WordPress vs Squarespace 2023: Which is Better for your Business (Comparison & Alternative)

Irrespective of the purpose of your website, it is essential to choose a reputed website builder and host so that it ranks well. Especially for websites created for business purpose, this is elemental.

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To draw the traffic from different sources, building a website with a good hosting and plethora of features is important. Even for a novice is digital marketing and website building, creating your own website is quite easy if you have the right resources.

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Platforms like WordPress and Squarespace are such useful resources to create the perfect website. However, these days there are plethora of website builders available making it trickier to choose the right one.

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Without any doubt, WordPress and Squarespace are among the leading choices. But how do you choose the best between them? Features, ease to access, flexibility, customizations, customer care, design elements, storage, upgrades and many more criteria together determine the best choice. 

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Wordpress have enjoyed immense popularity since its inception with 35,871,158 active websites worldwide at present. Squarespace is also quite popular, especially for e-commerce website with 2,927,610 active websites worldwide.

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We have listed the tried and tested analysis based on all such factors to help you choose the idea platform for your work. Read on to find out which is the best choice for you.

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Apart from these platforms, you will also come across many competitive choices like the Fynd Platform, which have followed the UI and UX of such classic choices. They have taken popular elements from such platforms as inspiration and come up with high quality features which can outdo these popular choices.

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What Is WordPress?

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WordPress is an open-source, free platform for making content. It is a famous website builder for creating simple and modern websites. It owns the credit of being the easiest and most powerful website builder in the market. 

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WordPress is a flexible content management platform that can create websites for companies, portfolios, and e-commerce. It is a fantastic option for both big and small websites because it was designed with usability and flexibility in mind.

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When it comes to personalizing a WordPress website, the possibilities are virtually limitless. The plugins and themes can increase functionality and open up new design possibilities.

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WordPress initiated its journey in 2003 as a blogging tool and later got transformed into a content management system able to build and manage a wide range of websites. 

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The platform is well known among many big corporates like NBC, Time, Disney, Airbnb, Spotify, TechCrunch etc. The added benefit of using WordPress is that the platform doesn't need knowledge or expertise to use codes and is a beginner-friendly solution. 

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WordPress stores and organizes all the data in a database, taking care of everything from user accounts and site URLs to the content of the posts and pages. This makes it such a quick and effective tool for internet publishing.

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What is Squarespace?

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Squarespace is a famous website builder that aids in the creation of unique websites. Squarespace is a beginner-friendly platform that calls for no technical expertise to create attractive pages. One can easily create a website with e-commerce features that is safe and secure in a short period. 

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Squarespace is primarily known for its professional and modern templates, easy section-based editor, and robust e-Commerce tools that make the website-building process quick and straightforward.

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Squarespace started the venture in 2003 as a blog hosting service which later metamorphosed into a huge web builder. Squarespace is well-known among its users for its ease of implementation. It offers four types of pricing plans for its customers.

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They are Personal, Business, Basic Commerce & Advanced Commerce. Squarespace is a flexible website builder that can accommodate bloggers, e-commerce site owners, and creatives.

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This site builder is a top pick for many website owners due to its inexpensive pricing and comprehensive plans. It is a perfect platform that can be applied to all kinds of businesses.

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Squarespace is a powerful tool that can be used to create sites for blogs, portfolios, businesses and online shops. Many big corporates like Accenture, HBO, and Avocode are a few premium customers of Squarespace.

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Basic differences between Squarespace and WordPress (600)

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Though both are leading website builders available today, there are some basic differences between the platform. This is why it is essential to make the choice after determining your requirement and business vision.

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The following table has a differentiation between both the platforms in a concise manner to help you choose the more suitable option easily:

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Which Is More Suitable For You?

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Both Squarespace and WordPress are among the most popular website builders in the industry. Whether it is a blog or e-commerce website you want- these are the go-to options. But which is more suitable for you?

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Let us first get into the basics. Website builders are all-in-one tools which have everything included from hosting to templates and design. You do not need any knowledge of coding and still manage the website from one place.

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This is what Squarespace provide, making it a beginner friendly platform. Content management system or CMS has a more advanced software. It is designed to handle larger website with a lot of data.

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These websites can be customized but you must have significant knowledge in coding or hire someone who has that. You also have to find the hosting provider yourself. But on the brighter side, you get more scalability and storage. This is the purpose of WordPress.

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For someone who is entirely new to a website and its technicalities, Squarespace is a good choice. It is easier to use, have proper security and better customer service. However, there is also the matter of budget, purpose and goals. 

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Squarespace is a viable choice for small to medium business with the aim to sell through the website. It is a great platform to showcase your products, portfolio, or any item you wish to sell. You do not require technical knowledge for this.

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On the other hand, WordPress is a better choice when you look for extensions, content management and flexibility to customize. If you want absolute control on every aspect of your website, WordPress is the go-to platform. It has powerful blogging tools and greater degree of functionality and flexibility.

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Lastly, if you aim to sell through the website, the wisest choice is opting for multi-channel selling tools. It will have a single dashboard from where you can control all the aspects of the website. There are several other website builders and CMS available today. The key is to figure out which suits your purpose and budget best.

