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Website builders are a great choice if you want to create a professional website without actually hiring a professional. A website builder is a tool that allows you to construct a website without any manual coding.
Using website builders, you can create a website from scratch without any technical knowledge or experience in coding. So whether you are an eCommerce looking to sell your products or an individual, a blogger, or even an artist seeking to create your portfolio, using a website builder to build your own unique websites can be an attractive option.
The market has a lot of attractive website builders to offer and amidst all the chaos in the market with each one claiming their product to be the best, picking one can be quite daunting. But don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Here is a comparison of the two best website builders in the market-Webflow vs Squarespace to help you decide which one’s the best option for you.
Also, make sure to check out our articles on Wix Vs Squarespace, Weebly Vs Squarespace, and Squarespace Vs WordPress before you make your final decision.
What is Webflow?
Webflow empowers designers to build professional, custom websites in a completely visual canvas. Webflow, Inc. is an American company, based in San Francisco, that provides software as a service for website building and hosting. Their online visual editor platform allows users to design, build, and launch websites.
Webflow is a Software as a Service application that allows designers to build responsive websites without any coding knowledge. While designers use the tool, Webflow automatically generates HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It also provides pre-edited templates of different sites as per users’ needs.
Webflow’s design flexibility, lightning speed performance, and ease-of-use make it quite a success story among the newcomers and experts alike.
What is Squarespace?
Squarespace is one of the most popular website builders out there. Anthony Casalena founded Squarespace as a blog-hosting service while attending the University of Maryland in 2004. It provides software service for website building and hosting that allows users to use pre-built website templates and drag-and-drop elements to create and modify webpages.
If you’re looking to create a professional website, then Squarespace is the ideal choice for you. So if you’re a blogger, small business owner, or a creative, Squarespace is a great choice. It has the best quality of designs and features available in the market, and while it can take a little getting used to, the final results are worth your patience.
Squarespace has G Suite and PayPal integrations, plus SEO tools, eCommerce functions, and easy social media integration. What’s even better, you don’t need any coding or technical skills to use Squarespace, although a little technical confidence will help a lot. Squarespace’s latest version, 7.1, also allows for more design customization than ever.
Webflow Vs Squarespace
This article lets us compare Webflow and Squarespace on seven key criterion –
- Ease of use,
- Design and flexibility,
- Tools and features,
- SEO
- Prices,
- Support,
- Apps and plugins
Ease Of Use- Webflow Vs Squarespace
When it comes to selecting a website builder, ease of use is an important criterion that you must consider. Both Webflow and Squarespace are fairly easy to use and beginner-friendly as you don’t need any coding knowledge to build your own websites. Let’s compare the two to see which one is the best choice for you.
Webflow Ease Of Use
The Webflow platform does a very good job of onboarding new users. If you’re a professional, you can dive straight in and use all the amazing tools and features that the platform has to offer, but if you’re new, you can watch Webflow’s tutorial to get a hang of how the platform works.
The Webflow editor might seem a bit intimidating to first-time users and you might be overwhelmed by the many design options to choose from. Even after watching the tutorial, it might be a lot to take in at first. Webflow has a steep learning curve but will be a treat to those already familiar with the platform.
Squarespace Ease Of Use
Squarespace is comparatively far easier to use. Its interface is very easy to use and is extremely beginner-friendly. Its style editor makes it straightforward to change basic template design elements such as font colors, heading sizes, and so on.
Editing content is also very straightforward in Squarespace. It has a drag and drop style editor which makes it easy to display your content the way you want to. You can drag text and image blocks around a page, or drop content from other sections of your site into it too, and so on.
Another advantage is that Squarespace has a “What You See is What You Get,” or WYSIWYG editing layout. This means that making changes is super easy because you’re seeing everything right in front of you, exactly how visitors to your site will be seeing it once it’s live.
Winner
As you can see, Squarespace is the clear winner when it comes to ease of use and being user friendly. However, Squarespace emphasizes user-friendliness at the expense of flexibility. That makes it easier for most people, but frustrating for creatives who want something unique. So make the decision based on if you’re a beginner or a professional.
Design And Flexibility - Webflow Vs Squarespace
One of the most important points of comparison, when you have to decide between two or more website builders, is the design and flexibility that each has to offer. Building an excellent website becomes a lot easier when you use a website builder with more design flexibility and has more layout options. Let’s compare the design and flexibility of Webflow and Squarespace to see which one is the better choice.
