The short answer
Wix suits most UK small businesses that want room to grow: more design freedom, more built-in business tools and a free plan to try it on. Squarespace suits people who want a tidy, structured site with very little fuss, especially portfolios and blogs. Both are solid, and how well your site is planned and built matters more than which logo is on the dashboard.
Wix vs Squarespace: the real difference
Read five reviews and you'll get five winners. Tooltester crowns Wix on ease of use; Expert Market gives that round to Squarespace. They're both right, because they're answering different questions.
The honest difference is philosophy. Wix lets you put things almost anywhere and bolt on a lot of business tools. Squarespace gives you fewer choices, on purpose, so it's harder to make a mess.
So the better question isn't "which is best?" It's "how will I actually run this site, and what does it need to do in two years' time?"
Wix vs Squarespace pricing in 2026
On paper the two are close. Here are the main UK plans, in pounds, on yearly billing.
| Plan | Price a month, yearly billing | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Wix Free | £0 | Wix branding, no web address of your own |
| Wix Light | £9 (£11.50 billed monthly) | Free domain for a year, 2 GB storage, no online shop |
| Wix Core | £16 (£19 billed monthly) | Accept payments, basic ecommerce, bookings, 50 GB storage |
| Wix Business | £25 (£29 billed monthly) | Standard ecommerce, bookings, 100 GB storage |
| Wix Business Elite | £119 (£145 billed monthly) | Advanced ecommerce, unlimited storage, developer platform |
| Squarespace Basic | £12 (£16 billed monthly) | Sell online with a 2% store fee, up to 2 contributors |
| Squarespace Core | £17 (£24 billed monthly) | 0% store fee, unlimited contributors, advanced analytics |
| Squarespace Plus | £29 (£36 billed monthly) | 0% store fee, lower card rates, advanced selling features |
| Squarespace Advanced | £79 (£89 billed monthly) | 0% fees on store and digital sales, lowest card rates |
UK prices, checked 21 October 2026. Both companies change their prices from time to time, so check the live pricing page before you sign up.
Two things are worth knowing. Wix has a free plan, but it carries Wix branding and you can't use your own web address on it. Squarespace has no free plan, but every site starts with a 14-day free trial.
And if you sell online, look past the monthly fee. Squarespace's Basic plan takes a 2% fee on online store sales, on top of card processing. From Core upwards that store fee drops to 0%.
Design and ease of use
This is where it comes down to how you like to work.
Wix gives you a blank canvas. You can drag a box anywhere, add a booking system, a members' area or a shop, and keep building. That freedom is brilliant when you know what you want, and a bit much when you don't. Zapier's review calls the Wix interface maximalist, and that's fair.
Squarespace is more structured. Most reviewers rate its templates as more polished out of the box, and the guardrails make it hard to end up with something that looks off. The trade-off is that when you want something the template wasn't designed for, you hit the edges sooner.
Neither is hard to update once the site is built. The difficulty is building it well in the first place, and that's true on both.
Selling online, bookings and payments
Both will take payments and run a shop. The differences show up as you grow.
On Wix, the Core plan and above let you accept payments, sell products and take bookings for services. The Light plan doesn't include a shop, so check that before you pick the cheapest one.
Squarespace lets you sell from its Basic plan, with that 2% store fee, and every paid plan can sell products or services. Its card rates come down on the higher plans.
For UK sellers specifically, Tooltester points out that Squarespace's automatic tax calculation and built-in shipping rates are geared to the US, while Wix offers more for UK and EU sellers. If you sell physical products across the UK, test the checkout and shipping set-up on both before you commit.
Wix vs Squarespace for SEO
Short version: both can rank. Tooltester calls SEO a draw these days, and we'd agree it's the build, not the badge.
Wix gives you full control over page titles, descriptions and web addresses, fast mobile-friendly pages and secure hosting. Squarespace covers the same basics. What moves rankings is the work on top: the right pages for the right searches, words that answer what people are asking, and a steady stream of reviews and links.
If someone tells you that you can't rank on Wix, ask them when they last looked. That stopped being true a long time ago.
What we'd do
We've gone all in on Wix, so take this with that in mind. But we'd tell you if Squarespace was the better shout, and sometimes it is.
We'd pick Squarespace if you're a photographer, artist or writer who wants a beautiful portfolio or blog, you'll build it yourself, and you don't need much more than a gallery, a contact form and maybe a few products. It's a lovely tool for that, and you'll be up and running quickly.
We'd pick Wix if the website is part of how the business runs: bookings, a shop, a members' area, forms that feed into your systems, lots of service pages for SEO, or plans to grow. That's most of the businesses we work with, and Wix keeps all of that in one dashboard.
One thing to go in with your eyes open on. A Wix site built in the Wix editor or Wix Studio can't be exported to another platform. You keep your content, images and brand, but the site itself stays on Wix. If owning the code matters to you, Wix Headless is the route: Wix still runs your content, forms, blog and hosting, and the front of the site is custom built and yours to move later.
Pick the platform that fits how you'll run the business, not the one that won the last review you read.
Questions people ask
Which is better, Wix or Squarespace?
Neither wins outright. Wix is better if you want design freedom and more built-in business tools such as bookings, payments and a members' area. Squarespace is better if you want a polished, structured site with fewer decisions, such as a portfolio or blog.
Why are people leaving Wix?
The usual reasons are an editor that can feel busy, monthly plan costs, and the fact that a site built in the Wix editor or Wix Studio can't be exported to another platform. Wix Headless answers that last one, because the code behind the site is yours to move.
Which is better for 2026, Wix or Squarespace?
For most UK small businesses that want to grow, Wix, because it does more in one place and starts with a free plan. For a simple portfolio or blog you'll build yourself, Squarespace is a strong choice, with a 14-day free trial to test it.
Not sure which way to go?
If you've decided on Wix and want it built properly, have a look at our website packages: monthly plans from £145 a month, with your Wix plan, hosting and 4 to 8 hours of updates a month depending on the plan, or one-off builds from £1,500. Every package is a custom Wix website with the SEO foundations in place.
Already have a site, on Wix, Squarespace or anything else? Send it over for a free website review. You'll get a short video on what's working, what isn't and what we'd change, with no hard sell.