Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress for inclusivity

One thing you should be paying attention to is website accessibility i.e making sure people can use your site properly whether they’re using a screen reader, keyboard-only navigation, voice control, magnification, captions, high contrast… the lot.

Here’s the thing most people miss: accessibility isn’t a feature. It’s a result. You can build an inaccessible site on any platform and you can build a brilliant, inclusive one too. What changes is how easy each platform makes it to do the right thing consistently, without needing a dev team or a pile of add-ons.

This post breaks down how Wix stacks up against Squarespace and WordPress for accessibility, where each one can trip you up, and how we (The Wix Guys) make Wix sites even more inclusive.

What “inclusive” means for Wix, Squarespace and Wordpress

An inclusive website is one where visitors can:

• Read your content (good contrast, sensible text sizes and clear structure)

• Navigate it (With a keyboard and mouse)

• Understand it (clear headings, labels, instructions, error messages)

• Use forms and buttons (tap targets, focus states, proper labels)

• Access media (alt text, captions, transcripts where needed)

Most people aim for WCAG standards, the common benchmark for web accessibility. WordPress itself references WCAG 2.2 AA as the target “where possible” for admin and bundled themes.

The quick verdict (before we get into the detail)

Wix

Best for most small and medium businesses who want accessibility built in and guided, without needing plugins or a developer for everything. Wix’s Accessibility Wizard is a genuinely useful built-in workflow (not perfect, but strong).

Squarespace

Decent accessibility foundations, nice guidance, and generally fewer ways to break layouts but less tooling that actively walks you through fixing issues. Squarespace publishes inclusive design guidance and accessibility resources, but it’s more “here’s best practice” than “here’s a scanner and step-by-step fixes”.

WordPress

Potentially the best and the worst. WordPress has a strong accessibility community and goals, but your site’s accessibility depends heavily on your theme, plugins, and whoever built it. In other words: high ceiling, low floor.

Wix and inclusivity: why we rate it highly

1) Wix actually gives you a built-in accessibility workflow

Wix’s Accessibility Wizard scans your site and then guides you through “detected issues” and manual checks. It’s designed to help you find and fix accessibility issues as part of building, not as a separate project you never get round to.

Wix also provides an accessibility checklist for manual review (which matters because no scanner catches everything).

Why this is good for inclusivity: Most accessibility fails happen because nobody’s checking anything. A built-in process makes it harder to ignore.

2) “Skip to main content” is a simple win (and Wix supports it)

Keyboard and screen reader users shouldn’t have to tab through your entire menu on every page just to reach the content. Wix supports adding a “Skip to Main Content” link via the Accessibility Wizard. It sounds minor, but it’s exactly the sort of small but meaningful accessibility improvement many websites never bother with.

3) It’s built into Wix Editor and Wix Studio (and Harmony)

Wix has made the Accessibility Wizard available across its editors, including the newer ones like Harmony. So you’re not stuck choosing between “modern layout tools” and “accessibility tools”, you can have both.

4) Wix is very open about what still needs manual work

This is important: Wix doesn’t pretend you press one button and your site becomes WCAG-compliant. The Wizard includes manual tasks and the wider help docs emphasise checking things yourself too. That honesty matters, because accessibility is never purely automated.

Squarespace and inclusivity: solid foundations, but you’ll do more manual policing

Squarespace publishes accessibility guidance focused on inclusive design best practice, covering things like structure, usability and readable content.

They also have a central “accessibility resources” page (including alt text and keyboard navigation guidance).

Where Squarespace can be a good choice for accessibility:

• Templates can be clean and consistent

• You’re less likely to create chaotic layouts that break on mobile and keyboard

• Many accessibility wins come from good content structure and design discipline (which Squarespace encourages)

Where it can be weaker (in practice):

• You don’t get the same “scan → list issues → guided fixes” approach baked into the platform (the way Wix does with the Wizard)

• You’re more reliant on you or your designer knowing what to check and actually doing it

In plain terms: Squarespace can be accessible, but it’s easier to assume it is, rather than prove it is.

WordPress and inclusivity: powerful, but the wild west

WordPress as a project is committed to accessibility and aims for WCAG compliance in admin and bundled themes “where possible”. There’s also a long-standing policy focus around accessibility in core development referenced in third-party summaries of the project’s approach.

