Wix vs Squarespace, which to pick and when to pick neither

On price, Squarespace shows euro amounts on its French page and Wix shows dollar amounts on its US site, which makes a direct comparison impossible without converting, and I don't convert. The table below therefore repeats each amount as it was displayed on 27 August 2026, with its currency and billing period. What matters more than a few euros of difference is what the entry plan leaves out. At Wix, the Light plan is limited to 2 GB of storage and doesn't accept payments. At Squarespace, switching to annual billing lowers the monthly figure but commits twelve months upfront.

On ownership, both vendors host your site with them and keep it there. Wix writes that the content you build belongs to you but that the site needs to be hosted and operated on its servers, and that exporting blog posts to other platforms isn't possible for now. Squarespace offers an XML export that covers layout pages, one blog, text and image blocks, but not store pages, style settings, custom CSS or drafts, and says that this export can't be imported into another Squarespace site. With the plan, the domain is in your name and the full export arrives within fifteen days.

On design, both sell templates, and the difference is in number and flexibility. Wix advertises more than 2000 free templates and lets you move every block freely, which produces very varied sites and sometimes wobbly ones. Squarespace publishes no count on its templates page but describes them as designed by professionals, keeps the settings more guided, and on version 7.1 you don't switch templates midway, you adjust colors, fonts and page types. In both cases your site has the same structure as other businesses' sites. A site coded for you has no template, every page is drawn for what you sell and two clients never get the same site.

On speed and search, both platforms hold up for a light brochure site, and both slow down as soon as you stack apps, fonts and videos. Neither one proofreads your pages or writes your content. Before every launch I run the site through a check on speed, accessibility and technical SEO, then Essential covers fixes, updates and a monthly report on traffic and uptime, and Visibility adds four pages and four articles a month on verified keywords and a monthly report on local positions. If your hesitation is between Wix and WordPress instead, I wrote the same comparison for WordPress vs Wix.

Pick Wix if you want to try for free before paying, if you enjoy moving every block by hand and if you plan specific features its app market covers, such as bookings, included from the Core plan according to its plans page. It's also the right pick for a site you expect to redo in a year, since you only invest your evenings in it. If you're already on Wix and want out, the Wix alternative page explains how I recover your texts and images.

Pick Squarespace if you care about a clean result without layout effort, if your site fits in a few pages and if paying in euros by the year suits you. A photographer, a practice, a guesthouse or a restaurant that mostly wants a menu and a map do fine with its templates. Just keep in mind what the export leaves behind, store pages, styles and CSS, and the fact that a version 7.1 site keeps its starting template. If you're leaving it, the Squarespace alternative page details what I recover and what I rebuild.

Pick neither if the site has to bring you clients and you don't want to build it or watch it age inside a template other businesses use. For €1 then €39 a month, you receive a complete first version to review, usually less than 48 hours after the order depending on how fast you review, then the adjustments and the launch after your approval. The plan runs twelve months minimum, then cancels any month with one month's notice, with no financing company and no lease. A shop, a booking system or a client area get a separate quote, announced before the order.