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Features Of WordPress

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The chief highlights that make this platform famous among its users are listed below:

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1. Flexibility and Simplicity: 

WordPress allows the user to create any type of website, from a personal blog to a business platform or a travel blog to a portfolio platform. The user can adopt multiple themes as per the need to make the website look attractive.

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Many plugins can be integrated into the platform, depending upon the usage. WordPress is a beginner-friendly platform and makes every operation efficient and quick. One can create a webpage and publish it at any time.

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The platform hosts a dashboard to keep track of things. It is an online website builder, i.e., one can log in to any internet device and browse the site from anywhere. 

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2. Convenient handling: 

The installation process is user-friendly and takes less time to set up the site. The process does not require a prerequisite technical expertise to undertake the process. The installation can happen with a single click, and the upgradation is quick and easy.

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The creation and management of content is an easy job on WordPress. The content can be made public or private, and the payment and the content can be secured through this platform.

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In the event of catastrophic failures, the managed website hosting services do automate daily backups and bare metal backups to prevent data loss.

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3. Powerful SEO tools: 

WordPress sites have specific codes that make them apt for Google listings. It also provides a range of things that can bring high search rankings for the website. Easy media management: The uploading of preferred images and videos is an easy and simple process in WordPress.

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One can simply drag the media content from the computer and drop it in the uploader. Audio, video, images and documents can be uploaded, filtered and ordered as per the need.

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The media manager can be plugged in to organize the media library easily and quickly. WordPress also offers a wide array of themes to give the website a personalized and unique appeal. It also has the provision to create a new theme that can be uploaded within a few seconds. 

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4. Multiple languages: 

WordPress contains more than seventy languages, so users can make the website in various languages. The user interface language option can be selected to enable multiple languages; this feature is helpful for users to operate worldwide. 

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5. Better User Management: 

This platform enables the overall management of users with the help of the website in an easy fashion. There are numerous roles that can be assigned through this site.

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For example, the administrator will have all the rights on the pages, writers, editors, etc.; similarly, the users, editors, and subscribers may have some other set of ownership on the page.  

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6. Inbuild feedback system: 

A review or feedback is very important to understand the usefulness of anything thrown to the market. WordPress has the feature to improve the quality of the website by allowing the followers to provide their valuable comments on the page's content.

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It helps to understand the drawbacks and encourages the audience to engage with the page. This feature also has a forum that helps to conduct and moderate any discussion.

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7. Social media and third-party Integration:  

It allows integration with social media handles and other third-party applications that can be added advantage to the website. The third-party plugins are reviewed and tested to minimize security risks and performance impacts on the website. 

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8. Flexible Scheduling: 

There is complete freedom to generate material in advance and schedule it for publication by scheduling posts to appear on specified days and times. One can create posts/pages and save them as drafts until they are prepared to publish them.

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One can quickly recover deleted page content using the built-in version control tools and even roll back page text to earlier versions.

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9. Easy Portability: 

WordPress guarantees that the website can be relocated to a compatible environment, if necessary, by utilizing an open-source platform. The portability of the website is not a concern when it comes to WordPress, unlike most other website builders. 

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10. Enhanced Security: 

Every Business wants assurance that their data and customer data will be safe given the prevalence of data breaches. WordPress is a safe content management platform as long as one keeps plugins updated and passwords secret.

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The platform provides several security features for the website, such as two-factor authentication and logging off inactive users.

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Features of Squarespace

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The major highlights of this platform are listed below:

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1. Restore deleted content and Flexible Scheduling: 

Squarespace has built-in safeguards to keep the site safe if something goes wrong. If anything has been inadvertently deleted, it can be recovered for up to 30 days. The website will be automatically backed up by Squarespace and stored on both primary and backup servers.

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The website files can also be stored in offline storage disks. There is complete freedom to generate material in advance and schedule it for publication by scheduling posts to appear on specified days and times. Calendar syncing, automated mail reminders etc., are added advantages of this platform. 

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2. Secure Platform:

The process of registering the domain name with this platform is very easy. The domain should be to be added to the cart. Squarespace offers this domain name for free, and the jackpot for a user is getting an SSL certificate for free.

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Having an SSL certificate indicates that a layer of security is added to the website. This certificate encrypts the information, which is crucial for accessing payment processing sites.

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Apart from these, Squarespace offers DDoS protection and other necessary tools to prevent the website from getting hacked or falling prey to prudery. It is a safe platform as long as one keeps plugins updated and passwords secret. 

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3. Customer Support:

Though this platform doesn't require technical expertise to operate, there will be areas of hiccups where external support might be needed. Squarespace has a robust customer support system to help the user operate the site better.

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They offer email support, social media support community forums and live chat facilities. They also have a few tutorial videos for the user to review to get a better grip on the platform.

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One of the highlights of Squarespace is providing a knowledge base packed with articles, guides and many more, making it one of the most efficient platforms.

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4. Multiple Integrations: 

Squarespace enables integration with social media handles like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. This integration will allow the user to push their content to these handles, enhancing visibility.

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It also lets the user integrate with various third-party applications for payment, marketing, shipping etc. These plugins are reviewed to minimize security risk and performance impact on the site. 

