Websites

Website builder, WordPress, or custom build: what do you give up?

A website builder trades control for convenience. That is a fair trade for many businesses, right up until you need a redirect, a piece of structured data, or to leave. This table shows what each platform lets you control, what it charges, and what you can take with you.

Checked against each vendor's own pages on October 14, 2026. Every cell links to its source. Prices and plans change often, so click through before you buy.

	WixWix	SquarespaceSquarespace	WordPress.comAutomattic	WebflowWebflow	Next.js on VercelVercel
Cheapest plan with your own domain	Light: $17.77/mo, billed yearly (paid in full at purchase). Connecting a custom domain and removing Wix ads need a Premium plan.Plans page: 'Displayed prices are for yearly subscriptions, paid in full at the time of purchase.' The $159 figure is not a conflict: it is the Business Elite price ($159.77/mo). The plans page lists a custom domain under 'All plans include' but its FAQ and the Premium pricing article say a Premium plan is needed to connect your own domain; the pages do not say which plan removes ads, so Light as the cheapest ad-free plan is an inference. Prices vary by region.Wix plans Wix Premium plan pricing	Basic: $25/mo or $19/mo, billing basis not labeledPrices and the missing billing label confirmed on the pricing page; no effective date shown. Custom domain is listed on every plan. The help article says the Made with Squarespace credit is optional to remove and names no plan, so branding removal on Basic is not tied to a plan. Original evidence snippet (unlimited domains) was not found in the pages we checked and was replaced.Squarespace pricing Removing Made with Squarespace	Personal plan: $4/mo billed yearly ($9/mo billed monthly); custom domain, no adsAnnual-billing rate is $4/mo; $9/mo is month-to-month. Free plan has no custom domain and shows ads. Custom domain is free for one year on annual plans only. The pricing page does not state whether WordPress.com branding is removed on Personal.WordPress.com pricing	Basic site plan: $15/mo billed yearly, custom domain, no Webflow badgeYearly-billed price. Monthly billing is $25/mo per Webflow's May 2026 help article. Existing sites move to new prices on June 29 or November 16, 2026. Badge removal needs a paid site plan per the branding help page.Webflow pricing page Webflow branding help article	Pro: $20/mo, plus $20 per user/month for each Developer seat. Hobby: $0, but non-commercial use only.Pricing page shows Pro as "$20/mo." and does not state per-seat or yearly billing there; the Hobby docs page says Developer seats cost $20 per user / month. Hobby allows 50 domains per project, so a custom domain is possible on Hobby, but the fair-use guidelines restrict Hobby to non-commercial, personal use, so a business site needs Pro. Vercel branding removal is not stated on either page.Vercel Pricing Vercel Hobby Plan docs
Custom code in the head	Partial: head code is allowed once the site is published with a connected domain. The cheapest plan is not named.Help page lists 'Head', 'Body – start', 'Body – end' placement and requires a published site with a connected domain. A connected domain needs a Premium plan, so a paid plan is implied. The page does not mention Premium or free sites.Wix custom code help	Yes on Core and above. Not included on Basic.Pricing page shows code injection Not included on Basic; Core is $39/mo or $29/mo, billing basis not labeled. The help article does not say header injection specifically.Add custom code to your site Squarespace pricing	Yes. Personal plan and up, using the free Insert Headers and Footers plugin by WPCode; not on FreeCheapest plan is Personal. Free sites must upgrade.WordPress.com: Add code to the WordPress site...	Yes, on any paid Site plan such as BasicThe free Starter plan is not listed as allowing custom code. Custom code needs an active Site plan or a Core, Growth, Agency or Freelancer Workspace.Custom code in head and body tags	Yes, in your own code on any plan: add a script tag in layout or page, or use the Metadata API for head tags.Next.js recommends rendering JSON-LD as a script tag in layout.js or page.js. No Vercel plan gate for this was found on the pages we checked; it is code in your own repo, so Hobby works technically (Hobby is non-commercial only). Tracking scripts via next/script were not checked.Next.js JSON-LD guide Next.js layout.js docs
301 redirects	Yes: 301 redirects, max 5,000 per site, custom domain required.Page says 301 redirects only work with custom domains (which need Premium).Wix 301 redirect help	Yes, in URL mappings. Capped at 400 KB, about 2,500 lines.The help article names no plan for URL mappings and gives no fixed redirect count.URL mappings	Domain-level 301s via Domain Forwarding (default is 307, switch to 301 in advanced settings); page-level 301s not confirmedNo plan requirement or cap on number of forwards is stated; multiple forwards can be added; domain must use WordPress.com default name servers and A records.WordPress.com: Forward a WordPress.com Domain	Yes, on paid Site plans. No hard cap; Webflow advises 1,000 max.Redirects need a paid Site plan or a Workspace with a paid plan, so the free Starter plan cannot add them. Bulk CSV import and export is supported.How do I set up redirects in Webflow?	Yes, in next.config.js or vercel.json; up to 2,048 redirects in the array. Permanent redirects use status 308.Configuration redirects evaluate at build time and ship with a deploy. The page says that beyond the limit, use Middleware with Global Config; a separate Bulk Redirects page exists. No plan requirement is stated on this page. Permanent is 308, not 301.Vercel configuration redirects docs
