Guides · · Agile Media Agency
Is Wix or Squarespace slowing you down?
Website builders have got faster in the past year, in real-visitor data. Here is what the numbers show, where a builder can still hold you back, and what to check.
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The short answer
Maybe, but less often than the old reputation suggests. Real-visitor data shows Wix and Squarespace sites improving fast. Your own site can still be slow, and a builder limits what you can change. This guide covers both.
What the data says
The HTTP Archive Web Almanac reports how real visitors experienced the sites built on each platform. Its 2025 chapter on content management systems looked at mobile Core Web Vitals (Web Almanac 2025, CMS). If those terms are new, start with Core Web Vitals in plain words.
- Wix: 74% of Wix sites passed on mobile, up from 55% the year before. That is one of the highest; Duda (85%) was higher.
- WordPress: 45% passed.
- Squarespace: the chapter gives no single pass rate. It reports 96% good on responsiveness (INP) and 89% on page stability (CLS), and says Squarespace improved on loading too.
The authors say the platforms that control most of the code improved the most, with Wix first, then Duda and Squarespace. Platforms that let owners add anything, like WordPress, improved less. They also say the aim is to understand why, not to crown a fastest platform.
Wix's pass rate is now well above WordPress's (74% vs 45%). Squarespace has no single figure, so we cannot put one next to it.
Where builders can still hold you back
An average hides plenty of slow sites. Wix's own advice points to three things.
1. Too much added on top. Wix's own help page lists trimming third-party code and apps among its steps to improve responsiveness: remove code that adds no real value and limit apps and widgets on each page (Wix Help).
2. Heavy first screens. The same Wix page advises uploading images as JPG or WebP, using system fonts where you can, and moving heavy items like galleries, video and store widgets lower down the page.
3. Limited control. On a builder you cannot change the code the platform serves. Wix says some fixes that outside testing tools suggest may be beyond the owner's control, and that if metrics do not improve after following its best practices you can contact its support team (Wix Help). If your site is on a builder and still slow, you may be at the edge of what you can change yourself.
Wix also notes that testing tools give different results from each other and that changes can take weeks to show in real-visitor data. That is true of every platform: field data covers the previous 28 days (PageSpeed Insights docs).
How to check your own site
Do not rely on a pass rate for the whole platform. Your site is what counts.
- Run our free test on your address. We use Google's PageSpeed Insights data, so you see real-visitor numbers when your site has enough traffic.
- Check mobile first.
- Look at what the test flags as slow. Large images and added scripts are the usual suspects.
- Try the easy fixes: smaller images, fewer apps, nothing heavy at the top.
If a small site has too little traffic for real-visitor data, the test shows a single simulated run, which can vary. We label it as such.
When to think about leaving
A builder is a good choice for many small businesses, and we do not say otherwise. Consider a move only if:
- you have done the easy fixes and the site is still slow;
- you need something the builder cannot do;
- or you want to own the code and the hosting.
What to do next
Test your site and see what we detect. If the answer is that the platform is the limit, Agile Media Agency rebuilds sites onto a fast modern setup. Tell us about your site.