Squarespace and Wix are both website builders. 55% of the websites online are built using easy-to-use, cloud-based website builders. If you are a beginner looking to build a website, then Wix is a much better option.
It comes with an easy drag-and-drop builder. Anyone who is just getting started with website building will love Wix. It is aesthetically pleasing and has a great visual appeal.
Wix also provides more freedom in terms of customization. Squarespace is more focused on curation and design. It is not very flexible when it comes to customization and creation. Wix also has slightly better features than Squarespace.
Both Wix and Squarespace have all the essential features like a photo gallery, forms, live chats, video players, and so on. Squarespace offers limited flexibility in terms of customization.
It has a more structured editor. Wix, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. It comes with an unstructured editor that allows you to add widgets at your convenience.
Out of all the website builders on the web, Squarespace has the most well-designed templates.
What Is Wix?
Wix offers far more options, but design-wise, Squarespace is better. Squarespace allows websites to have a full-fledged donation system. It is excellent for non-profit websites.
Wix has this option too, but it is just in the form of a button. It will direct you to a payment gateway. Squarespace also has the option of syndicating podcasts.
Wix comes with a podcast player; this is not the same as podcast syndication. The podcast syndication option allows you to submit your podcast to Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Both Wix and Squarespace have excellent features for e-commerce websites. If you are looking for a simple website or a blog, then Wix is for you.
But if you want to go for something more professional and sleeker, then Squarespace is the more intelligent choice. Wix offers unlimited bandwidth, but none of its plans offer unlimited storage. That is not the case with Squarespace.
What Is Squarespace?
Squarespace provides you with unlimited storage space. It is a crucial difference between the two. When choosing a website builder, it is essential to know how much bandwidth and storage will be provided.
Another vital difference between Wix and Squarespace is the ability to change the template. Once you make a website with Wix, you cannot change the entire template.
It is a bit of a roadblock. As your website grows and evolves, you will want to change its look. It is not possible with Wix.
Squarespace doesn’t let you change the template either. The templates offered by Squarespace are far more responsive. Squarespace also provides a one-click color option.
It means once you choose a color for one page, the same color is applied all through the website. Not everyone has a great design sense. In this case, the set color palettes provided by Squarespace come in handy.
Wix, on the other hand, provides a lot of color options. But it does add the same color all through the website. If you are not good with design, then this might be a task for you.
Your website might look mismatched! On the other hand, if you want more flexibility with colors, then Wix is for you!
Ease Of Use
Both Wix and Squarespace do not require you to have any coding knowledge. Likewise, you don’t need to be tech-savvy to use either of the two website builders.
Wix provides a lot of creative freedom. It is much more user-friendly than Squarespace. Wix has an in-build drag-and-drop editor. It is similar to PowerPoint or Keynote.
Wix also provides an optional feature called the Wix ADI feature. Wix is easy to use, beginner-friendly, and overall a far better website builder in terms of ease of use.
Squarespace does not provide a lot of creative flexibility. You might need to spend a little time learning how to use it. It has a section-based drag and drop option. Most users find Squarespace hard to use.
Meaning, it is not as beginner-friendly as Wix. But it is not very complicated. If you have some time on your hands, you can quickly get the hang of it.
Squarespace may not be very easy to use, but it has other advantages.
Design
Wix offers over 500+ design templates. These templates range from blogging to e-commerce. You have plenty of responsive website templates to choose from. The templates are professionally designed.
They are responsive on the web. But when it comes to mobile, Wix templates don’t do so well. Templates provided by Wix need to be tweaked so that they become responsive on tablets and mobile phones. It is an added task.
Wix comes with a particular editor that helps you make your template mobile responsive. Unfortunately, even though you can choose from 500 templates, all of them are not up to the mark.
Some templates are pretty mediocre. You might have to scroll through several templates to find the one that is well designed.
Squarespace offers 113 templates. The number may be small, but the quality of each template is impeccable. They are created solely from a design point of view.
The templates are highly sophisticated. Most designs are modern and minimalistic. Just like Wix, templates provided by Squarespace also need to be tweaked for mobile.
If you are a professional, especially someone from the creative field, then Squarespace is for you. Squarespace boasts of quality over quantity. Every template is carefully designed.
No matter what profession you belong to, you can find a suitable template on Squarespace. Since every template is tailor-made, you don’t have to worry about the quality of the design.
Most templates on Squarespace look appealing because of attractive pictures. If you replace these pictures, the design might look dull. So make sure to keep this in mind while choosing a template.
You don’t want to pick a template that does not go with your product or service images. It might seem trivial now. But when you start designing the website, this might become an issue.
Make sure that your website template matches your images.
Both Wix and Squarespace have highly responsive website templates!
SEO
When it comes to SEO, Wix has the upper hand. Wix offers an extensive SEO guide. It has features like tagging, link building, SEO analysis, and so on. Wix’s SEO features allow your website to rank well on search engines.
Wix’s official website provides extensive data about effective SEO strategies. It will enable you to add additional third-party plug-ins like Visitor Analysis and Site booster.
You can also add meta-data, use an alt image editor and make other SEO-related changes using Wix. Wix also comes with a tool called SEO Wiz. This tool suggests what is suitable for search engine optimization.
