Web design: Squarespace vs Wordpress
I get asked about these two platforms all the time so I thought I would share my thoughts on the two, and why you might choose one over the other.
Both of these systems can be referred to as a CMS (Content Management System). They allow you to build your website without the requirement of a programming language like HTML or PHP etc. Many of these systems offer, what we refer to as, DRAG AND DROP functionality. This means…You drag something virtually on to your workspace and design the page. The code will automatically be written in the background. No coding required!
Quick note - There are MANY CMS systems available on the market, however, these are two of the most popular platforms we work.
OK - Let’s talk a little about the two so you understand the primary differences.
Brief overview of Wordpress
Wordpress is a free open source platform. This means that anyone can build upon it and create their own plugins and feature advancements. This allows it to be constantly growing in capabilities and allows it to be hugely flexible.
Wordpress is said to be the world’s most popular web-building platform and many people turn here first when trying to build their own website. While wordpress does NOT require coding…That does not mean that it is easy to use. It will depend on your level of web savvy. While coding is not required for wordpress….It still has a huge learning curve to being able to build what you want.
Wordpress is also often thought of as a “FREE” option, while that might be technically true - You will still may need to pay for things like hosting, SSL, pro tiered plugins, etc. These costs are often subscription based and a missed payment can take your website offline or create a security risk that can open you to potential hackers.
The biggest cost with wordpress will likely come when you have to build the website. If you aren’t building the website yourself, you will need to pay someone to build the project. If you have to hire someone to build the project, you need to understand that, unless stated specifically, once the website is done - They have no obligation to help you further. Most agencies and builders understand this and will offer you a maintenance agreement. This is usually a monthly subscriptive service where you are allotted a certain amount of hours of monthly support. Every contract will be different and dependant on your needs. The reason I bring this up is because a lot of small businesses need a website and believe that if it is built in wordpress - they will be able to update it themselves once it it created. HOWEVER, if you are unfamiliar with the site admin strucutre or how a plugin works….You are on your own to figure it out. If you happen take your site offline - You will be responsible for it unless you pay someone to fix it.
Urban Analog offers educational options to our clients that want to manage their own website without us. However, most of our clients find that their time is spent elsewhere and they prefer to sign up for out maintenance agreement.
NOTE: While there many FREE plugins that are offered in wordpress, they won’t be as feature rich, and may not be as secure, as the “paid-for” versions.
Security
It is important to note here that NO website is beyond being hacked….. That being said - there are a number of statistics out there that show that around 50% of all wordpress websites experience at least one attempted hack within the first year of service. This can destroy your business. In one study from a company called colorlib.com, wordpress websites were found to have a higher rate of malware infection.
Masters of creative flexibility but requires regular management
In summary, if your Wordpress website is properly built and maintained, you will likely have an amazing and secure website that will stand out amoung your competitors. As an open source platform, wordpress is constantly evolving. That being said, it takes a lot more work to find the right plugin or tool to use and you need to make sure that it is compatible with your version of wordpress, your builder, your other plugins, etc. The level of effort to experience this creative freedom is much greater, however, it can also be worth it.
While Wordpress is FREE you'll still have to pay for your SSL certificate, a domain, hosting, and premium themes and plugins. Many of these plugins will be offered at a free entry level but the most desired features will only be available at paid level. These prices can add up depending on where you are hosted, who your domain is registered through etc.
Maintenance is not technically required….
but I am only saying that because you also never have to brush your teeth. There are consequences for poorly maintained websites. Whether you do it yourself or hire someone, it should absolutely be a priority for any business that wants to be around a long time. Consider a maintenance agreement as business insurance for your website. A poorly maintained wordpress website is a security risk and can cause features to fail or take you offline.
Note: Proper maintenance will almost always be cheaper than the cost of repair. Do not let this go. Maintain your website regularly.
Why I really like wordpress
Let’s just start with the fact that you can do almost anything you can imagine. Your websites are only limited by your creativity. Because it is open source, if you don’t see something you want…You can build it and make it available to others. Urban Analog even built our own IDX plugin as a solution for Real Estate Agents and Brokers. The Platform is based on the Wordpress platform and allows us to offer it as a service. Without Wordpress - it would not be sustainable for us to offer the service.
