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Choosing between Wix and Squarespace can seem like an insurmountable challenge. However, here at Tech.co, we’ve done the research to help you split the difference and get the right website builder for your needs.
- If you’re looking to build an online store, pick Wix.
- If you want to have a beautiful website, pick Squarespace.
- If you want to build a site for your small business, pick Wix.
- If you want a blog or portfolio, pick Squarespace.
Squarespace is all about design, and offering perfect solutions for people in the creative industries. Wix, on the other hand, provides a more rounded experience, and gives everyone the tools they need to create a brilliant site.
We’ll go into more detail below:
| Test Score | Pros | Cons | Features | Design Flexibility | Value for Money | Help and Support | Customer Score | Ease of Use | Verdict | Try it Today | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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4.5/5 | 4.2/5 | |||||||||||
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| Slightly expensive compared to rivals | |||||||||||
Wix is the best website builder for businesses, with brilliant templates to create a professional-looking site, plus powerful plug-ins and apps. | Squarespace has a fantastic range of templates, which have some of the best designs we've seen – great for impressing customers. | |||||||||||
*Use code TECHCO10 for 10% off all Squarespace plans
Ease of Use
Wix uses an intuitive drag-and-drop system to edit the content on your site’s pages. Want to add some text? Simply drag a text box to the perfect spot on the page. Want to remove an image? Simply drag it off the page.
Squarespace, meanwhile, uses a slightly different system. Page elements can be added or removed by using the sidebar menu, while the actual content of each element has to be edited manually.
Neither of these systems are perfect, with both having redeeming and detracting factors. However, in our testing, we found that users could get to grips with both systems without too much fuss.
Find out more – Best Website Builders for Beginners
Wix Page Editor
Wix’s drag-and-drop system is incredibly intuitive – in fact, it's similar in style to (and almost as easy as) creating a Powerpoint presentation.
With that being said, it’s not without its problems. “It sort of throws you into the deep end a little bit,” said one user during our testing. “But then, on the flip side, it’s the only way that you are going to learn how to use the tool.”
In fact, the amount of creative control and the abundance of options can prove intimidating at first. It’s difficult to know exactly where to start, and which elements your site needs. What’s more, the amount of control can sometimes lead to users making a mess of their chosen website template.
But Wix also offers its “Artificial Design Intelligence” system, or ADI, which can help build a more complete version of your website for you. Simply provide Wix with some information about the sort of site you want to create, how you want it to look, and what you want to do with it, and the ADI will spit out an impressive-looking website design. You’ll find that customization options are slightly more restricted, but it’ll be easier to get the hang of.
Finally, Wix has its Corvid app development platform. Essentially, it allows users to code and build custom web applications for their site. For example, you could build a clickable dropdown list with images, or you could create a search menu with more advanced filters and segmentation. It sounds complicated, but there’s plenty of advice and examples online, and it will help make your site truly unique.
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Squarespace Page Editor
Squarespace’s page editor restricts some level of creative control in order to maintain a level of order over the website’s design.
That might sound like a problem – it’s your website, after all – but we think that it’s part of what makes Squarespace great. All of its website designs are fantastic and, as a result, you’re going to be reluctant to change them too much anyway.
Initially, it can seem confusing working out which parts of the page are controlled through which section, but most people get the hang of it. “I did find it rather intuitive,” said one of our users. “Most of the time I was able to work out what to do just through buttons on a page. So even within an hour, I was still able to work things out which I was struggling with earlier.”
Click to expand
Wix vs Squarespace: Ease of Use – Verdict
There’s not much to split the platforms here – the winner will depend on what you value.
If you want absolute control over every aspect of your site’s design and functionality, choose Wix. With its extensive editor and custom app tools, you’ll be able to tinker to your heart’s content.
Squarespace, meanwhile, doesn’t offer that control because it does everything for you. It even has deep integrations with third-party partners, to give you some features that have to be built from scratch with Wix.
Squarespace templates
Some website builder platforms offer loads of templates. Squarespace, on the other hand, offers a smaller, more curated selection of just over 60 website styles – and they’re all great.
