You might need to get a new website made and thinking of using a CMS platform to get the job done. But how exactly can you choose the best one from among the so many options present out ther?

To make your final decision easier, we’ll be offering you an overview and comparison of two, highly popular CMS platforms out there i.e. WordPress and Squarespace.

While WordPress is undoubtedly the most popular Content Management System since forever, it’s wise to keep your options open and look out for better alternatives, if available. Website builder options like Squarespace, Duda, and Wix have surfaced in recent years, proving to be flexible and beginner-friendly. Before opting for a CMS platform, business owners should know the perks and benefits that other platforms are providing, so that they can make an informed, final decision.

Maybe WordPress would work correctly for you but not for someone else having different requirements.

Lead Up To This Blog:

• How did WordPress and Squarespace Qualify for the Finale?
• Which One Would Beginners Find Easier to Adapt?
• Does Squarespace Offers Better Options of Design & Templates?
• If E-commerce is a Major Interest of my Site, Which One Would Work Better for me?
• My Website is A Conventional One, Which CMS Should I Go For?
• How Would SEO Be Affected?
• Collected Thoughts
• FAQs

First things first, we need to clear one thing to you at the start. In this article, we would be talking about WordPress.org, the site which has taken over 37% of the whole website market space and not WordPress.com, which is mainly used for blogging.

Starting with the basic features, let’s dive into what both of these CMS platforms have got on offer.

How did WordPress and Squarespace Qualify for the Finale?

WordPress is universally the top choice of most website users, including many famous brands like Facebook Newsroom, Walt Disney, BBC America, Sony TV, and Toyota Motors. Its success and popularity lie in the compelling features it offers like unlimited designing options, complete authority allowance for customization, and powerful integration options.

When it comes to Squarespace, it’s called the one-stop solution for all of your website requirements. It’s effortless to set up for beginners, attracting nearly 1000 new users every day. It takes care of every aspect of web building, from domain name to templates and designs, like a caring guardian. No wonder, within 10 years of its launching, it became a heavyweight champion in the ring of website builders.

Which One Would Beginners Find Easier to Adapt?

The answer to this question would come out as a reflex action. SQUARESPACE!

Yes. The level of ease it offers is unmatchable.

If you are new to the technical world of websites, you might not be familiar with the jargons thrown around when using WordPress to create websites.

Even if the mentioning of the word plugin makes you feel empty-minded, Squarespace has got you covered! Do you know how to click with a mouse? Then you can set up your Squarespace site without any issues at all.

It is one of the most beginner-friendly website building platforms out there offering a drag and drop approach. If you don’t like coding at all or don’t even want to dabble with technical issues like installing plugins etc. then Squarespace is meant for you totally.

On the other end of the spectrum, WordPress requires proper coding and plugin knowledge for setting up a properly designed site. Although users get adapted to WordPress pretty quickly, it still has a habit of freaking techno-phobic people out at the start!

Does WordPress Dominate In Terms Of Offering Better Options of Design & Templates?

Both WordPress and Squarespace offer various designs and templates to their users to choose from. The designs offered by Squarespace are incredibly beautiful but the number of options you will have in this regard will be severely limited if you compare it with what WordPress offers.

Squarespace also has limitations in terms of customization options. Themes are available with a limited number of layout choices with each template. You can edit the primary colors, fonts, logo, and other things, but advanced options aren’t available.

Since WordPress is open source, it’s developer and design community consistently churns out thousands of templates, out of which many are available for absolutely free.

For all kinds of websites, you can find relevant themes, meeting your requirements. Not only it has superiority in quantity, but it also offers excellent customizing options, making you able to produce personalized logos, colors, designs, and to upload images from your gallery as well. It has multiple layout choices, drag and drop page builders, sliders, photo galleries, and tons of other features. These factors make WordPress rule over Squarespace in terms of designs and templates.

If E-commerce is a Major Interest of my Site, Which One Would Work Better?

