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Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued) vs. Square Online

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AAdobe Business Catalyst was a cloud-hosted system for building and managing web content and online stores with a built-in CRM framework in addition to sales, service, and marketing features including eCommerce and Email Marketing tools. It has been end of life (EOL) since 2020.

    $10

    per month

    Square Online

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/ASquare Online (formerly Weebly) is a basic content management system with blogging and eCommerce features. It can be utilized for building standard websites or specialized webpages for online stores.

    $13

    per month

    Pricing
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Square Online
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Personal
    $13
    per month
    Professional
    $16
    per month
    Performance
    $29
    per month
    Free
    Free
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Square Online
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Pricing decreases when paid annually: Personal - $10/Month Professional - $12/Month Performance - $26/Month
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Square Online
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued) and Square Online
    Feature
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
    6.6
    14 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Square Online
    6.3
    21 Ratings
    18% below category average
    API7.911 Ratings6.316 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings6.317 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued) and Square Online
    Feature
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Square Online
    5.3
    30 Ratings
    41% below category average
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings5.330 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued) and Square Online
    Feature
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Square Online
    7.5
    42 Ratings
    3% below category average
    WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings8.735 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings6.638 Ratings
    Admin section00 Ratings7.338 Ratings
    Page templates00 Ratings6.342 Ratings
    Library of website themes00 Ratings7.042 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings9.341 Ratings
    Publishing workflow00 Ratings7.334 Ratings
    Form generator00 Ratings7.335 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued) and Square Online
    Feature
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Square Online
    6.7
    39 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Content taxonomy00 Ratings6.725 Ratings
    SEO support00 Ratings7.735 Ratings
    Bulk management00 Ratings7.320 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings5.632 Ratings
    Community / comment management00 Ratings6.329 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Square Online
    Small Businesses
    Umbraco CMS
    Score6.8 out of 10
    Umbraco CMS
    Score6.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Square Online
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Magnolia
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Square Online
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.0
    (21 ratings)
    7.4
    (43 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.4
    (10 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.7
    (4 ratings)
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.6
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Square Online
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    The service provision is good the accounts customer service is poor so I would struggle to give BC a better than average review, if only they could offer customers a better accounts service then the value would be much higher.
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    If you are having students create websites or information pages about something they are studying in class, this is a great option. The fact that students can spend less time getting situated and learning the app and get right to work researching and creating their pages is great. For middle to high school, this is a fantastic app to use. However, if you want more nuanced analytics or want students to focus on blogging more than webpage building, this is limited.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • Probably one of the easiest e-commerce platforms to work in, it does take setup, but compared to a lot of other e-commerce solutions, this is probably the best one that I have seen that can be designed and implemented custom.
    • Their template system works very well and allows you to create and re-use templates across Adobe Business Catalyst.
    • Their pre-built modules are great, giving people a great way to use common web elements without having to use a plug-in or find some solution, it is simply built in and generally works exactly as you would expect.
    • Adobe Business Catalyst is more of an all-around solution, providing elements that most smaller companies would have a hard time figuring out, since it includes the ability to build websites, send and track e-mails, analytics. It really is a powerful tool that would typically require a fair amount of coding knowledge and expertise but with the system already built, it can be easily modified and edited by those with limited or no coding knowledge at all.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Drag and drop interface makes it very easy to add all types of content, including images, text, video (and YouTube videos), embeddable applications and more.
    • It's very easy to set up navigation features like cascading menus and sticky navigation (where the menu stays put - may depend on the template chosen though).
    • A technical backend is fairly straight-forward for setting up a fav icon, 301 redirects, SEO, Google Analytics, etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • Multi Client Management: The dashboard for managing multiple clients as a reseller is a little difficult to get to. There is also no very easy way for me to manage multiple clients at once. I have to log into and out of individual client accounts to do billing or management.
