Squarespace is cheaper to start: Basic is $19 a month billed annually, though it takes 2% of physical sales. Squarespace Core drops that fee and costs $29 a month billed annually, the same as Shopify Basic ($39 monthly on both). Pick Squarespace if the site matters more than the shop. Pick Shopify if selling is the business and you expect volume, apps and multiple sales channels.
Disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no cost to you. It does not change our verdict.
You have a dream: create the best ecommerce store in the world. Your idea is genius. Your product is beautiful. The brand name is perfect. Now how do you make your website? “Help!”, you scream into the abyss.
You hear from friends that both Shopify and Squarespace are great, easy ways to build a site. Shopify is usually best for pure ecommerce stores, ready to grow big. Squarespace, on the other hand, is typically for freelancers and small businesses that just need a simple website and aren’t selling products daily. So the quick answer: Shopify for growing an ecommerce store. Squarespace for independent entrepreneurs that have more of a service business.
But what if you’re somewhere in between? Perhaps you’re only selling one product. Does it even make sense to use Shopify and pay the monthly fee of $29/mo or higher? Or you like how easy Squarespace is and you’re mainly a service business, but you plan to add products and don’t want to get locked into the wrong platform.
This grey area is where it takes a bit more digging in. Getting locked into one platform is not good. You might take a year to learn how one works only to find out that it’s better to switch to the other. Migrating between platforms? That’s a headache on its own and you’ll likely cry at least once. So let’s do some homework ahead of time before you get #lockedin.
It can be very expensive to build your own site from scratch and hire a developer. Thankfully you have two stellar ecommerce builders to choose from, and making a choice about Shopify vs Squarespace isn’t a simple process. It’s important to look at several critical factors before committing to one platform.
Key takeaways
- Squarespace’s four plans run $19 to $99 a month on annual billing. Shopify’s three core plans run $29 to $299 a month on annual billing.
- Both charge an extra fee on the cheapest tier. Squarespace Basic takes 2% of physical sales. Shopify Basic adds 2% only if you skip Shopify Payments.
- Shopify is the stronger store. Squarespace is the stronger website.
Which one wins for your use case?
One of the biggest challenges that face anyone who wants to build a website that includes shopping cart capabilities is selecting a platform. You’ll obviously want to be working with a system that can deliver years of dependable service.
| If you are… | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A photographer, coach or restaurant selling a few items | Squarespace | Core at $29/mo removes the transaction fee and keeps design front and center |
| A new product brand planning to grow | Shopify | Built around checkout, inventory and apps from day one |
| Selling digital downloads or memberships | Squarespace Advanced or Shopify | Squarespace digital fees drop from 7% on Basic to 0% on Advanced |
| Running a large store with custom checkout needs | Shopify Plus | Starts at $2,300/mo on a 3-year term |
| Watching every dollar in year one | Squarespace Basic | Lowest entry price ($19/mo yearly), and free domain for a year on annual plans |
Not sure yet? Show me Shopify’s current plans or show me Squarespace’s plans.
How do Shopify and Squarespace prices compare?
Let’s quickly look at what you pay with each company, from the most basic plan up. Prices below are US list prices from each company’s own pricing page on September 24, 2026. Check the live page before you buy, since both change prices from time to time.
| Plan | Billed annually (per month) | Billed monthly | Extra transaction fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace Basic | $19 | $25 | 2% on physical products |
| Squarespace Core | $29 | $39 | 0% on physical products |
| Squarespace Plus | $49 | $65 | 0%, lower processing fees |
| Squarespace Advanced | $99 | $139 | 0%, lowest fees |
| Shopify Basic | $29 | $39 | 2% only with a third-party processor |
| Shopify Grow | $79 | $105 | 1% only with a third-party processor |
| Shopify Advanced | $299 | $399 | 0.6% only with a third-party processor |
| Shopify Plus | $2,300 (3-year term) | $2,500 (1-year term) | Waived with Shopify Payments only |
Shopify’s plan pricing can be anything from “you want me to pay $29 a month?” to “wow $299 is cheap for my million dollar business” (side note if you’re a really big business, look at Shopify Plus). While $29 can be a lot to swallow for someone selling their $5 greeting cards online for the first time (as a quick example), really when you compare it to building your own site on WordPress and hiring a developer, it’s a pittance. Let me tell you, just a few hours of development work on a WordPress site can be hundreds of dollars, about the entire annual bill for Shopify Basic, but I digress.
