Webflow vs Squarespace: Which is right for your business?

With so many options for building websites, it can be difficult to figure out which is best for your business. Today I'll be comparing Webflow and Squarespace, which are web builders I have extensive experience building client sites with.

In 2015, I started making websites using Squarespace for small businesses seeking an easy web solution. As I took on more complex web design projects, I made the switch to Webflow, a visual web development platform that allows for greater design flexibility and improved functionalities.

With Webflow, I've created websites that are visually stunning and packed with features businesses want, like a fully customizable CMS, SEO-friendly build right out of the box, and most importantly, the ability to design without limitations.

If you're on the fence between the two, read on for a quick overview between the two website builders!

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Squarespace vs Webflow

Webflow and Squarespace offers solutions for different use cases. At a glance, here is how these two stack up in different categories:

Design

Squarespace is a user friendly drag and drop builder that is primarily template based. Webflow on the other hand allows for greater design customization and flexibility, as you can design anything and bring it to life on Webflow. As a designer, this is what I love most - being able to bring a design vision to life on the web without limitations.

In this way, Squarespace is more beneficial for people who prefer the DIY route, whereas Webflow is more for businesses who want to create beautiful, functional, and unique websites.

Animations

Webflow allows you to build completely custom interactions and animations from scratch, all within Webflow. This allows for unlimited design capabilities!

Meanwhile, Squarespace has a limited set of animation options you can choose from, but doesn't allow options for additional animations.  

Reusable Design Systems

What I love about Webflow is its ability to create reusable design systems, which is helpful for creating reusable components, or templated sections, that you can use within your website for design consistency. On the other hand, Squarespace doesn't have the ability to create reusable design components you can reuse throughout different pages. You can only duplicate entire pages and things within a certain page.

Learning Curve

Squarespace focuses on ease of use, while Webflow has a higher learning curve. Squarespace focuses less on customization, whereas Webflow offers much more flexibility in terms of design, which is why the learning curve is a lot different.

Although Webflow has a higher learning curve, it offers Webflow University, a video library which is a great place to go as a resource. In my experience, a post-launch website training is sufficient to teach clients how to make most text/image changes without issues on their own after launch.

CMS

Webflow's content management system (CMS) is great! Webflow has an extremely flexible CMS - perfect for building things like custom blog post pages, team pages, you name it! This allows you to build any kind of layout for reusable pages like blog posts.

On the other hand, Squarespace has limited content management capabilities. For example, when you create an individual blog post, the design is already pre-set and limited.

Website Maintenance and Upkeep

With Webflow, clients can edit text, images, and add and maintain CMS items like blog posts with some training. For larger design changes, it's best to work with your designer to make sure nothing breaks on your site!

With Squarespace, you can DIY your website after launch. This makes it a bit easier to maintain your site on your own, but it can quickly start to look off-brand if you make too many changes that may be inconsistent with the rest of your website.

SEO

Both Squarespace and Webflow have built-in SEO options for those who value building an SEO-optimized website. Both builders have the ability to change page settings for SEO, including SEO titles, meta descriptions, and image alt tags, and also has automatically generated sitemaps.

Webflow is great for SEO. Where Webflow wins is in its ease of dynamic content creation and publishing. With its visual CMS, you can create dynamic content and SEO-optimized blog posts and pages, which is great for search engines. With Webflow, it's easy to test out different SEO strategies using your favourite SEO tools to drive the right traffic to your website.

E-Commerce

Both builders offer commerce plans. Webflow has a ton of amazing e-commerce features from a design perspective, allowing you to design custom page layouts, cart, checkout, and transactional emails for your online store.

Squarespace also has e-commerce capabilities. It offers a streamlined store with not a lot of customization options for checkout and store pages, but it's easy to manage.

Overall, both are great for e-commerce, but if you're planning on selling many products or need a complicated store setup, it may be best to look at other builders like Wordpress or Shopify.

Email Marketing

Squarespace offers in-house email marketing tools for those who want to manage a simple newsletter (for an added fee). However, this is an additional add-on cost that you'll have to add in on top of your subscription.

Webflow doesn't have an email marketing option, but can integrate easily with email marketing platforms.

Pricing

At the time of writing, Squarespace offers 4 plans: Personal, Business, Commerce Basic, and Commerce Advanced. For annual plans, the personal plan starts at $26/year, but the Business Plan (which is the most recommended) costs $32/month. Squarespace offers a free 14-day trial.

At the time of writing, Webflow offers two types of plans: Site Plans and Workspace Plans. Site plans provide easy 1-click publishing and hosting, right from inside Webflow. When you sign up for Webflow, you get a free Workspace by default.

For websites, Webflow offers several Site Plans: Starter, Basic, CMS, Business, and Enterprise. The Starter Plan is a free plan, and you can create two web pages for free. You only need to upgrade your site to one of the other plans to launch your site. For annual plans, pricing starts at $14/month for the Basic plan, and $23/month for the CMS plan (which is the most recommended on their site).

Either way, it's always best to check on Squarespace and Webflow's pricing pages as pricing may change at any time.

Who Uses Webflow and Squarespace?

Squarespace is a good fit for businesses who want a no-frills website that is simple and easy to manage. This platform is best suited for small businesses, solopreneurs, or small stores that only sell a few products, and tend to be catered towards those who would like to DIY and manage their website builds on their own.

Webflow's powerful CMS allows you to create websites that are scalable for the future, which is ideal for personal brands and businesses small and large that are looking for long-term solutions. If you're an established business, Webflow has the power to create a custom-designed website that can continue to grow with your business and stand out from the pack.

This is why a lot of marketing departments, SaaS companies, and businesses that want to have a unique online footprint tend to lean toward Webflow for its powerful features. However, a lot of small businesses are beginning to use Webflow to separate themselves from other businesses.

Webflow vs Squarespace: the Verdict

There are definitely pros and cons to both - the one best suited for you depends on what you value more as a business. If you're looking for a tool that makes it manage your email list, courses, and your website, all in one platform, Squarespace may be for you! However, for ease of use, you will have to sacrifice on design capabilities.

If you're looking to build a beautiful and strategic website that will grow with your business as you scale, Webflow is a great fit. If you're on the fence, I truly stand by Webflow as it allows greater design flexibility and SEO capabilites as your business and website needs grow over the years. I made the switch from Squarespace several years ago, even for my own website!

Ultimately, both Webflow and Squarespace can be great tools, depending on your business needs. If you're currently using Squarespace, the best time to make the switch to Webflow is when you're ready to take your website presence to the next level.

If you need helping switching to Webflow or are on the fence about which may be right for you, get in touch with me about your web design project.