The templates are separated by industry, ranging from blogs, to events websites, and even online stores.
The templates are all completely mobile responsive, with images and text areas that resize automatically to the users’ device. All the templates support parallax scrolling, where elements can move, appear, and disappear based on how far the user scrolls down the page. They also all support video backgrounds, for extra fancy websites.
Squarespace doesn’t have its own library of stock images. However, it does have integrations with Getty Images and the highly regarded Unsplash library, which should make finding photos a piece of cake.
Wix templates
Wix offers more than 500 templates, and while we wouldn’t say its approach is akin to quantity over quality, the builder’s templates aren’t as visually appealing as Squarespace’s.
With that being said, Wix’s templates have improved in recent years, and should be more than good enough for most people.
All the templates Wix offers are completely mobile responsive. Parallax scrolling elements can be added individually to each template. Video backgrounds are supported, too.
Wix offers its own library of stock photography, as well as an integration with Big Stock photos. It also offers a selection of clip art style cartoons, if you like that sort of thing.
Customization
Again, Squarespace and Wix take slightly different approaches when it comes to levels of customization. Both allow you to add custom coded elements, such as text boxes with custom fonts, but Wix allows you to go deeper.
Wix gives users the ability to completely alter the code of their website. Admittedly, Wix doesn’t make it easy – you have to enter the scarily titled “Dev Mode” on your site to access the code – but it’s there nonetheless.
Squarespace, meanwhile, keeps all this stuff hidden away, and regularly provides the user with little notices that warn about the pitfalls of getting your coding wrong.
Switching templates
However, while we’ve bemoaned Squarespace’s lack of versatility thus far, it does get the edge over Wix when it comes to switching your template.
With Squarespace, and thanks to its small number of templates, you can swap back-and-forth between different designs as many times as you like.
Wix, on the other hand, doesn’t allow you to change your template after publishing. Perhaps this is why it offers so much customization.
Wix vs Squarespace: Design – Verdict
Squarespace wins it for us, here. While it doesn’t offer as many templates, nor the flexibility to change them, we still think that Squarespace has better design options than Wix.
Most users will be more than happy with their Squarespace template and, as a result, you’ll be less likely to start fiddling around with endless design options.
Features and Tools
Squarespace and Wix offer all the features anyone would reasonably need to run any sort of website.
Both will allow you to add member-only areas to your sites, which can be useful for clubs, or even creating profiles for online stores. Both builders also allow you to create a forum for users to chat on.
If you’re running a business, a live chat option is a great way to engage current and potential customers. However, while Squarespace lets you do this on any of its paid plans, Wix requires a bit more legwork. While you can add a Facebook Chat pop-up to your Wix site, you’ll need to sign up to a Wix Ascend plan to get a truly bespoke one. Ascend is Wix’s new collection of business and marketing tools, with plans starting at $9 per month.
If you’re running a restaurant, you’ll be pleased to hear that Wix and Squarespace both make it easy to accept takeout orders. With Squarespace, all you’ll have to do is set up your checkout and enable pickup orders. With Wix, you’ll need to enable online ordering, connect the menu, and then enable pickup orders.
Squarespace and Wix don’t have built-in ticket selling functionality, but you can use each builders’ app store to create a workaround. With Squarespace, you can use the Eventbrite app to sell tickets, while Wix has a bespoke app which can add the functionality you need – though users might not be as accustomed to it.
Wix vs Squarespace: Features and Tools – Verdict
Wix and Squarespace are very closely matched when it comes to their feature sets – it’s why they’re two of the largest platforms on the market, after all.
Chances are, if you’re in need of a specific feature, you’ll more than likely be able to find it in Wix or Squarespace’s app stores, if not already built-in.
Ecommerce
When it comes to ecommerce features, neither Wix nor Squarespace will be able to compete with dedicated ecommerce giant, Shopify.
However, Squarespace – and Wix in particular – make for excellent options if you’re running a small, boutique online store. If you’re running a small jewelry business as a side hustle, for example, or a website for a primarily bricks-and-mortar store, Wix and Squarespace would be perfect.
