The simple test (start here)

Before reading the rest of this article, answer these three questions about your business:

  1. Do you sell physical products online? If yes — Shopify. Skip to the Shopify section. The other platforms can sell, but Shopify is built for it and the time saved pays for itself.
  2. Do you need to post regular updates yourself (news, articles, events, listings, blog posts)? If yes — WordPress. Skip to the WordPress section.
  3. Is the site mostly a brochure (about, services, contact, maybe a few extra pages) and you'll rarely change it? Then either Wix or custom-coded HTML. Read both sections — the right pick depends on whether you'd rather spend money or time.

That covers 90% of small business decisions. The rest of this article goes deeper.

Wix (and Squarespace, and Webflow)

I'll group these as "DIY website builders" because they share most strengths and weaknesses. Wix is the biggest in South Africa. Squarespace looks the prettiest. Webflow is the most powerful but has a steeper learning curve.

Strengths

  • You can build it yourself. No designer or developer needed if you're patient.
  • Cheap to start. R0 – R3,000 if you do it yourself. Hosting, SSL and basic email all bundled.
  • Fast. A simple site can be live the same week.
  • Looks reasonable out of the box. The templates have improved a lot in the last few years.

Weaknesses

  • It looks like a Wix site. Other businesses use the same templates. Customers sense it. Some industries (premium, design-led, professional services) get visibly hurt by this.
  • Slow to load. Wix sites are heavier than custom sites. This hurts SEO and mobile users on slow connections.
  • Limited SEO control. Better than it used to be, but you can't tune everything you'd want to. Schema, advanced redirects and structured data are clunky.
  • You don't really own it. If you stop paying, the site goes down. Migration off Wix is genuinely painful.
  • Recurring cost. R200 – R600 per month, every month, forever. Over 5 years that's R12,000 – R36,000.
  • Hits a ceiling. If your business grows past simple needs, you'll outgrow Wix and have to migrate anyway.

Wix is right for:

  • A side hustle or test idea where you're not sure the business will exist in 12 months.
  • A very simple brochure for a business where customers don't compare websites (e.g. a local trade where word-of-mouth dominates).
  • Anyone who explicitly wants to manage everything themselves and is comfortable with the trade-offs.

Wix is the wrong call if:

  • You're competing with other businesses online and the website is part of your sales funnel.
  • You need fast load times for SEO and conversion.
  • You'll be running this site for 3+ years (the recurring cost adds up).

WordPress

WordPress runs about 40% of the websites on the internet. It's the most flexible platform, the cheapest at scale, and the most common choice for businesses that need to post their own content.

Strengths

  • You can edit it yourself. Once it's set up properly, posting an article, updating a page or adding an image is a 5-minute job for non-technical owners.
  • Cheap to run. Hosting from R80/month. No platform fee.
  • Genuinely yours. The code, the database, the content — all owned by you. You can move providers any time.
  • Massive ecosystem. A plugin exists for almost anything. Booking systems, forms, memberships, custom post types, you name it.
  • SEO-strong. When set up right, WordPress sites rank as well as anything.

Weaknesses

  • Setup matters a lot. A bad WordPress build is slow, insecure and hard to maintain. A good one is fast, secure and a pleasure to use. The skill of the builder shows up here more than on any other platform.
  • Plugin sprawl. Cheap WordPress sites pile up 20+ plugins to do simple things. Each plugin is a security risk and a performance drag. Good WordPress builders use 5–8 well-chosen plugins.
  • Updates required. Plugins, themes and core need updating 4–12 times a year. Skipping updates causes security holes. Doing them carelessly causes site breaks.
  • You need a developer for changes beyond content. Layout changes, new features, integrations — those need someone who knows WordPress.

WordPress is right for:

  • Any business that posts content regularly: blog, news, events, articles, case studies, listings.
  • Sites with growth ambitions — WordPress scales from 5 pages to 5,000 without changing platform.
  • Anyone who wants to edit pages themselves but doesn't want to deal with a page builder's quirks.

WordPress is the wrong call if:

  • You'll never edit it after launch (custom-coded HTML is faster and lighter).
  • You don't want to think about updates ever (custom-coded HTML or Wix).
  • You're running an online store with more than a handful of products (Shopify is purpose-built).

Shopify

Shopify is purpose-built for e-commerce. If you're selling physical products online, this is almost always the right answer in 2026.

Strengths

  • Built for selling. Cart, checkout, payment gateways (Yoco, PayFast, Peach in South Africa), inventory, shipping rules — all handled.
  • Reliable. Shopify almost never goes down. For a store, that's worth a lot.
  • Scales effortlessly. 5 products or 5,000, the platform doesn't care.
  • Secure by default. PCI compliance, SSL, fraud protection — handled.
  • App ecosystem. Anything you can think of (subscriptions, loyalty, reviews, B2B pricing) has a Shopify app.

