Wix vs Weebly vs Squarespace: The Ultimate Comparison (2023)

More Information

• Best Website Builders: See how these builders rank in our list of the top-rated platforms.
• Website Builder Comparison Chart: Compare top brands and key features.

Despite being similar, no website builder is the same, and that’s the case with Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace. Knowing the key differences between the three is just one step along the road to deciding which is your best fit – and which is not.

First off, let’s start with the similarities. Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace are all website builders, which means they’re platforms that can help you create a website for yourself, without having to deal with the hassle of managing your own hosting.

They’re designed to make the process as easy as possible, so you won’t need to know a single line of code or have a degree in web design. These builders provide an easy, affordable way to create professional-looking websites.

So, what’s the difference between them?

Wix is our top choice for website building, scoring a mighty 4.8 out of 5 in our 2023 research. It’s a complete drag-and-drop builder, meaning you can move anything quite literally anywhere. Plus, Wix is easy to use and gives you lots of creative control, so it’s great if you have a very definite idea of what you want your website to look like.

Weebly and Squarespace also use drag-and-drop, but they’re a little more restrictive. Unlike Wix, you’ll need to work within the structured rows of the template you choose, rather than being able to place anything wherever you like.

Although they both follow these restrictions, Squarespace allows more creative freedom than Weebly and offers its users award-winning templates and affordable plans. For this reason, Squarespace sits just behind Wix in our research, scoring 4.7 out of 5 overall. In comparison, Weebly scores 3.4 out of 5 – it’s a simple and budget-friendly builder but it lacks powerful features.

In terms of pricing, website builders are a good option if you’ve got a particular budget in mind. This is because they work on a subscription basis, meaning that you can expect a stable payment each month (or year, depending on how you choose to pay). Out of the three, Weebly is the cheapest, while Squarespace is the best value for money according to our research. However, your monthly outgoings will depend on which plan you choose. They range anywhere from $10 to $59 per month, billed annually.

More Information

• Wix vs Weebly: See who wins in our in-depth comparison.
• Weebly vs Squarespace: Find out if Weebly or Squarespace is the perfect match for you in our comparison.
• Wix vs Squarespace: Torn between Wix and Squarespace? Read our comparison for a full breakdown.
• Website Builder Comparison Chart: Compare all of the best website builders.

The Winner

It's a tie between Wix and Squarespace...

Wix’s drag-and-drop design, plus the option to use Wix ADI, makes it truly beginner-friendly without giving up creative control. Squarespace’s editor is just as easy to use, and its professionally-designed templates and website elements give you the freedom to create a website that’s truly unique.

Building websites shouldn’t only be possible for tech-savvy folk – it should be open to beginners and pros alike, no matter your experience. You don’t need to know any code to use Wix, Weebly, or Squarespace. But other than that, just how easy are they to use?

As part of our research, we try out every builder ourselves, and then get other people to test them out too. Here’s what we found, plus some thoughts from our users on each builder. So you don’t just have to take our word for it!

Wix

Wix is one of the easiest website builders to use, scoring 4.4 out of 5 and sharing the top position with Squarespace. It’s simple and straightforward, but it doesn’t sacrifice any creative control.

Wix’s drag-and-drop editor allows you to create a totally personalized website with ease: just select elements such as text boxes and other cool features like videos and buttons, and drag them to wherever you want them on your page. This was something that our users particularly enjoyed, with one commenting:

“The drag and drop feature made elements so easy to implement on your site.”

However, although we found Wix to be super easy to use, it’s not for everyone. Some of our testers thought the editor was overwhelming at times with too many options. The ability to drag anything anywhere led to people feeling like they’d lost the essence of the template they chose, with one saying:

“As I added new elements my site quickly became messy and cluttered.”

Creative control is definitely one of Wix’s perks, but if you’d rather a little more structure to your building experience, you might find that you enjoy Weebly or Squarespace more. This is because, even though you can customize the available templates to your needs, there’s a higher level of restriction with these two than there is with Wix, which stops you from getting too carried away.

Alternatively, you could also use Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) to create a website for you. It’s as simple as answering a few questions and selecting the colors and themes you like. From your answers, Wix will create a full website for you – you won’t need to lift a finger! Don’t worry, you can still edit your site, or move it into Wix Editor for full control, but it’s a super quick and easy way to set up your website if starting from scratch sounds too intimidating.

