Looking for a Great Website Builder? Wix vs Squarespace Provides the Answer

We have made clear the advantages and disadvantages of Wix and Shopify, and also we made a comparison between Squarespace and Shopify, through those comparisons, we have known the biggest difference among the three platforms is that Shopify focuses more on building an online store. By contrast, Wix and Squarespace fair better as general website builders.

However, there are many differences between Wix and Squarespace. To choose more suitable website builder for your site, check these differences and learn their pros and cons in this article. Then you will know which one is your better choice to build a website.

Wix vs Squarespace: Overview

Wix simplifies the process of making a website. Squarespace contributes more to design. It means you will get more attractive templates from Squarespace but you can create a site much more easily on Wix. But which one is right for you? Firstly, let’s have a quick view of the introduction of the two platforms.

Wix

Wix lets you create a website quickly even if you know little about the technicalities of building a site. There are two optional ways to make your website: Build by yourself with the help of Wix’s templates officially provided by Wix or build your website automatically with Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence). No matter which platform you choose, you can create a designed site with custom content and images.

Wix makes it easier for users, especially newcomers, to build their site without either having professional skills or hiring web developers. Its sites are optimized for mobile. Moreover, the sites are built, maintained, and managed easily through the Wix dashboard. No matter what the user's experience level is, Wix has an option for creating their websites.

In addition, you can create your own dropshipping store on Wix. With DSers, the best AliExpress Dropshipping tool, you can easily manage your dropshipping orders from your Wix store. You can check Wix Store Support to get more details.

Squarespace

Squarespace, another leading brand in website creation, is an alternative way to build websites. Squarespace is an all-in-one content management system, also called CMS, for creating and managing websites, blogs, portfolios, and online stores. With a single subscription, businesses of all types can create a professional website, host their content, register domains, sell products, and much more.

Everyone needs a unique website for their e-commerce, but you might not know whether Squarespace is the right website builder for you. Squarespace lets you to try out whether it’s the one platform that you’re looking for or not with a 14-day free trial, so you can explore the platform, begin building a site, and decide if you're ready to sign up for Squarespace.

While its e-commerce store features aren’t as comprehensive as Wix’s, Squarespace is still a good choice for e-commerce businesses that need to build a simple online store for any types of business.

Wix vs Squarespace: Features

Now, in order to make the right decision for your e-commerce or website building, you should figure out the difference between Wix and Squarespace one by one.

1. Pricing

Wix enables you to pay for your website monthly, yearly or bi-yearly. There is a free plan with ads, and you can start straight away with no money. Then, there are several paid pricing tiers, which might confuse you:

Site Plans:

• Combo ($14 per month)
• Unlimited ($18 per month)
• Pro ($23 per month)
• VIP ($39 per month)

With these plans, you can get a free domain name for a year. You then only need to pay $14.95 yearly for the domain name from the next year on.

Except for the website plans, it also has three E-commerce plans:

• Business Basic ($23 a month)
• Business Unlimited ($27 a month)
• Business VIP ($49 a month)

The Squarespace pricing plan is much clearer. There are 4 plans, which you can purchase monthly or yearly, including:

• Personal ($12 a month)
• Business ($18 a month)
• Online Store Basic ($26 a month)
• Online Store Advanced ($40 a month)

Thanks to the free plan and the more cost-effective e-commerce offer, Wix is better than Squarespace in this respect. With Wix, you can always keep your site in a free account, which is an obvious advantage.

2.Apps

With Wix’s excellent and exhaustive App Market, you will be more likely to find any add-ons or feature you may looking for, as Wix may have an app for it. With these apps, you can find tons of useful add-ons and extra features to enhance your site. These include hotel and restaurant apps, booking systems, comments, forums, events, advanced gallery images, and donation boxes.

By contrast, on Squarespace, there is the Squarespace Extensions marketplace, launched in December 2019. The Extensions marketplace focuses more on e-commerce, such as shipping and accounting services, and there isn’t a large number of integrations available right now.

3.Blogging

Squarespace offers better blogging services for your website building. If the primary purpose of your site is blogging, you’d better choose Squarespace. Squarespace lets you get most, if not all, of the blogging features you might need such as categories, post scheduling, and more. It also offers integrated hosting for your podcast is a recommendation marketplace where top Shopify offers are open here, and affiliates can join and apply.

While Wix only allows you to add images, videos, and text. Other elements usually at your disposals such as social media bars or lists are not included. It is especially troublesome if you want to insert a table as you’ll have to use HTML. Besides, you cannot find an undo button in Wix’s blog.

