Wix and Squarespace are two popular website builders which let you create your very own website without needing advanced (or even moderate) tech skills.
Wix is the best all-around website builder – over 110 million users enjoy Wix’s creative tools and beginner-friendly service.
Squarespace is the ideal website builder for creatives – millions of stunning Squarespace websites have been created using its high-quality designs and impressive features.
When comparing Wix vs Squarespace, the two website builders may seem similar on the surface.
However, if we take a deeper dive, you’ll see that they are actually quite different in a number of ways.
Whether you pick Wix, Squarespace, or any other website builder, it’s crucial you choose the right one for you – after all, the last thing you want to do is spend months building a website, only to realize you need to switch to another platform.
We’re here to stop you wasting any time. Wix is best for beginners – it’s a simple but creative way of building a website. You can publish your site in a single afternoon – it’s that easy!
Squarespace is best for creatives who have a little more time on their hands. It has everything you need to create a truly stunning website, from the best designs on the market to truly top-notch features.
We’re not just pulling these statements out of thin air. We spend hours testing, analyzing, tweaking and re-testing each and every builder we review, to bring you the most honest and thorough information. We even get members of the public involved, to present you with the facts you actually want to know.
And that’s just what this article will do. We’ll dive into the areas that really matter, from ease of use to pricing and beyond. By the end, you’ll have no doubt whether Wix or Squarespace is the better choice for you.
First things first, let’s take a quick look at how we’ve rated the two builders, before delving deeper into our comparison:
When comparing Wix vs Squarespace, if it’s ease of use you’re looking for, Wix is the website builder for you. It also has a larger range of templates to choose from, although Squarespace’s template designs are sleeker and more polished.
In terms of price, you can use Wix for free with no time limit. But to remove ads, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan, starting from $11 per month. Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial, but you’ll need to commit to a plan once this elapses, starting from $12 per month.
We’ll go into more detail about what you get for your money with both Wix and Squarespace later on in this article, or you can check out our full reviews using the links below.
In this head-to-head review, we’ll compare Wix and Squarespace in seven different aspects, plus our conclusion, to determine which one is best for you.
Wix vs Squarespace: Pros and Cons
Wix Pros
- Best all-around website builder on the market
- Combines ease of use with great features and lots of creative control
Wix Cons
- It’s not possible to switch templates once site is live
Squarespace Pros
- Best templates in terms of design and flexibility
- Best quality features of any website builder
Squarespace Cons
- Relatively expensive price plans
- No app store
Wix vs Squarespace: Side-By-Side Comparison
To kick things off, let’s take a look at some important areas. From speaking to member of the public, these are the crucial things they look for when deciding upon a website builder.
To make things easier, we’ve used our own research and results to highlight both similarities and key differences between Wix and Squarespace:
| Area | Wix | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
WBE Rating | 94% | 86% |
| Ease of Use | Very Easy | Average |
| Mobile Responsive Themes | Yes | Yes |
| Free SSL Security | Yes | Yes |
| Blogging | Good | Excellent |
| Ecommerce | Excellent | Good |
| Free Plan | Yes | 14-Day Free Trial |
| Pricing | $11-35/mo | $12-40/mo |
Popularity
While popularity isn’t always a sure sign of quality, it is a good way of finding out if people are happy with the service they’re getting.
Because Wix is a publicly listed company, you can see how many registered users and paying customers they have. Wix has over 110 million registered users worldwide!
This gives you a good idea of how happy people are with Wix – people vote with their wallets, and you don’t upgrade to a paid plan unless you’re a happy customer!
Squarespace doesn’t release this information, but does claim on its website that it has over 1 million users – so neither Wix or Squarespace are loners on the playground. They’re pretty popular, and you can be confident their popularity comes from years of making customers happy.
Ease of Use
Ease of use was one of the most important things our users told us they looked for when choosing a website builder, and we agree completely. After all, there’s no point signing up to a builder if it’s just too complicated to use.
To cover the basics, both Wix and Squarespace are drag-and-drop website builders. This means you simply select the element you want (such as text boxes, images, and maps), and drag it to where you’d like it positioned on your page. Drop it there, and hey presto – that’s just how it will look once your site is published.
Wix is a “pure” drag-and-drop builder, meaning you really can drop whatever you want, wherever you want it. Squarespace isn’t exactly the same – you can’t drag elements around freely like you can with Wix. This means it takes a little longer to get used to.
We got our users to test out Wix and Squarespace and tell us exactly what they thought. We’ve included a few of their quotes, so you don’t just have to take our word for it!
Wix
Beginner-friendly shouldn’t mean boring, but this is something a lot of website builders struggle to grasp. Luckily, Wix has mastered the art of bringing fun, creative tools to beginners and tech pros alike.
Wix’s drag-and-drop editor was a big hit with most of our users:
“The drag and drop feature is excellent, allowing quick and easy redesigns.”
If you don’t fancy dragging and dropping to build your page, you can let Wix do it for you with its Artificial Design Intelligence (Wix ADI).
All you do is enter some information, such as the name and purpose of your website, and pick the colors and themes you like the best. Wix ADI then creates a personalized website for you to edit. It’s as easy as taking an online quiz, and only takes a few minutes.
Squarespace is more technical than Wix, and doesn’t sacrifice any creative freedom or dumb down its impressive features. Because of this, it just takes a little longer to get to grips with than Wix – but it’s still easy to use if you have the patience, or a little technical confidence.
This is what one of our users had to say about using Squarespace:
“I can imagine that once you’ve spent enough time working out what certain elements do, Squarespace would be pretty easy to use. You just need to work out where to click if you want to X, or which function helps with Y.”
It’s well worth spending time learning your way around, as you can create a professional looking site without ever entering a line of code.
Design Flexibility
You’ve got a great idea for a website, and now you need to dress it up so the world sits up and pays attention. How many templates do you have to choose from? Can you switch to another one later on? Are the designs going to knock your socks off? Let’s find out!
Wix Templates
- 510+ templates for you to choose from across different industries
- Very professional looking
- Once you pick a template, you cannot change it without rebuilding your website’s content – so choose carefully!
- All Wix templates are fully mobile responsive, and are supported by a dedicated, advanced mobile editor
Squarespace Templates
- Responsive designs (great for mobile phones and tablets)
- Over 60 polished and beautifully designed templates
- You can change templates for your website at any time (no content will be lost)
Comparison
Wix has an impressive range of templates, all of which are attractive and provide a foundation for a professional looking website. They’re all mobile responsive, and come with a mobile editor so you can customize both your desktop and your mobile view.
However, when it comes to templates, Squarespace is the unbeaten champion of stunning and modern design. This is a classic case of quality over quantity; Squarespace may have a smaller range than Wix, but each and every template has been created by professional designers. And, of course, they’re all mobile responsive.
By simply looking at some of these templates, you can tell that the Squarespace team has invested a lot of time and effort into crafting them.
Customization
While both Wix and Squarespace have great looking templates, you’re going to want to make them your own.
Wix makes this really easy with its simple drag-and-drop editor. You can replace text and images, add slideshows, and drop in contact forms a-plenty, all with just a few clicks!
Squarespace gives you tons of creative freedom over your template. However, a lot of features do come included, so it’s still a good idea to pick one that suits your website as well as looking incredible.
If you want to really customize your site with Squarespace, you can! You’re not just limited to drag-and-drop, “what you see is what you get” editing, and this opens up a whole world of options. With Squarespace’s CSS Editor, for example, you can change fonts, colors and backgrounds to make them totally unique.
Switching Templates
With so much choice, it’s understandable that you might want to change your template later down the line. It’s like those shoes you love in the store, then totally regret when you try them on at home. Ideally, you want the option to swap your template, just like you can with those shoes.
One of the biggest downsides of using Wix is that once you’ve selected your template and use it to publish your website, you can’t switch it. You’ll have to rebuild your content if you want to give your site a different look, which is time consuming and fiddly.
Squarespace, on the other hand, lets you switch your template any time you like. Your existing content is automatically transferred into the new template, although you’ll probably need to tweak it a bit to make sure it still looks its best.
You can even install multiple templates with Squarespace, meaning you can edit and preview your new one before making the switch. This makes rebrands and facelifts much easier for your website as it grows and develops.
Features and Tools
It’s exciting enough just making a website. But once you’ve mastered editing your menu and creating multiple pages, you’ll want to go a step further and add some oomph to your site. That’s where features and tools come in.
Customization tools let you add slideshows and galleries, pick from hundreds of fonts, and create custom colors for your page designs. But it doesn’t stop there…
Features can do everything, from giving your site powerful ecommerce tools so you can sell online to customized emails for you to promote your website with. We’ll get into those in a sec.
Both Wix and Squarespace come with tons of built-in features and tools to give your site that extra punch. But if you want to go one step further, you can add apps.
Wix has its own dedicated App Market, providing apps made by Wix as well as third party ones. There’s a mix of free and paid apps – over 200 in total! This gives you the freedom to choose the features which work best for your website as it grows.
Squarespace, meanwhile, doesn’t have an app store. All of its features are designed in-house, and already built into the editor for you.
Ecommerce
If you want to sell online, you’ll need ecommerce tools. Sure, basic ecommerce tools let you accept payments through your website. But for a really professional online store, you’ll need some of what Wix and Squarespace are offering…
Wix has three ecommerce plans, which come with ecommerce tools built-in for you to build your store with. These features include: 0% commission fee, unlimited bandwidth, up to 50GB storage, no Wix adverts, and Google Analytics. You can also integrate Wix apps to expand your store’s capabilities.
Squarespace supports ecommerce on three of its plans. The first one is designed for normal websites which need to sell a few items. The other two are specifically aimed at building online stores.
Both of these ecommerce specific plans come with all the ecommerce tools you need to succeed, already built-in. These features include: 0% transaction fees, unlimited bandwidth and storage, abandoned cart recovery, gift card creation, and customer accounts.
Blogging
If you’ve got something to say… say it! These blogging tools will make sure your voice is heard.
While Wix does have built-in blogging tools such as blog posts, feeds, galleries, and email campaigns, if you want the best for your blog, it’s worth adding the free Wix Blog app to your site.
Squarespace, of course, comes with all its brilliant blogging tools built-in, such as multiple author contribution, scheduled sharing, and category support. With its top-quality designs, Squarespace is ideal for anyone who uses a lot of photography or graphics in their blog posts.
Marketing
Don’t be shy – make sure you shout about your website with top-notch marketing tools.
Create, customize, and run email campaigns, then share them on your social networks, send out newsletters, track your stats, and more with Wix’s Email Marketing tools. If that’s not enough, you can add apps such as the Facebook Like Popup to engage a wider audience.
Meanwhile, Squarespace helps you stand out from the crowd with its highly customized, stunning email campaigns. Combine these with integration across social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and guage their impact using built-in analytics.
SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and refers to the processes that help your website rank higher up in Google’s search result pages.
All sorts of things go into optimizing your website, including setting keywords and meta titles. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of those – this is exactly where our website builders can help.
Both Wix and Squarespace have built-in SEO tools to help you boost your website’s ranking. These include mobile responsive pages, optimized headings, and alt text for images.
Wix also has an SEO Guide where you can find tons of guides and helpful information on how to set up your site’s SEO, and then develop it as your website grows. This is super beginner-friendly, and is a great introduction for even the most nervous beginners.
And that’s not all Wix offers – you can also use Wix SEO Wiz to receive a personalized step-by-step plan to follow. You just enter information such as the name and purpose of your site, add in some keywords, and Wix does the rest. It’s easy to follow and sets you up for success.
Squarespace has great SEO tools built in, and has an SEO Checklist in its help center for you to follow. You have everything you need to succeed with Squarespace, and it provides a very thorough coverage of SEO to help you get to grips with it.
However, Squarespace isn’t quite as beginner friendly as Wix, and doesn’t have the same personalized SEO journey that Wix provides.
Help and Support
Wix provides support through email, forums, social media, a dedicated Support Center, and over the phone (available from 6am to 5pm PST). There are currently no live chat functions available.
Squarespace, in addition to providing a forum and a knowledge center, also has a live chat function (from 3am to 8pm EST, Monday through Friday) and a 24/7 email response team. There’s currently no phone support available, but if you need a speedy reply you’re in luck – it’s Squarespace’s policy to respond to all emails within 1 hour – impressive stuff!
Both Wix and Squarespace have thorough help centers full of articles and guides to help you out.
One of the best features of Wix’s support is its on-page help while you edit. If you get stuck, or don’t know what something is, all you have to do is click on one of the little question marks on your screen.
Squarespace doesn’t have the same in-editor support, but it does go the extra mile with its help center. This provides extra resources such as webinars and workshops, videos, and a great community forum. Squarespace may not offer phone support, but what it does offer is high quality service.
Pricing and Value for Money
Before we dive into our analysis of each builder’s pricing plans, let’s take a look at what they offer in terms of monthly packages. All prices listed refer to monthly prices on annual plans.
Squarespace offers 4 premium pricing plans. The higher the plan, the more features become available to you:
If you sign up to an annual plan, you can save between 13% and 25% compared to signing up to a month-to-month plan.
| Squarespace Pricing Plans | Monthly Plan ($/month) | Annual Plan ($/month) | Savings (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | $16 | $12 | 25% |
| Business | $26 | $18 | 31% |
| Basic (eCommerce) | $30 | $26 | 13% |
| Advanced (eCommerce) | $46 | $40 | 13% |
For $12 per month, the Personal plan gives you everything you need to create a stylish, simple website. It comes with unlimited bandwidth and storage, which is unusual for a low-tier plan and shows just what you’re paying for. This plan is best for personal use, or for those just starting out.
The $18 per month Business plan comes with everything available on the Personal plan, plus a huge array of extra features. These include promotional pop-ups, ecommerce functions, and a professional email from Google. As the name suggests, this plan is best for businesses.
The Basic and Advanced plans are designed for building online stores, and come with features to match. These include all the features from the Business plan, plus extras such as 0% transaction fees, an unlimited number of products to sell, management tools for inventory, orders, tax, and coupons, and much more.
Meanwhile, Wix’s premium plans offer you seven different packages. Four are aimed at websites, while three are ecommerce plans:
The $11 per month Combo plan is the cheapest Wix offers. It allows you to connect a domain and remove Wix adverts from your website. You also get 2GB bandwidth and 3GB storage. It’s good for upgrading from the free plan, but not ideal for long-term use.
The Unlimited plan is great for freelancers, costing $14 per month. It’s a big upgrade for only $3 more, unlocking unlimited bandwidth and 10GB storage. You also get spending value for some cool apps, such as Site Booster.
The $19 per month Pro plan is Wix’s most popular website plan. Increased storage, as well as extra bonuses like the Professional Logo app, make this plan ideal for perfecting your site’s online branding.
The VIP plan doesn’t offer much more than the Pro plan, but for an extra $10 per month, you do get priority support, meaning your problems are fast-tracked to the front of the queue. Best for those who can’t afford to wait!
Here’s a quick look at Wix’s ecommerce plans – you can find a full breakdown of Wix’s ecommerce features and prices in our Wix ecommerce Review.
These plans provide scalability for online stores. They start from $20 per month on the Business Basic plan, increasing to $25 per month for the most popular Business Unlimited plan, and reaching the top price of $35 per month for the Business VIP plan.
The listed prices in the image above are based on 1-year plans. If you choose to pay on a month-to-month basis, the prices per month are higher.
If you sign up for a 1-year or 2-year plan, you can save from 20% to 37% per year, depending on which package you select:
| Wix Pricing Plans | Monthly ($/month) | 1-Year ($/month) | Savings (%) | 2-Years ($/month) | Savings (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combo | $14.50 | $11.00 | 24% | $9.00 | 37% |
| Unlimited | $17.50 | $14.00 | 20% | $11.00 | 37% |
| Pro | $24.00 | $19.00 | 21% | $15.50 | 35% |
| eCommerce* | $25.00 | $20.00 | 20% | $17.50 | 30% |
| VIP | $35.00 | $29.00 | 17% | $26.00 | 26% |
*eCommerce represents Business Basic, the cheapest of the three ecommerce plans, which range from $20 to $35 per month – read our Wix eCommerce Review to learn more
If you compare the monthly fees for Wix and Squarespace’s annual plans, you’ll see that Wix plans are cheaper than Squarespace.
Wix’s free plan is great for getting started. You can stay on it as long as you like, get used to the editor, and perfect your website building skills. However, we don’t recommend staying on it long-term.
For starters, you can’t connect your own domain on the free plan, meaning your website address will look like this: www.my-stunning-website.wix.com.
Wix will also advertise on your website unless you upgrade, which again can ruin your website’s professional image. Plus, you only get 500MB of storage and bandwidth. That’s hardly enough room to swing a digital cat, let alone scale up a website!
Squarespace, meanwhile, doesn’t offer a free plan. Instead, it has a 14-day free trial. This is a great chance to test out whether Squarespace is the right builder for you, and you don’t need to enter any payment details unless you decide to sign up to the paid plan.
Wix does offer a 14-day money back guarantee on its paid plans, so if you’re not happy, you can still get your money back.
Compare Wix and Squarespace Pricing Side-by-Side
If you’re looking to build a website for free, Wix is the obvious choice. Squarespace only offers a 14-Day free trial. You can continually renew your trial – although you’ll have to redesign and republish every time. It’s also worth noting that trial sites are hidden from search engine results.
With Wix, there’s no time limit and you won’t have to renew or redesign your website. What is annoying, though, is having to put up with a Wix sub-domain and tacky Wix advertising. That said, you can still access Wix’s app market and get free SSL security.
Neither Wix or Squarespace let you sell online for free. In fact, it’s rare for any platform to allow you to do that. However, if you’re making a profit from your site, shelling out a couple of bucks a month shouldn’t be too much of a hardship.
Wix vs Squarespace: Conclusion
To recap, here is a summary table of our comparison above. We’ll have some final thoughts below the table:
| Category & Winner | Wix | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Popularity Winner: Wix | Wix has much higher search volume on Google. Over 100 million people use Wix, with its free plan proving especially popular. | Squarespace is very popular, but has less search volume on average than Wix. It has over 1 million users, all of whom are paying customers. |
| Ease of Use Winner: Wix | Wix is very beginner friendly thanks to its simple drag-and-drop editor. Wix ADI means you could have a website live in an afternoon. | Squarespace is more technical to use than Wix. It takes longer to get used to, so requires patience and/or some technical confidence. |
| Design Flexibility Winner: Squarespace | Wix has over 500 templates to choose from. They’re attractive and easy to customize, but you can’t switch once your site is live. | Squarespace has the best quality templates on the market. It has a smaller range than Wix, but you can switch templates whenever you like. |
| Features & Tools Winner: Draw | Wix has a good number of built-in features covering customization, ecommerce, marketing, and more. You can also use apps from the Wix App Market for extra functionality. | All of Squarespace’s features are built-in, and they’re the best quality features on the market. Squarespace doesn’t have an app market, but it does have a great range of in-house tools. |
| SEO Winner: Wix | Wix has built-in SEO tools, plus in-depth support resources to guide you through optimizing your website. Wix SEO Wiz is beginner friendly, interactive, and creates a personalized step-by-step plan to follow. | Squarespace has built-in SEO tools to use, and has designed its pages to be SEO-friendly. It has support resources to help you, which are in-depth but could be daunting for a first-timer. |
| Help & Support Winner: Wix | Wix offers phone, email, and social media support, plus an in-depth knowledge base. It provides you with on-page editor support, too. | Squarespace has a small but high quality support service via live chat and email, plus a thorough help center with guides, videos, webinars, and a forum. |
| Pricing & Value for Money Winner: Wix | Wix has seven price plans ranging from $11 to $35 per month (billed yearly). It also has a free plan which you can stay on for as long as you like. All paid plans have a 14-day money back guarantee. | Squarespace has four price plans ranging from $12 to $40 per month (billed yearly). It doesn’t have a free plan, but all paid plans have a 14-day free trial, with no payment details needed. |
Still not sure which one to pick? See our guide on how to choose the best website builder for your needs.
