How to Pick the Right Website Building Platform for Your Business

Hi, I’m Hank Teicheira, a web developer and SEO consultant who has built websites on nearly every major platform. In my work with small businesses, therapists, and service professionals across Los Angeles, I’ve seen firsthand how the right platform choice can set a business up for years of success—and how the wrong choice can create frustrating limitations down the road.

The short answer: For most service-based small businesses, Squarespace offers the best balance of ease-of-use, built-in SEO, and professional design. If you need e-commerce, choose Shopify. If you need maximum performance and customization, consider a custom Astro build with developer support.

In this guide, I’ll break down the five most popular website building platforms, sharing what I’ve learned from building dozens of sites for clients. You’ll walk away knowing exactly which platform fits your business, budget, and technical comfort level.

Platform Comparison at a Glance

Before diving into details, here’s a quick comparison to help you orient:

Squarespace: Ideal for Service Businesses and Creatives

In my experience building sites for therapists, consultants, and creative professionals, Squarespace consistently delivers the best results for service-based businesses. It’s the platform I recommend most often to clients who want to maintain their own site without technical headaches.

What makes it work: Squarespace’s templates are designed by professional designers, and the drag-and-drop editor is genuinely intuitive. I’ve trained clients with zero technical background to confidently update their own sites within a single 30-minute session.

Where it shines:

• Built-in SEO tools — Meta titles, descriptions, alt text, and clean URLs are all accessible without plugins
• Mobile responsiveness — Every template automatically adapts to mobile devices
• All-in-one pricing — Hosting, SSL, and basic analytics included
• Professional templates — Designs that look custom without custom development costs

Where it falls short:

• Limited customization — Complex layouts or custom functionality require workarounds or code injection
• No true blogging flexibility — The blog editor is adequate but not as powerful as WordPress
• Template lock-in — Switching templates can require significant content restructuring

My recommendation: If you’re a therapist, consultant, designer, or other service professional who needs a professional site without ongoing developer support, Squarespace is almost always the right choice. I’ve helped many clients build effective therapy websites on this platform. For Squarespace-specific optimization tips, see our guide on 7 high-impact changes for a strong Squarespace SEO foundation.

WordPress: Maximum Flexibility with a Learning Curve

WordPress powers over 40% of all websites globally, according to W3Techs. That market dominance means extensive plugin options, themes, and community support—but it also means more complexity to manage.

What makes it work: WordPress is open-source and infinitely customizable. If you can imagine a feature, there’s likely a plugin for it. For content-heavy sites like news publications, membership sites, or complex blogs, WordPress often makes the most sense.

Where it shines:

• Plugin ecosystem — Over 60,000 plugins for virtually any functionality
• SEO flexibility — Plugins like Yoast and RankMath offer granular control
• Content management — The best blogging and content organization tools available
• Ownership — You own your site and can host it anywhere

Where it falls short:

• Maintenance burden — Plugins and core software require regular updates
• Security responsibility — Without updates, WordPress sites are vulnerable to attacks
• Hosting complexity — You need to choose and manage your own hosting
• Design requires work — Free themes rarely look professional without customization

My recommendation: Choose WordPress if you’re publishing content frequently, need complex membership or e-commerce features, or have developer support available. For simple service business sites, the maintenance overhead usually isn’t worth it.

Webflow: Visual Design Power for Design-Conscious Brands

Webflow occupies a unique middle ground: visual design tools with the power of custom code output. It’s popular with designers and agencies who want pixel-perfect control without writing CSS by hand.

What makes it work: Webflow generates clean, semantic HTML and CSS. The visual editor mirrors how CSS actually works, which means designers can create complex layouts that would require custom development on other platforms.

Where it shines:

• Design precision — Pixel-perfect layouts with visual controls
• Clean code output — No bloated code; fast-loading sites
• CMS flexibility — Build custom content structures for any use case
• Interactions and animations — Complex animations without JavaScript

Where it falls short:

• Steep learning curve — The interface requires understanding CSS concepts
• Pricing at scale — Costs increase significantly with CMS items and traffic
• No native e-commerce depth — Basic e-commerce only; not a Shopify replacement

My recommendation: Webflow is excellent for portfolio sites, agency websites, and design-forward brands where visual precision matters. It’s not the right choice for most small service businesses due to the learning curve.

Shopify: The Clear Choice for E-Commerce

If you’re selling physical products online, Shopify is purpose-built for the job. I’ve worked with e-commerce clients on various platforms, and Shopify consistently offers the smoothest path from setup to first sale.

