WordPress on a self-hosted environment is the best choice for most small businesses because you own the site outright, control your SEO infrastructure completely, and can scale from a five-page brochure site to a 500-page content hub without migrating platforms. At Ottawa SEO Inc., roughly 80% of our small business clients run WordPress because we can implement schema markup, advanced caching, custom post types, and granular redirects that aren't possible on closed platforms. Hosting costs $8–25 CAD monthly with providers like SiteGround or WP Engine, and a solid theme plus essential plugins (Yoast, WP Rocket, Gravity Forms) runs $200–600 upfront. Shopify is the better pick if you're primarily selling physical products online. Its native checkout, inventory management, and payment processing beat WordPress + WooCommerce for pure e-commerce speed to launch. Expect $39–399 CAD monthly plus transaction fees, and accept that blog SEO and content marketing are weaker than WordPress. Squarespace suits creative service businesses (photographers, designers, consultants) who value elegant templates over technical control. It's $20–65 CAD monthly, easier than WordPress for non-technical owners, but you hit a ceiling fast when you want custom functionality or serious organic traffic growth. You can't migrate your site easily if you outgrow it. Wix has improved but still generates messy code and limits technical SEO compared to WordPress. Weebly and GoDaddy builders are bottom-tier: avoid them if growth matters. The real decision point is whether you plan to compete for local search rankings and own your digital asset long-term. If yes, WordPress is worth the steeper learning curve. If you need a placeholder site and will rely on paid ads or referrals, Squarespace or Shopify can work. At Ottawa SEO, we build on WordPress unless a client has a specific reason not to, because we've seen too many businesses outgrow closed platforms within 18–24 months and face expensive migrations.