Wix or Squarespace: which should a UK business pick?
Pick Wix if you want to start on a free plan, choose from a large template library and keep the option of Velo backend code, and you can pay a year up front when you want your own domain. Pick Squarespace if you want a design-led site finished quickly and would rather pay month to month with no contract.
The AI does not split them: both generate a templated starter site from a prompt and hand you the editor. The split is how each bills you, whether you can start free, and how many people will edit the site after launch.
Plans and pricing checked October 2026. Every figure on this page is read live from our pricing database and checked against each vendor's own pricing page. The full table and buyer's guide rank on published prices only, and we may earn a commission if you buy through our links, which never changes the order.
Pricing: a year up front against month to month
The two entry figures are not on the same basis. Wix's entry plan is £9/mo (Light) (billing basis: Annual only; contract: Annual, paid in full up front), so the monthly figure is an annual equivalent and the real outlay is a year's fee on day one. Squarespace's entry plan is £16/mo (Basic) (billing basis: True monthly; contract: None, monthly or annual), so you can leave after a month, and its annual term is priced below its monthly one.
Both publish a pound rate card (Wix: Yes, genuine GBP rate card; Squarespace: Yes, genuine GBP rate card), so neither bill moves with the exchange rate. Both are a flat plan price with no AI meter on top (pricing model: Flat plan price for Wix, Flat plan price for Squarespace), and hosting is included on both.
Each charges per site (Wix: 1 per plan; Squarespace: 1 per subscription), so a second website is a second subscription. Editor seats and selling online are gated differently, and only Wix has a free rung. Set Websites, Users, Own domain and Sell online? in the calculator above and it picks the plan on each builder that covers you. Compare those figures, not the entry ones.
Who is each one built for
Wix is built for the owner who wants to start without paying and keep options open. Its free plan is a plan, not a trial: Yes, publishes live on a wixsite.com subdomain with Wix branding. The app market fills most feature gaps, and its backend (Yes, via Velo (database, auth, backend code)) can hold data and run code of your own, for the day you want member logins, bookings with their own records or a database behind the site. For a generated site with a CRM and invoicing attached, see Durable vs Wix.
Squarespace is built for the business that leads with how it looks and wants the site finished. Its backend row reads No, CMS and member areas (no app backend): a content system and member areas, not an application platform. That suits a consultancy, a studio or a practice whose site is a few pages, a blog and an enquiry form. Its free plan row reads No, 14-day trial only, and trial sites are private and not indexed, so you build behind a password and pay to go live.
Count everyone who will log in. Wix's editor cap is 2 (Light) to 100 (Business Elite), hard caps, a hard limit per plan, so a growing team moves up the ladder for seats. Squarespace's (2 (Basic), unlimited from Core) applies to the entry plan only. Entry-plan support is 24/7 chat and callback on Wix and 24/7 email, live chat on business hours on Squarespace.
Templates, design import and export
Wix's templates: 900+. Squarespace's: 150+, design-led. Wix gives you breadth and a free-form editor, Squarespace a curated set built around design. One Wix caveat: you cannot change the template after publishing, so choose it as if you will live with it.
Wix has the only design import of the two (Figma import (Wix Studio)), against Squarespace's No. If a designer has already drawn your site in Figma, that settles it; if you are starting from a prompt and a logo, it does not.
Neither exports the finished site: Wix's export row reads No and Squarespace's reads No. A later move is a rebuild, and the domain is the portable part.
What the AI builds and how much of it you get
Both produce a templated starter site from a prompt, which you then edit by hand (Wix: Generates a templated site from a prompt; Squarespace: Blueprint AI generates a starter site from prompts). Neither is a chat-driven application builder, and neither lets you choose the model: the Choose your AI row reads No, fixed AI for Wix and No, fixed AI for Squarespace. Wix lists OpenAI (ChatGPT) + DALL-E as its model and Squarespace lists Proprietary (uses OpenAI for copy).
Where they part is how much AI you may use. Squarespace publishes a credit allowance per plan, one-off on the entry plan and monthly above it: 10 one-time (Basic), 20/mo (Core), 120/mo (Advanced). Wix's AI usage limits row reads Not published as a numeric limit, so you cannot budget against a ceiling nobody has stated. Neither plan price carries an AI meter; ask each vendor what happens when an allowance runs out before you rely on the generator.
Your domain, storage and the second site
Your own domain is where Wix's free plan ends (custom domain: Wix Paid plans only (Light and above), Squarespace All paid plans). A .co.uk means paying on both, and on Wix it means an annual plan paid up front. Ask whether the first year's domain is included, and if a builder registers it for you, confirm you are the named registrant and can get the transfer code. A .co.uk held at an independent registrar is what makes a later move possible.
Storage is measured differently by the two (Wix's entry plan: 2GB (Light); Squarespace's: Unlimited pages, 30 min video (Basic)), so a photographer or a video-led brand should check which limit bites first.
Selling online: how each gates the store
If the site exists mainly to sell, read Shopify vs Wix or Shopify vs Squarespace instead; this page is about a business website that may also sell a little. On that footing, Wix's store row reads Core and above, so selling moves you off the entry plan, with no platform commission on sales. Squarespace's reads All plans, commission-free from Core: you can sell from the entry plan but pay a platform commission until the next rung. Set Sell online? to Yes in the calculator and both move to the plan that covers it.
Card processing is a separate decision on both. Each connects Stripe (integrations: Wix App Market (500+), Stripe, APIs, Squarespace Stripe, extensions), and the rate you pay on a sale depends on the payment option you choose, so compare it alongside the subscription.
UK considerations: VAT, cookie consent and enquiry data
VAT first. Both bill in pounds, and if you are VAT registered the ex-VAT figure is closer to your real cost, because input VAT on business software is normally reclaimable; below the threshold the inclusive figure is what you pay. Ask your accountant.
Cookie consent second. Under PECR a UK site needs consent before it sets non-essential cookies, analytics included, and a banner whose only button is Accept is not consent. We hold no consent-tooling field for either builder, so test on a trial site: does the built-in banner hold analytics back until someone clicks Accept, and is Reject on the first screen?
Enquiry data third. Once your site has a contact form, UK GDPR applies and you need to know where the record goes. On Squarespace there is no database of your own behind the form, so find out where submissions are stored and name that service as a processor in your privacy notice. On Wix the record can sit in a Velo database you build inside the platform, with Wix as the processor. Neither is a legal opinion; the ICO's small-business guidance is short and worth the read.
The verdict
Start with how you want to pay. If a year up front for your own domain is acceptable, and the site may one day need to hold data or run code, take Wix, and use its free plan to prototype before you commit. If you want to pay monthly, leave when you like and never think about a backend, take Squarespace and accept that you pay from day one. If those pull in different directions, let the editor count break the tie: on Wix each plan caps its editor seats, so a growing team climbs the ladder, while on Squarespace one step up from the entry plan covers every editor you will add.