Comparing these website builders

A website builder does an excellent job of letting you build a website from scratch if you don’t have the web design skills or time.

Wix and Squarespace are both hosted platforms that provide flexibility and allow for customisation in creating your website without making the process complicated.

However, to get that ease and convenience, there’s a trade off with control and features; they have to control the environment to provide the best experience.

The good, the bad and …

Each platform comes with advantages and disadvantages that mostly depend on what you want your site to do. Wix and Squarespace have many similarities, such as:

• Webpage building elements, like galleries, text blocks, product pages, and charts
• Drag-and-drop design
• Site and page templates
• Integrations with other apps, like Google Analytics, Instagram, and PayPal
• A free trial.

However, there are some key differences between the two platforms which we will explore. Wix vs Squarespace: want to talk to the GeekFree team to find out more? Just call 0800 686 237.

Building your website with Wix and Squarespace

Ease of use

Both Wix and Squarespace are incredibly easy to use, especially compared to designing a site yourself. However, Wix may have a slight edge on Squarespace in the simplicity department.

Wix walks you through every step, from naming your site to picking a theme that matches your site’s purpose.

Although both platforms feature drag-and-drop editing, Wix lets you to drag text, images, and other elements wherever you want them to go. There’s no need to mess with coding or design. While Squarespace is also great at this, it is a little more technical than Wix; the learning curve is slightly higher.

Website themes

There are 100 odd templates on Squarespace, while Wix offers more than 500. Both platforms allow you to customise your chosen theme.

Wix provides total flexibility in its design editing. You can start with a blank canvas or edit the premade themes with the drag-and-drop editor.

Squarespace’s editing is a bit more structured. You’re free to add elements where you want them, but they’ll have to fit the requirements for the theme.

Wix also has loads of apps available in the Wix App Market. However, many of them require the Premium service to use.

Website pricing

Wix offers a 100% free website, while Squarespace offers only a free trial.

Is Wix really free?

Wix does have a free plan available that you can use for as long as you want. You’ll just need to put up with having its ads on your site and you cannot use your own custom domain name. Your domain name will be an extension of Wix, such as this-is-not-really-my-website.wix.com. Wix is a freemium site builder. To use your own domain name, have full functionality, and remove Wix ads from your site, you have to pay for a premium plan. Wix plans cover hosting, themes and free extensions and the prices go up if you install a paid application from the Wix app market.

Wix pricing, in my opinion, wins over Squarespace. Both website builders offer a range of pricing plans – Wix has five plans and Squarespace has two plans for website users and two for eCommerce users – but it’s hard to directly compare all the prices as they differ so much. Overall, however, Wix’s plans are cheaper than Squarespace’s, and they offer packages to suit all users, from beginners to experts, blogs to online stores. Also, I don’t like the fact that Squarespace does not give you easily discoverable breakdowns for their different pricing. You have to go through the sign-up process to work out what you’ll be paying for.

Wix vs Squarespace – is Wix better?

Yes, well, I think so. Basically, because you can use drag-and-drop, which I find faster for site creation, and it is a highly customisable platform, which means you should be able to make your website appear distinct to competitor websites. Squarespace can be a bit tricky to get used to. It also falls short on customisation and features because it does not have an app market. Wix also wins when it comes to pricing and sorts security updates and hosting relatively seamlessly.

In addition, if you customise your site by changing the standard template on Squarespace, be aware. Squarespace won’t help you fix your site unless you’re using their product. So, unless you know how to resolve issues, you can’t fiddle too much.

Squarespace regularly updates the layout of your website without telling you, which can change how the user interface works. This gives access to new features and you don’t have to spend time installing new updates yourself, but you may get confused and have to relearn how to do things all over again and it can be stressful if you need to correct something that went wrong during an update.

Talk to our Geekfree team about getting a gorgeous, effective website for your business.

Wix vs Squarespace

Now comes the caveat

This Wix vs Squarespace review focuses on simplicity on cost.

Wix is an excellent choice if you want an easy web builder that gives you a bit of control. A drag-and-drop builder, it lets you easily create simple sites. It is easy to use and manage, but also quite limited in the functionality it offers. If you find yourself needing extra features for your website, it can become rather costly.

But, if either Wix or Squarespace doesn’t have a feature you want, you can’t just add it. And, most importantly, if you want to move to a new hosting, you can’t just pick up your site and take it. There is no way to export your data or design. You have to leave it all behind. Your site is not really yours with either Wix or Squarespace; they own your site.

If you’re looking for flexibility and a heap of features, a self-hosted WordPress is a much better option, I believe. And I’m not just saying that because we know how to make really good-looking WordPress websites. Build on WordPress and the site is yours. You can export, import, do whatever you want with it.

Websites for today and tomorrow

When deciding on a web site for your business, we suggest you think carefully about the following: convenience for control, customisable design, the ability to grow and the fact you own your own website. WordPress is, in our opinion, the most future-proofed solution because you can do and add to it as you please. With a skilled Auckland web designer like ours, the choices are almost limitless.

Email us about building a gorgeous website or call 0800 686 237. We’re a team of professional, experienced Auckland web developers, copy writers, and internet marketers who help business owners, like you, achieve big results on the web in an affordable, effective way.