Wix Ecommerce Features
With Wix, adding all the ecommerce features you need to run an online store is easy. You can’t sell stuff while using a Wix free plan – instead, you’ll have to upgrade your site to one of its business plans, which start from $20 per month.
When you’re signed up, you’ll be able to sell an unlimited number of physical and digital products. You can even offer products with regular recurring payments, such as a magazine subscription, and print custom email receipts for buyers. You’ll have unlimited bandwidth and at least 20GB of storage. If you’re after more advanced features, such as automated cart recovery, you’ll have to opt for one of the more expensive business plans Wix offers.
Wix stores won’t charge you any transaction fees (a big plus in the world of ecommerce), and you’ll be able to accept payments through a number of big name suppliers, including Stripe, PayPal, and Square. Wix also offers its own Wix Payments processor, which will likely make setting up your online store a bit more straightforward.
At the moment, Wix doesn’t have a dedicated method for supporting multi currency stores. There is a workaround you can find by using its Corvid web app building service, but if you really need this feature, you should probably look at Shopify instead.
Wix online stores do support point of sale selling. But, compared to Shopify, for example, the process isn’t quite as streamlined. If you’re using Wix Payments, you’ll have to manually select the product to sell in the Wix mobile app when making a sale. If you’ve integrated your site with a third-party payment processor, such as Square, then the process is much more straightforward – but that’s thanks to Square, not Wix.
Squarespace Ecommerce Features
Squarespace, like Wix, isn’t designed to run enormous ecommerce stores. It’s a great choice for smaller operations, especially if you’re keen to have a good-looking site. Squarespace even has some features built-in that are only available as third-party apps on Wix.
To start selling stuff on a Squarespace site, you’ll need to be on the $18 per month Business plan. However, with this plan, you’ll need to pay a 3% fee on every transaction. The $26 per month Basic Commerce plan, meanwhile, removes the transaction fee.
All of Squarespace’s plans offer unlimited storage and bandwidth, and give you a free custom domain for a year. You’ll be able to sell an unlimited number of products using Squarespace, although if you want to sell subscriptions, you’ll need to be on the $40 per month Advanced Commerce plan.
Squarespace doesn’t offer its own payment processing. Instead, you’ll need to pick between Square, PayPal, or Stripe. We’d recommend Square because it’s excellent, and it's very closely integrated with Squarespace, too.
Square also makes point of sale interactions with Squarespace a piece of cake. All you need is a Square card reader and an iPhone, iPad, or Android device, and you can start selling in-person, with everything being updated automatically.
At the moment, Squarespace doesn’t support selling products in multiple currencies – even if your chosen payment processor might offer conversions between the currencies.
Squarespace offers built-in gift cards and stock count estimations. These features might not be essential to shops (and Wix offers them through apps), but they’re definitely nice-to-haves, and will make your shop look even more impressive to the average customer.
Wix vs Squarespace: Ecommerce – Verdict
While Wix and Squarespace are very closely matched when it comes to ecommerce, we think that Wix is the better option for most people.
Wix’s app store and level of customization mean that anyone will be able to create an online store with all the features they need. With that being said, however, Squarespace is far from a bad choice.
Want to know more? Take a look at the Best Ecommerce Website Builders
Blogging
You’d be forgiven for thinking that WordPress is the only worthwhile blogging platform, given that most of the internet uses it. However, both Squarespace and Wix provide excellent blogging sections within their main website builders.
Having a blog connected to a Wix or Squarespace site can be an excellent addition to a business site or online store – you can use them to demonstrate your expertise in a certain area, and even improve your ranking on search engine results pages.
Wix Blogging
Wix does have a system built-in, but it's better to use its free app instead. The app has all the features that bloggers have come to expect in 2020. Its rich text editor is super easy to use, and it has some powerful image editing tools built-in.
Wix’s app also lets you add SEO tools, such as schema and AMP, which can improve your website’s page rankings in Google search results. Plus, your blog will be fully mobile optimized, and you can even add multiple contributors to let other people write on your blog.
You can start blogging on any of Wix’s paid-for plans.
Squarespace Blogging
Squarespace has its blogging tool built-in and ready to go, and it’s great.
