Wix or Squarespace: start with the pages and payments you need

Analysis of official documentation, with no testing on a paid account.

Differences that change choice

Try real content before final design

Use a long piece of text, three offerings and around ten representative photos. Check readability on a phone and how long it takes to change an offering. A template filled with short sample text can look completely different with your content.

Give an amendment to a colleague who did not design the site. If he does not find where to change the schedules or description, simplify the structure. The choice must facilitate these regular operations as much as the first creation.

Reconstitute the price of the trade route

In Wix, the available means of payment depends in particular on the location and the provider. Check the plan and application required for your activity. In Squarespace, separate platform fees from processing fees and examine digital products separately.

The version of the Squarespace contract also matters: old plan names do not automatically correspond to new ones. For both platforms, include the domains, apps and third-party services you choose, then compare the total after the promotional period.

Know the cost of a platform change

Wix does not allow to take its entire site to host it as such at another provider. This does not mean that all content is lost, but migration may require reconstruction. For Squarespace, check what content is exportable and what needs to be recreated.

Choose after a full request or command simulation. Check the messages received, the rights of employees and the modification of a published page. Keep text, images and domain information in an independent folder to facilitate future transmission.

Example: forwarding a showcase site to another provider

Consider this example: a business has ten service pages, a blog and a contact form. It wants to be able to change providers in two years. Giving another person access on the same platform is different from moving the website to another hosting provider.

Wix confirms that the site depends on its servers. Squarespace documents a partial export : Style settings, custom CSS and certain types of pages are not included. Exporting is therefore not a backup for the immediate reconstruction of the same site elsewhere.

1. Keep original texts, media and page addresses in a file controlled by the company.
2. Ask the provider for a list of what will be exported, rebuilt or lost: blog, products, forms and possible reservations.
3. Estimate the resumption of a representative page, then that of commercial functions. The price of a subscription does not measure this cost of exit.

For a company that wants to remain self-sufficient

Give the person who will manage the site three changes to make: opening hours, the price of a service and a news update. Choose the solution in which they can find these actions and check the mobile result without relying on the designer for every correction.

Reviews to consult

• Wix
• Squarespace