Shopify Plus vs. Squarespace

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Shopify Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Shopify Plus is an eCommerce solution built for enterprise-level companies that enables them to sell online and offline across social channels like Facebook , Pinterest, and marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.
$2,300
per month with a 3-year commitment
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
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Editions & Modules
3-year term
$2300
per month
1-year term
$2500
per month
Basic
$25
per month
Core
$36
per month
Plus
$56
per month
Advanced
$139
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Shopify PlusSquarespace
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
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Considered Both Products
Shopify Plus
Chose Shopify Plus
Squarespace is a platform meant for creating websites/blogs that also has an eCommerce component layered on top. Conversely, Shopify Plus was build from day one with eCommerce in mind. This is evident throughout the experience, especially with regards to order management, and …
Chose Shopify Plus
While Squarespace has a more sophisticated site theme and template offering, the inventory management, and drop shipping options (while still not perfect, or ideal) makes Shopify Plus the right choice for powering e-commerce businesses.
Chose Shopify Plus
There are all good for business who are just starting but as the business grows the platform has to be able to scale with it
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus has the most robust capabilities of the pure cloud plays and the app store ecosystem is the largest and best.
Chose Shopify Plus
I selected Shopify Plus because the clients found it easy to use to manage their website, whenever they needed an update of their website. Shopify Plus is great when it comes to e-commerce websites and should only be used for e-commerce.
Squarespace
Chose Squarespace
Squarespace offers better SEO options and ease of use than Wix/Weebly site builders. Squarespace is easy to manage and easy to track inventory and sales. For companies with lower skill sets in-house, it is also very easy to train staff to manage the platform.
Features
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.4
45 Ratings
8% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
Product catalog & listings8.843 Ratings00 Ratings
Product management8.444 Ratings00 Ratings
Bulk product upload7.940 Ratings00 Ratings
Branding8.242 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile storefront8.743 Ratings00 Ratings
Product variations7.843 Ratings00 Ratings
Website integration8.239 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual customization8.443 Ratings00 Ratings
CMS8.540 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.6
44 Ratings
12% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
Abandoned cart recovery8.442 Ratings00 Ratings
Checkout user experience8.943 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.8
42 Ratings
6% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
eCommerce security8.842 Ratings00 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.4
44 Ratings
9% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
Promotions & discounts8.543 Ratings00 Ratings
Personalized recommendations8.438 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO8.343 Ratings00 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.2
43 Ratings
3% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
Order processing8.743 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory management7.842 Ratings00 Ratings
Shipping8.142 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom functionality8.342 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
-
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
Shopify Plus
-
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
Shopify Plus
-
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
Shopify Plus
-
Ratings
Squarespace
6.3
89 Ratings
17% below category average
Content taxonomy00 Ratings7.376 Ratings
SEO support00 Ratings6.680 Ratings
Bulk management00 Ratings5.951 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings5.565 Ratings
Community / comment management00 Ratings6.067 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Small Businesses
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Score 10.0 out of 10
ManageWP
ManageWP
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(45 ratings)
8.4
(100 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(12 ratings)
8.5
(14 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Likelihood to Recommend
Shopify
Shopify Plus makes order management simple and less error prone. Connecting our ERP allows us to seamlessly manage our product listings, fulfill orders, and sync customer data. Limitations to the number of product variants requires attention from our staff to make sure our products sync without issue. Other than being arbitrary, there's really no need to limit the number of product variants.
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
Shopify
  • Syncs directly with ShipBob WMS.
  • Shopify Scripts and the Script Editors allows us to tailor our checkout screen.
  • Gives us advanced sales reporting, showing trends, performance, year to year, and even projections.
  • Scalable for high volume, handles spikes in traffic without downtime.
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
Shopify
  • When linking to our communication service some customers have several emails with orders and only one email generates orders. It would be nice if we could combine all of this information into one account.
  • If a customer has multiple accounts you are also unable to edit the email address as it is already used, another reason merging accounts would be helpful.
  • Some of the processes in Shopify are too easy to complete. I’m certain scenarios a peony of “are you sure you would like to complete(this action)” would be extremely helpful and avoid mistakes that are not reversible.
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
Shopify
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
Shopify
It is extremely easy for merchants to get to know how Shopify Plus works. Comparitive to other platforms such as Magento and WooCommerce it is extremely lean and easy to operate, meaning clients who migrate over to it find it very intuitive to use. There is also a lot of guides and up to date information online
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
Shopify
Always are quick to answer our questions and help us find a solution
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
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Shopify
Shopify had the quickest go-to-market and most robust API among the products we compared. CommerceCloud required a VERY LONG integration phase that we just didn't have time for. BigCommerce fell short on the number of features and API coverage that we needed. Overall Shopify gave us the most bang for the buck.
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
Shopify
  • The pricing of Shopify Plus over the regular Shopify Account solution is about 10x if not 20x the cost. But with this cost comes the increased reliability and trust you have in your eCommerce Software solution/website. We still have a great ROI with the Shopify Plus Pricing.
  • With Shopify Plus, we have been able to drill deeper into a more robust eCommerce experience for our customers
  • With Shopify Plus, we have been able to customize our Website further with recommended apps, features, and customizations based on our Dedicated Account Reps expertise.
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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Shopify Plus Screenshots

Screenshot of The home screen of your Shopify admin, including proactive home cards and reporting and live view insights.Screenshot of Your Shopify Plus store is ready for mobile commerce. Customers can browse and buy from your store with an optimized experience on device.Screenshot of Editing products across sales channels.Screenshot of Easily edit colours, typography, settings, and drag and drop sections for each of your store's templates with the theme editor.