In this post, I’ll compare Squarespace vs Bluehost side by side. They’re both wonderful platforms, but each has its own set of features as well as advantages and disadvantages. So which is better?
If you’ve been looking for a reputable hosting company for your new website or blog, you’ve probably come across Bluehost and Squarespace.
If you want to know which one to choose upfront, it’s going to be personal choice.
However, if you’re in it for the long term then you need to host your own website with WordPress. Using Bluehost will allow you to do this. Bluehost is what I use for a large number of my websites.
Squarespace vs Bluehost: Their Main Differences
The main difference between Bluehost and Squarespace is that Squarespace is a website builder that also provides hosting. Bluehost is a hosting company that also provides website builders. Crazy, I know.
The following are some of the other differences between Bluehost and Squarespace:
- Bluehost does not provide monthly payment options, but Squarespace allows you to pay for the service either monthly or annually.
- Squarespace is an all-in-one hosting service and website builder, whereas Bluehost is a hosting provider.
- Bluehost is a low-cost alternative, but Squarespace is considerably more costly.
- Bluehost with WordPress will have a slight learning curve if you are a total newbie. Squarespace is meant for anybody to use.
- Squarespace features built-in email marketing capabilities, whereas Bluehost requires a third-party email service.
- With WordPress, Bluehost is totally customizable, but Squarespace has certain limits regarding site design.
Choosing a host for your website may be difficult
Especially with so many alternatives available.
Features to reduce threats to your material and personal data, cost (which might be critical if you’re just getting started), flexibility, uptime, page loading speeds, and simplicity of use are all things to consider when choosing a host.
Factors like uptime and page loading speeds may not seem essential at first, but consider this:
When page loading rates increase from 1 second to 3 seconds, the likelihood of your visitors abandoning the website and going elsewhere increases by 32%, which may have a significant impact on your bottom line.
We’ll compare Bluehost and Squarespace side by side in this comparison to see how they compare in each of these categories and help you determine which choice is best for you and your business.
I use Bluehost for a number of my smaller sites. This one has grown and I actually moved it over to WPX – you can read about that switch here.
All About Squarespace
Squarespace is an all-in-one software as a service platform that enables anybody to quickly and simply create their own blog, website, or e-commerce store.
It has everything you could possibly need to manage an online company in one location, and it’s a wonderful option for novices because it doesn’t require any prior website construction or coding expertise. The CMS (Content Management System) is straightforward to use.
Both Squarespace and Bluehost started in 2003, and millions of websites have been developed and launched on the platform since then. Squarespace is a multinational corporation with offices in New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Dublin, Ireland.
But unlike Bluehost, Squarespace is a standalone website builder with hosting included.
The Key Features of Squarespace
- Drag and Drop page builder
- Modern Templates
- eCommerce
- Custom CSS
- Extensions available
- Mobile responsive
- Email campaigns
- Free Google and Typekit fonts
- Blogging
- Template Switching
- SEO Friendly
- Video Backgrounds
- Commenting system
- Audio Collections
- Galleries and Display effects
- Multiple contributors
- Custom Site Search engine
- Analytics
- 24/7 email support
- Logo builder
- Developer platform with complete code control
- G Suite Integration
- You get a complimentary domain for the first year with all annual accounts
- Chat support
How easy is Squarespace to use?
Squarespace makes it very simple to create a website. You don’t need any prior expertise, and all of the tools you’ll need are there in one spot. There is an extensive collection of templates to select from, including templates for various sectors.
You can easily modify the colors, fonts and add your logo and photos to each design using the drag and drop page builder until your site is exactly as you want it to be. All of the templates are totally responsive, which means they’ll look fantastic on any device.
Squarespace websites come with robust blogging features, allowing you to share the latest news, make announcements, and post anything else you want to share with your audience. You can classify your blog articles and even schedule them to be live at a specific time and date.
Squarespace provides everything you need to list your items and accept payments if you want to start an online store. You may incorporate videos of your items on your website, and there are no restrictions on the number of things you can offer.
