GoKawiilAllison Murray/ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Wix takes the win for small business websites, blogs, or services.
Squarespace is best suited for portfolios or creative sites.
Depending on the size of your online store, both website builders are a good option for e-commerce.
I spent an entire afternoon building the exact same website on Wix and Squarespace. Same business, same goals, same afternoon. And within the first 10 minutes on each platform, I already knew which one I'd pick.
Also: The best website builders for promoting your business or brand
I tried building a website for a roofing service company called "Roofing Stars," based in Cape Town, South Africa. The kind of company that installs solar panel roofs and does sensor-based leak detection (fancy stuff, I know). I picked this because it's a real-world use case.
I went through the full setup on both platforms. Signed up fresh, used their AI builders, answered their onboarding questions, watched them generate prototypes, and then spent time in both editors, tweaking, adding sections, and trying to make the site look like something a customer would trust. By the end of it, I had two fully functional websites and a very clear opinion on which platform does what better (and why).
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