Even though Square­space is a market-leading website builder, various Square­space al­ter­na­tives are available to design a website with an online store in just a few hours. Here are the best ones.

Overview of the best Square­space al­ter­na­tives

The following Square­space al­ter­na­tives are suitable for building your own online platform for eCommerce. (Current as of November 2021)

Square­space al­ter­na­tives Function
IONOS eCommerce Website Builder (incurs fee) Online store builder with many designs, extra apps, store interface, hosting, domain, and email inboxes
Shopify (incurs fee) Cloud-based eCommerce software (SaaS) for online stores and logistics out­sourc­ing
Big­Com­merce (incurs fee) Hosted eCommerce software (SaaS) for online store creation and product man­age­ment
Strik­ing­ly (incurs fee) Website builder with HTML and CSS features, many templates, and WYSIWYG editor
PrestaShop (free / open source) Open source software for online store creation and man­age­ment
WooCom­merce (free WordPress plugin) Open source WordPress plugin for web store in­te­gra­tion in WordPress sites
Volusion (incurs fee) Cloud-based online store software (SaaS) with website builder, analytics tools, and intuitive user interface

A brief overview of Square­space

Square­space is a website provider, website builder, and an online store system you can use to create modern websites and online stores. At­trac­tive templates and designs are available and are com­ple­ment­ed with analytics tools, SEO op­ti­miza­tion, and practical payment features. In addition, it offers SSL security, various storage ca­pac­i­ties, op­ti­miza­tion for mobile devices and, depending on the selected pricing model, almost unlimited scaling ca­pa­bil­i­ties. However, if you’re not a fan there are plenty of al­ter­na­tives to Square­space.

The best Square­space al­ter­na­tives in detail

Below we’ve sum­ma­rized the top Square­space al­ter­na­tives to create websites and online stores.

IONOS eCommerce Website Builder

With the IONOS eCommerce Website Builder you can design your online store with a re­spon­sive web design with little effort and in no time. Ad­di­tion­al software is not required because the setup occurs in the browser without any pro­gram­ming knowledge. The store can be set up in up to 15 languages (Plus plan or higher) and linked to other sales platforms and mar­ket­places such as Amazon, eBay, Facebook, or Google Shopping.

Design and man­age­ment are intuitive and can be con­fig­ured via the mobile eCommerce app. A domain and email address are included. All the major payment and shipping methods are supported and sales data can be analyzed using in­te­grat­ed sta­tis­tics tools.

Cost:

  • Starter plan from $1 per month (12 months, $12 per month there­after)
  • Plus plan from $5 per month (6 months, $20 per month there­after)
  • Pro plan from $25 per month (6 months, $35 per month there­after)
  • Expert plan from $35 per month (6 months, $50 per month there­after)

Suitable for:

Par­tic­u­lar­ly suitable for eCommerce beginners, startups and medium-sized companies and retailers with an online store.

Ad­van­tages Dis­ad­van­tages
✓ Favorable rates for newcomers, new customers and small to medium-sized online retailers ✗ Only available via the cloud
✓ SSL en­cryp­tion and hosting via secure servers ✗ Limited functions with low-cost plan
✓ In­te­grates common payment and shipping service providers ✗ No drop­ship­ping
✓ SEO op­ti­miza­tion, mul­ti­lin­gual pages, analytics tools (Google)  
✓ In­te­gra­tion of social media marketing and selling (e.g. Facebook, Instagram)  
✓ Great scal­a­bil­i­ty for B2B and large online retailers  
✓ Very user-friendly and optimized for mobile devices  
✓ No trans­ac­tion fees; in­ter­na­tion­al tax rates included  
✓ Multi-level pricing model according to demand, number and size of websites  
Tip

With the IONOS Website Builder you can create a pro­fes­sion­al website with a high-quality design – including domain, SSL cer­tifi­cate, and an email inbox.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the most suc­cess­ful cloud-based eCommerce systems for online stores and, as SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), offers plenty of flex­i­bil­i­ty and ease of use. Shopify can be used to create a modern online store and can be expanded through apps and ex­ten­sions without prior pro­gram­ming knowledge. The system makes it easy to manage inventory, sta­tis­tics, payment pro­cess­ing and product data as well as marketing strate­gies from a single interface. It’s easy to create an appealing store tapping into the large selection of store building and man­age­ment tools and pro­fes­sion­al­ly designed templates.

Cost:

  • Basic Shopify plan: $29 per month
  • Standard Shopify plan: $79 per month
  • Advanced Shopify plan: $229 dollars per month

Suitable for:

Suitable for both small/medium and large busi­ness­es and online retailers due to high scal­a­bil­i­ty and ease of use.

