Squarespace vs WordPress: The Ultimate Comparison
Every website needs a platform to run on, and most people turn to WordPress as it’s very popular and versatile. However, as amazing as WordPress is, it has some shortcomings. If you’re looking for a more robust solution, you might consider Squarespace. We decided to compare the two and see which one is superior. Let’s dive in!
Features
One of the things you’ll notice right away about Squarespace is that it’s incredibly feature-rich. It truly is a complete website building platform and has every feature you could possibly need (except for e-commerce – yet). If you’re looking for a solution with the features you need and you don’t want to build it yourself, Squarespace is the best option available. To take a closer look, here are the features listed on the Squarespace website:
- Basic Website
- Subdomain hosting
- Free domain registration
- Free backups
- Free secure shopping
- Free caching
- Custom CSS
- HTML Template
- Toggle Navigation
- Image Gallery
- Video Gallery
- Single product & multi-product (e-commerce)
- Blog
- Custom Domain
- No Limits
- WordPress Alternatives
- Open Source
- Translation Ready
- SEO Optimized
- Pricing Plans
UI/UX
Let’s take a quick look at the user interface and see how Squarespace stands out.
The look and feel of Squarespace is fresh and modern, perfect for attracting potential customers. When you first land on the platform, you’ll see a big, bold bar across the top of the screen with the silhouette of a square with four rounded corners. This is the Squarespace logotype, a unique branding system the company adopted back in 2016. Below the logo, you’ll see a strip with four horizontal menus – the “breadcrumbs”, or breadcrumb trail – and at the very bottom, a small tab with the words “Get Started”. When someone clicks on this button or an element on the page, they are taken to the company’s Get Started page.
On the Get Started page, you’ll see a big, bold “Start a Free 14 Days Trial” button at the very top. Once you click this button, you’ll be taken to the trial version of Squarespace. This is essentially the “empty shell” of the platform, where you can begin building your website. While it does have the general layout of a typical WordPress installation, with the exception of a few UI elements, everything else is blank. The good thing is you won’t need to install any additional plugins to use it. Just log in and start building your site. Once you’re done, you can either go back to the homepage or click the “Upgrade” button at the top to continue to the pro version.
Now, let’s take a look at WordPress.
When it comes to web design, the user interface of WordPress is one of the things people often comment on. As I mentioned above, the default look of WordPress is very similar to that of the Squarespace default layout. However, if you notice, the overall look and feel of WordPress is a bit more minimalist and modern.
On the front page of WordPress, you’ll see a strip with links to the blog posts and archive. Next to these links, you’ll see a logo and the tagline “The world’s most popular blog platform”. Below this, you’ll see a strip with three horizontal menus – archive, blog, and search – and at the very bottom, a small tab with the words “Get Started”.
Now, let’s take a quick look at the features of WordPress.
Here is where the comparison gets interesting. Now, you’ll see that most of the features listed below are present on both Squarespace and WordPress, with the exception of e-commerce – which Squarespace doesn’t offer and WordPress doesn’t fully implement.
In addition to the features listed below, you can perform all types of advanced functions on both platforms, including importing and exporting designs, installing and removing plugins, and setting custom website options. If you need a full-blown web development environment, you can install the full WordPress software and access all its features or you can use the Squarespace builder to build a fully featured, functional website in a matter of minutes. Both solutions are incredibly potent when it comes to website creation.
Security & Privacy
If you’re looking for a platform that is both secure and private, you have multiple choices. You can either use the free version of WordPress or Squarespace. While the security of both platforms are exceptional, the pricing plans of Squarespace make it a more affordable option for businesses and individuals.
For example, if you sign up for the business plan, which is the default plan and provides you with everything you need to build a fully-functional website, you’ll pay just $5 per month. While this is still a big chunk of change, it’s a lot more affordable than paying $35 per month for the equivalent plan with WordPress. The price for the individual plan also makes a lot more sense when you compare it to that of the WordPress business plan. For individual use, the plan is $16.67 per month, while for businesses it’s $39.95 per month.
E-commerce
If you’re looking to create a store or sell and ship any type of product online, you’ll need an e-commerce solution. There are numerous high-quality free e-commerce solutions available, such as WordPress WooCommerce or Squarespace Commerce. While these solutions are fully-featured and offer all the tools you need to create an online store, you might want to consider the cost associated with them. The best part of e-commerce solutions, such as WooCommerce, is they usually come bundled with a free domain and the necessary tools to launch an online store. This makes them a perfect fit for beginners who are looking to get started with e-commerce. In terms of pricing, the cost of an e-commerce solution such as Squarespace Commerce is not as bad as you’d think and is still significantly cheaper than installing and using WordPress WooCommerce.
Mobility
If you decide to use WordPress, you might want to consider its mobility. WordPress is extremely flexible when it comes to mobile-friendly design and can be used to create highly-optimized sites, responsive blogs, and complex websites. Not only that, but with the right plugins, you can even create fully-fledged e-commerce stores and sell your products worldwide, without having to run any software at all on your own server.
As you may imagine, a lot of people want to use WordPress for their websites. However, what they don’t always realize is that with the right guidance, they can create much more than they would thinking – even if they don’t have any prior knowledge in website development.