Squarespace

We awarded Squarespace 4.4 out of 5 in our ease of use testing, putting it firmly alongside Wix for this category. Thanks to its drag-and-drop editor, new Fluid Engine, and recently added Squarespace Blueprint, it’s easier than ever to use Squarespace to build a website.

This is largely why it’s seen an 11% increase in its ease of use score since our previous user testing in 2022.

For those of you who found Wix’s editor too busy, you’ll also be pleased to know that Squarespace takes a more minimalist approach. However, this can mean that it might take you slightly longer to find your way around – everything is tucked away very neatly into two menus and it’s not always obvious where you should look, so a little searching for the exact element you want is to be expected.

Plus, if you ever find yourself stuck at any point during the building process, Squarespace offers guidance in the form of SEO prompts, image alignment advice, and a tutorial to help you get started.

Even so, Squarespace is the closest you’ll get to a professionally designed website without using a developer.

“I felt like I was great at making websites but really it was just Squarespace doing it for me!”

Weebly

Weebly is a decent platform for beginners or those who are new to the world of website building. The editor itself is very simple and easy to navigate. All elements are clearly signposted, so you won’t have any trouble adding extra components to your website. However, in our user testing, it didn’t do as well as Wix or Squarespace, only scoring 3.7 out of 5 – an 8% increase since last year’s research.

The main reason for this disappointing score is that although Weebly’s editor isn’t complicated, customization isn’t very intuitive. Similar to Squarespace, Weebly’s templates are more structured to help guide your design, but rather than making the process easier, it actually makes it more complicated. It’s far more restrictive, meaning that it’s difficult to move things where you want them. Overall, you’re very limited by the template you choose, which can be frustrating. As one tester said:

“It’s not sleek, it’s not fun, it’s just drab and boring – I wasn’t excited about my website.”

However, if you aren’t bothered about creative control, or you don’t want to customize your template too much, Weebly is a good choice. It’ll allow you to build a basic but effective website quickly, without the need for lots of editing before your site goes live.

More Information

• Wix Editor vs Wix ADI: Interested in Wix ADI? Check out our comparison to find out which one is right for you!
• Website Builder Comparison Chart: Want to see all the best website builders side by side, and compare their ratings from ease of use to price plans? Take a look at our for a side-by-side comparison.

The Winner

Squarespace is the best builder for design...

Squarespace has the best quality designs on the market, and with tons of customization options, your site is destined to stand out from the crowd. Wix isn’t bad at all, and it has over 800 high-quality templates to choose from, but it just can’t compete with Squarespace’s stylish options. And Weebly stands even less of a chance, especially given that lots of its templates are now starting to look a little outdated.

Visit Squarespace

They say not to judge a book by its cover, but we do judge websites by their design. After all, this is the one factor you’re visitors will base their first impressions on!

Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace all have a range of templates to help make your site look its best, whether you’re a confident designer or don’t know your banners from your slideshows. But how easy is it to personalize your template? How will it look on mobile? And can you change your mind if you want to switch your design later on?

Wix

Wix is a formidable contender when it comes to design, scoring 4.6 out of 5 in our research. This puts it in second place for this category, sitting just behind Squarespace.

It has over 800 templates to choose from, including new designs, blank templates to start from scratch with, and 19 different categories such as “Business” and “Photography“. The majority of the designs all boast a slick and professional-looking finish, so it’s easy to find the perfect template for your website. But, if you find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer choice on offer, make certain to use the search bar to refine your options.

We found Wix’s templates really easy to customize using the platform’s simple drag-and-drop editing tool. We could simply select the features we wanted – such as videos, images, or contact forms – and drop them wherever we liked on the page!

All Wix templates are mobile responsive, so you don’t need to worry about anybody missing out. You can even edit your website from your mobile on the go, so you won’t have to be chained to your desk all day, or rush back if you need to make some vital changes.

The main drawback of Wix is its flexibility – while you have total creative freedom over the design of your site, you can’t switch your template once your website is live.

Weebly

Weebly, on the other hand, does let you switch templates whenever you like. This is really useful if you want to give your site a rebrand, or just fancy a change!

There are over 50 Weebly themes to choose from – a much smaller selection than you get with Wix – but you still have lots of different categories to help you browse.

