You’ve likely heard of WordPress—it’s one of the leading platforms for website building. It’s not the only way to build a website though. Depending on your business, you might do better with something like Squarespace. Both of these website-building platforms have tools included that will help you build up your business. But since they’re so different, let’s consider the difference between Squarespace and WordPress to help you choose.
What is Squarespace?
Squarespace works as a website-building platform that you pay a monthly fee to use. Once you’ve paid for it, you have everything you need to build your website, including templates, a content-management system, hosting, support, and even a domain name if you need it. You even have a tool to help you with email campaigns.
Basically, working with Squarespace provides you with the ability to do everything online all in one place.
What is WordPress?
First off, know that you can choose either a hosted WordPress or a self-hosted WordPress. A hosted WordPress works a lot like Squarespace in that you’ll pay a monthly fee and gain all the features that you need to get your website up and running. This isn’t an all-in-one solution though, since you’ll need to use third-party tools if you want to access some of the features that Squarespace has built in.
By contrast, a self-hosted WordPress is a website that can be customized even further since it’s open source.
What’s the Difference?
There are some differences between Squarespace and WordPress that make them better for certain businesses, so it all depends on what you’re looking for.
Customization
WordPress provides its users with tons of customization. Since you have to do a little more work than Squarespace to find plugins and third-party tools to help build your website, this means that there is no real limit to what you can build. This also means that you might need to put a little more work into building your WordPress website, but it should definitely look different than anything else out there.
Usability
Don’t think that this means that there’s no customizability to Squarespace though, or that Squarespace isn’t a good option when it comes to design. Because Squarespace handles all the design for you, you’ll be better able to focus on the artistic pieces of building your website.
This is what makes Squarespace so great to use. It’s intuitive and simple, so while it doesn’t have as much customizability as WordPress, it’s not too difficult to learn.
Templates
It’s true that Squarespace does indeed have the highest quality designer templates on the market. If you plan on using templates right from your website-building platform, Squarespace might have the better options for you to choose from.
Hosting
Both WordPress and Squarespace can do the hosting for you. This means that you won’t need to worry much about dealing with updates or about finding a hosting provider. You don’t even need to know code to handle changes in your system, although if you do know code, both platforms provide you with the options to make changes if you would like.
Pricing
You will pay a monthly fee to use Squarespace, so you’ll always know what you’re paying and how much. As long as you pay your fee, you’ll have access to all of the features that accompany website-building.
For WordPress, it’s completely free to start out. You’ll only have to pay if you need hosting, certain themes, and plugins. You might struggle with the price if you need a lot of extra plugins, or if there are themes you want to pay for.
Better For…
When it comes to choosing your website-building platform, it depends on what you need. Squarespace is ultimately better for websites that need more conventional features, and for smaller websites. If you’re not planning on doing something overtly complicated, Squarespace has all the features you need to get going.
On the other hand, WordPress does have a lot for websites that need something a little more unconventional. If you need something that’s a little odd or that you can’t find on Squarespace, WordPress is the best option for you.
In Summary
You’re ready to build your website. That’s a huge step in getting your business up and running, but when you have to choose between Squarespace and WordPress, the decision might not be too easy. They’re both great options with a lot of features—which one you choose just depends on what you’re looking for in your platform.
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Stephan Boehringer is the CEO of Get The Clicks, a web marketing company. Stephan has over 20 years of experience in the field of web marketing, and has been a speaker and consultant for many years. Stephan is passionate about web marketing and helping their clients be the best they can be.
Stephan Boehringer graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services.
