Squarespace vs Shopify: Which Platform is Best for Your Business?
Imagine having an online store with all the features and management tools for running, growing, and expanding your store. It will make running your store 1000x easier and leave room for massive growth.
While there are hundreds of ecommerce platforms out there, we'll be taking a look at two platforms that have some of the best ecommerce features: Squarespace and Shopify.
Although each website builder offers robust commerce functionalities and gives you the best experience, there is no argument that one platform will excel in certain features more than another, making it most preferred by stores.
In this review, we've tested out each feature (including the sales and marketing features) each ecommerce website builder offers, researched what users are saying, and compared each feature to determine which one you should go for depending on your online store needs and stage of growth. Without further ado, let's dive right in.
Ease of Use: Editor is beginner-friendly. Intuitive and well-arranged.
Ecommerce Ability: You can sell physical and digital products, and send abandoned cart recovery and email campaigns. Sell across various platforms while keeping track of your analytics.
Pricing: 14 days trial. Basic Commerce Plan starts at $27/month.
Best For: For small online stores selling physical and especially digital products.
Shopify
Ease of Use: Editor is easy and intuitive. However, requires a small learning curve for bigger tasks
Ecommerce Ability: Sell across various platforms. Integrate with more than 6000+ third-party apps, and you get detailed stock-level reports of your store.
Pricing: 3 days free trial. Basic Shopify plan starts at $24/month.
Best For: Shopify is perfect for large and complex stores that depend heavily on third-party apps.
Shopify Vs. Squarespace: Pros and Cons
Squarespace Pros
It is super-easy to use
Budget and beginner-friendly
Easy-to-use interface with drag-and-drop functionality
Perfect for selling digital and physical products
No transaction fees on Squarespace Commerce plans
Offers a range of features including blogging, SEO, and email marketing
Great analytical features for various non-commerce websites
24/7 customer support via live chat and email
Squarespace Cons
No app store, so you can't add third-party plugins or extensions
Limited payment options compared to other ecommerce platforms
No multi-currency support
Limited ecommerce features compared to dedicated ecommerce platforms like Shopify
Limited shipping and tax options
Shopify Pros
Dedicated ecommerce platform with advanced features for online selling
Robust app store with thousands of third-party plugins and extensions
Better option for large and complex stores
Multi-currency support
Multi-channel selling across various platforms
Powerful inventory management features
Shopify Cons
Has transaction fee on all plans except the highest paid plan
Can be overwhelming for beginners to use
Limited design customization options compared to Squarespace
It can become expensive with additional apps
Limited blogging functionality
Ease of Use (Shopify vs Squarespace)
Having robust eCommerce functionalities is one, and making it super easy to create and maintain your store is another. Regarding ease of use, both Shopify and Squarespace are seamless. However, Squarespace wins in this category. Let's take a more profound look.
Shopify
Shopify has a clean, modern, intuitive platform with simple language and helpful prompts. Once you signup for Shopify, it asks what type of store you want to create and other related questions to tailor the experience to your kind of commerce. Its version 2.0 has included a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to move elements around while providing a few restrictions to ensure your store turns out professional.
However, the Shopify editor is not the easiest around. For one, you cannot make edits to individual pages on Shopify. Instead, you can edit the templates. Also, the editor requires some learning curve, and some coding knowledge may be required to perform some daunting tasks. Regardless, the Shopify editor can become easy once you fully grasp it. So, with enough time and commitment, you can enjoy building your online store on Shopify.
In Store Setup, Shopify does a great job in making everything easy. You can add your products and edit descriptions without trying hard.
Squarespace
It is no doubt that Squarespace wins this round, hands down, thanks to its elaborate and detailed editor. How does this come about? Let's take a look.
First, Squarespace is a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to move elements around and make necessary edits to individual pages while providing useful prompts to guide you all through. The best part is you don't have to know a single line of code to do this.
You can easily change colors, fonts, arrangement, etc., from the editor. In addition, the Squarespace editor comes in categories, compiling similar edits to each category.
