Wix vs Squarespace vs GoDaddy: Best Website Builder for Freelancers & Creators
Freelancers and independent creators—like writers, graphic designers, photographers, and social media managers—need a professional website to showcase their work and land clients. If you're not a web developer and need your online portfolio or client-attracting site ready fast, Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy are three popular choices. They require no coding skill. However, they aren't all the same; how good your site looks and how much you can change it varies significantly.
READY TO TAKE ACTION?
Use the free LaunchAdvisor checklist to track every step in this guide.
The Quick Answer
If showing off your work beautifully is key (think photographers, graphic designers, video editors, illustrators), pick Squarespace. It makes your portfolio look professional with little effort. If you need full control over layout, advanced booking tools, or a custom shop for digital products like presets or templates, Wix gives you more flexibility, but can be trickier to design. Choose GoDaddy Website Builder only if you already own a GoDaddy domain and just need a super-fast, basic online presence without design fuss—like a digital business card with links to your main work.
Side-by-Side Breakdown
Squarespace: Costs $16-49/month. Offers stunning, award-winning templates perfect for visual portfolios (like a photography gallery, video reel, or graphic design case study). Its cohesive design system helps keep your site looking sharp, meaning you can't easily make a bad-looking layout. Great for showcasing client work and offering consultation booking for service-based freelancers.
Wix: Costs $17-159/month. Gives you complete drag-and-drop freedom, letting you place anything anywhere. Has over 900 templates and an AI website builder. It's very flexible for custom branding or adding advanced features like client portals or online course sales, but this freedom means it's also easier to accidentally create a cluttered or amateur-looking site.
GoDaddy Website Builder: Costs $10-25/month. It's the quickest to get online. Has the fewest design choices and generally looks less polished. Best if you just need a super basic 'digital business card' site right now, with your contact info and links to your social media or external portfolio sites like Behance, Dribbble, or ArtStation.
When to Choose Squarespace
Choose Squarespace if your income depends heavily on your visual portfolio or a clean, professional image. This means photographers needing elegant galleries, graphic designers showcasing detailed case studies, or videographers embedding high-quality reels. It's also ideal for freelance writers or consultants who need a professional, trustworthy site to list services, display client testimonials, and integrate a simple contact or booking form for discovery calls. Squarespace's pre-built, award-winning templates guide you to a polished look, making it hard for non-designers to mess up the visual presentation of their valuable work.
When to Choose Wix
Pick Wix if you need total creative freedom to build a unique brand experience, or if you plan to offer interactive client services. This includes creating custom client login areas for project updates, building a full online store for digital products (like a photographer selling Lightroom presets or a designer selling templates), or setting up advanced booking for various consultation types or workshops. Wix's App Market also offers tools for things like membership sites for paid content or integration with specific freelance CRM systems, but expect to spend more time perfecting the design and layout to avoid a cluttered look.
When to Choose GoDaddy
Choose GoDaddy if you already use their domain and hosting services and want to keep everything in one dashboard. It’s for freelancers who need a bare-bones online presence in just an hour or two. Think of it as a digital business card with your contact info, a brief bio, and direct links to your main portfolios on sites like Behance, Dribbble, LinkedIn, or your Instagram. Your website isn't your main way to get clients; you rely more on referrals, social media, or dedicated freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, but still need a web address for professional legitimacy.
The Verdict
Squarespace is the top choice for most freelancers and independent creators who need a professional, visually appealing portfolio or service site without getting bogged down in technical details. Wix is better for those who need highly custom branding, advanced booking features, membership areas, or to sell many digital products directly. GoDaddy Website Builder is only truly useful if you need a 'live-today' site with almost no design work, serving mostly as an online contact point rather than a client magnet. Many independent professionals who start with GoDaddy find themselves moving to Squarespace or a more powerful platform like WordPress as their business grows.
How to Get Started
Squarespace: Begin with their free trial. Look for templates specifically designed for portfolios, creative professionals, or service providers. Upload your best project examples, add client testimonials, write clear service descriptions, and set up a contact form. You can buy a custom domain directly through Squarespace or connect one you already own from GoDaddy or another registrar.
Wix: Start with Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) by answering a few questions about your freelance niche (e.g., 'freelance writer,' 'social media manager'). This will generate an initial site. Then, dive into their drag-and-drop editor to fully customize your brand, add specific client forms, or build out an online shop for your digital offerings.
RECOMMENDED TOOLS
Some links above are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up — at no extra cost to you.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I switch from Wix to Squarespace later?
Not directly — there is no automatic migration. You would need to manually recreate your pages in Squarespace. Plan your platform choice early if you expect significant content investment.
Is Squarespace good for SEO?
Squarespace has solid built-in SEO features — customizable titles, meta descriptions, canonical tags, and automatic sitemaps. It is sufficient for most small business SEO needs, though it is less powerful than WordPress with Yoast for content-heavy SEO strategies.
Does GoDaddy charge a transaction fee on ecommerce?
GoDaddy's Commerce plans do not charge additional transaction fees beyond payment processor rates. However, their ecommerce feature set is more limited than Shopify or WooCommerce for product-focused businesses.