Squarespace vs WordPress.com
We give Squarespace a 2.6 GPA and WordPress.com a 3.4, out of 4.0. WordPress.com grades higher on value for money, features and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Squarespace
Template-based website builder with an online store and invoicing
WordPress.com
Hosted WordPress with themes, plugins and a free plan
How we grade them
| 2.6GPASquarespaceGood | 3.4GPAWordPress.comVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CBasic is $19 a month for one site on yearly billing ($25 monthly), and it's the plan a small business would buy, since the store comes with it. That's the ordinary middle of this category ($9 to $22). Core at $29 drops the 2% store fee. | APersonal is $4 a month for one site on yearly billing ($9 monthly), with your own domain, no ads and plugin installs. That's under 60% of this category's cheapest quarter ($5.40). Payment buttons need Premium, which is still only $8. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan. There's a 14-day trial with no card needed, which is long enough to build the thing and see if you like it, but after that every site needs a paid plan. | CFree for good with unlimited pages and posts, but it's on a wordpress.com address with 1 GB of storage, WordPress.com ads shown to your visitors and no plugins. Fine for a hobby blog, not a business. |
| Features | BTemplates, a drag-and-drop editor, a store on every plan, invoicing, memberships, forms, newsletters and SEO tools. That's the whole job of a small business site. Custom code and pop-ups wait for Core, but nothing core is missing. | AEvery paid plan can install any of more than 60,000 plugins, which no other builder here matches. Add themes, the block editor, WooCommerce on Commerce, and SSH, WP-CLI and GitHub deployments on Business, and it covers the whole job and then some. |
| Ease of use | B4.6 from about 18,800 App Store ratings for its phone app. Templates do most of the design work, so you're mostly swapping in your own words and photos. | B4.62 from about 22,300 App Store ratings. The AI builder gets a site going through a chat, but with plugins and themes in the mix there's more to choose and set than in a closed builder. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Google Workspace, Mailchimp, Zapier, Stripe, PayPal and Printful, plus commerce APIs on Core and up. There's no desktop app, which keeps it off an A. | AWeb, iPhone and Android, plus WordPress Studio on Mac, Windows and Linux for building sites locally. Plugins connect it to almost anything, alongside WooCommerce, Jetpack, PayPal, Stripe and GitHub. |
| Best for | polished template sites with a shop built in | WordPress without running your own server |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Squarespace and WordPress.com. How we grade
Price against what you get
Squarespace starts at $19 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. WordPress.com starts at $4 a month and scores 3.7.
WordPress.com scores higher and starts $15 a month lower. Of the other website and landing page builders on the chart, 2 score higher than Squarespace for less, and none scores higher than WordPress.com for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Squarespace starts at $19 per site / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly). WordPress.com starts at $4 per site / month, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly).
- WordPress.com has a free plan. Squarespace does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only WordPress.com lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps.
- Squarespace also covers forms and invoicing.
- WordPress.com also covers no-code and email campaigns.
At a glance
| Squarespace | WordPress.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $19 per site / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) | $4 per site / month, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | a wordpress.com subdomain, 1 GB of storage, unlimited pages and posts and 7 days of basic stats. Visitors see WordPress.com ads, and plugins need a paid plan. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Squarespace, Inc. | Automattic Inc. |
| Price read from | squarespace.com | wordpress.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Squarespace
- Creatives and small businesses who want a polished site from a template
- Service businesses that also invoice clients and take payments
- Small shops that want the store and the website in one subscription
WordPress.com
- Bloggers and writers who want WordPress without running a server
- Sites that need a specific WordPress plugin or theme
- Developers who want SSH, WP-CLI and Git on managed hosting
Worth knowing
Squarespace
- There is no free plan; after the 14-day trial every site needs a paid plan.
- Basic takes a 2% fee on online store sales and allows only 2 contributors; Core removes both limits.
- Custom JavaScript, code injection, pop-ups and shipping labels all need Core or higher.
- The free domain covers the first year of an annual plan only and then renews at Squarespace's standard rate.
WordPress.com
- The free plan shows WordPress.com ads to visitors and cannot use a custom domain or plugins.
- Monthly billing costs more than double the yearly rate on Personal and Premium and does not include the free first-year domain.
- Backups, developer tools and priority support start on Business at $25 a month billed yearly.
- The desktop app, WordPress Studio, is for building sites locally; site management on the go uses the Jetpack mobile app.
Key features
Squarespace
- Templates and drag-and-drop editing
- Sites start from a designer template and are laid out in the Fluid Engine drag-and-drop editor. Every site is adjusted for phones automatically.
