When you are looking for the best eCommerce platforms to start a business, a detailed Shopify vs Squarespace comparison could make the decision easier for you.
But the big question is this – what’s the difference between Shopify and Squarespace?
Interestingly, some specific differences abound between them and not just one. Besides, you have to understand that what’s best for one person intending to start an eCommerce business might not be the same for another.
Bearing that in mind, it is important to take your specific needs into account when deciding the best platform for starting an eCommerce business. In addition to clarifying the differences between Squarespace and Shopify, we’ll be touching on other salient points related to a profitable eCommerce business operation.
In the end, you’ll be in a better position to choose the best platform to start your eCommerce business. But then, we have to look at the basics first.
What Is Shopify?
In the context of this post title, Shopify is a platform that makes different software products for starting and running an eCommerce business. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify now powers over 1 million eCommerce businesses owned by merchants around the world.
During this writing, Shopify is home to over 11,800 employees working from different parts of the world. Based on this fact, Shopify is first, and foremost, an eCommerce enabling software company.
The company’s founding origin is anchored on enabling merchants to start selling products online without the technical know-how to create the tools needed. Search for Shopify reviews, and you’ll find even more relevant information around satisfying user experiences.
What Is Squarespace?
Have you ever wondered what is Squarespace used for?
As described on their company website, Squarespace is an all-in-one solution for anyone looking to create a beautiful website. As a website builder, Squarespace has some features created for eCommerce businesses or people wanting to start an eCommerce business.
From day one, this Shopify alternative was created as a website builder. Like some other tools in the same category, you can use Squarespace templates to build simple and complex websites as you see fit.
But then, we all know that building a profitable eCommerce business is not just about the templates. Judging from the definitions given above, are you beginning to see the difference between Shopify and Squarespace website builder?
The other way to look at it is this. Why do you want to compare Shopify vs Squarespace in the first place? What exactly do you want to accomplish?
Shopify vs Squarespace: Store Design And Customization
From the beginning, the first thing that potential online buyers often see is the design of your ecommerce store. From design layout, every prospect
can begin to explore product selection, shopping, and checkout processes.
But that’s just a consideration of the shoppers’ concern.
As you’ll find, the two ecommerce platforms will give you templates to build an online store. With the simple templates, an average person with limited technical knowledge can get started in no time. However, that’s not where the story ends.
First, the number of available templates cannot be compared. Owning to Shopify’s popularity and the fact that it was originally built for ecommerce, it has a more diverse collection of free and premium ecommerce store templates. Most times, this is called Shopify themes.
The second thing is this factor about customization. When you need some relatively advanced features or customization, Shopify seems to be more flexible than Squarespace.
As one user wrote in a Squarespace review,
”It requires a business plan to get powerful features such as custom code. As a software developer, this is quite restrictive. It would be nice to add a custom module such as an event date countdown timer. This case is essential because the number of plugins and addons is limited.”
One of the factors that contributed to Shopify’s lead in terms of deeper and more flexible customization is a diverse developer community. These experts help to build power themes and other relevant eCommerce tools for the merchant community.
Based on its original roots, you can also use Squarespace to build blogs and portfolio websites. However, you can use a private domain name on each of these platforms.
Cost of selling on Shopify vs Squarespace
Another thing worth considering is the cost of starting an eCommerce business on Shopify vs Squarespace.
With $16 only, you can get a free domain. That basic plan will also give you access to the Squarespace template that will allow you to start selling online as soon as possible.
But that’s the basic plan we are talking about here. If you want to gain access to features like advanced ecommerce analytics, gift cards, abandoned cart recovery, advanced shipping, discount tools, and the commerce API, you have to go for the basic commerce or advanced commerce priced at $54, and $35 per month respectively.
Please note that you cannot use the personal Squarespace pricing plan for eCommerce. That plan is for building simple websites, blogs, and portfolios.
And the Squarespace business plan attracts 3% transaction fees.
Shopify, on the other hand, will give you access to the basic plan for $29 per month. With the basic Shopify pricing plan, you’ll gain access to the same features that will cost you $35 and $54 on Squarespace.
Moreover, the transaction fees range between 2% – 0.05% depending on the plan you choose. While still at it, please note that Squarespace doesn’t offer a free trial as it is obtainable from Shopify. By signing up for Shopify free trial, you can test all of the relevant features your want before upgrading to the premium plans.
Marketing On Shopify vs Squarespace
It doesn’t matter how beautiful your online store is or how much you spent on a custom design. Without an effective and profitable ecommerce marketing strategy, you’ll end up getting nowhere at all.
With that said, these eCommerce platforms have some built-in and integrated marketing tools for their merchants. However, what you use will be dependent on the pricing plan you choose and your marketing needs.
Ecommerce SEO
In terms of search engine optimization (SEO), both Shopify and Squarespace emphasize the built-in features for optimizing your store with specific target keywords. Overall, these platforms can help you handle the sitemap, keyword-rich URLs, page meta descriptions, editing robot.txt files, SSL security, and mobile optimization.
