What Should I Build It With? — The Plain-English Stack Picker

You've got something to build — a shop, a blog, a booking page, a simple tool — and you're stuck before you've started, because everyone's advice contradicts the last person's.

WordPress or Shopify? Squarespace or Wix? Should you learn to code or run a mile from it? Every "best platform" article ends with the same useless line: "it depends on your needs." Thanks. Genuinely useful.

This tool gives you a straight answer.

Answer five plain-language questions — no jargon, no accounts, nothing to install — and it recommends one sensible starting stack built around your situation: what you're making, your budget, how much you want to own it, and how much time you've honestly got. The first question alone quietly saves most people from the most expensive mistake there is: building it the hard way when they didn't need to.

What you get for each recommendation:

One clear stack to start with — not a list of twelve to agonise over

Why it fits you, in plain terms, line by line from your answers

Roughly what it costs to run

The honest trade-off it's making — what you give up, said straight

An operator's note on each — where I actually reach for it, from 23 years of building real businesses

What to move to if you outgrow it

It runs entirely in your browser. Download it once and it works offline, forever — no subscription, no login, no link to expire. Print your recommendation and keep it next to you while you build.

This isn't a course or a 40-page guide you'll never finish. It's a decision, made in two minutes, by someone who's built on most of these platforms and will tell you the truth about all of them.

A sensible first choice, not the only choice. Tool prices and features change — costs shown are rough guides to sanity-check before you commit.