One of the first questions we hear from churches starting a new website — or rebuilding an old one — is: what platform should we use?
It's the right question to ask. The platform you choose shapes how much your site costs, how easy it is to update, and how well it performs over time. And yet most churches end up picking a platform for the wrong reasons — because a volunteer already knows it, or because a church down the road uses it, or because they clicked the first result in Google.
Let's slow down and do this right. Here's an honest look at the three most common options: WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix.
WordPress
WordPress powers roughly 40% of all websites on the internet, and for good reason. It's flexible, powerful, and — when set up correctly — capable of handling almost anything you need.
What makes it a strong choice for churches:
WordPress's biggest strength is its flexibility. With the right theme and plugins, you can build nearly anything: sermon libraries with audio and video, event calendars, online giving integrations, multilingual support, private member portals, and more. If your church has unique needs, WordPress can usually meet them.
It's also highly SEO-friendly. WordPress gives you fine-grained control over page titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, and site structure — all of which matter when you want people to find you on Google.
The honest downsides:
WordPress has a steeper learning curve. Updating content is intuitive once you learn it, but the initial setup — choosing a host, installing a theme, configuring plugins — takes real knowledge. Without someone technically comfortable managing it, a WordPress site can fall behind on updates and become a security risk.
It also requires more ongoing maintenance. Plugins need updating. Themes need testing. Backups need to run reliably. If you're handing this off to a volunteer with no web background, that's a real concern.
Best for: Churches with a budget for professional setup, a technically inclined volunteer or staff member to manage it, or those with complex needs (sermon archives, member portals, large event calendars).
Squarespace
Squarespace is a polished, all-in-one website builder. You don't install anything — you just log in, choose a template, and start customizing. It handles hosting, updates, and security automatically.
What makes it a strong choice for churches:
Squarespace templates are genuinely beautiful. The design quality is consistently high, which means even a church with no design experience can end up with a professional-looking site. It's also much easier to maintain than WordPress — updating a page or swapping a photo takes minutes, not a technical degree.
For smaller churches that don't need a sermon library or advanced features, Squarespace can cover the basics well: service times, location, staff bios, a contact form, a blog, and basic event listings.
The honest downsides:
Squarespace is less flexible than WordPress. You can customize within the template, but you're working within guardrails. Some things that are simple in WordPress — like deeply integrated online giving, detailed sermon filtering, or complex forms — are harder or impossible in Squarespace without workarounds.
It also costs more on a monthly basis than self-hosted WordPress, and you don't fully own your platform — if Squarespace changes its pricing or discontinues a feature, you're affected.
Best for: Small to mid-sized churches that want a clean, low-maintenance site without the technical complexity of WordPress — and don't need advanced features.
Wix
Wix is the most beginner-friendly option on this list. Its drag-and-drop editor lets you place elements anywhere on the page, and its library of templates is enormous. For someone with no web experience, it can feel like the most accessible starting point.
What makes it a strong choice for churches:
The barrier to entry is genuinely low. A motivated volunteer can get a basic Wix site up and running in a weekend. It also has a large library of apps (Wix's version of plugins), which can add features like event calendars, contact forms, and booking tools.
The honest downsides:
Wix's flexibility is also its weakness. Because you can drag elements anywhere, it's easy to create a site that looks inconsistent or unpolished — especially without design experience. It's also harder to migrate away from Wix if you outgrow it; unlike WordPress, your content doesn't export cleanly.
From an SEO standpoint, Wix has improved significantly in recent years, but it still lags behind WordPress. For a church trying to rank locally for searches like "church near me" or "Baptist church in [your city]," that gap can matter.
Best for: Very small churches on a tight budget that need something simple and fast — and are willing to accept limitations down the road.
So Which One Should You Choose?
Here's our honest recommendation framework:
Choose WordPress if you're working with a web developer (like us), you have someone technically capable on your team, or you have advanced needs — sermon libraries, member access, complex giving integrations.
Choose Squarespace if you want a beautiful, low-maintenance site your staff can update without training, and your needs are relatively straightforward.
Choose Wix if budget is the primary constraint, you need something working immediately, and you understand it may need to be rebuilt later.
The most important thing isn't picking the "best" platform in the abstract — it's picking the platform that matches your church's capacity to manage it. A well-maintained Squarespace site will always outperform a neglected WordPress site, no matter how capable the underlying technology is.
One More Thing: The Platform Isn't Everything
We've seen beautifully designed churches on every platform listed here — and we've seen each one used poorly, too. The platform matters, but it matters less than the content on it, the clarity of your message, and the care you put into keeping it up to date.
If you're not sure which direction is right for your church, we're happy to talk through your situation and give you an honest recommendation — even if it means you don't end up working with us. That's what we mean when we say faith-driven development.
Get in touch and let's figure it out together.