With the increasing price of web development, more people than ever before are turning to website building services to cut costs. In the past, website builders were limited in terms of functionality, often leading to issues with functionality or resulting in cruddy-looking pages. Today, things have changed for the better. 

Over the course of the past few years, three main website builders have become the most popular. They are Shopify, Wix, and SquareSpace. All three builders are noted for having great functions and being easy to use. They’re also fairly affordable for business owners. But, there are also pitfalls. Let’s talk about which one is right for you.

• Shopify has the best functionality, especially for online stores and ecommerce purposes. Unfortunately, it’s also the most expensive.
• Wix is the most affordable, but lacks many of the features that Shopify and SquareSpace has. It’s also the least customizable.
• SquareSpace offers a “happy medium” when it comes to price and features.

Each site builder tends to attract its own audience. To help you figure out which one is right for you, let’s talk about what each site offers you in terms of features, affordability, ease of use, customization, and more. 

Before We Begin: A Quick Guide To Each Platform

Let’s kick this off with some brief information about each website builder and how they came to be. This will help you understand why each platform is the way it is.

Shopify

To date, Shopify is the only website builder of the three to kick off as an online store dedicated to snowboards. The owners of the shop made their own tool that was meant to help streamline their online store. Eventually, that tool became their biggest product. 

As time went on, that tool became the website building platform everyone loves today. Since Shopify started off as an e-commerce tool, you can often find Shopify plugins for other platforms as well. 

Wix

Wix was the brainchild of three Israeli business owners who wanted to develop a website. They found the process to be costly, difficult, and hard to manage. They created Wix as a way to give people an affordable way to make their own websites without the need for coding knowledge. 

So, they always considered Wix as a website builder. The motto they started with remains the same. You don’t need any coding knowledge to work this WYSIWYG builder. So far, they’ve stuck to keeping things simple and affordable. We like that.

SquareSpace

Much like Wix, SquareSpace was originally conceived as a website builder.  This website builder started off as a personal tool for founder Anthony Casalena. He used it to create custom websites for his clients. After his friends made some positive remarks, Casalena decided to sell the builder as a product. 

Since those humble beginnings, SquareSpace became one of the most successful broad-appeal web designing kits out there. Unlike Wix, which tends to be more casual, SquareSpace was always about business. It shows. 

Shopify vs. Wix. vs. SquareSpace: The Battle Of The Builders

Now that we have our introductions done, we can talk about the way each one sizes up in all of the most common arenas. 

Themes, Templates, And Appearances

I’ll be honest. All three website builders can offer up PHENOMENAL results with the right themes. And all three are excellent when it comes to theme and template offerings. Enough said. You’ll be able to find a template for every small business here.

Top Choice: All Three, Tied.

Features

When it comes to features, there is one clear winner: Shopify. At the point of this writing, Shopify has well over 13,000 features and integrations that you can add onto your site. Wix and SquareSpace don’t really come close when it comes to their marketplaces. 

SquareSpace might not have as many features in its marketplace, but it’s still up there. If you are looking for more than the basic set, then you will find their selection to be a good one. The problem is that 3rd party developers can’t guarantee their safety. 

Wix, on the other hand, has the fewest features. However, you get 1-click integration. So, it’s kind of still a win in its own way.

Top Choice: Shopify

Mid Choice: SquareSpace

Bottom Choice: Wix

Pricing

Ah yes, pricing. This is usually the biggest issue that you will find when you’re trying to make your website on your own. So, here’s what you need to know:

• Wix is technically free if you want a super cheap website, but their actual prices start at $14 per month. Some plans can go as high as $500 per month.
• SquareSpace will start from $12 per month for a personal account to upwards of $40 per month. 
• Shopify Basic starts at $29 per month and the most upscale version has a price of $299 per month. They also charge fees for every transaction that they make ranging from 30 cents plus 2.9 percent of the costs.

As you can see from the pricing, this tends to be a massive span of different options and pricing styles. As a result, it can be hard to figure out which one is best. We’re going to try to go for the lowest possible pricing when we do our ratings here. 

Top Choice: Wix

Mid Choice: SquareSpace

Bottom Choice: Shopify

eCommerce Functionality

We cannot have an article about this without the proverbial elephant in the room. If you want to have an online store, ecommerce is going to have to be a major focus here. Ecommerce means that you should be able to make your online store easy to navigate, transactions fast, and that you should have SEO amenities to help your store rank.

Considering how each company came to be, it’s easy to see why Shopify is the clear winner here. Shopify “grew up” as a shopping platform tool, which means that it’s literally what their primary focus is. The knowledge that comes with years of experience translates into streamlined shopping setups and amazing knowledgebases for you to use. 

Though Shopify (and its massive fleet of features) is a clear winner, a close second is definitely SquareSpace. SquareSpace makes payments to your store a cinch and has its own capabilities. However, you’ll have to upgrade to a business account. It’s still a smart choice for fast payments. That’s because it’s associated with a leading payment processor.

Wix, too, has ecommerce capabilities. Much like SquareSpace, you have to upgrade to a business account to get all the features you need for a company. However, it’s still doable. It’s more of a secondary feature, though. 

Top Choice: Shopify

Mid Choice: SquareSpace

Bottom Choice: Wix

SEO Rating

So, we all know that search engine optimization is what makes it possible for your website to rise to the top of Google’s search results, right? Right. Well, in order to make it happen, you need to have a website builder that makes it easy. 

The good news is that SEO services have already ranked which builders are the best. So, this is pretty clear as far as the winners go.

Top Choice: Shopify

Mid Choice: SquareSpace

Bottom Choice: Wix

Customer Service

Even if you are a masterful web designer (who just might not know much code!), there will always be the occasional hiccup in your design platform. When this happens, you often will find yourself reliant on the platform’s customer service. 

I’ll be honest, all three platforms managed to stay top picks in the web design industry at least partly because of their customer service. This means that you can always expect good customer service. 

With Wix and Shopify, you get to enjoy 24/7 customer service in a wide range of languages. The only one that does NOT offer 24/7 support is SquareSpace. Surprised? So were we. 

Top Choices: Shopify and Wix (tied)

Bottom Choice: SquareSpace

Which Website Builder Is Best?

Honestly, we’re going to have to go with Shopify here---provided that you have the budget for it. Shopify is more versatile, has great SEO ratings, and also is one of the best picks for small businesses thanks to its ecommerce ability. If you cannot afford Shopify, then we’ll say that SquareSpace is the next best choice.

Should You Hire A Professional Instead?

Here’s the thing: even if you get the finest website builder in the world, it’ll have limits. If you want full customization of your website, you will need a professional web developer or web designer. At SavvySME, you can hire a web designer fast. So, what are you waiting for?