However, its themes do lack the stylish edge we’re used to seeing with Wix and Squarespace. Some of our users felt that the templates were a little bland, and overall, we have to agree that they do feel slightly dated in comparison to the industry standard. This is partly why Weebly performed so badly in this category, only achieving a score of 2.3 out of 5.

Customization is possible, but as we’ve mentioned, the Weebly editor is quite restrictive, so you won’t be able to deviate too far from the template’s original design. This may appeal to some people, though, who don’t have the time or patience for extensive editing. Plus, if you do want more from your Weebly template, you can use code to create a site that’s truly unique, using Weebly Code Editor.

Despite this, Weebly’s themes do fall down in other areas, particularly when it comes to mobile optimization. During testing, we found that any changes we made to the desktop version of the website weren’t reflected in the mobile version, with most of the formatting becoming jumbled and messy. This is a big oversight given that mobiles make up around 60% of global website traffic.

Squarespace

In contrast to this, Squarespace offers a fully mobile-friendly experience, and like Wix, also allows you to edit on the go. Plus, its designs are the very best you can get.

Squarespace is our top performer for design flexibility, with an impressive score of 4.7 out of 5. It has a stunning collection of templates for you to browse and choose from. It may not have hundreds like its rival Wix, but every single one is designed to an incredible standard.

We had our experts examine the templates from every angle – and they scored top marks in pretty much everything, from branding and design to user experience.

You can search by category, or even by entering the purpose of your site – for example, “To share my photography portfolio” – and it will give you tailored results to match. You can preview each design, and even favorite your top choices.

Unfortunately, there is one downside – if you’re new to Squarespace, you won’t be able to switch your template once your site has been published. Only older Squarespace members who are still using the 7.0 version have this functionality. The newest version, 7.1, means that if you want to change your theme, you’ll need to start from scratch.

We found this easy to forgive, though, because of the quality of Squarespace’s templates and the scope for customization. Like Wix, it uses a drag-and-drop builder, but it’s similar to Weebly in that you have to work within the pre-set rows. However, Squarespace is much more intuitive and affords a lot of creative control, striking a lovely balance between its two competitors.

Squarespace has also recently introduced Squarespace Blueprint – a guided website design system that helps you create a website in five quick steps. Like Wix’s ADI builder, the platform asks you to make simple design choices for your site and then builds a custom template for you. You can then personalize and tweak it as you see fit, but we think this is a great starting point to have, especially for total beginners.

Plus, if you’re feeling really adventurous, you can even add your own custom code to your website as long as you subscribe to the Business plan or upwards.

More Information

• Squarespace Templates Review: Feeling inspired by Squarespace’s designs? Find out more in our detailed review.
• Best Portfolio Website Builders: If you’re thinking about starting an online portfolio, check out our list to find the right builder for you.

The Winner

Squarespace is the best value for money...

Prices have increased across the website builder industry over the last year, but Squarespace scores the top position in this category thanks to its high-quality plans that start at $16 per month, billed annually. The platform has continued to improve its features and offering to match its prices, meaning you really get what you pay for.

Visit Squarespace

One of the best things about website builders is that they’re all relatively affordable. Usually, there’s a plan for every budget, and that’s certainly the case for Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace. In fact, Wix and Weebly both offer a completely free plan which you can stay on for as long as you like. Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan, but you can take a 14-day free trial instead.

Let’s take a closer look at the trio’s pricing:

Wix

Wix is our top performer in almost every category, however, value for money is where it falls slightly short. It scores 3 out of 5 in this category, putting it well behind both Weebly and Squarespace – a drop of almost 12% since last year’s research. This is largely because its prices have increased since 2022, meaning you get less bang for your buck with Wix.

Still, Wix is a powerful builder and there’s no question that Wix’s plans have a lot packed into them, but its pricing isn’t as competitive as it once was.

Don’t get us wrong – Wix has plenty going for it. It has a free plan and four price plans ranging from $16 to $159 per month, with three including ecommerce-specific packages. The free plan gives you all the basic features needed to create a website, such as 500MB storage and 500MB bandwidth – however, you can’t connect your own domain, and Wix will display ads on your website. This isn’t ideal if you’re aiming for a professional image!

