Q. Wix or Squarespace for my small business website?

Wix or Squarespace for small business websites

– how do I choose?

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The analogy we use here is with another long-running battle between two tech powerhouses: Microsoft and Apple.

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In this case, Wix is your traditional office PC and Squarespace is your trendy coffee-shop Mac. 

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Wix is most interested in function.

 

As with a PC, it's very easy to 'get under the hood' of a Wix website and tweak away to your heart's content.

 

Wix have really gone all out to make everything about your website as customisable as possible.

 

This ranges from core elements like page layout and navigation menus, right down to the little details like font effects and animated icons. You can even customise the colour of the browser tab for your site on someone's mobile. 

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Squarespace, on the other hand, is all about design.

 

Just as Apple took the world by storm with their design-led approach to technology, Squarespace put their faith in the quality of their site templates.

 

Homepage videos, image galleries and summary content blocks are all key components in the Squarespace platform.

 

The visuals are always slick, cleverly thought-out, and they have that premium feel you associate with a brand like Apple. That's why, like Macs and PCs, Squarespace can command a higher price than Wix in its monthly subscription charges.

 

And like with an Apple product, it's all so seamless that you're not really expected to get under that hood in the first place.

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Choose Wix for function, Squarespace for design.

 

If Wix is the shirt-and-tie worker bee with his office Windows laptop, Squarespace is the freelance creative in a neighbourhood cafe with her cold-press coffee and her Macbook. 

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(This isn't to say that Wix don't care about design or Squarespace about function, just as you can still get a sleek-looking PC or perform complex tasks on a Mac – it's purely a question of priority.)

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Just like with Macbooks, there's something a bit more cliquey and exclusive about Squarespace. If you're familiar with the basics of web design, Squarespace is all fairly intuitive. If you're not, it can be hard to fathom. 

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That's the major trade-off of Squarespace's design-first approach: to keep everything looking sleek and pared-back and minimalist, they've had to hide all the pointers and guidance that the beginners will cry out for. There's the rub.

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Wix, by contrast, is all too happy to hold your hand and guide you through the website-building process. That said, if you've ever had a needy waiter in a restaurant, or you remember that annoying little paperclip in Word, you'll know that too much hand-holding can be just as frustrating as it is worthwhile.

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So Wix is more open to your ideas, but sometimes it's so open you'll feel a bout of options paralysis coming on. Squarespace keeps things closer to its chest, so you might feel more restricted at times, but probably with good reason.

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Squarespace for creators, Wix for everyone else.

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Ultimately, our advice to clients looking to choose between Wix and Squarespace for their small business website comes down to two things:

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1. The kind of work you do.

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If your small business is in the creative, retail or hospitality sectors, we'd recommend Squarespace.

 

Since visual design will play a large part in your everyday work, you'll want that reflected in your website. And that's where Squarespace really shines.

 

Like a PC user switching to a Mac, the learning curve is harder and things will seem less intuitive at first, but we can help with that. And you'll end up with a beautiful website for your bakery / day spa / pottery studio.

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If you're offering professional services, or for pretty much anything else, a Wix site should offer you more than you could ever need.

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Or to put it another way, if you show what you do with words – you're a financial adviser or a psychotherapist, say – Wix is the savvier option. If your business is heavily image- or video-based and your Instagram is lighting up, Squarespace is the one for you.

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2. The kind of tech user you are day-to-day.

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Like Apple's products, Squarespace just works right out of the box. They want to get you to a great small business website with the minimum amount of effort, and the fewest buttons pushed.

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This is most obvious when it comes to how your website displays on mobile: Squarespace sites are fully responsive, whereas Wix sites require a good amount of tinkering to get right.

 

So if you appreciate simplicity in design – and you're not one to  really sweat the small stuff – then Squarespace will get you site-ready faster. Time is money in small business, after all.

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If you'd rather read the manual cover-to-cover and make the absolute most out of the tech at your disposal, Wix is the gold standard. There's more to fiddle with, so it's fiddlier by nature than Squarespace. If that appeals, try Wix. If it fills you with all kinds of dread, Squarespace is your port in a storm.

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Don't forget: our clients get 20% off their Squarespace subscription, guaranteed.