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Six criteria, 40 points, and a headline score that is only the total divided by four. Here is why each weight is what it is, with one builder's card added up in full so you can check it.

Entry prices across the six builders, then the two-year reality: Hostinger renews at +513%, GoDaddy at +136%, and Webflow is the only one with no first-year discount to fall off.

Professional is a specification, not an adjective: handoff, billing transfer, white-label, collaboration, code export and agency tooling. Only two of the six builders meet it.

The 7-point SEO criterion unpacked across all six builders: which technical controls each one exposes, and what the November 2025 Core Web Vitals data does and does not prove.

Five questions decide which builder is correct for your project, and each one maps to a weighted criterion in the 40-point standard. This is the decision path, not a shortlist.

GoDaddy Websites + Marketing takes 22 of 40 points under revision v2026.8 — 5.5/10 — pairing the only perfect ease mark with the lowest SEO figure recorded. Here is the arithmetic.

Hostinger Website Builder records 28 of 40 points under revision v2026.8 — 7.0/10 — including the only perfect value mark awarded. Here is the clause-by-clause arithmetic.

Shopify records 28 of 40 points under revision v2026.8 — 7.0/10 — with the only perfect ecommerce mark and the second-lowest value figure. The arithmetic is set out below.

Webflow takes 29 of 40 points under revision v2026.8 — 7.3/10 — with the only perfect SEO mark and the lowest ease figure awarded to any platform. Here is the arithmetic.

Squarespace takes 31 of 40 points under revision v2026.8, a headline score of 7.8/10 and second place overall. Here is the clause-by-clause arithmetic behind it.

Wix takes 32 of 40 points under revision v2026.8, a headline score of 8.0/10 and the highest total awarded. This is the clause-by-clause arithmetic behind that figure.