AI Website Builders vs Wix and Squarespace: Which Is Right for Your Small Business?

Not long ago, a small business owner choosing a website builder had a fairly simple decision: Wix or Squarespace, maybe WordPress if you knew a developer. Now there's a new category in the mix: AI website builders that create the site for you from a description.

Wix and Squarespace have added AI features of their own, so the lines are blurrier than the marketing suggests. This guide sets out the real difference in plain English, so you can pick the right tool for how you actually want to work.

The core difference: who does the work?

The simplest way to think about it:

• DIY builders like Wix and Squarespace give you the tools. You pick a template, then design, write and assemble the pages yourself.
• AI website builders give you a first draft. You describe the business, and the software plans the pages, writes the copy and lays out the design. Your job becomes reviewing and refining rather than building from scratch.

Neither is better in every case. If you enjoy design and want control over every pixel, a DIY builder is a great fit. If you'd rather spend your evenings running your business than learning web design, starting from a finished draft saves a lot of time.

Wix: flexible, feature-rich, hands-on

Wix is one of the best-known builders, and for good reason. Its plans page lists a free plan, over 2,000 templates, a drag-and-drop editor, and AI tools that can create a site from a prompt, which you then refine by hand. Paid plans add things like online payments, bookings and ecommerce.

Good for: people who want lots of built-in business tools and are happy to spend time in an editor.

Things to know:

• The free plan runs on a Wix address. To connect your own domain and remove Wix branding, you need a Premium plan. Startups.co.uk found Wix's cheapest plan cost about £9 a month paid annually in the UK, or £11.50 paying monthly (prices last updated March 2026).
• The freedom of a drag-and-drop editor cuts both ways. It's easy to end up with pages that don't quite match each other.

Squarespace: polished design, paid from day one

Squarespace is known for clean, design-led templates, and it's popular with creative businesses, cafés and studios.

Good for: people who care about a polished look and are comfortable writing their own content.

Things to know:

• There's no free plan, only a free trial. As of November 2026, the Squarespace UK pricing page lists Basic at £12 a month paid annually (£16 monthly) and Core at £17 a month annually (£24 monthly).
• Templates do a lot of the design work, but you still write every page and set up your own search engine titles and descriptions.

AI website builders: a finished draft first

AI builders aren't all the same. Some generate a single landing page with a headline and a contact button. Others generate a full multi-page site. That difference matters, because customers looking at a local business usually want to see more than a hero image. They look for what you do, who you are, where you cover and how to get in touch.

Here's how Stack48 works, as one example:

1. Describe it. Tell Stack48 what the business does. A short brief is enough.
2. It builds the site. Stack48 plans the pages, works out typography and colours (from your logo if you upload one), writes the copy, and generates the search engine basics: a unique meta title and description for each page, structured data and a proper heading structure. By default you get home, about, services and contact pages.
3. Change it. Ask for changes in chat ("add a quote request form", "make the headline about emergency call-outs"), or click a section and edit it directly.
4. Go live. Publish, then connect your own domain.

You can read more on the how it works and SEO pages. Every site also comes with a real backend, so enquiry forms save submissions to your dashboard rather than vanishing into a fake inbox. And if you already have a website, you can paste its address into Stack48 and it rebuilds it for you to keep editing.

Good for: business owners who want a professional, multi-page site without designing or writing it from scratch, and web professionals who want a fast first draft for clients.

Things to know:

• You still need to read and check everything. AI is good at structure and first drafts, but it doesn't know your exact prices, your service area or the job you did last week that customers loved. Add those details.
• Stack48 is focused on business websites that bring in enquiries. Its product pages don't describe a built-in online shop, so if selling products online is the main point of your site, a builder with dedicated ecommerce tools may suit you better.

Side-by-side comparison

• Starting point: Wix: Template or AI prompt, then drag-and-drop; Squarespace: Template gallery; Stack48: A description of your business
• Who writes the copy: Wix: Mostly you, with AI help; Squarespace: Mostly you; Stack48: Drafted for your business, you review
• Pages: Wix: You build each page; Squarespace: You build each page; Stack48: Home, about, services and contact generated together
• SEO basics: Wix: Built-in tools you configure; Squarespace: Settings you fill in; Stack48: Meta titles, descriptions and structured data generated per page
• Free option: Wix: Free plan on a Wix address; Squarespace: Free trial only; Stack48: Free plan: one site
• Own domain: Wix: Paid plans; Squarespace: Paid plans; Stack48: Included on every plan, including Free
• Cheapest paid plan (UK): Wix: About £9/month paid annually*; Squarespace: £12/month paid annually; Stack48: £9.99/month (Pro)
• Online shop: Wix: Yes, on higher plans; Squarespace: Yes, on higher plans; Stack48: Not a focus

Wix figure from Startups.co.uk, March 2026. Squarespace and Stack48 prices from their own UK pricing pages, November 2026. Always check the current price before you buy.

Which is right for your business?

Ask yourself three questions.

1. How much time do you want to spend building?

If the answer is "as little as possible", start with an AI builder. You'll get a complete draft in minutes and can spend your time on the parts only you can do: checking facts, adding photos of your work, and getting reviews.

If you enjoy the process and have a clear design in your head, Wix or Squarespace give you more room to craft it by hand.

2. What does the website need to do?

• Bring in enquiries and calls (trades, salons, accountants, consultants): any of the three can work. What matters most is clear service pages, your location, your contact details and good SEO basics.
• Sell lots of products online: look at builders with strong ecommerce tools, such as Wix or Squarespace's commerce plans, or a dedicated shop platform.
• Take complex bookings or integrate with other systems: check the specific features you need before committing to any builder.

3. What's your budget, really?

Look at the cost of what you actually need, not the headline price. In particular, check whether you can use your own domain on the plan you're considering. A site on someone else's subdomain looks less professional and does nothing to build your own domain's reputation over time. Stack48 includes a custom domain on every plan, including Free, which is one of the main differences from the DIY builders. You'll still pay a registrar for the domain itself.

A sensible way to decide

You don't have to pick blind. Both Wix and Stack48 have free options, and Squarespace has a free trial. Try two of them with the same brief and compare:

• How long did it take to get something you'd be happy for a customer to see?
• Does the copy sound like your business?
• Are there separate pages for your main services?
• What will it cost per year with your own domain?

If you want a more detailed breakdown, Stack48 has comparison pages for DIY builders, other AI builders and web agencies. Or start a free Stack48 site and see what it builds for your business. No credit card needed.