But here’s the honest reality: A WordPress site’s accessibility depends on what you bolt onto it, and that means:

• Your theme

• Your page builder (if you use one)

• Your plugins

• Your custom code

• Your content editor habits

Because WordPress is so flexible, it’s very easy to create:

• Broken heading structures

• Inaccessible sliders and popups

• Form errors that screen readers can’t interpret

• Colour/contrast issues baked into a theme

• Weird focus trapping in menus

Yes, you can fix all of this. But it often means:

• Careful theme selection

• Accessibility-focused plugins

• Testing with assistive tech

• Ongoing maintenance

And it can get expensive (in money or time).

A good WordPress accessibility checklist tends to focus on theme choice, heading levels, legible text, descriptive link text, alt text, and captions, which tells you a lot: the platform won’t save you from poor decisions.

What actually makes Wix “stack up” better for most businesses

If we strip out the platform wars and keep it practical, Wix tends to win for inclusivity when:

You want accessibility built into the build process

Wix nudges you into doing accessibility work with an actual tool and flow i.e scan, issues, tasks. Squarespace gives guidance useful, but less “do this now” tooling. WordPress gives you the freedom to do it perfectly or not at all.

You don’t want accessibility to depend on plugins

In WordPress, you can end up in plugin land very quickly, and every plugin is another potential conflict, update, or performance hit. With Wix, the essentials like the Wizard and “Skip to Main Content” are native, supported, and part of the platform.

You need something manageable for real-life teams

Most small businesses don’t have accessibility specialists editing their site weekly. They’ve got Sharon updating a Services page between client calls. Wix is simpler to keep under control while still doing a proper job.

The bit nobody likes hearing: Wix won’t magically make your site inclusive

Even with Wix, you can absolutely make a site inaccessible if you:

• Put text over busy images with no contrast

• Use headings for styling instead of structure

• Write “click here” everywhere

• Build forms with unclear labels

• Cram 12 tiny links into a mobile header

• Dump PDFs with no accessible alternative

The platform helps, but you still need the right decisions. That’s why “inclusive design” is part design, part content, part QA.

How The Wix Guys make Wix sites even more inclusive

This is where we’re useful, because accessibility is full of details that DIY builds miss.

1) We run the Wix Accessibility Wizard properly (and then go beyond it)

We’ll scan the site, resolve detected issues, and complete the manual checks, not just tick a box and call it done.

2) We fix the design choices that hurt accessibility

Most accessibility problems we see aren’t “technical”. They’re visual/UI decisions:

• Low contrast buttons

• Inconsistent spacing that makes pages hard to scan

• Headings that look nice but are in the wrong order

• Mobile layouts that bury CTAs or break reading flow

We tidy all of that up so the site is:

• Easier to read

• Easier to navigate

• Easier to trust

3) We test like a human (not just a tool)

We’ll do practical checks that tools miss, like:

• Can you use the site with keyboard-only navigation?

• Is the focus state visible and sensible?

• Do menus behave predictably?

• Are forms understandable when you make mistakes?

• Does mobile feel “thumb-friendly”?

4) We improve content structure so it’s usable (and better for SEO)

Accessibility overlaps with good SEO more than people think:

• Proper headings

• Descriptive link text

• Clear page structure

• Readable paragraphs and bullet points

• Meaningful alt text

So the work you do to make a site inclusive usually improves engagement and conversions too.

5) We can do it as a full build or a “Wix Fix”

If you need a full website rebuild, we’ll build it inclusively from day one. If your site is already live and just needs improving, our Wix Fix or hourly help is ideal: we jump in, sort accessibility blockers, clean up layout, and leave you with a site that’s genuinely easier for everyone to use.

So… which platform should you pick for inclusivity?

If you want the straightforward answer for inclusivity on Wix, Wordpress and Squarespace:

• Pick Wix if you want strong built-in accessibility support and a platform that makes inclusive design more achievable without extra moving parts.

• Pick Squarespace if you like template-led simplicity and you’re happy to follow accessibility best practice manually.

• Pick WordPress if you need maximum flexibility and you’re prepared to do the work or pay someone to keep themes, plugins and content accessible over time.

Our lean is still Wix for most small and medium businesses, because it gives you the best balance: proper tools, manageable upkeep, and enough control to do it right.

Want us to make your Wix site more inclusive?

If you’d like us to look at your existing Wix site and flag the biggest accessibility and usability issues, we can do that — and fix them quickly.

Whether it’s:

• A full rebuild from £750 up

• Wix SEO support (accessibility and structure often help here too)

• A simple Wix Fix session

…we’ll help you build something that anyone can use. If you want more on how Wix stacks up to other web design platforms, check here.