Platforms · 9 min read
WordPress, Shopify, Wix or Webflow: the cost nobody compares
Everyone compares the monthly plan. It is the one number that tells you almost nothing, because each platform is cheap in a different place and expensive in another.
Updated 27 August 2026 · GoDesign build team
The short version
- Platform choice is the most-asked question in our own job data: 450 of 28,614 briefs name a specific platform, more than any other topic.
- A monthly plan price is close to meaningless. Shopify's plan is $39 and its app subscriptions routinely run $50-200 on top.
- Squarespace takes 3% of every sale below its Commerce plan. At $60k a month that single line is larger than every subscription on this page combined.
- WordPress is free software that charges you in hosting and attention. That is a real cost, not a hidden one, and it is usually the lowest total.
Almost every platform comparison you will read lines up the monthly plan prices and declares a winner. It is the wrong number to compare, and it is wrong in a way that reverses the answer rather than merely blurring it. Each of these platforms is cheap somewhere and expensive somewhere else, and which one you notice depends entirely on how long you look.
We had a reason to work this out properly. Across 28,614 freelance-platform briefs in our own database, 450 name a specific platform — WordPress 251, Shopify 124, Wix 39, Webflow 16, Squarespace 13, Framer 7. It is the single largest theme, larger than SEO, larger than automation, and it is the decision that comes before every cost question anyone asks afterwards.
The four places the money actually goes
A website costs you in four streams, and every platform loads a different one. Read a comparison that only shows you the first and you are being shown roughly a fifth of the picture.
- The plan. The advertised monthly figure, and the only one most comparisons show.
- Hosting. Zero on the hosted platforms, and a genuine line on WordPress.
- Apps, plugins and add-ons. Near zero on Framer, decisive on Shopify.
- The platform's cut of your sales. Zero on most, 3% on Squarespace below Commerce.
| Platform | Plan | Hosting | Apps | Cut of sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | $0 | $8-35 | $0-25 | none |
| WordPress + WooCommerce | $0 | $25+ | $25+ | none |
| Shopify Basic | $39 | included | $50-200 | none via Shopify Payments |
| Wix Business | $32 | included | $0-20 | none |
| Squarespace Business | $33 | included | $0-15 | 3% below Commerce |
| Webflow CMS | $23 | included | $0-20 | none |
| Framer | $20 | included | $0 | none |
Where the ranking flips
Run a brochure site with a blog for three years and WordPress comes out cheapest, with Framer close behind if you can live without a database. Nothing surprising there. Now add a store doing $60,000 a month and re-run it.
| Platform | 3-year total at $60k/mo in sales | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress + WooCommerce | lowest of the store-capable options | no cut of sales at all |
| Shopify | roughly double WooCommerce | app subscriptions, compounding |
| Squarespace | an order of magnitude above both | 3% of every sale, every month |
Squarespace at that volume is paying roughly $1,800 a month to the platform in transaction cuts alone, which is more than every subscription in the table put together. Nothing about the plan price hints at it. This is the single clearest case for comparing totals rather than plans, and it is why the chooser on this site defaults to three years.
Fit is a separate question from cost
The cheapest platform that cannot do what you need is not a saving, and a comparison that ranks it third with an asterisk has taught you nothing. Framer is excellent and cannot run a store. Wix is the fastest route to a decent small-business site and cannot be exported, so leaving is a rebuild rather than a migration. A custom build has no platform bill at all and cannot be edited by anyone who cannot code.
Our chooser scores fit and cost separately and removes a platform outright when it scores zero on something you have ticked, rather than listing it cheaply with a footnote. When the best fit is not the cheapest it says so and quantifies the gap, because that is the actual decision in front of you.
The question that decides more than the platform
Ask whoever is quoting: can somebody in our office change a paragraph without paying you. On a platform where the answer is yes, the small-changes line collapses to nothing. Where it is no, every text edit is a paid request for as long as the site exists, and across three years that is regularly the largest single cost of owning the website — larger than the build, larger than hosting, larger than the plan.
That is not an argument for any particular platform. It is an argument for asking the question before you sign, because no comparison table can answer it for you.
Questions people ask
Is WordPress still the right default in 2026?
For a content-led site where you want to own everything, usually yes, and it is the most-requested platform in our data by a wide margin. The honest caveat is that it hands you a maintenance obligation: an unmaintained WordPress site is one of the most commonly compromised things on the web, so the care cost is real rather than optional.
Why does Shopify cost more than its plan suggests?
App subscriptions. Fifty to two hundred dollars a month is normal for a working store, and it compounds because each app solves one thing and the next gap needs another. The plan is $39 and almost nobody pays only $39.
Can I move off a platform later?
Content, usually. The build, rarely. Wix in particular cannot be exported, so leaving means rebuilding rather than migrating. If being able to move matters, it is worth treating as a requirement rather than a preference, because it removes some options entirely.
When is a custom build actually worth it?
When the website is the product rather than a brochure for it. If what you need is pages, a form and a blog, custom is the most expensive way to get them and the hardest to change afterwards.
Does the 3% Squarespace fee apply to everyone?
No — it applies below the Commerce plans. If you are selling in any volume, moving up a plan is cheaper than paying the cut, and the crossover comes sooner than most people expect.
Built by GoDesign FZE, who build WhatsApp and CRM automation for UAE businesses.
Get in touch
Want someone to just do this part?
The tool is free and stays free. If you would rather hand the work over, tell us what you are dealing with and you get a straight answer on scope, cost and timeline.
- You own everythingRepository, hosting and domain credentials sit in your name from day one, not handed over at the end.
- A written timelineMilestone dates are agreed in writing before work starts, so you always know what ships next.
- One business dayEvery enquiry gets a reply from the person who would scope the work, not a sales sequence.
Media City, Dubai, UAE · DHA Phase 2, Islamabad, Pakistan
Would rather type than fill in a form?
Message on WhatsApp