Squarespace or Wix: Choosing the Right Website Builder

Creating a stunning and functional website is crucial for individuals and businesses alike.

There are countless website builders to choose from when you are building your website or you can hire a professional website builder who has what it takes to build a good functioning website. 

Whichever you choose, they can all bring your website alive. Wordpress is the most used website builder; next is Wix and Squarespace.

Squarespace and Wix stand out as two of the most popular website builders, offering users the tools they need to establish a strong online presence.

In this guide, we'll dive deep into their respective features, pros, and cons to help you choose either Squarespace or wix .

Squarespace or Wix? which one is better?

Squarespace

Squarespace has gained recognition and many plaudits for its clean design templates and user-friendly interface. I am one of its biggest admirers for that part.

It offers some of the cleanest templates which don’t require much customization. With that been said, the templates are numerically limited which can be annoyed to some users that need many options.

The first moment you hit “Get started” you will realize how easy is it to use Squarespace .

Very tidy and clean.

Wix

Wix, on the other hand, is the most used website builder after Worpress with millions of users opts to Wix to start their online business journey.  Its versatility and extensive customization options make it a great tool.

It appeals to a broad audience, from small businesses to individuals looking to create various types of websites. It has a powerful drag-and-drop editor, making it accessible to users with varying technical expertise.

Wix & Squarespace: Comparing Design and Templates

Squarespace Design

It offers a curated bunch of professionally designed templates that ensure a polished and modern look.

The templates are responsive, meaning they adapt to different screen sizes, enhancing the user experience. This makes ideal for those who prioritize aesthetics and want a website that reflects a high level of design sophistication.

As we mentioned before, it has clean and very tidy templates.

Wix Design

Wix provides a vast array of templates across different industries, granting users a high degree of design freedom.

The ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) feature tailors designs based on user input, streamlining the design process. But you can ignore that and choose your desired website template from its countless free templates.

Wix’s unlimited templates appease to users who desire more creative control over their website's appearance.

 Read also: the top web hosting providers

wix or squarespace : Ease of Use and Customization

Squarespace Usability

Squarespace has fewer features which is helpful if you are a beginner.

Getting started at Squarespace is very easy. When you hit “Get started” you will see the option to create your own template by just filling the required information.

After selecting to build your own template, you need to name your website. Be careful when naming. This name will appear on searching engines.

When you hit “Next” these options will come next. Make sure to tick the required sections on the right side.

When you choose one of the right side options, you will see the preview and the left. Make sure to tick the “About and Intro”. They are strongly recommended.

When you are done with your primary pages, choose wisely your website’s color combination. Just choose the combo that satisfies your goals.

Next, it’s the fonts. Some fonts go along with each other. Choose the pair that you think are the best for your design.

When you select your font, just hit Finish and you are good to go to the next level, adding your content to your website.

You will be asked a few extra skippable information. Then you will reach your final destination, your website editor.

To edit your pages, just click the “Edit” option on the top left corner. You can delete, add, and remove blocks. This editor has an intuitive interface, making it easy for beginners to navigate and build a website.

As we can see, it offers a limited but powerful set of customization options, ensuring a cohesive design across the platform. 

This is Ideal for users who want a straightforward process with a focus on simplicity and elegance.

Good luck for the rest of your journey at Squarespace.

Wix Usability

Wix is another great website builder. It has got almost what Squarespace can offer. It has a drag-and-drop editor which is very user-friendly. It allows users to make more extensive customization if the need come.  While it can give you more template options than Squarespace, the templates given aren’t on par with Squarespace's when it comes to clarity and quality.

Wix or Squarespace: Feature Sets

Squarespace Features

1. Website builder: It offers customizable templates, pre-built layouts, custom site search engine, custom redirects, built-in mobile websites

2. Blogging : Workflow, scheduled posts, email integration after publishing your posts, external link options, customizable URLs and many more great features are available the blogging section.

3. Portfolios

4. commerce

5. domains

Wix Features

Wix, on the other hand, offers a plethora of features. These features include:

• Wix App Market: where users can add various functionalities to their site.

• E-commerce: allowing businesses to create and manage online stores efficiently.

• Blogging: Its SEO tips are wonderful. It will give 8-to-do list that will make your post quickly indexed by Google.