If you want to upgrade, there are four plans designed for building websites, and three of them allow you to sell online:

• Light: $16 per month (billed annually)
• Core: $27 per month (billed annually) – Basic ecommerce
• Business: $32 per month (billed annually) – Standard ecommerce
• Business Elite: $159 per month (billed annually) – Advanced ecommerce

And if you’re a large scale business, you can also get a custom quote for Wix’s Enterprise plan.

Out of these four plans, we’d recommend starting off with the Light plan for $16 per month (billed annually) – it removes ads, includes a free custom domain, and you can easily upgrade if your website starts to grow. Alternatively, if you’re looking to sell online, the Business plan is your best bet since it unlocks a suite of ecommerce features, including subscriptions.

These four plans, however, all come with a 14-day money-back guarantee, so you can try them out without worrying about price just yet.

Squarespace

Out of the three, Squarespace is the champion when it comes to value for money, scoring 4.6 out of 5 – an impressive increase of 15% since our 2022 research. Despite its prices rising as well, Squarespace has continued to improve its platform and features, making it a more cost-effective option than Wix, for example.

Squarespace has four price plans to choose from, with the cheapest aimed at building websites only, while the more expensive plans provide you with ecommerce functionalities. Let’s take a look at the pricing below:

• Personal:$16 per month (billed annually)
• Business: $23 per month (billed annually)
• Basic Commerce: $27 per month (billed annually)
• Advanced Commerce: $49 per month (billed annually)

The Personal plan is the most basic, but gives you everything you need to create a stylish website, including unlimited bandwidth and storage. Squarespace’s Business plan is only $7 more, but offers more than double the features, including ecommerce functions, promotional pop-ups, and advanced customization.

If you’re just after a blog or simple website to promote your business online, the Personal or Business plan will be enough. If you want scalability and advanced features, specifically for selling online, you’ll need either of the Commerce plans.

Unfortunately, there’s no free plan with Squarespace, but each price plan comes with a 14-day free trial. You don’t need to enter any payment details unless you decide to sign up for a paid plan once the trial is over.

Weebly

Despite its cheap prices, Weebly is one of the lowest-rated website builders in our value for money category. It performs only marginally better than Wix, scoring 3.2 out of 5 in this year’s research. To put it simply, Weebly’s features don’t match up with the current pricing and we wouldn’t recommend it for growing businesses.

To kick things off, Weebly has a free plan, which gives you basic features such as:

• 500MB storage
• SEO tools
• Chat and email support

This is a great option to help you decide if Weebly is the right builder for you, or even if you’re on a very tight budget, but it does have its drawbacks. For example, there’ll be Weebly ads on your site, and you won’t be able to use your own domain name – instead it will include the “Weebly.com” subdomain. This means that your website address would look something like this: www.mybeautifulwebsite.weebly.com.

If you’re serious about your website, this isn’t the most professional start. If you want to remove ads and connect your own domain, however, you’ll need to upgrade. The good news is, with its $10 per month Personal plan, Weebly has the cheapest starting price of the three!

Weebly has three pricing plans to choose between:

• Personal: $10 per month (billed annually)
• Professional: $12 per month (billed annually)
• Performance: $26 per month (billed annually)

Weebly no longer has any dedicated ecommerce plans. This is because, back in 2018, it was acquired by the payment provider Square, which added its own ecommerce builder (Square Online) to Weebly’s platform. Although you can add ecommerce elements to any of Weebly’s templates, if you want to start an online store, you’ll be prompted towards the Square Online editor during the signup process instead.

Just be warned that Square Online’s prices are a little steeper than Weebly’s, which makes sense given the added ecommerce functionality.

As well as Weebly’s free plan, which you can use for as long as you like, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee on all of its paid plans (unless you’re paying on a month-by-month basis). This is great because it means you can try the builder out, and get your money back if you’re not happy.

Overall, Weebly can’t be beaten for its low-price plans but they’re pretty poor value for money. If you want the best, Squarespace is the sensible choice.

More Information

• Weebly Pricing: For more details on Weebly’s price plans.
• Square Online Pricing: Interested in starting an online store with Square Online? Find out more about the costs in our review.
• Wix Pricing: Find out which Wix plan is right for you.
• Squarespace Pricing: What do you get for your money with Squarespace?
• Cheapest Website Builders: Make sure you’re not paying too much – read our review of the cheapest builders to compare the best prices around.
• Best Free Website Builders: Like the sound of a free plan? Check out our recommendations.

