Where our numbers come from.
The figures on our site that come from outside sources, the page each appears on, and the source behind it. We use sources you can open and check: government agencies, the groups that set web standards, research that explains how it was done, and, for the comparison on our home page, the published pages of the companies and guides it quotes.
Sources read between and . Each one below shows the day we last read it.
The figures
On Home, the comparison
- “A starting point”
Squarespace, about the site its AI builder makes: “Your new site is a starting point. Make hands-on edits, ask your AI assistant to help, or move between both approaches as needed.”
Source 1: Squarespace
- “Create your own”
Squarespace’s lowest plan, in its own words: “Create your own custom website and get discovered online.”
Source 2: Squarespace
- An agency’s team
“Agencies typically employ web designers, web developers, and UX and SEO specialists with industry expertise.”
Source 3: business.com
- “In seconds”
Wix, about its AI builder: “Share your business goals and style to get your own custom website in seconds.”
Source 4: Wix
- Templates
Wix: “Choose a template that fits your industry and then customize every detail with the drag-and-drop editor.”
Source 5: Wix
- “Fully customized”
“hiring a web design agency offers fully customized websites tailored to your brand and functionality needs”
Source 3: business.com
- $24 a month
B12’s Website plan, billed monthly, at its regular price (its page offers a first 7 days for $1). Its page: “About two minutes from prompt to a complete first draft.”
Source 6: B12
- $25 a month
Durable’s Launch plan, billed monthly ($22 billed yearly). Its page lists “AI-generated pages”.
Source 7: Durable
- $45 a month
Framer’s Pro plan, billed monthly ($30 billed yearly)
Source 8: Framer
- From a prompt
Framer, about its AI builder: “Create professional sites from a prompt, brief, or blank canvas.”
Source 9: Framer
- $59 a month
Dorik’s Business plan, billed monthly ($41.50 a month billed yearly). Its plans list “AI Website Generation”.
Source 10: Dorik
- $600 to $1,800
what web designers on Thumbtack cost: “$614 - $1,817”, “National average fixed price” (rounded to hundreds by us). Thumbtack’s article: “On average, a website developer costs $1,057”
Source 11: Thumbtack
- $19 to $99 a month
Squarespace’s four website plans, paid yearly
Source 2: Squarespace
- $17 to $159 a month
Wix’s four paid plans at regular prices, paid yearly
Source 5: Wix
- $228
year one on Squarespace’s lowest plan: 12 times $19, with hosting and a first-year domain. Our own sum
Source 2: Squarespace
- $204
year one on Wix’s lowest paid plan at its regular price: 12 times $17, with hosting and a first-year domain. Our own sum
Source 5: Wix
- $3,000 to over $10,000
“Agencies can charge between $3,000 and over $10,000, depending on the complexity of your site.”
Source 3: business.com
- 30 seconds
Durable: “Get online in 30 seconds.”
Source 12: Durable
- Minutes
GoDaddy’s Airo AI Builder: “Your idea. Live in minutes.”
Source 13: GoDaddy
- Search, on Hostinger
Hostinger’s AI builder: “Appear on Google and AI search automatically”
Source 14: Hostinger
- Search, on Wix
Wix: “a complete suite of built-in marketing and SEO tools”
Source 5: Wix
- Moving a Framer site
“Framer does not offer HTML export for self-hosting.”
Source 15: Framer Help
- Moving a Hostinger site
“Not everything can be exported. For example, you can’t export website styles and layout, online store, integrations, forms, collected submissions, or SEO settings.”
Source 16: Hostinger Help Center
- “100% your code”
GoDaddy’s Airo AI Builder: “100% your code” and “Export and own it forever.”
Source 13: GoDaddy
- Moving a Wix site
“In order for your site to work properly, it needs to be hosted and operated on Wix’s servers.”
