Are you looking for the best website builder and content management system for your e-commerce store? Or maybe you’re searching for the most functional blogging platform? The number of available options might seem overwhelming.
Squarespace and WordPress are definitely among the most well-known platforms, and this likely isn’t the first time you’ve heard of either CMS platform. But which site builder is best for you? Can you get the right theme, web design, or plugin for your site? Will it have a good rating on a search engine?
This article will showcase all the essential details about Squarespace and WordPress. We’ll examine their functionality, pricing, and much more to help you determine which CMS platform fits your needs and which is the best content management system.
You’ll also get a clear recommendation for the website builder that’s most suitable for the size of your business.
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Squarespace vs. WordPress: At a Glance
Without further ado, here’s a brief overview of what each CMS platform offers and a breakdown of their pricing options:
Squarespace
What It Offers
Squarespace is a website builder and a web host that operates on the Software as a Service, or SaaS principle. It provides many templates and a content management system, and you can get a custom domain name for your Squarespace website.
How Much Does It Cost?
There are four pricing plans for the CMS platform, paid annually or monthly: Personal, Business, Basic Commerce, and Advanced Commerce:
- Personal: Costs $12 per month. You’ll get a free custom domain for the Squarespace website, an SSL certificate, SEO support, and other essentials.
- Business: At $18 per month, this plan includes everything from Personal and more. Notable additions are JavaScript customization, advanced analytics, and Google Ads credits. This option is ideal for an online store, as your Squarespace website will be equipped with all the necessary tools.
- Basic Commerce: Charged $26 per month. The plan further expands the e-commerce possibilities for your Squarespace website. You’ll also get access to powerful analytic and merchandising tools with this content management system plan.
- Advanced Commerce: Priced at $40 per month. Building upon the Basic Commerce plan, a Squarespace website with Advanced offers even more business features.
WordPress
What It Offers
Hosted WordPress is also a SaaS website builder and a CMS platform with a monthly fee, although it’s open source. Compared to Squarespace, it relies more on third-party tools. Some themes and every premium plugin require additional fees.
How Much Does It Cost?
Hosted WordPress has four plans, charged annually or monthly. They are Personal, Premium, Business, and eCommerce:
- Personal: Costs $4 per month and offers only limited support. You get a free domain for one year, ads are removed, there’s unlimited email support, and you can collect payments from your WordPress site.
- Premium: Billed $8 per month. Adds live chat support, video, ad revenue, and many a premium theme. This plan also offers Google Analytics integration.
- Business: For $25 per month, it contains everything found in Premium, plus access to any WordPress plugin on offer, advanced SEO, automated backup, SFTP, and database access. It presents decent functions as a content management system.
- eCommerce: Priced at $45, this plan expands on Business, adding payment support for over 60 countries, integration for shipping carriers such as USPS or FedEx, and premium designs for your online store or business website.
There’s also a self-hosted WordPress option that’s initially free. However, if you plan to use a particular plugin or other premium resources, it might come with a cost.
Squarespace vs. WordPress: 3 Essential Variables of Website Building
To help you decide on the best CMS platform, we’ve singled out the three most important aspects of their functionality: ease of use, templates, and content management system. Here’s how the two compare regarding these aspects.
Ease of Use
Squarespace – Ease of Use
The CMS interface is very straightforward, with ample customization options. You can change every design element without extensive coding skills, and the drag-and-drop function makes creating the desired Squarespace website layout a breeze. This makes having an additional plugin for website design less vital, which isn’t always the case for a WordPress user.
WordPress – Ease of Use
The WordPress platform can be somewhat complicated to set your site up, but the website builder options are very accessible after taking care of the initial steps.
The open-source nature of the CMS platform can be both a benefit and a detriment. However, there’s a plugin for everything, and you can find several visual editing plugins to aid you in the process of web design.
Templates
Squarespace – Templates
Although you can get all of the CMS platform templates by purchasing a plan, their number is quite limited. On the other hand, almost every Squarespace template is visually stunning. Instead of piling up one visual plugin after the other, you’ll get most of the necessary website design elements for your Squarespace website right from the get-go.
WordPress – Templates
A WordPress user might find the best templates come with an additional fee. Still, chances are you’ll find the right WordPress theme to fit your needs, and a plugin can further enrich the style. You could get some of these features on your Squarespace site, but not to the same extent.
Content Management System
Squarespace – Content Management System
The straightforward interface allows for more intuitive handling of the Squarespace website builder. Still, several aspects of web design lack if you don’t have the right plugin installed, especially compared to the open-source rival.
WordPress – Content Management System
Content versioning is one of the most useful features of hosted WordPress. It means you can store every version of your page and roll it back whenever you want.
Additionally, category and tag management on your WordPress website is much more flexible. You can add even more content and functions through plugins like Yoast SEO, making it a very versatile content management system.
Squarespace vs. WordPress: Which One Is Right for Your Business?
Depending on your business’s size, one website design CMS platform might perform better than the other. Here are our recommendations:
Best for Small Businesses:
Hosted WordPress is the better option if your business doesn’t need extensive support or a broader reach. A smaller-scale WordPress user will reap many benefits from the CMS platform, especially if dealing with an occasional blog post. We’d recommend the Premium plan.
Best for Medium-Sized and Enterprise-Level Businesses:
Squarespace has an impressive list of features that would serve as a great payment gateway to companies with a somewhat larger budget. It’s worth remembering that every Squarespace theme is included in the Commerce plans.
Both the Basic and Advanced Commerce plans will satisfy the needs of most online stores, with the right hosting provider such as Bluehost.
First Among Equals
There’s a place in the market for each product, especially as an e-commerce platform. Now that you’ve learned the crucial details from our Squarespace v WordPress comparison, it will be up to you to match their offers to the specific needs of your business.
