Platform Guide
Website platforms compared: which category fits your project?
There are dozens of platforms but only three meaningfully different categories. Once you know which one fits, the choice within the category gets a lot simpler. Here is the honest version, with our bias on the table.
Where we sit.
We build custom sites. WordPress and headless builds are our two stacks. We do not build on Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify, and we rarely default to a hand-coded static site. That said, all three categories are the right call for some projects, and we will tell you when one of them fits yours better than what we offer. Read this with that calibration.
The three categories.
Different platforms, different trade-offs, but architecturally most options on the market sort into one of three buckets.
Site Builders
Wix · Squarespace · Shopify · Webflow
Bundled platforms. You sign up, pick a template, and edit your site in the browser. The vendor handles hosting, the database, the editor, and the front-end. You trade portability and depth of customization for speed-to-launch and self-service.
Best for: solo founders, fast launches, MVP brochure sites, standard ecommerce.
Own Your CMS
WordPress · Headless (Astro + Sanity)
Custom builds where you own the content, the code, and the infrastructure. Two flavors. WordPress is monolithic - everything runs on one server. Headless splits content (in a CMS like Sanity) from the front-end (in a codebase like Astro). Different architectures, same outcome: a site built around your business, not the other way around.
Best for: projects where the site is a real business asset, brands with design or content needs that go past templates, teams that will hire technical help.
Static Sites
Hand-coded HTML · No CMS
Just files. No database, no editor, no admin panel. A developer writes the HTML, deploys it, and that is the site. Updates require code changes. Genuinely the simplest and fastest possible site, with no editorial layer at all.
Best for: personal portfolios, single-page marketing, documentation sites, anything that rarely changes.
How each architecture works.
Where the pieces live and how a page gets to a visitor.
Site Builder
Editor, content, database, and hosting all bundled by one vendor. One subscription, one login, no portability.
Own Your CMS
Two flavors of the same idea: a content layer plus a presentation layer that you control.
WordPress (monolithic)
Headless (decoupled)
Static Site
Pre-built HTML served directly. No database, no editor, no server processing. Edits go through a developer.
What a custom build should actually feel like.
The most common worry from a Wix-curious prospect: "If you build me something custom, am I going to need to call you every time I want to add a testimonial?" The answer should be no. Here is what we mean by that.
When we build you a custom site - WordPress or headless - we essentially build you the Wix or Squarespace you would have built yourself, with three differences.
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The structure is designed for your business, not for a template gallery.
We sit with you, ask the questions that matter, and model the site around how you actually publish. Blog posts, testimonials, team bios, courses, case studies, dynamic landing pages, whatever your business runs on. The fields, the layouts, the relationships between content - all built for the way your team works, not the way a template assumes you work.
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The day-to-day editing experience is the same as Wix.
You log in to a clean dashboard, fill out forms, swap photos, schedule posts, reorder sections, publish. No code. No deploys. No call to us. The mental model is identical to what you already know from Wix or Squarespace - we just call the building blocks something different (more on that below). See the workflow in detail.
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Everything underneath is yours and built to last.
Your code is in your repo. Your content is in your CMS account. Your hosting is in your name. The site loads instantly because it is on infrastructure designed for performance. The accessibility, SEO, and brand consistency are baked in by people who do this for a living. Add a new content type next year? Easy. Move to a different developer? Easy. None of that is true on a site builder.
A good professional build delivers exactly the controls you need to run your site - nothing more, nothing less. The clutter is gone. The right options are right there. That is the bar.
Different names for the same building blocks.
One reason platform conversations feel confusing is that every system uses different vocabulary for the same architectural concepts. Here is the rough translation across the platforms most people are deciding between.
| Concept | Wix | Squarespace | WordPress | Headless (Sanity) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The basic content unit A single page, post, or item | Page | Page · Item | Post · Page | Document |
| A type of content A category with its own fields (e.g. testimonials) | Collection | Collection | Post type (custom post type) | Document type (schema) |
| A reusable layout chunk A repeatable section like a hero or a CTA | Section · Strip | Section | Block · Reusable Block · Pattern | Component · Block |
| An editable field A single input like a headline or photo | Element | Block | Field · Custom Field (ACF) | Field |
| Add-on functionality Third-party extensions that add features | App | Extension | Plugin | npm package · Sanity plugin |
| The visual style The look-and-feel layer of the site | Template | Template | Theme | Front-end code (your repo) |
| Brand colors and fonts The reusable design tokens | Site Theme | Style Editor | Theme settings · Global Styles | CSS custom properties |
Translations are approximate - some platforms genuinely lack a 1:1 equivalent (Wix has no real "post type" the way WordPress does, for example). The point is that the underlying ideas are the same. If you know what a Wix Collection is, you already understand what a Sanity document type is.
