Apps and plugins
Booking, reviews widgets, advanced forms and pop-ups are often third-party apps with their own monthly subscription. They add up quietly, so list every app you would need before comparing.
Cost comparison
Wix and Squarespace vs a custom website: the real 3-year cost
In cash, a builder is cheaper. Three years of Squarespace Core billed annually comes to CAD $1,152 before tax, while a small custom site with hosting from us is CAD $2,230 to $3,260 over the same period. The gap narrows once you add your time, apps, fees and email, and it can flip if the site is how you win work. Here are the numbers.
How we got these numbers
Builder prices change often and differ by country, so we only quote prices we checked ourselves on the vendor's own pricing page. Squarespace shows prices in Canadian dollars to visitors from Canada, and we read them on squarespace.com/pricing as of October 2026. The Wix plans page showed us prices without a clear currency, so we describe Wix in ranges instead of guessing.
Our own prices come from our pricing page. All numbers are before tax.
Squarespace plans in CAD (as of October 2026)
Monthly price per plan as shown on the Squarespace pricing page. Annual billing is the lower number.
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Online store transaction fee | Card rate with Squarespace Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | CA$21/mo | CA$30/mo | 2% | From 2.9% + CA$0.30 |
| Core | CA$32/mo | CA$45/mo | 0% | From 2.9% + CA$0.30 |
| Plus | CA$46/mo | CA$59/mo | 0% | From 2.7% + CA$0.30 |
| Advanced | CA$109/mo | CA$139/mo | 0% | From 2.5% + CA$0.30 |
Source: squarespace.com/pricing, checked October 28, 2026. Annual plans include one year of free domain registration; the domain then renews at the standard rate. Check the page for current prices before you decide.
Wix, in ranges
Wix sells several premium plans, from an entry plan for simple sites to business plans with e-commerce, and the top plans cost several times the entry plan. Wix states on that page that a Premium plan is what lets you connect your own domain and remove Wix branding, so a business should budget for a paid tier. Check wix.com/plans for the price shown in your region, and note whether the price includes tax and whether the low number assumes a multi-year prepayment.
Wix also notes that its free domain voucher is for the first year only and cannot be used to renew a domain. As with Squarespace, the deciding costs are usually the extras below, not the plan.
The hidden costs of a builder
The plan fee is the number on the pricing page. These are the ones that are not.
Transaction fees
On Squarespace Basic there is a 2% fee on online store sales, on top of card processing. Higher plans remove it but cost more per month. Run your expected sales through both before choosing.
Business email
A builder hosts your site, not your inbox. Squarespace includes one Google Workspace account free for the first year on select plans; after that you pay the standard rate per user.
Domain after year one
The free domain on annual plans renews at the standard rate from year two. Register it in your own account if you can, so it is never tied to the plan.
Your time
Writing, layout, fixes and updates are all yours. Count your hours honestly and multiply by what an hour of your trade earns. For most owners this is the biggest number in the comparison.
Rebuilding later
A builder site cannot be moved as it is. If you outgrow it, the design is rebuilt elsewhere and every old address needs a redirect.
3-year cost comparison
Thirty-six months, before tax, not counting the domain, email or your time, which you pay in every scenario.
| Option | Upfront | Recurring | 3-year cash total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace Basic, annual | None | CA$21/mo, plus 2% on online sales | CAD $756 + fees |
| Squarespace Core, annual | None | CA$32/mo | CAD $1,152 |
| Squarespace Core, monthly | None | CA$45/mo | CAD $1,620 |
| Custom: One‑Page Website + Hosting | CAD $790 | CAD $35 / month | CAD $2,050 |
| Custom: Starter Website + Hosting | CAD $970–$2,000 | CAD $35 / month | CAD $2,230 to $3,260 |
| Custom: Business Website + Hosting | CAD $2,500–$4,500 | CAD $35 / month | CAD $3,760 to $5,760 |
Squarespace prices as of October 2026 from squarespace.com/pricing. Custom prices are Island Web Design Studio published prices.
Reading the table honestly
If all you need is a few pages that prove you exist, the builder wins on cash and you should probably use one. Our article on choosing between a website builder and a web designer lists the cases where we tell people exactly that.
The custom column buys different things: a site built and written for you, one page per service and per town, schema.org markup and Search Console set up at launch, and code you own and can host anywhere. The question is whether that brings in enough extra work to cover the difference. For a contractor whose average job is worth more than the gap, a single extra job over three years covers it. For a hobby business, it rarely will.
Be clear about the monthly side too. Our Hosting plan at CAD $35 / month costs about the same as a mid-level builder plan, so a custom site does not save money month to month. What changes is what the fee buys: hosting for code you own, which you can move to another host at any time, rather than rent on a platform. If you want updates and support as well, our hosting and care plan adds them for CAD $129 / month, and it is optional.
Moving from Wix or Squarespace without losing rankings
The risk in a move is not the new design. It is old addresses that stop working.
List every current URL
Pages, blog posts, product pages and image URLs that get traffic. Search Console and the builder's sitemap give you most of them.
Keep URLs where you can
If /services/roofing ranks today, keep exactly that address on the new site. Nothing to redirect is the safest redirect.
Map the rest with 301 redirects
Every old address that changes points permanently to its closest new page. Google says in its site move guide that 301 and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank.
Move the domain to your own account
If the domain was registered through the builder, transfer it to a registrar account in your name before you cancel the plan.
Update everything that links to you
Google Business Profile, Facebook, directories and email signatures. Then submit the new sitemap in Search Console and watch for errors for a few weeks.
What a move costs with us
We move sites from Wix, Squarespace and WordPress as part of a website redesign, and the migration on its own starts at CAD $300. That covers the URL list, the redirect map, the domain and profile updates, and checking Search Console after launch. If you are on Vancouver Island and want to talk it through in person, we work with businesses from Victoria to the Comox Valley.
Keep reading
Questions people ask
Is Squarespace cheaper than a custom website?
Yes in cash over the first three years. Squarespace Core billed annually was CA$32 a month as of October 2026, about CAD $1,152 over three years, while a small custom site with hosting from us is CAD $2,230 to $3,260. A custom site costs less to keep after that and includes the writing and setup you would otherwise do yourself.
What are the hidden costs of Wix and Squarespace?
The main hidden costs are paid apps, transaction fees on lower plans, business email after the first year, domain renewal and your own time. Squarespace Basic, for example, charges a 2% transaction fee on online store sales on top of card processing. Your time is usually the largest cost.
Will I lose my Google rankings if I move from Wix?
Not if every old URL is either kept or redirected with a 301 redirect to the closest new page. Google states that permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank. Rankings can move for a few weeks while Google recrawls, which is normal.
Can I keep my domain if I leave Squarespace or Wix?
Yes, the domain is yours and can be transferred to another registrar. Transfer it to an account in your own name before cancelling the plan, and keep email settings in mind if your email runs on that domain.
How much does it cost to move a website from Wix to a custom site?
With us, migration starts at CAD $300 on top of the new site. That covers listing every old URL, setting up 301 redirects, moving the domain and updating your Google Business Profile. The cost of not doing it is losing what Google already knows about your site.
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