Wix vs Squarespace 2026 – I tried both builders
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Wix vs Squarespace are popular website builders, and I genuinely like using them both. In this article, I compare them side by side in categories like pricing, ease of use, use cases, and more – highlighting their key differences and similarities to help you choose the right fit.
Key takeaways
- Wix offers more for a cheaper price. Wix pricing starts at $17.00/month and even has a free plan, while Squarespace starts at $16.00/month with no free version.
- Wix offers more customization and flexibility than Squarespace. Wix offers more tools to tailor websites for different needs. On the other hand, Squarespace is simpler to navigate but less customizable.
- Wix offers more templates than Squarespace. Wix has 2700+ templates with a classic drag-and-drop editor, while Squarespace offers 199 high-quality, minimalist templates better suited for creatives.
- Wix includes advanced business features. Wix has SEO, analytics, and a wide range of eCommerce tools. On the other side, Squarespace is stronger for integrated social media sales and email marketing.
- Squarespace loads nearly twice as fast as Wix. Additionally, Wix offers CDN technology for better uptime and speed.
- Wix provides faster, multi-channel support. Wix includes phone, live chat, and email support, while Squarespace relies mainly on written support.
Wix vs Squarespace 2026: my verdict
While comparing Wix vs Squarespace, Wix wins for design freedom, business features, and affordability, whereas Squarespace stands out with better performance and polished, designer-quality templates.
| Wix | Squarespace | |
| ⭐Rating | ||
| 💵 Price | From $17.00/month | From $16.00/month |
| 🎨Templates | 2700 | 199 |
| 🪄Flexibility | 800+ web apps, custom plugin integration, suitable for any site | Numerous plugins for shipping, inventory, sales, marketing, and finance |
| 🔎SEO tools | Meta titles and descriptions, URL customization, Google Search integration, image optimization, structure data markup, and site inspection | Meta titles and descriptions, custom URLs, image alt text, and canonical tags |
| ⚒️Additional tools | Sales of digital products and services, email and newsletter builder | Email and newsletter templates, and email marketing analytics |
| 🖼️Portfolio websites | Countless templates for various portfolio sites | Ideal for visual media, minimalist templates for showcasing work |
| ✍️Blog websites | Numerous templates, easy-to-use site editor, ideal for creating blogs | Templates for blog websites |
| 🛒eCommerce websites | eCommerce features for building an online store | Two eCommerce plans for building an extensive online store |
| 🔥Top deals | Wix coupon 50% OFF | Get up to 36% OFF Squarespace |
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Pricing: which one offers better value?
When comparing Wix vs Squarespace, Wix offers stronger value than Squarespace. Below, I break down each platform’s pricing setup and what you can expect in return.
Wix pricing
Wix offers a range of plans (including a free one) and tends to deliver more features than Squarespace. Here are the key details:
- Free plan – includes Wix branding, limited storage, and no custom domain
- Light plan – $17.00/month
- Core plan – $14.50/month
- Business / Business Elite – up to ~$79.50/month for full eCommerce capabilities
- Money-back guarantee – Wix offers a 14-day money-back guarantee for its paid plans
Squarespace pricing
Squarespace is more streamlined in pricing, but with fewer tiers and no free plan. Luckily, it offers a 14-day free trial. Besides, you can get an additional discount with the Squarespace promo code CNSQUARESPACE10. Here’s how it structures its plans:
- Basic plan – $16.00/month
- Core plan – $23.00/month
- Plus plan – $39.00month
- Advanced plan – $99.00/month
- Money-back guarantee – Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial (which acts like a guarantee before you commit)
Which is easier to use – Wix or Squarespace?
Wix and Squarespace are popular among both beginners and professionals due to their user-friendly interfaces.
Now, let’s take a closer look at what you can expect from both Wix and Squarespace in terms of ease of use.
Using Wix
What I loved about Wix was that it was customizable and provided a smooth user experience. While it offers 2700+ templates, it doesn't limit you to only these templates. You can still design your page structure however you want. On top of that, since your website's mobile version looks slightly different from your desktop's, you can edit it separately on the Mobile Editor. Additionally, Wix lets you fully customize the menus and navigation of your page. This means you can design the layout, control the menu's behavior, and personalize its appearance.
Wix also offers advanced AI tools to help you build your dream website. I really liked Wix’s AI text generator, image creator, image editor, section generator, and portfolio creator.
The sheer number of AI tools can feel a little overwhelming initially, but I found Wix’s generative AI quite useful. For example, I gave the same prompt to both providers' AIs, and although both sound human-like and creative, Wix's generated text is more expansive and descriptive. These tools make Wix great for bloggers, content creators, copywriters, and other creatives.
On the other hand, the regular editor allows for a lot more freedom:
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You start by picking one of the 2700+ templates available.