Search engines play an essential role in terms of website visibility. Each search engine has a set of rules that need to be followed. When your website is well optimized for search engines, it ranks higher on search engines.
It, in turn, increases the flow of traffic to your website. Search engine optimization is highly competitive. Therefore, it is crucial to choose a website builder that optimizes your website for search engines.
Google is one of the most widely used search engines. Yahoo and Bing are a few other popular ones.
Squarespace provides the user with an SEO checklist. This checklist determines whether your website is SEO-friendly or not.
Squarespace provides you with the option of customizing your meta titles, adding meta descriptions and meta-alt attributes. One thing it does not offer is SEO-specific apps. It is terrible news for people trying to build a business, especially in e-commerce.
SEO-specific apps keep a check on your website’s SEO practices. Poor SEO strategies can have adverse effects on your website. The crawlers sent by search engines will find significant flaws in your website.
You can figure these flaws out with an SEO app before the bot crawls through your web pages. But if you are a beginner, then you might not be aware of these SEO tactics.
If your website does not comply with the regulations set by search engines, your website might get flagged down. Google will not even index your website. If that happens, no one will be able to check your website.
Squarespace lacks SEO prompts, SEO suggestions, and a specific SEO app. The absence of all these features doesn’t make your website SEO friendly.
If you are starting a blog for fun, it doesn’t matter if you have a good SEO plan. But if you are looking to start a business, this can be harmful.
Plug-ins And Apps
Wix has its app market. This market has apps made by Wix as well as other third-party app developers. External apps help enhance the functionality of a website.
If you want to boost your website’s SEO, then you need an external app. If you add a store or a forum, then third-party apps come in handy. Without the addition of an app, the website seems quite essential.
For it to function well, you need to add high-end apps. Wix’s app market offers over 200 apps. You can add apps like Wix Forum, Wix Stores, Site Booster, and so on.
Integrating these apps with your website is super easy. Most website developers recommend it.
Squarespace does not have its app market. The number of apps offered is limited. Squarespace offers 23 apps. It gives you the option of adding third-party plug-ins.
These plug-ins are highly advanced and can be used to optimize the website. But they are not nearly as good as those offered by Wix. A weak SEO strategy can damage the ranking of a website.
So if you are going to build a website for your business, it is better to go for an SEO-friendly builder.
E-commerce
Wix is not the best option for e-commerce, but a lot of users prefer it. Majorly because of its ease of use. Wix offers multiple e-commerce templates. It also gives you the option of adding other e-commerce functions like – shopping carts, payment gateway, live chats, etc.
It allows you to sell physical goods, but not services like online courses. Other e-commerce features, like import-export data, drop shipping, conversion tracking, etc., are available with Wix.
Since Wix’s search engine optimization is weak, it is better to go for something like WordPress.
Squarespace offers all the e-commerce options that Wix offers. Features like point-of-sale integration, payment gateways, conversion tracking, shopping carts, and more are available with Squarespace.
In addition, Squarespace offers two additional features. – Gift cards for brand promotions and “back in stock” and “low stock” notifications. These features improve the call-to-action rate and create a sense of urgency with the customers.
If you plan to start an e-commerce store, it would be better to go for a content management system instead of a website builder.
WordPress is one of the most popular CMS in the market. It has better e-commerce features and excellent SEO plug-ins.
Support
Wix offers 24/7 support through calls, emails, and live chats. Their customer support executives are friendly and are eager to resolve your issues.
Squarespace offers 24/7 online support. You can reach out to them through email, live chat, and Twitter. Unfortunately, they do not offer phone assistance.
Pricing
Wix offers nine different types of pricing plans.
- The first plan is the FREE one.
- Combo Plan $14/month
- Unlimited plan costs $18/month
- Pro Plan costs $23/month
- VIP Plan costs $39/month
- Business Basic Plan Costs $23/month
- Business Unlimited Plan costs $27/month
- Business VIP plan costs $49/month
- Enterprise plan is negotiable
You can pick a plan that suits your needs and pay accordingly.
On the other hand, Squarespace has four different kinds of pricing plans:
- Personal plan costs $16/month (monthly payment) or $12/month (yearly payment)
- Business plan costs $26/month (monthly payment) or $18/month (yearly payment)
- Basic Commerce plan costs $36/month (monthly payment) or $26/month (yearly payment)
- Advanced Commerce Plan costs $54/month (monthly payment) or $40/ month (yearly payment)
Both Squarespace and Wix have affordable payment plans.
Conclusion
Wix and Squarespace are high-end website builders. But they do differ in many ways. Wix is beginner-friendly. It has an unstructured editor, which makes customization a wee bit complicated.
But once you spend a little while learning how to use it, you will find Wix to be super easy. Wix also offers more freedom in terms of creativity. Squarespace is not as flexible when it comes to design.
It allows you to make minor design changes. It has a structured editor, which makes it easy for first-timers. In terms of design, Squarespace is far more superior. It offers limited template designs.
But each design is tailor-made. It looks professional and has excellent finishing. Wix is more SEO-friendly than Squarespace. It also has its app market that allows you to add third-party plug-ins to your website.
These apps improve the functionality of your website. Squarespace has limited third-party plug-ins. Unlike Wix, it does not have an app market. If you want to go for something basic, then Squarespace is for you.
Wix is for people looking for more creative freedom and the option to add multiple features to their website.
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