Choosing between Wix and Squarespace? Dive into our detailed analysis to make an informed decision for your design and frontend needs.
Irvin Zhan
•
2025-01-13
When choosing a platform to build your website, Wix and Squarespace are two leading options. Both offer robust features but serve different needs. In this article, we'll compare their key features, pricing, limitations, and user reviews to help you make an informed decision.
Wix: Overview and Key Features
Wix is a popular website builder known for its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options.
Drag-and-Drop Editor: Wix offers an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, allowing users to place elements like text, images, and videos anywhere on the page without coding.
Template Selection: Users can choose from over 500 designer-made templates, catering to various industries and styles, ensuring a professional look for any website.
App Market: Wix's App Market provides access to numerous third-party applications, such as Google Analytics, Mailchimp, and social media integrations, enhancing website functionality.
SEO Tools: Wix includes built-in SEO tools like customizable meta tags, alt text for images, and a site map generator, helping improve search engine rankings.
Mobile Optimization: Websites created with Wix are automatically optimized for mobile devices, ensuring a seamless user experience across all screen sizes.
eCommerce Capabilities: Wix supports online stores with features like product galleries, inventory management, and multiple payment options, suitable for small to medium-sized businesses.
Custom Domain and Hosting: Wix provides free hosting and the option to connect a custom domain, offering a complete solution for website creation and management.
Customer Support: Users have access to 24/7 customer support through various channels, including live chat, email, and an extensive knowledge base.
Wix's Reviews
Overall user feedback on Wix is generally positive, highlighting its ease of use and robust features, though some users note areas for improvement.
G2: 4.2/5
"Loved it until I started using the SEO. I liked the ease of the website functionality and real-time updates." - Andrew C., 1/5
"Fraudulent renewal scams - and way harder to use than Webflow or Tilda. It's become a fully-integrated marketing platform (lite version)..." - Dave M., 0/5
"Wix - a simple, no-code solution to design and host your own website. I needed to get a website online ASAP - with zero experience!" - Juan S., 5/5
"The simplicity is key. Wix is the easiest platform I have ever used." - Tom R., 5/5
"I've done two different sites in Wix and I love it. Wix is very user-friendly." - Beth L., 5/5
Positive Aspects:
User-friendly interface
Ease of website creation and management
Good customer support
Comprehensive feature set including SEO, eCommerce, and marketing tools
Quick setup and deployment
Common Concerns:
Limited customization options
Higher pricing compared to competitors
Issues with SEO functionality
Customer support and billing practices
Limited advanced features for growing businesses
Squarespace: Overview and Key Features
Squarespace is a well-known website builder that offers a range of features for creating professional websites.
Template Design: Squarespace provides a selection of high-quality, designer-made templates. These templates are fully customizable, allowing users to adjust fonts, colors, and layouts to match their brand.
Integrated Blogging Platform: Squarespace includes a robust blogging platform with features like post scheduling, multiple author support, and built-in social sharing options, making it ideal for content creators.
eCommerce Functionality: Squarespace supports online stores with features such as product management, inventory tracking, and multiple payment gateways. It also offers tools for creating discount codes and managing shipping options.
SEO Tools: Squarespace offers built-in SEO tools, including customizable meta tags, automatic sitemaps, and clean URLs. Users can also access advanced analytics to track their site's performance.
Custom Plugins: Squarespace allows the integration of custom plugins to extend functionality. Examples include plugins for advanced forms, booking systems, and social media feeds.
24/7 Customer Support: Squarespace provides round-the-clock customer support through live chat and email. Users also have access to a comprehensive knowledge base and community forums.
Mobile Optimization: All Squarespace templates are mobile-responsive, ensuring that websites look great on any device without additional adjustments.
Squarespace's Reviews
Overall user feedback on Squarespace highlights its ease of use and professional templates, though some users note areas for improvement.
G2: 4.4/5
"Creating a Beautiful and Functional Blog" - Jerry M., 4.5/5. "Highly scalable, easy to grow online presence, but infrequent updates."
"Squarespace - Ultimate solution for your online business" - Mirjam H., 5/5. "Clear and minimal user interface, excellent customer support, but initial frustration with switching from version 7.0 to 7.1."
"Best Customer Service - Hands Down!" - Verified User, 5/5. "Beautiful templates, excellent live chat support."
"This non-techie built an e-commerce website in 3 days" - Lena R., 4/5. "Easy to use, great templates, but issues with company font and some integrations."
