There was a time when you could not build a website without having any coding knowledge or had to hire a professional, which came with a hefty price. This means businesses, regardless of size, must approach developers to build their websites. However, the situation changed with the advent of drag-and-drop and AI website builders that instantly help you build your online sites. Most importantly, you don’t need any prior experience or coding skills to build your website at a budget-friendly rate. This makes platforms like Wix or Squarespace excellent alternatives for small businesses. 

With both platforms having their unique edge, it may be hard for you to decide which one works best for your specific business requirements. Our guide will help you understand Wix vs Squarespace and select the ideal platform for your unique purpose. Let’s get started on our Squarespace versus Wix debate!

Understanding Wix

Wix is a popular cloud-based website builder ideal for small companies and large corporations alike. It offers the most efficient web hosting and design services and includes various user-friendly drag-and-drop tools for website creation. Furthermore, the platform also houses around 500+ ready-made templates to help you build your website without having any specialist skills or hiring a web developer. The best part about Wix is that it also has an integrated infrastructure with marketing solutions and SEO tools, along with a dedicated Wix App Market for enhanced functionality. It even has a basic free plan to help you get started!

Wix is ideal for both small and medium ecommerce businesses. Currently, it has around 6.3 million premium subscribers across 190 countries. Besides websites, it lets you seamlessly create landing pages and business emails. It is known to be a user-friendly platform and offers numerous versatile features that are perfect for beginners. Some of its key features include:

• Free custom domain for a year, along with all paid plans. 
• Multi-website management options with Single-Sign-On (SSO) and robust dashboard with easy ability to switch between different sites. 
• AI-powered website builder, which automatically creates a website template ideal for your purpose based on your response. 
• Comprehensive website analytics to gauge and improve your performance. 

Understanding Squarespace

Squarespace is an AI website builder for personal use, simple blogging, or small businesses. The platform is known for its user-friendly editor, a mobile-optimized website with industry-specific templates, and efficient e-commerce tools, which help make site-building quick and easy. Squarespace is often praised for its elegant design features and templates that are tailored to creative artists and professionals.

However, Squarespace's simplicity comes with a higher price tag. Moreover, the customization options on this website builder are limited, being a detriment to Squarespace in our Wix vs Squarespace debate. Some of the features of this website builder are:

• Unlimited bandwidth to easily scale your company without any constraints on the number of visitors you receive. 
• Design custom merchandise with your brand name and sell it to enhance your business’s awareness. 
• Audience data collection and segmentation infrastructure on all plans.
• Free professional invoice from your website. 

Wix Vs. Squarespace: A Deeper Analysis

Wix offers website building for small businesses and allows users to edit and customize every detail. Several users appreciate the platform’s free starter plan option. Squarespace is also designed to build a beginner-friendly website. The platform offers modern templates and excellent blogging features, ensuring you cannot go wrong with either platform when it comes to website building. However, there are some differences you may want to consider before choosing either website builder for your requirements. Let’s move ahead in our Wix vs. Squarespace debate by comparing different aspects of each platform. These include:

1. Structured Vs. Unstructured Design

Squarespace offers a structured design that users greatly appreciate. The column, row, and even box locations in the template are predetermined. However, these components can only be placed in certain page locations.

Wix, on the other hand, allows unstructured page building, which is ideal for users who want to place design elements from scratch and move them around according to their preferences. Wix offers unlimited design freedom. It is also worth noting Wix provides an Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) tool to build a design automatically. The website design is usually based on how you answer a quick introductory survey. 

2. SEO Tools

Wix provides a built-in SEO Wiz feature, which gives you complete control over meta titles and descriptions, along with custom URLs. However, Google Analytics integration is available only with paid plans.

Meanwhile, Squarespace also enables control over meta titles, descriptions and custom URLs to make your website browser-friendly. Now, the positive part here is that you will find Google Analytics available with all plans. However, a few older Squarespace templates may not be ideal because they do not allow users to customize their respective page titles.

3. Blogging Features

If you want to build a website for blogging, Squarespace is the perfect choice. The website builder allows you to begin a blog right away once your site is built. Its advanced features include tagging, comment moderation, scheduling, categories, and drafts. It also allows collaboration with multiple authors on a particular blog post.

Wix, on the other hand, offers you a similar set of blogging features. It further offers several free apps and integrations to help boost your overall web presence. Moreover, the platform has other excellent features, like standard scheduling, tagging, and category functionality. With the Wix Enterprise plan, you will get comprehensive content management system (CMS) capabilities. 

4. e-commerce Options

Both Wix and Squarespace allow users to sell their respective physical and digital products by offering point-of-sale (POS) integrations. Squarespace permits you to sell various products and services, and Wix also offers features similar to those of its respective e-commerce packages. However, Wix has a competitive advantage over Squarespace in this category because Wix enables users to sell offline and accept payment upon delivery. Squarespace, on the other hand, also takes a 9% transaction fee on the sale of digital goods. 

