How do the nine options compare at a glance?
They differ most on forms, embeds and exit terms, so the table puts those next to the price. The sections after it explain what to do with each fact.
Therapy Visibility, the studio that publishes this guide, also builds therapist websites, so we are one of the nine options and we list ourselves last. To keep this fair, every price and feature comes from each company’s own pages, we rank no one, and where we could not confirm something we say so.
Prices checked October 22, 2026. Prices are in US dollars as each company’s page shows them, and tax may be added at checkout. A “billed annually” price is the monthly equivalent.
| Option | Monthly price and billing | Setup fee | BAA for forms | Booking embeds and plan needed | SEO control | Who maintains it | Contract and export | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace | Basic $19 a month billed annually, $25 month to month; Core $29 and $391 | None listed | Form blocks “can’t be used as part of a HIPAA compliant solution”; the terms mention a separate BAA for accounts “designated as HIPAA-enabled,” plans not stated242 | JavaScript or iframe in a code block needs Core, Plus or Advanced3 | SEO title, SEO description and URL slug per page; 301 redirects45 | You | Cancelling ends service at the end of the billing cycle; no refund on monthly plans; XML export covers some content only6437 | You want to build and edit your own pages and need no private details in forms |
| Wix | Light $17 a month billed annually, $24 month to month; Core $29 and $36; Business $39 and $468 | None listed | Yes, signed in your dashboard after you turn on PHI protection; Business plan and above9 | Embed HTML element; custom code needs a published site with a connected domain, which needs a paid plan101112 | Title tag, meta description and URL slug per page; 301 redirect manager on custom domains1314 | You | Annual or monthly billing, 14-day money-back; cannot be hosted elsewhere; blog posts cannot be exported81215 | You want to build it yourself and may need a BAA for a form |
| WordPress.com | Personal $4 a month billed yearly, $9 month to month; Premium $8 and $18; Business $25 and $4016 | None listed | No. Staff: “we don’t offer HIPAA-compliant plans or BAAs on WordPress.com”17 | Iframes and scripts in a Custom HTML block need a paid plan with hosting features activated18 | Automatic redirect when you change a page’s slug; titles and descriptions: could not confirm19 | You | Billed monthly or every 12, 24 or 36 months; export file has written content, not theme or design1620 | You want a low price and a blog-style site, with no private details in forms |
| Self-hosted WordPress | Not published as one price; depends on the host you pick21 | Not published; depends on host or developer | Depends on the host; HHS treats a cloud provider that stores ePHI as a business associate. Could not confirm for any host22 | Depends on your theme, plugins and host; could not confirm | Could not confirm on WordPress.org’s pages | You, or a developer or host you pay | Host terms vary; WordPress export file holds posts, pages, comments and users24 | Someone can look after it, and you want full control |
| Showit | $22 a month billed annually ($259 a year), $27 month to month; blog plans cost more25 | None listed; 14-day free trial25 | Could not confirm | Embed Code widget for body HTML; no plan limit stated26 | Page title, meta description and share image per page; URL redirects2728 | You | Billed annually or monthly; the design cannot be exported to another host2529 | You want a custom look you build yourself and will stay on Showit |
| SimplePractice Professional Website | No extra cost on any plan; plans are $49, $79 and $99 a month billed monthly3031 | None listed | The company says “the platform that we offer is completely secure and HIPAA compliant”; contact options are a Client Portal button and a Request Appointment button3032 | None: one page, no embedded links or code; a Request Appointment button can be turned on3032 | Page title and description; one page; redirects: could not confirm33 | You, in the SimplePractice editor | Included while you subscribe; the data export is client information only; site export: could not confirm34 | You already use SimplePractice and one page of facts is enough |
| TherapySites | Core $69 a month; Advantage $99, which adds SEO 1.035 | $199 one-time design fee35 | Core lists “HIPAA-compliant”; the terms refer to a Business Associate Agreement; the FAQ says each form carries a disclaimer that “strictly advises against” sending PHI353736 | Online appointment scheduling in Core; no hand-coded HTML or CSS; embed code: could not confirm3536 | Could not confirm which fields you control | You edit in their editor; support is included35 | Mostly month to month; some offers carry a minimum; fees non-refundable; export: could not confirm3637 | You want a therapist-specific service you edit yourself |
| Brighter Vision | Start $99 a month, Grow $179, Flourish $349 on the monthly view; yearly billing also offered, prices not captured38 | $100 on Start and Grow; none on Flourish38 | Only through a Hushmail add-on (from $14.99 a month) or the Flourish plan; the terms bar storing HIPAA-regulated data3839 | No plugins or admin access for you; ask the design team4041 | Could not confirm which fields you control | Their design team makes the changes you email in, “within 2 business days”; they say you can also edit the site yourself3841 | One-year initial term unless your order says otherwise, then auto-renews; export: could not confirm39 | You want it built and kept for you by a therapist-focused company |
| Therapy Visibility | Foundations $149 a month, or $119 billed annually; visibility plans $349 and $599 (pricing) | $799 design fee, refundable for 60 days or until you approve a design direction | The sites we build collect no health information, so there is nothing to sign a BAA for | Connected to the scheduler you already use | Search and AI basics set up by us | We do; you email a request or use the portal | Month to month or yearly; your domain and content stay yours, and the design and code are licensed while you subscribe | You want a fully custom site built and kept for you, with one person to ask |
“None listed” means the company’s pricing page shows no setup fee. “Could not confirm” means we could not find the answer on the company’s own pages, which is not the same as a no. Whichever you choose, the license and advertising details on the site are yours to get right; California licensees can read what California’s 2026 advertising rule requires on a website.
