When it comes to setting up an online store, two platforms that are most popular with small business owners are Shopify and Squarespace. Both platforms are designed to make it easier for an e-commerce business owner with no coding experience to set up shop easily.

Let’s explore the two platforms to understand what is Shopify as well as Squarespace, and which one works best for you.

Our Methodology: Shopify Vs Squarespace

When deciding between Shopify and Squarespace for your business, it’s crucial to weigh various features against your specific e-commerce needs. Here’s how we approached the comparison:

Pricing Structure

We analyzed the tiered pricing plans of both platforms, noting that Shopify offers more levels, including a high-end option with Shopify Plus for large-scale enterprises. Squarespace’s plans, being more budget-friendly, may appeal to startups and small businesses not requiring advanced e-commerce tools.

User Experience and Design Flexibility

In our comparison, we considered the ease of setting up a store, managing products, and customizing designs. Shopify’s intuitive interface is designed for e-commerce, while Squarespace’s design-oriented platform caters to those with an eye for aesthetics.

Payment Options and Transaction Fees

We examined how each platform handles transactions, focusing on the range of payment gateways supported and the associated fees. Shopify’s flexibility with its own payment system and integration with multiple gateways stands out, especially considering its offer to waive transaction fees.

SEO and Marketing Tools

Our comparison included how each platform supports SEO best practices and the tools available for marketing. Shopify’s automatic meta tags and titles can be a time-saver, while Squarespace’s manual input might appeal to those who want more control over their SEO settings.

App Market and Extensions

We looked at the availability of additional functionalities through apps or extensions, noting Shopify’s extensive app market compared to Squarespace’s more limited selection. The breadth of Shopify’s offerings can significantly extend a store’s capabilities.

Shipping Solutions

Shipping options are crucial for e-commerce, so we compared the ease of setting up shipping parameters and the support for label printing and carrier integration. Shopify’s direct integrations with major carriers could streamline the fulfillment process for businesses.

Business Operation Features

Lastly, we compared essential business features such as point-of-sale options, customer support, and marketing features. Shopify’s built-in POS and email marketing tools are designed for a comprehensive retail operation, while Squarespace’s solutions are adequate for businesses with simpler needs.

Through this lens, we aimed to provide a holistic view of Shopify and Squarespace, helping business owners make an informed decision based on what’s most important for their online store’s success.

Squarespace eCommerce Vs. Shopify Comparison Table

Before making a decision, let’s compare Shopify and Squarespace from an online business’ needs perspective. This is important since the success of your site depends on the features and benefits that the eCommerce website builder provides.

Feature CategoryShopifySquarespace

Pricing PlansLite ($9/mo), Basic ($29/mo), Advanced ($299/mo), Plus (starts at $2000/mo)Personal ($16/mo), Business ($26/mo, with 3% transaction fee), Commerce Basic ($35/mo), Commerce Advance ($54/mo)

SetupEasy setup with no coding, multi-currency, numerous third-party apps, various payment gatewaysRequires more time and effort, especially for email marketing tool integration

PaymentsSupports major gateways like Square, Amazon Pay, PayPal, and moreLimited to PayPal, Stripe, and Square

Transaction FeesNo fees with Shopify Payments, 0.5% to 2% with third-party gateways3% only for Business plan

SEOAuto-generates meta descriptions and titlesManual configuration of meta titles, URLs, and descriptions

ShippingEasier process with printable labels, UPS, and NHL integrationsWorks with UPS, less integration with other services

Business FeaturesPOS included in all plans, email marketing tool availablePOS with Square on Commerce plans, paid email marketing features

Squarespace Vs. Shopify: How to Choose the Best One for Your Business

Depending on your business needs, you may decide to build a Squarespace website or a Shopify website. Let’s now look at the different parameters in further detail to choose the best platform for your business.

Shopify Vs Squarespace Pricing

Both Shopify and Squarespace have different plans available to businesses.

Shopify Pricing

There are three Shopify plans to choose from.

Shopify Lite Plan: This is the basic Shopify plan and costs $9 a month.

Basic Shopify: The basic package costs $29 a month.

Advanced Shopify: For advanced features, this plan is preferred. It costs $299 a month.

Shopify Plus: Shopify Plus is popular with ecommerce development companies. It starts at $2,000 a month.

Squarespace Pricing

Squarespace plans are more budget-friendly, which makes them attractive to small businesses. In each plan, Squarespace offers features that can come in handy.

Personal: The personal plan costs $16 a month. This plan is restrictive as it doesn’t allow you to sell anything.

Business: The business plans costs $26 a month. By choosing this plan, you will have to pay 3% transaction fee on any sales generated.

Commerce Basic: The commerce basic plan costs $35 a month. This plan comes with features such as point-of-sale and ecommerce analytics.

Commerce Advance: The commerce advance plan costs $54 a month. By opting for this plan, you will gain access to all features including real time carrier shipping, advanced discounts and more.

User Experience and Design Flexibility

When setting up an online store, the ease of use and design customization capabilities are critical. Both Shopify and Squarespace score highly in these areas but in different ways.

