Is Shopify Better Than Squarespace? A Real Comparison

It’s a common crossroads for anyone building an online presence: do you go with Shopify or Squarespace? On paper, they both let you sell stuff and build nice-looking websites. But when you dig a little deeper, the differences start to matter. Whether you’re running a full-scale ecommerce business or just need a clean site that sells a few things on the side, choosing the right platform can save you hours of frustration down the line.

This isn’t one of those “it depends” write-ups that leaves you with more questions than answers. In this guide, we’ve looked at the actual tools, tested the workflows, and paid attention to the parts most people skip over – like how each platform handles taxes, product variants, or even just making your blog not look like it’s stuck in 2012. Let’s break it down for real.

What Are You Actually Trying to Build?

This is the first question to ask yourself, and it’s more important than you might think. Not all websites are built for the same purpose.

If you’re building a content-first website with a few products on the side, Squarespace is likely the smoother ride.

If you’re focused on running a store with shipping, inventory, taxes, and international customers, Shopify starts to pull ahead quickly.

The intent behind your site matters more than any single feature. A clean photography portfolio with a few prints for sale needs something very different from a full-scale ecommerce operation with thousands of SKUs.

Key Comparison Factors for Shopify and Squarespace

Before you choose a platform, it helps to look beyond surface-level features and focus on how each one handles the parts that matter most in day-to-day use. From product setup and payment tools to design flexibility and growth potential, here’s how Shopify and Squarespace compare where it really counts.

The Day-to-Day Experience: Which One Feels Better?

You’re going to spend a lot of time in your site’s backend, so ease of use isn’t just a “nice to have.”

Squarespace: Clean and Visual

Squarespace is designed for people who like seeing what they’re doing as they go. Its drag-and-drop editor is straightforward, flexible, and visually consistent. You can tweak page sections, add galleries or forms, and move content around without worrying about breaking something. For creative businesses and service-based sites, that’s a big plus.

Shopify: Structured but Powerful

Shopify takes a more structured approach. It’s less visual in the editor, and the learning curve is slightly steeper if you’re not used to ecommerce dashboards. But what you lose in visual editing, you gain in control. Shopify’s system is built to handle real complexity behind the scenes - inventory syncing, fulfillment integrations, POS setups, and more.

Verdict:

• Prefer drag-and-drop editing and layout freedom? Go Squarespace.
• Need more ecommerce horsepower? Shopify is built for it.

Templates and Design: Beauty vs Flexibility

Design matters. It shapes the first impression your visitors have.

Squarespace Shines in Visual Appeal

Squarespace templates are gorgeous out of the box. They’re well-balanced, image-friendly, and feel modern without much effort. There are 190+ designs available, and many of them work well for visual-first businesses like photographers, interior designers, or independent creators.

Shopify Templates Focus on Function

Shopify gives you about 24 free templates and a marketplace of 1,000+ premium ones. They’re all ecommerce-focused, and many look great, especially if you’re willing to invest in a paid theme. These themes come with built-in ecommerce logic – product filters, add-to-cart interactions, promo sections, etc.

You can switch themes any time, preview layouts, and customize them further with apps or by editing the code.

Selling Features: This Is Where Shopify Pulls Ahead

If you’re selling anything beyond a few products per week, Shopify is hard to beat. It was built for ecommerce first, and it shows.

Shopify’s Strengths in Selling:

• Supports selling in multiple currencies and languages via Shopify Markets.
• Built-in POS hardware support for physical stores or events.
• Huge app ecosystem (thousands of apps) for everything from email tools to dropshipping.
• Advanced tax rules (supports VAT, reverse-charge, B2B tax exemptions).
• Flexible payment gateway support (numerous options globally).
• Sophisticated reporting and custom analytics.
• Inventory tracking across multiple warehouses or locations.

Squarespace’s Selling Tools Are Simpler:

• Can sell physical, digital, service-based, and subscription products out of the box.
• Visual product pages with built-in image cropping and gallery tools.
• Some dropshipping and print-on-demand integrations (Printful, Printique, Spocket).
• Basic real-time shipping calculations (on higher plans).
• Limited multichannel support (Amazon, Instagram, etc. via extensions).

If you just want to list and sell a few items, Squarespace gets the job done without extra plugins. But as your store grows, you’ll start bumping into the edges.

How They Handle Product Variants

This one surprises people:

• Squarespace gives you up to 6 product options and 250 variants.
• Shopify offers 3 product options and 100 variants by default. But you can expand that with third-party apps.

So out of the box, Squarespace gives you more variant flexibility. But Shopify can scale further if you’re willing to use add-ons. That’s the tradeoff – Squarespace simplifies what’s built in, Shopify builds for extensibility.

SEO and Content Marketing: Who Does It Better?

Blogging, landing pages, and SEO tools play a big role in how your site performs long-term.