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Then you move on to the editing part – this is a classic drag-and-drop editor, so customizing the look will be really easy. There are hundreds of various elements that can be added, mixed, matched, and combined on your Wix site. I was a bit annoyed since the editor takes a while to load, but once it’s all settled and ready, there are no noticeable loading times when designing your website.
Overall, using Wix can cause a bit of sensory overload. But there's a good reason for that – there's so much you can do. With two different editors, hundreds of themes, and abundant design customizability, you get a lot of freedom and flexibility. And once you get used to the editor, things start looking pretty intuitive.
Using Squarespace
Squarespace offers fewer customization options, making the setup process a little less hectic. I think it’s hard to get lost while navigating with Squarespace, because the interface is very clean, and all the settings are listed conveniently on the left side of the panel. Additionally, for those who want great results quicker, there is Squarespace Blueprint AI – the provider’s proprietary AI website builder.
Building your website with Blueprint AI:
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Just like Wix, Squarespace asks you to describe your website to get a better understanding of what elements would fit your website. However, unlike Wix, it doesn’t ask any specific questions, which can make it hard to describe if you don’t have a clear vision. Additionally, you can choose your brand personality to align with your website.
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Then you’re taken to the editor, where you can build the foundation of your website. Blueprint AI suggests the most important sections you should add based on your previous website description. However, it leaves most of the work of designing the website up to you.
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Here, you can also add other pages to your website. Blueprint AI also has recommendations on what you should add.
- Then, you can choose the color palette and font, and your website is ready to go.
Squarespace also offers plenty of generative AI tools, which I found to be less elaborate than Wix’s. However, you can ask the AI to simplify/shorten/lengthen the initial version, which is great if you like the text but want to tweak it a little.
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Start by picking a template that fits your website idea. Even on a free trial, you can choose as many websites and templates as you like.
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After picking your template, answer a couple of questions to set up your site. You are asked to share the site name and the pages required. There’s also a short tutorial on how Squarespace works.
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In the editor, you can customize your site’s appearance. I would like to note that while Squarespace does offer drag-and-drop functionality, it restricts the item position to a grid layout, so it can feel limiting at times.
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Choose from several pre-made sections. They're all made to suit the template you pick in terms of style, fonts, and colors.
This system makes Squarespace a lot less customizable than Wix, but I think that’s perfect for beginners and more straightforward projects. Moreover, I noticed that Squarespace’s approach ensures the final website looks good on all types of devices.
Unfortunately, I ran into some trouble during the building process with Squarespace. For example, sometimes the editor would load the elements indefinitely until I refreshed the page. While I only had this happen to me a few times, it can turn into a real hassle when you’re designing a professional website.
Which offers better templates and design options?
Wix offers 2700+ templates in multiple design categories, ranging from portfolios to stores, and many more. Squarespace includes 199 templates from 19 categories like fashion, food, fitness, and more. Both providers' templates are responsive and well-designed.
Let’s dive deeper into what kinds of templates Wix and Squarespace can offer.
Templates on Wix
To start, Wix offers 2700 templates available that cover any possible theme you could think of. Also, it offers a classic drag-and-drop Wix editor, allowing you to customize the existing templates to your liking and boosting your experience.
With so many different template options, you can find the one that fits your needs easily – whether you need a classic-looking site or a modern one. In addition, the grouping by different topics allows for easy navigation.
Templates of Squarespace
Squarespace offers 199 templates, while Wix has 2700+. There are fewer topics to choose from, too. With 19 options, there are templates for photography, food, events, and everything in between.
There is also a section for My Favorites, allowing you to find a template you’ve used before very quickly.
Squarespace also uses a simplistic section-based editor. This doesn’t give you too many customization options, but it’s very easy to use, even for a beginner.
Better yet, with this simplistic editor, you can always be certain that your website’s design will not vary too far from the template and will stay modern and professional.
What business features do Wix and Squarespace provide?
To build a successful and attractive business website, both Wix and Squarespace offer additional useful business features. From general website builder features like free SSLs and custom domain names to more advanced tools like eCommerce features – both of these providers have you covered.
