Website and Hosting Decision Guide

Decision Center

Where should your website actually live?

This is about a website that isn't primarily a storefront — if you're building a store, start with our Business Platform Decision Center instead.

Answer these before comparing options

  1. Do you need to sell anything, or is this purely a portfolio, informational, or blog site?
  2. How much do you want to touch design or code, versus using a template as-is?
  3. Do you already own a domain, or do you need to buy one as part of this decision?
  4. Who maintains this after launch — you, or someone else? Some platforms need more ongoing hands-on upkeep than others.

Our recommendations

Best All-in-One

Squarespace

Templates, hosting, and domain in one price — there's no separate hosting decision to make. The fastest path to a genuinely good-looking site without managing infrastructure.

Best for: anyone who wants a polished site live in a weekend without a separate hosting decision.
Explore Squarespace →
Best for Design Control

Webflow

A visual builder with real CSS-level control, still fully hosted. Better suited to teams with some design or technical capacity who've outgrown template constraints.

Best for: businesses that need a distinctive, custom-designed site and have design or technical capacity to use it.
Explore Webflow →
Best for Content-Heavy Sites

WordPress + Managed Hosting

The largest plugin ecosystem in the industry, ideal for content-driven sites — but it does require you to actually choose and manage a host (e.g., WP Engine or Bluehost) as a separate decision.

Best for: blogs and publications that need WordPress's plugin flexibility and don't mind more moving parts to manage.
Explore WordPress →

Skip all three if you only need a single page with contact info and links — a simple link-in-bio tool, or even a publicly shared Notion page, may be enough for now.

Some links above are affiliate links — see our Affiliate Disclosure for what that does and doesn't mean.