The Winner

Wix has the best tools and features

Wix wins this round simply because of the breadth and quality of features available to you! This is why it achieved the highest score in this category. No matter what you want to do with your website, Wix has the tools you need to scale and succeed. Squarespace, however, comes in at a close second. Its built-in features are seriously impressive, and more than match up to Wix’s – there’s just less of them. It’s Weebly that brings up the rear, however. Due to lack of innovation and improvement over recent years, its tools and features are falling behind its competitors, and offer less in terms of growth and scalability.

Visit Wix

Now for the really juicy stuff. Features and tools are the cogs that keep your website working hard – you want a reliable and smooth running system that will not only make your life easier, but elevate your website above your competitors!

Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly all come with a collection of tools and features to help you expand the potential of your website. Out of the three, Wix achieved the highest score for website features, securing a phenomenal 4.8 out of 5 – the best score of any builder we tested!

Squarespace isn’t that far behind though, with a score of 4.6 out of 5. Unfortunately, Weebly is the builder that once again trails in last place with a disappointing 3.1 out of 5. Although this isn’t the lowest features score we’ve ever awarded, it looks pretty lackluster in comparison to both Wix and Squarespace.

To better show why we’ve awarded these scores, we’re going to look at the key features and tools each builder offers below, so you can really see where they shine – and where they don’t.

Blogging

When it comes to blogging, it’s a three-horse race between Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly. In fact, it’s neck-and-neck. In our blogging category, all builders score a perfect 5 out of 5 thanks to the large number of features they offer.

Historically, Squarespace has always swept the floor in this area, thanks to its beautiful designs and easy blog setup. It offers multiple writer profiles, comments, social sharing, blog-specific SEO, and the ability to schedule posts, to name just a few features.

Despite Squarespace’s strong offering, though, we have to shout out Wix here. Its blogging functionality rivals its competitors, offering everything that Squarespace does. And the same can be said for Weebly, matching the top builders with its writer profiles, comments function, blog archive, and search feature.

Marketing

Marketing is essential for spreading the word about your shiny new website!

Marketing with Wix is simple and it scores a perfect 5 out of 5 in our research. It allows you to run email campaigns and create newsletters, share on social media, and add features such as banners to your website. A lot of Wix’s marketing features come included in apps such as Wix Shoutout, or from third parties in the Wix App Market. It’s important to note here, though, that not all of Wix’s apps are free, so make sure you’re aware of any additional costs before you commit!

Wix also offers a complete marking package with Wix Ascend. It allows you complete control and visibility over all of your marketing channels and initiatives. This will be particularly handy when you’re trying to grow and scale your website, and its free version comes pre-installed when you first sign up.

In comparison, Weebly is slightly lacking on the marketing front, scoring a low 2 out of 5 in the category. It does have an impressive app store, so there are a few third-party apps you can install to help out, such as Aweber and Privy. It also offers lead capture, so you can add forms to your site in order to collect contacts and engage with visitors, as well as an email marketing service. This runs through the app Weebly Promote, which integrates with your Weebly website, but it’ll cost you. There’s a free trial, but then you’ll have to subscribe to a paid plan, starting from $8 per month.

Like Wix, Squarespace scores 5 out of 5 for its marketing features. What sets it apart though is that it has all of its marketing features completely built-in. This means you can do everything  – integrate social media, run email campaigns, and more – all from the comfort of your Squarespace dashboard.

The one drawback is that Squarespace’s email marketing service, Email Campaigns, isn’t free. There are a limited number of free features, such as the ability to build mailing lists, create draft campaigns, and send up to three trial blast campaigns, but if you want the whole package, you’ll have to subscribe to one of their plans. These start from $5 per month but they can be as expensive as $48 per month if you need more features. Alternatively, you can integrate with Mailchimp if you’d rather.

Social Media Integration

If people aren’t checking their emails, you can be sure they’ll be checking their news feeds on social media! Fortunately, Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace all support social media integration in some form or another. However, some are better at it than others.

Wix allows you to add share buttons to your website, while its app store can help you install social tools such as comments sections and custom Twitter feeds. It also comes with a dedicated social dashboard that’s perfect for keeping an eye on your performance.

