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12 Best Squarespace Alternatives To Build A Website [2023]

Let's face it, Squarespace is a great website builder that is satisfying millions of business owners around the world, but it isn't the perfect fit for everyone. While Squarespace is arguably the best website builder currently, there are some business needs that only other website builders can satisfy.

A clear example is e-commerce. Although Squarespace comes with advanced e-commerce tools and features when compared to most website builders, large and complex online stores may need extra features that can only be found in Shopify. Therefore, it will be detrimental to overlook other great website builders that can serve as alternatives to Squarespace.

In this post, we will be taking a detailed look at the best Squarespace alternatives to cater to your need, and also scale your business. The post will explore the key features, pros, cons, and template options for each website builder. Ready? Let's go!

Best Squarespace Alternatives: Our #1 Choices

Hostinger

Formerly known as Zyro, Hostinger is a great upcoming commerce platform that functions with promising e-commerce tools, alongside a great and modern design. Its e-commerce features give it a promising future and are perfect for small businesses that need a functional website, and a place to sell online.

Here is what a user have to say

Hostinger offers dependable web hosting at a great price. Shared hosting plans start at $1.99 per month, which includes free weekly backups and enough bandwidth for 10,000 visitors to your site.

Key Features

Easy to use editor: Hostinger is a great platform if you are new to the world of web design. It comes with a drag-and-drop editor with a grid format to guide your design. These grids ensure that elements such as text and images are in the best positions, to give your website a professional look.

Affordable Prices: Compared to other Squarespace alternatives and site builders, Hostinger (or Zyro) offers a great pricing plan for annual and biannual subscriptions, which makes it perfect for business owners that are on a tight budget

Powerful e-commerce tools: If you are just starting your online store, Zyro is the best place to experiment because it comes with a powerful array of sales and e-commerce tools. Some of the advantages you tend to benefit from are;

  • Integration with over 70 payment options, including stripe and Paypal

  • Inventory management, tax management, and order tracking

  • Multichannel selling: Integrate your Hostinger platform with

  • Abandoned cart recovery

  • Multiple languages, and other necessary features

Decent SEO and AI tools: Hostinger also comes with robust SEO tools that can help rank your website or online stores on search engines. Also, you can decide to leave your website design to Zyro AI, which designs your website based on your specific needs.

Pricing

Hostinger offers three main plans, depending on your business needs

Single: $1.99/month (for a 2-years plan)

It comes with one website host

  • 50GB SDD storage,

  • 100 GB bandwidth

  • free SSL certificates, and other features

Premium: 2.99/month

  • 100 website hosts

  • 100 GB SDD storage

  • unlimited bandwidth

  • free SSL certificates, etc

  • Free domain name

Business: 3.99/month

  • 100 website hosts

  • 200 GB SDD storage

  • unlimited bandwidth, etc.

It is important to note that Hostinger doesn't offer a free plan but offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and the prices vary depending on the number of years you opt-in for.

The lowest plan is $9.99/month if you are subscribing on a monthly period, $2.99 for one year, and then $1.99 for four years. Therefore, it is best if you check the pricings before opting for a plan

The best plan to go for on Zyro is the premium and business plans. They come with e-commerce features, a custom domain, and varieties of marketing tools

Template Options

Hostinger offers different templates based on your business needs, and each template is clean and well-designed. Every template is also responsive, meaning your website adapts to different screen sizes. However, you should note that you cannot switch your template once your website is live.

Overall, Hostinger is a promising website builder for small businesses but maybe a little restrictive when it comes to the e-commerce capabilities

Pros

  • Easy-to-use editor

  • Free domain on premium plans

  • Affordable plans

  • Facebook Ads and pixel integration

  • multiple websites

Cons

  • You can't switch templates once the website is life

  • Customization might be a little mechanical

  • No free version

GoDaddy

Apart from being known as one of the best domain hosting platforms around, GoDaddy also thrives as a great website builder that a lot of people can benefit from. It comes with different subscription options, making it suitable for people with different needs. Let's take a look at some of its key features

Key Features

Ease of Use: Godaddy is generally easy to comprehend and navigate. You can design your own website from scratch without a coding background. You also get to use Godaddy AI to design your website if you don't want to go through the stress, however, your design may look like other websites.

Social media integration: It is super easy to add your social media platform and social media widgets to your website

Analytics tools: You can track the visitors coming to your website, their activities, and other necessary information for the growth of your website.

