Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: What’s Best?

Building a website from scratch typically requires extensive technical knowledge of both coding and web design—unless, of course, you use one of the many website-building platforms available online. Website builders, also known as web enablers, guide individuals through the process of creating a website, offering intuitive editing tools to simplify the process. 

Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress are three of the most popular site-building options for brands and entrepreneurs seeking to set up an online store or presence. Although all three platforms offer similar services, each of these site builders has distinct benefits. By exploring each content management system, you can determine which best website builder aligns most closely with your personal or business plan.

Understanding website builders

Website builders are digital platforms that help customers create websites—often without writing any code. Brands and entrepreneurs seeking to launch fully functional websites can use website builders to access a number of design elements and tools, including: 

• Customizable templates
• Drag-and-drop design tools
• Comprehensive ecommerce features

Although website builders offer no-code solutions for creating an online presence, some options include advanced features that come with more of a learning curve. 

When choosing your first website builder, focus on finding an option that suits your experience level and provides you with the features your business needs most. Getting started on the right website building platform can make it easier for you to create an intuitively simple website that accurately represents your business and helps grow your brand.

Comparing Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress

Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress are three giants in the world of website building. Each platform has helped millions of customers create both personal and professional websites. Here’s a cursory glance at each option, including their main selling points and ideal applications:

Wix: flexibility and ease of use

Wix is the ultimate platform for total beginners. It offers an intuitive site building process with hundreds of free templates that you can customize to your specifications for both mobile and desktop, making the Wix editor quite user-friendly. Its user-friendly interface gives you convenient access to plenty of widgets and extensions to further personalize your site. Plus, learning how to use Wix is quite straightforward.

Wix is more than just a website builder; it’s a complete business platform. In addition to its user-friendly website-building tools, it offers a suite of integrated features aimed at business owners. These include a logo builder, email marketing tools, and a scheduling system, among others.

Because Wix is geared toward beginners, it does have limitations. For instance, it only offers basic tools for blogging and ecommerce, so it can be challenging to scale as your business grows. You also can’t change your template or theme after publishing your site. 

With its beginner-focused functionality, Wix is ideal for basic websites such as:

• Simple online shops
• Professional portfolios
• Personal sites
• Business sites

Name.com’s Wix Website Builder can help you launch your first Wix site and connect it to a custom domain name that further establishes your brand, such as chelsea.photography or StylishCuts.hair. It also gives you access to Wix’s SEO tools and conveniently integrates your site with your Google Workspace, professional email, and more.

Squarespace: simplicity and cohesion

Squarespace is a design-forward website builder that focuses on creating streamlined, visually cohesive digital pages. Although it does have a beginner-friendly interface, it also offers code-based customization options for customers who want to incorporate advanced blogging, ecommerce, and membership features into their Squarespace websites.

Unlike Wix, Squarespace only offers a few dozen free templates, choosing to focus on the quality of each design rather than the quantity. However, you can change your template at any point, even after going live. 

Squarespace is ideal for intermediate customers seeking an image-focused online presence for: 

• Creative portfolios
• Blogs
• Simple-to-intermediate online shops
• Brand websites

WordPress: ownership and flexibility

WordPress hosts about 43% of all sites on the web, making it the largest website builder by far. This is in part due to its vast, highly-customizable functionality. Although it started as a blogging platform, WordPress has developed into a powerful engine that allows customers to incorporate endless plugins, from advanced ecommerce features to custom forums. 

Unlike Wix and Squarespace, WordPress sites are self-hosted, meaning you’re in charge of acquiring your domain name and digital hosting through a third-party service. This gives you more control over your site, but it also involves a more complex setup. To access the full extent of WordPress’s features, you typically need some coding knowledge and training with the platform. 

Once you overcome the initial learning curve, however, WordPress is ideal for a wide range of applications, including:

• Blogs
• Advanced ecommerce shops
• Social media sites
• E-learning sites
• Online communities
• News and magazine sites

Name.com simplifies the process of setting up a WordPress site through the best WordPress hosting on the market. This gives you the all-in-one experience of a hosted website builder while still enjoying the full power of the WordPress software.