Squarespace is a wonderful choice for anybody who wants to sell subscriptions or services since it provides built-in booking and scheduling tools, as well as flexible payment and checkout options.
Squarespace includes email marketing tools that let you create attractive email campaigns to deliver to your subscribers. There are several email templates to select from. All of these templates are completely responsive and can be customized to match your website’s design to keep your message and branding consistent.
You may also use Squarespace’s logo builder to design your own logo. Anyone on one of Squarespace’s plans may utilize this functionality for free. Simply type up your company name and slogan, then choose an icon to go with it and download it to use as you like.
How safe is Squarespace to use?
Squarespace has its own hosting security team in charge of creating, executing, and managing its information security approach. They have a well-defined catastrophe recovery plan that is tested at least once a year, with the findings documented and kept on file.
Squarespace implements the following security precautions at the application level:
- WAF (Web Application Firewall) Technology
- Hashing passwords for user accounts
- Regular pen testing on the Squarespace platform
- Providing SSL certificates
What’s customer support like with Squarespace?
The Squarespace platform offers a wealth of assistance, including a dedicated ‘help’ section on the website where you can type in your question and find a rapid answer.
There are comprehensive instructions for everything you need to know about Squarespace and video workshops that teach you through the many aspects of creating a website using Squarespace.
There’s also a community forum where you can ask questions about advanced customizations and join up for interactive webinars where a Squarespace professional will walk you through all you need to know about constructing a Squarespace website.
If the help section isn’t enough to answer your questions, you may contact the support staff by email 24 hours a day, seven days a week from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, or live chat Monday through Friday from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Squarespace has received a lot of conflicting feedback from customers. Many reviews complain about how difficult it is to contact the customer care service, but on the other hand, other people seem to enjoy it, so it’s definitely best if you try it for yourself by taking advantage of the free 14-day trial offered on all plans.
The Pros of Using Squarespace
- There are many gorgeous layouts to choose from, so your site will look amazing straight away.
- The platform is straightforward and requires no prior expertise; anybody can create a website right away.
- Because the page builder employs a drag-and-drop interface, no coding knowledge is necessary to customize themes.
- It allows you to place background videos on your sites to make a great impression.
- You can use your Squarespace website to offer services and subscriptions in addition to selling items, with a range of appointment booking tools and payment options accessible to your clients.
- You won’t have to waste time attempting to link third-party tools to construct a blog, website, or online store since you have all the tools you need.
- SSL certificates are simple to install on your websites.
- If you need help, you can reach out to customer support through phone or live chat.
The Cons of Using Squarespace
The major disadvantage of utilizing Squarespace is the cost.
Although you may pay for your plan monthly to avoid paying a large lump payment, it is significantly more expensive than other website alternatives over the course of a year. If you want to use any of the connectors, such as email marketing features, you’ll have to pay extra.
Another disadvantage is that there is no autosave feature; you must click save after making any changes for them to take effect.
How much does Squarespace cost?
Personal, Business, Basic Commerce, and Advanced Commerce are the four price options offered by Squarespace.
All plans may be paid monthly or annually. However, paying for the year in advance can save you up to 30% on your plan.
A free custom domain registration, SSL security, unlimited bandwidth and storage, SEO features for site visibility, Squarespace template options, mobile-optimized websites, 24/7 customer support, basic website metrics, Squarespace extensions, and up to 2 contributors are all included in the Personal Plan, which costs $12 per month.
The Business plan costs $18 per month. It adds unlimited contributors, premium integrations and blocks, complete customization with CSS and Javascript, advanced website analytics, promotional pop-ups and banners, fully integrated e-commerce where you can sell products and accept donations, and 3% transaction fees.
The Basic Commerce plan is $26 per month. It includes all of the Business plan features, as well as 0% transaction fees, POS, customer accounts, checkout on your own domain, comprehensive e-commerce analytics, and Instagram goods.
Finally, the $40/month Advanced Commerce plan contains everything in the Basic Commerce plan plus abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, sell subscriptions, advanced shipping, advanced discounts, Commerce APIs, and limited availability labels.
