Squarespace vs BigCommerce (2024 Comparison)
Squarespace offers beautifully designed templates and a user-friendly interface, making it ideal for creatives and small businesses. Its integrated e-commerce features allow you to sell products online seamlessly.
- Beautifully designed templates
- User-friendly interface
- Integrated e-commerce features
- Limited scalability
- Basic inventory management
Free plan?
YesStarting price
$16 per month
BigCommerce provides advanced e-commerce features and extensive payment options, making it perfect for businesses looking to scale. Its robust inventory management tools streamline processes and improve efficiency.
- Advanced e-commerce features
- Extensive payment options
- Robust inventory management
- Complex for beginners
- Higher learning curve
Free plan?
YesStarting price
$29 per monthWhat is Squarespace?
Squarespace is a versatile website builder that empowers users to create stunning, professional websites with ease. It offers a range of customizable templates, making it ideal for creatives and small businesses. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can design your site without any coding knowledge. Squarespace also provides integrated e-commerce features, allowing you to sell products online seamlessly. Whether you're a photographer, artist, or entrepreneur, Squarespace helps you establish a strong online presence effortlessly.
What is BigCommerce?
BigCommerce is a robust e-commerce platform designed to help businesses of all sizes create and manage online stores efficiently. It offers a wide range of features, including customizable templates, advanced SEO tools, and seamless integrations with popular payment gateways. BigCommerce is known for its scalability, making it suitable for growing businesses looking to expand their online presence. With its user-friendly interface and powerful tools, BigCommerce simplifies the process of setting up and running an online store, allowing you to focus on growing your business.
Pros and Cons of Squarespace vs BigCommerce
Pros & Cons of Squarespace
- Squarespace offers a wide range of stunning templates that are perfect for creatives and small businesses. These templates are highly customizable, allowing you to create a unique website that reflects your brand.
- Squarespace's intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for beginners to create professional websites without any coding knowledge. Its user-friendly design simplifies the website-building process.
- Squarespace provides integrated e-commerce features, allowing you to sell products online seamlessly. Its e-commerce tools are suitable for small businesses looking to establish an online store.
- Squarespace is suitable for small to medium-sized businesses, but its scalability is limited compared to other platforms. It may not be the best choice for rapidly growing businesses.
- Squarespace offers basic inventory management features, which may not be sufficient for larger e-commerce businesses. If you require advanced inventory management, consider other platforms.
Pros & Cons of BigCommerce
- BigCommerce offers a wide range of advanced e-commerce features, making it ideal for businesses looking to scale. Its tools support multi-channel selling and robust inventory management.
- BigCommerce provides extensive payment gateway integrations, offering greater flexibility for e-commerce businesses. It supports a wide range of payment options, making transactions seamless.
- BigCommerce offers advanced inventory management tools, making it suitable for larger e-commerce businesses. Its features help streamline inventory processes and improve efficiency.
- BigCommerce's advanced features may be overwhelming for beginners. It requires a learning curve to fully utilize its capabilities, making it less suitable for those new to e-commerce.
- BigCommerce offers powerful tools, but they come with a higher learning curve. Users may need time to familiarize themselves with the platform's features and functionalities.
Squarespace vs BigCommerce: At A Glance
Value to Price
Squarespace offers a competitive pricing structure with a range of features that cater to small businesses and creatives. Its value lies in its all-in-one solution, providing hosting, templates, and e-commerce capabilities. BigCommerce, on the other hand, offers more advanced e-commerce features, making it a better choice for businesses looking to scale. If you're focused on e-commerce growth, BigCommerce provides more value for the price.
Ease of Use
Squarespace is renowned for its user-friendly interface, making it easy for beginners to create stunning websites without any coding knowledge. Its drag-and-drop editor simplifies the design process. BigCommerce, while also user-friendly, offers more complex features that may require a learning curve. If you prioritize ease of use, Squarespace is the better option for you.
Functionality
Squarespace provides a wide range of templates and design options, making it ideal for creatives and small businesses. However, BigCommerce excels in e-commerce functionality, offering advanced features like multi-channel selling and robust inventory management. If your primary focus is on e-commerce, BigCommerce's functionality is unmatched.
Scalability
Squarespace is suitable for small to medium-sized businesses, but its scalability is limited compared to BigCommerce. BigCommerce is designed to support growing businesses with its scalable infrastructure and advanced e-commerce features. If you anticipate rapid growth, BigCommerce is the better choice for scalability.
Integrations
Squarespace offers a variety of integrations with popular tools and services, making it easy to connect your website with other platforms. BigCommerce, however, provides more extensive integration options, especially for e-commerce businesses. If you require a wide range of integrations, BigCommerce is the superior choice.
Customer Support
Both Squarespace and BigCommerce offer reliable customer support, but BigCommerce provides more specialized support for e-commerce businesses. Squarespace's support is more general, catering to a broader audience. If you need specialized e-commerce support, BigCommerce is the better option.
Security
Squarespace and BigCommerce both prioritize security, offering SSL certificates and secure payment gateways. Squarespace's security features are robust, but BigCommerce provides additional security measures tailored for e-commerce businesses. If security is a top priority for your online store, BigCommerce offers more comprehensive protection.