Here is where it gets better. Squarespace recently introduced the Fluid Engine, which allows you to move elements anywhere on the page. This feature gives you the ultimate freedom to design your ecommerce website without restrictions.
RELATED ARTICLE: Squarespace Review: Is It Really Worth The Investment?Verdict: Squarespace Vs. Shopify (Ease of Use)
Shopify and Squarespace are generally easy to use, with a drag-and-drop editor and useful prompts. However, when it comes to how quick and easy it is for beginners to build an online store, then Squarespace is clearly the winner.
It comes with a simple editor that one can easily understand, and most changes do not require code. Also, adding products to the store is super easy. However, one pet peeve of Squarespace is always having to hit the Save button during edits. Regardless, Squarespace's editor and comprehensive dashboard are one of the best out there.
Template Design & Customizability (Shopify vs Squarespace)
How aesthetically pleasing and organized your store looks can contribute to the perception of people about your brand and even your sales figures. Therefore, it is necessary to have a clean and professional-looking store.
Shopify
The ecommerce platform Shopify comes with many free and paid templates (themes) for online stores. You can access 10+ free Shopify themes and over 50 paid Shopify themes for around $150. These aesthetically pleasing themes come in various niches like gadgets, Electricals, products, etc.
However, you need to understand that each theme comes with different features, so you have to look out for the best theme that contains all the features you want for your store. Also, the free themes can become generic due to their frequent use by ecommerce stores that don't have the budget to purchase a premium theme.
Therefore, if you want to enjoy the Shopify theme, opting for a paid theme that caters to all your needs is best. One final thing to remember is that not all the themes have features such as a fixed navigation bar, quick product view, search, etc. However, these things can be added using the Shopify App Store.
Squarespace
Coming down to Squarespace themes, Squarespace offers 110 templates, all for free, for various websites. You'll find templates specifically designed for different ecommerce sites; therefore, it is easy to find the perfect match for your brand.
In addition, these templates are the best professionally designed templates you'll find in the world of website builders, so you are guaranteed an aesthetically pleasing, professional, and functional template for your site. It is also important to note that all templates have exact features that can be customized to fit your business needs.
One more important thing to know about Squarespace templates is that they are fully responsive; that is, they can seamlessly adapt to any screen size, which is super essential for the retention rate of your site.
Don't know the template to choose? Check out How To Choose The Right Squarespace Template For Your BusinessCustomization
Regarding custom edits, both website builders allow you to edit your template and edit text, colors, and images to fit your brand. It is also safe to say that the ecommerce platforms have a central editor where you can carry out all your edits. If you use Shopify, you can easily make custom changes on your Shopify Dashboard or the Squarespace Editor. There is also the chance to drag and drop new elements or rearrange existing ones based on your preferences.
For advanced edits, both platforms provide coding options where you can add HTML or CSS code to their various code blocks to add custom features.
Verdict: Squarespace Vs. Shopify (Templates & Customizability)
Again, Squarespace wins this round. While Shopify provides great templates, Squarespace is the king of professional templates, so it is unsurprising to see Squarespace give the best templates for free.
Sales Feature: shopify vs squarespace
The most important element of any e-commerce website builder is its sales features. The more robust its sales features are, the higher the chances of your online store succeeding. Besides, the main reason for setting up a store is to sell your products, and you need to get the right e-commerce platform to get the job done. Let's take an in-depth look into what each platform has to offer.
Product Management
How organized your products are and well presented can determine the amount of customer retention your store will accumulate. Having an online store that professionally shows your product goes a long way
Product Types
Squarespace ecommerce allows you to sell various products, including digital, physical, and service products, all from your eCommerce dashboard. This will enable you to manage everything from your Squarespace site without the hassle.
Unlike Squarespace, Shopify requires you to download an app called Digital Downloads to sell digital products on the Shopify site. Apart from this, you can sell any product on Shopify.
Selling all kinds of products on Squarespace without downloading an additional app gives Squarespace a more seamless experience. However, it doesn't make Shopify any harder to use.
