Squarespace Alternatives

Shopify Overview (4:12)

Shopify is the best Squarespace alternative for ecommerce.

If there’s one category where we’d immediately recommend something other than Squarespace, it’s ecommerce. And our recommendation will be Shopify.

Squarespace can be a great option for small stores, no doubt. But Shopify is built for ecommerce, and it’s the best ecommerce platform out there.

We’ve compared Squarespace and Shopify and Wix, Shopify, and Squarespace, and Shopify is miles ahead. Here’s our Squarespace Commerce vs Shopify verdict summary:

• Shopify offers more shipping options.
• Shopify offers more fulfillment options.
• Shopify offers more payment options.
• Shopify’s tax setting feature is superior.
• Shopify helps manage inventory better. Also, you can add multiple inventory locations in Shopify (most big stores have multiple locations).
• Shopify’s product collection, product options, product reviews, and dropshipping features/apps are preferable.
• Shopify has better quality themes for stores of all sizes.
• Squarespace’s page editor is better than Shopify’s editor—it’s more intuitive, easier to use, and more capable in design. Shopify’s product editor is better than Wix’s product editor, though.
• Shopify’s marketing apps are wider in range and deeper in features. Shopify wins this round.
• The Shopify App Store has 13,000+ e-commerce-related apps. Squarespace has less than 40 apps on its app store Squarespace Extensions.

Shopify Pricing

Shopify has three main plans that cost between $29/month and $299/month (paid annually). However, you can try it for free (without a credit card) for three days and pay $1/month for the first three months to test the platform.

Beyond that, there is Shopify Plus (an enterprise plan) and Shopify Starter (a $5 plan that adds Shopify’s ecommerce functionalities to your current non-Shopify site through their Buy Button channel).

One criticism of Shopify is that there are often additional costs beyond the monthly plan. For example: you may need to buy a custom Shopify template or an app from the Shopify app store.

Learn more about all the costs in our detailed Shopify Pricing guide.

Try Wix →

Wix Overview (3:27)

Wix is the best general-purpose website builder alternative to Squarespace.

Wix and Squarespace are the two biggest website builders in the market and, therefore, direct competitors. They combined have 63% of the website builder market— significantly more than any other company.

The Wix vs Squarespace comparison is almost like Mac vs PC: Squarespace is curated and design-y like Mac, while Wix is occasionally chaotic but allows for extra freedom to customize.

Here’s where Wix is better than Squarespace:

• Wix’s unstructured drag-and-drop editor gives more design flexibility than Squarespace.
• Wix has a free plan (though not the best).
• Wix has many features that Squarespace doesn’t, like forum, live chat, multilingual site, third-party fonts, etc. Moreover, the Wix App Market has a lot more third-party integrations than Squarespace Extensions.
• Wix also has more templates than Squarespace (900+ Wix templates vs 160+ Squarespace templates). But the average Squarespace theme is better than the average Wix theme.

Pricing

In the last quarter of 2023, Wix made some huge plans & pricing changes.

Before the change, Wix had seven plans; the cheapest plan cost $16/month, and the most expensive one was $59/month (annually). It was in a similar range as its biggest competitior, Squarespace. But now…

In 2024, Wix has increased its pricing. The cheapest plan is still $16/month, but the most expensive plan, which seems to be the equivalent of the $59/month Business VIP plan, is now $159/month.

Try Wix →

Webflow Overview (2:47)

Try Webflow if you find Squarespace (and even Wix) too constricting.

Webflow is the most customizable website builder on this list. If you can imagine it, you can probably make it with Webflow.

Just be aware: Webflow has a learning curve. So either you need to learn it (which can take days, weeks, or months depending on your technical experience) or hire a professional Webflow developer to make your website.

A popular analogy is that DIY website builders such as Squarespace are like Canva, and Webflow is like Photoshop: Anyone can use Canva and create graphics that work for many use cases. But for fully custom graphics/images, advanced photo editing features and manipulation capabilities of Photoshop do a superior job—the caveat is you need to know graphic design and learn Photoshop (it’s not intuitive).

Some of the Webflow features that are superior to Squarespace:

• Advanced Customization: Webflow allows for greater design flexibility than Squarespace, ideal for those familiar with HTML & CSS.
• Full-Fledged CMS: Offers better CMS features than Squarespace, including custom collections and user submissions.
• Template Variety: Boasts over 2000 templates, surpassing Squarespace’s templates in quantity and often high-end design quality.
• Ecommerce Features: Offers more advanced ecommerce capabilities than Squarespace.

Pricing

Webflow has two types of plans:

1. General: There’s one free plan that’s sufficient for understanding the ins and outs of Webflow. Then there are the paid plans, starting at $14/month (pre-paid for the whole year). However, you’ll need to spend at least $23/month if you want CMS for blogging or anything else.
2. Ecommerce: Ecommerce plans start at $29/month (annually), but the beginner plan has a 2% transaction fee. For a 0% transaction fee, you’ll need to spend at least $74/month (billed annually).

They also have separate plans for freelancers and agencies offering Webflow services.

Screenshots

Try Webflow →

WordPress is an open-source Squarespace alternative suitable for unconventional features and more control.

WordPress isn’t a website builder like Squarespace. Instead, it’s an open-source Content Management System (or CMS). CMSs like WordPress have a steeper learning curve but are much more flexible.

The reason WordPress is so flexible is the community behind it: thousands of developers contribute free plugins and themes, so there are themes and plugins for just about anything you can think of.

