Squarespace vs BigCommerce
Choosing between Squarespace and BigCommerce depends on your business needs, technical expertise, and growth plans. Here's a side-by-side comparison to help you decide.
Deep Dive
Which Platform is Right for You?
Choosing the right eCommerce platform is one of the most critical decisions for your business’s growth. Both Squarespace and BigCommerce are powerful platforms, but they cater to different needs, technical skill levels, and growth goals. In this comprehensive comparison, we break down the key features of Squarespace and BigCommerce to help you make an informed decision.
| Features | Squarespace | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Ease Of Use | Squarespace is renowned for its user-friendly interface, offering a drag-and-drop builder that simplifies the process of website and online store creation. Users can select from a range of professionally designed templates as a starting point, then customize to their heart's content without needing to write a single line of code. Its intuitive dashboard allows for easy navigation through site settings, content management, and analytics, ensuring a smooth experience even for beginners. | BigCommerce prioritizes user experience, offering an intuitive interface that simplifies store setup, management, and customization. With drag-and-drop design features, extensive documentation, and a clear, user-friendly dashboard, merchants can effortlessly manage their online storefronts without the need for extensive coding knowledge. This ease of use accelerates the go-live process, enabling businesses to focus more on sales and less on system management. |
| Hosting & Security | When you build your ecommerce site with Squarespace, concerns about hosting evaporate. Squarespace provides fully managed, reliable cloud hosting that ensures your website remains fast, accessible, and scalable, accommodating any level of traffic your marketing can attract. This includes free SSL certificates, unlimited bandwidth, and storage, plus automatic updates and patches, so your website remains secure and on the cutting edge. Security is paramount in the ecommerce sphere, and Squarespace takes it seriously. By offering free SSL certificates for all websites, it ensures that data transfer between your website and your visitors remains encrypted and secure. Regular security audits, secure payment gateways, and GDPR compliance are part of Squarespace's commitment to protect both the site owner's and visitor's data, making it a platform you can trust with your business. | BigCommerce is a fully hosted, cloud-based platform offering high uptime and reliability. It includes automatic updates and maintenance, ensuring your store always operates on the latest version. BigCommerce also boasts a scalable infrastructure that grows with your business, handling spikes in traffic smoothly. Comprehensive security measures, including SSL certification, DDoS protection, and PCI DSS compliance, ensure that your online store and customer data are well-protected, with regular security audits and constant monitoring. |
| Scalability | Squarespace's infrastructure is designed to grow alongside your business. From smaller ventures to high-traffic ecommerce sites, Squarespace maintains performance without sacrificing speed or user experience. Plus, its range of plans and integrations means that as your business expands, your Squarespace site can seamlessly adapt, incorporating new features and functionalities as needed to accommodate your scaling requirements. | BigCommerce is engineered for growth, offering a scalable architecture that supports businesses as they evolve. From modest beginnings to high-volume sales operations, BigCommerce seamlessly accommodates increased traffic, transactions, and product assortments without compromising performance. This capability ensures that as your business grows, your platform can handle the expanding demands without the need for costly migrations or rebuilds. |
| Customization & Flexibility | Customization is at the core of Squarespace's offering, with a suite of design tools and features that put the power of personalization in your hands. Beyond its library of stylish templates, Squarespace provides extensive options for customization through CSS and JavaScript, allowing for finer design adjustments and the ability to truly make your site stand out. This, combined with the drag-and-drop page builder, means that creating a unique online presence is accessible to everyone. The flexibility of Squarespace is evident in its wide application – from ecommerce stores to portfolios, blogs, and more. No matter the type of website you wish to create, Squarespace offers the tools and features necessary to bring your vision to life. | BigCommerce offers rich customization options through HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, allowing for deep integrations and custom functionality tailored to specific business needs. Access to a vast library of themes, both free and paid, caters to various industries and styles. The fundamental architecture of BigCommerce promotes flexibility across every facet of your ecommerce operation, empowering businesses to pivot strategies, integrate new technologies, and enter new markets with ease. |
| App Ecosystem | Enhancing your site's functionality is streamlined with Squarespace's integrated app ecosystem, offering a curated selection of third-party tools and extensions. From advanced ecommerce solutions to social media integration, SEO tools, and email marketing services, these applications further empower users to extend their site's capabilities, optimize its performance, and connect with their audience in meaningful ways. | BigCommerce features an expansive marketplace filled with over 600 apps designed to extend the functionality of your BigCommerce store. These apps cover a broad range of capabilities, including SEO optimization, email marketing, inventory management, and customer loyalty programs, with seamless integrations with leading third-party services and software. |
| Customer Support | Squarespace excels in providing its users with extensive support options. A comprehensive knowledge base, community forums, and 24/7 customer support via email and live chat ensure that help is always at hand should you encounter any issues. Additionally, Squarespace offers webinars and help guides, making it easier for users to learn and make the most out of the platform. | BigCommerce provides 24/7 customer support through phone, live chat, and email. Its comprehensive knowledge base includes guides, tutorials, and forums, while enterprise-level clients have access to dedicated account managers for personalized support and strategic advice. |
| Analytics & Reporting | Data-driven decisions are crucial for ecommerce success, and Squarespace's integrated analytics and reporting tools offer insightful metrics about your website's performance. Track visitor demographics, engagement rates, sales data, and more with easy-to-understand dashboards that help you understand your audience and how they interact with your site, enabling strategic adjustments to drive growth and improve user experience. | BigCommerce features a built-in analytics dashboard offering deep insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and website performance. Merchants can generate detailed reports based on specific data points through customizable reporting tools, and integration capabilities with third-party analytics services provide advanced data analysis. |
| Costs | Squarespace provides a tiered pricing model designed to accommodate the needs and budgets of various types of users. From personal websites to advanced ecommerce platforms, each plan offers a comprehensive set of features tailored to different stages of business growth. These include website hosting, customer support, and access to website analytics. Pricing plans are transparent, with monthly and yearly payment options available, the latter offering savings for long-term commitments. | BigCommerce offers a tiered pricing structure designed to accommodate businesses at various stages of growth: Standard for new ecommerce businesses, Plus for growing businesses seeking advanced features, Pro for scaling businesses requiring more comprehensive functionalities, and Enterprise for high-volume and complex operations, with pricing available upon request. |
Key Considerations
Ease of Use
Squarespace: Squarespace is renowned for its user-friendly interface, offering a drag-and-drop builder that simplifies the process of website and online store creation. Users can select from a range of professionally designed templates as a starting point, then customize to their heart's content without needing to write a single line of code. Its intuitive dashboard allows for easy navigation through site settings, content management, and analytics, ensuring a smooth experience even for beginners.
