10 Best Squarespace Alternatives & Competitors in 2024
What Squarespace competitors are out there?
We’ve put together a list of ten of our favorite Squarespace alternatives, looking at the pros and cons, and who each platform is best suited for.
The best alternatives to Squarespace
1. Webflow
Advantage: Good for complex, visually appealing websites
Disadvantage: Hard to learn, limitations in place
Best for: People who want a highly customized, responsive site
Price: Free plan available
If you want a website that looks gorgeous, Webflow is a fantastic choice. It works a lot like Photoshop, giving you granular control over all the elements of your page.
It’s got lots of other useful features too. You can easily localize your website so you can present different versions to different countries, and as it uses clean code, it’s excellent for search engine optimization (SEO).
However, it can be hard to get to grips with, especially if you’re not a web developer or designer. There are also strict limitations in place for each pricing tier – you can only have a certain number of pages or elements across your website.
Webflow vs Squarespace: A head-to-head comparison
2.WordPress and WooCommerce
Advantage: Offers an extensive selection of plugins to customize your site
Disadvantage: Costs of plugins can quickly add up
Best for: People who want to get started with a website for free
Price: Free to download
WordPress is free, easy to get started on, and fully flexible – it’s easy to see why a third of all websites use it!
This platform is great as it comes with a wide range of free and paid-for plugins, meaning you can build a site that suits your needs. For example, you can use WooCommerce if you want to sell online.
It’s important to be selective about the plugins or WooCommerce extensions you download though. Too many can bloat your website and slow it down, and plugins that aren’t updated can be a security risk. Plus as WordPress is free and open source, there’s no support if things go wrong.
Squarespace vs WordPress: A head-to-head comparison
3. Magento
Advantage: Highly customizable if you have coding skills
Disadvantage: Hard to learn
Best for: Small and medium businesses that want a scalable website
Price: Free to download
Like WordPress, Magento is free to download and use. Its advantage lies in its power – it’s versatile, designed for high performance, and is easy to scale. You can add extra functionality as your business grows, meaning you don’t have to replatform.
All this power does come at a cost. The platform is highly technical, making it hard to get your head around if you don’t have a skilled developer in your team. It can also run slowly on the wrong servers, which can lead to frustration amongst your customers.
4. Adobe Commerce
Advantage: Lots of eCommerce features, designed for large businesses
Disadvantage: Very expensive
Best for: Large and enterprise businesses that want something they can tailor to their needs
Price: Price on request
Adobe Commerce is the cloud-based version of Magento. This means you pay a monthly or annual fee, and you get a fully managed platform specially designed for eCommerce.
Like Magento, Adobe Commerce is extremely adaptable. For example, it’s easy to implement headless architecture, meaning you can separate the front end and back end of your website to improve performance and boost speed.
Adobe Commerce isn’t cheap. The price you pay depends on the sales you make and your average order value, with most customers spending at least $20,000 a year. This rules it out as an option for smaller eCommerce businesses.
5. Ecwid
Advantage: Can be added to any other website
Disadvantage: Limited features
Best for: Businesses that have a well-established website and want an easy way to add eCommerce
Price: Free plan available
Ecwid is different from the other platforms on this list in that it’s an eCommerce extension. This means you can add it to any website or even use it to sell on social media.
This makes it a brilliant alternative if you have a website that doesn’t have eCommerce functionality and don’t want to spend time and money replatforming. Plus it has a free plan so you can see if it’s right for you before committing.
While Ecwid is flexible, it doesn’t have many features. If you want the ability to sell offline as well as unlimited products, you have to sign up for the unlimited plan. This can work out more expensive than some of the dedicated eCommerce platforms in this article!
6. Kajabi
Advantage: Designed for online courses and communities
Disadvantage: Can be expensive, not intended for eCommerce
Best for: People who want to focus on offering courses, coaching, and online memberships
Price: From $55 a month
Kajabi is specifically designed for people who want to offer online courses and build a community of engaged followers.
You can easily build an online course, manage your memberships, and send targeted marketing to existing and prospective customers.
If your main service offerings aren’t courses and communities, Kajabi may not be right for you. While it does have eCommerce functionality, this is secondary to its community-building tools.
(If you want a platform that offers online courses, memberships, and eCommerce – you might want to consider Squarespace!)
7. Shopify and Shopify Plus
Advantage: Designed for eCommerce
Disadvantage: Not ideal for non-eCommerce content
Best for: Businesses that want an easy-to-use eCommerce store that grows with them
Price: From $29 a month
Shopify has a lot in common with Squarespace. It’s a cloud-based eCommerce platform designed for businesses that want to sell online.
Shopify is well-loved as it’s easy to use, has a range of flexible features, and scales as you do. It even has an enterprise platform designed for large international businesses – Shopify Plus.
While Shopify is great if you need eCommerce functionality, it struggles with non-eCommerce content. It’s not ideal for blogging, and if you want a site to show off your portfolio, Squarespace may be a better choice.
Squarespace vs Shopify: 8 crucial differences
8. Wix
Advantage: Easy to get up and running
Disadvantage: Templates aren’t polished
Best for: People who want a simple platform to get started on
Price: Free plan available
Another cloud-based eCommerce platform, Wix offers a free plan. This makes it especially appealing if you’re running a small side hustle or want to see if eCommerce is a viable business venture.
While Wix is free and easy to use, it’s not as professional-looking as platforms like Squarespace and Shopify. Some templates look a little tired and dated, and there’s limited storage for photos, videos, and documents.
Wix vs Squarespace: Uncovering 9 vital differences
9. Prestashop
Advantage: Can choose between downloadable and hosted platform
Disadvantage: Hard to scale
Best for: Micro-businesses and small businesses that want to start selling online
Price: Free/from $27 a month
Prestashop is not as popular as some of the platforms on this list, but it’s well-liked by those who use it. You can choose between a free downloaded version like WordPress and Magento or a paid-for hosted version like Squarespace and Shopify.
While Prestashop is user-friendly and easy to customize, it’s better suited for small and medium-sized stores rather than larger ones. While there are additional services and features available, these can be expensive and costs can quickly add up.
10. Square
Advantage: Ideal for point-of-sale orders
Disadvantage: Limited features
Best for: Businesses that have a brick-and-mortar store and want to start selling online
Price: Free plan available
Square’s key advantage is that it’s designed for point-of-sale orders. This means if you have an online and offline store, you can easily sync your inventory and track orders wherever shoppers place them. There’s also a free tier, so you can try it before signing up for a paid plan.
Compared to Squarespace though, Square only has a limited range of basic templates, and less functionality.
Squarespace vs Square: 8 key differences explained
Which Squarespace alternative is right for you?
As you can probably guess, we prefer Squarespace as a platform at Spark Plugin! It’s easy to get started on and has a wide range of mobile-responsive, SEO-optimized templates, meaning you can have a professional-looking site.
(Plus, you can take advantage of over 100 fantastic Spark Plugin customizations.)
However, the right platform for you depends on what you do, your goals, your budget, and the features you need.
All of these platforms are either free to get started on or offer a free trial, so you can see which you prefer.
We regularly post comparison articles about Squarespace competitors on the Spark Palette’s blog – don’t forget to bookmark our site to stay in the loop!