- AI site builder and AI credits
- Blueprint builds a starting site from a few answers, and built-in AI writes content. Credits run from 10 one-time on Basic to 120 a month on Advanced.
- Online store on every plan
- Sell unlimited physical products, services, digital goods, gift cards and subscriptions, with abandoned-cart emails on all plans. Basic adds a 2% fee on store sales.
- Invoicing, memberships and paid content
- Branded invoices and pay links are free on every plan. Courses, memberships and paywalled content carry a fee of 7% on Basic, falling to 0% on Advanced.
- Hosting, SSL and unlimited bandwidth
- Managed hosting, free SSL certificates and uncapped bandwidth and storage come with every plan. Video hosting runs from 30 minutes on Basic to unlimited on Advanced.
- Forms, newsletters and SEO tools
- Form and newsletter blocks feed a contacts panel, and SEO guidance and keyword reports come built in. Pop-ups and the announcement bar need Core or higher.
WordPress.com
- Themes and the block editor
- Sites are built from free and premium themes in the WordPress block editor, with unlimited pages, posts and users on every plan.
- Plugins on every paid plan
- Personal and above can install any of more than 60,000 plugins from the marketplace or upload one directly. The free plan cannot.
- AI site builder and assistant
- A guided builder creates a site through a chat, within usage limits. Business and Commerce add the WordPress AI Assistant for content, design and site management.
- Managed hosting and security
- Every plan includes a global CDN, SSL, a firewall, malware removal and managed updates. Real-time backups and one-click restores start on Business.
- Developer access
- Business and Commerce add SFTP and SSH, WP-CLI, Git commands and GitHub deployments. WordPress Studio, a free desktop app, runs WordPress sites locally.
- WooCommerce store
- Commerce bundles WooCommerce extensions for unlimited products, upsells, bulk discounts and inventory, and accepts 135+ currencies.
Plans
Squarespace
Basic$19
per site / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly)
A full website and store with up to 2 contributors, 30 minutes of video, a 2% fee on online sales and 7% on paid memberships.
Core$29
per site / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
Unlimited contributors, no fee on store sales, custom CSS and JavaScript, shipping labels, commerce APIs and 20 AI credits a month.
Plus$49
per site / month, billed annually ($65 billed monthly)
Lower card rates (2.7% + $0.30), a 1% fee on paid memberships, 50 hours of video and 40 AI credits a month.
Advanced$99
per site / month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly)
The lowest card rates (2.5% + $0.30), no fee on memberships, unlimited video and 120 AI credits a month.
WordPress.com
Free$0
A wordpress.com subdomain, 1 GB of storage and basic stats, with WordPress.com ads shown to visitors.
Personal$4
per site / month, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly)
6 GB of storage, no ads, all premium themes, plugin installs and the AI site builder. $2.75 a month if paid every 3 years.
Premium$8
per site / month, billed yearly ($18 billed monthly)
13 GB of storage, premium stats with UTM tracking, PayPal and Stripe payment buttons and video uploads. $5.50 a month if paid every 3 years.
Business$25
per site / month, billed yearly ($40 billed monthly)
50 GB, priority support, SFTP/SSH, WP-CLI and GitHub deployments, real-time backups, VideoPress and email marketing to 500 subscribers.
Commerce$45
per site / month, billed yearly ($70 billed monthly)
Everything in Business plus WooCommerce store extensions, abandoned-cart emails and selling in 60+ countries with no transaction fee.
EnterpriseCustom
WordPress VIP hosting for large organizations, priced through sales.
Ways to pay less
Squarespace
- Annual discount
Pay yearly to save about 24% to 29%
Basic costs $19 a month billed yearly against $25 billed monthly, and Advanced $99 against $139. Squarespace's page advertises savings of up to 36%.
- Other savings
Free domain for a year with an annual plan
Annual website plans include one year of free registration for one domain on Squarespace's cheapest pricing tier; it then renews at the standard rate.
- Education
Students get 50% off the first year
Students who verify their status through Student Beans get 50% off their first full year on a new annual website plan.
WordPress.com
- Annual discount
Pay yearly to save 35% to 55% over monthly
Personal is $4 a month billed yearly against $9 monthly; Premium $8 against $18; Business $25 against $40; Commerce $45 against $70.
- Other savings
Pay every 2 or 3 years for a lower monthly rate
Paying every 3 years brings Personal to $2.75 a month ($99), Premium to $5.50 ($198), Business to $17.50 ($630) and Commerce to $31.50 ($1,134).
- Other savings
Free domain for the first year
Yearly and multi-year paid plans include a custom domain such as .com, .net or .org free for the first year. Monthly plans do not.
