The short answer: a website builder costs $17 to $49 a month for the plans a small business usually needs, and a website someone else builds and runs costs a few hundred. The longer answer depends on a cost that isn’t on any pricing page, which is your time.
All prices below are US prices, checked on the vendors’ own pricing pages on November 1, 2026.
Both sell plans by the month, and both charge less if you pay for a year up front.
| Plan | Annual billing | Month to month |
|---|---|---|
| Wix Light | $17/mo | more |
| Wix Core | $29/mo | more |
| Wix Business | $39/mo | more |
| Squarespace Basic | $19/mo | $25/mo |
| Squarespace Core | $29/mo | $39/mo |
| Squarespace Plus | $49/mo | $65/mo |
Wix shows its month-to-month price at checkout rather than on its pricing page. Squarespace shows both. The top plans, Wix Business Elite at $159 and Squarespace Advanced at $99, add store and checkout features that a business taking appointments or quotes rarely needs.
Both include a free domain for the first year on annual plans. After that, the domain renews at the normal price.
Email at your own domain. An address like you@yourbusiness.com usually means Google Workspace, which is about $7 per person per month on annual billing. Squarespace includes a free first year of it on Core and up. After that it’s a separate bill.
Your time. Someone has to pick the template, write every page, find the photos, and set up the forms. Then someone has to change the hours for the holidays, add the new service, and update the prices. The Google Business Profile, which is often what customers see first, has to be kept current too. None of that is on the plan.
A managed website is one where someone else builds it, hosts it, and changes it when you ask. Foundry24’s plans are all-in:
There’s no setup fee and no contract. The build is part of the monthly price.
In cash, the builder wins at every tier. A service business on Squarespace Core with one email address pays about $36 a month once the free year ends. Foundry24 Starter is $299. The difference is about $263 a month.
What that $263 buys is the hours. At $35 an hour it’s about seven and a half hours a month. So the real question is how long the site takes you, or would take you if it got the attention it needs.
The calculator on the homepage runs this math with your own hours and rate. There’s also a side-by-side comparison of Foundry24, Wix, and Squarespace.
A website builder like Wix or Squarespace costs about $17 to $49 a month on annual billing for the plans most small businesses use, plus email and your own time. A managed website, where someone else builds and runs it, costs more. Foundry24's plans are $299, $599, and $999 a month.
They're close. On annual billing Wix starts at $17 a month and Squarespace at $19, and both have a $29 plan. Monthly billing costs more on both.
Email at your own domain once any free first year ends, the domain renewal after the free first year, and the hours you spend building the site, writing it, and keeping it and your Google listing current.
When the hours you'd spend on the site are worth more than the difference in price. At $35 an hour, the roughly $263 a month between Squarespace Core plus email and Foundry24 Starter is about seven and a half hours.
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