Shopify Plus vs. Squarespace

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Shopify Plus
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Shopify Plus is an eCommerce solution built for enterprise-level companies that enables them to sell online and offline across social channels like Facebook , Pinterest, and marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.
$2,300
per month
Squarespace
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Squarespace is a CMS platform that allows users to create a DIY blog, eCommerce store, and/or portfolio (visual art or music). Some Squarespace website and shop templates are industry or use case-specific, such as menu builders for restaurant sites.
$25
per month
Pricing
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Editions & Modules
3-year term
$2300
per month
1-year term
$2500
per month
Basic
$25
per month
Core
$36
per month
Plus
$56
per month
Advanced
$139
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details28% to 36% discount available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Features
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.6
Ratings
9% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
Product catalog & listings9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Product management8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Bulk product upload6.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Branding8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile storefront9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Product variations9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Website integration9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual customization9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
CMS8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.4
Ratings
9% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
Abandoned cart recovery7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Checkout user experience9.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
9.6
Ratings
15% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
eCommerce security9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.3
Ratings
7% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
Promotions & discounts8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Personalized recommendations8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
8.5
Ratings
6% above category average
Squarespace
-
Ratings
Order processing9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory management7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Shipping8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom functionality9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
-
Ratings
Squarespace
8.5
Ratings
5% above category average
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
-
Ratings
Squarespace
4.2
Ratings
57% below category average
API00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings3.50 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
-
Ratings
Squarespace
7.1
Ratings
8% below category average
WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Admin section00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Page templates00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Library of website themes00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Publishing workflow00 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Form generator00 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Shopify Plus
-
Ratings
Squarespace
7.0
Ratings
5% below category average
Content taxonomy00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
SEO support00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Bulk management00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings5.70 Ratings
Community / comment management00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Small Businesses
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Score 10.0 out of 10
ManageWP
ManageWP
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Shopify PlusSquarespace
Likelihood to Recommend
Shopify Plus makes order management simple and less error prone. Connecting our ERP allows us to seamlessly manage our product listings, fulfill orders, and sync customer data. Limitations to the number of product variants requires attention from our staff to make sure our products sync without issue. Other than being arbitrary, there's really no need to limit the number of product variants.
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We've found Squarespace perfect for quick, well-designed websites that you can literally design and launch in a day. However, if you want to get more complex with your website, including custom backend integrations or code, Squarespace presents a bit more of a challenge when it comes to what they will allow you to modify on their platform (especially using third-party integration apps).
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Pros
  • Scales incredibly well. Forget about hardware concerns, load balancing, downtime, etc. and focus on eCommerce. We've seen merchants go from a few thousand dollars per month to having million dollar days, all on Shopify without having to worry about performance or scaling systems.
  • Great new features consistently being added, ahead of the curve on almost everything
  • Solid API to build on and work with, a few annoying quirks here and there for super complex use cases but overall very well documented and works well
  • Most Merchant Success Managers are good and genuinely want to be helpful
  • A fantastic user interface, very logical and easy to use
  • Tons and tons and tons of out of the box integrations. Easily the best integration marketplace of the e-commerce platforms. There's an app for that.
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  • Squarespace is very easy to use, this is a super helpful thing as small business owners we have to wear many hats and being a full blown website developer doesn't need to be one of them.
  • Squarespace has quick and simple plugins.
  • Squarespace allows you to easily expand as you need to.
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Cons
  • The Account Managers/Reps have become more scripted and seem like they are busier and handling more clients than before. It doesn't seem as personal and special anymore like when we first upgraded to Plus.
  • Shopify still has missing features in their software that might not have an app in their app marketplace available that fills this void.
  • The 24/7 support doesn't seem as dedicated as they once were.
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  • Customizing the sites can be highly UN intuitive
  • Navigation for editing the sites can be difficult and frustrating
  • Squarespace has different versions and it's hard to know which version you're on. You can't switch after you start making a site with one version.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
It's a great CMS tool. Easy to use and maintain. It looks great and the support is excellent.
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Usability
Shopify Plus is intutive as stated previously. It's easy to find what we want and edit (reports, products, online store theme, etc...) You dont need to have a ton of coding experience to be able to get a website up and running on Shopify Plus. The reason I wont give a 10/10 and gave an 8 is because I do think it is heavily realiant on app and it can open up a can of worms with the amout of apps that are out there, their costs, and which one to chose. There are also some internal limitations as stated previously with discounts and personalized message for different customer groups. But overall, it is a good platform that I recommend.
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It's dead simple to use. There are no over complicated controls or tons of menus to screw things up. People with bad taste couldn't make an ugly website. While it may be frustrating for the pro designer to get exactly what they want, it prevents the uninitiated from making something ugly
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Support Rating
Always are quick to answer our questions and help us find a solution
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Help is available directly from the back end and uses full sentence searching to find answers to questions others may have asked before. With a ton of articles and support questions documents, it is very likely that your question has been answered. If not each page has the ability to open a direct email to support. Each case has a number and can be followed. Responses are often quick and have links and directions clearly stated
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Alternatives Considered
Shopify Plus is an all in one service. You are able to keep track of invoices and payments. Shopify Plus also offers options for shipping and connects your tracking number to you order which allows for easy tracking. Your tracking number is also a link which makes it even easier.
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Squarespace if much less work than WordPress, plus hosting and security are not an issue. GoDaddy and Wix are okay, but nowhere near the flexibility or advanced feature set that you can get with Squarespace. Compared to the other products that I have used, Squarespace definitely offers more options, customization, advanced features and design options than others, for a great price.
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Return on Investment
  • Definitely makes selling on multiple platforms easy, saving us time and effort.
  • Keeps all of our business in one place, saving us money on other apps to manage each aspect.
  • Automatically flags potential fraudulent orders, preventing us from accidentally shipping to a scam.
  • During our busiest months, we don't see any slowdowns, which allows us to go full throttle with all ads and marketing without worrying about whether or not the software can handle it.
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  • I can see how squarespace can improve efficiency since it's so quick to build a site on there.
  • For those who don't want to hook up a bunch of different stuff to their website and make it work...they most likely have whatever plug in you need and you can add it. Worst case scenario, they have developers you can hire who can make what you need.
  • As your business grows you can add an online storefront to your site and make more money that way! Easy peasy!
  • They have an easy system for adding special SEO words/phrases so you don't have to learn SEO at all!
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ScreenShots

Shopify Plus Screenshots

Screenshot of The home screen of your Shopify admin, including proactive home cards and reporting and live view insights.Screenshot of Your Shopify Plus store is ready for mobile commerce. Customers can browse and buy from your store with an optimized experience on device.Screenshot of Editing products across sales channels.Screenshot of Easily edit colours, typography, settings, and drag and drop sections for each of your store's templates with the theme editor.