"The site is buggy and customer support not helpful." - Dawid P., 1/5. "Easy setup, but significant issues with bugs and unhelpful customer support."
Positive Aspects:
Ease of use and intuitive design
Beautiful and professional templates
Good scalability for growing businesses
Excellent customer support
Integrated e-commerce and marketing tools
Common Concerns:
Limited customization options for advanced users
Occasional bugs and issues with customer support
Problems with domain migrations and integrations
Infrequent updates and new features
Feature Comparison: Wix vs. Squarespace
Similarities
Despite targeting slightly different audiences, Wix and Squarespace share some important similarities:
User-friendly Interfaces: Both platforms offer intuitive drag-and-drop editors, making it easy for non-developers to create and manage websites.
Customizable Templates: Each provides a wide range of designer-made templates that can be customized to fit various industries and styles.
eCommerce Capabilities: Both support online stores with features like product management, multiple payment options, and inventory tracking.
SEO Tools: Built-in SEO tools are available on both platforms, including customizable meta tags and site maps to improve search engine rankings.
Mobile Optimization: Websites created with either platform are automatically optimized for mobile devices, ensuring a seamless user experience.
24/7 Customer Support: Both offer round-the-clock customer support through various channels, including live chat and email.
Differences
Critical differences between Wix and Squarespace will likely influence your choice.
AI Website Builder: Wix offers an AI-driven website builder that helps create personalized sites quickly, a feature not available on Squarespace.
App Market: Wix provides an extensive app market with numerous third-party integrations, whereas Squarespace has a more limited selection of custom plugins.
Business Management Tools: Wix includes built-in tools for CRM, custom automations, and mobile app management, which are not as comprehensive on Squarespace.
Instant Homepage Indexing: Wix offers instant homepage indexing for SEO, a feature not present in Squarespace's SEO toolkit.
Custom CSS and JavaScript: Squarespace allows advanced users to add custom CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, providing more flexibility for those with coding knowledge, unlike Wix.
Pricing Comparison: Wix vs. Squarespace
Wix Pricing
Wix offers a variety of pricing plans to cater to different needs, from personal websites to advanced business solutions.
Business Elite: $159 per month
Free domain for 1 year
Unlimited storage space
Multi-cloud hosting
Advanced marketing suite
Accept payments
Advanced eCommerce
Advanced developer platform
100 site collaborators
Customized reports
Events Calendar app free for 1 year
Priority customer care
75 lead-capture forms
100 fields per form
Google Ads with Wix
Get Found Today app by Uberall free for 1 year
Customer accounts
Plans and recurring payments
Sell on marketplaces
Sell on social channels
Automated sales tax (500 transactions per month)
Product catalog (50,000 products)
Abandoned cart recovery
Automatic discounts
Accept pre-orders
Accept manual orders
Loyalty program
Loyalty tiers
Loyalty points expiration
Referral program
Dropshipping by Modalyst (50,000 products)
Product reviews
Branded eGift cards (Advanced)
Back in stock notifications (Unlimited)
Multiple currencies (Primary plus 10)
Business: $36 per month
Free domain for 1 year
100 GB storage space
Multi-cloud hosting
Standard marketing suite
Accept payments
Standard eCommerce
10 site collaborators
Events Calendar app free for 1 year
24/7 customer care
25 lead-capture forms
75 fields per form
Google Ads with Wix
Get Found Today app by Uberall free for 1 year
Customer accounts
Plans and recurring payments
Sell on marketplaces
Sell on social channels
Automated sales tax (100 transactions per month)
Product catalog (50,000 products)
Abandoned cart recovery
Automatic discounts
Accept pre-orders
Accept manual orders
Loyalty program
Referral program
Dropshipping by Modalyst (250 products)
Product reviews
Branded eGift cards (Advanced)
Back in stock notifications (Unlimited)
Multiple currencies (Primary plus 5)
Core: $29 per month
Free domain for 1 year
50 GB storage space
Multi-cloud hosting
Basic marketing suite
Accept payments
Basic eCommerce
5 site collaborators
Events Calendar app free for 1 year
24/7 customer care
10 lead-capture forms
50 fields per form
Google Ads with Wix
Get Found Today app by Uberall free for 1 year
Customer accounts
Plans and recurring payments
Sell on marketplaces
Sell on social channels
Product catalog (50,000 products)
Abandoned cart recovery
Automatic discounts
Accept pre-orders
Accept manual orders
Loyalty program
Dropshipping by Modalyst (25 products)
Product reviews
Branded eGift cards (Basic)
Back in stock notifications (10 per month)
Light: $17 per month
Free domain for 1 year
2 GB storage space
Multi-cloud hosting
Light marketing suite
2 site collaborators
24/7 customer care
4 lead-capture forms
10 fields per form
Google Ads with Wix
Squarespace' Pricing
Squarespace offers a range of pricing plans designed to meet various needs, from personal websites to advanced business solutions.
