Both Weebly and Squarespace are among the most popular website builders in 2023. There are millions of websites built using these two platforms. They both have the fundamental tools to build a functional and stunning site. However, these two platforms have a couple of differences you need to know before choosing which to use for your website project.
This article will give you everything you need to know about Weebly vs Squarespace, including features small businesses care about, customer support, pricing, and more. By the end of the article, you will have all the information you need to choose from an informed perspective.
By the end, you should have a good idea of the best choice for your business needs. Let's dive in!
Weebly vs Squarespace – Overall Winner
Weebly and Squarespace are among the most reliable website builders today. They both have all the fundamental features you need to build a functional site. Weebly has a relatively shallow learning curve compared to Squarespace. It also has more eCommerce features, an app store for third-party integrations, and a slightly better pricing strategy.
Squarespace has an advantage in designing since it offers more mobile-responsive templates and a more robust page builder. Weebly is a slightly better option, but you won’t go wrong with Squarespace, especially if design flexibility matters to you.
Weebly vs Squarespace Templates
Most of the work you will do while developing your website will include customizing templates/themes. That is why choosing a website builder with plenty of different themes and customization options is vital to make creating your web page easier and faster.
Let’s compare Weebly vs Squarespace and see who comes out on top.
Weebly Templates
Weebly has over 50 responsive templates in several website categories, including blogs, portfolio websites, online stores, events, personal, and more. All their templates are customizable, including color scheme, CSS code, and as much design flexibility as most need, so you can easily achieve the look you want your website to have.
Weebly’s drag-and-drop editor can move things around while building websites. However, most of Weebly’s templates have a structured design that you cannot change much, so you won’t get the editing flexibility most page builders offer. The only advantage of templates with a rigid structure is that you can switch to another one even after publishing your site.
If you change your mind about the theme, switching to another without making many changes is pretty easy. Weebly also allows you to edit the code of your templates using Weebly’s editor if you have expertise in HTML and CSS coding.
More experienced web developers would appreciate this as it gives them the flexibility to change whatever they want about the template.
Squarespace Templates
Squarespace offers over 110 modern design templates in 15 website categories, including portfolios, photography, online stores, blogs & podcasts, professional services, online business, community & non-profits, events, weddings, entertainment, memberships, etc. Each of these templates can be manipulated to your liking.
Squarespace has an intuitive page builder that you can use to drag and drop images and other page content from one position to another. Squarespace’s page editor is also more flexible than Weebly’s, making it much easier to fully customize your site to make it look different from other sites that use a similar template.
Squarespace's templates are also responsive, so they will dynamically change the orientation of the content for mobile devices. The recent version of Squarespace also gives advanced web developers with HTML and CSS expertise a chance to access and edit their templates' underlying code.
Having this option is a plus, especially for users who want to add certain unique features that template developers didn’t. Like Weebly, Squarespace allows users to switch templates even when their site is live. After changing the template, all your content will automatically be migrated to the new one.
Winner: Squarespace
Squarespace is the better choice in the Weebly vs Squarespace battle regarding design. They have more than double the number of templates. Its drag-and-drop website builder tool is also more robust and gives users more flexibility than Weebly’s.
Weebly vs Squarespace – Features & Extras
There are several related features that you will find in a comparison of Weebly vs Squarespace. However, the implementation of most of these advanced features is usually not the same, and this could be a deal-breaker, depending on your preference.
These website builder tools also have unique features that differentiate them from the competition.
Here are some of the most valuable features that each platform offers.
Weebly Features & Extras
Page builder: Weebly offers an intuitive page builder that you can use to edit or drag and drop the different items onto your web pages.
Robust mobile apps: Weebly has mobile apps for iOS and Android that you can use to build, edit, and manage your site. This makes it possible to add changes to your site on the go. So, you won’t necessarily need to move with your computer to edit your site.
Mobile optimized: All the templates in Weebly’s templates library are responsive, so they will dynamically rearrange page content to suit users accessing your website using their smartphones.
Photo gallery: This feature allows you to add a photo gallery to your website with slide show capabilities and custom backgrounds.
App center: Through Weebly’s app center, you can install third-party apps to your business website, online store, or blog to further enhance its functionality. Some of the apps you will find in Weebly’s app center include Zapier, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, etc.
Blogging features: If you are running a blog or intend to integrate one into your site, these additional features will make adding and optimizing the content on your blogging platform much easier.
Embed video: You can embed videos on your web pages using a popular video streaming service like YouTube or Weebly’s built-in video player.
