Custom vs Wix, Squarespace or Square for Pet Businesses

How do they compare for a boarding or grooming business?

Swipe the table sideways to see every option.

What matters	Custom (Distill Works)	Wix	Squarespace	Square
Plan a facility would likely need	$1,500 Growth build, plus $99/mo Hosting + Updates	Core ($29/mo) or Business ($39/mo), billed yearly. Scheduling and payments aren't listed on the cheaper Light plan.	Core ($29/mo) or Plus ($49/mo) billed yearly, $39 or $65 paying monthly, plus scheduling such as Acuity at $27 to $34/mo for up to 6 calendars	Square Appointments Plus, about $49/mo per location, for multi-staff booking and no-show fees. The free plan can suit a solo groomer.
Rough cost, first year	$2,688, then $1,188 a year, plus your booking software	About $350 to $470, plus payment fees	About $670 to $910 with Acuity, plus payment fees	About $590 per location, plus payment fees
Mobile PageSpeed score	96 for Unleashed Canine's home page	63 for Unleashed Canine's old Wix site. Other Wix sites will vary.	Varies; we haven't tested a facility site	Varies; we haven't tested a facility site
Who builds and maintains it	We do	You do	You do	You do
Booking	Links into your booking system	Scheduling listed on Core and above	Not listed in plans; check scheduling add-ons	Square Appointments, with multi-staff and no-show fees on paid plans
Changing a price today	Ask us; included in Hosting + Updates	Do it yourself, right away	Do it yourself, right away	Do it yourself, right away
Long price lists search engines can read	Built as text tables from the start	Possible, if you build it	Possible, if you build it	More limited; prices often live in the booking flow
New features, like an estimator	Yes, quoted separately	Limited to what the platform and its apps offer	Limited to what the platform and its add-ons offer	Limited to what the platform offers
Leaving later	You get your site files	Wix says it doesn't support exporting to another host	Partial content export, no style settings	We couldn't confirm the export options

Prices and features from wix.com/plans, squarespace.com/pricing and acuityscheduling.com on November 2, 2026, and from Wix and Squarespace support pages. Figures are US prices before tax and may change. Square's Plus price comes from third-party pricing guides, because Square's own page didn't show it to us, so check it directly. Booking software for a custom site is a separate cost, and depends on which system you use.

What does a custom build do better than a DIY builder?

A custom build is usually faster, can do things a template can't, and comes with someone who runs it for you. DIY builders are improving and can do more than many owners use, but you pay for their whole system on every page and you do the work yourself.

Speed on a phone

Unleashed Canine home page, Google PageSpeed, mobile	Old Wix site, Sept 9, 2026	Our build, Nov 2, 2026
Performance score (out of 100)	63	96
Time for the main content to appear	8.1 seconds	2.3 seconds
Page weight	23.4 MB	442 KB

One site, and scores move between test runs. A carefully built DIY site can do better than this one did.

Things we've built that a template doesn't come with

A cost estimator built around Hillcrest's own services and prices.
A full hiring system: careers page, screening application, automatic replies, interview booking and a private applicant dashboard. Hillcrest filled a position in six days with it.
Grooming prices as plain text, by coat and weight, so search engines and AI assistants can read them.
A training video section that updates itself when Unleashed Canine posts to YouTube, and a private page for sending us photos from a phone.

Things you stop having to do

Maintenance: we handle hosting, security, backups and uptime monitoring. There are no plugins for you to keep up with.
Updates: send us new prices, hours or photos and we make the change.
Search and AI setup: structured data on each page, clean page titles, and instructions that let AI assistants read your site are part of the build.
Knowing what works: our own analytics show what visitors do, which is how we can tell you how the estimator performs.

Which one fits your business?

Choose DIY if your business is simple, you have time to maintain a site, and your budget is tight. Choose custom if you run several services with long price lists, serve several towns, and would rather pay someone than do it yourself. If you're somewhere in between, start with DIY and see.

If this sounds like you	We'd point you to
You're a solo groomer or just starting out, and $2,688 in year one is too much	DIY. Don't stretch for a custom site.
You already run your business on Square	Try Square's booking site first.
You like editing your own site and want changes live right away	Wix or Squarespace.
You offer boarding, grooming and more, with prices by size or coat	Custom is worth a look.
You haven't touched your site in a year because there's no time	Custom, or pay someone to run your DIY site.
You need something a platform can't do, like a cost estimator or a hiring flow	Custom.

What moving looked like for two facilities

Hillcrest Kennel & Grooming, from Weebly

Hillcrest had one catch-all boarding page. We split it into separate pages and added a cost estimator. People who used the estimator sent a contact request at about three times the rate of everyone else, 4.5% against 1.3%, though estimator users may already be keener.

Hillcrest site analytics, 90 days to November 2, 2026. Read the case study

Unleashed Canine, from Wix

Its Wix site worked and looked good on a phone, so the platform wasn't broken. What it needed was structure and speed: a clear page for each service, grooming prices as text instead of inside the booking tool, and a page weight of 442 KB instead of 23.4 MB. The new site went live in September 2026, so it's too early for business results.

Read the Unleashed Canine story

What we'd charge

For a facility with more than one service, we recommend our $1,500 Growth build, plus $99 a month for Hosting + Updates. That includes hosting, security, backups and content updates like prices, hours and photos. Tell us what you have, and we'll tell you honestly whether you need us. See what we build for boarding and grooming businesses.

Tell us about your facility

Questions owners ask about custom vs DIY

Is Wix or Squarespace good enough for a grooming business?

Often, yes. A single-location groomer with one or two services and time to maintain a site can do well on either, for a fraction of what we charge. The harder fit is a facility with several services, long price lists and customers coming from several towns.

Can I start on Wix and move to a custom site later?

Yes, but plan to rebuild rather than transfer. Wix says it doesn't support exporting sites to another host, and Squarespace's export leaves out many page types and all style settings. Your words, photos and prices come with you. The design and structure get rebuilt.

Which platform has booking built in?

Wix lists scheduling on its Core plan and above, and Square Appointments includes an online booking site. Squarespace's pricing page doesn't list scheduling in its plans. A custom site like ours doesn't replace booking software. It links into the system you already use, like MoeGo.

What does a custom website cost over a year?

Ours is $1,500 for the Growth build plus $99 a month for Hosting + Updates, so $2,688 in year one and $1,188 a year after that. For comparison, Wix runs about $350 to $470 a year, Squarespace with Acuity scheduling about $670 to $910, and Square Appointments Plus about $590 per location, all before payment fees. Your booking software is a separate cost with us.

Do I own my site if I build with you?

You own the website code and content we build for you, and when you cancel hosting we provide your site files. Our own tools and systems stay ours. Monthly services are month-to-month.

Last updated November 2, 2026.