Bluehost vs Squarespace 2025: which is better?
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If you’re wondering whether to go with a web host like Bluehost or a website builder like Squarespace for your website, you’re in the right place. In this comparison, I will cover everything from pricing and ease of use to performance and support, so you can find the right fit for your needs.
Bluehost is a hosting provider that lets you use whichever CMS you want to build your website. Squarespace is a website builder that presents you with the easiest way to build a website with no prior experience.
As different as these two providers might be, they can help you create a beautiful and successful website.
Bluehost vs Squarespace: comparison
Bluehost and Squarespace are both well-known names in the industry. However, Bluehost is a hosting provider, while Squarespace is a website builder. This comes with different approaches to building a site and a significant price difference.
Here’s a quick overview of facts only. It's up to you if you'd like to read the full article or jump straight down to the conclusion.
| Bluehost | Squarespace | |
| ⭐ Rating: | ||
| 💵 Price: | From $1.99/month | From $16.00/month |
| 📑 Uptime guarantee: | 99.9% | 99.9% |
| 🔥 Coupons: | Bluehost coupon 83% OFF | Squarespace coupon 36% OFF |
| Storage space (from): | 10GB SSD | Unlimited |
| ✂️ Free domain (first year): | Yes | Yes |
| 🔒 Free SSL certificate: | Yes (first year) | Yes |
| ➡️ Site migration: | Free WordPress migration (1 site) or paid (up to 5 sites) | Manual site migration |
| 💾 Automated backups: | Daily website backups (free 1st year), not with Basic plan | No |
| 📧 Email accounts: | Free (up to 10 accounts) | 1 professional email from Google |
| 👨💻 24/7 live support: | Yes | Yes |
| 💰 Money-back guarantee: | 30-day | 5-day |
Our in-house research team and expert writers work hand in hand to regularly test hosting services and provide accurate and fact-checked information. Discover the ins and outs of how we test and evaluate website hosting providers.
Pricing comparison
Bluehost, by default, is much cheaper than Squarespace. The cost of shared hosting plans on Bluehost ranges from $1.99/month to $99.00/month, while Squarespace plans range from $16.00/month to $99.00/month.
At the same time, the price difference makes sense. Bluehost provides hosting and the tools to manage everything yourself. Squarespace, on the other hand, is a website builder that handles the technical side for you, so you can focus on designing your site.
The two platforms don’t offer many of the same features. Both include a free domain and SSL, but the rest is quite different:
- Bluehost Basic ($1.99/month) includes 10 websites, 10GB SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth. Monetization options are not limited.
- Squarespace Basic ($16.00/month) comes with unlimited storage, bandwidth, and eCommerce functionality.
It’s also worth noting that Squarespace only lets you build 1 website per plan. Bluehost is more flexible and allows hosting up to 100 websites, depending on the plan you choose.
Also, billing options are different.
With Bluehost, you get the best price by purchasing at least a 1-year subscription, yet renewals are higher. Squarespace gives a discount on yearly subscriptions and doesn’t have higher renewals. Plus, monthly pricing is not that bad either.
Overall, Bluehost is cheaper, but during renewal, the prices get a lot more even.At the same time, you can choose monthly billing with Squarespace and Bluehost to avoid high pre-payments.
Because the cheapest plan might not always offer the best value, I decided to explore other plans.
Bluehost’s 3 plans range from $1.99/month to $6.45/month. You can choose them for monthly, annual, or 3-year subscriptions. However, the annual plan provides the best monthly price:
- Basic is best for personal use, simple websites, and blogs.
- Choice Plus is good for multiple sites that need sufficient storage and backups. It allows hosting up to 50 websites and provides 50GB SSD, and prices start from $3.95/month.
- eCommerce Essentials is the recommended plan for users who want to sell online, as it includes commerce tools, such as payment processing, WooCommerce, and memberships. Its prices start at $6.45/month.
Squarespace has 4 plans ranging from $16.00 to $99.00 a month with a yearly subscription:
- Basic is the cheapest plan, starting at $16.00/month. It’s great if you’re building a portfolio or a site to represent your business. However, monetizing it through eCommerce won’t be possible.
