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Best website builders for UK small businesses

The 'best' builder depends entirely on what you're building. We've split this comparison by use case so you don't end up running an e-commerce shop on a portfolio tool.

Last updated May 2026 · Independent · We don't take affiliate fees

A florist with 6 SKUs and a freelance copywriter have nothing in common. Pick by what you're selling, not by what's most popular. Each pick below is the right one for a specific kind of business.

Quick comparison answer

Our current top pick is Squarespace. It is ranked first because it is strongest for consultants, agencies, restaurants, photographers and has the clearest overall trade-off against the criteria below.

How we picked

Our criteria

Time to launch

How long it takes a non-designer to go from 'logged in' to 'live website with real content'.

Real running cost

After paying for the domain, an email plan, and the tier that lifts the silly limits.

SEO friendliness

Page speed, clean URLs, control over meta tags, no platform bloat hurting Google rankings.

When you outgrow it

How painful it is to export your content and move elsewhere when you're bigger.

#1Most users

Squarespace

The best default for a service business with 5–15 pages.

Best for: Consultants, agencies, restaurants, photographers

Price: £12–£40/mo

Visit site

What's great

Templates are genuinely good without customisation
Built-in scheduling, email marketing and member areas
Clean, fast pages — good for SEO out of the box

Watch-outs

Pricier than Wix once you add commerce
Less template freedom than Webflow — designers find it limiting
Slightly weaker blogging than WordPress

Shopify

If you're selling physical products, just use Shopify.

Best for: Online shops with 5+ SKUs

Price: From £19/mo (Basic) + 2% transaction fee unless using Shopify Payments

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What's great

Best-in-class checkout — converts better than every competitor
Huge app ecosystem covers every edge case
Built-in POS works seamlessly with in-person sales

Watch-outs

Transaction fees on payment processors other than Shopify Payments
App costs add up — many shops spend £100+/mo on add-ons
Themes are paid (£100–£300 one-off)

Wix

Cheapest serious option, with a learning curve.

Best for: Tight budget, multi-page sites

Price: From £8/mo

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What's great

Cheapest credible builder once you skip the free tier
Wix Studio (the newer pro editor) is genuinely powerful
Strong AI site generator for first drafts

Watch-outs

You cannot change template after launch — pick carefully
Older 'Wix Editor' produces bloated, slower pages
Exporting your site elsewhere isn't possible

Webflow

What designers use when they want to design.

Best for: Brand-led businesses, agencies, anyone with a designer

Price: From £14/mo (Basic) — free to build, paid to publish

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What's great

Total design control — no two Webflow sites look alike
Outstanding CMS for blogs, case studies and team pages
Clean, fast code — great for Core Web Vitals

Watch-outs

Steep learning curve — needs ~10 hours to feel comfortable
Pricing tiers can be confusing (Site + Workspace + Ecommerce)
Form submissions limited at lower tiers

Carrd

The fastest way to a credible one-page site for under £20/yr.

Best for: Side hustles, portfolios, link-in-bio, MVPs

Price: $19/yr Pro

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What's great

Genuinely £15-ish per year for a paid site — unbeatable price
Up to 10 sites per Pro plan — perfect for testing ideas
Loads instantly, looks current, no bloat

Watch-outs

Single page only — no separate /about, /pricing routes
Limited e-commerce (Gumroad embeds only)
Less template variety than Squarespace

Side-by-side

Compare at a glance

Builder	From	E-commerce	Blog	Custom domain	Export your site
Squarespace	£12/mo	Built-in	Solid	Included from year 1	Limited (XML)
Shopify	£19/mo	Best-in-class	Basic	Buy/transfer	Limited
Wix	£8/mo	Tier-gated	Decent	Free for year 1	No
Webflow	£14/mo	Add-on	Excellent CMS	Buy/transfer	Yes (HTML/CSS)
Carrd	$19/yr	Embeds only	No	Yes	No

The verdict

Service business? Squarespace. Stop researching.

Online shop with real inventory? Shopify, and budget for £50–£100/mo of apps.

Tight budget? Wix Studio.

Brand-led with a designer? Webflow.

Just need a one-pager today? Carrd, and you're live in under an hour.