Shopify User Experience: Shopify’s user interface is known for its intuitive design, making it straightforward for new users to navigate. With its drag-and-drop editor, users can easily customize their store’s layout without needing to delve into the code.

Squarespace User Experience: Squarespace prides itself on its award-winning design-centric approach. The platform offers a highly visual interface that caters to users who prioritize aesthetics. It may require a steeper learning curve than Shopify but rewards users with sophisticated design capabilities.

Design Customization

Shopify Design: Offers a variety of customizable themes. Users can alter their site’s look extensively through the theme settings or dive into the code if they have the technical skills.
Squarespace Design: Known for its sleek and modern templates, Squarespace provides extensive design customization tools within its editor. However, it allows for less tinkering with the site’s underlying code compared to Shopify.

Ease of Use for Customers

Shopify Storefront: Shopify’s storefronts are user-friendly, with a clear path to purchase, quick load times, and mobile optimization that ensures a smooth shopping experience on any device.
Squarespace Storefront: Squarespace’s strong focus on design also translates into beautiful storefronts that provide a seamless browsing experience. The emphasis on visuals and typography creates an engaging environment for customers.

Setting Up Shopify Vs. Squarespace

Both Shopify and Squarespace offer ecommerce features that are designed to require no coding experience. This makes setting up stores on both platforms easier.

Setting up Shopify: Shopify stores are easily built requiring little to no knowledge. Unlike Squarespace, Shopify accepts payments in multiple currencies, comes integrated with a host of third-party apps and supports various payment gateway options.

Setting up Squarespace: Setting up Squarespace requires more time and effort. This is especially true if you are trying to integrate an email marketing tool with Squarespace.

Templates

When it comes to templates, both platforms will leave you spoilt for choice.

Shopify Site Templates: Shopify users have 9 free templates to choose from and 64 more that comes for a fee. To make it easier, the platform organizes its templates according to industries.

Squarespace’s Templates: Squarespace templates are unique, sleek and modern. Designed to appeal to bloggers, Squarespace template range works well across devices.

Shopify Payments Vs. Squarespace Payments

Another important parameter is payment. Let’s check how Shopify and Squarespace stack up here.

Shopify Payments: Shopify accepts all major payment gateways including Square, Amazon Pay and PayPal. Shopify keeps offering additional payment options to support local providers.

Squarespace Payments: Unlike Shopify, Squarespace is restrictive when it comes to accepting payments. It limits itself to PayPal, Stripe and Square.

Differences in Transaction Fees Between Shopify and Squarespace

For a small business owner, every cent counts. That’s why, it’s important to consider transaction fees when you are looking for what to sell on Shopify or Squarespace online.

Shopify Transaction Fees: With Shopify, you have two options: use Shopify’s built-in payment processor or go with a third party payment gateway. If you select the former, you will be able to completely avoid transaction fees. If you instead decide to use a third party payment gateway, you’ll pay anywhere between 0.5% to 2% depending on your plan.

Squarespace Transaction Fees: When you choose Squarespace, you pay a transaction fee of 3% only for the Business plan.

Squarespace Vs. Shopify SEO Comparison

SEO and Google Analytics are crucial aspects of ecommerce functionality, especially for small businesses that face greater competition. Both Shopify and Squarespace seem to understand this and offer solutions to cater to the requirements of business owners.

Shopify SEO: A key SEO functionality Shopify offers is that it automatically generates meta description and page title according to the webpage content.

Squarespace SEO: On Squarespace, you are required to configure meta titles, custom URLs and descriptions manually.

Shopify App Store Vs. Squarespace

You can purchase apps or use free ones on both Shopify and Squarespace. Let’s understand in more detail.

Shopify App Store: Shopify’s app boasts of 7,000 apps. These include integrations with other apps and tools that have been developed to include specific pieces of functionalities to the Shopify apps stores.

Squarespace Apps: Squarespace’s apps are in the form of extensions. At present, there are just 28 extensions available.

Shipping

When it comes to shipping, both Shopify and Squarespace allow you to set free shipping, weight based, local pickup, flat and calculated rates.

Shopify Shipping: Shopify makes the shipping process easier for businesses. It provides printable shipping labels and integration with shipping services such as UPS and NHL.

Squarespace Shipping: UPS has been working with both Squarespace and Shopify. From Squarespace’s perspective though, it has not worked with other service providers.

Business Features of Shopify Vs. Squarespace

Some business features such as Point of Sale, customer support and marketing are essential when it comes to running online stores. Let’s explore how Shopify and Squarespace fare on these parameters.

Shopify Business Features: Shopify has its own POS system, which is included in every Shopify store plan. For marketing, Shopify offers an email marketing tool, which lets businesses send out newsletters.

Squarespace Business Features: Squarespace has tied up with Square to develop its Point of Sale, which is only available with its Commerce Basic or Commerce Advance plan. Squarespace also offers cool email marketing features that come for a price.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, “Shopify Vs Squarespace: Which is Best for Your Small Business?” was first published on Small Business Trends