Understanding the differences between Wix and Squarespace is important in helping you decide which website builder to use.
Wix is best for beginners, or anyone looking to get online quickly. With its free plan, it’s a cheap and hassle-free way of building a website, while its range of designs and features makes sure your site will look professional even if you whipped it up in one afternoon.
For the creatives out there, Squarespace is the one for you. Its designs are the best around and its features are right up there to match. It will take some time to get used to, though, so it’s not ideal for beginners or for anyone wanting a quick and simple website.
This means that overall, Wix is the winner! It has something for everyone, from its prices to its designs, and makes it possible for complete beginners to create professional looking websites. With great support, a large app market, and interactive SEO, there’s nothing stopping even the most nervous of technophobes from jumping feet first into the world of website building.
Wix vs Squarespace: The FAQs
Who Should Use Wix?
Wix is the best all-around website builder. It’s fantastic for small business and personal sites alike, boasting a range of incredible features and tools suitable for all abilities. We’d personal see the average Wix user as a budding entrepreneur or individual keen to show the world their work.
Who Should Use Squarespace?
Squarespace is built for creative industries. Its themes can turn any average Joe’s website into something your mates will think a pro web designer’s put together. Photographers, artists and graphic designers should all be looking to make use of Squarespace, whether they want to showcase their work, or sell their art.
Which website builder is easier to use: Wix or Squarespace?
Wix is the winner in terms of ease of use. It is a pure drag-and-drop website builder with a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. Squarespace isn’t hard to use either, but Wix definitely has the edge in this contest.
Compare ease of use and more in our review of the Best Website Builders of 2019
Which has the better templates: Wix or Squarespace?
Squarespace has the best designs. If you’re looking at numbers alone, Wix has more templates to offer than Squarespace, with over 500 template designs. But despite having a smaller offering, Squarespace’s templates are more flexible, customizable and beautiful – perfect for any budding creative!
Is Wix or Squarespace better value for money?
According to our research, Wix is much better value for money than Squarespace. You can use it for free for as long as you like, although you will have to put up with Wix ads on your site. That said, to get rid of these, all you have to do is upgrade to Wix’s cheapest monthly plan for $11 per month. While Squarespace has a free trial, it only lasts 14 days, after which you’ll have to pay at least $12 per month to maintain your site with them.
Which website builder has better customer support?
It’s a close call on this one, but Wix edges it once again. What you have to bear in mind is how you would like to be supported through your website building journey: if you would like support through a knowledge base, Wix’s is very comprehensive, but if you think you would prefer live chat, Squarespace can provide this functionality.
Which is better for SEO: Wix or Squarespace?
Wix scores a strong 5/5 for SEO on our comparison chart, with Squarespace coming in at 4/5. In Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, Wix is mentioned next to WordPress as being search engine friendly, so you have assurance from the best that your Wix site can make it up the rankings!
English
<3<3 good guide for beginners.. obviously
Can either site be editing using standard HTML tools?
Hi Rocco,
Thanks for your comment. You can’t directly edit the source code of templates on Wix or Squarespace. Wix has its own HTML app which allows you to insert external HTML, while Squarespace has its own developer platform where you can build your own template (this will require a fair amount of HTML knowledge on your part, though). Hope that helps!
Charlie
Hello Charlie,
thank you for your help.
Can Squareface manage mapping and Salesforce?
Well written!
Greetings,
Inf
Hi Elisabeth,
Thanks for your comment. Salesforce does integrate with Squarespace but you’ll need a third party plug-in. We’d recommend using Zapier who can connect the two together. It comes with a 14-day free trial too, so you can see how you get on with it before investing. Thanks and best of luck!
Charlie
Hi,
I have to design a website for an NGO, with possibilities for donations via PayPal, Credit Cards Visa and MasterCard, compatibility with Salesforce, mapping, and a calendar. The owners need to manage their own content once the site will be ready.
What would you suggest?
Greetings,
Inf
Hi Inf,
Thanks for your comment. Both Wix and Squarespace can accept donations via PayPal, Credit, Visa and MasterCard and have calendars. Wix is probably your best bet as it easily integrates with Salesforce and you can have multiple site editors (owners) with different levels of access/authority.
Hope that helps and best of luck!
Charlie
This was extremely helpful!! Thank you for providing such wisely considered, well-written, detailed information.
Hi Bree,
Thanks so much for the great feedback! So glad you found it useful – please do share it on if you think it’d help others.
Thank you for reading,
Lucy
Hi, I would like to build a website that customers can go to and down load my 30 minute hypnotherapy audios. Would you recommend Wix or Squarespace?
Hi Robin,
Thanks for your comment. Both Wix and Squarespace support digital downloads so it’s more a choice of personal preference. If you’re quite handy on a computer, you can create a stunning website with Squarespace but for pure ease of use, Wix is your best bet. Hope that helps and good luck!
Charlie
Great Blog. Thanks for sharing such an informative post. I really appreciate your work & also I highly recommend to all those people who don’t know about comparisons between Wix and Squarespace. Keep up the good work
Hi Raymond,
Thanks for your comment – we’re really happy you’re enjoying our work. Please feel free to share our articles on social media!
Best,
Dan
Thanks for this great comparison article. It really helped me to figure out what I want.
I think if you want a personal site Wix is the site builder to go with.
As an artist I prefer the beautiful designs of SquareSpace. And I like that SquareSpace is more mobile friendly. And with unlimited bandwidth versus 10GB at Wix.
If you need a business plan Wix is only 3 dollars cheaper per month.
I think for a professional who needs a commerce plan SquareSpace wins.
Hi there,
Thank you for your positive feedback. It’s great to see you’ve made an informed decision from our article!
Thanks,
Dan
Nice work – I’ve done several sites on WIX for real life businesses, and it does almost everything, so we are probably going to stay there, even tho some turn up their noses at WIX.
I’m missing a rollback-function in Squarespace, and a staging environment. Does wix have that?
Hi Hanna,
Wix does have a rollback function, but does not currently support a staging environment – it is something they are looking into, though. For more coding flexibility, we’d recommend another open-source software like WordPress.org.
Best,
Dan
You did not cover the ecommerce aspect of the sites. I would be curios to know how they stack up against Weebly as well.
Cheers John
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment! Wix and Squarespace both have ecommerce functionality, and you can read about the details in our Wix eCommerce Review and our Squarespace Ecommerce Review (I’ve linked to both).
I think the best place to look is our ecommerce comparison chart and then browse the reviews from there.
We’ve just completed an in-depth research project into ecommerce builders, so watch this space!
Thanks so much for reading and hope you find this useful,
Lucy
which one has member function that can let me show some page only for members?
Hi Hogan,
Thanks for your comment. Both Wix and Squarespace offer the ability to create a members only area as well as being able to create password protected pages. Wix is easier to use than Squarespace but Squarespace’s templates are more sleek and modern, so which one you chose really depends on your needs. For a more in-depth look at both, why not check out our Wix review here and our Squarespace review here. Hope that helps you come to the right decision!
Charlie
Just cracking open Wix, and aside from the sites not being responsive (which is a deal breaker), the support, while attentive, is totally insufficient. They’re dodging simple questions or failing to answer entirely, and simply linking to help articles I’ve already read (and that aren’t helpful) instead of explaining in detail what needs to be done.
I’m ditching them right away. I do like some of the flexibility they offer (like allowing for custom lightboxes, and generally more free form elements) but the fixed position and lackluster support aren’t enough to pull me away from Squarespace.
Hi Dabbler,
Thanks for your comment. Sorry to hear you’re not getting on with Wix. Like most things, selecting the right website builder very much depends on your needs. Squarespace is a fantastic option for creative industries thanks to their clean and sophisticated templates. If you’re after great customer help and support, however, We’d have to recommend Site123. They’re live chat is fantastic, offers quick responses and is available 24/7. If you want to read more about Site123, check out our review here.
Thanks and good luck!
Charlie
Excellent analysis & insights. Saved me hours of time vs. doing my own trial & error comparison and likely missing key features. Thanks!!!
Good comparison, I like wix more than squarespace. I am using Donorbox whcih helps to set up recurring donation form on Wix and Squarespace.
Wix Donation Button
https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/wix-donation-button/
How To Accept Recurring Donations on Squarespace for Nonprofit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLr7Ls6nPQU
Thanks, I would love to see a comparison of all e-commerce fees, any transaction fees and credit card processing fees. Adding in Shopify along with Wix and SquareSpace would be great.
Hi Ben, we’ve got some pretty detailed pricing reviews that might be of interest? Try Shopify – https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/ecommerce-website-builders/shopify/shopify-pricing/
Hi Jeremy and Friends,
I have been struggling with the decision about a website builder. I want to showcase and sell photos, music, videos, and books. The photo-specific services are great for photos but not for the other stuff.
I do not want to do a WordPress site as I want it to be easier than that.
Wix seems to have the functionality that I am looking for but I am hesitant because on mist of the Wix sites I have looked at the text or images are cut off when viewing on a phone. Totally unacceptable. Even their own sample sites are like this. The other issue with Wix is that I could not find a way to contact them via email. Maybe that is only for their clients or maybe I just didn’t see it. But SS sites look good on my phone and they have enail contact. But selling through SS is not as easy and you have to upload photos for each spot on your site – they don’t have a site storage option.
My question – if Wix is able to be edited for mobile use how is it that the sites they feature do not look good on mobile devices?
And, are there other options I have not considered? (I have looked at Weebly and Jimdo briefly too).
Thanks for your assistance and great work here.
Hi Albert,
Thanks for joining in the conversation. That’s strange, all Wix sites are mobile responsive and from all of the samples we’ve looked at, this hasn’t been an issue. In regards to contacting Wix via email, you have to submit a ticket on the Wix contact page where you can enter your query and even attach a file detailing your issue further. You must have signed up to Wix (even just on the Free Plan) however to access this.
Hope that clears up your concerns.
Charlie
Albert and Charlie,
I have a Wix site. With regards to mobile content, though responsive, it isn’t ideal. There are spacing and image placement issues.
So, if you have a photo before a title on your website, you may find that the image is at the bottom of the mobile version.
If you’ve centered text on your site, it may be on 3 lines, not 2, and not centered. Footers are good examples of that.
Just always keep checking your Wix mobile editor. It’s super easy to make adjustments and have it all work out.
Hi Cher,
All excellent points! If you are having trouble with mobile responsiveness, Wix’s mobile editor allows you to make amendments specifically for mobile, without it impacting upon the desktop version of your website.
Thanks,
Charlie
Hi Chris!!
Have you heard of BuilderAll? They have a lot of capabilities, integration among their tools and great support for answering your questions.
Hope it helps
This is a great article. I ended up using Wix because of the drap and drop features. Plus, it was easier to find a template that hosted video and print samples on the same page. I started with the free model but am thinking of upgrading now that I got it to work for me.
Your tips are very helpful! Thank you.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for the comment, it’s great to hear our piece helped you on your website-building journey.
In our experience, upgrading to a premium Wix plan definitely pays off in the long run.
Let us know how you get on!
Fred
Thanks!
Valuable comparison.
Squarespace looks great, but their commision of 2-3% of sales is outrageous!!!
Does wix have an invoice and accounts plug?
Which one of them has better cso rating?
Hi Ez,
I’m glad you found our article useful! Wix do indeed have plenty of great apps that can help you with your invoices – you can check them out here.
Hope that helps,
Charlie
Thank you for the review, saved me time. Out of the 2 Squarespace suits me best.
My difficulty and confusion is that I need a full website that will also include a store for buying streaming video and downloading digital ebooks, etc. I have searched on both wix and squarespace sites, their stores do not include paid for streaming video and while squarespace has unlimited bandwidth for digital downloads it limits uploads to 5mb.
I also saw can add Shopify store to Squarespace, doesnt help with my products. Wix has Sellify – also doesn’t sell my streaming and limits digital products
I see both have “developer coding” sections which seem to really among to not much
I been searching and I cannot find how you can create a regular website – about/services/methods/credentials etc with a store section that sells access to streaming videos, lot of space for having digital products for download etc. I have already tried WordPress – that is not an option.
I just came across a site that listed online stores that can do what i need but they are separate websites – I dont see how to add into my regular website.
Any help greatly appreciated!
Btw – I found it much easier to navigate and find specific answers on Squarespace whereas Wix offered poor, incomplete answers with a continual pop up to sign up – I assume to get the information you want you have to sign up.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comment.
Sorry to hear you’re having problems. If you use Shopify directly, it is possible to sell digital downloads – here’s some useful reading on how to get set up. In regards to paid streaming, this should also be possible via a Shopify app called Sky Pilot.
Hope that helps!
Charlie
Hi
I definitely suggest looking into ClickFunnels. What you described is exactly what they provide. Plus, they have a huge FB following where you can ask questions amongst peers and see how far experts got, definitely check it out
I’m a member of their FB group, we’re like 150k members :-)
It is helpful. Thank you. Clears my doubt to choose wix or not. Honestly didn’t know about squarespace before.
But I liked wix already so I think I will buy it and try for 1 year atleast.
Great stuff Akshay.
Do let us know how you get on!
I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen a Wix site I was “wowed” by outside of the ones that they advertise and their mobile sites look clunky and 2010ish to me. However, I have seen MANY SS sites that have blown my mind. From a design and aesthetic perspective SS takes the cake for me.
I agree SquareSpace takes the crown as the king of stylish designs, but I’ve seen plenty of sites on Wix that are very impressive.
Thanks for the comment!
Hi
Very interesting comparison.
Have you compared their blogging tools?
I went with Wix 2 years ago and now need to start a blog but Wix blog really doesn’t cut it at the moment which is very frustrating.
Regards Alex
Hi Alex,
We’ve got in-depth reviews of both Wix and Squarespace for you to read, although we only briefly touch on the blogging capabilities on both.
That’s not to say we haven’t used both for blogging though. For me, I really like the relaunched Wix Blog, as it is definitely an improvement on the previous blogging tool offered. However, I’m going to guess the new Wix Blog is the one you are already using and that isn’t cutting it for you?
In that case, I’d say Squarespace is definitely up there among the best website builders for blogging. It pushes Wix all the way and pips it in a couple of key areas. Squarespace will always come out on top in terms of designs and looks (that’s what it’s great at after all), but I think the thing that Squarespace does best is to liberate blogging – it’s super easy to post on-the-go with the Squarespace Blog App
It is designed to be very user-friendly and this makes it very simple to add new content whenever and wherever. It is easier to use than Wix’s own mobile app in my opinion.
As you’ve used the Wix blogging tool already, why not take up Squarespace’s 2-week free trial and see how you get on?
You can read more about blogging on Squarespace here.
Hope that helps,
– Tom
I came to this review to help me make up my mind… However your statement: “Wix, on the other hand, does not provide responsive templates” – Huh? I am in the middle of testing out Wix and it seems to be mobile responsive to me….
Is this for a particular template?
Hi Dave,
Thanks for joining the conversation.
What we mean by mobile responsive is that your website will automatically optimize itself for whatever screen it is viewed on.
In my experience, Wix provides mobile-friendly templates that need to be tweaked in the ‘mobile editor’ to ensure they look as good as they can be on different devices.
That’s not to say that Wix isn’t responsive at all though. Wix is definitely becoming more and more responsive all the time, so while not 100% responsive, you’ll find that elements like slideshows and galleries that can be stretched to ‘full-width’ across the page are responsive already! You can find a full list of responsive elements here.
Hope that helps,
– Tom
Thanks you for the very detailed article!! It’s good to see the comparison side by side.
I’m just a little indecisive now haha. What would you recommend for a fashion designer?.
I’ve been using godaddy+wordpress for year, and it is NOT easy. I found it hard to update over time. This was after the web designer did his job.
While I was told to switch to squarespace, i just kept seeing wix ads popping up everywhere. Oh the creepy power of google search!!!….
After reading your article, i feel like squarespace but wix?… What would you suggest please?. I just want quality+ easy to use. I don’t mind either pricing.
Thanks!
Hi Janey,
I’m glad to hear you found the comparison useful – although I guess these things can give you a little bit too much food for thought sometimes!
Your decision should come down to a couple of factors:
– What do you want to achieve with your fashion website (is it to sell or more of an information/blog style website?)
– How technically confident do you feel?
I’d say Wix probably has the edge when it comes to selling online (ecommerce), although both are better suited to smaller, more boutique-style online stores rather than a full-on dedicated online shop.
Squarespace can help you make a sleeker, more “fashionable” looking website thanks to its high-end and attractive templates. Although that’s not to say Wix doesn’t have some really eye-catching designs either.
Wix is the slightly easier platform to use and to master thanks to its editor’s versatility.
The best thing you can do Janey is to give both a spin!
Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial and Wix has a free plan with no time limit. Give both a go over the weekend and see which you feel more comfortable with. I think this is the best advice I can give. There’s no point using a “better” platform if you find it hard or cumbersome to use.
Hope that helps + best of luck with your site building! Let us know how it goes :)
– Tom
Thank you for such a comprehensive comparison
This article was very well written, thank you! I’ve used Wix in the past for business but left for Go Daddy a couple of years ago because it was cheaper. I’ve since matured as an entrepreneur haha and decided to do some research this time before bouncing back to Wix. I’m going to try Squarespace and see how it works for me. You’ve done a great job breaking down everything so that it’s easy to understand and compare without being biased. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Candace,
Thanks for your feedback, it’s good to hear you found the discussion so useful!
Ha, I think you made the right move heading back to Wix from GoDaddy, it’s a much more versatile (and attractive!) platform.
I’d advise giving Squarespace’s two week free trial a go before fully committing to it as you may not find it as intuitive as Wix.
Squarespace has some really beautiful template and design features, so you can guarantee your site will look great, but you mentioned being an entrepreneur, so you might find Wix a slightly easier to use ecommerce website. Either way, test it out and see how you get on.
We also have a more in-depth Squarespace review that may be of interest,
thanks for reading,
– Tom
Clear, to the point, great advice. I loved the comparison. I still am not sure which one of the two to use, but the advice to try both is great. Thanks for writing it.
Hello Ileana,
Thanks for the great fdeedback, really good to know the discussion proved useful for you.
If you need some more clarity, we also have in-depth reviews of both Wix and Squarespace (which I’ve linked to for you).
Our website builder comparison chart might prove helpful too.
Thanks for reading,
-Tom
Re: Customer support: Wix does offer 24/7 email support and has fast response time on facebook chat and twitter. For calls there is under 5 minute wait time. They have phone support in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and email support in like a dozen other languages. Solid Help Center as well. I’ve tried both and Wix wins in the support category as well.
Hi JR,
I know that having so many contact options helps to give me some peace of mind when website building, it’s great to hear that you’ve had such a positive experience with Wix’s customer support.
Hope they solved your issue for you!
Thanks for reading
– Tom
Hi. How área you. I am starting a small busines and I want to know what about if I register a DOMAIN and then I want to move to a prefessional grade in any other provider? Can I keep the domain name? i maybe do t care the files but yes thebURL
Hi Alex,
If you purchase your own domain through another website like GoDaddy then it is yours to keep as long as you pay the monthly/annual fee.