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5. Powerful SEO: 

A website is useless if it doesn't reach the right audience. Squarespace enables multiple integrations with marketing tools to improve the conversion rate. Squarespace also ensures that powerful SEO strategies are built at the back end, which enables the website to come under Google listings.

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All the pages that are created will follow SEO best practices. The added benefit is that Squarespace sites load quickly, which is one of the major criteria adored by Google. 

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6. Modern and attractive templates: 

Squarespace offers a limited number of themes, unlike its competitors. However, the quality of these templates is far better than that of the competitors. Every template is custom designed to meet the highest standards.

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All the templates enhance the performance of the site. The platform also allows the user to customize the look and feel of the site. It is not a complete drag-and-drop concept; however, reformatting, addition, deletion etc. can be incorporated.

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Squarespace also offers a logo designing application that can be useful for creating an inexpensive logo for the site. Another highlight of Squarespace is the excellently designed cover pages that add value to the site. The images can be easily organized effectively on the website through the drag-and-drop system. 

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7. Easy set up:

The installation process is user-friendly and takes less time to set up the site. The process does not require a prerequisite technical expertise to undertake the process. The creation and management of content is an easy job on Squarespace. They even offer a mobile application through which website editing becomes quite easy. 

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8. E-Commerce features:

Squarespace offers a range of services and is a complete solution for creating an e-commerce website. Squarespace allows adding product variants without any hassle and lets to sell unlimited products through the platform.

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It aids in inventory management and the selling of digital products. The platform can be integrated with Square, allowing one to accept card payments and sell things offline utilizing Square's Point of Sale System. There is a provision in Squarespace to make it ad-free unless one wants to make money by placing it.

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9. Blogging features: 

It is the go-to site for any blogger as it offers a simple process to design and manage the blog. It offers unlimited storage and unmetered bandwidth that attracts bloggers. It also offers a solid blogging suite which is an apt start for beginners.

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10. Detailed Analytics: 

Squarespace offers detailed analytics that helps to track traffic, popular content, leads, sales and many more. They have a powerful dashboard that displays the status. 

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11. User Management: 

This platform enables the overall management of users with the help of the website in an easy fashion. Numerous roles can be assigned through this site.

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For example, administrator, Website Editor, Billing, Analytics, Scheduling Editor, Reporting, Email Campaigns Editor, Comment Moderator, Viewer etc., are a few roles with particular rights. 

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Comparing WordPress Vs. Squarespace- Which Is Better?

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Choosing between WordPress and Squarespace means deliberating on several features and functions. Both the website builder comes with unique and useful sets of features. They both are known to simplify the website building process even for a newbie. 

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However, determining which is better is a lot about calculative measure. Are you looking for a promotional platform or just a website to share information and contact details for your brand?

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Are you looking to establish an online store? Is customization and flexibility with design important for you? These are few questions which are determinants regarding the platform.

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Here we have listed nineteen such features to compare elaborately both the platform based on them. This would give you enough insight to choose the better one as per your requirement.

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1. Ease Of Use

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The ease to use a platform is an essential feature though often not appreciated enough by experts. But what if you are a beginner? This is where this factor becomes a crucial one. Ease of use refers to the learning curve and overall simplicity of the platform so that anyone can use it.

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Squarespace : is a clear winner in this segment. It is designed to help novice and non-technical users to easily built a website from scratch. You can create a basic website in a couple of minutes on this platform.

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It is user-friendly and intuitive and require no coding skill of the user. You can easily preview the changes in real time. Moreover, the drag-and-drop template editor lets you make changes in minutes.

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This means you can easily select different elements like text box and images and drag to move them and customize the overall look. However, on the downside, the editor allows limited customization and not flexible enough.

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Moreover, any maintenance and updates required are done by the website builder and you need not worry about it. Colour palettes, fonts, page configuration, images, text box- all these can be added, moved and deleted with minimum effort in Squarespace.

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The limited flexibility need not be a drawback though. It ensures that you never make a mistake with the positioning of the elements. Thus, the website will look presentable in the front end no matter what.

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WordPress : allows more customization but is also more difficult to use. Coding and third-party plug-in knowledge is essential after a certain point to manage a highly customized website. Moreover, the editing is done from the backend thus you cannot see the final result in real-time.

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The lack of real-time viewing can be confusing to non-technical users who are likely to make mistakes from going back and forth from the backend to the frontend. One can say, WordPress is more suitable for experienced users or at least someone with minimum knowledge of coding.

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The learning curve is steep and you need some time to figure out how everything works. Designing and making your website live after that can take a few hours and effort.

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It is an open-source platform that depends on custom coding. As a result, it can be tricky to master. WordPress also have a regular update cycle. But to upgrade your WordPress website to the latest bug-free version, you must take the entire responsibility.

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However, there is a plugin called Element or which can simplify the editor and make it more like Squarespace. If you are choosing WordPress, eventually you can customize the website to a completely different level and need not be confined to the premade template.

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2. The Editor

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The editor is essential to simplify the designing of your website. The easier the editor to work with, the faster you can create the website. Squarespace Editor has a very straightforward interface which let you drag and drop the elements and view the result in real-time.

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You can simply find the content or feature you wish to edit and click on it to make the changes. The drag and drop editor make it easier to lay out the content the way you want to.

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Moreover, you can easily view how it is going to look on the front end while you are editing. You can also drag content and elements from other pages of the website and add it where you want.

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Squarespace have recently introduced a new version of their drag and drop tool which is called the Fluid Engine. It helps to create different designs and layout for your website’s desktop and mobile version.

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You can easily position the elements around the page and also make use of “snap to grid” that ensures proper alignment. WordPress is not very difficult to setup and edit once you have created the website.

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But the initial stage of selecting the theme and customizing it as per your preference has a steep learning curve. Without minimal knowledge in coding, it is rather difficult to master. It depends largely on the hosting provider and the settings can often vary a bit because of that. But once it has been setup, WordPress CMS is easy to edit on the go.

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The main drawback of WordPress editor is that you have to edit the page from the backend. You cannot view how the results look in real-time. The constant back and forth movement to check how your page looks can get very confusing to handle.

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The only option is the preview or publish the page to see how it fares. It requires time and bit of research to figure out the WordPress editor. As a result, the website too needs time to build. 

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The problem can be somewhat solved if you use plug-ins like Divi that help you get real-time view of the website. But it has some limitations compared to the in-built drag-and-drop editor of Squarespace.

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The latest version of WordPress editor, “Gutenberg” has a feature to drag and drop content blocks. It is similar to Squarespace but not as flexible as Fluid Engine.

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3. E-commerce Features

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When you are building a website for business the eventual aim is to get followers and sell through the platform. This is where, you need a website builder or CMS that can support e-commerce features. Both WordPress and Squarespace have basic e-commerce features. However, Squarespace slightly have an edge over WordPress in terms of e-commerce functionality. 

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WordPress: was initially created as a blogging platform and hence lacks e-commerce features. Thus, to sell through a website created in WordPress, you will need a specific plugin for the same. Woocommerce is the official e-commerce plugin for WordPress. 

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Customizing the Woocommerce plugin for sales can be rather tricky for a new user. This is where Squarespace becomes a more viable option. However, to sell through Squarespace, you need to get any of their e-commerce plans to avoid transaction fees.

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Squarespace: is an all-in-one e-commerce solution if you have business plan or above. To get more assistance with shipping and tax, you will need the Squarespace extension marketplace. With the business plan, small businesses can function easily. A 3% transaction fee is levied for every sale you make. 

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But for more seasoned business owners, the ecommerce plan is the best choice. They have a basic commerce plan and an advanced commerce plan to choose from. They come for $27/month and $49/month. But they require no transaction fees. 

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But on the bright side, it includes features like inventory management, orders, coupons, tax, label printing, gift cards, product listing on social media, abandoned cart recovery, advanced web analytics, video storage, subscription selling and much more. You do not have to install any additional plug-ins or activate or update any features to get access to all of these on Squarespace. 

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Here is a detailed comparison based on specific e-commerce features for both platforms:

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Product and inventory management :

With Squarespace, it is a speedy and user-friendly feature that let you add inventory and products efficiently and create aesthetically appealing pages. You can set up SKU and easily sell digital and physical products.

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It also let you import from existing Etsy, Shopify, Big Cartel account through CSV files. You can manually import data on customers, orders, etc. Woocommerce support digital, physical product sale as well as services. You can also import product add-ons and variants. Overall navigation is easy and you have flexibility to arrange your product page and track inventory.

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If you are creating a large-scale e-commerce platform, Woocommerce is the better choice. While Squarespace imposes a 100SKU limit, there is no such issue with Woocommerce.

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Shipping and taxes:

Squarespace has three shipping methods currently- flat rate, depending on weight and carrier calculated shipping. You can offer any of these three to your client. In a similar way, Woocommerce also offer three shipping methods called flat rate, free shipping and local pickup.

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With Squarespace, you can create tax rules based on province, location and state. When the customers’ address matches any of these locations, they will be charged a sales tax as per the policies.

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In Woocommerce, the users have more control over the implementation of the taxes. They can configure the tax calculation based on the shipping address, billing address and the store location.

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Payment gateway:

This is one of the most essential parts of running an e-commerce business. If the users are not happy with the experience while checking out, they may look for alternative platforms. 

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With Squarespace you get variety of payment gateways and they can support options like PayPal, Amazon Pay, Stripe, Apple pay and more. However, they do not support multi-currency payment option.

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This can be a major drawback if you eventually plan to grow the business internationally. Woocommerce however have a better solution to payment gateway. They offer over 100 varieties of payment methods through extensions. It also have a personal payment processor for Woocommerce stores. This plugin can be downloaded free of charges. It does not require setup or any monthly fees.

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4. Pricing

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One of the major concerns about starting a website is the cost of hosting and building it. For a small or medium business this can be a serious concern based on how it affects the budget.

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Both Woocommerce and Squarespace have competitive pricing which are suitable for businesses of all stature. Which is the more expensive choice depending largely on the overall configuration of the website.

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There are four Squarespace pricing plans- personal, business, basic commerce and advanced commerce. The price ranges from $23 per month to $65 per month. If you pay for annual subscription, you also get free Squarespace domain name too.