You’ll get a similar rich text editor to Wix’s app, but you’ll also get access to Wix’s extensive library of stock images. You also get a bit more control over the layout and the way your posts are displayed, and you can even build marketing campaigns around your blog posts.
Wix vs Squarespace: Blogging – Verdict
All told, Squarespace’s blogging platform is better than Wix’s. For a start, it’s completely built-in, so you don’t need to go around downloading apps for your site.
Plus, it gives you more control, grants access to a better range of images, and lets you do more with your blog posts than Wix.
Marketing Tools
There’s no point in building a website – whether it’s for your business, an online store, or even just a blog – if no one can find it.
That’s why you need good marketing tools. And fortunately, Wix and Squarespace have some of the most developed marketing platforms on the internet. So, let’s take a closer look and see which is best.
Marketing Your Site with Wix
Wix has great email marketing tools. Its email marketing platform lets you create and share impressive, professional emails with customizable styles and detailed stats tracking. You can even integrate the contact information from your online store with its platform.
It has impressive social media tools as well, which let you share your campaigns across all the main social media channels. You can even automate your marketing with Ascend, Wix’s business solution.
You can send 5,000 emails per month to users over three campaigns for free, forever. You can also pay to add more emails and more campaigns, if you need to.
Squarespace Marketing Tools
Squarespace also has its own email campaign platform, which fully integrates with your site. You’ll have to pay to use Squarespace’s tools, but prices start from just $5 per month.
To help you get started quickly, there are 30 starter layouts to choose from, and you can import content from your site for draft emails. From there, you can edit emails on-the-go with a mobile device, as well as send automated emails to subscribers. You can also track the campaign’s success with built-in analytics.
Wix vs Squarespace: Marketing – Verdict
Wix takes this one for us. While Squarespace’s system is powerful, Wix’s email marketing platform is equally potent – and is available for free, forever.
Wix SEO Tools
Wix has two main SEO tools that you can use to improve your rankings. The first is its SEO Guide, which can provide you with loads of resources to help you set up your site in line with SEO best practice.
Plus, Wix offers an SEO Wiz, which gives you personalized advice on how to rank better on Google. For example, it’ll help amend your page titles and descriptions in order for Google to better understand what the page is about.
Squarespace SEO Tools
By contrast, Squarespace only offers its SEO checklist in its help center. It gives you advice on all the changes you might need to make in order to appear at the top of Google.
Wix vs Squarespace: SEO Tools – Verdict
Wix is the winner here. With its personalised SEO Wiz, it makes setting up your site as easy as possible.
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Wix Help and Support
You’ll be heartened to hear that Wix has some of the best customer support that we’ve come across testing website builders. It offers over-the-phone support between 6am and 5pm PST, as well as email, social media, and forum support. It doesn’t currently offer a live chat function.
Wix also has an extensive support center, with loads of articles that can help you fix problems on your own. It also has lots of on-page help – simply click the little question mark next to any element on your page editor, and you’ll get some helpful advice on how to use it.
Squarespace Help and Support
Squarespace, on the other hand, has a huge support center with loads of extras that Wix doesn’t offer. For example, you can access webinars, workshops, and video tutorials to help you make the most of your website.
However, Squarespace doesn’t offer support over the phone. It does offer live chat (from 3am to 8am PST Monday to Friday) and will apparently respond to all emails within an hour.
Wix vs Squarespace: Help and Support – Verdict
Wix takes the cake here. While its knowledge center isn’t quite as extensive as Squarespace’s, its phone support is a big tick in our box.
Apps, Widgets, and Integrations
Wix lets developers create web apps, which users can add to their website if they can’t find the feature they need built into the main editor.
Squarespace, meanwhile, offers dedicated integrations with some leading companies to give you extra features. So, which approach is better?
Wix App Market
The Wix App Market makes it easy for website owners to find the tools that they need to build their site. Don’t think that Wix is under-featured, however – the App Market is simply there to add niche features or those that help users get ahead of the curve.
