Choosing
Website platforms: builder, WordPress or custom
Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, Framer, WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify or a hand-built site: they differ in who runs them, what they cost over time and what you own. A fair comparison.
“WordPress vs Shopify for a small business”, “Wix vs WordPress”, “Webflow vs Framer”, “custom website vs WordPress”: these are real questions from owners who have been told five different things by five different people. This note compares the kinds of platform, not every product, because the kinds explain most of the differences and the products change faster than an article can keep up.
A disclosure first. I build hand-built sites. I do not build on WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Framer, Wix, Squarespace, WooCommerce or Elementor, and I do not offer services on them. So I have no commercial reason to push you toward any of them, and I do have a commercial interest in the custom option, which is why I tell you what it costs you as well as what it gives.
The four kinds
1. Hosted website builders
Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and Framer are examples. You use their editor and they run the hosting. You pay a subscription.
- Good for: a small site you manage yourself, built quickly, with little technical work.
- Watch for: the site lives on their platform. If you stop paying or want to leave, moving the design and the content can be hard or impossible. Features you need may sit on higher plans. Pages made from templates look like other sites made from the same template.
2. WordPress (self-hosted)
An open-source system you install on hosting you choose, often extended with themes and plugins. Also widely used for WooCommerce online stores.
- Good for: content-heavy sites, blogs, and businesses that want to change a lot themselves or hire from a large pool of WordPress developers.
- Watch for: upkeep. Core, themes and plugins need regular updates, and out-of-date plugins are a common way sites are compromised; WordPress’s own hardening guide covers what is involved. A site with many plugins can become slow. Quality varies widely with who built it.
3. Store platforms
Shopify and WooCommerce are examples. They are built around selling: products, cart, checkout, payments, orders.
- Good for: a business whose main job is taking orders online.
- Watch for: monthly fees and transaction costs that depend on the plan and payment provider, apps that add cost, and the work of running a shop (stock, returns, shipping, invoices). If you mainly need enquiries and quotations, a store may be more than you need; see catalogue website or online store.
4. A hand-built site
Pages and templates written for your business and published as static files on ordinary hosting.
- Good for: a site whose job is to present a business clearly and make contact easy, with fast pages and few moving parts to maintain.
- Watch for: changes usually go through the developer unless you arrange another way to edit; anything that needs a database, accounts, bookings or payments is separate backend work. See frontend, backend and what your site needs. Static site or WordPress goes into this trade-off.
A short comparison
| Question | Hosted builder | WordPress | Store platform | Hand-built |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs the hosting? | The platform | You or your host | The platform or your host | You, on a host you choose |
| Ongoing upkeep | Low | Regular updates | Moderate | Low |
| Easy to edit yourself? | Yes | Yes, with learning | Yes | Usually through the developer |
| Can you take it with you? | Often limited | Usually | Often limited for hosted stores | Yes, if the files are handed over to you |
| Built for selling online? | Limited | With WooCommerce | Yes | Not without backend work |
| Typical cost pattern | Monthly subscription | Setup plus hosting plus upkeep | Subscription plus fees | One-time build plus hosting |
How to choose
- If you will write and change the content yourself and want to start cheaply: a hosted builder.
- If you need a blog or content that changes constantly and can pay for upkeep: WordPress.
- If you need checkout, stock and orders: a store platform.
- If you need a clear, fast business site and enquiries by phone or WhatsApp: a hand-built site is a good fit, and that is the service I offer.
None of these is the right answer for everyone. Ask whichever provider you consider the questions in what to ask a website developer, especially who owns the site and what happens if you leave. For a budget view, DIY builder or developer compares costs honestly. If a hand-built site sounds right, the packages are on the pricing page; to talk it through, message or call Harman.