Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Shopify or a professionally built website? The best choice depends on what you actually need to do with your site.
Building a website yourself has never been easier.
Wix and Squarespace offer drag-and-drop editors and AI tools. WordPress can run almost anything imaginable. Shopify has turned building an online store into something a small business owner can realistically do without being a developer.
They're all good tools.
But that doesn't necessarily mean a website builder is the best choice for every small business.
If you're a plumber, electrician, builder, consultant, accountant or other service business, there's another question worth asking:
Do you actually need to build and manage your website yourself?
Sometimes the simplest website is the better website.
The Best Website Builders for Small Businesses
For most small businesses, I'd narrow the choices down to four major options:
Option Best for Main advantage Main disadvantage
Wix DIY small business Easy visual editing You're managing it sites yourself
Squarespace Design-focused DIY Attractive Less freedom than sites templates custom development
WordPress Content-heavy and Extremely flexible More maintenance expandable sites and complexity
Shopify Online stores Excellent Overkill for many ecommerce service businesses ecosystem
Custom Small Lightweight, You can't log in and HTML/CSS/JS business/service simple and edit it yourself sites managed
There isn't one winner.
The right answer depends on what your business needs.
Wix: Good for DIY Business Websites
Wix is probably one of the easiest places to start if you want to build your own business website.
It provides templates, drag-and-drop editing, hosting, forms, analytics, SEO tools and a range of business functionality in one platform. Wix also increasingly incorporates AI into the website-building process.
The big advantage is control.
You can log in at 10 o'clock at night, change your headline, upload another photo and publish it yourself.
For the right person, that's fantastic.
But it also means you're the web designer.
You still need to decide how the site should look, what the homepage should say, how the navigation should work, what information deserves priority and what will convince a visitor to become a customer.
The builder makes those decisions easier to implement.
It doesn't necessarily make the decisions for you.
Best for: Small business owners who genuinely want to manage their own website.
Squarespace: Good for Attractive, Simple Websites
Squarespace is another strong DIY option, particularly if appearance is important.
It offers professionally designed templates, drag-and-drop editing, ecommerce, appointments, analytics and other business tools. Its Australian website plans currently start from AUD $17 per month when paid annually.
Like Wix, one of the main benefits is that you don't need to know how to code.
You choose a design, add your content and customise it.
For photographers, consultants, creatives and other businesses wanting a relatively straightforward website they can maintain themselves, that's appealing.
But again, having access to good templates isn't the same as having design skills.
Typography, spacing, hierarchy, images, messaging, user experience and calls to action still matter.
A beautiful template can still become a confusing website.
Best for: Business owners who want an attractive DIY website and want to make their own changes.
WordPress: Powerful, But More Complicated
WordPress.com is enormously flexible.
WordPress supports themes, drag-and-drop editing, SEO functionality and a huge ecosystem of plugins and integrations.
That flexibility is its greatest strength.
It can also be its weakness.
The more moving parts you introduce, the more there potentially is to manage.
Themes need maintaining. Plugins can require updates. Compatibility issues can occur. Security needs attention.
For a business publishing articles constantly or requiring specialised functionality, WordPress can make perfect sense.
But I've seen plenty of small businesses running relatively complicated WordPress installations to display what is essentially:
Home. About. Services. Contact.
Sometimes you don't need a content management system.
You just need a website.
Best for: Businesses that regularly publish content or need functionality available through the WordPress ecosystem.
Shopify: My Pick for Serious Ecommerce
If your primary business is selling products online, I'd look seriously at Shopify.
Shopify is built specifically around ecommerce and includes product management, checkout, hosting, security, SEO controls, responsive storefronts and a large app ecosystem.
That's very different from a local service business that simply needs customers to call or submit an enquiry.
If you're selling hundreds of products, you probably want a system specifically designed to manage those products.
If you're a painter who needs a five-page website showing your services and a phone number, you probably don't.
Best for: Businesses where ecommerce is a major part of the business.
There's Another Option: Don't Use a Website Builder at All
This is the approach I often take.