There are more than 280 apps in Wix’s App Market, and apps from the market have seen more than 56 million installs since it opened. Some of the apps are completely free, but others will require one-off or small monthly fees to use.
For example, you can add Mailchimp Forms to your site, which give you pop-ups to grow your email list. Or you can add the QuickBooks app, which makes all your accounting instant. There are even apps which can make it super easy to add 360-degree VR tours to your site.
If you’ve seen it on a website, there’s every chance you’ll be able to replicate it with something from Wix’s App Market.
Squarespace Integrations and Extensions
Squarespace takes a different approach with its Integrations and Extensions. Rather than offering its platform up to anyone and everyone, it adds a few select integrations to provide important, but not strictly necessary, features.
For example, you can add a Bandsintown block to list tour or event dates, while a Map Block will show where your business is located with a responsive Google Map. You can add Apple Pay, or PayPal integrations, to make ecommerce easier for customers. Or you can add Instagram Shopping or Mailchimp integrations.
Squarespace’s Extensions are similar to the apps in Wix’s App Market. However, they aren’t as numerous, and focus more on features rather than design tools.
Wix vs Squarespace: Apps, Widgets, and Integrations – Verdict
So, which approach is better? We’re big fans of the time and dedication Squarespace has taken to ensure that all of its Integrations and Extensions are top-drawer.
However, the scope of Wix’s App Market is completely unparalleled, which will make it more useful to more people – including you.
Forms and Data Capture
Collecting information about the people who visit your site is absolutely crucial for growing it.
By understanding who your visitors are, you can adapt and change your website in order to make it as appealing to them as possible. By optimizing it for regular visitors, you’ll be able to keep them on site for longer, and make them more likely to buy anything you might be selling.
Wix Data Collection
You’ll find the Wix forms in your regular page editor on Wix. Once you’ve dragged-and-dropped the form onto your site, you’ll be able to add whatever fields you might want. There are a handful of preset options, such as job applications, feedback forms, price quotes, and more.
Once you’ve set up the form on the page, it’s good to go. You’ll be able to see the results of the form in a number of places: your Wix inbox, the email account you set in the form settings page, or the submissions table in your dashboard.
You can easily customize the look and feel of the forms, in the same way you would with any other element on your site.
Squarespace Data Collection
Squarespace’s data collection is slightly more powerful. As with Wix, there are a handful of preset forms you can add to your site, such as a contact form, subscribe form, or product delivery/checkout form.
Once you start collecting data from visitors, however, you’re able to send the information to lots of different places. For example, you can send it straight into Mailchimp, to Squarespace’s email campaigns tool, or you could send it to Google Drive for easy analysis. You can even send it to online automation tool Zapier, which allows you to hook up your forms to a variety of email marketing tools.
You don’t have quite as much control over the forms’ design and looks with Squarespace but, as ever, they look nicer to begin with compared to Wix’s offerings.
Wix vs Squarespace: Forms and Data Capture – Verdict
Only one winner here, and it’s Squarespace.
The design-focused builder’s tools are much more powerful than Wix’s alternative. Admittedly, it’s unlikely to be a deal-breaker, but good forms and data analysis can help your business get to the next level.
Importing and Exporting Your Site
If you already own a website and want to move it to Wix or Squarespace for easier management, we don’t blame you.
If you’re planning on moving it to Wix, however, you’re stuck. There’s currently no way to import a site created on another platform to Wix.
Squarespace, on the other hand, makes it quite easy. You can import blog posts from WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr, as well as importing products from BigCartel, Shopify, or Etsy using a .csv file.
Wix does not allow you to export your site’s content should you want to change to a new provider, or even switch to a database driven website. Squarespace, however, makes the process quite straightforward – you can download almost everything into a .xml file. It won’t move across any custom CSS or HTML code you’ve added, though.
Wix vs Squarespace: Importing & Exporting – Verdict
Squarespace is the winner here, almost by default.
Wix is looking into whether there’s an appetite for importing an old site onto its platform, but it isn’t currently looking at whether it’ll allow users to export content.
Pricing and Packages
We’re going to look at each builder’s pricing plans in more detail in a moment, but before we do that, there are few things that we should clear up beforehand.
