You've decided your business finally needs a real website. You Google "best website builder," and immediately: your nephew (who took one CSS course) says Wix, your designer friend swears by Squarespace, and now an AI builder ad is following you around the internet.
Here's the honest breakdown — written for someone who needs a site live by the weekend, not a tech enthusiast comparing feature matrices.
Key Takeaways:
- Squarespace wins on design quality; Wix wins on features, flexibility, and built-in booking
- AI-native builders have crossed a line in 2026 — they're not "prototypes" anymore, they're real websites
- The actual pricing difference hides in booking integrations and ecommerce transaction fees
In This Article
- The Quick Verdict
- Pricing — What You Actually Pay in 2026
- How Long Does It Actually Take?
- Booking & Ecommerce — The Real Price Difference
- Design — Templates, Mobile, Speed
- Who Should Use What
- The Honest TL;DR
- FAQ
The Quick Verdict
| Wix | Squarespace | AI Builders (e.g. Fardino) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $17/mo (no ecommerce) | $16/mo (2% transaction fee) | Free or low-cost |
| Time to first page live | 2–4 hours | 2–3 hours | 15–30 minutes |
| Design quality | Good — 2,000+ templates | Excellent — 190+ templates | AI-generated, clean |
| Built-in booking | ✅ Wix Bookings | ❌ Requires Acuity (extra cost) | ✅ Included |
| Ecommerce | From $29/mo — 0% fees | From $25/mo — 0% fees | Free tier available; paid plans vary |
| Free plan | Yes (ads + Wix domain) | No — 14-day trial only | Varies |
| Best for | Flexibility, larger sites | Design-first, portfolios | Fast launch, non-tech users |
This table covers 80% of the decision. Keep reading for the parts that don't fit in a grid.
Pricing — What You Actually Pay in 2026
Both platforms advertise entry prices that don't include what most businesses actually need.
Wix: The Light plan ($17/month) has no ecommerce at all. You need Core ($29/month) to sell anything without transaction fees. The free plan exists, but it slaps Wix ads on your site — fine for testing, embarrassing for clients.
Squarespace: Basic starts at $16/month but takes a 2% cut of every sale. You need the Advanced plan ($25/month) to keep all your revenue. No free plan, just a 14-day trial.
For a service business with ecommerce: Squarespace Advanced ($25/month) vs Wix Core ($29/month). The gap is small. What's not small is the booking cost — keep reading.
How Long Does It Actually Take?
This is where most comparisons lie to you.
Wix: "Go live in minutes" is technically true if you're okay with a site that looks like it was built in minutes. Choosing from 2,000 templates takes 45–90 minutes alone. Drag-and-drop is powerful but you will spend hours tweaking margins. Realistic first-launch: 2–4 hours.
Squarespace: Fewer templates (190) is genuinely a feature for most people. Less decision fatigue, harder to break. Realistic first-launch: 2–3 hours.
AI builders: You describe your business in plain language. The AI picks the structure, design, and layout — no template-picking, no dragging anything. Realistic first-launch: 15–30 minutes.
If you have a free weekend to learn a new tool, Wix or Squarespace are solid choices. If you have a Tuesday afternoon and need something live before a client meeting Thursday, that's where AI builders have earned their spot.
Try this prompt⌘+Enterto launch
Booking & Ecommerce — The Real Price Difference
Wix Bookings is built-in. Service types, staff calendars, client reminders — all without leaving Wix. There's even a free tier. For a salon, clinic, or fitness studio, this is genuinely the main reason to pick Wix.
Squarespace uses Acuity Scheduling — a solid product, but a separate subscription ($16–$61/month on top of your Squarespace bill). If booking is central to your business, you're paying twice.
For ecommerce: Wix Core ($29/month) gives you 0% transaction fees. Squarespace Advanced ($25/month) does too. Squarespace Basic's 2% fee adds up fast at any real sales volume.
Bottom line: if booking is your core feature, Wix or AI-native wins. If you're running a portfolio with occasional sales, Squarespace Basic works fine.
Design — Templates, Mobile, Speed
Squarespace wins on design. Full stop. Its templates were made by professional designers and they look like it. All fully responsive, none of the breakage you can accidentally introduce with Wix's drag-and-drop.
Wix's 2,000 templates sounds better than it is. Most are average, the great ones are hard to find, and the editor gives you enough rope to hang yourself if you don't have design instincts.
