Best Squarespace alternatives for small business in 2026

Squarespace does many things well. It is easy to set up, and its templates look good. People who search for "Squarespace alternatives", "Squarespace competitors" or "websites like Squarespace" are usually running into something specific.

• Store fees. On the Basic plan Squarespace charges a 2% fee on online sales. Higher plans do not.
• Design and code limits. Advanced code and code injection are not on the Basic plan.
• SEO and growth. Some businesses want more control over structure, plugins and technical settings.
• Cost. Plans add up once you need more features.
• Outgrowing the template. A site that must do more than a brochure can feel boxed in.

How we compared them

We checked each platform's public pricing page on 26 October 2026 and focused on what a small business needs: price, setup effort, store features, and room to grow. Prices change often and vary by region and billing term.

Here is the short version. Details and prices follow in each section.

• Wix suits owners who want an easy drag-and-drop builder and a free plan to try.
• WordPress suits those who want flexibility and control and can handle some upkeep.
• Shopify suits businesses whose main job is selling products online.
• Webflow suits designers and teams who want precise control of how the site looks.
• GoDaddy suits owners who want a quick, simple site and may already use GoDaddy for their domain.

If you are still choosing, the table below gives starting prices.

For reference, Squarespace's pricing page lists four plans. On annual billing they are Basic $19, Core $29, Plus $49 and Advanced $99 a month. Paying month to month is $25, $39, $65 and $139. There is a 14-day trial with no card required.

The Basic plan charges a 2% fee on online store sales and does not include advanced code. Core and above have no store fee. Compare any alternative against the plan you would actually need, not the cheapest one.

"Wix vs Squarespace" is the most searched comparison in this space, and for good reason. Both are all-in-one builders.

• Price. Wix's page lists a free plan and paid plans from about $18 a month (Light), about $30 (Core, with basic ecommerce) and about $40 (Business). Prices shown vary by region and billing term.
• Ease. Wix has a drag-and-drop editor and thousands of templates.
• Stores. Ecommerce starts on the Core plan.
• Watch for. Free and lower plans are limited, and you need a paid plan to connect your own domain.

Choose Wix if

You want an easy builder and a free plan to try. Think twice if you expect to grow into complex features, because you will be working inside Wix's tools.

There are two versions. WordPress.com is a hosted service with plans from free, then Personal $4, Premium $8, Business $25 and Commerce $45 a month billed yearly. WordPress.org is free software you install on your own hosting.

• Flexibility. Thousands of plugins and themes. Business and Commerce plans on WordPress.com add developer tools such as SFTP/SSH and Git.
• Ecommerce. Commerce plan offers WooCommerce, with unlimited products and 0% transaction fee on WordPress.com.
• Upkeep. On self-hosted WordPress you handle updates, security and backups, or pay someone to.

What about SEO?

"Squarespace vs WordPress SEO" is searched often. Every major platform can handle titles, meta descriptions, sitemaps and redirects. WordPress usually gives the most control over structure and technical settings, which matters more as a site grows. Content quality and clear pages still matter more than the platform.

Shopify is made for selling. Its Basic plan is $29 a month on yearly billing ($39 monthly), with online card rates from 2.9% plus 30¢. Grow is $79 and Advanced $299 billed yearly. Shopify's page also lists a trial of 3 days then $1 a month for 3 months, which it says most plans follow.

• Choose Shopify if products, inventory and checkout are the core of your business.
• Think twice if you mostly offer services or run a brochure site, because you would pay for store tools you do not use. Third-party payment gateways carry an extra fee.

Squarespace can sell, too, and on its Core plan and above it takes no store fee. For a small catalog it may be enough. For a growing shop, Shopify's store tools are deeper.

Webflow is a visual builder that works closer to design and code than a template tool. Its site plans are listed from $15 a month billed yearly, with a CMS plan from $25 and ecommerce plans from $29 (Standard), $74 (Plus) and $212 (Advanced), all billed yearly. A free Starter plan is also available.

• Choose Webflow if you or your designer want fine control of layout and a structured CMS.
• Think twice if you want to set up and edit the site yourself without learning how it works.

Webflow is often used by agencies. If you would rather have someone build it, talk to us about a custom site.

"GoDaddy vs Squarespace" is another frequent comparison. GoDaddy's website builder page says you can start free, with 50 AI credits a month and no card required. It lists a free domain with annual plans, built-in SEO tools on all plans, and online stores with GoDaddy Payments. It does not list plan prices on that page, so check GoDaddy's pricing page before you decide.

• Choose GoDaddy if you want a quick, simple site and already manage your domain there.
• Think twice if design flexibility or a large content site matters, because simple builders limit how far you can take it.

A website builder is a sensible choice for many small businesses, and we say so even though we build custom sites. A custom build starts to make sense when:

• Your site is a main source of leads and needs to load fast and rank.
• You need features a builder cannot do well: custom booking, calculators, integrations.
• You want full ownership of your code and no per-month platform limits.
• Your brand needs a design that templates cannot match.

We cover this in more detail in our guide to what a website redesign costs. If you want a custom site built to rank on Google and be read by AI tools, see our website design and development service.

1. List your URLs. Export every page and blog post and note which ones get traffic.
2. Keep URLs the same where you can. Platforms format URLs differently, so check each one on the new site.
3. Set 301 redirects. Send each old URL to its closest match, not to the home page.
4. Move content and images. Check that headings, alt text and links survive the move.
5. Keep your domain. Do not cancel Squarespace until the new site is live and the domain points to it.
6. Submit your sitemap. Use Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, then watch for crawl errors for several weeks.

Our website redesign cost guide explains how to protect your rankings during a move.

Answer three questions.

1. What is the site for? Selling products points to Shopify. A brochure or lead site points to Wix, WordPress or a custom build.
2. Who will edit it? If you, choose a builder. If a developer, WordPress or Webflow.
3. How much will it grow? A site that will need integrations and many pages favors WordPress, Webflow or a custom build.

Whatever you pick, compare the plan you need, not the headline price, and read the store fees before you commit.