Squarespace vs Shopify: Which One Is Better for a Small Store?

Squarespace is the better choice for a small store where the brand and the content matter as much as the products: a modest catalog, simple shipping, and one person running the whole site. Shopify is the better choice when selling is the whole business: a big catalog, several sales channels, wholesale, stock across several locations, or apps for things Squarespace doesn’t do. I build stores on Squarespace and send people to Shopify when it’s the better fit, so here’s how I decide.

At a glance

Squarespace vs Shopify at a glance

	Squarespace	Shopify
What it is	A website builder with a store built in	A store platform with a website built in
Starting price to sell	Core, $29 a month billed yearly	Basic, $29 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly)
Transaction fees	0% on Core and up; 2% on Basic	0% with Shopify Payments; 0.6% to 2% with other processors
Apps and extensions	A smaller set of extensions	Thousands of apps
Pages, blog, portfolio	Excellent	Basic
Best for	Brand-led shops, makers, studios, service businesses	Product-first businesses and big catalogs

Where Squarespace wins

• One system for everything. Pages, blog, booking, store and email campaigns live in one place with one login.
• It looks better with less work. Squarespace’s design tools make a small store look premium without paying a theme developer.
• Content does the selling. If customers buy because of your story, your photos or your expertise, Squarespace’s pages and blog are much stronger than Shopify’s.
• Fewer moving parts. Subscriptions, gift cards, abandoned cart emails and selling in person are included on every plan, so there’s no stack of monthly app bills to keep track of.

For a ceramics studio, a photographer selling prints, a coach selling a few programs or a local shop with a few dozen products, Squarespace is usually simpler and cheaper to run.

Where Shopify wins

• Catalog size and inventory. Large catalogs with lots of variants, and stock tracked across up to 10 locations on every standard plan.
• Selling everywhere. Marketplaces, social shops and wholesale, all from one inventory.
• Apps. Bundles, loyalty programs, advanced shipping rules and almost anything else, through its app store.
• Checkout. Shopify says its checkout converts 15% better on average than other platforms. That’s their number, but its checkout is excellent.

If the store is the business and you plan to grow the catalog, start on Shopify. Moving a big store later is more work than starting in the right place.

What it actually costs

The plan is the smallest part of the bill on either platform.

• Squarespace: Core at $29 a month on annual billing, plus card fees through Squarespace Payments from 2.9% + 30¢. Most small stores I build need nothing else.
• Shopify: Basic at $29 a month on annual billing ($39 monthly), card fees through Shopify Payments from 2.9% + 30¢, plus whatever apps you add. Grow is $89 and Advanced is $359 a month billed yearly.

Both change their plans often, so check Squarespace’s pricing and Shopify’s pricing before you decide (these numbers were checked in October 2026). For the full Squarespace side, see what a Squarespace website costs.

Can you switch later?

Yes, but it’s a rebuild, not a button. Products can be exported and imported as a CSV, but the design, customer accounts and order history don’t move over cleanly, and every product URL needs a redirect so you keep your Google rankings. Picking the right platform now saves you that project.

My rule of thumb

If you…	Pick
sell a modest catalog and the site also needs to sell your story or services	Squarespace
want one simple system you can run yourself	Squarespace
sell on marketplaces or wholesale from the same stock	Shopify
need complex bundles, loyalty programs or stock in several locations	Shopify
expect the store to be most of your revenue within a year	Shopify

Frequently asked questions

Is Squarespace or Shopify better for SEO?

Both handle the basics well: editable titles and descriptions, clean URLs and a sitemap. Squarespace has the edge for content-led SEO because its blog and page tools are stronger. Shopify has more SEO apps for big catalogs.

Is Squarespace cheaper than Shopify?

The starting plans cost the same, $29 a month billed yearly. Squarespace usually ends up cheaper for a small store because you rarely need paid add-ons, while most Shopify stores pay for a few apps every month.

Can Squarespace handle a real online store?

Yes, for small and medium catalogs. Every plan includes unlimited products, subscriptions, gift cards, abandoned cart recovery and selling in person, and Core and up add discounts, shipping labels and automated taxes.

Do you build Shopify stores?

No, I build on Squarespace only. If Shopify is the better fit for you, I’ll tell you on the call.

Selling on Squarespace? I design and build Squarespace stores at a fixed price for shops in Utah and across the US. Book a free call and I’ll tell you which platform fits.