Wordpress is a very powerful tool and will scale with your company. It requires a higher level of engagement than Squarespace but it can be worth it.
I also love that you have more options and flexibility. For instance, you aren’t limited to just Stripe to handle your financial transactions. You can use whomever you want, however you want.
If you know how to write code….you can even take it up another notch by directly editing the code base.
Wordpress really allows a larger audience to take their ideas from concept to completion without needing a dev team.
BUT with freedom comes complexity
The downside of wordpress
As we have mentioned a number of times….Wordpress is open source …which means you have thousands of people building features and designing UI without talking with each other. No two plugins are the same. Quality and security of each plugin can also greatly vary. Some plugins and features may not be compatible with your version of wordpress, your theme, your builder, etc.
Mostly - the thing about wordpress is that, because you have so much flexibility, you also have a lot more responsibility than you would with something like Squarespace. There is more to do AND…it requires maintenance.
Everything is a la carte
Security? there is a plugin for that
Connecting social Media? There is a plugin for that
SEO?Event calendar? Blogs? yup….just choose from any one of thousands of plugins BUT
you need to make sure that it is compatible with your
Version of Wordpress
The theme you chose to use
The builder you are using
Other plugins you might have in use
Everytime there is a new release for a plugin, theme, wordpress itself…. You will need to update the plugin. If the plugin fails and you don’t have a back up version of your website - You could be in trouble.
Brief overview of Squarespace
Squarespace is a closed source platform and, as such, It does not allow people to build and submit plugins. As a close system, it is going to be a much more secure option than wordpress. Because the UI is all developed by one company and you don’t have to install a bunch of plugins to get certain features, it is also going to have a much lower bar to entry. All the UI will be developed by the same company and it will adhear to a common usability stucture.
Because there are not plugins, Squarespace gives you everything already installed and ready to go….Simply turn on the features you wish to use. Squarespace also has a great support system. In Wordpress, I have had issues with support never returning emails or being discontinued or outsourced to teams that didn’t understand the product they were supporting any better than I did. With Squarespace, there are no plugins, just features. They are all built by the same company and that is the company that is supporting it.
Squarespace is also where your website is hosted. This is a big deal because if you decide to change or leave squarespace, you are going to have to rebuild your website. You can export some of the assets and content, however, the code is designed to work with squarespace and won’t work in other places. With WORDPRESS, in theory you can export your entire website - move to a new server, install wordpress, upload your website. I have to tell you, however, it is often cheaper and easier to start over than to move a website….that being said…. it is theoretically MORE possible to do so in WORDPRESS.
Squarespace has no heavy lifting required.
Simply select the plan that best matches your needs, build the site…turn on the feature you wish to use and, when you are ready, turn the website on for the public to see!
NO DIFFICULT PLUGINS - MORE SECURE PLATFORM - EASIER TO USE - GREAT OUT OF BOX FUNCTIONALITY - MOBILE READY - FREE SSL CERTIFICATE - EVENT CALENDAR - GRAPHIC ANIMATIONS & PARALLAX - ECOMMERCE - CUSTOM CSS & JS - BUILT IN ANALYTICS - MEMBERS SECTION - THIRD PARTY EXTENTIONS - MARKETING & SEO OPTIONS
The above shows just a few of the built in features that make squarespace such a popular system for our clients.
Squarespace is also extremely easy to use. While there are a lot of different tools and features available to you, as you can see above, all share a similar functionality. Once you understand how the main builder works, you should be able to update anything.
Why I like Squarespace
The main thing I like about Squarespace is that it is easy to use and provides almost everything my clients need right from the word go. The webpages are beautiful and easily impress. The system is feature rich out requiring a bunch of complex plugins to install or maintain. Your website will be beautiful to look at, and easy to manage and if you have issues, they have a great support team ready to help you.
Unlike with Wordpress, monthly maintenance does not require the same level of urgency. Squarespace will continually manage the features and introduce new ones along the way. There is no such thing as an outdated plugin. Maintenance ins Squarespace is more about making sure that your content is relevant and meeting your clients needs.
I also love that Squarespace allows you an extended trial period so that you can really get in and test out the functionality before you commit long term.
