According to statistics, 57% of internet users won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile or desktop. A website builder is a tool that enables you to build a responsive website quickly without any coding experience. There are numerous website builders currently present on the internet that can help you create the perfect website. But how to choose the right builder for you? Here we will be drawing a comparison between the top three website builders currently in the market: WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix.
We will help you decide which builder is the perfect match for your project, and hopefully, by the end of this comparison, you’ll have chosen the right builder for you.
So let’s get started!
WordPress
According to statistics, over 500+ sites are built on WordPress every day. Founded in 2003, WordPress is a free and open-source content management system. It was initially created as a blog publishing system but can now support other content types, including mailing lists, forums, membership sites, learning management systems (LMS), and more. Some of the well-known companies currently using WordPress are
Features Of WordPress
According to the statistics, WordPress has a 60.7% market share in the CMS market. As one of the web’s leading content management systems, WordPress offers a vast array of features, including advanced blogging, an editor to create mobile and desktop apps with HTML and Markdown Support (text-to-HTML conversion tool), basic SEO, and social media sharing. Here are some of the features offered by WordPress:
Themes:
WordPress offers thousands of themes to choose from when designing your website. It also allows you to switch themes at any time and use different building blocks to create your brand identity. You can also use WordPress’s FSE (Full Site Editing) features to arrange your website’s layout.
Online Payments:
You can easily accept online payments through credit and debit cards with WordPress. All you have to do is add a payment block or download a suitable plugin like MemberPress and WP Simple Pay.
Customization:
WordPress allows you to edit the website’s source code and enables you to design the website however you want, giving you complete creative freedom.
Backups:
WordPress also comes with a backup feature which means that you can activate any previous version of your website at any time.
Plugins:
You can also use thousands of WordPress plugins to create the website of your dreams!
Pricing:
WordPress is an entirely free CMS, but you do have to pay for hosting and some of the themes and plugins as well.
Pros Of WordPress
Powering over 43% of the websites on the internet, WordPress is the current leader in the CMS industry. Here is a list of the pros of using WordPress.
Integration With Third-Party Tools: WordPress integrates well with third-party tools. You Can configure WordPress to automatically share your latest posts on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. You can also integrate productivity tools like Trello and Slack into your website with the use of relevant plugins.
Low Hosting Demands: WordPress is free, but you do need to buy a hosting plan. Fortunately, you can always go with an affordable hosting plan which will help you save money.
Easy To Scale: WordPress is the easiest CMS to scale up. You can easily upgrade and swap your themes or transform your website into something completely new in just a few clicks without losing any data.
Mobile-Friendly: WordPress is designed to be mobile-friendly and responsive. With WordPress, you can create a website that will look good on any device.
Cons Of WordPress
Nothing is perfect, and even the world’s leading CMS has its faults. Here is a list of cons of using WordPress.
Overwhelming Options: WordPress offers an overwhelming number of plugins and themes, which can often result in confusion and indecisiveness.
Security Are Your Responsibility: With WordPress, security is your responsibility. You have to download plugins that help secure your website. Though it isn’t tricky to make your website fully secure, it is undoubtedly time-consuming.
Customizing is Expensive: Though many themes and plugins are free, their premium versions are not. To build a custom site, you might need these expensive plugins and themes. You might also need to hire a professional designer for coding. All of this can add up to one very expensive website.
No Dedicated Support: WordPress is open-source and can be changed and modified however you see fit. However, it is not a commercial product, and you are on your own when fixing problems and troubleshooting. Even though WordPress has a massive community, there is no guarantee that you’ll find the answers you’re looking for.
Squarespace
Squarespace was founded in 2004 as a blog hosting service by Anthony Casalena while attending the University of Maryland. Squarespace offers numerous design templates, SEO tools, and web analytics for the website. Some of the well-known companies using Squarespace are
Features Of Squarespace
According to statistics, about 3.79 million Squarespace users have subscription plans. Squarespace calls itself ‘the leader of website design’ and is the perfect website builder for all the dreamers and creative people out there. It offers over 100 professionally designed templates and enables you to edit and customize them according to your needs. Squarespace offers a robust suite of e-commerce features including SEO tools and an array of website analytics to help you scale your website. Here is a list of features offered by Squarespace.
Blogging Tools:
Squarespace offers numerous blogging tools which allow you to share company news and personal stories on an onsite blog.
Mobile App:
Squarespace also has an app that can be used to edit your site, blog, and online store. So now you can modify your website on the go with Squarespace.
Ecommerce:
Squarespace offers several features to help you create an online store. You can choose from a range of templates, create a product page, embed videos, and launch an efficient checkout with those features.
Scheduling:
Squarespace enables you to create calendars for your team, set automatic email reminders, sync your calendars with platforms like Google and Outlook.
WYSIWYG Editor:
With Squarespace editor, you can create many content types and complex multi-column layouts. You are also offered responsive designs and automatic scaling.
Pricing:
Though Squarespace isn’t free, it offers four premium plans with reasonable pricing. It offers unlimited storage, free custom domain and is less expensive than Wix.
Pros Of Squarespace
According to statistics, the market share of Squarespace e-commerce platforms in the US is 7%, with Squarespace rapidly increasing its users. Here is a list of benefits of choosing Squarespace:
Backend design is easy: The backend design of Squarespace is fairly easy to use, even for beginners.
All-In-One Platform: With Squarespace, you don’t have to worry about downloading widgets and plugins as everything is included in the builder, including website analytics.
