Battle of the Titans! Why Squarespace Commerce is Often a Better Choice Than Shopify.
“Let’s get ready to rumble!”
In the red corner, we have Shopify.
Shopify is a solution that was created specifically for creating an online store.
It was designed right from the start to be dynamic with the idea of having you grow your e-commerce platform alongside your business in mind. The more you grow, the more you can upgrade your Shopify plan accordingly.
It’s one of the best platforms for giant online stores that need extra powerful tools for their e-commerce needs.
In the blue corner, we have Squarespace.
Squarespace started out as more of a solution for creating content-based websites, but as it grew and e-commerce was added to its feature set, it became a top player in the e-commerce game.
It is a platform that has sleek professional looking themes, which is especially conducive for making products look great.
Squarespace can easily be adapted to different types of businesses of all sizes and it is now used in over 100,000 websites, making it arguably the best alternative to Shopify.
As time went on, Squarespace and Shopify have grown to become increasingly similar. So much so that it can be difficult to pick one over the other.
But while you can now use either one of these heavy weight fighters to sell products online, I believe it is actually Squarespace that ultimately *knocks out* Shopify, leaving it down for the count.
Am I biased? Sure, I make it no secret that I love Squarespace and have a skewed opinion in its favor.
Does that mean that Shopify is totally worthless and should never be used by anyone? Absolutely not!
Look, whether you choose to use Squarespace or Shopify, it really just comes down to what it is that you’re looking for.
I’m simply here to tell you why Squarespace is my choice when it comes to using a platform for e-commerce and I have some very good reasons for thinking this way.
So let’s pit these two e-commerce heavy weights head-to-head against each other, make a list, and go over some of the advantages and disadvantages of each platform. That way we’ll have a tangible comparison to look at.
Sound good?
Then let’s get started!
Round 1 *ding!* (Bell rings signaling the start of the fight)
Let’s talk about flexibility of design.
Probably the biggest advantage that Squarespace has over Shopify is actually in the design department.
This is especially important if you are mainly interested in building an information focused website, such as a blog, a digital newsletter or magazine, a news site, a photography portfolio, etc. In other words, if your number one goal is to convey information, then you’ll want a platform that excels at design and content management functionality.
And this is exactly where Squarespace shines!
Whereas Shopify allows you to choose a template from a list of about 70 or so (10 of them are free, while the rest can cost roughly $100-$180), Squarespace lets you choose from HUNDREDS and pretty much all of them are superb.
This can make a HUGE difference when designing a website!
On top of that, all of Squarespace’s themes look sleek and professional, they all have clearly identifiable key action buttons, and they’re all mobile responsive. The quality factor here is very high.
Just to be clear though, the themes on Shopify are mobile responsive too. The templates can resize themselves automatically according to the screen of the device they are being viewed on.
And the templates that Shopify offers are not that much worse in quality than what you’ll find on Squarespace. So sure, they may have a wide range of layouts and design features, but overall they’re still just not as great as what is offered on Squarespace and there’s not nearly as many of them.
Furthermore, once you’ve chosen your template, there’s the issue of customizing the layout.
Both Squarespace and Shopify use a simple drag-and-drop design, but the text and color options that Squarespace offers are much better.
You can also make your site come prefigured with a blog, an online store, a portfolio, are whatever else you might need to showcase and sell stuff online.
The photo editing tools on Squarespace are excellent, the blogging features are solid, and everything is well thought out.
And while the editor homepage on Squarespace takes some time to get used to, it is a small price to pay for the benefits that the platform offers.
The clear winner here is Squarespace!
Round 2 *ding!*
If you’ve read this far, you might be thinking to yourself: “Wow, Squarespace seems great! All those design and customization advantages sound awesome! Why in the world would anyone want to use anything else?”
Well, here’s the thing…
When it comes to payment and shipping options, Shopify does have an advantage.
As of the time of me typing this, the only payment gateway options that Squarespace offers are PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay.
Unfortunately, Squarespace does not allow its users to get access to backend code in this area, so it’s not possible to integrate additional payment processors with Squarespace' own e-commerce features. To bypass this issue, you can try to integrate different e-commerce software, but it’s not a very convenient solution.
On the other hand, Shopify supports pretty much every major gateway that I can think of. This includes Square, Amazon Pay, and even some forms of cryptocurrency, just to name a few.
To put it simply, Shopify lets you choose from more than 100 other options, giving you more ways of receiving money.
Shopify even has its own gateway that allows you to avoid transaction fees if you choose to use it.
And then there’s the whole issue of shipping.
While Squarespace has been catching up in that department, it still hasn’t quite matched what Shopify offers.
Shopify provides pretty much everything you would typically need for delivering products to customers.
It offers drop shipping, printable shipping labels, the ability to calculate taxes and shipping prices, built-in integration with UPS and DHL, and more.
However, Squarespace does work with USP to calculate their carrier shipping rates and it even allows you to change shipping costs depending on weight and the country that the product is shipped to.
