Wix and Squarespace are the two powerhouses of website building sites. These two are the entire competition among the website builders. As more than half of the websites that are developed through a website builder are set up by them. Both of the rivals spend enormous amounts of money on ads to sway the customers who are having a hard time deciding on a website builder.
First impressions are everything, and everywhere. If your website doesn’t look good or has a nice user-friendly interface nobody is going to stay on there. Appearance matters a lot you probably wouldn’t spend time on a website that doesn’t feel updated and easy to navigate on.
Wix and Squarespace both provide the most modern, fresh-looking, and sleek templates for websites with many other features as well, but how to choose which one is the best of them? And for you.
The Main Difference
In terms of users and company workers, Wix takes the lead over Squarespace. Wix was founded in 2006 after Squarespace, which was founded in 2004. There are 4.75 million websites on the internet that are up and running and created through Wix and 2.75 million with Squarespace. Anyways this is the statistical difference between the two, let’s see how well they perform for the benefit of the user.
Wix is a very simple website builder software that is easy to understand even for beginners. It is user-friendly with templates that can be highly customized. On the other hand, Squarespace is a challenging software to get a hold of. It is advanced and true to the rules, but it’s also modern.
Here are some of the notable differences:
- Wix offers a free plan, but Squarespace does not.
- Squarespace has much better template designs overall compared to Wix and any other website builder for that matter.
- With Wix’s page editor you can simply drag and add elements to anywhere on the screen, Squarespace doesn’t let you do that but rather lets you add elements into columns and rows.
- Both of the software offer handy high-quality features but Wix has a slight edge over Squarespace on this matter.
- Wix offers tons of third-party app extensions to choose from, whereas Squarespace only allows a select few.
- Squarespace does not allow a backup or restore option, they recommend you copy data onto Google Docs for backup. Wix offers backup.
- Squarespace is slightly in favor of creative and professional users with its high-end designs. Wix is user-friendly and excellent for beginners as it allows room for so much creativity.
- Squarespace and Wix both allow selling online.
Design & Control Flexibility
Wix Templates
When you take a look at Wix’s templates you’ll notice a wide variety of very cool templates of almost every theme you can think of. These templates are sorted into different categories according to their themes, for example, restaurants, photographers, construction companies, and many others.
Wix has almost a thousand different templates for your website and some of them are very good, but with this many, not every template is as good as it needs to be. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to say that Wix offers quantity over quality on its templates.
Wix templates are usually not all that flexible and sometimes they need adjustments. You may have to tweak and alter some templates to get them up and running smoothly on mobile phones and other devices. This can be a big help in achieving a flawless mobile interface of your website.
Squarespace Templates
In terms of templates Squarespace does not have a crazy amount of templates like Wix does, Squarespace offers from 100-200 templates maximum. But the templates from Squarespace remain unbeaten, they have unique and modern designs with the best interfaces and all of these templates are created by professional designers.
Squarespace offers excellent template customization. And the templates are very responsive as well-meaning they are also designed for mobile and work flawlessly on other devices as well. Tweaking and structuring the template is also fairly easy with the features that Squarespace provides.
The Page Editor
One of the major differences between Wix and Squarespace is the page editor.
With Wix, the page editor gives you a freehand, which has its pros and cons. But Squarespace’s page editor is more professional and doesn’t allow room for error. We’ll talk more about it down below.
Switching Templates
Once you’ve gone live and published your site you cannot change the template of your site, Wix doesn’t allow that and neither does Squarespace.
With Squarespace templates all acting almost the same way, it is less of a hassle even if it does not let you switch, compared to Wix. And not to mention, Squarespace also allows making changes (colors, fonts, and icons, etc.) to replicate another template’s look.
CSS and HTML Access
HTML and CSS aren’t compatible with Wix, which means you cannot use it there, but it isn’t necessary with the creative control it provides over the features and elements.
However, these are supported with Squarespace, which means you can edit source files from there too.
*Winner: With Squarespace’s flexibility and professional approach in this regard, Squarespace easily scores this one on Wix.
Wix – 0, Squarespace – 1.