Product Presentation
Both eCommerce websites professionally present your products and allow them to take center stage. For example, Shopify and Squarespace enable you to add multiple variants of the same products to your store and set different prices for various variants. You also get to organize your products based on their type, categories, prices, and relevance, making it easy for customers to sort through your website.
However, Squarespace provides a more robust design and presentation for your product by allowing Customers to zoom in and out of your product's picture. In other words, your customers can enjoy a 360-degree view of your product which isn't an available feature on Shopify.
Inventory Management
Inventory Management is one important ecommerce functionality to look out for. Nobody wants to go through the stress of manually sorting, keeping track, and managing the products they sell on their websites.
Shopify comes hard with its robust inventory management tools. You can easily upload bulk products, monitor your orders and track stock levels. Depending on if the products are sold out, you can hide products, update product listings and even mark certain products as sold out.
Another cool thing you get with Shopify and Squarespace is the detailed in-house reports and analytics of your store's performance and frequent useful alerts that inform you about low stocks.
Coming to Squarespace sites, Squarespace offers similar inventory management features as Shopify. You can organize your products and their variants, get reports, track your orders and stock levels. Although Squarespace is a website builder, it is mind blowing to see that its e-commerce platform has the necessary features for a successful online store.
Apps
This may be a dealbreaker for some and not a big deal for others. Apps are third-party integration that makes running your online store a smooth experience. It provides additional services that your ecommerce platform may not necessarily focus on or have. For example, you can get apps on abandoned cart recovery emails, financial reports, or even as simple as countdown timers.
Shopify is the King of Apps, as it has one of the most comprehensive app stores in the ecommerce world. Shopify's app store contains over 6000+ apps covering every possible area, including design, inventory management, customer service, merchandise, etc. There are thousands of Shopify apps that provide everything you can ever think of, including sourcing for new hot-selling products.
On the other hand, Squarespace provides all the essential requirements you need in their commerce platform, therefore, doesn't focus on apps. However, the Squarespace Extention (which is the Squarespace's app store) offers over 30 applications (both paid and free) that you can use to enhance your online store.
The winner is seen in this round. Shopify wins hands down when it comes to apps. If you are a business owner looking for a wide range of apps, then Shopify apps are the best fit. Nevertheless, Squarespace is not left behind with its few quality apps.
Payment Options
Both Squarespace and Shopify differ significantly in their payment options. Starting with Squarespace, it comes with four payment options: Square, Paypal, Stripe, and Apple Pay. It can come as a disadvantage because of its limited payment options, but at the other end of the spectrum, it makes payment simple and charges a transaction fee of 2.9%+30¢ for the options.
Shopify shines yet again in its payment Options. First, Shopify has its own in-house payment, known as Shopify Payments, which works excellently in the US and costs zero transaction fees. However, if you decide not to use Shopify Payments, there are hundreds of payment options you can opt for, including Paypal and Stripe. These robust payment options allow you to allow payments anywhere in the world.
However, here is the catch. Shopify charges a 0.5 - 2% transaction fee for each transaction.
Overall, Squarespace simplifies its payment options for more manageable payments, but it can be a disadvantage if other countries don't accept these payment options. Shopify makes payments easy and smooth with its Shopify payments apps and hundreds of payment options. Without an iota of doubt, Shopify wins this round again.
Shipping
Shopify makes shipping easy for every Shopify store owner. Shopify has partnerships with big shipping companies such as DHL Express, Canada Post, USPS, and UPS, so you have nothing to worry about. Also, you can easily set up your custom shipping settings, input where you want to ship, and calculate shipping fees based on weights, locations, etc.
It doesn't end there; you can print shipping labels, see the third-party calculated rates, and add the courier prices at checkout for your customers.
Another advantage to Shopify shipping is the special discounts you get from time to time with their partnered shipping companies (DHL, USPs, etc.)
Squarespace also doesn't fall far behind with its robust shipping rates; it has recently partnered with UPS to calculate shipping rates. You can also set up a flat rate or calculate by weight.
