Wix vs Squarespace: The Dilemma Of A Freelance Blogger

As a writer, I can vouch for the fact that writers have independent spirits. All writers are creators, and all creators like being independent. We do not really like being bound. So, the idea of being the sailor of one’s own ship may sound tempting to most of us. This, incidentally, is the very idea that lies at the heart of freelancing. These days many people are slowly moving towards becoming freelance bloggers. Now, newbies in the field of freelance blogging are probably aware of something called the “Wix vs Squarespace” tussle.

Before you start on your blogging journey, you’ll find yourself in a dilemma. The question of choosing a website builder will be difficult to deal with. How can it not? Choosing just one website builder from so many! That’s far from being easy. There is nothing called THE best website builder, after all.

We can delve deeper into this issue involving two of the arguably most user-friendly website builders- Wix and Squarespace. So, if you’re a blogger struggling with this inner battle about whether to choose Wix or Squarespace site, read on!

The Drift Towards Freelancing As A Career

In case you didn’t know, a lot of people are slowly gravitating towards freelancing nowadays. In 2020, when the pandemic had wreaked havoc worldwide, about 12% of the freelancers in the US made their foray into the freelance or the gig economy. Despite the uncertainties associated with freelancing, many people have begun to drift towards being their own employers in their respective fields.

Freelance Blogging As A Profession

 

Blogging is a highly creative profession. It has become a much sought-after profession these days. Since you’re here, you’re probably willing to dive into the world of freelance blogging, aren’t you? So, you probably know how blogging can turn out to be an immensely rewarding profession in the long run. Yes, there was a time when many people would be skeptical about what I said just now. But times have changed!

Wix vs Squarespace: Which Website Builder To Choose As A Freelance Blogger?

But how to go about it? Firstly, as a beginner, you need to build your own website. Website builders can help you with it!

Now, there are a lot of website builders to choose from. You may find yourself wondering- Which website builder should I choose?

Most people prefer WordPress and would recommend using it. However, as a beginner, you can choose either Wix or Squarespace.

Here begins the clash between two of the best website builders- Wix vs Squarespace. Who will be your partner in freelance blogging?

Choosing between Squarespace and Wix is nothing less than Herculean labor. I mean, both of them are currently the most popular and user-friendly website builders. So, if you are torn between the two, I cannot blame you.

If you wish to know more, you may watch this video.

Features That Both Wix And Squarespace Have In Common: What Are The Similarities Between Them?

There are some features that both Wix and Squarespace have in common. In fact, both are equally good if certain characteristics are taken into consideration. That is why the “Wix vs Squarespace” tussle arises, in the first place!

The following section discusses how these two site builders are similar to one another:

To Use Wix Or Squarespace, You Do NOT Have To Know Coding Or Possess Other Technical Knowledge.

You do not have to know anything about coding to use either of these. Yes! You do not necessarily have to be tech junkies to build your website or your freelancer portfolio if you choose either of them.

Both the Wix site and Squarespace site make use of SaaS. Also known as “software as a service,” tools like these allow beginners with little or zero knowledge about coding to build their own websites as if the task were a piece of cake!

Many users would admit that Wix is easier to use than Squarespace, especially when it comes to speedy website building.

Both Squarespace And Wix Will Give You Access To Ample Eye-Catching Templates!

Both Wix and Squarespace will offer you visually-appealing templates and exquisite designs. The templates Wix offers are no less appealing than those offered by Squarespace.

You Can Increase Your Website Traffic And Improve Your Rank On Search Engines.

You can follow SEO best practices with relative ease on Wix as well as on Squarespace. Both of them come with suggestions regarding the optimization of websites. If you are meticulous enough to follow them, your site will obtain a better rank.

Both Offer Attractive E-Commerce Features.

Neither Wix nor Squarespace is E-commerce oriented, but the E-commerce features that they provide are pretty impressive. Neither of them leaves any room for disappointment in this case. Wix’s features about E-commerce can be afforded by many compared to those that Squarespace offers.