What makes it work: Shopify handles the complexity of e-commerce—payment processing, inventory management, shipping calculations, tax handling—so you can focus on your products and customers.

Where it shines:

• Payment processing — Integrated payments with competitive rates
• Inventory management — Track stock across channels
• App ecosystem — Thousands of apps for marketing, fulfillment, and operations
• Reliability — Enterprise-grade uptime and security

Where it falls short:

• Transaction fees — Unless you use Shopify Payments, you pay additional fees
• Content limitations — Blogging and content pages are basic
• Template constraints — Customization beyond themes requires Liquid coding knowledge

My recommendation: If e-commerce is your primary business, Shopify is the obvious choice. If you’re a service business that occasionally sells products, Squarespace’s commerce features may be sufficient.

Astro: High-Performance Custom Development

Astro is a modern web framework I use for clients who need maximum performance and complete customization. It’s what powers this very website, and it’s why our pages load in under a second.

What makes it work: Astro generates static HTML with minimal JavaScript, resulting in extremely fast page loads. For businesses where SEO and performance are critical, this speed advantage translates directly to better rankings and user experience.

Where it shines:

• Performance — Near-instant page loads; excellent Core Web Vitals
• Complete control — No platform limitations; build exactly what you need
• Low ongoing costs — Static hosting is inexpensive ($5-20/month)
• Future-proof — Modern architecture that scales cleanly

Where it falls short:

• Developer required — You cannot edit an Astro site without coding knowledge
• Higher upfront cost — Custom development requires more initial investment
• No visual editor — Content updates require code changes or a headless CMS

My recommendation: Astro is ideal for businesses that prioritize performance and have budget for custom development. I offer custom web development services for clients who need this level of optimization.

How to Choose: A Decision Framework

After building sites across all these platforms, I’ve developed a simple framework for helping clients decide:

Choose Squarespace if:

• You’re a service business (therapist, consultant, creative professional)
• You want to update your own site without technical help
• You need a professional site live within 2-4 weeks
• Your budget is $2,000-5,000 for initial build

Choose WordPress if:

• You publish content frequently (multiple posts per week)
• You need complex features (memberships, courses, directories)
• You have ongoing developer support available
• You want maximum long-term flexibility

Choose Webflow if:

• Visual design precision is critical to your brand
• You or your team has design/CSS knowledge
• You need complex animations or interactions
• You’re an agency or design studio

Choose Shopify if:

• E-commerce is your primary business model
• You sell physical products that require inventory tracking
• You need multi-channel selling (Instagram, Amazon, retail)
• Payment processing simplicity is important

Choose Astro if:

• Performance and SEO are top priorities
• You have budget for custom development
• You need complete control over every detail
• You’re planning significant long-term growth

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I switch platforms later if I choose wrong?

Yes, but it’s not painless. Migrating content, rebuilding design, and setting up redirects takes time and money. I typically see migrations cost 50-75% of what a new build would cost. It’s worth taking time upfront to choose correctly.

Q: Which platform is best for SEO?

All modern platforms can rank well with proper optimization. That said, Astro and WordPress offer the most SEO control, followed closely by Squarespace. The bigger factor is how well your content is optimized, not which platform you use. Check out our SEO services if you need help with optimization.

Q: How much should I budget for a new website?

Rough ranges based on my experience:

• DIY Squarespace: $200-500 (template + annual subscription)
• Professional Squarespace build: $2,500-5,000
• Custom WordPress: $5,000-15,000
• Custom Astro/Webflow: $5,000-20,000+

Q: Do I need a developer for ongoing maintenance?

For Squarespace and Shopify, generally no—these platforms handle updates automatically. For WordPress, plan for ongoing maintenance (updates, security, backups). For Astro, you’ll need developer support for any content or design changes unless you set up a headless CMS.

Q: What about Wix, GoDaddy, or other builders?

I don’t typically recommend these platforms for business websites. While they’re easy to start, they often have SEO limitations, slower performance, and less professional design options. The platforms covered in this guide represent the professional tier of website building.

Ready to Build Your Ideal Website?

Choosing the right platform is the foundation of your online presence. Whether you’re looking for a clean and simple Squarespace build or a custom high-performance Astro site, I’m here to help you make the right choice.

Reach out for a free consultation, and let’s find the right platform and the right plan for your business.