TL;DR
👉 Both Wix and Squarespace offer a wide range of features, including search engine optimization, pre-built templates, and drag-and-drop editor.
👉 While Wix editor’s monthly plans are priced based on the number of collaborators you have, Squarespace prices their business and personal plans monthly or annually.
👉 Wix vs Squarespace — Wix is a better fit for businesses that prefer a high level of customizability, while Squarespace is better for polished professional looks without much customizability.
In today’s digital world, online presence is essential for any business or individual. With so many website builders available, choosing the right one can be overwhelming and challenging. Whether you need to sell digital products or collect online payments, two of the most popular website builders are here to take your business to the next level: Wix and Squarespace.
In this article, we’ll compare a range of features, pricing, built-in tools, and overall performance to help you decide which one is right for you to attract potential customers.
What is Wix?
Wix is one of the most popular website builders that allows users to create responsive websites using a drag-and-drop editor interface. They offer over 500 designer-made templates that are fully customizable to meet your business needs and the option to create online stores with its user-friendly interface. With Wix, you can easily create a professional-looking website without coding skills and capture potential customers. Additionally, Wix’s AI-based design system can help you create a website in minutes.
Wix Pricing
Wix offers five different pricing tiers, including a 14-day free premium plan trial:
- Light: $16/month for 2 collaborators
- Core: $27/month for 5 collaborators
- Business: $32/month for 10 collaborators
- Business Elite: $159/month for 15 collaborators
- Enterprise: Contact the sales team for detailed pricing
What is Squarespace?
Squarespace is another famous website builder that offers a variety of templates and ecommerce features for your business. If you want to create a sleek and modern website, Squarespace might be the best fit for your business as it helps you capture that professional-looking vibe.
Squarespace Pricing
- Personal: $16/month when billed annually
- Business: $23/month when billed annually
- Commerce Basic: $27/month when billed annually
- Commerce Advanced: $49/month when billed annually
Wix vs. Squarespace: Main Features
Although both Wix and Squarespace offer a list of features that are similar, some differences can make or break these platforms when making a purchase. Wix vs. Squarespace — Which has the best range of features? Let’s take a closer look at their core features and see who wins:
1- Drag-and-drop Editor
Drag-and-drop editors have become increasingly popular among users. They allow users to easily customize and arrange the content of their website without any coding knowledge, so you can focus on actually designing or redesigning your website. But which is better — Wix or Squarespace?
Both Wix and Squarespace have ensured their editors are user-friendly and intuitive. However, Wix’s editor is generally more beginner-friendly, offering a wider range of templates and customization options like custom fonts. On the other hand, Squarespace’s editor has a steeper learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it offers more advanced customization options.
Wix is also one step ahead of Squarespace when it comes to flexibility. Wix’s editor allows you to add and customize elements anywhere on your website. It offers a wide range of widgets and apps that can be easily dragged and dropped onto your site. Squarespace’s editor, on the other hand, is more rigid in its design. It uses a grid system that limits where you can place elements on your site. While this can be frustrating for some users, it also ensures that your website has a clean and professional look.
2- Design Features
When it comes to human-centered design features to create stellar websites, both Wix and Squarespace offer a wide range of templates and themes. However, Wix’s templates are generally more customizable, including custom fonts, allowing you to change almost every aspect of your site. Squarespace’s templates, on the other hand, are more focused on minimalism and simplicity.
Wix offers more than 500 pre-built templates, each of which can be customized to create a unique website. The templates are divided into categories such as business, online store, portfolio, and personal blog. Wix’s designs are ideal for people who want a lot of flexibility in terms of customization.
Squarespace, on the other hand, offers a limited number of templates, but they are all professionally designed and visually appealing. You still get to use your custom fonts and the templates are organized by industry, such as photography, music, and food. Squarespace’s designs are ideal for people who want a website that looks polished and professional without much customization.
This round of Wix vs Squarespace does not have a clear winner as design features depend on your needs. Wix is ideal if you want a lot of flexibility in terms of customization for customer journey, whereas Squarespace is ideal if you want a polished and professional design without much customization.
Squarespace’s templates
3- Mobile Optimization
With more users accessing the internet on mobile devices, your website must be optimized for mobile app onboarding and use. Both Wix and Squarespace offer mobile optimization, but Wix’s editor provides more customization options and a more extensive list of features for mobile devices. It allows you to create a separate mobile version of your site and customize it to your liking.