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There is a two-week trial period for all the plans along with an extension on request. For e-commerce purpose, the advanced business plan is the best choice which covers all Squarespace features.

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The main difference between the plans lies in marketing and e-commerce features, accessibility to custom CSS and scripts, transaction fees and integration with third-party apps.

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The Woocommerce pricing varies from $39 per month to $340 per month. There are additional costs for domain at $12/month, hosting fee at $3.95/month, security fees at $50 and developers’ fees at $50 per hour.

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There are five plans to choose from which are starter, pro, business 1, business 2 and business 3. The cost of additional plugins can go up to $299 depending on the plugin you opt for.

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There can also be maintenance service cost at $50 month which is recurring. The total cost to maintain and manage a Woocommerce website is approximately $198 per month to $780 per month. It is significantly higher than Squarespace with a lot of variables involved.

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But on the brighter side, the Woocommerce website is more suitable for long-term business expansion goals. Of course, there is the choice to customize the plugins as per your requirement. Hence, it is quite tricky to give a verdict on which would be a cheaper choice- Squarespace or Woocommerce.

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5. Blogging

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Blogging has been recognized time and again as a versatile marketing tool in the present times. It is easy to handle but effective when you have quality content. Blogging is a great way to make potential clients aware of your products and give them insider knowledge on your business.

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But it is equally important to use the right platform for blogging so that you get better exposure. WordPress was initially built primarily for blogging. Hence, needless to say, it has superior blogging tools to start with.

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It is a content management system with plugins to create content-heavy and creative blogs. One of the best features of WordPress blogging tool is restoring version history. You can store multiple versions of the page for later use. There are plenty of free templates tailormade for various genres of blogging. 

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Another major advantage of WordPress especially for serious bloggers, is the ability to access HTML directly and customize the way their blog appears. There is also the option to comment on blogs of other WordPress bloggers unless they have specifically disabled it.

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The best part is the huge WordPress blog community which covers a third of the websites across the world. Squarespace also have a plethora of excellent blogging tools. In fact, their tools are the best among all website builders.

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They offer features like markdown support, podcast, RSS feeds, Google AMP, multiple contributors to name a few. You can also tag, categorize and edit the blogs easily on Squarespace on an on-site basis.

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This means, you can see the result of the changes in real-time as you make the edits. However, on the downside, you cannot directly make changes in the source code like in WordPress. 

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Squarespace also provide free blogging templates like WordPress. You can set permissions regarding external contributors as well. The dashboard is easy to use and can help with categorizing the blogs and maintaining the daily workflow.

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6. Plugins

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The third-party apps available to improve the functionality of the website are known as plugins. They are designed to enhance the different editing and updating functions available on a website builder or CMS. Both Squarespace and WordPress has such plugins which help the users to simplify the task of building the website.

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Squarespace : comes with in-house apps and tools to modify, edit and design the website. You get apps for blogging, making notes, checking analytics, and even building portfolios. Since they are all made in-house, they function smoothly at sync with the platform. However, the number of plugins available are limited.

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If you need more advanced functions through the apps on Squarespace, there is the Squarespace app market called Squarespace extensions. All the plugins available here can cover any kind of requirement you have regarding website building.

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Some of the most popular Squarespace apps include EZ texting, Shippo, and outfy. Most of these extensions are built specifically for e-commerce website.

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WordPress is known for the exceptional range of plugins to choose from. It has over 59000 free and paid plugins for every type of work related to website building. Since it is an open-source platform, it is available for customization to everybody.

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As a result, there are thousands of programmers who contribute by creating themes, plugins etc. and share them for free or at nominal charges.There are plugins for contact forms, comment sections, improve ranking on google and much more. There are also plugins specifically designed for Woocommerce too. WordPress plugins are also easy to install.

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But with such a huge selection, it can get a bit tricky to find the most suitable options for your website. Hence, one must check through forums, reviews and trial the plugins to check their functionality.

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Some of the best WordPress plugins include elementor, buddypress, Yoast SEO, Advanced custom fields, and Tablepress. One can rightly say when it comes to plugins and apps, WordPress has a better selection. But Squarespace is more consistent about their quality.

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7. Templates

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The templates are like the backbone to the website layout. They add to the aesthetics as well as the functionality of the website. The design and layout influences how well the website can be navigated. Both Squarespace and WordPress have variety of templates to choose from. Based on the type of website you are building; you will get numerous choices.

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The WordPress templates are highly customizable but to do justice to this feature, you must have extensive knowledge of coding. On the other hand, Squarespace is much simpler and offers beautiful and mobile friendly templates. However, you can customize them as per your choice.

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The main advantage of Squarespace templates is the elegant and mobile optimized designs. There are many prefabricated templates available from Squarespace which you can tweak to some extent.

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You can change the font style, size, colour, and add images, videos and change background as per your choice. Another striking feature of Squarespace templates is that every template offer three styles of the product page- classic, advanced and unique.

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Each of these versions come with various features that set them apart from the rest. For someone who is looking for website builder that require minimal effort, the templates from Squarespace are just ideal for you.

