Most Malta businesses asking us for a website have already heard of Wix and Squarespace. The TV ads are unavoidable. So the first question is usually fair: why pay a developer for WordPress when I can build it myself in an afternoon? Here is the honest answer.
The short version
- Wix — great for a one-page brochure built by a non-technical owner. Locks you in. Bad for SEO at scale.
- Squarespace — beautiful templates, easy editor. Locks you in. Limited customisation.
- WordPress — more setup, more freedom, more SEO power, no lock-in. The professional choice for any business that plans to grow.
If you only need a single page that says “here is my number, please call”, Wix is fine. If you want a website that ranks in Google, captures leads, sells products and grows with your business, you want WordPress.
Cost comparison (2026)
| Platform | Year 1 cost | Year 2+ cost | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix Business Basic | ~€180 | ~€240 | Hosting, domain (1 yr), templates |
| Squarespace Business | ~€276 | ~€276 | Hosting, domain (1 yr), templates |
| WordPress + MaltaCode hosting | ~€125 + design | ~€125 | Hosting, SSL, backups, support |
WordPress costs less in subscription fees but requires a one-off design investment. Wix and Squarespace look cheaper on paper because the design is “free” (you do it yourself) — but the time you spend dragging boxes around is not free.
SEO — the real deal-breaker
Search engine optimisation is where the platforms diverge most. WordPress is the SEO heavyweight: rich plugin ecosystems (Rank Math, Yoast), full schema control, granular meta editing, sitemap generation, redirect management, breadcrumbs, noindex tagging, image alt attributes, structured data — all built in or one click away.
Wix and Squarespace have improved on SEO over the years but still hide critical settings, generate bloated HTML, and bury you in JavaScript that slows down crawling. If your competitors in Malta are on WordPress and you are on Wix, you are giving them a head start every single month.
Performance and Core Web Vitals
Google rewards fast websites. The current ranking signals are Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift and Interaction to Next Paint. A well-built WordPress site on LiteSpeed hosting routinely scores 95+ on mobile. Wix and Squarespace sites typically score 50–70 on mobile because of their heavy front-end JavaScript.
That gap matters because Malta visitors increasingly browse on mobile. A site that takes four seconds to load loses 53 % of mobile visitors before they ever see it.
Ownership and lock-in
This is the part Wix and Squarespace will not tell you. Your site lives in their proprietary system. You cannot export it. You cannot move it to a different host. If their pricing changes, you pay it. If they shut down a feature you rely on, you live with it. If they suspend your account, your site is gone.
WordPress is open-source. The entire site — database, files, content, design — belongs to you and can be moved to any other WordPress host on the planet in under 24 hours. You are renting hosting; you are not renting your business.
E-commerce and payments
For an online shop in Malta, the picture is similar:
- Wix Stores — OK for under 20 products, hard to scale, transaction fees on cheaper plans
- Squarespace Commerce — pretty, limited customisation, US payment focus
- WooCommerce (the WordPress plugin) — powers ~30% of all online stores worldwide, works with BOV, Stripe, Revolut, PayPal, integrates with anything, scales to millions of products
For a serious Malta e-commerce site we always recommend WooCommerce on a MaltaCode Webshop hosting plan.
When Wix or Squarespace IS the right choice
To be fair: there are scenarios where they make sense.
- You need a site live in 24 hours and have zero budget
- You will never update the site after launch
- You are testing an idea and might throw it away in 6 months
- You have no developer relationship and cannot manage one
If any of those describe you, Wix is fine. Build it, ship it, get on with your life.
The MaltaCode opinion
For 95 % of Malta businesses we work with, the right answer is custom WordPress on managed hosting. You get the SEO, the speed, the ownership and the freedom to change anything later. It costs a little more up front and saves you years of frustration. Read more about our Malta web design service or book a free discovery call.