- Core adds eCommerce functionality, but it comes with a 3% transaction fee. So if you sell $100 worth of goods a month, a $23.00/month plan will turn into a $33.00/month plan. Not worth it.
- Plus costs $39.00/month, removes the 3% fee, and is great for smaller eCommerce stores with functionalities such as client accounts and analytics.
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For bigger businesses, Advanced opens up all the features available with Squarespace – abandoned cart recovery, advanced discounts, and even APIs for third-party integrations. Its price starts at $99.00/month.
You can try out Squarespace for 14 days free of charge, no credit card required. Bluehost doesn’t have a free trial, but you can cancel and get a full refund 30 days after the purchase. Keep in mind that the payment has to be made via credit card.
Bluehost vs Squarespace 2025: ease of use
Both Bluehost and Squarespace are great as far as ease of use is concerned. While very different, they provide the user with an easy and intuitive process. Bluehost does that with a custom dashboard, a variety of tools, and cPanel integration. Squarespace has a great account management dashboard and a straightforward website editor.
Setting up a website
Upon signing in, both providers will greet you with a quick setup process. If you wish, Bluehost will install a WordPress site for you, while Squarespace will lay the foundation for your future website.
Before you get to the dashboard, Bluehost walks you through a setup wizard. You can skip it, but if you complete it, you'll have a WordPress site ready to go.
You can even pick a theme and some plugins during this process. So once you’re done, all is left to do is customize the site in the WordPress admin panel.
As for Squarespace, you go through a similar setup, but the focus here is the choice of a template.
Because Squarespace has hundreds of templates, it asks you questions to better filter the choice.
Once you pick a template, you’re redirected to the website builder/editor to start customizing your website immediately. In both cases, you can set up a basic website in under 5 minutes.
Website and account management
After the website setup, you finally get to see what the inside management looks like on both products. This is where the main difference appears – Bluehost starts to feel like a hosting platform, while Squarespace shows its strength as a website builder.
For account and hosting management, Bluehost has a simplistic yet very efficient dashboard.
Everything is neat and easy. You can access the most important stuff from the side panel, which includes all of your sites, marketplace, and emails.
I absolutely love the fact that in the middle of the page, it provides you with a to-do list for completing the creation of your website. Having a list that you can follow is incredibly useful, especially if you’re new and have no idea where to start. However, be aware that the list only applies if you intend to use WordPress.
The My Sites area will probably be the main thing that you use. It lists all of your websites and has a separate management interface for each of them.
Here are the settings for speed, security, and general stuff such as site URL, automated backups, and updates.
As you can see, most of the stuff you need to properly manage your website is included right there as far as WordPress is concerned. However, Bluehost has the integration of cPanel that allows you to control more advanced settings and other CMSs. You’ll reach it by clicking the Advanced button on the left-side menu.
If you’ve ever used cPanel before, you’ll be quick to realize that the whole look has been optimized specifically for Bluehost. However, the way you use it and its functionality remain pretty much the same.
This is where you can create free email accounts, reach databases, or find the file manager.
At the same time, the Bluehost backend is just for management – setting up a domain, installing a CMS, getting an email account, and so on. As far as a website goes, you’ll use the content management system of your choice, such as WordPress.
Squarespace is completely different, being one of the top site builder platforms. After the setup process, you are immediately taken to the website builder, where all the settings related to the website and its functionalities can be found.
On the right side, you can see a live preview of the site, while the menu on the left features all the settings imaginable. It’s meant for both designing the website and configuring settings such as domain, SSL, SEO, and even marketing.
The menu has multiple layers, each option taking you deeper into the settings. At the same time, no page needs to reload, as everything is built into the same interface.
So compared to Bluehost, Squarespace might be even easier to use, as you do everything in one place. From designing the site to managing account and hosting-related stuff.
Website builder comparison
The obvious winner of this section is Squarespace, yet Bluehost also has a simplistic website builder that’s good for quickly launching a site.
Website builders are usually the choice for those who don’t want to get into technicalities. You get everything in one place. Only the creative part is left to do, so it’s a time and nerve-saving option.