Wix and Squarespace both work on a SaaS model, meaning they sell you software as a service, rather than as a product. There is no option to make one upfront payment for access to either of these builders’ services.
While you’ll often see Wix and Squarespace list their prices as “per month,” they often refer to the relative monthly cost of the package if you pay for a year upfront.
For example, Wix lists the price of its Unlimited plan at $17 per month. However, you’ll only get this price if you pay $204 upfront for a year’s subscription. Otherwise, you’ll be paying $22 per month on a month-to-month basis.
Wix does, however, offer a free plan for an unlimited period of time. This means that you can create a website for free, forever. But, as you’d expect, there are some big drawbacks which we’ll come to below. Squarespace, on the other hand, only offers a 14-day free trial.
Another thing to bear in mind is that Squarespace will give you unlimited storage and bandwidth on all of its plans. Wix, meanwhile, limits your storage on all of its plans, and only gives you unlimited bandwidth once you get to its Unlimited plan.
| Test Score | Value for Money | Free plan | Paid plan (monthly) | Try it Today | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | |||||
4.5/5 | 4.2/5 | |||||
Yes (data and URL limitations) | 14-day free trial | |||||
Starts from $5 | Starts from $12 | |||||
*Use code TECHCO10 for 10% off all Squarespace plans
Wix Pricing Plans
Wix has seven pricing plans, excluding the free plan, with four aimed at regular websites and three aimed specifically at online stores.
Websites:
- Combo – $17 per month
- Unlimited – $22 per month
- Pro – $27 per month
- VIP – $47 per month
Online Stores:
- Business Basic – $28 per month
- Business Unlimited – $33 per month
- Business VIP – $56 per month
These prices are all for the month-to-month payment option. You can, of course, save a not inconsiderable amount if you choose to pay for a year up front. Wix also offers the $750 per month Enterprise plan for the largest ecommerce businesses.
If we’re honest, we wouldn’t recommend the Combo plan to many people. It might be a good fit if you’re after a site that won’t get much traffic, but with just 2GB of bandwidth, there’s a chance that no one will be able to access it at all.
The Unlimited plan is a much better fit, with unlimited bandwidth (hence the name) and extra storage. Plus, the Unlimited plan costs just $5 per month more than the Combo plan – a price well worth paying in our view.
The Pro plan is a great fit for established online businesses. It costs $27 per month and gives you 20GB of storage, as well as a free logo designed for you by Wix – which normally costs $50. You also get access to Ascend, Wix’s suite of bespoke marketing tools.
The $47 per month VIP plan gives you all the extra features of the Pro plan, but throws in priority support in the event of something going awry. That can definitely be worth it if you’re running a big business.
Check out our Wix Pricing Review for more information
Wix Ecommerce Pricing
Wix’s ecommerce plans start at $28 per month with the Business Basic plan – yes, even if you’re paying $47 per month for the VIP plan, you won’t be able to sell online unless you’re using one of the ecommerce plans.
If you’re just starting out selling online, then the Business Basic plan would be a good fit. You get unlimited bandwidth, 20GB of storage, and a commission free online store.
The Business Unlimited plan gives you some extra storage, and some more email campaigns to help you attract customers, for $33 per month. It’s not a bad deal, but the Business Unlimited plan isn’t a huge step on from the Business Basic offering.
Then there’s the Business VIP plan. It costs $56 per month and gives priority support and customer service, as well as 50GB of storage. That might seem like a lot of money for little in the way of extra features, but don’t forget – the less time your site is broken, the more money you can make.
Squarespace Pricing Plans
Squarespace offers four pricing plans, as well as a 14-day free trial.
Websites:
- Personal – $16 per month
- Business – $26 per month
Online stores:
- Basic Commerce – $30 per month
- Advanced Commerce – $46 per month
The Personal plan gives you a fully-featured website with no adverts, plus unlimited storage and bandwidth. You’ll also get a free SSL security certificate, and can have two contributors working on your site. All told, it’s a pretty good plan for the money.
