Blog · July 11, 2026 · 6 min read
Squarespace vs. an agency vs. a one-person studio: who should build your site?
An honest comparison of the three ways small businesses get websites built — what each really costs, where each wins, and the questions to ask before you pay anyone.
There are exactly three ways a small business gets a website: build it yourself on a DIY platform, hire an agency, or hire an individual builder. I run a one-person studio, so read this knowing where I sit — but I'll give you the honest case for all three, including when you should NOT hire someone like me.
DIY builders: Squarespace, Wix, Shopify
The honest case for: nearly free, live this weekend, and the templates are genuinely good looking now. If your business is brand new, revenue is zero, and you just need an address on the internet — do this first. Seriously. Don't pay anyone until the business has a pulse.
Where it breaks: the template is the easy 20%. The hard 80% is the words that sell, ranking on Google, and everything that happens after a visitor arrives — booking, reminders, follow-up. DIY platforms hand you widgets for some of it, but wiring them together and keeping them running becomes your unpaid second job. Most DIY sites I audit have a broken form, a dead link, or a "blog coming soon" from two years ago.
Agencies
The honest case for: real capacity. Strategy, design, development, copy, ads — under one roof with process around it. If your website IS your business (e-commerce at scale, funded startup, franchise), an agency retainer is the right buy.
Where it breaks for small business: you're paying for that roof. Project managers, account reviews, and sales commissions land in your invoice, which is how a clinic site becomes a $30,000 project with a six-week discovery phase. And after launch you're a small logo in their client list — changes go through a ticket queue priced per hour.
One-person studios
The honest case for: you get the person who does the work, with no markup between you. Senior output at a fraction of agency price, decisions in days not sprints, and one phone number that answers. For a local or service business that needs a site plus the automation behind it, this is the sweet spot.
Where it breaks: capacity and risk. One person can't do everything at once, and if they disappear, you need to not be trapped. Which is why the two questions below matter more than any portfolio.
The two questions that protect you
- "Do I own everything?" Domain in YOUR name, site exportable, accounts transferable. If the answer is fuzzy, walk. (This is the difference between hiring a builder and renting a landlord.)
- "What happens if you get hit by a bus?" A serious solo builder has an answer: standard hosting, documented setup, everything in accounts you control. If the site only exists on their laptop, walk.
The bottom line
- No revenue yet → DIY. Come back when it hurts.
- Website is the whole business → agency, with a real budget.
- Local or service business that needs a site + booking + follow-up that runs itself → a small studio, on a monthly plan, with ownership in writing.
Whoever you pick: pay for outcomes (booked appointments, answered leads), not deliverables (pages, mockups). The prettiest site in town still loses to the one that texts the customer back first.