As a fellow business owner, I understand the challenges of choosing the right website platform for your business. Specifically two content management systems (CMS) come to mind, Squarespace vs. WordPress.
With many options available, it can take time and effort.
I’m writing this article – to save you time and help you decide between two popular website builders: Squarespace vs. WordPress.
By the end of this article, you’ll understand each platform’s features, benefits, and drawbacks and make a better decision for your business needs.
Squarespace and WordPress are widely used website builders. Squarespace allows the easy creation of beautiful websites, while WordPress gives complete control over design and functionality.
Both platforms have unique strengths and weaknesses, and your choice depends on your business needs.
We’ll compare the features, ease of use, cost, SEO capabilities, security, and support of Squarespace and WordPress.
You’ll comprehensively understand both platforms and make an informed decision. Let’s explore the features of Squarespace and WordPress in detail.
So, let’s get started!
Squarespace vs. WordPress: Features
If you’re starting a business with limited knowledge of building websites, Squarespace is very tempting.
But is it worth the cost, time, and effort of figuring out the drag-and-drop builder? Or, should you opt for WordPress, and why?
Squarespace and WordPress are two of the most popular website builders in the market, and they both offer a range of features to help you create a professional and functional website.
Squarespace is an all-in-one platform that provides a user-friendly interface and a variety of templates and design options to make website building a breeze.
Squarespace makes setting up a website so easy that you can get most of a website done in about an hour.
Then when you start to do some SEO work on the page, Squarespace has built-in features for this.
The issue I have always had regarding website builders is speed. Unlike WordPress, most website builders lack compression tools such as gzip.
Meanwhile, WordPress has so many plugins and options available. You can easily choose Yoast, AIO SEO, or any other plugin you want for SEO.
You could use SMUSH to increase your page’s load time and make your website blazing fast.
Given there is so much functionality in WordPress, you may find yourself obsessing over plugins.
You’ll find yourself spending time developing your web pages on WordPress.
That’s because WordPress has a steeper learning curve than Squarespace.
Its wide range of customization options may be overwhelming for beginners.
Additionally, while Squarespace includes e-commerce functionality as part of its platform, setting up an online store on WordPress requires using a plugin or a third-party service.
People commonly use Woocommerce, a plugin that adds e-commerce capability to your website.
Let’s summarize this section and compare speed and other important factors for choosing a website builder.
Squarespace’s user-friendly interface and all-in-one platform make it an excellent option for those who want to quickly create a website without worrying about technical details.
On the other hand, WordPress’s flexibility and customization options make it ideal for those who want complete control over their website’s design and functionality.
Ease of Use: Squarespace vs. WordPress
Ease of use is at the top of most business owners’ minds when starting a small business website.
I see so many businesses that use page builders that hurt their SEO.
These same page builders include the likes of Shopify for selling products.
And Shopify keeps a bit of your money each time you make a sale.
So, is Squarespace’s ease of use worth its cost?
That depends on your business and what you think is best.
Some people feel it is worth the cost.
Meanwhile, others feel it is much more costly and less effective than WordPress.
For ease of use for a new business owner looking to build a website, SquareSpace wins.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best. Let’s look at the overall cost now.
The cost of Squarespace vs. Wix
Cost is a crucial factor for most people when starting a new website.
You can’t just start a website and throw it online.
You must
So, what’s the cost of running a WordPress site instead of a Wix site in 2023?
I will tell you based on my experiences because I’ve used both of these builders.
Domain Hosting with both builders
Squarespace Vs. WordPress hosting can be different or very similar.
You can choose from many hosting businesses, or you could even go self-hosted if using WordPress.
But with SquareSpace, you need to use their servers. There is no way around this.
The pro is that you only need to build a website and pay Squarespace.
Once you do that, your website will be up and running.
The downside is that you have less control over the process.
Squarespace also reduces your ability to change hosting.
It means that as your website grows, you will have less control over the cost of your site.
The pricing for Squarespace starts at about 16 USD per month.
The price seems cheap, especially because Squarespace includes a free domain.
Especially because you can add multiple domains to one plan.
But, the cost (in my opinion) isn’t justified.
To get all the marketing and analytics perks you need to run a successful online store, you must pay at least $40/month with Squarespace.
That means you will spend at least $480 a year.