Then there’s the Business plan, which gives you unlimited contributors, professional email from Google, and access to more tools and design elements to give your site extra functionality. It also gets improved website metrics. At $26 per month, it’s a strong plan for established businesses that don’t need to sell online.
Let’s take a look at the ecommerce plans. The Basic Commerce plan costs $30 per month, but crucially, you won’t have to pay any transaction fees when you make a sale. You get a fully mobile-optimized checkout on your own site and improved commercial metrics to make shopping on your site a breeze. Squarespace also gives you access to integrated accounting and label printing services.
Finally, there’s the Advanced Commerce plan. It costs $46 per month, and gives you a range of extra ecommerce goodies. You get abandoned cart auto-recovery for users who don’t manage to click buy before leaving your site. You get advanced shipping rate calculations for USPS, FedEx, and UPS. You can sell digital gift cards, as well as subscription items. Finally, you get access to the Orders API, which lets you build custom integrations for order fulfilment and logistics. All told, there’s a reason they call it advanced – there’s a lot of heavy-duty ecommerce features available to users.
Find out more in our full Squarespace Pricing guide
Wix vs Squarespace: Pricing and Value for Money – Verdict
All things considered, we think Wix is better value for money than Squarespace. Wix’s plans are cheaper on the whole than Squarespace’s equivalent plans, and we think you get more features for your money.
Pros and Cons
Let’s take a quick look at the main pros and cons of each builder.
Wix Pros and Cons
Pros:
- It’s incredibly simple to use, with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor
- Its pricing plans offer great value for money
- Previewing and checking the design of your site is super easy
- It has a good range of templates for lots of different types of websites
- Class-leading help and support options
- Powerful ecommerce features
- No transaction fees
- Great range of apps and add-ons.
Cons:
- The free plan is almost pointless
- You can’t change your website’s template after publishing your site
- Storage space could be more generous
- Designs aren’t as attractive as Squarespace’s
- Lacks the bespoke integrations with third-party companies that Squarespace offers, instead offering more choice.
Squarespace Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Exceptional design options and templates
- Easy to use once you’re acquainted with the system
- Deep customization with HTML and CSS code blocks
- No transaction fees
- Powerful integrations with a select number of companies
- Powerful ecommerce features on higher pricing tiers
Cons:
- Not quite as easy as Wix for first-timers
- Small range of integrations
- No free plan
- Reporting can be slightly basic
Wix vs Squarespace: Our Overall Winner
Our overall winner is Wix. It offers a great range of features across loads of different aspects of website building.
Sure, it might not have the design chops of Squarespace, and it might not be as good for building blogs or portfolios. But most people will find that Wix is better for their website needs most of the time.
Wix combines brilliant ease of use with a range of powerful apps and affordable pricing plans.
Squarespace is good, don’t get us wrong – but Wix is better in more areas, more of the time.
You should use Wix if…
You’re looking to build a website with minimal fuss and maximum ease.
It can cater to almost any type of website, but we’d recommend Wix to anyone looking to create a site for their business or an online store specifically.
You should use Squarespace if…
You value design above everything else.
Squarespace is great for portfolios and blogs. It’s still very adept at building business and ecommerce sites (and especially good if you’re using Square POS), but it’s not quite as good as Wix.
Wix vs Squarespace: FAQs
Here we answer the internet’s most-asked questions about Wix and Squarespace.
Is Squarespace cheaper than Wix?
Nope. Wix is, on average, cheaper than Squarespace.
Does Squarespace own my content?
No, Squarespace doesn’t own your content – you can export it all, if you so choose.
You do, however, give Squarespace permission to use it in ways “necessary to provide, improve, promote, and protect” its services.
Is Squarespace good for SEO?
It is, but it’s not quite as good as Wix.
Is Wix really free?
Well yes, but actually no.
Wix does offer a free plan, but if we’re honest, it’s almost pointless. You won’t get a custom URL, and the bandwidth is so limited that hardly anyone will be able to access it.
How much does it cost for a Wix website?
Prices start from $17 per month, but you can reduce that cost by paying for a year up front.
Does Wix own my domain name?
Nope – that domain name is yours, and you can move it to a different site at any time should you choose.
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