Here are some places where WordPress shines in comparison to Wix:

• Extensive Library: WordPress offers over 60,000 plugins and 30,000 themes.
• Open-Source: Being open-source allows for a large community contribution, leading to constant updates and new features.
• High Customizability: WordPress allows for extensive customization of almost every aspect of a website, from its appearance to its functionality.
• Cost-Effectiveness: WordPress itself is free, and many plugins and themes are also free or inexpensive.
• Ownership and Control: With WordPress, you have complete control over your website’s files and data.
• Scalability: WordPress can be scaled easily to accommodate growing website needs, from a simple blog to a full-fledged e-commerce site.
• SEO-Friendly: WordPress has robust SEO capabilities and advanced SEO features can be added through plugins.

Of course, it has downsides, too, from a huge learning curve to maintenance and security problems. See this to learn more.

Try WordPress →

An overview of Carrd. (2:06)

Carrd is a great Squarespace alternative for simple one-page websites.

Carrd is focused on the niche of one-page websites. This makes it a great option for landing pages and personal websites that don’t need multiple pages.

For this niche use case, Carrd is superior for:

• Simplicity: Carrd is designed for simple pages, so it doesn’t have as many options to tackle as Squarespace.
• Templates: Again, Carrd is designed for simple, one-page websites, and so are its templates.
• Low Price: Carrd’s free plan is awesome; the paid plan is just $19/year.

Carrd Pricing

Carrd has a great free plan, which would work for most use cases if you don’t mind Carrd branding. Then there’s a Pro Lite plan costing $9/year, but it doesn’t offer that much.

I like the $19/year Pro Standard plan the best — it allows up to 10 websites, custom domain URLs, widgets, and more.

Their most expensive plan gives access to advanced settings and costs $49/year.

Try Carrd →

Hostinger’s website builder is simpler but comparable to Squarespace.

It is an excellent value-for-money proposition, but it’s fairly new and lacks advanced features that mature platforms like Squarespace and Wix do.

Here are a few examples where Hostinger is the inferior website builder: you can’t add a comment section to your blog; ecommerce is limited to 500 products and basic; you can’t add a background video; there’s no option for password-protecting certain pages; the editor blocks and sections are basic: you can’t add multimedia, menu, calendar, etc. On top of that, there’s no app store to extend the builder’s functionality. And the templates are bland and basic compared to Squarespace.

But it also is a good Squarespace alternative because:

• Easier To Use Editor: Because it doesn’t have as many block and section options as Squarespace, Hostinger’s drag-and-drop page editor is slightly easier to use.
• Cheaper: Hostinger Website Builder is among the cheapest website builders, starting at just $2.99/month (for a 1-4 year commitment, renews at $9.99-$6.99/month afterward). And it’s better than many website builders that cost 2x that!

Video Overview

Pricing

The Hostinger Website Builder landing page mentions only one pricing — $2.99/month (prepaid for 1-4 years, then renews at $6.99/month).

However, you get the website builder with all Hostinger hosting plans. Its web hosting/shared hosting plans start at $1.99/month (renews at $3.99/month), and cloud hosting starts at $9.99/month (renews at $19.99/month).

Screenshots

Try Hostinger Website Builder →

GoDaddy is a decent Squarespace alternative for simple, multi-page websites.

For simple websites (see examples), GoDaddy website builder is one of the easiest website builders. Plus, it also includes a suite of business and marketing tools: ecommerce, appointment scheduling, email marketing, social media management, graphic design, and a simple CRM, making it an overall good choice for a range of websites.

However, it ranks low on the customization front.

GoDaddy has what we call a “block-based editor” compared to Squarespace’s “drag and drop editor.” A drag-and-drop website builder offers a visual interface where users can create and customize their websites by simply “dragging” and “dropping” various elements onto a page. On the other hand, a block-based editor lets you make the website by adding blocks and customizing them.

It has some MAJOR limitations when it comes to customizing your website, frustrating enough that I’d only recommend it if you was just a very, very simple website.

For example, you can’t add individual elements to a website, and you’re often not able to make simple style customizations.

Godaddy Editor: Adding a section.

GoDaddy Pricing

GoDaddy pricing is comparable to many similar website builders — plans start at $9.99 per month and get more expensive for ecommerce plans. It also has free plan, which we don’t recommend – see why in our free website builder rankings.

Try GoDaddy Website Builder →

Square Online Overview (0:49)

Square Online can be considered for its free plan and simpler interface.

We compared Square Online and Squarespace and found the difference is almost like iPhone (Squarespace) vs Feature phone (Square): Whatever Square Online can do, Squarespace can. But many things Squarespace can do aren’t possible with Square Online.

Square Online is better than Squarespace in only two places (as a website builder):

• Best Free Plan: Square Online is the best free website builder.
• Simpler Editor: Square’s editor is very easy to use but also very basic. Squarespace’s editor has a slight learning curve but is A LOT MORE CUSTOMIZABLE.

Square’s main product is its financial services platform, where Squarespace doesn’t compete much.

Pricing

Square has the best free plan of any website builder. Beyond that, its ecommerce plans are a little bit cheaper than Squarespace, Shopify, and Wix. It has to two paid plans: $29/month Plus plan and $79/month Premium plan.

Like other website builders, Square includes a free domain for one year on premium plans.

Depending on what you need the website for, you might find a good niche website builder (i.e., a website builder made for the specific purpose).

Here are some examples:

• For blogging, Medium or Ghost is great!
• For a writer’s portfolio site, Clippings.me is a good option.
• For a photography portfolio, Format or Pixpa or Adobe Portfolio might be a solid alternative.
• For a wedding website, something like WithJoy or Zola or The Knot can work.
• If you are a designer/photographer who uses Adobe and is looking to build a portfolio, Adobe Portfolio might be free for you.
• Podia can be a good choice for people building communities and selling courses or digital products.