TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Square Online

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/ASquare Online (formerly Weebly) is a basic content management system with blogging and eCommerce features. It can be utilized for building standard websites or specialized webpages for online stores.

    $13

    per month

    Substack

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ASubstack is a subscription-based newsletter publishing platform.N/A
    Pricing
    Square OnlineSubstack
    Editions & Modules
    Personal
    $13
    per month
    Professional
    $16
    per month
    Performance
    $29
    per month
    Free
    Free
    Free
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Square OnlineSubstack
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPricing decreases when paid annually: Personal - $10/Month Professional - $12/Month Performance - $26/Month—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Square OnlineSubstack
    Considered Both Products
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answer on this topic
    Substack Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Features
    Square OnlineSubstack
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Square Online and Substack
    Feature
    Square Online
    7.6
    31 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    Role-based user permissions7.631 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Square Online and Substack
    Feature
    Square Online
    9.5
    22 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    API9.517 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language9.518 Ratings00 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Square Online and Substack
    Feature
    Square Online
    6.5
    43 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    WYSIWYG editor5.536 Ratings00 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness5.239 Ratings00 Ratings
    Admin section8.839 Ratings00 Ratings
    Page templates6.043 Ratings00 Ratings
    Library of website themes6.143 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design8.242 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publishing workflow5.335 Ratings00 Ratings
    Form generator7.036 Ratings00 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of Square Online and Substack
    Feature
    Square Online
    9.3
    40 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    Content taxonomy8.726 Ratings00 Ratings
    SEO support9.736 Ratings00 Ratings
    Bulk management9.621 Ratings00 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions9.433 Ratings00 Ratings
    Community / comment management9.530 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Square OnlineSubstack
    Small Businesses
    Umbraco CMS
    Score7 out of 10
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Joomla
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Blogger
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Square OnlineSubstack
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.6
    (44 ratings)
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Square OnlineSubstack
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Block, Inc (Square)
    If you are having students create websites or information pages about something they are studying in class, this is a great option. The fact that students can spend less time getting situated and learning the app and get right to work researching and creating their pages is great. For middle to high school, this is a fantastic app to use. However, if you want more nuanced analytics or want students to focus on blogging more than webpage building, this is limited.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    I think Substack is better for people who want to set up a personal-facing branded website vs people who just want to post random musings every so often. Monetization is better there than any other collective publishing platform as well as organic reach via email. Substack also allows you to build direct relationships with your readers via emails and own them 100% which is great long-term if you use it to pivot to another site or another form of writing/content creation. Substack would be less helpful for someone wanting to write as a part of a group, not individually, or someone who's unwilling to put their personal brand behind their content. It's less optimized for SEO (which other platforms allow you to do) and can be harder to curate content based on your interests (you really have to go in knowing what you want vs finding it on the fly).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Drag and drop interface makes it very easy to add all types of content, including images, text, video (and YouTube videos), embeddable applications and more.
    • It's very easy to set up navigation features like cascading menus and sticky navigation (where the menu stays put - may depend on the template chosen though).
    • A technical backend is fairly straight-forward for setting up a fav icon, 301 redirects, SEO, Google Analytics, etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • Because it has a very high Domain Authority ranking relevant backlinks in a published article will help make my store more searchable.
    • Substack is very easy to work in. The toolset they provide may not be as extensive as other platforms but it is certainly enough to create a meaningful, interesting post.
    • Substack is very focused on creating a community of writers that support each other. They run an ongoing email campaign that reinforces their focus on building a community of writers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Weebly doesn't have a lot of templates to choose from, so if you don't have any experience with CSS or HTML, it's hard to customize your site to an extent.
    • Weebly isn't fully SEO friendly. They don't allow you to add H1 tags to pages out of the box.
    • You can't create folder structures when it comes to web page URLs. You can put web pages under a main menu dropdown, but they don't allow you to put all sub-menu items in a structured folder (like site.com/folder/page-1 and site.com/folder/page-2).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • editor is on the primitive side - it's wysiwyg, but missing some embed options
    • integrate with google analytics
    • percentage cut that Substack takes can become a burden as your revenue grows. Problems scaling.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Weebly is consistently adding features that line up with our needs. The ease of use makes it the perfect program for us since we have users of multiple age brackets and knowledge of web design. We love that we can give users access to only the pages they are affiliated with
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Very easy to use and intuitive to design after all of our business needs. From the website and POS system to how we represent ourselves internally and to our customers... Square is second-to-none in helping our business and others in our same boat become the kind of businesses we want to be when it comes to our inventory and sales of these kinds of products.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Weebly's designs, plugins, and customization options are a little more advanced in some cases than other similar programs. WordPress requires a different level of expertise and knowledge of code, keywording, and plugins, so I wouldn't even compare them. Wix is a little more user-friendly because you can drag and drop your design, which was very convenient for customizing your site. I didn't personally select Weebly, but it is user-friendly and nearly anyone comfortable with a computer could figure it out. Weebly support is also pretty good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    Medium is not so good for running newsletter. I find the mail that a user gets is very easily readable. Also as a creator it's very easy for me to track the analytics and monetise my blogs unlike Medium. Blogger is a very old technology. The kind of integrations and the support for Markdown / different media is very great in Substack.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Weebly has allowed our business to create a connection with our customers by offering home decor, cooking and styling tips.
    • Weebly gives us the chance to relay information to customers regarding merchandise, current sales and promotions, store hours and locations etc. Which has helped increase business.
    • Weebly has given our not very tech savvy business the opportunity to have a website and stay relevant with our competitors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • I haven’t made any money from it
    • Can be disheartening when you realise you’re putting in maximum effort for minimum audience
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots