Squarespace vs. Wix: Which Website Builder is Better 2025?

Wix and Squarespace have the same goal: Both website builders aim to make creating professional websites as easy as possible for beginners and non-designers. But which one does it better?

In our comparison of the best website builders, we thoroughly reviewed both Wix and Squarespace. Both are stiff competition, with Wix barely overtaking Squarespace in certain areas. With so much to consider between two phenomenonal website builders, it is worth it to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms.

Our website builder reviews are divided into five categories:

We assign points in each category, which are then used to calculate an overall score. Wix takes first place with 83.75 out of 100 points, while Squarespace is close behind with 79 points.

Wix and Squarespace are in a neck-and-neck race. To highlight the differences between these two website builders and help you decide, we compare them in detail across our five review categories:

How quick and easy is the signup process? How intuitive are the editors? How fast is the interface? In this category, we evaluate how user-friendly the website builders are overall – from setup to website design.

First, you should know that Wix and Squarespace have more in common with each other than with most other builders on the market.

In our Website Builder Compass, both are categorized as "all-rounders" because they aim to balance user-friendliness and flexibility. While they are accessible to complete beginners (unlike "pro builders"), they don't simplify website creation as much as "quick-start" builders.

Using Wix and Squarespace is more complex than Webador or Strikingly, but – unlike platforms like Webflow or Framer – it can still be managed by non-designers.

Creating a Squarespace account is quick, and while there’s no free version of the website builder, no payment details are required thanks to the 14-day trial.

The Squarespace editor is mostly intuitive, so even beginners should quickly feel comfortable navigating the interface. You edit your website content section by section using pre-designed content blocks, which you can customize but not freely move around.

This makes editing quite simple, though it limits design freedom compared to true drag-and-drop (like Wix).

New pages and sections can be created in seconds, and arranging elements is simple thanks to drag-and-drop on rails.

Some handy shortcuts and convenience features make it easier to use. For example, you can duplicate, move, or save sections as favorites to reuse them anytime.

What bothered us were mostly small issues. For instance, switching pages is unnecessarily complicated in edit mode because you can't just jump to another page. Managing dynamic content (e.g., testimonials), which you edit in pop-up windows, is also a bit clunky and confusing.

Still, Squarespace is designed for users of all experience levels, reflected in its clean interface and mostly consistent, intuitive operation. The editor's performance was consistently fast during our review – plus, we liked the smartphone app better than Wix's.

Wix is generally intuitive and accessible for beginners, but compared to Squarespace, it's a bit more complex and sometimes less smooth.

Signing up is simple: Since Wix offers a free plan that lets you publish your website on a Wix subdomain, you don't need to pay or provide any payment details.

The only challenge is Wix's somewhat unclear product lineup. Under the Wix umbrella, there are now two platforms: the classic builder and the professional version, Wix Studio, which is more suited for freelancers and agencies. Wix could explain the differences between the two in more detail for new users.

The Wix website editor remains user-friendly despite its many features. The drag-and-drop interface allows for intuitive, visual design: You can freely place and move blocks to create custom layouts. The section-based structure keeps every page well-organized.

Unfortunately, the platform's complexity results in slightly clunky handling compared to Squarespace. The editor can sometimes be slow and occasionally has performance issues. The smartphone app is also a bit tricky and not ideal for working on your website on the go.

In this category, we evaluate not only the quality and variety of the templates but also the design and customization options of the editors.

If there’s one thing Squarespace is known for, it’s the platform’s high-quality templates. Squarespace represents timeless elegance with clean, responsive design templates. At the time of testing, 156 were available, most of which are real eye-catchers.

You can customize the templates extensively using Squarespace's built-in design tools, which are quite flexible for a website builder. In the "Styles" section, where you make global settings, you can define design aspects like colors, fonts, or animations for the entire website.

There are also some design settings at the section and element levels, though the exact options depend on the type of section or element. In standard sections with drag-and-drop functionality, you can format the design quite freely. In sections with dynamic content, the layouts are more predefined.

Page management is also straightforward, but unfortunately, Squarespace doesn't support true subpages, only pages grouped in a dropdown menu. Here, Wix has the edge.

Wix offers more than 800 templates, which inevitably means there are a few duds. However, the templates are quite diverse, and like other website builders, Wix shows a trend toward image-heavy, scroll-friendly websites.

Within the templates, Wix gives you even more flexibility than Squarespace. In addition to the design management settings, where you can change things like colors and backgrounds and add effects like mouseover or parallax, you can also freely move almost all content elements and create complex, unique layouts.

Additionally, the design settings for sections and elements are a bit more detailed and customizable compared to Squarespace.

Wix is also more flexible when it comes to page management. You can not only create dropdown menus but also add full pages with subpages. For one-pagers, the anchor feature is useful for creating a menu that links to different sections of your page.

Both builders offer a wide range of page/section templates and elements to design your website.

Almost all standard content is covered—the differences are in the details. For example, Squarespace offers an FAQ section and an accordion element, while Wix provides a promo section template and a list element.

Here’s a comparison of the page and section templates available from both builders:

Here’s the selection of elements you can place on your page:

In this section, we evaluate the range and quality of features that go beyond the basic needs of standard websites – from blogging to ecommerce.

Squarespace offers a well-rounded set of features that go far beyond just the website basics.

Especially in the Ecommerce area, Squarespace is much more versatile than many other builders in our review. You can sell not only physical and digital products but also other types of products and services, like courses, memberships, or videos-on-demand. Marketing tools are also included.