You can use this domain on any website builder than allows you to connect a personal domain (usually after you subscribe to a premium plan).
Most builders provide helpful guides in their support pages that explain how to connect/disconnect your domain if moving to another platform.
Our domain name guide will give you more advice.
Hope that helps,
– Tom
Jeremy I think you are mistaken about this:
‘You will not be able to use your own custom domain name, and so your website address with always have “wix.com” in it.
see https://www.kodewithklossy.com/
Could you clarify what you mean?
Thank you.
Hi Alison,
Jeremy is referring to a Free Wix account, which does not allow you to use a custom domain.
You need to subscribe to a premium plan in order to use your own website address.
Thanks for reading,
– Tom
great article and very helpful. we have built websites on 7 platforms and Square Space is by far the best over time.. after you figure out the ins and outs of their platform.
One area which applies to Google Search is Square has the absolute BEST crawling structure.. which is so important..
Having a great website is one thing, but making it Easier for Google to map and index the site for search is CRITICAL.. so on this fact alone.. Square Wins.
Spence
Hello spence,
Thanks for joining the conversation.
It’s great to hear you’ve had such a positive experience with Squarespace over the years.
Having a clear site structure is definitely a plus point in Google’s book as it makes your website easier to crawl and index, in turn making it more likely to appear higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS)!
I’ve found that both platforms give you decent scope to keep your site organized, and while Squarespace wins hands down for you, it’s not to say that Wix websites can’t rank highly – because they can! We look at this in more detail in this discussion.
Thanks for reading,
– Tom
Hi Jeremy! Amazing article :) very usefull
I´m thinking about is possible with the same SEO efforts achieve the same position in Google with Wix than wordpress for example. Because one of the things more i work is the optimization of the site and finally I´m note sure if Wix is the best option.
Regards
Thank you
Hi Jose,
There’s no reason why a website made on Wix should perform worse than a WordPress website in the search engine results pages (SERPS).
Google have explicitly said that they don’t penalize Wix sites, so using Wix should not harm your chances of getting to position 1. We look at this in more detail in this conversation.
What you do need to consider is:
– the relevancy of your content to the audience you want to attract
– length and detail of your content
– whether your content is focused enough on keyword driven topics (e.g. do all your headers and titles back up the theme of the page?)
– whether your metadata is updated and optimized
– the structure of your website and pages
– what websites link back to your own website?
There are lots of factors that contribute to getting you a higher ranking. The above list is just a start, but it’s a good guide of what to keep an eye out for.
Hope that helps,
Tom
Really helpful! Thank you very much.
Really great Summary, thank you!!
Any chance you could do a similar summary for the best website builder to use for a not for profit website?
Many Thanks
Hi Toby,
The best place to start would be with our website builder comparison chart, which compares some of the best builders on the market.
Off the top of my head, I’d suggest looking at Wix , Weebly and Squarespace for starters.
Thanks,
– Tom
Wow thank you this article is so interesting
Awesome article! Yesterday my friend was showing me how cool and easy to use is Wix. I had been a SquareSpace customers for few years now… I have to say I am happy with them, so will stick with them.
Yes, Wix is easy and pretty…But needing a website as a business card I really need something sleek and uber responsive.
I have been reading few posts to know if I should change ship… But now I won’t!
Cheerio!
Hey ZetaFirst,
Thanks for the nice feedback, glad you found the discussion interesting.
I agree that Squarespace’s templates can be a bit sleeker than Wix’s, so if you’ve found what works for you then that is great!
Otherwise, Wix’s editor can give you a bit more drag & drop freedom than Squarespace’s, so if you were ever looking for a bit more versatility and simplicity then Wix would be worth a look.
Thanks
– Tom
This was a wonderful summary – incredibly helpful. Thank you!
Hey Whitney,
Great to hear you found the discussion useful.
Feel free to share on social media using the buttons up on the left if you think others could benefit too – It’s great way of paying it forward!
– Tom
After all that your conclusion is to try both? Not! The article was great and you told us about things I didn’t know I needed to look at or know about. I’ll be going with Squarespace. Thank you!
Hi V,
Both Wix and Squarespace will suit different types of people, especially in how they work and manage their website.
It’s always worth trying both platforms if they offer free trials. This can help you familiarize yourself with each before making a (potentially financial) commitment to one or the other.
Great to know you found the discussion useful. Best of luck with your website,
– Tom
I think I’m going to try Squarespace for my own website – simply because a small business I was working at used Wix and it drove me mad. :) The main problem, I believe, was that whoever had started using Wix had not chosen the template and site structure well, so it was an enormous pain to add content and edit. And of course, you can’t change your Wix template without rebuilding!
It may have been the company’s older computer, but I also found many glitches while editing for long periods of time. Fortunately I didn’t usually lose any content, but I found myself having to close my browser and log in again to regain functionality quite often. The way that EVERYTHING is drag-and-drop in Wix can be quite hard on your browser and computer’s resources, since it builds up layers and layers of items on each page.
Anyway, thank you for the summary! Now I know there’s no huge glaring problems with Squarespace, so I will give them that 14-day try to see what I think.
Hi Linds,
I totally understand your frustrations – Wix can be a pain if you don’t get on with the template that has been chosen, and I imagine it’s even more frustrating when it wasn’t you who chose the template.
I haven’t heard or seen any glitches when using the editor for a longer period of time, so that’s a little odd. Did you contact Wix support about this issue?
I don’t think it is the number of layers you are using in the editor that is affecting your browser’s performance as although that is how the site appears to you (i.e. layers + media), to the computer it is just a collection of data, which can build up when using the Wix editor but it’s no more intensive than streaming a movie or TV show in the scheme of things. Don’t forget these glitches and lags can also be caused by pushing your computer’s processing power too hard, so that is a consideration to bear in mind (I know I always have to try and get a better spec laptop than I think I need just to give myself some processing wiggle room).
Squarespace is also a drag and drop builder, so see how you get on with it, hopefully you’ll find it smoother sailing.
Best
– Tom
Mr. Wong, Thanks so much for all of the helpful comparisons. I have been going crazy trying to figure out all of the pros and cons myself, and your comparison lays them out very clearly, KUDOS! Thanks again for the great info!
Hey Rachel,
Thanks for reading , glad you found the discussion and Jeremy’s insights so helpful.
– Tom
Hi Jeremy,
Thank you for the in depth review of Squarespace and WIX. I am currently in the process of trying to choose a website builder. I like the look of Squarespace and the unlimited bandwidth but I also like all the options it appears WIX offers. For me, I am really concerned about some key functions: can I have a blog, can I have videos, can I sell items, and would I be able to link podcasts to my site. Do either Squarespace or WIX fail to offer any of these functions? Are you also able to link social media to either? Does WIX allow you to have a professional email with your domain name like Squarespace does? Thank you for taking the time ti answer. Best Wishes
Hi Jeremy,
It’s great to hear that you found the discussion useful.
Now I don’t know how useful this will be for you…but both Wix and Squarespace offer everything that you need – You’re literally spoiled for choice, which is an envable position to be in!
I’d recommend doing a bit more reading into Wix and Squarespace (I’ve linked to our in-depth reviews there for you).
Otherwise, I would honestly recommend that you give the free trial a go on both Wix and Squarespace and seeing how you get on using them, then go from there!
– Tom
Hey guys, really useful article, thanks!
A question: I know that in Wix certain features (such as form builder) are only available in the more expensive subscriptions and only if paying annually, not paying by the month. Is it the same for Squarespace? Or are all features available for all plans?
Hi Brendan,
You can access all features on Squarespace regardless of the plan you are using. However, if you want custom features that aren’t available by default then it can be a a little tricky on Squarespace as most custom features require you to use and edit ‘custom blocks’.
It’s probably worth giving the 14-day Squarespace trial a go and seeing how you get on and whether the available features cover your needs.
Hope that helps,
Tom
Thanks! I learned a lot from this article – especially the note about the ability to change themes in squarespace without losing content, vs the loss of content in wix. That’s important to me, bc I have found in the past I like to try new things after a couple of years.
Hey BA,
Great to hear you found the article so helpful, we always love to hear positive feedback for our content so thank you.
Good luck testing out some new ideas – it’s always the most fun part!
Feel freee to share this article using the social media icons above on the left. It really helps to spread the word, plus you never know who else you might help out.
– Tom
Thanks so much for this great analysis – am just working out which platform to use for a new business and this has been so helpful! I will test both out.
Hey Helen,
Great to hear you found our analysis helpful. Let us know how you get on testing out both Wix and Squarespace, it will be interesting to see which you prefer.
Thanks for joining the discussion. Feel free to give us a hand by sharing the article using the social buttons above, we really appreciate it (and who knows, one of your friends might find it handy too!)
– Tom
I just got squarespace and I am highly satisfied. My sister has Wix and she also likes it. I was attracted to squarespace because Joe Rogan has always promoted it.
I can safely say Squarespace is an incredible builder. You can essentially customize everything (although the hardest thing I have had trouble figuring out is if the typefaces can be changed, as they can but NOT for ALL of the places where type is permitted), and all it takes is a little bit of practice to figure it out; this is why it is imperative that you sign up JUST TO TRY the free trial! You can essentially build your website during the free-trial before launch.
Excellent article; I have started a squarespace with a paid domain and I have a google suite business
no. yet, I find it a bit clunky on my MAC and thought WIX may be more friendly for drop and drag.
Also, Question: can I use the domain and host paid for for Wix? I have NOT launched the squarespace yet. I also need great SEO.! How do I do that? Great info. Sir.
Hi Vicki,
Glad you found the article useful!
Wix has a very easy-to-use drag and drop interface, which you may find a bit easier to use on your Mac. I would also suggest Weebly as another alternative as it also has an intuitive builder.
It’s free to transfer your existing domain to Wix – that’s not a problem and is covered in the Wix Support Center. There shouldn’t be an issue with hosting either because Squarespace will host your Squarespace website, while Wix will host your Wix website – that is part of their service and part of what makes these builders so valuable for non-technical users.
For advice on SEO, I’ll point you towards this series of articles, which will prove handy.
– Tom
Thanks for the article. Very helpful
Hi Jeremy,
Great article, thank you! I am wondering if Wix (and/or Squarespace) allow you to post the website link externally, such as in an email blast. Since the site is hosted by Wix, can it live in an external channel and still be clickable to the site? I’d like to drive traffic to it through this tactic but am afraid it won’t work. Would love your thoughts.
Thank you!
Hi Nancy,
What I think you’re asking is whether you can include a hyperlink back to your website from an email send out? If so, then absolutely you can! Just because your site is hosted by Wix doesn’t mean it can’t be accessed by your visitors from other avenues.
If you’ve still got concerns, why not check out Wix Shout, which is Wix’s easy-to-use newsletter feature.
– Jeremy
Wow, excellent in-depth review that appears unbiased thank you! And great to find something that’s current as well. I’ll certainly be sharing this. Love to see reviews on wordpress and opencart!
Thanks Kaz for your kind words!
It really means a lot to hear positive feedback from our readers.
Feel free to share this post on social media if you think others will benefit too!
– Tom
Hello Jeremy,
I appreciate this article a lot. I am about to start a service business in which I would like for clients to purchase their service packets online. However, I am not that technologically savvy. I am way more familiar with Wix, as I currently use it for assignments in grad school. But, I find it a little difficult to use. If I struggle with Wix, do you think I will struggle with Squarespace? I just want a simple website, at most an about page, service page and purchase page. I just need a professionally-looking site until I can afford to have someone design my dream site. Oh, and I have purchased my domain site through Squarespace, even though I haven’t started my free trial. Any recommendations or advice?
Thanks,
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
Have you tried using Squarespace yet? They offer a free trial period, so you can compare your experiences with Wix directly.
If you are not looking to build a very advanced website (sounds like you’re going to keep your website simple as per your comment), then both Wix and Squarespace can get the job done just fine. It really comes down to your personal preference.
Give Squarespace a try (free trial) and see how you like it?
Jeremy
Thank you, Jeremy. I will.
If I wanted to say upload photos or a blog via cellphone/tablet which website would let me do this? Thanks
Hey Julia,
Both Wix and Squarespace offer mobile apps in which you can create / manage your blog posts.
Check out footnote 20 on our website builder comparison review and you’ll find more information there.
I hope this helps!
Jeremy
Good read and informative. I am currently a Squarespace user but at the end of the day I love to have a definitive yes to Wix or Squarespace. If one is to choose for functionality, looks and cost which is the overall winner? Still not sure. At this time I do not doubt Squarespace. They continue to be reliable but as technology changes so must we keep up with the current tech that can be helpful. This is why I sought to read this article.
Hi Jeremy, I am a 54 year old woman who is a computer idiot. I use my IPad for my business Facebook page for all the photos and such.
I also have a shop on Etsy.com. I sell tea Wares. I want to start a blog about Tea and connect my shop to the blog so I can sell my items away from Etsy. I need to be able to take all credit cards too. I have no idea where to start.
I purchased my domain name from domain monster and I tried moving it over to Wix but had trouble doing that.
I also at one time inadvertently signed up for the free trial on square space so I don’t have that opportunity any more.
I really am the true definition of the blind leading the blind. I have no idea as what to do. I did start my template for my blog on Wix but like I said, I had trouble moving my domain name over. What do you think a computer dummy as myself should do? Wix or Square or another platform? The Blog is important to me and so is being able to sell items and taking credit cards. Thanks so much, Judith
Hello Judith,
Thanks for your comment. I think you’re on the right track in trying to diversify some business away from Etsy, instead of having “all your eggs in one basket”, so to speak.
1) We have a guide about Etsy here and how you can integrate it with Wix. Wix offers you an app to do this.
2) Domain Name – You don’t have to migrate your domain name from your registrar (Domain Monster) to Wix. You can just connect it from Domain Monster to your Wix website. We have a domain name guide here that will go over the pros and cons. Wix’s support center will also have tutorials on how you can connect your domain name (without having to transfer it into Wix).
3) Squarespace – I think you can re-activate your account just by signing into it. Alternatively, you can always sign up for a new trial account using a different email address.
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy for getting back to me so quickly. In your opinion, which one do you think would be best for me, I really am at a loss? I know you don’t know my needs but which one do you think is best for a person who isn’t computer literate? I don’t know if I link my Etsy to Wix, will Etsy still get a commission from my sales.. I know I will have to read up on it. That’s what I want to avoid. Also, what do you think about WordPress over wix and Square? The Blog is very important to me too and I know WordPress has the ability for blogs.
Thanks again,
Judith
Hey Judith,
I’m not entirely sure if Etsy will take a commission from you if you sold products on your Wix website (but through the Etsy app). I think that’s a really good question to ask. Let me know what you find.
As for WordPress, it’s really a fantastic platform and offers you almost unlimited flexibility. However, one caveat is that you’ll have to be pretty technically savvy in order to use it effectively (or have a budget to hire someone to help you).
If you don’t mind climbing a fairly steep learning curve and actively managing the technical side of operating a website, WordPress is a good option.
The benefit of using a “managed” website builder such as Wix or Squarespace is that their support team takes care of the technical and administrative side of maintaining a website.
We have comparison guides here and here, where we discuss the pros / cons of using Wix or Squarespace versus WordPress.
Hope you find them helpful!
Jeremy
Thanks so much. I appreciate your help.
This was super helpful! Thank you for taking the time to put all this information together and share!
Jeremy,
I currently have a small side photography business and I’m looking to expand. I have used Squarespace thru the free trial and find that the interface is easy to use, so I assume working with Wix would be easy for me as well. As I have a goal of future growth, would you advise one over the other in terms of business opportunity linked into the site? For some reason I feel that Squarespace has more offers, but maybe I am wrong. Would love your input.
Thanks so much for this article, it really is valuable!
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
I think Wix offers you a larger pool of tools at your disposal and they have a larger library of templates.
Squarespace also has gorgeous designs and they have a bit more flexibility in terms of being able to export most of your content into a WordPress site if you choose to migrate your website later down the road.
Wix introduces interesting, functional and design-oriented features fairly often and Squarespace doesn’t introduce new tools very often. So there are definitely pros and cons.
I think a lot more photographers go with Squarespace as their website builder seems to be more aligned with portfolio-oriented users.
If you feel very comfortable with Squarespace, then go with them. But you can always sign up for a free account with Wix to get some hands-on experience using them. You’ll get a much better sense of which website builder is better suited for your needs.
Jeremy
Huge help!!! Thank you:)
Great article and comparison,
I’m a small hotel which would offer me the most functions such as online booking apps. Keep up.the good work !
Hi Paul,
Wix has dedicated tools for hotels and B&B’s. Take a look at this discussion.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy –
Which of these two platforms allows for paid membership areas? or paid membership – watch videos? I do like Wix as the price points of entry is much lower than Squarespace but, if in the end I can’t make my videos available to paid users only then it doesn’t work for me. Would love your thoughts!
Thanks!
Hey Gemi,
Unfortunately, neither Wix nor Squarepace give you the ability to charge members monthly subscription fees. Wix does allow you to create members where they can access members-only pages, but you can’t charge them fees for this access, yet.
One option is to check out Sentry Login. They are a premium membership tool and I think it can integrate with both Wix and Squarespace. Apparently they can turn your website into a paid membership website.
Jeremy
Hey Jeremy, Great article. I have a question regarding Squarespace. If I chose to go with Squarespace, would there be any advantage (cost or otherwise) to setting up a domain and G Suite directly through Google first and then setting up a Squarespace account after?
Thanks again for taking the time to provide all the helpful info.
Hi Keith,
There are pros and cons with getting your domain name and email (G Suite) separately, versus getting these services through Squarespace (or other drag and drop website builders that offer these features).
Cost aside, it’s also a matter of convenience and control. We go over these in detail in our domain name guide here.
Hope the guide helps!
Jeremy
This was very helpful. Thank you so much!
Thank You! Great side-by-side and this is exactly the sort of thing I have been looking for to help me pick.
As an additional note / update Google has now partnered with Squarespace. Previously when you registered through Google for your domain purchase, registration and services they just gave a list of popular website builder/host companies for that aspect of your development.
Bottom line is that Squarespace websites should be much higher in Google search rankings by default as long as this partnership is in effect (whether one agrees with that Google policy or not is open to debate.)
Thank you for this very good article. In the past I’ve used several platforms for building my sites.
Lately I switched from wix to squarespace. The main reason was, that Squarespace looks automatically good on every device. That saves a lot of time, because at wix I always had to use the mobile editor to get this side in a good shape for mobile viewing. And when if I did, on tablets with wix you’ll see just the website view like on PC. Also squarespace is faster on mobile devices, which I consider as very important.
Having the freedom of putting anything everywhere, like it is with wix, can also let you run into a style trap. With squarespace the user is more limited, but their templates come generally with a very good taste and look.
Warm regards all over from germany, Mario
Hello Mario,
Thank you for your comment and sharing your experiences with us.
If you use Squarespace and create blog posts, they have AMP activated which enables your blog posts to load lightening fast if your visitors find your posts on a Google search. That’s very advantageous as people generally don’t like to wait for webpages to load nowadays. But just be aware that this is only activated when your blog posts are found in Google search results.
I also agree with you in terms of the templates. Squarespace’s designs are more stylish, but Wix offers more variety.
Wix also allows you complete freedom of placing content anywhere on your webpages. But I can see how this can be challenging for some users if they go over-board in over-designing.
Thanks for your comment!
Jeremy
I love squarespace, but last year they stopped their transfer in a preexisting domain name service. You hv to buy the domain from squarespace & then build a website. This limits their usability as a website builder.