Content Management: Importing and Exporting
Importing and exporting content in Wix depends on the version of the tool that you have access to. Wix’s ADI does not let you import content at all but does support exporting products. Wix editor allows importing blog posts but only in WordPress format and products, it also supports exporting products just like the ADI. Velo supports both import and export of pages, blog posts, products, but it does require skills.
Squarespace offers much more flexibility when it comes to importing and exporting content. It allows you to import blog posts from Tumbler, WordPress, and Blogger.
You can import products with Squarespace, but they are only available on the more pricey e-commerce plans of Squarespace. Squarespace offers their “wizards” that import data from sites like Shopify and others, or you may also import products using CSV.
The exporting with Squarespace is also very simple enough. It has a limit of 10,000 products that you can export (you can not exceed that limit) and it only allows exporting of 3 variants of any product. Squarespace doesn’t allow the export of digital goods.
*Winner: Squarespace takes another one on Wix, but this time just by a fraction.
Wix – 0, Squarespace – 1.
Ease of Use: Versions of Wix compared to Squarespace
There are a few versions of both Squarespace and Wix available for the users. Squarespace has a legacy version, a developer’s version 7.0, and the latest version 7.1.
Squarespace’s 7.1 is the default and the best version, it is updated regularly and has the most attention from the company. This is the version that is the most focused upon.
Wix also has their own three different versions of the tool.
- Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence)
- Wix Editor
- Velo By Wix
Wix ADI & Squarespace
The ADI version of Wix is the basic one and also the most beginner one. It creates your website by itself automatically. It asks you some questions and then according to the information provided by the user combining that with the information provided online, it runs Artificial Intelligence to form your website completely.
After that, you can make some adjustments and simple changes for example; changing the layout, to the final product made by Wix. The mobile interface of your website that ADI creates is excellent as it needs little to no adjustments.
There isn’t much difference between Squarespace and Wix ADI on the beginner level. When you’re dealing with drag and drop and making edits on the page.
Wix Editor & Squarespace
Wix Editor requires simple and little skills, however, it allows you more control over the editing process of your website than the ADI.
At the core, both Wix Editor and Squarespace’s are just a drag and drop interface, that allows you to hover and place elements and content around the page as you desire. As mentioned above in the page editor section Wix Editor allows full freedom to move and place any element wherever you want. You may even move an element by a centimeter, this editor is referred to as an unstructured editor. An unstructured editor may feel freeing but it can lead to some complications. If you move something on a fully developed page on the web, you’ll also have to move it again for the mobile version and pinpoint accuracy, which can be a bit daunting. Wix’s page editor does not automatically do this.
Squarespace doesn’t let you move the elements around freely and drag them anywhere on the page. It allows you to move elements into a grid (rows and columns) which is called Content Blocks. It is a structure that you have to stay within.
While Wix Editor is flexible it has its complexities and allows more room for error.
Velo by Wix vs Squarespace
Velo by Wix is specially made for professionals and developers. It can create lots of web pages by a template that is heavily populated with data from a spreadsheet. It allows you much room for customization and adds javascript, custom page behaviors, and API.
Squarespace also lets you do the same stuff, you can add custom code and page behaviors, javascript, and many others customizations with the Squarespace Developer Platform.
*Winner: We can call this one an even and give a point each to both of the tools as they stand on equal footing with their versions.
Wix – 1, Squarespace – 3.
Ecommerce
Wix is quite popular for its e-commerce department and Squarespace is a very powerful choice for e-commerce and they have the most professional approach towards it. Just like with everything that they do.
Pricing
Squarespace has three packages for e-commerce.
- Business: $26/month
- Basic Commerce: $35/month
- Advanced Commerce: $54/month
Wix also has three e-commerce plans, the same as Squarespace.
- Business Basic: 17/month
- Business Unlimited: $25/month
- Business VIP: $35/month
Transaction Fees
Squarespace charges a 3% transaction fee on sales unless you are a subscriber of their “Basic Commerce” or “Advanced Commerce”. And Squarespace only avails a few payment options some of them are, Paypal and AfterPay. If you’re a user of Basic or Advanced Commerce Plans, you won’t get charged a Transaction Fee. You’ll just have to pay the processing fees charged by Paypal or Stripe.
Unlike Squarespace, Wix does not charge you a transaction fee on any of the plans. You’ll just have to pay processing fees charged by the payment gateway. Wix payments are not available in every country, so keeping that in mind you may have to use a third-party payment gateway that accepts credit cards.
*Winner: Wix takes this one easily.
Wix – 2, Squarespace – 3.
Payment Gateways
Payment Gateways are basically payment methods. They are used as a broker to process credit card transactions and charge transaction fees of their own. Wix offers a variety of different payment gateways, with a wide range of about 50+.
While Squarespace has a strong e-commerce store, they lack in providing flexibility to their users with payment gateways. Squarespace only allows 4 payment gateways which are, Paypal, Stripe, Square, and AfterPay.
*Winner: In this aspect, Wix is better than Squarespace, as they offer more room around credit card rates to their users.
Wix – 3, Squarespace – 3.
Sales Channels
Wix merges with eBay which gives it a slight edge in this regard. But other than that Wix and Squarespace both permit the use of third-party sales channels, which means you may use your site to even sell goods on different sites such as, Amazon, Instagram, and Facebook, etc.
Selling Goods
You can sell Physical and Digital goods (courses, illustrations, etc.) using both Squarespace and Wix. But with Squarespace, you can even sell your services and subscriptions.
Both sites also avail you the option of creating a “Members’ Area”, to which users have to pay a certain sum to gain access. With Squarespace, you have to pay for the “Members’ Area” add-on, whilst with Wix, it is just the matter of paying for the “Pricing Plans” app.
Wix lets you sell videos and even rent them to your site users easily, thanks to its “Video Hours” features. You cannot do this with Squarespace.
There is no limit to the number of goods you can sell. You may sell different and unlimited amounts of products on both Wix and Squarespace.
Both of the tools have a downside and upside in the type of goods you can sell, so we’ll call it even.
Options and Variety of Products
Squarespace and Wix are both regarded as very giving, the most popular e-commerce stores in terms of Product Options and Variants.
Wix permits you up to 6 product options (size, color, etc.) and allows you to feature 1000 combinations of them (size 13 in black, size 12 in white, etc.).
Squarespace lets you 10 product options and up to 100 product variants.
Point of Sale System
The “POS” or Point of Sale system is in which you can sell your products in a physical location (for example, retail stores) and sync your products with your online shop as well. Squarespace and Wix both have this option available with them.
Squarespace is limited and only lets you use the ‘POS’ in the United States. However, Wix offers ‘POS’ in a wide range of different locations like Europe, the UK, Japan, Australia, and many more.
If the POS is important to you, or you’re a merchant relying on POS we would recommend a different e-commerce solution like Shopify.
*Winner: Wix is slightly better than Squarespace in this regard.
Wix – 4, Squarespace – 3.
Abandoned Cart
When people shop online from different websites, mostly they pick out things they want and add them to their cart, but don’t make the full purchase and leave the transaction in the middle, it’s common. And it takes effort to convert an online surveyor to a customer, but there’s a feature with which you can remind them, that they have unfinished shopping.
The abandoned cart feature makes emails to the visitors who have abandoned their cart as a reminder, researchers say within 1-10 hours after the abandonment is the best tie to send it.
Wix and Squarespace both provide this feature. However, Wix has a slightly upgraded approach towards this, they let you customize and select the time to when you want to send the email. You can even send a second reminder email with Wix.
Squarespace on the other hand only lets you send the email 24 hours after the abandonment.
*Winner: Wix has a much better abandoned cart feature then Squarespace.
Wix – 5, Squarespace – 3.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a very popular way of making money, and it is very helpful when you don’t have the cash to pay upfront. So, you take the order from the buyer and receive the goods from the supplier and then send it to the buyer and make a profit. You’re like the middle man of the whole ordeal.
Squarespace and Wix have both recently started adding features and updating the dropshipping facility. Although it is not as good as the other popular stores have, it is starting to get there.
Wix puts a limit on the number of products to dropship according to the plan you’re subscribed to. You can only dropship on the “Business Unlimited” plan, and you’ll have to be subscribed to “Business VIP” or “Enterprise” if you want to make more than 250 dropships.
Squarespace does not limit you to the number of dropships you can make. Wix-5, Squarespace-4.
Multiple Currencies
A good way to get more sell is if you allow multiple currencies, and give options to the customers to purchase in their local currencies.