Squarespace And Wix Have Amazing Customer Support.

Customer support and services are pretty much important for any beginner. Squarespace and Wix are excellent when it comes to their customer support system.

You can contact Wix’s Help Centre and read up their blogs if you meet with any difficulty. If you choose Squarespace, you can participate in the discussions on their forum or share your opinions, queries, and insights. Their blogs and FAQs would help you too.

So, it’s understandable if you are preoccupied with the “Wix vs Squarespace” tussle in your mind.

However, Squarespace and Wix differ along certain lines. Each of them has something to offer which the other cannot. Simply put, Wix offers certain perks which Squarespace doesn’t and vice versa.

Wix Site, Its Merits, And Demerits

With about 100 million users and more, Wix is probably one of the most widely known website builders. Apparently, it has a lot of attractive features and a lot of people are drawn to it.

Why Wix: The Benefits Of Using Wix

Let us find out why so many users all over the world find it so alluring. I have talked about its numerous merits in the following section:

1. Wix will win you over with its user-friendliness. You won’t have to think twice before saying- Website building with Wix isn’t a big deal!
2. You can easily use the Wix editor. It is equipped with a drag-and-drop feature which most people can use effortlessly.
3. Worried about losing your data? Wix’s Site History system is here to help! 
4. Create your website without too much effort with the help of Wix ADI. What makes it even more agreeable to users is a feature called Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence). Wix Artificial Design Intelligence or Wix ADI is quite a marvel. Wix ADI makes website building a seamless experience. 
5. There are myriads of Wix templates. You will find an array of beautiful designs and plenty of themes. I must also mention that Wix templates belong to diverse categories such as travel, beauty, and others. It also comes with more than 50 templates for blogging.
6. Wix has several great SEO tools too! As far as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) features are concerned, Wix offers several of them for all kinds of pages. These features include meta-description, page title, SSL encryption, and so on. Wix will, therefore, help you achieve a better rank on Google.
7. Wix has so many cool add-ons! There are many add-ons or extensions available on Wix. You can get all these add-ons from Wix’s app market. It’s a really cool feature. Don’t you think so too?
8. Oh, wait! Wix users can opt for a free plan! It’s Wix’s free plan that I’m talking about! Wix’s free plan is irresistible to many! After all, who can resist something free?

Why Not Wix: The Downsides Of Using Wix

Nothing is perfect, after all. But, Wix has several downsides too.  So, let us take a look at why it may lose some ground in the “Wix vs Squarespace” battle:

1. Be very careful before choosing a template because you won’t ever be able to change it later! If you wish to change it, you might have to create your website all over again. That would be tedious.
2. Many of the templates on Wix aren’t responsive.
3. If you go for Wix, you have to create different versions of your website. This might not be good as far as search engine optimization is concerned. This is one of the chief areas where Wix may lose the “Wix vs Squarespace” battle.

Squarespace, Its Merits, And Demerits

Now that you know about the advantages and disadvantages of using Wix, you must be curious to know what Squarespace offers.

Why Squarespace: The Benefits Of Using Squarespace

So, let us find out why Squarespace may turn out to be the winner in the “Wix vs Squarespace” game. I have talked very briefly about the advantages of using Squarespace in the section that follows:

1. Squarespace is quite friendly towards its users. Squarespace is another website builder which many users prefer. 
2. Squarespace brings a drag-and-drop page editor with it. The drag-and-drop editor for Squarespace is a section-based and structured page editor.
3. Squarespace offers about 100+ templates for website creation. It is equipped with many color schemes, fonts, audio, podcasts, and so on. All Squarespace templates are undoubtedly exquisite. 
4. While choosing from the finely curated array of Squarespace templates, users will have to specify the category of their sites. Then they will be directed to specify the purpose of their respective websites, and based on these responses, templates will be suggested.
5. The SEO tools of Squarespace are quite good too. Squarespace comes with a host of excellent SEO tools. Concerning SEO, it is as good as Wix, if not better.
6. If you use Squarespace, you will be able to edit all source files. These include all CSS and HTML files.