On the Squarespace side, I definitely applaud them for bringing cheap websites to the masses. Now…there are some out there that say this is still too expensive. Oy vey. I mean I get it, but if that person could see how far we’ve come in 20 years, this stuff just wasn’t possible. Competition is good, it’s brought cheap and beautiful website builders to us all. Commerce costs a bit more on both platforms, but ecommerce is harder, that’s for sure. It takes more support, more technology, and frankly there are more risks involved. And with Squarespace you only get the displayed price on the annual plan; monthly is more expensive.
Shopify also runs a 3-day free trial followed by $1 a month for the first 3 months on most plans. That is a trial, not a price. Budget for the full rate from month four.
What does the transaction fee cost you in real money?
Say you sell $2,000 a month of physical products.
On Squarespace Basic, the 2% fee is $40 a month. That is more than the $10 gap between Basic and Core, so anyone selling at that level should be on Core. The fee pays for the upgrade by itself.
On Shopify Basic, the 2% only applies if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. Use Shopify Payments and it goes away. Card processing still applies on both platforms. In the US, both charge 2.9% + 30¢ per online card sale on their entry plans (Shopify Basic, Squarespace Basic and Core), falling to 2.5% + 30¢ on Shopify Advanced and Squarespace Advanced. Rates differ in other countries.
Digital products are a separate case on Squarespace. The fee is 7% on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus and 0% on Advanced. If you sell courses or memberships, run the numbers at your expected volume before choosing a plan.
Ready to price it out? Show me Shopify’s plan prices today.
Performance: which is faster?
We have not run speed or uptime tests on either platform for this rebuild. We are not going to guess.
Both are hosted platforms. You do not pick a server, and you do not tune one. In practice, speed on either depends mostly on your theme or template, image sizes and how many apps or scripts you add. Keep the homepage light and both will do fine for a small store.
Ease of use
The most obvious contrast between building a Squarespace store and a Shopify one is in terms of ease of use. In general, Shopify should be thought of as the more powerful platform and Squarespace should be seen as the simpler one. For those who are coming to the choice as non-developers, Squarespace wins big points, especially for its ability to integrate with other types of functionality, such as services pages and blogs. On the flip side, Shopify is highly specialized for the online store sector.
Winner: Tie. Squarespace wins for simplicity, Shopify for being specialized.
Features: where does each one pull ahead?
Shopify is a store first. Checkout, inventory, shipping settings and a large app marketplace are the core of the product. Higher plans lower the third-party fee. If you plan to sell across several channels, this is the platform built for it.
Squarespace is a website first. Its templates are the reason people pick it. Since its plan update, every plan can sell unlimited products, so even Basic works as a small shop. Plus and Advanced add lower fees and more commerce features.
A quick look at Shopify’s home page shows they clearly are catering to ecommerce store creators, which is hopefully you. The quick highlights of Shopify: I love that you can have unlimited products (who wants to worry about that?), 24/7 support (trust me you need that), fraud analysis (not 100% sure if you’ll use it, but great to have), abandoned cart recovery, and a free SSL certificate. The cons: it can be somewhat of a commitment to pay the $29 a month if you’re just starting out, and there’s no free domain name.
Now look at how beautiful Squarespace’s home page is. They clearly get branding. They really focus on designers, creators, makers, and small businesses. When people don’t know where to turn to make a website themselves, they often go to Squarespace. The commercials are unavoidable, and the branding is burned into our brains now. You think GoDaddy for domains, Squarespace for easy websites. Like Shopify, you get unlimited products, plus a free domain name (with annual plan), SSL included (a must for ecommerce), and mobile-optimized templates (a given, but it would be a deal breaker if not).
The more advanced you expect your site to become, the more likely you’ll want to utilize Shopify. The tools it makes available also allow skilled developers to get a lot more done. Shopify allows a higher degree of customization. For those looking to get less into the guts of their sites, though, Squarespace may seem like a more appealing choice. This makes the platform especially popular with folks who don’t need much e-commerce capability.
Shopify has an app ecosystem that is second-to-none. Every day, third parties are creating new apps for Shopify that make the platform better.
The honest trade-off: Squarespace gets a good-looking site live faster. Shopify gets a serious store live faster.
Going international
Thanks to Shopify’s strong focus on e-commerce, the platform tends to have much better support for international sellers, in our view. If you’re looking to sell products to customers in Europe, for example, the ability to handle the EU’s VAT requirements is a big plus. Check the tax settings for your countries before you commit.
