Wix and Squarespace are the two builders most small businesses shortlist, and on price they are closer than their reputations suggest: both charge $29 a month for their cheapest plan that can sell. The real differences are in the details. Wix has a free plan and a cheaper entry tier that cannot sell, while Squarespace lets you sell from its cheapest plan but takes a cut.
Prices below are US list prices from each builder's own pricing page, opened from the US at the time of our last update. Taxes are extra on both.
Wix vs Squarespace at a glance
| Wix | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, with Wix branding | No; 14-day free trial, no credit card |
| Cheapest paid plan | Light: $17 a month billed yearly | Basic: $19 a month billed annually, $25 monthly |
| Cheapest plan that can sell | Core: $29 a month billed yearly | Basic: $19 a month billed annually |
| Store transaction fee | Not listed on the plans page | 2% on Basic, 0% on Core and up |
| People who can edit | 2 to 100 collaborators, by plan | 2 on Basic, unlimited on Core and up |
| Free domain | 1 year, new domain bought from Wix | 1 year on annual plans |
| Money back | 14-day money-back guarantee | Cancel any time; service runs to the end of the paid period |
Plans and prices side by side
Wix shows yearly prices on its plans page: Light $17, Core $29, Business $39 and Business Elite $159 a month, paid in full for the year. Wix says other subscription periods are available, but it does not list their prices there; you see them at checkout.
Squarespace lists both billing options:
| Squarespace plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $19 a month ($228 a year) | $25 a month |
| Core | $29 a month ($348 a year) | $39 a month |
| Plus | $49 a month ($588 a year) | $65 a month |
| Advanced | $99 a month ($1,188 a year) | $139 a month |
Squarespace advertises savings of up to 36% on annual billing; on its list prices the saving works out to 24% to 29%.
Yearly cost of each plan tier
- Wix
- Squarespace
Show the numbers
| Wix | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | $204 | $228 |
| Second plan | $348 | $348 |
| Third plan | $468 | $588 |
| Top plan | $1,908 | $1,188 |
Wix: what each plan includes
| Wix plan | Yearly price | Collaborators | Storage | Selling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light | $17 a month | 2 | 2 GB | No payments or store |
| Core | $29 a month | 5 | 50 GB | Store up to 50,000 products |
| Business | $39 a month | 10 | 100 GB | Adds automated sales tax (100 transactions a month) |
| Business Elite | $159 a month | 100 | Unlimited | Automated sales tax (500 transactions a month), priority care |
Every paid Wix plan connects your own domain, removes Wix branding and includes 24/7 customer care. Light is a brochure site: Wix's comparison lists payments, pay links, invoices and the online store as unavailable on it. Core adds all of those, plus abandoned cart recovery, automatic discounts and a loyalty program. If you sell memberships through Wix's Pricing Plans, the transaction fee is 4% on Core, 2% on Business and 0% on Business Elite.
Squarespace: what each plan includes
| Squarespace plan | Contributors | Store sales fee | Digital content fee | Card rate (Squarespace Payments) | Video |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 2 | 2% | 7% | 2.9% + $0.30 | 30 minutes |
| Core | Unlimited | 0% | 5% | 2.9% + $0.30 | 5 hours |
| Plus | Unlimited | 0% | 1% | 2.7% + $0.30 | 50 hours |
| Advanced | Unlimited | 0% | 0% | 2.5% + $0.30 | Unlimited |
Every plan sells products and services with no limit on the number of products, sends invoices for free, and includes unlimited bandwidth and storage. Core adds advanced analytics, custom CSS and JavaScript, and one Google Workspace account free for the first year. Plus and Advanced mainly lower the fees, so they pay off only once your sales are large.
Example: $2,000 a month of online sales on Basic. The 2% fee, which applies to products, services and donations, is $40 a month, more than the $10 a month extra that Core costs on annual billing. Once those sales pass about $500 a month ($700 on monthly billing), Core is the cheaper plan.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Wix if:
- You want to start free, or you need only a simple site with no payments: Light is the cheapest paid plan here.
- You want built-in loyalty and referral programs for your store.
Choose Squarespace if:
- You want to take payments from day one on the cheapest plan, and your sales are small enough that the 2% fee costs less than upgrading.
- You want to see both prices up front and try the builder for 14 days without a card.
- Several people edit the site: every plan from Core up allows unlimited contributors.
For most small businesses that sell something, the decision comes down to the $29 plans. Wix Core and Squarespace Core cost the same on annual billing. Squarespace Core gives unlimited contributors and unlimited storage (video is limited by plan); Wix Core caps them at 5 and 50 GB but adds a loyalty program.
Want full control of the design? Webflow lets you lay out pages much as you would in code; its Basic site plan costs $15 a month billed yearly and Premium, with a CMS, from $25. See our Webflow pricing guide.
Costs that are easy to miss
- Domains after year one. Squarespace says its free domain renews at the standard rate after the first year. Wix's voucher covers the first year of a new domain bought from Wix and cannot be used for renewals.
- Payment processing. Squarespace lists its card rates; budget for card fees whichever builder you choose.
- Monthly billing. Squarespace's monthly prices are $6 to $40 a month higher than its annual ones. Wix does not list its monthly prices on the plans page, so compare them at checkout.