Are you a small business owner wanting to sell online? You’ve likely heard of Square vs Squarespace. These platforms provide tools to kickstart your online journey, but deciding the best fit can be challenging.
Our blog delves into Square vs Squarespace, thoroughly examining their:
- Pricing
- Ease of use
- POS
- Website builder
- Ecommerce features
- Marketing features
- Integration
- Customer support
Let’s break it down to help you choose the best for your business.
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Square Vs Squarespace: At a Glance
When comparing Square vs Squarespace, many wonder “Is Square the same as Squarespace?”. In this section, we’ll give you an overview of Square and Squarespace and their pros and cons.
Square Vs Squarespace: Quick Comparison
So, is Squarespace the same as Square? This overview aims to give you a basic understanding of these platforms.
Square, founded in 2009, initially gained fame as a point-of-sale provider with its iconic white card reader. Beyond that, Square offers small business tools, including the Square Online website builder. On the other hand, Squarespace, established in 2003, is a leader in website building, focusing on empowering users to craft stunning websites effortlessly.
Both Square vs Squarespace provide user-friendly features like drag-and-drop templates, security measures, and SEO tools. But which one is better for your business?
In essence, Square is great for retail or small-scale services seeking a seamless POS experience, while Squarespace suits those prioritizing visually appealing websites or online stores.
The table below summarizes the key factors between Squarespace vs Square:
Features | Square | Squarespace |
Monthly fees | - Free: $0 per month - Square Appointments Plus: $29 per month - Square Restaurant Plus: $60 per month - Square Appointments Premium: $69 per month - Square Retail Plus: $89 per month - Premium: Custom | - Personal: $23 per month |
Ease of use | Simple to use | Easy to set up with a user-friendly interface |
POS | - Free POS software | - Squarespace POS integration |
Website builder | - Approx. 30 free basic templates | - Over 110 design-centric free templates |
Ecommerce features | - Basic eCommerce features | - Basic eCommerce functionality |
Marketing features | - Email marketing | - Integrates with Facebook or Instagram integration |
Third-party apps and integrations | Nearly 200 app integrations | Around 40 app integrations |
Customer support | - Chat and phone support during business hours | - Live chat |
Pros and Cons of Square vs Squarespace
No provider is perfect for everyone, but one might be perfect for you. Let’s check the pros and cons of Square vs Squarespace to see what platform is best for your business.
Square pros and cons
If your store doesn’t focus much on online sales, Square is a good choice. It offers a free plan, great point-of-sale apps, and works well in different industries. Let’s look at what’s good and not-so-good about Squareup vs Squarespace:
Pros:
- Quick & free online store creation.
- Free magstripe card reader provided.
- Point-of-sale features are available, supporting both online and offline selling.
- Ultimate inventory management.
- Dependable offline mode offered.
- Wide range of mobile payment hardware choices.
- Access to industry-targeted products and additional features.
- Standalone payment solutions available for mobile, in-store, and online transactions.
Cons:
- No 24/7 phone support.
- Limited integrated eCommerce features
- Decent website design function
- Lack of multiple currencies support
For more details, go to our comprehensive Square review for sellers.
Squarespace pros & cons
If you want a stunning website and an all-in-one package for eCommerce, consider Squarespace. Let’s break down the good and not-so-good aspects of Squarespace vs Square to help you decide if it’s right for you. You can read our in-depth Squarespace eCommerce review for more information, but here are the main pros and cons of Squarespace:
Pros:
- Various customizable templates for eye-catching websites.
- Powerful built-in marketing features (email campaigns, SEO, social media integration, etc.)
- All-in-one platform for streamlined management (hosting, domain registration, website building, and eCommerce).
- User-friendly interface, even for non-techy users.
Cons:
- Limited payment options
- No phone support
Verdict: In short, opt for Square if you run a physical store or service-based business, seeking smooth point-of-sale experiences. If you’re focused on creating an online store with a visually appealing design, Squarespace is the better choice.
Square vs Squarespace: 8 Key Factors Comparison
Deciding between Square and Squarespace is a significant choice for your business. Let’s look closely at both to figure out which one is better.
#1. Pricing
Pricing is a game-changer for small businesses. Let’s check out the fees for Square and Squarespace.
Square pricing
Square keeps it easy with transparent pricing and no hidden fees. You can freely add or change additional features anytime, and there are no long contracts.
- Free: $0 per month
- Square Appointments Plus: $29/month
- Square Restaurant Plus: $60/month
- Square Appointments Premium: $69/month
- Square Retail Plus: $89/month
- Premium: Custom
Moreover, Square has various plans for different business needs:
- eCommerce and online ordering: Free, with upgrades from $29–$79 per month.
- Marketing: From $14/month for email and $10/month for text.
- Team management: Free plan available or Team Plus plan at $35/month/location.
- Payroll: $35/month + $6/employee.