Shopify provides more shipping options on its advanced Shopify plans, which is excellent for big online stores. Squarespace shipping options allow you to set rates based on different factors. Both platforms' shipping options are great for online stores.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is simply fulfilling orders without having the product in stock, and it is a lucrative business that has seen a significant rise in the past years. So, it is only ideal that Dropshipping is part of the platform's ecommerce features. Fortunately, both Shopify and Squarespace offer dropshipping options.
Squarespace ecommerce supports Printful and Spocket, two dropshipping services allowing you to scale your dropshipping business.
Shopify offers the same dropshipping options, with more apps to choose from.
Multi-Channel Integration
Multi-channel integration allows you to sell products across different platforms such as eBay, Amazon, Pinterest, etc. The more the multi-channel integration of your ecommerce website builder, the better your sales from other platforms.
Shopify and Squarespace offer third-party apps that allow you to sell products across any ecommerce site. While none of them have a first-party app, they both provide third-party apps that come free and paid.
Selling Offline
While having a robust online store is nice, it can be more profitable if there is a physical place to sell face-to-face. As you may have guessed, Shopify and Squarespace rise to the challenge.
Shopify has a POS system that connects instantly with your Shopify online store. You only need to download the Shopify app and purchase the card reader and chip, which costs around $49.
Similar to Shopify, Squarespace also has its own POS system, thanks to its partnership with Square. All you need is to download the Squarespace commerce app, purchase the Square card reader that costs $49, and you are good to go.
However, both platform charges a fixed transaction fee for each offline sale. Shopify charges 2.4% – 2.7%, depending on your Shopify plan. At the end of the spectrum, Squarespace charges 2.6 – 3.5% and an additional fee of $0.10 – $0.15
Abandoned Cart Recovery
Whenever you have a customer that shopped at your store but didn't complete checkout, you can automatically send reminder emails to them. Abandoned Cart Recovery is available on both Shopify and Squarespace, depending on the eCommerce plans you're on. For example, you get the abandoned cart recovery on the advanced commerce Squarespace plan.
RELATED ARTICLE: A Complete Guide To Setting Up A Store On SquarespaceVerdict: Sales Feature (Shopify Vs. Squarespace)
Both platforms provide roughly the same management features, however the deal breaker is the payment options and Shipping rates, which Squarespace falls slightly behind due to its few options. Shopify wins the Sales Features round with its robust integration with other software solutions.
Shopify Vs. Squarespace:Marketing Features
SEO
Rank on Google and get your online store to the right target audience through SEO. Squarespace and Shopify have in-built SEO tools that allow you to follow SEO best practices.
Squarespace offers the necessary SEO tools that allow you to edit meta descriptions, create clean URLs for your products and store, use Google Analytics for detailed reports, and also create site maps and mobile optimizations. Generally, Squarespace website offers the essential SEO functions needed for the success of your online store.
Shopify provides the same range of SEO functions for your Shopify store. You can edit descriptions, create custom URLs, and optimize pages. The added advantage for Shopify is the prompts that come with adding products to the store, which is helpful for complete beginners.
Squarespace ecommerce and Shopify offer robust SEO features that cannot be denied. Regardless of the platform you choose to host your online store, be assured that you get excellent SEO support.
Email Campaigns
A practical marketing strategy for growing and retaining your customers is email campaigns. Apart from general emails such as order confirmation, product updates, and shipping options, you can send customized emails to different segments of your customers with Squarespace and Shopify.
Squarespace's in-built email campaign allows you to send customized emails to your audience while staying true to your brand. You get access to professionally-designed email templates that you can edit to look like your website. Another benefit of Squarespace's email functionality is its straightforward layout that makes the information the center of attention.
You are not left to figure out how your email is performing; there is a robust email analytics feature that helps you view the metrics, your email's performance, and traffic.
If Squarespace's email campaign isn't working for you, you can integrate with other third-party email apps such as MailChimp.
If you are not sure if Squrespace's Email Marketing is right for you, there is a free trial that allows you to get a taste before fully committing.
