WordPress vs Squarespace
WordPress vs. Squarespace
Which website builder is better? #TeamWordPress all the way.
WordPress and Squarespace are two extremely popular website building platforms.
WordPress in particular dominates the web design industry. That’s because it allows you to create scalable, powerful, and fully customizable websites.
Many well-known companies like CNN, MTV, and the NFL use WordPress to power their sites. And countless small businesses use it for the same reasons.
Squarespace has its numerous advantages too. It’s easy to set up, simple to use, and great for creating attractive sites.
It’s true that both platforms are mobile responsive, support Google analytics and search engine optimization, and can be built for social sharing. But we still believe that WordPress is ultimately the superior platform.
We’ve compiled a short list of why we use WordPress vs. Squarespace to power our websites, and why you should too:
Ownership
WordPress is non-proprietary. This means WordPress doesn’t own your website, you do.
This is great news because WordPress can’t disable your site or bar you from exporting your files. They even make it easy to package and migrate your site to another platform if you choose.
In contrast, Squarespace is proprietary. Even if you own your domain, they own your website.
Let’s say they go out of business, shut down your site, or simply retool their interface and eliminate your site theme, your website as you know it is gone.
While the more likely scenario is that you personally decide to migrate your site to another platform, doing so can be a grueling process. You have to download your content (not all of which they let you keep) and piece it back together on whichever platform you convert to.
Data Backup
WordPress is great about allowing you to back up your files. For peace of mind, all of your files are continuously backed up in WordPress’s cloud-based database. So if you make changes to your site, but then want to revert back to an earlier version of a certain webpage, you can.
Squarespace doesn’t automatically back up your site, but it will allow you to save certain files manually. Files you can download and export include: basic pages, gallery pages, one blog page with its corresponding posts, and image blocks. Files you can’t download include: videos, product pages, albums, more than one blog page, style changes, custom CSS, folders, event pages, and audio blocks.
Customization and Scalability
Probably the main reason why we use WordPress to design websites is because it can do just about anything. It allows you to create everything from simple blogs to full blown e-commerce sites and more. You can use thousands of design themes for inspiration. You can add plug-ins to give your site special features like podcasts, maps, calendars, and testimonials to name a few. And you can even add your own custom CSS or HTML to style your pages however you’d like. The possibilities and scale are endless.
With Squarespace, customization and scalability are limited. When setting up your site, you get to choose from one of over a hundred different design themes for your site. And from there, you’re able to pick and choose your fonts, colors, and layout. CSS and HTML can be added to customize your site. But Squarespace won’t allow you to add custom coding just anywhere – only in designated areas of the site.
Likewise, you are able to expand your site as you go. But you may be restricted by the number of pages you can add depending on your plan. Ultimately, this means you’re restricted in how much you can modify and expand your site.
Bottom Line
All in all, we think WordPress is the best option for businesses, bloggers, and everyone in between. It has all of the pros as Squarespace without the potentially frustrating cons.
So if you’re thinking about creating a website for yourself or your business, we highly recommend WordPress.
And if you need help along the way, read more of our blog posts, visit us on social media, or send us an email, and we’ll make sure you get the answers that you need.