RunCabin Blog · Buying guide

Wix vs Squarespace vs GoDaddy vs WordPress.com vs RunCabin: 2026 pricing, and which ones your AI agent can run

October 27, 2026 · 8 min read

Short answer: if you build the site yourself, the plan a small business actually needs costs $8 to $29 a month billed yearly, and about $180 to $460 a year once the free first-year domain and email run out. If your AI agent (Claude, ChatGPT or Muse) is going to build and run the site, most of these won't let it: Squarespace's and GoDaddy's agent connections only search for domain names, and WordPress.com's writes posts on a site you already pay for. RunCabin was made for agents: free on a RunCabin address, $4.99 a month ($47.99 a year) on your own domain, and the agent can publish, change, roll back, add forms and set up the domain. The domain is yours. Below, each one worked out the same way, from each company's own US pages on October 27, 2026.

What your AI agent can do with each one

More owners now ask an assistant to "make my business a website and put it online". Whether it can depends on the builder having an official connection (an MCP server or app) that lets the agent do the work, not just look things up. Here is what each company's own documentation says its connection can do.

Two more names come up when agents look for hosting: Netlify and Vercel. Both have official connections that deploy code, and they're excellent for developers. They aren't website builders, though: there are no contact forms that email you or plain-English edits, and Vercel's free plan is for personal, non-commercial use only (business sites need Pro, $20 a month). Hostinger's connector can start a site from a prompt and register domains, but its cheapest plan price is a 48-month prepaid promotion that renews at $10.99 a month.

Year one and year two, with the domain and email

The sticker price leaves out two things you pay for once the free first year ends: the domain, and one business email mailbox. For the builders that don't include email, we used Google Workspace Business Starter at Google's own price, $7 a user a month on the annual plan ($84 a year).

Want a full mailbox that sends mail too? Add Google Workspace at Google's price to the RunCabin row, the same as the others, or ask for it to be set up for you.

Why RunCabin costs less for an agent-built site

The builders above charge for an editor: the drag-and-drop screens, templates and design tools you use to build the site yourself. When your agent writes the site, you aren't using any of that. RunCabin is hosting made for the agent: the agent connects once, and from then on you change the site by asking in the same chat you use for everything else. "Change our Saturday hours to 8 to 2." "Add a contact form that emails me." "Undo yesterday's change." What the $4.99 a month covers:

• Your own domain, with HTTPS set up for you. Buy one through RunCabin or connect one you already have. The domain is yours; if you cancel, we release it to you with the transfer code.
• Every publish kept, so a bad change rolls back in one sentence, plus preview addresses to check a change before it goes live.
• Contact forms that email you and keep every message, which the agent can read back to you.
• Photos from your phone: the agent sends you a link, you pick the photos, and their location data is removed before they go on the site.
• Email forwarding (hello@yourdomain to your inbox) and members-only pages that people sign in to with an emailed code.
• You approve every payment. The agent can check a domain's price for free, but anything paid is a checkout page you review and pay yourself. It never sees a card.
• A green data center running on 100% renewable hydropower.

It works with Claude, ChatGPT, Meta's Muse (as a custom connector), Claude Code, Cursor and any other app that takes MCP connectors. Setup is one address, https://runcabin.com/mcp; the steps for each app are on our page on website hosting for AI agents, and the plain-language version is here.

What it isn't: a store with a cart and checkout, or a site that needs PHP or a database. For an app with a database and server code, RunCabin's AI builder does that instead: you build by chatting with it, publishing is free on a RunCabin address or $9.99 a month on your own domain (hosting, HTTPS and email forwarding included), and the builder's AI work is billed in tokens.

Wix: the strongest agent connection among the builders

Wix's US plans page lists Light at $17 a month, Core at $29, Business at $39 and Business Elite at $159, all billed yearly and paid up front. Light can't take bookings or payments, so a service business that wants either needs Core or higher. Every paid plan takes your own domain, and the free domain voucher covers the first year only. Email isn't included. Wix's official MCP connection can create, update and publish a site and reach its booking and content tools, which makes it the most capable agent connection of the big builders; its docs list no tool for buying or connecting a domain.

Squarespace: a good first year, and no agent building

Squarespace lists Basic at $19 a month billed yearly ($25 monthly), Core at $29 ($39 monthly), Plus at $49 and Advanced at $99. Core includes a free first year of Google Workspace email for one person, and Basic charges a 2% fee on store sales. In year two the domain and mailbox start billing, and Squarespace doesn't publish what either renews at. Its official agent connection has two read-only tools, both for finding a domain name, so an agent can't build or change a Squarespace site through it.

GoDaddy (Airo): cheap to start, with an unpublished renewal

GoDaddy's builder lists Starter at $9.99 a month, Professional at $24.99 and Ultimate at $99.99, billed yearly, each marked "save 50%" against the monthly prices ($19.99, $49.99, $199.99). The page says annual plans get an extra discount on the first year but doesn't say what they renew at. The free domain renews at current prices (a .com is $22.99 a year), and Microsoft 365 email is $1.99 a month the first year, then $8.99. GoDaddy's agent connection searches and suggests domain names; its own description says it can't register domains or change DNS, and nothing connects an agent to the Airo website builder.

WordPress.com: the lowest builder price, with a fee on payments

WordPress.com Personal is $4 a month and Premium $8 a month billed yearly, the cheapest builder plans here. The lower plans take a cut of payments you collect through the site (4% on Premium, on top of the card processor's fee), and email isn't included below Business. Its official agent connection can read your site and, on paid plans, write posts and pages as drafts you approve. It works on a site you've already set up; its docs don't mention creating a site or a domain.

Which one to pick

• You want to design it yourself in an editor: Wix if you want the most features, WordPress.com if you want the lowest price, Squarespace if you like its templates.
• You want your AI agent to build it and keep it current: RunCabin, free to start and $4.99 a month on your own domain.
• You want it built for you, start to finish: that's RunCabin's done-for-you websites, built with AI and finished by a web developer.

Prices and agent features change fast; check each company's page before you buy. We'll update this post when they change.

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Related reading: put your website online from Claude · from ChatGPT · from Muse · how much does a small-business website cost?