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Squarespace vs Shopify for selling online

The short answer

Pick Squarespace if the site comes first and the store is a part of it: Core at $29 a month billed yearly has no sale fee and polished templates. Pick Shopify if selling is the business: Basic at $29 a month billed yearly handles stock, shipping and thousands of apps. Card fees start at 2.9% + 30¢ on both.

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Plans and fees, side by side

The plans most stores start on, priced billed yearly as each vendor lists them.

  1. Squarespace

    Core

    Price
    $29 a month billed yearly, $39 a month billed monthly
    Cheaper plan
    Basic, $19 a month billed yearly, plus 2% of sales
    Fee on each sale
    None
    Card processing
    2.9% + 30¢
    Free trial
    14 days, no card
    Built for
    Sites with a store inside
    Keeps from fifty $20 sales
    $927

  2. Shopify

    Basic

    Price
    $29 a month billed yearly, $39 a month billed monthly
    Cheaper plan
    None for new stores
    Fee on each sale
    None with Shopify Payments; 2% with another provider
    Card processing
    2.9% + 30¢
    Free trial
    3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months
    Built for
    Stores, with stock, shipping and apps
    Keeps from fifty $20 sales
    $927

Keeps: fifty $20 sales in a month, minus the plan billed yearly and each fee on the vendor's own pricing page. Shipping, taxes, apps and ads not included.

Who each one is for

Best for a site with a small shop

Squarespace

Portfolio, blog, bookings and a store in one tidy, good-looking site.

Where it loses: fewer store tools and apps once the catalog or order volume grows.

Best for a store that is the business

Shopify

Stock, shipping, taxes and thousands of apps, from a few products to thousands.

Where it loses: pages beyond the product grid take a theme developer or an app.

Best for campaign pages on Shopify

Replo

Builds landing pages and whole sites that sell through your Shopify cart.

Where it loses: it doesn't replace Shopify's catalog, and Starter is $99 a month, billed yearly.

Where Replo fits

Shopify's store, pages built for you

Picked Shopify? Replo builds the pages around it: a page per ad, quizzes and launches, with your cart.

Build my site
  • Pages from a prompt or a link
  • Shopify cart and checkout
  • Analytics and heatmaps per page
  • A/B testing on every page

Frequently asked questions

Is Squarespace cheaper than Shopify?
Yes, slightly. Squarespace Basic is $19 a month billed yearly with a 2% sale fee, and Core is $29 a month with none. Shopify Basic is $29 a month. Card fees are the same 2.9% + 30¢, so price rarely decides it.
Can Squarespace handle a big catalog?
It can list many products, but stock, shipping rules and apps are thinner than Shopify's. If you sell hundreds of products with sizes and colors, or ship from more than one place, Shopify is the safer pick.
Can I move from Squarespace to Shopify later?
Yes. Export products as a CSV from Squarespace and import them into Shopify; pages and blog posts need to be rebuilt. Replo can rebuild pages from your old site's links, on your brand.

We read every price from the vendor's own pricing page and recheck them. Spot one that changed? Send us a correction.

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