With more entrepreneurs seeking to create their own website content, start a blog and retain control over design features, both Squarespace and WordPress remain popular options. The two platforms are both beginner-friendly but have different strengths and weaknesses depending on your goals. In this guide, we’ll compare Squarespace vs WordPress in terms of their features, pricing, customer service and more, so you can decide which is best for you.
Featured Partners
1
Wix
$17 per month
Yes
Yes
2
Web.com
$1.95 per month
Yes
Customizable templates, Easy drag-and-drop technology, SSL certificate
3
Squarespace
$16 per month
Yes
Yes
Squarespace vs. WordPress: At a Glance
Squarespace is a software as a service (SaaS), all-in-one beginner website builder. It is designed for users who want to pay one flat fee to access everything. Squarespace monthly subscriptions include templates, site management and plugins. It’s very user-friendly, with hosting included and no coding involved.
WordPress is another hosted SaaS platform designed for beginners, offering customizable features for building and maintaining smaller websites and blogs. In addition to a free option, it also offers paid plans with more features and add-on choices.
Note that we are referring to WordPress.com, which is different from the self-hosted WordPress.org.
Both Squarespace and WordPress allow users to create websites using provided tools and templates, and require no coding knowledge, but the site-building experiences are different. Choosing the right platform for your business or brand will come down to what exactly you need your site to do, and how many options you are looking for.
Squarespace
Design
Aesthetically appealing templates and stock photos
Features
Top-notch blogging tools
Storage
Unlimited
Aesthetically appealing templates and stock photos
Top-notch blogging tools
Unlimited
- Best for blogging
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage
- Integrated design options
- Less intuitive design options
- Limited e-commerce features
- Not as many apps and add-ons
WordPress
Great for
Blogging and portfolio building
Convenient
Quick, free website creation
Upkeep
Maintenance-free updates and optimization
Blogging and portfolio building
Quick, free website creation
Maintenance-free updates and optimization
- Ability to create free live site
- Helpful setup tutorials
- Automatic updates and backups
- Limited storage space
- Ads on all free plans
- Unable to load plugins
How the Platforms Stack Up
| Squarespace | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
|
SEO Tools
|
Offers meta descriptions and customized URLs for all pages. Google Analytics is available for every plan.
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Users with Business or eCommerce plans can install third-party plugins to help maximize SEO
|
|
Blogging
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Includes built-in blogging tools like categories, comment moderation, tags and post scheduling
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Free plan offers beginning blogger options, a hosted site and 3 GB of storage. Paid plans offer more options, including customization
|
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Plan Costs
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$16-$72 per month
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$4-$45 per month
|
|
Customer Support
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24/7 customer support is offered via email, social media or live chat, but no phone option is available
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Limited customer support is available via phone, but live chat and one-on-one concierge support are only available with certain paid plans
|
|
e-commerce
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Users can sell both physical and digital products, along with services
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Only users with the eCommerce plan can sell digital and physical goods. Other plans do not allow online store creation.
|
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Backup and Storage
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Offers unlimited storage, but users must back up their website content manually
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Website content is backed up automatically, storage space varies depending on your plan
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No Design Knowledge Needed
Neither Squarespace nor WordPress allow for unlimited design freedom, which is often ideal for beginners. Both platforms offer structured templates and a limited number of themes, along with basic editing tools.
The higher-priced plans on each platform do open up more premium design options.
SEO Tools
By using optimized keywords, SEO has the potential to push your website to the top of Google searches, allowing a larger audience to discover your content.
For the casual blogger who is simply looking to document and share with a small group of viewers, ranking higher may not be important.
On the other hand, if you are hoping to monetize a blog and use it to generate income, having fully maximized SEO is essential to achieving higher search engine rankings and reaching more people.
Squarespace users are able to configure meta titles, descriptions and custom URLs. Google Analytics is available with all plans, and the platform allows for easy social media integration. Users may not install any third-party SEO apps, such as Yoast, and instead must rely on the provided built-in options.
WordPress users do not have as many configuration options, but the platform offers auto-generated XML sitemaps, which are designed to provide better visibility with search engines. Only those paying for the Business tier are able to install third-party plugins and utilize Google Analytics, which may make it difficult to maximize SEO options.
E-commerce Options
Squarespace Business, Basic Commerce and Advanced Commerce plans all offer users fully integrated e-commerce solutions, with the ability to sell unlimited products. WordPress offers an eCommerce tier for online stores, which includes premium design options, integrations with shipping carriers and acceptance of payments from over 60 countries.
Storage and Backup
Squarespace offers unlimited storage capacity, which is ideal for anyone hoping to pursue a large online business presence or e-commerce site. WordPress has a limit of 3 GB for free plans, which is plenty if you only need to host a simple website or blog. The storage capacities increase from 6 GB to 200 GB with the paid plans.
Squarespace users must take the extra step of backing up their content manually.
WordPress offers automatic updates and backups, so users have that task taken off of their plate.
Featured Partners
1
Wix
$17 per month
Yes
Yes
2
Web.com
$1.95 per month
Yes
Customizable templates, Easy drag-and-drop technology, SSL certificate
3
Squarespace
$16 per month
Yes
Yes
Bottom Line
Both Squarespace and WordPress allow users to build a beginner website and offer a straightforward blogging interface, with no coding knowledge needed. Which platform is the best choice depends on your current needs, along with what you hope to accomplish.
If you will be blogging frequently, hoping to reach a large audience and ultimately seeking to create an income-generating stream, Squarespace will be the better choice to help you achieve your goals.
If you are seeking to create a free, simple website and starter blog for a smaller group of viewers, WordPress is a great option.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Squarespace as good as WordPress for SEO?
Squarespace has come a long way in terms of SEO tools, although WordPress still offers more SEO tools.
Is WordPress cheaper than Squarespace?
WordPress is a free open-source platform where you only have to pay for web hosting. Though, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s cheaper to build and manage a site with WordPress. This is because, unlike Squarespace, which includes everything for one flat monthly fee, with WordPress there are additional costs involved, such as a domain name and an SSL certificate, as well as optional extras such as premium theme and/or premium plugins.
Is there a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
There are several differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The main difference is that WordPress.com is fully hosted while WordPress.org is self-hosted.
Is Squarespace a good website builder?
Squarespace is a great website builder for those who are looking for an easy-to-use platform with beautiful templates. It’s also a good choice for businesses that need e-commerce features. However, if you’re looking for an open-source platform, consider WordPress.
How scalable are website builders?
Website builders are highly scalable, and your plan can be easily modified to meet the needs of your growing team. If you outgrow even the top-level package of your service, many vendors offer enterprise-level functionality with customized pricing. It may be worthwhile to get in touch with your system’s customer service team to learn more.
Are there any benefits to using a website builder for my business?
A website builder like Squarespace or WordPress makes it possible for you to design your website easily using a step-by-step process that allows you to create the unique look that you want. It also allows you to choose where to host it when you’re ready to go live with your products, services or content. Both Squarespace and WordPress both can meet your website building needs.
