Comparing Squarespace vs. Weebly
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LAST UPDATED IN 2018
These days a dated, cluttered or confusing website with old information and unprofessional layouts can make or break your business "cred."
SOO much of business, sales & marketing is done online now, so staying up-to-date is a must! But how? Hiring a designer to build a website can be very expensive!
There are cheaper DIY options now, but with all the different platforms out there, how do you know which one really fits your needs as a business owner? Which one will be easiest to use if you're not a designer or maybe not even very tech-savvy?
Good news, my friend! I've used both the Squarespace & Weebly platform myself, so I've created a list below of Pros & Cons for each, that may help you nail down the one that's right for you.
The absolute best thing about each of these platforms is that they allow for a designer to come in, set up all the "technical stuff" (connecting domains, links, setting up good Search Engine Optimization, etc.), design it, and then hand over the reins & site ownership to you for long term maintenance!!
Just in case you missed that part, I'll say it one more time.
You don't need to have a designer on retainer to keep it updated!
Want to change a photo? Add a button? Update your gallery photos or your about page content?
You can update content and photos whenever you need to, and you don't need to depend on your designer every time you need to make a change!
It's the perfect system for small business owners!
Like with most things though, of course not everyone has a (designer's) professional eye, and some things are just better left to the professionals. So, I still recommend that you hire a designer for the initial set up, but after that, IT'S ALL YOU!
Table of Contents
A little about how I started.
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ve probably seen some of my old KDD branding (Katelyn Dekle Designs) at the bottom of my gallery or Photo Album. It was simple, clean, and not truly representative of me at all, except for the name (though I do love the color teal!). I wasn't really happy with my own branding, because I hadn't yet given it the time or attention it deserved.
A few months later, my husband & I moved into a remodeled log cabin, the original part of which was built in 1862. Since our new (to us) home and my home office was now in this same really neat place, I decided to rebrand and this time make it more representative of myself.
I decided not only to move my website for various reasons, from Weebly to Squarespace but also to rebrand my business and rebuild my website all at once. Whew!
Why did I want to switch platforms?
First of all, I'm not a web developer and I don't really ever intend to learn that skillset, –not on that level of expertise. I know some coding basics, and I do intend to learn more HTML & CSS coding for fun along the way (I know; I'm a nerd!).
I really just wanted a website that would look good, without having to spend years learning how to design it (from the bottom up) myself and didn't want to spend thousands paying someone to design it from scratch just for me.
That meant my options were DIY, build-it-yourself, drag-and-drop type platforms like Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Shopify, etc... I did a lot of research before I decided on Weebly in the beginning, but since then I've switched over to Squarespace (& I'm a big fan!).
Because I've used both platforms and know them both pretty well, I've come up with a list of Pros & Cons for Squarespace & Weebly that can help some of you decide what will work best for you.
Aaaaaaand I'll be covering more information on this topic in the coming weeks, so stay tuned! Or better yet, sign up here & new blogs will come right to you! :)
Weebly
PROS
Pricing
variety of well-priced monthly plans offered
a (very limited) free plan is available
month-to-month payments (?)
I'm not sure about this one, since I never paid monthly, but their pricing does say things like $8/mo, "when paid annually." That leads me to believe that you could pay monthly, but it'd cost a little more to use their services that way.
