Wix vs WordPress vs custom — honest 2026 verdict.

Pick the wrong website platform and you'll spend the next three years either fighting it or paying to migrate off it. The right answer depends on your size, ambition and budget — not on what your designer is most comfortable building. Here's the honest breakdown.

Wix — when it actually makes sense

Best for: hobbyists, one-page brochures, sole traders with no growth ambition. Cost: £15–£40/month. Pros: easy drag-and-drop, decent templates, you can launch in a weekend. Cons: vendor lock-in (you literally cannot export the site), slower than tuned WordPress, weaker SEO ceiling, costs climb once you need real features. The honest verdict: if you might ever need to migrate, don't start here.

WordPress — the SME default

Best for: most UK SMEs — trades, professional services, hospitality, small e-commerce. Cost: £1,800–£4,800 build + £15–£40/month hosting. Pros: you own everything, 60k+ plugins, great SEO tooling, vast pool of developers if you need to switch. Cons: can become bloated if built badly (avoid heavy page builders like Avada/Divi where possible), needs ongoing updates and care. The honest verdict: 80% of UK SMEs are best served by a well-built WordPress site on a lean theme.

Custom (React / TanStack / Next.js)

Best for: businesses that need maximum speed, AI-readiness, or unique functionality. Cost: £4,000–£15,000+. Pros: sub-1s loads, 100/100 PageSpeed achievable, unmatched AI Overview citation potential, no plugin bloat, no security surface. Cons: needs a developer for content changes (or a headless CMS), longer build time, fewer developers in the market. The honest verdict: if speed and AI visibility are real competitive advantages for you, custom wins — otherwise it's overkill.

Honourable mentions

Squarespace — Wix's prettier cousin, same trade-offs. Webflow — genuinely strong for designer-led builds with no code, but pricier than WordPress at scale. Framer — excellent landing-page tool, limited beyond that. Shopify — best in class for serious e-commerce, but overkill for brochure sites. Each has a real use case.

What we build (and why)

We build on WordPress for clients who edit constantly and want full ownership. We build on custom React stacks (TanStack Start, Next.js, Astro) for clients who want maximum speed and AI-readiness. We don't build on Wix or Squarespace — not because they're bad, but because we can't deliver the speed and ownership outcomes our clients hire us for on those platforms.