WordPress vs. Shopify vs. SquareSpace

Have you noticed anything *shiny and new* around here? If you said, "You have a new website!" you WIN! Ding-ding-ding! (See the bottom of this post for your prize.)

Anyway...if you're in the market for a website, you might find this post helpful! I'm going to explain why, after over 6 years, I decided to make the switch from WordPress (and Shopify) to SquareSpace.

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Disclaimers:

1. I'm a designer, NOT a programmer. Though I'm somewhat comfortable tweaking CSS—that is, changing or adding very basic code to change the appearance of text, tables, images, etc.—I rely on my trusty web developer to handle more hard-core customizations. The comparison below is for non-coders who need a website for their business.
2. This introductory comparison is based on my professional needs as a designer. From most important to least important, my priorities are: a portfolio of my work, a description of my services (and point-of-contact), an integrated blog, and a simple shop that sells both physical and digital goods.

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For the past 6 years, I've used (and loved) WordPress. Last year, I started selling the Branding Workbook (and some digital content) online, so I opened a Shopify store. (I chose Shopify after comparing it to Big Cartel, Store Envy, and WooCommerce.) Until last month, I was maintaining 4 work-related sites in addition to my client sites. It was crazy! To save money and time, I combined content from WordPress and Shopify into one SquareSpace site (what you're seeing now).

Check out my chart below to see how the 3 compare (dots indicate the category winner):

Feature/Aspect	Description	WordPress	Shopify	SquareSpace
BEST PRICE	The monthly cost of running a professional website, including: domain registration, hosting, security, back-ups, plugins, etc.			•
EASIEST TO SET UP AND USE	How easy is it for a "beginner" to set up the website from start to finish? How intuitive is the layout and process?			•
HARDEST TO F*** UP	How easy is it for a beginner to create a website that looks as good as the template example?			•
EASIEST TO MAINTAIN	Back-ups and updates: How much time (and money) do I have to spend maintaining the website to make sure it's running smoothly?		•	•
MOST FLEXIBLE	What are my options for adding business-specific functions, changing the layout, or customizing the look of my website?	•
MOST RELIABLE	How much "down time" do users experience on average? How fast does it run? How well does it handle traffic?		•
BEST SEO	Can a beginner figure out how to optimize pages and products without a huge headache?		•
BEST TECH SUPPORT + DOCUMENTATION	How easy is it to troubleshoot? Can I talk to someone if I have a question? Is there enough online documentation to cover most of my needs?		•
BEST FOR BLOGGING	The best platform for blogging. Period.	•
BEST FOR E-COMMERCE	The best platform for running a busy online store.		•
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS	Blogging and e-commerce combined for a reasonable price in a clean, easy-to-use format.			•

PRICE

On-going cost was the primary factor that pushed me to switch to SquareSpace. It's true that you can create a personal WordPress blog for free, but a professional WordPress site is something else entirely. At the very least, you have to pay for a domain name and hosting, but if you want your site to be in tip-top shape, you have to add security scanning, back-ups, a secondary online storage account (for those back-ups), SPAM filtering, and more. All in, we were paying about $60/month to maintain akulakreative.com. Because websites are sooo important these days, that cost in and of itself was totally fine. However, when I added Shopify to the mix, that jumped to $90/month.

SquareSpace, all in, costs $18/month. The difference was simply too big not to make the move.

TIP :: SquareSpace offers some nice freebies, including a free domain name, BUT keep in mind that you could lose your domain if you ever switch out of SquareSpace. I highly recommend purchasing your domain name independently. (I've had a good experience with NameCheap recently - and it's cheaper than GoDaddy.)

SET-UP

WordPress, Shopify, and SquareSpace are each relatively easy to set up, and it's tough to say which one is truly the easiest. It took me a while to get the hang of WordPress, but that's likely due to the fact it was my first experience with a content management system (CMS). (Note: One downside to WordPress is that you have to set up a hosting account in addition to the actual website. This part is somewhat technical and may feel overwhelming.)

TIP :: It's really important to note that the ease of set-up is also dependent on the theme you choose (particularly for WordPress). Do your homework and choose a theme with the layout and functionality that works for you. (Psst...a responsive theme is key these days.) Read reviews (if they're available) and try to determine how much support the developer offers in implementing, using, and customizing the theme. (For my favorite WordPress themes, click here.)

The reason SquareSpace wins this category is because it feels the most intuitive. Like Shopify, hosting is included so you don't have to worry about the trickiness of hosting set-up.