Squarespace’s editor, on the other hand, uses a responsive design that automatically adjusts the layout of your website’s desktop version to fit different screen sizes, so you don’t have much room to play around.
4- Ecommerce Plans
Do you want to grow your business online? Then welcome to the world of ecommerce plans!
Wix offers a comprehensive ecommerce platform that includes a wide range of features such as product pages, shopping carts, payment gateways, and shipping options. Do you need to collect online payments through third-party apps? Wix is here to help! You can integrate your website with popular payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe. Wix’s ecommerce features are ideal for small businesses and entrepreneurs who want to sell products online.
Squarespace also offers comprehensive ecommerce plans that include features such as product pages, shopping carts, and shipping options. You can use Squarespace’s ecommerce tools, like integrations, to create secured payment gateways. Additionally, Squarespace offers a simplified experience for you and your potential customers. You can handle shipping, taxes, and payments on one platform. Customers can check out your products with a few clicks.
Winner? It’s a tie. Both platforms offer comprehensive ecommerce tools with similar features.
5- Built-In SEO Tools
When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), Wix and Squarespace offer various built-in SEO tools for advanced and beginner business owners. For example, Wix offers basic SEO tools such as customizable page titles and meta descriptions. Wix also ensures that your website meets the needs of search engines to compete in organic search.
Additionally, Wix’s monthly plans also offer an SEO wizard that guides users through the process of optimizing their website for search engines. You can also use Wix to maintain your link equity by bulk-editing 301 redirections and saving time by importing 500 custom URLs at once.
Squarespace SEO, similar to Wix, helps maximize your prominence on search results. However, Squarespace’s advanced list of features for search engine optimization (SEO) tools, such as customizable URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions, is more advanced than Wix.
Squarespace’s monthly plans also offer an SEO checklist that guides users through the process of optimizing their website for search engines. You can integrate your website with Google Search Console and see what keywords your customers use to find your site.
Squarespace’s ecommerce plans also include SEO-friendly ecommerce pages with static URLs for every product category, a list of features for translations for new markets, and a dedicated SEO panel so you can have more control over the details that matter most, like your site title, description, and page title formats.
6- Blogging
Wix offers a basic blogging platform that allows users to create blog posts, categorize them, and add tags. Wix’s blogging platform is ideal for people who want simple blogging features that get the job done without hassle. You can add the blog to your website and manage your blog on mobile!
You can also see your blog analytics, give login access to members, translate your content using Wix Multilingual, and set up exclusive subscription options to earn money and foster a close-knit community.
Squarespace, on the other hand, offers a more advanced blogging platform that includes features such as multiple authors, post scheduling, and social sharing. Squarespace’s blogging platform is ideal for people who want a more advanced blogging platform with customizable template options and built-in photo editing capabilities.
You can also monetize your blog by setting up paid newsletters, podcasts, and video series with Squarespace Member Areas. The best feature, however, is managing daily workflows. You can use the dashboard to see your publishing calendar, customize contributor settings, and track analytics.
The winner for this round is Squarespace. Its blogging platform offers more advanced features like in-depth analytics, monetization options, and built-in photo editing.
Winner: Wix
While Squarespace leads in some areas like unlimited storage space, SEO, and built-in blogging tools, Wix ultimately wins by its highly customizable structured editor, even with its cheapest plan. Additionally, Squarespace charges a 3% transaction fee on all online stores’ sales made through their platform. Wix is an excellent option for those who want a wider variety of templates and apps and no learning curve.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Wix different from Squarespace?
Although basic features like third-party app integrations, custom domain options, and blogging features are similar, there are also some fundamental differences. Squarespace extensions are more geared towards advanced features for ecommerce and enterprise plans. But even with Wix’s basic plan, you get access to highly-compatible mobile optimization, customizable templates, and more.
Wix’s drag-and-drop feature allows you to customize your website as you wish. However, Squarespace’s editor uses a grid system and content blocks, limiting customization.
Do professional designers use Wix?
Yes, professional designers often choose to work with Wix because of the more customizable design options that want to change the website’s layout as they wish.
Is Wix good for small businesses?
Yes, Wix is a great tool for small businesses. With different pricing plans, personal or business plans, you can boost your business with its extra design features, built-in SEO tools, and robust marketing options.
