If you are in the market for a new website, choosing between WordPress and Squarespace can be a challenge.
Choosing the right platform can determine the success of your online business.
Which should you choose, and why?
Below, I answer this question for you by comparing both options.
WordPress: An open-source platform offering endless customization options through themes and plugins.
Squarespace: A website-building platform known for its simplicity and elegant templates. It is an all-in-one solution, ideal for those who want a quick setup without technical skills.
Features | WordPress | Squarespace |
---|---|---|
Market Share | Powers 43% of all websites globally (2024-2025). | Powers around 3% of all websites globally. |
Templates/Themes | Over 10,000 free and premium themes available. | Around 140+ professionally designed templates. |
Plugins/Extensions | Over 60,000 free plugins (via WordPress.org) | Built-in features with limited third-party integrations. |
Setup Time | Average setup can take hours to days depending on complexity. | Quick setup, typically within minutes to hours. |
Pricing | Starts from £3/month (hosting only) with additional costs for themes and plugins. | All-in-one plans starting from £10/month. |
We asked 500 business owners throughout the UK and US which website builder they preferred.
Ease of Use: Organise and update everything on your WordPress site. From blog posts to product pages or commercial pages. Without needing advanced technical skills.
Custom Post Types: Enables creation of content types based on your business. Such as portfolios, testimonials, or real estate listings beyond standard pages and posts.
Integration with Third-Party Tools: Easily add third-party tools to your website. For example, drag-and-drop interfaces, Google Analytics, CRMs, Email marketing platforms, plus much more.
Multisite Capability: Allows multiple websites under one WordPress installation. Ideal for large organisations and enterprises. Managed via the WordPress Dashboard.
Community and Support: WordPress boasts a vast, active community. Which includes tutorials, forums, and third-party development.
Media Management: Supports galleries, image editing, video embedding, and extensive media capabilities.
Built In Style Editor: Allows fonts, colours, and layout customisation without needing code.
Built-In Email Campaigns: Offers email marketing tools integrated into the platform. Allowing you to create and send branded marketing emails.
Integrated Scheduling: Features tools like Acuity Scheduling for booking appointments without extra extensions.
Social Media Integration: Connects with Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for real-time updates. Auto-publish blog posts and display social media icons and feeds without plugins.
Built-In Analytics: Detailed insights into website traffic, visitor behaviour, and sales performance.
Membership Areas: Create subscription-based content or membership features for your website. Ideal for paid content, courses, exclusive blog posts, or private resources for members.
Below are real-life case studies and first-hand experiences with both platforms.
There is no better way to help you make an informed decision based on actual use cases.
Ferncroft reached out to me to help with their SEO campaign.
The website was on Squarespace.
So I had limited flexibility when making changes to the website for SEO.
The website design was fine so there were no changes here.
Since moving to WordPress, we have doubled the traffic and seen an increase in leads by 500%.
Achieving these results with Squarespace would have taken a lot longer.
The main reasons she migrated were:
Faster loading time and overall site speed.
Responsiveness for tablet and mobile devices.
This makes sense for a travel blog, as most of the content contains images.
She expands on how affiliate links did not offer plugins or support for Squarespace.
And difficulty with SEO.
Mel noticed a significant improvement after migrating to WordPress.
Chloe was previously a “diehard” WordPress user.
In 2018, Chloe migrated to Squarespace, starting a free trial.
She was “tired of wasting time updating plugins and managing my website”.
And understood that Squarespace is a better choice for her specific needs.
Some of the main reasons for Chloe’s switch:
How user-friendly the platform is
The standard of customer service
The themes and Squarespace templates for website creation
Glyn started with WordPress and used it for several years with the help of a web designer.
He tried a few WordPress hosts throughout his journey.
But decided to transition as he wanted full control over his website and no longer relied on a web designer.
The challenges Glyn overcome with Squarespace:
No longer need to update plugins
Could manage all website changes himself
Reduced downtime on his website
Glyn’s website houses online courses, his portfolio, and various books.
He mentions how Squarespace has been a game-changer.
The overall experience for his online business has never been so good.
Both platforms offer various design options.
Ultimately, it comes down to the type of website you need.
Before choosing between the two, consider:
Scalability: WooCommerce grows with your business. Supporting everything from small startups to large enterprises. There is no limit to products, shipping providers and third-party tools.
Seamless Integration: WooCommerce is a free and paid plugin. Provides content block builders for designing. This makes building your online store reasonably easy.
Payment Options: WooCommerce has its own payment gateway. But there are plenty of other options. Such as PayPal, Stripe, and Square. If you need others, you can always install more plugins.
Additional Features: Subscriptions and memberships. Appointments and Bookings. As well as custom product bundles and multi-currency support.
Regular WooCommerce Updates: Continual improvements with new features, security updates, and compatibility enhancements. Helping your e-commerce store stay ahead of the market.
Squarespace offers built-in eCommerce features.
Compared to WordPress, the setup and management of your online store is simple.
It’s ideal for startups who do not want extra costs.
Built-In Simplicity: Squarespace ecommerce streamlines everything. From product listings to inventory management. It’s perfect for new stores or those with a limited number of products.