Detailed website-builder comparison

When creating your professional website, you may be in search of specific functions and benefits. Find the right platform for your business by taking a deep dive into the main features of these website builders:

Ease of use

Wix is the most user-friendly option of these three website builders. After signing up for a Wix account, you can choose the type of website you want to create and look through tons of templates right away. You can even use the Wix ADI function to generate a website for you based on your preferences. Squarespace has a similar setup process but with a slightly more advanced editor. 

To get started with WordPress, you have to set up digital hosting on a separate platform. Some third-party hosting services facilitate this process to simplify the setup—but even with these tools, WordPress is more advanced than Wix or Squarespace.

Design flexibility

Although each of these site builders provides some level of design customization, WordPress is leagues ahead of its competitors when it comes to flexibility. WordPress provides total creative control, with a library of thousands of themes that you can personalize to your preferences. 

Wix and Squarespace both offer intuitive, drag-and-drop design tools in their editing, along with a variety of templates. However, Squarespace’s templates, in particular, are known for being especially visually impressive.

Blogging capabilities

As one of the most powerful blogging platforms, WordPress gives knowledgeable customers access to a wide range of customizable blogging features. Website owners can use the block-based editor to integrate:

• Image galleries
• Videos
• Widgets
• Interactive buttons
• Custom layouts

Squarespace also gives you access to many of the same features, using a live editor to instantly display your updates. In comparison, Wix offers only a basic blog editor, foregoing custom layouts and widgets for a more streamlined experience. 

Extending your website’s functionality

Although Wix doesn’t allow you to change your initial website template, you can access more features to expand your website’s functionality through the Wix App Market. This platform offers add-ons for advertising, chatbots, forms, and other popular features. 

WordPress has even more add-ons available through its massive plugin library, which includes tens of thousands of free plugins. Third-party developers offer even more custom options that you can incorporate into your site. These plugins can range from enhancing your landing page to enabling webinar hosting. 

Unlike Wix and WordPress, Squarespace isn’t compatible with third-party integrations. You can adjust your site’s functionality with a few Squarespace features, but these features have a limited scope compared to other site builders.

Pricing

If you are wondering “is Wix free?”, the answer is yes! Wix is one of the few website builders that offers a free plan to customers. This ad-based plan doesn’t include your own custom domain, but it does come with 500MB of storage and bandwidth. At the time of this post, paid plans range from $16 to $159 per month, and include extra features such as:

• Payment processing
• Advanced ecommerce tools
• Expanded storage
• Customer analytics

WordPress also has a free plan where you can launch a site under a WordPress subdomain. At the time of this post, its personal plan, which allows you to use a custom domain, starts at $4 per month for hosting—however, you’ll still need to purchase your domain name separately. Although WordPress’s most expensive monthly plan costs about $45 per month, plugins, themes, and add-ons come at an additional charge.

At the time of this post when paying monthly, Squarespace plans start at $23 for a basic plan and go up to $65 per month for advanced commerce plans. Each pricing tier expands site functionality with features such as integrated checkout, inventory management, and merchandising tools.

Support

Wix and Squarespace both come with a dedicated support team to walk you through any questions or technical issues. Wix offers 24/7 live phone support, while Squarespace sticks to email and live chat. 

WordPress doesn’t offer any official form of support, but there’s a thriving community of WordPress developers who offer online tutorials and troubleshooting. 

So, which one is best for you?

When choosing a platform to build your website, concentrate on the features that matter most to you. If you’re seeking an easy way to get started online, with the added benefit of integrated business tools, Wix could be the perfect option for you. For a site with massive scalability potential, opt for a custom WordPress site. And, if you simply want a sleek site that’s a bit more powerful than your Wix starter page, consider Squarespace. 

Ultimately, all of these platforms give you the opportunity to publish your own site without requiring extensive website development experience.

Choose Name.com for your Wix or WordPress website needs

If you’re ready to take your brand live in a few simple steps, launch your website through Name.com. With our domain name search tool, we give you access to a massive library of unique domain names that will help your brand stand out, and we also help you manage all of your web hosting needs in one place. 

Whether you prefer Wix or WordPress, Name.com provides custom hosting solutions to ensure you get the most out of your site.

Sources:

HubSpot. 20 WordPress Statistics You Should Know in 2022. https://blog.hubspot.com/website/wordpress-stats
Squarespace. All Pricing Plans.https://www.squarespace.com/pricing