In this article, we will be talking about not just two but three website builders. We will cover most of the aspects of Shopify Vs. Square Vs. Squarespace to help you make a rational decision. Shopify, Squarespace, and Square are all e-commerce website builders. They provide features to help you build and maintain your online store. However, there are some differences among them, and we will compare them critically to decide which one is the show’s winner. We will start with a brief introduction of all the platforms for those who don’t know about them, and then we will proceed to their comparison. Read till the end.
Shopify Introduction:
Shopify is an e-commerce platform. It facilitates business owners to start, grow and expand their dream businesses in just a few simple steps. You can start by setting up a theme for your store: Shopify offers a wide range of free and paid theme themes. It provides many other features such as Point-of-sale pr POS to companies or business owners to use at their brick-and-mortar stores. There are many other add-ons provided by Shopify, such as Shopify payments, you can easily accept payments through credit cards, and Shopify shipping generates shipping labels and discounts on shipping.
Shopify lets you sell internationally through its markets and its feature known as “Dropshipping.” Dropshipping enables you to ship directly from supplier to customer without stocking up inventory and paying hefty fees to the warehouse. In addition, dropshipping allows a business owner to experiment with its product line and services. Many other Shopify features are discussed in detail in other articles, but one of the benefits of Shopify that is worth mentioning is its price. Shopify has a small subscription fee that A business owner should pay before signing up for it, and many features come free with Shopify.
Also Read: How To Check Shopify Store Speed & To Improve It?
Square Introduction:
Square is an online store builder. It helps you build an e-commerce website for your business. Every other website builder offers many different features, and these differences distinguish each other. Square online provides a new low-risk online store feature. It is easy to use, affordable, and a great e-commerce website builder. There is no doubt that Square is relatively inexpensive, but its design flexibility or customization is quite limited.
Moreover, it is rated 80-90% in customer support, help and support, sales, and website features. It seems like it is liked by customers and offers value for mon y. Just like Shopify, Square offers in-built marketing features and everything else, like email marketing and paid advertising t. Square online is significant in automatically sending emails of order confirmation, shipment, refund, and order cancellation. On the other hand, you will also see some cons of Square, such as its limited scope for customization, hefty transaction fee, and slight learning curve when you first start with the platform. Square online is not a great website builder if we see it in terms of SEO. There is very little guidance on SEO best practices, but I think whatever it would be sufficient for a small business. Square online has four pricing plans: free, professional, performance, and premium.
- The free plan does not have any monthly or annual charges. But a transaction fee is charged.
- Professional plan monthly cost (when billed monthly) $16 and monthly cost (when billed annually) $12. A transaction fee is charged separately.
- The performance plan costs $29 and $26.
- The premium plan costs $79 and $72.In addition, a transaction fee is charged separately.
Squarespace Introduction:
Squarespace is defined as a way to build websites. Its specialty is that it is an all-in-one platform. Everything is mobile responsive, from its ease of use and designer templates to its modern features. Squarespace is said to be great for small businesses, and creative professionals also love it. You can set up an online store on Squarespace in just a few simple steps. However, some cons of Squarespace make it less preferable to professionals, such as its customer support is not up to the mark. In addition, there is no IT team available 24/7. Many things are looked after by the Squarespace team, such as SEO, updates, changing back-end systems, and much more, but Squarespace is understaffed and cannot always dedicate an IT team to a website. Overall, it can be said that it is a powerful tool for creating beautiful and compelling websites.
We have got to know the basics of these three website builders now; let’s move on to their comparison.
Shopify Vs. Square
When comparing Shopify and Square, both are excellent e-commerce platforms suitable for businesses of various sizes. Square’s basic point-of-sale (POS) system is free, while Shopify’s entry-level plan costs $5 per month.
However, as you move to higher-tier plans, the price difference becomes more noticeable. Shopify’s basic plan is $39 per month, while Square charges separately for add-ons. For instance, Square charges $45 per month for loyalty features and $15 per month for email marketing. If you need advanced POS capabilities from Shopify, you’ll have to opt for more expensive plans, which cost either $105 or $399 per month.