Wix can present the prices to the visitors in their own local currencies but doesn’t let them check out using that currency.
With Squarespace, you’ll need the help of developers and coding to show the prices in multiple currencies. It can be expensive and time-draining.
Calculating Tax Automatically
With online selling you can sell your products in various areas with different tax jurisdictions, you’ll have to calculate the prices. This is something to take seriously as it can even get you in legal trouble sometimes.
Wix lets you calculate tax automatically but it does put a very strict limit on the number of transactions per month, which is very daunting. Even with their high-end Business VIP plan, it only offers 500 calculations per month.
Squarespace’s tax calculations are provided by Taxar and only in the US. It is still in Beta mode.
*Winner: Even if Wix has the slight upper hand on Squarespace on this one, It is safe to say both of them are pretty dull at Automatic Tax Calculation. Wix will take this one over Squarespace.
Wix – 6, Squarespace – 4.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Even if you have spent a crazy amount of money on your site and literally perfected it from every aspect. It still won’t do you any good if it doesn’t appear higher in the search results. Search Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing your website/webpage so that it ranks higher in the Google search results. Many things go into SEO from setting keywords to meta tags and titles.
So how do the website builders do in terms of SEO? And most important how do Wix and Squarespace fare?
Wix and Squarespace have excellent SEO tools that help in achieving higher ranking in Google search results. Both tools do very well at the basic stuff like,
- Adding headings
- Create 301 redirects
- Adding alt text
- Mobile Responsive pages
- Optimized Headings
- Change page titles
- Edit page URLs
- Add meta descriptions
And lets you publish blog posts in AMP format, which for speed and fast responsive pages.
Squarespace used to have a lot of problems regarding SEO in the past but now they are all fixed, almost. It still makes it very hard to change the Alt Text (the text that is used to describe images). A few older templates won’t let you change the page title for the home page. There are still some things that can be fixed but overall it’s a pretty solid SEO tool.
*Winner: Wix still falls short because of its mobile version of the site’s interface. Wix doesn’t follow Google’s preferred responsive design, but rather creates its own desktop and mobile versions.
Wix – 6, Squarespace – 5.
Blogging
Blogging is an extremely popular and money-making profession. People are really invested in Blogging. Wix and Squarespace both provide built-in blogging tools. And both of the competitors are very good at it. But Squarespace is among the top blogging platforms and it beats Wix easily.
Wix lets you can add images, text, and videos and the basic features that are built with-in are fine. Almost everything you need is there, but the Wix Blog looks a bit out of play and outdated. Here, you won’t find social media bars or lists.
Squarespace Blog Editor is one the best out there and it is a contender for even the almighty WordPress. You get all the blogging features that you need, post scheduling, multiple author management, and individual permissions so multiple editors can work on different parts of the blog. Squarespace has an integrated podcast option for those who would like to start a podcast and also offers features like post tags, categories, drafts, comments section, customizable URLs, moderation, and more.
*Winner: If you’re just looking to start a blog, then Squarespace is the perfect option from the two. You should sign-up without any hesitation.
Wix – 6, Squarespace – 6.
Apps & Widgets
You can add functionality to your website using Wix and Squarespace. Wix allows for 200+ integrations and apps to select from and Squarespace only allows 23.
Wix has its own dedicated App Market from which you can add third-party and as well as Wix’s 47 “Made by Wix” apps. They offer you paid and free apps. You can choose whatever ones you want and watch as your website grows.
Squarespace is a tool that has the majority of its features built in-house. They offer what is best and is specially designed for their users. You don’t have to go looking outside to build, grow or manage your website you can find it right here.
And for the features that Squarespace does not provide, you can use third-party integrations.
Squarespace Extension is the name for the app market of Squarespace it features 23 apps covering four topics which are, Shipping and Fulfillment, Inventory and Products, Sales and Marketing, and Finance. For example, Quickbooks and Taxjar.
Even though Squarespace lacks in quantity, it makes up for it in quality.
CMS Features
In terms of Heading & Text, Squarespace provides 4 levels of the heading front (H1 – H4). Whereas Wix allows a bit more room by giving up to 6 levels of heading front (H1 – H6). Both of the tools let you explore the three paragraphs style.
