Medium vs. Squarespace

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Medium
Score 9.8 out of 10
N/A
Medium is a blogging and web publishing platform from the company of the same name in San Francisco, California.
$5
per month
Squarespace
Score 8.5 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.
$25
per month
Pricing
MediumSquarespace
Editions & Modules
Medium Member - monthly
$5
per month
Friend of Medium - monthly
$15
per month
Medium Member - annually
$60
per year
Friend of Medium - annually
$150
per year
Basic
$25
per month
Core
$36
per month
Plus
$56
per month
Advanced
$139
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MediumSquarespace
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details28% to 36% discount available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MediumSquarespace
Considered Both Products
Medium
Chose Medium
There are a handful of other blogging platforms available. The biggest difference between Medium and others is how streamlined it is. It's straight to the point and is excellent at showing related content, be it your own or another users. There's no new design to navigate …
Squarespace

No answer on this topic

Features
MediumSquarespace
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Medium
-
Ratings
Squarespace
8.2
67 Ratings
0% below category average
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.267 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Medium
-
Ratings
Squarespace
6.5
58 Ratings
17% below category average
API00 Ratings7.151 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings5.937 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Medium
-
Ratings
Squarespace
7.7
99 Ratings
1% below category average
WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings9.184 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings7.378 Ratings
Admin section00 Ratings7.498 Ratings
Page templates00 Ratings7.399 Ratings
Library of website themes00 Ratings7.596 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings8.195 Ratings
Publishing workflow00 Ratings8.186 Ratings
Form generator00 Ratings6.780 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Medium
-
Ratings
Squarespace
6.3
89 Ratings
16% below category average
Content taxonomy00 Ratings7.376 Ratings
SEO support00 Ratings6.780 Ratings
Bulk management00 Ratings5.951 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings5.565 Ratings
Community / comment management00 Ratings6.067 Ratings
Best Alternatives
MediumSquarespace
Small Businesses
Duda
Duda
Score 9.0 out of 10
ManageWP
ManageWP
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
WordPress
WordPress
Score 8.6 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Quora Blogs
Quora Blogs
Score 8.7 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
MediumSquarespace
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(8 ratings)
8.4
(100 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.5
(14 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(3 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
MediumSquarespace
Likelihood to Recommend
Medium.com
If you are vanity publishing and just want to see your stuff on the web, it is very, VERY easy to get involved with. Of course, your writing is not likely to stand out if you don't have a clear plan. The more I use it, the more I like it. The user interface is extremely well-done. I kinda wish my WordPress-based blogs had editors that were that easy to use.
Read full review
Squarespace
Squarespace is one of the best solutions out there for building a website or web experience that looks good, has great functionality and is cost-effective, even for smaller businesses. Although most people in marketing will find most of the elements intuitive, if the creator is struggling with any of the functionality, there are many, many support options and other users who can offer assistance.
Read full review
Pros
Medium.com
  • Content categorization and grouping.
  • The option to make some money from sharing your passion and teaching.
  • Moderating content manually to not promote AI-generated content and boosting very authentic and impactful posts.
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
Medium.com
  • The payment wall can be confusing.
  • Hard to get traction if you're trying to go viral with an article.
  • Sometimes content gets buried too easily.
Read full review
Squarespace
  • Customizing the sites can be highly UN intuitive
  • Navigation for editing the sites can be difficult and frustrating
  • Squarespace has different versions and it's hard to know which version you're on. You can't switch after you start making a site with one version.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Medium.com
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
Medium.com
By comparison, most online editors are clunky. The Medium editor is amazingly powerful and still easy to use.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Support Rating
Medium.com
Medium is supported across android, iOS and the web. While it may not have all the languages supported, English is certainly an option and with a pricing model that ranges from free to $5 for a subscription, you can't go wrong whether you're a small or large business. Everything is hosted in the cloud so it is very accessible
Read full review
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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Implementation Rating
Medium.com
Medium is dirt easy to use. The hard part is figuring out if it is worth the effort to include it as part of our content-marketing strategy.
Read full review
Squarespace
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Medium.com
There are a handful of other blogging platforms available. The biggest difference between Medium and others is how streamlined it is. It's straight to the point and is excellent at showing related content, be it your own or another users. There's no new design to navigate between posts, everything is where you expect it to be letting you focus on the post.
Read full review
Squarespace
Squarespace was quicker to set up and more accessible to manipulate the theme, pictures, and content. The page layouts are more versatile and fluid. With WordPress, more time-consuming efforts go into making a template work the way you want it to (because of the lack of the drag-and-drop grids that Squarespace has).
Read full review
Return on Investment
Medium.com
  • Good way to raise awareness of our content with @mentioned influencers
  • Good way to link back to your original content
  • Aside from publishing your own content Medium is a great news site in its own right. If you're looking for relevant industry news or other content, check in daily to see what's going on with others in your industry.
Read full review
Squarespace
  • The cost is reasonably decent. My client says they spent about $20 a month or $240 a year. I asked her if she could add Google AdSense to her blog one day, and they believe they can. They said a custom site would cost them $3000-10,000 depending on who does it. And I agreed, but I found the website they created was on the lower end of that range.
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ScreenShots