Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: Which platform is the best for blogging?
If you want to start a blog but are not sure why you’d go with Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress, then you’re in the right place. As a blogger of six years, I’m going to help you choose the right blogging platform.
The right platform basically comes down to two things: whether you want to make money with your blog and how easy you need your site’s usability to be.
TL;DR: I personally use the self-hosted WordPress.org platform for all three of my blogs. Get my free blogging course that guides you step-by-step on how to sign up the right way, or keep reading to find out the main differences between the three platforms!
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Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: Market Share
Before comparing these website creation platforms, it is good to know the market share of each platform aka how many people are using each platform.
Among WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace, WordPress gets the top position in terms of market share. 65.1% of the market with identifiable content management systems uses WordPress.
Among all website builders, Shopify has the largest market share of 3.4%, Squarespace has 2.7% and Wix has 2.3%.
There’s a reason why WordPress has the biggest market share among all these sites.
WordPress vs Squarespace
Squarespace is a website builder with features like templates, automatic updates, eCommerce, and hosting. The platform was launched about 10 years ago and is gaining popularity daily as around 1000 new people sign up on Squarespace every day.
Squarespace’s market share increased significantly in the past few years because it’s a one-stop solution. It covers everything from choosing a domain name to providing you with templates to set up the blog.
WordPress is more flexible and scalable and very different from Squarespace. Although Squarespace is great for absolute beginners, it has limited options when it comes to customization.
On the flip side, WordPress has many customization options available. You can design and customize your blog exactly the way you want.
- Squarespace is easy-to-setup so it’s good for beginners.
- WordPress has a slight learning curve in the beginning but more flexible and scalable.
Learn how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost here.
Wix vs Squarespace
Wix has a free plan, which is good if you plan on blogging as a hobby whereas Squarespace only has a free trial. They’re both similar in that they have a drag and drop feature designed for easy website creation.
Wix is even more beginner-friendly than Squarespace. Customization and designing features in Wix are quite easier than in Squarespace.
- Wix has a free plan whereas Squarespace does not.
- Both have easy designing features.
Wix vs WordPress
Wix and WordPress both are totally different in terms of customization options, usability, etc. Although Wix is easy to use, the customization options are limited. With Wix, the hosting is included, but the main problem would be, you won’t be able to move your website off of Wix to a new host easily.
Wix has limited apps for customization whereas WordPress has thousands of plugins for various activities. For example, if you want to add any customization in your blog post, you can find a suitable plugin for that activity and install it on your WordPress.
In WordPress, you can download plugins like RankMath, Redirection, bbPress, Tablepress, etc. They help with SEO improvement, technical issues, designing, customization and user experience.
- WordPress has better customization options and is better for search engine optimization (SEO).
Pricing Between These Platforms
Wix and Squarespace both have free blogging plans, which is good for blogging as a hobby, but if you want your own domain name and more, the best plans for bloggers, the Wix Unlimited plan and the Squarespace Business plan, both start at $18/month.
A WordPress blog, which has be to self-hosted through a hosting company, costs approximately:
- $8.98/year for your domain name ($0.74/month)
- $3.45/month for hosting
Get my free blogging course that guides you step-by-step on how to save money on a domain name and sign up for a WordPress blog the right way.
Which Platform Is The Best for Blogging?
WordPress is the industry standard when it comes to blogging, and the main reason for this is because if you’re blogging to make money (vs. blogging as a hobby), you need to have self-hosting.
With a WordPress self-hosted blog, you get total control over it. It allows you to customize your site the way you want to and work with brands, ad networks and affiliate marketing programs.
Wix and Squarespace are not self-hosted, and most ad networks will not even allow you in their network if you have Wix. See the fine print above in this form to an ad network.
Furthermore, if you want your blog to be search engine optimized, WordPress is the best blogging platform for that.
Search engine optimization is the process of improving your blog so that readers can find it through search engines. Ultimately, this means you can get page views from Google without having to pay for ads or market on social media!
To learn more about self-hosted vs non-self-hosted blogs and starting a WordPress blog that can make money, check out my free blogging course.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in my free blogging help group.
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