Squarespace performs equally as well in this area, allowing you to link accounts from over 25 different social accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and Pinterest. You can also auto-post content to Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr, and encourage visitors to follow you with social links on your site.

Meanwhile, Weebly is much more restrictive. Sadly, you can only add social icons to your web pages, linking out to your social media accounts. You can’t actually integrate any live feeds, and unlike Wix and Squarespace, you won’t be able to create social posts within the builder. This means a lot of extra work and swapping between all the different platforms!

Weebly’s social media integrations are basic at best – a big no-no in today’s digital climate.

More Information

• Wix Review: Read our review for a better look at this builder’s features.
• Weebly Review: If Weebly’s tools caught your attention, check out our review for a more in-depth look.
• Squarespace Review: Learn more about Squarespace’s high-quality features.
• Best Blogging Platforms: Want the best for your blog? Find your perfect match.

The Winner

Wix has the best app market...

Wix has over 500 high-quality, easily-searchable apps to choose from when expanding the functionality of your store. They’re not all free, but plenty of them are! Weebly also does well with an equally large app store, although it’s a little harder to find exactly what you’re looking for. Squarespace has a much smaller selection on offer because most of its features are already built-in, but those extensions it does offer are super high-quality.

Visit Wix

While Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace all have amazing features built-in, you might want to add extra functions or tools as your website grows. That’s where an app market can really come in handy. Adding apps is a great way of scaling up your website while also making it unique.

Wix has a large and easy to navigate App Market, with over 500 apps on offer. For this reason, Wix scores 5 out of 5 for its app market. There’s a mix of in-house and third-party apps, as well as both free and premium features. As we’ve mentioned before, Wix’s apps can get costly, causing your monthly outgoings to shoot up. Make sure you know exactly what you’re signing up for before you commit!

You can search for the app or function you’re looking for, or browse by category, such as “Bookings“, “Business tools“, or “Analytics“. Each app comes with a features and pricing breakdown, as well as user reviews and star ratings so you can find the best option for your site.

Similarly to Wix, Weebly lets you integrate apps with your website from the Weebly App Center. There are over 300 to choose from, and you can use the search bar to find the app you’re looking for, or filter by category. Despite the same score of 5 out of 5, Weebly has fewer browsing tools to help you than with Wix, meaning it could be tricky to make the most of such a wide range.

Squarespace does support apps, such as the Commerce App and Analytics App, but these are built-in. Squarespace offers great third-party integrations, but it doesn’t have an app market – instead, it has a small, specially curated selection of extensions designed to help you increase your store’s potential. This makes Squarespace a great option if you don’t want to have to rely too much on third-party apps, but if you like the extra flexibility these give you, Wix is probably a better option.

The Winner

Wix and Squarespace have the best SEO capabilities...

Wix and Squarespace offer a lot of SEO support to their users, whether that’s a beginner-friendly SEO Wiz, long-term SEO guide, or setup checklist to help you get off the ground. These tools will help you boost your site’s visibility, improve search rankings, and encourage more traffic to your pages.

SEO is super important if you want anyone other than your mom and your best friend to see your lovingly built website. But what is it?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it’s how your website gets found on Google.

With Wix’s SEO Wiz, simply pick a few keywords that you want to target, and the specialist tool will create a personalized plan to get your website ranking highly in search results.

As well as this, Wix has a thorough SEO Guide, where you can search for the area you’d like to learn more about. You can also read help guides on lots of different topics covering SEO, aimed at beginners all the way through to a more advanced level. Even better, Wix provides you with targeted SEO best practice prompts when you’re building your site.

Weebly also has an Ultimate SEO Guide that can help you get started, then grow and track your website’s progress. It guides you through step by step, and is very beginner friendly.

Weebly’s guide is ideal if you’re new to SEO and, like Wix, it has great SEO tools built-in to help maximize your website’s online presence. But it does lack the interactive element provided by Wix’s SEO Wiz, and it falls a little short when we get to the more advanced end of SEO best practice.

Luckily, both Wix and Weebly have SEO apps in their app stores, which you can add to further improve or help with your SEO.

On the other hand, Squarespace has all of its SEO tools included, meaning you don’t need to worry about finding the right app or plugin to optimize your website. However, this might be a bit disappointing for those of you who like to have the added security of a specific SEO app, bolstering (and sometimes automating) your optimization efforts.