Hi Frank,
You don’t have to transfer your domain name to the website builder (such as Squarespace). You can actually connect your domain name from your domain name registrar to Squarespace. If you visit Squarespace’s support portal and search for “domain name” you’ll find instructions.
We also have a beginners guide to domain names which will explain how this all works.
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
great site to help out with the difference bt builders and what to consider
great job with this!!
Thank you so, so much for the very thorough comparison! This was extremely helpful and your article was very well done.
Hi Jeremy,
Thank you for this concise article. It has definitely helped me move toward favoring one site builder over the other. One aspect that I have yet to figure out and hopefully you can help with is, what about SEO advantages? I must preface this by stating that I am sadly quite computer illiterate and so this may not make sense. I am a small business owner running my own massage practice and want to try my hardest to get on the first page of my local web searches for massage. Would one of the two aforementioned sites be better for that? Or how does that work?
Also, I have a client who is doing some back end SEO work with keywords and he is suggesting I go with a friend of his who is a web designer that wants to charge me $2000 to revamp my sad and unresponsive existing website. My naive self wants to say “no way, I’ll go with a builder like WIX or Squarespace and just have him plug in-or what ever the lingo is-those keywords and roll with that. What are your thought?
Thanks So Much Jeremy!
Christiane
Hey Christiane,
We have a guide to website builder SEO which you might find insightful. Hopefully it will point in the right direction
Jeremy
Good job Jeremy.
Crucial things that need mention are the build your store possibility with SS and their added security.
The add-ons on WIX.
Domain prices after first year for each?
Multiple account logins?
Very useful article.
Guillermo
Thank you, Guillermo.
Both Squarespace and Wix have SSL enabled websites so your websites are property encrypted.
Relating to Wix add-on’s or apps, that’s a great point. Wix offer hundreds of apps for you to bolt on to your website, if you want to expand the functionality of your website. We have a discussion about that here.
For domain prices after the first year (you get a domain name for free if you sign up to Wix or Squarespace’s annual plan), the renewal rate is $14.95 per year ($24.85 if you include privacy registration), and $20 for Squarespace (including privacy registration).
You can also invite multiple contributors to your website with both website builders.
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
This article was extremely helpful. Now, I’m going to try both before making a decision. I’ve had a website up with both platforms, but did not do the actual building. My former business partner, a graphic designer, did a poor job in creating both sites and they didn’t do the job. Now, I have an actual web designer as a partner and she’s going to help me make an informed decision. I’m going to share this eye-opening article with her.
Thanks!
CT
Thanks for sharing this with us, Charles. Glad you found our comparison helpful.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for the comparison! Super helpful!
Beginner with no experience here! – I am wondering about backing up content, both content and images, is that possible with wix or squarespace? If not, is there a service that provides that option? I saw a comment below that mentioned longevity….I have been wondering about that as well, which lead me to this question.
Thank you!!! Michelle
Hello Michelle,
Wix and Squarespace allow you to restore your website if you make mistakes. So technically that means you have your content backed up.
Take a look at our website builder comparison chart (see footnote 13) for more details.
Jeremy
This was SO helpful! I am going with Squarespace!
Hello Jeremy,
I’ve been trying to look into a few different website builders and one of the common features I don’t quite see clearly spelled out is “Do you have to use their templates?” Can you use a third-party template? I found some amazing designs from a different website I considered purchasing, but I don’t see Wix or Squarespace allowing that because of their in house support Can I safely assume you will redirect me to WordPress?
Thanks! :)
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer,
If you want to import a premium template and use a drag & drop website builder, then Weebly is an option for you. You can see our review of Weebly here.
If you search for “weebly templates”, you’ll find a few premium template providers out there.
And of course, there are tons of premium templates available for WordPress users!
Jeremy
Ok. I read the review. You mentioned that the templates are very limited (to font a color scheme). What if I used a third-party template that promises all these customization options – would it be difficult to customize them with Weebly’s limited interface?
I will be using this for a small video services business.
Thanks! :)
Generally speaking, any non-Weebly built customizations will have to be done in the codes. Weebly’s interface does allow you to access the HTML and CSS of the template you are using.
So it really depends on whether the third party template provide you with the coding instructions to customize the design. Maybe you can ask them directly?
Jeremy
Good afternoon Mr. Wong,
Thank you very much for your knowledge sharing.
Which would you recommend for professional counseling services.
Thank you,
Hello Dr. Al,
Take a look at some of the templates offered by Wix. They have a broad selection of designs from various industries so you might find one that’s suitable.
Further, Wix offers a tool called Wix Bookings which allows you to offer the ability for your website visitors to book appointments and pay through your website. I’m assuming that might be helpful to you?
Jeremy
Good morning Mr. Wong,
Indeed, thank you very much.
Best regards,
Thank you for this comparison. This information was very helpful. Although I would have preferred to get an overall answer as to which site was the best I appreciate the encouragement to explore the sites independently.
Hello Sandy,
I think which website builder is the best is a bit subjective as it depends on what you’re looking for. But very generally speaking, I personally feel that Wix is better than Squarespace on an overall basis.
But if you want a very design-oriented website (especially if you are a photographer, artist, or just someone who wants a very visually oriented website), then Squarespace is worth checking out.
One way forward is to sign up to both Wix and Squarespace and invest some time to exploring how it is like to use them before making a decision. Each user has his/her own preferences and so one website builder might resonate more with the user.
Jeremy
Hi: This is the most comprehensive guide that I have read, thank you for your review. I currently have a site that was built by a friend, but I want to take charge of it and manage it. It is a family ranch site that will be informational in nature on our animals. Nothing fancy but heavy on images and profiles. After reading your reviews I would be comfortable with either however the flexibility you mention to change with Squarespace has me leaning towards them. I will give both a trial run and then decide which way to go. Would you recommend one over the other where for a site like mine which is focused more on images and video for presentation and information purposes?
Hello Jacob,
Thanks for your comment. To be honest, I think both Wix and Squarespace have the tools to get the job done. It really comes down to how much you enjoy working with each one of them (they both have different user-interfaces) and if you can find a suitable design template to work with. So both will provide you with different experiences.
I think you’re on the right track in trying out both of them. That’s the best way to determine which website builder you prefer to work with.
Jeremy
Does google punish Wix site because they are not responsive? How does a non responsive site effect the SEO?
Hi Nick,
I don’t think so. Websites built using Wix are mobile ready. They have a dedicated mobile editor so when your visitors see your website on their mobile devices, it will be mobile friendly. Have a look at our mobile comparison guide here.
I don’t think Google specifically said that websites must be mobile “responsive”. They will be given preference if they are mobile ready. There are a lot of very highly ranked, authoritative websites out there that are not mobile responsive. They are mobile friendly, though, as they have their own custom mobile designs.
Jeremy
I think in squarespace you cannot remove the square space logo at the bottom of your website. But in Wix you can Is that right??.. i know its not a big thing but people can see that you have just used a service to create the website.
Hi Kaush,
You can definitely remove the Wix or Squarespace logos from your website, if you upgrade to their premium plans. With Wix, you’ll have to upgrade to at least their Combo plan.
Jeremy
Thank you very much for this helpful information! I initially judged based on user interface and I really just liked how Squarespace had some kind of “Apple look” so-to-speak. But after reading this article I feel I am most likely proceeding with Wix. Wix is just so much easier to work with. And I mean hey, Wix is still pretty gorgeous (specially if you know what you’re doing).
And man I am cooking something up at the Wix site right now and I am very excited to see the final result. I think that I should only start paying once I feel that my site (graphic design portfolio) is ready for launch. I don’t think I can take my time with Squarespace 14-day trial.
And again thanks for the additional information like pricing, customer support and bandwidth. All super helpful. And it’s so much more convenient seeing a quick, honest and detailed review side by side.
5-stars!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Vin.
Yes, definitely take your time with Wix and you’re not in a rush to upgrade until you are ready. They don’t have a time limit on their free plan.
Good luck with your website!
Jeremy
Thank you for your comparison review. It feels very unbiased and objective. You seemed to answer any question that might come up before it was asked. The main topics you touched on helped me come to a decision on which route for me to take, without feeling pushed in either direction. Thank you!
Thank you for this overview. Very helpful. Can you comment on WIX vs Squarespace SEO effectiveness?
Hey Keith,
Take a look at our website builder SEO guide here. It will go into details about the basics of SEO that you should be aware of, and also benchmarks the SEO features of Wix and Squarespace.
Here is also a website builder comparison chart that directly compares these two website builders too.
Hope you find these resources helpful!
Jeremy
Brilliant article with loads of useful information and comparisons that were not biased.
Thanks for this and keep up the great work
Thank you, Tosin. Glad you found this comparison helpful!
Jeremy
Wonderful write up!
Thanks!
I have used Wix for three years. I have gotten used to it. But I need a new platform becasue Wix has gotten boring ;)
I am now in the process of creating a webpage based on our Email Group which shares ideas and helping others on what they need and etc.
On the site we would like to add galleries for weekly event pictures of events around our community. (so bandwidth can be crucial here). And many other community initiatives.
Eventually people would want to place their ads on the site. (which they will send to me and I can post it)
Is Wix or Squarespace in your vast experience and knowlegde good for what I am trying to accomplish?
Thank so much!
Hello Ben,
I think both Wix and Squarespace can get the job done. So it really comes down to if you prefer Squarespace’s user interface and specific tools. Have you had a chance to sign up for a free trial? Just to get a good feel for what they offer.
Also, could you elaborate what you mean by getting “boring”? Are you just looking for a new experience? Or are some of the features you’re looking for are not being offered?
But it sounds like you’re having fun, which is awesome!
Jeremy
Thank you – I needed this review. Well done. Would have liked to have seen comparison information on transferring a domain to either Wix or SquareSpace.
Hello Rene,
The domain transfer process is relatively similar. The motion you’ll need to go through to have your domain name released from your current domain name registrar will be the same, but the final transfer address to either Wix or Squarespace will be different.
Both Wix and Squarespace have tutorials in their support center on how to do this.
You might want to read our guide on domain names to determine if it is the best decision for you to transfer your domain name to the website builders. There are pros and cons.
Jeremy
I work for a small community bank. I’m researching a web builder to host the brochure side of our site. It will require a login box (that will send them to a separate secure site) for customers to do e-banking. Would you have concerns with either of these companies for this purpose?
Hey Wes,
I was just wondering, if you want to send visitors to another secure site to performing e-banking services, why don’t you set the website up to just directly send people to the secure site, without them having to log in?
It’s safer and more secure for people to log into their accounts directly on a secured site that has security levels that matches the need for banks. I’m not entirely sure if website builders will be able to match the security levels that is suitable for e-banking.
You can definitely use either Wix or Squarespace to build a website for advertisement / brochure purposes. But I would suggest that you just link from this website to your e-banking login page (which is simple and doable with Wix or Squarespace). No need for your visitors to log in.
Jeremy
Thank you for the comparison. I’m not sure, but I was told that in 2017, if a website doesn’t have SSL incorporated into their page, Google may block the entire website. Does both Wix & SquareSpace offer SSL security on their sites? Or can you add an SSL, if they don’t?
Hi there,
That’s actually misinterpreted (sorry to say!) There are a lot of mis-information floating around the web so we all need to be a bit careful about that! So I’m glad you posted your question.
The latest update from Google is that if your page involves a login function (such as if people are required to login as a member), and if the page is not SSL protected, then the Google Chrome browser will highlight to the visitor that the webpage is not SSL protected.
Note that:
1) This only occurs on pages where there is a login function.
2) The warning (if any) only takes place if the visitor is using the Chrome browser.
Of course, no one can predict if Google is going to take this up another notch and make SSL mandatory for all pages (including non-login pages). I’m not sure why they would do that for pages where the visitor is not required to submit any personal / private information such as passwords.
If that happens, I’m pretty sure all website builders such as Wix and Squarespace will adapt as necessary.
But to answer your other question directly, all webpages created by Squarespace can be SSL protected. They offer this feature right now.
Jeremy
This article and comparison was incredibly insightful, informative, and helpful! Thanks! (I think I may go Squarespace….I’m a novice, and you helped give me perspective with the “Bandwidth” comparison.
Hey TJP,
Glad our comparison here helped! Good luck with building out your website!
Jeremy
Great comparison but I do believe you should of have included SEO capabilities. I know some people may think that there is not much of a need to compare but there are differences.
For example: on Wix sure you can change the name of the web page URL but you cannot change the name of each individual product URL in the Wix store, which is very crucial if your site is e-commerce centric.
Also, I know that some website builders do not allow you to customize all Header texts (Wix does, fortunately), or how you cannot import your very own Sitemap.XML I created with a third party but rather forced to use the one Wix provides.
All in all, we’ve been using Wix for just over 3 months now and we still really like it. The biggest concern is the individual product page name in the Wix shop. If you have any suggestions on how to fix that it would be amazing. Considering individual products make up 80% of our pages (URL) this is crucial for SEO…
example:
– http://imgur.com/a/sJtlj
– We are ‘www.lenmark.com , and our immediate competition is Coast.
– See how ours is gibberish, and theirs is the name along with some specs (voltage)?
P.S.
A really good thing that Wix (among many awesome features!) is that they have a place where you can vote for updates and features that you would like to see implemented on the site builder! In my case, we have actually been chosen for feedback and to test automatic shipping calculator feature that they are looking at implementing.
This will literally change the way we operate. Currently, we are limited to being contacted since the merchandise we ship comes in such a wide array of sizes and dimensions (we sell new and used industrial machinery and components: forklifts, lathes, motors, compressors, pumps, etc. etc,)
Awesome feedback, Eric! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us!
I also like how Wix is actively seeking feedback and that they have a structured process in place to allow people to request features. Although not every feature request will be created for practical reasons, it really does show that Wix is improving incrementally.
Wix has been consistently adding new and improved features to their platform. That’s one of the bright spots about Wix. You can actually see their list of updates here.
Jeremy
Jeremy,
I was super impressed by your comparison, just wanted to express my appreciation for your thorough and helpful review.
Sincerely,
Thank you, Kimball. Glad you enjoyed our comparison here.
Please do share it with others who might find this guide helpful. I’d really appreciate it!
Jeremy
Hello,
I an extreme amateur and I am putting together a site for a non-profit organization. These are the two web builders that I have narrowed it down too, what it may rely on is how people will be able to donate to the organization. We would like to use PayPal, do either of these hosts allow a PayPal collaboration of sorts?
Thank you
Hi Brandy,
Wix’s ecommerce features can be integrated with PayPal. However, they don’t have a donation function. What you can do is get the embed codes for the PayPal donation button from PayPal, then insert it into your Wix page using their “HTML Code” function. That way, a donation button will appear and people can click on it to donate. You can sign up to a free account and test that out.
For Squarespace, they do have a specific donation function, but their payment collection is powered by Stripe (not PayPal). It’s straightforward to setup a Stripe account and the money gets deposited directly into your bank account after a few days.
Jeremy
I’ve built several sites using Wix and love the ease and flexibility in building pages. But when I build new sites that require new URLs, even if I follow Wix’s instructions, the sites do not show up in Google searches. A friend told me that that is a huge problem and I should stop using Wix and use SS instead because Wix sites are hard to find. I don’t know a lot about SEO so maybe it’s me.
Hi Elizabeth,
Having your webpages show up in search results is not “automatic” per se. It does require you to promote your pages and there are a lot of good discussions about SEO if you search for them on Google. Picking one website builder over another does not mean you’ll pop up on the top of the search results!
We also have a guide on website builder SEO here, which will give you a basic understanding of some of the issues you should be aware of.
Jeremy
Jeremy,
Thanks for the review. Great insight into the core considerations. Appreciate it.
Wondering if you can provide your perspective in two additional areas:
1. Versioning and analytics
2. Capturing visitor data
1. Versioning and Analytics: Our intent is to use Wix or Squarespace to create landing pages (to be used with paid search, email and Facebook marketing) for lead generation. We will want to test different versions of landing pages to determine which converts traffic into leads at a higher rate. Can you provide your thoughts as to which may serve our needs better?
2. Capturing Visitor Data: My vision is to use Wix or Squarespace to create landing pages (to be used with paid search, email and Facebook marketing) for lead generation. Landing pages will provide more info to the visitor and encourage them to answer a 3-7 multiple choice questions, and provide their contact info. This data will be captured and followed up on by a sales force. Can you provide your thoughts as to which may serve our needs better?
Michael,
If you’re handy with Google Analytics and crunching raw data, you probably only need to use Google Analytics.
But there are landing page software / tools, such as LeadPages, where they allow you to create landing pages very quickly and will automatically provide statistics on conversion rates, allow you to split test different versions of your landing pages to see which one performs better, etc.
It’s a paid tool, but is quite powerful and might save you a lot of time.
Jeremy
JW!!! Incredibly valuable! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Jeremy, this was a great review. Thank you so much… this made choosing a lot easier!
Great! Glad we can be helpful to you.
Jeremy
Hiya. Thanks for this great review. I had no idea what Squarespace was until I looked up alternatives to Wix when I noticed a few problems that have already been listed below. My major issue with Wix is the fact they Do Not give you an SSL Certificate. Thankfully I noticed it before I made a major error in judgement. On the other hand Squarespace automatically offers you an SSL Certificate when you buy from them and their rates don’t change the next year. I’m now thinking of trying Squarespace :)
Hey there,
Good point. Although I think that unless you require your website visitors to input sensitive information (such as email, address, credit card information), there isn’t a need for SSL. But if you do ask your visitors for those information, SSL is definitely helpful.
If you use Wix to sell products, their check out / payment page does come with SSL (provided by the payment processor). So your customers’ private information in that regard is protected.
Jeremy
Hi
I am curious as to how long these sites will be around?
Will they be outdated in a short time?
Sorry if this is a novice question ?
Brooke
Hi Brooke,
This is actually a good and fair question. Nobody wants to rely on a business if it is not established and won’t be around for a long time!
In my view, both Wix and Squarespace have been around for years, and will be around for many years to come.
Wix has been around since 2006 (so 10 years as of today), and Squarespace was founded in 2004 (12 years as of today).
I know it’s not decades, but considering how fast the internet is evolving and growing, they’re “veterans”!
Jeremy
Hello Shari,
You can build websites with Wix and Squarespace on your desktop browser. So it doesn’t matter which version of Windows you ares using. You just open your web browser, log on either your Wix or Squarespace account and you can start making your website. You do need to have an internet connection, though.
Both Wix and Squarespace are mobile ready, so your visitors can definitely visit your website on their mobile devices. Wix has a separate dedicated mobile editor, and Squarespace’s templates are mobile responsive. We have more information about their differences here.
Squarespace provides you with a style editor so you can edit the design that way.
As for why people pick a drag & drop website builder, have a look at our discussion here.
Hiring a designer is a process that takes time and money. If money is not an issue for you, read our guide on how to hire web designers or developers.
Jeremy
Great article comparison. But I’m still unclear on a couple things. I own an art gallery and need to create a new website since Windows 10 made my website editing software unsupported! My main question is regarding mobilization. I don’t feel that I need to edit my website on a tablet/phone, but are customers still able to view my website on their tablet and phone using Wix. I feel being able to search our website on a phone or tablet is ultra important because that is how most people are obtaining information. I like the look of square space templates but they do look very contemporary. Can I change the background color from stark white to a softer white…Also, I would like about 7-8 tabs to click on to get different information from. The cost is not an issue for me. Also, why are people choosing a square space, Wix option instead of using a designer? What is the difference there? Thank you so much for your time.
Hey Shari, check out Masterpiece Solutions. They make websites and systems specifically for art galleries.
