Best Website Builders Compared: Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and WordPress.com
Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and WordPress.com take four routes to a website. We compare US prices, storage limits, ecommerce fees and design control.
By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-06T22:46:51+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-06T22:46:51+00:00
The best website builders split into two camps. Wix and Squarespace sell simplicity: templates, hosting, and editing in one bill. Webflow sells design control, with a visual editor that exposes real CSS behavior. WordPress.com sells managed WordPress, with plugins available on every paid plan. All four include hosting. Three offer a free plan, and Squarespace does not. US prices below come from each vendor's official pricing pages or pricing blogs, checked in November 2026. This is a research-based assessment, not hands-on testing.
Best website builders: plans and prices compared
Entry prices look similar. The differences are storage, collaborators, and commerce fees. Wix charges the most at the top and includes the most storage. Squarespace charges its own transaction fee on its Core plan. Webflow renamed its plans in 2026 and merged its CMS plan into Premium. WordPress.com prices by storage and support level rather than page counts.
| Builder | Free plan | Entry paid plan | Store-ready plan | Commerce and platform notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | Yes, with Wix ads and subdomain | Light, $17/month on a yearly plan | Core, $29/month; Business $39/month | US card rate 2.9% + $0.30 via Wix Payments; Business Elite $159/month adds unlimited storage |
| Squarespace | No free plan in its pricing data | Basic, $19/month billed annually ($25 monthly) | Core, $29/month billed annually ($39 monthly) | 3% Squarespace transaction fee on Core commerce sales; Plus at $49/month removes it |
| Webflow | Yes, Starter on a webflow.io subdomain | Basic Site, $15/month billed yearly | Premium Site, $25/month billed yearly | Premium includes a CMS with 20,000 items; ecommerce uses separate site plans |
| WordPress.com | Yes, with WordPress.com ads | Personal, $4/month billed annually | Business and Commerce tiers above Premium | Plugins installable on all paid plans; payment fees fall as plans rise |
Annual billing is the norm. Monthly billing costs more at every vendor. Wix Light, for example, rises from $17 to $24 per month on monthly billing. Compare annual totals, not headline months.
Wix: the easiest start, with ads on the free plan
Wix's free plan costs $0 and never expires. It shows Wix ads on your site. Your address is a wixsite.com subdomain. Storage is 500 MB, and bandwidth is 1 GB. Wix lists more than 2,000 templates. Its AI builder is included on the free plan, and the drag-and-drop editor needs no code.
Light costs $17 per month on a yearly plan, paid in full upfront. It connects a custom domain, free for the first year. It removes Wix branding and raises storage to 2 GB. Core costs $29 per month. It accepts online payments and adds basic ecommerce and appointment scheduling. Storage rises to 50 GB. Business costs $39 and raises storage to 100 GB with standard ecommerce. Business Elite costs $159. It offers unlimited storage, advanced ecommerce, and room for 100 collaborators.
One limit deserves attention. Wix states you cannot change your template after creating your site. You can edit colors and layout, but the template itself is fixed. Choose carefully at the start. Wix Payments charges 2.9 percent plus $0.30 per US card transaction. Premium plans carry a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Squarespace: polished templates, no free tier
Squarespace publishes four paid plans and no free tier. Its own pricing data lists Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced. Basic costs $19 per month billed annually, or $25 billed monthly. It includes a custom domain, free for one year on annual plans. It also includes SSL, unlimited bandwidth, mobile-optimized templates, and basic analytics.
Core costs $29 per month billed annually, or $39 monthly. It adds advanced analytics and premium integrations. It adds customer accounts, gift cards, and point of sale. You can sell unlimited products. Squarespace charges a 3 percent transaction fee on commerce sales at this level. That fee matters for a busy store. Plus costs $49 per month billed annually, or $65 monthly. It removes Squarespace transaction fees entirely. It adds abandoned cart recovery, subscriptions, and advanced discount tools. Advanced costs $99 per month billed annually, or $139 monthly. It adds commerce APIs, custom code, and priority support.
Squarespace fits portfolios, restaurants, and design-led brands. Its templates are the most curated in this group. The editing model is section-based and more constrained than Wix. The 3 percent fee on Core pushes real stores toward Plus quickly.
Webflow: a designer's builder with a CMS built in
Webflow restructured its site plans in May 2026. The old CMS and Business plans merged into one Premium Site plan. Premium costs $25 per month billed yearly, or $39 billed monthly. It includes 20,000 CMS items across 40 collections. That is enough for most blogs, directories, and marketing sites. Existing sites migrate to the new structure at renewal during 2026.
The Basic Site plan costs $15 per month billed yearly, or $25 monthly. It suits static sites without a CMS. Its page limit doubled to 300 pages in the 2026 update. A free Starter plan exists for learning. It publishes to a webflow.io subdomain with limited CMS use.
Webflow's editor exposes margins, flexbox, and grid directly. Designers get near-code control without writing code. The learning curve is the price. Beginners face more concepts than in Wix or Squarespace. Ecommerce is sold as separate site plans, which Webflow left unchanged in 2026. Confirm the current store pricing before budgeting a shop.
WordPress.com: managed WordPress with plugins on paid plans
WordPress.com runs the WordPress software for you. Updates, backups, and security are managed. The free plan shows WordPress.com ads and includes 1 GB of storage. Paid plans start at $4 per month billed annually for Personal. A three-year billing option drops the entry price to $2.75 per month. Every paid plan includes a free domain for the first year. Every paid plan removes ads.
The unusual strength is plugins. WordPress.com states that all paid plans now include plugin installation. The platform lists more than 50,000 plugins in its plan features. Storage rises by tier: 6 GB on Personal, 13 GB on Premium, and 50 GB on Business. Business adds SFTP and SSH access, Git deployment tools, and real-time backups. It also adds priority 24/7 support. The Commerce tier builds integrated selling tools on the same base.
WordPress.com fits blogs and content sites that want WordPress without server work. It also gives an exit path. Content can move to self-hosted WordPress later. Payment fees vary by plan. WordPress.com's comparison shows an 8 percent fee on Personal and 4 percent on Premium, before card network fees.
Bottom line
Choose Wix for the fastest start and the widest template choice. Accept that your template choice is permanent. Choose Squarespace for the best-looking templates and built-in store tools. Skip its Core plan if you sell much, because of the 3 percent fee. Choose Webflow if design control matters and someone on your team will learn it. Its Premium plan at $25 per month billed yearly is strong value for content sites. Choose WordPress.com if you want WordPress, plugins, and managed hosting in one bill. For most first-time site owners, Wix Core or Squarespace Core is the practical pick. Webflow and WordPress.com reward users who plan to grow.