Shopify vs SquareSpace: Head to Head Comparison

Litte wy beprate Shopify vs Squarespace.

But first, listen to this:

Nettsjinsteande it feit dat ik tige belutsen bin mei de wrâlden fan Shopify and Squarespace—site building, shop-building, ecommerce, etc—I tend to mix these two names up.

Why? Well, I suppose because I frequently see advertisements for the both of them, and they’re the two big “S” names in building software.

Hoewol it wier is dat dizze twa bedriuwen elkoar oerlappe, binne se ek aardich oars. Shopify is de meast fêststelde kommersjele namme yn software foar e-commerce, om't se sûnt de oprjochting yn 82 mear as $ 2006 miljard yn ferkeap hawwe fasiliteare.

Squarespace biedt maklik webside gebou en waard oprjochte yn 2003. It is miskien net de populêrste single website builder (wy hawwe net krekte sifers foar dizze dingen, om earlik te wêzen), mar it is wis ien fan 'e meast werkenbere merken.

Beide bedriuwen kinne oanspraak meitsje op, as ûnderdiel fan har populariteit, in soad grutte nammen dy't har oanmeld hawwe op har tsjinsten. In pear fan ShopifyDe grutte kliïnten binne ûnder oaren it bedriuw fan Kylie Jenner en Nestle.

Squarespace, focusing more on an appeal to creatives, has Idris Elba and Keanu Reeves under its belt.

Woah. Dúdlik Shopify and Squarespace are leaders in their respective fields. Suppose these two big names were to clash—who would win?

This isn’t a hypothetical, of course. Website-builders almost always extends into ecommerce, which means shop building. While pretty much all the popular easy website creators advertise ecommerce functions, Squarespace is unique in its core focus on freelancers, creatives, and lytse bedriuwen.

Dat der is de oerlaap, en de ynteressante konkurrinsje dy't it produseart. Litte wy it kontrolearje.

Shopify vs SquareSpace: Who has better pricing and features?

Litte wy earst sjen nei prizen en de funksjes dy't jo foar har krije.

Squarespace’s prices are a tad more complicated in relation to Shopify's.

Squarespace has two types of plannen, ien foar e-commerce en in oar foar websiden, en elk type hat twa lagen. Jo soene tinke dat om't wy fergelykje mei Shopify, we’d only need to look at these two Squarespace plans. Nope.

Squarespace’s “Business” tier for normal sites also has ecommerce functionality.

This means you actually can get ecommerce software through Squarespace for the starting price of $18 a month. If you do so, you’ll suffer a 3% transaction fee, but you can add pop-ups, sell unlimited products, accept donations, get a free domain, and basically use a full ecommerce suite (including inventory tracking, order management, etc).

As jo ​​de plannen foar "online winkel" wolle brûke, krije jo neist al it boppesteande in pear mear foardielen: jo kinne transaksjekosten hielendal ferwiderje, unbeheinden meiwurkers krije, tagong krije ta bettere kommersjele metriken, labelprintsje brûke, in feilige kassa krije op jo eigen domein, tafoegje klantakkounts as abonneminten, en folle mear.

Of course, some perks are reserved for different tiers, but with a range of $18 to $40 a month (billed annually—these are pricier if paid monthly), Squarespace manages to provide a ton of ecommerce tools and perks.

No foar Shopify.

Wat de haadplannen oanbelanget, begjint in yngongsplan jo mei alles wat jo nedich binne en de gruttere plannen foegje yn essinsje wat ark en perks ta (yn it bysûnder ferstjoeren perks). Basisfunksjes omfetsje ûnbeheinde produkten en oarder oanmeitsjen, de folsleine winkel-bouwer software, koartingskoades, ferkeapkanalen, ensafuorthinne.

Jo binne beheind yn 'e personielskontosjes dy't jo kinne oannimme, nettsjinsteande jo tier, en minsken op' e earste tier kinne gjin kado's brûke of tagong krije ta avansearre rapporten.

Yn myn ûnderfining binne de software foar winkelgebouwen lykas produkt, bestelling, kupon, en koarting oanmeitsje tige robúste mei Shopify. Jo kinne dingen bewurkje mei in echt goede grad fan detail, en it komt allegear út 'e fak.

