For individuals and small businesses looking to design a website without hiring a developer, website builders are the perfect solution. However, with so many website builders on the market, it can feel pretty overwhelming deciding which one you should go with. Luckily, you don’t have to leave that decision to chance. This article breaks down the two biggest website building platforms on the market: WIX and Squarespace. And why we recommend WIX as the better website hosting platform for you and your business.
At a glance.
WIX and Squarespace are website building tools that are primarily aimed at people who want to create and maintain a website but don’t have coding skills. They are the two biggest website builder platforms with 55% of all websites built with a website builder.
Squarespace was founded in 2004 and WIX was founded in 2006. There are 3.8 million live websites with WIX and 2.3 million on Squarespace. WIX has over 500 website templates available to choose from and Squarespace has around 100.
As a part of your subscription for WIX or Squarespace, you’ll receive a domain, a website template, a content management system, hosting and e-commerce features (these depend on which plan you choose).
WIX allows its users to build a fully functional website for free with multiple hosting plans. While Squarespace only gives its users a 14-day free trial with limited hosting plan options.
Ease of use.
Squarespace’s editor is highly structured and rigid as you make edits and place content within the website template. Squarespace uses predefined regions on the page, where you can add content but you can’t change the alignment of the regions. On the other hand, when it comes to WIX, you have full creative control and flexibility on where the content lands. This unstructured editor gives the user full creative control in the design of their website. It’s a great bonus for us when we design custom websites, as our clients don’t feel anxious about attempting to make edits to their site. They have full confidence in being able to add pages, update content and adjust layouts easily. It’s truly that simple: just drag and drop.
WIX allows for custom coding, which makes it a walk in the park for us designers to create something truly unique for our clients’ websites all while maintaining its ease of use for our clients that want to edit their own content once we pass it off to them.
Mobile.
Over half of all website traffic worldwide is generated through a mobile phone, meaning that more people are viewing websites on their phone than their computer. In fact, 82% of Internet users in the United States have used a mobile device to shop online. And 35% of Internet users only use a mobile device to shop online. As consumers become more technologically savvy, these percentages will increase, cementing the importance of a website that is mobile-friendly. With WIX, you can completely customize your website on mobile - adjusting the fonts, colors and alignment of all of your desktop content to best fit a smaller screen. Squarespace generates a mobile site for you, leaving very little options for customizing how your site looks on mobile.
App Market.
WIX has its own dedicated App Market, which provides apps made by WIX as well as apps developed by third parties. There are over 200 free and paid apps to choose from, such as WIX Bookings, WIX Events, Printful and Instagram to just touch on a few. Every app your need is already built into the WIX editor. Meanwhile, Squarespace does not have an app store. For features that Squarespace does not have in-house, it relies on third party integrations.
SEO.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the processes that help your website rank higher up on Google’s search result pages. Both WIX and Squarespace have built-in SEO tools to help you boost your website’s ranking. But WIX has stronger SEO features in its interactive, tailored and beginner-friendly SEO Wiz that sets you up for success by holding your hand through the process. Squarespace is much more hands-off with its built-in SEO tools and SEO checklist.
Support.
WIX is rated higher satisfaction with their customer service over Squarespace. WIX provides its users support through email, forums, social media, a dedicated Support Center and a 24/7 callback service for phone support. Squarespace provides a Knowledge Center, live chat function and a 24/7 email response team. The key difference between the two website builder platforms is that WIX offers support on its on-page help while you edit. If you get stuck editing, all you have to do is click on one of the question marks on your screen and an editor help menu will pop up.
Better value.
WIX is a better value for your money, as it offers 7 plans while Squarespace offers 4. The starting price for Squarespace is lower at $12 a month, but WIX is close behind with their starting price at $13 a month. Overall, WIX offers a better bang for your buck thanks to its generous free plan and huge range of price plans that provides both choice and scalability for users of all budgets.
Final words.
WIX is very beginner friendly thanks to its simple drag-and-drop editor. WIX ADI can help you create an entire website, all in one afternoon. Squarespace is more rigid to use and takes longer to get used to. WIX has over 500 website templates to choose from that are attractive and easy to customize. Squarespace has gorgeous website templates to choose from, but with only 100 on the market, there is a high probability of your website looking similar to multiple other businesses out there. WIX has a huge number of apps in the WIX App Market which you can install for extra functionality. It’s easier to add an online store to your WIX website. WIX has powerful built-in SEO tools plus in-depth support resources to guide you through optimizing your website. Overall, if you are a beginner or looking to get online quickly, WIX is a hassle-free way of building a website in a matter of hours. WIX is the clear frontrunner in the decision of which website building platform is best for you and your business, offering creative freedom, ease of use and a wider choice of premium plans than Squarespace.