These functionalities appeal to users who want a feature-rich platform with the flexibility to expand and adapt their website over time.

Wix VS. Squarespace: Performance and Speed

Squarespace Performance

 Your website contents have always a say about your site speed.

However, website hosting platforms and website builders can have a quite different speed with the same content.  

This seems more subjective. In some cases, Wix may be the faster one while Squarespace can be faster in other cases. The speed factor depends on many factors.

Wix uses many third-party integrations. These integrations, in turn, can slower your site speed.

Wix or Squarespace:  SEO

Search engine optimization is key if you want your business gets more online traffic. There are many SEO tools available, free or paid. Many website builders also offer SEO tools, So, it’s wise to choose those platforms that excel in SEO.

Both platforms offer SEO best practices.  

 Let’s see what each platform has its disposal. Both have the following tools:

• Page titles

• Meta descriptions

• Customize URLs

• Headings

• Search engine instructions

• Alt text for images: both offer but Squarespace’s alt text image is hard to find. Takes time to learn.

• Built-in SSL certificates. This contributes to a secure website, positively impacting search engine rankings.

Wix SEO

Wix offers one the best SEO tools.

You have two SEO checklists: website level and on-page SEO.

Website-level SEO checklist focuses on your website content as whole.These to-do checklists are grouped into 3 steps.

Step 1 SEO checklist:

• Your brand name

• Your website focused Keyword: what is the content of your website:

• Homepage descriptions

• Letting the homepage’s title for search

• Adding text to home image

• Mobile optimization

• Connecting the page to  Google Search Console

Step 2 SEO checklist

This consists of 18 tasks to do to make your site pages easier to find in search results. The following are included:

• Adding alt text to all images

• Adding links to homepage.

• Setting your pages’ titles for search results.

Step 3 SEO checklist

This part encourages you to keep updating and optimizing your content.

Wix SEO post level

Blogging is a great way to market your content. But getting the right tools to make your content ready for search results is even greater. That’s where Wix’s post page SEO comes in.

Bear in mind, that you need to do your keyword research outside of Wix, Wix isn’t Semrush or Ahrefs. You see that?

After finishing your keyword research and completed writing your post, you are getting ready to publish your post at Wix’s post editor.

That’s where magic starts. On the left side, you the SEO option top open.

This will guide you on how to optimize your content. Starting from your title, description all the way down to the URL usurps.

Start by inserting your focused keyword and the rest of the steps are pretty clear.

Squarespace SEO

To see your blog post SEO instructions at Squarespace, just click on your title, the top of the page.

When you click the title, there are page features like the featured image and others. You will also get the SEO checklist. unlike Wix, there are only two spaces to fill: the title SEO and SEO description. Put your title on the first one and your descrption on the latter.

Verdict: comparing the SEO features on both platfroms, Wix wins with some margins.

Squarespace vs. Wix: Pricing Structures

Squarespace : Pricing and features

Squarespace has four different plans. The features will increase along the pricing.

In the personal , plan you have : templates, mobile optimized websites & free custom domain.

In the business plan, you have all the personal plans plus: advanced website analytics, Fully integrated ecommerce (3% transaction fee for physical products and services), Checkout on your domain.

Each plan has all the plans of the previous ones plus other key features.

Wix Pricing

The first feature that captures your eyes at Wix is how the storage changes along the plans.

Light has the smallest storage with only two GB available. the business elite and The enterprise plan has unlimited storage spaces.

As your website and content grows, you will a bigger storage spaces. But don't worry, its scalable. You can just upgrade your plan.

Verdict: both offer affordable pricing plans, but Wix's is even more cheaper with the same features as Squarespace. Wix also wins this one.

Wrapping up

Choosing between Squarespace or Wix ultimately depends on your specific needs, preferences, and your website goals.

Squarespace excels in providing a visually appealing and user-friendly experience, ideal for those who prioritize design aesthetics.

On the other hand, Wix offers unparalleled flexibility and customization, making it suitable for users who want creative control over their online presence.

Always consider factors such as design preferences, ease of use, required features, and budget when making your decision. Both Squarespace and Wix have their strengths, and understanding your priorities will guide you towards the platform that aligns with your goals.