Furthermore, Squarespace actually matches Shopify when it comes to inventory management (i.e. uploading new items, managing stock levels, viewing revenue reports, etc.).
This is a pretty big deal because no other competitor can say the same.
So while Shopify definitely has its advantages, Squarespace is no slouch either.
In my opinion, most businesses should be perfectly fine with only using PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay (those ARE some of the most popular payment gateway options after all), but it depends on what you think is more important.
It all just comes down to what the top priorities of your business are.
Round 3 *ding!*
Ok, we’ve now mentioned a few good aspects of each platform as well as some of the bad ones.
But what about an “x factor”?
What is a feature that can be hard to quantify, yet plays a significant role in producing positive results?
For me, that “x factor” is blogging.
The reason being is that it plays a major role in inbound marketing.
In other words, you can drive up web traffic to your website by posting high quality content (i.e. blogs), which in turn increases sales.
It’s also an “x factor” because unfortunately not all e-commerce platforms even provide this feature (for example, Volusion).
The ultimate impact a blog has might not necessarily be something that can be easily quantified using a math formula, but the charm and helpfulness of a blog post can make a tangible difference in profits.
And while both Squarespace and Shopify provide blogging functionality, it is specifically Squarespace that is once again the better platform for this feature.
The short summary is that it’s simply possible to do more with blog content on Squarespace.
So-called “summary blocks” can be used to drop content into any page or sidebar of the website.
And Squarespace allows you to add both tags AND categories to posts, whereas Shopify only allows tags.
Plus, you’ll have to use an app if you want any extra blogging functionality in Shopify, which is kind of a bummer.
On the other hand, Squarespace offers pretty much all of the blogging features you’d typically need, including a search feature, built-in analytics, archive functionality, and more.
Shopify offers none of those.
The winner of this round is Squarespace!
Round 4 *ding!*
If you’ve been keeping score thus far into our metaphorical boxing match, you’ll know that Squarespace is currently beating Shopify 2-1.
However, it just wouldn’t be very interesting if Squarespace won this early into the fight, so here’s another advantage of using Shopify.
Apps!
Both Squarespace and Shopify have app store that allow you to buy apps or even get a few of them for free.
Apps are great because they add functionality to your website and can help improve your site’s performance.
These wonderful little things can be used for a wide range of purposes, including financing, marketing, analytics, product reviews, and so much more.
Once again, Squarespace looks strong with its app store that’s called “Squarespace Extensions”.
This store offers some top notch app integrations, but the downside here is that there just aren’t very many apps available right now. I fully expect this number to grow over time, but as of this moment I must admit that there is room for improvement in terms of quantity.
By contrast, Shopify’s app market is one of the most comprehensive ones out there, containing over 3,000 integrations with other platforms. It provides almost anything you could ever need and it’s really easy to integrate each app.
So it all just comes down to quality versus quantity.
Squarespace currently offers a lot of quality, but relatively few choices and only promises of a brighter future.
Shopify offers a much greater quantity of apps for the here and now.
As much as I believe in Squarespace’s potential, I have to give this round to Shopify.
Final Round *ding!*
The end of our clash of the e-commerce titans is here. It all comes down to this.
In the beginning, I said that I prefer using Squarespace and now it’s time for me to announce the tie breaker in this fight.
And that is PRICE.
As you might’ve guessed, Squarespace is the more affordable option. It has four tiers at $12, $18, $26, and $40 per month. There are deals and discounts available, which can make the price even more affordable, so keep an eye out for those.
Shopify has three options at $29, $79, and $299 per month and the only way I know of to get discounts is to sign up for their yearly plan.
So if you do the math, Squarespace comes at a cheaper price point and has more flexibility in the payment options.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking that Squarespace is somehow worse because it is cheaper. Quite the opposite!
When you consider all that you get, Squarespace is actually the better value. Especially at the entry level $12 price point, which really goes a long way.
It’s a lot of bang for your buck, especially when you take a moment and think about how you get lots of high quality themes, a clean dashboard, hosting, SSL, and so much more.
Shopify essentially charges you more for access to a greater number of apps and a few additional comprehensive features.
While I’m sure there are people out there who would want to pay more money for the extra e-commerce tools and apps, I just don’t think it’s as good of a bargain.
*ding!* *ding!* *ding!* The final bell has rung and the fight is over! The winner is Squarespace!
So there you have it.
Those are some of the pros and cons of using each platform.
We’ve covered what each one of these platforms does right and some of the stuff each one of them could improve.
Truth be told, I could talk even more about this topic, but I think I’ve already said enough here to let you make an informed decision.
In the end, I think it’s all about what you think would be best for your business.
If you want my opinion, I’ll reiterate that I think Squarespace is the better choice and that is what I prefer to use when I work with clients.
And if you’re looking to sell some products online while having some awesome templates to match at a great price, I think you’ll agree with my assessment.
Best of luck and happy selling!
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