wix vs squarespace
Wix vs Squarespace — features, pricing, and which to choose for your SEO workflow in 2026.
Quick Verdict
Both Wix and Squarespace have evolved far beyond their early reputation as SEO-unfriendly website builders. Today, they represent two different philosophies: Wix focuses on feature breadth and accessibility, while Squarespace prioritizes design quality and clean code output.
The choice between them often comes down to whether you need Wix's expanding SEO toolkit and customization options, or prefer Squarespace's streamlined approach with superior template design and cleaner technical foundation.
Feature Comparison
Wix takes the lead in pure SEO functionality with its dedicated SEO Wiz assistant that provides step-by-step optimization guidance, built-in schema markup options, and advanced SEO settings panels. The platform now offers custom meta tags, structured data implementation, and better URL customization than previous versions. Wix also provides more granular control over redirects, canonical tags, and robots.txt files. Squarespace counters with superior technical SEO foundations — cleaner HTML output, better Core Web Vitals performance out of the box, and automatic SSL certificates. Their templates generate more semantic markup naturally, and the platform handles technical SEO basics like sitemaps, mobile optimization, and page speed more elegantly. However, Squarespace offers fewer manual SEO controls and customization options compared to Wix's expanding toolkit.
Pricing Comparison
Wix starts at $17/month with a free tier available, giving you access to basic SEO features and Wix branding. Their premium plans scale up to include more storage, premium apps, and advanced SEO tools. The free tier is genuinely functional for testing, though it comes with Wix ads and limited customization. Squarespace begins at $16/month with no free option, but every paid plan includes SSL, professional templates, and core SEO features without upgrade pressure. Squarespace's pricing is more straightforward — what you see is what you get, with fewer upsells for essential features that Wix often gates behind higher tiers or app purchases.
Best For
Wix is better for users who want maximum control over their SEO strategy, need extensive customization options, or prefer guided optimization through tools like SEO Wiz. It's ideal for small businesses that plan to heavily optimize their sites over time and want access to a vast app marketplace for additional functionality. The free tier also makes it perfect for testing and learning. Squarespace excels for design-conscious businesses that want professional-looking sites with solid SEO foundations without extensive manual optimization. It's the better choice for creative professionals, restaurants, and service businesses where visual appeal matters more than deep SEO customization. The platform's cleaner code and better performance also benefit sites targeting competitive search terms.
The Verdict
Choose Wix if SEO features and customization flexibility matter more than perfect design — its SEO toolkit is genuinely more comprehensive and the free tier lets you test everything. Choose Squarespace if you prioritize design quality and prefer a platform that handles technical SEO well by default without requiring constant tweaking. For most small businesses, Wix's feature advantage outweighs Squarespace's design polish.