As a small business owner, entrepreneur, or professional creative, deciding on a website platform for your business can be overwhelming. Squarespace and Wix are web builder platforms that can be great choices for you and your business. I will help you clearly understand the differences between Squarespace and Wix websites here so you can make a better choice between the two platforms.

Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder, and it is a closed system. Squarespace handles everything including domain, hosting, security, updates, and backups of your website. As for web design, you can choose from over 180 Squarespace templates, or your website can be more customized using a user friendly, drag and drop grid interface. These are technically simpler websites to design and more intuitive for beginners. It is easy to add your brand colors and fonts to your entire Squarespace website as well. However, Squarespace websites are more limited in how much customization and functionality you can achieve when designing and setting up your website. You are limited to Squarespace’s built-in features and how much you can grow your website over time.

Wix is also all-in-one website builder, and has a closed system handling everything including domain, hosting, security, updates, and backups of your website. For web design Wix has more than 2000 templates to choose from and drag and drop editor that is not as structured as Squarespace. Wix templates are also not as consistent as Squarespace and can include outdated designs. Wix offers more creative control, versatility, and customization of your website design. However, this can make it more difficult for a beginner to create a professional looking, consistently designed website which is easier to do on Squarespace. Therefore, Wix requires more understanding of good web design practices and more of a learning curve.

As for costs Squarespace offers four monthly fixed-price subscription plans you can choose from based on your needs that include everything for your website including hosting, templates, and support. There is unlimited storage on all plans. You can also save by paying for a full year upfront rather than paying monthly. With an annual plan you get a free domain name registered, otherwise this is a separate cost on Squarespace. You can add your already registered domain name outside Squarespace to your website. You get a 14-day free trial to explore web design in Squarespace to start.

Wix starts free with ads with limited storage, however I would not recommend this for the professionalism of your business. You can start designing for free then upgrade when your website is ready to launch. Wix offers four monthly fixed-price subscription plans to choose from billed annually. Each plan has different storage limits. With an annual plan you get a free domain name registered, otherwise this is a separate cost on Wix. You can also connect your already registered domain name. You need to purchase the Core $29 per month plan if you plan to add ecommerce to your Wix website. This is more expensive than the Squarespace $16 per month plan that can include ecommerce.

Squarespace websites are ideal for creatives who need a portfolio website to display their work including artists, illustrators, surface pattern designers, photographers, textile artists, or craftspeople. Squarespace offers templates that are designed for visual content making them ideal for creating stunning, image heavy portfolio websites. Some customizations can be done within the Squarespace platform on these templates to make them more individualized. Squarespace also offers ecommerce to sell a small store of products if you want this capability in addition to your portfolio. 

Wix websites also offer ecommerce capabilities. You can sell up to 50,000 products on Wix vs 10,000 products on Squarespace. If your main goal is to solely have an ecommerce store, I would recommend Shopify over both of these platforms.

Squarespace allows you to integrate third party extensions along with Squarespace apps to add functionalities to your website. Wix has its own App Market to add functionalities.

As for maintenance security Squarespace and Wix both handle all your updates, backups, and security, so you do not have to worry about your website’s vulnerability since your website is in a closed system. This can give you more ease and peace of mind.

Both Squarespace and Wix have great platforms for blogging and SEO, along with tracking website analytics. However, Wix has more advanced SEO tools.

You can create memberships on both Squarespace and Wix. Wix has more advanced features for memberships than Squarespace which is more limited in customization and capabilities.

Squarespace offers 24/7 email and live chat support. While Wix offers 24/7 email, live chat, and phone support.

As you can see while there are many similarities between Squarespace and Wix as web builder platforms, there are some differences between the two to take into consideration.

For creatives looking for portfolio websites and also some ecommerce, I suggest using Squarespace. It is excellent for beautiful, functional portfolio websites.

If you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, or professional creative either Squarespace or Wix web builder platforms could work well for your website. Squarespace is great for easier web design. If you want more versatility and customization in your web design, I suggest choosing Wix. The other differences I have mentioned here between Squarespace and Wix you should consider as well.

I hope this brought you more ease and clarity in deciding between Squarespace and Wix Website building platforms.

Still seeking more clarity on what website platform is best for you and your business? At JenRuth Design Studio I offer Web Consulting and Web Design for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and professional creatives. I would be happy to help you on a Free 20-minute Discovery Call. Let’s connect and see how I can support you in your business and website.