The first in a series of CMS showdowns where we’re pitting WordPress against other Content Management Systems, we’re kicking things off with a hotly-debated contest between two real heavy hitters.

If you’ve ever asked yourself “should I use WordPress or Squarespace?”, or had one or the other recommended to you, then this blog post is for you.

Whether it’s a website, blog or online shop for your business, see who comes out on top in the battle of WordPress vs. Squarespace.

Comparing WordPress with Squarespace

Squarespace is known for its simplicity, whereas WordPress’ flexibility, scalability and marketing power show why it’s used by 40% of sites on the web right now. But that’s only scratching the surface. Let’s put the two head-to-head in more detail.

Ease of Use

WordPress

There’s a slight learning curve that WordPress first timers will need to get used to. You also need to choose the right web hosting service and plugins you want to use. With that said, the dashboard offers plenty in the way of control, and there’s a huge community of support and tutorials you can lean on if you need help.

Squarespace

While WordPress is intuitive, Squarespace tends to be more beginner friendly. It’s faster to set up, has a straightforward drag-and-drop editor and everything can be managed in one handy spot.

Verdict

We’re giving the win to Squarespace for this round. For beginners looking to launch at speed, it hits the ground running and then some. However, master the learning curve, and WordPress has more in the way of long-term flexibility.

Web Design and Customisation

WordPress

With unlimited design possibilities, WordPress’ customisation credentials speak for themselves. Alongside thousands of themes, and tools that let users create premium-looking pages from scratch, making each of your site’s pages bespoke is more than do-able. For even greater depth, you also have full access to its codes to tinker with too.

Squarespace

Squarespace’s templates pack a visual punch, but it’s weaker in the areas WordPress thrives in. Developer access is restricted, it’s difficult to make the more advanced changes WordPress can and its editing capability is limited and inflexible.

Verdict

WordPress wins this one. For businesses requiring complete control over how they look, WordPress’ flexibility lets stand-out brands stay limber with their customisation. 

SEO Capabilities

WordPress

Although WordPress has built-in SEO features, it requires SEO plugins to do the heavy lifting from a technical perspective. Luckily, the plugins it uses are industry leading and can help you with advanced schema support, XML sitemaps, redirect management, and custom metadata. In terms of technical SEO flexibility, WordPress offers optimal features and capabilities.     

Squarespace

While it also features built-in SEO settings, lets you carry out basic metadata editing and can generate automatic sitemaps, Squarespace’s technical SEO options are limited by comparison. Because of this, marketers tend to quickly outgrow its capabilities as their campaigns’ demands and requirements become more sophisticated.

Verdict

If organic search isn’t your main priority, then Squarespace might be enough for you. But if improving search performance is a website goal, then WordPress is the CMS that will provide you with tools for long-term SEO growth.  

Content Marketing

WordPress

With its roots in publishing, WordPress’ superior blog management means it’s extremely well suited to content marketing. Unsurprisingly, there are a slew of editorial plugins that optimise its features, including those for multi-author workflows, content scheduling and assigning categories and tags to your work.

Squarespace

Squarespace’s blogging interface is simple, which works well for smaller blogs. But its editorial functionality is limited, so it might struggle if you’re scaling up content production.  

Verdict

We’re going with WordPress on this one. Businesses investing in content marketing will generally find WordPress to be the stronger platform.

Plugins and Integrations

WordPress

This face off was always going to be a little one-sided. With access to over 60,000 plugins, WordPress has something for practically every marketing function you could think of, including the likes of CRM, analytics, AI tools, lead generation, membership platforms, and booking systems. That’s by no means an exhaustive list either. Basically, if you can think of something, WordPress more than likely has a plugin for it.

Squarespace

By comparison, Squarespace is a lot more limited in terms of its extensions. They still exist and can make your site stand out without the need for developers, but there are fewer marketing integrations, and they’re less flexible than what WordPress can work with.  

Verdict

No surprises here. With virtually unlimited functionality through its plugin ecosystem, WordPress is the CMS we’d recommend in this area.

Ecommerce

WordPress

WordPress sites can be easily transformed into online stores using WooCommerce, which is the most popular Ecommerce extension. But since this is WordPress we’re talking about, there are of course, thousands of similar extensions to set up your shop with. These allow you to make use of multiple payment getaways, full checkout customisation, subscription models and even B2B capabilities.

Squarespace

Squarespace simplifies its Ecommerce capabilities, which makes it a user-friendly starting point for businesses wanting to sell, but there are a lot less advanced features compared to WordPress. If you’re planning to scale, you might run into difficulties with Squarespace.

Verdict

It depends on your size and ambitions here. Squarespace is perfectly fine for smaller stores, but for ecommerce businesses planning for growth, WordPress is the CMS to go with here.

Performance and Hosting

WordPress

Like we said before, you have to choose a hosting provider for WordPress to work, but you have plenty to choose from. However, your site’s performance depends on hosting quality, so be sure to do your research. WordPress is also CDN compatible, which speeds up load times and lowers server costs by storing copies of your website close to your users. Again, you’ll have to choose one that’s right for your site – and compatible with your chosen caching plugin – but both of these can dramatically speed up your website’s performance.

Squarespace

There are fewer barriers to Squarespace’s performance and hosting – initially at least. Hosting is included with the CMS, with performance, maintenance and updates handled automatically for you. However, there are limited optimisation options, so your website’s performance largely depends on how well-built and formatted your content is.

Verdict

WordPress wins again here. Although Squarespace is simpler to get started with, WordPress outpaces it in terms of performance, especially when paired with quality, compatible hosting and plugins.

Security

WordPress

Generally, WordPress is secure, but since it’s used by over 40% of the web, it’s a popular target for hackers. So a lot of the protection upkeep lands on the user. The good news is there are plenty of security plugins, firewall options and two-factor authentication to strengthen your site’s security with.

Squarespace

Squarespace’s security is handled automatically. SSL is included, and any updates are taken care of for you, so it’s a lot more hands off compared to WordPress.

Verdict

We’ll give this one to Squarespace, since it’s easier to manage. However, WordPress shouldn’t be discounted. When it’s properly maintained, you can make your site just as secure as any Squarespace one.

Scalability

WordPress

One of WordPress’ best features is that its enterprise ready. So, if you’ve got big ambitions, it can easily support millions of visitors, can handle large content libraries and can connect two or more software systems through API integration. Additionally, WordPress’ multisite capability is well-suited to businesses needing individual sites for different regions.

Squarespace

If you’re looking to upsize, then Squarespace might be too restrictive for growing businesses. If you’re a small to medium-sized business, however, you might find it a good fit for your products and services. 

Verdict

It depends on your ambitions, but for businesses planning long-term growth, the virtually unlimited scalability of WordPress makes victorious here.

Which CMS Should You Choose?

We’d recommend WordPress if…

You have goals tailored to organic performance. WordPress can help with the likes of: increasing your organic traffic, investing in SEO and publishing content regularly. If you have dreams of going big and scaling your business, then its advanced marketing integrations and large degree of control over your site can realise your ambitions. Lastly, if you need Ecommerce flexibility, WordPress affords you a lot more plugin-ready capabilities than Squarespace.

We’d recommend Squarespace if…

You’re in need of a website quickly for a business that’s more on the small to medium size that would prefer an all-in-one managed solution out of the box. If you lack technical knowledge, it makes better sense to go with Squarespace too, especially if you have no plans to add advanced functionality later down the line.

Want to speak to an experienced team about your new website or CMS needs? BANC can support you through a WordPress site build that’s fully customised to your business’ requirements – get in touch with us today.