Source 17: Wix Help Center
- Moving a Squarespace site
“You can export certain content from your Squarespace site into an .xml file.” Style settings, custom CSS and store pages are on the article’s list “What content won’t export”
Source 18: Squarespace Help Center
- A domain someone else registered
ICANN, about a developer who registers a domain for you: “they may be listed as the official Registrant of record for the domain name”
Source 19: ICANN
On About
- 36,207,130
small businesses in the U.S. (“more than 36 million”)
Source 20: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
- 45.9%
of private-sector workers are employed by small businesses (“nearly half”)
Source 20: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
- 77.9%
of new business locations were still open after one year, so about 1 in 5 closed
Source 21: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- 51.4%
of new business locations were still open after five years
Source 21: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- 54%
of small employers found paying operating expenses a challenge
Source 22: Federal Reserve Banks
- 50%
of small employers dealt with uneven cash flow
Source 22: Federal Reserve Banks
- 54%
of owners facing money problems used their own personal funds
Source 22: Federal Reserve Banks
- 57%
of small employers named reaching customers and growing sales as a challenge
Source 22: Federal Reserve Banks
On Get found on Google
- 3
main things Google says local results are based on: relevance, distance and prominence
Source 23: Google Business Profile Help
On What your website needs
- 2.5 seconds
or less: Google’s target for Largest Contentful Paint (loading)
Source 24: web.dev (Google)
On Is your website accessible?
- 95.9%
of the top one million home pages had detected WCAG failures in 2026, up from 94.8% in 2025
Source 25: WebAIM (Utah State University)
- 56.1
detectable accessibility errors per home page, on average (2026)
Source 25: WebAIM (Utah State University)
- 83.9%
of those home pages had low-contrast text, the most common problem
Source 25: WebAIM (Utah State University)
- 53.1%
had images with no text description
Source 25: WebAIM (Utah State University)
- 51%
had form fields with no label
Source 25: WebAIM (Utah State University)
- 46.3%
had empty links
Source 25: WebAIM (Utah State University)
- 4.1%
the share of those pages without detected failures (full conformance is certainly lower)
Source 25: WebAIM (Utah State University)
- April 26, 2027
the ADA web deadline for state and local governments serving 50,000 people or more
Source 26: U.S. Department of Justice, ADA.gov
- April 26, 2028
the deadline for smaller governments and special districts
Source 26: U.S. Department of Justice, ADA.gov
- 4.5:1
the minimum contrast ratio WCAG asks for with normal-size text
Source 27: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
On How fast should your website load?
- 2.5 seconds
Largest Contentful Paint: how fast the main content should appear
Source 24: web.dev (Google)
- 200 milliseconds
Interaction to Next Paint: how fast the page should respond to a tap or click
Source 24: web.dev (Google)
- 0.1
Cumulative Layout Shift: how little the page should jump around while loading
Source 24: web.dev (Google)
- 75%
of page visits should meet those targets (the 75th percentile)
Source 24: web.dev (Google)
On Set up Google Search Console
- 2 to 3 days
how long a new DNS record can take to start working for Search Console verification
Source 28: Google Search Console Help
- 3 months
the time period the Performance report shows by default
Source 29: Google Search Console Help
- About a day
how long indexing typically takes after you request it (it can take longer, and isn’t guaranteed)
Source 30: Google Search Console Help
On Set up Bing Webmaster Tools
- 48 hours
how long Bing Webmaster Tools usually takes to fill in its reports after you add a site
Source 31: Bing Webmaster Tools Help
On Set up Google Analytics
- 30 minutes
how long Google Analytics data collection may take to begin after the tag is installed
Source 32: Google Analytics Help
- 24 hours
how long statistics can take to appear in Google Analytics from a Squarespace site
Source 33: Squarespace Help Center
On Set up your Google Business Profile
- 14 days
most Business Profile verification postcards arrive within this time
Source 34: Google Business Profile Help
- 30 days
Business Profile postcard verification codes expire after this
Source 34: Google Business Profile Help
- 5 business days
how long Google’s verification review can take
Source 34: Google Business Profile Help
- 7 days
closed this long or more in a row: mark the business Temporarily closed instead of setting special hours
Source 35: Google Business Profile Help
- 10 KB to 5 MB
the file size range for Business Profile photos (JPG or PNG)
Source 36: Google Business Profile Help
- 720 x 720
pixels: the recommended resolution for Business Profile photos
Source 36: Google Business Profile Help
- 24 to 48 hours
how long new photos can take to show on a Business Profile
Source 36: Google Business Profile Help
On Set up Bing Places for Business
- October 2025
when Bing Places moved from bingplaces.com to bing.com/forbusiness
Source 37: Microsoft Bing Blogs
- 100
photos you can upload to a Bing Places listing
Source 38: Bing Places for Business Help
- 5 to 6 business days
how long a Bing Places PIN postcard typically takes to arrive in the U.S.
