How Much Is Squarespace vs Wix? | Prices That Add Up Fast

You can build a solid site on either platform, but the price you pay isn’t just the sticker number. It’s the plan, the billing term, the extras you turn on, and the “oops, I need that feature” upgrade later.

This breakdown shows what you’ll spend with Squarespace and Wix, what the plans tend to include, and how to pick a tier without paying for stuff you’ll never touch.

What You’re Paying For When You Buy A Site Plan

Both Squarespace and Wix bundle a bunch of basics into one subscription: hosting, templates, security, and a way to publish pages without touching a server.

Where costs drift apart is in three places:

• Billing term: Monthly billing is the “try it now” path. Annual billing cuts the average monthly cost on many plans.
• Commerce and payments: If you sell products, plan tiers and platform fees can change your total more than the plan price.
• Add-ons: Email marketing, booking tools, app upgrades, and higher storage can push a “cheap” plan into a different tier fast.

How Much Is Squarespace vs Wix? Pricing Snapshot

Start with the plan ladder. Wix markets a free plan, then paid plans. Squarespace runs on paid plans after the trial, with pricing that often rewards annual billing.

Squarespace Plan Pricing Ranges

Squarespace commonly groups its plans into four tiers: Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced. Pricing can vary by country, currency, and billing term. A common US-style spread people see is:

• Basic: $25/month on monthly billing, or $16/month on annual billing
• Core: $36/month on monthly billing, or $23/month on annual billing
• Plus: $56/month on monthly billing, or $39/month on annual billing
• Advanced: $139/month on monthly billing, or $99/month on annual billing

Squarespace also changes what you get as you move up tiers, especially around selling tools, digital product fees, and built-in business features.

Wix Plan Pricing Ranges

Wix lists four main paid tiers for many regions, plus custom Enterprise plans. A published set of monthly prices is:

• Light: $17 per month
• Core: $29 per month
• Business: $39 per month
• Business Elite: $159 per month

Wix pricing also varies by location and billing cycle, so what you see at checkout may differ from a headline price.

Squarespace Vs Wix Pricing Differences For Real Sites

If you only look at the lowest price, the gap can feel small. The real gap shows up when you answer one question: What does your site need to do?

If You Just Need A Clean Brochure Site

This is the “five pages and a contact form” setup: Home, About, Services, Portfolio, Contact. You might also want a blog.

On Wix, people often land on Light if they want a custom domain and no platform branding. On Squarespace, Basic is the usual entry tier for a simple site with light selling or none at all.

Your main cost drivers here are the plan and the billing term. If you plan to keep the site for a year, annual billing is often the cheaper path on both platforms.

If You Need Payments Or A Store

This is where many “same price” comparisons break. Stores aren’t just a page builder feature. You’ll care about checkout, shipping rules, taxes, discounts, inventory, and maybe abandoned cart reminders.

Wix typically pushes commerce needs into Core and above for payments. Squarespace tiers can change platform fees on sales, along with what commerce tools you get.

If you sell a handful of items a month, you can often stay on a mid-tier plan. If you sell daily, small fee differences can outrun plan cost.

If You Sell Digital Products Or Membership Access

Digital sales add a second layer: platform fees for digital products can vary by plan. If you sell downloads, courses, or member access, it’s worth running the math on your monthly revenue and the fee rate tied to your plan.

It’s boring math. It also saves real money.

If You Need Marketing, Tracking, Or Custom Code

“Marketing” can mean three things:

• Tracking pixels and tags for ads
• Email capture and basic automation
• Custom code snippets for widgets and integrations

Some low tiers limit custom code injection or advanced integrations. If you run paid ads or care about clean analytics, a plan with script access can be the difference between “it works” and “I’m flying blind.”

Cost And Feature Checklist To Compare Before You Buy

Before you pick a plan, list what your site needs in plain language. Then map it to plan tiers.

• Custom domain: Is a domain included for the first year on annual billing?
• Storage: How much storage do you get for images and media?
• Pages and contributors: Are you solo, or do you need multiple collaborators?
• Payments: Do you need to accept cards, wallets, or local payment methods?
• Commerce tools: Discounts, shipping labels, inventory, product variants, subscriptions
• Digital products: File delivery, gated content, fee rate by plan
• Bookings: Appointment scheduling and deposits
• Integrations: Email platform, CRM, analytics, ad tracking, accounting
• Hidden extras: Apps, email campaign tiers, and premium templates

If you’re unsure, start by choosing the plan that covers your must-haves, not your “maybe someday” list. You can move up later if your needs grow.

Where The Money Sneaks In

Most regret comes from one of these “surprise” costs:

Monthly Billing Stings Over Time

Monthly billing feels safer at first. Over a year, you might pay a lot more than the annual average rate. If you’re confident you’ll keep the site running, annual billing is often the calmer choice.

