Wix vs Squarespace: pricing, editors, SEO and ecommerce compared

Wix and Squarespace cost about the same and both cover the basics: hosting, templates, a visual editor, SEO settings and a store. The real differences are in how much control each gives you. Wix offers more editors, more technical SEO settings and a free plan. Squarespace offers one consistent editor, selling on every paid plan and published limits that are simple to read.

As of October 2026, Wix's paid plans run from $17 to $159 per month billed yearly, and Squarespace's run from $19 to $99 per month billed annually. Squarespace has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. Wix has a free plan but its cheapest paid plan, Light, can't take payments, while every Squarespace plan can sell.

Neither platform is better across the board. This comparison sets out what each one does, using figures from each vendor's own pricing and help pages, so you can match the platform to your site.

Pricing compared

Both vendors advertise a monthly figure for a plan paid a year at a time. The table compares those like for like. Prices are US list prices in USD before tax, taken from wix.com/plans and squarespace.com/pricing in October 2026.

A few notes on reading it:

• Wix month-to-month prices aren't published. Wix's plans page shows yearly-subscription prices only and says other periods are available. You see the monthly-billing price at checkout.
• Both include a first-year domain on yearly billing. Wix gives a voucher with selected yearly plans. Squarespace includes a free custom domain for the first year on annual plans. Both renew at the standard rate.
• Trying before you commit. Wix has no trial on paid plans but offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on a first plan purchase. Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial before you pay.

Each Wix plan is explained in our guide to Wix plans compared.

Features side by side

Editors and templates

Wix

Wix has three editors, and which one you use shapes the experience. The Wix Editor positions elements freely on the page, and mobile is a separate view of the same site that you adjust in a mobile editor. The Wix Harmony Editor, released in January 2026, is automatically responsive and includes an AI assistant called Aria. The Studio Editor, part of Wix Studio, is a responsive editor with breakpoints, which Wix positions for agencies and enterprises. Sites can't be moved between the Wix Editor and the Studio Editor, so the choice at the start matters. We compare the two in Wix Studio vs the Wix Editor.

Wix lists more than 2,000 templates. Once a site is created you can't switch it to a different template. Wix's workaround is a new site on the new template.

Squarespace

Squarespace has one primary editor on current sites: Fluid Engine, a drag-and-drop editor where blocks sit on a background grid. Squarespace resizes sites for mobile automatically, and in Fluid Engine sections you can arrange, resize and hide blocks separately for mobile without changing the desktop layout.

On version 7.1, Squarespace says all sites "are part of the same template family, so every site has the same features and style options." The template you pick is only a starting design. Older version 7.0 sites work differently, and moving one to 7.1 is permanent.

What that means in practice

Wix gives you more freedom and more decisions. Squarespace gives you fewer choices and a more uniform result. Someone who wants to place every element exactly will likely prefer Wix. Someone who wants the layout system to keep things tidy will likely prefer Squarespace.

SEO controls

Both platforms handle the basics without setup: SSL, an automatic sitemap, mobile-friendly pages, and editable titles and descriptions. The gap is in how far you can go past the defaults.

On the Squarespace side, the documentation we reviewed doesn't describe direct editing of robots.txt or a per-page canonical override. That isn't proof neither exists, so confirm in Squarespace's help center if either matters to you.

Wix has its own constraints. Blog posts live under a prefix: Wix says "It is not possible to remove the 'post' prefix entirely, but you can rename it." Product pages use a /product-page/ prefix by default, which can be customized. Our assessment of the platform as a whole is in is Wix good for SEO.

Ecommerce

Which plans can sell

On Wix, selling starts at Core ($29 per month billed yearly). Light can't accept payments. On Squarespace, "All paid Squarespace plans let you sell products or services," including Basic at $19. The catch on Basic is a 2% store transaction fee on top of card processing. From Core up it's 0%.

Processing rates

Wix Payments in the US charges 2.9% + $0.30 for credit and debit cards other than American Express. Squarespace Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic and Core, 2.7% + $0.30 on Plus and 2.5% + $0.30 on Advanced, with a higher rate for premium cards. Wix also supports third-party providers such as Stripe and PayPal, which set their own rates.

Catalog limits

Wix Stores supports up to 50,000 products, with 6 options per product and up to 1,000 variants. Squarespace's help center sets a site-wide limit of 10,000 products on version 7.1, although its pricing page says there's no limit, with six options and 250 variant combinations per product. If you sell items with many size, color and material combinations, check your largest product against those ceilings.

Selling features by plan

• Abandoned cart recovery: included from Wix Core. Squarespace lists abandoned checkout recovery among the features on every current plan.
• Automated sales tax: on Wix, 100 transactions per month on Business and 500 on Business Elite; not on Core. On Squarespace, not on Basic; from Core it carries a small per-transaction fee capped at $0.99.
• Memberships and digital content: Wix charges a Pricing Plans transaction fee of 4% on Core, 2% on Business and 0% on Business Elite. Squarespace charges 7%, 5%, 1% and 0% on Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced.
• Point of sale: Wix has its own POS products. Squarespace POS runs through its mobile app, is US-only and takes payments through Square.

Neither platform's tax tools file returns for you, and none of this is tax advice. Ask your state tax agency or an accountant about your obligations. For more on the Wix side, see our guide to Wix Stores.

Leaving later: what you can take with you

Neither platform lets you download a working copy of your site.

• Wix: a Wix site has to run on Wix's servers. Wix says blog posts can't currently be exported to other platforms. CMS collections, store products and redirects export to CSV.
• Squarespace: site content exports as an .xml file in WordPress format. It includes layout pages and one blog page with its posts. It leaves out store pages, portfolio pages, more than one blog page, style settings and custom CSS. Products and contacts export to CSV, and images can't be exported in bulk.

Either way, a move is a rebuild with a redirect plan. We've written guides for both directions: Squarespace to Wix and Wix to Squarespace.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

• Squarespace plans. Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced replaced Personal, Business, Commerce Basic and Commerce Advanced. Squarespace says that as of February 2026 you can no longer sign up for the old plans, and that as of July 23, 2026 the separate Digital Products plan is closed to new sign-ups.
• Wix editors. Wix released the Harmony Editor in January 2026 alongside the Wix Editor.
• Wix SEO area. The dashboard section is now labeled SEO & GEO, and Wix generates an llms.txt file for upgraded sites with a custom domain.

Choose Wix if, choose Squarespace if

Choose Wix if:

• You want a free plan to build on before paying.
• You want free-form layout control, or a professional responsive editor in Wix Studio.
• Your SEO plan needs custom structured data, an editable robots.txt or more than about 2,500 redirects.
• Your products have more than 250 variants, or your catalog will pass 10,000 products.
• You need a multilingual site without a third-party translation subscription.

Choose Squarespace if:

• You want one editor and a consistent design system with fewer decisions.
• You want to sell a few products on the lowest-priced plan and accept a 2% fee to do it.
• You want month-to-month prices published up front.
• You need more than a handful of contributors without moving to a top-tier plan.
• Your content is mostly pages and a blog, and a WordPress-format export matters to you as an exit route.

Conclusion

Wix and Squarespace are priced within a few dollars of each other at the plans most small businesses buy. Wix leans toward flexibility and technical control, with more to learn. Squarespace leans toward consistency, with firmer limits. Pick based on the two or three things your site has to do well, then check those specific limits on each vendor's pricing page before you commit, because both change their plans often. If you'd like help building or improving a Wix site, see our Wix website services. More guides are in our Wix hub.

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