Why Not Squarespace: The Disadvantages Of Using Squarespace

But there are a few aspects of Squarespace which may make Wix the winner in the “Wix vs Squarespace” fight. But what are they? The following section will give you a fair idea about the many failings of Squarespace:

1. Don’t expect to get your data back if you lose them by mistake. It does not have any backup and restore options. 
2. If you choose Squarespace, you will get no free plan but just a 14-day free trial. Squarespace does not have any free plan to offer to its users. 
3. Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor is a little difficult to use.

Wix And Squarespace: So, Where Lies The Difference?

While it’s true that both Wix and Squarespace have some features in common, there are many differences between Wix and Squarespace too! I mean, you must’ve noticed that a Wix website looks different from a Squarespace website, haven’t you?

The section below ventures to explain the differences that both users of Wix and Squarespace are likely to notice:

Templates

Even though Wix has more templates than Squarespace, there is hardly one Squarespace template that you can turn a blind eye to. No wonder why Squarespace sites look so delightful!

You’ll indeed have a lot of options for your website template if you use Wix. Wix’s templates are available in abundance. But not all of these are responsive, especially on devices like mobile phones. You will have to create separate versions of your website like the desktop version, mobile version, and so on. It doesn’t sound convenient, does it?

But Squarespace templates win brownie points because they’re responsive, unlike Wix’s templates!

The Page Editor Of Wix And Squarespace

Wix editor is equipped with a drag-and-drop feature. I have already talked about that before. On the other hand, Squarespace offers a structured drag-and-drop editor.

Simply put, if you’re using Squarespace, you’ll drag elements across the page that will fit into particular rows and columns. You cannot alter the positioning of these columns and rows. This affects creative freedom to a certain extent which is not the case with Wix editor. Therefore, Wix offers more creative freedom than Squarespace.

Ecommerce Sites And Wix And Squarespace

The Ecommerce features and eCommerce tools that Wix offers differ from what Squarespace has in store. You can build a small or medium-sized online shop with the help of features that Wix offers. In comparison to Wix, Squarespace lacks a store of its own. So, if the online store feature isn’t a built-in feature, it cannot be put to use.

Squarespace Pricing And Wix Plan

Squarespace plans are four in number whereas, with Wix, there are eight. The cheapest among the four plans is the Personal plan. If you choose this Squarespace plan, you get a custom domain. Plus, you’ll get unlimited bandwidth and storage. You won’t be annoyed by ads, and you’ll have to pay $12 every month.

Unlike Squarespace, Wix offers no custom domain to users who opt for Wix Connect. Wix Connect is Wix’s most basic plan. This plan comes with 500 MB storage and 1 GB bandwidth. You have to pay a recurring charge of $4.50 and that too every month, and you’ll have to tolerate annoying Wix ads.

But, we must remember that Wix offers a free plan in addition to paid plans. Wix’s free plan is one of its striking features. The paid plans offered by Wix are of two types. If you are looking for a website builder to build a website for professional purposes, you can go for this Wix plan. For business purposes, you can go for Ecommerce plans.

Both Wix and Squarespace offer plans that are costlier than the basic ones. Apart from Squarespace’s Personal plan, the pricing plan includes options like business, basic commerce, and advanced commerce options. Also, all Squarespace plans offer unlimited bandwidth.

Extensions, Add-Ons, Third-Party Apps, And Integrations: Wix vs Squarespace

If you remember clearly, I’ve already talked a bit about Wix App Market, which is a feature that makes Wix a cool website builder.

The apps you can find in Wix App Market are not just third-party apps. There are Wix’s own apps too! These apps come with a lot of cool features as well! With the help of these features, you can enrich and enhance the quality of your website. You can find apps like Wix’s email marketing tools, Wix events app, notification tools, calendars, and so on in Wix App Market.