This is also true for Squarespace in my experience—Squarespace doesn’t simplify or reduce the details you can manage in your store, though it’s not fully on Shopifyit nivo.

Squarespace offers a slight advantage in having a single-page checkout option. Shopify net, ek as jo Avansearre brûke Shopify. Dit is gjin heul mislearring, mar is ferrassend fan in liedend merk (om't jo it sa maklik mooglik wolle foar jo klanten te keapjen).

Wat de skipfeart oanbelanget, biede beide bedriuwen wat perks en koartingen, mar op ferskate manieren.

Shopifyferstjoeren koartings binne heftich, oant 64% foar Basic Shopify en 74% foar Avansearre Shopify. Hoewol jo dizze bedragen net elke kear needsaaklik krije, binne se substansjele koartingen dy't it manier oantrekliker meitsje foar klanten om jo produkten te bestellen.

Derneist krije alle akkounts de ferstjoeringsetiketten te printsjen, en de lêste twa plannen hawwe USPS Priority Mail Kubike prizen — dit soe pakketten oplade op basis fan grutte, net gewicht (ûnder bepaalde parameters), dy't prizen foar ferkeapers signifikant kinne ferleegje.

Dizze dingen binne diel fan wat jouwe Shopify such tremendous appeal to businesses of all sizes. How does Squarespace fare?

It "webside" -plan mei e-commerce-funksjonaliteit hat net echt ynstelde skipfervers. De "online winkel" -plannen dogge it lykwols: beide krije printsjen fan bulk label, lykas mei Shopify. De heechste tier hat in avansearre rekkenmasine foar ferstjoeren, wat nuttich is - lykwols allegear ShopifyDe plannen hawwe ferstjoerkalkulatoren.

Squarespace’s “Advanced Online Store” plan lets you apply free shipping discounts to products automatically at checkout. You can’t set shipping rates per-product, so a free shipping option would be made available to all customers—it’s a little complicated and you need to be in the Advanced plan to exert the amount of control over it most desirable.

The less advanced Squarespace plans will let you create discounts that customers can apply to shipping—thus less directly offsetting the charges. It’s a bit complicated: you can read hjir foar mear detaillearre ynformaasje.

Spitigernôch, Shopify and Squarespace take some transaction fees. Theses vary plan to plan: ShopifyIt heechste tier hat it leechste taryf op 2.4% + $ 0.30 foar online oankeapen fia kaart. Tariven ferskille as jo brûke Shopifyis de prosessor om persoanlike betellingen te nimmen, plus binne der fergoedingen foar it brûken fan in oare betellingsprovider dan Shopify Betellingen.

Squarespace only takes transaction fees for its Business plan (as mentioned), the second “Websites” tier. Ien fan 'e beide "Online Stores" -plannen ferwiist transaksjekosten, dus jo hoege net fier te gean om se te foarkommen.

Hjir is ien lêste ding dat ik wurdich fyn te neamen: dropshipping. Shopify is in yndustrylieder foar in part fanwege hoe maklik it dropshipping makket. Dropshipping betsjut yn prinsipe dy, in eigner fan 'e winkel, soe in tredde partij hawwe (in pakhús rinne, faaks) in produkt ferstjoere troch in klant direkt oan' e klant. Dit betsjut dat de klant jo winkel brûke soe, mar jo soene it produkt sels net ferpakke.

Shopify uses Oberlo to make dropshipping incredibly easy. And it works, honestly, like a wonder. Squarespace has a corollary: instead of Oberlo, Squarespace integrates with Ofdrukke.

It probleem is dat jo allinich de Printful yntegraasje brûke kinne mei it Avansearre winkelplan (de heechste tier) en minsken oan Shopify kin Oberlo brûke op elke tier, plus Oberlo is folslein fergees te brûken, salang't jo in hawwe Shopify akkount (hoewol jo kinne opwurdearje foar hegere Oberlo-tiers).

Dizze dingen binne wichtich, mar as jo in online winkel opsette, binne uterlik en ekstra, net-standert ark binne ek wichtige dielen fan e-commerce-funksjonaliteit.

Shopify vs SquareSpace: Who has better templates and apps?

