Wix or Squarespace? Build with Opus.

Build your website with Claude Opus in Claude Code. That's my recommendation over Wix or Squarespace. You don't need to become good at a website editor. You need a website that looks like your business, answers your customers' questions and does something useful when they click the button.

Give Opus the material, the direction and the access to do the work. Let it build the site, put the code in your GitHub account and show you a working preview. Your job is to judge the result, not spend Sunday finding the setting for the space above a heading.

Wix and Squarespace can produce good sites. I'm still taking the custom route. Here's why.

Get a builder, not another editor to learn

The old bargain was reasonable: you couldn't write the code, so a website builder gave you controls instead. Choose a template, learn the editor, assemble the pages. You got a website without hiring a developer, but you became the person assembling the website.

I prefer a different division of labour. Tell Opus what the business needs. Ask it to make the design decisions, implement them and check the result. You review like a client.

Claude Code can read and edit project files, run commands and work with development tools. That is the important capability here. A chat response containing a page of code isn't the finished job. An agent with the right access can work on the actual project.

This guide chooses Opus in Claude Code for that job. That's the editorial recommendation, not a claim that a model wins every benchmark or never makes mistakes. The workflow matters: a proper brief, connected accounts, a preview, checks and revisions.

Start with the setup. The keys come before the impressive bit.

Design around the business, not the nearest template

Imagine a furniture restorer. Customers want to know whether a battered chair can be saved, what the work looks like and how to request a quote. A useful site might lead with before-and-after photographs, explain the restoration choices, then ask for photos of the customer's own piece.

That's a design brief. “Find a furniture template” is a shopping trip.

With Opus, ask for the thing you actually mean: a gallery where the repair details matter, a quote form that asks the right questions, typography that suits the workshop. Give it real photographs and examples of what you like. Make it explain the design direction before it builds.

The point isn't that a hosted builder forbids good design. It's that I don't want the starting point to be whatever is easiest to assemble in its editor. I want the site to start with the business, then have the agent work out the implementation.

Path A's brief and build prompt are deliberately specific about this. Real material. A design direction. No invented testimonials. No generic welcome paragraph that could belong to the business next door.

Opus can still produce something dull. Reject it. Give a better reference, explain what's wrong and ask for another direction. You don't need to become a designer to recognise that the site doesn't feel like you.

Change the whole idea, not just the text in a box

Changing the hours is useful. Changing how the business presents itself is where the custom route gets interesting.

Those requests can cross layout, content and functionality. The agent has the project files, so it can work across them. You aren't limited to asking where a particular setting lives.

This is why I favour prompting over learning an editor for a site you change occasionally. “Explain the difference between our two services before the price list” is a business instruction. It shouldn't require a small qualification in dragging rectangles.

Need staff to publish every week? Add a CMS built for their tasks. The WordPress comparison explains why that still doesn't change my recommendation to have Opus build the site.

Keep the project in your account

The guide puts the code in your GitHub account. That means the implementation is there for you, another agent or a developer to work on later. I want that option from the beginning, even if I never use it.

Be accurate about the alternative. Wix says your content belongs to you, but a Wix site must run on Wix's servers. Squarespace exports some content, not a complete portable copy of the design and functionality.

Those are platform tradeoffs, not accusations that someone stole your photographs. My preference is to keep the working source as well as the photographs.

A custom site can still depend on its host's database, storage and other services. Moving it may take work. Ask Opus to document those dependencies and how to back up the data. Owning the project gives you options; it doesn't make every future move effortless.

Pay for the work you need

Don't buy this approach on a made-up savings number. Buy it because you want a tailored site and control of the result.

The agent route has costs: your domain, Claude usage or subscription, hosting, any extra services and future maintenance. Claude's plans have usage limits. Cloudflare's Workers plans have allowances and metered charges. A small site may fit a free hosting tier; that's something to check against the build, not a promise to print on a mug.

A hosted builder bundles its platform and editor into its plans. Check Wix or Squarespace for your country and billing term if you're comparing the bill. Include the extras you actually need on both sides.

I would rather put the effort into a project I control than into learning the limitations of an editor. That's the argument. No suspiciously precise “you'll save $487” table required.

What the hosted builders do well

They give you an established editing environment and a provider responsible for the platform. They also have AI tools: both Wix and Squarespace offer them. This isn't AI versus no AI.

If a team already depends on a particular builder and nobody will take responsibility for a custom site, that is a real reason to stay. Custom code needs updates, backups and someone who can check a fix. Opus helps do the work; it doesn't sign a maintenance contract.

For the small-business owner starting fresh, I still recommend the custom route. Let the agent handle implementation. Keep your attention on the business and the finished result.

Give Opus something worth building

Gather your real photos, services, prices and the questions customers ask before buying. Pick two or three references and say exactly what you like about them. Decide what a visitor should do next.

Then follow the setup and use Path A. Ask for a working preview, test it on your phone, send a form submission and give specific feedback. After launch, keep changing it by asking.

The goal isn't to win a template comparison. It's to get a site that belongs to your business, with the code in your account and an agent ready to work on it. That's why this guide starts with Opus.