Squarespace makes building a website look easy. Pick a template, drag in your photos, pay a monthly plan and you’re online. WordPress looks like more work. So why do so many businesses still choose it?
I’ll be upfront: I build websites in WordPress and Elementor, not in Squarespace. So I’m not neutral. But I’ll stick to facts you can check, most of them from Squarespace’s own help pages. I’ll also tell you when Squarespace is the better choice.
Key Takeaways
- Squarespace is an all-in-one builder. Hosting, security and updates are included for €11–€29 a month on yearly billing (Squarespace pricing, October 2026).
- Moving away is limited. Squarespace exports only some content to WordPress format, without the design (Squarespace Help, February 2026).
- WordPress is yours. You can move it to any host and any WordPress developer can work on it. It runs 40.1% of all websites, Squarespace 2.4% (W3Techs, October 2026).
- WordPress needs looking after. Updates, backups and security are your job or your maintenance provider’s.
- Choose Squarespace for a simple site you’ll build and run yourself. Choose WordPress and Elementor for a site that should grow with your business.
The Short Answer
| Squarespace | WordPress + Elementor | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An all-in-one website builder | Open-source software plus a visual page builder |
| Monthly cost | €11–€29 (billed yearly) | Hosting from a few euros, plus premium plugins |
| Hosting and updates | Included | Your host and your maintenance provider |
| Moving to another platform | Only some content exports, no design | Move the whole site to any host |
| Bookings | A separate Acuity Scheduling plan | Booking plugins, built into your site |
| Multiple languages | Through Weglot, paid beyond a small free tier | Plugins such as Polylang or WPML |
| Best for | Simple sites you build yourself | Sites built by a professional that need to grow |
Sources: Squarespace pricing, October 2026 (EU prices), Acuity Scheduling pricing, October 2026, Squarespace Help: Weglot.
What’s the Difference?
Squarespace is a hosted website builder. You rent everything from one company: the editor, the templates, the hosting and the security. You pay a monthly plan and Squarespace keeps it all running.
WordPress is software. It’s free and open source. You install it on hosting you choose. Elementor is a visual page builder for WordPress. It lets you design and edit pages by dragging and dropping, much like Squarespace.
WordPress is by far the more common choice. It runs 40.1% of all websites, while Squarespace runs 2.4% (W3Techs, October 2026).
Where Squarespace Wins
Squarespace is good at what it’s made for. Here’s where it beats WordPress:
- Getting started. You can have a simple site online in an afternoon, without any technical knowledge.
- Polished templates. Squarespace is known for clean, well-designed templates that look good out of the box.
- No maintenance. Squarespace handles hosting, security and updates. There are no plugins to update.
- One bill, one support team. If something breaks, you know who to contact.
- Low starting cost. Plans start at €11 a month on yearly billing (Squarespace pricing, October 2026).
If you’ll build the site yourself and need little more than a few pages and a contact form, Squarespace is a sensible choice.
Where WordPress and Elementor Win
The picture changes when a professional builds your site and you expect it to grow.
You Own the Website
With WordPress, the site is yours: the files, the database and the content. You can move it to another host whenever you like. If you part ways with your designer or developer, any other WordPress professional can take over.
Squarespace doesn’t work that way. It can export some pages, one blog and text and image blocks to WordPress format. Store pages, portfolios, audio, video, product blocks and custom CSS don’t export (Squarespace Help, February 2026). The design never comes with you. You can’t even copy content from one Squarespace site to another.
In practice, leaving Squarespace means rebuilding the site. Leaving a WordPress host means moving it.
It Grows With Your Business
The official WordPress directory has tens of thousands of free plugins, plus premium ones from independent companies. Bookings, payments, memberships, forms and multiple languages all run inside your own site.
Two examples from my own projects:
- Miamor takes court bookings and card payments directly on its WordPress site, in Hungarian and English.
- Iberia Costa Consulting runs one WordPress site in three languages: Hungarian, English and Spanish.
On Squarespace, the same features come from separate services:
- Bookings run on Acuity Scheduling, a separate subscription from $16 a month on yearly billing (Acuity Scheduling pricing, October 2026).
- Multiple languages run through Weglot. It’s free for one extra language and up to 2,000 words. Larger sites need a paid Weglot plan (Squarespace Help: Weglot).
You Get Full Design Freedom
Elementor gives a designer or developer control over every section, on desktop and on mobile. Your site doesn’t have to look like a template, because it doesn’t start from one. That matters when you want visitors to remember you, not the platform.
Squarespace limits custom code by plan. The Basic plan allows HTML, CSS and markdown. Full customization with JavaScript starts on the Core plan at €17 a month (Squarespace pricing, October 2026).
