Most people asking which platform to build their website on are really asking three things: who will edit it, what it has to do, and what it will cost over the next few years. The platform follows from the answers. Here is how the usual options compare, including the ones I do not build on.
Prices below are rough monthly figures at the time of writing, billed yearly, before VAT. They change often, so check each platform's own pricing page before you decide.
Wix and Squarespace
Website builders. You pick a template, drag blocks around, and the hosting, security and updates are someone else's problem. Plans run from roughly €15 to €40 a month for most small businesses.
They suit you if you want to build the site yourself, the budget is small, and the site is mostly a few pages that rarely change. A good template with your own photos and honest copy beats a badly briefed custom site.
Where it starts to hurt: you are renting, not owning. Neither lets you take the site to another host, so leaving means rebuilding. Templates also push every business towards the same look, and anything the builder does not offer, such as a custom booking flow or a price calculator, is either an app with its own fee or not possible.
WordPress
The software is free and runs a large share of the web, so almost any developer or agency can work on it. Hosting runs from a few euros a month for cheap shared plans to €30 or more for managed hosting, plus yearly licences for the premium plugins and theme most sites end up using.
It suits you if you need something a plugin already does well, want to own your site, and have someone to look after it. A content-heavy site with a blog and a simple shop is its home ground.
Where it starts to hurt: maintenance. Every plugin is code from a different author, and each needs updates. Skip them and the site becomes a security risk; apply them and something occasionally breaks. Sites built with heavy page builders also tend to get slower with every addition. WordPress is cheap to start and costs more over time than people expect.
Webflow
A visual tool built for designers. It gives far more control over layout and motion than Wix or Squarespace, and hosting is included. A site with a CMS for a blog or case studies costs around €25 a month, plus seat fees for each person who needs full access.
It suits you if a designer builds the site and the design matters most, and your team mainly edits text and swaps images.
Where it starts to hurt: like the builders, it only runs on Webflow's hosting. You can export the code, but the CMS stays behind. Extra languages, more editors and higher traffic each add to the bill. And editors work inside the designer's layout, which is great until you need a page type nobody planned for.
Shopify
If you sell products, start here. Payments, stock, shipping, taxes and checkout work on day one, and the checkout is one people already trust. Plans start at around €30 a month and rise to around €80 to €100 on the next tier, plus card fees on every sale and higher fees if you use a payment provider other than Shopify's own.
It suits you if you sell a standard catalogue, want to be selling within days, and are happy to look like a Shopify store.
Where it starts to hurt: apps. Reviews, subscriptions, bundles, better search and translations are each a separate monthly subscription, and a typical store pays for several. Content pages are basic compared to a real CMS, and unusual flows, such as made-to-order products or B2B pricing per customer, end up fighting the platform.
Custom, on Payload
This is what I build. Payload is an open-source CMS: the admin panel is shaped around your content, and the site itself is written for your business rather than assembled from a template. You own the code and the data, and the site can run on any host.
It suits you if the website is central to how you win work or sell, if it has to do something specific (bookings, quotes, a calculator, several languages, a connection to your stock or accounting), or if the people editing it should be able to do so without breaking the layout.
Where it starts to hurt: the upfront cost is higher than a template, and changes need a developer rather than a drag-and-drop editor. Because Payload and the frameworks it runs on are open source and widely used, any capable developer can take over, so you are not tied to me.
Compare cost over three years, not one month
Monthly prices hide the real cost. Add up three years of the plan, the apps or plugins you will actually need, the hours someone spends maintaining it, and what a rebuild costs if you outgrow it. A €20 builder is €720 over three years plus your own time. A custom site costs more on day one and can cost less by year three if it replaces a pile of subscriptions.
My own prices, including hosting, are on the pricing page.
When I would tell you not to hire me
- You want a few pages, you are happy to build them yourself, and the budget is under a couple of thousand euros. Use Squarespace or Wix and spend the rest on good photos.
- You sell a standard catalogue in one country and need to start this month. Use Shopify, and come back if fees and apps start to pile up.
- Your team already knows WordPress and the site does what you need. Keep it, update it, and fix what is slow before replacing anything.
If none of those sound like you, a custom site is probably worth a conversation.