Squarespace versus WordPress?
If you are considering a new website, the choice of publishing tool (CMS) is important. In recent years, more and more people are considering Squarespace or WordPress.
After working with developers and programmers in WordPress for over 20 years, Magiska Design switched to Squarespace in 2020. Now I have designed many websites in Squarespace, and am still as enthusiastic and impressed by a tool that is almost without bugs or technical issues! Here you will find an overview of the main differences between the tools, as I see it!
1. Concept - Open Source
WordPress is open source and the publishing tool itself can be downloaded for free by anyone. You will have to buy "plugins" for image galleries, forms and other functionality. Today there are about 55,000 different plugins available, but many are of poor quality. Squarespace is owned by Squarespace, development is managed by Squarespace and all functionality is built into the tool. One click and you have access to all the functionality! Squarespace has a lot in common with Apple. User friendly, enough functionality - and it all works. Squarespace is good at testing.
2. Easy to use
There is no disagreement here: Squarespace is much easier to use than WordPress. It's easy to add photo, video, audio, and with drag-and-drop functionality, it's very easy to build pages that look great. You can access all the features of Squarespace by clicking on the +/- sign.
3. Flexibility
WordPress clearly wins here. The concept of a free "core" and plugins that can be plugged in makes the system extremely flexible. But my experience after more than 20 years in the business is that the vast majority will have their needs met in Squarespace. And then it's of little interest if WordPress has 1,200 different image gallery modules. As a rule, you will only use one, and the people who take care of your website will be happy to keep the number of plugins to a minimum so that upgrades are easier.
4. Security
Since WordPress is powered by thousands of different hosting providers and with thousands of different plugins that need to be constantly updated, security is perhaps the biggest "Achilles heel" of WordPress. Squarespace has central management, high uptime and everything is constantly updated. And you can track the status of the business here.
5. Inline editing
With Squarespace, you see the entire site you're about to change. Click on the element, make changes, drag and drop. With WordPress, you get the text on your own screen. With the latest version of WordPress, you get some of this functionality by looking at the entire website and "drag & dropping" there. Inline editing is perhaps the point that my clients appreciate the most, as you work faster and see the changes immediately.
6. Design templates
Although Squarespace offers many nice design templates, it is not relevant for Magical Design. I develop all pages in Squarespace Developer Mode, with unique designs for each client.
7. Web shop
Here WordPress has more functionality. Without a doubt. But Squarespace has invested heavily in online stores in recent years and Squarespace eCommerce is very easy to set up and use.
8. Blogging
WordPress has version control, so you can "roll back" to an older version of the blog post. Squarespace does not.
9. Search engine optimisation
This is the area Squarespace has focused on most in recent years. All the functionality to be successful on Google is now readily available and you don't need plugins or to be an expert. In January 2019, Squarespace made changes to the so-called "trailing slash". This used to give Squarespace pages bad scores on SEO analysis, but this has now been adjusted. 2018 also saw the important integration of Google Search Console into Squarespace. With the click of a button, you can access all the data in Google Search Console inside Squarespace!
10. Updates
Here the concept behind Squarespace is absolutely superior! Everything related to operation and updates is handled by Squarespace. If, for example, Google makes changes to its algorithms, you can be sure that Squarespace will adapt quickly. With WordPress, both the core software (WP) and about 55,000 plugins can be updated.
11. Newsletter
After GDPR, we find newsletters to be a more effective channel! Squarespace has launched the newsletter feature integrated into the tool. A few keystrokes and you've set up a newsletter with a link to your latest blog posts. Easier and faster than Mailchimp!
Conclusion
You can definitely create good websites in WordPress, and it's a great tool to work in, but there's a difference between how Squarespace and WordPress are structured. I find Squarespace to be much simpler and more user-friendly, and much more suitable for most small and medium-sized businesses.