Webflow Design and Flexibility
When it comes to template design, Webflow offers more than 100 templates for you to choose from and 40 of them are free. You can filter templates by industry, whether they are free or premium, or eCommerce. This makes it really easy for you to find a template that suits your needs.
Speaking of flexibility, all of Webflow’s templates are responsive. This means that they automatically adapt and change accordingly to fit different screen sizes. Each of Webflow’s templates also come with a brief description that tells you what type of site it’s best for and what your design options are. All of its templates are customizable, responsive, and clean.
Squarespace Design and Flexibility
Squarespace provides you with over 60 templates to choose from. It has one of the best quality of templates available in the market and also allows you to customize to your heart’s content. Its templates are clean, modern, and professional.
Winner
Webflow is the clear winner here with over 100 templates compared to the 60+ templates provided by Squarespace. Both offer an ample amount of design flexibility.
Tools and Features- Webflow Vs Squarespace
Tools and features are fundamental to any website builder. They are what allow you to do certain things and, at the same time, restrict you from doing others.
When it comes to features and tools, that’s when Webflow falls down in comparison to other website builders in the market. Let’s compare the specific tools and features to see which one’s better.
Webflow Tools and Features
Many of the tools and features of Webflow aren’t built in as in the case of Squarespace and other popular website builders. Instead, they come as plugins and integrations.
Let’s look at some of the tools and features that Webflow has to offer:
- Parallax Scrolling, Animations, and Interactions- Following the modern trend, Webflow allows you to add a lot of cool movements to your website. This can be in the form of Parallax Scrolling, Animations, and Interactions.
- Backups and Security- security is something that Webflow takes very seriously. Along with automatic backups, Webflow also comes with a free SSL certificate.
- Webflow’s eCommerce features- setting up stores using Webflow is easy and convenient. Along with credit and debit card payments, Webflow also lets you accept payments through PayPal and Apple pay. It also has the feature of automatic tax calculations that can come in handy if you are an eCommerce website.
Squarespace Tools and Features
Squarespace recently launched version 7.1 which makes it very easy to make sitewide changes to colors, fonts, and spacing. Let’s look at some of the other features of Squarespace:
- Squarespace Ecommerce Tools- Squarespace offers a very practical and efficient online shopping platform for your website. You can easily insert a Product Page into your website using Squarespace to create an online store and add items to it. You can also control your inventory, add product variations, and manage coupons and shipping options. Squarespace also allows you to integrate your shopping platform with other products such as Xero for your accounting and MailChimp for mailing lists. Their integration with Zapier also lets you connect it to hundreds of email services and CRM tools. Squarespace also offers you a wide range of payment providers such as credit cards via Stripe, Paypal, ApplePay, and Square for Point of Sale support.
- Social Media Integration- Squarespace makes it super simple to integrate your social media handles by linking accounts from over 20 social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
- Squarespace Marketing Tools- Squarespace recently introduced a new feature of built-in email marketing. This new feature allows users to use Squarespace to design and send HTML e-newsletters, something which was traditionally done with a dedicated email marketing solution like Getresponse or Mailchimp. It also provides built-in analytics, integration with social media platforms, and more.
- Domains- With Squarespace, you can buy a domain them, or connect your own domain if you already have one.
- Security- Squarespace gives all Squarespace and third-party domains free SSL certificates when connected to your Squarespace site.
- Backups & Restores- Squarespace lets you restore deleted pages and blog posts up to 30 days after they’ve been deleted.
- Event Planning- With Squarespace’s new scheduling feature, your site visitors can easily book appointments and classes, displayed by the times that you’re available.
Winner
As you can see, Squarespace is the clear winner when it comes to tools and features, beating Webflow by a huge margin.
SEO- Webflow Vs Squarespace
There’s no point in creating an amazing website if people don’t even get to see it. 91% of searchers don’t even scroll past the first page on Google. So how do you increase the visibility of your website so that it ranks on the top? The answer is Search engine optimization or SEO. Let’s compare the SEO features of Webflow and Squarespace to see which one gives you the better deal.
Webflow SEO
Like most platforms, Webflow also lets you add metadata, create image alt text, and target keywords. But what sets Webflow apart is that it goes one step further by offering automatically generated sitemaps and customizable 301 redirects. Additionally, Webflow also makes it possible to connect Google and Facebook services, integrate HTML/CSS codes and Webhooks as well as to enable the procedure of user IP anonymization.
Squarespace SEO
Squarespace has good SEO, and all its pages follow SEO best practices. The platform gives you the tools such as managing your titles and adding keywords and alt text. There are guides to help you in Squarespace’s support pages, which offer a very thorough introduction to SEO. So if you’re a beginner, you might find these guides really helpful.