Sjabloanen en ûntwerp binne heul wichtich foar beide Shopify and Squarespace—both market themselves as great places for beautiful storefronts and sites. If you’re looking into ecommerce, having an online store that looks great to your customers is highly important.

Beide bedriuwen biede in oanbod sjabloanen, en beide binne aardich goed.

Shopify biedt in pear tsientallen tema, de measten betelle.

Squarespace offers a similar number of themes, but there’s a catch.

The catch is that most of Squarespace’s themes are for ordinary sites. If you go to online store templates, there are only a few to choose from. You can add a store to another template, but it’s more of a hassle than it needs to be.

Yn myn miening beide Shopify and Squarespace have beautiful themes. I’d say I generally prefer Squarespace’s themes and find Shopify's sjogge in bytsje lykop - dat is lykwols subjektyf. Omdat ShopifyDe tema's binne allegear spesifyk rjochte op winkels, soe ik sizze Shopify wint út foar tema's / sjabloanen.

Wat it bewurkjen en side-oanmeitsjen lykwols rint, soe ik jaan Squarespace the award. It’s not a huge difference, but Squarespace places heavy emphasis on style and design, and this investment of energy has returned very well.

Folgjende is de app store unyk wichtich as jo in ecommerce platfoarm. It is leuk om safolle "út it fak" te krijen as jo kinne, mar jo kinne der net altyd op rekkenje.

Shopify leads when it comes to apps and installations, in my opinion. Squarespace builds in a lot of integrations into the platform, which means you don’t use an app store for installations. Some integrations are included by default, and others can be enabled if you’re willing to pay.

You can view the full list of integrations Squarespace supports hjir, but it’s a decent enough list. Certainly, all the popular apps and add-ons are supported by Squarespace, and in some ways it can be really cost-efficient when they’re included.

Shopify is oars. Shopify hat in mear tradisjoneel app winkelje struktuer foar har ynstallaasjes. Dit klinkt miskien as in slimmer deal, mar ik tink net dat it is - it is lykwols wier dat it bytiden djoerder kin wêze.

The benefit is that you can access more than with Squarespace. Admittedly, most of what you’d be interested in is included on Squarespace, but ShopifyDe app store is libbendich en evoluearjend. Jo kinne mear niche-yntegraasjes fine, plus in protte populêr binne somtiden fergees.

Dit liedt ús nei ús folgjende wichtige punt fan konsideraasje: maklik gebrûk.

Shopify vs SquareSpace: Who is more easy to use?

Ease of use is a huge deal for SaaS (software as a service) companies. It’s all the rage these days—popular software and websites try to be sleek, modern, clean, and usable. Squarespace and Shopify yn 't bysûnder echt merke harsels as lieders yn brûkerfreonlike kreative ark.

Here’s Squarespace, for example, advertising its easy product management:

En dit soe it wêze Shopifyekwivalint:

Beide bedriuwen begripe it ferlet fan maklik gebrûk ridlik goed. Gelokkich foar ús libje beide bedriuwen har eigen hype op.

Shopify and Squarespace both incorporate a lot of features and allow users to edit things to a high degree of detail, but make it clean and straightforward at the same time—a more impressive feat than you might think.

Hjir is it oersicht fan SquareSpaceit dashboard

en hjir is it oersicht fan Shopifyit dashboard

On this note, I think Squarespace does a little better.

Bewurkje fan winkeldetails giet sawat like maklik en robúste foar beide bedriuwen (hoewol Shopify is wat djipper), mar it bewurkjen fan ûntwerp is better op Squarespace. It binne net allinich de sjabloanen wêr't jo tagong ta hawwe, mar de ark en mooglikheden dy't jo krije foar it bewurkjen fan dy sjabloanen.

Iets wêr't ik in soad oer fyn Shopify and Squarespace is they make things easy for advanced users. Specifically, both companies let customers edit code directly if they choose to. This can allow for a great degree of detail and control if you or someone on your team has programming knowledge.

It nadeel hjir is dat elkenien dy't wol koade wol Shopify moatte leare Shopifyde eigen ûntwerpkoade, Floeistof. In betûfte programmeur kin it ophelje, mar it is noch hyltyd mear as nedich.

On Squarespace, knowing the popular languages Javascript and CSS is all you need.