And although Squarespace’s SEO features aren’t the most beginner friendly – it doesn’t provide in-editor support like Wix, for instance – Squarespace does shine when it comes to the wealth of SEO support available in its knowledge center. There are articles and videos to help you master SEO for your Squarespace site, and there’s also an SEO Checklist to walk you through every step of launching your website.

More Information

• Best Website Builders for SEO: Find the best website builders for search engine optimization.
• Website Builder SEO vs WordPress SEO: Can you really rank well with website builders? Find out in our article.

The Winner

Wix has the best tools and features for selling online

Out of the three, Wix offers the best ecommerce experience. It has a wider range of tools and can comfortably accommodate medium-sized online stores. It has three plans to choose from, so you’re bound to find one that suits your needs. Squarespace isn’t too far behind, but it does offer a slightly smaller range of features and is better suited to much smaller stores or digital sales. Weebly once again comes last, mostly because it doesn’t have any dedicated ecommerce plans and its features aren’t as extensive. This is down to its acquisition by Square, so all online store creation now goes through this ecommerce-specific platform, although you can still add selling tools to your Weebly website if you’d like.

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If you’re planning to sell through your website, you’ll need ecommerce tools to get started. From basic features such as accepting payments all the way up to abandoned cart recovery, there’s a whole host of tools you can use to start pulling in those sales.

Both Wix and Squarespace make great options for starting an online store. In fact, Wix is our second best ecommerce builder during our wider research, scoring 4.8 out of 5. Squarespace also pulled out all the stops, coming third with a score of 4.4 out of 5. Weebly, unfortunately, doesn’t make our list of the top ecommerce website builders.

So what makes them such great options for selling online?

Wix has three ecommerce plans specifically designed to support selling online, starting at $27 per month (billed annually). These provide you with a host of built-in ecommerce features so you can accept online payments through over 50 different payment gateways worldwide, get extra storage, sell without paying commission, and track your site’s progress using Google Analytics.

Wix also doesn’t charge any transaction fees on payments, although you’ll still need to pay any third-party card payment processing fees. These come in at 2.9% + $0.30. This is pretty impressive compared to other ecommerce platforms like Square Online which charges a transaction fee, and third-party processing fees, too.

If you choose to build your online store with Squarespace, the fees you pay will depend on the plan you choose. There are three different plans that allow you to sell online: Business, Basic Commerce, and Advanced Commerce.

The Business plan – which costs $23 per month (billed annually) – is good for those who just want to sell on the side, like an added extra. However, choosing this option will mean you’ll have to pay a 3% transaction fee.

The Basic Commerce and Advanced Commerce plans are designed just for selling, and these come with 0% transaction fees. All three plans still incur the same 2.9% + $0.30 third-party fee as Wix.

This aside, Squarespace has a ton to offer would-be ecommerce vendors. You’ll be able to sell physical and digital products, as well as services, and its inventory tools are ideal for managing a modest product list. It also comes with abandoned cart recovery, printable shipping labels, and a guest checkout option. It offers fewer payment gateways than Wix, relying solely on Paypal, Stripe, and Square, but these should at least cover most of your visitors.

When it comes to ecommerce, Weebly is a bit more complicated. This is because it was acquired in 2018 by the ecommerce payments platform, Square. Since then, all of Weebly’s ecommerce plans and templates have vanished. Instead, users will be asked what kind of website they want to build when they sign up. If you choose a business website, or online store, you’ll be encouraged to build your website with Square Online instead.

This might sound a bit complicated, but it’s actually not a bad thing. Square Online did well in our ecommerce testing, scoring 4 out of 5 overall. It offers a similar number of payment gateways and inventory features as Squarespace, although, as mentioned, its transaction fees are higher.

The best thing about Square Online, though, is that you can sell for free. If you do want to upgrade, premium plans start at $29 per month (billed annually).

But, if you’ve got your heart set on Weebly, don’t panic. You can still add ecommerce features to all of Weebly’s templates and upload an unlimited number of products on the cheapest plan. Tools include item badges, product categories and variations, coupon codes, a shipping calculator, and abandoned cart recovery (on the Performance and Premium plans).

