Squarespace vs Wix vs Webflow: which one should you use?
Short answer: Squarespace if you want a good-looking site without fuss and you'll update it yourself. Wix if you want total drag-and-drop freedom on a small budget. Webflow if a designer is building it and someone on your team is willing to learn it.
The bigger question is who's going to keep the site updated, so that's where I'd start. Hope this helps.
Founder, Handled. Greenville, SC. Updated October 2026, 7 min read.
The short version
All three make good websites. They're built for different people doing the updating.
| Category | Squarespace | Wix | Webflow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Owners who want polished with little effort | Owners who want full drag-and-drop control | Designer-built sites with lots of content |
| Price (billed yearly) | $19, $29, $49 or $99 a month | $17, $29, $39 or $159 a month | $15 or $25 a month per site |
| Learning curve | Gentle | Easiest to start | Steep |
| Selling online | Good, from Core up with no transaction fee | Good, from Core up | Possible, separate store plans |
| My pick | Most owners doing it themselves | Tight budgets, lots of tinkering | When a designer builds and hands off |
Prices checked October 2026. Monthly billing costs more on all three. Wix shows different prices depending on where you're browsing from, so the Wix numbers here are the US prices reported in 2026 coverage. Double-check before you sign anything.
Squarespace: hard to make ugly
The templates do a lot of the design work for you.
Squarespace keeps you inside nice-looking guardrails. You give up some freedom, and in return it's really hard to end up with a messy site.
Basic, $19 a month billed yearly ($25 monthly). 2% transaction fee on store sales.
Core, $29 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly). No transaction fee on store sales.
Plus, $49 and Advanced, $99 a month billed yearly, with lower card processing rates as you go up.
Card processing on Basic and Core is 2.9% + $0.30 per sale, on top of the plan.
- Looks good fast. Pick a template, add your photos and words, and it already looks finished.
- Easy to keep updated. Owners can change hours, add a page or post an update without calling anybody.
- Simple selling. A small store, booking or digital products are all built in.
- Guardrails cut both ways. If you want something the template doesn't do, it's a fight.
- Fees on Basic. Sell much at all and the 2% fee makes Core the cheaper plan.
Wix: put anything anywhere
The most freedom of the three, which is a blessing and a curse.
Wix lets you drag any element anywhere on the page. If you like to tinker, it's fun. If you don't, it's easy to end up with a page where nothing quite lines up.
Light, $17 a month billed yearly. Good for a simple brochure site, no selling.
Core, $29 a month. The cheapest plan that lets you sell.
Business, $39 and Business Elite, $159 a month, for more serious stores.
There's also a free plan with Wix branding on it, which is fine for trying it out.
- Easiest first day. If you've never built a site, Wix feels the most natural.
- Lots of add-on apps. Bookings, forms, a store and more without leaving Wix.
- Freedom makes messes. Without a good eye, the site drifts out of alignment, especially on phones.
- The domain can box you in. If you register your domain through Wix, you can't point its nameservers somewhere else. That gets in the way later if you want to add things like email sending tools. Buy the domain somewhere else and connect it.
- Apps add up. Paid add-ons quietly raise the real monthly cost.
Webflow: a design tool that publishes websites
The most control, and the most to learn.
Webflow is what a lot of designers use when they want full control without writing code by hand. It's great for content-heavy sites like blogs and resource libraries. It's not great for an owner who wants to change the hours on a Tuesday night without help.
Webflow simplified its site plans in May 2026:
Basic, $15 a month billed yearly ($25 monthly). A simple site, no CMS (the part that runs a blog or anything with lots of similar pages).
Premium, $25 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly). Replaced the old CMS and Business plans and includes the CMS.
Store plans are separate and cost more.
- Design freedom without guesswork. Pixel-level control that still behaves on phones.
- Lots of content. The CMS is the best of the three for blogs and big resource sections.
- Technical SEO control. More levers for people who know how to use them.
- Real learning curve. Most owners end up calling the designer for small changes.
- Overkill for a five-page site. If you need a homepage, services, about and contact, you're paying in complexity for power you won't use.
Which one should you pick?
Whether you're starting fresh or thinking about moving, go in this order.
If you already have a site on one of these, the fix is often a better homepage, real photos and clearer words, not a new builder. Moving means rebuilding the design from scratch.
A rebuild on a new builder resets your pages, redirects and search history, so make sure the current site can't be fixed first.
- Squarespace if you'll update it yourself and want it to look good without trying.
- Wix if budget is tight and you like to tinker.
- Webflow if a designer is building it and you'll have lots of content.
If your site has to talk to the system you already run on, like inventory, bookings or a member list, a builder can start fighting you. That's when a custom site on top of what you already have makes sense.
That's the Saddle & Sage story: keep Square, build the storefront.
Questions people ask me
Got one that isn't here? Ask me on a free call →
Which is easiest to use, Squarespace, Wix or Webflow?
Wix is the easiest to start with because you can drag things anywhere on the page. Squarespace takes a little longer to learn but its templates make it hard to build something ugly. Webflow is closer to a design tool than a website builder, so expect a real learning curve before anything looks good.
How much does each one cost?
Billed yearly, Squarespace runs $19 to $99 a month, Wix runs $17 to $159 a month for its main plans, and a Webflow site plan is $15 or $25 a month. Monthly billing costs more on all three, and selling online usually means a higher plan. Prices checked October 2026.
Can I sell products on these?
Yes. Squarespace and Wix both handle a small online store fine. On Squarespace, the Basic plan charges a 2% transaction fee on store sales and the higher plans don't. Webflow can sell too, but its store plans cost more and it's not where it shines. If you already run inventory and payments somewhere like Square, you may not need a builder's store at all.
Which is best for SEO?
All three can rank for local and long-tail searches if you write good pages and fill in your titles and descriptions. Webflow gives you the most control over the technical details. Honestly, for most small businesses the content on the page matters far more than which builder made it.
Can I switch builders later?
Your words and images come with you. The design doesn't, because each builder has its own way of laying out pages, so a switch means rebuilding the site. That's another reason to pick based on who will maintain it, not on which template looks coolest today.
When you don't need me
If your site loads, looks right on a phone and brings in inquiries, leave it be. Skip the call if one of these fits.
You need a simple site and you're happy to build it. Grab a Squarespace or Wix template, add real photos and clear words, and you're set.
Your current site works and gets you calls. Leave it alone. Update the words and photos once in a while.
You just want it to look nicer. That's a designer or a photographer, not a platform change.
What changed
- October 2026: rewritten top to bottom. Prices rechecked. Webflow merged its CMS and Business site plans into one Premium plan in May 2026, so the Webflow section changed. Squarespace plan names and fees updated from its pricing page. Removed unsourced claims about page speed, store size limits and feature comparisons I couldn't confirm.
- April 2026: first published.
Sources
Every price and outside fact on this page comes from the sources below, checked October 3, 2026. Prices change often, so check before you buy.
More from the resource library
What a Small Business Website Costs
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Website Redesign Cost
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Ecommerce Automation Guide
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Calendly vs Acuity
Booking tools that plug into any of these.
Typeform vs Jotform
When the built-in forms aren't enough.
What Small Businesses Spend on Software
Line up the subscriptions you already have.
Start with what you have. Build what's missing.
If you're not sure whether you need a new builder, a better version of the site you have, or a custom Front Door site from Handled that connects to the systems you already run on, send me your site and tell me what it isn't doing. I'll tell you which of those it is.
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