Framer vs Squarespace vs WordPress vs Shopify vs custom code: which is right for you?

Why the platform matters more than people think

Your platform decides how fast your site loads, how easily your team can update it, what it costs to run, and how far it can grow before you hit a wall. It's also one of the hardest decisions to undo. Moving platforms later means rebuilding, so it pays to get it right the first time.

We build on all of these options, so this isn't a pitch for one of them. Here's how we think about each, followed by a side-by-side comparison and the questions we ask clients before recommending one.

Framer

Framer is our go-to for marketing websites that need to look and feel premium. It produces fast, modern sites with smooth motion built in, and its visual editor and CMS mean your team can update pages and publish blog posts without touching code.

Best for service businesses, startups and brands where design and first impressions matter. Watch out for complex ecommerce and heavy back-end logic. Framer is a website builder, not an application platform. More on our Framer websites.

Squarespace

Squarespace is simple, stable and genuinely easy to manage. Hosting, security and updates are handled for you, and it has solid built-in tools for bookings, simple online stores and email campaigns.

Best for small businesses that want a reliable, low-maintenance site they can run themselves. Watch out for design flexibility and performance. You can push Squarespace a long way with custom code, but you're always working inside its structure. More on our Squarespace websites.

WordPress

WordPress powers a huge share of the web for a reason. It's endlessly flexible, has a plugin for almost everything, and works well for content-heavy sites and WooCommerce stores.

Best for large content sites, businesses with an existing WordPress investment, and projects that need specific plugins. Watch out for maintenance. WordPress needs regular updates, backups and security monitoring, and a site overloaded with plugins gets slow and fragile. More on our WordPress websites.

Shopify

If selling products online is the main job, Shopify usually belongs in the conversation. It handles checkout, payments, inventory, shipping and taxes securely, with apps for almost everything else.

Best for online stores of any size, and businesses that sell both in person and online. Watch out for the monthly app costs, which add up, and for content-heavy marketing pages, which take more care to design well. More on our Shopify websites.

Custom code

A custom-coded site is built from the ground up with modern frameworks and hosted on infrastructure like Vercel. There's no builder sitting between you and what you want to make.

Best for sites with real functionality, such as portals, calculators, integrations with your systems, or anything that starts to look like software. Watch out for structural changes, which need a developer. Pair it with a CMS if your team needs to edit content. More on our custom-coded websites.

Side by side

Ease of editing

Squarespace and Framer are the easiest for non-technical teams. WordPress is manageable once set up well, but the editing experience varies a lot between themes. Shopify is easy for products, less so for complex pages. Custom code depends on the CMS you pair it with.

Speed and performance

Framer and custom code tend to be fastest out of the box. Squarespace and Shopify are solid if images and apps are kept in check. WordPress ranges from very fast to very slow depending on hosting, theme and plugins. Our guide to Core Web Vitals explains what to measure.

SEO

All five can rank well. Google cares about content, structure, speed and links, not which builder you use. What matters is whether the basics are done properly: clean page titles, sensible structure, fast loading and good content. WordPress offers the most fine-grained control through plugins, but Squarespace, Framer and Shopify cover everything most businesses need.

Maintenance

Squarespace, Framer and Shopify handle hosting, security and updates for you. WordPress needs regular plugin and core updates, backups and monitoring, either by you or a care plan. Custom sites need a developer for anything structural.

Running costs

Squarespace and Framer have predictable annual plans. WordPress can be cheap to host but often needs paid plugins and maintenance. Shopify has a monthly plan plus apps and transaction fees. Custom code usually has low hosting costs but higher costs for changes. Our website cost guide has typical build prices for each.

Ownership and portability

You own your content on every platform, but moving between them means rebuilding the design. WordPress and custom code are the most portable, since you can move hosts. Squarespace, Framer and Shopify sites live on their platforms. Make sure your domain and accounts are always in your name, whatever you choose.

Which suits your business?

• A trade or local service business that wants to update its own site: Squarespace, or Framer if design is a big part of winning work
• A consultancy, studio or startup where first impressions matter: Framer
• A content-heavy business publishing lots of articles, or with an existing WordPress site that works: WordPress
• An online store: Shopify, or WooCommerce on WordPress for specific needs
• A business with portals, calculators or system integrations: custom code, and possibly custom software

A quick way to decide

Ask yourself three questions:

• Who will update the site, and how often? If it's you or your team every week, favour Framer or Squarespace.
• What does the site need to do beyond showing information? The more functionality, the more you lean towards WordPress or custom code.
• How important are design and performance to winning work? If your website is your shopfront, Framer or custom code usually wins.

For a broader take on choosing, including AI builders, see how to choose the right website builder.

Already on the wrong platform?

It's common to outgrow a platform, or to inherit one that never suited the business. Moving is very doable, but it needs a plan to protect the Google rankings you've built. Our guide to switching platforms without losing your rankings covers the steps we follow.

The honest answer

There's no best platform, only the best fit for your business right now and where it's heading. A good agency should be able to explain why they're recommending a platform without the jargon. If the answer is "because it's what we always use", keep asking questions.