- Loyalty program: From $45/month/location for up to 500 loyal visits.
In addition to monthly fees, Square has processing fees as follows:
- In-person: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction
- Online: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- Manually entered: 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction
- Invoices: 3.3% + $0.30 per transaction
Squarespace pricing
Like Square, Squarespace also offers monthly pricing plans (pay monthly) as follows:
- Personal: $23/month
- Business: $33/month
- Commerce Basic: $36/month
- Commerce Advanced: $65/month
- Enterprise: Custom
Note that all the plans let you try for free for 14 days.
With the Business plan, there’s a 3% transaction fee for physical services and products. This fee is removed from the Commerce Basic and Commerce Advanced plans.
Every Squarespace plan includes fully managed cloud hosting, so your website stays available 24/7. If you’re looking for website builders with excellent hosting, explore our detailed HostGator vs Squarespace comparison.
Verdict: Comparing pricing between Square vs Squarespace, Square is a more budget-friendly option at $0 with advanced features. Despite the cost differences, Square and Squarespace are great for small businesses.
#2. Ease of use
When it comes to ease of use, both Square vs Squarespace are beginner-friendly.
Square
Square allows easy changes with real-time template modifications and provides an automated setup guide for launching stores without technical help. Video tutorials and a setup wizard make website building straightforward.
Squarespace
Squarespace starts with selecting a design and answering a questionnaire. After choosing a theme, the platform guides users through the basic setup, explaining actions like page setup and editing. Squarespace also offers a drag-and-drop editor for quick access and modification.
All of these features make it easy to create online stores, just like Shopify’s. Check out our detailed Shopify vs Square comparison for more in-depth information.
However, Squarespace’s homepage editor may be challenging for beginners, lacking visual cues. If you’re entirely new to creating eCommerce sites, understanding Squarespace may take some extra time.
Verdict: Both Squarespace and Square are user-friendly. If you prefer simplicity and a quick setup, Square is a great choice. Squarespace, while beginner-friendly, requires a bit more time for full understanding, offering powerful customization options.
#3. POS
Square is famous for its powerful POS system while Squarespace collaborates with Square for POS integration.
Square
Comparing Square vs Squarespace POS, Square is ideal for smaller shops relying on in-person sales. It serves various formats, including restaurants and retail, offering specialized POS systems. Square’s hardware selection is diverse, providing five types of card readers and a “Tap to Pay” option for iPhones, eliminating the need for a separate reader.
With Square, you have control over your POS setup, and there are no long-term contracts, making it a great choice for small businesses exploring POS options.
Squarespace
Instead of developing its own POS system, Squarespace partnered with Square to create POS. To get started, you’ll need the Squarespace Commerce app and a Square card reader, priced at around $49.
It’s important to note that POS is only accessible with a Commerce Basic or Commerce Advanced plan, and Squarespace won’t charge extra transaction fees.
Verdict: Square POS caters to a wide range of in-person sales scenarios. On the other hand, Squarespace POS integrates seamlessly with Squarespace users only.
#4. Website builder
If Square excels in POS, then Squarespace stands out for website building. Let’s compare Square Online vs Squarespace in detail.
Square Online
Square offers a basic website builder widely known as Square Online. However, it doesn’t have a huge selection of templates, including retail, restaurant, service, and nonprofit templates.
While Square Online’s templates are clean and easy to navigate, they’re not very unique. You can quickly edit them, adjusting fonts, colors, and your company logo. If you prefer simplicity and safe designs, Square Online is good enough. But for building a strong brand, Squarespace is recommended.
Squarespace
As some of you may know, Square vs Wix are among the biggest website creation options today. Absolutely! Squarespace is crafted to ensure your online stores are not just powerful but also beautiful and optimized.
Squarespace shines in template designs when comparing Squarespace vs Square Online. Each eCommerce template includes a Product page for displaying items.
In terms of personalization between Square vs Squarespace, the second one lets you have more freedom. It allows you to customize color schemes, font styles, button styles, and even website margins.
You can easily add or remove sections on each page with just a click. Customizing pages is also easy, with options like “Contact Us” forms and maps.
Verdict: Squarespace is the winner for website building. It lets you make top-notch, professional-looking sites with stylish and modern themes for different businesses.
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#5. Ecommerce features
As you may know, BigCommerce vs Squarespace are well-known in eCommerce, but Square also provides robust eCommerce functions for your online stores.
In this part, we’ll look at the differences between Square vs Squarespace in the following aspects:
- Product types you can sell
- Product editors
- Inventory management
- Shipping
- Payment options
Product types you can sell
Square lets you sell various product types, like physical products, event tickets, digital downloads, services/appointments, donations, and memberships. On the other hand, Squarespace expands these options to include on-demand videos and online courses.