Which option fits me if I want to build and edit the site myself?
Squarespace, Wix, WordPress.com and Showit all suit you if you are comfortable editing your own pages, and each has a different limit to check before you pay.
Squarespace. The Basic plan is $19 a month billed annually and $25 month to month.1 Each page has an SEO title and an SEO description,4 and URL mappings set up 301 redirects, which “tell search engines that a page has moved, and search engines transfer the old page’s rank to the new page.”5 Two limits matter to a therapist. A code block renders JavaScript or an iframe only on Core, Plus or Advanced,3 and the form block “can’t be used as part of a HIPAA compliant solution.”2
Wix. Light is $17 a month billed annually and $24 month to month; Core is $29 and $36, and Business is $39 and $46.8 Each page has an editable title tag, meta description and URL slug,13 and Wix creates a 301 redirect for you when you change a slug, except on blog pages.14 It is the one do-it-yourself builder here whose help center explains how to sign a BAA, on Business and above, and Wix warns that turning on PHI protection “could disable, restrict, or remove some functionalities of your site.”9
WordPress.com. This is the hosted version of WordPress. Personal is $4 a month billed yearly and $9 month to month, Premium is $8 and $18, and Business is $25 and $40.16 Its annual price is the lowest of the paid builders here, with one catch for therapists: a staff reply to a November 2025 forum question said, “we don’t offer HIPAA-compliant plans or BAAs on WordPress.com.”17
Showit. Showit sells a website builder with its own hosting. The builder plan is $22 a month billed annually, or $27 month to month, and plans that add a WordPress blog cost more.25 Every page has a title, a meta description and a share image,27 and the Embed Code widget takes body HTML such as widgets and contact forms.26 We could not confirm whether Showit signs a BAA.
Is self-hosted WordPress worth it for a solo practice?
It is worth it when you want full control and you or someone you pay will look after the site. The WordPress software and the company that hosts it are separate things, and the host is where the cost, the BAA question and the upkeep sit.
WordPress.org lists hosting companies,21 and we found no single price, because the cost depends on the host and on the themes and plugins you add.23 Its Tools Export screen produces a file with “your posts, pages, custom post types, comments, custom fields, categories, tags, custom taxonomies, and users.”24 That helps when you leave, though the list does not include your theme or design files.
Is SimplePractice’s Professional Website enough?
It can be, if one page with your name, services, fees and a request-appointment button is all you need. The Professional Website “is available at no additional cost on all subscription plans.”30
The limits are by design. SimplePractice says “additional pages or tabs can’t be added,” and that “there isn’t a way to embed links,” though you can paste a full URL as plain text.30 You can edit the page title and description,33 and turn the Request Appointment button on or off.32 If you outgrow one page, you move to another option on this list.
What if I would rather have someone build and maintain the site?
TherapySites, Brighter Vision and Therapy Visibility all build and host the site for you, and they differ in price, contract and how much you can change yourself.
TherapySites. Core is $69 a month, with a one-time $199 website design fee.35 Its FAQ says “most of our contracts are month-to-month,” though a promotional offer can commit you to several months,36 and its terms say a twelve month minimum applies “if stated in your service agreement.”37 You edit in their editor, which “is not compatible with hand-coded HTML or CSS files.”36
Brighter Vision. The Start plan is shown at $99 a month with a $100 setup fee, and changes you email in are made “within 2 business days.”38 Unless your order says otherwise, the initial term is one year and then renews automatically.39 You cannot install plugins,40 and Brighter Vision does not give clients administrator access.41
Therapy Visibility. We design and write a fully custom site of up to 10 pages, with no templates, page builders or pre-written copy, then host it, maintain it and connect it to the scheduler you already use. After a $799 design fee, Foundations is $149 a month with up to 30 minutes of edits; Visibility ($349) and Active Visibility ($599) add search and AI work every month. Plans are month to month, or 20% less paid yearly, and you work with the person who builds your site.
