WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace: Which Website Builder is Actually Best for Your Business?

Picking between WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace feels like a huge commitment, right? It all boils down to one simple question: What do you need your website to do for your business?

If your goal is total creative freedom and a platform that can grow with you forever, WordPress is almost always the answer. For those who want a beautifully designed site that’s simple to manage, Squarespace is a fantastic choice. And if you’re looking for a super easy drag-and-drop builder packed with features, Wix is a strong contender.

Picking Your Website Platform Is a Big Decision

Let's be honest, choosing a website platform can feel overwhelming. You've probably heard the names WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace thrown around, but it's tough to figure out what they actually mean for your business here in the Okanagan. It’s enough to make you want to close your laptop and go for a walk along the lake.

Think of this guide as a friendly chat over coffee, where we cut through the jargon and get straight to what matters for you. We’ll break down what makes each platform unique, because we get it—that feeling of analysis paralysis that comes with making such a foundational choice is real. You’re building the online home for your business, and you want to get it right.

Our goal is to give you a clear, straightforward comparison so you can feel genuinely confident in your decision. We want this whole process to feel less stressful and more empowering.

To get started, here's a quick summary of how these three heavyweights stack up against each other.

WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace At a Glance

Platform	Best For	Core Strength
WordPress	Businesses aiming for long-term growth and total control.	Ultimate Customization: With endless plugins and themes, you can build literally anything you can imagine.
Wix	Entrepreneurs and small businesses who need a simple, all-in-one solution.	Ease of Use: An intuitive drag-and-drop editor that makes building a site feel like creating a slideshow.
Squarespace	Creatives, photographers, and anyone who values stunning design.	Polished Design: Beautiful, professionally designed templates that guarantee your site looks amazing out of the box.

Ultimately, choosing the right platform sets the foundation for your entire online presence. A great website should work for you—attracting customers from Kelowna to Penticton—not the other way around. If you're still feeling stuck, remember that getting some expert guidance can make all the difference.

How Easy Is It to Build Your Website?

Alright, let's talk about the hands-on experience of actually building your site. This is where you’ll feel the biggest difference between the platforms and start to get a gut feeling for what works for you.

When you're weighing WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace, ease of use is a massive deal, especially when you're busy running a business and don't have weeks to learn a new system. You just need something that works.

The Drag-and-Drop Power of Wix

Wix is famous for its drag-and-drop editor, and for good reason. Think of it like designing a poster or a presentation slide—you can click on any element, like a picture or a text box, and literally place it anywhere you want on the page.

This total freedom is fantastic for people who have a very specific vision and want to control every last detail. On the flip side, that much freedom can be a bit overwhelming if you’re not confident in your design skills. Its popularity is no accident; letting people build professional-looking websites without coding has made it a favourite for small businesses.

The Polished Structure of Squarespace

Then there's Squarespace, which feels more like filling in a beautiful, high-end magazine layout. It gives you a strong, structured grid to work within. You can still move things around, of course, but the system gently guides you to make sure everything stays aligned and looks professionally designed.

This structure is Squarespace's secret weapon. It’s almost impossible to make a Squarespace site look messy, which is perfect for a local Kelowna artist who needs a stunning portfolio without fussing over pixel-perfect alignment.

The Limitless Potential of WordPress

And finally, we have WordPress. The best way to think about it is like a giant set of LEGOs. You can build absolutely anything you can imagine… but first, you have to learn how all the different pieces fit together.

While modern WordPress has visual builders that make it much easier than it used to be, there’s still a learning curve. You’ll need to get your head around themes, plugins, and how they all interact. This is a great thing! For a growing Vernon e-commerce store that needs custom shipping rules or a complex booking system, that power is absolutely essential.

So, picking the right platform really comes down to what you value most:

Wix: Absolute creative control with an easy-to-use editor.
Squarespace: Guided design that guarantees a polished, professional look.
WordPress: Unmatched power and scalability for long-term growth.

If you’re still weighing your options, getting a bit of expert advice can make it much clearer which path is right for your business. Feel free to reach out to our team anytime—we love helping Okanagan businesses build websites that truly work for them.

Creative Freedom and Customization Options

Your website should look and feel like your business—not some generic template that could belong to anyone. So, when you’re weighing WordPress vs. Wix vs. Squarespace, how much creative control do you actually get?

It really comes down to a trade-off: how much structure are you comfortable with versus how much freedom do you truly need?

Squarespace: The Polished and Professional Look

Think of Squarespace as your personal design curator. It hands you a collection of beautifully crafted templates that look modern, clean, and mobile-friendly right out of the box.

You can tweak colours, fonts, and page layouts, but Squarespace keeps you within a smart design framework. For many business owners, this is a huge plus. It practically guarantees a professional result and prevents you from making a design mistake that could turn off customers. It’s a fantastic choice for, say, a Penticton winery that needs a stunning, elegant site without getting bogged down in tiny details.