Doing so will give you all of the following marketing capablities:
You can get all of these features more cheaply using WordPress, Google Analytics, and Canva.
My hosting is dedicated hosting through Pressable and NameCheap.
The hosting costs me about $20 per year.
Then I also pay to use DIVI, a theme builder, that allows me to use the builder on as many sites as I want for $90/year.
Using DIVI, I can put promotional pop-ups and banners on my website.
And using Google Analytics, I can manage my audience and their journey.
The combined cost of everything I do, with dedicated servers for my website, is less than half of the cost of Squarespace.
Squarespace vs. WordPress: SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for any website, as it helps to improve your website’s visibility in search engine results pages.
Squarespace and WordPress offer SEO tools and features to help you optimize your website for search engines.
Squarespace includes built-in SEO tools, such as automatic tagging, sitemaps, and metadata, that can help improve your website’s visibility in search results.
It also offers customizable page titles, descriptions, and URLs for each page of your website.
Squarespace’s templates are designed to be SEO-friendly, with clean code and fast loading times, which can also help to improve your website’s search engine ranking.
WordPress also offers a range of SEO tools and plugins, such as Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack, that can help you optimize your website’s content for search engines.
These plugins provide features such as XML sitemaps, meta descriptions, and keyword analysis to help improve your website’s search engine ranking.
WordPress’s flexibility also means you can customize your website’s structure, metadata, and content to improve its SEO performance.
In terms of SEO capabilities, both Squarespace and WordPress offer robust tools and features to help you optimize your website for search engines.
However, Squarespace’s built-in SEO tools may be more suitable for beginners or those with little SEO experience.
But WordPress’s plugins offer more flexibility and customization options for advanced users.
In conclusion, if you’re looking for a website builder with strong SEO capabilities, Squarespace and WordPress are good options.
Still, WordPress has superior SEO options, which will increase your visibility.
In the long run, strong SEO will increase your online presence, reduce advertising costs and bring your clients looking for your solution.
Is WordPress or SquareSpace more secure?
As more people look for solutions online, they expect more security for their data.
You must convince a potential client their website is secure to retain their business.
Would you buy something from a website that cannot ensure your data is safe?
I sure wouldn’t!
Luckily, Squarespace and WordPress take website security seriously and offer measures to secure your website.
Squarespace handles website security, providing SSL certificates, DDoS protection, and regular backups to protect your website from cyber threats.
Squarespace’s platform is updated regularly to fix any potential security vulnerabilities. These updates will keep your website secure, and you will invest minimal time and effort.
Conversely, WordPress relies on web hosting providers to handle security measures such as SSL certificates and backups.
However, WordPress has a vast library of plugins that can help you secure your website.
WordPress also releases regular updates to address security vulnerabilities and improve website security.
In terms of security, Squarespace’s all-in-one platform and regular updates provide a more straightforward and reliable option for website security.
However, WordPress’s flexibility and range of security plugins can give you more control over your website’s security measures.
Ultimately, the level of website security you need depends on your website type and the information it holds.
No matter which you choose, you need to let clients know they are safe with you and that their data is secure.
Not tech Savvy? Let’s look at support for WordPress and Squarespace.
Squarespace offers 24/7 customer support via live chat and email, and phone support is available Monday through Friday during business hours.
Squarespace also provides a knowledge base and community forum where you can find answers to frequently asked questions and connect with other Squarespace users.
WordPress offers support via a large community of developers and users who contribute to the platform’s development and offer support and guidance through forums and online communities.
WordPress also offers a documentation section and a help center that answers frequently asked questions and troubleshooting guides.
WordPress could cause you to invest lots of time and money if you’re new at building websites.
However, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
With WordPress, you can use theme builders like Pressable with excellent customer support.
When I worked with Pressable and DIVI, they resolved many of my technical issues meaning I could focus on getting content out to people.
Which is best for you?
It’s obvious that choosing a website platform you can understand is important.
With that said, I recommend WordPress above all else.
Although making that choice is obvious to me, some people can feel confused when building a website.
The choice between WordPress and Squarespace is yours.
Nobody can make this decision for you. But, for my businesses, WordPress is the superior option.
Whichever you choose to use, you need to start sooner than later. The longer you wait to get your business online, the harder it will be for people to find you.
So don’t wait. Start today!
And if you choose WordPress and need help, let me know using the form below.
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