Backup and Restores: Your website is automatically backed up on Godaddy's cloud, and that protects your website from unlikely events

Commerce functionality: You also get the chance to sell on Godaddy alongside your main website. Features like abandoned cart recovery, promotions, discounts, inventory management, etc are all available on Godaddy.

Pricing

There are four pricing plans on Godaddy

Basic - $9.99/month (billed annually)

  • SSL certificate

  • custom domain connection

  • Analytics tools

  • 100 email marketing sends

  • 1 social media platform

  • one time appointments

Standard - $10.49/month

  • All basic features

  • Search Engine Optimizations

  • 3 social media platforms

  • 20 social media posts

  • 500 email sends

Premium - $14.99/month

  • unlimited social media platform

  • unlimited social media posts

  • 25 000 emails sends

  • order email automation

  • recurring appointments, etc

Ecommerce - $16.99

  • product listings

  • flexible payments methods

  • shipping options

  • promotions and discounts.

Pros

  • Fast solution for a quick website: If you are on a tight budget, then Godaddy may be your option. A user said this;

I have used it a couple times to help low-budget clients who could not afford hosting.

The GoDaddy interface is pretty simple to use, but there are limits to what you can do with it.

  • Ability to switch themes

  • cheap pricing plans

Cons

  • Basic ecommerce capabilities

  • Average-looking websites compared to other site builders

  • Not suitable for complex sites

Template Options

There has been a huge improvement in Godaddy's templates. You have access to more than 200 themes to use for your websites with various options. Also, you can switch themes even if your website is live, and there will be little to no distortion in your elements.

However, the templates are pretty decent but cannot be compared to other website builders out there. It is safe to say that Godaddy's templates need a little bit of improvement.

Shopify

Shopify is a great Squarespace alternative when it comes to its ecommerce features making it perfect for ecommerce stores and complex websites. It comes with advanced features and tons of third-party apps that will be beneficial for more complex sites.

Shopify is the most ideal choice to use for an online store as Shopify is an online tool that serves customers for e-commerce services. It is easier to put up as you only have to sign up for an account.

Shopify is a platform used for selling any kinds of goods whether it be services and products both digital and physical.

Key Features

Third-Party Apps: Shopify comes with tons of third-party apps that you can integrate into your e-commerce store to further amplify your sales. Its array of apps makes it stand out and gives your store an edge

Powerful SEO and marketing tools: It comes with powerful SEO tools that will make your store rank on google and direct it to the right audience. You also get access to all the sales and marketing tools that make shopping and inventory management easy for you and your buyers.

Pricing

Shopify has reasonable plans when compared to other e-commerce sites, and it is ideal for large stores that want to go slow. However, where there is a major hike is payment for third-party apps and imposed transaction fees on each sale.

First, Shopify comes with a 3-day free trial that doesn't demand you to drop your card details. This gives you a chance to explore the website and decide whether it is the right web hosting platform for your business. Let's take a closer look at the paid plans it has to offer.

Basic - $24/month (billed annually)

This is the perfect plan for new online stores that are starting with a few sales. It provides you with everything you need to build a great e-commerce platform and manage your transactions

  • Sell unlimited products

  • 2 staff accounts

  • Sales channel

  • Discount codes & gift cards

  • Abandoned cart recovery

  • multilingual site

  • 2% transaction fee unless you are using Shopify payment

Shopify - $69/month

  • All basic features

  • e-commerce automation

  • 1% transaction fee

Advanced - $299

  • third-party calculated shipping rates

  • duties and import taxes

There is also the Starters which start from $5/month. This plan allows you to create a simple online store that you can add to your social media platforms at a 5% transaction fee. This is perfect for individuals interested in selling online without having a full-blown store

Overall, this is the top Squarespace alternative when it comes to e-commerce.

Pros

  • Advanced features for large stores

  • More than 3000s third-party apps

  • Robust free and paid templates

Cons

  • The editor needs a learning curve

  • High transaction fees when compared to Squarespace

  • The pricing increases and becomes expensive with the addition of third-party apps

Template Options

Shopify templates are mobile responsive and professionally designed to satisfy all your e-commerce needs. Also, they offer both free and paid templates, which is great for branding.

Duda

Freelancers and web designers will find Duda easy, useful, and fast. It also comes with robust client management tools for seamless work. However, Duda is not limited to freelancers or web designers alone, any business owner who wants to set up a website fast will find Duda perfect.

