Another website showdown: Showit vs. Squarespace. We compare the platforms to examine which website platform is best for businesses in 2024 and beyond.
Last year we broke down the differences between Showit and Elementor (WordPress). Today, we thought it was finally time to compare Showit to another popular platform: Squarespace.
Both Showit and Squarespace are no-code website builders, created to allow anyone to design a professional website without having to invest weeks of your life or thousands of dollars into the project.
Both platforms provide proprietary website building tools in addition to hosting your website. In other words, they give you the tools to build your website and you’ll pay them monthly or annually to keep your website live.
While the two have some similarities, the two platforms are very different. Let’s look at what each website builder offers and then walk through some of the main differences.
What is Squarespace?
Squarespace is a template-based website builder that was launched with small business owners in mind. It functions as an all-in-one platform so that users can access all of their business needs in one place.
What is Showit?
Showit is a drag-and-drop website builder that was created specifically for photographers. However, other creative entrepreneurs like designers, artists, and wedding pros began using the platform due to the creative flexibility of the platform.
Now, all sorts of businesses from photographers to graphic designers to custom home builders and interior designers use Showit to build their websites.
It’s perfect for people who want a creative, visually stunning website.
Showit is a standalone platform, so it doesn’t rely on another platform to work, but it does require integration with WordPress if you want to have a blog on your website. Showit’s integration with WordPress makes the platform even more powerful.
With your subscription, you get access to their website builder and website hosting from Showit.
If you feel stuck trying to decide between the two, keep reading to learn about some of the benefits and drawbacks of each platform.
Website Templates
Squarespace offers around 50 templates with drag-and-drop features, and you can purchase premium templates from a number of designers.
Squarespace limits users to using a template, which can be a mixed blessing. It’s almost impossible to design an ugly website with the platform, but you are limited to following a template, and because all of the templates are based on one master version, your website could end up looking like someone else’s.
With Showit, you can choose from free, pre-made templates, or purchase premium templates from designers (like us!) or the Showit template store.
One of the biggest differences is that, unlike Squarespace, you can start with Showit’s “Simple Template” and design something basically from scratch. You can drag and drop elements to your heart’s content, with total creative control to move, crop, and align them however you want.
There’s no coding required to design a Showit site, but you can use code to customize your website, like adding a countdown timer. Just do a quick Google search and find the code you need.
Squarespace makes it difficult to design an ugly website—but that’s different than being able to easily design a beautiful website. This is where Showit shines: providing creative flexibility so that you can design a stunning website.
Who has the edge? Showit
E-commerce Functionality
If e-commerce is the primary goal of your website, Squarespace is a strong contender. Squarespace has built-in e-commerce features that make it easy to add a store to your website that feels integrated with the rest of your website. Once you connect a Stripe account to your site, you can accept most major credit cards, Apple Pay, and Afterpay. With a PayPal business account you can also accept PayPal and even Venmo. When your online shop is set up, there’s no limit to the number of products you can upload.
We’ve mentioned before that we generally don’t recommend Showit for e-commerce, since it requires working around certain limitations. However, it can be done by using third-party providers such as Shopify Starter or Woocommerce.
If you run a primarily e-commerce platform, we’d recommend first looking into an e-commerce focused platform like Shopify or WordPress/Woocommerce.
Who has the edge? Squarespace
Mobile Optimization and Design
There’s currently no option to customize your Squarespace site for mobile optimization. The elements on your desktop site will simply click into place on mobile. Sure, you save time by focusing on your desktop website, but this can lead to your website appearing substandard when people are on their phones or tablets.
Showit provides a lot of control over how the mobile version of a website appears. And in a “mobile-first” world, we think this is reason enough to use Showit. Yes, it will take some extra time to customize the mobile version of a website, but we think it’s worth it!
Who has the edge? Showit
Hosting
Both website builders also host your site. The advantage of using businesses like Showit and Squarespace is that it takes some of the technical aspects of owning a website off your shoulders. For instance, both companies will add SSL certificates to secure your website.