Inside WordPress: the page-builder layer.
WordPress itself does not dictate the page-building vocabulary - that comes from whichever builder is layered on top. Divi, Elementor, and Bricks each invent their own terms. The "Headless" column on the right is our convention, since a headless build does not have a builder imposing terminology - we get to choose, and we lean on industry-standard component-design language.
| Concept | Divi | Elementor | Bricks | Headless (our convention) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-width horizontal stripe A top-level slice of the page | Section | Section | Section | Section |
| Grouped row inside a section A wrapper that holds columns side-by-side | Row | Inner Section · Container | Container | Row · Container |
| An individual editable element A button, heading, image, video, etc. | Module | Widget | Element | Component |
| A saved, reusable layout pattern A pre-built block your team can drop in | Library Item · Layout Pack | Template · Saved Section | Template · Component | Block (a saved pattern of components) |
| Global design tokens Brand colors, typography, spacing | Global Colors · Module Customizer | Global Colors · Global Fonts | Theme Styles | CSS custom properties |
| Add-on functionality Third-party extensions | Plugin | Plugin | Plugin | npm package · Sanity plugin |
If you came up on Divi, "Module" is your mental anchor for what we call a "Component" on a headless build. Same job, different name. The vocabulary changes depending on which builder taught it to you. For a deeper read on each WordPress builder, see our builder guide →
Side-by-side comparison.
"Best" depends entirely on what you are optimizing for. Pick a point on the triangle and watch the winners shift. The center - balanced across all three - is where Own Your CMS earns its premium.
Optimizing for
Balanced
Balancing all three is where custom CMS earns its premium. You get an asset built around your business, with the controls your team needs and the long-term flexibility to grow into.
| Site Builders Wix · Squarespace · Shopify | Own Your CMS WordPress · Headless (Astro + Sanity) | Static Sites Hand-coded HTML · No CMS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed to launch | Days. DIY-fast. | Weeks to months. Custom build. | Days to weeks. No editorial layer. |
| Performance | Mid. | WP: good with caching. Headless: near-static. | Fastest possible. |
| Self-service editing | Drag-and-drop, anyone can edit. | Yes, through a custom-built dashboard. | None — developer-only. |
| Custom design ceiling | Capped at platform templates. | Unlimited — you own the front-end. | Unlimited. |
| Content portability | Limited. | Full. Your code, your CMS, your data. | Full. Just files. |
| SEO | OK. | Strong. Headless edges out by default. | Excellent (clean HTML, fast pages). |
| Monthly cost | $20–50/mo (bundled). | WP: $20–100+/mo. Headless: low. | Free or near-free hosting. |
| Initial build cost | Lowest (DIY) to mid (with a designer). | Mid to high. | Low. No CMS to model. |
How to choose your category.
Answer these honestly and one option is usually obvious.
Choose a Site Builder if…
- You are a solo founder and need a website live this week
- Budget is the primary constraint and you will edit the site yourself
- Standard templates and integrations cover what you need
- The site is a starting point, not a long-term business asset
- You are not planning to grow the site significantly over time
Choose Own Your CMS if…
- The site is a real business asset and the brand needs to look like it
- Your design or content needs go beyond what templates allow
- You have or will hire technical help, even occasionally
- You want code and content portability - no platform lock-in
- You are building for the long term and expect the site to grow
- SEO, performance, or compliance are part of your reality
Choose Static if…
- The site has under ten pages and rarely changes
- You are comfortable having a developer make all updates
- Performance is paramount and editorial workflow is not needed
- The site is a portfolio, documentation, or single-page marketing
- You want the simplest possible architecture