If you run a business in Illinois and you’re trying to decide between WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace for your website, you’re asking the right question at the right time. The platform you choose determines how high you can rank on Google, how much control you have over your own business asset, and whether you’ll be rebuilding from scratch in two years. WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace for business isn’t even close once you understand what’s actually at stake.
Here’s the number that should stop every business owner in their tracks: WordPress powers 43% of all websites on the internet. Not 43% of blogs. Not 43% of small sites. Forty-three percent of everything — from local plumbing companies in Springfield to the White House website, from small e-commerce shops in Bloomington to Fortune 500 corporate platforms. Meanwhile, Wix holds about 3.4% and Squarespace roughly 2% of the global market. Those numbers tell you something important about which platform serious businesses trust when the stakes are real.
We’ve built dozens of websites for Illinois businesses on WordPress, and we’ve migrated more than a few from Wix and Squarespace after those platforms hit their ceilings. This guide breaks down the honest comparison — costs, SEO capabilities, customization, scalability, and the ownership question that most business owners don’t think about until it’s too late.
What Are We Actually Comparing?
Before we get into the comparison, let’s be clear about what each platform actually is — because they’re fundamentally different products dressed up in similar marketing language.
- WordPress (self-hosted, WordPress.org) — Open-source software you install on your own hosting. You own everything. You control everything. There are 60,000+ free plugins and thousands of premium themes. When paired with Elementor Pro as a visual page builder, WordPress gives you drag-and-drop simplicity without sacrificing power or flexibility.
- Wix — A proprietary, closed-source website builder. Everything lives on Wix’s servers. You build using their drag-and-drop editor within their ecosystem. You rent space on their platform — you never truly own your site.
- Squarespace — Another proprietary website builder with a focus on design aesthetics. Beautiful templates, but limited functionality beyond what Squarespace offers out of the box. Like Wix, your site lives on their platform, not yours.
“WordPress is software you own. Wix and Squarespace are services you rent. That distinction matters more than most business owners realize — especially when it’s time to grow, migrate, or sell your business.”
Real Costs: What You’ll Actually Pay
Every platform markets itself as affordable. Let’s cut through the marketing and look at what Illinois businesses actually spend over a three-year period to run a professional business website.
| Cost Factor | WordPress | Wix | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly platform fee | $0 (software is free) | $17–$159/mo | $16–$52/mo |
| Hosting | $5–$50/mo (you choose) | Included | Included |
| Domain | $10–$20/yr | Free 1st year, then $15–$20/yr | Free 1st year, then $20/yr |
| Premium theme/builder | $59–$199/yr (Elementor Pro) | Included | Included |
| Essential plugins | $0–$300/yr | $0–$200/yr (App Market) | Limited options |
| E-commerce capability | Free (WooCommerce) | $27–$159/mo plans | $27–$52/mo plans |
| 3-year total (business site) | $700–$2,500 | $900–$6,000+ | $850–$2,500 |
| 3-year total (e-commerce) | $900–$3,000 | $1,500–$6,000+ | $1,200–$2,500 |
The cost surprise for most business owners: WordPress is often the cheapest option over three years, despite requiring separate hosting. The software is free. Many essential plugins are free. And you’re not locked into escalating monthly subscription fees that Wix and Squarespace can raise at any time. Wix, in particular, has raised prices multiple times in recent years, and there’s nothing stopping them from doing it again — your site is on their servers, so you pay what they charge or you leave.
SEO Capabilities: Where WordPress Dominates
For Illinois businesses that depend on local customers finding them through Google, search engine optimization isn’t optional — it’s the difference between getting calls and getting crickets. Here’s how the three platforms compare on the factors that actually determine your Google rankings.
- Technical SEO control — WordPress gives you complete control over your robots.txt, .htaccess, XML sitemaps, canonical tags, hreflang tags, schema markup, and page speed optimization. Wix and Squarespace offer limited controls through their dashboards. You can’t access server-level configurations because you don’t have a server — they do.
- Page speed — WordPress sites optimized with caching plugins (WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache) and proper hosting consistently outperform Wix and Squarespace in Core Web Vitals scores. Wix has improved dramatically in recent years, but you can’t optimize what you don’t control. Squarespace sites tend to carry extra bloat from their template system.
- Schema markup — WordPress supports unlimited schema types through plugins like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or custom JSON-LD. Wix offers basic schema. Squarespace offers very limited schema support. For local businesses, schema markup drives rich results in Google that directly increase click-through rates.
- URL structure — WordPress lets you create clean, keyword-optimized URL structures (/services/seo-services/). Wix has historically created messy URLs and only recently improved. Squarespace offers decent URL control but with less flexibility than WordPress.