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WordPress is one of the most popular choices among those who are looking for customizable templates. WordPress has a wider variety of templates for every type of website layout. They have 9038 collections of themes.

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They are categorized based on the style and design, making it easier for users to find the perfect match for their website. However, many of the templates and themes are developed by unknown developers since it is an open-source platform.

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As a result, it means you get varied quality themes which can be rather confusing. In fact, many of the themes available are not optimized for years and often does not adhere by the latest upgrades. It is best to test them out for mobile responsiveness first and then purchase it.

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WordPress has a huge selection of free themes as well which you can customize. However, the major downside of WordPress themes and templates is that you require expertise to truly personalize them. Unlike this, Squarespace is by far easier to customize for all users.

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If you are looking for variety of choices, WordPress is a great option. But if you are looking for effortless and aesthetically appealing designs, Squarespace has many options. They come with all features and are inclusive of the plan you are selecting.

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8. Flexibility

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The flexibility refers to a platforms ability to offer tailormade solution for your business. It will be easy to modify and tweak as per your requirement. As a result, you can make it work perfectly for your business.

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When it comes to flexibility, WordPress is the clear winner. It has a steeper learning curve which is difficult to handle for all, but it also makes the platform more flexible. You will find all kinds of features and even tweak them to fulfil your requirement ideally.

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WordPress is more flexible for several reasons. Firstly, it is an open-source platform hence everyone can contribute to the growth and the variety of plugins grow by the day. You can simply open the codebase of WordPress and tweak it as per your choice.

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WordPress also gives scope to tweak the server any way you want. If you wish to work with specific CDN, WordPress allows you to do that unlike Squarespace. You can also create custom blocks within the WordPress website to tweak the layout as you wish.

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The best part is, you can customize the theme any way you want, as long as you understand coding thoroughly. Squarespace have a great editor that helps you view your changes in real-time. But the platform lacks flexibility.

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This is primarily because you cannot go to the source code of the platform and tweak from there. It is not an open-source platform either. Everything or Squarespace are mostly built in-house and users cannot tweak them at will.

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9. Customization Options

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Similar to flexibility, customization means you will be able to tweak the platform as per your requirement. The result is a unique website which does not looking anything like prefabricated templates.

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WordPress is the perfect choice when you want highly customizable solution. However, you must have ample knowledge in coding or hire a professional for the purpose. There are endless possibilities to explore with WordPress. Since you can get into the codebase of the platform and edit it to make a design, you can do anything you want. 

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Moreover, there are many themes and plugins to choose from which can also be tweaked as per your requirement. It all comes down to the knowledge of coding. As a result, WordPress has a steep learning curve but can give far more satisfactory results than any other platform, including Squarespace.

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Squarespace allow limited customization. You can easily tweak the theme and templates to change background colour, images, text tyle and size, etc. The superficial changes can be made easily.

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But any change beyond that cannot be done since Squarespace is not an open-source platform. Thus, if you are looking to personalize your website in certain ways, there is only so much you can do with the Squarespace platform. But on the other hand, WordPress can ensure your website’s theme is customized exactly to match your business ideas and goals.

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10. SEO

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The SEO is the key to making your website stand out in the crowd. To get noticed by potential clients, your website must rank at the top of search engines. This is what SEO helps with.

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A website builder or CMS have SEO features in-built or made available through plug-ins. It helps the websites built with these platforms to rank better. The SEO can largely depend on the platform you choose to build a website.

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Both WordPress and Squarespace are noted for the strong SEO features. It is a tricky comparison when you think about choosing between these two, based on SEO. WordPress boasts of powerful SEO features through various plug-in. On the other hand, Squarespace has equally strong in-built SEO Features.

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Plug-ins allow more flexibility with tweaking the parameters and in-house features does most of the work for you with minimal effort. The choice depends largely on what you expect from the platform.

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Squarespace SEO:

Firstly, let us delve deeper in the various Squarespace SEO features you will come across. All of them are built-in tools available when you select any of the plans offered by the platform:

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All such tools are absolutely integrated in your website platform and hence need not be installed separately. You can tweak them as required by simply clicking the option and making the necessary changes.

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WordPress SEO

Much of WordPress SEO is provided through the third-party plugins on the platform. You have to install the plugin to start using it for your website.

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WordPress also have in-built SEO features like the option to customize your meta title, description, excerpt, feature image, alt tags and so on. But more of the powerful SEO features come from third-party plugins. Website speed, overall optimization and all functions related to SEO get much simpler with the help of these additional plugins that the platform offers.

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Yoast SEO, The SEO Framework, WordPress SEO Plugin-Rank Math, All in One SEO Pack, are some of the high rated SEO plugins offered by WordPress which are used by thousands for their flexibility and excellent features.

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Specially Yoast SEO is known for high rating with 25,000 plus reviews, and over 5 million active installations. It also have extensive guides on the best practices of SEO and creating high quality content with the right keywords.

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Woocommerce which is the e-commerce counterpart of WordPress have also gained a reputation for user-friendly SEO features. The platform also have various built-in SEO tools that help to optimize the entire website as a whole.