Statistic: Weebly lets you see your website's performance and advanced site stats regarding website visitors and how these visitors behave while on the site. These numbers will give you a clear idea of what you need to do to improve your site's performance.
Squarespace Features & Extras
Squarespace has several extra features to help business owners' websites stand out. Some of the key features include the following;
Page builder: As we shared earlier, Squarespace has a robust drag-and-drop builder that will enable you to customize every section of the templates to create professional-looking websites.
User management: Squarespace offers to have more than one user managing the site. So, you can add several people to manage your website but regulate the level of access each has. Access levels include Administrator, Website Editor, Billing, Analytics, Scheduling Editor, Reporting, Email Campaigns Editor, Comment Moderator, Viewer, and Store Manager. Many of these are similar features to WordPress.
Custom search engine: Squarespace offers a built-in intelligent search engine that will enable your website visitors to get accurate search results.
Mobile optimized templates: All the templates in the Squarespace library are responsive, so they will automatically rearrange and scale page content depending on your visitors' device to access the site.
Squarespace mobile app: Users can build, edit, and manage their sites on the go using the Squarespace mobile application, which is available for iOS and Android.
Blogging features: Squarespace has several blogging tools, including customizable layouts, scheduling blog posts, email campaign integration, podcast support, RSS syndication, RSS Block, multiple author support, etc. These tools will significantly enhance your blogging experience on your Squarespace website.
eCommerce features: If you are building eCommerce sites or want to integrate an online store into your site, these eCommerce tools will make your life much easier. Some of the helpful Squarespace eCommerce features this platform offers to include product merchandising, creating product subcategories, creating discounts, limited availability labels, order management, and more.
Analytics: Squarespace will provide all the basic website metrics you need to monitor your site's performance. Some of this data includes website visitors, page views, and how the different visitors behave while on your site.
Marketing features: Some of the core marketing features you will get on this platform include creating email campaigns, social media integration, banners and promotions, form blocks, marketing analytics, and many more.
Winner: Weebly
Each website builder has specific features needed to create a professional website. However, Weebly has a slight edge since it has an app center where users can download third-party apps and integrate them into their sites to boost their functionality.
Weebly vs Squarespace – Ease of Use
Ease of use is a feature that the best website builders share. Choosing a platform with easy-to-use tools will save you a lot of time for website editors while creating different web pages and personal sites.
Your primary focus on ease of use should mainly be the actual editor you will use to create the web pages. Let’s find out which of the two is easier to use.
Weebly – Ease of Use
Using the different tools in Weebly is pretty straightforward for beginners and experienced developers. With the page builder, you can easily add different items to your web pages by simply dragging and dropping them to whatever position of the web page you wish without requiring any coding knowledge.
Editing text and playing around with the various typography parameters is also pretty straightforward with Weebly. The fact that Weebly’s templates have a more rigid structure than most website builders means you don’t have to change many things while building your site. It also reduces the chances of messing up your page designs, which is crucial, especially for beginners.
Squarespace – Ease of Use
Squarespace has a steeper learning curve than Weebly. It has a drag-and-drop interface that you can use to build your pages. Its builder gives users more flexibility, meaning they have many choices to make, which can be a bit overwhelming, especially for people new to web design.
Squarespace also doesn’t have a built-in app store, so adding third-party apps to your website is not as intuitive.
Winner: Weebly
Weebly wins this Weebly vs Squarespace comparison category. Yes, Squarespace is also not a complicated platform, but it requires a little more time to get used to its tools when compared to Weebly. If two people entirely new to web designing are given a chance to use both platforms, they will likely have a much easier time using Weebly than Squarespace.
Weebly vs Squarespace – Security
Security is another crucial factor you must pay close attention to while choosing a website builder for your project. Both website builders are secure and meet the security requirements you would expect any website builder in 2023 to have. Here is Weebly and Squarespace’s approach to security.
Weebly – Security
Weebly has several security features to ensure all sites built with this platform are secure and safe for end-users and website administrators. Some of the core security features that this platform comes with include the following;
SSL certificates: All sites built with Weebly will automatically get SSL certificates to protect users from man-in-the-middle attacks. All traffic is 128-bit encrypted, so no one in between can access details of the data sent between users’ browsers and Weebly servers.
DDoS protection: This platform also protects sites against the rampant DDoS attacks that are common today. Weebly has systems that monitor all sites on their servers to ensure they are not getting artificially generated traffic that could overwhelm the site and prohibit legitimate users from accessing it.