What we do differently. On the visibility plans we improve one page or profile every month and report why we chose it and how we checked it. Each quarter we ask ChatGPT, Google’s AI and others the questions your future clients ask, and fix the sources behind wrong answers when we can. We follow changes in search and AI and try new methods where they make sense. Every site places your license details to meet your state board’s advertising rules, with no advertising pixels, session recording or chat widgets unless you ask in writing.
Do I need a BAA for my website’s contact form?
You need one with any company that creates, receives, stores or sends protected health information for you, and whether a form does that depends on what it asks. HHS’s cloud guidance says that when a covered entity uses a cloud service provider to store ePHI, “the CSP is a business associate under HIPAA,” and the two “must enter into a HIPAA-compliant business associate agreement (BAA).”22 Whether your form creates ePHI is a question for your lawyer or licensing board.
A short form often avoids the question. Our guide on what a therapy contact form should ask explains how to stop at a name, a way to reach you and an optional short note. Trackers raise a separate issue, covered in does Google Analytics violate HIPAA on a therapy website. Here is what each company says about its own product:
- Squarespace: “Form blocks can’t be used as part of a HIPAA compliant solution.”2 Its terms refer to accounts “designated as HIPAA-enabled” that enter “a separate business associate agreement with Squarespace,” but we could not confirm which plans qualify.42
- Wix: you activate PHI protection, then sign the BAA, and it is available on Business, Plus, Elite, Business Elite and Enterprise plans. Wix recommends that you “do not collect, store, or process any PHI on your Wix site until you have activated PHI protection and completed the BAA signing process.”9
- WordPress.com: no HIPAA-compliant plans or BAAs, per the staff reply above.17
- Self-hosted WordPress: the BAA would come from your host, not from WordPress. We could not confirm which hosts sign one.
- Showit: could not confirm.
- SimplePractice: “The platform that we offer is completely secure and HIPAA compliant.” Its contact options are buttons, not a form.3032
- TherapySites: the Core plan lists “HIPAA-compliant,” and a secure email and forms add-on starts at $15 a month.35 Its terms say that by using the services “you consent to the terms of our Company Business Associate Agreement,” which we did not read.37 Its FAQ also says each contact form carries a privacy disclaimer that “strictly advises against submitting protected health information (PHI) through forms.”36
- Brighter Vision: HIPAA forms and a BAA come with a Hushmail add-on or the Flourish plan,38 and the terms say you will not “store data on the Services that is regulated by the HIPAA Privacy Rules or the PCI Data Standards.”39
- Therapy Visibility: the sites we build do not collect health information, so there is nothing for us to sign a BAA for. If your scheduler handles client information, check that it offers its own; our FAQ says more.
Can I add my EHR’s online booking to the site?
Usually yes, if your plan lets you paste an embed code, and the plan you need differs by builder. Copy the real snippet from your booking tool’s own help page rather than from a guide like this one. For SimplePractice, our guide to adding SimplePractice booking to your website goes builder by builder.
- Squarespace: Core, Plus or Advanced.3
- Wix: the Embed HTML element sits in the editor, and the help page states no plan for it. Because the HTML and URL elements are iframes, “the code or site you are embedding won’t be responsive.”10 Site-wide custom code needs a connected domain.11
- WordPress.com: a paid plan, with hosting features activated. A paid plan alone is not enough, and the help page names Calendly and Acuity among the tools that need it.18
- Showit: the Embed Code widget, with no plan limit stated.26
- SimplePractice Professional Website: no embeds, only the Request Appointment button.3032
- TherapySites: online appointment scheduling is listed in Core.35 We could not confirm whether you can paste your own embed code.
- Brighter Vision: you cannot add plugins, so ask the design team.40
- Therapy Visibility: we connect the site to the scheduler you already use.
What happens when I want to move my site later?
Plan on moving your words and images, not your design. Where we could confirm an export, it covers content, not a finished site you can drop onto another builder.
