Squarespace vs WordPress: Which is Better for Creating a Site

The main differences between Squarespace and WordPress are price, website features, and simplicity of usage. WordPress tends to be cheaper, and offers more features and integrations, but can also be more difficult for beginners. Squarespace is simpler to use, but comes at a greater cost, and does not have nearly as many themes, plugins and integrations as WordPress.

When to Use WordPress

WordPress is a safe bet for companies who want a conventional site, or would like to integrate their site with other business systems (e.g. appointment setting, CRM, email advertising ). WordPress is also the most economical solution, since hosting starts at only $2.95/month through Bluehost.

A note to our readers: We’ve designed 3 free WordPress topics specifically for small business owners. Learn more in our guide to setting up WordPress.

When to Use Squarespace

Squarespace is ideal for more artistic businesses, like photographers, boutiques, upscale dining room and musicians. Their templates are elegant, minimalist, and extremely customizable with no need to hire a developer. This comes at greater price than WordPress, however, as Squarespace starts at $12/month.

Squarespace vs. WordPress: Crucial Differences

Now we will explore Squarespace vs WordPress in larger detail. Click the links at the left column to jump forward, or just Keep Reading for the Complete evaluation:

	Squarespace	WordPress
Beginning Cost	$12/month	$2.95/month (through Bluehost)
Free Version Available?	No	Yes
Website Editor	Minimalist templates with easy visual editor	Text-based editor is a little harder to use
Plugins & Integrations	9 integrations including Mailchimp and OpenTable	50,000+ plugins & integrations representing just about every use-case
Ecommerce	Costs extra to set up, moderate range of shopping attributes	Free to set up with huge Selection of shopping features (some cost additional )
Support	24/7 email & live chat service	24/7 phone & live chat service (through Bluehost)

Squarespace vs WordPress: Pricing

On the outside, WordPress is not as expensive compared to Squarespace. You can set up a totally powered website for as little as $2.95/month through Bluehost, whereas Squarespace starts at $12/month.

On the other hand, Squarespace’s pricing is all-in-one, supplying just about all of the features you want to create a company site (except ecommerce, which requires an upgrade). WordPress is open-source, so its attributes are supplied by many different businesses. You might discover some WordPress tools selling for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. But most small companies will discover suitable alternatives at no cost, or at significantly lower prices.

Here’s a Complete rundown of Squarespace and WordPress prices:

Squarespace Pricing

	Private	Business	Basic Store	Advanced Store
Monthly Cost	$12	$18	$26	$40
Characteristics	All Major website builder attributes	Adds custom CSS for full website editing	Enriched ecommerce metrics & Xero integration	Gift cards & more ecommerce features
Ecommerce	Not one	Unlimited Products, 3% Squarespace fee	Unlimited Products, No-fee	Unlimited products, no fee, cart recovery & shipping calculator

All plans include unlimited storage and bandwidth, a free domain name for 1 year, and access to Squarespace’s main site editing programs — in other words, all you want to create a professional website.

The private plan is suitable for many small business websites. The company plan is just necessary if you want to sell products online, or personalize your website with CSS code, which is essentially a way of making nitty-gritty adjustments to your website. Squarespace gives you a lot of editing management already, so you won’t need to fret about CSS unless you’ve got a very specific vision and find yourself itching to remove the header bar, as an example.

Squarespace also has 2 ecommerce programs: Basic and Advanced. With these programs, you do not have to pay the 3 percent Squarespace commission on product sales (although you do have to cover typical credit card fees). The advanced plan adds much more ecommerce features like gift cards, abandoned shopping cart retrieval along with an automatic shipping calculator.

WordPress Pricing

	WordPress.com Free	WordPress.com Personal	Bluehost	SiteGround
Monthly Cost	$0	$4	$2.95	$3.95
Characteristics	Basic editing only, no habit domain	Fundamental editing just, can use custom domain	Premium topics & Custom CSS	Premium themes & Custom CSS
Ecommerce	None	None	Unlimited products, no commission through WooCommerce	Unlimited products, no commission through WooCommerce

WordPress pricing is a Bit More complex since there are multiple places you can purchase hosting. The’official’ hosting service in WordPress.com includes a limited free edition, and a low cost Personal variant. Both restrict your site to basic blogging and informational pages.

