The three real options in 2026
If you are a small business or an independent professional and you need a website, today you have three paths:
- Wix / Squarespace: “do it yourself” platforms with templates and a monthly subscription.
- WordPress: the classic CMS, with its own hosting and plugins.
- Custom static site: generated HTML deployed at the edge, with no database and no CMS.
None is “the best” in the abstract. The right question is: what do you need your site to do? If the answer is “show my services, get contacted, and appear on Google and in AIs”, the comparison is quite clear.
Speed: the point where there is no debate
A static site is pure HTML served from the edge: it loads in a fraction of a second on any device. Wix and WordPress load the site plus the builder, plus the plugins, plus third-party JavaScript — and on mobile connections that is noticeable.
Speed is not a technical luxury: Google uses it as a ranking factor, and visitors abandon slow sites before reading your first sentence.
The real 3-year cost
Wix advertises itself as cheap, but the subscription is perpetual and the extras pile up: professional email separately, removing branding separately, features separately. WordPress charges in another currency: hosting, paid plugins and maintenance hours (or the fright of a hack).
The managed static site model is different: one-time build payment + a fixed monthly fee that includes everything — hosting, managed domain, professional email, small changes and a data report. My prices are published with no fine print, and the domain and code are always yours: if you leave one day, you take everything.
Security: plugins vs. nothing to hack
WordPress is the most attacked CMS in the world: every plugin is a potential door, and unmaintained sites end up distributing spam or malware without the owner knowing. A static site has no database, no plugins, no login panel: there is nothing to hack. The attack surface is reduced to practically zero.
SEO and artificial intelligences
All three paths can appear on Google. The difference is control: with a custom static site, every piece of structured data (JSON-LD), every meta tag and the llms.txt file is written exactly as it should be, without fighting template limitations or SEO plugins. In the age of AIs, that matters: I explain it in detail in my guide what is GEO.
When Wix or WordPress DOES make sense
Honesty first:
- Wix makes sense if you want to build it yourself this weekend, the budget is zero, and you accept the template limitations.
- WordPress makes sense if you will publish content daily on your own, need an online store, or already have a team managing it.
- A static site makes sense if your site is your professional storefront — services, contact, positioning — and you prefer someone to manage it for you with real data every month.
| Criteria | Wix | WordPress | Static (nimboweb) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | medium | medium-low | maximum |
| Upfront cost | low | medium | published one-time payment |
| Monthly cost | subscription + extras | hosting + plugins | all-inclusive fixed plan |
| Domain email | separate | separate | included in the plan |
| Security | good | plugin-dependent | no attack surface |
| Edit it yourself | yes | yes | changes included in the plan |
| AI foundation (GEO) | limited | plugin-dependent | complete from day one |
| The code is yours | no | yes | yes, always |
Conclusion
If your site is the storefront of your service business, the winning combination in 2026 is: static, fast, AI-friendly and managed by someone who shows you the numbers every month. That is exactly what I do — see the plans or check the real cases with data.
Is your site ready for AI?
Paste your URL and get a report in 24h with 5 concrete findings: whether AI bots can read you, what you need to be cited, and how your site compares to one optimized with the nimboweb Protocol.