WordPress vs website builder: which is better?

You want to build a website, but don't know where to start. Should you choose WordPress or a website builder like Wix, Squarespace or Webflow? Both options have pros and cons. In this article we compare WordPress with website builders on all important aspects, so you can make an informed choice.

What's the difference?

WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that you install on your own hosting. You have complete control over everything, but must handle the technical side yourself or pay for it. WordPress is extremely flexible: with the right plugins and themes you can literally build any type of website.

Website builders like Wix, Squarespace and Webflow are "all-in-one" platforms. You get hosting, design tools and technical management in one package. They work with drag-and-drop editors that let you build a professional-looking website without any coding knowledge. Everything is arranged for you, but you have less freedom.

The core difference is control versus convenience. WordPress gives you maximum freedom but requires more technical knowledge. Website builders are user-friendly but more limited in possibilities.

Ease of use: the learning curve

Website builders win hands down on ease of use. Platforms like Wix and Squarespace are specifically designed for people without technical background. You drag elements to your page, adjust colors and texts, and you're done. Most people can have a working website online within a day.

WordPress has a steeper learning curve. You need to learn to work with the dashboard, install and configure themes, manage plugins, and understand hosting basics. For complete beginners this can be overwhelming. But the knowledge is transferable: once you master WordPress, you can manage any WordPress site.

The modern WordPress block editor (Gutenberg) has made WordPress more accessible. You can now also drag blocks in WordPress, bringing it closer to website builders. But fully utilizing WordPress's potential still requires more knowledge.

Flexibility and customizability

This is where WordPress shines. With more than 60,000 free plugins and thousands of themes you can literally build anything: webshops, forums, membership sites, portfolios, business websites, blogs. If a feature doesn't exist, you can have it developed or build it yourself if you have PHP knowledge.

Website builders are more limited. You can only use the features the platform offers. Want a specific feature that's not available? Too bad. Some builders like Webflow offer more design freedom, but you stay within the platform's boundaries.

For e-commerce this difference is crucial. WooCommerce (WordPress) offers almost infinite customization options for webshops. You can add any payment method, set up complex shipping rules, and integrate with any external system. Wix and Squarespace have built-in webshop features, but these are much more limited.

Costs: the long-term view

At first glance, website builders seem cheaper. Wix starts at €10 per month, Squarespace at €14. This seems attractive compared to WordPress hosting that quickly costs €15-30 per month (with managed WordPress hosting).

But look further. With website builders, hosting, domain and basic features are included in the package. With WordPress you pay separately for hosting (€15-50/month), often a premium theme (€30-60 one-time) and possibly premium plugins (€0-200/year). For a professional WordPress site you'll quickly spend €30-75 per month.

However, in the long term WordPress can be cheaper. You don't pay a percentage on transactions (like with Wix e-commerce), have no mandatory upgrades for more functionality, and can switch to cheaper hosting if you want. With website builders you're stuck with their pricing model.

For webshops the difference is large. Wix and Squarespace charge 2-3% transaction costs on top of your normal payment provider fees. At €10,000 revenue per month, that costs you €200-300 extra. WooCommerce has no transaction costs.

Performance and SEO

WordPress can be extremely fast with the right hosting and optimization. Managed WordPress hosting providers like Kinsta and WP Engine achieve loading times under 0.5 seconds. But you need to know what you're doing: a poorly optimized WordPress site with slow plugins can also be slow.

Website builders are usually reasonably fast "out of the box", but you have little control over performance. Server speed is what it is. Some builders like Squarespace score well on speed, others like Wix have been criticized for slow loading times on complex sites.

For SEO, WordPress has the upper hand. With plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math you have complete control over meta tags, schema markup, XML sitemaps and all technical SEO aspects. The code is also cleaner and easier for search engines to crawl.

Website builders are getting better at SEO, but remain behind. You have less control over technical SEO, the generated code is often bloated, and advanced SEO features are missing. For bloggers and content creators seriously investing in SEO, WordPress is a better choice.

Ownership rights and vendor lock-in

This is a crucial but often overlooked aspect. With WordPress you own your content, data and website. You can move to another hosting provider tomorrow, download a complete backup, or run your site locally. You're not dependent on one company.

With website builders you're locked into the platform. Your content is in their database, in their format. Want to migrate to WordPress? That's a whole task where you often have to manually rebuild everything. Does the platform go bankrupt or drastically raise prices? You're stuck.

For businesses this is a real risk. Your digital presence is crucial. Making it dependent on the survival and policy of one platform is risky. WordPress is open-source and will always exist, even if WordPress.com (the commercial company) would stop.

Maintenance and updates

Website builders score points here: everything is automatically arranged for you. Updates, security, backups - you don't have to worry about that. This is perfect for people who want to focus on content and marketing.

WordPress requires more maintenance. You need to update WordPress core, plugins and themes. This can usually be automatic, but sometimes an update can break something. You need to make regular backups (or have them made by your hosting) and monitor security. For non-technical people this is a challenge.

Managed WordPress hosting solves this. Providers like WP Engine and Kinsta take all technical management off your hands, making WordPress as carefree in terms of maintenance as a website builder. At a higher price of course.

Scalability and growth

WordPress scales with your growth. Start with a simple blog, grow to a content platform with thousands of articles, add a webshop, and build a membership area. That's all possible on the same WordPress platform. You never have to migrate to another system.

Website builders have limits. You're stuck with the number of pages, products or visitors your plan allows. Want more? Then you have to upgrade to a more expensive plan. For fast-growing websites you can hit the ceilings.

WordPress also scales better technically. With the right hosting you can handle millions of visitors per month. Website builders have fixed server resources per plan, giving you less control over performance during growth.

Security and protection

WordPress has a reputation for being vulnerable to hacks. This is mainly because it's so popular - it's a big target for hackers. But WordPress itself is secure. Problems usually arise from outdated plugins, weak passwords or poor hosting.

With good practices WordPress is very secure: use strong passwords, keep everything up-to-date, use security plugins like Wordfence, and choose reliable hosting. Managed WordPress providers take security seriously with firewalls, malware scanning and automatic updates.

Website builders are generally safer for the average user, simply because you can't do anything wrong. The platform handles all security. However, if the platform gets hacked, all sites are vulnerable at once (this is rare but not unthinkable).

Support and community

WordPress has the largest community in the world. For every problem you'll find tutorials, forum posts and videos. There are thousands of developers you can hire for custom work. Free support comes via forums, but this isn't a direct helpdesk.

With managed WordPress hosting you do get professional support from WordPress experts. With website builders, support is usually well organized: live chat, email support and extensive knowledge bases. For beginners this is a big advantage.

The verdict: what should you choose?

Choose a website builder (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow) if:

• You want a website online quickly without technical knowledge
• You want a simple website or portfolio
• You have no time or interest in technical management
• Budget is limited and you want an all-in-one solution
• You know your functionality requirements stay within the platform's possibilities

Choose WordPress if:

• You want to build a professional, scalable website
• Flexibility and control are important
• You're serious about SEO and content marketing
• You want a webshop without transaction costs
• You value ownership rights and platform independence
• You're willing to invest in managed hosting or technical knowledge

For bloggers and content creators, WordPress is almost always the better choice. For small businesses wanting a simple brochure site, a website builder can be perfect. And for e-commerce it depends on scale: small webshops can do fine on Shopify or Wix, but with growth WooCommerce offers many more possibilities.