You Control the SEO
Squarespace covers the SEO basics well: titles, descriptions and clean page addresses. WordPress goes further. With an SEO plugin, you control every title, redirect, sitemap and the structured data that helps search engines and AI assistants understand your business.
That doesn’t mean a WordPress site ranks better on its own. It means nothing on the platform holds you back when you want to do more.
Where WordPress Asks More of You
WordPress isn’t the easy option. It’s fair to say so:
- It needs maintenance. WordPress, its theme and its plugins need regular updates. In 2025, 91% of new WordPress vulnerabilities were found in plugins (Patchstack, 2026). Someone has to update them, keep backups and watch for problems. Skipped updates are a common way in for attackers. Here’s what to do if it happens.
- There are more moving parts. Hosting, domain, theme and plugins all come from different companies.
- Premium plugins cost money. Elementor Pro, booking plugins and some SEO tools have yearly licenses.
You can do this yourself in about an hour a month. My website maintenance checklist lists every step. Or you can hand it over to a maintenance plan, which also covers premium plugins like Elementor Pro. Here’s everything WordPress maintenance includes.
What Does Each Option Really Cost?
The monthly plan is only part of the picture. For a service business, the real comparison looks like this:
| Squarespace | WordPress + Elementor | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform or hosting | €11–€29 a month | A few euros a month for hosting |
| Bookings | Acuity from $16 a month | A booking plugin license |
| More languages | Weglot, paid beyond the free tier | A multilingual plugin license |
| Maintenance | Included | Yourself, or a maintenance plan |
| Building the site | Yourself, or a professional | A professional |
Sources: Squarespace pricing, October 2026 (EU prices, billed yearly), Acuity Scheduling pricing, October 2026.
The biggest cost is usually the website project itself: the copy, the design and the build. That’s the same on either platform. Here’s what a website really costs in more detail.
Which One Should You Choose?
Choose Squarespace if:
- You want to build and update the site yourself.
- A few pages and a contact form are enough.
- You’d rather not think about updates and hosting at all.
- You’re fine staying on Squarespace for the long term.
Choose WordPress and Elementor if:
- A professional builds your site and you want it to look like your business, not a template.
- You want to own the site and be free to change host or designer or developer later.
- You need bookings, payments, several languages or features you’ll add over time.
- You want full control over SEO.
For a service business that wants its website to bring in clients for years, I recommend WordPress and Elementor. That’s why it’s the only platform I build on.
Switching From Squarespace to WordPress
Many businesses start on Squarespace and move to WordPress once the site needs to do more. Here’s what a move involves:
- Content can partly come over. Squarespace exports pages, one blog and text and image blocks to WordPress format. Everything else is added again by hand.
- The design is rebuilt. It doesn’t export, so the move is a good moment to fix the copy and structure too.
- Your domain can stay where it is. You can point a Squarespace domain at your new website. To transfer it to another registrar, 60 days must have passed since you registered it (Squarespace Help).
- Old page addresses need redirects. Send every old address to its new one, so you keep your Google rankings. My website redesign checklist covers this step by step.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is WordPress better than Squarespace?
For a site a professional builds and that needs to grow, yes. WordPress gives you ownership, design freedom and features through plugins. For a simple site you’ll build and run yourself, Squarespace is easier because hosting and updates are included.
Can I move my Squarespace site to WordPress?
Partly. Squarespace exports pages, one blog and text and image blocks to WordPress format. Store pages, portfolios, video, product blocks, custom CSS and the design don’t export. The design has to be rebuilt.
Is WordPress more expensive than Squarespace?
The hosting itself is often cheaper. WordPress adds premium plugins and maintenance, which Squarespace includes in its plan. On both, the website project (copy, design and build) is the bigger cost.
Can Squarespace take bookings?
Yes, through Acuity Scheduling, which Squarespace owns. It’s a separate subscription from $16 a month on yearly billing. On WordPress, a booking plugin runs inside your own site.
Is Squarespace good for SEO?
It covers the basics well: page titles, descriptions and clean addresses. WordPress gives you more control, for example over redirects and structured data. Neither platform ranks a site on its own. The content does most of the work.
What is Elementor?
Elementor is a visual page builder for WordPress. It lets you design and edit pages by dragging and dropping, without code. It gives WordPress the ease of editing people like about Squarespace.
Your Next Step
Already on WordPress and Elementor? My maintenance plan keeps your site updated, backed up and secure for €50 a month, with no contract. It’s also available for Elementor sites someone else built. Every takeover starts with a health check. Tell me about your website. I’ll reply within 1 business day.
Tamas Pocs is a freelance web designer and WordPress developer based in Hungary. For 5+ years he has written, designed and built websites for service businesses (more than 50 so far) and looked after them once they’re live. See his work or connect on LinkedIn.
