Wix vs custom

Wix vs a custom website: an honest comparison.

Wix or Squarespace is a good choice when you're just starting, your budget is tight and you're happy to build and update the site yourself. A custom website pays off when your site has to win customers against local competitors, and when speed, search visibility, a distinct look and your own time matter more than the lowest monthly bill. A custom build from us costs $2,500 to $4,500, plus $150/month.

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01 / Which fits you

When DIY is fine, and when it holds you back

A website builder is fine when…

You're just starting out and the budget is tight
You enjoy building and updating the site yourself, and have the time for it
The site is a simple online brochure, and most customers come from referrals
You need something live this week and can replace it later

It starts holding you back when…

Your site competes with other local businesses for the same searches
Your evenings go to fixing layouts instead of running the business
Your site looks like the template it came from, and like your competitors'
The site feels slow on a phone, or you can't change what the builder won't let you change
You want to own your site and be able to move it without starting over

02 / Side by side

Wix or Squarespace vs Slightly Artistic

Compared	DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace)	Custom site from Slightly Artistic
Up-front cost	Low or none	$2,500–$4,500, fixed
Monthly cost	Your plan, plus any paid apps (check the builder's current pricing)	$150/month, including hosting and maintenance
Who builds it	You	We do, after a consult about your business
Who keeps it running	You	We do: updates, security, backups and monitoring
Editing content	You can edit anytime in the builder	No editor. We make changes on request, quoted first
Design	Starts from a template	Designed around your brand and customers
Speed	Depends on the template and apps you add	Custom-built with no page builder, so it loads fast on any device
Moving it later	Wix sites can't be hosted elsewhere; Squarespace exports only part of your content	You own the domain and the site files

Not sure whether your builder site is holding you back? Run it through our free health check. It scores your site on speed, mobile, security and search basics, and tells you exactly what to fix, whichever way you decide.

03 / The real cost

What a custom site costs over three years.

In dollars, a website builder is almost always cheaper, and we won't pretend otherwise. With us, the first year costs $4,300 to $6,300 (the build plus 12 months of Hosting & Care), and three years costs $7,900 to $9,900.

What you get for the difference is time and results: a site designed around your customers, built to load fast and be found locally, and looked after every month by someone else. For a business where one new client or patient covers months of the plan, that math usually works. For a side project, it usually doesn't.

See what each package includes or read what the monthly plan covers.

04 / Ownership

Can you take your site with you?

This one surprises people. Wix says its sites must be hosted on Wix's own servers, so you can't move a Wix site to another host. Squarespace can export some content (pages, one blog, text and images) for WordPress, but not your design, store or most page types.

With a custom site from us, your domain is registered in your name and the site files are yours. If you ever leave, we hand over a complete copy.

Wix vs custom FAQ

Is Wix bad for SEO?

No. Plenty of Wix and Squarespace sites rank well, and both handle the basics like page titles and sitemaps. The difference shows up when you're competing hard for local searches: page speed, page structure and how much technical control you have start to matter, and that's where a custom-built site has more room.

Can you just fix up my Wix or Squarespace site?

We don't work inside website builders. If your current site is doing its job, keep it. If it isn't, we rebuild it as a custom site and redirect your old page addresses so you keep the search rankings you've earned. See how a project works.

Can I still edit my own website with a custom build?

Not directly. Our sites are custom-built without a page builder, so there's no editor or login. That keeps them fast and hard to break into, but it's a real trade-off: if you want to change text yourself every week, a builder may suit you better. With us, content changes are quoted separately, and nothing is billed without your approval.

Why pay $150 a month on top of the build?

It covers hosting, SSL, security updates, daily backups, uptime monitoring, domain and DNS management and a monthly report, plus fixes for anything we built that stops working. It doesn't include content changes.

Can you move my domain from Wix or Squarespace?

Yes. Your domain stays registered in your name, and we handle pointing it to the new site at launch.

Keep reading

Outgrown your website builder?

Tell us what's working and what isn't. If a builder still suits you, we'll say so.