Writer: Toby Sembower
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Cristian Lopez
Comparing Squarespace vs. WordPress puts two heavyweights in user-friendly web design, SEO, and ecommerce head to head. Which platform makes the most sense for you? We’ve dug into each service’s features and tools to give you what you need to choose with confidence.
These days there are a lot of options for getting your business, pet project, blog, and photo gallery on the web. More often than not, it doesn’t make sense to start from scratch and there are services that exist to help you get where you need to be quickly. Two very popular site-building platforms that often go head to head for user favor are Squarespace and WordPress.
Both platforms are wildly popular but take users on different paths to success: Squarespace is a premium drag-and-drop site builder, while the open-source WordPress community focuses on theme-centered designs. We’ll cover both in this article as we look at Squarespace and WordPress in detail — determining which one is the better fit for your next project.
Squarespace vs. WordPress: Our Overall Comparison
In the interest of keeping this simple, we have given our short opinion of each option. Generally speaking, Squarespace is great for simple websites that require very little customization, while WordPress works for both simple and complex sites — just may take a little more effort to set up.
If you’re building a one- to three-page website, including one with eCommerce capabilities, Squarespace may be an easy solution for you; however, it can be difficult to customize these sites to perfection, and for more complicated eStores, you’re probably better off trying a WordPress host.
WordPress is fully customizable and can also handle eCommerce sites. You will find drag-and-drop themes, though they are not quite as refined as the Squarespace.com experience. A WordPress site also makes it easy to scale as your traffic grows, and you get access to a huge library of themes, active forums, and one of the web’s largest communities for support and customization.
Squarespace vs. WordPress: Best Hosting Options
Squarespace is a fully contained hosting and design platform, where your monthly cost covers all the hosting and software needed to run your site. However, WordPress comes in two flavors. The fully hosted WordPress.com online site-building platform is closest to Squarespace but has limited functionality. WordPress.org is the free software that can be used in conjunction with a web hosting plan, leaving the sky the limit with what you can accomplish. Here are our top three WordPress hosts:
Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.69
- Best overall value: The most complete managed WordPress hosting at this price
- Kodee AI Agent manages your WordPress site via simple chat
- LiteSpeed servers boost site speed by up to 40%
- WAF, malware scanner, DDoS protection, and auto-updates
- Free migrations — 85% completed in under 5 minutes
- Get started on Hostinger now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 20 GB SSD – 100 GB NVMe | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
SiteGround.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.99
- Best for performance: WordPress sites average 78% faster speeds after migrating to SiteGround
- Free AI agent manages your WordPress site via simple chat
- Smart WAF, AI bot protection & geo-distributed backups
- Free staging, WP-CLI, SSH, Git, and one-click migrations
- 4.9/5 Trustpilot — 98% customer satisfaction for 10+ years
- Get started on SiteGround now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD - 100 GB Google Cloud SSD | FREE (1 Year) | 6 minutes |
Bluehost.com
Monthly Starting Price $3.79
- Best for WordPress: WordPress.org's longest-running recommended host since 2005
- 0.35s average load time — independently verified by WPShout
- AI builds your complete WordPress site in under 60 seconds
- Yoast SEO, NVMe SSD, WAF, and daily malware scans
- 24/7 WordPress experts — under 2-minute average response
- Get started on Bluehost now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 - 100 GB NVMe SSD | FREE (1 year) | 7 minutes |
See other WordPress hosting options »
Comparing Features, Usability, Support, Cost, & Use Cases
Below we further break down the features, pricing, pros, and cons of each site building contender. Take your time and read each row carefully to get a good feel for each type of tool.
| Squarespace.com | WordPress.com | WordPress + Web Host | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design: |
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| A typical WordPress host offers:
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| Ease of Use: |
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| Support: |
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| Most WordPress hosts will offer:
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| Pricing: |
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| Pay ~$2-7/month and get:
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As you can see, in the battle between these popular website building brands, it really comes down to a dual between the fully hosted platforms and the externally hosted software (i.e., Squarespace.com or WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org).
Unless you’re creating a very simple website — where Squarespace may be the better pick — we recommend choosing a WordPress web hosting plan.
Squarespace.com vs. WordPress.com: Squarespace Wins for Usability
Both Squarespace.com and WordPress.com work well for basic web projects, like posting your resume, launching a personal site, or running a small eMarketplace with just a few products. If that’s all you need, Squarespace comes out ahead thanks to its stronger customization options and easier-to-find support compared to WordPress.com.
Fully Hosted Platforms vs. a WordPress Hosting Plan: WordPress Wins for Cost
However, if you’re looking to build a more dynamic web property, be aware that you’re probably going to have a hard time justifying the fully hosted Squarespace.com or WordPress.com financially. With either option, the costs you’re going to accrue trying to replicate the features, functionality, and personalization of an externally hosted WordPress site are going to far outnumber the monthly bill of any recommended WordPress web hosts.
For example, with iPage, you can:
- Install WordPress in one click
- Take advantage of their drag-and-drop site builder or build an online store from scratch
- Host your site or store at a domain name that is free, complements of the host
- Easily add a shopping cart for your customers to check out at
- Integrate PayPal to collect your profits
- Experience friendly customer support 24/7
All of the above can be had for a few dollars per month, whereas the fully hosted Squarespace and WordPress platforms require you to pay more and more to upgrade to plans with “premium” features (e.g., a personalized domain or selling more than 25 products).
Squarespace is Better for Basic Sites & WordPress Wins Beyond That
Squarespace is an exceptional resource for those who want to build a basic one- to three-page site; beyond that, WordPress will probably be a better fit for your website building and hosting needs. There’s more of a learning curve, but the saved cost and added functionality will help you meet your website goals more effectively.
Continue comparing with similar articles on popular site-building options:
- Squarespace vs. WordPress vs. Weebly vs. Wix
- WordPress vs. Weebly
- WordPress vs. Blogger
- WordPress vs. Shopify
If you’re frustrated with the lack of moves you have to make with your basic, free, browser-based site builders, like Squarespace or WordPress.com, try starting out with an affordable and equally intuitive web host that you can use to host a WordPress website.