WordPress is way ahead of Squarespace when it comes to E-commerce. In WordPress, plenty of customized E-commerce plugins are available in helping you to turn your website into an online store with quick, easy steps.

WooCommerce, a world-famous E-commerce platform, is a WordPress plugin. It comes with thousands of ready themes.

WordPress allows the integration and usage of any payment processors or platforms. There is no limit on the number of products you add to your e-shop, the way you display it, or how you sell it. This gives you the liberty of running your online business in your way and grow sales without any constrictions.

In Squarespace, there are somewhat lesser options available in terms of features. Only Stripe and PayPal are available for payment processing, which aren’t available in many countries.
You’d have to shift to Business or Commerce plan for selling purpose as Squarespace doesn’t offer this facility in the Basic version. This would make it more costly than a WordPress shared hosting plan or a VPS.

My Website is A Conventional One, Which One Should I Go For?

Firstly, what’s the difference between conventional and unconventional websites?

A conventional website is the one which is covering small-scaled businesses, blogs, photography portfolios, or small level organizations. They require a rather simple set of features without much complexity.

An unconventional website would include larger-scale businesses or organizations. For their services to run correctly, you would need a more complex set of features and characteristics.

Here’s a straight rule. Use Squarespace for conventional websites and WordPress for unconventional ones. Squarespace focuses more on providing features for conventional websites. For example, it has an excellent and flexible collection for photo gallery content block, which would go with any theme.

How would SEO Be Affected?

No matter which niche your website falls into, you need a good ranking in order to gain organic traffic that can be channeled towards your sales funnel and finally get converted into leads. SEO is the most obvious way to get that done.

The primary purpose of a blog website is to get traffic and ultimately result in a higher ranking position. This gets complicated when you’re operating in a highly competitive niche market.

Squarespace is available with an easy-going SEO approach for you. It lets you add and edit title, tags, Meta descriptions, custom URLs, and 301 redirects.

Squarespace automates many of the processes and is mobile-friendly. It is SSL-secured. Their support articles are quite helpful if you get stuck.

WordPress has a relatively more reliable SEO game going on. But to get the most out of it, you need to give a little push at the start. If you’re pro enough or you have technical support available on hand readily, you can tweak the HTML manually to get desired results. Or you can use plugins, such as Yoast, to get it done in an easier way through leveraging Google-friendly info.

Collected Thoughts:

Squarespace and WordPress both target a different set of audience. Both have different features providing services for diverse types of users.

If we summarize the whole article, it will come down to these few points:

Pros for Squarespace:

• Relatively easier and smooth to use
• Gives a flexible and polished user experience
• Beginner-friendly
• Hassle-free starting setup

Cons for Squarespace:

• Cost you more than shared hosting websites
• Has limited designs and templates options
• Doesn’t support unconventional websites making it pretty useless for larger, more complex projects
• Limited features
• Limits your business for growth in terms of e-Commerce

Pros for WordPress:

• Easy to use once you get the hang of it
• Incredibly flexible for building any type of website
• A vast number of designs and themes
• Best available option for e-Commerce
• Can be started without any payment or at a low cost

FAQs:

1. Which one is better for blogging?

Both are excellent in terms of blogging with nearly the same features and facilities they provide. You will be satisfied with both of them.

2. What if you change your mind later and want to switch your website platform?

There is an option available to transfer blog posts between Squarespace and WordPress since both of them have importing and exporting tools available. The sad news is, it isn’t easy to transfer pages, themes, and other content automatically. You need to opt for transferring domains, but that would be tricky.

3. What kinds of websites does WordPress caters?

There is no type of website that WordPress cannot build! Unluckily, it comes at a cost. You have to get your domain, which means you would have to find a WordPress hosting company and then partner with them for future maintenance and services.

Author Bio. :- Alan Mathew is a professional digital marketer with years of experience in leading brands, working with multiple industry verticals. Currently, he is a Managing Partner of WPPals, which is specialized in providing WordPress maintenance and support services.