Squarespace is one of the best ways to build and customize a website without having to know how to code. Almost everything you need to make a website is there. Squarespace offers more advanced features on top of the basic ones you’d expect from a hosted website builder, such as domain registration, hosting, templates, and help from experts. With built-in tools for e-commerce, blogging, SEO, and analytics, you can build and improve your website to get more visitors and grow your business.
But Squarespace isn’t the right answer for everyone. It comes with a number of features, but it doesn’t have any add-ons that can improve the way your site works.
Squarespace doesn’t let you add missing features to your sites, such as an autosave button or a form module. Whether you want more freedom, a cheaper monthly plan, or a better e-commerce experience, Squarespace has a lot of options.
Let’s quickly look at some of the best options and alternatives.
Best Squarespace Competitors
Here are the best alternatives to Squarespace that will meet your needs.
WordPress
Self-hosted WordPress is by far the most popular way to make a website, based on the number of people who use it. It’s hard to believe that WordPress runs 43.1% of all websites. Squarespace is used by about 1.8% of all websites, in case you were wondering. To use WordPress, you have to install the open-source WordPress software on your virtual host. This is a little more complicated than Squarespace.
If your site is the main source of income for your online business, you should really think about using WordPress.org. It’s not the easiest solution, but that’s not what it was made for. Instead, it has a lot of tools and integrations that help your site grow.
You can try it out by making your site available in more than one language, adding an online store with WooCommerce, or working with one of the (possibly) millions of WordPress developers. These skilled developers can help you build almost any feature you need to start an online business.
PROS:
WordPress plugins are available for almost every type of website need, such as e-commerce, multilingual websites, membership pages, booking engines, and so on.
- Flexibility: You have full control over your site and can easily expand it to meet your needs as they change.
- Pricing based on use: The tool itself is free to use, so you only pay for the extra features you need.
CONS:
- Technical Skills Needed: This CMS (content management system) required a lot of hands-on work right from the start. That means you either need to know how things work or be able to hire someone who does.
- Maintenance is your job. Unlike the site builder below, security updates and regular upkeep are not taken care of for you. You need to know about any changes.
- Support: WordPress doesn’t offer direct support, so most of the time you’ll have to look for answers in forums and online.
Wix
Wix lets people and small businesses build websites for free, but Squarespace only lets you try it out for 14 days. Wix’s free plan includes hosting, editors that you can drag and drop, and more than 500 theme templates. It’s easy to make as many pages as you want for your site, and you can drag and drop elements wherever you want on a page.
With the free Wix plan, you have to use a subdomain that Wix gives you, and there are ads on the front page of your site. You can start with the free version and then upgrade to a paid plan later.
Read more about how Wix and Squarespace compare.
PROS:
Design flexibility: With Wix, you have a lot of say over how your site looks because you can change templates almost whenever you want. You can also add things like galleries and animations that are visual.
App Market: Wix has a lot of different apps and ways to connect them. They have their own full-featured apps, like Wix Bookings, as well as hundreds of apps from other companies, like dropship-empire, that help you grow your business.
Wix is better than Squarespace because it automatically backs up your site. Wix keeps track of all the changes and keeps a record of them. So, you can bring your site back to an earlier version, which is helpful if you delete something by accident.
CONS:
Blog: Wix’s blog is OK and SEO-friendly. But it’s not very adaptable. Users can only choose a simple layout, and the blog editor doesn’t work well with the main website editor.
Not Mobile-Friendly Enough: Wix’s template isn’t mobile-friendly enough (unlike Squarespace). You need to switch to the Mobile editor and make some changes before your site will show up right on mobile devices.
Shopify
Squarespace is good for smaller online stores that want to sell things. The only problem is that it doesn’t work well if you want to sell internationally, dropship from AliExpress, or give your customers a loyalty program.
E-commerce and Shopify are almost the same thing. As a dedicated e-commerce builder, Shopify has more features and over 6,000 apps like dropship-empire to help you grow your online business.
With its e-commerce and point-of-sale features, Shopify is great for business owners who are just starting out or growing their business. This Shopify Dropshipping 101 guide will give you ideas if you want to start dropshipping on Shopify.
Find out more about Shopify vs. Squarespace.
PROS:
- E-commerce: Shopify was made from the ground up to be a shopping cart. Everything about them is set up for online sales.
