# WordPress review for Canadian small businesses (2026) > An honest WordPress review for Canadian businesses: full ownership, any plugin and Canadian hosting, against upkeep, plugin sprawl and US-dollar add-ons. Canonical: https://canadianwebmaster.ca/reviews/wordpress Last updated: 2026-10-22 WordPress is the platform you can own outright: any host, any plugin, and a full export. The price of that freedom is upkeep. Here is what it does well, where it bites, and who should pick it. Prices and facts checked October 22, 2026 ยท by Shane Heyworth. About: WordPress. > How this review works: every claim links to the platform's own pricing page or help centre, checked on the date above. There are no star ratings, because we haven't collected reviews from users; a score would be made up. We build websites for a living, mostly on WordPress and Shopify, so we have a bias. We've tried to say plainly where each platform beats paying someone like us. ## The short version WordPress suits a business that wants room to grow, specific features, or a site a developer can work on directly, and that will keep it maintained. It suits less well an owner who wants to set a site up once and never think about it, unless they choose WordPress.com, which handles the upkeep. **Good** - You own a portable site. The built-in export produces a standard file of posts, pages, comments, custom fields and users that any WordPress site can import ([WordPress.org docs](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/tools-export-screen/)). - Over 60,000 plugins, per WordPress.com's pricing page, for almost any feature. - Host anywhere, including Canadian hosts with servers in Canada and CAD pricing ([CanSpace](https://www.canspace.ca/web-hosting.html), for example). - The cheapest entry point of the three: WordPress.com Personal is $5 a month billed yearly; self-hosted runs about $72 a year. - A huge pool of developers, so you're never stuck with one person. **Watch out for** - Self-hosted means you, or someone you pay, applies core, theme and plugin updates and keeps backups. - Plugin sprawl: each one adds weight, a renewal and a possible security hole. - Many premium themes and plugins are priced in US dollars. - A steeper learning curve than Wix or Squarespace for editing layouts. - Quality varies: a cheap theme can make a site slow and hard to change. ## WordPress.com or WordPress.org? WordPress.com is a hosted service: you pick a plan (from $5 a month billed yearly in CAD), and hosting and updates are handled. WordPress.org is the free software you install on your own hosting, with full control and full responsibility. Most of this review applies to both. The costs of each, in CAD, are on our [WordPress pricing page](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/pricing/wordpress). ## Design and editing Modern WordPress edits with blocks, and a good theme makes it close to a site builder. A poor theme or a heavy page builder plugin makes it slow and fiddly. The theme choice matters more on WordPress than anywhere else, because it's the part that's hard to change later. ## Selling and bookings Selling runs on WooCommerce (WordPress.com's Commerce plan, or the free plugin on self-hosted). Bookings, memberships and almost anything else come from plugins. That flexibility is the point; the cost is choosing well and keeping them updated. ## Upkeep: the real cost On self-hosted WordPress, updates arrive every few weeks. Skipping them is how most small-business sites get hacked; applying them blindly is how forms quietly break. Budget an hour or two a month of your time, or pay someone. That's what our [care plans](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/services/website-maintenance) cover. We sell that work, so take this with that in mind. ## Who should pick WordPress - **Pick WordPress.com** if you want WordPress's flexibility and portability without running a server. - **Pick self-hosted** if you need specific plugins, Canadian data residency, a developer working on the code, or a site that will grow for years, and you have a plan for maintenance. - **Skip it** if you want something you never have to think about and don't need to move: Squarespace or Wix will be simpler. Still deciding? Compare it with [Wix](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/vs/wix-vs-wordpress) and [Squarespace](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/vs/squarespace-vs-wordpress), or see the [Wix review](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/reviews/wix) and [Squarespace review](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/reviews/squarespace). ## Sources Each checked October 22, 2026. Platforms change prices often; their own page is the final word. - [WordPress.com: Pricing (CAD when viewed from Canada)](https://wordpress.com/pricing/) - [WordPress.org Documentation: Tools Export screen](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/tools-export-screen/) - [CanSpace: Canadian web hosting plans (CAD)](https://www.canspace.ca/web-hosting.html) ## Keep comparing - [Pricing: WordPress pricing](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/pricing/wordpress) - [Comparison: Wix vs WordPress](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/vs/wix-vs-wordpress) - [Comparison: Squarespace vs WordPress](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/vs/squarespace-vs-wordpress) - [Comparison: Webflow vs WordPress](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/vs/webflow-vs-wordpress) - [Alternatives: WordPress alternatives](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/alternatives/wordpress) - [All platform pricing, reviews and comparisons](https://canadianwebmaster.ca/compare)