Wix vs Squarespace – 9 Pros & 4 Cons

Wix vs Squarespace - 9 Pros & 4 Cons

Last updated on June 26th, 2022 at 11:41 am

So, I want to fess up. I made a bad recommendation. A while back ago a friend of mine asked me what would be the flat-out easiest way to build a website. Something that wouldn’t require too much set up and would be easy and intuitive to use.

I normally recommend that people build their websites with WordPress. WordPress is flexible, powerful and with the right tools it’s easy to build a great website. But there is a learning curve to WordPress. So as the quickest and easiest way for her to get started building her website I suggested that she try one of the all-in-one website platforms like Squarespace or Wix.

Wix vs Squarespace - 9 Pros & 4 Cons

I’ve seen the ads for both of them. And they seem like they’re both easy to use Quick Start website building platforms. I assumed they were both about the same. Well, I was wrong.

So, to my friend I have to say I apologize.

For all of you reading this article, hopefully this will help you decide which platform is right for you.

It’s my mission to help you find the best and easiest ways of building websites. I focus on helping you find the tools that will allow you to build great websites, all that having no code. I support my tests and my free tutorials through sponsored links. I’ve included a sponsored link to the Wix platform and a standard link to the Squarespace platform in this article.

So let’s get started by looking at Wix vs Squarespace.

Wix vs Squarespace

Both companies have amazing looking website examples. And you can choose from any one of those examples as the starting place for building your website.

Wix vs Squarespace - 9 Pros & 4 Cons

One thing that I’ve noticed from all the testing that had done with website building tools is that great-looking examples don’t tell you much.

The truth is that what really matters is how easy it is for you to build your site. You want to grow your business, reach out to your community or keep in touch with your folloTwing. the bottom line is will you be able to get your site up and running quickly?

Will you be able to build your site with a minimum amount of stress and frustration?

Ease of Setup

So, let’s start by looking at how page editing works with these two website builders.

Wix Setup

After selecting a template with Wix getting started editing your site is very easy.

  • To adjust the text, you just click on it and then push the edit text button. Special text menu pops up and then you can just start typing or you can highlight the text. And it’s just the settings like size color and font.

  • To add a new text area of your site you choose the Plus icon on the left of the window and select Text.

You are then given a ton of visual options to choose from and what kind of text you’d like to add.

The process for adding any other page element is just the same. Just click on the plus icon on the left and choose what kind of content you want to add to your page. Intuitive and easy.

Squarespace Setup

But Squarespace is not as obvious. The temple that I chose is what they call a Banner Area.

This is an image area at the top of each page where you can add text. Clicking on the text in the Banner Area doesn’t do anything.

I looked around on the page to find a way of changing the text. And then I found at the bottom of the banner area there’s a button that says Settings. That pulls up a Settings box. Inside that box is a field labeled Description and that has the sample text in it.

I change the text to what I wanted it to be. I noticed that there was no way of changing the size or color of the text. That seems to be dictated by the template that I had chosen. Bold text displays as a large font size and italics text or standard text displays a smaller and always italic. That’ great if you want that section to have those exact styling options. If you want something different I guess you’re out of luck.

Create New Page Sections with Wix

Now, let’s look at how we create a new section with our page. Most things in Wix are really easy. If you just click on the part that you want to adjust and change it or drag it around and move it to where you want it.

The one thing that isn’t super obvious with Wix it’s how to Add a New Section to your page. To add a new section you click on the Plus icon on the left hand tool bar and then select new Strip.

 

You can then choose what type of background you want to that strip including video backgrounds. Fancy!

Then adding content is as easy as choosing the Plus icon again and then adding content like text or an image.

Create New Page Sections with Squarespace

With Squarespace there aren’t really different page sections. To add more content, you first click on the Edit Page button.

Then move your mouse around until the little bubbles appear on the left hand side of the content.

You can then click on the bubble to add content either above or below. When you click on it, you get a choice of the kind of content that you want to add.

I do like this method of adding new content. I think it does save you a bit of time rather than using a menu area like Wix does.

All the content in Squarespace is always added either below or above. It took me a while to figure out how to at content next to other content. I actually had to read the instructions on this. It’s pretty simple to do, but it’s just not intuitive.

Add New Content in Squarespace

To add content next to other content, you start by adding new content below. And then dragging that new content next to the existing content on your page. You can then resize the width of either piece of content. Simple but not intuitive.

With Squarespace you can’t always move text. You can only do it if the texts have been adding clicking on a bubble that’s on the far left.

It’s confusing and I’m not sure why some text areas are different from others.

So which is better for helping you design the page that you want? Getting inspired by a template is nice, it’s great to have a nice looking starting place to build your website. But for me a template should be just that – a starting place and an inspiration.

Wix Design Options

With Wix that’s exactly what you get – a page that has been built as an example. You then modifies at that page and make it your own.

All the templates in Wix start out the same. A designer use the Wix builder to create the page just like you can with Wix.

You have the freedom of changing any part of the design. You can add background, so that sections that you want you can add and style buttons the way that you want them. And you’ve all sorts of text styling options. It’s really easy.

Squarespace Design Options

Squarespace is a different story. The template that you choose is very limiting.

The one that I chose only had one color option for all the buttons across the entire website.

I can choose what color I wanted that button to be, but you can only have one button color for the whole website.

The template that I chose also does not allow you to have different backgrounds for different sections. It seems that some templates do allow you to choose page backgrounds. But that page background will generally be the same across your entire website.

So the templates with Squarespace are very restrictive.

So when getting the design that you want, Wix is the clear winner.

Additional Functionalities

So what about adding additional functionality to your site?

Both platforms allow you to have an online store and add a restaurant menu to your site. That seems to be about where the similarities end.

Wix vs Squarespace – Functionalities

  • Wix seems to offer way more additional functionalities.
  • It offers an app market that allows you to add all sorts of functions to your website. Some of them are free, some of them are paid. But the number of options you have seems really promising for adding additional functionality to your website.

Wix is a clear winner, as far as additional functionality.

So what’s the bottom line? If you want to quickly and easily build a website and you’re looking for an all-in-one web page solution, Wix is a clear winner between these two.

Wix offers a lot more flexibility and a much more intuitive interface. It is like a word processor combined with an easy to use page design software.

Wix also allows a ton of add-ons that will allow you to add all sorts of great functionality to your site.

To build a basic site, Wix includes everything that you need.

The Wix platform is unified, so you don’t have to worry about choosing hosting or which template includes which features.

All the templates have the same starting place with Wix and exactly the same design capabilities and features.

Cons of Wix

  • The downside of Wix is that it’s a closed system.
  • You can’t change the hosting companies if you want to.
  • And if Wix decides to remove or change a feature you’re stuck with their decision.

To avoid these downsides, you’d have to go with a slightly more complicated website solution like WordPress.

If you’re looking for an all in one, easy to use and intuitive website solution, Wix have got a lot going for it. It’s actually on my list of top recommended ways to build a website.

If you found this tutorial helpful, give me a thumbs up. If not, give me a thumbs down and tell me why.

But if you have any other questions or comments, leave them in the comment area below. For other top recommended ways of building websites, check out my Website Builders category for my favorite website building tools.

And if you want to get started quickly building your website with Wix, click on my sponsored link below to sign-up. And then read my free tutorial that will help you get started building a website with Wix.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

Author: wpbackend

Content creator at wpbackend.com

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