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Shopify vs Squarespace

An in-depth head to head comparison

In this article, read a side-by-side comparison between two no-code tools: Shopify and Squarespace. We'll compare pricing, the benefits, the drawbacks, give examples of what you can and can't build, as well as our overall recommendation.

What is Shopify?

Try Shopify for free and get more than just an ecommerce solution. Sell anywhere, to anyone, with Shopify's ecommerce platform and point of sale features.
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What is Squarespace?

Easily create a website or online store.
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Pricing

Shopify pricing

  • Free 14 day trial, but no free plan
  • $29/month - $299/month for all basic e-commerce features, site hosting, custom domain, and no branding. More expensive plans have lower processing fees, more reporting, and more staff accounts

Squarespace pricing

  • Free trial, but no free version
  • $12/month - $40/month for custom domains and additional features such as e-commerce and subscriptions

Benefits

Shopify benefits

  • Market leader for e-commerce
  • Easy to use
  • Shopify app store has thousands of apps for just about any use-case
  • Conversion-optimized checkout
  • Very active community

Squarespace benefits

  • Easy to create beautiful designs
  • Can build multi-page websites
  • Responsive design
  • E-commerce functionality, but more limited than Shopify or Webflow
  • Lots of templates

Drawbacks

Shopify drawbacks

  • A bit limited for custom design without development work

Squarespace drawbacks

  • Don’t have full control over design
  • No CMS, can’t automatically create pages or dynamically insert content the way that Webflow does.

What you can build

Shopify use-cases

  • Robust e-commerce site with custom design
  • Dropship to sell without holding inventory

Squarespace use-cases

  • Business websites
  • Landing pages
  • Custom blogs
  • E-commerce sites

What you can't build

What you can't build with Shopify

  • A marketplace (check out ShareTribe)
  • A custom web app (check out Glide or Bubble)

What you can't build with Squarespace

  • Websites with a CMS that dynamically creates pages (check out Webflow)
  • Websites with full control over the design (check out Webflow)
  • Web apps with complex logic (check out Glide or Bubble)

Overall Recommendation

Shopify recommendation

Shopify is the absolute best option for e-commerce stores.

Gumroad, Squarespace and Webflow also have e-commerce functionality, but it’s more limited than Shopify. In almost all cases I'd recommend Shopify.

Squarespace recommendation

Squarespace is a good option for simple business websites (imagine a 5 page website for a doctor's office). It's a nice sweet spot between easy to use and functional website.

For higher quality websites with more customization and a CMS, I'd go for Webflow. The benefit of Squarespace over Webflow is Squarespace is easier to use.

For simpler websites and landing pages I'd go with Umso or Carrd because they are even easier to use.

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Unlock premium step-by-step tutorials building real apps and websites
Easy to follow tutorials broken down into lessons between 2 to 20 minutes
Get access to the community to share what you're building, ask questions, and get support if you're stuck
Access all of this with No-Code MBA Unlimited
Unlock premium step-by-step tutorials building real apps and websites
Easy to follow tutorials broken down into lessons between 2 to 20 minutes
Get access to the community to share what you're building, ask questions, and get support if you're stuck
Friendly Tip!
Companies often reimburse No Code MBA memberships. Here's an email template to send to your manager.

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