Our recommended provider is Bluehost, as you get a comprehensive version of WordPress with complete access to themes and plugins. The monthly price is lower compared to other suppliers (staring at $2.95/month), and you get around 5 professional email accounts and a custom made .COM domain.

If you’re considering trying out Bluehost, we have a complete guide on how best to set up a WordPress site with Bluehost. Or, have a look at our post on WordPress pricing for a complete summary of hosting, subject and plugin costs.

Squarespace vs WordPress: Website Editor

Both Squarespace and WordPress are based off templates (or even themes as they’re called in WordPress). A template is a pre-designed website that functions as a starting point for users. As opposed to create a website from scratch, you find a template with a style and format you prefer, then build from it.

The principal differences between Squarespace and WordPress will be the variety of templates available to choose from, and also the extent which you can customize the template for your own website.

Broadly , Squarespace includes a smaller selection of templates, but gives you a great deal of control over the design of your site using their easy visual editor. WordPress has an huge selection of templates, however they tend to be hard-coded– so you need to find one you’re pleased with.

Note: Both Squarespace and WordPress let you add custom CSS code, so if you are tech savvy, or eager to employ a developer, it is possible to make just about any modification you desire.

Squarespace Website Editor

When you first create a Squarespace website, you’ll be prompted to choose a template. Templates are pre-designed’sample’ websites you can modify to build your own website. Templates are sorted between use-cases, such as restaurants, photography, music, artwork & design, nonprofits and much more.

Squarespace’s templates are one of their most significant assets. They are expertly designed; tasteful, modern and free to use with your Squarespace subscription. Squarespace templates often feature open spaces, small fonts and video wallpapers, which has made them popular among artistic-leaning businesses, but less-so in services that prefer a more conventional website.

If you select a template you adore, Squarespace’s editor is easy as pie. Simply click on an element to edit it, like a text box or photo. It’s possible to make formatting alterations by incorporating”spacers.” This requires a bit more effort to work out, but is easy enough for smaller alterations.

Squarespace becomes challenging when you would like to create more substantial edits to a template. Assembling webpages from scratch is awkward, and particular edits, such as altering the website margins or font color, may necessitate custom CSS code (available on the company plan or greater ).

To be clear, many users will not have these issues — especially if you’re happy sticking to the template. The warning is mainly for those picky about design. Squarespace is not the most flexible platform. The simple fact that they do enable edits with custom CSS code is an edge, but it’s still not something beginners might want to venture into.

For a complete overview of attributes and user ratings, check out our Squarespace review.

WordPress Website Editor

WordPress’s editor is less visual compared to Squarespace. Rather than clicking on to edit, say, a text box or button, WordPress editing occurs on the left-side panel. You input information like your business description, button text and colours, and the site is automatically updated to the right.

This style of editing has its pros and cons. Visually-oriented users may find it frustrating, since you have less control how things are positioned. On the other hand, WordPress websites may often be created faster, and with less chance of mistakes than Squarespace since you are not fiddling with element’s positioning.

Just like Squarespace, editing on WordPress is all based on templates (or even topics as they’re called in WordPress), and locating a motif you enjoy makes editing considerably simpler. Contrary to Squarespace, there’s thousands of topics to choose from, so with enough hunting, you can find something which matches your business perfectly.

We designed 3 free themes to our subscribers at Fit Small Business, especially to make editing easier and faster. Our themes include a Business Edition, Restaurant Edition (pictured above) and Salon Edition– You can click these links to check out samples and see instructions on how to download and put them up.

For a full overview of attributes and user ratings, check out our WordPress review.

Squarespace vs WordPress: Plugins

Plugins are additional features you can add to your website, including interactive calendars, email sign-up types, or Instagram galleries. Traditionally, a business would need to hire a developer to program such custom features, however with plugins, it only requires a couple of clicks.

WordPress is king of all plugins with over 50,000 in their database. A number of them are integrations with other company systems, like CRMs or booking/appointment systems. This permits users to interact directly with your programs, so, for instance, they could view available time slots, book an appointment, and pay a deposit directly from your website.