Take your site with you	No. The site must run on Wix's serversWix says the site is built with its technology and must be hosted and operated on Wix's servers. CMS collections and store products export as CSV; blog posts do not. You can move the domain.Exporting or embedding your Wix site elsewhere	Partial: WordPress XML file, not a full backup or restore.Exports layout pages, gallery pages, one blog page with posts and comments, text and image blocks. Does not export other page types, more than one blog, audio, product and video blocks, drafts, style settings or custom CSS.Exporting your site	Partial. Zip backup of the whole site (content, themes, plugins, root files) on Business and Commerce only; XML export of posts, pages, comments and a media library export on any planZip excludes WordPress core files. The page does not say the zip runs on another host as-is. Backup feature is limited to Business and Commerce.WordPress.com: Back Up Your WordPress.com Site	Paid Workspace plans only (Site plans alone cannot export). Exports HTML, CSS, JS and images.CMS, User Accounts, Ecommerce content, localized pages, code components, password protection, site search and form processing are not included. The cheapest Workspace plan with code export on the pricing page is Core at $19/mo billed yearly.How do I export my Webflow site code? Webflow pricing page	Yes: Next.js runs outside Vercel as a Node.js server, Docker container, or static export; your code lives in your own Git repo.This is portability of the code, not a one-click content export. Static export does not support features that need a server. Vercel's page notes self-hosted ISR is limited to a single region and does not persist generated pages to durable storage by default; Image Optimization uses the default Next.js server when self-hosting. Content stored in a separate CMS or database is exported from that service.Next.js deploying docs Next.js on Vercel docs
Transaction fee on sales	Not publishedThe plans page mentions no transaction fee. Wix Payments processing is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in the U.S., which is a processor rate, not a platform fee. No Wix page stating a platform fee on the cheapest store plan (Core) was found.Wix plans What is Wix Payments	Basic: 2% online store fee, 7% digital content and memberships.Core and above show a 0% online store fee; the pricing page does not say whether these fees add to card processing fees.Squarespace pricing	Not publishedThe pricing page lists a tiered 'standard payments' fee of 10%, 8%, 4%, 2%, 0% in plan order, but column labels are not explicit. Premium and Business list payment buttons; Commerce is the store plan.WordPress.com pricing	2% on Ecommerce Standard. Plus and Advanced charge 0%.The fee is on the order total including taxes, on top of Stripe or PayPal fees. Pricing page shows Ecommerce Standard at $29/mo billed yearly (a separate ecommerce plan).Connect a payment provider Webflow pricing page	Not applicableVercel is a host, not a store builder. The pricing page and docs we checked list no platform transaction fee on sales; the page does not frame it as 'bring your own checkout', so that phrase is not used.Vercel Pricing
Hosting and updates	Yes: Wix handles hosting, free automatic SSL and security patching.Uptime of 99.99% is Wix's own claim.Does Wix host websites	Hosting and free SSL included. Platform update duty not stated.Free SSL applies only to domains pointing to a Squarespace site; certificates come from Let's Encrypt and refresh every 90 days, issued automatically. The pages checked do not say who handles platform updates, so that point is unconfirmed.Understanding SSL certificates	Managed hosting, SSL, WordPress core and PHP updates handled by WordPress.com; plugin and theme update responsibility not statedPlugin installs need Personal or higher. The pricing page mentions 'bundled plugin auto-updates' once without plan mapping, and the choose-a-host and plugins pages do not say who updates plugins or themes.WordPress.com: Choose a WordPress host	Yes. Webflow hosts, includes SSL/TLS, and handles updates on Site plans.Webflow support does not help with custom code setup, so custom code stays the owner's job.Webflow hosting Custom code in head and body tags	Partly: Vercel hosts, scales and issues and renews SSL automatically; framework and dependency upgrades are not stated as Vercel's job.Vercel generates a Let's Encrypt certificate for each domain once added and DNS is correct, and auto-renews 14 to 30 days before expiry. Docs say nothing on who upgrades Next.js versions; since you deploy your own code, treat upgrades as the owner's job (inference, not vendor text).Vercel SSL docs Next.js on Vercel docs
Our pickOpinion, not a vendor claim	Good for a solo operator who will never need to leave. Wix has no export, so what you build stays there.	The best-looking default for a service business brochure. Core, not Basic, if you want code in the head.	Cheapest way to own a real WordPress site with updates handled. The XML export works on any plan; the full zip needs Business.	For a designer-led site with real SEO controls. Export needs a Workspace plan, so plan for it.	When the site is a tool, not a brochure: booking, quoting, a directory, a portal. Someone has to own the code.