However, be aware, in recent years, Weebly hasn’t seen much development or improvement. This is because Square is focusing more on its ecommerce-specific platform, so it’s likely that, like Weebly’s other tools, its sales features might not see much innovation in the future.

More Information

• Best Ecommerce Website Builders: Want to sell online? Check out our list for a side-by-side look at the best builders around for building online stores.
• Wix eCommerce Review: Read our full review to find out if it’s the right builder for your ecommerce business.
• Weebly Ecommerce Review: For more information on Weebly’s features to help your store succeed.
• Squarespace Ecommerce Review: See if Squarespace is the right choice for your online store.

The Winner

Wix and Squarespace have the best support options...

Both Wix and Squarespace score 4.8 out of 5 in our help and support research, providing users with 24/7 support channels, whether that’s via email, live chat, or phone. Where the two website builders shine is through their detailed help centers, offering plenty of how-to guides, articles, and video tutorials.

Building a website is just like building anything – things can sometimes go slightly wrong. Just as having an extra pair of hands never hurts when you’re assembling flat-pack furniture, having a good support system can give you peace of mind when you’re running your website.

Let’s see how this trio of builders compare when it comes to help and support:

Squarespace

Squarespace shares the crown with Wix, scoring 4.8 out of 5 for its help and support services. If anything ever goes wrong, or you find yourself a little stuck when editing your pages, you can reach Squarespace through the following channels:

• 24/7 email
• Live chat (Monday to Friday, 4am – 8pm ET)
• Social media

However, the real jewel in Squarespace’s crown is its incredible knowledge base. While testing Squarespace ourselves, more often than not the knowledge base had everything we needed to solve any issue we had. We didn’t even go near that email or live chat function! And it’s not just articles that you’ll find there, either. Squarespace also has video tutorials, forums, and expert webinars to help you out.

The only thing it’s missing is phone support, but we can forgive that given how awesome the rest of its support options are. Plus, if you do need to use the email service, Squarespace promises to get back to you within an hour – impressive, right?

Wix

With a score of 4.8 out of 5, Wix matches Squarespace with its excellent support channels:

• 24/7 phone support
• 24/7 live chat
• Social media

In the same way that Squarespace doesn’t offer phone support, Wix doesn’t offer help through email.

But there is a thorough help center to guide you on your website builder journey. In fact, Wix’s help and support score increased by almost 11% since last year which is largely a result of our users finding its knowledge base to be incredibly helpful. And, on top of that, Wix provides in-editor support – simply click on the question marks dotted throughout the editor to expand help boxes and get little tips while you build.

You can also upgrade your plan to receive VIP support, meaning you’ll get priority over other website owners. This feature is available on either the Business Elite or Enterprise plan.

Weebly

Weebly has a solid support system too, although it does pale somewhat in comparison to what’s on offer with Wix and Squarespace. As a result, it receives a score of 3.3 in this year’s research. Weebly provides:

• 24/7 email
• Live chat
• Phone support

Weebly only offers phone support on its higher-paid plans (Professional and above), but it does provide live chat if you need to talk to someone urgently. However, sadly, its support isn’t available 24/7, but instead runs from Monday to Friday, 6am – 6pm US Pacific Time.

In the event that you need help outside of these hours, you can visit the help center and browse Weebly’s collection of articles. There’s a strong chance you might be able to find your answer in there, but it’s fairly sparse in areas.

And that’s it! It’s been a rollercoaster ride, but along the way, this article has pitted these three website builders against each other in all the areas that matter.

We’ve looked at Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace in close detail, and through our data-led research, we’ve determined that Wix is the best website builder overall. It’s super easy to use, comes with plenty of high-quality features, and you can freely customize your site.

There’s no doubt that all three of these builders have a lot to offer, but finding the right fit for your website will depend on your needs. Squarespace also had its fair share of victories – it’s the best value for money, offers stylish and unmatched design options, and its help and support is incredibly dependable.

Unfortunately for Weebly, it’s difficult to compete with the likes of Wix and Squarespace since they’re such powerful platforms. However, if you’re only after the basics and don’t need anything too extravagant, then it could be a good fit for you! Plus, it has the cheapest plans of the three.

Even so, Wix is still our go-to-builder, and we recommend it as the best option of the trio. And, luckily for you, Wix’s free plan means that you can try it out risk-free!