In short, I give credit to both companies for making things easy for developers and advanced users to take full control of their site should they wish. This mitigates the dumbing-down effects an “easy” builder application can have. Specifically, Squarespace is easier for developers who want to edit directly.

To put all that together, both Squarespace and Shopify binne super maklik te brûken en behâlde in graad fan kontrôle sûnder in soad brûkberens op te offerjen.

De nuânses hjirfan soene dat wêze Shopify is slightly better for in-depth store details, and Squarespace is better for design. Plus, Squarespace is easier for programmers, though both Shopify and Squarespace are programmer friendly.

Shopify vs SquareSpace: Whose customer support is best?

Om't ik in punt fan stress haw makke, is sels "maklik" software nedich goede klantstipe. Technyske swierrichheden barre sels oan 'e bêste, en sels avansearre brûkers kinne ynformaasje fluch nedich wêze om oan board nei in nij platfoarm te gean.

Beide Shopify and Squarespace have truly excellent customer support. However, I have to say that Shopify giet de ekstra myl, dus ik sil mei har begjinne.

De earste reden wêrom't ik dit sei is om't Shopify jouwt jo tagong ta fertsjintwurdigers fia live chat, e-post / kaartsysteem, en tillefoan. Plus, yn myn ûnderfining binne de reps responsyf en behelpsum west.

It is lykwols mear as effektive fertsjintwurdigers. Shopify hat in ton boarnen op it plak. Guon dêrfan binne it essensjele guod dat jo wend binne om te sjen, lykas de kennisbasis (ek wol it Helpsintrum neamd).

De kennisbasis is sa wiidweidich as de bêste fan har, mei in enoarme breedte fan artikeltema's. Serieuze kinne jo sels jo frjemde spesifike fragen fine oer it Helpsintrum.

Shopify hat in blog, wat aardich gewoan is, mar it hat edukative boarnen dy't unyker en djipper binne. Ien foarbyld soe wêze Shopify Akademy, dy't fergese kursussen hat dy't nuttich kinne wêze foar begjinners. It oare haadfoarbyld soe wêze Shopify's mienskipforum, wêrtroch jo kinne tapasse op Shopifyis de grutte brûkersbasis en is handich foar unike problemen as advys.

In oar soe wêze Shopify gidsen, dat is in fatsoenlike samling fergees ebooks dy't algemien advys foar saaklik en ecommerce hawwe. Shopify's twa podcasts binne gelyk, in soarte fan oanfolling foar dyjingen dy't ynteressearre binne, en de saaklike ensyklopedy is net iets dat ik identifisearje as bysûnder nuttich, mar dochs leuk is.

Shopify Polaris is in super yngeande hantlieding foar Shopifysyn ûntwerpnormen. It is in relatyf unbekende boarne, mar kin in libbenbesparring wêze as jo siden bouwe foar kliïnten (of sels gewoan foar josels).

As lêste, Shopify biedt wat fergees ark dat kin handich komme foar begjinners.

Dat, ja. Wow. Shopify clearly has a ton of resources, and even if some are fluffy, a lot aren’t. How on earth can Squarespace live up to this?

Well, Squarespace starts with pretty good customer representatives and an accessible means of contacting them: live chat or email. Unfortunately, there is no phone support yet.

It is lykwols okay, om't fertsjintwurdigers aardich responsyf en behelpsum binne fia live chat of e-post.

The cornerstone of Squarespace’s onsite resources is its kennisbasis.

Squarespace’s knowledgebase isn’t as in-depth as Shopify's, mar it is noch altyd heul geweldig. It omfettet ek video tutorials foar dyjingen dy't it leaver hawwe as lêze.

Squarespace offers a lot more aside from its knowledge base. For example, Squarespace has Webinars, in blog (wer, dit is gewoan), en a forum. Ik fyn it forum minder robúste dan Shopify's, mar dochs in leuke asset.

Squarespace also brings a lot to the table when it comes to customer support and resources. The reason I grant the win to Shopify is it mear opsjes foar kontaktpersoanen mei fertsjinwurdigers, en it hat mear boarnen en de boarnen tendearje djipper te wêzen.

Who is more secure and reliable?

