WordPress, Shopify, Wix, or Static - What Should You Choose in 2026?

There are literally hundreds of options nowadays for small businesses looking to set up in 2026. Big business knows this: there are now a plethora of different services who want your business on their platform.

But are they any good? What about WordPress, or self hosting? What are the options? Are any of them any good?

In this article we’ll take a look at the 3 main categories of websites, and help you be informed of your choices!

The Categories

If you’re looking to get a website for your business, there are generally three ways to do it in 2026:

1. Self host a WordPress website
2. Use a DIY website builder like Wix, Shopify or Squarespace
3. Get a static website

You might not have thought that all of the options boil down to just these three. You might not even have heard of the third one. Let’s run through them a minute:

1. Self Host a WordPress site

The Background to WordPress

Ah, the granddaddy of them all. WordPress was such an enabler when it first became popular around the early 2000s. And it was popular for good reason: Users with only a little technical knowledge could build their own basic website using themes and plugins, without the need for a developer. Since Web Developers were really scarce at the time, this was a great option that helped many businesses to get going.

Since that initial boom, WordPress became synonymous with the web for a lot of web design agencies, which leveraged interest in the platform and positioned themselves as intermediaries to help people through the process of creating their sites.

WordPress at heart is still a simple blogging platform, but has been contorted into all sorts of applications: ecommerce stores, learning platforms, directories, and many more. You name it, and there’s probably a plugin for it.

The Benefits of WordPress

It’s dead simple to get started with WordPress. Many popular hosting platforms will automatically create the site for you. From there you can add themes and plugins ad infinitum. It’s deceptively easy.

But not everything is as it seems.

Hazards of using WordPress

When you create a WordPress site, you take on the sole responsibility for it. Your hosting provider might restore a backup if something goes wrong, but aside from that, you have to manage plugin updates, database security, Personally Identifiable Information you collect, and possibly even more scary stuff like credit card data.

Do you know what data your plugins store in your database that you might be liable for if it gets hacked? Hmm, I didn’t think you did.

WordPress exchanges the difficulty of getting started for the difficulty in managing security, optimising performance, maintaining updates, and basically making sure the site stays up and does what you need it to.

Verdict: Should you use WordPress in 2026?

Honestly, in this day and age, there are better options than WordPress.

2. A DIY Website Builder

When DIY builders came along, they were a bit rubbish if we’re honest. They’ve come a long way since then, and many provide excellent, extensible platforms for establishing your online presence. Website builders took the bottom segment of the website market, and for good reason: they’re easy to get started with.

Benefits of uding a DIY Website Builder

There are a plethora of benefits here: each website builder comes with a range of pre-built themes you can pick and choose from. They have extensions so you can add or modify what the site does.

There are no upfront fees, no maintenance, and lots of automated services.

Wait a minute … lots of automated services?!

The Hazards of Using a Website Builder

If you get stuck and need to talk to a human for whatever reason, you’re probably going to find building what you want a challenge.

But there’s a deeper problem with this approach: you’re always renting your space on the internet. It’s never yours. You’re only one monthly fee away from losing your SEO value, your domain, your product catalog, and likely your customer base too.

Verdict: Should you use a DIY Site Builder in 2026

Maybe. But be aware of the hazards above.

As a business owner we sometimes get caught in what’s going on here and now. But it’s worth stopping for a minute and thinking about the bigger picture: what would happen if you forgot our payment one month? Or couldn’t make the payment for some reason? You could lose your entire business!

3. Static Websites

Never heard of a static website? Here’s a quick explanation:

A static website is a website that goes back to the roots of web development. It’s not a new concept. Before WordPress existed, every website was static: a collection of HTML and various other bits and bobs that a browser could access.

But the world kind of forgot about this idea until fairly recently, and now they are an increasingly popular way to build.

Benefits of Static Sites

1. Better security

Because there’s no strong connection between, let’s say the admin interface, and what the browser displays, there’s far less opportunities for hackers to deface or steal your data.

2. Reduced hosting costs

Static sites can be much cheaper to host because they don’t need a server (somebody elses computer) to run on. They can be accessible on infrastructure that is simple and safe.

3. No maintenance

As the website is just a collection of files, they don’t need plugin updates, core updates, or anything like that. You don’t need to pay an additional cost for a “page builder” plugin … or for any plugin!

4. Complete control

When it comes time to add a new feature, or even change your site completely, it can be done behind the scenes, with no downtime for your users. You can change it at whim because you have control over your domain, your data, and your customers.

Hazards of using a Static Site

I’m not going to sugar coat it, here are the things that sometimes annoy people about static websites.

Often, you’ll need specific tools for the website. When it comes time to edit your site, you need to log in to your content management portal. If you want to check what payments you’ve recieved, you log into your payment portal. Need to check out who filled out your forms? You might have a separate tool that you need to login to for that.

That can be annoying. But it also gives you the freedom to change these services whenever you want to. Don’t like your CMS? Choose another. Moved to a different payment provider? You might need to pay some development time to integrate it, but the transition can be seamless for your users, and easier for you.

Is it worth the annoyance to get specialist tools that you can rely on?

We think it is.

Verdict on Static Websites

Static websites are so 1996 … and so 2026, as well!

With resurging popularity, we really feel that static websites are due a major comeback. It’s already happening among the development community, as well as enterprise use cases. We feel there’s a clear benefit for small to medium businesses too.

Roundup

So, how did each of them do? Let’s round up your options.

I hope you decide we’ve been fair in our assessment of the options above. Here’s a quick table for reference:

	WordPress	DIY Builders	Static Sites
Site speed	⚠️ Often slow	⚠️ Varies	✅ Fast by default
Security	⚠️ High risks	✅ Managed	✅ Minimal attack surface
Maintenance burden	❌ High	✅ Low	✅ Low
Customisation	✅ High	❌ Limited	✅ High

Are you stuck in the past with WordPress? Are you renting rather than buying with DIY Builders? Or are you seeing the future with static?

The choice is yours!

(Static. It’s static. You should definitely choose a static website).