5. Backup and Storage

Squarespace offers you unlimited storage and wins by a mile as a robust AI website builder. Wix, on the other hand, limits users to a maximum of 50GB of storage only. This offering is fine with most smaller websites but will surely limit your growth in the long run.

Moreover, Wix does not offer any additional features for backing up website content because this particular feature is automatic. Squarespace users, on the other hand, can back up their content manually for future purposes.

6. Pricing

Both Wix and Squarespace offer several pricing plans that cater to their respective user needs. Here is a detailed look at the key offerings and associated costs with each pricing plan from both website builders:

Wix offers a 14-day money-back guarantee, effectively serving as a trial period. All other website-building plans on the platform offer access to Wix’s 900+ customizable templates, 24/7 customer care, and a smart drag-and-drop editor. The following image highlights Wix’s extensive pricing list for website building.

You can also use Squarespace for free for 14 days without providing any credit card information. This particular trial gives you access to all kinds of template designs on the platform. You can also create your own website and use features like website analytics, mobile-friendly websites, and setting up an e-commerce shop.

Here is a detailed look at Squarespace’s pricing plans:

Wix Vs Squarespace: Key Differences

Let us begin by understanding the primary differences between Squarespace versus Wix, which are highlighted in the following table. 

Wix Vs Squarespace: Limitations

Despite offering numerous functionalities, Wix and Squarespace have their share of limitations. These include:

Wix

Squarespace

• Lack of flexibility

• Limited customization options

• Non-transferrable websites

• Poor SEO performance, comparatively

• Transaction fees

• Limited third-party integrations

• Limited monetization options

• Complex and confusing user experience

• Basic store navigation with limited features

• Functional issues and slow loading time

• Slow loading time

• Limited e-commerce features

Neo: An Efficient Alternative to Wix or Squarespace

Given the limitations of Wix and Squarespace, you may be tempted to look for another website builder that overcomes these challenges and offers advanced features. Neo is an excellent option for those looking for an integrated business solution along with a simple website builder. Neo, primarily an email hosting platform, provides a simple one-page website along with a professional account without purchasing a domain beforehand. Neo also allows you to purchase a .co.site domain with a free email trial option. However, you can also integrate your  .edu, com, or any other pre-existing domain. 

The key features of Neo include:

• Responsive Templates and Customization: Neo provides a responsive template that enables you to build your website from scratch in hours. 
• Integrated Form for Lead Generation: You can avail of an email-integrated form that can collect lead information.
• Social Media Handles: To increase traffic and boost your online presence, add your respective social media handles to the website. 
• Smart Write: Neo‘s AI-powered tool, Smart Write, enables you to create top-notch and strategic emails that allow you to promote your website among leads and prospects. 

Comparison Table

Let us draw a comparison between all the website builders in this guide for better understanding. Our rating is based on each of the platform’s features, simplicity, add-ons, support, and pricing. 

Final Thoughts

We have highlighted the primary functionalities and differences that spark the Squarespace versus Wix debate in this guide. Both website builders have their unique capabilities but differ in terms of functionalities, price, and customization options. At the same time, both platforms have their share of limitations.

If you want an alternate option, Neo is ideal. The email hosting platform offers several advanced features besides email services, including a one-page website and an easy editor to build a visually rich website. With email and website services that can be managed from a single platform, you can manage your workflow efficiently. So, choose Neo today and enjoy an integrated business solution!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1. Which website builder is better to use, Wix or Squarespace?

The choice between Wix and Squarespace depends on the type of website you want to build, the size of your business, and, most importantly, your budget. As we have seen in this guide, both website builders have their respective and unique functionalities. While Wix offers more customization by putting fewer limitations, Squarespace offers more design flexibility. 

Q2. How can a website builder benefit my small business?

The best part about website builders like Wix, Squarespace, or Neo is that they do not require you to have any coding knowledge. Whether you are a startup founder or a small business owner, you can build a website with the most advanced features easily. The best part is that you do not even have to go over the budget to work with these website building platforms.

Q3. Which is more customizable: Wix or Squarespace?

Wix is an efficient website builder that is more customizable than Squarespace. This is possible because the platform has a built-in drag-and-drop site editor. Squarespace is customized based on content blocks. However, Wix enables you to have complete design flexibility without using any custom code, making it a better option for customizing your website features.

Q4. Is Squarespace a good option for small businesses?

Squarespace is an excellent option for businesses that want to add e-commerce functionality to their respective websites. It offers a robust platform for website design and allows you to easily set up an online store instantly rather than spending months or years developing the same site from scratch.