Website building is no longer a tedious task. Tools like WordPress and Squarespace makes it very easy to build a website. 25 percent of the world’s entire website is built on WordPress which is an interesting number in itself. This 25% include around 1.2 billion websites in total. Squarespace has its fan following. Although it does not have as many features as WordPress yet because of its simple interface and better marketing options, it is popular among many users. Though, not billion but still several million developers use SquareSpace. Many surveys have been conducted to find which between two tools is the best regarding overall performance. Many of these surveys confuse the first time user instead of clarifying. That is why the few pros and cons of both the technologies are mentioned below:
WordPress Pros:- Community and Flexibility
As we know that majority of the users in the world uses WordPress compared to Squarespace, the community and online support are just great in this case. Starting from its initial versions such as 2.9 to its latest version 4.8 WordPress has never disappointed its users. Even today many of the users use the older version of WordPress because it was smaller in size and yet almost error free. Starting from the WordPress Codex to different Facebook groups are all filled up with enthusiastic developers and experts.
Learning new things about WordPress is very easy and interesting. This strong community network can help anyone anywhere. Anyone can get any level of advice from this strong community network and that too free of charge. Another best thing about WordPress is that the user doesn’t need to hover here and there to pay the hosting fees, the hosting fees can be paid on WordPress.com itself. Apart from this, there is a beginner guide available on WordPress for the first time developers and fees for such people is only 60$ / annum. This is just the starting fees it can increase in the upcoming years.
WordPress Cons:- Security and Complexity
One of the biggest question for the first time developers is that whether they should host their website using WordPress.com or they should go with the self-hosting. This is a common dilemma faced by every first time user. Majority of the user among the total 25% sites in the world uses the free hosting from WordPress.org. They have created a.org website which provides the best customization options as well as lower hosting fees. Here the biggest con is that the customization options that are provided by WordPress are a lot more complex than its rivals Wix and Weebly. Even the hosting fees for basic websites using these tools is very less compared to WordPress. Also, for WordPress site owners can it is vital to stay updated to the latest version. Otherwise, they might have to face security issues in the long run.
Squarespace Pros:- No Tech Skills Required
The best thing about Squarespace is that no prior coding knowledge is required to develop a website. Building websites using WordPress still needs some prior knowledge of computer science or programming. Whereas any newbie can develop Squarespace website. It provides a wide range of temples and functions which we can add to our website. The backend is very powerful, and it can handle every heavy template that is provided in its library. This can create one of the most beautiful website experience for the visitors. The templates of Squarespace are so popular that they are being used in Squarespace sites as well.
Squarespace Cons:- Cost and Ownership
The cheapest plan for a self-hosted WordPress starts from $5 per month whereas the basic plan of Squarespace starts from the $12 per month. This is even more than the double of WordPress. Though paying such a high amount to Squarespace, our website is not exactly in possession of them. Hence in any case if the website goes down for some reason, Squarespace does not own it and because of which our data will be lost. Apart from this, there is no migration option available in Squarespace so, whenever the user wants to migrate the site they have to start building their site from scratch.
Conclusion:
For the people who do not have any prior knowledge of programming and need to make a minimal static website with a very fewer chance of making the change in the website in future are suggested to use Squarespace instead of WordPress. Because it provides one of the simplest user interfaces with more default templates and functions. As there are very fewer users with such a requirement majority of them chooses WordPress to build the website.
For the people who want to make money out of their website in any form including affiliate marketing or by conversion of customers they choose WordPress to build a site because it is a little bit tough for the first time users, but it is going to be beneficial for the rest of the time until the user wants the website to shut down. It is one of the oldest website building and hosting tool so, the kind of trust WordPress has gained is second to none. Because of its reliability today many big news sites or business site where change is the only constant thing are still using WordPress. WordPress is only recommended for the people who want to build their platform and are into the long race.