Product editors
For product editing, both Square and Squarespace cover the basics with features:
- Product names
- Descriptions
- Images
- Prices
- Variants
- SKUs
- Shipping
- Basic SEO
However, Squarespace’s product editor stands out for its better streamlining, offering more detailed product and organization information.
Inventory management
Both Squarespace and Square Up offer similar basic inventory management features, like adding SKUs, stock quantity, and automatic updates.
Square takes the lead when it comes to POS, seamlessly syncing offline and online inventory and supporting multiple locations. Besides, Square’s well-categorized inventory updating is beneficial for offline retailers. Squarespace, on the other hand, simplifies updates directly from the dashboard.
Shipping
Shipping is streamlined on both platforms, offering various shipping methods and real-time rates from carriers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS. With Squarespace, you have an extra shipping option, DHL. Additionally, they integrate with top third-party logistics (3PL) providers for efficient order fulfillment.
Payment options
Both Square and Squarespace provide only a few payment options, but they accept most major payment methods.
Square lets you connect with:
- Square
- Afterpay
- Cash App Pay
- Paypal
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Square Pay.
In comparison, Squarespace integrates with:
- Stripe
- Paypal
- Afterpay or Clearpay
- Apple Pay
Winner: Squarespace is the top choice for eCommerce features, with better inventory management and a superior product editor. However, Square is still a good option, especially for restaurants and retail stores that are getting online.
#6. Marketing features
Understanding how Square vs Squarespace excel in marketing is crucial for boosting your online and offline business.
Square
Square offers affordable marketing tools for both online and offline businesses.
The Square Email Marketing starts at $15 per month, while Text Message Marketing begins at $10 per month. Besides, it easily integrates with Facebook, enabling you to post promotions and track results conveniently on your Square Dashboard.
Squarespace
Squarespace, on the other hand, offers more extensive marketing tools to boost your online business.
Squarespace lets you sell on Instagram and Facebook and share content on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter (X).
Email marketing is seamlessly integrated, with four plans ranging from $5 to $48 per month, offering different campaign and email limits. In blogging, Squarespace provides versatility with flexible “summary blocks” for easy integration into any page.
For SEO, Squarespace offers handy tools to improve website visibility on search engines, automating the creation of title tags, meta tags, and sitemaps.
Verdict: Square is excellent for cost-effective marketing, especially for online restaurants and retail stores. Squarespace is perfect for businesses prioritizing a strong online presence, needing seamless website management, flexible blogging, and powerful SEO tools.
#7. Integration
As an online seller, using apps and integrations is vital for improving store functionality. Now, let’s explore the integration aspect in our Square vs Squarespace comparison!
Square
Square offers eCommerce integration with around 200 apps for different categories, like form builder, items & inventory, POS, etc. These integrations help manage inventory and orders, providing insights through its reporting dashboard.
Squarespace
Squarespace has Squarespace Extensions, an app marketplace with high-quality free and paid integrations. Currently, there are about 40 extensions available in different categories like blogging, commerce, design, emails, etc. However, some are limited to specific countries, so check before integrating.
Verdict: Overall, Square offers more apps and integrations than Squarespace. However, Squarespace’s official integrations expand your site’s influence on the web, while Square’s are more general in nature.
#8. Customer support
Both Square vs Squarespace provide decent customer support, but there are some notable differences.
Square
If you prioritize excellent customer service, Square might not be the best choice, as some users aren’t satisfied with its limited service hours.
Live chat and phone support are available on:
- Weekdays: from 9 a.m to 9 p.m EST
- Weekends: from 11 a.m to 8 p.m EST
Email responses take 24 to 48 hours.
Squarespace
Squarespace has more limited customer support options. Most issues are resolved through their excellent forum. Live chat support is available from Monday to Friday, 4 am – 8 pm (EST).
Verdict: Square provides good live phone support, which Squarespace lacks. However, Squarespace offers stronger support through its forum compared to Square.
Squarespace vs Square – FAQs
No, Square specializes in POS and payment services, while Squarespace focuses on helping users build and manage websites. Squarespace and Square differ in their primary services and focuses. Square mainly provides transaction tools with various hardware options and software solutions for both in-person and online sales. In contrast, Squarespace allows users to create and manage visually appealing websites using customizable templates. Squarespace also offers eCommerce, blogging, and SEO tools to boost your business’s online presence. Yes, Square excels for small businesses looking to sell online, especially in the retail or restaurant sectors. It offers tools for managing transactions, inventory, and building an affordable online store.
Square vs Squarespace: Which is Better?
In conclusion, choosing between Square vs Squarespace depends on your business needs.
Square is a solid option for small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in retail or restaurants. It has robust transaction tools, inventory management, and affordable online store solutions. On the other hand, Squarespace shines in website building. It provides visually appealing templates, versatile blogging, and effective SEO tools.
If you’re still wondering which platform to use, feel free to contact us for help anytime.