Squarespace for Content

Squarespace has an edge in content creation. It supports drag-and-drop blog layouts, galleries, and page summaries. You can visually lay out each post, embed products, and organize content with both tags and categories. It’s ideal for creatives, writers, or service providers who publish regularly.

SEO tools are solid – editable meta data, image alt text, redirects, and clean URLs. 

Shopify for Structured SEO

Shopify has invested a lot in SEO tooling. It automatically generates SEO-friendly URLs and redirects, and handles structured data well. Product pages come optimized, and the integration with tools adds more depth.

Where Shopify lags slightly is in content layout flexibility. You can run a blog, yes, but the visual experience is basic compared to Squarespace.

Email Marketing and Automation

Both platforms let you collect emails and run campaigns without third-party tools.

• Squarespace Email Campaigns has a drag-and-drop editor, matches your site’s branding, and supports drip campaigns. Plans are tiered by email volume.
• Shopify Email offers 10,000 free emails per month. If you want advanced segmentation and abandoned cart flows, Shopify takes the lead.

Also, if you’re doing serious ecommerce, Shopify’s abandoned cart and customer journey tools go deeper than Squarespace’s. You can trigger workflows, upsells, and product-based follow-ups more precisely.

How We Help Shopify Brands Forecast Winning Ads

If you're running a store on Shopify, you're probably testing new ad creatives constantly. Some work, others don’t. The trouble is, most of the time you only find out after the fact. That’s where we come in.

At Extuitive, we help you predict how your ads will perform before you even launch them. Our platform uses AI models trained on live campaign data, so you're not guessing – you're forecasting based on real-world outcomes. Whether you're testing 5 creatives or 500, we give you performance predictions at scale, complete with expected CTR and ROAS benchmarks based on your historical bests. 

Our tools are built for speed and clarity. Shopify brands who need fast results use Extuitive to cut wasted ad spend, double down on winners, and hit the right audiences the first time. 

Payment Processing and Transaction Fees

This is where things get technical fast, so here’s the short version:

Shopify:

• No transaction fees if you use Shopify Payments.
• Accepts 100+ payment gateways globally.
• Charges extra if you use a third-party gateway.
• Credit card processing fees vary by country and plan.

Squarespace:

• Uses Stripe, PayPal, and Afterpay.
• Transaction fees depend on the plan.
• Credit card fees handled by the processor.

If you’re planning to sell internationally, Shopify offers more payment flexibility. Squarespace is better for domestic or simpler setups.

Multilingual and Multi-Currency Selling

Shopify wins this category, hands down.

Its Shopify Markets feature lets you:

• Translate your store into different languages.
• Show prices in local currencies.
• Set market-specific domains (like mysite.fr or mysite.de).
• Handle localized SEO and taxes.

Squarespace? You’ll need to use a paid third-party app, to get anywhere close. It works, but it’s not native and can get expensive.

POS (Point of Sale) and Physical Store Support

If you’re selling in person, Shopify is better prepared.

• Full POS system with barcode scanners, cash drawers, and inventory syncing.
• Dedicated POS app and hardware store.
• Supports multi-location retail.

Squarespace offers POS integration through Square in supported countries, but the functionality is more limited compared to Shopify’s native POS system, especially for multi-location retail and advanced inventory management.

Pricing Comparison: It’s Not Just the Sticker Price

Here’s how things roughly break down:

Squarespace:

• $16 to $52/month depending on features (if paid yearly).
• Free domain with annual plan.
• Fewer required plugins = more predictable pricing.

Shopify:

• €19 to €289/month, if paid yearly (Plus is $2,300+).
• Lower-tier plans often need apps (some paid monthly).
• Free email marketing up to 10,000 sends.

While Squarespace looks cheaper upfront, Shopify’s real costs depend on how much functionality you need. Once you start adding apps, costs can climb. But in return, you get serious ecommerce power.

When Squarespace Might Be the Better Choice

• You’re a visual creator or small service business.
• You don’t want to manage third-party plugins.
• You want blogging and layout tools that feel modern.
• Your store is relatively small and simple.
• You’re selling services, memberships, or digital content.

When Shopify Is Clearly the Better Fit

• You run or plan to run a real online store.
• You need better tax, shipping, and inventory controls.
• You’re selling in more than one country or currency.
• You want B2B features or POS hardware.
• You care about automation, reporting, and growth.

Final Thoughts

Don’t just pick a platform for where your business is today. Choose one that won’t slow you down tomorrow.

Squarespace is a great choice for creators and small shops who want design-first tools with simple ecommerce baked in. Shopify is for sellers who treat their store like a business from day one, or plan to scale into something bigger.

Either way, the key is to start. Build something, test it, and learn from it. And if you ever outgrow your platform, moving is possible – just annoying enough to encourage picking carefully from the start.

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