Winner
Both Squarespace and Webflow are SEO friendly platforms, but Webflow goes a step ahead which is why we think Webflow defeats Squarespace in the SEO category.
Pricing- Webflow Vs Squarespace
Pricing is a very important factor to consider before selecting your website builder. You must decide how much you are willing to invest and then choose a platform accordingly. Both Webflow and Squarespace are reasonably priced, so let’s look at the pricing details to help you decide.
Webflow Pricing
One great thing about Webflow’s pricing policy is that Webflow has a free version that never expires! This means that you can create your own website without investing any money into it. However, if you want to avail some of its other features, you might consider upgrading to a paid version.
Webflow has a very versatile pricing policy with many options to choose from. Webflow has two large plan groups – Site and Account. Each of them offers several other types of subscriptions.
To know more about Webflow’s pricing plans and what’s best for you, visit their website.
Squarespace Pricing
When compared to Webflow, Squarespace cannot boast about such an extensive pricing plan. The website builder does not have a free plan but offers a 14-day free trial post which you will have to choose from one of their paid versions. Squarespace offers 4 premium plans:
- Personal Plan – The own Plan costs $12 a month when billed annually or $16 a month.
- Business Plan – The Business plan is priced at $18 a month when billed annually or $26 a month if billed monthly.
- Basic Plan – The Basic Plan is for the people who plan for an online store on their websites and get their business off the ground. This plan costs you $26 a month when billed annually, or $30 per month when billed monthly.
- Advanced Plan – This Plan is priced at $40 a month when billed annually, or $46 when paid month to month.
To know more about their plans and pricing policy, visit their website.
Winner
When it comes to pricing, we feel that Webflow is the winner since not only does it offer an unlimited free version, but it also has an extensive range of price points for you to choose from.
Support- Webflow Vs Squarespace
Support is where Squarespace beats all its competitors. When it comes to help and support, Squarespace is the clear winner in the market. Let’s compare the help and support features offered by both to see which one you should pick.
Webflow help and support
Webflow does have some really helpful guides and tutorials in case you are stuck or face some trouble with the platform. Webflow University is the online source where you can find all guides and resources. You also have the Webflow Community forum where users get together to discuss the platform and share their experiences and difficulties.
However, there is a very minimal level of personal support. If you want to get in touch with Webflow directly, it can be a little difficult. They don’t provide live chat or call facility which means that the only way you can get in touch with them is via email.
Squarespace help and support
No other website builder can beat Squarespace when it comes to help and support. Squarespace has an excellent support team dedicated to resolving all of your complaints. The support team at Squarespace has developed a library of help guides, workshop videos, and a community forum to help you build your website. Users will also be able to talk to a member of the support team via live chat and 1-hour email support.
Winner
Needless to say, Squarespace is the clear winner in the help and support category.
Apps and Plugins- Webflow Vs Squarespace
Apps and plugins are an important aspect to consider before choosing a website builder. Apps and plugins help enhance your website with great features. Let us compare the apps and plugins available on both these platforms.
Webflow Apps and Plugins
Webflow allows you to enhance your website and unlock all kinds of functionality using their integrations. Find and embed different kinds of plugins and widgets to make the most of the platform. However, most of these are in the form of integrations and not separate apps or plugins as such. To know more about Webflow’s integrations, visit Webflow University.
Squarespace Apps and Plugins
When it comes to apps and plugins, Squarespace falls flat. Squarespace does not have any separate app store or plugins as such. It does have apps for blogging, analytics, notes, and portfolio, but these are already integrated within the platform itself.
Winner
Both Webflow and Squarespace have most features already integrated into their platform and does not require separate apps and plugins as such. For this reason, the result of this section is a draw.
Final Verdict - Webflow Vs Squarespace
Let us go back and take a brief look at which website builder won which category.
Ease Of Use – Squarespace
Design flexibility – Webflow
Tools and features – Squarespace
SEO features – Webflow
Pricing – Webflow
Support – Squarespace
Apps and Plugins – Draw
After carefully evaluating each of the above aspects, it is safe to say that both Webflow and Squarespace are on par with each other. Each one 3 of the 7 categories, with the last one being a draw.
So which one should I go for? Well, that depends on you. If you are a beginner and prioritize ease of use and support over everything else then go for Squarespace. Squarespace also has better tools and features as compared to Webflow.
However, if you’re looking for better design, flexibility, and SEO, the Webflow would be the right choice. In the end, it all depends on your needs and priorities.