Extentions also expand what’s possible
We have already mentioned that there are no plugins with Squarespace, however they do allow the ability to connect to third party services you may want to engage. There are a number of extensions that are available that will allow you to connect tools ranging from business and finance, to marketing and logistics. There is a limited selection of third party tools you can engage when compared to Wordpress but it is noteworthy to mention.
What are some things I don’t like about Squarespace
Squarespace is super powerful and, dare I say FUN…to work with - However - There are a number of things I do NOT like about Squarespace. Here are some of the friction points I get frustrated with
As a closed system - Everything is really easy to use and super intuitive - UNLESS… you want to do something that is a little more edge case. If you want to work with Squarespace, you should really make sure that it does everything you want to do….IN THE WAY YOU WANT IT DONE. Meaning…. once you build your site, as I mentioned earlier, if something does not work for you, you will need to rebuild somewhere else. This means that Squarespace is not as flexible.
Examples of issues we have encountered.
Membership page: This is a great piece of Squarespace…It is also relatively a new feature. While it does the job of providing a membership area, there are a number of issues I have with their membership page.
Solution they offer are one size fits all… What you see is what you get. If you start to set it up and suddenly realize you need to have an exception to a business rule….You may be out of luck
While Squarespace accepts STRIPE & PAYPAL for their ecommerce options - You can not create a paid member area with PayPal. We had a client that moved his website to squarespace from another service and, at first, he absolutely loved it. But he didn’t realized that many of his clients prefered to use PayPal and chose to unsubscribe to his paid membership section because that option was no longer available. We had to help him move his website to Wordpress at a great expense.
trying to create a multiple tiered member section is going to be clunky at best.
The default navigation & access to members area can be confusing - I would ask any client that wants a members area to be certain that everything they want to do is possible before committing
SCHEDULING
Scheduling is handled by Acuity. It is a great scheduling option, however, it is also a one size fits all solution. If you want to do anything other than what it was set up to do…You are going to have a bad day.
The payment option that allows you to pay for scheduling - IS NOT PART OF SQUARESPACE - even though the two services work within squarespace - they are managed separately - This can be confusing and problematic if you need them to work together. It also means that you have to connect STRIPE & PayPal to both Squarespace….AND to ACUITY….even if your account is through squarespace.
DESIGN OPTIONS
There are a lot of really beautiful design options and you can even create minor exceptions with javascript, html, and css….HOWEVER - the farther you try and push the boundaries of the tool - the more problems you are going to have. This is SUCH an issue for designers that there is a whole other company called SQUAREKICKER that offers subscription membership, and it is dedicated just to finding solutions or creating hacks that trick Squarespace into functioning the way you want it.
LOCKED INTO SQUARESPACE
Once you start with Squarespace - like it or not….You are stuck with Squarespace. IF you discover something down the road that you don’t like - you will have to start over building in a new platform like WORDPRESS where you have the freedom to do things that are more scalable. Basically - if you want to use SQUARESPACE - you need to use it the way it was designed. THAT BEING SAID - IT IS DESIGNED REALLY WELL. For most of the companies we work with, Squarespace is perfect solution, allowing them to get up and running faster than almost anything out there. Many of our clients will never need more than what Squarespace offers.
Squarespace is probably best for
Artist
Musicians
Simple online or brick and mortar stores
Information based websites
Straight forward membership based website
Summary
Managing a wordpress website is a tough job. It requires setting up redundancies and testing upgrades to see if they work, before making them public. Sometimes a single builder that you thought was a really good idea, turns out to use too many resources and you have to find an alternate in order to expand. The company that created your plugin might go out of business leave you frantically looking for an alternative.
That being said…
The quality of a well designed and maintained wordpress website can really stand out from the crowd. You can do way more than you can with Squarespace but it will take a lot more work to get it done but…
You may not need a Ferrari to go to the grocery store…
Managing a Squarespace website is as easy as updating your facebook account. If you don’t need all the extra complexities of features that are available with a wordpress website…. then Squarespace might be for you. Security and maintenance does not hold the same priority is squarespace that it does in wordpress.
Squarespace is probably a great fit for you if you are a small business or creative person that has a limited budget and/or time available to invest in website management. Urban Analog started our account with Squarespace because I had limited availability to update and maintain the website. I wanted something that I didn’t have to think really hard about while I worked on growing our business. It has done really well for us. Still - there are times I would prefer to have been on Wordpress…..