Password-protected pages: Weebly allows users to password-lock the entire website or specific web pages. So, visitors will require a password to access such sites or password-locked pages.
GDPR and CCPA compliant: This platform complies with the international standards of user privacy.
One of the security features that Weebly added in 2022 was two-factor authentication. This was a huge security vulnerability resolved in the Weebly platform.
Squarespace – Security
Squarespace has the core security features you need to ensure your site is safe. Some of the core security features you get include;
Encryption: Squarespace uses SSL certificates to encrypt data-in-transit between website end users and the website servers. This feature is meant to protect the site from man-in-the-middle attacks.
Two-factor authentication: Squarespace uses 2FA to add an extra layer of security to its users’ accounts.
System access control: Squarespace users have all the tools they need to limit the different website managers' access levels depending on their roles.
Privacy Shield principles: Squarespace applies all the principles under the EU-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield Frameworks (collectively “Privacy Shield”) regarding applicable personal data. These policies ensure that all data collected from users is used correctly.
Winner: Squarespace
Both platforms have the core security features you would expect any website builder in 2023 to have. However, we like the system access control by role feature enough to give the nod to Squarespace.
Weebly vs Squarespace – SEO & Marketing Features
The main goal of building a website is to communicate and sell your products to your target customers. You will need a website builder with reliable Search Engine Optimization and marketing tools to make this possible. Let’s look at the marketing, and SEO features that each platform comes with.
Weebly – SEO & Marketing Features
Advanced email marketing with Weebly Promote: This feature enables users to use email campaigns to promote their Weebly site.
Action-triggered marketing messages with Weebly Promote: This tool uses AI to learn about the behavior of your website visitors to automatically send customized emails to them depending on what they are doing on the site.
Personalize marketing messages with Weebly Promote: Weebly has customizable email templates you can customize and send to contacts in your email lists. These templates are dynamic, automatically personalizing certain sections like the recipient's name.
Google Search Console integration: You can integrate your Weebly website with Google Search Console to help optimize its search engine performance. This tool can audit the website, rate your keywords' performances, and test how well Google can understand your content. You will also receive notifications of errors on the site.
Coupon builder: This is a unique marketing feature you won’t find in every website builder. Weebly’s coupon builder will automatically generate coupons for all products or the specific products that you choose from your online store.
Moz integration: Moz is a third-party SEO tool you can add to your Weebly site to improve your website's performance in popular search engines, including Google and Bing. This tool can also be used to assess content on the website to determine what is working and what is not.
Squarespace – SEO & Marketing Features
Squarespace has a wide range of SEO tools that will help you improve the visibility of your website in search engines and other marketing channels, such as social media and email.
Some of the core marketing and SEO features that you will find in this tool include;
Email marketing: Squarespace has several handy advanced tools to help you with email marketing campaigns. These include starter templates (over 30), a powerful editing tool, integrated email campaign analytics, and many more.
Social media integration: Squarespace integrates with all the popular social media platforms, so your customers will easily follow events on your site and even order your products directly through Instagram or Facebook.
Banners and promotions: You can use this tool to build important announcements such as seasonal sales, limited offers, or flash sales.
Marketing analytics: This tool will enable you to monitor the important KPIs of your marketing campaigns, including page views, unique visitors, traffic sources, etc.
Page title formatting: This tool allows you to create a consistent structure for how your web pages look in browser tabs, search engine results, and social posts linking to your content.
Image SEO: This will enable you to optimize and integrate relevant keywords in your image titles and metadata to make them search engine friendly.
Automatic sitemaps: Squarespace will automatically generate and link a proper sitemap.xml, which lists every URL on your site with proper priority for perfect indexing by search engines.
Winner: Weebly
Both platforms have most of the essential tools you need for SEO and marketing. However, Weebly wins this Squarespace or Weebly match because of its app marketplace, which has some of the best SEO integrations available.
Weebly vs Squarespace – Performance
Speed is a critical factor when choosing a website platform for your brand. You need fast load times, especially if you plan to have an eCommerce store.
The good news is that both platforms offer decent performance. But which is better?
Weebly Performance
Weebly has decent performance, on par with our October tests when we originally published the article. The total blocking time has dipped slightly, but no other performance metric has waivered much.
Squarespace – Performance
Squarespace platform performance dropped significantly in our updated testing. We ran the test multiple times. The Squarespace platform performed much better in our 2022 test, and the drop in performance might be a deal breaker for some businesses.
