Squarespace vs WordPress: which is right for your business website?

At a glance

• Cost: Squarespace is one subscription, from £14.40 a month billed annually including estimated VAT. WordPress software is free, but you pay for hosting, a domain, premium themes or plugins and upkeep.

• Hosting: Squarespace hosts every site and handles SSL. WordPress runs on the host of your choice, or on WordPress.com if you want it managed.

• Editing: Squarespace's Fluid Engine is a drag-and-drop grid editor. WordPress uses the block editor, and the experience depends on the theme.

• Design freedom: Squarespace gives a polished result within its system. WordPress can be built to any design, usually with a developer.

• Plugins: Squarespace keeps to built-in features and a small set of Extensions. WordPress has over 76,000 free plugins.

• Ecommerce: Squarespace Commerce is built in, with a 2% transaction fee on Basic only. WordPress uses WooCommerce, which is free and open source.

• Maintenance: Squarespace looks after updates and security. On WordPress, plugins, themes and backups need regular attention.

• Ownership: WordPress is open source and fully portable. Squarespace exports only part of a site.

Cost

As of October 2026, Squarespace's UK pricing lists Basic at £14.40 a month, Core at £20.40, Plus at £34.80 and Advanced at £94.80 when billed annually, including estimated VAT. Monthly billing is higher, from £19.20 to £106.80. Annual plans include a free domain for the first year. Code injection, which you need for many custom scripts, starts on Core.

WordPress is free to download, but WordPress.org notes that self-installing means getting your own hosting and domain. Your running costs are hosting, any premium themes and plugins, and the time or support to keep it updated. If you want WordPress hosted and managed, WordPress.com lists, as of October 2026, Personal at £3, Premium at £7, Business at £20 and Commerce at £36 a month billed yearly, excluding taxes. Plugins can be installed from the Personal plan upwards.

In practice the build and ongoing care cost more than the platform. Our guide to how much a website costs in the UK breaks this down.

Ease of editing for your team

Squarespace is one of the easiest platforms to hand to a busy team. Fluid Engine lets you drag blocks onto a grid, and permissions keep things safe: a Website editor can change content but cannot add pages or change styles. Squarespace does not support per-page permissions, so access is site-wide.

WordPress is familiar to many marketers, and the block editor handles long-form content and blogs well. Because themes vary, so does the editing experience. A well built custom theme can be as safe as Squarespace; a loose one can let anyone change the layout.

Design freedom

Squarespace gives you a consistent, good-looking site with little effort. You work within its templates and layout system, and Squarespace's support team will not help with custom code you add, so very bespoke ideas can be harder to deliver.

WordPress has no such ceiling. A developer can build a theme to match any design, and that freedom is why many larger sites use it. The trade-off is the cost and time of custom development.

SEO and performance

Both give you what you need to rank. Squarespace lets you set page titles, SEO descriptions and URL slugs, produces a sitemap.xml and recommends keeping SSL set to secure. WordPress has generated a sitemap at /wp-sitemap.xml since version 5.5, and SEO plugins add more control.

Speed is where they differ most. Squarespace manages hosting for every site. A WordPress site's speed depends on its host, theme and plugins, so it can be very fast or quite slow. Our website speed optimisation service and Core Web Vitals guide cover what to look for.

Ecommerce

Squarespace Commerce is built in. Every plan includes subscription products, digital content and memberships, gift cards and invoicing. Basic adds a 2% online store transaction fee, which drops to 0% on Core and above. In the UK, Squarespace Payments lists card rates from 2.0% plus 25p, falling to 1.5% plus 25p on Advanced.

WooCommerce, described by its makers as an open source platform powered by WordPress, is free to download and can be extended with plugins. It suits larger catalogues and unusual requirements, at the cost of more upkeep. If selling is your main goal, compare Shopify vs WooCommerce and Shopify vs Squarespace too.

Plugins and integrations

WordPress is clearly ahead here. Its directory lists over 76,000 free plugins, so almost any feature, from memberships to multilingual content and CRM links, is already available.

Squarespace builds most features in, including Acuity Scheduling for appointments, which is a Squarespace company. Squarespace Extensions add third-party tools for jobs such as tax compliance, drop shipping and SEO. There is less choice, but also less to maintain.

Ownership, hosting and security

WordPress is open source under the GPL, so you can host it anywhere and move it whenever you like. That freedom comes with responsibility. Minor core releases update automatically, but plugins and themes only update automatically in special cases, and WordPress's own hardening guide recommends keeping plugins updated, deleting unused ones and turning on two-step authentication.

Squarespace handles hosting, updates and SSL for you. Your site lives on Squarespace, though, and its export creates a WordPress-format XML file covering standard pages, one blog and text and image blocks. Store, portfolio and several other page types, plus your styles and custom CSS, are not exported.

Moving from one to the other

From WordPress to Squarespace, you can import pages and blog posts, but Squarespace says your old layout, design and fonts cannot come across, so the design is rebuilt. It also warns that rankings may dip at first after switching platforms.

From Squarespace to WordPress, the XML export brings over pages and one blog, and the rest is rebuilt. In both directions, list every live URL, map it to its new address and set up 301 redirects. Squarespace's URL mappings hold roughly 2,500 lines and cannot redirect the homepage or file URLs. Our redesign checklist and website redesign service cover the process.

Which should you choose?

• A small business, studio or hospitality site that needs to look good and stay simple: Squarespace.

• A content-heavy site, lots of authors or specialist features: WordPress.

• You need full control of hosting and code: WordPress.

• No one in-house to handle updates: Squarespace, or WordPress with a maintenance plan.

• A simple shop or paid memberships: Squarespace. A large or complex catalogue points to WooCommerce or Shopify.

How we can help

We build on both. Websites start from £7,500 with a fixed quote after discovery, and at handover we transfer the site to your own Squarespace account or your own WordPress hosting. On WordPress builds we set up tracking with GA4 and Microsoft Clarity. See our Squarespace web design and WordPress web design services, or tell us about your project.

Frequently asked questions

Is Squarespace better than WordPress for a small business?

Often, if you want a good-looking site with little maintenance. WordPress is the better fit when you need specialist features, lots of content or full control over hosting.

Is Squarespace or WordPress better for SEO?

Both cover the essentials: editable titles and descriptions, clean URLs, a sitemap and redirects. WordPress offers more control through SEO plugins, but content and site structure matter far more than the platform.

Is WordPress cheaper than Squarespace?

The WordPress software is free, but hosting, premium plugins and maintenance add up. Squarespace bundles hosting from £14.40 a month billed annually. Compare the total cost over a few years, including support.

Can I move my Squarespace site to WordPress?

Partly. Squarespace exports standard pages and one blog as a WordPress-format XML file, but store pages, styles and some page types do not export. Plan a design rebuild and 301 redirects.

Does Squarespace have plugins like WordPress?

Not in the same way. Squarespace builds most features in and offers a smaller set of Extensions, while WordPress has over 76,000 free plugins.

Do I need a developer for WordPress?

Not to edit content, but a developer or maintenance plan helps with custom design, updates, security and backups. Squarespace handles those technical jobs for you.