Wix vs Squarespace Comparison 2023: Who Wins?

Do you want to skip the read and get right to my winner? Squarespace is the Winner within this Wix vs Squarespace comparison platform test.

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Introduction to our Wix vs Squarespace Comparison:

Choosing a site builder these days can be tricky. While we are no longer constrained by the lack of choices that plagued us way back, decision-making has become tougher. But even with so many players currently operating online, two names rank higher than most: Wix vs Squarespace.

Let’s take a closer look at this Squarespace vs Wix rivalry in this article.

Wix is arguably a tough nut to crack; it's popular for its intuitive, user-friendly interface and limitless design options. However, Squarespace is not to be underestimated – it builds amazingly beautiful websites.

So which site builder wins? We'll evaluate who wins on important categories, such as Wix or Squarespace ease of use, Squarespace vs Wix pricing, and Wix vs Squarespace eCommerce features.

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Overview: Which is better Wix or Squarespace?

Let’s start the Wix and Squarespace comparison with a firm baseline to work from.

Here are concise overviews of the Wix Squarespace website builder offerings:

Wix:

When considering Wix vs Squarespace, Wix has plenty of counterarguments for its rival. Thanks to its reasonable price range and a free version you can use in perpetuity (more on this in Wix vs Squarespace pricing comparison), it has become the website builder of choice for many people.

Its appeal has been bolstered further by its remarkable ease of use, diverse template and design options, as well as its AI-driven site builder – something that makes page building much easier and faster.

However, it's quite rigid on template choice and commands a complex migration process.

Squarespace:

New York-based Squarespace began life in 2004 as a blog hosting service founded out of a University of Maryland dorm room. Since then, it has grown into a service built and hosts over 4.1 million websites across the globe. Its growing popularity is due in part to a great combination of diverse eCommerce tools and fantastic-looking design templates.

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Ease of Use:

When considering whether to use Wix or Squarespace as your online platform, ease of use is a key factor. We will consider this factor and start with our side by side comparisons:

Wix:

Two words: Wix ADI. If you’re a complete noob who has never built a site in his or her life, this platform will actually do it for you thanks to the AI built into the tool.

If you have a bit more experience in building sites, the standard Wix Editor works just as well and is quite easy to use with its drag and drop UI.

Squarespace:

Comparing Wix vs Squarespace on user-friendliness, Squarespace commands some getting used to. If you aren’t the patient learner type, you might find the Squarespace UI daunting at first.

You will need some time to learn how to navigate the platform as some features are buried deep in the UI or aren’t in the usual places where you’d expect to find them in another site builder.

Winner – Wix! within this ‘Ease of Use' Wix vs Squarespace comparison.

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Features and Flexibility:

In terms of features and flexibility when considering Wix vs Squarespace, it is a very close call. Here are a few key pointers on both.

Out-of-the-box:

Wix:

Wix burst into the scene promising as much freedom to the user as possible – and that’s what the platform is all about out of the oven. Its easy-to-use drag and drop site builder comes standard for both the free and basic user packages. The builder’s “creation for all” selling point is its biggest draw. Anyone and everyone can create a stunning and functional website. Excellent social media integration is also valuable for sales and marketing purposes.

Apart from this, Wix has several SEO and eCommerce features. A detailed look at this in our Wix vs Square eCommerce comparison below.

Squarespace:

Squarespace comes punching through with a whole roster of functions right out of the gate even in its most basic package. Along with a custom domain and an SSL certificate, even users using the Personal subscription enjoy unlimited bandwidth and storage, SEO tools, basic analytics, and access to Squarespace Extensions, a gallery of useful apps and widgets to help enhance site functionality.

Wix vs Squarespace Themes and Templates:

Wix:

If you’re looking for diversity in terms of themes, Wix is the builder for you. Offering over 800 templates in different styles, colours, and even industrial categories, you can dive right in and build a stunning looking website without knowing even an iota of backend coding.

check the latest wix Themes and templates now

That’s the good news; the bad news is that you can’t switch design templates when your site goes live.

This means you lose everything – content, functionality, and widgets – if you decide to change your site’s design, and you’ll have to start from scratch. Therefore, be deliberate and certain when choosing which template to use.

Squarespace:

Currently, Squarespace has over 100 templates with the standard Squarespace website builder. As a result, users love how you can easily customize each of these templates with your choice of colours, filters, and effects, enabling you to create a distinctive online identity or reinforce your company’s or product’s visual branding standards.

check the latest squarespace Themes and templates now

Moreover, if you’re using Squarespace for an online store, the Squarespace Commerce building platform offers many industry- and even product-specific themes that can perfectly suit your business or product line.

While the selection is not as extensive as that of Wix’s, Squaresoft allows users to swap templates if they aren’t happy with the design without compromising content or other functional elements.

Customisation Tools:

Wix:

To enhance your Wix site's overall design, there are currently 39 apps that you can download from its App Market, including the Impressive Effects suite from Light Technologies and the design suite from We Are Digital Vision.

Squarespace:

Aesthetic customization is easy as swap designs and elements are already pre-built into the standard site builder UI. For eCommerce, on the other hand, there are several tools that you could consider on the Squarespace Extensions page.