Source 38: Bing Places for Business Help
- 12 days
how long Bing suggests waiting for a PIN postcard before contacting support
Source 38: Bing Places for Business Help
- 7 to 12 days
Bing’s typical publish cycle in North America after a listing is verified or updated
Source 38: Bing Places for Business Help
On Set up Apple Business
- April 14, 2026
when Apple Business replaced Apple Business Connect
Source 39: Apple Newsroom
- 60 days
the time Apple gives a new organization to get verified, or it’s deleted
Source 40: Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support)
- 5 business days
how long Apple’s organization verification review can take (longer when it’s busy)
Source 40: Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support)
- 4 digits
the length of the code in Apple’s phone-call verification for a location already on Maps
Source 41: Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support)
- 5 business days
how long Apple’s review of a location transfer request can take
Source 41: Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support)
- 365 days
the longest a showcase can run on a place card (the default is 90 days)
Source 42: Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support)
- 3 calendar days
how long Apple’s review of a showcase can take
Source 42: Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support)
All sources
Including the ones our guides cite for rules and advice rather than numbers. We re-check these figures from time to time, and update them here when a source changes.
- Source 3: How Much Does It Cost to Build a Website?
business.com · Last updated September 14, 2026 · Read
- Source 16: Hostinger AI Builder: How to export content to WordPress in manual mode
Hostinger Help Center · Read
- Source 20: Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, 2026
U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy · February 2026 · Read
- Source 21: Business Employment Dynamics: Establishment Age and Survival Data (Table 7)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Data to March 2025 · Read
- Source 22: 2026 Report on Employer Firms: Findings from the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey
Federal Reserve Banks · March 2026 · Read
- Source 25: The WebAIM Million: The 2026 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages
WebAIM (Utah State University) · Data from February 2026 · Read
- Source 26: Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments
U.S. Department of Justice, ADA.gov · Read
- Source 27: Easy Checks: A First Review of Web Accessibility
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) · Read
- Source 29: Performance report (Search results): Overview and basic setup
Google Search Console Help · Read
- Source 33: Connect Google Analytics to your site
Squarespace Help Center · Updated September 28, 2026 · Read
- Source 37: Introducing the New Bing Places for Business: Built for Business Owners, Powered by Research
Microsoft Bing Blogs · October 3, 2025 · Read
- Source 39: Introducing Apple Business: a new all-in-one platform for businesses of all sizes
Apple Newsroom · March 24, 2026 · Read
- Source 40: Sign up for Apple Business
Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support) · Published April 14, 2026 · Read
- Source 41: Add a single location in Apple Business
Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support) · Published April 14, 2026 · Read
- Source 42: Create your first showcase in Apple Business
Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support) · Published May 28, 2026 · Read
- Source 45: Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials
U.S. Federal Trade Commission · August 14, 2024 · Read
- Source 47: Mobile site and mobile-first indexing best practices
Google Search Central · Updated December 10, 2025 · Read
- Source 50: Understanding Google Page Experience
Google Search Central · Updated September 22, 2026 · Read
- Source 52: California Business and Professions Code, section 22575
California Legislative Information · Read
- Source 58: Updating Search Console users and permissions management
Google Search Central Blog · February 22, 2023 · Read
- Source 67: Tracking Events on Your Wix Site with a Google Analytics Measurement ID
Wix Help Center · Read
- Source 85: Configure location attributes in Apple Business
Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support) · Published April 14, 2026 · Read
- Source 86: Maintain location information accuracy with Apple Business
Apple Business User Guide (Apple Support) · Published April 14, 2026 · Read
- Source 87: Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA
U.S. Department of Justice, ADA.gov · March 18, 2022 · Read
Spot something out of date? Tell us at hello@evenhandsites.com and we’ll check it at the source and fix it.