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The only downside of WordPress SEO is the loading speed on mobile website. However, that too, depends largely on the bulk of your website and various parameters like the number of pages, images, videos and audios which have been integrated on the platform.

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11. Customer Support

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One of the most vital parts of building a website on any website builder is their customer service facility. Whether you are a seasoned coder or a beginner in creating websites, help from the platform provider is always welcome.

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There can be may glitches you face that can only be solved by the in-house experts of the platform. When it comes to organized customer service, Squarespace have an edge over WordPress. Customer support is elemental to handle a website smoothly.

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This is why, it is important to choose a platform which offers thorough and professional help whenever you need. Squarespace is particularly known for 24/7 support over email and twitter.

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There is also a library of help guides where you can find all kinds of articles about the solutions. They have workshop videos which tutor users regarding minor problem solutions. Other than that, the community forum is always available with plenty of solution to any problem you post about. The live chat option on Squarespace is available Monday to Friday.

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There are also free webinar sessions to enlighten users on different troubleshooting options. Moreover, there is a marketplace option on Squarespace where you can browse through different experts and seek their guidance for help. 

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All the support features of Squarespace are well organized and easily available round the clock. The resolutions are also provided promptly so you need not worry about the website being down for too long.

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You can also seek help through the Facebook messenger which is answered swiftly. On the other hand, WordPress support is a little tricky to come by. They have variety of solutions but it is rather haphazard and difficult to find for new users. WordPress being an open-source platform gets difficult to track as there are variety of plugins and apps from different developers all over the world.

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Due to the diversity of the platform and multitude of contributors, organized help and solution is non-existent on the platform. There is no option for live chat, email support or phone calls.

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But on the other hand, you can get enormous help from the WordPress forum where millions contribute regarding troubleshoots every day. Other than that, you also get texts and video tutorials and guidelines created by other expert users and even developers.

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You can also minimize the hassle of handling the website by simply hiring a WordPress expert. They can give more personalised solution to manage the website you built. Such experts provide services like developing, installation, hosting, module development and site building.

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12. Design

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The design elements refer to the ease of designing the website through the chosen platform. The simpler it is to design the website, the quicker you can set it up. As a result, you can publish your website efficiently in few minutes.

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Both Squarespace and WordPress have excellent tools to design a website and are easy to use. But Squarespace is simpler since it let you view the edits in real-time. But at the same time, its features are limited and cannot be customized too much.

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Users on Squarespace can set up the website in less than 15 minutes once they select their domain name. Even if you are a beginner with no experience in website designing, you would not face much issue regarding the same.

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The templates provided on Squarespace and clean, elegant and easy to modify and looks very professional. You can tweak superficial features like the background colour, text, style and more with it.

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On the other hand, WordPress can be a little tricky to handle for new user. Since changes have to be made from backend, you cannot see the real-time view. However, with plugins like Elementor, you can sort this problem to some extent.

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But it is not as simple and Squarespace even so. The learning curve is rather stiff but your efforts get rewarded well. A WordPress website have limitless possibilities in terms of design.

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You can tweak the source code as you wish and change the entire look of the website effectively. This is one of the main reasons why WordPress is a popular choice even to new users who are beginners in website designing.

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13. Mobile Editor

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These days a lot of work related to website designing is done on the go with the help of mobile or tablets. To manage your website on the go, the mobile editor is your best option.

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Many websites builder and content management system have developed exclusive mobile application to edit and manage the website on the go. The same applies to WordPress and Squarespace.

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When it comes to mobile editor app, it is a tie between Squarespace and WordPress. Squarespace has plenty of options for editing on their application. There are four different apps for different purpose with Squarespace.

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They are for analytics, blog, commerce and the Squarespace app. All these apps work on Android and iOS. You can track the analytics and performance of your website with the analytics app.

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The blogging app has all required editing tools for your blog content. To manage an e-commerce website, you have specific tools in the e-commerce app. The Squarespace app is primarily to update images, pages, write and edit blogs, as well as track analytics.

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The Squarespace app combines the primary features of all the other three apps. It is useful to do minor updates and changes all over the website. But if you want to go into the details of specific segments, getting the dedicated apps for the purpose is wiser.

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The WordPress app is much simpler. There is only one app for all the works and the interface is very simple and yet covers all the tools you need. The WordPress app is available for android, iOS and even windows devices. You can even download it for a desktop.

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Editing and writing blog posts, keeping basic tab on your website analytics, checking notifications and comments and replying to them- all can be done with the WordPress app. You simply need to install the app for free on your system and connect your website with it. Once it is done, you can simply manage the website- all in one place on the go.

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14. Maintenance And Updates

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Maintenance and updates are crucial part to keep your website functional and smooth. The website builder platform goes through these occasionally so that you get the latest interface to enhance your website further.

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Sometimes you have to actively implement these updates on your website for it to function smoothly. Other times, it is managed internally by the platform and saves you a lot of time and effort. When it comes to maintenance, Squarespace is the better choice.

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All the updates and maintenances in Squarespace are handled internally for you. They are tested and upgraded to your website automatically. This means, you need not worry about implementing these updates manually.

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Thus, you can focus better on taking care of the design aspect of the website. In case of WordPress, you have stay alert about the latest updates and ongoing maintenance processes.

