Squarespace fits a solo practice, or a group with a few clinicians, that wants hosting and security handled inside one subscription. WordPress fits a practice that needs many structured pages, such as clinician profiles, specialty pages, and locations, and has someone to keep it updated. Google can index either one, and your words, pages, and structure decide relevance far more than the platform does.
This guide covers both kinds of WordPress, 2026 running costs, upkeep, SEO, clinician pages, intake forms, moving later, and where Wix fits. For Squarespace against Wix or a custom build, see our Squarespace, Wix, and custom comparison.
Why Does Everyone Recommend WordPress?
WordPress is the most used website software by a wide margin. As of October 8, 2026, W3Techs found it on 40.1% of all websites, or 58.6% of sites on a content management system it tracks. Wix was on 4.2% of all websites, and Squarespace on 2.4%.
That reach brings choice: more than 60,000 plugins, by WordPress.com's count.
What Is the Difference Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
Both run the same WordPress software. WordPress.com's own comparison says the main difference is hosting.
WordPress.org is the home of WordPress itself: open source software, licensed under the GPLv2 and free to download. You install it on a web host you choose and pay for, so people call it self-hosted. Its security, in WordPress.com's words, "depends on your host and hosting package."
WordPress.com is a hosted service that sells plans. Hosting comes with every plan, and every paid plan can install plugins (pricing page).
When someone recommends WordPress, ask which one they mean. The bill and the upkeep differ.
What Do WordPress and Squarespace Cost to Run in 2026?
Prices are in US dollars as of October 2026, so check each page before you buy.
Squarespace
Squarespace sells four website plans in the US: Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced. They run from $19 to $99 a month billed annually, or $25 to $139 billed monthly (pricing page). Every plan includes hosting and SSL. Annual plans include a free first-year domain, which then renews at the standard rate.
Basic allows two contributors, and code injection and the advanced code block start at Core. If your scheduler's embed uses JavaScript or an iFrame, or more than two people will edit the site, plan on Core. Core is $29 a month billed annually.
WordPress.com
Paid plans run from $4 a month (Personal) to $45 (Commerce) billed annually, or $9 to $70 billed monthly (pricing page). Every paid plan can install plugins. Real-time backups start at Business, $25 a month billed annually. Plans auto-renew, so check the renewal price at checkout.
Self-Hosted WordPress
The software is free. You pay for the parts:
- Hosting, from a provider you choose
- The domain, renewed each year
- A premium theme or paid plugins, if you use them
- Someone's time to apply updates, check backups, and fix what an update breaks
Totals depend on your host and plugins. Our therapist website cost guide compares DIY, subscription, and custom-build costs.
Who Handles Updates, Backups, and Security?
On Self-Hosted WordPress, You Do
WordPress applies security updates in the background on most sites, according to its update guide. Major releases still need someone to click Update Now. Plugin and theme auto-updates arrived in WordPress 5.5 as an opt-in: an administrator chooses which ones update themselves.
Plugins and themes are where the risk sits. Patchstack's State of WordPress Security in 2026 counted 11,334 new vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem in 2025. It found 91% in plugins and 9% in themes. WordPress core had six, all low priority.
Each plugin is code someone has to keep current, so keep the list short and the updates prompt.
Backups are yours to arrange too. WordPress's backup guide says most hosts provide backup software. It recommends weekly backups for sites with fewer posts, with 3 to 5 recent copies in different places.
On WordPress.com, Much of It Is Handled
WordPress.com says every plan includes malware detection and removal, a web application firewall, and automated core updates. Its comparison says plugin updates are managed automatically.
On Squarespace, the Platform Is Squarespace's Job
Squarespace's security page describes fully managed cloud hosting and a security operations center that monitors threats 24/7. Your upkeep is the content: fees, openings, clinician bios, and the inquiry path.
One gap to plan around: Squarespace's help center says it has no auto-save or revision history when editing. Deleted pages and blog posts can be restored within 30 days. Keep your own copy of your most important page text.
Is WordPress Better for SEO Than Squarespace?
Google's technical requirements come down to three: Googlebot can reach the page, the page works, and it has indexable content. Sites on either platform can meet all three.
Squarespace builds in the basics. Its SEO overview says it creates and updates a sitemap, gives pages static URLs, and generates structured data and metadata. Its SEO checklist walks you through page titles, descriptions, URL slugs, and Google Search Console. Squarespace also states that it can't guarantee ranking changes.
WordPress has had XML sitemaps in core since version 5.5. SEO plugins add finer control: Yoast SEO, with 10+ million active installations, adds schema, canonical URLs, and sitemap settings.
That extra control earns its place on larger sites, such as a group practice with dozens of clinician, specialty, and location pages. On a solo site of eight or ten pages, either Squarespace's settings or one WordPress SEO plugin covers titles, descriptions, sitemaps, and clean URLs.
What decides relevance is on the page. Google's SEO Starter Guide says compelling, useful content will likely influence your search presence more than its other suggestions. For a practice, that means pages that use the words clients search with, like "EMDR therapist in Austin," and answer their questions. Our SEO for therapists guide shows how to build them.
What Happens When Your Practice Adds Clinicians?
A group practice site has to help a prospective client sort. Who sees teenagers? Who offers EMDR? Who takes my insurance and has evening telehealth openings?
On WordPress, a developer can register a custom post type, such as Clinician, with its own URL slug: /clinicians/name/. Every profile can then carry the same fields: license, specialties, locations, insurance, and booking link. Taxonomies group profiles by specialty or location, so one page can list every clinician who sees teens.
WordPress's handbook recommends registering custom post types in a plugin, so the content survives a theme change. That structure is a build, with the same upkeep as any plugin.