Key Features

Robust, well-designed Templates: Duda shines in its templates. Each template is professionally designed and makes your website appear clean and fine-tuned.

Extensive marketing materials: You don't have to figure out your website alone, Duda is here to help with its extensive library of marketing materials

E-commerce: Duda comes with e-commerce tools starting from its cheapest plans, which is not common with most website builders. This gives it a marketing edge over other site builders. Fortunately, the e-commerce tools that come with Duda are pretty impressive

SEO: You get access t the basic SEO tools that can make your website rank better on search engines

Pricing

One major drawback to Duda is its plans. First, it doesn't offer a free plan, and its paid plans are expensive when compared to other website builders, and the features it offers. However, it is still a great website builder to opt-in for

Basic - $14/month (billed annually)

  • website personalization

  • SSL certificate

  • Multilingual sites

  • app store

  • membership site

  • millions of free and premium images

Team - $22/month

This is perfect for freelancers running a small team or with a good amount of clients

  • Access to Dev mode for web developers

  • unlimited content library

  • Four members

  • custom assets

  • site comments up to 100 clients

  • White-label client access

Agency - $44/month

If you run an agency or you are building larger projects, then this plan will cater to your needs

  • up to 10 team members

  • instant websites

  • API integrations

  • website export, et

Duda also comes with other paid plans that are negotiable depending on your website needs. This is a perfect web host for freelancers and designers building multiple websites. The Agency Paid plan gives the best return on investment and gives you the chance to scale your business in the nearest future.

Pros

Range of apps and widgets for a successful design

Simple drag-and-drop editor

Great variety of templates

Cons

There are customization restrictions

Contain basic website features

Expensive plans when compared with other Squarespace alternatives

Template Options

Duda is one of the best builders when it comes to templates. Each template has a professional finish and is well-categorized for easy access. These templates are highly responsive and maintain a professional and succinct look on different screens.

Site123

If there is one thing that Site123 thrives at, it is site speed. You can hardly find any other website builder matching this feature. However, it is best suitable for personal uses and small businesses on a budget. Apart from that, it is a pretty decent

Key Features

Analytics: Site123 comes with decent analytics that keeps track of traffic and shows you places for improvement. The analytics are also presented in understandable visuals to give you the necessary information. Also, site123 analytics makes use of Google Analytics which is a great addition if you are already familiar with Google Analytics

SEO: Compared to other builders, Site123 provides great SEO features to rank your website on Google. You get access to features like URL customization, meta descriptions, etc.

Backup and Restores: You have access to autosave features, backup, and a restore option in case anything funny happens.

Pricing

Site123 offers a free plan making it a free alternative to Squarespace, however, the features are limited. Another thing to note about the paid plans is that they differ based on the payment plan you are opting for. Site123 gives you the option to pay monthly, quarterly, annually, and even a 10-year plan. Overall, Site123 is one of the free alternatives to Squarespace

Basic plan - $12.80/month (billed annually)

Advanced plan - $19.80/month

Professional plan - $28.80/month

Pros

  • Templates are responsive

  • Comes with basic website features

  • Perfect for beginner

  • Fast site speed

Cons

  • Not suitable for complex sites and advanced users

  • No in-depth ecommerce tools

  • Average design look

Template Options

Site123 asks what you are building a website for, and based on your options, generate a bespoke template for your website. This is a good idea if you struggle with picking the right website for your site

Wix

Wix is one of the best Squarespace alternatives that most users have found decent and some even believe it is better than Squarespace. It has almost the same features as Squarespace and satisfies the same business needs. It also provides slightly higher design freedom when compared to Squarespace, and the ecommerce plans are great too!

Key Features

Robust Ecommerce functionalities: Wix is a great platform to grow your online store. It comes with powerful ecommerce analytics, inventory management, email marketing, abandoned cart recovery, shipping and payments integrations, etc

Marketing Features: Wix also comes equipped with marketing features such as Wix automation, email marketing, live chats, and Wix Ascend, which is the in-house Wix marketing suite

Security: What is a website without robust security? Wix websites come with free SSL certificates, customer log-in area, etc

Pricing

Wix is a bit pricer when compared with other web hosting platforms on the market, however, it offers great value for money. It also offers a robust free plan that comes with more features when compared to other website creation sites. However, the premium plans hold more advanced features. Let's take a look

Combo - $8.50/month (billed annually)

