Building a website is exciting, but choosing the right tool can feel tricky. Squarespace and Wix are two of the most popular website builders, making creating beautiful sites easy without coding. But which one fits your needs? In this article, we’ll compare them in simple terms, covering ease of use, design, pricing, SEO, and more. We’ll focus on Squarespace vs Wix pricing, Squarespace vs Wix for portfolio, and Squarespace vs Wix SEO to help you decide. Let’s dive in!
What Are Squarespace and Wix?
First, let’s look at what these platforms do:
- Wix: Wix is a flexible website builder with a drag-and-drop editor. It has over 900 templates, a free plan, and lots of add-ons for things like online stores or blogs. It’s great if you want full control over your design.
- Squarespace: Squarespace is known for its stylish, professional templates. It offers a structured editor and focuses on making your site look polished with less effort. It’s perfect for creatives and small businesses.
Both are easy for beginners, but they work best for different goals. Let’s break it down.
1. Ease of Use: Which is Easier to Start?
You want a website builder that’s simple, especially if you’re new to this.
- Wix: Wix’s drag-and-drop editor lets you place images, text, or buttons anywhere. It’s super easy to use, but all that freedom can feel messy if you’re not sure where to start. Wix also has an AI tool called Wix ADI that builds a site for you after answering a few questions. This is great for beginners.
- Squarespace: Squarespace uses a grid-based editor where elements like text or images snap into place. This keeps things neat, but it’s less flexible than Wix. The interface is clean, but it takes a bit longer to learn.
Winner: Wix is easier for beginners because of its simple editor and AI tool. Squarespace is still user-friendly but needs a little more time to get comfortable.
2. Templates and Design: Which Looks Nicer?
Your website’s look is super important—it’s what visitors notice first.
- Wix: Wix has over 900 templates for all kinds of sites, like blogs or shops. They’re modern, but not all work perfectly on phones, so you might need to adjust them. With so many options, you’ll likely find one you like, but some templates need extra work to look great.
- Squarespace: Squarespace has about 180 templates, fewer than Wix, but they’re all top-notch. They’re designed to look amazing on both computers and phones right away. Squarespace’s templates are especially good for creative fields like art or photography.
Squarespace vs Wix for Portfolio: If you’re making a portfolio, Squarespace is the best choice. Its templates are clean and focus on showing off your work, especially photos. They make images look sharp and vibrant, which is perfect for artists or photographers. Wix has portfolio templates too, but they often need more tweaking to look as good.
Winner: Squarespace wins for better-looking, ready-to-go templates, especially for portfolios. Wix is good if you want lots of choices.
3. Squarespace vs Wix Pricing: Which Costs Less?
Money matters when picking a website builder. Let’s compare Squarespace vs Wix pricing to see which gives you more for your budget.
Wix Pricing
Wix has a free plan (with ads and a Wix web address) and four paid plans:
- Light Plan: $17/month – Basic features, 2GB storage, no online store.
- Core Plan: $29/month – Online store, 50GB storage, marketing tools.
- Business Plan: $36/month – Better e-commerce, 100GB storage.
- Business Elite Plan: $159/month – Unlimited storage, VIP support.
Paying yearly saves up to 20%. There’s also an Enterprise plan for big companies, with custom prices.
Squarespace Pricing
Squarespace has no free plan but offers a 14-day free trial. Its four plans are:
- Personal Plan: $16/month – Basic site features, unlimited storage, no store.
- Business Plan: $23/month – Basic online store, marketing tools, unlimited storage.
- Commerce Basic Plan: $28/month – Full online store, no extra fees.
- Commerce Advanced Plan: $52/month – Advanced store features, unlimited storage.
Paying yearly saves 24–30% compared to monthly.
What’s Different?
- Free Option: Wix’s free plan is nice for trying things out, but ads and branding make it less professional. Squarespace’s trial lets you test without paying.
- Storage: Squarespace gives unlimited storage on all plans. Wix’s storage starts at 2GB and goes up to unlimited, depending on the plan.
- Online Stores: Squarespace lets you sell online starting at $23/month. Wix needs the $29/month plan for payments.
