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Table of Contents
No matter what type of business or brand you have, a professional website is essential for success. Customers want your online presence to be informative and visually appealing. That’s why it’s important to use a website builder that lets you create your website and easily customise the details. Wix and Squarespace are two of the most popular options for website building among Australian businesses, and both are solid choices for anyone looking to create their own site. Here’s how they compare, so you can decide which is best for you.
Related: Wix Review
Featured Partners
1
Wix
Pricing
Free version available with paid plans starting at $17 AUD per month
E-commerce functionality
On select plans
Free trial
14-day
2
Squarespace
Starting price
$16 AUD
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Free domain and SSL certificate, no transaction fees, award-winning templates
3
GoDaddy
Starting Price
$US7.95 ($12 AUD) per month
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Email included, multiple payment options
4
IONOS
Starting price
$US1 or $1.50 AUD per month for the first six months, then $US18 per month or $27 AUD
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
E-commerce in entry-level plan
Yes, as an add-on
Wix vs. Squarespace: At a Glance
Wix offers website building for beginners and allows users to edit and customise nearly every detail. Many users appreciate the option of a free starter plan, although this comes with Wix branding and the Wix favicon in the URL.
Squarespace is also designed for beginner website building, offering modern templates and an excellent blogging feature. Both offer a free 14-day trial. You really can’t go wrong with either platform.
Squarespace
Pricing
Plans starting at $16 AUD per month
Personal plans
E-commerce functionality
All plans
Free trial
14-day
Pricing
Plans starting at $16 AUD per month
Personal plans
E-commerce functionality
All plans
Free trial
14-day
- Exceptional for blogging
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage
- Integrated design options
- Less intuitive design options
- E-commerce features could be stronger
- Not as many apps and add-ons
Wix
Pricing
Free version available with paid plans starting at $17 AUD per month
E-commerce functionality
On select plans
Free trial
14-day
Pricing
Free version available with paid plans starting at $17 AUD per month
E-commerce functionality
On select plans
Free trial
14-day
- Wix ADI is unique and novel
- Flexible pricing
- Back-up and restore feature
- Limited storage space
- Free plan is limiting
- Not ideal for blogging
How the Builders Stack Up
Structured vs. Unstructured Design
Many beginner users appreciate the structured design options that Squarespace offers. Column, row and box locations are predetermined and can only be placed in certain page locations.
Wix allows for much more unstructured page building, which is ideal for users seeking to place design elements exactly where they want them. It’s very much a personal preference, but for unlimited creative design freedom, Wix is the best choice. It’s also worth noting that Wix offers their Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) tool that will automatically build a design for you based on how you answer a quick introductory survey. It might not give you the perfect site on your first try, but it could at least provide a good starting point.
Related: Wix Pricing Plans for Australians
SEO Tools
SEO is what drives your website to the top of search engines, and involves using optimized keywords and strong content in order to rank higher. Wix offers a built-in “SEO Wiz” feature, giving users full control over meta titles and descriptions, along with custom URLs. Google Analytics is available only with paid plans.
Squarespace also allows control over meta titles, descriptions and custom URLs. Google Analytics is available with all plans, but some older Squarespace templates can be problematic and don’t allow users to customise their page titles.
Planning To Blog?
If you will be using your website for blogging, Squarespace has a slight edge. Once your site is built, Squarespace allows you to begin a blog right away. Features include scheduling, tagging, comment moderation, categories and drafts. It also allows for collaboration and multiple authors on a post.
Wix offers a similar set of blogging features as well as several free apps and integrations to help boost your web presence. It offers standard scheduling, tagging and category functionality.
E-Commerce Options
Both platforms allow users to sell physical and digital products and offer point-of-sale (POS) integration. Squarespace permits sales of services, and Wix offers a similar set of features in its e-commerce packages. Meanwhile, Wix allows users to sell offline and accept payment upon delivery while Squarespace does not.