Shopify also comes with a simple and easy-to-use email campaign that you can access from your Shopify dashboard. Although it is basic, it can get the simplest email tasks done. However, you have the opportunity to integrate with other email apps at a cost.
Yet again, both platforms do not leave you stranded with your email strategy. However, Squarespace wins this round due to its robust email campaigns that provide everything you need for successful email marketing. Though it comes with a price, the investment is worth it.
Social Media Integration
Squarespace integrates with Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. If that is the only social media platforms you want, then Squarespace is a great choice. However, you may find the Squarespace extensions limiting if you're planning to expand to other social media platforms.
Unlike Squarespace, Shopify offers more Social media integration options; you get access to ten platforms to sell your products and promote your store.
Without a doubt, Shopify wins this round. Generally, Shopify did a great job in its vast variety of social media platforms on the Shopify app store. However, both platforms offer quality social media integration options.
Blogging
Blogging is the surest way to expand your content strategy, grow your audience, and turn viewers into loyal customers. While all online stores don't focus on this, it is an effective strategy that shouldn't be overlooked.
Shopify blogging feature is basic and allows you to do the bare minimum: posting and writing blogs. That is everything you can do on your Shopify store unless you integrate with a third-party app which can be stressful.
Squarespace leaves Shopify to wallow in its defeat with its state-of-the-art blog. Squarespace website is one of the best platforms to host a full blog for your business. It comes with everything you'll ever need for a successful blog. You can schedule your posts, categorize and tag your blogs, include a search engine, post quality images, add headings, archive posts, track the blog's performance using its in-built analytics, and more.
What makes it even better is its ease of use. It is simple to start a blog using Squarespace. You only need to choose a blog format and create your first post. Really, Squarespace's blogging functionality is second to none. So, if your goal is to grow a blog and bring more traffic to your online store, Squarespace is your best choice.
App Stores
Starting with Squarespace, it has an app store called Squarespace Extensions that houses 32 apps. They are categorized into
Finance
Shipping and Fulfillment
Inventory and Products
Sales and Marketing
The store supports the most popular apps in each category. For example, Mailchimp, which you can easily integrate with your Squarespace store if you're trying to build an email list.
For Dropshipping, you have Spocket and Printify for an easy dropshipping business. You can also find hot-selling products for your dropshipping business using Syncee. There are also helpful apps for easy shipping, such as Shipstation, translation to different languages using Weglot Translate, and order management apps like OrderDesk.
Although Squarespace extensions have limited apps, it goes hard on quality instead of quantity.
On the other hand, Shopify includes quality and quantity in its app store, making it preferable for app-dependent online stores. It has over 100 apps categorized into
Finding Products
Orders and Shipping
Marketing and Conversion
Selling Products
Store design
Store management
You get access to most apps on Squarespace extensions and more. One significant advantage of Shopify apps is the specificity to various industries. For example, there is an app dedicated to calculating alcohol tax and compliance called DRINKS. There are apps for dropping reviews, such as Judge. me, and even subscription apps.
There isn't any task you want to perform that you won't likely find an app on Shopify. This is one reason many Shopify users prefer the Shopify website.
Monitoring Performance with Analytics
Knowing what your customers and doing on your site and which product and page is yielding more retention or bounce rate can be useful in determining areas of improvement.
Squarespace comes with in-built website analytics known as Squarespace Analytics which allows you to view who is viewing your sites, track revenue, know total orders, and track behavioral patterns on your online store. This ecommerce functionality gives you all the information you need to make informed decisions.
Shopify has dedicated analytics on its dashboard that provides roughly the same information and stock monitoring alerts, which gives it an advantage over Squarespace's analytics. If that isn't enough, you can easily integrate hundreds of apps on the Shopify app store.
If Google Analytics is your thing, you don't have to worry because each ecommerce platform provides a chance to integrate with Google Analytics.
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Both platforms provide robust Analytics ecommerce features. Shopify was built solely for ecommerce, so it isn't surprising that its analytics is more elaborate and detailed than Squarespace. Although, Squarespace isn't left far behind.