I build many small business websites using the basic technologies the web itself is built on:
HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
No WordPress.
No page builder.
No giant collection of plugins.
No administration panel sitting behind the website.
Just the code necessary to deliver the website.
There's something appealing about that simplicity.
Why I Like Raw HTML, CSS and JavaScript
For a relatively straightforward small business website, I don't necessarily want layers of software between the customer and the webpage.
A static website can be extremely lightweight.
There isn't a WordPress database that needs to be queried every time somebody opens a page.
There aren't dozens of plugins adding functionality the website may not even need.
There isn't a CMS constantly requiring updates.
There isn't even a website administration login for somebody to try to break into.
That doesn't make a static website magically immune to security problems. Servers, forms, third-party scripts and other components still need to be configured and maintained correctly.
But removing unnecessary moving parts can reduce the attack surface considerably.
If the website doesn't need a feature, I generally prefer not to have that feature sitting there anyway.
The Disadvantage: You Can't Log In and Edit It Yourself
This is the trade-off.
With Wix, Squarespace or WordPress, you can log in and change your website.
With the static websites I build, you generally can't.
And I'm completely upfront about that.
If you run a restaurant and change your menu every day, that could be a problem.
If you're publishing three articles a week, I'd probably recommend a content management system.
If you're constantly adding products, Shopify may be a much better solution.
But how often does the average plumber change their About page?
How often does an accountant redesign their homepage?
How often does a local builder need to change the Contact page?
For many small businesses, the answer is:
Hardly ever.
In that situation, having an entire content management system installed just so you could edit the website may not provide much practical benefit.
"But What If I Need Something Changed?"
You contact me.
That's part of the model.
I offer managed hosting for $30 per month or $360 per year on Australian rented server infrastructure.
That includes hosting along with monitoring, analytics, security, suggestions, email support and ongoing consulting.
So instead of learning how to use a website builder because you need to change something twice a year, you send me an email.
You run your business.
I look after the website.
Website Builders Solve a Real Problem
I don't think Wix, Squarespace, WordPress or Shopify are bad.
Quite the opposite.
They solve a very real problem:
They allow people who aren't web developers to manage websites.
If that's what you want, use one.
The question is whether you actually want another piece of software to manage.
As a small business owner, you already have enough logins, passwords, subscriptions, dashboards and administration.
Accounting software.
Email.
Social media.
Banking.
Google.
Booking systems.
Industry software.
Do you really want to become your own web designer as well?
Maybe you do.
But you don't have to.
DIY vs Managed Website
For me, this is the more useful distinction.
It's not:
Website builder vs custom website.
It's:
Do you want to manage your website yourself, or do you want someone else to look after it?
If you enjoy working on websites and expect to make regular changes, Wix, Squarespace or WordPress could be excellent choices.
If you're running an online shop, Shopify would be high on my list.
But if you're a small service business that wants a fast, professional website and doesn't particularly want to become a part-time web designer, a professionally managed static website can make a lot of sense.
So, What's the Best Website Builder for a Small Business?
Here's my simple answer:
Wix: Good all-round DIY option.
Squarespace: Good for visually polished DIY websites.
WordPress: Good when you need flexibility and regularly changing content.
Shopify: Good when selling products online is the main event.
Custom HTML/CSS/JavaScript: Good when you want a lightweight business website and would rather have someone else manage it.
The best platform isn't necessarily the one with the most features.
It's the one that gives your business what it actually needs without adding unnecessary complexity.
And sometimes that means not using a website builder at all.
Not Sure Which Option You Need?
If you're deciding between Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Shopify or having a website professionally built, I'm happy to give you my opinion.
I specialise in websites for small businesses and sole traders, particularly local and regional businesses.
Many of the straightforward business websites I build cost under $1,000, with managed Australian hosting available for $30 per month or $360 per year.
If DIY genuinely makes more sense for what you're trying to do, I'll tell you.
If you'd rather have someone build and look after it for you, I can do that too.
Call or email me for a free website assessment and a straightforward discussion about what your business actually needs.