Commerce Fees Can Beat Plan Price

If a plan charges a percentage on sales (or on digital products), that fee can grow faster than your subscription. A store doing steady revenue might be cheaper on a higher tier with lower platform fees, even if the plan price is higher.

Add-Ons Multiply

Email campaigns, booking systems, premium apps, and extra seats can stack. One add-on can be fine. Three add-ons can turn a “budget” build into a mid-tier spend.

Domains And Renewals

Many plans include a domain for the first year when billed annually. After that, domain renewal is a separate cost. If you buy domains elsewhere, you still want to factor that in.

Design Time Has A Cost, Too

This one’s not a line item on the bill, but it’s real. If a platform helps you ship a site faster, that saved time has value. If you’re billing clients, time becomes cost.

Cost Driver	What To Check	Why It Changes Your Total
Billing term	Monthly vs annual pricing	Annual billing often lowers the average monthly cost over a year
Plan tier	Entry vs mid vs top plans	Higher tiers may bundle features that replace paid add-ons
Payments access	Which plan allows checkout	Some tiers gate payments, forcing an upgrade for selling
Platform fees on sales	Any percent fee on commerce or digital products	A small fee can outgrow the plan cost when revenue rises
Storage limits	Media storage, video limits	Hitting caps can push you into a higher tier
Seats and collaborators	How many people can edit the site	Teams may need tiers that allow more contributors
Apps and add-ons	Email marketing, bookings, premium apps	Multiple add-ons can exceed the cost of a higher plan
Domains and renewals	First-year domain included, renewal pricing	A “free domain” offer usually resets after year one
Regional pricing and tax	Currency, local taxes at checkout	Displayed prices may shift once location and tax apply

Picking A Plan Without Overpaying

Here’s a simple way to land on the right tier quickly.

Step 1: Decide If You’ll Sell Anything

If the answer is “no,” you can ignore a chunk of store features and focus on design, pages, and basic marketing tools.

If the answer is “yes,” decide what kind of selling:

• Physical products: shipping, variants, taxes, inventory
• Services: booking, deposits, invoices
• Digital products: file delivery, member access, digital fees

Step 2: Choose A Billing Term You Can Live With

If you’re testing ideas, monthly billing can be fine. If you’re building a long-term site, annual billing often wins on total cost.

Step 3: Write Your “Non-Negotiables” List

Keep it short. Five items is plenty.

• Custom domain
• Payments
• Booking
• Custom code or tracking
• Enough storage for your media

Then pick the cheapest plan that hits your list.

Step 4: Sanity-Check Add-Ons

Before you pay, scroll through what’s included and what costs extra. If you already know you’ll need email campaigns, bookings, or an app stack, compare that total against the next tier up. Sometimes the “bigger” plan is the cheaper bill once you stop paying for add-ons.

Site Type	Plan Direction	Why This Tier Usually Fits
Portfolio or brochure site	Entry tier on either platform	You mainly need a domain, pages, and clean design
Local service business	Mid tier if you need payments or bookings	Checkout and scheduling often sit above entry tiers
Small online store	Store-ready tier with shipping and discounts	Basic store tools are fine until order volume grows
Digital downloads or courses	Tier that lowers digital product fees	Fee rate can matter more than plan price at steady sales
High-revenue store	Top tier if fee savings beat plan cost	Lower platform fees and deeper commerce features can pay off
Team-managed brand site	Tier with more collaborators	Permissions and multiple editors can force an upgrade

A Quick Way To Compare Your First-Year Total

If you want a fast apples-to-apples number, do this:

1. Pick the plan tier you need on each platform.
2. Price it out on annual billing and on monthly billing.
3. Add domain cost for year two (since “free for one year” deals often reset).
4. If you sell, estimate platform fees: take your expected revenue and apply the plan’s fee rate.
5. Add any known add-ons you’ll turn on in month one.

The winner is the platform that stays cheaper after you add fees and add-ons, not the one with the prettiest headline price.

So, Which One Is Cheaper?

If you compare entry tiers only, the difference can be small. Once you move into selling, the cheaper choice depends on your plan tier and the fee rules tied to it.

My take: use Wix when you want a free start and you’re fine upgrading once the site proves itself. Use Squarespace when you want a clean paid plan path from day one and you know you’ll keep the site running long enough that annual billing savings matter.

If you want the cleanest current prices in your own currency, check the official plan pages right before checkout. That’s the number that counts.

Squarespace’s current plan offers are listed on the
Squarespace pricing plans and features page.
Wix’s live tiers and regional pricing are listed on the
Wix pricing and premium plans page.