Wix

Cheapest plan with your own domain: Light: $17.77/mo, billed yearly (paid in full at purchase). Connecting a custom domain and removing Wix ads need a Premium plan.Plans page: 'Displayed prices are for yearly subscriptions, paid in full at the time of purchase.' The $159 figure is not a conflict: it is the Business Elite price ($159.77/mo). The plans page lists a custom domain under 'All plans include' but its FAQ and the Premium pricing article say a Premium plan is needed to connect your own domain; the pages do not say which plan removes ads, so Light as the cheapest ad-free plan is an inference. Prices vary by region.Wix plans Wix Premium plan pricing
Custom code in the head: Partial: head code is allowed once the site is published with a connected domain. The cheapest plan is not named.Help page lists 'Head', 'Body – start', 'Body – end' placement and requires a published site with a connected domain. A connected domain needs a Premium plan, so a paid plan is implied. The page does not mention Premium or free sites.Wix custom code help
301 redirects: Yes: 301 redirects, max 5,000 per site, custom domain required.Page says 301 redirects only work with custom domains (which need Premium).Wix 301 redirect help
Take your site with you: No. The site must run on Wix's serversWix says the site is built with its technology and must be hosted and operated on Wix's servers. CMS collections and store products export as CSV; blog posts do not. You can move the domain.Exporting or embedding your Wix site elsewhere
Transaction fee on sales: Not publishedThe plans page mentions no transaction fee. Wix Payments processing is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in the U.S., which is a processor rate, not a platform fee. No Wix page stating a platform fee on the cheapest store plan (Core) was found.Wix plans What is Wix Payments
Hosting and updates: Yes: Wix handles hosting, free automatic SSL and security patching.Uptime of 99.99% is Wix's own claim.Does Wix host websites
Our pick: Good for a solo operator who will never need to leave. Wix has no export, so what you build stays there.