    • Lack of Server support: There are certain server protocols and languages that are not supported using BC. For example I cannot build a custom php database and upload to BC. I am required to use their tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Weebly doesn't have a lot of templates to choose from, so if you don't have any experience with CSS or HTML, it's hard to customize your site to an extent.
    • Weebly isn't fully SEO friendly. They don't allow you to add H1 tags to pages out of the box.
    • You can't create folder structures when it comes to web page URLs. You can put web pages under a main menu dropdown, but they don't allow you to put all sub-menu items in a structured folder (like site.com/folder/page-1 and site.com/folder/page-2).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    Actually with Business Catalyst there is no renewal; once you are a partner, you are a partner for as long as you like. It is an investment in your business not simply a product you purchase...and as an investment in partnership with Adobe, both are committed to each other's success.
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Weebly is consistently adding features that line up with our needs. The ease of use makes it the perfect program for us since we have users of multiple age brackets and knowledge of web design. We love that we can give users access to only the pages they are affiliated with
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Discontinued Products
    Overall it is a "plug and play" interface. The majority of the work is done in other software interfaces. Managing billing, user roles and custom reports are all that you need to manage in the actual BC user interface. For my business this is an incredible benefit as I have to leave my preferred software less.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Very easy to use and intuitive to design after all of our business needs. From the website and POS system to how we represent ourselves internally and to our customers... Square is second-to-none in helping our business and others in our same boat become the kind of businesses we want to be when it comes to our inventory and sales of these kinds of products.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Discontinued Products
    very few issues with availability
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Discontinued Products
    Very few issues
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    The support provided by Adobe is excellent. Though the knowledge base, forums, blogs and online chat questions most all answers can be found. In the event that you are unable to find an answer or you have a unique situation simply post a question to the forums. These forums are regularly monitored by Adobe and its users.
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Discontinued Products
    bcgurus.com kiyuco
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Discontinued Products
    Pretty easy to do
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    As far as the CMS for BC goes, there is none out there that compares. In the past we have utilized Joomla, Wordpress, Mambo, Drupal, Concrete 5 and others. None of them were as easy to use and train on that Adobe's Business Catalyst. Our alternative to BC is WordPress when our clients want a less expensive solution. For the most part that works OK but we have had issues with plugin incompatibility among other issues. We lost at least two clients because of similar issues. The other great part about BC's solution is that we can still work with our favorite site creation tool - Dreamweaver. The whole process continues to be more and more simplified with added features to the system. No other solution (that we've found) offers such an easy way to create custom web sites that are easily editable by our clients.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Weebly's designs, plugins, and customization options are a little more advanced in some cases than other similar programs. WordPress requires a different level of expertise and knowledge of code, keywording, and plugins, so I wouldn't even compare them. Wix is a little more user-friendly because you can drag and drop your design, which was very convenient for customizing your site. I didn't personally select Weebly, but it is user-friendly and nearly anyone comfortable with a computer could figure it out. Weebly support is also pretty good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Discontinued Products
    It's easy to build small sites or large sites and there is lots of templating.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • As someone who uses it on behalf of other clients, our ROI with BC is definitely positive. We needed a mid-range CMS without huge licensing costs to satisfy mid-range clients who have some dynamic needs but doesn't need the expense or liability of enterprise level products. Without it we would have lost possible customers or taken bigger hits on projects because of the costs involved with satisfying their mid-level needs
    • Our clients are all usually very positive about the BC platform and are able to use it themselves which lessens our Support time/cost.
    • To use the Web App element,. which we do on almost every site, you need to pay for the highest plan. This brings along with it many features most of our clients would never use. A more basic plan with that Web App capability would be a big improvement on our costs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Weebly has allowed our business to create a connection with our customers by offering home decor, cooking and styling tips.
    • Weebly gives us the chance to relay information to customers regarding merchandise, current sales and promotions, store hours and locations etc. Which has helped increase business.
    • Weebly has given our not very tech savvy business the opportunity to have a website and stay relevant with our competitors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots