Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: What are the differences?
When it comes to building your own websites, it can be tricky to choose the kind of website builder to use, especially if you’re a beginner in digital technology. There are three popular website builders which are: Wix, Squarespace and WordPress. If you’re looking to build your own website but unsure of which website builder to choose, in this article, we dive deeper and compare Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress.
Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: What are they all about?
For the uninitiated, Wix, Squarespace and WordPress are website builders that allow users to create professional websites. It provides a platform for users without any coding or technical knowledge to design beautiful websites. Each of these website builders offers different functions and designs. They also offer various pricing plans as not all of them are free.
Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: In a Nutshell
| Aspects | Wix | Squarespace | WordPress |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Easiest to use, drag-and-drop builder | Slightly more complex than Wix, but still beginner-friendly | Most complex for beginners, but offers design flexibility |
| Functionality & Features | Standard features via App Market (social media, blog) | Built-in marketing, e-commerce tools, limited compared to WordPress | Highly customizable via plugins (e-commerce, booking systems) |
| Themes & Templates | 800+ templates, simple designs | ~200 templates, minimalist designs | Thousands of themes, customizable via plugins like Elementor |
| Pricing | Free basic plan, paid plans from RM74 to RM690 | 14-day free trial, paid plans from RM109 to RM309 | Free platform, extra cost for themes, plugins, and web hosting |
| SEO | Limited SEO customization | Built-in SEO, no third-party tool integration | Best for SEO, uses third-party plugins (e.g., Yoast SEO) |
| Best For | Personal blogs, small e-commerce sites | Portfolios, blogs, landing pages, small online stores | Large e-commerce, media publishing, full creative control |
Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: Ease of Use
Wix
Wix is the easiest website builder to use compared to Squarespace and WordPress. This is because Wix offers a drag-and-drop builder, so those with little to no technology experience would find it simple to design a website. The easy-to-use website builder allows users to quickly create a website without any complicated designs and features.
Squarespace
Squarespace, on the other hand, makes it easy for users to customise the visual aspects of the website in just a few simple clicks. But if you were to compare it with Wix, Squarespace is slightly more complex. However, it’s still much easier to use if you’re a beginner as compared to WordPress.
WordPress
WordPress is slightly more complicated to use for beginners compared to Wix and Squarespace. The website page builders are more complicated as they offer more flexibility in terms of design. There are also many ways to edit the WordPress themes, as compared to Wix and Squarespace which only have one default page builder.
Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: Functionality and Features
Wix
Wix offers standard functionality and features which can all be downloaded via the App Market. Some of them include social media integrations, booking forms, and so on. Wix also has a blogging feature for articles to be uploaded easily with just a few clicks.
Squarespace
Squarespace has various built-in features such as for marketing purposes, e-commerce tools and a blog. It’s almost similar to the ones offered by Wix, but when compared to WordPress, it’s considered quite limited.
WordPress
With WordPress, there are a wide variety of functions as it can easily be downloaded through plugins. From extensive booking systems to shopping carts for e-commerce, you could say WordPress websites are pretty much very customizable.
Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: Themes and Templates
Wix
Wix has slightly more themes than Squarespace, but not as many as WordPress. There are about more than 800 templates available in the library, which gives users more than enough options to choose from. The designs are relatively simple and easy to use for a standard website.
Squarespace
Squarespace doesn’t offer many templates – there are only below 200 templates within the library. The designs are simple yet minimalist, which is great if your website doesn’t need much creativity.
WordPress
One of the best things about WordPress is that there are plenty of beautiful and fully functional themes to choose from. There are a few page builders to customize the templates as well such as Elementor or WPBakery Page Builder. WordPress has plugins that users can install to customize the themes according to how they want them to be. WordPress offers both free and paid themes, but the free ones are limited.
Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: Pricing
Wix
You can build a website with Wix for free. But if you require additional features and functionality, you can opt for their pricing plans which start from RM74 up to RM690. For more information about the pricing, you may visit their plans on their website.
Squarespace
Squarespace allows users to explore the features with a 14-day free trial. If you wish to proceed with Squarespace, there are various pricing plans which start from RM109 a month up to RM309 a month. Check out a more detailed overview of their plans on their website.
WordPress
There is no fixed pricing for WordPress as it’s a free platform for everyone to use. However, to fully make use of the functionality and design features of WordPress themes and templates, you might be required to spend extra to purchase them, including some plugins as not all of them are free to use. WordPress also requires users to find a third-party web hosting and domain provider, so that will cost extra too.
Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Wix
Wix is actually known to not rank well on search engines. However, the team at Wix is working on improving this. There are quite a few built-in SEO features on Wix, but despite that, not much customization is allowed as you need to follow the built-in features.
Squarespace
Squarespace does have its own built-in SEO features, but it doesn’t offer much compared to a third-party tool. Unfortunately, Squarespace doesn’t allow third-party SEO tools to be installed on the websites.
WordPress
Compared to Wix and Squarespace, WordPress websites are known to rank the best on search engines. However, unlike Wix and WordPress, there are no built-in SEO features. All have to be done within a third-party tool. With that being said, there are various SEO plugins which can be easily installed on the website. Thus, offers more flexibility to perform the necessary SEO best practices to boost the rankings.
Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: Which is best for me?
Wix
Wix will be a great choice for you if you wish to create websites for personal use such as portfolios or blogs. E-commerce websites are also possible, but not heavy stores as they might not be as successful due to the design and SEO limitations.
Squarespace
Squarespace websites are suitable for those who wish to create landing pages for their businesses, portfolios, blogs or online stores. Again, just like Wix, large online stores may not be suitable as there is a limitation of up to 1000 pages.
WordPress
WordPress is the best choice for those who wish to build large e-commerce websites as well as media publishing platforms. It’s also suitable for those who wish to have full control of creativity and create aesthetically pleasing designs.
Conclusion
When you compare Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress, most of these website page builders offer different functions and designs that cater to a wide variety of users. It all depends on what kind of website you’re looking to build. If you wish to hire an external website design provider, consider learning more about web design pricing in Malaysia before deciding which service to go for.