Your analyses are soooo helpful! I don’t like to make a big investment without proper knowledge, and your website has definitely helped me. Thanks for providing such details in so manny different ways. May God bless you and your work!
Thank you and I’m glad you found our comparison helpful!
Jeremy
I am learning a lot from your postings. 3 Questions:
1. Just how MUCH EASIER is it to use WIX than SQUARESPACE ?
2. And, just WHICH features, parts, processes (or whatever) are more difficult on Squarespace?
3. What accounts for that greater difficulty?
I am leaning strongly towards SquareSpace – but I don’t want to get myself into a mess.
Thank you.
Hey Kathleen,
Thanks for your note.
It’s hard to say exactly as it’s so subjective to evaluate how “much easier”.
I’d say in my own experience, Wix is easier. That’s the general feedback I get from people as well. That’s not saying Squarespace hard, just not as easy.
I think at the end of the day, I’d suggest you sign up for a free account with Wix and a free trial account with Squarespace and invest a few hours “playing” with each platform.
This hands-on experience will give you a much better sense of which platform works better for you. What works for others might not work for you!
Jeremy
You missed he most important part. You cannot effectively use squarespace on your mobile phone or iPad. When I travel I need to bring a computer. Wix is much easier to use on other devices.
Hello Jenny,
Thanks for your comment. Could you elaborate a bit more about what you mean?
Do you mean you can’t edit your Squarespace website on your mobile device?
They have Apps you can download for you to edit blog posts, track analytics and manage online sales (if you run an ecommerce store).
But if you are referring to building or editing your webpages, then yes you’ll need your laptop / desktop to do so.
Jeremy
Great comparison, Jeremy. Do you know which has better SEO capabilities? Thanks!
Hey Sandra,
Take a look at our comparison chart here.
Also, we have a guide on website builder SEO here which might be insightful to you.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Which would you recommend if I’m a working actor moving to Los Angeles? I’d like to keep my site relatively simple but professional – Photos / headshots, acting resume, links to films/commercials, and my reel. Maybe several pages in total.
I’m very involved with social media but have never built my own site before. Please help, thank you!
Hello there,
To be quite honest, I think either Wix or Squarespace can allow you to build a professional looking website. Personally I think Wix is a bit easier to use, but Squarespace’s design templates look awesome.
I think one thing you can consider doing, is signing up to both website builders and play around with them. That’s the only way you can gain some exposure to see which one you prefer working with.
But at the end of the day, both will get the job done well for you.
Jeremy
Hello,
I have built several sites with Wix. I have just begun a site with Squarespace and lIke it so far (not for first time builders IMO). Jeremy is right on point..Wix is a much easier platform to learn…on the other side is alot of the features you may want to incorporate (forms, restaurant online ordering, list building, etc) are extra monthly costs. Also, Wix (at this time) does not support redirecting to an external mobile site when users are on mobile devices. Squarespace allows a developer to implent their own code to accomplish many of these tasks if they choose.
-Mark
Hi Mark,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!
Jeremy
Hi,
I am after a platform that allows you to have a social community. Basically where users can create logins and search for other people, much like couchsurfing. Could you please advise which website would best suit this. I have had a look at wix and squarespace and they dont seem to have any similar plugins/functionality for this.
Thanks,
Peter
Hi Peter,
I think you’re right in that Wix and Squarespace don’t offer this feature (yet). Have you tried Google searching for “social network website builder” or something similar to that? A few options popped up when I searched.
Jeremy
You are looking for SOCIAL ENGINE.
Best,
Sir Robinson
Thank you Jeremy. This was SUPER helpful.
I’ve been using Wix for years. I considered using Squarespace but like the review said there was a higher learning curve so I always decided against it. I DO like how Wix allows you to edit the mobile version. On the other hand it *would be nice* to have a fully mobile responsive site.
It seems to me that Wix has more templates and may be better for the mom and pop shop or non-website designer. Squarespace has modern/minimalist templates which seems to lend themselves to fashion/ high end clothiers, swanky/ new-agey restaurants, photographers and elite hipster types. I would say Wix has a larger variety in terms of “looks” and templates for hotels (villas to B&B’s), health & wellness, education, etc.
On the other hand, I do agree that Squarespace has better designers — the templates are cleaner, more streamlined and just have an extra refined look.
The conclusion: Wix is best for non-designers and Squarespace may be easier for people with design backgrounds (until you get over the learning curve of course.) Wix is totally user-friendly and I’ve had good experiences with the Support team. Although I am a Wix fan, I must agree with Jeremy – “I just can’t help but admire Squarespace’s templates!”
Thanks again Jeremy for your detailed analysis. It really helped!!
Wow, thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lauren!
Your conclusion really summarizes and aligns with our thoughts as well. Your summary will really be helpful for our other readers as well!
Thanks SO much again!
Jeremy
I really enjoyed the article, extremely helpful. One question, I am looking to build a website with filters to enable potential customers to filter data to specific interests/tastes. Do either of these sites offer that functionality, if both do, which would you recommend?
Hey Scott,
Unfortunately, I’m not aware of a filtering tool for either Wix or Squarespace.
If that is a very important tool to you, something like WordPress will have this available.
But in terms of drag & drop builders, you will have to use something like Weebly. Weebly gives you access to its HTML & CSS codes, so you can custom code the function into the website (or hire someone to do that for you).
Jeremy
Wix uses Ajax crawling and I see Google responds less well to the wix SEO… What do you think???
Hey Howard,
I don’t think that is the case. Have a look at the SEO section in our review of Wix here.
Also, this website builder SEO guide might also be insightful for you.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy
With wix can I get my own domain and / or hosting service and if so, is this indeed preferable? ( ps. What if I try the plunge of learning WordPress … Can it be moved over to it?)
Last and pretty important , can I get display ads put on wix if a manufacturer wants to advertise directly with me? ( box or banner, I think they call them?). What about email???
Howard
Hi Howard,
If you use Wix, you won’t be able to migrate any content into WordPress.org. However, you can keep your domain name and connect it to your WordPress later, if you want to.
If you want a website builder that can have its content transferred into a WordPress site, Squarespace is a good choice to consider. Take a look at this guide here.
With Wix, you can certainly place image ads / banners into your website.
They also offer you the ability to connect to an email service that’s powered by Google. This information can be found on Wix’s site.
Jeremy
Great Article. Thank you. As my small business scales, can I easily upgrade my site with Square Space to take advantage of the increased capabilities?
Hello Michael,
Yes. You can upgrade / downgrade at any time. However, just note that Squarespace only offers you a 14-day trial period. So to continue using them, you’ll have to subscribe to at least their lowest plan.
With Wix, you can continue to build your website under their free plan (but with limitations, of course).
Jeremy
In the four differences you mentioned you left out the biggest difference which is huge and a real game changer for anyone interested in hoping to build a website for a business not just for play. That difference is that with WIX, once you have finished building your website and publish it to the web, you find out that WIX adds cryptic code to your URLs (called Ajax coding). Instead of having a clean, professional looking web address, you end up with confusing amateurish web addresses.
For instance if you make a website for a bakery called ABC Bakery and you have a page all about your bagels you would expect to have a web address that reads: ‘www.abc-bakery/bagels. Instead, it will read: ‘www.abc-bakery/#!bagels/c1bv3 Who could ever remember that crazy URL to tell a customer?
You WILL NOT find out about this problem until after you have spent all that time working on your site and publishing it to the web. Too late to change things! It is ruinous for a serious business that wants a professional looking website.
Interesting to note: WIX themselves do not use the Ajax system on their own website because they know that addresses like ‘www.abc-bakery/#!bagels/c1bv3 are terribly unprofessional. They sell a service that they do not use themselves.
If you want a serious, professional website DO NOT USE WIX.
Hi Marc,
Thanks for your comment. I agree and disagree with your comment.
Including those symbols in a URL could look a bit messy, and that’s why Wix has a “URL Cleaning” function where you can alter your webpage address to whatever you want it to be.
This pretty much solves the problem you are referring to.
Thanks,
Jeremy
I am a WIX user and have been frustrated with the Ajax thing in the URL as well! But I noticed that it seems to have gone now, WIX has probably finally fixed it! :)
Thanks for your article thou Jeremy, very useful! I have been trying to do a photography site in WIX but end up I keep changing mind on the template and yes – I have to redo the whole site.
So I went to wordpress but now I am thinking to give a try to squarespace after reading your comparison :)
Hey Davistiano,
Yup I think Wix did a good job in enabling you to customize your webpage addresses!
Give Squarespace a try and see what you think! The best way to understanding which website builder works best for you is to get some hands on experience!
Jeremy
thanks a lot Jeremy, the comparison was real help.
Thanks for your feedback Rahul!
Squarespace is not available in my country. Wix is. That was a pretty easy decision for me.
I have been told that Wix is less good in terms of Google and your SEO stuff – does anyone have any thoughts?
Hello Stuart,
We do have our own views about this. Take a look at the SEO discussion on our Wix review page here.
We also have another discussion about SEO for website builders in general here.
Hope these are helpful!
Jeremy
Great article! I’m still reading. Gentle little grammar check in section 4. I think you mean: “Who is more popular?” I followed you here from the wix vs. wordpress article and feel like I’m going with squarespaces now.
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for the note!
Glad we were able to point you in the right direction!
Jeremy
Thankyou for a great read and – just as informative q & a.
Appreciate everything I’ve been reading, always hard to find solid advice!.
Cheers
J
Thanks for your comment J!
Glad you found our discussions helpful.
Jeremy
Very well read article!
i was wondering if wanted to do articles, sell music and shirts and 3d printed objects, coupled with random self promotion/interpersonal promotion which would you recommend?/
Hi Dmar,
Wix might be interesting for you to test out, as they have a dedicated Music sales tool to help you sell your music. You can of course, sell other physical items that you mentioned with Wix’s ecommerce tools.
So worth exploring testing out Wix.
Jeremy
Will either one of these allow me to link my existing godaddy domain to the site that I create or do they force you to use their own service?
Hey Ricky,
Both Wix and Squarespace allow you to connect your domain name from GoDaddy (or other domain name registrars) to your website. So you are not forced to use their own domain name services. They just have that service out of convenience.
We have a guide on domain names which you might find helpful as well.
Jeremy
Great info. Thank you! I’m looking to build an ecommerce site for a storefront with online presence. As far as integrating a POS is there a benefit one over the other?
Hi Kyla,
If you want to integrate a Point of Sale (POS) system with your ecommerce online store, I’d suggest you take a look at Shopify (one of the best ecommerce builders today).
They have an in-house POS system that fully syncs with the online store that you build with their system. We have more discussion about that here.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Which would you recommend for a rock band? This would include a merch page to sell CDs and t-shirts? I’ve tried the 14 day trial with SQS and must admit it took some getting used to as I have no experience with sort of thing. The main issue I’m having is with listing the t-shirts. I’m able to list them but can’t seem to allow people to specify which size they want? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Hello Simon,
Take a look at Wix Music. Wix has specific tools for musicians to sell products online! I think you’ll like what you see.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy – thanks for the high level comparison. I’ve used Wix in the past and found it easy to use but there are limitations. The main sticking point I’m finding now is the inability to use a 3rd party testing site like Optimizely since I can’t insert the required code into the page. Does Squarespace allow this type of editing?
Hello Phil,
Sorry to hear that you can’t get Optimizely to work with Wix.
I just did a quick search and it looks like Optimizely will work with Squarespace, based on their tutorial here.
Jeremy
Btw… isnt it possible to build a website with wix just like one of those squarespace templets?
With Wix, you can position any content anywhere. So you can mimic pretty much any websites you see out there. Of course it won’t be perfect, but at least on the surface it will look similar.
The exception for mimicking a Squarespace website is that with Wix, their websites are not mobile responsive. Instead, you have a dedicated mobile editor where you can personalize how you want your Wix site to be displayed on mobile devices. We have more discussion about this here.
Jeremy
Good read. And good comments with q and a. Heres my experience. I do renders and animation. I use Maya,3dmax,zbrush and use Vray,maxwell,iray and mentalray for the final renders. Finally I use vega and premier for my editings. Now im launching a career with my skills and never learned any code but basic Ruby. So worth that being said, I searched and came across wix and squarespace.
I decided to go with squarespace due to the professional looking sites. But after playing with it for 3 days, im so sick of the user interface! Its not great and intuitive. Its a bit sluggish in response and i found that most of the templets are really similar to each other. Only major difference is the 4 or 5 templetes with parallax scrolling. But the rest are freaking the same in a way. I didn’t get that “ohh ahhh feeling from switching from one to the other.
So. .. i decided to give wix a try, HUGE DIFFERENCE! . The UI is far superior and responsive. And the blank templet gives you so much freedom than all the squarespace templets combined! So ill be using wix. Only thing I’m not too happy with wix is the seo everyone says sucks. But thats not the case like this article says. Also the lack of not injecting your own code bums me out but hell, i dont want to learn another program.
Thanks for your comment.
Wix does give you a lot more creative freedom over Squarespace. So if that works better for you, then keep testing out Wix.
I guess it’s really a matter of personal preference. Some people will like Squarespace more than Wix for different reasons, or vice versa.
As for getting a Wix website to rank well in search engines, yes a lot of people say that it’s “impossible”. But then, a lot of people also say it’s impossible to do a lot of things, yet time and time again we see that it is possible (with the right approach).
A lot of folks out there said to use WordPress instead because they rank well in search results, but that’s simply not the case. One can’t expect to use WordPress and automatically be ranked high in search results. It just doesn’t work that way, unfortunately!
A website builder is just a tool, and it’s how a person uses the tool that matters. Just because a person is handed the key to a Ferrari, doesn’t automatically make the person the best driver in the world!
We have more discussions about SEO in our FAQ page here.
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
Jeremy: Great summary and resource! Thanks. Very helpful. I am more familiar with Squarespace but after reading everything, I am inclined to check out WIX. Curious as to how the mobile/tablet editor works on WIX and how much it solves the responsive issue.
Hey Glenn,
Thanks for reading our discussion here. Wix’s mobile editor does not solve the mobile responsive issue, as Wix doesn’t support mobile responsiveness.
However, they are mobile friendly as they have a dedicated mobile editor so your site will work perfectly well on mobile devices.
Their mobile editor allow you a lot more flexibility than a responsive design, as you can re-position content around your mobile layout, or choose to hide certain elements if you want to. So this gives you more layout design options, while a responsive design just takes what you have on your desktop version of your website, and automatically re-positioning all the content without you having any control over it (unless you edit the codes).
So they’re quite different. It’s worth a shot to sign up for a free Wix account and check out their editor so you can assess it for yourself. We also have a discussion article here that talks about this as well – you might find it helpful.
Jeremy
Hi
We are currently using Weebly for our dog rescue & are looking at changing to Wix for more flexibility. Someone suggested trying Squarespace, which led me to this article.
The most important thing apart from cost, is that we have a good gallery/portfolio to showcase dogs up for adoption. I was hoping to find a template or app that would have a gallery showing a single photo of each dog, which when clicked, would open a gallery with write up, for that dog. Some have videos too.
I haven’t seen anything with this type of thing already in a template, unless I have simply missed it. As the dogs on the site change regularly, I need something that I can update quickly & easily, without having to build pages in the background each time I add a dog.
Any advice or links to purpose built apps would be greatly appreciated please?!
Many thanks
Mel
Hey Mel,
Squarespace has the Image block where you can insert caption below the image. But I’m not sure how much text you can add as there may be limits (a couple of sentences, but not paragraphs, I suspect).
With Wix, check out their App Market as they have a couple of gallery apps (POWr or Impressive Slideshow). I just read their product description and you can insert captions.
So definitely check out those tools. You can sign up to Squarespace for a 14 day free trial, or Wix for unlimited free trial. Give them a test to see if they actually work out for you!
Jeremy
Mel – small company, but with gallery pages that might interest you; not sure if the photo’s can be active – but since you enter some code, maybe. Or, they might be able to do just that part for you. Nice people.
The website for BALMORAL CASTLE is built on an Allwebco Template. Lots of designers use these templates.
ALL WEBCO DESIGN / ALL WEBCO TEMPLATES
but these are not for beginners. If you have experience putting up sites, they may work for you – otherwise probably not.
Hey Jeremy,
Thank you for this very informative article !
I fall into the category you mentioned in the beginning: built my website since the beginning of the year with WIX only to find out today, that WIX websites just don’t show up on google.
What is your experience with that? I have already started to build a new site with other builders but I love my old one. Do you think there is any truth to that, will google change anything soon or should I start building with a new host?
Thanks so much,
Franziska
Hey Franziska,
Wix websites DO show up on Google search results! In fact, Google actually highlighted Wix next to WordPress in their Google Webmasters Discussion Forum (we discussed this in the SEO section of our Wix review article here).
One of the things (myths) that most new website owners is that once you build a website, then your website will automatically show up in people’s searches – which unfortunately, won’t be true.
I guess one thing to consider is how many websites there are in the world, about the same topic as your website. Probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions. A lot of these websites are much older, and much larger than yours (considering that your site is new).
So in a way, if your website rises to the top of search results this quickly and easily, then you can just as easily be “de-throned” when someone else creates a new website tomorrow. Know what I mean?
Getting your website to rank well in search engines is a long term game. Amongst many different things, it requires you to add a lot of value / content to your website, to promote your website to the right audience, etc.
We have a lot more discussion about this in our FAQ page. I think you’ll find it informative.
I know it’s frustrating not to see your website appear in search engines (yet), but I guess that’s just a way to separate those who take a long term view of good, consistent building content, and those who give up too quickly. So don’t give up!
Jeremy
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply Jeremy!
You made my day.
(And probably that of many others with the same worry!)
Jeremy, you’re a saint!
Meanwhile, my couple of questions, now deciding between Squarespace and Wix:
1. As a photographer I like to include dynamic pages, mainly good inbuilt slideshow functionability – do you know which is better?
Also I’ve created slideshows in the past using eg. bigfolio, I guess I can insert them into either utilizing a link?
2. For another line of work ie. now as a massage therapist, neither would support 2 sites correct?
3. Are there any outstanding downsides (or greater advantages) of note to either Squarespace or Wix for photographers that you know of?
Thanks much in advance!
Hey Suzanne,
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying our discussions here.
I think in general, the best thing to do is sign up for free test accounts with both web builders, and invest a few hours into “playing” around with each one of them. Sometimes, a lot of people focus so much on studying what features / tools are available from the “outside” and find out that they don’t like how the actual website builder works from the “inside”.
Take your time to work with some of the tools that you’re concerned about (such as slideshows, gallery functions), and don’t forget to try to use their support system to see which one you prefer. That’s a really important part of your overall experience too.
Having said that, both web builders will work fine for photographers and for massage therapists. Generally speaking, photographers tend to lean towards Squarespace as their template designs tend to be favored by photographers.
Hope this points you in the right direction!
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy! Thanks for the great article.
I am building a website for pizza shop that will have online/mobile ordering. Do you think one builder is better than the other for this option?
Thanks!
Hello Adrienne,
Wix actually has a food ordering App that you can use so you can take online food orders and receive payments.
Just visit their App Market and search for “Food”.
Squarespace doesn’t have this function, but you can integrate Open Table with a website built with their platform.
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
I started with squarespace, and have since switched to wix. As someone coming from a graphics background rather than having any kind of coding/website building experience, I found squarespace to be difficult to use. Wix is much more intuitive and builds your site more like a graphics program in my opinion. I also like that I can design my site for free with wix, and only start paying once my site is ready to go live (to remove the adds, and start accepting payments). I’m building a website slowly over time as a part of a side business, so I’d rather not be wasting money with squarespace with a website that I don’t really need to be active yet.