Squarespace also makes it easy to purchase a domain name and add email. While this is nice for someone who wants a “one-stop shop,” we typically recommend going straight to Google for domains and email. This makes life easier down the road if you decide to switch website platforms.
Showit might appeal to people who run multiple businesses because they offering a 50% discount for each additional website that they host.
Who has the edge? It’s a toss-up. Both companies make things easy.
Ease of Use
Both website platforms are easy to use.
As we’ve mentioned, it’s hard to design an ugly Squarespace website. Additionally, the design limitations in the platform make Squarespace websites hard to break.
Showit has far fewer limitations so it might feel a bit more complicated when first getting started. But, the trade-off is that you get much more creative control over your website. We feel like Showit is still really easy to learn when compared with many website platforms.
Who has the edge? It’s a toss-up.
SEO Features
Both platforms offer several built-in SEO settings, including the ability to set page titles, meta description, and alt tags.
Because it integrates with WordPress, Showit users have access to other SEO tools like RankMath.
Who has the edge? Showit, thanks to WordPress.
Blogging Features
Squarespace’s built-in blog page allows you to choose a blog layout and customize the design. You can also adjust the settings including excerpts, post categories, spacing, and background color.
Showit integrates with WordPress. That means that you use Showit to design your blog layout, but you create the actual blogs in WordPress. Don’t worry– it’s not as complicated as it sounds! As soon as you publish your latest blog in WordPress, it will populate your Showit website.
The advantage of Showit’s integration with WordPress is that you can add WordPress plugins to your website. These plugins easily add functionality to your website without the need of custom development.
Who has the edge? Showit
Integrations and Plugins
The comprehensive nature of Squarespace can appeal to many business owners. The platform offers e-commerce, blogging, email marketing, landing pages, lead capture, and even appointment schedules all on one site.
Using Showit will require you to supplement with integrations and plugins: Shopify for e-commerce, WordPress for blogging, Flodesk for email marketing, etc. While each of these platforms works beautifully for their intended task, be prepared to manage and pay for many of them separately.
Who has the edge? Squarespace if you’re looking for simplicity; Showit if you’re looking for top-notch options.
Incorporating Video In Your Website
Both platforms allow you to embed videos, but Showit is able to locally host background videos, while Squarespace can only support background videos that are uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo.
Who has the edge? Showit
Analytics
A Squarespace site has access to built-in analytics that display page traffic, geography, activity log, and form and button conversions. For advanced analytics, you can integrate Google Analytics.
Showit users have to rely on Google Analytics for data. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing—GA provides comprehensive analytics and it’s free—but it does mean that you’ll need to create a GA account and then set up the analytics tracking on your website site. While Showit does make it really easy to add your tracking code, things do get more complicated for e-commerce sites.
Who has the edge? Squarespace
Help and Support
You can reach Squarespace’s customer support via email, live chat, Twitter, and Facebook messenger. The support team strives to answer questions in 24 hours.
Showit’s customer support is available via email or live chat, and they aim to respond within 1-2 hours during normal business hours. You can also join Facebook communities created for Showit users and designers. These communities are generally very helpful.
Who has the edge? Showit.
Pricing and Cost
The lowest monthly plan for Squarespace starts at $23/a month, and options increase up to $65/month, but there’s a 30% discount for paying annually. Four different plans are available; the most popular Business plan implements a 3% transaction fee on purchases, but both of the Commerce plans have 0% transaction fees.
Squarespace’s plans offer unlimited bandwidth, so there’s no limit to blog posts or site visitors. If you’re working to grow your audience, which is a great perk.
The three plan options with Showit are slightly less expensive, ranging from $24-$39/month, with discounts for paying annually.
Who has the edge? Showit
Which one is best?
So, Showit vs. Squarespace: which one should I choose in 2022? We move a lot of businesses off of Squarespace on to Showit. Squarespace tends to be an easy platform for people when they’re just getting started, but it doesn’t provide a lot of room to grow.
Showit makes it easy to create a visually stunning website that truly reflects the creativity and uniqueness of the business. While you may have to use a few additional tools along with your Showit website, you’re able to use the best tools for the job instead of being forced into an “all-in-one” platform.
We recommend Showit!
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