On Squarespace, the page limits allow up to 1,000 pages per site, and Squarespace recommends 400 or fewer. Our read: each clinician's page is a separate page you build and keep consistent by hand. A change that touches every profile, such as a new intake step, is made page by page.
Booking links work on both. Each profile can link to that clinician's booking page in your scheduler or EHR. On WordPress, the link can be a field, so it sits in the same place on every profile. Our group practice websites page covers the structure these sites need.
Can Your Website Form Collect Health Information?
Treat the website form as the first message, and ask only for what you need to reply. Intake, history, and anything clinical belong in your practice's own secure intake or EHR client portal. Say so on the form, so a prospective client knows what to leave out.
Squarespace states that Acuity Scheduling, its booking tool, is designed to let you meet the HIPAA Security Rule's requirements. Acuity can be HIPAA-enabled on its Powerhouse or Premium plans. Squarespace also states that the rest of its platform, including the form block, can't be used for a setup that must meet HIPAA. You alone, it adds, are responsible for the controls and settings your compliance needs.
WordPress leaves the form to a plugin, so the data goes wherever that plugin and your host put it. Gravity Forms, a commercial form plugin, says it keeps no form data on its own servers. It states that entries are not encrypted in storage by default, and that it will not sign business associate agreements.
On WordPress.com, ask the form tool and WordPress.com, as your host, where entries are stored and whether they are encrypted. This section reports what each vendor states about its own product. For your own setup, ask your EHR vendor and a healthcare attorney.
Can You Move Your Site to Another Platform Later?
In each platform's export, the content moves and the design stays behind.
Squarespace exports an .xml file built for WordPress. Its export guide says many features rely on its own JavaScript and CSS, so only some content exports.
Layout pages, one blog with its posts, text and image blocks, and gallery pages move. Other page types, such as portfolio, store, and calendar pages, stay behind, along with extra blogs, video blocks, style settings, and custom CSS. Images may not carry over into self-hosted WordPress, so plan to move them separately.
Both kinds of WordPress share an export tool. Its XML file carries posts, pages, custom post types, custom fields, taxonomies, comments, and users, and another WordPress site can import it. WordPress.com's export carries links to your media, and the new site copies the files.
Wix is the hardest of the three to leave. Its help center says a Wix site must run on Wix's servers, and that blog posts can't currently be exported to other platforms.
Redirects keep old links and bookmarks working. Google's site move guidance says to map each old URL to its new one with permanent server-side redirects. It says to keep them as long as possible, generally at least a year. It also notes that visibility in Search may fluctuate during a move.
Squarespace's URL mappings handle 301 redirects, including for pages from another platform, and on WordPress a redirect plugin does the job. Whatever you choose, register the domain in the practice's name, in an account you control.
Where Do Wix and Showit Fit?
Wix is a hosted builder, closer to Squarespace. Its SEO Setup Checklist covers keywords, indexing, and Google Search Console. Its CMS can generate a dynamic page for each item in a collection, each with its own URL, which suits clinician profiles. Our post on branding a therapy practice on Wix covers what it can do.
Showit pairs its design builder with WordPress. Every plan except the base Showit plan bundles a WordPress blog, according to its pricing page. Pages live in Showit and posts in WordPress, so there are two systems to keep current. Our Showit vs Squarespace vs custom comparison explains that split.
WordPress vs Squarespace vs Wix at a Glance
| Platform | Running cost | Upkeep | SEO controls | Clinician pages | Leaving later |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org) | Hosting, domain, and any paid themes or plugins | You or your developer: updates, backups, and security | Core sitemaps; plugins add schema and canonical URLs | Custom post types and taxonomies | XML export to another WordPress site |
| WordPress.com | $4 to $45 a month, billed annually | Core updates and security tools included; backups from Business | Plugins on any paid plan | Custom post types through plugins | XML export; full backup on Business and Commerce |
| Squarespace | $19 to $99 a month, billed annually | Squarespace runs hosting and security | Built-in sitemap and structured data; you set titles and descriptions | Up to 1,000 pages; 400 or fewer recommended | XML export to WordPress covers some page types |
| Wix | Prices vary by location, per Wix | Wix hosts and runs the site | SEO Setup Checklist with Search Console | CMS collections can make one page per clinician | Site stays on Wix; blog posts can't be exported |
Which Platform Should Your Practice Choose?
Choose Squarespace if:
- You run a solo practice, or a group with a few clinicians, and want hosting and security inside one subscription.
- Your pages are stable, and a few people edit them.
Choose WordPress if:
- Your group practice needs clinician profiles, specialty pages, and locations that share one structure.
- You have a developer, or paid maintenance, for updates, backups, and security.
- You want plugin-level SEO controls. Pick WordPress.com if you want hosting and core updates included.
Consider a custom build if:
- You run an established solo practice or a growing group, and positioning, fees, and clinician routing need to work as one system.
- You want copy, design, and search structure planned together for the pages that decide a booking.
Before you switch, price the move: moving copy, rebuilding the design, setting redirects, and testing forms and analytics. Compare that with improving the pages you already have.
See What Your Current Site Needs First
We work with therapy and private healthcare practices on their websites, copy, and search. Two things are hard to judge from inside your own site: how it reads to a stranger, and what happens after someone clicks your button.
Request a free credibility audit. You get a written audit naming the fixes we would make first, with the evidence behind each one, within 3 business days. It arrives as a link.
If your platform is serviceable, the Right-Fit Conversion Sprint keeps it and fixes the pages that decide a booking, for $1,500 to $3,500. If the practice has outgrown its platform, our website design for therapists page sets out our process and published prices. A Right-Fit Practice Website starts from $3,500 for a solo practice and $7,500 for a group. Whatever we build or fix stays in your name: domain, website, content, and analytics.
