Wix vs Squarespace vs GoDaddy is the comparison most UK small businesses end up making when they decide to build their own site. All three are hosted website builders: you pay a subscription, pick a template, and the platform looks after hosting and security. The differences are in flexibility, polish, and how the pricing is structured.
Prices change often and vary by region, so this guide sticks to how each is priced and what to check, as it stood at the time of writing, September 2026. Always confirm current prices on each provider's own UK pricing page before you commit.
The three at a glance
| Wix | Squarespace | GoDaddy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Owners who want control over layout | A polished look with little effort | Getting a simple site up fast |
| Try before paying | Free plan, with Wix branding | 14-day free trial, no card needed | Check GoDaddy's UK site for current offers |
| Billing | Tiered plans; yearly billing shown | Tiered plans; annual billing is cheaper | Tiered plans; check the renewal rate |
| Free domain | Voucher for one year on yearly premium plans | One year on annual plans | Check current terms |
| Moving away | Cannot be exported to another host | Partial export of pages and blog posts | Check what can be exported |
| Design freedom | High; easy to make a mess | Structured; hard to make it look bad | Simpler, more guided editor |
Wix: the most flexible
Wix gives you the most control over where things go on the page. That is its strength and its risk: you can build almost anything, and you can also end up with a desktop layout that falls apart on a phone if you are not careful. Its app market covers bookings, forms, reviews and more, though some apps carry their own charges.
At the time of writing Wix offers a free plan with Wix branding and a Wix subdomain, and tiered premium plans. Most yearly premium plans include a voucher for a free domain for the first year; Wix says the voucher applies to the first premium plan purchase, not renewals. Wix also states that sites built in its editor cannot be exported to another host.
Squarespace: the most polished
Squarespace templates are tightly designed and hard to break. You have less freedom than on Wix, but for a business that wants a clean, professional look without spending evenings adjusting spacing, that trade is often worth it. It suits businesses where the photos do the selling: groomers, cafés, garden designers, joiners with good project shots.
At the time of writing Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial with no card required, monthly or annual billing with annual working out cheaper, and a free custom domain for the first year on annual plans. Its entry plan charges a transaction fee on online store sales that higher plans do not, which matters only if you sell online. Squarespace's export covers some pages and blog posts, but not every page type.
GoDaddy: the fastest to launch
GoDaddy is best known as a domain registrar, and its website builder is built around speed: answer a few questions, get a site, edit from there. The editor is more guided and less flexible than the other two, which suits someone who wants something respectable online this afternoon and does not plan to tinker.
GoDaddy sells its builder in tiers, often alongside domains and email. We could not verify GoDaddy's current UK plan details on its own site at the time of writing, so check its UK pricing page directly - in particular whether the price shown is an introductory first-term rate, and what the plan and domain renew at.
What to check on any of the three
- The year-two price of the plan, not just year one.
- The domain renewal price once any free first year ends.
- Whether the features you need are included or paid add-ons: bookings, forms with uploads, reviews, email.
- How the site looks on your phone, on the actual template you picked, before you commit.
- What you can take with you if you leave: your domain, your text and images, and anything else.
- Whether your domain is registered to you directly or through the platform, and how to transfer it out.
Which should you pick?
If you like control and do not mind learning, Wix. If you want it to look good with minimal effort and your work photographs well, Squarespace. If you want something basic online quickly and already use GoDaddy for your domain, GoDaddy is a reasonable choice.
All three can produce a site that wins enquiries, and all three can produce one that does not. The difference is almost always the words on the page, a clear phone number and a clear sense of what you do and where. If you would rather not do any of it, a designer is the alternative - we compare that route in Wix vs a web designer.