Best Website Builders in NZ (2026): An Honest Comparison

Squarespace is a good default for small service businesses that want something polished without fuss. The templates are well designed, it's hard to make a Squarespace site look bad, and the editor is simple enough that most people get the hang of it in an afternoon.

• Price: NZ$19, NZ$31, NZ$49 or NZ$109 a month, billed annually (Basic, Core, Plus, Advanced). Squarespace shows NZD pricing, which makes budgeting easier.
• Selling online: the Basic plan charges a 2% online store transaction fee on top of card fees. From Core up it's 0%. Card rates start at 2.7% + NZ$0.30 on Basic and Core, dropping to 2.3% on Advanced.
• Watch for: custom CSS and JavaScript only come with Core and above, and layout freedom is more limited than Wix or Webflow.
• Best for: tradies, consultants, clinics, cafes, photographers and anyone who values looking good over endless options.

If selling products online is the main job, Shopify is the default choice for good reason. Inventory, checkout, payments, shipping and a huge app ecosystem are all built in, and it scales from a side hustle to a large retailer.

• Price: US$29 (Basic), US$79 (Grow) or US$299 (Advanced) a month billed annually, or US$39 for Basic billed monthly. Plans are charged in US dollars.
• Payment fees in NZ: with Shopify Payments, online card rates start at 2.65% + NZ$0.30 on Basic, 2.45% on Grow and 2.35% on Advanced. Amex is 3.5% + NZ$0.30, international cards 3.3% + NZ$0.30 on Basic, and in-person card payments 1.8%.
• Watch for: if you use a third-party payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own transaction fee (2% on Basic). Apps for reviews, subscriptions or bundles add monthly costs quickly.
• Best for: any business where online sales are the main goal. It's not the best fit for a services-only site.

Wix is the most flexible of the drag-and-drop builders. You can put almost anything anywhere on the page, and it has built-in tools for bookings, events, online stores and email marketing.

• Price: the Wix plans page shows Light at about US$17, Core US$29, Business US$39 and Business Elite US$159 a month, billed yearly. Wix notes that prices and currency vary by location and the US dollar figures are shown for reference, so check the final price at checkout.
• Free plan: yes, but your site shows Wix branding and uses a Wix address. You need a paid plan to connect your own domain and remove the branding.
• Selling online: the Light plan doesn't include ecommerce or payments; those start at Core.
• Watch for: the same flexibility that makes Wix easy to start with can make sites messy on mobile if you're not careful.
• Best for: businesses that want lots of features (bookings, events, simple stores) in one place.

Webflow gives you real design control, closer to what a professional designer works with. The trade-off is a steeper learning curve. It's a strong choice if you're design-minded or plan to bring in a designer later and want a platform that grows with you.

• Price: the free Starter plan publishes up to two pages on a webflow.io address. Basic is US$15 a month and Premium, which adds the CMS for blogs and collections, is US$25 a month, both billed yearly, plus taxes. Ecommerce is a separate set of plans.
• Watch for: Webflow is less forgiving for beginners than Squarespace or Wix, and US dollar billing means the cost moves with the exchange rate.
• Best for: marketing sites where design and performance matter, and teams who'll update content regularly. If you need a hand building one, we work with Webflow too.

WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress, the platform behind a large share of the web. It's excellent for blogging and content-heavy sites, and the paid plans now allow plugins.

• Price: plans start at US$4 a month billed annually, or less on two- and three-year terms. There's a free plan, but it shows WordPress.com ads.
• Watch for: WordPress.com (the hosted service) is not the same as self-hosted WordPress (the software from WordPress.org that you install on your own hosting). Self-hosted WordPress gives you full control, but you're responsible for hosting, updates and security.
• Best for: blogs, publishers and businesses that expect to grow into a larger WordPress site later.

Start with what the website needs to do, then pick the simplest tool that does it.

• You mainly need to look credible and get enquiries: Squarespace, or Wix if you want more features.
• You're selling products online: Shopify. For a handful of products alongside a service, Squarespace or Wix can be enough.
• Design matters a lot and you're willing to learn: Webflow.
• You're publishing lots of content: WordPress.com.

Whichever you choose, use your own domain (a .nz or .co.nz address), write clearly about what you do and where, put your phone number and a contact form on every page, and add real reviews. Those basics matter more than which builder you pick.

A website builder is a great way to start. It stops being the right tool when your website needs to do more than exist. Signs you've outgrown a DIY site:

• Customers compare you with competitors online, and your site doesn't hold up.
• You're spending hours each month fighting the builder instead of running the business.
• You're paying for ads or SEO and the site isn't turning that traffic into enquiries or sales.
• You need things the builder can't do well: complex bookings, integrations with your other systems, or a site that ranks for competitive searches.

At that point a professionally designed site is worth looking at. Our guide to how much a website costs in NZ breaks down what you'd pay, and our small business website design page explains how we work with businesses making that move.