Squarespace vs. WordPress.com: Plans and Prices
Squarespace is a paid product that is available at four pricing tiers: Personal ($16 per month), Business ($23 per month), Basic Commerce ($28 per month), or Advanced Commerce ($52 per month). With Squarespace, you get everything you need, including hosting, templates (site themes), integrations, extensions, and a content delivery network (CDN) for swift page-loading times. Squarespace's e-commerce plans leverage Stripe and PayPal to receive payments and Squarespace Analytics for traffic reports and visitor behavior.
WordPress.com, on the other hand, has five main tiers: Free, Starter ($4 per month), Explorer ($8 per month), Creator ($25 per month), or Entrepreneur ($45 per month). Like Squarespace, WordPress plans include themes, plug-ins, and hosting space. The company's e-commerce plans support Pay With PayPal for credit card payments and include Google Analytics for tracking traffic and visitor behavior.
With either service, pricing is more expensive if you pay monthly rather than yearly. However, WordPress.com’s free offering is a nice touch that lets you create an online destination without spending a dime. Conversely, check out WordPress VIP if you need to create a high-end site. This custom solution, aimed at enterprise users, requires you to contact a WordPress.com representative for a price quote.
Winner: WordPress.com
(Credit: Squarespace/PCMag)Squarespace vs. WordPress.com: Plug-Ins and Templates
Squarespace's current build, version 7.1, takes the website builder in a new direction. The update introduces streamlined options for adding content and styling your site. Despite the many changes, Squarespace 7.1 also shares many similarities with version 7.0, so much so that Squarespace has a guide to give you at-a-glance insights into the new features.
If you're new to Squarespace, the 7.1 build will be available from the jump. People using version 7.0, however, must rebuild their sites in 7.1 if they want to leverage the new features. Thankfully, Squarespace offers a guide for this, too. Squarespace 7.1 is still a work in progress, so it exists alongside Squarespace 7.0, at the moment.
Squarespace 7.1 doesn't offer template switching, as it supports all visual style options. In other words, the design you select when you create your site is the starting point; the new system offers more responsive site customization than the preset templates previously did. All Squarespace plans are compatible with the many first-party integrations and third-party extensions that deliver additional site functionality.
Squarespace has a good selection of extensions, integrations, and themes. In fact, a Squarespace installation lets you use third-party themes and integrations (though premium integrations require at least a Business plan).
As for WordPress, please note that WordPress.com is not the same as WordPress.org. WordPress.org is the place to download the CMS, themes, and plug-ins, and self-host them via third parties like DreamHost. The upside? WordPress.org gives you the freedom to install nearly any theme or plug-in you desire.
WordPress.com takes a more curated approach to its themes and plug-ins. For example, you can’t install third-party items with its Free, Starter, or Explorer tiers; you must have a Creator or Entrepreneur plan to do that. The benefit is that you don't have to download, set up, or manage software. If you're the hands-off type rather than a tinkerer, WordPress.com is a much simpler, friendlier way to get started than WordPress.org.
The free WordPress.com CMS only lets you work within its own plug-in and theme ecosystem; you cannot add a third-party theme unless you pay for a premium tier. Even more limiting, WordPress.com won't let you add third-party plug-ins at all. For that, you need to create a self-hosted site using the software from WordPress.org.
Unlike Squarespace, WordPress.com lets you swap themes with a button click. Thankfully, WordPress gives you an interactive preview that lets you kick the tires a bit before you drive off the lot.
Winner: Tie
(Credit: WordPress/PCMag)Squarespace vs. WordPress.com: Blogging and Image Editing
For blogging features, WordPress.com is hard to beat. After all, the WordPress platform began life as a blogging platform. The interface remains simple, despite replacing the WYSIWYG editor with a block editor. Squarespace still uses a WYSIWYG editor, which may be more appealing to novice web builders. Unfortunately, neither web host offers much mobile site customization. That said, the mobile sites Squarespace automatically generates look great.
Unfortunately, WordPress.com lacks robust photo editing software; you're limited to cropping and rotating. By contrast, Squarespace offers integrated photo editing that gives you more control over cropping, resizing, and the like. Still, it’s cool that WordPress lets you save any uploaded images to an online repository for reuse later, something that Squarespace also does.
Squarespace includes generative AI tools for faster site creation, while WordPress users can add AI functionality by downloading new plug-ins.
Winner: Squarespace
Squarespace vs. WordPress.com: Security and SEO Tips
Squarespace and WordPress.com support many measures to ensure that your site remains as secure as possible. These technologies include firewalls, secure socket layer (SSL) certificates, HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and two-factor authentication (2FA), among other things. Regarding security, both platforms are identical, so you needn't worry about compromising site safety if you select one instead of the other.
Both content management systems are chock full of SEO goodness. Both platforms are designed to be crawled by the world's largest search engines right out of the box. Squarespace offers an SEO checklist you should follow to improve your site's search standing. It teaches the importance of SEO-friendly slugs and custom 404 pages. WordPress.com walks a similar road by offering several information-packed pages designed to separate SEO facts from SEO myths. You can't go wrong with either service when it comes to SEO.
Winner: Tie
Squarespace vs. WordPress.com: Customer Service
Squarespace and WordPress.com also differ in their customer service approaches. Squarespace provides 24/7 email support and live chat from Monday to Friday, 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. WordPress.com offers 24/5 email and chat with each of its paid tiers (free accounts get nada, sadly). More expensive accounts receive priority support.
Sadly, Squarespace and WordPress.com lack phone support, which proves frustrating when you simply wish to speak to a human.
Winner: Squarespace
Squarespace vs. WordPress.com: Which Is Better?
Both website builders can quickly get your business online, but Squarespace offers a slightly better package that includes a superior photo editor, flexible blogging tools, and more customer support days. WordPress.com's free tier, on the other hand, is recommended for people on tight budgets, and its rich choice of themes and plug-ins is a plus.