In summary, when comparing Shopify vs. Square, it’s important to consider the cost variations at different plan levels.
| Points | Square | Shopify |
| Prices Start at | Free | $5 per month |
| Processing Fees Start at | 2.5% plus 10 cents | 2.4% plus $0 for in-person transactions, add 30 cents for online transactions |
| Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Yes | Yes |
| Contract | None | Month-to-month and longer |
| Payroll | For a fee | Through third-party apps |
| Loyalty Rewards | For a fee | Through third-party apps |
| Read Square review | Read Shopify review |
Squarespace Vs. Shopify
| Points | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Plan Costs | The individual plan costs $18 per month, while the business plan is priced at $27 per month. If you opt for the premium plan, it will be $69 per month when billed annually. Please note that month-to-month pricing is also available, but it comes at a slightly higher rate. | The introductory plan comes in at a modest $29 per month, while the Shopify plan is priced at $79 per month, and the Advanced plan is available for $299 per month. If you prefer a month-to-month billing cycle, you can opt for it, though it may come at a slightly higher cost. For those merchants who simply wish to incorporate a convenient buy button onto their existing website, Shopify Lite offers a solution at just $9 per month. |
| Templates and Design | A diverse range of templates is readily available at no extra cost, and we offer theme suggestions tailored to different industry types. | Users have the option to choose from a generous selection of 10 complimentary templates, or they can explore a diverse range of over 50 premium templates available for a nominal fee. These templates come equipped with specialized features tailored to specific industries, enhancing the website design process. |
| SEO Tools | Provides meta descriptions and personalized URLs for all pages. Google Analytics is accessible with every plan. The SEOSpace SEO plugin is now at your disposal. | Automatically generates page titles and meta descriptions by analyzing the page content, simplifying compliance with Google's Core Web Vitals requirements. |
| Blogging | Incorporated analytics and a range of features including categories, comment moderation, tags, and post scheduling. | Access tools for categorization, comment management, tagging, and post scheduling. Additionally, benefit from the option of bulk post removal. |
| Customer Support | Customer support is at your service around the clock, with assistance readily accessible through email, social media, and live chat. However, kindly note that a phone option is not provided. | Customer support is available 24/7 around the clock through email, live chat, and phone, yet it's important to note that support via social media is not offered. |
| Backup and Storage | Provides limitless storage; however, it necessitates users to manually back up their website content. | Provides unlimited storage, yet necessitates users to manually backup their website content. |
Shopify, Square, and Squarespace are three options for building websites and running online stores. Let’s break down their key features in simpler terms without copying content:
- Squarespace: Squarespace is great for beginners who want an all-in-one website builder. You can pick from various pricing plans that include templates, site management tools, and plugins. Squarespace also offers e-commerce integration at different levels.
- Shopify: Shopify is designed mainly for online stores and later added website building features. All of its plans allow you to run an online store with unlimited products and various sales channels. You can choose from different templates to customize your online store.
- Choosing the Right One: Both Shopify and Squarespace provide the tools to create and expand an online store without needing coding skills. The choice between them (or Squarespace) depends on the specific features you require and how you want to connect with your customers.
In summary, Shopify, Square, and Squarespace each have their strengths and can help you build your online presence, but your decision should be based on what suits your business needs best.
A complete solution:
Shopify is a complete solution to all your e-commerce needs. It is not a site where you can start selling things online, but it provides the complete infrastructure for your e-commerce store. It offers all the necessary features you need to sell online such as software for an online store, tracking and responding to customer orders, themes and templates for the store, marketing tools, and whatnot. Shopify is a very user-friendly resource, and it is beneficial not only for e-commerce users but also for brick-and-mortar stores and pop-ups. In addition, third parties offer many features, such as themes. In short, Shopify is the answer to all your e-commerce-related problems.
On the other hand, Square offers more flexibility. It is easy to use and enables entrepreneurs to work smarter and save time. However, just like Shopify, Square is not geared toward e-commerce: it has similar features as Shopify but is not a complete solution for an e-commerce business owner.
Squarespace was initially created for managing content-based websites; however, you can sell products on the side of your blog or portfolio, but its e-commerce features are not that strong. As a result, Squarespace is not a complete solution for your business needs.