BigCommerce: BigCommerce prioritizes user experience, offering an intuitive interface that simplifies store setup, management, and customization. With drag-and-drop design features, extensive documentation, and a clear, user-friendly dashboard, merchants can effortlessly manage their online storefronts without the need for extensive coding knowledge. This ease of use accelerates the go-live process, enabling businesses to focus more on sales and less on system management.
Hosting & Security
Squarespace: When you build your ecommerce site with Squarespace, concerns about hosting evaporate. Squarespace provides fully managed, reliable cloud hosting that ensures your website remains fast, accessible, and scalable, accommodating any level of traffic your marketing can attract. This includes free SSL certificates, unlimited bandwidth, and storage, plus automatic updates and patches, so your website remains secure and on the cutting edge. Security is paramount in the ecommerce sphere, and Squarespace takes it seriously.
BigCommerce: BigCommerce is a fully hosted, cloud-based platform offering high uptime and reliability. It includes automatic updates and maintenance, ensuring your store always operates on the latest version. BigCommerce also boasts a scalable infrastructure that grows with your business, handling spikes in traffic smoothly. Comprehensive security measures, including SSL certification, DDoS protection, and PCI DSS compliance, ensure that your online store and customer data are well-protected.
Scalability
Squarespace: Squarespace's infrastructure is designed to grow alongside your business. From smaller ventures to high-traffic ecommerce sites, Squarespace maintains performance without sacrificing speed or user experience. Plus, its range of plans and integrations means that as your business expands, your Squarespace site can seamlessly adapt.
BigCommerce: BigCommerce is engineered for growth, offering a scalable architecture that supports businesses as they evolve. From modest beginnings to high-volume sales operations, BigCommerce seamlessly accommodates increased traffic, transactions, and product assortments without compromising performance.
Customisation & Flexibility
Squarespace: Customization is at the core of Squarespace's offering, with a suite of design tools and features that put the power of personalization in your hands. Beyond its library of stylish templates, Squarespace provides extensive options for customization through CSS and JavaScript, allowing for finer design adjustments.
BigCommerce: BigCommerce offers rich customization options through HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, allowing for deep integrations and custom functionality tailored to specific business needs.
App & Plugin Ecosystem
Squarespace: Enhancing your site's functionality is streamlined with Squarespace's integrated app ecosystem, offering a curated selection of third-party tools and extensions. From advanced ecommerce solutions to social media integration, SEO tools, and email marketing services, these applications empower users.
BigCommerce: BigCommerce features an expansive marketplace filled with over 600 apps designed to extend the functionality of your BigCommerce store, covering a broad range of capabilities.
Customer Support
Squarespace: Squarespace excels in providing extensive support options. A comprehensive knowledge base, community forums, and 24/7 customer support ensure that help is always at hand should you encounter any issues.
BigCommerce: BigCommerce provides 24/7 customer support through phone, live chat, and email, with a comprehensive knowledge base including guides, tutorials, and forums.
Analytics & Reporting
Squarespace: Data-driven decisions are crucial for ecommerce success, and Squarespace's integrated analytics and reporting tools offer insightful metrics about your website's performance.
BigCommerce: BigCommerce features a built-in analytics dashboard offering deep insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and website performance.
Total Cost of Ownership
Squarespace: Squarespace provides a tiered pricing model designed to accommodate the needs and budgets of various types of users.
BigCommerce: BigCommerce offers a tiered pricing structure designed to accommodate businesses at various stages of growth.
Pros & Cons Overview
| Platforms | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Squarespace |
User-friendly interface with drag-and-drop functionality.
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Customization options may be limited for advanced users.
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Comprehensive design tools and templates.
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Ecommerce features may not be as robust as competitors.
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Integrated marketing tools for SEO and social media.
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Higher transaction fees on lower-tier plans.
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Excellent customer support and resources.
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Limited scalability for very large businesses.
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| BigCommerce |
Highly scalable platform suitable for growth.
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Complex setup for beginners.
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Rich customization options through code.
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Fewer free themes compared to competitors.
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Extensive app marketplace for added functionality.
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Pricing may be higher for advanced features.
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24/7 customer support available.
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Requires more technical knowledge to fully utilize.
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Squarespace to BigCommerce Complete Guide
Our Squarespace to BigCommerce Complete Guide provides a clear, step-by-step roadmap to help you seamlessly transition your store without disruptions.
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