- Content marketing — WordPress was born as a blogging platform. Its content management system is still the best for publishing blog posts, creating content silos, building internal linking structures, and scaling content marketing. Wix and Squarespace work for basic blogging but lack the depth needed for serious content strategy.
- Plugin ecosystem for SEO — Yoast SEO alone has been downloaded over 500 million times. Add Rank Math, All in One SEO, Schema Pro, Link Whisper, and dozens of other SEO-specific plugins, and WordPress offers an SEO toolkit that no other platform can match. Period.
“We’ve migrated three Illinois businesses from Wix to WordPress in the past year alone. Every single one saw their organic traffic increase within 90 days — not because Wix is terrible, but because WordPress gives us the tools to do SEO properly.”
Design & Customization: No Contest
Both Wix and Squarespace market themselves on ease of design. And for basic sites, they deliver a pleasant drag-and-drop experience. But the moment you need something beyond a template, the walls close in fast.
- Elementor Pro on WordPress — This is the game-changer. Elementor Pro gives you the same visual, drag-and-drop experience as Wix or Squarespace — but without the limitations. You can design pixel-perfect pages, create custom headers and footers, build dynamic templates, add custom CSS, and integrate with any third-party service. It’s visual building with professional-grade power. This is what we use at Elevated Ideas for every website design project.
- Wix’s editor — Flexible for beginners, but uses absolute positioning which can cause layout issues across different screen sizes. Wix recently introduced Wix Studio for more advanced users, but it’s still a closed ecosystem. You can’t add custom PHP, access the database, or modify core functionality.
- Squarespace’s templates — Beautiful out of the box, but rigid. Customization beyond what the template allows requires custom CSS injection, and even then you’re working within tight constraints. Complex layouts, custom functionality, and unique interactions are extremely difficult to achieve.
Here’s the practical difference: when a client in Jacksonville asks us to add a custom pricing calculator, a client portal, a membership area, an event booking system, or an interactive service area map, we build it on WordPress in days. On Wix or Squarespace, you’re either stuck with whatever limited app they offer, or it simply can’t be done.
Growing Your Business: Scalability Matters
Your business today is not your business in three years. The platform you choose needs to grow with you — or you’ll be paying for an expensive migration later. Here’s how each platform handles growth.
- WordPress scales infinitely — Add WooCommerce for e-commerce (it powers 39% of all online stores). Add LearnDash for online courses. Add BuddyPress for community features. Add multilingual support with WPML. Need 50 pages? No problem. Need 5,000 pages? WordPress handles it. Need to add a custom API integration with your CRM or ERP system? WordPress supports it. The platform grows as your business grows, without hitting a ceiling.
- Wix hits walls — Wix works well for sites under 100 pages, but performance degrades significantly with larger sites. E-commerce is limited compared to WooCommerce. Complex functionality requires Wix Velo (their development platform), which has a much smaller developer community than WordPress. If you outgrow Wix, migration is painful because Wix doesn’t offer a clean export of your content.
- Squarespace caps out — Squarespace is excellent for portfolio sites, small service businesses, and simple online stores. But it struggles with large product catalogs, complex membership systems, multi-location businesses, or sites that need custom functionality beyond what their extensions offer. Like Wix, migrating away from Squarespace means rebuilding.
For Illinois businesses planning to grow — adding locations, expanding service areas, launching e-commerce, or building a content marketing engine — WordPress is the only platform that won’t force you to start over when you reach the next level.
The Plugin Advantage: 60,000+ Solutions
This is where the comparison becomes almost unfair. WordPress has over 60,000 free plugins in its official repository, plus thousands more premium plugins available from third-party developers. Need a feature? There’s a plugin for it. Usually several.
- Forms — WPForms, Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, Fluent Forms (vs. basic built-in forms on Wix/Squarespace)
- SEO — Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO Pack (vs. basic SEO settings on Wix/Squarespace)
- Security — Wordfence, Sucuri, iThemes Security (vs. platform-managed security you can’t customize)
- Performance — WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, ShortPixel (vs. no caching control on Wix/Squarespace)
- E-commerce — WooCommerce with hundreds of extensions (vs. locked-in e-commerce on higher-tier plans)
- Booking — Amelia, Bookly, Simply Schedule (vs. limited scheduling add-ons)
- Analytics — MonsterInsights, ExactMetrics, custom GTM (vs. basic analytics dashboards)
- Email marketing — Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, FluentCRM integrations (vs. limited native integrations)
Wix has its App Market with about 500 apps. Squarespace has roughly 30 extensions. The math speaks for itself. When your business needs a specific solution, WordPress almost certainly has multiple options to choose from — and you can switch between them without being locked in.