Wix: More Freedom with a Blank Canvas

Wix loosens the reins a bit. Its claim to fame is a drag-and-drop editor that feels more like a blank canvas, letting you place elements almost anywhere you want on the page.

It also boasts a large app market where you can bolt on extra features like online booking systems, forums, or restaurant menus. This is a great fit for service-based businesses in Kelowna that need specific functionality built right in. While it offers more flexibility than Squarespace, you’re still ultimately playing in the Wix sandbox.

For many, this is the sweet spot. You get significant creative control without the technical responsibility that comes with managing a more complex platform.

WordPress: The King of Customization

And then there's WordPress. When it comes to customization, it’s not even a fair fight—WordPress is the undisputed king. The possibilities are genuinely endless.

With access to tens of thousands of themes and over 50,000 plugins, you can build virtually anything you can dream up.

Want a complex e-commerce store with custom shipping rules? You can do that with WooCommerce.
Need to integrate with a specialized CRM or some niche industry software? There’s probably a plugin for it.
Want to change every single pixel on your website for a truly unique brand experience? A skilled developer can make it happen.

This is the platform that scales with your ambition. The trade-off for this total freedom is a steeper learning curve, but the long-term potential is massive. It’s precisely why so many growing businesses turn to expert WordPress development to build a website that can evolve with them for years to come.

How Each Platform Handles SEO

Building a beautiful website is a great start, but what's the point if no one can find it? This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in—it's all about making sure you show up when people search on Google. The platform you choose plays a surprisingly big role here, especially for a local business trying to make a name for itself in the Okanagan.

Let's break down how WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace stack up when it comes to SEO.

The Out-of-the-Box Experience

Right off the bat, both Wix and Squarespace give you the essential tools you need. They make it simple to handle the fundamentals:

Editing page titles
Writing meta descriptions
Adding alt text to images

These are the absolute basics of SEO, and these platforms have done a great job of making them accessible to anyone, regardless of their technical skill. For many small businesses just getting started, these built-in features are often more than enough to get the ball rolling and see some traffic.

Taking SEO to the Next Level

But what happens when you're serious about climbing the search rankings in a competitive market? You'll need more power under the hood. This is where WordPress pulls away from the pack.

While the core platform is already SEO-friendly, its real strength lies in its ecosystem of plugins. A plugin like Yoast SEO gives you a level of granular control that the all-in-one builders just can't match.

Think of it like this: Wix and Squarespace give you a great set of kitchen knives. WordPress gives you the entire chef’s kitchen, complete with every specialized tool you could ever need. You might not use every tool every day, but when you need them, they’re there.

This extra control means you can fine-tune every last detail of your on-page SEO. You can get into advanced schema markup (the code that helps Google understand your content's context), manage complex site structures with hundreds of pages, and use sophisticated analysis tools to sharpen your content. Understanding what is technical SEO and having the ability to implement it is often what separates the top-ranking sites from everyone else.

We saw this firsthand with a Kelowna-based client in the tourism industry. They had a visually stunning site, but it wasn't generating any bookings. We moved them over to WordPress, which allowed us to perform a deep technical audit and optimize their content for specific local searches. Within a few months, they were dominating search results for their most important services.

Their website went from being an online brochure to their number one salesperson. That's the kind of transformation that happens when you have the granular control needed for ambitious growth, and it’s why WordPress remains the top choice for businesses that are serious about SEO.

Comparing The True Cost Of Your Website

Let's get down to what’s on every business owner’s mind: money. What is your website actually going to cost you? The sticker price you see advertised is rarely the full story.

Platforms like Wix and Squarespace roll everything into one predictable package. Their monthly or annual fee covers hosting, security, support, and the platform itself. It’s a straightforward approach that makes budgeting a whole lot simpler.

Then there’s WordPress. The core software is famously free, but that’s just the starting point. It's a bit like getting a free engine—you still need to buy the chassis, wheels, and all the other parts to build a car that actually drives.

What You're Actually Paying For

With a self-hosted WordPress site, you’ll be managing a few different expenses. Some are one-time purchases, but most are recurring annual or monthly fees.

You'll need a budget for:

Hosting: This is the space you rent on the internet for your website files to live.
Domain Name: Your website’s address (e.g., yourbusiness.ca), which is typically a yearly registration fee.
Premium Themes: While you can start with a free theme, most businesses quickly invest in a premium one for a professional design, more features, and better support.
Premium Plugins: Need an online booking system, advanced security, or powerful e-commerce tools? There's a good chance you'll need to pay for a premium plugin to get the job done right.

These costs can start small but tend to add up as your site grows in complexity and traffic. For some, this à la carte model offers fantastic flexibility. For others, it can feel like juggling too many small invoices. This is often where working with a professional partner helps; many agencies bundle these individual costs into clear website plans, giving you one simple, predictable monthly payment.

