Where Inlay is the better fit
Inlay exists because custom websites used to force a choice: call a developer for every typo, or accept a page builder and a site that looks like one. With Inlay the site is written as ordinary, custom code, and the page itself describes what is editable. Your team signs in, clicks a headline or a photo, and changes it where it lives. Every change saves as a shared draft, previews on desktop, tablet, and phone, and goes live only when someone hits publish.
It is the right choice when:
- The design has to be yours. No theme underneath, no "we customized a template."
- Non-technical people will keep it current. Menus, events, posts, staff bios, and prices change often, and nobody wants a dashboard to learn.
- The site will grow into software. A portal, a listings database, or a back office can be built into the same codebase. That is how Open Pattern runs an aircraft brokerage on it.
- You are tired of maintenance. There are no plugins to patch, hosting is included, and Inlay updates reach every site as a single version bump.
Where WordPress is the better fit
WordPress powers a large share of the web for good reasons. The ecosystem is enormous, so there is a plugin for almost anything, WooCommerce is a serious store, and any developer can work on it. It is portable between hosts, and a theme-based site can be live quickly. If you have an in-house team that already knows it, or you need a very large content operation with established editorial workflows, WordPress is a reasonable default.
The costs show up later: core, theme, and plugin updates that need someone watching them, security patches, performance tuning, and an admin area that looks nothing like the page your visitors see. Most agency-built WordPress sites come with a maintenance plan for exactly these reasons.
Where Wix and Squarespace are the better fit
If you need a simple site this week, have the time to build it, and a template genuinely fits, a hosted builder is the honest answer. They are inexpensive, they handle hosting and updates, and the editors are approachable. The trade-offs are a rented platform you cannot take with you, a design that lives within the template's limits, and a ceiling you hit the first time the business needs something the platform does not offer.
Moving from one to the other
Content from WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace can be exported into a clean custom site with Inlay built in, and most of our website projects start exactly that way. Plugins and apps are the part to look at closely: booking tools, stores, and custom integrations sometimes have to be rebuilt or reconnected, and that is what changes the price. We confirm what is involved in a quick review before you commit to anything.
You can try the real editor on our websites page, and read how it was built in the Inlay case study.