Weaknesses

  • Platform fee. Currently around R720/month for the Basic plan, more for higher tiers. Plus transaction fees if you don't use Shopify Payments (which isn't available in South Africa yet — so you pay both Shopify's fee and your gateway's fee).
  • Themes are a starting point, not the answer. Out-of-the-box Shopify stores look like Shopify stores. Custom theme work is essential for any brand that cares about being distinctive.
  • App costs add up. Each Shopify app you add charges monthly. A typical store ends up paying R500 – R3,000/month in app fees on top of the platform fee.
  • Locked in. Migrating off Shopify is harder than off WordPress. Plan to stay if you start.

Shopify is right for:

  • Any business selling physical products online — period.
  • D2C brands.
  • Stores with growth plans (the platform supports R20k/month and R20m/month equally well).

Shopify is the wrong call if:

  • You only sell 1–3 products and could use a contact-and-pay button on a static site instead.
  • You sell services, not products (use WordPress or custom).
  • You're not actually selling online yet and a "Shop" page on your brochure site would do.

Custom-coded HTML (the option people forget)

This is what most agencies built before WordPress took over, and it's quietly making a comeback for small business sites. A custom-coded site is hand-written HTML, CSS and a tiny bit of JavaScript — no CMS, no database, no plugins.

Strengths

  • Fastest possible load times. No server-side processing, no database calls, no plugin overhead. The site is just files.
  • SEO-strong. Speed and clean semantic HTML are exactly what Google rewards.
  • Almost zero maintenance. No plugins to update. No security patches. The site you ship today still works in 5 years without anyone touching it.
  • Cheapest hosting. Cloudflare Pages or Netlify host static sites free for small traffic. Otherwise R50 – R100/month.
  • You truly own it. The files are yours, work on any host, no vendor lock-in.
  • Most secure. No database means almost no attack surface.

Weaknesses

  • You can't edit it yourself. Changes need a developer. If you'll be posting weekly, this is the wrong choice.
  • Less flexible for complex functionality. Booking systems, member areas, e-commerce — possible, but easier in WordPress or Shopify.
  • Smaller talent pool. Fewer developers do this well. The good ones charge for the skill.

Custom-coded HTML is right for:

  • Brochure sites: a small business that needs an "about, services, contact, work, blog (rare posts)" set of pages.
  • Anyone who values speed, SEO and zero-maintenance over self-editing.
  • Premium-feeling brands where load time and design polish matter.
  • Long-running businesses that want to set the site up properly once and not think about it for years.

Custom-coded HTML is the wrong call if:

  • You'll edit pages weekly or post content regularly (use WordPress).
  • You're running a store (use Shopify).
  • The site needs heavy custom functionality (use WordPress with a developer).

The honest cost comparison

Building costs and 5-year running costs for a small business website (5–10 pages, no e-commerce):

  • Wix DIY: Build R0 – R3,000. Running cost (5 years): R12,000 – R36,000. Total: R12,000 – R39,000.
  • Wix with a designer: Build R6,000 – R12,000. Running cost (5 years): R12,000 – R36,000. Total: R18,000 – R48,000.
  • WordPress (well-built): Build R12,000 – R25,000. Running cost (5 years): R6,000 – R15,000 (hosting + maintenance). Total: R18,000 – R40,000.
  • Custom-coded HTML: Build R9,000 – R20,000. Running cost (5 years): R3,000 – R6,000 (cheap hosting, no maintenance). Total: R12,000 – R26,000.
  • Shopify (small store): Build R18,000 – R40,000. Running cost (5 years): R45,000 – R80,000 (platform + apps). Total: R63,000 – R120,000.

Custom-coded HTML wins on 5-year total cost for a brochure site, by a meaningful margin. Wix wins on initial cost but loses over time. WordPress sits in the middle. Shopify is expensive — but if you're selling, it usually pays for itself.

What I'd actually recommend (per scenario)

  • Local trade, guest house, restaurant, salon — small brochure site, rare updates: Custom-coded HTML.
  • Consultancy, professional services with case studies and articles you'll post: WordPress.
  • News site, blog-led business, content marketing focus: WordPress.
  • Online store, any size: Shopify.
  • You're testing whether the business will exist in a year: Wix DIY. Move to something proper once it's working.
  • Multi-stakeholder business with custom workflows: Talk to a developer before picking. Probably WordPress, possibly custom.

What I build at Skilld Design

I build all four. The right answer depends on the business. My pricing is on the websites page:

  • Essential — custom-coded HTML/CSS, from R9,000.
  • Publisher — WordPress with editing access and training, from R12,000.
  • Commerce — Shopify stores, from R18,000.

I don't build Wix sites. Plenty of people do that well — it's just not where I add value. If Wix is right for your business, I'll tell you straight on a 15-minute call and point you at the right person.

Related articles