Squarespace

Cheapest plan with your own domain: Basic: $25/mo or $19/mo, billing basis not labeledPrices and the missing billing label confirmed on the pricing page; no effective date shown. Custom domain is listed on every plan. The help article says the Made with Squarespace credit is optional to remove and names no plan, so branding removal on Basic is not tied to a plan. Original evidence snippet (unlimited domains) was not found in the pages we checked and was replaced.Squarespace pricing Removing Made with Squarespace
Custom code in the head: Yes on Core and above. Not included on Basic.Pricing page shows code injection Not included on Basic; Core is $39/mo or $29/mo, billing basis not labeled. The help article does not say header injection specifically.Add custom code to your site Squarespace pricing
301 redirects: Yes, in URL mappings. Capped at 400 KB, about 2,500 lines.The help article names no plan for URL mappings and gives no fixed redirect count.URL mappings
Take your site with you: Partial: WordPress XML file, not a full backup or restore.Exports layout pages, gallery pages, one blog page with posts and comments, text and image blocks. Does not export other page types, more than one blog, audio, product and video blocks, drafts, style settings or custom CSS.Exporting your site
Transaction fee on sales: Basic: 2% online store fee, 7% digital content and memberships.Core and above show a 0% online store fee; the pricing page does not say whether these fees add to card processing fees.Squarespace pricing
Hosting and updates: Hosting and free SSL included. Platform update duty not stated.Free SSL applies only to domains pointing to a Squarespace site; certificates come from Let's Encrypt and refresh every 90 days, issued automatically. The pages checked do not say who handles platform updates, so that point is unconfirmed.Understanding SSL certificates
Our pick: The best-looking default for a service business brochure. Core, not Basic, if you want code in the head.

WordPress.com

Automattic

Cheapest plan with your own domain: Personal plan: $4/mo billed yearly ($9/mo billed monthly); custom domain, no adsAnnual-billing rate is $4/mo; $9/mo is month-to-month. Free plan has no custom domain and shows ads. Custom domain is free for one year on annual plans only. The pricing page does not state whether WordPress.com branding is removed on Personal.WordPress.com pricing
Custom code in the head: Yes. Personal plan and up, using the free Insert Headers and Footers plugin by WPCode; not on FreeCheapest plan is Personal. Free sites must upgrade.WordPress.com: Add code to the WordPress site...
301 redirects: Domain-level 301s via Domain Forwarding (default is 307, switch to 301 in advanced settings); page-level 301s not confirmedNo plan requirement or cap on number of forwards is stated; multiple forwards can be added; domain must use WordPress.com default name servers and A records.WordPress.com: Forward a WordPress.com Domain
Take your site with you: Partial. Zip backup of the whole site (content, themes, plugins, root files) on Business and Commerce only; XML export of posts, pages, comments and a media library export on any planZip excludes WordPress core files. The page does not say the zip runs on another host as-is. Backup feature is limited to Business and Commerce.WordPress.com: Back Up Your WordPress.com Site
Transaction fee on sales: Not publishedThe pricing page lists a tiered 'standard payments' fee of 10%, 8%, 4%, 2%, 0% in plan order, but column labels are not explicit. Premium and Business list payment buttons; Commerce is the store plan.WordPress.com pricing
Hosting and updates: Managed hosting, SSL, WordPress core and PHP updates handled by WordPress.com; plugin and theme update responsibility not statedPlugin installs need Personal or higher. The pricing page mentions 'bundled plugin auto-updates' once without plan mapping, and the choose-a-host and plugins pages do not say who updates plugins or themes.WordPress.com: Choose a WordPress host
Our pick: Cheapest way to own a real WordPress site with updates handled. The XML export works on any plan; the full zip needs Business.

Webflow

Cheapest plan with your own domain: Basic site plan: $15/mo billed yearly, custom domain, no Webflow badgeYearly-billed price. Monthly billing is $25/mo per Webflow's May 2026 help article. Existing sites move to new prices on June 29 or November 16, 2026. Badge removal needs a paid site plan per the branding help page.Webflow pricing page Webflow branding help article
Custom code in the head: Yes, on any paid Site plan such as BasicThe free Starter plan is not listed as allowing custom code. Custom code needs an active Site plan or a Core, Growth, Agency or Freelancer Workspace.Custom code in head and body tags
301 redirects: Yes, on paid Site plans. No hard cap; Webflow advises 1,000 max.Redirects need a paid Site plan or a Workspace with a paid plan, so the free Starter plan cannot add them. Bulk CSV import and export is supported.How do I set up redirects in Webflow?
Take your site with you: Paid Workspace plans only (Site plans alone cannot export). Exports HTML, CSS, JS and images.CMS, User Accounts, Ecommerce content, localized pages, code components, password protection, site search and form processing are not included. The cheapest Workspace plan with code export on the pricing page is Core at $19/mo billed yearly.How do I export my Webflow site code? Webflow pricing page
Transaction fee on sales: 2% on Ecommerce Standard. Plus and Advanced charge 0%.The fee is on the order total including taxes, on top of Stripe or PayPal fees. Pricing page shows Ecommerce Standard at $29/mo billed yearly (a separate ecommerce plan).Connect a payment provider Webflow pricing page
Hosting and updates: Yes. Webflow hosts, includes SSL/TLS, and handles updates on Site plans.Webflow support does not help with custom code setup, so custom code stays the owner's job.Webflow hosting Custom code in head and body tags
Our pick: For a designer-led site with real SEO controls. Export needs a Workspace plan, so plan for it.