Squarespace vs BigCommerce: A Detailed Breakdown of Key Features
Template Design
Squarespace offers a wide range of beautifully designed templates that are perfect for creatives and small businesses. Its templates are highly customizable, allowing you to create a unique website that reflects your brand. BigCommerce, while offering customizable templates, focuses more on functionality than aesthetics. If you prioritize design and aesthetics, Squarespace is the better choice for you.
SEO Tools
Squarespace provides essential SEO tools to help your website rank higher in search engine results. However, BigCommerce offers more advanced SEO features, making it a better choice for businesses focused on e-commerce. If SEO is a critical aspect of your online strategy, BigCommerce's tools are more comprehensive.
Payment Options
Squarespace supports a variety of payment options, making it easy for customers to complete transactions. BigCommerce, however, offers more extensive payment gateway integrations, providing greater flexibility for e-commerce businesses. If you require a wide range of payment options, BigCommerce is the superior choice.
Mobile Optimization
Both Squarespace and BigCommerce offer mobile optimization, ensuring your website looks great on any device. Squarespace's templates are responsive, providing a seamless mobile experience. BigCommerce also excels in mobile optimization, with features designed specifically for mobile commerce. If mobile optimization is a priority, both platforms perform well, but BigCommerce offers more mobile-specific features.
Inventory Management
Squarespace provides basic inventory management features suitable for small businesses. BigCommerce, on the other hand, offers advanced inventory management tools, making it ideal for larger e-commerce businesses. If you need robust inventory management capabilities, BigCommerce is the better option.
Marketing Tools
Squarespace offers a range of marketing tools, including email campaigns and social media integration. BigCommerce provides more advanced marketing features, such as abandoned cart recovery and customer segmentation. If marketing is a key focus for your business, BigCommerce's tools are more comprehensive.
Pricing Comparison of Squarespace and BigCommerce
We’ve compiled the pricing tables and highlighted the key features of both Squarespace and BigCommerce to aid in your decision-making process. Let’s explore what each platform has to offer.
Squarespace Pricing Plans
- Access to beautiful templates and powerful tools for any website.
- Free custom domain for the first year with annual purchase.
- Accept payments with credit card rates starting at 2.9% + 30¢.
- Sell products and services with a 2% transaction fee.
- Unlimited contributors for collaborative website management.
- Advanced website analytics to track performance.
- Complete customization with CSS and Javascript.
- Professional email from Google Workspace.
- API integrations for advanced sales functionality.
- Professional shipping and tax services.
- Sales funnel analytics to optimize conversions.
- Digital Content and Memberships transaction fee of 1%.
- Most advanced commerce tools for online sales.
- API integrations for advanced sales functionality.
- Digital Content and Memberships transaction fee of 0%.
- Advanced website analytics and sales funnel analytics.
BigCommerce Pricing Plans
- Support access with 24/7 live agent availability.
- Major payment gateway integrations for smooth transactions.
- Support for multiple currencies to cater to global customers.
- Real-time shipping and additional features for efficient logistics.
- Abandoned shopping cart recovery to boost sales.
- Customer segmentation for personalized marketing.
- Google customer reviews integration for trust building.
- Analytics and reporting to track performance.
- Product filtering for enhanced user experience.
- Google Shopping integration to reach more customers.
- Dedicated SSL certificate for secure transactions.
- Premium support with dedicated account management.
- Unlimited API calls for high-volume operations.
- Custom pricing options for tailored solutions.
- Priority support with a dedicated account manager.
- Advanced security features including PCI compliance.
Our Rating Methodology
We thoroughly test each e-commerce platform, evaluating key features like ease of use, functionality, and scalability. We also analyze user reviews to ensure our recommendations fit your needs. Each of the seven evaluation factors is weighted by importance to provide an accurate final rating, helping you avoid poor-quality tools and make informed decisions.
Squarespace or BigCommerce: Which One Matches Your Business Needs?
Choose Squarespace If You Need ...
- Easy-to-use website builder
If you are a beginner or small business owner looking for an easy-to-use website builder, Squarespace is the perfect choice. Its user-friendly interface and beautifully designed templates make it simple to create a professional website without any coding knowledge.
- Integrated e-commerce features
If you want to sell products online seamlessly, Squarespace's integrated e-commerce features are ideal. It provides all the tools you need to set up an online store, making it a great choice for small businesses.
Choose BigCommerce If You Need ...
- Advanced e-commerce features
If you are a growing business looking for advanced e-commerce features, BigCommerce is the better choice. Its robust tools support multi-channel selling and provide extensive payment options, making it ideal for scaling your online store.
- Robust inventory management
If you require advanced inventory management capabilities, BigCommerce is the superior option. Its tools streamline inventory processes and improve efficiency, making it suitable for larger e-commerce businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Martin Lunendonk
Martin Lunendonk is a senior tech writer specializing in website builders, web hosting, and ecommerce platforms. With a background in finance, accounting, and philosophy, he has founded multiple tech startups and worked in medium to large tech companies and investment banking, bringing deep expertise and reliable insights to his software reviews.