Squarespace vs Wix 3rd Party Integrations:

Wix:

Wix offers over 300 third-party integrations through its App Market, and these include solutions for site functionality, eCommerce, online marketing, events management, design improvement, as well as streaming media (depending on your subscription plan, of course.) Partner companies and platforms include MailChimp, Modalyst for dropshipping, Spotify, Weglot, and Overtok.

Squarespace:

The platform doesn't have as many app integrations at present but it is certainly growing. The current roster includes tools for productivity, email marketing, social media integration, language support, currency support, team communication, and even shipping, taxation, and inventory management in Squaresoft Commerce users. Partner companies and platforms include Google, Slack, PayPal, Stripe, Trello, and Square.

Squarespace vs Wix Hosting:

Wix:

Wix hosts its sites on a global content delivery network (CDN) made up of several secure servers in different locations.

Squarespace:

Given how Squarespace started as a freestanding site host with a built-in site-building platform, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it offers its own data centre redundant cloud-based hosting service to its clients.

Wix vs Squarespace Backups:

Wix:

Unfortunately, you cannot back a Wix site up externally – and this is a cause for concern, especially with all the cloud server hacking incidents that have appeared in the news of late. Wix enables you to save previous versions of your site, enabling you to revert to a previous version if necessary. You could also save a duplicate of your site, but you will need to update it manually.

Squarespace:

As Squarespace sites are hosted on data centre-redundant cloud servers, it would be easy to get complacent. But, as stated above for Wix, hacking incidents will certainly be a cause for concern. In which case, you can manually back up your website.

For eCommerce users, the platform offers practical pointers on backing up your Squarespace online store, which is a good thing to read through even during the planning stages of your site-building process.

Wix vs Squarespace Migration:

Wix:

If you are simply moving a Wix site from one account within the platform to another, you can easily use the Transfer Site function built into the UI.

Unfortunately, if you built your site on a different platform and want to move it to a Wix host, it's a complex process. There are however known workarounds for migrating from other providers with 3rd Party Tools.

Squarespace:

Squarespace actually allows users who built their sites on different platforms to transfer whole sites onto their servers. Currently, the platform allows transfers from WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr and enables site importing from other eCommerce platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify through*.csv files. To make things easier, you may want to look into using a third-party migration tools.

Winner – Squarespace! within this ‘Feature and Flexibility' Wix or Squarespace comparison.

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Wix vs Squarespace eCommerce Tools:

Now, how do the two platforms fare in a Wix eCommerce vs Squarespace showdown?

Wix:

Here’s the thing to note in this Wix vs Squarespace eCommerce comparison. Wix is not exactly the first choice that comes to mind where eCommerce is concerned. However, they have amped up their eCommerce features to allow full functionality in Business and eCommerce plans. You can consider these top 10 eCommerce offerings by Wix for your Wix vs Squarespace head-to-head evaluation –

1. Support for physical and digital product selling
2. Limitless product presentations
3. Streamlined order fulfilment and inventory management
4. Support for dropshipping
5. Abandoned cart recovery feature
6. Multichannel selling
7. Wix Ascend for marketing and customer management
8. Store Analytics
9. 50+ payment gateways and the native Wix Payments gateway
10. Zero commissions charged

Squarespace:

This is where the platforms are mostly level in this Wix vs Squarespace eCommerce debate. Along with a fully-integrated eCommerce platform that practically includes everything from multicurrency support and customized checkouts to social media marketing and shipping tools, Squarespace also has facilities for online merchants selling services rather than items.

Among its offerings for this particular market are appointment tracker tools, location tracking, and even a mailing list builder to help users keep tabs on their clientele.

Winner – Squarespace! within our Wix vs Squarespace eCommerce comparison.

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SEO and Mobility:

Next, in deciding between Wix or Squarespace, never neglect SEO & Mobility features. The good news is that both Wix and Squarespace offer features that can help improve a website's visibility on search engines, such as the ability to customize meta tags and alt text, and the ability to create and optimize blog posts.

Here are highlights of the Wix Squarespace SEO and Mobile functionality;

Squarespace vs Wix SEO:

Wix:

Wix allows you to customise your meta descriptions, URL, meta tags, headings (H1 to H6), image alt texts, and 301 redirects. The platform also has Google Analytics and Google Search Console Integration. Wix's SEO capabilities are more limited than Squarespace, but it offers many third-party apps and tools to improve SEO of a website.

Squarespace:

Squarespace is considered to have a slight edge in terms of SEO capabilities, due to its clean and organized code structure, and its built-in SEO tools and analytics. It shares similar SEO functionalities as Wix; editing your metadata, URL, image alt text, headings, and titles. Google Analytics and Google Search Console integration are also available.

Mobile:

Wix:

All Wix pages are mobile-optimised and will appear stunning on whatever device.

Squarespace:

Every site built with Squarespace and Squarespace Commerce is automatically optimized for mobile devices. Consequently,  your layout will look just as good on a smaller screen as it would on your desktop.

But Squarespace’s ace in the hole when it comes to mobility is its Squarespace Commerce app for both Android and iOS devices.