However, Squarespace is one step ahead with a dedicated SEO panel that shoes search performance data like impressions, clicks, and average positions. Another interesting feature is the Google My Business location management panel for local SEO.
Contrary to what is obtainable above, there is a host of premium and free Shopify SEO tools you can use to optimize your online store for growing buyer traffic. Below are just a few of them.
- Best Shopify SEO Tools
- ReloadSEO
- SEO Manager
- Ultra SEO
- Site Booster
- Fire AMP
- SEO Ranger
- Instant SEO
- Turbo SEO
- ProSEOTracker
- Rich Snippets For SEO
Ecommerce Email Marketing
Expectedly, Shopify and Squarespace offer onsite eCommerce email marketing tools to merchants with different sizes of online stores.
Using these tools, you’ll have what it takes to create, automate and track email marketing performance over time. In terms, design, and templates, both of them offer almost the same thing.
But while Shopify email marketing features are available on all pricing plans with a free trial, you may need the advanced Squarespace plans before you can have access to that.
Moreover, Shopify will allow you to send up to 2,500 emails per month for free and $1 for every additional 1000 emails. Squarespace email marketing starts at $7 for 500 emails per month. The next plans are $14 for 5000, $34 for 50,000 and $68 for 250,000 emails per month.
Onsite Chat
In terms of eCommerce marketing, live chat is another dimension through which Shopify empowers merchants of all sizes to sell more.
This tool is called Shopify Inbox. While some ready buyers are browsing through your product pages, you can use this tool to engage, enlighten and direct them to related products of interest.
During this chat, the product inside a shopper’s cart will be visible to you, and you may want to offer discounts to bump up the average order value as well. At the time of this writing, this is one of the core differences between Squarespace and Shopify.
Paid Advertising
For some Shopify eCommerce merchants, Facebook is the singular most profitable traffic source. Instead of logging in and out of Facebook Ads Manager, you can start creating an Ads campaign within your Shopify dashboard. Depending on your level of expertise, this paid advertising platform offers opportunities for deep-level targeting of diverse buyer segments.
Assuming you want to experience how this feature works before signing for the premium Shopify pricing plan, you can try this Facebook advertising feature 100% free. Unfortunately, you cannot get this advertising feature on
Squarespace.
Payments And Platform Integrations
How you collect online store payments and integration with other platforms are some other important areas to consider. Interestingly, both Shopify and Squarespace have developer platforms.
Through these platforms, you can plug into relevant APIs to build any integrated eCommerce business tools you want. Inside Shopify’s developer platform, you’ll find a host of independent and interdependent tools built specifically for running on the Shopify platform.
The only difference is that Shopify has more payment gateway solutions. Across 190 countries of the world, you’ll have over 100 payment processors to consider. In addition to that, there is a native Shopify Payments system built into the platform.
Meanwhile, Squarespace will allow you to integrate and use popular payment systems like PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, etc.
Shopify vs Squarespace: The Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shopify good for beginners?
The answer is yes. One cool benefit of using Shopify as a beginner is that you can sign up for a 14 free trial to test the most interesting features that may suit your current needs. While Squarespace basic plans may be cheaper, you cannot sign up for a free trial account.
Depending on the pricing plan you choose, Shopify will take 2 – 2.6% + $0.30 for every sale generated through its platform. Comparatively, Squarespace is about 3% for the commerce pricing plans.
Can you change your store name on Shopify?
Yes, you can change your store name on Shopify. Just buy a different domain name and redesign your store if you want. Besides the store name, you can always change the store them whenever you want. You only have to decide whether to use a premium or free Shopify store theme.
Why you should not use Squarespace?
- Relatively advanced customization requires CSS, HTML, and Javascript skills.
- You’ll always run into a limited availability of templates and plugins
- You may want to add advanced features
- A limited set of integrated eCommerce business applications
- You cannot sign for a free trial to test everything before paying for premium plans
- You’ll need a wide range of payment options
Does Squarespace own my content?
The content you upload to Squarespace will belong to you or your company. You can always keep a backup and migrate your content to any other eCommerce platform you choose.
Is Squarespace good for beginners?
Most times, it will depend on what you want to build. For example, if you need to create a simple blog or portfolio website, Squarespace will serve you well. However, if you need to create a customizable eCommerce online store, Shopify is the better option. On the other hand, you can as well host an eCommerce website on Squarespace.
Final thoughts
Through this Shopify vs Squarespace comparison, we’ve highlighted some of the core differences between the best eCommerce platforms in the market.
You can take a look at the differences as highlighted one by one in this post. From there, it will be easier to compare the differences between Squarespace and Shopify. While you are comparing the eCommerce software platforms, try to clarify your specific needs.
Even when you read other Shopify reviews or Squarespace reviews, you may not find the depth of comparison done in this post. From store customization to marketing, payments, and platform integrations, endeavor to see how a free trial can help you experience what’s obtainable.
That’s what you can get from a Shopify free trial.
As noted earlier, Shopify was built originally for eCommerce. Squarespace, on the other hand, started as a CMS for building blogs, portfolios, and other types of websites.
