Wix vs Squarespace in 2026: Which Website Builder to Choose

Wix and Squarespace are the two website builders most people compare first, and on price they are almost level: about $17 a month for Wix’s cheapest plan with your own domain against $19 for Squarespace’s, both billed yearly. So price rarely decides it. What does is how you like to design, what the site has to do, and what you can live without: Wix has a free plan and far more freedom on the page, Squarespace has templates that are hard to break and selling, invoicing, and point of sale on every plan. Neither lets you take your site with you if you leave.

This comparison covers both builders as they are in November 2026: plans and prices, the editors, AI, selling, bookings, blogging, and what happens when you want to move. Prices are the US prices on each vendor’s own pricing page in November 2026; both show prices in your local currency, so the figures you see may differ.

The short answer

Choose Wix if:

• You want to start for free. Wix’s free plan publishes a real site, with Wix ads and a wixsite.com address. Squarespace has no free plan.
• You want to place things anywhere on the page. The Wix Editor is drag-and-drop with few limits, and Wix Studio adds editable breakpoints for tablet and phone.
• You need bookings and payments in one plan. Scheduling, online payments, and a basic store come together on Wix’s Core plan.
• You want plenty of add-ons. Wix’s App Market fills most gaps.

Choose Squarespace if:

• You want a site that looks good with little effort and stays tidy when someone edits it. The templates handle spacing, type, and responsive layout for you.
• The site is built around content. A blog with categories and tags and portfolio pages come on the cheapest plan.
• You sell, or will. Every plan can sell, and invoicing and point of sale are included on all plans.
• You want one product. Squarespace has a single editor; Wix makes you choose between the Wix Editor and Wix Studio.

Wix vs Squarespace at a glance

	Wix	Squarespace
Free plan	Yes, with Wix ads, 500 MB storage, 1 GB bandwidth, no custom domain	No, a 14-day free trial with no card
Cheapest plan with your domain	Light, about $17/mo billed yearly	Basic, $19/mo billed yearly ($25 monthly)
Free domain	First year, on paid plans	First year, on annual plans
Editors	Two: Wix Editor and Wix Studio	One
Mobile layouts	Wix Studio: desktop, tablet, and mobile breakpoints, all editable	Desktop and mobile only
AI site builder	AI website builder with AI agents	Blueprint AI
Selling	From Core, about $29/mo	From Basic, with a 2% transaction fee; 0% from Core, $29/mo
Bookings	Scheduling included from Core	Scheduling is a paid add-on
Invoicing and POS	Not part of the plan list	Included on all plans
Blog	Yes	Yes, with categories and tags, on every plan
Custom code	Not broken out by plan	Not on Basic; from Core
Collaborators	2 on Light, 5 on Core, 10 on Business, 100 on Business Elite	2 on Basic, unlimited from Core
Export	None: the site must stay on Wix	One WordPress-format file, with much left out

Pricing

Both builders publish their entry price in dollars and adjust the rest by region, so check the final price from where you are before you buy.

Wix (Wix Editor, billed yearly): Free $0. Light about $17 a month, for a site on your own domain. Core about $29, which adds payments, basic ecommerce, and scheduling. Business about $39, with standard ecommerce. Business Elite about $159, with advanced ecommerce. Every paid plan comes with a free domain voucher for the first year, and premium plans have a 14-day full refund. Wix Studio, aimed at designers and agencies, has its own separate set of plans.

Squarespace (billed yearly, with monthly prices in brackets): Basic $19 ($25), Core $29 ($39), Plus $49 ($65), Advanced $99 ($139). A free domain comes with annual plans for the first year. Card fees are 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic and Core, lower on Plus and Advanced, and Basic adds a 2% transaction fee on store sales.

What it means. For a simple site on your own domain, Wix is a couple of dollars cheaper. For a site that sells, the two meet at $29 a month: Wix Core and Squarespace Core both take payments, and Squarespace Core drops the 2% fee. The bigger difference is that Wix lets you start for nothing and upgrade later, while Squarespace asks you to pay once the trial ends.

Ease of use and design

Wix gives you freedom. In the Wix Editor you drag elements anywhere on the page, which makes it easy to get exactly the layout in your head and easy to end up with something cluttered. Wix Studio is a more advanced editor for designers, with responsive breakpoints for desktop (from 1,001px), tablet (751 to 1,000px), and mobile (320 to 750px) that you can edit, plus custom breakpoints, and a one-way import from Figma.

Squarespace gives you guardrails. Its Fluid Engine editor places content on a grid inside well-designed templates. You have less freedom, but the template handles spacing, type, and responsive behavior, so a site stays consistent when you, an employee, or a client adds text and photos later. The trade-off is that you design two layouts only, desktop and mobile, with no tablet layout and no custom breakpoints.

Which is easier? For most beginners, Squarespace gets a good-looking site faster because there are fewer decisions to make. Wix is easier if you already know what you want and the template is in the way.

AI website builders

Both now start you off with AI.

Wix has an AI website builder that generates a full site from a conversation: pages, layout, text, images, and business tools such as bookings or a store. Wix also offers AI agents and tools inside the dashboard for ongoing changes.

Squarespace has Blueprint AI, which asks about your business and style and builds a multi-page site with copy, imagery, colors, and fonts. AI usage on Squarespace is metered by plan: 10 AI credits once on Basic, then 20, 40, and 120 a month on Core, Plus, and Advanced.

In both cases the AI makes the first draft and you finish the site in the normal editor, so the editor matters more than the AI in the long run. If AI is the main reason you are choosing, our comparison of free AI website builders covers the field.

