Website builders · Small business
Wix vs Squarespace vs Shopify vs a custom website: which is right for your small business?
By Matt, Founder & developer, xex dev · · 6 min read
Quick answer
Use Wix or Squarespace if you need a simple site quickly and cheaply and are happy to build it yourself. Use Shopify if selling products is the whole business and you’re fine with monthly and transaction fees. Choose a custom website when you need it to rank locally, load fast, take bookings or payments your way, integrate with other software, or grow without platform limits.
Website builders have come a long way, and for some businesses they’re the right choice. For others they become a ceiling — slow pages, monthly fees that creep up, and features you can’t change. Here’s a straight comparison, including where we’d honestly tell you not to hire a developer.
What each option costs in 2026
| Platform | Monthly price | Payment fees | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | £9–£25/month for most small businesses (Business Elite £119) | 2.1% + 20p per UK card payment via Wix Payments | DIY brochure sites and simple shops |
| Squarespace | £12–£29/month (Advanced £79) | 1.5%–2% + 25p, plus a 2% fee on physical sales on Basic | Design-led portfolios and small shops |
| Shopify | £19–£49/month for most shops (Advanced £259) | 1.5%–2% + 25p online; extra platform fee if you use another payment provider | Product-first online shops |
| Custom website | One-off build cost, then hosting/support from ~£50/month | Only your payment provider’s fees (e.g. Stripe) | Businesses that need speed, local SEO, bookings, integrations or flexibility |
Wix and Squarespace: great for getting started
- Pros: cheap to start, no developer needed, hosting included, lots of templates.
- Cons: your time is the real cost; sites can be slow and heavy; limited control over SEO details; fees add up as you add features; moving away later means rebuilding.
- Choose it if: you’re testing an idea, you have more time than budget, and your site is a simple online brochure.
Shopify: excellent for pure e-commerce
- Pros: reliable checkout, huge app store, handles stock and orders well.
- Cons: monthly plan plus paid apps plus transaction fees; extra platform fees if you use your own payment provider; content pages and local SEO are less flexible; custom features often mean paying for more apps.
- Choose it if: you sell lots of standard products and want an off-the-shelf store fast.
A custom website: when it’s worth it
A custom-built site costs more up front, but you own it outright, it’s built only with what you need (so it’s fast), and there are no platform fees on your sales. It’s usually the right move when:
- You rely on Google to bring in local customers and need full control of speed, page structure and structured data.
- You need booking, quoting or payment flows that work exactly the way your business does — like the booking system we built for Jayk Cuts Hair.
- You want your site to talk to other software — your CRM, stock system or accounting.
- You’ve outgrown a builder and keep paying for apps to work around its limits.
- You sell online and want to avoid platform fees — see how we built RaceSim UK’s custom e-commerce platform.
Moving from Wix, Squarespace or Shopify
Switching doesn’t mean starting from zero. We move your content, products and customers across and set up redirects from your old page addresses so you keep the Google rankings you’ve already earned. If you’re in Sussex we’re happy to meet and talk it through — we’re based in Burgess Hill. Otherwise, get in touch for a free quote.