So while the primary option to build a website with Bluehost is WordPress, it also includes its own website builder. And it’s quite a good one too.
Bluehost Builder doesn’t have a choice of templates. Rather, it asks you questions, allows you to choose colors, fonts, and images, and develops a unique layout.
Once that’s done, you can use a simplistic editor to modify the created layout. Each design block has a choice of several different looks as well as unique settings.
This kind of editing is probably the easiest way to launch a website.
But Bluehost hides a surprise in its builder. It’s actually a WordPress plugin, and once you feel confident enough to leave the simplistic interface, you can easily take advantage of the power that this CMS offers. Pretty cool, in my opinion.
Squarespace’s builder is much more powerful. For starters, it comes with hundreds of stunning templates. And there’s no other way to describe them; it’s obvious that the platform puts a lot of work into making the templates unique and very attractive.
The templates are responsive as well. They will look good on phones, tablets, and desktops, adjusting automatically.
As for the building experience, it can be both very simple and very advanced. You can choose to simply replace the demo pictures and text with your own. You can also modify the layouts to make each page and design element unique.
No matter which approach you choose, using the editor is quite intuitive. You can drag and drop the existing stuff around as well as add new design elements such as buttons, text boxes, and images. Squarespace has global settings for fonts and colors, but you can also choose to edit this for each section individually.
What I liked is the design freedom that’s paired with some rules. You do get a lot of freedom of where and how to arrange your content, but Squarespace has prepared slots in which that content can go. This way, you won’t mess up spacing, and the site will look tidy and professional.
Overall, Squarespace is definitely the more powerful builder, and there’s no surprise why – it specializes in that. At the same time, Bluehost Builder is not too shabby either; it’s definitely usable for quick and easy site creation.
Extra features
Bluehost and Squarespace both come with custom tools for website management. Bluehost is definitely one of the most functional hosting providers compared to its competitors. Meanwhile, Squarespace offers more than a regular website builder too.
With Bluehost, you’ll get to use a bunch of extra stuff:
- Manage WordPress plugins and updates straight from the dashboard
- Set up and manage Google Ads in a simplified interface
- List your business on Google My Business, so you can appear on queries such as “pizza near me”
But one tool is more helpful than the others, and that is WordPress staging. This feature creates a copy of your site that only you can see. You can use it for editing design, testing plugin updates, or introducing new functionalities. And you can make those changes appear on the actual live website with the click of a button.
Staging adds a layer of privacy and security. Plus, your services remain uninterrupted – users are guaranteed a good experience at all times when on your website.
As for Squarespace, it’s no less impressive with the tools offered:
- Integration with social media channels such as Instagram to list your products is easy and automated
- Email marketing is built-in, and it’s easy to make your email campaigns match your brand
- SEO settings can be configured straight from the builder interface
- Third-party extensions are available to extend your website functionality
Squarespace also has a mobile app for your website and commerce management on the go. You can publish posts, make design changes, or edit products. That is a feature that WordPress might never have due to the sheer complexity of the platform.
While you might not design the whole website on your phone, having the possibility to make changes wherever you are is definitely convenient.
I’d say that both products are impressive in what they offer as an extra value. It’s rare to see that hosting providers help you take care of marketing, while staging is rarely seen in shared hosting at all. As for Squarespace, the mobile app is definitely a superstar here, and other functionalities are helpful to launch a successful business.
Bluehost vs Squarespace performance
No matter the platform on which you build the site, performance is the key to ensuring a good user experience and search engine visibility. For the Bluehost vs Squarespace comparison, I tested their reliability, speed, and uptime. Turns out, website builders are bashed for poor performance needlessly – Squarespace can easily compete with Bluehost.
Uptime and response time
To find out how reliable the providers are, I monitored their uptime and response time for 2 months. Both showed quite similar results.
Looking at Bluehost, it showed an uptime of 100%.
As for the response time, it’s a speedy average of 118.59 ms. In the first month, Bluehost wasn’t performing as well, but the results really improved later on.
Squarespace also proved to be reliable, with a 100% uptime result.
The average response time is a little higher, 595ms.
Altogether, both Bluehost and Squarespace are very reliable in terms of uptime and response time.
