Both Squarespace and WordPress are the ultimate platform for creating the fully functional website. But both of them have some advantages and disadvantages in term of interface and performance. If you are a website developer, then it is very important for you to choose the platform wisely and also it is very important to know what you get from the platform.
So in this article, we provide you with enough information so that you can easily distinguish the platform according to your choice and the platform which gives you the desired results.
Is it really a compromise?
Whenever you want to try Squarespace or WordPress, your choice must be clear about the things like what the specific platform will be provided to you. Firstly, you decide whether you want to create a website in a simple way or you want some flexibility to add exact styling and features in your website according to your need. These two aspects help you to choose the best platform between Squarespace and WordPress for your website designing.
Talking about the Squarespace, this platform is very easy to use and provide you with the simplest method to create a website but in order to this, it offers you a closed environment and due to which you cannot work according to your need.
On the other hand, WordPress is complicated for the beginners, but it provides you with an open environment to work and there is no boundary at all for the developer just like in case of Squarespace. WordPress offers you the thousands of theme and plugins so as to customize the site according to your need.
There are some other aspects which a customer can consider like:
Price of the platform, maintenance and security gave by the platform’s owner, how good a content has been provided etc. But in general, the separation of the platform is based on the ease of use and flexibility given and these two aspects are enough to shape the decision of the individual. Now let’s talk about how these differences will actually cost you when you are going to build a website.
How a customer Build a Website using these 2 Platforms?
In terms of how easy one can build the platform, the Squarespace is slighter better than WordPress. But WordPress is still easy for most of the beginners, the setup process is more involved because in WordPress, you’re responsible for the certain technical detailing like hosting and purchasing a domain name for your website.
Squarespace
Whenever you build a website with the help of Squarespace, you don’t need to worry about the technical details at all. Once you signing up for the Squarespace account, then immediately Squarespace will offer you the vast variety of templates to use on your website. You can also customize your desired templates pages by just clicking and typing on it. If you want to create your own layouts, then also you can do it by using the drag and drop editor.
Now Let’s talk about the 2nd platform:
WordPress: Working with WordPress is not easy but quite interesting because you’ll need to complete some technical details before you work on your website.
These technical details are:
Choosing and signing up for your web hosting, purchasing a domain name for your website &
installing the actual software for WordPress.
How to add functionality to the Website with Each Platform?
While Squarespace has the slighter edge over the WordPress term of simplicity and how easy to use it, but WordPress dominates in term of extending your website with the use of new functionalities.
Squarespace
Since Squarespace is a closed environment, you are unable to install and implement your own functionality in it. It provides you with an option to add your own client-side code. But Squarespace at least provides you with some inbuilt functions to extend your site. Squarespace is also useful to set up an e-commerce store where you can start selling your items through your own website.
Some additional pre-built modules for basic functionality are also provided like:
Contact forms
Social share buttons
Newsletter subscribe forms
Irrespective of the above points, Squarespace is way behind than WordPress in terms of potential functionality.
Related: Wix vs WordPress – Which is good for my Singapore Business?
WordPress
WordPress will provide you with the full access to the massive plugin of its environment. One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is that whether you know the code or not these plugins add all the functionality of your website and offers you a fully fleshed new website.
At recent times, there are 52,000 plugins with thousands more premium plugins. Due to these plugins, people find the WordPress as a better platform in term of functionality because you can add these functionalities to your website and make the interface beautiful and eye-catchy.
Read too: Cost of building a website
How these platforms Handle Data Ownership
Whenever you have to choose one of the platforms between Squarespace and WordPress then you have some concern regarding the data ownership and privacy of the platform.
Talking about the WordPress, it provides all the access to you regarding your data. In this platform, you can do whatever you want and you can easily manipulate it according to your requirement.
Squarespace
Now let’s talking about the time when you want to move away from the Squarespace platform to some other platform then what happens to your existing content? Now you can export your content as an XML file as this authority is given by the Squarespace to their clients. Currently, you can transfer the following items:
Gallery pages
Comments
Text and Images blocks
One blog pages and all its posts
But there are some contents you cannot export like:
Products pages
Index pages
Event pages and folders
Album pages and cover pages present.
Drafts
Custom CSS
Audio and Video Blocks
This limitation suggests that you can never make the backup of your entire website. And due to this reason, Squarespace is not good and not reliable in term of handling the Client’s data.
WordPress
In WordPress, you can easily get the backup of your data and you have 100% ownership. In this, you can easily access your data and export every single bit of your data present on your website. These features make it more reliable as compared to Squarespace.
How much you have to pay for Each Platform
Since both the platforms are very good in their fields so there is no clear answer regarding which platform is cheaper. Price will change according to your need, a basic WordPress site would be cheaper but you buy premium hosting and themes then WordPress could cost you more as compared to Squaresp