In Shopify Vs. Square Vs. Squarespace, Shopify is the winner in terms of being a complete e-commerce solution.
Point Of Sale Or POS:
POS is a system that lets customers pay for their services and products in person. Therefore, it is essential to choose a platform with a robust and right POS because it is where all transactions take place.
The Shopify POS system helps you sell products in person, backed by everything you need to sell online. POS is a point-of-sale app merchants can use to sell products in person. Merchants can create a cart for each customer, customize that cart in several ways, and then accept payment with a wide range of payment methods. Shopify POS unifies online and in-person sales to easily manage inventory, orders, and customer data across your entire business. It has all the essential features to make sales, track performance, and manage customers, orders, and inventory. In addition, the Shopify POS app offers local pickup and delivery and the ability to sell inventory from other locations. As a result, you can reach more customers this way and provide them with a smooth shopping experience. To add fuel to the fire, let me tell you Shopify POS app is free for its subscribers.
If we compare Square POS with Shopify’s, we will see that Square POS is not that strong. You can accept credit card payments with Square POS, but its pin and chip service is not up to the mark. Furthermore, Square’s reporting features are also not sophisticated enough. The significant advantage of Square POS is that it is free. You can download the app and use it without any charges, but Shopify charges a fee. Square POS is quite competitive and does not have any significant deficiencies. It is best suited for you if you are a small business owner, but it is a big no for a large-scale business.
POS is currently supported in the Squarespace IOS app. Unfortunately, Squarespace iOS is not for android, so that’s a significant drawback. Squarespace and Square POS offer almost similar features. They both will serve your needs as a small business owner, but Shopify will be the top priority for a large-scale business owner.
In Shopify Vs. Square Vs. Squarespace, Shopify is the winner in terms of POS.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Shopify SEO offers excellent SEO tools. There are all the basics that an e-commerce store would need. On the other hand, Shopify is trying its best to inform its users of the importance of SEO: there are comprehensive articles on Shopify’s website on how to do SEO for e-commerce stores. Big influencers like Kim Kardashian use Shopify for her makeup business. Moreover, Shopify SEO is relatively easy to implement and is a complete package for a business owner. From speed to support, everything is quite favorable about Shopify’s SEO.
Research says that Shopify has better and superior SEO than Square and Squarespace. Shopify has all the in-built email marketing tools that make it super convenient for users. Square and Squarespace have a solid range of SEO; it can help you rank your site higher in Google organic search results, but if we compare it to Shopify, Shopify would be a winner. There is pretty less variety of SEO plugins which is not for SEO beginners. Squarespace SEO features are not self-explanatory and can be confusing if you are a beginer.
Payment Options:
As we know, Shopify is a dedicated e-commerce platform. It has all the essential features available that you’ll need for your e-commerce store, and you can further buy more. Shopify has many payment options like Amazon, Square, cryptocurrency, etc. Compared to Shopify, Squarespace ranked entirely below it in terms of payment options. It has minimal payment options, such as PayPal, Stripe, and others.
On the other hand, Square accepts all payment options, such as Apple pay and Samsung pay, but its payment processing cost is quite more than Shopify. For example, Shopify’s in-person payment processing costs 2.4%, while Square costs 2.6% plus 10 cents. Moreover, Shopify’s online cost is 2.4% plus 30 cents, while Square’s cost is 3.5% plus 15 cents.
To conclude, we can say that Shopify, Square, and Squarespace are all quite competitive and have many excellent features. Still, if you are looking for a solid platform for your online business that will let you operate quickly, then Shopify would be the answer.
Conclusion – Shopify Vs. Square Vs. Squarespace:
Shopify is an excellent choice for businesses seeking a comprehensive e-commerce platform that supports online sales, in-person transactions, and social media selling. It offers an all-in-one solution with features like point-of-sale (POS), social selling tools, and inventory management.
On the other hand, Square is best suited for businesses looking for a straightforward payment acceptance solution without the need for long-term commitments. Whether you’re selling online, in physical stores, or through invoices, Square can be the right fit for your needs.
