When it comes to website builders, Wix vs. Squarespace are among the biggest names on the market today. In fact, they power 50% of all websites built with a website builder. But if you’re considering one over the other, there are important distinctions worth noting first.
Choosing between Wix and Squarespace is akin to Mac vs PC — while Squarespace is neat and refined, Wix can often be chaotic but offer more freedom in terms of customization. Ultimately, though, you must understand how these platforms differ to decide which works best for your needs.
In this article, we will compare the two popular website builders to help you decide which one is the best fit for your needs and preferences.
Wix vs. Squarespace: Side-by-Side Comparison
| Wix | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | Very easy to use with a drag-and-drop editor | Squarespace has a drag-and-drop editor, but some features can be less intuitive |
| Design options | 800+ templates available | 100+ templates available |
| Customization | Wix offers more customization options than Squarespace, allowing users to modify almost any aspect of their website | Squarespace limits customization to maintain a consistent design aesthetic across all its templates |
| E-commerce capabilities | Wix has more extensive features and integrations | A good e-commerce tool, sufficient for small businesses |
| Pricing plans | Wix offers a free plan and a range of paid plans. Wix’s pricing plans start at $12 per month for the Unlimited plan | Squarespace offers a free trial and a range of paid plans with more features. Squarespace’s plans start at $16 per month for the basic plan |
| Integrations | Offers many third-party integrations | Squarespace has a good range of integrations |
| Mobile responsiveness | Mobile responsive | Mobile responsive |
| Customer Support | Knowledge bases, forums, and email support | Knowledge bases, forums, and email support |
| SEO capabilities | Advanced SEO options are available | Limited SEO options |
What Is Wix?
Wix is a powerful and intuitive web development platform that makes it simple for users to build stunning websites with its drag-and-drop tools. With Wix, users have access to hundreds of ready-made templates, plus enhanced features like Corvid by Wix, DevTools, Analytics, and more.
Additionally, the platform offers services such as domain registration, hosting packages, marketing materials, and e-commerce solutions.
What Is Squarespace?
With Squarespace, creating stunning websites without coding is a breeze. This cloud-based platform offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to craft amazing websites quickly — from blogs and portfolios to online stores.
Photographers, bloggers, artists, and businesses are all drawn to Squarespace because of its powerful tools for managing content, plus the ability to manage e-commerce transactions seamlessly.
Wix vs. Squarespace: What’s the Difference?
It is essential to compare Wix and Squarespace when choosing the best web-building platform for your needs. Find out more about these platforms to make an informed decision when creating a professional website quickly and effortlessly.
User-Friendliness and Ease of Use
Wix and Squarespace are both multi-faceted website-building platforms that allow users to create stunning, professional websites with ease. User-friendliness is an important factor when choosing between Wix and Squarespace, as it will determine how quickly you can jump into designing your site.
Both platforms are relatively easy to use straight out of the box, but each one offers unique features in terms of user experience and customization. For starters, Wix has a more intuitive drag-and-drop interface which allows users to customize the look and feel of pages by simply moving elements around on their page layout.
©Grey82/Shutterstock.com
The platform also includes a range of templates across different industries so users can quickly get started with creating their sites without too much effort. Moreover, Wix’s AI design assistant feature makes sure new customers always have access to expert advice for getting ahead in their online endeavors.
However, unlike Wix, Squarespace boasts numerous features that will likely be appreciated by more experienced web designers such as custom CSS editing and Javascript integration.
Furthermore, those comfortable with existing systems like WordPress or Shopify can reap the rewards of easy integrations thanks to this platform’s support for their respective plugins. Despite its range of options though, novices may struggle to find relevant templates since there are fewer than what’s offered by Wix.
Cost Comparison
With a range of prices to suit different budgets, Wix and Squarespace are both great options for website creation. The former offers a variety of pricing plans, including a free plan with limited features, while the latter begins at $16 monthly, reaching as high as $65.
For those looking for more cost-effective choices without compromising on quality, Wix has multiple lower-priced tiers that can provide the same service offered by Squarespace.
Blogging
Wix makes creating a blog simple with its drag-and-drop editor that provides customizable page templates for more advanced styling options. It also allows users to easily integrate contact forms, subscription forms, comments sections, polls, and rating features into articles to boost engagement with readers.
Additionally, Wix blogs can be connected directly to social media accounts so updated posts can be shared on multiple platforms simultaneously. Squarespace’s blogging platform offers its suite of flexible editing tools geared towards customizing design elements like font type, size, and color scheme.
