Wix vs. Squarespace: Which is best for your business in 2024?
There’s been a lot of updates to Squarespace and Wix since we first published this article. With the introduction of Fluid Engine, the line between Squarespace and Wix is starting to blur.
A lot of small businesses and sole traders have traditionally chosen Squarespace for its ability to get the job done fast. I reckon that they are now sacrificing that ease of use for flexibility. Flexibility is fine if you actually need it. I was a Wix user for many years and switched to Squarespace last year for my photography site. Now that the fluid engine has appeared I will be moving back to Wix when my subscription is due for renewal. Wix do a far better job and have been doing it for longer.
In this article, I’m actually going to build a website with both platforms and we are going to take a look at the latest features to see how they compare.
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Squarespace Templates vs Wix Templates
Wix has more than 500 templates available, all of which are mobile-responsive. They offer an advanced mobile editor, too. Once you’ve chosen a Wix template, you can’t change your mind part way through and opt for another. You’ll have to start again and lose the work you’ve done already.
Squarespace offers more than 144 templates (with more available from third-party designers). Overall, Squarespace has a commitment to beautiful design that is unmatched among other website builder platforms. All templates are created by professional designers, so you could say it’s a case of quality over quantity. Squarespace also allows you to change your mind on templates without having to start over.
Verdict:
Squarespace wins design by a long way. At the moment, they don’t have any true rivals for the professionalism of their designs.
Customization and Flexibility
Both Wix and Squarespace offer a decent level of customization and flexibility when it comes to design, layout, and content management. However, there are some differences between the two platforms in terms of ease of achieving specific customization goals and the level of flexibility provided.
Wix:
Wix provides a drag-and-drop editor that allows users to easily customize the design and layout of their website. It offers a wide range of templates and design options, allowing for a high level of customization. The Wix Editor provides a lot of control over the visual aspects of the website, such as fonts, colors, and images. Users can also easily add and arrange elements like text boxes, images, videos, and buttons.
In terms of content management, Wix offers a user-friendly interface where users can easily update and manage their website content. There are pre-built content modules available that can be added and customized as needed.
Wix provides a Wix Code feature, which allows more advanced users to customize their website by adding JavaScript and APIs. This allows for more complex functionality and customization.
Squarespace:
Squarespace also offers a drag-and-drop interface for customizing the design and layout of websites. It provides a range of professionally designed templates and styles that can be customized to fit different business types and aesthetics. Squarespace templates are known for their clean and modern designs.
Content management in Squarespace is also user-friendly, with a straightforward interface for updating and managing website content. Users can easily add and arrange content blocks to create different page layouts.
While Squarespace doesn't offer as many customization options as Wix, it does provide a high level of control over the design and layout within its templates. Users can customize fonts, colors, backgrounds, and other design elements. However, compared to Wix, achieving more specific or unique customization goals may require more advanced coding knowledge or the use of third-party plugins.
Overall, Wix tends to offer more flexibility and ease of customization, making it a better option for users who want more control over the design and layout of their website. Squarespace, on the other hand, offers well-designed templates and a user-friendly interface, making it a good choice for users who prefer a simpler and more streamlined approach to customization.
Editor X vs Squarespace
Squarespace has been built from the ground up as a platform that is easy to use. It has a drag and drop interface and allows for heavy customization of your own website design, without needing to have knowledge of coding. There are some things you won’t be able to alter on templates.
Wix has a very simple drag and drop interface and allows you to move any element without coding knowledge. This can give you a lot of options, but also more chances to mess up your design! They also have Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence), which means you can let Wix do the designing for you.
One thing we noticed is that if you’re completely new to either platform, Squarespace has the bigger learning curve. It’s not that it’s difficult, it just takes a little more time to learn what each feature does.
Verdict:
If you’re a beginner, Wix will probably be the easiest of the two.
Getting Started with Squarespace vs. Wix
Squarespace Extensions vs Wix Add-Ons
There are all sorts of “extras” you might want for your website. Both Wix and Squarespace offer a large number of built-in tools, although we’d argue that they are in the same vein as the template designs. Squarespace has fewer tools but an eye for high quality, while Wix has more and varies in quality.
Additionally, Wix has its own app market where you can find many tools that are either created by Wix or third parties. These apps are either free or paid, but again, be wary of the quality and do your homework before downloading any of them.
Most of Squarespace’s features are designed in-house, however, there are some high-quality third-party plugins you can add. (See ours here). There are also integrations with several other platforms that you may already use, such as email providers and marketing platforms.
Verdict:
Both sites offer a wide range of tools and you should be able to set up virtually anything that you need. We’d call this a draw - while Wix has a larger quantity of add-on features, Squarespace has their unerring focus on quality on their side.
Squarespace Designers vs Wix Designers
Both Squarespace and Wix have a marketplace to hire and match you with experts. You can also find Wix designers for hire on freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork.
Squarespace Support Community vs Wix Support Community
Whenever you’re assessing a new tool or website platform, it’s important to check out how good they are with customer service.
Squarespace offers email support 24/7 and chat support during set business hours. They also offer a standard knowledge base for self-service questions. This is the same for customers at all levels, although those with higher needs may want to consider Squarespace Select for a dedicated Account Manager that's available to personalize onboarding, assist with training, and conduct periodic site reviews. Overall, they rate highly for their support.