Wix offers e-commerce across three of its plans: basic e-commerce in its Core Plan ($33 AUD); standard e-commerce in it Business Plan ($49 AUD) and advanced e-commerce on its Business Elite Plan ($179 AUD). Squarespace, meanwhile, only offers two tiers of e-commerce: Basic Commerce for $34 AUD and Advanced Commerce for $52 AUD.
Backup and Storage
In terms of sheer storage capability, Squarespace offers unlimited storage and wins by a mile. Wix limits users to a maximum of 50GB of storage, which is fine for most smaller websites, but will limit growth.
Wix does take the pressure off remembering to back up your website content, as this feature is automatic. Squarespace users must take the extra step of backing up their content manually.
Featured Partners
1
Wix
Pricing
Free version available with paid plans starting at $17 AUD per month
E-commerce functionality
On select plans
Free trial
14-day
2
Squarespace
Starting price
$16 AUD
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Free domain and SSL certificate, no transaction fees, award-winning templates
3
GoDaddy
Starting Price
$US7.95 ($12 AUD) per month
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Email included, multiple payment options
4
IONOS
Starting price
$US1 or $1.50 AUD per month for the first six months, then $US18 per month or $27 AUD
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
E-commerce in entry-level plan
Yes, as an add-on
Bottom Line
Both Squarespace and Wix are solid choices for building a website, and each one offers a good amount of support options for any questions you may have along the way. While they offer similar entry-level prices, Squarespace’s top e-commerce option is only $52 AUD per month, compared to Wix’s $179 AUD Business Elite Plan.
Which one to choose depends on what you want your site to look like and offer. If you will be blogging frequently and want to sell services online, Squarespace is a bit more robust.
If you are a beginner looking to completely customise your website and achieve high-quality SEO, Wix may be your best bet.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which is more customisable: Squarespace or Wix?
Wix is more customisable than Squarespace due to its true drag-and-drop site editor. Unlike Squarespace which is customised based on content blocks, with Wix you have nearly full design flexibility without any custom code.
How does Wix compare to WordPress?
In general, Wix is a much easier way to build and manage a website. Unlike WordPress which involves a steep learning curve, Wix is very intuitive and easy to learn. In return, Wix is recommended for those who need a professional site, but do not have a great deal of time to invest in building one. Whereas, WordPress is best for those who have unique site specifications as it is more customisable than Wix. Check out the full comparison of Wix vs WordPress.
How can my business benefit from a website builder?
A website builder makes it possible for you to design a website step-by-step that meets your specifications and allows you to choose where to host it when it comes time for it to go live. If your budget allows, Wix and Squarespace both can meet your needs. You can read more on our pick of the best website builders for Australians.
Is Squarespace good for e-commerce?
Squarespace is a great option for businesses that want to add e-commerce functionality to their website. Users have the ability to set up an online store quickly rather than spending months or years developing it from scratch. Not only does Squarespace give users a robust platform to design their website, but it also offers inventory management, shipping options and discount codes for e-commerce stores. There are two tiers of commerce plans to choose from: Commerce Basic for $34 AUD and Commerce Advanced for $52 AUD.
Is Squarespace or Wix better for Australian users?
Wix is more flexible in design, while Squarespace offers higher quality, professionally designed templates. Wix allows for more granular control over design elements, while Squarespace offers more pre-made design elements and built-in features. Both platforms are mobile-responsive, but Squarespace’s templates are generally considered more consistent and visually appealing.
Should I switch from Wix to Squarespace?
This entirely depends on personal preference as both are first-rate web builders with similar entry-level pricing. You can try both out for free for 14 days to see which interface you prefer. Note: that while Wix has a forever-free plan, it has Wix ads and branding.
Do professionals use Squarespace?
Yes, many Australian businesses and professionals use Squarespace, particularly creatives and small agencies owing to the builder’s elegant and minimalist templates and commerce plans.
Is it unprofessional to use Wix?
No it’s not unprofessional to use Wix: many Australian businesses are built on the platform. If you opt for Wix’s free plan, which includes Wix branding, then it may look unprofessional, but all paid plans carry your business branding rather than the Wix logo and favicon.
