More than 40 percent of all websites run on WordPress (W3Techs, 2026). Plenty of small Austrian businesses are in that number, and a good share of them would happily switch. The update notices are annoying, some plugin or other is a worry, and the site feels slower every year. The only real question is: switch to what?
Here is the honest overview of what can actually replace WordPress in 2026, and which option fits which kind of business.
Why do small businesses want to leave WordPress?
Three reasons come up again and again:
- The ongoing maintenance eats time.
- The plugins are a security risk.
- The site gets slower and more cluttered with every passing year.
None of these has much to do with WordPress as a publishing system. All three trace back to the plugin model WordPress is built on.
The plugin model is the real weak point. You install an extension built by a stranger, forget about it, and years later an automatic update pushes code onto your live website that nobody on your end ever read. That is exactly how the April 2026 attack worked, where more than 30 paid plugins activated a backdoor at the same time. We covered how it played out in detail here: still running WordPress? what the 30-plugin attack means.
If you are switching for one of those three reasons, pick an alternative that actually solves your particular problem. A builder takes the plugin risk off your plate, but not the upkeep. A new custom project fixes the speed problem, but hands the maintenance right back to you. It pays to look closely.
What are the alternatives to WordPress in 2026?
Broadly there are four ways off WordPress: a builder like Wix or Squarespace, an EU-native platform like Jimdo, a custom-built website on a lean, plugin-free stack, or a managed website subscription. Which one fits depends on how much you want to do yourself and how much you care about data protection and load time.
The four differ less in how the finished site looks than in who does the work and where your data sits. With a builder you do everything yourself. With a custom build you pay a lot upfront and handle the maintenance afterwards. With a subscription you hand off both. We broke that difference down in its own comparison: website builder, agency, or subscription.
| Option | Who does the work | EU hosting | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Builder (Wix, Squarespace) | You build, write, and maintain it | No, not EU companies | Freelancing, clubs, a very early founding phase |
| EU-native platform (Jimdo) | You build, write, and maintain it | Yes, based in Hamburg | The same self-build with EU hosting |
| Custom build | Built for you, you maintain it afterwards | Your choice of stack | Something custom, with in-house maintenance |
| Managed subscription | The provider builds and looks after it | Yes | A small business with no in-house tech |
Are Wix, Squarespace, and Jimdo good WordPress alternatives?
For a simple website, yes, with two caveats. You build, write, and maintain it yourself, and you stay inside the platform’s template framework. Jimdo is based in Hamburg and hosts inside the EU. Wix and Squarespace are not EU companies, which turns data protection into a question you have to answer yourself.
Builders solve the plugin problem cleanly. There is no marketplace of third-party code that can hijack your website. The platform handles security and servers. In return you take on all of the content work, and the design stays recognisably a template. For freelancing, clubs, or a very early founding phase, that is often exactly right.
The difference between the providers that most comparisons miss is where they come from. Jimdo is a German company hosting in the EU, which defuses the data-protection question from the start. Squarespace is based in the US. That brings us to the topic that often decides things for an Austrian business.
What does the GDPR mean for choosing a platform?
Where your website is hosted and where it sends data carries legal consequences in Austria. With US providers, whether it is even permitted hangs on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which has already been struck down once before. A website that hosts in the EU and sends nothing to third parties spares you that uncertainty from day one.
The backstory explains why this is touchy. In July 2020 the EU Court of Justice declared the data-protection agreement of the time, Privacy Shield, invalid, because US authorities could reach too far into European data (CJEU, 2020). Since July 2023 the successor agreement, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, has been in force (European Commission, 2023). Data-protection advocates have already said they will test this framework too. It may go the same way as its predecessor.
This is not a theoretical risk. In January 2022 the Munich Regional Court ruled that simply loading Google Fonts directly from Google’s servers is a data-protection breach, because it transmits the visitor’s IP address to the US (LG München I, 2022). Many WordPress themes and plugins quietly carry exactly this kind of external embed. A website that loads fonts locally, hosts in the EU, and pulls in no foreign scripts simply does not have this problem.
For an Austrian business that means the platform choice is also a data-protection decision. Host in the EU and skip external services, and you avoid the uncertainty from the start.
The maintenance-free WordPress alternative: a managed website without plugins
If you have no time for updates and nobody in-house to handle the tech, a managed website subscription is the most direct WordPress alternative for you. You get a custom-designed website, hosted in the EU, with no plugin marketplace and no update obligation. One person looks after it, and you send a message when something needs to change.
This model answers all three reasons above at once. There are no plugins, so a purchased plugin cannot turn into a backdoor. The maintenance runs through the provider, not through you. And because the stack is kept lean, the site stays fast instead of piling on weight every year. EU hosting takes the data-protection question along with it.
Subscriptions like these run from € 295 to € 550 per month depending on scope, with no upfront cost. Whether that is cheaper than a one-off project with separate maintenance depends on the time frame. We did the three-year math here: what a professional website really costs.
The trade-off is real. You do not own the code the way you would with your own project, and for a complex web application or a large shop the model is too tight. For the company website of a small business that should just run and stay current, it is the lowest-maintenance option.
Which WordPress alternative fits your business?
Answer two questions. How much time do you genuinely have for your website each month, and how much do you care that your data and your visitors’ data stay in the EU?
If you enjoy building it yourself and have the time, a builder is a clean exit from the plugin risk. Look for a provider that hosts in the EU. If you need something custom and have someone in-house for the maintenance, a custom build is the right call. If neither is true, which is the case for most small businesses, a managed subscription takes off your plate exactly the work that made you want to leave WordPress in the first place.
There is no universally correct answer. But for your specific business it is usually clearer than it feels. If you want to see how the managed model works in practice, the frequently asked questions cover the details most people want settled before they decide.