- From the App Store, it’s easy to add extra features like tools to stop fraud, dropshipping tools, and even POS solutions.
- Scaling: Shopify makes it easy for both small and big online stores to grow. Shopify has features like Shop Pay that don’t require customers to sign up again if they’ve already done so at another Shopify store.
CONS:
- Transaction Fees: If you don’t use Shopify Payments, which isn’t available everywhere, Shopify will add a fee for the processor on top of the payment (such as Stripe or PayPal).
- Regular Content Creation: Shopify has a blog, but you can also make other types of pages (such as product landing pages). Shopify doesn’t make it easy to get your non-e-commerce content to look the way you want.
Duda
Squarespace and Duda both have easy-to-use website editors and templates that you can use to make websites quickly. Duda is different from Squarespace in that it has tools for teams to work together and for managing customers.
Duda lets its users import content from other websites, reuse widgets in different projects, and make dynamic versions of individual pages. When it comes to working as a team, Duda lets you give feedback right on the site as it’s being built. All of these things make it easier for agents to grow their business.
The fact that Duda can be used in multiple languages is the most interesting and possibly most powerful thing about it. If you want to sell to people all over the world, this will help your business a lot. Also, Duda supports dynamic features for different types of customers. This means that some customers can see offers or coupons that are just for them when they look at your site.
PROS:
- Editor: The drag-and-drop editor in Duda is one of the easiest and most user-friendly tools for people who are just starting out.
- Duda is the right website builder if you want your site to be shown in more than one language and you want to sell internationally.
- Personalization: You can show visitors offers and discounts that are specific to them based on how they use your site.
CONS:
- No App Store: Because Duda doesn’t have an App Store, there aren’t many ways to add third-party apps and integration.
- Price: Duda users can’t get a free plan or trial, and the more advanced features cost money.
Weebly
If ease of use is the most important thing to you, Weebly should be in the running. Weebly is the easiest small business website builder, so you can get your site up and running quickly. It also comes with something for free, which could be appealing.
There are a lot of theme templates for e-commerce and online stores that can be used with Weebly, and it also has good automatic SEO integration. If you know a little CSS and HTML, you can change your site to meet your needs.
But if you want something more tailored to your needs, you might want to look somewhere else. Weebly is also known for its great uptime and site speed, and it has a great editing environment for both beginners and site experts.
PROS:
- The template selection is great, and you can change themes at any time with the click of a button. Themes are also available on mobile devices.
- Interface: The interface is simple to use and easy to learn. Any simple site can be done in minutes, while more complex sites can be up and running in hours.
- Layout Changes: Along with good templates, you can also change the layout of the page. If you like a theme but want to change the layout, it’s easy to do.
CONS:
- Weebly does not have as many new features as market leaders like Wix or WordPress. Some people don’t mind using services that copy the good parts of other services, but others may prefer more innovative companies.
- Weebly’s blogging feature leaves a lot to be desired, as it seems to be a bit behind the competition.
Webflow
Webflow is a more flexible tool that can be used by people who know how to code. Webflow lets you customize the front end of your website with visual tools that don’t require any coding. However, experienced developers can use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on the back end to make more changes if they want to.
Webflow is less easy for beginners to use than most tools because it is made for developers and designers. While Webflow’s community, Webflow University, has a lot of tutorial videos and other ways to help yourself, Webflow’s community, Webflow University, does not.
The basics of a modern seller’s workflow are built into Webflow E-commerce. Webflow users already have the tools they need to do basic e-commerce tasks like shipping, taxes, order processing, Instagram purchases, and more. With Webflow e-commerce, you can change how people check out, lower the number of people who abandon their shopping carts, and add your store to your blog.
PROS:
- It gives you more design options than any other website builder. You can also choose to use code like JavaScript and CSS.
- Export Code: You can export your website design as code so that you can use it with other website builders if you want to try something new.
CONS:
- Not Easy to Learn: The interface is hard to understand and requires some technical expertise.
- Template Choices Are Limited: You can change the template a lot, but there aren’t that many to choose from.
Last Word
Squarespace is a strong competitor in the market, no doubt about it. But Squarespace’s competitors and alternatives are rising to the challenge and coming up with services that are just as good as Squarespace’s.
You can make a website that meets your specific needs with any of the tools listed above. You should pick a tool that not only helps you get started, but also helps you grow as time goes on. Before you choose a site builder, you should think about your needs and your budget.