Next.js on Vercel

Vercel

Cheapest plan with your own domain: Pro: $20/mo, plus $20 per user/month for each Developer seat. Hobby: $0, but non-commercial use only.Pricing page shows Pro as "$20/mo." and does not state per-seat or yearly billing there; the Hobby docs page says Developer seats cost $20 per user / month. Hobby allows 50 domains per project, so a custom domain is possible on Hobby, but the fair-use guidelines restrict Hobby to non-commercial, personal use, so a business site needs Pro. Vercel branding removal is not stated on either page.Vercel Pricing Vercel Hobby Plan docs
Custom code in the head: Yes, in your own code on any plan: add a script tag in layout or page, or use the Metadata API for head tags.Next.js recommends rendering JSON-LD as a script tag in layout.js or page.js. No Vercel plan gate for this was found on the pages we checked; it is code in your own repo, so Hobby works technically (Hobby is non-commercial only). Tracking scripts via next/script were not checked.Next.js JSON-LD guide Next.js layout.js docs
301 redirects: Yes, in next.config.js or vercel.json; up to 2,048 redirects in the array. Permanent redirects use status 308.Configuration redirects evaluate at build time and ship with a deploy. The page says that beyond the limit, use Middleware with Global Config; a separate Bulk Redirects page exists. No plan requirement is stated on this page. Permanent is 308, not 301.Vercel configuration redirects docs
Take your site with you: Yes: Next.js runs outside Vercel as a Node.js server, Docker container, or static export; your code lives in your own Git repo.This is portability of the code, not a one-click content export. Static export does not support features that need a server. Vercel's page notes self-hosted ISR is limited to a single region and does not persist generated pages to durable storage by default; Image Optimization uses the default Next.js server when self-hosting. Content stored in a separate CMS or database is exported from that service.Next.js deploying docs Next.js on Vercel docs
Transaction fee on sales: Not applicableVercel is a host, not a store builder. The pricing page and docs we checked list no platform transaction fee on sales; the page does not frame it as 'bring your own checkout', so that phrase is not used.Vercel Pricing
Hosting and updates: Partly: Vercel hosts, scales and issues and renews SSL automatically; framework and dependency upgrades are not stated as Vercel's job.Vercel generates a Let's Encrypt certificate for each domain once added and DNS is correct, and auto-renews 14 to 30 days before expiry. Docs say nothing on who upgrades Next.js versions; since you deploy your own code, treat upgrades as the owner's job (inference, not vendor text).Vercel SSL docs Next.js on Vercel docs
Our pick: When the site is a tool, not a brochure: booking, quoting, a directory, a portal. Someone has to own the code.

Yes
With conditions
Not yet
Not confirmed

Three things to check before the design

Pick the template last. These three decide whether the site can grow with you.

01Can you edit the head?Structured data, verification tags and analytics all live there. If the platform locks it, those cannot be added.
02Can you redirect old pages?Every page address you ever shared is a promise. When you redesign, redirects keep those promises. Without them, old pages lose the rankings they earned.
03Can you export?Ask what leaves with you: content, design, or just a spreadsheet. The answer tells you what the monthly fee is really renting.

A good builder site beats a bad custom build. The custom build earns its keep when the site is a tool, not a brochure: booking, quoting, a directory, a client portal.

Spearworks AI

Not sure if a rebuild is worth it?

I run a free site audit on your current site first. If a builder plan fixes the problem, that is the answer. If not, I build on Next.js and hand you the keys.

Book a free consult

Nathan Spear · spearworksai.com

Spearworks Labs · All comparisons · Checked October 14, 2026. Not affiliated with any vendor listed.