Page speed: Squarespace's CDN consistently beats Wix on Lighthouse audits. Matters for SEO, matters for mobile users. Photographers and visual-heavy businesses should factor this in.
AI builders generate mobile-first designs based on your business type. You don't choose a template — the system picks what fits. Less control, fewer nasty surprises.
Who Should Use What
| Business type | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hair salon / barbershop | Wix or AI builder | Built-in booking, before/after gallery |
| Restaurant / café | Squarespace or AI builder | Menu display, visual design, reservations |
| Personal trainer / yoga | Wix or AI builder | Class schedule, booking, memberships |
| Photographer / videographer | Squarespace | Best-in-class image galleries, fast load |
| Solo lawyer / accountant | AI builder | Fast launch, credibility page, no fuss |
| Small clinic / dentist | Wix or AI builder | Booking, team pages, patient trust |
| Online course creator | Squarespace | Clean sales pages, checkout, course blocks |
| Boutique / small e-commerce | Wix Core ($29/mo) | 0% fees, flexible product catalog |
Digging into a specific vertical? The hair salon website guide and restaurant website guide each walk through the full setup step by step. Same for personal trainers and yoga studios. Photographers should check out the photographer portfolio guide — it covers galleries, pricing pages, and booking forms in one shot. Solo lawyers and accountants, there's a dedicated trust-page walkthrough for you too.
Try this prompt⌘+Enterto launch
The Honest TL;DR
Pick Wix if you want the most features and don't mind a learning curve. Best for businesses that will grow into the platform and need native booking without paying extra.
Pick Squarespace if design is your top priority. Photographers and creative studios especially. Also good if you run a low-volume store and are fine with Basic's 2% fees.
Pick an AI builder if you need a website this week, not next month. You're not technical. You just want it done. The real ones — Fardino is a good example — let you describe your business in plain language and get a working site to review in minutes.
One more thing worth saying: Wix and Squarespace both added "AI" features in 2026. Wix has Harmony with an Aria agent; Squarespace has Blueprint AI. Neither is truly AI-native — Blueprint AI is basically a structured questionnaire with a better name. Aria gets closer but still routes you into template selection and manual editing.
A real AI-native builder starts with your words and builds from there. For a service business owner who wants a site without a side project, that difference is everything.
For the full playbook — domain setup, Google Maps integration, payments, and going live — see the small business website guide. It covers every vertical in one place. If you want a broader look at no-code options, the no-code AI website builder guide is worth a read too.
You Might Also Like
- Build a Website with AI in 10 Minutes Flat — The fastest AI workflow from zero to live site, no coding required
- No Code AI Website: Build Without Writing Code — Step-by-step for absolute beginners, any vertical
- Build a Hair Salon Website in One Afternoon — Booking system, gallery, and service menu setup
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wix or Squarespace better for a small business?
It depends on your priority. Wix wins on booking and flexibility; Squarespace wins on design and page speed. For most service businesses in 2026, the faster answer might be neither — an AI-native builder gets you live faster than both.
Which is cheaper, Wix or Squarespace?
Entry level is nearly identical ($17 vs $16/month). The real difference shows up with ecommerce and booking. Wix Core ($29/month) gets you 0% fees and built-in booking. Squarespace Advanced ($25/month) gets you 0% fees but booking costs extra through Acuity.
Can I take bookings on Wix for free?
Yes — Wix Bookings has a free tier for basic appointment scheduling. You'll need a paid plan for reminders, multiple staff calendars, and most features clients actually expect.
Does Squarespace have a free plan?
No. Squarespace has a 14-day free trial only. After that, it's $16/month minimum. Wix is the only major platform here with a genuine free plan.
Is an AI website builder better than Wix for a service business?
For a straightforward service business in 2026 — salon, trainer, clinic — an AI builder can get you live faster and with less frustration. You trade granular control for speed and simplicity. If customizing every detail matters, Wix gives you that. If you want a clean, working site today, AI builders have genuinely arrived.
What is the fastest way to build a small business website in 2026?
An AI-native builder. Describe your business in a single prompt, review what comes out, and launch. Realistic time from zero to live site: 15–30 minutes. No template browsing, no dragging elements around. The build a website in 10 minutes guide shows the exact prompt workflow if you want to follow along.
Written by the 0xMinds Team — we test AI tools so you don't have to. Build a website with AI →