Plus, all postings created in Squarespace will automatically appear in an internal RSS Feed enabling syndication across other websites or search engines such as Google News. In a nutshell, Squarespace offers more robust blogging capabilities than Wix.
E-commerce
Wix and Squarespace both offer comprehensive e-commerce solutions for store owners. Wix provides numerous tools to customize checkout processes, customer reviews, and the integration of payment processors such as PayPal, Stripe, or Apple Pay.
Squarespace provides pre-made templates along with custom options for a distinct online shop. It also comes preloaded with advanced features including coupons and discount codes, multi-currency settings, abandoned cart recovery tools plus compatible payment services like Stripe, PayPal & Apple Pay.
When picking between them, it is important to assess their distinct advantages in order to make an informed choice.
SEO Capabilities
When it comes to SEO capabilities, the most notable difference between Wix and Squarespace is that SSL security is included in the former’s core plans. With Wix, you can get started quickly with a one-click setup for all relevant SEO needs.
You can customize title tags, meta descriptions, as well as page texts — plus, run a thorough technical audit of your site. Squarespace also offers single-click options like sitemaps generation and unique titles and descriptions for posts or pages, but SSL must be purchased from their partner providers with additional hosting plans.
And since analytics tracking requires manual setup in the Squarespace HTML code section — this may prove complex or cumbersome for some users.
Design and Customization Options
With its hundreds of customizable templates and drag-and-drop elements, Wix provides users with numerous design options letting them make a completely unique website. Personalize each feature on your site to get the exact look you desire.
©IB Photography/Shutterstock.com
Squarespace also provides a wide range of options for creating a modern website, using professionally designed themes that feature sections representing different types of content like images or featured products. Users without coding skills can modify the look and feel of their sites by tweaking existing theme designs, while experienced developers can easily make changes by utilizing HTML or JavaScript codes.
Third-Party Integration
Wix and Squarespace offer different levels of integration with third-party services. Wix is the more flexible platform in this regard, providing several web apps (including a blogging app) plus over 300 additional integrations that allow you to expand your website’s capabilities. Most popular services such as payment processors are supported, in addition to add-ons like analytics and CRM software.
Squarespace also offers built-in tools for basic tasks such as online payments, event registration, and form creation. It supports some third-party integrations via embedding Javascript or HTML code into webpages but doesn’t have nearly as many available options compared to Wix.
Mobile Responsiveness
Wix and Squarespace offer mobile responsive designs, giving users the ability to create a website that looks great on any device. The main difference between them is how they approach mobile design.
With Wix, you can adjust both desktop and mobile versions of your site using their feature-rich drag & drop editor. You get complete control over layout sizes for images, text boxes, videos, and more without sacrificing design or performance when viewed on a mobile device.
Squarespace offers automatically designed optimized websites for all devices. This eliminates the need to manually adjust settings to make sure each version looks good across different screen sizes — although some basic customizations are still possible when necessary.
Wix vs. Squarespace: 5 Must-Know Facts
- Wix has more than 800 templates and apps.
- Squarespace offers fewer customization options compared to Wix.
- Both platforms offer e-commerce capabilities; however, Squarespace does not offer an integrated blog feature like Wix does (but it is possible to add a blog via plugins).
- Hosting is included in paid plans with either service. They handle all maintenance and security updates so you don’t need to worry about keeping up with technology changes.
- For users who don’t want ads on their website, both services offer ad-free subscription plans — but those tend to cost more per month and usually involve a longer-term commitment associated with them.
Wix vs. Squarespace: Which One Is Better? Which One Should You Use?
Squarespace and Wix are both popular website-building platforms. They have many similarities, but there are some key differences to consider when deciding which one is best for you. Wix is known for its drag-and-drop customization capabilities, which makes it great for novice users with little web development experience or technical know-how.
You don’t need to be a coding expert to build and design a great-looking site on Wix, although advanced users may find the lack of certain coding options limiting.
Squarespace, on the other hand, offers more flexibility and better analytics tools than Wix does. It allows developers more room to customize their sites through HTML/ CSS editing capabilities — although this requires at least a basic understanding of code.
That makes it ideal if your goal is an aesthetically pleasing yet professional website. Squarespace also provides in-depth analytics that allows you to track visitors and conversions.
The decision between Wix and Squarespace ultimately depends on what type of website you plan to create, as well as your skill set level when it comes to web design. If you’re just starting with no prior web development experience, then we recommend going with Wix due to its user-friendly interface.
However, if you require a bit more production value, then go with Squarespace since its features offer much greater control over aesthetics and analytics data tracking points.