Support
When an online store goes down, it’s safe to say that you’re going to be a little freaked out and want a clear response as quickly as possible. Both offer help centers and ticket or chat support. We have not tested response times, so we are not ranking them. Shopify also tends to offer a larger community. You’ll have an easy time tracking down information from other users, an advantage that folks with some development capabilities will find interesting. Before you commit, open a pre-sales chat with each and ask one specific question about your products. The answer tells you more than any review.
Ownership and stability
Both companies are large and established, and neither is at risk of disappearing with your store. Shopify is publicly traded. Squarespace went private when investment firm Permira completed its roughly $7.2 billion takeover on October 17, 2024. For you, the practical risk is price changes, not shutdowns. Squarespace restructured all of its plans recently, and Shopify’s plan lineup has changed since 2021 too. Lock in annual billing only if you are sure about the platform.
Overall recommendation
My quick gut recommendation is that if you’re definitely going to create an ecommerce store, and ecommerce is the main portion of your business, go with Shopify. If you only have 30 minutes to decide, go Shopify. When it comes to choosing an ecommerce website builder, not just a general one, Shopify wins. I believe we’re seeing specialization win out here. Squarespace is great for the general website, but Shopify is investing in its ecommerce platform month after month.
Each system comes away the clear winner in certain aspects, but the differences in specific advantages will compel you to think about what your online store is now and what you intend it to be in the future.
Alternative (crazy) idea: is using both a good idea?
Warning: this is for advanced users. Most people should not use both platforms. I don’t recommend this if you’re starting out, just start one. But if you’re a crazy person, with a wild look in your eye, you might be able to pull this off. Shopify’s Buy Button can be embedded on other sites, including Squarespace. If you’re happy with an existing Squarespace site, rather than trying to transition a whole site over to Shopify, you may simply want to build a store or cart subdomain that utilizes the platform while keeping everything else on Squarespace. Again, I’d rather you pick just one. But it is possible to jerry-rig a system together like an old pirate and make both work.
Alternative: Webflow
Another website builder product that’s been gaining a lot of traction is Webflow. It’s essentially a more advanced website builder that’s highly flexible and built for visual designers. Although a bit more complex than the above two products, many people absolutely love it. Read some reviews, then start testing out the product yourself.
Verdict by reader type
- You mainly need a website and sell a little on the side: Squarespace Core. It is Squarespace’s cheapest plan with no fee on physical sales.
- You are building a product business: Shopify Basic, with Shopify Payments turned on so the third-party fee never applies.
- You sell digital products at volume: compare Squarespace Advanced against Shopify at your real monthly revenue. The fee math decides it.
- Who should not pick Squarespace: stores that need deep inventory, multi-channel selling or a big app ecosystem.
- Who should not pick Shopify: a portfolio or service site with a handful of products. You would pay for store tools you never touch.
Show me Shopify’s current plans
FAQ
Is Squarespace cheaper than Shopify?
At the entry level, yes. Squarespace Basic is $19 a month on annual billing, while Shopify Basic is $29. Squarespace Core, which drops the 2% fee on physical sales, costs the same $29.
Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?
Only on the Basic plan for physical products (2%). Core, Plus and Advanced charge no transaction fee on physical products. Digital products carry a separate fee on Basic, Core and Plus (7%, 5% and 1%).
Does Shopify charge transaction fees?
Only if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. Then it adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced.
Can I move from Squarespace to Shopify later?
Yes, but expect to rebuild the design. Migrating between platforms is a headache on its own, which is why it pays to do some homework ahead of time. Templates do not carry across platforms, so budget time for a new theme and for re-checking every product page.
Which is better for beginners?
For those who are coming to the choice as non-developers, Squarespace wins big points. Squarespace, if you want a site that looks finished quickly. Shopify, if you want a store and are willing to spend an evening on setup.
Sources
- Squarespace pricing
- Squarespace Help Center: Choosing the right Squarespace plan
- Squarespace Help Center: Selling on the Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced plans
- Squarespace blog: Updates to Squarespace website plans
- Squarespace Help Center: Digital Products pricing
- Squarespace: Permira completes acquisition of Squarespace
- Shopify pricing
- Shopify Plus pricing
- Shopify Help Center: Pricing plans and billing overview
Related
Update log
- : Rewrote and fact-checked the page: the first full update since 2021. Kept Joe’s original writing where it still holds.
- : Prices and facts checked against the cited sources, read September 24, 2026.
