Last updated: October 10, 2026. Prices below were read from each company's pricing page that day.
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Most "best website builder" lists treat these four as interchangeable. They are not. Shopify is a store. Wix and Squarespace are site builders that can also sell. WordPress.com is hosted WordPress, which is not the same thing as the WordPress software you install on your own server. Picking the wrong one means paying commerce fees for a brochure, or asking customers to trust a free subdomain that looks like a template link.
This guide uses the companies' pricing pages. It is not a design contest and not a speed test. Figures are dated October 10, 2026. Taxes, location, and the monthly-versus-yearly switch change the checkout total. Confirm it before you pay. A first-year domain voucher is not a free domain forever.
Pick the job first
- Are you selling products, or explaining the business? If the site is the store, start with Shopify or a builder plan that actually includes checkout. If the site is a brochure, a booking page, or a blog, you do not need a commerce platform's card rates.
- Who holds the domain? Customers judge a business by the address. A free subdomain such as a Wix or WordPress.com host name is fine for a draft. It is a poor place to collect an email address or a card, because it looks like every other draft, including phishing pages that copy a checkout.
- What renews? Hosting, the domain, and payment processing are separate bills. The plan price on the marketing card often assumes yearly billing and leaves the domain renewal and the card rate for later.
How the four builders compare
| Tool | What you are buying | Price snapshot, October 10, 2026 | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | A hosted site builder. Free to start. Payments and a custom domain sit on paid plans. | Yearly reference cards showed Light, Core, Business, and Business Elite. Confirm the total. It varies by location. | A brochure, bookings, or a small catalog when you want templates and a hosted editor |
| Shopify | A store: hosting, checkout, and card rates. Not a cheap way to publish a page with no products. | Basic $29/month yearly or $39/month monthly. Grow $79 or $105. Advanced $299 or $399. Card rates are extra. | A business that sells online, in person, or both |
| Squarespace | A hosted site and store. No permanent free plan was listed. Transaction fees depend on the plan. | Basic $25/$19, Core $39/$29, Plus $65/$49, Advanced $139/$99 a month. The lower number is the annual price. | A designed site that may also sell, with fees that drop on higher plans |
| WordPress.com | Managed WordPress hosting, including a free plan on a wordpress.com subdomain. | Free plan available. Paid plans start at $4/month billed annually, or $2.75/month billed every 3 years. | A site you may want plugins on, without running your own server |
WordPress.org, the open-source software, is not in the table. It is free to download and costs whatever you pay a separate host. The WordPress.com FAQ explains the split. It is quoted in that section.
Wix
Wix's plans page, read October 10, 2026, says you can create a site for free and pick a plan later. The free FAQ describes a Wix address in the form of a wixsite.com URL, and says a Premium plan is what connects your own domain and removes Wix branding. Premium plan names on the page are Light, Core, Business, and Business Elite. Light is the basics: a custom domain and a small storage allotment, and the card we read did not list accepting payments. Core and above list accepting payments, ecommerce, and scheduling. Storage on the cards stepped from Light's 2 GB to Core's 50 GB, Business at 100 GB, and Business Elite as unlimited. Collaborator counts stepped up the same way.
The yearly reference prices printed on those cards were in the neighborhood of $17, $29, $39, and $159 a month for Light through Business Elite. The same cards also showed a ".77" fragment, and Wix says prices and currency vary by location, with tax decided by the billing address. Those figures are a snapshot of the reference display, not a quote. Confirm the purchase-page total. Most Premium plans include a one-year domain voucher for a new domain bought from Wix. The FAQ says the voucher does not renew a domain you already own, is not included on renewal of the plan, and must be redeemed on the schedule Wix prints. There is a 14-day money-back window on the initial Premium upgrade.
Who it's for
A small business that wants a hosted editor, templates, and the option to add bookings or a basic store without starting on a commerce platform.
Pros
- You can build on the free plan and pay when you need a domain or to drop Wix branding.
- Core is the first card that lists payments and ecommerce, so the step up from "a page" to "a shop" is visible.
- Hosting is included. You are not buying a server on the side.
Cons
- The free address and Wix branding are the wrong face for a business asking for money or for personal data.
- Light, as labeled on the page we read, is not the payments plan. Budget at least Core if you will charge anyone.
- The domain voucher is one year, for a new Wix domain, not a permanent discount.
Shopify
Shopify's pricing page, read October 10, 2026, is a store price list. The comparison table says Basic is $29 a month on yearly billing or $39 a month on monthly billing, Grow is $79 yearly or $105 monthly, and Advanced is $299 yearly or $399 monthly. Plus starts at $2,300 a month. Online standard card rates on that table, when you use Shopify Payments, are 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.7% + 30¢ on Grow, and 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced. If you use a third-party payment provider instead, the table lists an extra transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, and 0.6% on Advanced. Hosting, a custom domain connection, and a free SSL certificate are included. POS Pro for a staffed retail counter is listed at $89 a month per location on the standard plans.
The page also advertised an intro offer: a 3-day trial, then $1 a month for 3 months, then the regular price. That offer can change or be unavailable. Budget on the table's standard rate. Shopify says it is Level 1 PCI DSS compliant and that stores on the platform are PCI compliant by default. That is a reason to use Shopify's checkout rather than a card form pasted onto a page. Some features, including Shopify Payments, are not in every country. The page says so.
Who it's for
A business that sells products or takes payments as the main job of the site, including in person. A weak fit for a one-page brochure with no catalog.
Pros
- Checkout, hosting, and SSL are part of the plan, and the card rates are printed next to the plan price.
- The yearly-versus-monthly gap is explicit, so you can see what the "from" price assumes.
- PCI compliance is the platform's claim for stores that stay on its checkout.