Website speed
Next up, I tested how fast a fully-built website can load. Website builders are pretty infamous for poor optimizations, so it’s really interesting to see how Squarespace holds up against Bluehost.
But to better understand the results, you first need to know what metrics to look at:
- The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) should be under 2.5 seconds. It shows a time when the majority of the content is loaded.
- Fully Loaded Time speaks for itself. It’s best to keep it under 3 seconds.
- TTFB is the time that the server takes to react when a web page is opened. 200ms is ideal, although not mandatory.
Bluehost’s LCP was 2.001s, and the fully loaded time was 1.263s, which is a strong result.
At the same time, the Bluehost server took 0.362s to react (TTFB), which is slightly higher than the recommended result.
Squarespace is very close behind with a faster 1.526s LCP but with a bigger delay to Fully Loaded Time – 2.252s. Yet still, a very good result.
Even better, as the server was super quick to initially react, with TTFB at 0.197s. Sadly, there was some 173ms blocking time, delaying the overall page load.
Both Bluehost and Squarespace load websites very quickly. At the same time, both have some weak spots. Bluehost’s servers are quite slow to react, while Squarespace lacks some optimization, which delays page loading.
Stress testing results
One test that brought the two contenders even closer was stress testing. I tested how much and how stably the platforms can handle traffic by sending 50 virtual users (bots) to the websites and decreasing the number if needed.
Bluehost handled 50 virtual users over 5 minutes very well – that’s similar to handling tens of thousands of visits a month.
The response time stayed low and steady, even as traffic grew. With a 113ms response time and zero failures, the server handled the load easily.
Squarespace handled 50 virtual users for over 5 minutes, processing nearly 15,000 requests with no errors.
The response time (blue line) stayed consistently low at 16ms, even at a peak rate of 50 requests per second. That’s a very solid performance under load.
The results are quite similar in my opinion. Both providers can handle around the same amount of traffic with solid response times.
Website security
Some extra attention to your website security is needed as web threats are increasing in numbers and intensity. Thankfully, both Bluehost and Squarespace cover the essentials such as SSLs and server monitoring. However, Squarespace includes more and does not charge extra for anything.
With both hosts, you’ll get the same things that ensure protection from the main security threats:
- Free SSL certificates for data encryption
- 24/7 server monitoring
- Possibility to set up Cloudflare for DDoS protection
At the same time, there are a couple of differences.
Bluehost charges extra for additional security:
- Daily backups are $2.99/month
- Web application firewall alongside malware removal is another $2.99/month
Squarespace has these features activated by default:
- WAF is on and managed by professionals.
- Regular backups are performed automatically. In case there’s a critical error, you can request for your site to be restored.
So while these are more advanced features, they are still important, and Squarespace has a much better policy.
Customer support
When it comes to customer service, the two providers opted for very different approaches. Getting to a live chat is much faster with Bluehost, while Squarespace offers a very vast knowledge base before initiating direct contact.
When creating and maintaining your own website, it is inevitable that you will have questions and issues that you will need help with. That’s why great customer support is so valuable in this field.
Bluehost has a 24/7 live chat option and phone support. What I really liked about it is the fact that you can get to a live chat with a single click of a button. Moreover, an agent joined the chat in seconds, which was quite a pleasant surprise.
I asked about the renewal prices, and the agent assured me that they will provide me with that information. But before that, the agent opted to try some sales attempts by trying to recommend me a plan. When I didn’t give up, I was provided with a simple link in which I was supposed to find my answer.
I didn’t particularly like this – my question was very simple and even had the answer suggested in it. The agent could’ve just replied yes. Meanwhile, the article to which I was redirected was a tiny bit confusing.
So while I did receive help immediately, it wasn’t a 100% excellent experience.
Squarespace offers 24/7 email support and live chat support from Monday to Friday, 4 AM to 8 PM EDT. In order to reach either of the options, you’ll first need to go through a couple of questions and knowledge base suggestions. But that doesn’t take long.
I opted for a chat and was connected to the agent immediately. Once again, very good experience regarding this.
