Which platform should you choose for your website? WordPress, Wix, Shopify and more

Before designing a website you have to decide where it will be built. The platform defines what it costs to maintain, who can edit it, how fast it loads, which features it can have and how easy it will be to change providers. There's no "best platform" for everyone: there's the one that fits your business.

This guide compares the most common options (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and custom development) and helps you choose based on what you need, with the quirks of doing business in Costa Rica in mind.

The options in a table

Platform	Type	Best for	Consider
WordPress	Open-source content management system, on your own hosting	Company sites, blogs, small and medium stores (with WooCommerce)	Needs maintenance and updates
Wix	Rented do-it-yourself builder	Simple sites you want to build and edit yourself	You can't take the site with you; the cost rises with the plan
Squarespace	Rented builder with very polished templates	Portfolios, personal brands, visual sites	Less flexible; few local integrations
Shopify	Rented online store platform	Stores that want to sell soon without a technical team	Monthly fee, apps and commissions; local payments through third parties
Custom	Built for your project	Unique features, integrations, high traffic, several languages	Higher initial investment

WordPress

The most used content management system in the world. It's installed on hosting you contract, and extended with themes and plugins.

• For: free, flexible, works for almost any kind of site, a huge community and freedom to change providers.
• Against: it needs updates, backups and security monitoring; with many plugins or poor hosting it gets slow.
• Best for: businesses that want to edit their content often and have a provider to maintain it.

More detail in what WordPress is: pros and cons.

Wix

A visual builder: choose a template, drag blocks and publish. Hosting and security included.

• For: very easy, quick to publish, no technical maintenance.
• Against: you rent the platform (if you stop paying, the site goes off and you can't take it with you), the cost grows with the features and there's a ceiling on customization.
• Best for: simple sites with a few pages, validating an idea, or people who want to do it all themselves.

Full comparison in Wix or your own website.

Squarespace

Similar to Wix, with very carefully designed templates.

• For: elegant sites with little effort, everything included.
• Against: less flexibility and fewer integrations with Costa Rican services (local payments, e-invoicing).
• Best for: photographers, designers, personal brands and businesses where the image is everything.

Shopify

Built only for selling online: catalog, cart, inventory and payments in one dashboard.

• For: ready to sell in a short time, secure and with no technical maintenance.
• Against: a monthly fee, paid apps and commissions; in Costa Rica, card payments usually require a third-party gateway.
• Best for: stores that want to start quickly.

If you're going to sell online, see Shopify or WordPress: which is better for selling.

Custom development

The site is coded for your project, with the tools the developer chooses for the case.

• For: no limits on design or features, very fast, no dependence on dozens of plugins, integrates whatever you need (local payments, booking, quote calculators, internal systems).
• Against: a higher initial investment, and it depends on a good technical team to evolve it.
• Best for: businesses with their own processes, several connected features or a lot of traffic.

How to choose

Answer these five questions:

1. What does the site have to do? Inform, receive leads, take bookings, sell, several things at once.
2. Who will edit it, and how often? If you publish every week, you need a comfortable dashboard.
3. Who will maintain it? If nobody, prefer a managed platform.
4. How much can you invest up front and each month? Rented platforms cost little at first and forever; your own costs more at first and less afterwards.
5. What will your business look like in two or three years? Choose something you won't have to rebuild as soon as you grow.

What matters on any platform

• Speed, especially on phones: see the responsive web design guide.
• A design that guides the visitor towards contact or purchase.
• Clear local information: address, service area, phone, WhatsApp and hours.
• Your own content, which is what Google ranks and what convinces the customer.
• Domain and accounts in your business's name, whatever the platform.

How we do it at WEB.CR

We work with WordPress, Shopify and custom builds, and we recommend whichever suits your case, not whichever is most convenient for us. You can see an estimate based on what you need in the pricing calculator.

Not sure which platform suits you? Book a free call and we'll decide together.