Website builders advertise a monthly price.
Wix starts near $17 a month. Squarespace starts near $16 (Tech.co, 2026).
So a year costs about $200, and the decision looks simple.
It is not simple.
The costs owners overlook add $1,100 to $5,000 a year (Jim, 2026).
That is five to twenty-five times the advertised figure.
Here is what the market data and the pricing data actually show. 🌐
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🧾 Risultati principali in sintesi
| Misura | Figura | Fonte |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress share of all websites | 40.8% | Tooltester (2026) |
| WordPress share of known CMS market | 59.0% | Tooltester (2026) |
| Shopify share of all websites | 5.3% | Colorlib (2026) |
| Wix share of all websites | 4.2% | Colorlib (2026) |
| Squarespace share of all websites | 2.4% | Colorlib (2026) |
| Wix year-on-year growth | 32.6% | Tooltester (2026) |
| Typical advertised entry price | $16 to $17 a month | Tech.co (2026) |
| Overlooked annual running costs | $1,100 to $5,000 | Jim (2026) |
📊 Who Actually Runs the Web
Market share here comes from surveys of live websites, not from company announcements.
That distinction matters, because vendors count customers differently.
📊 Share of all websites, 2026
The scale of the gap
WordPress powers 40.8% of all websites and 59.0% of the known CMS market.
Shopify, Wix and Squarespace together reach under 12%.
No competitor is close, and none has been for over a decade.
What the trend lines show
WordPress share has slipped slightly during 2026.
Shopify has continued to gain ground.
Wix grew 32.6% year on year, the fastest movement in the group (Tooltester, 2026).
Why the measurement method matters
Rankings shift depending on what you count.
All websites, the top one million sites, or the do-it-yourself segment alone give different answers.
A vendor will quote whichever slice flatters it most.
⚠️ Popularity Is Not a Recommendation
This section exists because market share is routinely misused.
WordPress leading does not mean WordPress suits you.
| What share tells you | What it does not |
|---|---|
| Plenty of help exists online | Whether it fits your skills |
| Developers are easy to hire | What it costs you to run |
| The platform will not vanish | How much time it needs |
| Plugins and themes are abundant | Whether you will enjoy using it |
| Migration paths are well trodden | Whether it suits your business type |
Every entry in the left column is genuinely valuable.
None of them answers the question you are actually asking.
The bandwagon problem
Large share attracts more articles, which attracts more users.
That cycle reinforces itself regardless of product quality.
Popularity partly measures previous popularity.
Where the vendor research comes from
Some analyses of this market are published by companies selling into it.
Elementor, for instance, sells a WordPress page builder and publishes market analysis (Elementor, 2026).
Read platform comparisons with the publisher’s business in mind.
🔎 Try Platforms Free Before Choosing →
💸 What a Website Actually Costs
The advertised price is the smallest line in the budget.
💸 Advertised price against real annual cost
Owners routinely miss $1,100 to $5,000 a year in running costs (Jim, 2026).
Those cover hosting, security, backups and marketing tools.
The full cost list
| Item | Typical annual cost | Advertised? |
|---|---|---|
| Base plan | $190 to $210 | SÌ |
| Domain renewal | $12 to $30 | Raramente |
| Specialty domain renewal | $30 to $70 or more | NO |
| Email marketing tool | $84 to $816 | NO |
| Third-party apps | Varies widely | NO |
| Payment processing | 2.7% plus $0.30 per sale | Buried |
| Backups and security | Varies by platform | NO |
Domain renewals land between $12 and $30 depending on the extension (Website Builder Expert, 2026).
Speciality domains such as .store or .design can renew at $70 or more.
The email marketing surprise
Squarespace’s email marketing tool runs from $7 to $68 a month (Outfy, 2026).
At the top tier that is $816 a year, four times the base plan.
Bundled tools are rarely included at the price you first saw.
Transaction fees compound quietly
Processing at 2.7% plus $0.30 sounds small on one sale.
On $50,000 of annual revenue across 1,000 orders, it is $1,650.
That single line can exceed every other cost combined.
🧮 A Worked Example
Numbers in isolation are hard to judge. Here is one small shop, costed fully.
| Line item | Year one |
|---|---|
| Builder plan, annual billing | $204 |
| Domain, first year discounted | $0 |
| Domain renewal, year two onward | $20 |
| Email marketing, mid tier | $240 |
| Two paid apps | $180 |
| Processing on $50,000 revenue | $1,650 |
| Stock photography and fonts | $120 |
| Total | About $2,394 |
The advertised $17 a month accounted for 8.5% of the total.