In addition to Shopoify's glory, there are more analytics apps that you can integrate with your store to get more detailed reports. If analytics is your priority, then Shopify will be the right fit.
related article: 17+ Sales Page Templates: Skyrocket Your Sales Nowshopify vs squarespace: Customer Support
When an issue needs resolving, customer support is always available to help. A good website builder has robust customer support, and Shopify and Squarespace don't fall behind.
Squarespace provides live chat support from Monday to Friday, 4 am – 8 pm (EST), and 24/7 email support for all your needs. However, they don't offer phone support but make up for it with their extensive forum and knowledge library. Most users find the answers to all their questions in the forum due to the diligence and details that went into creating the guides.
Shopify does better by offering phone support in addition to live chat and email.
Final Verdict: Both customer support is phenomenal and responsive; Shopify manages to win because of its phone support feature.
related article: Squarespace Pricing Plans: A Complete Guideshopify vs squarespace: Pricing Plans
Knowing the pricing plans that come with either Squarespace or Shopify gives you an insight into the ecommerce features available on each plan and the best fit for your online store.
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There are two main ecommerce plans on Squarespace: the basic commerce plan, and the advanced commerce plan. Let's take a detailed look at what each plan has to offer.
Basic Commerce Plan
Price: $36 (monthly recurring plan), or $27 for the annual plan.
If you opt-in for a yearly plan, you get to save roughly 30%, which is a good investment when you take into account the features it offers
Features
The basic commerce plan has the necessary features to run your Squarespace store smoothly.
Zero Transaction fee: Unlike other website builders, Squarespace doesn't charge any transaction fee on its commerce plans, which is excellent news for your business and revenue. You won't have to worry about losing much of your revenue to a 2 or 3% transaction fee.
Unlimited Products: You'll never have to worry about being restricted by a certain number. Your store can grow to its highest peak with the Squarespace unlimited Products feature.
Customer Accounts: Personalize your online store, make checkout easy, and ensure your shoppers return with a robust customer account. Visitors and shoppers can create accounts on your store and fill in the necessary information for a better user experience.
Point of Sale: You can integrate your offline sales with your online store using Square-- Squarespace's POS integration
Limited Availability Labels: Create a sense of urgency and compel people to buy the products with a limited availability label. You can tell your users that there are few pieces of the products left o get them paying immediately.
Product Reviews: Statistics shows that reviews increase your sales by 18%, and 90% of customers read reviews before purchasing a product. So, being able to add product reviews is a big deal, and Squarespace makes that happen.
Other features include checking out on the domain, which means customers won't be redirected to another page, and advanced merchandising tools for your store.
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New online stores with a small product base of around 50 to hundred will find the basic commerce plan suitable because you enjoy everything that will grow your business and ease its management.
Advanced Commerce
Price: Its price is $49/month for an annual subscription and $65/month for a monthly subscription
Some features that come with this commerce plan are;
Features
Apart from the basic commerce features, you automatically enjoy this plan. Other added features are;
Abandoned Cart Recovery: Send automatic emails to buyers that didn't make it to the checkout and remind them to complete their purchase before they miss out.
Sell Subscriptions: If you have a product or service that requires a recurring subscription, you have nothing to worry about. You can easily set up and sell your subscriptions to the right audience on this commerce pan.
Advanced shipping: You get access to calculated carrier rates and set multiple shipping rates depending on your customer's locations and other factors
Advanced discounts: Automatically apply discounts to products at checkout and manage your promotions to get the best out.
Commerce API: Sometimes, building a custom integration can be the only solution to your Squarespace stores' needs, and you are not limited to doing that.
Other Squarespace plans that are worth checking out if you are looking to build a website alongside your store are
Business Plan: YOu can build a professional website around your business and also sell a few products alongside
Personal: For building blogs, portfolios, and personal websites
related article: 12 Best Squarespace Alternatives To Build A WebsiteBasic Shopify
The basic Shopify plan starts at $32/month (monthly plan) or $24/mo (annual plan). Some of the features you get access to are;
Features
Two staff accounts: One other person can join you to manage your account, which is excellent for a medium online store that has an extra staff
Multiple Sales Channel: Sell your products across various platforms with its easy integration with other commerce sites and social media platforms
Inventory locations: YOu can track and fulfill orders in different locations without hassle.