Hey Jesse,
Thanks for sharing your experiences with using both Wix and Squarespace with us. I’d definitely agree that Wix is easier to use.
In addition to that, they are continuously introducing advanced and updated designs, and also business tools (such as booking / scheduling engines). So they are very business friendly.
You’re also right that Wix allows you to “test out” their platform without any time limitations. So users can definitely take their time to build out their site before upgrading (or if at all).
I guess from Squarespace’s perspective, if you don’t “love” their platform after the 14 day trial, you most likely won’t sign up anyway. In a way, that is sensible from a business perspective as free users may bog down their support staff. By implementing a time limit on the trial period, Squarepace can focus all their resources to serve paying customers.
There isn’t a right or wrong approach I guess. It’s just different ways of doing business!
Jeremy
Hey there,
First of all, I hope you guys are nominated for a Pulitzer or a Nobel prize, because the amount and quality of information you are providing here is pretty amazing. My hat is off to you. Truly an inspiring website that others should aspire to.
I wanted to add something about the comparison on this page. I haven’t had any experience with WIX, but I have to say that my experience with Squarespace is by and large dismal. Sometimes the email support gets back to you withiin an hour — but that is very much the exception rather than the rule — and I have waited on more than one occasion for 48 hours before getting an answer. And then, as is often the case, what if their answer prompts another question? Often they will just give you a URL in the support base which doesn’t actually answer your question (which is why you emailed!) The live chat is an improvement, but it will take much longer than a phone call would — it’s simply not as efficient as talking to somoene on the phone (who cannot be talking to four people at once as the live chat people are).
Squarespace has some attractive features, but their support is not one of them.
Nonetheless, this is a great resource and you should be commended for pouring so much work into this and all the other pages you’ve done so extraordinarily well.
Hello David,
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us and with our readers.
I guess no single platform is “perfect”, especially with their support teams. Also, each user will have a different set of experiences.
I personally haven’t had any issues with them and found Squarespace’s support team to be very helpful.
Of course, my own experience is not representative of what others should experience. I may have posed questions when they weren’t as busy, or my questions might be much easier to answer compared to yours.
Also, Squarespace has been growing over the past few years, so their support burden has no doubt increased. That may also cause some level of support quality issues, especially during peak hours.
So thanks for sharing your experiences with us. This is a real issue across all services, so it’s good to be aware of it!
Jeremy
Thanks for the breakdown. Your pages are very very helpful.
Question: Do all of these popular web builders allow you to create both static web pages AND blog pages. I need the option of blogging.
Thanks!
Thanks Chrys! Glad our discussions here are helpful.
The answer is yes. You can definitely create blog posts with either Wix or Squarepace. In fact, all the drag & drop website builders we’ve covered allow you to create a blog as part of the website.
Jeremy
Thanks for the great review.
Are you familiar at all with MemberSpace or Sentry for a login on a Squarespace site? From what I read you can not have a login on a Squarespace site unless you use one of these but they do not seem to be secure options. This login is a very important piece of my site so I’m wondering if another website builder would have the login functionality built in and be a better solution for me?
Hi Amy,
Squarespace currently doesn’t have a membership login function, but Wix does in their app store. Weebly also has a membership function.
However, the membership function from Wix and Weebly are non-paying subscription – so you can’t charge members a fee.
If you want to set up a membership gateway and charge monthly fees, then I also heard that Sentry Login can work with both Squarespace and Wix. But I haven’t used them before, but I know they’ve been around for at least a few years.
Jeremy
Hi. I want to build a website is bester for SEO. I want my site is easier to search on Google. So Which website builder is Better for me? WIX or squarespace? Please help me.
Hi there,
That’s a really hard question to answer, and if anyone tells you that one is 100% better than the other is probably not very reliable.
I’ve mentioned this in response to many other comments as well, but search engine ranking is not determined by which website builder you use. Not even close!
A lot of people read somewhere online that using WordPress will guarantee high rankings, and it’s just not accurate (based on my own experience anyway). If it was that easy, then everybody would rank highly in search results (which means nobody will).
The last I read, there are over 200 search ranking factors that Google evaluate, so I believe that one should focus on the more important factors rather than spending so much effort determining which web builder will yield better results.
One important factor to focus on when you are working on improving your SEO, is to promote your content / website to authoritative websites, so that perhaps they will link back to your website. These sort of links are challenging to get as it shows Google that the other website is “endorsing” your website. So your website and content has to be top notch.
In any case, my personal suggestion is to use the website builder that you enjoy using the most. Create some really helpful and interesting content, then go and share them with larger, more authoritative websites! If those sites like it, they may share a link to your website, or share it with their follows. From there, you can gain some good traction to getting more traffic.
I wished there was an easier way. it’s a lot of work and that’s why some websites rank higher than others!
Jeremy
I use Wix and link it with my domain name and there is no wix attached to it that I can see. So that piece of information may be incorrect.
(it keeps telling me to resubmit–if you get more than one)
Hi Carla,
If you connect your domain name to your Wix site, your website address will no longer display the “wix” subdomain. It will only display your own domain name.
So it sounds like you have successfully connected your own domain name to your Wix site.
Jeremy
Do you know anything about email? From what I can see is that for email with your own domain name, they both use google apps. In the Squarespace Business Plan, it seems to include that in the plan, but in the Wix Ecommerce (which would be somewhat similar to the squarespace business) you have to add it. Google Apps charges 3.75 a month for that, so it seems that in the end, with email you would end up paying more with Wix Ecommerce totaling $19.92/month and Squarespace at $18/month. Is this accurate?
I also know that the Squarespace business only allows up to 25 products to be sold, for me that’s not a problem at all being I offer customer services and only sell a few set and already made designs at a time. What do you think about the email though?
Hi Tyler,
Keep in mind that while Squarespace does give you free email service with Google Apps, it’s only for the first year. You’ll have to pay for the service yourself after the first year.
Having said that, I do suggest you test out both website builders to see which one you prefer overall. I guess what I’m saying is don’t let a few dollars of savings (for the first year only) sway you from picking the best website builder for your needs. Also, both Squarespace and Wix have different user interfaces, so you may prefer one over the other!
Hope this provides you with some helpful guidance.
Jeremy
Can you compare features please, for example which (if either): automatically resizes (optimises) image size from large primary uploaded image; enables text wrapping around image; has ‘on mouseover’ text (or image) when hovering over text (or image); allows direct import of images (& docs) from cloud storage (My Drive etc); displays pdf (or other formats) directly without downloading and opening; has blank template, allows font sizes and colours etc to be set upfront (default) for whole website; an, html code (embedded docs etc).
Thanks, BFN Carlos
Hi Carlos,
The best way to experience the features is to sign up for trial accounts and get your “hands dirty” so to speak. That’s the most effective way to evaluate which website builder suits your needs better, as each user is different.
We try to bring out some of the bigger / macro points for potential users to consider. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty details, it’s best to dive right in and start using the website builders! Wix has an unlimited free usage period, and Squarespace gives you 14 days which is generally sufficient for you to get a sense of whether you like them or not.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Firstly, great article!
I plan on using a website builder to create my own website design business. My plan is to then use the same website builder over and over again to build customer websites ( thus getting away from the need to learn over complicated coding ). Wix will not allow you to host their website anywhere else and the option to transfer to another template is a non starter so i’m leaning towards Squarespace as WordPress is overly- complicated and potentially buggy. Do you have any thoughts on using these builders as a means of creating websites for others as a business?!
Cheers
Peter
Hello Peter,
Take a look at Weebly’s Designer Platform. They allow you to “white label” the their website builder, so your clients wont’ know that you are building their websites with Weebly.
So when your clients log into their website, they will only see your web firm’s name, and not Weebly’s. It’s very popular amongst web designers offering website building services.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy- Thanks for the article!
I’m planning to build two websites in the near future…
I’m thinking using WIX for one domain, and Squarespace for another.
Do you think that’s an okay idea? Or is it a “smarter” choice to just use one website builder for both domains….
Hi Connie,
It’s really up to you! Either way will work. But I’d suggest you test drive both Wix and Squarespace to see which one you prefer to work with. Usually a person will prefer one platform over the other. So if you enjoy using Wix more than Squarespace, or vice versa, you might want to consider building both sites with one of them. A benefit is that you can become more proficient with one website builder, which should improve your web building experience!
Jeremy
Hi, thanks for the helpful comparison. I was very suprised to read you saying that wix.com cannot be removed from domain names, as that’s simply not the case (my boyfriend has a wix site with his own domain.) Could you update this info, as it’s very misleading?
Hi Sarita,
The only way to remove the “Wix” term from your domain name is if you upgrade to one of their paid plans. So if you’re using the free version of Wix, you can only use their subdomain structure with your website. So your boyfriend must have upgraded to one of Wix’s paid plans.
Jeremy
Very helpful comparisons. Appreciate all your input and tech savvy!
I have a website – plantbasednana.com that was built by a designer and now hosted by her. Two weeks ago my NAV bar disappeared and margins on my welcome page box off center. She is unresponsive to my phone calls and emails. Very frustrating as folks are unable to access recipes from my site; instead must do google search for recipes link. And I’m paying a yearly fee. Since she hasn’t responded – and that’s unusual for her – I might have to rebuild my own site.
I’m still debating between WIX and Squarespace. Don’t know if you do this, but if you check out my site, you might be able to advise which builder to go with. I’m very frustrated at this point. Thanks for all you do to help us out there in cyberspace!
Hi Joanne,
Sorry to hear about your situation. That’s one of the risks of hiring a designer / developer to help you build your website.
I tried to take a peek at your website but it’s not loading for me. In any case, I would suggest you sign up for both Wix and Squarespace and test them out to see which one you prefer to work with.
Squarespace has a 14 day free trial period so hopefully that will be sufficient for you to make a decision. Wix has a free plan so you can give them a test drive as well.
Good luck with that!
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy, thanks for amazing articles and comparisons on these web site builders as well as informative answers to all the comments. I was about to rush into starting a website with Wix, now you’ve convinced me to take a step back and try Squarespace’s 14 day trial as well. I’ve also bookmarked your site, so if…WHEN…I have questions about website building in the future, I’ll know where to look first.
Thanks!
Hi Kristinn,
Glad you found our discussions here helpful! Squarespace also has a lot to offer. At the end of the day, there is no “perfect” website builder out there, as they all offer you different pros & cons. So it’s definitely prudent to test them out to see which one you prefer to work with.
Good luck with Squarespace!
Jeremy
So I have tried both, mostly Wix because it is much easier. I created a draft in Wix utilizing the free images. I found those same images on Squarespace but for a $10 charge. Also I have reached out to the Chatline for squarespace… I could see that I was “1” in the queue, but I stayed on hold for over 10 minutes. From reading some of the post, it seemed that squarespace was favored, if that is the case I totally DISAGREE! I will stick with Wix.
Hi Carmelita,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
The images on Squarespace that cost $10 are from Getty Images, which is a professional images seller / licensor. That’s why it costs money to license images from them.
As for Squarespace’s support, if you’re waiting in line for a while (they’re quite busy at times, especially during certain times of the week), try emailing them to get your answers.
But if you’re happy with Wix, definitely stay with them! They’re a great website builder too!
Jeremy
I agree Wix is better i think the GUI looks better and itt has more things to put on your website!
Hi Jeremy, great article. I have a question. I am currently using a custom premade WordPress template I paid for to sell digital download(instrumentals) but it’s very limited to only what the creator of the theme made it available. I was searching around for other options and I never realized that there was options to create beautiful websites easily with such as SQS, wix, weebly and etc. I am seriously in love at the moment with ideas and with the fact that I can create a website just the way I want to without paying thousands of dollars. I am currently messing with wix but I think it’s a little cheesy when it come to creating digital download options. So may I ask you, what would you suggest for music contents, service and digital downloads. Thanks.
Hi Jay,
Yeah for pre-set WordPress themes it can a bit limiting, but solvable if you can edit the codes (or hire someone to help you with it).
As to selling digital products, all the of the drag and drop website builders you referenced have that capability (Wix, Squarespace, Weebly).
So I’m not entirely sure what you mean by “cheesy” so I can’t give you an opinion. But in general, the best way to find out which website builder you like the most is to sign up for a free / trial account to test things out yourself. As there are a lot of tools beyond the ability to sell digital products – so make sure you play around with each builder to see which one better suits your needs.
The drawback of Squarespace is that they only allow you to integrate your check out cart with Stripe (which is popular and effective, but some people prefer more options, such as PayPal).
Hope this helps a little bit!
Jeremy
Jeremy,
I am trying to decide between SQS, WP and WIX. I am not tech savvy at all.
What I have been reading has been saying SQS is good for some one like me, but limited on the monetizing of the site. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Is WP actulaly better for that? What about WIX?
Also, if I start with SQS and get better with tech, can I change to WP, if I decide it is a better platform?
Thanks, Karen
Hey Karen,
If being able to migrate to WordPress is an important consideration for you, then Squarespace is probably the best option for you here. They do have an export tool that allows you to export certain content from your Squarespace site to WordPress.
Just note that not all content are exportable – here is more info on this.
Jeremy
Great article! Thank you so much for helping me make my decision between the two platforms.
Thanks Heather! Glad our discussion here has been helpful.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Thank you for the interesting article.
Would you recommend one over the other for google search results and SEO? Also I would like to transfer a current website, would you recommend one for ease of domain and hosting transfer?
Many thanks,
Hazel
Hi Hazel,
In terms of migration, Squarespace has better tools to help you migrate. You can migrate content (but not the design) from Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, Big Cartel, Shopify, and Etsy into Squarespace pretty easily using their import tool.
As for search results / SEO perspective, it’s really hard to say which of Wix or Squarespace performs better. Google has over 200 ranking factors that they consider when deciding how to rank your website, so the majority of those ranking factors will not have anything to do with which website builder you use.
So I’d suggest you focus on deciding which website builder you prefer using (maybe sign up to both to test them out for free), and work on your website ranking by considering other factors.
Hope this is helpful in some way!
Jeremy
I have to add that if Tumblr is at all important to you – for our business, it’s essential – you should go with SquareSpace. There’s no support for Tumblr in Wix. There’s a widget that displays your Tumblr page. But that’s sort of useless when you want to migrate, as opposed to merely feature, content.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Kristen.
Hi I’m trying to find a site that will allow me to have a seperate area for Trade customers which will allow them to place an order online. Is this possible on either of these sites?
Thanks
Hi Cath,
Could you elaborate a bit more about what you mean by “trade” customers? Do you mean wholesale customers?
If so, there isn’t a specific tool for both Wix or Squarespace to manage this for you. But if you have a look at Shopify, which is a pure ecommerce store builder, they do have an App in their App Store that can help you manage wholesale customers.
Jeremy
This article was very helpful. I am trying to market some hand crafted articles, I have never done a web page and I am confused.I thought your article was fair and comprehensive. As a novice, do you recommend one over the other for me? I was leaning toward Squarespace….but now I am not sure. Also, I am an Apple user.
Thanks!!
Hi Nancy,
It’s really hard to say one is better than the other for all users. So it really depends on what you’re looking for (or what features you are more important for you).
For instance, if you want complete freedom to insert content anywhere on the page, Wix is better. If you want mobile responsive templates, Squarespace is better (but Wix’s templates are mobile friendly as well, just not responsive). If you want a website builder that has phone support, Wix provides that. So on and so forth.
I think if you’re unsure of what you want (at the moment anyway), I’d suggest you sign up to both Wix and Squarespace as they are free to use, and give them both test drives. With Wix you can use their free platform without any time limitations. With Squarespace, you get a 14 day free trial which should hopefully be enough time for you to see if you like them or not.
Good luck!
Jeremy
Thanks for this great article.
I have few questions about Squarespace.
First, I have several domains. They’re all with my hosting company ebound. They’re pointed to pages on my WP site. Can I host all of them on one Squarespace account too? I think Squarespace maybe easier for me to make a better looking and still functioning site, so I’m checking it out.
What happens to the site at end of term of payment. Does it just go unpublished, or is it gone? I have auto pay to my host, and would do same if possible, but stuff happens. For $10 a month my site is hosted – with multiple domains/sites on WP with no problems. I worry that this could be problem on Squarespace.
Thanks so much
Hi Janel,
I believe you can only use one single domain name with each website built with Squarespace.
But what you can do, is “forward” your other domain names to a single Squarespace website (this can be done with your domain registrar). So if someone types in the forwarded domain address, they will be re-directed to the Squarespace site. But once they land on the website, the domain address in the address bar will be original domain name that you set as the primary domain name. Hope this makes sense!
As for payments, they do have auto renewals so you won’t have to worry about making monthly payments. But if you didn’t activate the auto renewal function, or if your credit card expired, I’m sure they will email you to remind you of pending payments.
If you try out WordPress and really like it, I’d suggest you sign up to their annual plan as you end up saving around 30%.
Good luck!
Jeremy
I’m currently using Wix and I used to have my website built through Dreamweaver. I’m not sure if it’s the new mobile standards by Google or if it is that Wix doesn’t let you have as many keywords, but my search engine placement has dropped. I also noticed that the pages in Wix have little symbols like this: xyz.com/*%page* so to me, it is clear that it’s a template site and not a REAL professional site. The main reason I did Wix is because I wasn’t sure how to make my site more mobile-friendly myself through Dreamweaver, but I’m starting to regret the switch based on my dropping in SEO placement. Do you have any info on that? Is it because of Wix or could it be because of the changes in Google?
Hi Michelle,
Sorry to hear about the drop in your website ranking in Google search results. Honestly, it’s really hard to pinpoint what caused that. It could be a bit of everything….
But I’ve definitely seen Wix sites that are ranked well in search results. One of the things that some Wix users find annoying is that the URL structure has a mix of what seems to be random symbols (as you have highlighted).
I’ve read mixed reports / assessments on this. Some people say URLs have to be very clean, and some also say that it doesn’t matter. For example, if I look at my Google mail account, the URL also has a bunch of random symbols in it. So all in all, I haven’t seen any concrete evidence suggesting that one is definitively better than the other.
One of the universal challenges with moving from one website builder to another, is that it might affect how Google views your site especially when your page addresses change. It might take Google some time to re-index your site, to understand that your site content has not changed, and just the page addresses.
One thing to consider is to use 301 redirect so that it tells Google what your old page addresses were, and what the new addresses are now. Wix has a feature that helps you do that and you can see it here.
Losing ranking in Google is a real pain, but there are so many different reasons why this can happen (such as Google algorithm updates, changing of page addresses, etc).
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
Hey Jeremy, just thought I’d drop in and let you know that the Squarespace site now lists all their plans as having unlimited bandwidth.
Really appreciate the article. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the note Matthew! Definitely a positive improvement for Squarespace!
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy!
I definitely want to use squarespace, bc of the ability to change layouts etc. unfortunately I’m a big fan of the drag and drop feature of wix. And wix is cheaper with buying domain names.
If I buy a domain on GoDaddy.. Do you mind telling me how I go about connecting it to a squarespace site? And how I go about saving myself money.
Thanks!
Ben
Hey Ben,
Purchasing your domain from GoDaddy is definitely a cheaper alternative. The drawback is that you have to connect the domain name to the website builder yourself (versus having it all set up for you). But it’s relatively straight forward to connect the domain to the website.
For Squarespace, see this tutorial from them. Hope this helps!
Jeremy
Hello,
Can you do a social aggregator on Squarespace?
Hi Jose,
Do you mean create a website that can help you aggregate news? If so, I don’t think any drag and drop website builders are created for doing that. I mean you could, but you probably have to manually insert news and updates, which can be pretty hectic really quickly.