LOOKING PROFESH

If you're not a designer and haven't learned any CSS, SquareSpace gets you on the right track. As long as you have pretty photos, your website will look sleek and professional without much effort. Of course, you can't create a kick-ass website if a) you don't care about aesthetics or b) haven't perused the world wide web recently, but the simplicity of SquareSpace will sort of "corral" you into making better design choices.

MAINTENANCE + FLEXIBILITY

On-going maintenance was the secondary factor that pushed me to switch to SquareSpace. I had grown tired of updating WordPress, themes, and plugins on a weekly basis. I held my breath during each update, scared the site might crash due to new versions not playing nice with each other. (Yes, that's happened before, and, thanks to my back-ups, I was able to "fix" things. But a crash is never...ever...fun.) With SquareSpace, the updates are done for me, and it's not my responsibility to make sure everything works together.

For those who use and love WordPress—AND to my clients who continue to use a WordPress site I designed—let me say this: WordPress is STILL great. Here's why:

1. WordPress is extremely flexible and customizations are limitless.
2. WordPress has been around for a long time, so free and affordable themes and plugins are plentiful. Shopify and SquareSpace are much newer, so when you need something to work a different way, chances are higher that you'll have to hire a developer.*
3. YOU have complete ownership of your website. If you need to temporarily take down your site or move it to a different host company, you can do that with WordPress. You have ALL of the files needed to make the site work. With subscription-based platforms like Shopify and SquareSpace, you basically lose everything when you stop paying. All the work you did to lay out pages or customize the checkout process is gone. (This was a BIG thing to give up.)

*If you're new to this whole website thing and have no idea what a plugin is, it's basically an add-on you can upload to WordPress in order to add a specific function to your website, like a slideshow, contact form, SPAM filter, etc.

TIP :: If you're considering WordPress, ask yourself these questions:

1. Will I be diligent about keeping my website up-to-date? If I don't have the time to do it, can I afford to pay someone to do it for me?
2. Will I need flexibility in the long run? (My business needs may be changing.)
3. Is there anything complicated or unusual about the products or services I sell?

If you answered yes to any of these, I'd definitely give WordPress some thought.

RELIABILITY

For me, Shopify wins this category. If your primary business involves selling product online, Shopify is awesome. It handles traffic like a pro, it isn't glitchy, and it's designed to SELL. If, however, only a small-ish percentage of your business is based on online sales (like mine), Shopify's $30+/month price is kind of steep.

On the other hand...

SquareSpace can be sluggish when uploading images (and sometimes the button hovering drives me nuts).

AND

If you don't know what you're doing, WordPress sites can "break" quite easily because they're made of many different parts designed by different people.*

*The speed of a WordPress site depends on a few factors, but it's mainly your hosting account. If you want it to be zippy ALL the time, you'll have to pay extra.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Most business owners are familiar with SEO, but not many people understand it. (I don't. I mean, I know some basic best practices, but the second you mention "algorithms" I'm going to run.) After trying various SEO plugins for WordPress, I eventually gave up. Shopify, however, made SEO easy-peasy. It automatically generated keywords and descriptions for each page and product, then allowed me to edit. I haven't mastered this in SquareSpace yet, but the fact it wasn't as easy as editing words in a little box, I'm putting it behind Shopify.

HELP! HOW DO I DO THIS?!

WordPress, Shopify, and SquareSpace each have plenty of documents and tutorials to help you create a website. Keep in mind, however, that it's the developer of your WordPress THEME that makes or breaks your experience. From what I've read, quite a few people complain they've had trouble getting a hold of SquareSpace customer service, so that's why Shopify beats it. (I never said this was a scientific comparison!)

Understand that patience WILL be required when trying anything for the first time, so prepare to buckle down and do a lot of googling. Sometimes it's faster to find the answer yourself than wait for a company to return your email.

SOOO...WHICH IS BEST?

If you're a blogger, I'd recommend WordPress, hands-down. If you want to open a LEGIT online store, I'd recommend Shopify. If you want to create a simple, beautiful website that also has a blog and shop, my new fave is SquareSpace. Yes, it definitely has its limitations...but the fact that is simplifies my life is pretty darn great.

BONUS!

OH!...and, not to be underestimated is the fact that I could move all of my WordPress blog posts to SquareSpace in a matter of 10-15 minutes. Comments, tags, and categories stayed intact, making my move much, much less painful. I haven't finished refining all of my moved posts (some of the formatting is a little wonky) but I'll take care of that over time.

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If you've gotten this far and decided you'd prefer someone else to do everything for you, drop us a line. :)

Or, if you're just here for the prize, click the button below for a free download of my hand drawn cactus wallpaper!

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