“Every time a client asks ‘Can my website do this?’ the answer on WordPress is almost always yes. On Wix and Squarespace, the answer is too often ‘sort of’ or ‘not really.'”
The Ownership Question: You Own WordPress. You Rent Wix.
This is the factor that should matter most to any serious business owner, and it’s the one most people don’t think about until there’s a problem. Let’s be direct about what ownership means on each platform.
- WordPress — You own your website. You own your content. You own your database. You own your design files. You can download everything, move to any hosting provider in the world, and your site continues to work. If your relationship with your web designer ends, your site is still yours. If your hosting company raises prices, you switch hosts in an afternoon. Your website is a business asset you control.
- Wix — Wix owns the platform your site runs on. You cannot export your Wix site and move it to another host. If Wix raises prices, you pay or you leave — and leaving means rebuilding from scratch. If Wix changes a feature, removes an app, or modifies their editor, you have no recourse. Your website is a lease on someone else’s property.
- Squarespace — Similar to Wix. Squarespace offers slightly better export options (you can export some content as XML), but your design, layout, and custom styling stay behind. Migration means rebuilding your design on a new platform. Your investment in the visual aspects of your site is lost if you leave.
Consider this scenario: you’ve spent three years building content, optimizing pages, and growing your site’s SEO authority. With WordPress, all of that investment is portable — it goes with you no matter what. With Wix or Squarespace, you could lose years of work if you need to switch platforms. For a business that views its website as a long-term asset, this isn’t a minor consideration. It’s the whole ballgame.
Real Talk: Wix & Squarespace to WordPress Migrations
We don’t just preach WordPress at Elevated Ideas — we’ve done the migrations. Here are patterns we see consistently when Illinois businesses switch from Wix or Squarespace to WordPress.
- The Squarespace ceiling — A professional services firm in Central Illinois loved their Squarespace site’s aesthetics but couldn’t add the client portal and custom intake forms their growing practice needed. They were paying for three separate third-party tools to patch functionality that WordPress handles natively. After migrating to WordPress with Elementor Pro, they consolidated everything into one platform, reduced their monthly software costs by $120, and launched their client portal within two weeks.
- The Wix SEO problem — A home services contractor had been on Wix for two years and couldn’t understand why they weren’t ranking for local search terms despite having a good-looking site. The issue: Wix’s limited technical SEO controls meant they couldn’t implement proper schema markup, optimize their site structure for local SEO, or create the kind of content architecture that Google rewards. Within 90 days of migrating to WordPress, their target keywords started climbing — and within six months, they were on page one for their three most important local search terms.
- The Wix pricing shock — A retail business owner was paying $32/month for Wix Business, which seemed fine until they needed e-commerce features that required the $159/month Enterprise plan. Their WordPress migration cost about the same as six months of the Enterprise plan — and their ongoing costs dropped to $25/month for hosting. Three years later, they’ve saved over $4,000 compared to what they would have paid Wix.
The common thread in every migration: the business wished they’d started on WordPress from the beginning. The time, money, and SEO authority lost during the migration could have been avoided entirely.
When Wix or Squarespace Might Be OK
We believe in honest comparisons, so here’s the truth: Wix and Squarespace aren’t terrible platforms. They have legitimate use cases. But they’re limited use cases.
- Personal blogs or hobby sites — If you’re not trying to generate revenue and just want a simple online presence, Wix or Squarespace gets you there quickly.
- Portfolio sites for creatives — Squarespace’s templates are genuinely beautiful for photographers, artists, and designers who need a visual showcase and nothing more.
- Temporary or event sites — If you need a site for a one-time event and plan to take it down within a year, the speed of Wix or Squarespace makes sense.
- Absolute beginners with no budget — If you have zero budget and no plans to invest in your website professionally, starting with Wix’s free plan is better than having no website at all.
But notice the pattern: these are all situations where the website isn’t a serious business tool. The moment your website needs to generate leads, rank on Google, scale with your business, or serve as a long-term asset, WordPress is the clear answer. And for any business in Illinois that’s serious about growth, that moment is now.
Why Illinois Businesses Keep Coming Back to WordPress
After building and managing websites for businesses across Central Illinois, the pattern is unmistakable. Here’s why WordPress wins for businesses that are serious about their online presence.
- Local SEO dominance — WordPress gives us the tools to build location-specific pages, implement local schema markup, optimize Google Business Profile integration, and create the content architecture that ranks for “near me” searches. Illinois businesses competing in local markets need every SEO advantage they can get, and WordPress delivers them all.