Customer Support: Squarespace offers excellent customer support 24/7 through email tickets and chatbox.
Backups: With Squarespace, you’re automatically given backups and redundancies, with hosting being optimized.
Cons Of Squarespace
Here is a list of cons of using Squarespace:
No Phone Support: Squarespace does not offer any immediate support if there is a problem.
No Advanced Marketing Tools: Squarespace offers basic marketing tools but does not provide an array of advanced marketing tools. The SEO is limited to a basic meta-structure with no A/B testing.
Third-Party Integrations: Squarespace does not offer support for third-party apps, plugins, and extensions which means that you have less control over your functionality on this platform.
Editing: Uploading primary content on Squarespace is pretty straightforward. However, the process of adding new pages, setting up a new blog, or editing your design template can be a bit complicated and time-consuming with Squarespace.
Wix
As of 2022, Wix has over 200 million users, with over 45000 people signing up on Wix every day. Wix was founded in 2006 by Israeli developers and went public in 2013. Wix is famous for its design offering 800+ themes covering 16 categories. A beginner-friendly drag and drop editor, Wix is currently being used on over 1.9% of websites globally. Some of the well-known companies using Wix are
Features Of Wix
According to statistics, over 22 million mobile sites use Wix, with Wix powering over 600,000 e-commerce stores. Wix is an easy-to-use website builder popular among beginners. Wix has an app store that enables users to download widgets and extensions and helps them add functionality to their website. With Wix, you can launch a live chat widget, add a professional mailbox, and monitor your website’s analytics. Here is a list of features offered by Wix:
Blogging:
Wix offers numerous layouts to choose from for a blog. It also enables you to manage comments and share your blog posts on social media.
Bookings:
With Wix, you can manage bookings 24/7 via desktop or mobile.
Music Player:
You can add a music player to your site, showcasing albums and playlists. You can also allow users to share and buy music from your site.
Media Gallery:
Wix enables you to add a vast array of media galleries to your site. You can also select the image quality and edit sans from your media library.
Basic Email Marketing:
Wix allows you to collect email addresses and start your own email campaign for your site.
Pricing:
Wix offers a free plan as well as seven paid plans. Paid plans offered by Wix are pretty expensive but come with improved tools and features
Pros Of Wix
Wix is an extremely popular, easy-to-use website builder. Here is a list of its pros.
Site Security: Wix websites perform at above-average speed, and Wix provides them with top-notch security as the site is hosted on the Wix server.
No long-term plans: Wix doesn’t lock you in premium plan contracts. You can upgrade from the free option for as little as $5 per month and cancel your subscription at any time.
Intuitive Interface: Wix offers an incredibly useful backend with all the tools a few clicks away. You also receive guidelines and tools to help you customize your templates.
Upgraded Design Templates: With the drag and drop design option, Wix offers numerous design templates.
Cons Of Wix
Here is a list of cons of using Wix.
No Removal Of Adds: The free plan of Wix does not remove ads from your site. You need to upgrade your plan if you want to remove ads.
Bad SEO: With Wix, you get access to SEO Wizard, but the techniques are a little behind the times. It mainly focuses on keywords, targeting, grouping, and ranking with no focus on modern SEO.
No Unlimited Plans: Wix doesn’t offer unlimited storage or bandwidth on any plan, even the premium ones.
Which Website Builder Is Right For Your Business?
| Category | WordPress | Squarespace | Wix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | WordPress is free, but the final price can vary due to SSL, hosting, and themes cost. | Squarespace does not offer a free plan, but does offer four paid plans with a 14-day trial. | Wix offers a free plan as well as seven Premium plans. It is more expensive than the other two. |
| SEO | WordPress provides effective SEO tools, but you should know coding to use those tools. | Squarespace offers a wide range of SEO tools, but the tools can be challenging to use for beginners. | Wix provides SEO Wiz and other basic tools for improving website ranking. |
| Features And Tools | WordPress does not offer built-in tools though plugins are present. | Squarespace offers beautiful blogging tools through its e-commerce tools that are better suited for smaller businesses. | Wix provides an excellent array of tools and features. |
| Apps And Extensions | WordPress has a collection of approximately 54,000 plugins to choose from. | The Squarespace extension store offers 23 apps to choose from. | Wix offers 200 apps in its app market. |
| Support | WordPress has no dedicated support so you’ll need to rely on community forums. | Squarespace offers excellent support via email, live chat, social media, and a knowledge center. However, it has no phone support. | Wix offers incredible support across phone, social media, and live chat. But no email support is present. |
Now that we have compared all three of the website builders, let’s decide which one is right for your business.
Squarespace is a flexible website builder that is incredibly easy to use. It is the perfect choice for small businesses as it provides all the features you might need for a single site business, from marketing tools, the ability to manage booking services, an online membership area to a vast array of design tools. Squarespace has it all!
If you’re looking to open an e-commerce store, then WordPress will serve as your holy grail. Offering thousands of themes and plugins, WordPress is the obvious choice. With WordPress, you can install WooCommerce and establish a running store in just a few hours.
For all the beginners out there who know nothing about website design and development, Wix was created for you. Wix has the most intuitive drag and drop builder and comes with numerous features, including SEO wizard. You require zero coding skills with Wix!
We at Genetech Solutions have worked with all three of the website builders over the years. We would be happy to set up a consultation with our experts to help you decide on the right website builder for you.
Conclusion
I hope you were able to make a clear decision with the help of this blog. Feel free to contact us if you have any queries
