Website kit, website builder or web designer: which one fits my business?

The figures come from each company's own pages, read on October 21, 2026. The detail is in our other comparison articles: website kit or Wix, Squarespace alternatives with no monthly fee and kit, freelancer or local web designer. Three years here is arithmetic on published prices, before tax.

Several of the prices above change after year one. Wix's blog warns that first-year or promotional pricing can differ from the standard renewal rate.⁵ On October 21, 2026 Wix's plans page showed a 50% offer on Core, Business and Business Elite for the initial term only, and when we read the page again on October 22 it was gone.⁴ Squarespace's annual plans include a free domain for one year, and that domain renews at $20 a year.^{3, 6} New York Web Design says a .com domain, hosting and SSL are free for the first year, then lists the domain at $20 a year and hosting from $19 a month.⁷

A kit works the other way round. Year one carries the one-time kit price, and years two and three carry only the web address, at $10.97 to $20 a year.^{1, 2, 3} That is why we show three years and not one.

• A kit. You do. You put your words in the pages, add your photos and follow the guide. A kit with a setup page, called START HERE, asks plain questions and builds the site with you.¹ For how a kit differs from a template, see website templates vs ready-made website kits.

• A builder. You do, in an editor. Wix lists a drag-and-drop editor and AI tools that build a site from a prompt.⁴ Squarespace lists templates and built-in AI tools.⁶

• A designer. They do. Web Design by Robert lists copywriting and stock photography in its setup, and EBX lists copywriting and stock images in its first plan.^{11, 8}

• A kit is plain files. They move to any host, and the kit page says the license is for one business and one website.¹

• Wix says a Wix site needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers, and that its setup does not support external hosting.¹²

• Squarespace says you can export certain content in WordPress format. Store pages, extra blogs, drafts, style settings and custom CSS are not exported.¹³

• A designer depends on the agreement. The pricing pages we read, listed in our designer article, mostly do not say who owns the site or the web address if you leave. Ask first.

• Wix lists 24/7 customer care on all plans.⁴ Squarespace lists 24/7 support.⁶

• Oak Harbor Web Designs lists 24/7 support in its monthly plan, and EBX lists priority support in its higher plan.^{14, 8}

• A kit comes with a guide, and we answer kit questions by email.¹

The designers we read publish launch times: about 5 days at New York Web Design, as little as one week at Web Design by Robert, 7 to 10 business days at EBX, and 3 to 4 weeks for a basic business site at MIS Services.^{7, 11, 8, 15} The builder and kit pages we read give no launch time. A builder or a kit moves at the speed of your own writing, photos and decisions, so how long it takes depends on how ready your words are.

• A kit takes your time. Our Classic and Motion kits use tap-to-call links and have no form, so they take no orders or bookings.¹⁶

• A builder charges every year for as long as the site runs. Wix's cheapest paid plan, Light, lists no payments or bookings. Those start at Core.⁴

• A designer costs the most, and the terms vary. Several local businesses charge a monthly fee for as long as you keep the site, such as $75 a month at Web Design by Robert and $175 a month at Oak Harbor Web Designs.^{11, 14}

• Your customers mostly call, and you have an afternoon to set it up. A kit. A few to look at: Plumber, Electrician, Hair salon and Cleaning service. The whole list is at website kits.

• You sell online or take bookings and want the tools in one place. A builder. Wix lists payments, scheduling and eCommerce tools from Core, and Squarespace lets every paid plan sell products and services.^{4, 6}

• You have no time for any of it, or you need more than a template gives. A designer. Ask the questions in our designer article before you pay.

• You are not sure. Look before you pay. Squarespace has a 14-day free trial and Wix has a free plan.^{6, 4}

For the wider cost picture, see what a small business website costs, and for a plain-files route with no monthly fee, see can I get a website with no monthly fee. To decide whether to do it yourself at all, see build your own website or hire a designer.

We build custom sites as well as sell kits. This is our promise, in our words:

• Price: show us a written quote from another web designer for the same site, and we'll beat it.

• Quality: if your new site doesn't score higher than your old one on our free website check, we'll fix it at no charge.

To ask for a quote, tell us about your business.

We read each company's own pages on October 21, 2026, and worked out the three-year figures from the published prices. We sell kits and build custom sites, so we have a stake in this question. Wix and Squarespace are the only builders we price here. Prices change, so check each page before you pay.