The short answer. Choose Wix or Squarespace if you have more time than budget, your site is simple, and most customers find you through referrals. Hire a web designer, or take a managed website plan, if your time is better spent on your business, you need to show up in local search, or you want someone else to handle changes and upkeep.
What you get
With Wix or Squarespace: a hosted platform with professionally designed templates, a drag-and-drop editor, hosting and SSL, plus built-in tools such as forms, booking, online stores and email marketing, depending on the plan. You do the building: choose a template, write the words, add photos and set everything up.
With a web designer: a site built for your business by someone who does this every day, planned around what your customers need to know and laid out to turn visitors into calls or bookings, with the technical setup done for you. How much help you get afterwards depends on the arrangement: a one-off build, a maintenance plan, or a managed monthly plan with hosting, updates and changes included.
Time
Builders are designed to be easy, and they are. The slow part isn’t the software. It’s deciding what goes on each page, writing it, getting decent photos, setting up forms and checking it all on a phone. Plan on several evenings or weekends for a small site, and a little time each month to keep it current.
With a designer, your time goes into a kickoff conversation, sending your logo, photos and details, and reviewing drafts. The rest is someone else’s job.
Cost over three years
Wix and Squarespace business plans cost roughly $17–$49 a month; check their pricing pages for current rates, as prices and plan names change. Over three years that’s about $600–$1,800, plus a domain once any free first year ends, plus any paid apps you add.
A freelance designer typically charges about $1,000–$5,000 for the build, plus hosting and maintenance; an agency charges more. A managed monthly plan spreads the cost instead: Total Stack website plans are $99–$299 a month with $0 setup on a 12-month plan, about $3,564–$10,764 over three years, with hosting, updates and changes included.
The honest summary: a builder is usually the cheapest in cash. Whether it’s cheapest overall depends on what your time is worth and how much business the site brings in. For the full breakdown, read how much a small business website costs in Atlanta.
SEO
Wix and Squarespace both handle the technical basics well enough for most small sites: mobile-friendly templates, SSL, sitemaps, and page titles and descriptions you can edit. A builder won’t hold you back on Google.
What a builder doesn’t do is the work. Showing up in Google Maps when someone nearby searches for your service depends on things outside the editor: a complete, active Google Business Profile, consistent listings across directories, reviews, and service pages written around what local customers actually search for. Whether you build or hire, someone has to do that work. The question is whether it’s you.
Ownership and lock-in
- Your domain: with any of these options you can own your domain and move it later. Make sure it’s registered to your business, or that you can have it transferred to you.
- Your content: your words and photos are yours either way. Keep your own copies.
- The site itself: builder sites are made for their platform. Wix doesn’t let you move a site to another host, so leaving usually means rebuilding. Squarespace can export some content, such as basic pages and blog posts, but not the design. Check each platform’s help pages for the current details.
- With a designer: ask up front who owns the design, who holds the logins, and what you get if you leave. With Total Stack your domain and content are yours, there’s no fee to cancel, and if you cancel we’ll send you a copy of your site’s files and content.
Support
Wix and Squarespace offer help centers and customer support for their platforms. Their teams can show you how the editor works; they won’t rewrite your services page, fix your Google listing or update your holiday hours for you.
A designer’s support depends on the deal. After a one-off build, changes are usually billed by the hour. On a managed plan, changes are included and you have a person to call who knows your site. Our website plans include a set number of change requests a year (no yearly cap on Fully managed + SEO), sent from the client portal.
When Wix or Squarespace is honestly the better choice
- You’re just starting out, cash is tight, and you have more time than money.
- You enjoy design and writing, and want to change things yourself the moment you think of them.
- The site is a simple online brochure and most of your customers come from referrals or repeat business.
- You’re testing a new idea and want something online this weekend.
- You’re happy to do your own local SEO, or you don’t need customers from search.
If that sounds like you, a builder is a good choice. Spend the money you save on great photos.
When hiring a designer makes more sense
- Your time is worth more running the business than building a website.
- You need calls from people searching nearby, in a competitive field such as home services, legal or medical.
- You want the site to look like your business, not like a template.
- You’d rather send a quick message than log in and edit.
- You want one partner for the site, hosting, SEO and changes.
Side by side
| Wix or Squarespace | Web designer or managed plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds it | You | A professional |
| Your time | Days to build, plus ongoing edits | A kickoff, your content, approvals |
| Up front | Nothing beyond the plan | A one-off build fee, or a small setup fee on a monthly plan |
| Ongoing | Roughly $17–$49/mo, plus a domain and any apps | Hosting and maintenance, or one monthly plan fee |
| Design | A template you customize | Built around your business |
| Technical SEO basics | Included | Included |
| Local SEO work | You do it | Can be included |
| Moving elsewhere | Wix: rebuild. Squarespace: some content exports | Depends on the agreement; ask first |
| Support | Platform help center and support team | A person who knows your site |
Not sure where you stand? Get a free visibility check: a one-page report on your Google Business Profile, your Maps ranking for your main service and your site speed, within one business day. It works whether your site is on Wix, Squarespace or anything else.