Wix vs. Squarespace: Key Differences You Must Know

Unlike Squarespace, when creating a Wix website, you can drag elements around and lay them in the exact desired position. While this is a great feature, it can also lead to some frustration when you cannot get the elements to the precise position you want. This also means that you might run into some issues as you adjust features on the page, especially as you set up your mobile site.

When it comes to Squarespace, these problems do not exist. Since this platform uses a structured editor, you can snap things into place when you drag them around. There are rows and columns that you can use to put the right items in the location you want. This means that there is a structure to anything you create.

Wix has as many as 700 templates that you can use to make sure the website looks and feels the way you want it to. The platform has about 70 templates, so about 10% of Wix when it comes to having a Squarespace website.

You might see this as a massive difference in the number of templates to choose from - which it is. However, Squarespace has some of the best website templates that I have seen. The templates are clean and modern and are sorted by the various industries they belong to. If you are looking for something specific to get the job done, you can probably find it in Squarespace's template library.

When it comes to Wix, they have many choices; however, the quality of the templates provided isn't as high as those on Squarespace. Wix's templates feel a bit dated when compared to the competition.

One fundamental similarity between the two platforms is that once you have made your template selection, you cannot change it to something else down the line.

While this is not a good thing, you can customize the templates based on several factors. The most easily customizable feature would be the color scheme used.

It is easier to get this done with a Squarespace site than a Wix one - when it comes to the latter, you need to be a bit technical to understand how their system works when customizing your template.

Both of these platforms have come a long way regarding search engine optimization. Previously, it used to be that Wix was the better of the platforms in this arena. However, Squarespace has recently made modifications to how its system works and now incorporates SEO tools in its Squarespace templates that can help you with your online store. You can now adjust all the search engine ranking factors to get more organic traffic.

One thing to notice with Squarespace is that they have a few templates that are not SEO friendly. However, this is a minimal amount of templates and in addition, this is not a recurring theme with the new templates being released.

These platforms provide tons of audio players, maps, galleries, forms, and more features you can include on your website to add functionality. Both platforms also have features that can help with online ordering and ticketing.

As with templates, Wix offers many more features compared to Squarespace. However, Squarespace is usually better at the features it provides. For example, you can create a restaurant menu in Squarespace in a much shorter time than it takes to get the job done on Wix.

The same applies when setting up other features, including e-commerce, donations, and podcasts. The good thing is that both platforms can integrate with various CRMs, so you can take advantage of this and set up automations that make the job easier.

While not commonly associated with e-commerce, these systems have invested heavily in their website builder for e-commerce features over the last several years. Both can create an eCommerce store with a good foundation that includes the basic features one would need. This includes inventory management, discounts, etc.

However, Squarespace also offers more when it comes to eCommerce features. These include notifications when you have low stocks, when items are back in stock, gift cards, and more. You can also add in-depth forms to the products, allowing customers to choose from more options and giving them the ability to provide you with more details when ordering.

When it comes to a Wix site, you can only add text fields to your products.

Many businesses are shifting towards a model with members collectively brought together within their sites. They then offer digital information on the site, including courses, ebooks, and other means of delivering the products and services.

Both Wix and Squarespace offer the functionality of having a membership site on their platform. When it comes to Squarespace, you can monetize your content. This means you can offer classes, videos, podcasts, and more - all from behind a paywall so that people will need to pay to access this information.

Wix takes things a bit further when creating membership sites by allowing your members to chat with each other, customize their profiles and manage various appointments they signed up for. 

Members can even create accounts to view their statuses and manage multiple relevant details. There are a few apps that you can also install to take the functionality even further.

Various app stores come along with these platforms. They are chock-full of apps and extensions you can use to add more functionality to your website.

The Wix App Market is great to explore if you need to add anything from social media feeds to live chats and everything in between. Meanwhile, Squarespace offers its App Showcase gives you all the inspiration you need for the available Squarespace apps.

When speaking of Wix, there is also the Wix ADI, an artificial intelligence feature that can help you create a website. You simply need to answer some questions, and the ADI will take care of the rest, creating a site tailored to your needs.

This AI feature is quite helpful for those who don’t have much time on their hands when it comes to website building.

If you want to be a blogger, I recommend using Squarespace because it gives you features such as setting up various categories, setting up user roles, putting posts in drafts, etc.

When it comes to Wix, it has a decent blog editor, but it is a bit outdated compared to Squarespace.

When it comes to Wix, these are the pricing plans available:

There are Wix ads that you cannot remove if you go with the most basic pricing plan on Wix.

Squarespace offers these pricing plans:

You can also decide to pay monthly or annually.

If you decide to go for the annual plan, you will get a free domain to help you with setting up your Squarespace website.

This free custom domain is only available for the first year, after which the domain will renew at annual domain prices.

Both of these platforms offer an application that allows you to customize how your site looks on the go. Various analytics will enable you to see where your visitors are coming from, how many visitors are on your site, and how many page views you are getting. 

You can also see which pages are getting the most traffic and tweak various settings related to e-commerce and other essential features.

In reality, this shouldn’t even be mentioned in this day and age. However, Wix does limit the bandwidth that one can consume on some specific plans. This means that you will need to be careful not to go beyond the given limit.

Unlike Wix, Squarespace does not have this limitation as it offers unlimited bandwidth on all plans.

These platforms offer customer support you can access when you encounter a problem that needs to be resolved. Squarespace allows you to jump straight to human support, which reduces the time between having a problem and solving It. 

When it comes to having a Wix website, there are a few loops that you have to jump through. You’ll have to go through the frequently asked question first before getting in touch with someone who can help you one-to-one.

Both platforms enable you to add Google Analytics to your site with a couple of clicks. If you want more in-depth statistics, Wix has various tools on its store, such as Visitor Analytics, that can help you out with that.

One key feature that Wix offers is the ability to create events on your website and sell tickets. This is an excellent feature if you want to use your website to promote an event or if you want to build an online community around a specific topic.

These are some of the key features:

The Wix events feature is a great way to grow your community and let guests connect and network.