WordPress vs. Website Builders: What You’re Really Choosing

Hosted Platforms vs. Self-Hosted WordPress

There are several factors to consider when choosing how to build your website, but the amount of control you have over your website might be the most important.

Working with a website builder on a hosted platform is the easiest way to go. These platforms provide an all-in-one product that allows you to build a website without any web design experience. However, these website builders often have their limitations, especially when it comes to customizing your website and scaling as your business grows.

Self-hosting with WordPress is a bigger responsibility. You are in charge of staying on top of updates and backups, but having a self-hosted website means having full control over your website’s data, plugins, themes, and other customizations.

Both methods are a viable, but your choice will depend entirely on your business and your website’s needs. Here’s a breakdown of what to consider when making this choice:

• User experience. Website builders are beginner-friendly and allow you to build a professional looking website quickly. Self-hosting with WordPress comes with a steeper learning curve and requires more upkeep.
• Platform features. Most website builders include tools with their service to help you with your website’s marketing, design, and SEO. You can still set up good design, marketing, and SEO with WordPress, you just have to take the time to find, install, and update the right plugins.
• Maintenance. Most hosted platforms that offer website builders take care of your website’s updates, backup, and optimization. If you decide to use WordPress, you are responsible for keeping your website up-to-date.
• Customization. While website builders can help you put together a slick, professional looking website, you’re limited to using only certain templates and themes, which may result in your business website looking like other websites. Using WordPress allows you to better customize your website to your business needs and make it look unique.
• Scalability. If you want your website to grow with your business, self-hosting with WordPress is the way to go. A lot of website builders are limited, and will not let you migrate the themes, stock images, and other software that they own.
• Security. Your website’s security is important. Some website builders offer an SSL certificate with their service or as an add-on, but you can also apply SSL to a WordPress website, too. Just understand that if you’re self-hosting, you are responsible for keeping your website’s security measures up-to-date. If you use a website builder, your host platform will usually take care of the security for you.
• Cost. Using WordPress doesn’t cost more than using a website builder, but it will cause the price of your website to vary. You will need to pay for your domain, hosting costs, and possibly certain plugins, depending on your website’s needs. When you hire a hosting platform with a website builder, you can count on a consistent subscription price.

As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when choosing how to build your site. Think about what your website needs now, but also think about what you’d like it to do in the long run. You want to make the best possible decisions early on so that you can avoid the future headache of having to migrate and scale your site.

WordPress or Website Builder: Which is Right for Me?

Again, it really depends on how much control you want over your website and what you plan on using it for. If you want a low-maintenance website you can get online quickly, a website builder is the way to go. If you don’t mind taking the time to get your hands dirty so that you have a flexible, scalable website you control, WordPress is for you.

Below are some examples of what kinds of websites are best suited for WordPress or for a Website Builder.

Curious about web hosting in general? Check out our Complete Guide to Web Hosting. 

What “Owning Your Site” Actually Means

You always own the data on your website, but you don’t always own the space it lives in. Think of it like renting a business property versus owning a business property. When you choose a hosting platform that uses a website builder, you’re “renting” both the space and the website tools from that host. When you self-host with WordPress, you own the space your website occupies as well as its digital assets.

If something goes wrong with the website you’ve built with a website builder, the hosting platform is responsible for fixing it, just like a landlord would be responsible for fixing a broken refrigerator. However, it also means that if you decide to move, you can’t take the fridge with you.

If you’re self-hosting with WordPress, you own your space and your tools, meaning that you may be the one who has to buy a new refrigerator to replace the broken one, but you’re also allowed to take it with you when you move.

Both are viable options, depending on the specific needs of your business. When choosing between a website on a hosting platform and self-hosting with WordPress, keep in mind how much flexibility your website needs, whether or not it needs to be portable, and how much it will cost in the long run.

Flexibility

Using a website builder to create your site is a lot easier than building it from scratch in WordPress, but it doesn’t offer the same level flexibility as an open-source website. For some folks, this is a good thing. They don’t want to take the time to learn WordPress and keep up with updating and optimizing their website.

If you don’t want your website to be limited by a website builder, it is worth the time to learn WordPress so that you can have total control of your assets and operate independently from a third party. WordPress allows your website to:

• Take advantage of open-source flexibility. Basically, if you (or anyone) can code it, WordPress can do it.

• Scale up. WordPress can handle a lot of user traffic. Sites built with website builders sometimes slow down with high traffic, but if your hosting service can handle a spike in traffic, WordPress has no problem keeping up.

• Stay independent. One of the downsides in hiring a hosting platform is that you’re at the mercy of their algorithm, which gives you less control over your website’s branding and SEO.

• Customize your website to your needs. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of WordPress plugins that you can access and install to customize your website to your exact requirements.

Portability

The ability to migrate your website to a new web host is an important factor to take into consideration when building your site. Hopefully, you initially chose a web host who could handle the growth of your website, but if you do find yourself in a situation where your website has outgrown your host platform you can move it to a new host.

If you’re already self-hosting with WordPress, migrating your website is much easier than if you used a website builder. Because you own all of the data and assets on your site, you can use one of several different WordPress plugins that allow you to easily export your entire website’s database and transfer it to your new web host.

If you used a website builder, you’ll want to be wary of platform lock-in. What is platform lock-in? Basically, it means you can’t take the platform’s assets with you when you move. You may own the text and other content on your website, but you do not own the design, software, and themes. Those belong to the hosting platform.

This makes migrating your website to a new host difficult. Not only will you need to go into your website’s database and manually export the data and upload it to the new host yourself, but if you’ve created a site with a website builder that relies heavily on the hosting platform’s design and imagery, you will have to redesign it after migration.

Intimidated by the prospect of having to move your website? Our guide on How to Migrate to a New Host breaks down the process step-by-step.

Long-Term Cost

If you plan on having your website for a while, you’ll want to consider the long-term cost.

Website builders act like a subscription service and provide your business with a predictable monthly or annual price. When you are first setting up your website, a $30/month price tag might seem worth it, especially if you’re a novice when it comes to website building and design, but that fee adds up over time and the price of your service might also increase when its renewed.

It’s also important to note that if you want to scale your website while using one of these hosting platforms, you will probably end up paying more for an upgraded plan to accommodate your site’s growth.

Self-hosting with WordPress may seem more expensive up front, but over time it can get more cost-effective. At first, you will need to purchase a domain, themes, and plugins. However, WordPress’s flexibility and ability to scale will help you avoid rising subscription fees and the high-tier packages hosting platforms require for larger websites.

If you don’t feel like going all in on WordPress and figuring it out yourself, you can always hire a web designer to help you with your WordPress site. However, this service will cost you, too.

Web Hosting with Northwest Registered Agent

At Northwest, we offer open-source web hosting with flexible plans, privacy protection, and human help. Take advantage of our super-fast load times, reliable hosting, and access to up-to-date WordPress features. And best part? You can bring your own site or build it here, with us.

All of our plans include 1 free domain, SSL certificate, and Domain Privacy.