- Squarespace: the export is an .xml file for WordPress. “Many features rely on our platform’s JavaScript and CSS, so some content doesn’t export,” including drafts and style settings.7 When you cancel a monthly plan, “your service stops at the end of your billing cycle,” and an annual plan cancelled within the refund window can end at once with a refund.6 Squarespace does not refund monthly plans.43
- Wix: the site “needs to be hosted and operated on Wix’s servers,” and the SaaS architecture does not support external hosting.12 Wix says “it is not possible to export blog posts to other platforms.”15
- WordPress.com: the export file “only includes your written content and references to your images.” It leaves out the theme, design changes, plugins and the image files themselves.20
- Self-hosted WordPress: the export file holds posts, pages, comments and users.24
- Showit: “We do not offer an option to export Showit to be used with a different web host.”29
- SimplePractice: the cancellation guide describes a data export that “includes client information only.”34 We could not confirm a way to export the website.
- TherapySites and Brighter Vision: we could not confirm an export. TherapySites says you keep the content you added and “may no longer use the content provided by TherapySites” after you leave.36 Brighter Vision’s terms say you own your content and that it “may deactivate” the account and delete data after termination.39
- Therapy Visibility: your domain, photos, logo and content stay yours. The design and code are licensed to you while you subscribe, so if you leave we send your content and page addresses to your next provider and keep the site online for 30 days while you move.
Whatever you leave, try to keep your page addresses the same. If they change, set up 301 redirects, because a changed address otherwise loses the old page’s standing. Wix explains that without a redirect, “the old URL will no longer work” and the old page’s authority “will also not carry over.”14
When is a cheaper option the better choice?
A cheaper option is the better choice when a few pages you edit yourself are all your practice needs, and you collect nothing private through the site. SimplePractice’s Professional Website costs nothing extra,30 WordPress.com Personal is $4 a month billed yearly,16 and Squarespace Basic is $19.1
Paying more for a done-for-you service buys time and a person to ask. It does not by itself buy a better site, and nothing here promises more inquiries. Our guide to what a therapist website costs adds the domain, email and form costs over three years. If you enjoy editing, have the hours, and your booking tool offers a link or a button, a low plan will do.
A low plan can cost more later if it lacks the feature you need. Squarespace Basic cannot render JavaScript or an iframe in a code block, so a booking embed that needs one means Core at $29 a month billed annually.31 A free plan can cost you in other ways: on WordPress.com, “free sites display WordPress.com ads to visitors.”16
When is Therapy Visibility the wrong choice?
We are the wrong choice if you want to edit the site yourself, because our sites are hand-built and have no editor to log in to; you send changes to us. We are also the wrong choice if you need a one-page site that costs nothing extra, which SimplePractice offers.
We are not the right fit if you need more than 10 pages, a larger group practice or custom integrations, which get a separate proposal, or if you need forms on the site that collect health information, because our sites do not collect it. Our plans start at $149 a month after a $799 design fee, so if price is your first concern, one of the lower-cost options above will likely serve you better.
Questions therapists also ask
Is Squarespace HIPAA compliant?
Squarespace’s help center says form blocks “can’t be used as part of a HIPAA compliant solution,” and its terms mention a separate business associate agreement only for accounts “designated as HIPAA-enabled,” without saying which plans qualify.242 If your form asks only for a name and a way to reach you, ask your lawyer or board whether that is enough.
Does Wix sign a BAA?
Yes, according to Wix’s help center. You turn on PHI protection and sign the BAA in your dashboard, on Business, Plus, Elite, Business Elite or Enterprise plans.9 Wix adds that you remain responsible for “how you use and configure your site.”
Can I use a free plan for my practice site?
You can, with limits. A free Wix site carries Wix branding and, in Wix’s words, has “no access to widely used analytics tools, such as Google Analytics,”8 and 301 redirects work only with custom domains.14 Free WordPress.com sites show ads to visitors.16
Will switching builders hurt my Google rankings?
It can, if page addresses change and the old ones are not redirected. Squarespace says a 301 redirect tells search engines a page has moved so that they “transfer the old page’s rank to the new page.”5 Keep addresses the same where you can, and read what good SEO and AI visibility work looks like for what to expect afterward. Our SEO for therapists guide covers the basics to set up on any builder.
Who owns my domain and content if a company builds the site?
Ask before you sign, and get the answer in writing. TherapySites says that if it buys a domain for you, “it will be owned by TherapySites,” and it can transfer the domain to you for a $15 fee.36 If you are still choosing a name, see whether your practice name or domain should include keywords.
Where to start
Before you compare plans, answer three questions: will any form collect health details, which booking tool must you embed, and do you want to edit the site yourself. Those answers rule out most of the table. If you want a site built and kept for you, find the plan that fits your practice.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. For the primary text, read HHS’s guidance on HIPAA and cloud computing, and for your own situation ask your licensing board, your professional association’s legal or ethics line, or an attorney. Prices and plan features change; recheck each company’s page before you buy.