Squarespace and Wix let you add HTML blocks onto your website, this also allows you to add widgets and scripts onto the website.
Images and Galleries
You can upload multiple images in both Squarespace and Wix easily and the process is very simple.
Wix lets you connect to a very wide range of social media accounts and then import the source images or content directly from them. You can also remove background from pictures using the auto cut-out filter, which is best for portraits. And you can apply many filters to the picture.
Squarespace optimizes photos and other content better across multiple devices. It allows you to set a focal point so that your face or object of focus doesn’t get cropped when the photo gets cropped automatically for different viewing screens.
Both tools have their own specialty in this field.
Storage
Squarespace provides you with an unlimited amount of storage. Whereas, Wix limits it. The limit depends on the plan that you are subscribed to. More expensive plans allow more storage limits.
*Winner: Wix – 6, Squarespace – 7.
Managing Media and Autosave
So, you’ve uploaded the beautiful pictures on your website, but if you don’t know how to arrange or manage them, they wouldn’t look as cool or stand out as you envisioned them to.
Wix and Squarespace both feature a media library. Where people can view content uploaded to your website. It’s like a highly organized gallery.
Wix allows you to edit freely and with ease, it also organizes whatever content you may have on there into folders. Wix allows lets you to host videos, which is not the case with Squarespace. You may show a video from another video streaming site on Squarespace i.e, Youtube.
Wix automatically regularly saves content from your site, so you can have access to the old versions whenever you desire. And, it is easily restorable, so if any mishap happens you can just restore it. This isn’t a department where Squarespace is too bright.
*Winner: Wix – 7, Squarespace – 7.
Adding Scripts & Widgets
Know that Squarespace and Wix both let you add HTML blocks to your website. This way you can add third-party widgets and scripts to the website.
With Squarespace, you can also insert code on every single page, it requires you to be subscribed to the “Business” plan or higher.
*Winner: Wix – 7, Squarespace – 8.
Mobile Apps
Squarespace and Wix both offer a mobile running CMS. Both of the tools have their own versions of iOS and Android to manage your website.
Squarespace has five different mobile apps in this department, that are:
- Commerce: Lets you manage orders actively.
- Scheduling Admin: Scheduling App that lets you book appointments with your client.
- Scheduling Client: Lets your client book and manage appointments with you.
- Analytics: Display the statistical data of your website.
- Squarespace: Lets you manage your website and edit content.
With Squarespace having five mobile applications, Wix still has the upper hand with their one mobile app “Wix Owner”. This app allows you to make bookings, handle e-commerce orders along with the designs, manage the site’s content, analytics, make appointments, chat with potential customers, and much more.
*Winner: Wix – 8, Squarespace – 8.
Membership Sites
Wix and Squarespace both offer their users the members’ area feature. That is exclusive and only members can get access, it has a certain subscription fee that has to be paid in order to gain access to the facility and fully utilize it.
Squarespace’s Members’ Area is an add-on that focuses solely on providing and monetizing useful content to the members that they are yet to get their hands on (podcasts, courses, newsletters, etc.). It hides it behind the wall and unlocks it to the member when the sum is paid. Squarespace’s members’ area starts at $9. It can be added to any of your sites without regard for the plan you are subscribed to.
Wix Members’ Area addon is free which not only lets the members in on the exclusive content but as well as, many other cool features available to members only. You can chat with other site members too.
*Winner: Wix – 9, Squarespace – 8.
Marketing: Email and Social Media
Squarespace has highly customizable and excellent email marketing campaigns. They also have their social media marketing with it you can attract audiences from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and etc. You can see how well you’re doing with the built-in analytics.
Squarespace Email Campaigns is a platform designed by Squarespace to handle marketing campaigns. It fully combines with your website, providing extremely efficient service across your website.
Squarespace Email Campaigns does not have a free version. However, it has a free trial with no time limit. The free trial lets you run three campaigns for free and each campaign allows 50,000 sends.
It also allows you to send emails with imported content from your website. And here’s some other cool things that it lets you perform:
- You can manage your marketing anytime from the mobile editor.
- The integrated analytics keep a real-time track of your campaign’s success.
- Send automated emails to your customers.