On the other hand, the add-on features and extensions that come with Squarespace are mostly Ecommerce oriented. Hopefully, they may diversify them. But, in contrast to Wix, Squarespace doesn’t offer apps. You can enable certain features via third-party integration. There’s no app market like Wix’s App Market. These tools and extensions include Squarespace’s marketing tools, extensions related to sales, products, inventory, and other Squarespace integrations.

At present, Wix seems to be the winner of the “Wix vs Squarespace” battle regarding the number of extensions and add-ons that both Squarespace and Wix offer. But quality-wise, Squarespace remains unbeaten.

Wix vs Squarespace: Let’s See Which Website Builder Has The Best Blogging Feature

Many users favor Wix, mainly because it’s easy to use and offers a free plan. But when it comes to blogging, the scenario might turn out to be different. Are you curious as to why I said so? Then keep reading!

In several cases, Wix would become the winner in the “Wix vs Squarespace” scuffle. But all the tables turn when the blogging tools of both website builders are taken into account. That’s because Wix’s blogging feature is not as good as that of Squarespace.

And The Winner Is… Squarespace!

As a freelance blogger, you are likely to favor Squarespace over Wix. The blogging feature of Squarespace is very flexible if we compare it to Wix’s blogging feature. Wix comes with very basic in-built blogging tools, but Squarespace comes with some advanced features.

What Makes Squarespace One Of The Best Website Builders When It Comes To Blogging?

• With Squarespace, you can add tags, URLs, audio, and visuals, maps, and whatnot.
• Its WYSIWYG blog editor is something that many bloggers would prefer to use.
• It is also geared with Google AMP functionality.
• Furthermore, it supports multiple author management and has a great workflow feature.
• Most importantly, you will connect with your readers or audience and get to know their opinions. That is what a blogger aims for, right?

Squarespace’s Members Area Feature Is A Plus

Let me tell you why you want to use Squarespace and not Wix at the beginning of your career as a freelance blogger. Squarespace has added a Members Area feature. This feature is a new one. What makes it interesting is that its chief goal is to monetize the content on your website. That includes your blog posts as well.

Why Wix May Lose The Game In The Case Of The Blogging Feature?

Wix will probably not become a favorite with bloggers. Its blogging features are somewhat inferior to Squarespace’s blogging features. So, let’s find out why Wix may lose the “Wix vs Squarespace” game to Squarespace.

Wix comes with a feature known as the Wix Blog app. With this free Wix Blog app, you’ll be able to schedule your blog posts and do other things. You need to integrate it on your website, though.

There will also be ads on your blogging site if you choose Wix. You cannot do away with the ads, no matter how annoying they might seem.

Besides, getting a blog on Wix with a domain of your own will cost you money.

Thus, when freelance bloggers appear on the scene, Squarespace will win the “Wix vs Squarespace” battle. About blogging, Squarespace can beat Wix.

You may check out this video to know more about Squarespace’s blogging feature. Hopefully, it will give you a fair idea.

Tired Of All The Talk On The “Wix vs Squarespace” Battle? Let’s Talk About Their Alternatives Then

Enough on the “Wix vs Squarespace” battle! Let us take a look at some other website builders other than Wix and Squarespace.

 So, here’s a list of some website building tools other than Wix and Squarespace:

• If you are fond of simplicity, you may consider choosing Weebly. It offers a lot of good blogging features.
• Medium will be a good option for you if you want your voice to be heard by many people. 
• These days LinkedIn is gaining popularity among many professionals even though it’s not exactly a site builder per se.

Apart from all these, there are other lesser-known platforms or site builders. They include Jimdo, Ghost, SITE123, and so on.

Now, if you wish to choose either Wix or Squarespace to put an end to the “Wix vs Squarespace” tussle, you may. Or, you may choose any of the other alternatives. It’s totally up to you.

I hope I could offer some useful insight to you on this entire “Wix vs Squarespace” issue. When blogging is considered, before Squarespace, Wix seems not so bright, even though it offers a free plan!