Personal: $16 per month
Free custom domain
SSL security
Unlimited bandwidth and storage
SEO features
24/7 customer support
Business: $23 per month
All Personal plan features
Professional email from Google
Premium integrations and blocks
Advanced website analytics
3% transaction fee on sales
Basic Commerce: $27 per month
All Business plan features
No transaction fees
Point of sale
Customer accounts
Checkout on your domain
Powerful eCommerce analytics
Advanced Commerce: $49 per month
All Basic Commerce plan features
Abandoned cart recovery
Sell subscriptions
Advanced shipping
Advanced discounts
Commerce APIs
Subframe, a Better Alternative to Wix and Squarespace
Subframe is a visual UI design tool that syncs with code in real-time. We offer a drag-and-drop editor that lets you design with real components, ensuring your layouts are pixel-perfect and responsive. Our tool generates clean, production-ready React and Tailwind code, making the design-to-development process seamless and fast.
Subframe's Features
Subframe is the UI design tool for the AI era, offering a seamless blend of design and code.
Component-Based Design: Create user interfaces with real, reusable components instead of static mockups, ensuring precise, production-ready layouts.
Pre-Built UI Templates: Access a library of customizable templates inspired by established design patterns, built with reusable components to speed up the design process.
Code Export: Generate clean, production-quality React and Tailwind code that can be directly integrated into your codebase, reducing time spent on handoff and manual CSS adjustments.
Free to Get Started: Enjoy free access to Subframe's visual design tools with no credit card required, making it easy to start designing immediately.
AI-Powered Design: Leverage AI to accelerate the design process, adapting to user preferences and enabling prompt-to-UI functionality for faster, smarter design.
Subframe's Pricing
Subframe pricing is designed to cater to different needs, from individual designers to large teams:
Free Plan: $0 per user/month
1 project
Up to 3 page designs
Up to 3 team members
100s of UI templates
Limited AI features
Pro Plan: $29 per user/month
Up to 3 projects
Unlimited page designs
Unlimited team members
Custom components
100s of UI templates
Full AI beta access
Custom Plan: Pricing is customized ("Let's talk")
Unlimited projects
Unlimited page designs
Integrate your components
Dedicated Slack support
Figma plugin
Unlimited AI
For more details, visit the Subframe Pricing page. Book a demo with Subframe to see how it can transform your design process.
Subframe's Reviews
Users have shared positive feedback about Subframe, noting its user-friendly interface, time-saving tools, and the quality of the UI designs it produces. The platform has earned a 5/5 rating on Product Hunt. Customers especially value the visual editor, drag-and-drop functionality, and AI features that help refine designs based on user input.
"Without Subframe, the frontend build of this tool would've taken a lot longer and a lot more financial resources." - Erin Kim
"Subframe helped us make a super clean UI for our console without designers." - Carl Peterson
"Huge shoutout to Subframe guys! Super easy to create UI, and the support is great. Highly recommend!" - Amartya Jha
Wix, Squarespace or Subframe? Which is The Best Tool For You
Wix, Squarespace, and Subframe each offer unique strengths tailored to different needs. Wix excels with its AI-driven website builder and extensive app market, making it ideal for users seeking quick, personalized site creation and numerous third-party integrations. Squarespace stands out with its high-quality, customizable templates and robust eCommerce tools, perfect for those prioritizing design aesthetics and integrated online store capabilities.
However, for those looking for a seamless blend of design and code, Subframe is the optimal choice. It integrates real component-based design with AI-powered features, generating production-ready React and Tailwind code. This makes Subframe a standout option for users who need both design flexibility and efficient code generation in one platform.
If you prioritize quick setup and extensive integrations, Wix is a great fit. For beautiful templates and strong eCommerce, Squarespace may be the better choice. But for those seeking a streamlined design-to-development process, Subframe stands out. Get started on Subframe for free to see how it can transform your workflow.
Join thousands of happy builders.
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