WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, or custom code?

This is the question attorneys spend the most time on and that matters the least. Platform choice affects how easy the site is to maintain. It has almost nothing to do with whether the site earns you clients. Still, you have to pick one, so here is an honest comparison.

The short answer

If you want to update it yourself and your needs are simple, use Squarespace. If you want a serious content operation and are willing to maintain it, use WordPress. If you want a fast, modern, custom design without plugin maintenance, use Webflow or hand written code. Any of them can produce an excellent law firm website, and all of them can produce a terrible one.

WordPress

WordPress runs a large share of the web, and it is the default for firms that publish a lot. It is flexible, the ecosystem is enormous, and you can find help anywhere.

The tradeoff is maintenance. Plugins need updating, they occasionally conflict, and an unmaintained WordPress site is a genuine security liability. The page builders that make WordPress easy to edit also tend to make it slow, which works against you on Core Web Vitals. Choose WordPress if you plan to publish regularly and you have someone responsible for keeping it patched.

Squarespace and Wix

The most approachable option. Hosting, security, and updates are handled for you, the templates look respectable, and you can genuinely maintain the site yourself.

The tradeoff is a ceiling. You will eventually meet a design or SEO limit you cannot get past, and your site will share its underlying structure with thousands of others. For a new solo practice that needs to be online this month on a small budget, that is a perfectly reasonable trade.

Webflow

A strong middle ground. Fully custom design with hosting and security handled, fast output, and a content editor a non technical person can use.

The tradeoff is that building in Webflow well takes real skill, so you are usually hiring for it rather than doing it yourself. Costs sit above Squarespace and typically below a fully custom build.

Custom code

Hand built sites are the fastest and the most precisely tailored, with no plugin surface to attack and no template ceiling. For a marketing site of ten or twenty pages, this is often simpler and cheaper to run than people expect.

The tradeoff is that you depend on whoever built it for structural changes, so agree up front on how content updates work and make sure you own the code.

What matters more than the platform

Firms lose clients over things no platform decides for them:

• Whether the site loads in about a second on a phone.
• Whether the copy speaks to a worried client rather than to other lawyers.
• Whether every practice area has a real page.
• Whether contacting you takes one tap.
• Whether anyone maintains it after launch.

You can get all five right on any of these platforms, and you can get all five wrong on any of them too.

Nobody has ever chosen a lawyer because of the content management system.

Two things to insist on

Whatever you choose, insist on two things. First, that you own your domain, your content, and your site outright, with no arrangement where leaving means losing everything. Second, that you can see and export your content. Those two conditions protect you far more than any platform decision.