If you have a lot of news updates, a better platform to consider is probably WordPress as they are a bit better at helping users manage a lot of posts / pages.
Jeremy
I’ve been using Wix for about 9 months. The interface is fantastic, and very easy to use.
BUT I put my publications available for pdf download from my website and have two major problems with Wix:
1. You can’t customise the URL, and all pdf (or other format) files that are downloadable from Wix come with a wix.com rather than your own domain name. This is incredibly frustrating when I want to refer to my own publications using a direct URL (eg on Twitter, email, etc). Wix has said they won’t be changing this any time soon.
I noticed that you said “Squarespace you can rename your website address (URL) to whatever you want.”
So does that mean you can name your pdf files to whatever you want? This would be a winning feature for me.
2. Downloading files from Wix is incredibly slow! Even a 2-5mb pdf file can take several minutes. This quickly loses potential clients. Is Squarespace faster?
3. Wix is an Israeli company (as far as I can tell). For some this is important, for others it is irrelevant.
Hey Sally,
1) Yes you can alter the URL structure for Squarespace. But when it comes to download links, or the link that is directly related to the download file, I’m not 100% sure if it will have “Squarespace” in it or not. You might want to ask their support team directly.
Also, a workaround is to sign up for a Dropbox account (free), and insert your download file into Dropbox and it can create a link for you to share with your readers. Dropbox is very popular nowadays and I personally wouldn’t think differently about a business / website if I saw a link that is connected to Dropbox.
2) I’m not 100% sure as I haven’t tested the downloading speed between the two website builders. One option is to sign up for a free Squarespace account and quickly test that out. Just be aware that your visitors will have varying internet speeds so their experiences may be different from yours.
3) Yes they are an Israeli company, and they are also and publicly traded company, listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the US.
Jeremy
I’m looking at both right now and trying to decide myself. I did find both have a free domain for first year with annual plan, but I’m not finding how much domain is with either plan after the first year.
Hi Tricia,
A really good question!
For Squarespace, currently it’s $20 to renew the domain name every year after your first year for free (with an annual plan). If you visit their pricing page and hover your mouse over “Custom Domain” it will show you the details there.
You can probably find a cheaper alternative with GoDaddy (usually around $12 – $14 per year), so the saving is fairly marginal on a per month basis.
So if you don’t mind the added work of connecting a custom domain from GoDaddy to Squarespace, you can definitely have a little of savings there.
For Wix, I think it’s around $15 per year after your first free year (again under the annual plan). I searched around their Support Portal and their illustration suggests it’s about $15, with the option to add privacy protection if you want that.
So again compared to GoDaddy, the incremental cost is marginal at most!
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
The pricing between the Squarespace Personal plan and the Wix Combo plan both look competitive, but do both of these plans include a free domain name registration and business email address?
Please let me know, as both of these will be necessities for my website.
Thanks,
-Ben
Hi Ben,
Both plans will offer you a 1 year free domain if you sign up to their annual plans.
Both Squarespace and Wix don’t have their own email systems (as their core competency is relating to helping you build websites).
However, both have partnered up with Google Apps so you can use Google to set up your own custom domain email address for a few dollars a month. The benefit is that you get to use the Gmail interface (which we find very fast, reliable and user friendly) and be able to brand the email address as your own. We use it ourselves and love it!
Jeremy
I am planning on making a website with tons of photos and videos – which would be preferable? I need to make sure that there is no limit on either visitors and myself placing new photos on the website
Hi Luisa,
With both Squarespace and Wix, you can upload as many pictures as you want to for yourself. They don’t have a mechanism where you can allow your visitors to upload images to your site. You’ll need a very customized website for that to happen.
One caveat is that Wix does have some storage limitations, and starts at 500MB with their lowest plan, and goes to 20GB with their highest plan. So depending on how many images you want to upload, you may need to pick a plan that gives you the storage space you need.
With Squarespace, they don’t have any storage limitations.
For videos, I’d suggest you upload them to either YouTube or Vimeo and stream them to your website accordingly. The main reason being that video files are massive, and YouTube / Vimeo have the proper infrastructure to stream videos very efficiently. So if you upload your videos into Squarespace or Wix, it might slow down your site’s loading speed.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
I’m a novelist (and noob) and want to move my website from Joomla to something I can handle myself. I’ve been looking at both Wix and Squarespace and probably prefer the latter but I’ve read on some forums they are not so well-suited to text-heavy sites. Do you know of any Square space templates that might work well for this? Really just need a nice cover page then pages for books, a blog and a contact. I’d like to link to bookshops but don’t want to sell myself. Any thoughts most welcome and thanks for all your very considered articles on this.
Myf
Hi Myf,
Squarespace can work well with text-heavy sites! I’m not sure why some people think otherwise. Regardless, you might want to sign up for their free trial account to discover this yourself. This also gives you a chance to see if you actually like their user interface, as all web builders have different user interfaces and some work for some people, but not for others.
As for templates, it’s a really personal decision. But in general, all of them have the capability for you to insert a lot of text, create multiple pages, insert a contact form and contact information, etc.
Jeremy
I am in the process of doing a start-up biz.
I will Never need to collect a dime online but Will need to have a fill-in box/space for a “quote” or “get more info” on every page.
Also will want to add a logo graphic on every page, and a video eventually on at least the cover or main page.
I noticed Weebly has this “Get a Quote” feature already designed on some of their templates – do you know if Squarespace & Wix do too; or if this feature is available to add?
Thank you Jeremy for providing invaluable comparisons for the key web template service providers!
Hi Oscar,
What you can consider doing is insert a “contact us” box on your pages so people can reach out to you to get a quote. You can of course, insert a title above the contact form to instruct people to reach out to you.
So both Squarespace and Wix have this feature for you to use. You just need to connect the contact form to your email address which is pretty straightforward when you are setting up the form.
You can also insert images, videos on all of the pages for both website builders.
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
We are considering Square Space for our non profit website and receive a lot of donations via website using paypal currently. For e commerce donations (not selling products right now) how does that work with Stripe? Is it as easy as pay pal? or might donors be put off or fearful of using this?
Hi Joanne,
It’s not too challenging to use Stripe. You first have to determine whether Stripe is supported in your country (see this). If so, just sign up for an account and link it to your bank account (so that the funds can be transferred into Stripe then transferred into your bank account).
I think the donation page where your donors will insert their credit card information will look quite professional, just like an ecommerce shopping check out cart page. Here is more information on how to use Squarespace’s donation block.
But if you want, you can always keep using PayPal and just insert a PayPal donation widget directly into your Squarespace page(s). Just get the PayPal donation widget code from PayPal and insert it into your Squarespace page using a Code Block.
Jeremy
Hello Jeremy
What a wonderful resource you have provided to those of us who are website building novices, THANK YOU!
I’m having a hard time determining which website builder is best to start an e-card business where customers can choose from sending a standard pre-designed e-card or choose templates and sentiments to design their own. In addition to e-cards, I want to sell ebooks of poetry, and receive inquiries regarding booking of speaking engagements. Obviously, I also want to protect customer financial data in addition to having a well-designed site. Your insight is appreciated.
Hi Katie,
Glad you’re enjoying our discussions here!
I don’t think any of the drag and drop website builders will give you the ability for your customers to design custom e-cards online. Some of the web builders have decent ecommerce features so you can definitely sell cards, but if you want the ability to deliver pre-made or customized e-cards, it sounds like you’ll need a fairly customized solution built by a capable developer.
Website builders such as Squarespace or Wix do have ecommerce tools to deliver physical or digital goods (digital meaning music or computer file downloads).
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for the article. I (briefly) tried to find the answer I’m looking for in the comments but didn’t see anything regarding SEO. I have built two websites off of Wix and have been happy with the ability to tag pages, pictures, making meta-titles, etc. Both websites I made perform well in Google search. I’m also fond of the ease of creating the site on Wix’s platform.
I haven’t considered Squarespace but have been seeing it pop up more and more lately (good PR/marketing). I recently was able to help a friend with her Squarespace site the other day & definitely prefer the imagery, it is far better looking than Wix templates. However, it was not simple in trying to tag pages, make titles, and inject as many keywords that I could for SEO.
My next website project definitely needs to have a strong SEO backbone because search is a major contributor towards my clients goals.
Do you have any insight on which platform performs better in the SEO world?
Thanks!
Hi Allison,
Congrats on getting good search result rankings for your Wix sites!
I think it’s tough to assess which platform will give you better search results, as Google has over a hundred search results ranking factors, so it really depends on how much work you put into each website (on-site SEO, off-site SEO such as promoting your website content generating backlinks from authoritative sites, generating social shares, etc)
I guess I’m saying just because you’ve had good ranking results for one website doesn’t always mean you’ll get the same results with another website (unless you consistently apply the same techniques you’ve done for all of your websites, but that’s still doesn’t guarantee anything).
Having said that, one thing that I like about Squarespace’s SEO capability is that you can rename your website address (URL) to whatever you want. So you can insert keyword rich URLs for each page to help with SEO a bit. Although Wix doesn’t have this capability, but I don’t think that’s going to make or break your search rankings.
I’m not sure if this answers your question, but a big part of that is because I can’t give you a definitive answer as I don’t 100% know how Google ranks websites (nobody does!)
Jeremy
Hi, I was wondering if you could assist me with a concern I’m having with deciding between Wix and Weebly. My website would be an ecommerce site for a candle business out of my home and I am concerned about other reviews I have read starting that Weebly is not a good host when it comes to having alot of products(my products can range up to 50 individual items [plus the many options availability for each item])….however I am Not at all experienced with scripting and Weebly does sound like the most user friendly available. I also want to make sure my customers have login capabilities and professional yet easy checkout experiences. Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Hi Lisa,
Have you had a chance to check out Shopify or Bigcommerce? Those are “pure” online store builders and so they have way more ecommerce tools than what Weebly or Wix offers, especially when you start adding a lot of products to offer to your customers.
They’re really focused in allowing you to have a lot of flexibility when building your store so that your visitors get a much better online shopping experience.
We also have an ecommerce store builder comparison table here that will give you an overview about them.
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
Thanks so much for the assist! I will definately look into those also. Great site, very helpful for us “newbies” :) thanks again!!
Just a quick heads up: although Squarespace looks better on paper because of their customer service policy they actually haven’t replied to my email tickets within the hour (or within 9 hours in this case) which has been problematic and they haven’t resolved my issue. I’m not a tech person and was looking for a user friendly click and drag option for my site. I thought that was Squarespace and foolishly paid for the plan ahead of time (although I can cancel and get a prorated refund and the fact that they have that option might be telling?) but now I can’t get anything done as they don’t have much in the way of basic starter tutorials and the interface is very confusing (at least for me). I might switch to Wix because even though it doesn’t look as flexible in terms of esthetics it looks much easier to use and I figure better a less pretty website that is up and running than an idea for a website that can’t go live because it’s basically just a theory in my head.
Hi Nile,
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.
It’s quite strange that they haven’t gotten back to you yet, as in our experience they have been quite consistent with their emails. I’ve also heard from a lot of our other readers that they have great experiences with Squarespace too.
I’m hoping that it’s just one of those instances where your support email fell through the cracks so to speak, but I totally understand how frustrating it is for you.
As for Wix, do give them a try if you want to. I have to say that their website building interface is a bit easier to use and they have really great tutorials covering all their tools and how to use them.
You can see our full discussion on Wix if you haven’t seen it here yet.
Sometimes it takes a few tries before finding a website builder that works really well for you. It’s just like trying on clothes. It takes a bit of shopping around to find the perfect fit. At least that’s what happened to us as well a few years ago! And we spent a LOT of time testing them all out!
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
As it turns out my email did get lost in the cracks. I opened another ticket noting that my previous ticket hadn’t gotten a response and they got back to me pretty quickly.
Sadly I’m going to have to cancel my account and transfer to Wix. The frustrating thing is that I agree that Squarespace has more going for it in terms of aesthetics and value but they really aren’t user friendly if you don’t know a lot about site design and stuff like that (e.g. to resize an image they ask you to enter the specific pixel numbers whereas in Wix you can just click and drag until it’s the size you want). Too bad. I’ll keep an eye out to see if they get a simpler, easier interface in the future.
hi Nile,
Thanks for updating! Yes I’d agree that Wix is a bit easier to use (it’s a pure drag and drop web builder).
But I’m glad you tested out both website builders so now you know which one you prefer! It’s always wise to test a couple of website builders as each of them have very different user interface and so it’s a very personal decision.
Jeremy
Yes, Sqaurespace got back to me rather quickly and they also provided a personal video of my site showing me how-to-instructions. Love Squarespace
Thanks for sharing your experience with Squarespace Michael!
Hi Jeremy,
Thank you for these helpful articles! They have been instrumental in helping to compare the different website builders available, especially for a non-techy like me.
I was wondering if you could speak to some of the “hidden” costs associated with using Squarespace and Wix. I signed up for the free 14-day trial and all of the images on Squarespace that I saw require payment if you want to use them on your site, whereas Wix has images available for free. That can add up for someone like me since I don’t have any images of my own and would have to pay for each image I want to use on my site. With Wix, that additional cost would not be necessary. Do you know if Squarespace has free images available?
I also saw that Wix charges an additional fee for the domain (although they offer the first year for free with most of their paid plans). Do you know how much the additional cost of a domain is with Wix and if Squarespace also charges extra for the domain name?
In a nutshell, I’m wondering about the cost of images, domain names, and other extra expenses (hosting, something else?) that may come up when subscribing to Wix and/or Squarespace. For me, those are also considerations when considering what each web builder will cost.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Leilani,
That’s a great question and I’m glad that you brought this up to be discussed so others can also read this as well.
Squarespace and Wix have both teamed up with large image providers and to use those “licensed” images, you’d have to pay a licensing fee. But not all images can only be used under a paid license. There are a number of websites where you can freely use those images as long as you abide by some of the rules.
We have a page here that points out some of these sites (some are free, some are paid).
So it is possible to build your entire site using free images. Of course, if you are creative, you can also create your own images as well.
As for domain name, the best thing to do in my experience is that after your first year of free domain from either Squarespace or Wix, transfer the domain out to a domain name registrar such as GoDaddy, and manage your domain name from there.
There is a small transfer fee that you have to pay, but then the annual upkeep fee to keep the domain name registered under your name is usually about $10 – $15. Sometimes with website builders, their annual domain name renewal fee can be a bit higher than that. So you can save a little of money with this approach over the long run.
Regarding hosting, there are no additional costs to that. But there are some bandwidth usage limitations for the lower plans for both website builders. Squarespace has a much higher bandwidth usage limit than Wix.
Hope this helps!
Jeremy
Thanks for the website reviews on Wix & Squarespace. The information was thorough and help me to make a better decision than I had if your review was not available.
Hi Sharon – glad you found our discussions helpful!
Do share our website with others by clicking on the social buttons at the top and left side of this page.
The best compliment we can get from you is a social share!
Happy holidays!
Jeremy
Hello Jeremy,
I contacted you a couple of weeks ago about Wix vs Squarespace and I thought about going for Squarespace. After giving it a try, I still find Squarespace not that flexible. I understand that their templates have a robust structure to avoid any display glitches on different devices but some simple tasks like adjusting the position of a logo or picture require CSS. I was able to make such CSS adjustments but I am scared that further down the line it will get even trickier (for external plugins etc…). My business is a hiking business and we need beautiful visual display, online booking with payment/calendar management and good SEO. On this last point I have read some awful reviews on Wix. I don’t know if these are outdated so still relevant. Ranking will be important for us so that people can find us easily when browsing different places we hike to.
I am now considering to do it on Wix (trying to mimic the beautiful template design I had pick on Squarespace) but I would like your advice on Wix SEO.
Thank you very much!
Anne
I am trying to decide between Weebly and Wix. In fact I already paid Weebly for the 2 year service but now I need to create a table similar to spreadsheet and Weebly does not have the tools I need to make it. I can embed it but Wix seems to have more flexibility for what I need. However, I heard that the loading time for Wix is very slow. Can you let me know if Webbly is faster than Wix in loading?
Hi Alvaro,
I can’t say definitively that Wix or Weebly is faster, as there are a lot of variables that can impact loading speed, such as how much content you have on your site, the image sizes that you’ve uploaded, the time of the day (some hours have higher traffic in general), where you are located, etc.
But Wix did announce that they are overhauling their platform and that all their sites will run faster than 95% of all sites on the internet. The press release suggested that this will be done before the end of this year!
Jeremy
Nice article but you do NOT have to schedule a call for Wix I call them directly all the time 18006000949
Hi Jeremy,
Love your “vs” articles. Very informative, particularly of the “not too savvy” and “not savvy at all” like myself. Your reviews helped me to decide that Squarespace y for me, ahead of WP and Wix. It took me a couple of hours to check the 32 squarespace templates and you are right. The are stunning, professional, clean-cut, etc… In fact, I’m struggling to show the best for my business which is related to health & fitness services, education, mentoring and personal training services, i was wondering if you could tell me what you think about my 3 favourites: “MONTAUK”, “FIVE” and “FLATIRON”.
My main goals are promoting my services, blogging and reselling products and workshops. I know one of the great advantage of squarespace is the option to switch between templates. However, given the competitive nature of my profession, i want to make sure I’m taking the right steps. There might be more suitable templates to the ones i consider more appropriate.
So, your enlightening opinion might steer my in the right direction. Thank you so much. Will
Hi Will,
Glad that our discussions have been helpful!
As for suggesting which Squarespace template works best for you, I’m afraid that I’m not quite qualified for that as a design is really what represents you and your brand. How you position your business may be very different than how another competitor position his/ her business within the same industry / line of business.
So you’re right in that you can always change templates with Squarespace which is a nice flexibility to have. One way forward is to pick the one you like the best, and just go with that. Solicit your visitor / customer feedback, and see what they think. Perhaps it warrants switching templates at that point.
It will take some time to do this, but it’s all part of the process!
Good luck!
Jeremy
I have used both wix and square space…
Wix is MUCH more user friendly, has lots more templates to choose from, and works well the majority of the time.
Square Space has fancier templates but much fewer, is NOT user friendly and is constantly crashing, freezing, and losing your work.
Wix has been around a lot longer and is much more reliable platform. I highly recommend it over Square Space.
Experienced,
ShayRo
Hey Shayro,
Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts with all our readers!
Regarding Squarespace, I personally didn’t have that much problems with it and it went pretty smoothly for me. Perhaps you just had a bad streak of glitchy interface, which does happen from time to time to all website builders given they are powering millions of sites all at the same time.
– Jeremy
Very helpful article. Answered all that I wanted to know. Thank you!
Hello Jeremy,
Really enjoyed your blog about Wix vs Squarespace.
I am currently updating and creating my new graphic design portfolio website as it is completely out of date. Tried using WordPress as I find very difficult to handle to manage the content and the plugins as some of them are rip offs.
I just want to ask a simple question, which website would be suitable for me to design my new graphic design portfolio as I want to make my website simple, legible, shocasing my portfolio and recent work, put out blogs and archives and making it more responsive on any mobile device like smartphones and digital pads.
So which one shall I use Wix or Squarespace? I will be happy to take any comments and advice on board as I want to design this website faster, responsive, accessible and also giving out updates on any design work that I previously worked on.
Please help.
Umair Akhtar
Hi Umair,
I think both Squarespace and Wix has really clean, contemporary and stylish templates for yo to use for your website.
However, if you want a responsive template (that looks great across all mobile devices), Squarespace’s templates are all responsive / mobile ready.