I wanted to know if yearly discounts are permanent. At first, the agent didn’t understand and suggested that promotions are a one-off thing. But I specified the question and got a quick answer with a link.
I really liked that the agent answered the questions himself and included links for more information. That’s very different from Bluehost.
At the same time, getting in touch with support agents is not the only way to get help.
Both Bluehost and Squarespace have well-developed and thorough knowledge bases. Providers keep updating them to match the service updates, so you’ll find relevant help.
Bluehost vs Squarespace: final recommendations
All things considered, when it comes to Bluehost vs Squarespace, both have their pros and cons. Bluehost offers significantly cheaper pricing options and a management panel that can handle more advanced features and bigger websites. Squarespace is an all-in-one platform that offers simple billing, strong security, and reliable customer support.
At the end of the day, you really can’t go wrong with either one of these options, and your choice should be based solely on your needs. This is how it all looks combined:
| Feature | Bluehost | Squarespace | Verdict |
| Pricing | Bluehost is much cheaper than Squarespace with the starting price of $1.99/month. Meanwhile, Squarespace is more limited and prices start at $16.00/month. Annual subscriptions are needed to get the best prices. | ||
| Ease of use | As a hosting provider, Bluehost is effortless to use yet more advanced when compared to a website builder such as Squarespace. | ||
| Performance | Both products showed good reliability with 100% uptime. They were also very close in terms of speed and power, yet Bluehost proved to be better in both cases. | ||
| Security | Bluehost and Squarespace both cover security basics, but Bluehost charges extra for more advanced stuff. Meanwhile, Squarespace includes additional features such as WAF and backups by default. | ||
| Support | Bluehost 24/7 live chat is more convenient than Squarespace business-hours-only live chat. At the same time, Squarespace agents were more helpful. |
Alternatives to Bluehost and Squarespace
If neither Bluehost nor Squarespace seems like the perfect option for you, there are some different providers you definitely should look into. For example, Wix is a great website builder alternative to Squarespace, while Hostinger and HostGator are some of the most popular hosting providers out there today.
Wix
Wix presents a great alternative to Squarespace because it has a very advanced website builder and some slightly cheaper (and even free) pricing options. Don’t get fooled by its cheapest plans, however, as they have limited bandwidth and storage. Meanwhile, all Squarespace plans offer unlimited bandwidth and storage.
At the same time, it is a choice for those who want complete design freedom. While Squarespace carefully helps you design a clean website, Wix encourages you to get loose – there are no rules and no limits on how much you can customize. It’s powerful and fun to use and has much more flexibility.
Hostinger
Hostinger offers an even cheaper hosting alternative to Bluehost. Hostinger’s cheapest plan starts at a ridiculous $2.69/month. The packages are on the basic side, but the provider covers all the essentials and doesn’t sacrifice quality and ease of use.
What is interesting is that Hostinger has some of the best performance across all shared hosting. For such a low price, you get a performance-driven provider with data centers in 7 different locations and some of the latest technology.
HostGator
HostGator is an excellent alternative for complete beginners in the field. Not only does it offer very affordable pricing options, but it is also incredibly easy to use and build your website with.
HostGator has 3 main plans – Hatchling, Baby, and Business. They are $2.29/month, $3.50/month, and $5.25/month, respectively. It offers an intuitive cPanel control panel as well as its own website builder, which makes managing and building your website from scratch simple.
Bluehost vs Squarespace FAQ
What is the main difference between Bluehost and Squarespace?
The main difference between Bluehost and Squarespace is that Bluehost is a hosting provider, while Squarespace is a website builder. With Bluehost, you can freely choose what software you use to build your website.
Which is cheaper, Bluehost or Squarespace?
When it comes to price, Bluehost is a much cheaper option than Squarespace. Its prices start at $1.99/monthcompared to Squarespace’s $16.00/month. At the same time, renewal pricing brings Bluehost much closer to Squarespace, as it does not increase pricing.
Which is easier to use, Bluehost or Squarespace?
Both Bluehost and Squarespace are very easy to use and intuitive. Bluehost uses a custom management interface with a bunch of helpful tools and classic cPanel integration. Squarespace, on the other hand, has an intuitive website builder with all settings built into one single interface.
