Squarespace Competitors: Which Website Builder Should You Actually Use?
Squarespace is a solid website builder—clean templates, decent commerce features, and a polished user experience. But it's not perfect for everyone. Maybe you need more design flexibility, better marketing tools, cheaper pricing, or serious e-commerce capabilities.
I've tested all the major Squarespace alternatives head-to-head. Here's who should use what, based on actual features and real pricing—not marketing fluff.
Quick Comparison: Squarespace vs. Top Competitors
| Platform | Starting Price | Best For | Free Plan? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace | $16/mo | Creatives, portfolios, simple stores | No (14-day trial) |
| Wix | $17/mo | Marketing-focused businesses, flexibility | Yes |
| Webflow | $14/mo | Designers, developers, agencies | Yes (limited) |
| Shopify | $29/mo | Serious e-commerce stores | No (3-day trial) |
| WordPress | $5-10/mo (hosting) | Blogs, large sites, full control | Yes (self-hosted) |
| Hostinger | $2/mo | Budget-conscious beginners | No |
| Shopify | $29/mo | E-commerce focused businesses | No |
Before diving into alternatives, let's be clear about Squarespace's current pricing: Basic starts at $16/month (billed annually), Core is $23/month, Plus is $39/month, and Advanced runs $99/month. The Basic plan now includes commerce, but with a 2% transaction fee. Core and above have 0% transaction fees.
1. Wix: Best for Marketing Tools & Flexibility
Wix and Squarespace are the two giants in this space—they combine for about 63% of the website builder market. The difference? Wix gives you more freedom and better marketing tools, while Squarespace offers a more curated, design-focused experience.
Wix Pricing
- Free Plan: Available but has Wix branding and ads
- Light: $17/month – Remove ads, custom domain, 2GB storage
- Core: $29/month – E-commerce, 50GB storage, payment processing
- Business: $39/month – 100GB storage, more automation
- Business Elite: $159/month – Unlimited storage, priority support
Why Choose Wix Over Squarespace
Wix beats Squarespace on marketing. You get lead collection, email automation, social media management, and ad campaign tools—all from your dashboard. There's also a unified inbox for customer messages from Facebook, email, and live chat.
The template selection is massive: over 900 templates vs. Squarespace's 160+. Wix's unstructured drag-and-drop editor gives you more design freedom, though this can also lead to messier designs if you're not careful.
Wix also has significantly more third-party integrations through its App Market compared to Squarespace Extensions.
Why Stick with Squarespace
If design quality matters most, Squarespace templates are harder to mess up. They're more polished out of the box. Squarespace is also slightly cheaper at the entry level ($16 vs $17), and the Basic plan includes e-commerce—Wix's Light plan doesn't.
Check out our full Squarespace vs. Wix comparison for the detailed breakdown.
2. Webflow: Best for Designers & Developers
Webflow is what happens when a website builder and actual code editor have a baby. It's technically a visual development platform—you get code-level control without writing code. The learning curve is real, but so is the power.
Webflow Pricing
Webflow's pricing is more complex because you need both a Site plan (for hosting) and potentially a Workspace plan (for collaboration).
Site Plans:
- Basic: $14/month – Static sites, no CMS, 10GB bandwidth
- CMS: $23/month – 2,000 CMS items, 50GB bandwidth, 3 editors
- Business: $39/month – 10,000 CMS items, 100GB bandwidth
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
E-commerce Plans:
- Standard: $29/month – 500 products, 2% transaction fee
- Plus: $74/month – 5,000 products, 0% transaction fee
- Advanced: $212/month – 15,000 products, unlimited sales
Why Choose Webflow Over Squarespace
Webflow gives you essentially unlimited design flexibility. Every element can be controlled with CSS-like precision. You can build animations, interactions, and layouts that simply aren't possible in Squarespace.
It's also genuinely better for SEO if you know what you're doing. The CMS is more powerful, and you have complete control over page structure.
Why Stick with Squarespace
The learning curve. If you're not a designer or developer, Webflow will frustrate you. Squarespace's structured editor prevents you from breaking things. Plus, Webflow's pricing gets complicated fast—especially when you factor in Workspace plans for team collaboration.
For a deeper dive, see our Squarespace vs. Webflow comparison.
3. Shopify: Best for Serious E-commerce
If you're running a real online store—not just selling a few prints or merch items—Shopify is the move. It's purpose-built for e-commerce in a way that Squarespace isn't.
Shopify Pricing
- Starter: $5/month – Sell via social/messaging only, no full store
- Basic: $29/month (or $39 monthly) – Full store, 2 staff accounts
- Grow: $105/month – Better reporting, 5 staff accounts
- Advanced: $299/month (annual) – Custom reports, 15 staff accounts
- Plus: Starting at $2,300/month – Enterprise features
Note: Shopify offers $1/month for your first 3 months as an introductory deal.