The combo is perfect for personal use such as portfolios, blogs, etc

  • 2GB bandwidth

  • 3GB storage space

  • custom domain name for a year

  • SSL Certificate

Unlimited - $12.50/month

  • Unlimited bandwidth

  • 10Gb storage space

  • Site booster app

  • Visitor analytics app

VIP - $24.50/month

  • 35Gb storage space

Business Basic - $17/month

  • Plans and recurring payments

  • customer accounts

  • unlimited products

  • abandoned cart recovery, etc

Business Unlimited - $25/month

  • Automated sales tax

  • Dropshipping

  • Product reviews, etc

Business VIP - $35/month

  • Unlimited dropshipping products

  • Customized reports

  • Loyalty program by smile.io

Pros

Drag and drop editor is super easy

Comes with scalable functionality, and is perfect for e-commerce sites

Creative and customizable templates for use

Splendid customer support

related article: 29+ Premium Squarespace Templates Shop For Any Business

Cons

Advanced features require a higher-paid plan

Third-party apps can become expensive

related article: How To Create A One Page Website With Squarespace

Template Options

Wix has over 800 templates to choose from, and they are categorized to make your search easy. These templates are professionally designed and give you a great degree of freedom for customization. The editor also comes with unrestrictive customization freedom which is perfect for web designers.

Also, if you are not interested in building your website from scratch using the template, there is Wix ADI which is an AI that builds your website with little tweaks.

related article: How To Build A Squarespace Website: A Step-By-Step Guide

Weebly

related article: 12+ Stunning Squarespace Real Estate Template

If your goal is to start a website for free while still getting the basic needs, then the Weebly free plan is the best in our opinion. It comes with basic features that are perfect for multiple and one-page websites

Key Features

Extensive App Library: Weebly has a great collection of apps that are needed for growing your business. You find apps on ecommerce, marketing, communications, and other necessary tools such as Facebook like button, etc. You won't have to worry about external integration with Weebly apps

Ecommerce features: Weebly also allows you to sell on a free plan. You get access to tools like inventory management, In-store pickup, payment options, etc. This is definitely a great start for new stores, however, Weebly will likely not be able to support fast-growing online stores. Instead, you can try out Shopify.

Email Marketing: Weebly has an in-house email marketing tool that is perfect for your business if email marketing is part of your strategy. From just $8/month, you can start growing your email list.

related article: 26+ Best Squarespace Templates For Photographers.

Pricing

Weebly has a free plan that comes with sophisticated features and is perfect for freelancers and business owners with a small budget. You get almost everything for free, and that makes weekly a strong Squarespace alternative when it comes to a free plan.

Apart from the free plan, four paid plans come with more sophisticated features

Connect - $10/month (billed annually)

  • No ecommerce features

  • Free SSL certificate

Pro - $12/month (billed annually)

  • Ecommerce features

  • unlimited storage

  • Payment through Square and third-party

  • Shopping Cart

Business - $25/month

  • Advanced commerce features

Pros

The free plan is one of the best

Robust SEO guides for beginners

Great return on investment when you compare the features with the prices

Cons

Customization is limited, and the templates are a bit outdated

Poor mobile responsiveness: Your website may look misaligned on smaller screens

related article: 21+ Best Squarespace Blog Templates (Free & Premium)

Template Options

Weebly comes with a great collection of themes to use. Most of the themes are simple, clean, and straightforward. However, if customization freedom and a unique-looking website are one of your goals, then Weebly templates fall short. They are not bad, but not outstanding as well.

related article: 31+ Best Coaching Website Templates

Webflow

related article: 17+ Sales Page Templates: Skyrocket Your Sales Now!

Webfolow is perfect for web developers that want to test out their coding skills, and web designers who want the highest level of design freedom. However, small business owners with no design background may find Webflow a bit demanding, although you don't have to know any single line of code to build on Webflow. Apart from that, Webflow is a goldmine with the endless opportunities it offers

Key Features

Animations and Interactions: Webflow comes with a wide array of animations you can add to your website to make it more fun. Honestly, Webflow shines when it comes to design

SEO: Webflow did a great job in their SEO tools, allowing you to add sitemaps and customize 301 directs, which is something you won't easily find on most builders

Pricing

Webflow plans are not the cheapest around and can be a big discouragement for small business owners with a tight budget. Regardless, they have a free plan which is basically for getting to know Webflow before making a decision. The plans are divided into personal (freelancer and agency) and ecommerce plans

Personal/Business

Basic - $14/month

CMS - $23/month

Business - $39/month

Ecommerce

Standard - $29/month

Plus - $74/month

Advanced - $212/month

Pros

High level of design freedom and customization

Stunning templates for different website niches

Extensive customization tools and resources

related  article: Squarespace Pricing Plans: A Complete Guide 

Cons

Expensive plans when compared with other builders

No phone or live chat support

Require a high level of a learning curve when compared with other builders

Template Options

Webflow has hundreds of templates that include free and paid ones. The designs are clean, unique, and stunning; you can also tweak these designs to create beautiful websites if you know your way around Webflow.

related article: Squarespace Domain Review: Everything You Need To Know.