annual payments
Domain purchase is less than $20/year
Freebies included
$100 Google AdWords credit (Starter plan + up)
1 Custom Domain is free during the first year
Using Weebly
super easy to use (drag & drop interface)
pre-designed page layouts available
templates to choose from
basic customizations
duplicate sections (like a form) & move copy to another page
Mobile Apps Available
all-in-one site editor/analytics/blog mobile app
Customer Service
excellent customer service (happy, easy-to-talk-to staff)
Marketing/Social
Weebly Promote (its own, paid, marketing/email/popup service)
eCommerce
eCommerce, physical goods
eCommerce, digital goods available on higher plans
accept payments via Stripe (all plans)
Blogging
available
allowed comments on blogs via Facebook when the viewer is logged into their account
CONS
Pricing
some basic eCommerce features only available on higher plans
like digital downloads
how many products can be in your store:
up to 10 products (Starter)
up to 25 products (Pro)
Unlimited products (Business)
Mobile App
site editor mobile app had pretty irritating glitches & didn’t give you full editing control
Marketing/Social
social icons not consistently linked
every time you add them to a page you type in your links again, a major pain as my template didn't include the links in an obvious place & I wanted them in several locations
no Weebly Promote editing on the go (not built into the mobile app)
Weebly Promote was new and doesn’t have all the features yet that professionals really need
eCommerce
e-commerce with digital download sales only available on higher plans
(Squarespace has the features I needed, mainly digital downloads, at a much lower price point)
accept payments via PayPal (Business plan & above)
accept payments via Square (Business plan & above)
accept payments via Authorize.net (Business plan & above)
Blogging
blog features need updating
Integrations
not integrated well with Pinterest
enabling Rich Pins was a little confusing
not integrated with Mail Chimp
not integrated with Google Docs
Trends
slower to release trending features on the platform
(such as parallax scrolling, index pages, etc.)
+ For a full list of Weebly features, click here.
+ For Weebly's pricing, click here.
Squarespace
PROS
Pricing
variety of well-priced monthly plans offered
month-to-month payments
(Squarespace is more clear on this than Weebly)
annual payments
Domain purchase is about $20/year
Freebies included
1 Custom Domain is free during the 1st year (annual payment plan only)
$100 Google AdWords credit (Business plan + up)
1 year free professional G Suite email (Business plan + up)
Using Squarespace
super easy to use (drag & drop interface)
pre-designed page layouts available
great templates to choose from (modern)
deeper customization
more design control with custom CSS sections, Code Injections + more
Designing for Clients
Squarespace Circle
What is SC: once you’ve been added as an admin on 3+ accounts, aside from your own, you can become part of the SC, which gives you a 6 month free trial period to use for building client websites through SS (instead of the 2-week free trial that is the normal period offered)
Why do this? It's an excellent way to build a simple, modern, tastefully designed website that can also be handed off to the client after the design is done. That way the client isn't forced to ask the designer to edit copy, upload new photos, or write a blog every time it's necessary to do update their site, etc.
Mobile Apps available
analytics mobile app
blog mobile app
portfolio/gallery mobile app
notes mobile app
Customer Service
excellent customer service (happy, easy-to-talk-to staff)
Marketing/Social
social icons are linked in settings
(not required to type in links every time you add social icons to a page)
deeply integrated with Pinterest
(rich pins + more)
simply add auto-update feeds from Instagram, Twitter + more
eCommerce
take payments via PayPal
take payments via Stripe
e-commerce
(with digital download sales available on lower plans)
sell physical or digital goods
Blogging
available
allows comments on blogs via Squarespace
(no login required to comment)
allows comments on blogs via Disqus
(viewer log in required to comment)
Integrations
integrated with Pinterest
integrated with Mail Chimp
integrated with Google Docs
integrated with professional G Suite email, matching your domain
CONS
Pricing
no free plan available
Using Squarespace
can’t duplicate sections (like a form) & move the copy to another page {or if you can, I haven't figured out how to do that yet}
no customer file submission on forms (my customers can’t upload a file to my site, like a photo for a testimonial when they fill out the test. form, etc.)
Blogging
blog editor mobile app only allows most basic editing or blog creation
Marketing/Social
no promotion capabilities within Squarespace (like Weebly's Promote); must rely on connecting MailChimp, or using Zapier to connect something like ConvertKit, etc.
+ For a full list of Squarespace features, click here.
+ For Squarespace's pricing, click here.
That's all I have for today, folks. My lists are not all-inclusive, but I did spend many hours & months on each platform.
Weebly and Squarespace are both very user-friendly, but both have a bit of a learning curve. Especially if you are switching from one to the other. Even though they are both the same type of platform, it took a few days to learn Squarespace's back-end layout, after being used to Weebly's.
Both platforms have their own strengths & weaknesses, though I'd recommend Squarespace because I personally prefer it over Weebly.
Please note, that any information I provided above was from my own experience and a quick look at the features & price lists to check for updates.