Why Choose Shopify Over Squarespace
Shopify's e-commerce features are leagues ahead. You get better inventory management across multiple locations, more shipping options, superior tax handling, dropshipping integrations, and point-of-sale for physical retail.
The app ecosystem is massive. Need something? There's probably an app for it. Squarespace Extensions is much more limited.
Why Stick with Squarespace
For small shops or service businesses that occasionally sell products, Squarespace is simpler and cheaper. Shopify's design tools are more basic—you're paying for commerce features, not beautiful templates.
If you're a photographer selling prints or a consultant selling one digital product, Squarespace's Commerce features on the Core plan ($23/month with 0% transaction fees) will likely serve you better.
Read more in our Squarespace vs. Shopify breakdown.
4. WordPress: Best for Full Control & Scalability
WordPress powers over 43% of all websites. It's open-source, infinitely customizable, and scales from personal blogs to enterprise sites. The trade-off is complexity.
WordPress Pricing
WordPress.org itself is free—you pay for hosting and optional premium themes/plugins:
- Hosting: $5-10/month for beginners, more for high-traffic sites
- Themes: Free to $50+ (one-time)
- Plugins: Free to $200+/year depending on needs
Total realistic cost for a basic business site: $60-150/year vs. Squarespace's $192+/year.
Why Choose WordPress Over Squarespace
Complete ownership and control. You're not locked into Squarespace's ecosystem. You can move hosts, customize everything, and access 60,000+ plugins and 30,000+ themes.
For content-heavy sites like blogs, magazines, or membership sites, WordPress is more powerful. WooCommerce (WordPress's e-commerce plugin) rivals Shopify for feature depth.
Why Stick with Squarespace
Simplicity. WordPress requires managing hosting, updates, security, and plugin compatibility. Things can break. Squarespace handles all of this.
If you're not technical and don't want to be, Squarespace's all-in-one approach means you can focus on your business, not your website infrastructure.
See our Squarespace vs. WordPress comparison for the full picture.
5. Hostinger: Best Budget Option
Hostinger's website builder is the cheapest option that's still actually usable. If budget is your primary constraint, start here.
Hostinger Pricing
- Website Builder: $2/month (48-month commitment)
- Business Website Builder: $3/month – E-commerce, AI tools
These prices require long-term commitments. Monthly pricing is significantly higher.
Why Choose Hostinger Over Squarespace
Price. At $2/month vs. $16/month, the savings are substantial over time. Hostinger also has solid AI tools for generating site content and designs quickly.
Why Stick with Squarespace
You get what you pay for. Hostinger's templates are more limited, design flexibility is basic, and the feature set is minimal compared to Squarespace. For any serious business presence, Squarespace is worth the premium.
6. Other Alternatives Worth Mentioning
Duda
Great for agencies and developers managing multiple client sites. Has strong team collaboration features and white-label options. More expensive than Squarespace but built for different use cases.
Strikingly
Specialized in single-page websites and landing pages. Simpler than Squarespace but much more limited. Good for quick projects or testing ideas.
Showit
Popular with photographers and creative professionals. Combines a drag-and-drop builder with WordPress for blogging. Offers more design freedom than Squarespace but requires WordPress knowledge for the blog.
How to Choose the Right Squarespace Competitor
Choose Wix if: You need robust marketing tools, want more design flexibility, or prefer having a free plan option to start.
Choose Webflow if: You're a designer/developer who needs code-level control without writing code, or you're building complex marketing sites.
Choose Shopify if: E-commerce is your primary business, not a side feature. You need inventory management, multiple sales channels, or POS integration.
Choose WordPress if: You need maximum flexibility, plan to scale significantly, or want to own your site infrastructure completely.
Choose Hostinger if: Budget is your primary concern and you need basic functionality only.
Stay with Squarespace if: You want beautiful templates with minimal effort, need light e-commerce for a creative business, or value simplicity over flexibility.
The Bottom Line
There's no universally "best" website builder. Squarespace is excellent for creatives, portfolios, and simple business sites with light commerce needs. But if you've outgrown it—or it was never the right fit—these alternatives each solve specific problems better.
For marketing power: Wix. For design control: Webflow. For serious e-commerce: Shopify. For total ownership: WordPress. For tight budgets: Hostinger.
Most platforms offer free trials or free plans, so test before you commit. And if you're currently on Squarespace and considering a switch, make sure you export your content and have a migration plan ready.
Still weighing your options? Check out our comprehensive Squarespace alternatives guide or dig into our best website builders for small business comparison.