The fee nobody compares was the largest single cost.
What this changes about comparisons
Comparing base plans across builders is close to meaningless for a shop.
Compare processing rates first, then everything else.
A one-point difference in processing outweighs the entire subscription.
For a site that does not sell
Remove processing and the picture inverts completely.
A brochure site with no transactions may genuinely cost near the advertised price.
So the right answer depends on whether money changes hands.
🔍 Where WordPress Costs Differ
WordPress is free software, which confuses the cost comparison.
| Cost | Hosted builder | Self-hosted WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Software licence | In the plan | Gratuito |
| Ospitare | Incluso | Separate purchase |
| Security and updates | Handled for you | Your responsibility |
| Backups | Usually included | Usually extra |
| Premium themes or plugins | Fewer needed | Often several |
| Il tuo tempo | Inferiore | Considerably higher |
WordPress.com Personal at $9 a month is the cheapest option with a custom domain and no platform advertising (Jim, 2026).
That is $108 a year, below both Wix and Squarespace entry plans.
The time cost is real
Self-hosted WordPress transfers work to you rather than removing it.
Updates, backups and security become your job.
Price your own hours before calling it the cheaper option.
Who each suits
Hosted builders suit people who want to publish and move on.
Self-hosted WordPress suits people who want control and will maintain it.
Neither answer is wrong, and the market share does not decide it.
📉 Why Rankings Disagree
You will find articles putting different platforms first. Here is why.
| Measurement basis | Who tends to lead |
|---|---|
| All websites tracked | WordPress, by far |
| Known CMS market only | WordPress, larger margin |
| Top one million sites | Shifts considerably |
| Do-it-yourself builders only | Wix or Squarespace |
| Online stores only | Shopify strengthens |
| Tasso di crescita | Wix, at 32.6% |
Six defensible measurements produce at least four different winners.
Always check which basis a ranking used before trusting it.
The growth rate trap
Growing 32.6% from a small base is easier than growing from 40.8%.
Percentage growth flatters smaller players automatically.
Look at absolute movement alongside the percentage.
How to read any comparison article
Find the measurement basis in the first few paragraphs.
If it is absent, the article is not reporting data carefully.
Then check whether the publisher sells one of the platforms.
🔒 The Cost of Leaving
Switching costs rarely appear in any comparison, and they matter most.
| Risorsa | Moves easily? |
|---|---|
| Your domain name | Yes, you own it |
| Written content | Usually, with effort |
| Immagini | Usually |
| Page design and layout | No, rebuild required |
| Custom features and apps | NO |
| Search rankings | At risk during migration |
| Email subscriber list | Usually exportable |
Design work does not transfer between platforms.
Every year on a platform raises the cost of leaving it.
The one thing to secure first
Register your domain somewhere you control, independent of the builder.
A domain tied to a builder account is harder to move later.
This costs nothing extra and protects your most valuable asset.
Export before you commit
During a free trial, test the export function.
Find out what actually comes out before your content lives there.
Nostro mandato di prova lists platforms you can test without paying.
⏱️ The Cost Most People Forget
Time is the largest expense and appears in no pricing table.
| Compito | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Choosing a platform | Several hours |
| Initial build | 20 to 60 hours |
| Writing the content | Often longer than the build |
| Monthly updates | 1 to 4 hours |
| Learning the tool | Front-loaded, then falls |
These are rough planning figures, not measured research.
Value your hours at any rate and time usually dominates the total.
Where builders genuinely save money
Hosted builders reduce the maintenance hours, not the build hours.
That saving recurs every month for as long as the site exists.
For a busy owner, that is the strongest argument in their favour.
The content bottleneck
Most stalled website projects stall on writing, not on building.
No platform choice fixes that.
Draft your pages before you subscribe to anything.
🧭 How to Choose Without the Rankings
Four questions settle this faster than any market share chart.
🧭 The four questions that decide it
Question one does most of the work
Selling online changes which costs matter by an order of magnitude.
Processing fees dwarf subscription differences at any real sales volume.
A brochure site and a shop are different purchases entirely.
Question two is about honesty
Decide truthfully whether you will apply updates and check backups.
Most people say yes and then do not.
Choose the platform that matches your actual behaviour.
🏪 Four Site Types, Four Different Answers
The same platform can be the right and wrong choice depending on the job.