Wix and Squarespace offer a variety of features enabling you to build a professional-looking business website. Here’s a comparison table of all the business features that Wix and Squarespace offer:
| Business features | Wix | Squarespace | Winner |
| eCommerce features | Product management, sale of services, point of sale, shipping, app store, advanced booking system, types of products, and abandoned cart recovery | Product management, bookings, payment and shipping options, types of products, point of sale, app store, and abandoned cart recovery | Draw |
| Security features | SSL certificates, DDoS attack protection, and firewall security | SSL certificates, DDoS attack protection, and firewall security | Draw |
| Free domain | ✅ Yes, for the 1st year | ✅ Yes, for the 1st year | Draw |
| Email marketing | Email builder for newsletters, email campaigns, subscriptions, promotional videos, email marketing reports, other marketing tools, and email app integrations | Email and newsletter templates, email campaigns, subscriber management, and integrated email marketing analytics | Wix |
| Social media integration | Facebook ads integration (on Wix Stores only) | Direct product sales on Instagram or Facebook | Squarespace |
| Analytics | Traffic, visitor behavior, revenue report monitoring, personalized suggestions, customer insights, and product portfolio management | Traffic and engagement monitoring, sales statistics, Google Analytics integration, and Purchase Funnel | Wix |
| SEO tools | Meta titles and descriptions, URL customization, Google Search integration, canonical tags, image optimization, and site inspection | Meta titles and descriptions, custom URLs, image alt text, Google Search Console integration, and canonical tags | Wix |
How do Wix and Squarespace perform in speed and uptime?
When comparing website builders, the number of templates and usability are not the only factors – performance also matters. You wouldn't like to lose users just because your website takes too long to load.
Together with our research team, I conducted speed and uptime tests to determine which provider performs better. Keep reading to find out which provider performed better: Wix or Squarespace.
Wix performance
My fully built Wix website rendered the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) in around 6.8s during tests. While you may optimize your website to improve it, it's still slow. Also, it is far slower than Google's recommended 2.5s, so your website may struggle with ranking.
Fortunately, uptime tests showed great results. After a month of monitoring, Wix delivered 99.88% uptime. This was 0.1% less than the previous month in September. But keeping in mind that a guaranteed 100% is almost impossible, I think that it’s a pretty great result.
Squarespace performance
Squarespace showed far better results than Wix by rendering the LCP in 3.6s. While it's still slower than Google recommends your website to be, it's nearly two times better than Wix.
Squarespace also wins with uptime. After testing it for a month, I can safely say it stayed up 99.99% of the time. There were also only a few minor hiccups and no major disruptions.
In addition, Squarespace can boost your website's performance with its Content Delivery Network (CDN) technology. It saves parts of your website on servers worldwide so they can be accessed more quickly. It also automatically resizes images, so your website loads faster.
Wix vs Squarespace: customer support
Both Wix and Squarespace offer various customer support channels:
| Wix | Squarespace | |
| Live chat | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Phone support | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | |
| Help center | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Social media/forums | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Overall, Squarespace concentrates more on written responses, which can be great in certain situations. On the other hand, Wix favors direct support via phone and live chat.
Video review
Prefer watching instead of reading? We’ve summed up our Wix vs Squarespace findings in the video below.
Final verdict: which one is better?
The key difference between Wix and Squarespace is flexibility. Wix offers over 2700 templates, advanced customization, and powerful business tools, making it the better choice. While it has a slight learning curve, its versatility outweighs the cons.
On the other hand, Squarespace is simpler but gives far better performance. By using CDN technology, Squarespace rendered the website nearly two times faster than Wix.
| Feature | Wix | Squarespace | Verdict |
| Pricing | Wix is more affordable, starting at $17.00/month and even offering a free plan, while Squarespace starts at $16.00/month with no free version. Overall, Wix provides better value for money. | ||
| Ease of use | Both builders are user-friendly, but Wix offers more customization options, which can feel overwhelming at first. Squarespace is simpler, though less flexible. | ||
| Performance | Squarespace outperforms Wix in both speed and uptime, due to its CDN technology. If performance is your top priority, Squarespace is the stronger choice. | ||
| Support | Wix provides faster, multi-channel support including live chat and phone, while Squarespace focuses mainly on written support. Wix wins with more responsive and diverse customer service option |
However, both are solid options in the end. Wix provides more design freedom, better business tools, stronger customer support, and a lower price. Meanwhile, with Squarespace, your website is simple but performs much faster, so your users won't be stuck on a loading screen.
FAQ
Is Wix or Squarespace better for beginners?
Wix is better for beginners than Squarespace because it offers an AI-powered website builder for quick setup, an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, and 2700+ pre-designed templates to choose from. When it comes to elements, Wix comes with a slight learning curve. However, it’s worth all the extra customization options it will give you.
Do professionals use Squarespace?
Yes, Squarespace is used by professionals. While Squarespace allows you to build a professional website without having web design and coding skills, plenty of customization options are available to professionals who want to speed up the website design process.
Is Squarespace cheaper than Wix?
No, Squarespace is not cheaper than Wix. Wix offers more affordable premium plans from $17.00/month and includes a free version, whereas Squarespace’s plans start at $16.00/month.
Can I switch from Squarespace to Wix?
No, you cannot automatically switch from Squarespace to Wix. However, if you wish to migrate to Wix, you can build a similar-looking website from scratch by opting for one out of hundreds of templates.