All About Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the most well-known WordPress hosting companies, primarily because of its cheap and high-quality hosting options. The plans can start at just $2.95 per month. That’s cheap!
It is one of WordPress’s top hosting companies, so you can be confident that your site is in good hands. If WordPress isn’t your thing, you may create a website with Joomla, Magento, or Drupal, depending on your requirements.
Since its inception in 2003, the firm has serviced millions of clients with its extensive tools, hosting packages, and round-the-clock assistance. Bluehost offers open source technology, which allows you to update and expand resources as your company develops and provides developers complete control.
The Key Features of Bluehost
- Free SSL Certificates
- Automatic WordPress updates
- Microsoft Office 365 available
- Automatic WordPress installation
- Hundreds of WordPress themes available
- Secure configuration of login credentials
- 24/7 support
- WordPress staging environment
- The free domain name for one year
How easy is Bluehost to use?
Using WordPress to create a website on Bluehost is quite simple. WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS). Bluehost includes automated WordPress installation with all of their hosting services, allowing you to have a simple site up and operating in minutes.
Although WordPress may appear intimidating to newcomers at first, it is actually straightforward to use. With even basic WordPress knowledge, the sky’s the limit when creating your site and adding all the components you choose.
Within the WordPress user panel, you may pick from various free WordPress themes and plugins, all of which can be installed with a single click. You may modify your WordPress theme by adding your own photos, logos, altering the colors, and more once you’ve installed it.
Bluehost also has its own store where you can explore and buy premium WordPress themes and plugins.
You can use plugins to add new components to your site, and there’s a plugin for almost anything you might want, from contact forms to e-commerce (like WooCommerce) and even shipping management plugins if you plan to own an eCommerce store.
Bluehost plans also offer a free domain name for the first year, but you can also purchase extra domains, which may be linked to your principal domain name or parked and stored for later use.
How Safe is Bluehost to use?
Bluehost takes security extremely seriously, and they’ve taken several steps to make sure your site and all of its content are safe. Bluehost already protects your websites with Spam Experts, Spam Hammer, and Apache SpamAssassin. Still, you can also add additional free or paid security tools to your websites to further enhance protection.
Your login details are safe, and you can simply change your username and password once you’ve set up your account. Bluehost includes a free SSL certificate with all hosting plans, adding the HTTPS protocol to your website. This is a crucial feature for SEO.
What’s customer support like with Bluehost?
If you need to contact Bluehost’s customer support staff, you have various methods accessible to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you need to talk with someone, you can call them at either a US (toll-free) or an international phone number listed on their website.
You can use their website’s chat option for minor difficulties. The chat assistance is speedy and friendly, and my concerns were immediately handled when I contacted them.
I have heard a number of people complain about Bluehost customer service, but my experience has been wonderful. I’ve had 20 or so interactions with them. I prefer to use the chat feature as I can use it as I see fit and I find it easier. All you need to do is verify your account and then you can chat and get the help you need.
The Pros of Using Bluehost
- All of Bluehost’s hosting plans include a free SSL certificate.
- It’s a low-cost shared hosting option (shared hosting plan) that’s ideal for anyone looking to create a blog or website on a limited budget.
- For the first year, a domain name is provided free of charge.
- When you buy a hosting package, WordPress is installed immediately, so you can start using it right away.
- The Plus and Choice Plus Plans allow you to create an unlimited number of websites for no extra charge.
- Bluehost allows you to create a WordPress website, giving you total control and freedom over your site.
- Bluehost has a 99.9% uptime record, which is excellent.
- Allowances for a lot of storage
- Bluehost offers unmetered bandwidth, which means your site’s traffic is unrestricted.
The Cons of Using Bluehost
One of the most significant disadvantages of choosing Bluehost is its terrible track record in customer care. You can find hundreds of complaints on any independent review site talking about lousy customer service if you do a little digging.
Although Bluehost appears to be inexpensive at first, keep in mind that your plan will automatically renew at the regular price after the reduced time (typically the first year).