The local service business
A plumber, a dentist, a tutor. Five pages and a contact form.
No transactions, so processing fees never apply.
A hosted builder at the advertised price is genuinely appropriate.
Total realistic cost sits near $250 a year.
The online shop
Products, checkout, stock, shipping rules.
Processing fees now dominate everything else in the budget.
Compare rates first, then features, then the monthly plan.
A one-point difference in fees outweighs any plan difference.
The content site
A blog, a magazine, anything publishing regularly.
Here the priorities are writing speed and search visibility.
WordPress dominates this category for reasons of habit and tooling.
Nostro page speed research covers why load times matter for these sites.
The portfolio or brochure site
Design matters more than function. Updates are rare.
Template quality is the deciding factor, not platform power.
Pick whichever produces a site you are happy to show people.
📋 A Comparison Table Worth Building Yourself
Published comparisons rarely match your circumstances.
Build a short one using these rows instead.
| Row to fill in | Perché è importante |
|---|---|
| Annual plan cost | The advertised number |
| Processing rate | Usually the largest cost |
| Domain renewal | Recurring, easily missed |
| Tools you will actually add | Email, booking, analytics |
| Hours to build | Your largest hidden cost |
| Hours per month after launch | Recurs forever |
| Export quality | Your exit route |
| Support availability | Matters when something breaks |
Eight rows across two or three candidates takes about an hour.
That hour is the highest-value work in this entire decision.
Fill it during the trials, not before
Feature lists describe intentions. Trials reveal reality.
Build the same single page on each platform you are considering.
The one that felt easiest is usually the right answer.
Why one page is enough
You are testing the editor, not the platform’s full capability.
Frustration in the first hour predicts frustration later.
Nobody sticks with a tool they dislike using.
🔮 What the Trends Suggest
Three movements in the 2026 data are worth watching.
| Trend | Ciò che suggerisce |
|---|---|
| WordPress share slipping slightly | Hosted convenience is winning some users |
| Shopify continuing to gain | Selling online keeps growing |
| Wix growing 32.6% | Ease of use attracts new sites |
None of these movements is dramatic in absolute terms.
WordPress losing a point of share still leaves it far ahead of everyone.
What would actually be significant
A sustained fall of several points across multiple years.
Nothing in the current data indicates that.
Treat headlines about platform decline with appropriate scepticism.
L'implicazione pratica
All four major platforms will exist in five years.
Platform survival is not a real risk in this decision.
So choose on fit and cost, not on who might disappear.
🔎 Search Visibility Across Platforms
A common worry deserves a direct answer.
Search engines do not rank platforms. They rank pages.
| Fattore | Platform dependent? |
|---|---|
| Content quality | No, entirely yours |
| Page titles and descriptions | All majors support these |
| Mobile display | All majors handle it |
| Load speed | Partly, and it varies |
| Clean web addresses | Mostly supported |
| Structured data | Varies by platform |
Only two rows show meaningful platform differences.
The rest depend on what you publish, not where you publish it.
Where WordPress has an edge
Control over technical details is finer, and the tooling is mature.
That matters for large content sites competing hard on search.
For a five-page local business site it changes very little.
Il riassunto onesto
Choosing a hosted builder will not stop you ranking.
Publishing thin, generic pages will.
Spend the effort on the writing rather than the platform debate.
🧾 Reading a Pricing Page Properly
Five habits catch most of the costs that surprise people later.
| Habit | What it catches |
|---|---|
| Check monthly versus annual billing | The headline is usually annual |
| Find the renewal price | Year two is often higher |
| Look for the processing rate | Rarely on the main table |
| Check what the free domain covers | Usually the first year only |
| List the tools priced separately | Email, booking, storage |
The advertised monthly price nearly always assumes twelve months paid upfront.
Paying monthly typically costs noticeably more.
The free domain pattern
A free domain for year one is standard across the industry.
It renews at the normal rate afterwards, between $12 and $30.
Free means discounted once, not free permanently.
Write the total down
Add every line into a single annual figure before subscribing.
Compare those totals rather than the advertised monthly prices.
Nostro subscription audit method works well for this.
The upgrade you will probably need
Entry plans are built to be outgrown, and usually are.
Storage limits, page counts and selling features sit on higher tiers.
Look at the tier above the one you intend to buy.
Budget for that price, because most sites reach it.
What to do with the numbers
Once you hold real annual totals, the choice usually becomes obvious.