Payment Options: Again, the payment processors are all built-in. The choices you have are Paypal, Stripe, and Apple Pay. All managed via the Squarespace Dashboard.
Inventory and Discount Management: Includes tools for managing orders, offering discounts, and tracking inventory.
Mobile-Optimized Shopping Experience: A seamless checkout and product browsing experience on any device. With fully responsive templates and optimized mobile storefronts.
Easy Setup & Expert Support: Step-by-step guides simplify store setup. While built-in tips like product suggestions help beginners get started quickly.
Integrated Features: Email marketing, analytics, and customer account management are built in. Eliminating the need for third-party integrations.
I would be lying if I said, “You cannot do SEO on Squarespace”.
Squarespace would not have achieved the success it has if that was the case.
Having said that, Squarespace does limit you.
Here are some pros and cons of both platforms without getting too geeky.
Full Control Over URLs – Customize every aspect of your site’s URL structure for better SEO.
Powerful SEO Plugins – Use tools like Yoast and Rank Math to optimize every page.
Better Site Speed Optimization – WordPress helps your site load faster by compressing images. Storing parts of your website for quick access. You can also use tools to speed it up for visitors based on location.
Stronger Blogging & Content SEO – Advanced tools for internal linking, pagination, and content optimization.
Customizable Metadata – Complete control over page titles and descriptions. Control how your website appears on social media.
Advanced Schema & Structured Data – Easily add rich snippets for products, reviews, and FAQs.
Better Local SEO – Optimized for Google My Business and local search rankings.
Requires some technical knowledge – Needs setup and optimization to perform well.
SEO plugins are a must – WordPress alone isn’t optimized. You will need plugins like Rank Math and Yoast SEO.
Site speed depends on hosting – Without proper hosting and caching your site may be slow.
Security needs monitoring – Requires updates and security plugins to prevent attacks.
Frequent maintenance – Regular plugin and theme updates to avoid conflicts.
No built-in SEO features – Everything must be manually configured or done through plugins.
Steeper learning curve – More flexibility means more effort to set up and optimize. You may need help from an SEO consultant.
Easy to use – No coding or plugins needed; SEO settings are built-in.
Simple blogging and content management – Clean editor for quick updates.
Mobile-optimized templates – All themes are responsive out of the box.
Auto-generated XML sitemap – Google can easily crawl your pages.
Built-in SSL and CDN – Secure and fast hosting included at no extra cost.
Automatic image compression – Reduces image sizes for better performance.
No plugin hassle – No need to manage SEO plugins or third-party tools.
Limited URL control – Can’t remove /blog/ or /products/ from URLs.
Less control over metadata – Squarespace sometimes overrides your meta descriptions. But then again, so does Google so take that with a grain of salt.
Basic schema markup only – No easy way to add custom structured data.
No SEO plugins – No tools like Yoast or Rank Math for advanced optimization.
Slower load times – Templates rely heavily on JavaScript, which affects speed.
Limited redirects – No bulk 301 redirect management.
Poor e-commerce SEO – Checkout pages use *.squarespace.com, hurting branding and your SEO.
Both platforms offer competitive pricing.
The choice you make should not come down to pricing alone.
As you can see, there is not much difference between the two options.
But you will start to incur extra costs when using WordPress compared to Squarespace.
These prices are from WordPress.org.
There are hundreds of WordPress Hosting Providers, so it’s worth shopping around.
Self-hosted WordPress is also an option but this would require some technical expertise.
Note: Domain registration is not always included with hosting plans.
If you want to add advanced features these will come with an extra cost.
Squarespace pricing bundles all these costs in one.
The chances of you needing to dip into your pockets again are very unlikely.
Regarding customer support, you will need to lean on the plugins and themes you have used.
Page builders you use also offer support for their plugins.
Other alternatives for support are forums, YouTube, and communities.
With all Squarespace plans, you have 24/7 customer support.
If you are looking to design your own website Squarespace will more than likely be the best option.
Based on what we have covered, you should know which platform you are leaning towards.
If you are still unsure…
Check out this table for a quick overview based on your specific needs.
Best For | WordPress | Squarespace |
---|---|---|
Blog | ✅ | ✅ |
Business Website | ✅ | ✅ |
eCommerce Store | ✅ | ✅ |
Portfolio | ✅ | ✅ |
Membership Site | ✅ | ✅ |
Event/Booking Site | ✅ | ✅ |
Online Courses | ✅ | ❌ |
News/Media Site | ✅ | ❌ |
Landing Page | ✅ | ✅ |
Multi-Language Site | ✅ | ❌ |
Beginner-Friendly | ❌ | ✅ |
Experienced Designer | ✅ | ❌ |
If I had no clue about websites but was looking to design my own.
I would choose Squarespace.
Otherwise…
It’s WordPress for me.
Thinking about the website’s growth, it makes more sense to be on WordPress for the long term.
Especially for SEO.
Ben Hughes is a digital marketing expert with years of experience in SEO, CRO, Web Design, and paid advertising. Ben’s insights and expertise have contributed to successful campaigns across various industries, making him a trusted name in the digital marketing space.