Wix has a decent mobile editor, so I’m not saying that their mobile sites don’t look good (more details on their mobile editor here).
But if you’re looking for a responsive template, Squarespace is the way to go!
– Jeremy
Great comparison!
I have a web (shippencreek.com) and am in the process of getting control of my domain name and would like to direct it to a site that works best for me. I didn’t want to start all over again so please take a look and give me your thoughts. Does this look like something that Squarespace can accommodate?
Thank you.
Roy Mears
Hi Roy,
Yes I think Squarespace can help you run your online store just fine!
But one thing to consider is that Squarespace currently is only fully integrated with Stripe (the payment processor) so if you live outside of the geographic regions that support Stripe, then Squarespace might not be a good choice for you. Here is a list of countries that Stripe support.
You mentioned that you “dont want to start all over again”. Just note that Squarespace allows you to import your existing content from WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger or Etsy. So if your site isn’t built with those, you will have to re-insert your content into your Squarespace website. Obviously, this is a one time investment of time to take your content from your current site into Squarespace.
– Jeremy
Hello
Thank you for your useful article. I have been doing a lot of research to try and decide between Wix or Squarespace and there are a couple of questions I just can’t find answers to anywhere and I was hoping you might be able to help:
1) How many domain names can i link to a website with Wix or Squarespace?
2) Will either or them restrict me to calling my website the same as my domain name or can I meke it different?
Thank you!
Lucy
Hi Lucy,
With both Wix and Squarespace, you can point 1 single domain name to each website.
If you sign up with any of Squarespace’s plans, they give you a free domain name.
For Wix, if you sign up to their Combo plan or above, you also get a free domain name from them.
Hope this clarifies things for you!
– Jeremy
Hello,
This is a great write up. One thing that really impressed me with the Wix editor was the ability to attach elements to a shape and use the shape to copy/paste blocks of code like a template.
It doesn’t seem like that’s how squarespace works though. On squarespace, you can do some neat things with inserting content blocks but there’s not a ton of control over presentation or showing lists of content from one page to the next.
I’m debating between the two to build a site for a peformance studio space so they can list the performances held there as well as showcase the space for rental. So far it’s looking like Wix would be a lot easier for relatively inexperienced web content creators to work with, both in terms of the UI, flexibility of layout, and ability to move and duplicate content.
Do you think Wix is a good choice or are there some alternatives worth looking at?
Hi DP,
I’d agree that Wix is probably more “intuitive” to use than Squarespace as they are a pure drag and drop website builder. Each builder has its own set of pros and cons, and the only way to determine which one has the tools you need, and which one suits your skill set better is to give them an actual try (Squarespace has a free trial period of 14 days and Wix has a free plan).
Sounds like you’ve already done your homework in this regard so if you feel comfortable with Wix, you should move forward with it!
– Jeremy
Hello Jeremy,
Your site has really helped me in choosing a website for my new business. I have a couple of questions for you regarding these two site builders. As others have asked, I am looking to have about half of my site with free information and pages, but would like to sell memberships for exclusive material. You’ve mentioned the Sentry Login…is it expensive? And can you have different tier memberships through them?
Also, what which of the two would be better for smooth video streaming? Videos and photos will be a major part of the site and it seems like Squarespace does a good job of organizing these. Lastly, which is better for SEO and getting more traffic to the website (I know a lot depends on how your market but one is probably better than the other). This is my first time creating a site and it seems like Squarespace is good for the beginner. Thanks in advance!
Hi Anthony,
Sentry is about $5 per month and allows you to have unlimited members. However, I’m not clear if you can have different tiers of membership, which of course can be handy. I took a quick glance at their website again but didn’t find any information on this. Perhaps you can reach out to them to inquire? I’d be curious to know as well.
Regarding Squarespace or Wix, I’d lean towards Squarespace as I think their design templates are a bit more refined and polished. But both website builders will do the job just fine I think. As for SEO, I’d say Squarespace has a marginal advantage as they allow you to structure / modify your page URL which does have a marginal advantage in SEO.
However, at the end of the day, you really have to heavily market your website / business and draw attention to it. Make the content very useful on your site so visitors return or share them online. Having authoritative sites linking to your site, and social share signals (amongst many other factors) are very important when it comes to SEO. So even though website builders provide you with tools, I’d say that tools won’t make that big of a difference.
– Jeremy
If I already have a website with a different host, it sounds like I have to keep my account with the current host as well as squarespace in order to keep my domain name. Is this correct? I’d really rather not have both accounts.
Hey Andrea,
For most hosting accounts, you don’t have to purchase their hosting services at all. You just have to pay for the annual fee to keep your domain name registered in your name so you own it (this annual fee has to be paid no matter where you go).
This is the same if you use leading domain name services providers such as GoDaddy – there is an annual fee.
This is unless you sign up with Squarespace’s plans and you get a free domain name from them.
I’m not 100% sure if you can transfer your domain name to Squarespace’s domain name services and inquire whether they can “waive” your fee as you subscribe to one of their plans. Might be worth while to ask their support team if that’s feasible. This might save you some money (but I believe there might be a 1 time domain name transfer fee).
– Jeremy
SquareSpace is easy to use and the templates are great. HOWEVER, the biggest disadvantage is their ECommerce option which does not integrate PayPal. I am not a great fan of PayPal but the customers want an easy, secure, and FAST checkout experience. As a result I am rebuilding my SquareSpace site in WIX.
Hey Stephen,
Yes that’s one of the downside if you are using Squarespace to power your ecommerce store.
Stripe is a very reputable transaction service provider that is used by powerful ecommerce website builders such as Shopify or Bigcommerce, and also Weebly. It’s definitely not as widely used as PayPal, as it is a newer company.
In any case, just in case you haven’t heard, that you can also use Shopify’s widget to power your Squarespace store. Some people really love the design and polish of Squarespace, but they’ve decided not to use Stripe for their own reasons, can use Shopify to power the ecommerce aspect of their Squarespace site.
– Jeremy
Hi, What about ecommerce functionality? Which one would you recommend?
Hi Jose,
I think it depends on what you need. I think Squarespace’s ecommerce functions are more advanced than Wix at the moment (see our discussion on Squarespace’s ecommerce features here).
One drawback with Squarespace is that you have to use Stripe to manage your payment processing. Or one alternative is to use Shopify’s widget (more discussion here).
With Wix, they have a lot more payment processing options for you.
– Jeremy
So…I thought I was going to go with WIX because it sounded easier and more user friendly to create a website. My business is up and going and I need a website immediately. I signed up for WIX and started designing but found that my website doesn’t appear in older browsers. I wonder if Squarespace would work any differently? I’m afraid that I will lose customers if some people can’t even see my website from an older browser or older computer with an operating system that can’t upgrade to a newer browser? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
Hi Lauren,
Both Wix and Squarespace uses HTML5 (latest website browser technology) and as such, some of the older browsers may not get the best experience when viewing these sites.
It’s just the way technology is advancing nowadays, and leading edge companies don’t really pay too much attention to cater to older browsers. It’s a conscious decision they are making as they are laying the foundation for more forward looking designs / technology.
It’s a bit of a pain for sure, and this is the case for most website builders.
– Jeremy
wix give me how many days of free trial
Ashish,
You can use Wix for free, without any time limitations. So the way they offer website building services to you is different than Squarespace, which only has a 14-day trial time limit. But if you choose to use Wix’s free service, you won’t be able to connect your own domain name to your website unless you upgrade to their premium plans.
– Jeremy
Very helpful post thank you, I have been looking back and forth at both and had a hard time deciding, this has made it clear for me (Squarespace it is!). Would you know by any chance if Squarespace supports a multilingual website?
Hi Matthea,
Squarespace doesn’t have any built in multi-language capabilites (none of the larger website builders have this) but they do have a tutorial on how to use Google Translate here.
– Jeremy
I wanted to use Squarespace but they don’t have a member log in option and Wix does. My client needs a member log in section on their site. Are there any other website builders that are better than Wix that offer that?
Hi Susan,
I know that Sentry Login is a membership login tool that works with Squarespace, effectively turning Squarespace into a membership site. You might want to check that out.
– Jeremy
hI!!
thanks so much for this!! So I was just wondering in terms of user-friendly. Which is one is more user-friendly? I tried using wordpress and couldnt figure it out. I think I want to go with sqaurespace but not if it isn’t user-friendly.
Let me know.
Thanks!! :)
Hi Andrea,
I think between Wix and Squarespace, Wix is easier to use. But in terms of overall, I’d say Squarespace can create a better website and gives you more powerful tools. But then that depends on what you are trying to get out of your website.
I’d suggest you sign up for a free trial account with Squarespace and Wix, and invest some time into playing around with it. As for some users, Squarespace may be a bit more of a learning curve, but not to others. So the best way is to just play around with it.
Good luck!
– Jeremy
Very helpful review Jeremy! Thank you. So many of us do not know HTML and don’t really have the time or inclination to learn.
I am completely confused about creating my own website using one of these services; WIX or SQUARESPACE. I currently have 3 registered domain names that I pay for through TotalChoice Hosting. I created my one and only website, -www.maureendesigns.com, using SeaMonkey software and it is hosted by TotalChoice. Now I need a brand new website for my miniature horse breeding business and I don’t want to go through the hard labor I did before with SeaMonkey. But I don’t understand the relationship between WIX, etc, and their fees with what I’m already paying TotalChoice. If I build my own website with SQUARESPACE, and publish with TotalChoice, what am I paying SQUARESPACE a monthly fee for? I’m thinking maybe I need to just buy some design software and then upload it to TotalChoice, but I was hoping to take advantage of some templates to save time and effort. Anyway, color me totally confused and if you could help me understand what I need to do, I would appreciate it.
Maureen
Hi Maureen,
The difference is that Wix and Squarespace provide you with all the hosting services that you will need to publish the website. So for the new websites that you want to build, you will not need to use your current hosting services (TotalChoice). You just sign up for either Wix or Squarespace, and whatever you create, you can publish and they will host it for you.
So if you decide to sign up to either Wix or Squarespace’s premium plans, you are paying to be able to use the drag and drop website building platform, and also for the monthly hosting that they provide for you.
If you haven’t read our reviews on Wix and on Squarespace, I’d suggest you do! Hope this helps.
– Jeremy
Thank you so much for this great article!
I want to create a simple online portfolio to showcase my presentations in quicktime/video.
It is a very simple site, do you recommend squarespace or wordpress?
thanks.
Hi Vanessa,
If you’re not familiar with WordPress and don’t want to invest the time to climb the learning curve, I’d definitely recommend checking out Squarespace, especially if you are trying to keep your website and keep things simple. Also, Squarespace’s templates are beautiful and will work very well for showcasing online portfolios.
Squarespace offers a 14 day free trial period that’s an excellent opportunity to give it a “test drive”.
Hope this helps!
– Jeremy
Thanks for the great reviews and comparisons across builders. I’m tech saavy but not a coder or designer by any means. I’m looking for a design-friendly, intuitive tool to build a site myself while my restaurant is in start-up mode then hire a designer once I need more robust functionality. I have a few questions…
1. Can Squarespace be exported anywhere besides WordPress? If not, aren’t you held hostage to the host in the same way as Wix?
2. Can you elaborate on what responsive templates means? Is it just the smooth transition from computer to mobile or does it also adjust for differences in computer screen size/resolution? You said Squarespace has this and Wix doesn’t.
3. Does Squarespace allow you to edit your site from a mobile device?
4. Is Squarespace a pure drag and drop interface like Wix or are you constrained like Weebly? Trying to figure out if Squarespace gives you the best of both worlds – access to the code and freedom to fully customize.
Thanks for the tips. I’ve played with Wix for a bit and I’m excited to give Squarespace a shot.
Hi Erica,
1) They can only export to WordPress at the moment, which is a lot more flexible than other hosted website builders already. The reason is that other website builders or hosts don’t have the technology behind to power Squarespace websites properly, so the option to export to WordPress is already one of the best solutions if you choose to use a hosted website builder. Even for WordPress users, if they ever want to take their site and move it to another CMS (website builder), it won’t be an easy solution as other CMS might not be able to power WordPress site perfectly due to different technological platforms.
2) What you can do, is load up one of their example sites, then manually shrink the size of the window and you will see how responsive works. The content will start to reorganize so no matter what screen size or device the visitor is using, the website layout will look good. Wix has a separate mobile editor in which you can build a site specifically for mobile uses. The drawback is that if you make changes to the desktop version of the site, you will also have to do the same change to the mobile version. For Squarespace, you just make the change and it will flow seamlessly into any mobile / desktop screen sizes.
3) You can’t edit your site from a mobile device, but you can write and edit blog posts. Only Jimdo has the ability for you to build a full site using their mobile app.
4) Squarespace is not a “pure” drag and drop per se. So it works similar to Weebly. I think the best way is to sign up for a 14 day trial and invest an hour and see if it can work out for you!
Hope this helps!
– Jeremy
Hi,
Excellent review. You do a great job!
I’m a co-founder of a non-profit, and was looking for the a good website builder that will integrate a way to receive donations into the website as seamless as possible.
Flexibility is another key factor for us. We would need a way to receive monthly (or annual) donations as well as one-time donations. Have you reviewed anything like that? Which website builder would you recommend for a small non-profit, all other things being equal?
Thank you!
Hi Will,
Thanks for your feedback. I think that PayPal has a donation button that you can use, but I’m not entirely sure if they can do monthly / annual repeat payments for donors. But I believe they can handle at least one off donations.
PayPal does have monthly subscription payment processors, where your donors are pretty much your “members” and can therefore charge them once a month on a pre-set amount.
I think most of the website builders that we’ve tested and discussed on our site will do a pretty good job in allowing you to build a website. I don’t believe any of them have specific features dedicated to non-profits, but the likes of Squarespace, Wix or Weebly can do the job just fine.
If you keeping a close eye on the budget, I would suggest the Weebly Starter Plan (which allows you to connect your own custom domain). See our Weebly review here.
Hope this helps!
– Jeremy
Interesting reading. Just to let you know, WIX.com has some templates for non-profits. I used Wix a number of years ago and it was wonderful, seems even better now. However, your article brings up some interesting points, so I might check out Squarespace.
Hi Phoebe,
Each website builder has its own pros and cons. The best way is to sign up for a free account or free trial and test things out!
Good luck with trying Squarespace and I think you won’t be disappointed!
– Jeremy
Hi, I was wondering for a new startup business, mines involves selling smartphone, and custom built computers, which one would you suggest? And also in the near future I will be designing apps, flash animations and websites. Which websites would work for each of my needs? I would appreciate it very much, thank you!
Hi Jabran,
If you are going to run an online store, I’d suggest you check out this article that we wrote about online store builders. See our discussion there and you’ll have a good idea of which builders to test to see if you like them.
Good luck!
– Jeremy
Thank you for your informative review. I just wanted to point out that Wix has an excellent call center open to those who have premium accounts. I work on multiple Wix sites at a time and call this center weekly. The have recently doubled the amount of customer service reps to match demand.
This call center is in addition to the excellent online help features. The call center employees are located in San Francisco and speak excellent English.
The phone number is 1-800-600-0949
Please consider editing you article to include this, as I consider the call center a major benefit of using the Wix platform.
Thank you,
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for sharing this. I was trying to dig up some information about this on Wix’s site and I did find a telephone scheduler where you can note down your questions and supposedly someone from Wix will call. I haven’t tested this out yet though, but it didn’t sound like it’s only available for premium members.
I was also searching for the phone number that you mentioned but can’t seem to find it. Would you mind sharing the web page with us? This would be a very helpful support function.
Thanks!
– Jeremy
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on all these options we are faced with! I am wondering about the email situation with Squarespace, it says they don’t offer email services, but are you still able to have an email linked to your website, such as [email protected] yoursite. com ? Is that something that is provided through my domain host (currently bluehost) as opposed to the website builder? Sorry I’m new to this and a bit confused!! :-)
Hi Claire,
You can either use Google Business Apps where you can use a Gmail interface to manage your emails and get your custom email domain name, but they do charge you a small monthly fee (we use it and paying around $4 per month).
Another option is to use Outlook Live (Microsoft) which apparently they offer you custom domain emails for free. I think you’ll find more information through the search engines.
Hope this helps!
– Jeremy
Hi Thanks for the review – we started designing a site on Wix but after doing further research we’re no longer sure we want to sign up because of the limitations in bandwidth and storage space (even when buying their most expensive package) + the fact you can not export the code from a Wix site, so basically you re stuck with them unless you build the site from scratch again.
However another thing which is a real problem is that with Wix you can only have 1 site per account and since we are planning on having multiple separate sites for different cities we would have to pay for a new Wix account for every new site created. Is this the same with Squarespace?
Can you have more than 1 site hosted on a single Squarespace account?
Thanks
Rob
Hi Rob – Thanks for sharing your feedback. Those are also “cons” that we pointed out in our Wix review post (https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/website-builders/wix/wix-review/) so definitely something to think about when weighing them against the “pros” of using Wix.
For Squarespace, you also can only build one website per account. I think this is the “standard” for most website builders nowadays.
I remember Weebly used to allow you to upgrade to their “Pro” package and you can build 10 websites under the same account and have access to their premium features. They’ve updated their program recently so now, although you can control as many websites as you wish under one email address, you have to upgrade your websites to their premium package one at a time. So no longer do you just upgrade and have multiple websites enjoying premium features.
In a way, I think this is fair as each website has its own hosting, maintenance and servicing costs (be it Wix, Squarespace or Weebly). They need to hire big teams of programmers, customer service reps, very expensive IT infrastructures to allow people to build millions of websites and to continue to ensure that they are up and running. So for these website builders to continue to improve and “stay afloat”, they will have to charge fees for premium packages for each website. The last thing their users would want is the website builder to stop providing services (or bankrupt) as this means their website(s) will no longer be available to your visitors!
Hope this makes sense!
– Jeremy
Thanks for all of the awesome review I nearly checked them all but I have 2 nooby questions
After I export a website what next? So if for example I used squarespace and decided I don’t want to deal with them anymore I’ll just export the website and contact host gator and thats it. i wont need to redesign or code anything?
When they say free custom domain is that for a year or as long as I am paying for squarespace or wix services?
Thanks
Hi Abdol,
For Squarespace, you are currently able to export the blog, but not the entire website. For Wix, you can’t export the website at all at the moment.
For Squarespace, once you export the blog, you can upload it into WordPress and Squarespace has guides for that if you search in their support page.
As for the free custom domain, I believe you should get it for free if you keep renewing your annual plans. Just keep in mind that the free domain is only provided if you sign up for their annual plans.
– Jeremy
Hi
Thanks for the comprehensitve reviews. I had a question about the pricing. Is it only available in the US/Europe or asia too (coutries like india, bangladesh etc? )
Thanks
Hi Raghav – I believe that the prices are available globally, just that you may have to pay in a different currency than from your home country.
They would require a valid credit card, or for some builders, PayPal will work as well.
But to get the most accurate and updated information, I would encourage you to email their sales / support team directly. Would love to know what you find out!
– Jeremy
Hi Jeremy and Connie, GREAT review. One question, with Squarespace can I hide/shield my personal information from anyone looking to see who my website belongs to? I am very private, and do not want this information for public knowledge. Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi LeAnne,
I’m not sure but you can ask Squarespace. I don’t think there is a way for people to find out who built the site, except if they look up the owner of the domain name.
One way to shield that is to purchase the privacy setting from your domain name registrar. We use GoDaddy and they offer a privacy protection which they mask all the personal information, and it goes for around $10 – $15 per year which is well worth it.
Jeremy