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You need to implement them manually to ensure your website keeps functioning smoothly. Most of the WordPress updates and maintenance are to fix the bugs and improve security features of the website.

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This means, every time a new update is rolled out by WordPress, you have to implement it at the earliest so that your website stay functional. Regular updates are important to improve and maintain consistent performance of your website.

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It also ensure there is no conflict with the latest versions of the platform. Lastly, it prevents your website from crashing frequently. The key is to implement plugins and applications from reputable developers who usually update their product time to time. Once their update is available, WordPress sent a notification regarding the same and you need to implement it on your website.

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15. Security

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Security of the website is of utmost importance to built a reputation for your brand. If your website hosting is not secure, many potential users are likely to avoid it. The security features are largely dependent on the platform where you built the website.

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Both WordPress and Squarespace have strong security features that ensure your website does not get attached or there is any data loss. Squarespace is a hosted solution which takes care of the security for you.

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The platform is responsible to ensure that your website does not get breached by cyber thieves. Hence, they keep backups of all your data. All the domains are protected through SSL certificate on Squarespace.

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The platform also have two-factor authentication which ensure additional protection to all your personal and financial data. However, on WordPress you have plenty of options to amp the security of the website and choose as per your requirement.

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But the implementation is largely dependent on your team or you. You have to get the SSL certificate and implement the regular WordPress security updates to ensure the website remain functional.

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There are innumerable plugins for security on WordPress. Hence, it is imperative to choose wisely so that your website is thoroughly protected. Only go for products from reputed developers on WordPress to enjoy highest security solution.

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16. Content Ownership

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Licensing and ownership is an essential part of managing a website. But WordPress is slightly better in this segment compared to Squarespace. Since it is an open-source platform, you have absolute control over the licensing terms.

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It is wise to check the content ownership policies of the platform before you built a website. Depending on the platform, the rights on your own content may vary depending on the platform you choose.

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Everything uploaded on a Squarespace website remains your own content. However, you do not own the website template and you only have the license for it when you pay. Also, everything you upload on a Squarespace website is licensed to the company.

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This means you give them the license to store, host, reproduce, modify, and create derivatives from your work. But these are terms similar to those on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, twitter etc. and not too problematic in real life.

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WordPress being an open-source platform, it you modify and redistribute the content you create at will. But it can be a problem since it makes the platform’s coding incredibly complicated to handle. But since you can use it freely, there are no imposing terms related to ownership like that on Squarespace.

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The only problem with WordPress is that you are responsible for the hosting service. Most of the reputed hosting services come with similar ownership policies like Squarespace. But you can still retain majority control on your content.

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Final Verdict 

Building a website involves many factors which influence the overall quality and accessibility of the platform. Themes, SEO, mobile apps, plugins, storage, design elements- all these are factors that must be considered while choosing a website builder or CMS.

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Both Squarespace and WordPress are popular choices though one is a website builder while the other is a content management system. Both comes with several advantages and disadvantages. The key is to choose the one whose features matches your requirement best.

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Squarespace is known particularly for its in-house applications and design features. They have superior features and functions to build a basic e-commerce platform for small and medium businesses.

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The overall cost is also affordable enough for such businesses. But on the other hand, it is not the best platform for blogging or content-based ventures. WordPress is highly customizable and is an open-source platform which make it an attractive choice for users with coding skills. It has a plethora of third-party plugins for every requirement.

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The best part is, WordPress was primarily built for blogging. It has a counterpart specifically designed for e-commerce website called Woocommerce. However, it can be a little overwhelming to manage for someone new in the business.

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When it comes to choosing between WordPress and Squarespace, the key is to have a clarity about your business requirement. This in turn will help you find the perfect platform which is also within your budget and easy to control.

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If you are a small or medium business looking for website for digital exposure and selling your products, Squarespace is a good choice. It will be easier to setup with minimal learning curve.

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If you plan to grow the business exponentially and wish to built a strong content-front as well, WordPress is a good choice. If you are skilled with coding it is the perfect option or else you may have to hire a professional. But despite the steep learning curve, it is a better choice in the long run.

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Conclusion 

The choice of right website builder comes down to the purpose of the website. If you are in a dilemma while choosing between WordPress and Squarespace, the key is to consider the features essential for your purpose.

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Both platforms have certain key areas of expertise and hence, setting aside any one of them as the best get difficult. In terms of blogging and informational website, WordPress has an edge for its design elements. On the other hand, Squarespace provide more features and perks for commercial websites.

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However, both are rather expensive and difficult to afford for small businesses. In such a situation, you can consider Fynd Platform which have all the features of both WordPress and Squarespace but at a much lesser cost.

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Fynd Platform is easy to set up even for beginners and have a huge follower base. Thus, a website built on this platform will always have an extra edge. The best part is the affordability and value for money. You get access to the most premium features at much less cost.

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In short, one can conclude, WordPress and Squarespace are prestigious platforms undoubtedly. But if you are looking for quality services, you can also consider newcomers in the market like Fynd platform which is equally good.

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The platform takes inspiration from the such market leaders to develop their UI and UX and their website structure to deliver the best to the customers.