- You get to choose from 30 starter layers.
Wix, on the other hand, allows you to create and customize email campaigns then share them on social media, newsletters, keep track of your analytics, and much more.
Ascend by Wix is Wix’s most powerful tool. It includes a customizable email editor, SEO tools, live chat, automation, receipts & invoices, video maker, forms, social merging, highly detailed statistics.
Wix has highly customizable tools. One of which is their email marketing. You can customize fonts & styles, add & store contacts, track live analytics and even share campaigns across social media.
*Winner: Wix is slightly better than Squarespace when it comes to marketing.
Wix – 10, Squarespace – 8.
Customer Support
Both of the companies have very good and responsive customer supports services. Wix provides customer support through phone calls, social media, support center, emails, faqs. There is no live chat function available for Wix. And Wix always makes you read their Frequently Asked Questions before letting you contact them, which makes it hard to contact the support.
Squarespace provides a Monday to Friday live chat facility, a 24-hour email response team, forum along with a Help Center. There is no phone call facility. But the response is very quick. Squarespace has the policy to respond to emails within 1 hour time.
*Winner: Squarespace takes this one from Wix.
Wix – 10, Squarespace – 9.
Forms & Data Capture
Forms
To create a basic data capture form, here’s what you need to do. In Squarespace, you can choose either the “newsletter block” or the “form block”. The newsletter block allows you to only add name and email address only. Whereas the “form block” allows you to design your form from scratch in which you can freely choose what you want.
With the free Wix Forms app, you get more flexibility than Squarespace. You get to create Job application forms, subscription forms, contact forms, and many other templates too. Wix also allows you to add a wide range of third-party forms apps that provide even more functions.
You can also add third-party apps in Squarespace, but you’ll have to install them using an HTML block. You’ll be charged extra for that.
*Winner: Wix is a slightly safer bet for this matter.
Wix – 11, Squarespace – 9.
Data Capture
After creating a form you’ll have to choose the destination where it sends the data that it will capture. Squarespace allows sending data to:
- Zapier
- Mailchimp
- Email Campaigns
- Google Sheets
- Email Address
And with Wix, you can send your forms data to an email address or a spreadsheet.
*Winner: In this department, it is a clear win for Squarespace.
Wix – 11, Squarespace – 10.
GDPR Compliance
Website owners now have to take a lot of steps to ensure they meet the guidelines provided by the GDPR. And if you don’t you’ll get heavily penalized and can get into serious legal trouble. The steps that Squarespace and Wix users have to follow are:
- Exhibit sufficient privacy and cookie notices on your website
- Process and store data securely
- Get consent from visitors signing up to mailing lists that it is alright to send newsletters to them
- Provide a means to allow or nullify permission to use non-essential cookies on a website.
Subscription Plans
Wix’s price may vary by the location that you’re in. There are 9 plans available for Wix in the United States. They are as follows:
- Free
- Combo ($14 per month)
- Unlimited ($18 per month)
- Pro ($23 per month)
- VIP ($39 per month)
- Business Basic ($23 per month)
- Business Unlimited ($27 per month)
- Business VIP ($49 per month)
- Enterprise (It is negotiable)
You can get a discount on them if you pay a year’s worth of fees up front. With every plan that you purchase, you also get a free voucher for a year’s domain registration for free.
There are 4 plans available for Squarespace. They also offer a two-week free trial.
- Personal ($16 per month)
- Business ($26 per month)
- Basic Commerce ($35 per month)
- Advanced Commerce ($54 per month)
These plans can also be cut cheaper if you consider paying annually.
Final Thoughts: Wix vs Squarespace which is Better?
This was all that you needed to know about the two powerhouse website builders, Wix and Squarespace. And, there you have it. Our clear winner between the two from 11 – 10 lead, Wix is better than Squarespace. In our comparison, we compared both tools with everything. It means Wix is the better overall tool out of both. But that does not mean Squarespace is bad, Wix did win a one-point win over Squarespace.
Wix is very user-friendly and easy, to begin with. But, there are some aspects where Squarespace should be your choice. For example, if you want to start blogging Squarespace is the better option and on other instances like that where Squarespace outshines Wix.
Let us know what you think of our review. If you’ve any comments or queries feel free to ask us!
