Custom Website vs Wix and Squarespace: An Australian Guide

Wix and Squarespace are good products. They're easy to use and suit plenty of Australian businesses. So "should I just use Wix?" is a fair question.

The honest answer is that it depends on what your website needs to do. Here's how the two compare on the things that matter to a small business owner.

The short version

Speed

Visitors leave slow websites, and Google uses page experience, including speed, as one of many ranking signals.

Wix and Squarespace run millions of sites on the same system, so each page carries code for features your site may never use. A custom site only loads what it needs, which makes it easier to keep fast on phones.

You can check any site with Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool. Try your own site and a few competitors' sites.

Search (SEO)

Both can rank on Google. Builders let you set page titles, descriptions and other basics. A custom site gives you more control in three areas:

• Page structure: you decide the headings and layout on every page.
• Business details for Google: extra code (called schema) that tells search engines your business name, location, hours and services. Builders limit how much of this you can add.
• Blog and web addresses: full control over page addresses, categories and the sitemap.

For a Brisbane service business competing in local search, these details help Google understand what you do and where you work.

Ownership and moving later

With Wix or Squarespace, you rent. You pay to use the platform, but you don't own the site's code. You can't move the site to another host or hand the code to a developer to add a feature. If the platform changes its prices or features, you accept the change or rebuild.

With a custom site, you own the code. You can host it anywhere, give it to another developer, or keep working with the person who built it. With us there's no lock-in contract.

What three years costs

Builder plans change, so check the current price. This example uses a $40 a month plan.

The builder is cheaper in dollars, especially if you don't count your own time. Picking a template, writing the words, adding photos and checking it all on a phone still takes work.

In this example, the gap between the builder and Launch is about $640 over three years. For many service businesses, one extra job covers that. Our Brisbane website cost guide has more on typical prices.

When Wix or Squarespace is the right choice

• You're just starting out and want something live this week.
• Your site is a brochure. Work comes from referrals or social media, and people only check the site to see you're real.
• Your budget is very tight right now.
• You want to change the content often yourself and you like drag and drop editing.

In those cases, use a builder. You can move to a custom site later, when the website needs to do more.

When a custom site makes more sense

• People find you by searching for "[your service] Brisbane", and the site needs to turn them into enquiries.
• You want control over how the site is built and how Google reads it.
• You want to own your site and be free to change host or developer.
• You'd rather pay someone to build it than spend your evenings on it.

If you're unsure, ask yourself one question: is my website my main source of new enquiries, or just proof that I exist? If it's proof, a builder is often enough.

For your IT person

Wix and Squarespace sites run on each platform's own system and can't be exported as code. A custom site is standard web code that any hosting provider can run. If you go custom, ask for access to the code repository and the hosting account, and make sure the domain is registered to the business. Structured data (schema.org JSON-LD) can be added without limits.

Need a straight answer?

See our Brisbane website design packages, or get in touch for a free chat about your business. If a builder suits you better, we'll say so.