Cons
- You pay store pricing even if you only wanted a homepage. Basic at the yearly rate is still $29 a month before card fees.
- Card rates and, if you leave Shopify Payments, third-party transaction fees sit on top of the subscription.
- The $1 intro months are a promotion. The renewal is the table price.
Squarespace
Squarespace's pricing page, read October 10, 2026, shows four website plans and two prices on each. The comparison table read Basic $25 a month and $19 a month, Core $39 and $29, Plus $65 and $49, Advanced $139 and $99. Squarespace says annual plans cost less than monthly plans. The lower number is the annual figure. Every annual website plan in the FAQ includes one year of domain registration on an available domain at Squarespace's cheapest tier. The domain renews at the normal rate. The page does not list a permanent free plan.
Payments are where the plans stop being cosmetic. With Squarespace Payments, Basic and Core list card rates starting at 2.9% + $0.30. Plus lists card rates starting at 2.7% + $0.30. The online-store transaction fee is 2% on Basic and 0% on Core, Plus, and Advanced. A separate fee for courses, memberships, and similar digital content is 7% on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus, and 0% on Advanced. Invoices are described as free on every plan. Basic allows up to 2 contributors. Plus and Advanced list unlimited contributors and custom CSS and JavaScript.
Who it's for
A business that wants a designed site and may sell products, services, or memberships, and that will pick the plan by the transaction fee rather than by the template.
Pros
- Monthly and annual prices are both on the comparison table.
- The store transaction fee dropping to 0% at Core is a concrete reason to leave Basic if you sell physical or service products.
- Hosting and, on annual plans, a first-year domain are part of the published offer.
Cons
- There is no permanent free plan on the pricing page. You pay to keep the site.
- Basic's 2% store fee and 7% membership fee change the real cost if you sell.
- The free domain is one year, then it renews. Put that on the same budget as the plan.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com's pricing FAQ, read October 10, 2026, separates two products people mix up. WordPress.com is the hosted platform: hosting, security, backups, and updates are managed for you. WordPress.org is the open-source software you install on hosting you buy and maintain yourself. Plugins on a self-hosted site are your responsibility along with the server. On WordPress.com, the FAQ says plugin installation is on every paid plan.
The free WordPress.com plan uses a wordpress.com subdomain, includes 1 GB of storage, and shows ads to visitors. It does not include a custom domain or plugins. Paid plans start at $4 a month billed annually, or $2.75 a month billed every three years, according to that FAQ. The Personal card on the pricing page showed those figures among a longer set of term prices, including a higher month-to-month number. Higher plan names are Premium, Business, and Commerce. Their dollar amounts did not render as cleanly as the starting price, so they are not quoted here. Annual and multi-year paid plans include a custom domain for the first year. Monthly plans do not. Hosting, SSL, and a CDN are included on WordPress.com, including the free plan's hosting.
Who it's for
A small business that wants WordPress and its plugins without administering a server, and that understands the free plan is a subdomain with ads.
Pros
- The FAQ states a real starting price and the billing term attached to it.
- Plugins are on the paid plans, which is the usual reason people outgrow a closed builder.
- You are not on the hook for server updates the way you are with WordPress.org.
Cons
- The free plan's subdomain and ads are a draft, not a storefront.
- The cheap rate assumes a multi-year or annual term. Month-to-month costs more, and the first-year domain is not on monthly billing.
- Premium, Business, and Commerce prices need a fresh look on the pricing page. This guide does not invent them.
Take payment on a site people can trust
A builder will not make a checkout honest. A few choices do.
- Use the platform's checkout. Shopify publishes a PCI claim for stores on its checkout. Squarespace and Wix have their own payment stacks on the plans that include them. Do not paste a card form from a tutorial onto a page. You would be holding card data the platform was supposed to hold.
- Put the business on a domain you control. Connect a domain you already own, or buy one and remember the renewal. The first-year voucher from Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com ends. A lapsed domain is a common way someone else starts receiving your customers' mail.
- Turn on HTTPS and keep the login to yourself. These hosted plans include SSL. Use a unique password and the account's two-factor option. A website login is a path to the customer list and the payout account. Trident's password manager guide covers that habit for the rest of the business.
- Say who you are. A contact page with a real business name, and email that matches the domain, is a basic check customers use when a page feels off. It is also what you want in place before you send the campaigns in the email marketing guide.
FAQ
Do I need Shopify if I am not selling products?
No. Shopify's plans are store plans, with card rates on top. A brochure, a portfolio, or a simple booking page fits Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com at a lower published starting price, as long as you leave the free subdomain before you ask anyone for money or for an email address you will keep.
What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
WordPress.com is hosted for you. WordPress.org is software you put on your own hosting. Plugins exist on both, but on WordPress.org you also pay for and secure the server. WordPress.com's own FAQ, linked below, is the version to read if a template site blurs the two.
Is a free plan good enough to launch?
It is good enough to design. Wix and WordPress.com both let you build before you pay. The free address is theirs, the branding or the ads may be theirs, and a custom domain is a paid feature. Launch the business on the paid plan that includes the domain and, if you sell, the checkout. Squarespace's pricing page does not list a permanent free plan.
Is the "free domain" free after the first year?
No. Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com each describe a first-year domain on qualifying paid plans, then a renewal at the normal rate. The voucher also has rules: new domains, not a renewal of one you already own, and a deadline to redeem it. Read that paragraph on the pricing page before you treat the domain as included.
Are the buttons affiliate links?
No. They open the company's official site. None of these affiliate programs is approved for Trident. The disclosure at the top is there because that can change, and because other pages on this site do use affiliate links.
Sources
Read on October 10, 2026. Displayed prices vary by country and tax. The purchase page is the price.