Squarespace vs WordPress in 2026: design, cost and who owns the site

Squarespace is the tidy, design-first option with everything included. WordPress is the open platform you can take anywhere. Here is how they compare, using Squarespace's own help pages.

Updated 27 September 2026 · 7 min read

Short answer

Pick Squarespace if you want polished templates, one subscription and very little to maintain, for a portfolio, a small business site or a simple shop.

Pick WordPress if you want to own the site outright, need more plugins or a bigger store, or plan to publish a lot. Leaving Squarespace later is only partly possible: its export leaves out store pages, product and video blocks, and your design.

Squarespace vs WordPress at a glance

	Squarespace	WordPress
What it is	A hosted website builder. Templates and hosting in one subscription.	Free, open-source software. You install it on hosting you choose.
Share of all websites	2.4%	40.2%
Free option	No free plan. A 14-day trial, no card needed.	The software is free. You pay for hosting and a domain.
Plans	Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced. Prices vary by country.	Depends on the host you pick. Themes and plugins are free or paid.
Transaction fees	2% on Basic, none on Core, Plus and Advanced	None from WordPress or WooCommerce. Your payment provider charges its own.
Leaving later	Partial export: some pages and one blog, as a file for WordPress	Take the whole site to any host
AI builder	Squarespace Blueprint AI	AI builder plugins, such as Dreamformer (ours)

Share of all websites from W3Techs, 27 September 2026. Squarespace details from its own help pages, listed in the sources. Fees are for the plans Squarespace is rolling out now; some older plans differ.

What it costs

Squarespace

Squarespace sells four plans: Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced. Prices depend on your country, so check Squarespace's pricing page for yours. Paying for a year up front costs less than paying month by month.

There is no free plan. You get a 14-day trial with nearly all features, and Squarespace doesn't ask for a card to start it. If the trial ends without a paid plan, the site goes offline and its content is marked for deletion.

Selling costs extra on the cheapest plan. On the plans Squarespace is rolling out now, Basic adds a 2% transaction fee to sales, while Core, Plus and Advanced add none. Card processing fees apply on every plan.

WordPress

The WordPress software costs nothing. You pay for what goes around it:

Hosting, which you pick yourself, from simple shared hosting to fully managed WordPress hosting.
A domain name, renewed every year.
Optional extras, such as a premium theme, paid plugins or an AI builder.

WooCommerce, the usual WordPress store plugin, is free and takes no cut of your sales. Your payment provider still charges its own fees.

Ease of use

Squarespace is one of the easiest ways to get a good-looking site. You pick a template or start with Blueprint AI, then edit in a visual editor built from sections and blocks. Hosting and platform updates are handled for you.

WordPress asks more of you at the start: a host, a theme and a few plugins. In return you can shape everything. Many hosts set WordPress up and keep it updated for you, and AI builders now do much of the building.

Design

Design is where Squarespace shines. It is known for polished templates, and its editor keeps pages consistent, so a good-looking site takes little effort.

WordPress has no single look. Your theme sets the design, and the site editor or a page builder lets you change it. That means more choice, and more room to get it wrong. An AI builder closes that gap: Dreamformer designs each page for your business and keeps your colours and fonts the same across the whole site.

Owning your site

Squarespace lets you take some of your content with you, but not the site. Its help center says you can export "certain content from your Squarespace site into an .xml file", adding that "this is useful for importing content to WordPress."

What comes with you: layout pages, one blog page with its posts and up to 1,000 comments per post, text and image blocks, and gallery pages.

What stays behind: store pages and product blocks, audio and video blocks, other page types such as portfolio, album and calendar pages, any blog beyond the first, drafts, your style settings and custom CSS.

So a move from Squarespace to WordPress means importing the content that exports, then rebuilding the design and the store. A WordPress site, by contrast, can be copied whole to any host, with every page, setting and file.

Blogging

If writing is the heart of your site, WordPress has the edge. It began as blogging software, and posts, categories, tags, several authors and comments are all built in, with plugins for newsletters and more.

Squarespace blogs well for a single blog. Keep the export limit in mind, though: only one blog page comes with you if you ever leave, so a second blog stays behind.

SEO

Both can rank. Squarespace has SEO settings built in and a clean setup that suits small sites well.

WordPress gives you more control: SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO and Rank Math, your own hosting and caching for speed, and full access to every page's code. For a site that will grow through search, that control adds up. On either platform, useful content and links from other sites still matter most.

Online stores

Squarespace has a built-in store. On the plans it is rolling out now, Basic charges a 2% transaction fee and the higher plans charge none, with card processing fees on top.

WordPress stores run on WooCommerce, a free plugin. You choose the payment provider and pay its fees, and WooCommerce itself takes nothing. One more reason to think ahead: store pages are not part of Squarespace's export.

AI builders on both sides

Squarespace has Blueprint AI. In Squarespace's words: "Tell Squarespace AI website builder about your business, project, or passion and get a personalized website starting point with relevant content and imagery already in place." You then refine it in the normal editor.

WordPress has AI builder plugins that work inside your own site. Dreamformer, which we make, builds every page, the design, the menu and a WooCommerce store from a description, and changes anything when you ask. The result lives in your WordPress, yours to keep.

Like the polish, but want to own the site?

Dreamformer designs your whole site inside WordPress, consistent from the first page to the checkout. Try Pro free for 7 days, or use the free plugin with your own Anthropic API key.

Start your free 7-day trial See how it works

Which should you choose?

Choose Squarespace if

design matters most and you want it handled for you
you want one subscription with hosting included
the site is a portfolio, a small business site or a simple shop
you are fine rebuilding if you ever leave

Choose WordPress if

you want to own the whole site and choose your host
you publish a lot, or run more than one blog
you need a bigger store or features Squarespace lacks
you want the widest choice of plugins, themes and developers

If you are unsure, ask where the site will be in three years. A site that stays small is well served by Squarespace. A site that will grow is easier to grow on WordPress. Also weighing Wix? Read Wix vs WordPress.

Questions

Is Squarespace easier than WordPress?

At the start, for most people, yes. Hosting is included and the templates look good with little effort. WordPress takes more choices up front, though AI builders now do much of the work.

Can I move from Squarespace to WordPress?

Partly. Squarespace exports an .xml file for WordPress with your layout pages, one blog, text and image blocks and galleries. Store pages, product and video blocks, other page types and your design don't come across, so you rebuild those.

Does Squarespace have a free plan?

No. There is a 14-day free trial, and no card is needed to start it. If the trial ends without a paid plan, the site goes offline and its content is marked for deletion.

Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?

On the plans it is rolling out now, Basic charges 2% on sales and Core, Plus and Advanced charge none. Some older plans charge 2% or 3%. Card processing fees apply on top.

Is WordPress better than Squarespace for blogging?

For serious blogging, usually yes. WordPress began as blogging software and handles categories, tags, several authors and large archives well. And if you ever move, all your posts come with you, while Squarespace's export includes only one blog page.

Which is better for SEO?

Both can rank. WordPress gives you more control through SEO plugins, hosting and code. Squarespace keeps the essentials simple and built in.