We build custom websites, so you might expect us to tell you website builders are terrible. They're not. Squarespace, Wix and the rest have got thousands of small businesses online who otherwise wouldn't be.
But they're built to suit everyone, and that has a cost. Here's an honest look at both sides, so you can decide what's right for where your business is now.
What a website builder is good at
Builders are quick to start and you can do it yourself. Pick a template, swap in your words and photos, and you can be online in a weekend. For a brand-new idea you're still testing, that's genuinely useful.
They also handle the boring bits: hosting, security updates and a basic mobile layout all come included in the monthly fee.
Where builders start to hold you back
Templates are shared. When the same layout, the same fonts and the same image blocks turn up on thousands of other sites, it's hard to look like anyone in particular. Your Instagram can have more personality than your website.
They can also get heavy. Builders load a lot of code to support features you'll never use, and big uncompressed images make it worse. We regularly see small business sites on builders that are slow to load on a phone.
And the details that help you get found are easy to miss. We often find builder sites showing as "Home" in Google, with no description, because nobody knew where the settings were.
Built to suit everyone means designed for no one in particular.
What a custom website gives you
A custom site is designed and built around your business, your brand and how your customers actually buy. Nothing is there just because the template had it, so it can be lighter, faster and clearer.
It's also built with search in mind from day one: proper page titles, structure Google understands, and pages for each service and area you cover. And it looks like you, not like a theme.
The honest trade-offs
A custom website costs more up front than a builder subscription, and it takes longer: most of ours take 4 to 8 weeks. You're also relying on your designer for bigger changes, so pick one who'll stick around.
On the other side, a builder's monthly fee never stops, you're limited to what the platform allows, and moving away later means rebuilding. When we moved Blank Slate Studio off Squarespace, we carried their content across so nothing was lost, but it's still a project in itself.
Cheap to start isn't the same as cheap to keep.
So which is right for you?
Stick with a builder if you're just starting out, testing an idea, or need something simple live this week. Make sure you fill in your page titles and descriptions, compress your photos and keep it up to date.
Go custom when your website needs to win you work: when you're competing with other local businesses, when people can't find you on Google, when your brand deserves better than a template, or when you've simply outgrown what the builder can do.
There's no shame in starting on a builder. Plenty of great businesses do. The mistake is staying on one long after it stopped working for you.
If you're not sure which side of the line you're on, ask us. STKR Studio is a small web design studio in Brighton, and we'll give you an honest answer even if it's "stay where you are".