Bluehost doesn’t provide free migration if you’re switching from another host, and they don’t give automated daily backups like some of its competitors do.
Also, it’s a shared hosting plan, so your site speeds can get slowed down, as you’re sharing computer resources with a lot of other websites. I never found this to be a problem, but I have moved my top 3 sites with traffic over to WPX due to not wanting to be penalized by Google for having slow websites.
How much does Bluehost cost?
For WordPress hosting, Bluehost provides three different price plans: Basic, Plus, and Choice Plus.
The Basic plan is $3.95 per month (increasing to $7.99 per month after renewal). This plan comes with a single website, a free SSL certificate, 50GB of SSD storage, a one-year free domain, five parked domains, and 25 subdomains.
The Plus plan is $5.95 per month (increasing to $10.99 per month after renewal). This package comes with an infinite number of websites, a free SSL certificate, unlimited SSD storage, a one-year free domain, unlimited parked domains, and unlimited subdomains.
The Choice Plus plan costs $5.95 per month (with a renewal fee of $14.99). Everything from the Plus subscription is included, as well as CodeGuard Basic backups.
FAQs about Squarespace vs Bluehost
Is it possible to move from another platform to Squarespace?
It is not only feasible but also quite simple to switch from another platform to Squarespace. If you have your own domain, if you already have a website or an online store, the process will be different.
If you already have a domain, you may transfer it and use all of Squarespace’s domain options. You may migrate your content or items to the new platform if you have a website or an online store. Just keep in mind that you might need to recreate your site using Squarespace’s tools and templates.
What is the best way to remove the .squarespace.com from my URL?
All sites built on this platform will have a .squarespace.com extension at the end of the URL. If you desire a custom domain, you may request one from Squarespace directly (see their domain registrar service) or connect with a third-party domain.
Is SiteLock security required on Bluehost?
Bluehost takes client security extremely seriously, so you won’t require SiteLock Security.
So which platform should I choose, Squarespace or Bluehost?
So here’s the major question: should you create your new website with Squarespace or on WordPress on Bluehost?
Bluehost comes out on top in this battle.
Yes, I’m biased, but it’s also what I personally use. And if you are looking to grow a site for the long term, you will find your long term costs lower by using WordPress and getting a web host like Bluehost.
Why?
For starters, if you choose Bluehost, you may use WordPress to create your website. WordPress is the most popular CMS platform in the world for a reason: it is open-source software (WordPress plugin and theme choices), which means the modification possibilities are unlimited. You can construct almost any sort of website with it.
Another reason we picked Bluehost’s hosting packages over Squarespace’s is the substantial price gap between the two. Bluehost’s hosting plans are much less expensive than Squarespace’s. This makes Bluehost an excellent choice for anybody looking to launch a low-cost internet company or blog.
That isn’t to suggest Squarespace isn’t a fantastic site builder; it all depends on your needs. Squarespace provides many unique built-in features, so if technology isn’t your friend, it could be an excellent alternative for you.
It would be an excellent choice for brick-and-mortar business owners, as well as anyone who wants a professional-looking website up and operating quickly and is willing to pay the high rates.
My main point is that these platforms are incredibly different from one another, so it comes down to personal preference. However, you will most likely want to host your own WordPress website in the future, so opting for Bluehost is the most scalable alternative.
Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial accessible on all tiers and does not need a credit card.
Bluehost does not provide a free trial. However, if you cancel your subscription within 30 days, you will receive a full refund. If you’re interested in learning more about Bluehost’s WordPress hosting options, go to their website.
Still undecided about where to host your website? If you’re considering utilizing WordPress to construct your website, Siteground is a wonderful alternative hosting option.
Related Reading: How do bloggers make money? – Check Them out Here
Final Thoughts
To summarize, if you have particular site requirements and you want a cheap way to build a website, go with Bluehost. If you’re a bit technologically challenged and looking to have easy eCommerce integration in your site, go with Squarespace.
I hope this post enlightens you and makes your choice between Squarespace vs Bluehost a lot easier. Good luck!
