Shopify VS Squarespace: Which One Is Better?

Last updated on June 1st, 2023 at 03:30 pm.

How to Create a Shopify account

No matter whether you are a new or experienced person in eCommerce, you need a platform for designing your online store and starting your business. 

A large number of platforms are available in this regard, however, Shopify and Squarespace are the top platforms for building your online store. To start your online store, you cannot opt for both and need to select one of them. 

Therefore, this article has been specially designed to help you to decide which platform is better for you under what conditions by giving a comparative picture of both platforms. 

So, without wasting any time, let’s get started. 

How does Shopify work – All About Shopify – For Beginners

Why consider Shopify?

Shopify is an eCommerce platform used to build eCommerce websites or online stores and apps. Shopify offers a large number of templates, supports 50 languages, and provides integrations with 70 payment gateways. Moreover, the platform also offers content management tools and features for good SEO.  

Why consider Shopify?

Some of the unique features of Shopify that convince you to consider it are as below: 

  • Point of Sale (POS)

Based on my experience with Shopify, the most startling feature of Shopify is POS. Shopify allows its customers to sell products via a variety of ways like an online store, Facebook shop, and Pinterest. You can open both online or physical stores across a single place along with tipping, pickup, and other essential functions. 

Shopify POS
  • Customizability

Another peculiar feature of Shopify is customizability which allows you to make your online store different and attractive in the way you desire.

Shopify offers a large variety of themes and templates and you can even customize your store through third-party plugins and apps. 

  • Built-in Fraud Analysis

One of my favorite features of Shopify is build-in fraud analysis. The built-in feature gives you fraud recommendations across all online credit card orders. 

This feature actually guides you on whether the order has a low, medium, or high risk of a chargeback due to any kind of fraud. 

  • Dropshipping

Maintaining an inventory or warehouse is quite a challenging task. Therefore, Shopify has come up with a feature of dropshipping. 

The platform allows you to buy the products from third-party sellers and sell them to your customers. The wholesaler connected with Shopify is Aliexpress via Oberlo.

Shopify Drop-shipping - Oberlo
Read the Shopify dropshipping post here.
  • User-friendly Interface

Another vital feature of Shopify is its user-friendly interface. Whether you are a new baby or experienced folk, Shopify facilitates all types of users through a drag-and-drop featured interface. 

Shopify interface

Free Shopify Tutorial for beginners – Udemy

Why Consider Squarespace?

Squarespace is a reputable website-building platform for beginners. All beginners can easily develop their website via this platform without having any coding knowledge or hiring any website developer. 

Squarespace vs Shopify

Some of the key features of Squarespace that make it stand alone among other platforms are as below: 

  • Design flexibility

Like Shopify, Squarespace offers enough flexibility to its users by providing numerous themes and design options. All design options are available in a separate section which has made designing quite easy for both beginners and experienced businessmen. 

Squarespace UI
  • Domain options

Unlike other platforms, Squarespace allows its customers to update their domain easily through 

‘Domain’ section. You can even choose a sub-domain without any charges with no additional effort.

Add domain Squarespace

The majority of users do not like a built-in domain and want the real domain. Squarespace offers a user-friendly way to either transfer the domain that you already own to your site or purchase a  domain quickly.

  • Mobile-Site Optimization  

Currently, most people shop online through their mobiles, therefore mobile site optimization of websites or online stores is very necessary. 

Keeping in view this changing trend, Squarespace allows you to do mobile-site optimization by clicking a smartphone icon on the top right-hand of the screen. Thus, by clicking a single icon, you can make your website friendly for all mobile users. 

  • eCommerce tools

Squarespace though cannot match Shopify or other eCommerce systems, however, it does offer some decent eCommerce tools to its users. 

These tools include checking orders and managing inventory and consumer information. Moreover, it also helps you to easily manage schedule sales, manage discounts, and do other eCommerce actions. 

Detailed Comparison of Shopify and Squarespace

For all of those who neither have any experience in eCommerce nor used these two platforms, here is a detailed comparison of Shopify and Squarespace. This comparison will guide you comprehensively to choose which one according to your preferences. 

  1. Pricing

Both Shopify and Squarespace offer a 14-day free trial to enable users to acquaint themselves with the basic features and functionalities of the platform. 

However, both platforms offer different pricing plans that are discussed below: 

Shopify offers three pricing plans which are as below:

Shopify pricing

On the other hand, Squarespace offers four pricing plans with the following monthly charges,

Squarespace pricing

You can see that it is clear from these details that Squarespace is more affordable as compared to Shopify as you have to pay only $49/month for advanced features as compared to $299 for advanced features in Shopify. Therefore, if you have a low budget, then you must go for Squarespace. 

  1. Ease of Use

Shopify offers a very user-friendly interface and uses a drag-and-drop design. It offers clear visual cues and shortcuts to add different products, add a domain name, and customize different themes. 

No matter whether you are a new or experienced user, the simple and user-friendly interface of Shopify never makes you lost while designing your website. 

Shopify ease of use

On the other hand, Squarespace is not very easy to use and it takes time to get grip on this platform. It uses the drag-and-drop section in case of only some sections to make it easy for new ones. However, the editor’s section is difficult to navigate 

Hence, if you are a beginner or a new user, then you must prefer Shopify over Squarespace as it is easier to use than the latter. 

  1. Analytics

Analytics is one of the most critical parts of online business as it allows you to access necessary statistics about your business performance. Both Shopify and Squarespace offer good analytics for your business, however, Shopify wins among the two. 

Shopify provides its users with different types of reports like product analytics, financial reports, customer reports, and sales reports. And the provision of analytics is dependent upon pricing plans as the higher you pay, the more advanced analytics you will enjoy. 

On the other hand, Squarespace offers only basic information and statistics. Therefore, if you want to expand your business or you prefer to take decisions on data and statistics then Shopify is a better option. 

  1. SEO features

Both Shopify and Squarespace ensure the presence of basic SEO features to keep your online store at a high place in SERP. A comparative picture of SEO features of both platforms is as below:

Nevertheless, Shopify has superior SEO features due to its stability and speed. Moreover, Shopify also offers different apps for SEO improvement. Therefore, if you want an insightful SEO solution, then it is recommended to go for Shopify. 

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, the entire discussion has revealed that both Shopify and Squarespace are good platforms for building an attractive online store. 

However, Squarespace is a good option in case you are tight on budget whereas Shopify is a better option in case you want more attractive features for your online store. 

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