Winner: Weebly
Weebly takes the win for performance, as we saw Squarespace drop off in our March 2023 tests. Performance has to be a top factor in any decision, as Google rates it highly in its algorithm.
Weebly vs Squarespace – Pricing
Pricing is another factor that weighs heavily for businesses on a tight budget, startups, or other use case-specific instances where you don't want to overspend on your technology.
Weebly and Squarespace offer different pricing plans you must consider before choosing. Below are details of the plans each of them offers.
Weebly – Pricing
Free at $0/month: You will get unlimited bandwidth, 500MB storage, a domain name with Weebly ads, and support via email, chat, and community forums.
*Personal at $10/month billed annually or $13/monthly: Unlimited bandwidth, 500MB storage, connect custom domain name, and customer support via email, chat, and forum.
Professional at $12/month billed annually or $16/monthly: Unlimited bandwidth and storage, free domain name, Google Ads credit, and customer support via email, chat, forum, and phone
Performance at $26/month when billed annually or $29/monthly: Unlimited bandwidth and storage, Google Ads credit, more eCommerce features, and customer support via email, chat, community forum, and phone.
*Weebly updated their pricing, raising the Personal plan from $6/mo. to $10/mo. when paid annually.
The free plan is a free trial for anyone who upgrades later.
Squarespace – Pricing
Personal at $16/month when paid annually or $23/monthly: Unlimited bandwidth, free custom domain, 30 mins video storage, up to 2 users, etc.
Business at $23/month when paid annually or $33/monthly: All personal plan features, unlimited users, all marketing features, basic Commerce features, 3% transaction fees, etc.
Commerce at $27/month when paid annually or $36/monthly: All Business plan features, plus 0% transaction fees and more e-commerce features.
Advanced Commerce at $49/month when paid annually or $65/monthly: All Basic eCommerce plan features, plus more advanced eCommerce features such as sell subscriptions, advanced shipping, and advanced discounts.
Winner: Weebly
Both platforms have several plans, but Weebly wins mainly because it has considerably less expensive plans and offers a Free version. Squarespace offers a free trial but won't let you publish your site until you pick a plan.
Weebly vs Squarespace – Support
While building and maintaining your site, you will want a good support system in place, as there are many questions you'll want to be answered along the way.
Both Weebly and Squarespace have different ways you can contact them to get help.
Weebly Customer Support
Weebly’s support team is available 24/7, and you can contact them via several channels, including phone, email, live chat, and social media. They also have a help center with articles and an FAQ section that offers solutions to some of the most common problems that users face.
Squarespace Customer Support
Squarespace also offers 24/7 support via email. Their live chat is available from Monday to Friday, 4 am-8 pm EST. At the moment, Squarespace doesn’t have customer support via phone.
Winner: Weebly
Weebly has an edge over Squarespace in this Squarespace vs Weebly comparison category since all their support channels are available 24/7. It also offers phone support for its high-end plans, whereas Squarespace currently has no phone support.
Weebly vs Squarespace – Out of the Box
Weebly – Out of the Box
Once you create an account with Weebly, you can be up and running with Weebly quickly. To publish a live website, you must install a template and make it on-brand. Since Weebly templates have a rigid structure, you will not have to make many changes before publishing it live.
Squarespace – Out of the Box
Creating a website using Squarespace is relatively straightforward. You must create an account, install a template, and customize it. You don’t need additional tools to have your site up and running. You can publish a live website in a few hours with Squarespace.
Winner: TIE
Both platforms can be set up and have a website live in a short period of time. Weebly's path is a bit more cut and dry than Squarespace, but we don't see a clear leader in this category.
Weebly vs Squarespace – choose Weebly
- When you need e-commerce features at a lower cost.
- If you are a beginner looking for a straightforward website builder.
- When you need access to more third-party integrations to enhance your site’s functionality.
- When you want a free option or to pay less overall.
Weebly vs Squarespace – choose Squarespace
- If you want more web design flexibility. Squarespace has over 110 template options to choose from.
- If you need more robust drag-and-drop elements within a page builder.
- When you want robust capabilities and enhanced eCommerce features.
Additional Resources
Weebly vs Squarespace Wrap-up
Weebly and Squarespace are reliable website builder platforms, and your choice of which website builder is the better option will be based on the features you care about the most. Both offer features that can help build beautiful websites for your personal or business needs.
Your final decision will come down to the type of website you want to build, the investment you want to make, and the design and features you must have. Make sure you consider all investment areas before committing and use the free aspects of each to get a feel for which works best for you.
