Wix vs WordPress vs Custom: Which Is Right for a Dental Clinic?

Most dental clinics in the GTA end up on one of four kinds of website. A builder like Wix or Squarespace, a site on WordPress.com, a self-hosted WordPress site, or a site built from scratch by a developer. Each one can work. They differ in what you pay, who can edit the site, and how hard it is to leave.

I build custom sites, so I have a bias. I've tried to keep this comparison fair and to quote each platform's own pages for prices and limits.

The short version

Wix

Wix is built for people who want to set up a site themselves. You pick a template, drag things around and publish. Its pricing page lists four paid plans, called Light, Core, Business and Business Elite, billed yearly. Each paid plan includes a free domain for one year. Core is the cheapest plan that lists “Scheduling and services.”

Wix says “prices and currency vary by location,” so open the Wix plans page from Canada to see what you'd pay in Canadian dollars.

The main trade-off is that you can't take a Wix site elsewhere. Wix's help centre says your site “must run on Wix's servers” (Wix Help Center). You can move your domain, but if you leave, the site gets rebuilt.

Squarespace

Squarespace also lets you build a site yourself, starting from one of its templates. Its pricing page lists four plans, called Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced, with monthly or yearly billing. Prices are set by billing country, and yearly plans include a free domain for the first year.

Squarespace can export some content to a WordPress-format file, but many page types, style settings and custom CSS don't come with it (Squarespace Help). Plan on a rebuild if you move.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress. As of October 2026, its pricing page lists these prices in US dollars, excluding taxes. You may see a different currency from Canada.

Every paid plan lists the option to install WordPress plugins, and each includes a free domain for one year. The Business plan adds real-time backups and developer tools. If you leave, WordPress.com exports your posts, pages and comments, but not your theme design or plugins, and only Business and Commerce sites can download a full backup (WordPress.com Support).

Self-hosted WordPress

WordPress itself is free. The project describes it as “open source software” licensed under the GPL (WordPress.org). You pay for hosting, a theme if you want a premium one, and someone's time to set it up. Two of the three clinic sites I've rebuilt were replacing WordPress sites, and any WordPress developer can pick one up.

The cost people forget is upkeep. WordPress's own security guide says “you should always keep up to date with the latest version of WordPress” and to “make sure your plugins are always updated” (WordPress Developer Resources). A site with many plugins needs someone checking it every month. Editing can also get risky, since a staff member can change layouts and colours and break a page by accident.

A custom-built site

A custom site is built by a developer for your clinic, usually with a separate content editor for your staff. You pay for the build, then hosting. The upside is control. The site loads only what it needs, and the editor can be limited to exactly what your team should change.

That's how I built Lord Dufferin Dental Centre's site in Orangeville. Staff edit text, images, SEO fields, FAQs, team profiles, redirects and landing pages in a content editor called Sanity. The editor accepts no colours, font sizes or raw HTML, so an edit can't break the design.

The downside is that you depend on the developer, or another developer, for any change to the layout. Before you sign, ask who owns the code and how you'd get it if you left. My 12 questions to ask before hiring a dental website designer cover this.

What matters most for a dental clinic

• One page per service. Patients search for “root canal” or “emergency dentist” plus your city. Every option above can do this, but builders make it slower to add and keep pages consistent.
• Safe editing. Your front desk should change hours and holidays in minutes without touching the design.
• Booking. A clear button to book or request an appointment, usually linking to your practice software.
• Redirects. When you replace an old site, every old URL needs a permanent redirect. My guide to redesigning a dental website without losing your Google rankings explains how.
• Leaving. Know what you keep if you switch providers, before you start.

If you need a second language

If your clinic serves patients in more than one language, check how it handles a second version of every page and a language switch. If your patients read Persian, Arabic or Urdu, also check that the site supports right-to-left text, where the whole layout flips. I've built bilingual English and Persian products with full right-to-left support, and it needs planning from the start.

Who keeps it running

Every option needs someone responsible after launch. On Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com, the platform handles hosting and software updates, and your team handles the content. On a self-hosted WordPress site, someone has to update WordPress and its plugins and keep backups. On a custom site, that's usually the developer, through a care plan.

Decide who that person is before you choose a platform. A site nobody owns slowly goes out of date, with old hours, a dentist who left two years ago and a booking link that no longer works.

Which one I'd pick, by situation

• A new clinic with no budget, and someone on staff who enjoys design. Wix or Squarespace. Accept that you'll rebuild later.
• A clinic that already has a WordPress site that works. Keep it, and make sure someone updates it every month.
• A clinic with ten or more services, staff who need to edit, and no time for upkeep. A custom site with a locked-down editor, like the ones I build.
• A group that also wants ads and full-time marketing. An agency, with a clear contract.

Markhamack Dental in Markham was in the third group. Its new build, handed over the week of October 18, 2026, replaces the clinic's WordPress site with 15 service pages, a CDCP coverage page, an IFHP page and an editor for staff. You can follow the Markhamack Dental case study.

What I'd do

Write down how many service pages you need, who will edit the site, and how much upkeep you'll do yourself. That usually makes the choice obvious. If a custom site fits, I build clinic websites for C$1,450 as a fall offer for the first five clinics, live in two weeks. See the details on my dental website design page, or compare all options in what a dental website costs in Toronto.