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WEB DESIGN · 7 Oct 2026 · 7 min read

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

We build on all four, so this isn’t a sales pitch. Here’s how each platform really compares on design, editing, cost and room to grow.

Ally · Lead Developer

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 four options below, so this isn't a pitch for one of them. Here's how we think about each.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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