Unfortunately, even in the Business plan, Squarespace charges a transaction fee, which is only removed in the more expensive Ecommerce plans.

The blogging platform from Squarespace is also robust. With the blog editor, which gives access to all the elements known from the builder, you can design posts quite freely. However, it’s not possible to move elements via drag-and-drop or add sections.

You can organize blog posts using categories and tags. There are also useful monetization features: By creating subscription models and placing posts behind paywalls, you can earn money with your blog.

It also includes solid SEO features, email marketing, team management and AI features.

Of course, you can also expand the features with third-party tools, but the selection is limited compared to Wix's app store and mostly includes ecommerce extensions.

Another downside: Squarespace only allows multilingual websites through a paid tool called Weglot. If you want to avoid these costs, you'll need to sacrifice a navigation level for a language menu.

Wix addresses both of Squarespace's weaknesses: The website builder's app market offers hundreds of free and paid apps, many of which are developed by Wix itself. You can also set up multilingual websites with just a few clicks in the language settings.

Wix also offers nearly all the features available on Squarespace – and even a bit more.

Wix Stores, the Ecommerce platform from Wix, is just as flexible as Squarespace's. In addition to physical and digital products, you can also sell many other services and offerings here. This often involves using special apps, which are developed by Wix itself.

With “Wix Bookings,” you can manage classes and appointments. “Wix Events & Tickets” helps you plan events, and “Wix Restaurants” lets you offer digital menus, table reservations, and online orders for your restaurant.

Wix's built-in marketing tools are also quite extensive. You can send email newsletters, create marketing videos, and run ads. None of Wix's plans include transaction fees, so you can sell without fees, making it cheaper than Squarespace.

In the areas of blogging and SEO, Wix is just as strong as Squarespace. However, its overall feature set is slightly larger. For example, Wix now includes its own CMS that lets you store and manage content in collections.

There's also a time-saving automation platform that lets you automate recurring tasks using triggers and actions – for example, sending automated emails or offering discounts when certain conditions are met.

And if the out-of-the-box features aren't enough, you'll likely find a suitable extension in the App Store. There's hardly anything you can't do with Wix.

Customer support is a weak spot for many providers. Here, we look not only at comprehensive documentation and clear guides and tutorials but also at fast and competent direct support.

Wix provides support content in two places: the Help Center and the learning platform "Wix Learn." The Help Center offers hundreds of guides that are well-designed and easy to follow. Wix Learn features excellent video courses for beginners and advanced users.

You can contact support directly via phone (callback service) or live chat. English-speaking experts are available 24/7, while German-speaking experts are available Monday to Friday from 6 AM to 7 PM.

In our tests, responses came quite quickly: In the chat, a friendly representative responded in less than a minute, and a callback on a Monday morning took about 30 minutes. Customer reviews often highlight Wix's support positively.

Squarespace also impresses with a rich Help Center that includes numerous support articles and tutorials. However, compared to Wix, the guides are a bit text-heavy and could use more screenshots or visual elements. At least most topics have matching video tutorials (with German subtitles).

Squarespace also offers webinars and Q&As, an extensive YouTube channel, and a forum where the Squarespace community can interact.

Direct support is available Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 2 AM via the (English-speaking) live chat. Unfortunately, at the time of testing, it was only partially available due to high demand. Alternatively, you can email the Squarespace team. We received a reply in about 3 hours, which is perfectly fine.

Less fine is the feedback from customers: Squarespace's support often faces criticism. Many users complain about slow responses and lack of help, especially with technical issues.

We also grade the providers on their pricing. We consider not only the costs of specific plans but also additional features and free offers.

Every user starts with a free plan that includes basic features, 500 MB of storage, and 1 GB of bandwidth – and allows publishing the website on a Wix domain.

For a custom domain and advanced features, users need to choose one of four premium plans. All of them include a free domain and SSL certificate for the first year.

Here are the current Wix plans:

Read more about Wix costs here:

Squarespace offers four plans: Personal, Business, Ecommerce (Basic) and Ecommerce (Advanced). You can pay monthly or annually, with the annual option being slightly cheaper.

All plans include SSL protection, a free domain for the first year, and all basic features. Unlike Wix, the plans differ less in resources like bandwidth and more in features.

Read more about Squarespace costs here:

Which builder is more affordable? That depends on the plan you choose with each provider. To make a fair comparison, we’ll look at the costs in two specific use cases:

Price Comparison 1: Simple Website, Ad-Free, Custom Domain Possible

If you just want an ad-free website with a custom domain, Squarespace’s “Personal” plan is cheaper than Wix – but only slightly:

Price Comparison 2: Online Store, Ad-Free, Custom Domain Possible

The price difference is a bit bigger when comparing the (cheapest) ecommerce plans. Here, you’ll pay around €80 less per year with Squarespace:

So which website builder is better – Wix or Squarespace? If you’re looking for a clear answer, our “it depends” might disappoint you – the truth is, neither platform is clearly superior.

Wix offers more features, including CMS; Squarespace is more user-friendly and faster. Squarespace has better-looking templates, while Wix has more powerful design tools. Wix stands out with a free plan, and Squarespace with overall lower prices.

Overall, Wix and Squarespace are more similar to each other than to most other builders in our review: Both are all-rounders that balance user-friendliness and flexibility well. The differences are in the details:

You can find detailed reviews of 15 leading website builders in the comprehensive website builder comparison on EXPERTE.com. If you’re mainly looking for a builder for ecommerce projects, check out our reviews of the best shop platforms.