Five builders, covered two different ways, and the difference is stated on every page rather than buried. A review carries a rating and means a real site got built on that tool. A profile carries no rating and means the pricing and mechanics were read carefully but no real project was run. Most sites would rate all five. This one tells you which is which.
The reviews (real builds, rated)
Framer
The one I actually run with, chosen after a real redesign project. $10/mo, a real free tier, and the visual editor that passed the partner test. Watch the 30-page cap.
Read the review →Wix
The biggest name, re-tested with fresh eyes. Better than its old reputation, gentlest curve in the business, $17/mo, and the most walled of the walled gardens.
Read the review →Hostinger
Site, hosting, domain and email on one bill from $2.99/mo. Do the renewal math first: it goes to $10.99, and the teaser itself rose 50 percent this year.
Read the review →The profiles (no real build, no rating)
Squarespace
The best-looking defaults in the mainstream market, at the priciest entry point: $19/mo, no free tier, and transaction fees on the Basic plan that surprise people who sell.
Read the profile →Durable
The 30-second website. Genuinely fast to done, genuinely limited afterward, and at $22/mo more expensive than the convenience suggests.
Read the profile →Head to head
Framer vs Wix
A design tool that publishes against a form you fill out. Price, ceiling, curve, page caps and lock-in, round by round.
See the scorecard →Framer vs Squarespace
Tools against taste. $10 against $19, a real free tier against a 14-day trial, and the 30-page cap that decides it for anyone who blogs.
See the scorecard →The full comparison
Every builder in one table at verified prices, plus the partner test and the credit meters nobody mentions.
See the comparison →How these are kept honest
Three rules, applied to every page above. Prices are verified against the vendor's own pricing page and stamped with the date it was checked, because builder pricing moves constantly; the last sweep was September 22, 2026 and three of the five had changed something. Ratings only exist where a real site was built. And when a page is wrong, it gets corrected rather than quietly deleted, which is why the Hostinger review now explains that its own earlier figure of $1.99 a month is no longer the price.
Picking without reading all of it
If you want the answer rather than the evidence: Framer for most people, Wix if design tools stress you out, Squarespace if you want it to look good with no effort and will pay for that, Hostinger if the budget is the entire decision and you can prepay four years, Durable if the site needs to exist by dinner. The reasoning is in the comparison, and the multi-year cost of each is in the calculator.