WordPress, Squarespace or Custom? How to Choose a Platform for Your Therapy Website

Therapists ask this question in every practice-building group: Squarespace, WordPress or something custom? The answers are loud, and they usually come from someone who sells one of them.

Here's a fairer way to look at it. All three can produce a good website. The real differences are who maintains it, how much you control, and how easy it is to leave. We build custom sites, so weigh our view with that in mind.

The question to start with

Ask who will look after the site in two years. Not at launch, when everyone's keen. Two years in, when a plugin needs updating, a page needs a new fee, and your designer has moved on. A site nobody maintains gets slow, then broken, then quietly ignored by search and by clients.

Website builders (Squarespace, Wix and similar)

A builder gives you hosting, templates and an editor in one subscription.

Where they shine:

• You can launch in days, often by yourself
• Nothing to install or update
• A predictable monthly cost

Where they pinch:

• Your control over technical details is limited, and you work inside the template's structure
• Your design lives on their platform. If you leave, you usually export text and images but rebuild the site itself
• Forms, scheduling and chat tools may not be set up for health information, so check before you collect any

A builder fits a new solo practice that needs something clean and live now, where you'll do the editing yourself.

WordPress

WordPress is free software that you run on hosting. A huge number of designers and plugins exist, so help is easy to find. You own the files and can move them to another host.

• Control: nearly everything, including structure and technical SEO
• Ownership: yours, as long as the hosting and domain are in your name
• Upkeep: this is the cost. WordPress and its plugins need regular updates, and out-of-date plugins are a common way sites get hacked
• Speed: it depends on the theme, the plugins and the host, so it varies a lot from site to site

WordPress fits you if you want control and either enjoy the upkeep or pay someone reliable to do it.

Custom-built sites

A custom site is built in code, often as a static site served as fast, simple files. There's no database to attack and very little to update.

• Speed and security: strong by default, because there are few moving parts
• Ownership: you own the code and can host it anywhere
• Cost: usually more upfront than a template
• Editing: this is the catch. Changing a fee or adding a page often needs a developer, or a content tool added on top, so ask how edits will work before you sign

A custom site fits you if you want a fast, low-upkeep site and you're happy to send small changes to someone.

Six questions for anyone building your site

1. Who owns the domain registration? It should be in your name.
2. If I leave, what do I take with me, and in what form?
3. Who does updates and security, what does it cost, and what's included?
4. How will I edit a page, and what will I need help with?
5. Will you sign a business associate agreement for any form or tool that touches health information? If a company says "HIPAA-ready" but won't sign one, treat that as a no.
6. What happens to my site if you stop working?

A quick way to choose

• Starting out, tight budget, and you'll edit it yourself: a builder
• You want control and have someone dependable to maintain it: WordPress
• You want speed and low upkeep, and you can send changes to a developer: custom
• Not sure: pick the option you can leave most easily, and keep your domain in your own name

Still weighing your options? Book a free call and we'll talk it through with you, including when a simpler option is the better choice.