Wix offers either a support ticket system or a call-back system during business hours over the phone. They also have a knowledge base for customer self-service. Wix also rates highly among customers for their support.
Verdict:
It’s a tie. Both Wix and Squarespace offer similar levels of support to customers.
Squarespace eCommerce vs Wix eCommerce
We have an extensive review on Squarespace eCommerce here.
Squarespace SEO vs Wix SEO
The debate over which website builder is better for SEO has been going on for years.
To put it simply, both platforms have similar SEO features. Page titles, descriptions, and meta tags, are all pretty standard across website builders.
Squarespace vs. Wix: Pricing and Plans
You can see from the overview here that both Wix and Squarespace offer different plans for different levels, although Wix has nine different plans (including a free one) compared to Squarespace’s four.
Squarespace offers a free trial for a limited time, but not a free plan. Wix’s free plan is enough to help you test out the platform, but it includes ads, doesn’t facilitate e-commerce, and doesn’t let you connect your own domain. (This might all be fine for a one-off website for a private event, but not for a business).
There are pluses and minuses to each price-wise, depending on your needs. For example, Wix is slightly cheaper for transaction fees (2.9% vs. 3.0%), however, Squarespace doesn’t impose file storage limits like Wix. As of August 2022 Squarespace business plans start at $18/month while Wix starts at $23/month.
Squarespace Pricing
1. Personal Plan:
- Monthly: $23 per month
- Annual: $16 per month (billed annually)
2. Business Plan:
- Monthly: $33 per month
- Annual: $23 per month (billed annually)
3. Basic Commerce Plan:
- Monthly: $36 per month
- Annual: $27 per month (billed annually)
4. Advanced Commerce Plan:
- Monthly: $65 per month
- Annual: $49 per month (billed annually)
Wix Pricing
Verdict:
This is a tough one to call. Wix has more plans, but Squarespace pricing is a reflection of its high-quality features. If you want cheaper, you’ll find it with Wix, but you may end up having to upgrade more often. It’s a balance between price and the features (or value) actually included.
Uptime
Squarespace offers 99.9% uptime while Wix is slightly less at 99.8%. It’s important to save as you go on both as in the event of the sites going down, they can only retrieve content that was saved.
You’ll find that the loading time is dependent on what you’ve done with your website. Websites with a large number of uncompressed images or tracking scripts will load slower than heavily optimized websites. Improvements in hosting speed have a comparatively negligible impact.
Verdict:
Squarespace wins by a hair.
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Migrating from Wix to Squarespace
We’ve written a guide on moving your site from Wix to Squarespace here.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Which platform is better for a consulting business that also sells products?
A: Both Wix and Squarespace can accommodate a consulting business that sells products. However, Wix may be more suitable if you need robust calendar functionality and email marketing features.
Q: Which platform is better for a portfolio-style website?
A: Squarespace is known for its high-quality design templates, making it a great choice for creating a portfolio-style website.
Q: Can Wix and Squarespace handle affiliate marketing?
A: Yes, both platforms support affiliate marketing links. However, it's important to mark these links as "nofollow" to comply with Google's guidelines. Wix makes it easier to add "nofollow" links to blog posts compared to Squarespace.
Q: Is it easy to transfer an existing domain to Wix or Squarespace?
A: Transferring a domain to either platform involves a similar process. However, you may find it easier to keep your domain with your current host and adjust the DNS settings to point to Wix or Squarespace.
Q: Which platform is better for sports blogging and podcast advertising?
A: If your main goals are blogging and promoting a podcast, WordPress (hosted or self-hosted) may be a better option as it is considered one of the best blogging platforms available. However, if you prefer to choose between Wix and Squarespace, both can accommodate blogging and podcast advertising. Consider your specific design preferences and ease of use when making your decision.
Q: Can Wix and Squarespace offer customer accounts for purchases?
A: Both Wix and Squarespace offer customer account functionality. Customers can create accounts, save their card information, and make future purchases more easily.
Q: Is Squarespace fully implementing imports for version 7.1?
A: It is likely that Squarespace will fully implement imports for version 7.1 in the future. However, it is currently recommended to consider the export functionality as well, as migrating to a different platform may be difficult without it.
Q: Wix vs. Squarepspace Reddit
A: When looking for answers on Reddit regarding the Wix vs Squarespace debate, users have varying opinions and preferences. Some users recommend Squarespace for its high-quality design templates and intuitive interface, while others prefer Wix for its customization options and flexibility. Some also suggest alternatives like WordPress for more advanced users or platforms like Adobe Portfolio for those already using Adobe Creative Cloud. Factors such as cost, ease of use, customer support, and specific needs are discussed, but there is no definitive consensus. It's important to consider your individual requirements and preferences when choosing between Wix and Squarespace.
Final verdict
Obviously we’re Squarespace fans around here, but our overall assessment is that your choice of platform depends upon your goals for a website.
For example, you might choose Wix over Squarespace for the following reasons:
You want a platform with a free version
You want to choose from hundreds of templates
You want to have phone support
You want a payment gateway they offer that Squarespace doesn’t
You might choose Squarespace over Wix because:
The templates are overall of better quality design
Squarespace offers stronger blogging features
Your storage space isn’t limited
You don’t want limits on the number of products you can sell
These are just a few examples. We suggest taking each platform for a test run to see if they offer what you need. If you go with Squarespace, SQSP Themes provides the industry's most extensive set of themes, plugins, and apps to help your business achieve its online goals.
