CommonSpot vs. Squarespace

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
CommonSpot
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
CommonSpot is a Web platform that includes a content management system, an application development framework, marketing solutions, and social media features from PaperThin, Inc, a privately held, MA-based company. PaperThin's customers span multiple industries, including: government, healthcare, higher education, and association/non-profit sectors.N/A
Squarespace
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Squarespace is a CMS platform that allows users to create a DIY blog, eCommerce store, and/or portfolio (visual art or music). Some Squarespace website and shop templates are industry or use case-specific, such as menu builders for restaurant sites.
$12
per month
Pricing
CommonSpotSquarespace
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CommonSpotSquarespace
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPersonal: $12/month (paid annually) $16/month (paid monthly) Business: $18/month (paid annually) $26/month (paid monthly) Basic Commerce: $26/month (paid annually) $35/month (paid monthly) Advanced Commerce: $40/month (paid annually) $54/month (paid monthly)
More Pricing Information
Features
CommonSpotSquarespace
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
CommonSpot
7.0
1 Ratings
14% below category average
Squarespace
8.5
59 Ratings
6% above category average
Role-based user permissions7.01 Ratings8.559 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
CommonSpot
6.3
2 Ratings
19% below category average
Squarespace
7.8
88 Ratings
3% above category average
Code quality / cleanliness6.01 Ratings8.069 Ratings
Admin section6.52 Ratings8.387 Ratings
Page templates7.02 Ratings7.088 Ratings
Library of website themes7.01 Ratings7.085 Ratings
Publishing workflow7.02 Ratings9.076 Ratings
Form generator4.01 Ratings7.569 Ratings
WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings9.076 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings6.784 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
CommonSpot
7.7
2 Ratings
5% above category average
Squarespace
8.2
78 Ratings
11% above category average
Content taxonomy7.52 Ratings9.066 Ratings
SEO support7.02 Ratings7.171 Ratings
Bulk management8.01 Ratings8.044 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions7.01 Ratings8.058 Ratings
Community / comment management9.01 Ratings8.958 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
CommonSpot
-
Ratings
Squarespace
8.3
51 Ratings
8% above category average
API00 Ratings8.044 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings8.733 Ratings
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CommonSpotSquarespace
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Score 9.8 out of 10
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Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
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Score 9.5 out of 10
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Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Tridion
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
CommonSpotSquarespace
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(2 ratings)
8.3
(88 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
CommonSpotSquarespace
Likelihood to Recommend
PaperThin, Inc
Commonspot is well suited for web content management to be conducted by individuals with low-level web skills.
Read full review
Squarespace
I have a gorgeous website that I made myself, thanks to Squarespace. I'm able to integrate marketing emails, SEO, analytics, online carts, pretty much instantly. If you want to get started fast, it's really great. I think if you want to customize square space and you're having trouble, it would be most helpful to hire a square space designer. That's what I would have done in retrospect.
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Pros
PaperThin, Inc
  • I think CommonSpot's greatest strength is its ease of use. It's relatively intuitive in it's usage, so it therefore makes it easy to train new people to use it.
  • Within my usage of it, our options were limited, which again added to it's ease of use.
Read full review
Squarespace
  • Stupid simple to use. I know very creative people who cannot code and this is probably the easiest ever platform for them!
  • Pretty website templates and great functionality with showing off portfolios.
  • They've already figured out what are the problems that non-coding people have when creating websites and they've figured out a simple solution for all of it.
Read full review
Cons
PaperThin, Inc
  • Commonspot needs to improve on its authoring feature. It is impossible to author on more than one page at a time . (One must always click on "View work on all changes") before switching between pages otherwise, the changes will not be saved.
  • CommonSpot does not support sharing the definition of any custom element or any template layouts. Therefore, one must recreate these in each site.
  • In Commonspot, a user who has to manage content in multiple sites will have to log in to each site to see and act on any actions.
Read full review
Squarespace
  • As a wine company it would really love it if Squarespace had an easy plugin for wine club subscriptions.
  • Squarespace would be awesome if it could automatically take your photos that you upload on the site and optimize them for the web and for the website.
  • I do wish we could have more than two contributors for the basic website costs.
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Likelihood to Renew
PaperThin, Inc
No answers on this topic
Squarespace
Unless our website requires significantly more functionality in the future, I can't see us terminating our contract
Read full review
Usability
PaperThin, Inc
I had no previous background in content management, and found it very easy to use. If I could figure it out, I am pretty certain that just about anyone else could as well.
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Squarespace
It's simple to use for someone who is really good with computers as well as those who are not. I've been using my personal squarespace for years and have also helped clients build a starting page which they are later able to manage theirselves.
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Support Rating
PaperThin, Inc
No answers on this topic
Squarespace
Help is available directly from the back end and uses full sentence searching to find answers to questions others may have asked before. With a ton of articles and support questions documents, it is very likely that your question has been answered. If not each page has the ability to open a direct email to support. Each case has a number and can be followed. Responses are often quick and have links and directions clearly stated
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Alternatives Considered
PaperThin, Inc
Commonspot works in tandem with Zendesk very well to accomplish tasks an an efficient manner.
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Squarespace
Overall, as a designer, it makes perfect sense for small to large businesses to use a site such as SquareSpace. Costs are relatively reasonable with the ability to go in and do custom code.
The issue is certain aspects of it, depending on the plan, you can't do. So, if you want to do API to the site, you need to use the top-tier program to do so. Even at custom code, you won't have access to the API section.
As well, like all templates and themes, everybody is using the same style too.
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Return on Investment
PaperThin, Inc
  • I was working in a religious institution and based upon our usage and audience, there was no ROI to speak of. Our usage was more for providing information than having any type of interaction. In that instance, it worked very well.
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Squarespace
  • The key positive impact on my overall business objectives is how simple Squarespace sites are to implement new information. Whenever our services change, we can quickly update pages or even change how the website flows, in a very short window of time. This allows me to get back to more urgent work sooner.
  • Our Squarespace site for Club Swim Show helped present our web series to potential partners; Club Swim Show went on to partner with a popular swimming magazine and reach a larger audience through that magazine's hosting thanks to the professional design of our original website.
  • Squarespace does not bring in customers to my storefront, which is fine for me, since I sell things infrequently and it is not my main business, but might work against someone who is expecting a Shopify or Etsy level connection with buyer markets.
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ScreenShots