Squarespace vs WordPress
Squarespace scores 8,4/10, WordPress 7,9/10. Where each one wins, what they cost and who should pick which, side by side.
The short answer
Squarespace scores 8,4/10 and WordPress scores 7,9/10 on our rubric. Squarespace is the stronger all-round pick.
Squarespace leads on ease of use, design and support. WordPress leads on flexibility and value.
Squarespace starts at US$19/mo with no free plan; WordPress starts at US$0/mo and has a free plan. WordPress is the cheaper way in.
How much of the site you want to maintain
Squarespace is closer to a finished product: templates, hosting, security and updates come as one subscription, and the design system keeps pages consistent. WordPress is a platform: it can become almost anything, from a one-page portfolio to a publication with thousands of articles, but it asks you to assemble and maintain what Squarespace hands you.
For a portfolio, restaurant or service business with a conventional structure, Squarespace Core at $29 a month is the shorter path and needs no upkeep. WordPress earns its place when the content outgrows a template: a large blog, complex categories, memberships or a plugin that solves a specific problem. It also wins on portability, since WordPress content exports in a standard format and a Squarespace site does not move as a working site. If you are unsure, the question is whether you want to spend your time on the site or in the site.
| Squarespace | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 8,4 | 7,9 |
| From | US$19 | US$0 |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Sells online | Yes | Yes |
| Code export | No | Yes |
| Ease of use | 8,6 | 5,6 |
| Design | 9,5 | 7,8 |
| Flexibility | 7,4 | 9,8 |
| Value | 7,8 | 9,2 |
| Support | 8,2 | 6,4 |
What Squarespace does well
- Best-looking templates without design work
- Strong built-in blog and scheduling
- Sensible defaults produce a good site fast
What WordPress does well
- Powers a large share of the web, so every problem has been solved by someone already
- Tens of thousands of themes and plugins
- You own the site outright and can move it to any host
Who each one is for
Squarespace. Portfolios, restaurants, studios and service businesses where visual quality is the point and the structure is conventional. If the site is mostly pages, images and a booking or contact path, this is the shortest route to something that looks professional.
WordPress. Content-heavy sites, anyone who wants to own the stack outright, and projects where a specific plugin solves a problem no hosted builder addresses. If the site will live for years and change often, the ownership pays for itself.
Pricing side by side
Squarespace
| Basic | $19/mo | 2 contributors, 2% online store transaction fee, 7% on digital content |
|---|---|---|
| Core | $29/mo | unlimited contributors, 0% store fee, 5% on digital content, CSS and code injection |
| Plus | $49/mo | card rate from 2.7% + $0.30, 1% on digital content |
| Advanced | $99/mo | card rate from 2.5% + $0.30, 0% on digital content |
WordPress
| WordPress.org | Free software | you pay for hosting, a domain and any premium plugins or themes |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress.com Personal | $4/mo first year, then $5 | billed yearly, 6 GB, no ads, plugins allowed |
| WordPress.com Premium | $8/mo first year, then $9 | 13 GB, all premium themes, payment buttons, video |
| WordPress.com Business | $25/mo first year, then $28 | 50 GB, SSH and Git deploys, real-time backups, priority support |
| WordPress.com Commerce | $45/mo first year, then $50 | WooCommerce store features on top of Business |
What a year costs
Squarespace
Basic is $19 a month on an annual plan, and it can sell. But every online store sale on Basic carries a 2% Squarespace transaction fee on top of card processing, and Core, at $29, removes it. The $10 difference is covered once you sell about $500 a month. Above that, Basic is the more expensive plan, and a store taking $1,500 a month pays roughly $240 more a year on Basic than on Core.
Plan price, billed yearlySquarespace transaction fee
WordPress
WordPress.com's headline prices are introductory. On yearly billing, Personal is $4 a month for the first year and renews at $5; Premium goes from $8 to $9, Business from $25 to $28 and Commerce from $45 to $50. Paying monthly is much more expensive, from $9 a month for Personal to $70 for Commerce, and two- and three-year terms are cheaper still. Budget on the renewal figure, not the first-year one.
Plan price after the first year
Who should skip each one
Squarespace
Sites needing unusual layouts, heavy custom functionality or a large catalogue. The template does most of the work, which is the benefit until it becomes the ceiling.
WordPress
Someone who wants to be online this afternoon and never think about the site again. Every hosted builder here beats it on time-to-live and on not having to care about updates.
The bottom line
Squarespace
For a design-led small business, Squarespace on the Core plan is excellent value: it looks good by default, sells without a platform fee, and gives you full code access if you ever need it. Skip Basic unless you are not selling anything.
WordPress
Choose WordPress when you want to own your site outright and expect it to grow into something other builders cannot contain. For most people, WordPress.com's Personal or Premium plan is the sensible way in; developers and content-heavy businesses should look at Business or self-hosting.
Questions people ask
Is Squarespace better than WordPress?
Squarespace scores 8,4/10 and WordPress scores 7,9/10 on our rubric. Squarespace is the stronger all-round pick. Squarespace leads on ease of use, design and support. WordPress leads on flexibility and value.
Which is cheaper, Squarespace or WordPress?
Squarespace starts at US$19/mo with no free plan; WordPress starts at US$0/mo and has a free plan. WordPress is the cheaper way in.
Which is easier to use, Squarespace or WordPress?
Squarespace scores 8,6/10 for ease of use against WordPress at 5,6/10.
Do Squarespace and WordPress have a free plan?
Squarespace has no free plan; WordPress has a free plan.
Can you sell online with Squarespace and WordPress?
Both Squarespace and WordPress can take payments and run a store.
Can you move your site off Squarespace or WordPress?
Squarespace does not export a working site; WordPress lets you export your code.
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