and Business ($15 a month) plans include increasingly advanced features, while an eCommerce subscription ($45 a month) comes with a suite of online selling tools.
At $12 a month, Squarespace’s Personal plan is higher priced, but it comes with significantly more advanced features. A Business subscription will cost you $18 a month, while Basic and Advanced Commerce plans cost $26 and $40 a month respectively. Take a look at our Squarespace promo codes - we may be able to knock a few dollars off those monthly prices for you.
And finally, Wix is even more expensive, with its four website-specific plans ranging from $14 to $39 a month. It also has three Business & eCommerce plans ranging from $23 to $49 a month, along with Enterprise-level custom solutions, and you can bring those prices down with our Wix promo codes too.
Overall, it’s very hard to pick a winner here. WordPress.com is certainly the cheapest option, but Squarespace and Wix arguably provide better value for money.
WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace: Verdict
All things considered, it’s impossible to declare a clear winner in this WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace comparison. All three are high-quality, reliable builders that are suited to different uses.
If you want to create a blog or a simple personal site, WordPress.com is a great choice. Squarespace is good for its professional templates and impressive native integrations, and Wix is clearly the best website builder when it comes to overall customizability and design flexibility.
Further reading on website builders
Check out our step-by-step guides on how to build a website with WordPress, with Wix, and with Squarespace. If you choose to go with WordPress, you'll need one of the best web hosting services to host your site, and it's best to check if the option you go for is ranked among the best WordPress hosting platforms.
