Wix vs. Squarespace vs. an Owned Site: The Hidden Costs Over 3 Years

If you're a small business owner shopping for a website, the math looks simple at first. Wix and Squarespace both have plans that run somewhere in the $15–30/month range, give or take, depending on what you need. An owned site — custom-built and hosted separately — sounds more expensive. So most people pick a builder and move on.

Three years later, the math doesn't look nearly as simple. I want to walk through the real numbers — not cherry-picked statistics, just a transparent look at what each path actually costs when you account for your time, the fine print, and what you're left holding at the end.

The Monthly Fee Is Just the Starting Point

Let's set some example numbers so we're comparing apples to apples. These are approximate at the time of writing — always check current pricing directly before committing.

Wix paid plans run roughly $17–35/month depending on whether you want e-commerce features or need to remove Wix branding. Call it $25/month for a mid-tier plan.

Squarespace sits in a similar range, roughly $23–33/month for the plans most small businesses actually need. Call it $28/month.

Over 36 months (three years), that's:

• Wix at $25/mo: $900
• Squarespace at $28/mo: $1,008

Those numbers are real, but they're the floor — not what most owners actually end up spending.

What Gets Added On

Both platforms gate features behind higher tiers or paid add-ons. Common ones: removing platform branding, e-commerce transaction fees on lower plans, email marketing beyond basic limits, appointment booking tools, and custom domain email (not included — you'll pay separately). None of this is hidden exactly, but the full-featured version of either platform usually costs more than the entry price suggests.

The Cost Nobody Puts on the Invoice: Your Time

This is the one that the monthly-fee comparison completely ignores, and it's usually the biggest number on the board.

Building a site on Wix or Squarespace yourself takes time. Not a little time — real time. Most business owners who take it seriously (pick a template, customize the layout, write real copy, get it mobile-responsive, upload photos, set up their contact form) spend somewhere between 8 and 25 hours on the initial build. That's a conservative range. I've talked to owners who spent far more.

Then there's the ongoing time: every update to your hours, every new service you add, every price change, every time you want to swap a photo or fix something that broke. The site is never "done." That's probably 1–3 hours a month of tinkering and maintenance, on average, for an active site.

Over three years, that ongoing time adds up fast. At 2 hours/month for 36 months, you've spent 72 hours maintaining the thing — plus the initial build. Call it 90+ hours total. If your time is worth anything as a business owner, the "cheap" builder just got a lot more expensive.

The real cost of a DIY site isn't the subscription. It's the hours you trade for it.

Switching Costs and Lock-In

This is the part I'd encourage you to think hard about before signing up for either platform, because it gets real expensive when you want to leave.

If you've built your site on Wix or Squarespace, your site technically lives on their infrastructure. The design, the layout, the page structure — all of that is built in their proprietary editor. You can export some content (text, images), but you cannot export the site. There's no "download my website" button that gives you a working version you can take anywhere.

What this means practically:

• You can't move your design. You'd start from scratch at a new platform.
• Canceling means your site goes dark — unless you pay to keep the subscription going or rebuild somewhere else first.
• Your domain is transferable, but your site is not.

After three years, if you decide you've outgrown the builder, you're not migrating a site — you're rebuilding one. That costs time, money, or both.

I wrote a longer piece on whether you actually own your website if you want to go deeper on this. The short version: ownership matters more than most people realize until the day they want to change something.

The Owned Site Path: What Does It Actually Cost?

"Owned site" can mean a lot of things. A custom agency build might run $3,000–10,000+ upfront, plus hosting and maintenance. A freelancer is cheaper but quality varies. Neither is a realistic entry point for most early-stage small businesses.

The third option most people don't seriously consider is a done-for-you monthly service: someone builds it, hosts it, and handles updates — for a flat monthly fee in roughly the same range as a DIY builder.

At StoneCrest, that's the whole model. We build the site for free (no upfront cost) and charge a $79/month founding rate for the Never-Miss-a-Lead bundle — the site kept live, updated, and supported, plus an AI chatbot, missed-call textback, and Google Business management. You own the site and domain — both go with you if you leave. No contracts, cancel anytime, live in about 7–10 days.

Over 36 months at $79/month, that's $2,844 total — more than a bare DIY subscription, but it includes the build, hosting, maintenance, an AI chatbot, missed-call textback, and Google Business management, and you're not doing any of the work yourself.

A Straight Three-Year Comparison

Here's what the paths look like side by side, using example numbers you can adjust for your own situation:

Wix (DIY, mid-tier plan)

• Monthly fees: ~$900 over 3 years
• Initial build time: ~15 hours (valued at $30/hr = $450 example cost)
• Ongoing maintenance: ~2 hrs/mo × 36 mo = 72 hrs ($2,160 example cost)
• Exit cost: rebuild from scratch if you leave
• What you own at the end: nothing portable

Squarespace (DIY, mid-tier plan)

• Monthly fees: ~$1,008 over 3 years
• Build and maintenance time: similar to Wix
• Exit cost: same — start over
• What you own at the end: nothing portable

Done-for-you owned site (StoneCrest example)

• Monthly fees: $2,844 over 3 years ($79/mo — includes chatbot, missed-call textback, and Google Business management)
• Build time: near zero (we do it)
• Ongoing maintenance: near zero (we handle updates)
• Exit cost: none — you take the site with you
• What you own at the end: your code, your domain, a working site

The time value is where the real gap opens up. Ninety-plus hours on a website over three years is time you're not spending on clients or actually running your business.

Where the Builders Genuinely Make Sense

I want to be fair here, because there are real situations where Wix or Squarespace is the right call.

• You're testing an idea before committing to a real business. A quick builder page costs almost nothing and gets you a presence while you validate.
• You genuinely enjoy building things and have the time. Some people like the creative control. If that's you, no shame in it.
• Your needs are minimal and temporary. A one-page "we're coming soon" placeholder? A builder is fine.
• Budget is truly zero and time is genuinely abundant. If you have more hours than dollars right now, a builder trades the one for the other.

For the how much a small business website should cost in 2026 breakdown, the answer genuinely depends on what stage you're at. Early validation = cheap and fast. Established business = invest in something that works for you.

What the Three-Year View Actually Tells You

The monthly fee isn't the wrong thing to look at — it's just the incomplete thing to look at. Over three years, the fees compound, the time compounds, and the lock-in solidifies. The question isn't which builder is cheapest per month. It's which path leaves you with the best outcome for the time and money you spent.

For a lot of small businesses, the answer is neither builder nor a big agency build — it's a service that removes the work from your plate without the upfront cost or the lock-in. You end up spending less, working less, and owning something real at the end. That combination is hard to argue with.

Want a website like this — built free?

Stonecrest builds small businesses a professional website for free — $79/mo runs the site plus the lead system, and you own the site and domain. Quick chat, no commitment.