4.SEO and Marketing

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It refers to the processes that help your website rank higher up in Google’s search result pages. It’s a useful method to bring traffic to your site.

Both two platforms have built-in SEO tools to help you boost your website’s ranking including mobile responsive pages, optimized headings, and alt text for images. Squarespace falls because of its sophisticated SEO tools, it’s not friendly enough for SEO beginners. However, Wix puts all its strategies in one place so users can learn SEO simply by themselves and improve their online presence. The SEO Wiz contains step-by-step guides, achievement updates, and many other learning materials so you can start improving your site’s visibility even if you never heard about SEO before.

The email marketing tools of Wix are part of the Ascend all-in-one business solution that gives you access to other marketing tools like live chat, social media integration, and SEO tools. The advantage is you can have access to a limited number of features for free or upgrade to one of the three paid plans to enjoy the full benefit.

Squarespace enables you to customize layouts, content, colors, and fonts. Its analytics tools let you track engagement so you can customize your email marketing strategy to get the best results. However, you have to pay additional monthly fees which range from $5 to $48 per month.

5.Online Store

Both Wix and Squarespace have standard sales tools that you need to run a basic online store, including:

• Inventory management
• Payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal)
• Donations
• Discounts & Coupons
• Shipping tools
• Sell an unlimited number of products
• ......

As mentioned above, Squarespace has a cheaper starting price than Wix, with its $18 per month Business plan. But it also reserves certain features for its top-level plans. For example, you have to sign up for its $40 per month Advanced Commerce plan to use abandoned cart recovery and subscriptions.

In comparison, Wix is much more generous with its sales tools – to get abandoned cart recovery, you need to pay for its $23 per month Business Basic plan, and subscriptions for its $27 per month plan.

This means that for online stores, Wix requires less money than Squarespace, making it a better choice for budget-conscious businesses.

6.Help and Support

Wix provides support through email, forums, social media, dedicated support centers, and 24/7 telephone support callback services. There is currently no live chat feature available. It also provides you on-page help while you edit. When you get stuck or are confused about something, all you have to do is click on one of the little question marks on your screen.

Squarespace not only provides a forum and a Knowledge Center, but also it has a live chat function and a 24/7 email response team. While Squarespace doesn’t offer phone support.

Wix vs Squarespace: Pros and Cons

After the comparison, you may have got the key features and differences between the two platforms. Let’s have a quick review of their advantages and disadvantages.

Wix Pros and Cons

• Incredibly simple to use, the intuitive drag-and-drop editor works wonders
• Pricing plans offer great value for money, with no transaction fees
• Super easy to preview and check the design of your site
• Multiple ranges of templates for lots of different types of websites
• Excellent customer help and support options, through phone, live chat, and email
• Powerful e-commerce features, such as inventory management, opening an online store is easy
• 100+ apps and add-ons in the app store, such as the best dropshipping tool - DSers
• Beginners friendly, you can start easily

• With its free plan, you can do few things
• You must create a new site if you want to change your website’s template after publishing
• The templates customization is not as attractive as Squarespace’s

Squarespace Pros and Cons

• Much more eye-catching design options and templates compared to Wix
• Professional customization with HTML and CSS code blocks
• No transaction fees if you sign up for the $35 per month Basic Commerce plan
• Powerful integrations with some third-party companies
• Great e-commerce features on higher pricing plans

• Not as easy as Wix for beginners
• A limited range of integrations
• No free plan, just a free trial
• It reserves certain features for its top-level plans
• No phone customer support

Wix is a fantastic website builder as well as an e-commerce platform you can use to open an online store. This makes Wix very powerful for nearly everyone — it's perfect for blogs, businesses, and online stores alike. Squarespace is the platform that pays more attention to design. Its exceptional range of templates and slick design features make it the choice for anyone who wants to have a stylish website.

Conclusion

After reading, you might have a better understanding of Wix and Squarespace. It’s your turn to choose one to create your online business site. However, if you want a platform that allows you to open a better online store with a unique customization, Shopify is here to help you.

Wix is a better choice if you want to launch a website quickly and easily with simple knowledge of technologies. It’s much friendlier to starters, and its drag-and-drop interface only requires a short learning period while its hundreds of templates and features allow you to start your website any way you want.

However, if you are searching for a more professional site with better design templates and more customization options, especially one you're willing to take some time to build, just use Squarespace.