Selling online

Squarespace sells from every plan. Basic can sell products with a 2% transaction fee on top of card fees; from Core up the fee is 0%. Squarespace can also sell subscriptions, memberships, and courses, and invoicing and point of sale are included on all plans, which suits makers and shops that sell at markets or in a store too.

Wix sells from Core. Core includes basic ecommerce and payments, Business adds standard ecommerce, and Business Elite advanced ecommerce. Wix’s App Market adds more selling tools if you need them.

For a small catalog, both are fine. If selling is the whole business and you expect to grow, a dedicated platform such as Shopify is worth a look; our guide to the best website builders for small business compares it with both.

Bookings, invoices, and other business tools

Wix includes scheduling from the Core plan, so a salon, coach, or consultant can take appointments and payments without an add-on.

Squarespace sells Scheduling separately, as an add-on, but includes invoicing and point of sale on every plan. Email Campaigns, Squarespace’s email marketing, is a separate add-on too.

So for a service business that runs on appointments, Wix Core is the simpler bill; for a business that sends invoices or sells in person, Squarespace covers more in the base plan.

Blogging and content

Squarespace is stronger for content out of the box. Every plan includes a native blog with categories and tags, plus portfolio pages with project sub-pages and gallery layouts. It suits writers, photographers, and anyone whose site grows by adding posts or projects.

Wix has a capable blog too, and Wix Studio adds a large CMS for structured content. The difference shows when you leave: Wix’s blog posts cannot be exported to another platform.

SEO

Both builders handle the basics: page titles and descriptions, clean URLs, sitemaps, SSL, and mobile-friendly pages. Neither has an advantage you can count on in search results; what decides rankings is your content, your own domain, and, for local businesses, a complete Google Business Profile. Pick the builder you will keep updating, because a site that gets new pages and posts does better than one that sits still.

Moving your site later

This is the part people find out too late.

Wix has no export. Wix states that a site must run on Wix’s servers. CMS collections come out as CSV files, but blog posts cannot be exported to another platform, and the design stays behind. Leaving Wix means rebuilding. If you are planning that move, our Wix alternatives guide compares where to go.

Squarespace exports a little. You get one XML file aimed at WordPress. Custom CSS and code, style settings, portfolio, index, cover, album, and store pages, and product blocks are all left out, and Squarespace says you cannot import that export into another Squarespace site. Our Squarespace alternatives guide compares where to go if you leave.

Can I move from Wix to Squarespace, or the other way? Not automatically. Neither imports the other’s sites, so a move means rebuilding the pages and copying the content across. Whichever you choose, keep your text, photos, and customer list outside the builder, and register your domain in your own name so you can point it anywhere.

Which should you choose?

• A service business that takes appointments: Wix, for scheduling and payments in the Core plan.
• A photographer, designer, or writer: Squarespace, for templates that show work well and a blog and portfolio on every plan.
• A shop that also sells in person: Squarespace, for invoicing and POS included.
• A small business with no budget yet: Wix, because the free plan publishes, then upgrade when it pays for itself.
• An agency or designer building for clients: Wix Studio for design control, or Squarespace if clients will edit the site themselves.
• You want the most features and add-ons: Wix.
• You want the least to think about: Squarespace.

A third option if neither fits

If your site is mainly a few well-designed pages that take enquiries, without a store or a blog, you may not need either platform’s business suite. Siter.io is a visual website builder with a free-form canvas, separate desktop, tablet, and phone layouts, Siter AI for a first draft, and booking request and order forms built from a description. It publishes free on a getsiter.com address with 3 pages, and your own domain costs $7 a month billed yearly. It has no store, no payments, and no blog, so it is not a replacement for Wix or Squarespace if you need those.

Whichever you pick, once the site is live, set up uptime monitoring so you know when it goes down, and web analytics to see what visitors do.

FAQ

Is Wix or Squarespace better?

Neither is better for everyone. Wix is better if you want a free plan, freedom to place things anywhere, and bookings and payments in one plan. Squarespace is better if you want polished templates that stay tidy, a blog and portfolio on every plan, and invoicing and point of sale included.

Is Squarespace better than Wix for small business?

Squarespace is better for small businesses that sell products, send invoices, or sell in person, because every plan can sell and invoicing and POS are included. Wix is better for service businesses that take appointments, because scheduling and payments come together on its Core plan.

Which is cheaper, Wix or Squarespace?

Wix is slightly cheaper to start: about $17 a month billed yearly for its cheapest plan with your own domain, against $19 for Squarespace Basic. Wix also has a free plan, while Squarespace only has a 14-day trial. For a site that sells, both start at $29 a month.

Does Squarespace have a free plan?

No. Squarespace has a 14-day free trial with no credit card, and publishing after that needs a paid plan from $19 a month billed yearly. Wix has a free plan that publishes a site with Wix ads on a wixsite.com address.

Can I move my Wix site to Squarespace?

Not automatically. Wix has no export and Squarespace cannot import a Wix site, so you rebuild the pages in Squarespace and copy your text and images across. Plan the move page by page, and point your domain at Squarespace once the new site is ready.

Which is better for SEO, Wix or Squarespace?

Both cover the SEO basics, including page titles and descriptions, clean URLs, sitemaps, SSL, and mobile-friendly pages. Neither has a reliable ranking advantage; your content, your own domain, and how often you update the site matter far more.

Is Wix or Squarespace easier to use?

Squarespace is usually easier for beginners, because its templates make most design decisions for you and keep the layout consistent. Wix is easier if you want to place elements exactly where you like, though that freedom can make a page look cluttered.