- Total cost of ownership — Over three to five years, WordPress consistently costs less than Wix or Squarespace for business-grade websites — and you’re building equity in an asset you own rather than paying rent on a platform you don’t.
- Elementor Pro makes it easy — The old argument against WordPress was that it was “too technical.” With Elementor Pro, business owners can update content, add pages, and make design changes with the same drag-and-drop ease as Wix or Squarespace — but without the limitations.
- Future-proof flexibility — Whatever your business needs next — e-commerce, membership areas, booking systems, multilingual support, API integrations — WordPress handles it without starting over.
- Developer ecosystem — There are more WordPress developers than Wix and Squarespace developers combined. If you need to hire help, find a specialist, or get support, the WordPress community is massive and thriving.
- 43% of the web can’t be wrong — WordPress’s market dominance isn’t an accident. It’s the result of a platform that consistently delivers what businesses need: flexibility, control, and performance. When nearly half the internet runs on a single platform, that’s not a trend — that’s a verdict.
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COMMON QUESTIONS
WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace FAQ
Is WordPress really better than Wix and Squarespace for business?
Yes, for any business that depends on its website for lead generation, SEO performance, and long-term growth. WordPress offers superior SEO controls, unlimited customization through 60,000+ plugins, full ownership of your content and design, and the flexibility to scale without hitting platform limitations. Wix and Squarespace work for simple sites, but serious businesses consistently outperform on WordPress. There’s a reason 43% of the web runs on it.
Is WordPress harder to use than Wix or Squarespace?
Not anymore. With Elementor Pro as a visual page builder, WordPress offers the same drag-and-drop editing experience as Wix or Squarespace. You can update text, swap images, add new sections, and create pages visually without touching any code. The initial setup is more involved than Wix or Squarespace, which is why most businesses work with a professional for the build — but day-to-day content management is equally intuitive.
How much does it cost to build a WordPress website for an Illinois business?
A professional WordPress website for an Illinois business typically costs $3,000 to $10,000 depending on the number of pages, complexity of features, and level of SEO and content included. Ongoing costs run $50 to $200 per month for hosting, maintenance, and security. Over three years, WordPress consistently costs less than or equal to Wix and Squarespace while delivering far more functionality, better SEO performance, and full ownership of your site.
Can I migrate my Wix or Squarespace site to WordPress?
Yes, but it’s a rebuild rather than a simple migration. Wix does not allow you to export your site in a WordPress-compatible format, so content must be manually transferred and the design rebuilt from scratch. Squarespace allows limited XML export of blog posts and pages, but the design and custom styling don’t transfer. Most businesses that migrate see improved SEO performance within 90 days because WordPress provides significantly better technical SEO controls. Working with a professional for the migration ensures nothing is lost in the transition.
Why does WordPress have 43% market share?
WordPress dominates because it’s free and open-source software backed by an enormous global community of developers. It offers unmatched flexibility through themes and plugins, full ownership and portability of your website, and the ability to build anything from a simple blog to a complex e-commerce store. Its SEO-friendly architecture, massive plugin ecosystem of 60,000+ options, and the fact that you’re never locked into a single vendor make it the rational choice for businesses that want control over their online presence.
What is Elementor Pro and why does it matter?
Elementor Pro is a visual page builder plugin for WordPress that lets you design pages with drag-and-drop ease — similar to how Wix and Squarespace work. But unlike those platforms, Elementor Pro runs on WordPress, which means you get visual editing combined with the full power, flexibility, and ownership that WordPress provides. You can create custom headers, footers, blog templates, popup forms, and advanced layouts without coding. It’s the reason the old “WordPress is too complicated” argument no longer holds up.
Do I own my website on Wix or Squarespace?
No. On Wix and Squarespace, you own your content (text and images), but you don’t own the website itself. Your site lives on their servers, runs on their proprietary code, and cannot be moved to another platform without rebuilding from scratch. If they raise prices, change features, or discontinue a service, you have no alternatives except to pay or leave. With WordPress, you own everything — the files, the database, the design — and you can host it anywhere in the world.
Which platform is best for local SEO in Illinois?
WordPress is the best platform for local SEO by a significant margin. It allows complete control over schema markup (including LocalBusiness schema), custom URL structures, location-specific landing pages, XML sitemaps, and technical SEO factors that directly impact local search rankings. Plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math provide tools specifically designed for local optimization. For Illinois businesses competing in local search results, the SEO flexibility WordPress provides translates directly into better Google visibility and more customer calls.
Written by Ryan Mason, Founder of Elevated Ideas — helping Illinois businesses grow through strategic web design and SEO services. Last updated March 2026.