Squarespace vs Wix Pagespeed:

Wix:

Wix takes an average of 4.52 seconds to load on desktop and 20.73 seconds on mobile.

Squarespace:

In a Wix vs Squarespace page speed comparison, Squarespace is quicker based on online speed tests: 2.49 seconds on desktop and just 12.37 seconds for mobile.

Winner – Squarespace! within our ‘SEO and Mobility' Wix versus Squarespace comparison. 

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Support and Resources:

A Wix or Squarespace comparison in terms of support and resources provided places Wix in a more advantageous position.

Wix:

Wix has a fairly extensive knowledge base that enables users to look into the platform's different tools, functions, and nuances. It’s updated quite regularly and also serves as a 24/7 portal to customer care and technical assistance.

Squarespace:

Both regular Squarespace and Squarespace Commerce users can avail of 24/7 customer and technical support through live chat and email.

Tutorials, webinars, the Squarespace blog, and a lively community forum are also excellent resources that users can delve into.

Winner – Squarespace! within our ‘Support and Resources' Wix or Squarespace comparison.

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Wix vs Squarespace Pricing:

Undoubtedly, a Wix vs Squarespace cost comparison helps you understand whether each provides bang for your buck value for money.

Wix:

WIX has a free version that you can use to perpetuity. However, the free plan comes with annoying Wix ads – you have to subscribe to a Combo paid plan to be rid of them.

As stated on their terms of use page, Wix offers a 14-day money-back guarantee if you're not happy with the Wix paid plan you have subscribed to.

Squarespace:

In the end, we find that both platforms have reasonable rates as far as Wix vs Squarespace pricing comparison.

From their Terms of Service page, there is a Squarespace 14-day trial available to give the platform a whirl. Take note that once the Squarespace trial expires and your account reverts to the “Personal” plan, any business plan progress will not be saved.

 

Winner – Draw! within our ‘Pricing' category for Wix vs Squarespace pricing comparison. Costs are very similar for what they provide so shouldn't really be a main factor in choosing your website builder.

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Squarespace vs Wix Comparison Winner:

After thoroughly testing and evaluating both, we find  Squarespace the Winner in this WIX Squarespace comparative analysis.

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Conclusion and Recommendation to our Squarespace vs Wix Comparison:

Wix and Squarespace are both website building platforms that allow users to create and design their own websites without the need for coding knowledge. However, there are several key differences between the two which you must consider for your use case. The main difference between Wix and Squarespace is the level of flexibility and control that each platform offers.

What is Squarespace best used for?

Squarespace is known for its sleek, professional design templates and its focus on helping users create visually-stunning websites. If you're aiming for beauty and creativity in your website, choose Squarespace. It has the best aesthetic in the business without compromising ease of use.

What is Wix best used for?

Wix is considered to be a more user-friendly, drag-and-drop website builder. Its versatility makes Wix the better choice among beginners for general use. In this Wix Squarespace showdown, you can build a Wix website you can be proud of in a jiffy in the most painless way imaginable.

Wix Squarespace Alternatives:

Here's a list of the best Wix Squarespace alternatives to create a website;

• Wix Squarespace Weebly: Weebly is known for its ease of use and focus on small business and personal websites.
• Wix Squarespace WordPress.com: WordPress.com is a hosted version of the open-source content management system (CMS) WordPress, offering a more user-friendly interface and less technical knowledge requirement than self-hosted WordPress.org, but with less control over customization and monetization options.

Squarespace vs Wix Final Word:

To wrap up this review, which is better – Squarespace vs Wix? It's true that we've declared Squarespace to be the winner in this review – but it's important to assess your needs and resources and not let us dictate your choice.

If we're looking at a strict head-to-head Wix Squarespace comparison, you can't go wrong if you go for either platform. They have parallel strengths as far as Wix vs Squarespace pricing or Wix vs Squarespace eCommerce functionality.

In this Squarespace Wix analysis, we recommend that you do your due diligence and study which platform will work well with your business objectives. You can also cross-compare Wix Squarespace WordPress to find out which one is ideal.

Ultimately, the task of deciding which is better in this Wix vs Squarespace comparison lies squarely on you. Still, we're hopeful this review has helped you achieve some clarity! It's recommended that you put Squarespace to the test by availing their free trial/free version.

Try squarespace for Free today

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FAQ:

Which platform is better for beginners?

Wix is considered to be a more beginner-friendly platform due to its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and the wide range of tutorials and support resources available. Squarespace, on the other hand, is known for its sleek and professional design templates, which can be a bit more challenging for beginners to work with.

Which platform is better for creating a visually-stunning website?

Squarespace is known for its sleek and professional design templates, making it a great choice for users who want to create a visually-stunning website with minimal effort. Wix also offers a wide range of templates and customization options, but its templates are not as sleek and professional-looking as Squarespace's.

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That’s all for now:

If you've read our Squarespace vs Wix comparison up to here, we are grateful. Remember to always keep abreast of the latest developments on website builders, eCommerce, and other Wix Squarespace alternative comparison articles, such as the ones below;

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Please share any comments below!