Strikingly

Strikingly comes with a free plan, and it is perfect for beginners with little or no tech background. it keeps everything simple, and you can even design a website in a day.

Key Features

Analytics: Strikingly has in-built analytics that informs you of your website's traffic, its location, and other relevant data. However, you have to integrate with Google Analytics for a more sophisticated breakdown

Social Media Integration: Strikingly allows you to add your social media accounts on your website and even add a live chat feature to your site on higher plans

Pricing

Strikingly comes with a free plan and three other paid plans

Limited - $8/month

  • up to 5 pages

  • sell one product

  • 5% transaction fee

Pro - $16/month

  • 100 pages per site

  • sell 300 products

  • Site and paid memberships

  • 2% transaction fee

VIP - $49/month

  • sell unlimited products

  • 0% transaction fee

  • Multi-language and auto-translation

Pros

Perfect for simple websites and beginners

Comes with a free forever plan

Editor is easy to use, and you can build a website in a day

Cons

Strikingly is not the perfect choice for large online stores or complex websites

The ecommerce features are basic

The site speed is unimpressive when compared to other builders

related article:  Squarespace Review: Is It Really Worth The Investment?

Wordpess

WordPress is the OG of site builders, and it is still around for a valid reason. You can create any kind of website without hassle, however, you'll need to be proficient with coding to come up with a stunning look.

Key Features

Flexibility: The unique selling point of WordPress is its full customization option. You are limited by a template or editor. The plugins and theme you choose determines how your website turns out, and it is even more advantageous if you are a developer

Pricing

Wordpress may have paid plans, but the plugins and themes you opt in for may contribute to the overall cost, therefore it is hard to state the exact money you'll be spending on Wordpress. However, here are the pricing plans for WordPress

Free - $0

Personal - $4

Premium - $8

Business - $25

Commerce - $45

Pros

Perfect for web developers and designers who want full customization freedoms

WordPress allows extensive use of plugins and apps to create a unique website

Extensive library of resources

Cons

You need coding background to get the best out of WordPress.

Template Options

WordPress's website has the largest library of templates, giving you hundreds of thousands of templates to pick from. No matter the design theme you have in mind or your business niche, there is a template for you. The only issue you will have is choosing the perfect theme that satisfies both functionality and looks.

Showit

Last but not least builder to explore is Showit. If you want the ability to design your desktop and mobile designs separately, then you will find Showit fascinating. It is the new world of web design because it gives you the chance to come up with a unique website look

Key Features

Design Flexibility: Showit has few restrictions when it comes to design freedom, making it a perfect platform for creatives to flaunt their design skills.

Wordpress Integration: If you are a blogger that wants to host your blog on Wordpress while maintaining a Showit look, then you are in luck. Showit hosts your blog on WP and gives you the autonomy to manage your website seamlessly

Pricing

Showit - $19/month (billed annually)

Perfect for somebody who doesn't need a blog e.g portfolio uses

Showit + Basic Starter Blog - $24/month

Showit + Advanced blog - $34/month

Pros

Flexible design freedom: The templates come fully customizable, and the editor comes with a lot of tools

Ability to integrate with WordPress

Stunning templates

Cons

Lack of mobile responsiveness: It may become a tedious task to design your website for a desktop and mobile screen separately, especially if you don't have a lot of design background

No ecommerce capacity: you cannot host an online store on ecommerce, unless you integrate an external commerce store such as Shopify Lite, etc. Therefore it is only perfect for photography, blogging and other creative uses

Template Options

Showit offers stunning templates categorized into different business niche. These templates are easily customizable and there is a large collection of paid and free templates at your disposal

Wrapping Up

We've looked at the top Squarespace alternatives, and I hope you were able to find the best match for your needs. Each alternative offers a considerable amount of features you can also find on Squarespace. However, if you still feel like Squarespace is the right choice for you, feel free to contact me so that we can get started. Cheers!

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