A Realistic Annual Cost Breakdown

To give you a clearer picture, let's break down what a typical small business website might really cost per year on each platform once you factor in all the necessities.

Estimated Annual Cost For A Small Business Website

This table estimates the yearly investment for a standard small business site, including hosting, themes, and essential add-ons.

Cost Item	WordPress (Self-Hosted)	Wix (Core Plan)	Squarespace (Business Plan)
Annual Plan	$0 (Software is free)	~$408 CAD	~$396 CAD
Hosting	~$180 – $360	Included	Included
Domain Name	~$20	Free (1st Year)	Free (1st Year)
Premium Theme	~$80 (One-time)	Included	Included
Essential Plugins	~$100 – $300	Included	Included
Estimated Annual Total	~$480 – $860+	~$408+	~$396+

As you can see, the "free" WordPress option often ends up costing more than the all-in-one platforms in the first year, especially once you add the tools needed for a professional presence. The costs for Wix and Squarespace are more predictable, though they can also increase if you need to purchase third-party extensions from their app marketplaces.

Which Website Builder Should You Choose

Alright, we've covered a lot of ground. Now comes the hard part: making a decision. Let's break this down with some straightforward advice tailored to what you, as a small business owner, likely need.

There’s no single "best" platform. The right choice is the one that aligns with your specific goals, your budget, and how much hands-on time you're willing to invest in your website.

Making the Right Call for Your Business

For creatives—think artists, photographers, or even a local Penticton cafe that needs a polished online presence yesterday—Squarespace is a fantastic choice. Its structured templates are beautifully designed and make it nearly impossible to build a bad-looking website.

If you’re a consultant or a local service business that needs simple, built-in tools like an online booking system, Wix is a solid option. It offers more design flexibility than Squarespace but keeps things from getting overly technical.

But if you're a growing business with big ambitions, need total control over your SEO, or plan on building a sophisticated e-commerce shop, WordPress is the answer. It’s the platform that scales with you, not one you'll find yourself outgrowing in a couple of years.

This decision tree should help you see which path makes the most sense for your business, depending on your priorities.

The infographic really gets to the heart of the matter: the trade-off between all-in-one simplicity and long-term, scalable power. WordPress's market dominance isn't just a fluke; as of 2025, it continues to lead the pack, powering an estimated 43.4% of all websites. Its unique ability to scale from a simple blog to a complex enterprise-level site is why it remains the go-to for businesses that value both customization and reliability. You can learn more about these market share findings on WordPress.com.

Feeling stuck between these choices is completely normal. Sometimes the best move is to get an expert opinion right from the start. A partner like Navigator can help you make the right call on day one, ensuring your website is built on a foundation that will support your business for years. If you want to talk through your options, just reach out to our team.

Frequently Asked Questions

It's a lot to weigh up, I know. Picking the right platform between WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace feels like a huge decision. To help you sort through it all, here are some of the most common questions we get from business owners just like you.

Can I Move My Website from Wix or Squarespace to WordPress Later?

The short answer is yes, but it’s not a simple copy-and-paste job. Migrating your site from a closed system like Wix or Squarespace over to WordPress means transferring all your pages, blog posts, images, and data. While it's certainly possible, the complexity and time involved can catch people by surprise, especially with larger sites.

Think of it this way: you’re moving out of a pre-furnished apartment into a house you have to build yourself. You get to bring all your furniture, but you need to construct the actual rooms and layout from scratch. If you anticipate significant growth, it's often much easier to start with the platform you intend to stick with for the long haul.

Which Platform Is Best for a Small Online Store?

If you're just starting out with a small online shop and a handful of products, both Wix and Squarespace offer fantastic, easy-to-use e-commerce tools right out of the box. You can get a professional-looking store online very quickly.

However, if you have bigger ambitions—like selling dozens or hundreds of products, needing advanced shipping options, complex tax rules, or detailed inventory management—WordPress combined with the WooCommerce plugin is in a league of its own. It gives you the power and flexibility to build a serious online store that can grow right alongside your business.

Do I Need to Know How to Code to Use WordPress?

Absolutely not. This might be the single biggest misconception about WordPress. Maybe ten years ago you needed to be comfortable with a bit of code, but the platform has evolved dramatically.

Today's WordPress uses a visual block editor and amazing page builder plugins that feel very similar to the drag-and-drop experience on Wix or Squarespace. You can design stunning, complex layouts and see your changes happen live, all without writing a single line of code.

Choosing the right platform is your first major step towards creating a website that actually helps your business grow. At Navigator Multimedia, we specialize in helping Okanagan businesses build websites that act as their most effective salesperson. If you're ready to create a site that delivers real results, get in touch with us for a chat.