Squarespace doesn’t have an official plugin database such as WordPress does, even though they do encourage several integrations, including OpenTable, Amazon Affiliates and Acuity Scheduling.

Here’s a Squarespace and WordPress compare regarding plugins:

Squarespace Plugins

• No official plugin database, although there are a few unofficial suppliers like Square Studio and The Squarespace Code Shop.
• Squarespace includes a few free plugin-like features available directly from their website editor, such as calendars, restaurant menus, contact types, maps and much more.
• Integrations include Mailchimp, OpenTable, Zola, Acuity, BandsInTown, Soundcloud, Instagram, Flickr and Twitter.

WordPress Plugins

• Over 50,000 plugins covering virtually every industry and business use-case
• Many Distinct integrations supported– WordPress is more likely to incorporate with a given system than any other website platform
• prices ranges from free to $1000+ per plugin

Squarespace vs WordPress: Ecommerce

The two Squarespace and WordPress let you make an online store, and are actually the two most well-known platforms for this use. WooCommerce (WordPress’s ecommerce platform) accounts for roughly 22% of internet stores in existence, whereas Squarespace accounts for 14% based on Datanyze.

The motive WooCommerce is significantly more popular is because it is less costly to set up and can accommodate a larger range of trades, like subscription services and appointment booking. WooCommerce may be added to a site for free, as long as you’re using a paid WordPress hosting program.

Squarespace requires an update to the Business Edition ($18/month) and also then charges a 3% transaction fee on your sales. Nevertheless, it is a bit easier to install and handle compared to WordPress, which explains why its still used by a substantial part of online shops.

Here’s a rundown of each platform’s e commerce tools:

Squarespace Ecommerce

• The Business Edition ($18/month) enables you to list unlimited products. You need to pay a 3% transaction fee to Squarespace along with credit card transaction fees, which are normally approximately 3% (or 6 percent complete ).
• The Basic Store Edition ($26/month) removes the Squarespace transaction fee
• The Advanced Store Edition ($40/month) provides an automated shipping calculator, abandoned cart recovery and other tools
• Payment integrations comprise Stripe and Paypal

WordPress Ecommerce (WooCommerce)

• Free to use with a paid WordPress hosting program
• Sell unlimited products with no WooCommerce transaction fees (even though you do need to pay the usual ~3% credit card transaction fees)
• Many free and paid add-ons for advanced features, like a shipping calculator (free), subscription billing ($199), and bookings ($249)
• Payment integrations include Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, Paypal, PayFast and about 100 others

Squarespace vs WordPress: Customer Support

Squarespace has better customer support, mainly because their email and live chat agents can answer any sort of question, whether its web-design, ecommerce or domain-related. With WordPress, you will frequently have a different provider for each of those services, meaning you must get hold of a different company for each kind of question.

On the other hand, WordPress is indeed broadly used there are answers to any question with a Google search. By way of example, we’ve detailed support manuals available for all our Fit Web Themes WordPress themes, and supply one-on-one support via our Q&A forum. Most themes and plugins will provide free tools such as these.

Squarespace Service

• Email and live chat support are available to all reports
• No telephone support available
• Email support is 24/7 and live chat support is available weekdays 4am-8pm EST
• 5-star rating from our subscribers at Fit Small Business (see Squarespace reviews)

WordPress Service

• Service varies depending on your host, subject and plugin suppliers
• Bluehost has 24/7 phone and chat support, including both WordPress and hosting-related questions
• WordPress.com has email & live chat support for all paid customers (but no telephone support)
• 4-star score from our readers at Fit Small Business (see WordPress testimonials )

The Most Important Thing

WordPress is a safe choice for company sites. It supports just about any integration or feature you could imagine, and can be less expensive than any other site builder. That said, some companies still favor Squarespace for their minimalist templates and easier editing programs, despite the higher price.

Regarding WordPress, It’s important to note that there’s thousands of different companies offering themes and plugins. Each of the benefits to WordPress go from the window using a badly designed theme, so its essential read user testimonials, and try out free versions prior to making a buy.

You can also have a look at our very own free WordPress themes made by us in Fit Small Business, such as Business Edition, Restaurant Edition and Salon Edition. Our themes are supported, and we’re pleased to give assistance via our Q&A forum.