2022-12-28

Squarespace vs. Shopify: Which Is The Best eCommerce Platform?

Yuxin Zhu

Yuxin Zhu

Squarespace Vs Shopify

eCommerce platforms come in all forms! In fact, no two are exactly alike, which often makes it difficult for users to decide which one serves their needs best. Perhaps you’re looking to

In this article we’ll go over Squarespace and Shopify as eCommerce platforms, and help you figure out which one serves you best.

So, whether you’re just starting out as a smaller brand looking to grow, or part of a larger organization looking to streamline your site, there are options!

On top of examining these two platforms, we’ll also go into detail about pricing, features, and how to get started!

What Is Squarespace

What Is Squarespace?

Founded in 2003, Squarespace has launched millions of websites on their platform since that time. From the features section, Squarespace outlines that you can use their functions to:

  • Build your website to have an online store, portfolio or blog
  • Create customizable templates that were crafted in house by their design team
  • Use pre-built layouts to build a page using pre-designed structures for purposes such as contact, about, blog, portfolio, products, and more
  • Give contributors selective access to your site, depending on permissions. This means you can control who views what depending on the role allocated.

Who Uses Squarespace?

Anyone from individuals to small businesses and even large organizations use Squarespace to create and maintain their sites. As a CMS, companies use Squarespace for more than eCommerce needs. Their offerings are wide to incorporate other industries as they create personalized sites as eCommerce brands do.

Overall, Squarespace may be the better choice for companies looking to build out a website, but don’t necessarily have an online store they are looking to show off from the start. Shopify may be the better choice for companies looking to build out an online store, while also paying attention to marketing channels, payment types, and even inventory and shipping as well.

What Is Shopify

What Is Shopify?

Shopify is a complete commerce platform that allows users to start, grow, and manage their businesses. From the features section, Shopify outlines that you can use their functions to:

  • Build your eCommerce store with ease thanks to the multiple sales channels and workflows no matter the size of the organization. You can be a start-up or a high performing organization, but either way, Shopify provides options to continue scaling.
  • Integrate sales no matter if they are mobile, in-person, online, etc. This leaves you time to invest into other aspects of the store. Furthermore, integration creates a seamless experience for owners and users alike.
  • Customize your site thanks to the Shopify templates that are available. You can further customize features depending on your needs, all without having a super technical background. The point here is that you should be able to create pages that are made to scale, but not sacrifice on overall style and brand guidelines. You have a lot of creative control here!

Is Shopify Easier Than Squarespace?

This is all relative and based on preference, however, there are some points to note about Shopify’s features over Squarespace. Namely, Squarespace is a content management system (CMS) that allows users to create and maintain their content and websites. Despite being a large platform in the industry, Squarespace does not have the same robust 24/7 customer support that Shopify has.

Furthermore, you run the risk of losing content on your site because their websites do not get automatically backed up. While there are ways to mitigate and avoid these issues, it is still something to keep in mind.

Which Is More Expensive, Shopify Or Squarespace?

Both have price options that range from beginner, intermediate, and advanced. While Shopify is more expensive as you move up the options, it is still considered to have more features and options to customize than Squarespace.

Shopify

  • Basic – $29/month; Everything you need to create your store, ship products, and process payments
  • Shopify – $79/month; Level up your business with professional reporting and more staff accounts
  • Advanced – $299/month; Get the best of Shopify with custom reporting and the lowest transaction fees

Squarespace

  • Personal – $16/month; Mobilized optimized websites, templates to fit every need, free custom domain
  • **Business **– $23/month; Everything above plus advanced website analytics and fully integrated eCommerce (3% transaction fee)
  • Commerce Basic – $27/month; Everything above plus advanced website, eCommerce analytics, and fully integrated eCommerce (0% transaction fee)
  • Commerce Advanced – $49/month; Everything above plus advanced shipping and discounting among other features
Shopify Vs Squarespace

Key Differences: Squarespace vs. Shopify

Shopify was created with eCommerce in mind, which makes it the go-to platform for stores and those selling products. On the other hand, Squarespace is a CMS that can be used to build sites of all kinds – even if the user doesn’t sell a product. Some other key differences to consider are:

  • Customization – Shopify is highly customizable and easier to use for those without a background in coding. This is where the themes come in handy, especially for those looking to create an immersive, customized site without all of the development time needed.
  • Tools – While both have tools that come in handy when building a site, Shopify largely has better built-in marketing channels to help store owners as they scale. This means that Shopify’s integration work has aided users by providing all possible channels to reach customers. On the other hand, Squarespace does have tools, but they are not as built out as Shopify’s features.
  • eCommerce Capabilities – Shopify was first introduced, and built around, eCommerce purposes. However, Squarespace was at first introduced as a website building platform that added eCommerce functionality over time. This means that Shopify may be more tailored for eCommerce store capabilities, and Squarespace better for overall website building – not necessarily solely for eCommerce purposes.

Which eCommerce Platform Is The Best?

While this largely depends on your preference, we do have some final points to consider. For starters, Shopify is the go-to eCommerce platform for those in the industry. This means that those with online stores may benefit from further looking into Shopify’s offerings (depending on the plan type of course).

However, Squarespace may be the better option for those looking to create a site from scratch perhaps without an online store to worry about. Shopify is probably the more robust platform with better customization tools than Squarespace is able to offer.

It’s best to think about what your site needs and how much you can afford to pay to start. However, if you’re looking for assistance with your site, Replo has the options fit for your business no matter the size!

How To Get Started With Replo

At Replo we understand that it can be costly and time consuming when creating your perfect website. Our approach is simple: ultra customizable landing pages for serious eCommerce teams. Basically, this is Shopify without the dev time.

Our Library of pre-built landing pages builds on the immersive Shopify experience, only with added direction. Our team of experts can help you for a few reasons including:

Integrated With Shopify – Build right in Shopify, with access to all your Shopify data

Power Of The Web – Build anything with the full power of HTML/CSS on a visual canvas

Unified Design System – Keep all your content on-brand with a personalized shared template library

Built For Speed – Ultra-small bundle size optimized for fast-loading landing pages

Made For Marketing – Integrated with all your favorite analytics apps and metrics

Multiple Projects – Move sections easily between multiple Shopify stores

For additional help and to get started, you can Schedule A Demo with us or check out our Blog today. Let’s start your first project together.

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