Discount Codes: Apply discount codes on checkout and allow your customers to have a better user experience
Abandoned Cart Recovery: Unline Squarespace, Shopify's cheapest plan, offers the abandoned cart recovery feature, a significant advantage.
Other features include unlimited contacts, customer segmentation, marketing automation, gift cards, etc.
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The Shopify plan at $92/month (monthly plan) and $60/month (annual). Some of the features apart from the basic plan includes;
Five staff accounts
Eccomerce automation: Automate processes, simplify workflow and grow your business with Shoify's inbuilt automation
Shopify Advanced
The final plan on Shopify starts at $299/month (annual) and $399/monthly. Additional features are
15 staff accounts
Advanced reports
Duties and import tax
Another plan, Shopify Lite, allows you to integrate Shopify on your social media platforms or take advantage of their POS without having a full-blown e-commerce website.
Shopify Vs. Squarespace: Pricing Plans Verdict
Based on the features you get with the investment, Squarespace offers a cheaper plan that is convenient for most stores. AT just around $29/month, you get access to the most important features that will grow your store and expand your reach.
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If you're unsure that Squarespace or Shopify is for you, here is a list of some excellent ecommerce platforms you can check out.
Big Commerce
Big Commerce is similar to Shopify, built specifically for online stores. It also has the same robust features as these two platforms and offers excellent in-built features. Also, it has reasonable pricing plans and can support big and complex stores. The only persistent disadvantage of Big commerce is its Ease of Use. Most beginners do not find the dashboard friendly, and it requires a learning curve to get a hang of things. Apart from that, Big Commerce is a great option to try out.
Square
Square is perfect for beginners and small online stores testing the waters. Square merged with WEebly, another website builder, to provide a more robust builder for online stores and professional websites. Although the eCommerce functionalities are not the best, they are neither basic. Therefore, you get to enjoy the necessary tools for growing a store. However, Square isn't the best option for long-term growth.
related article: Wix Vs. Squarespace : Features & Pricing Compared Wix
Like Squarespace, Wix is a website builder offering a commerce plan. Its commerce plan also comes with capable functionalities for growing your site, but indeed cannot be compared with that of Shopify or Squarespace. However, Wix has proven to be one of the best website builders for small online stores just starting their commerce journey.
Another great feature of Wix is its ease of use. While its templates are not the best, it allows you to edit and customize them to your unique style. Also, it uses ADI (ARtifical Design Intelligence) for an easy and faster building process. In other words, you can design your website from scratch using AI.
The pricing plans are fair enough and best for stores on a budget.
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The ultimate battle review between Shopify and Squarespace has finally ended. You'll agree that both platforms have excellent e-commerce features, making it hard to conclude.
To recap, Shopify is designed explicitly for eCommerce and comes with an excellent app store where you can get any app integration you need for the smooth running of your store. Also, it comes with robust sales features that are perfect for complex and large stores. However, Shopify can become expensive when the apps start adding up, and its templates are less impressive than other platforms.
On the other hand, Squarespace comes with cheaper pricing plans and has all the necessary features. However, some features, such as abandoned cart recovery, exist only on the advanced plan, while you get the feature on the cheapest Shopify ecommerce plan. Regardless, Squarespace doesn't rely heavily on apps, which can be a disadvantage OR ADVANTAGE BASED ON your store preferences. Nevertheless, Squarespace templates are the best between these two platforms and will make your store look unique and professional.
Regardless, Shopify wins this review due to its extra sales features and third-party app. However, it doesn't make Squarespace any less good.
Conclusion
Every individual has their preference, every store needs certain commerce functionalities to grow, and every commerce site has its unique advantage. Therefore, choosing between Shopify and Squarespace is a personal choice that must put into account the size of your store, your business needs and goals, and your preferences.