One platform is clearly cheaper for your specific pattern of use.
That answer rarely matches whichever platform leads the market.
Test both during free trials before committing money.
🚫 Cosa non ti dicono questi dati
Share is not quality. Popular platforms are not automatically better.
Prices change constantly. Check current figures before buying.
Cost ranges are wide. The $1,100 to $5,000 span covers very different sites.
Some sources sell platforms. Read comparisons with that in mind.
Regional pricing varies. Figures here are United States dollars.
The survey limitation
Market share data comes from automated detection of live sites.
Platforms that hide their fingerprint are undercounted.
Custom-built sites appear as unknown rather than as a competitor.
The averaging problem
A $1,100 to $5,000 range averages a personal blog with a busy shop.
Neither figure describes your site specifically.
Build your own list using the categories above instead.
🏁 La versione breve
WordPress runs 40.8% of all websites, more than the next three combined (Tooltester, 2026).
Wix grows fastest at 32.6%, from a much smaller base.
None of that tells you which platform suits your situation.
The advertised $16 to $17 a month is a small fraction of the real cost.
Running costs owners overlook reach $1,100 to $5,000 a year (Jim, 2026).
If you sell anything, compare processing fees before comparing plans.
Test the export function during a free trial, before your content lives there. 🌐
🚀 Browse Website Trials by Category →
❓ Domande frequenti
Which website builder has the largest market share?
WordPress, at 40.8% of all websites and 59.0% of the known CMS market. No competitor is close.
Does the biggest platform mean the best platform?
No. Share tells you help is easy to find and the platform will survive. It says nothing about fit.
What does a website really cost per year?
The plan is roughly $200. Running costs owners overlook add $1,100 to $5,000 depending on the site.
Which cost surprises people most?
Payment processing. At 2.7% plus $0.30 per sale, $50,000 of revenue costs around $1,650 a year.
Is WordPress actually cheaper?
WordPress.com Personal at $9 a month is cheaper than Wix or Squarespace entry plans. Self-hosted costs more in time.
What about domain renewal?
Standard domains renew at $12 to $30 a year. Speciality extensions can reach $70 or more.
Why do different articles rank platforms differently?
They measure different things: all sites, top sites, builders only, or stores only. Each gives a different winner.
Is Wix growing faster than WordPress?
In percentage terms yes, at 32.6%. Growing from a small base is easier than growing from 40.8%.
Can I move my site later?
Content usually moves. Design and custom features generally do not, so budget for a rebuild.
What should I do first?
Register your domain independently of the builder. It is your most valuable asset and should stay under your control.
How do I test properly during a trial?
Build one real page, then try exporting everything. What comes out tells you more than any feature list.
📚 Riferimenti
Tooltester. (2026). Website builder market share: the top players in 2026. Recuperato l'8 agosto 2026, da https://www.tooltester.com/en/blog/website-builder-market-share/
Colorlib. (2026). Website builder market share 2026: 60+ statistics and trends. Recuperato l'8 agosto 2026, da https://colorlib.com/wp/website-builder-market-share/
Jim. (2026). Small business website cost in 2026 (real prices). Recuperato l'8 agosto 2026, da https://www.jim.com/blog/small-business-website-cost
Tech.co. (2026). How much does Squarespace cost in 2026? Retrieved August 8, 2026, from https://tech.co/website-builders/squarespace-pricing
Website Builder Expert. (2026). Squarespace pricing 2026: breakdown of plan costs and fees. Recuperato l'8 agosto 2026, da https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/website-builders/squarespace-pricing/
Outfy. (2026). Squarespace pricing guide 2026. Recuperato l'8 agosto 2026, da https://www.outfy.com/blog/squarespace-pricing/
Elementor. (2026). What is the most popular website builder in 2026? A data-driven analysis. Recuperato l'8 agosto 2026, da https://elementor.com/blog/what-is-the-most-popular-website-builder/
Letture correlate su questo sito
Nostro software spending research covers how small tool costs accumulate. See also our subscription creep analysis for catching renewals before they charge, and the Elenco degli utenti che effettuano la prova gratuita for testing platforms free.
Informazioni su questa analisi
Market share figures come from automated surveys of live websites rather than vendor announcements, and the measurement basis is stated because different bases produce different winners. Where a source sells into this market, that is noted in the text. Pricing figures are United States dollars and were checked on August 8, 2026. Time estimates are planning guidance, not measured research, and are labelled as such.
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