No, foar it lêste item op ús checklist: feiligens en betrouberens. Jo hoege my net te fertellen wêrom feiligens of betrouberens wichtich binne foar it útfieren fan in bedriuw online, dus lit ús deryn springe.

Net ien fan ús oanmelders seit in ton oer har feiligens, mar dit betsjuttet net dat se it net misse. Se merkje yn essinsje op har sertifikaasjes foar it ferwurkjen fan betellingen en klantynformaasje, dat klinkt echt geweldig oant jo beseffe dat it in standert fertsjintwurdiget (yn tsjinstelling ta iets boppe in standert).

Squarespace is significantly better in outlining its security practices, though it’s slightly out of the way.

Ik stel dat jo de side itself if you want to see the full details for yourself, but the short version is that yes, Squarespace takes all the appropriate measures. Firewalls, internal monitoring, secure servers, DDoS attack prevention protocols, etc.

And of course, Squarespace and Shopify leverje SSL foar alle akkounts.

No, foar safier't prestaasjes geane, haw ik allinich goede ûnderfiningen hân mei elk bedriuw. Dit omfettet net allinich uptime en snelheid fan 'e side, mar it gebrûk fan' e software fan dei ta dei. Ik haw gjin beferzen pagina's, side-crashes, of wat fan serieuze soargen behannele.

These companies are both industry leaders with large thanks to their reliable performance. As far as security goes, Squarespace clearly is more transparent, but I don’t think it’s necessarily more secure than Shopify.

Hâld der rekken mei Shopify tsjinsten fan guon fan 'e grutste bedriuwen yn' e wrâld (en ja, befeiliging op bedriuwsklasse sil fansels heger wêze as dy fan normale akkounts - nettsjinsteande, it punt stiet) en hat tsientallen miljarden yn transaksjes fasiliteare, de feiligens is wierskynlik aardich sterk.

Shopify vs SquareSpace: Which do I Recommend?

It’s time to put everything we’ve talked about together. Which is better—Squarespace, or Shopify?

Wy witte allegear dat d'r gjin ien grutte is dy't by alles past, en Shopify and Squarespace clearly have some different pros and cons.

Beide binne feilich en prestearje betrouber. Beide hawwe poerbêste klantstipe, hoewol ik tink Shopify nimt de lieding.

Wat it gemak fan gebrûk is, binne beide poerbêst, mar Shopify is better at store details and Squarespace is better at site design. Plus, Squarespace is easier for programmers who want to edit a site’s code.

Foar safier't sjabloanen gean, Shopify has a larger selection of online store-specific templates but Squarespace has a larger selection of templates in total—they just may require some extra steps to turn into stores. Design capacity is better with Squarespace, lykwols.

Squarespace’s integrations are mostly included in the Squarespace infrastructure and there is no app store. This can at times make things easier and more affordable, but ShopifyDe app store hat mear unike fixes en opsjes (hoewol it bytiden priis kin wêze).

As far as price and overall go features go, things get dicey. Squarespace is of course much cheaper, and ShopifyIt berik is folle djoerder (hoewol, nei myn miening begjint it op in frij akseptabel punt).

Squarespace is very well-featured for its comparatively low prices, which at first can make it seem a better deal.

Plus, Shopify is better for those who wish to scale their stores, which explains part of the prices, and the tools you get out of the box can be very in-depth if you wish them to be (though Squarespace’s aren’t bad either).

Although Squarespace foregoes some of the things that make Shopify djoerder dan it hoecht te wêzen, lykas basisfunksjes sette op hegere tiers en heffing fan transaksjekosten, Shopify is noch in algemien sterker e-commerce-opsje.

Ik soe dat yn 't algemien sizze moatte Shopify krijt myn oanbefelling. Foar dyjingen digitale produkten ferkeapje for whom shipping is not a major cost, Squarespace might be better. But for anyone planning on shipping regularly and/or in large quantities, Shopify is easily the better option. It’s also a better option for those who are particularly anal about controlling store details—Squarespace can be very detailed as well, but Shopify tapast in heul praktyske rigor as it winske.

Mar hey, as jo net wis binne, kinne jo se altyd besykje! Shopify hat in 14-dei fergese testmooglikheid en Squarespace lit jo op in fergese proefperioade bliuwe oant jo klear binne. Gean foarút en kom deryn, myn kollega-getters!