Wix and Squarespace do what they promise. For some people they're the right choice and there's no reason to spend more. This post isn't about them being bad, but about where exactly they break even, how to recognise it in time, and what happens once you decide to move.
Where ready-made platforms are better
Said plainly:
- The price of the first month. Twenty-odd euros against a few hundred.
- Speed of setup. The site can be up the same day.
- You don't need anyone else. If you change the content yourself, you change it without waiting.
- Everything in one place. Hosting, domain, certificate, backups, without thinking about it.
If you work alone, you're just starting and the site is a business card, take a platform. Seriously.
Where they break even
Loading speed
Ready-made platforms have to serve everything: your look, someone else's look, every feature they've ever added. That's paid for in the amount of code sent to the browser, and it shows on a phone with a weaker connection.
For a business card site that doesn't matter. For a site that lives on search it does, because speed is part of the rating. What exactly decides speed is described in what makes a website fast.
Limits that don't move
While you're doing what the platform foresaw, everything is fine. The first request outside that frame usually has no solution.
Typically: a price calculator using your rules, a form that checks availability, a connection to your business software, two languages with correct hreflang tags, an editor role with limited rights.
The answer is then a third-party add-on that roughly works, and with it another monthly line.
A cost that grows
The price is €15 to €40 a month, but it rarely stays alone. Add-ons for bookings, forms, languages and analytics each carry their own €5 to €20.
Realistically, a small business site on a platform with a few add-ons is €400 to €700 a year. Over five years that's €2,000 to €3,500, and at the end you have nothing you could take with you.
A custom site in the range of €500 to €2,000 pays for the domain and the odd fix over the same period.
Ownership
This is the difference you don't feel until you need it.
On a platform you have an account, not a site. The content can usually be exported; the look and behaviour can't. If the price or the terms change, the choice is to pay or start over.
With a custom site the code is yours. No subscription for the site itself and no situation where your site is locked away.
SEO up to a point
Platforms do the basics well: titles, descriptions, sitemap, certificate.
The limit comes with the things that decide competitive queries: full control of structured data, a clean URL structure, hreflang for several languages, control over speed. The practical list is in why SEO is built in.
How to tell which group you're in
Stay on the platform if: the site is a business card, you change the content yourself, traffic comes from social media and referrals, and you have no requirement the platform doesn't cover.
It's time for a custom build if: customers find you through search, you have two or more languages, the site has to calculate or remember something, you pay for several add-ons, or you've already heard "that can't be done on this platform".
One practical test: if in the last six months you've given up on something you wanted because the platform doesn't support it, the break-even point has already passed.
What moving looks like
It's a smaller job than people expect, on one condition: the addresses have to be preserved.
- A list of existing pages and their addresses.
- The content is moved over: texts and photos aren't rewritten.
- The new site is built and checked before anything is switched.
- One-to-one redirects. Every old address leads to its counterpart, never everything to the home page. This is the step most often skipped, and the reason sites lose visibility after moving.
- The domain is switched and the old site shut down the same day.
For a site of a dozen pages that's a matter of weeks, not months.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose visibility on Google if I move?
If the redirects are done one to one, not permanently. A dip over two to eight weeks is normal while Google processes the change, then a recovery. Without redirects, everything is lost.
Can I still change the content myself?
Yes. The admin panel is planned at the start, depending on what you actually change.
Is WordPress a middle way?
Rarely. It has its own limits and its own maintenance cost; more on that in why WordPress is slow.
How much does a custom build cost?
€500 to €2,000 for a business site, more if it has a database or payments. The breakdown by level is in what goes into the price of a website.
How to decide
If you're not sure which group you're in, the quickest way is to show your current site and say what bothers you about it. If the answer is that there's no reason to move, I'll tell you that too.
Send me your site's address or see my work.