- Value: Squarespace’s cheaper plans include unlimited storage, which is great if you have lots of photos or videos.
Winner: Squarespace is a better deal for paid plans because of unlimited storage and cheaper e-commerce. Wix’s free plan is good for casual users.
4. Squarespace vs Wix SEO: Which Gets You Found on Google?
SEO (search engine optimization) helps people find your site on Google. Let’s look at Squarespace vs Wix SEO.
- Wix: Wix has awesome SEO tools, like:
- SEO Wiz: A step-by-step guide to make your site Google-friendly.
- AI Meta Tag Tool: Creates titles and descriptions for you.
- Semrush Tool: Helps you find the right keywords.
- Custom Tags and URLs: You can change titles, descriptions, and web addresses.
- Multilingual SEO: Supports different languages for global audiences.
Wix also makes sitemaps automatically and connects to Google Search Console. But setting it up can feel like a lot for new users.
- Squarespace: Squarespace’s SEO tools are simpler but work well:
- Automatic Sitemaps: Helps Google understand your site.
- Custom Tags and URLs: You can edit titles, descriptions, and web addresses.
- SEO Guide: A basic checklist for optimizing your site.
- Clean Code and SSL: Built-in features that help rankings.
- SEOSpace Plugin: A special tool for advanced SEO, only for Squarespace.
Squarespace’s templates are great for phones, which Google loves. But some templates make it harder to edit titles, and finding image settings can be confusing.
What’s Different?
- Ease: Wix’s SEO Wiz is super helpful for beginners. Squarespace’s SEO is easier to use but less detailed.
- Advanced Tools: Wix gives you more control, like editing robots.txt, and tools like Semrush. Squarespace’s SEOSpace plugin adds extra power.
- Speed: Wix sites load a bit faster, which helps SEO. Squarespace is quick too but shines in how fast users can interact with your site.
Winner: Wix is slightly better for SEO because of its extra tools and AI help. Squarespace is great too, especially with SEOSpace.
5. Online Stores: Which is Better for Selling?
If you want to sell products, e-commerce features are key.
- Wix: Wix’s store plans (Core and up) offer:
- Unlimited products, abandoned cart emails, and payment options.
- Custom checkout pages and product filters.
- AI tools for product descriptions and shipping.
Wix is good for small to medium shops but isn’t as powerful as platforms like Shopify.
- Squarespace: Squarespace’s store features start at the Business plan and include:
- Unlimited products, no extra fees (on Commerce plans), and in-person sales tools.
- Beautiful product pages, great for photos.
- Extras like subscriptions or Instagram selling.
Squarespace is awesome for image-heavy stores, like art or jewelry.
Winner: Squarespace for its cheaper store plans and sleek design. Wix is better if you want more customization.
6. Blogging: Which is Best for Writers?
Both platforms let you blog, but they’re different.
- Wix: Wix’s blog tools include:
- Scheduling posts, adding tags, and managing comments.
- AI tools to write drafts or make images.
- Ways to earn money, like subscriptions or ads.
Wix’s blog is solid, but it doesn’t save your work automatically, which can be annoying.
- Squarespace: Squarespace’s blog features are stronger:
- Scheduling, tags, categories, drafts, and comment tools.
- Team tools for multiple writers.
- A powerful editor for adding galleries or social media.
Squarespace’s blogs look amazing, but it also lacks autosave.
Winner: Squarespace for its better editor and prettier blogs.
7. Apps and Add-Ons: Which Has More Extras?
- Wix: Wix’s App Market has over 400 apps, like email tools or analytics. This makes it easy to add new features.
- Squarespace: Squarespace has fewer add-ons (under 50), but they cover basics like email marketing and social media. The SEOSpace plugin is a big plus for SEO.
Winner: Wix for its huge app selection.
8. Support: Who Helps You Faster?
- Wix: Offers 24/7 help via chat, email, or phone (on higher plans). It also has tons of guides online.
- Squarespace: Has chat support (3 AM–8 PM PST, Monday–Friday), fast email replies, and a help center. No phone support