Best Website Platform Comparing WordPress vs. Squarespace is a tricky business. You have a full-blown Content Management System (CMS), and on the other, you have a website builder. Although these platforms share some features, choosing the best way to make a website depends on your goals.
As with most platforms or tools, the debate comes down to which option is the best for your specific needs. Understanding the differences between WordPress and Squarespace will enable you to choose the best option for your next project and save yourself from having to migrate to a different platform down the line.
We’ll discuss what to look for when selecting a website builder for your project in this post. Then we’ll compare Squarespace vs. WordPress on six key points to help you determine which is best for your situation. Let’s get to it!
An Introduction to WordPress
Before we dive into comparing the two platforms, you must have a general idea of how each of them works. For starters, WordPress is the most popular CMS on the web, powering about one-third of the internet:
- It was initially launched as blogging platform (and it still is the best blog software, as far as we’re concerned). Although it’s now used to create all kinds of websites, it still has some features that call back to its roots. For instance, most content created with WordPress is split into ‘posts’ and ‘pages’:
- WordPress is also what’s called an ‘open-source’ platform. This means its source code is available to anyone who wants to view, use, or modify it, and is distributed under a General Public License (GPL). There are many pros and cons to this arrangement, which we’ll discuss in detail later.
- You’ll also need to supplement your WordPress site with themes (which mostly affect your site’s appearance) and plugins (which add functionality that the platform doesn’t include out of the box.) Many of these extensions are also open source.
- It’s important to note that there are two versions of WordPress: WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress. This post will focus on the latter. ‘Self-hosted’ refers to the need to rent server space from a company to store (or ‘host’) your website and make it publicly available to visitors.
With WordPress.com, you get a software version that’s not as ‘open,’ and you’re tied to that specific platform. Although it’s not a bad option for simple sites, it lacks a lot of the versatility that makes open-source WordPress a powerful platform.
Finally, WordPress is backed by an extensive community. Many developers and other professionals provide support for it via forums. You can also find in-person events, including meetups and conferences (called WordCamps), where you can connect with other users.
An Introduction to Squarespace
While WordPress emphasizes content (especially posts), Squarespace is more of a ‘complete’ website builder. With Squarespace, you get an emphasis on visual building tools, so you can create pages by choosing what elements to add, then positioning and customizing them:
Website builder software
Squarespace powers about 2.5 percent of the web. That sounds pretty small, next to WordPress’s staggering 40 percent market share. However, this number puts Squarespace right behind Joomla, Drupal, and Shopify. Compared to Wix and Weebly, Squarespace has a commanding lead compared to other website builders.
Unlike WordPress, Squarespace is not open source. Using this platform is more like purchasing a regular product or service, with certain Terms and Conditions that you must follow and some restrictions. For instance, Squarespace can suspend or disable your account.
However, being back by a company also has its perks. Squarespace provides users with access to a formal support team motivated to help them resolve any problems they encounter.
Website builder software Continue
Squarespace is also what’s called a ‘hosted’ website builder. This means that instead of finding a provider to supply a server, Squarespace automatically installs your website on its own servers. The company also handles the maintenance tasks that go along with managing a site, such as domain registration and security.
In addition to general website-building features, Squarespace has several marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), e-commerce, and analytics tools built in. We’ll examine them in more detail shortly. Across the board, it’s highly regard as an all-in-one platform for launching your brand’s online presence.
Squarespace’s
If you want to expand Squarespace’s functionality further, the platform also offers several additional services that complement its website builder tools. For example, you can use Squarespace to manage email marketing, hire dedicated business support specialists that work with the company, and even pay for email hosting.
For the rest of this comparison, we’re going to focus on Squarespace’s website builder software functionality since that’s its core offering.
What to Look for in a Website Builder
Every website builder is best for certain types of users. When choosing which one is right for you and your brand, you’ll need to consider several aspects of your future website, as well as your technical abilities and budget.
Here are a few factors we recommend that you think through carefully:
- Ease of use. A tool is no good to you if you aren’t sure how to put it to work. Being able to jump right into creating your website without spending a lot of time learning the platform is a plus.
- Customization. Every website requires some level of customization, such as adding branding elements and changing the style of each component on your pages. To achieve a certain look or functionality, you may also wish to add custom coding (or hire someone to do it for you) to achieve a certain look or functionality.
- Extensions. Most website builders offer extensions that expand the tool’s core functionality. Usually, popular website builders tend to have large libraries of extensions, many of which are free and get regular support from their creators.
- Flexibility. Websites come in all shapes and sizes. The best Do It Yourself website builder should adapt to your needs and scale your brand.
- Price. You likely have a budget for your website, and sticking to it is necessary. Choosing the right platform will give you the most bang for your buck.
Rushing through this decision could cause serious problems down the line. Migrating to a new platform if you find out that you initially chose is not a good fit isn’t an easy process. So it’s smart to take the time to compare your options – including Squarespace vs. WordPress – to make the best selection the first time around.
Summarizing Squarespace vs. WordPress
The short answer is that WordPress offers a lot more in terms of features and customizability. Using WordPress, you can build almost any type of website you want, with any features that you can think of. However, those same selling points make WordPress a more complex platform to understand and master.
On the other hand, Squarespace is a “what you see is what you get” kind of platform. Its visual website builder is among the most intuitive and user-friendly tools we’ve had the pleasure to use, and you can launch a website using Squarespace in a matter of minutes.
Summarizing Squarespace vs. WordPress
To be more specific, there are a handful of scenarios where we’d recommend considering Squarespace over WordPress, including the following:
- You want to build a straightforward website and not worry about complex customization features or dig too much into a specific platform.
- Must prefer to use visual website builder tools that are easy to grasp.
- You don’t want to worry about choosing a web host, finding the right theme and plugins, and all the tasks that WordPress website platform encompasses.
- WordPress website platform is an advantageous platform to use if you’re okay with adding a bit more complexity to the mix. Once you get the hang of how the CMS works, you’ll be able to use it to launch projects that aren’t possible to tackle if you’re using Squarespace.
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