Ad­van­tages Dis­ad­van­tages
✓ Intuitive user interface for beginners without pro­gram­ming knowledge ✗ Only more expensive plans are suitable for com­pre­hen­sive store functions
✓ SEO functions for meta data ✗ URL structure with subpages not optimal for SEO
✓ Wide range of apps and ex­ten­sions for website and store functions ✗ Mul­ti­lin­gual store features are limited
✓ Fast load times ✗ Does not include email hosting
✓ Re­spon­sive website creation with op­ti­miza­tion for mobile devices  
✓ New, in­di­vid­ual functions can be added via API  
✓ Scalable and due to in­ter­na­tion­al dis­tri­b­u­tion very com­pat­i­ble and reliable  
✓ More than 170 pro­fes­sion­al templates and designs (fee required)  

Big­Com­merce

Big­Com­merce much like Shopify, is a practical SaaS solution for creating a powerful, scalable online store. Design tools make it easy to create store and sales pages in the theme of your choice. Numerous other tools for SEO, sta­tis­tics and sales pro­cess­ing are included. The backend is very user-friendly for managing sales options and offers built-in con­nec­tiv­i­ty to popular sales platforms. Support is excellent and use of the system is rec­om­mend­ed for both beginners and large merchants.

Cost:

  • Standard plan: $29 per month
  • Plus plan: $79,95 per month
  • Pro plan: $299,95 per month
  • En­ter­prise plan with cus­tomized pricing

Suitable for:

Suitable for small/medium busi­ness­es and online retailers who wish to scale their business easily and ef­fec­tive­ly.

Ad­van­tages Dis­ad­van­tages
✓ Practical all-in-one solution for creating high-quality product pages with good scal­a­bil­i­ty ✗ Uses annual revenue thresh­olds that result in higher fees when profits climb
✓ Numerous free templates and themes as well as paid premium themes available ✗ Mul­ti­lin­gual functions in­suf­fi­cient
✓ Intuitive user interface and great SEO functions ✗ Themes limited on lowest plan
✓ Up to 600 different product options  
✓ Useful insight features such as analytics tools and data reports  
✓ Good support for Big­Com­merce customers  
✓ SSL en­cryp­tion and high data pro­tec­tion  
✓ Supports multiple payment methods with 60 payment gateways (no trans­ac­tion fees)  
✓ Marketing in­te­gra­tion for social media and op­ti­miza­tion for mobile devices  

Strik­ing­ly

Strik­ing­ly is a website builder that lets you create com­pre­hen­sive websites in no time. The software offers both a low-cost plan with standard features and templates for beginners and a Pro plan for up to three websites, ad­di­tion­al themes, and per­son­al­ized domains. Creation is intuitive and in­cor­po­rates drag-and-drop, with no prior pro­gram­ming skills required; blog features for content marketing and mobile op­ti­miza­tion are in­te­grat­ed.

Cost:

  • Limited plan: $8 per month
  • Pro plan: $16 per month
  • VIP plan: $49 per month

Suitable for:

Suitable for anyone who wants to create a high-quality website easily and low-cost. The Pro plan is suitable for small online resellers with a limited product range.

Ad­van­tages Dis­ad­van­tages
✓ Optimizes websites for mobile devices ✗ SEO op­ti­miza­tion only useful with Pro plan
✓ SSL cer­tifi­cates for websites included free of charge ✗ Adding your own code not possible with Limited plan
✓ Good rates for multiple sites at once (per-rate includes three sites) ✗ Ad-free websites only in Pro plan
✓ Drag-and-drop principle makes website creation par­tic­u­lar­ly easy  
✓ Editor for single page layouts  
✓ Great customer support  

PrestaShop

PrestaShop is a free open-source software to create an optimally scalable online store based on PHP. However, basic pro­gram­ming skills are required to create and manage a store, and customize functions. Thanks to a large selection of designs, templates, ex­ten­sions, and SEO tools on the PrestaShop mar­ket­place, the use of PrestaShop can be adapted to suit your eCommerce plans. Since the system is modular, you can include or remove tools for payment pro­cess­ing and shipping.

Cost:

Free

Suitable for:

Suitable for small and medium-sized startups and companies with online stores and different business models and services (e.g. for reser­va­tions, downloads, online services, retailers, man­u­fac­tur­ers, producers or pure players).

Ad­van­tages Dis­ad­van­tages
✓ Great scal­a­bil­i­ty for online stores ✗ Basic knowledge of HTML and CSS required
✓ Com­pre­hen­sive PrestaShop community support ✗ Cloud version not available
✓ Powerful free program when hosting is already available ✗ Custom ex­ten­sions and themes are expensive
✓ Mul­ti­lin­gual version for in­ter­na­tion­al stores  
✓ Checkout pre­con­fig­ured on single page  
✓ Numerous ex­ten­sions and SEO tools available  
✓ Simple in­stal­la­tion and numerous in­ter­faces  
Tip

Dedicated PrestaShop Hosting from IONOS offers a strong basis for your PrestaShop online store.

WooCom­merce

WooCom­merce is a free WordPress plugin with plenty of ad­di­tion­al features (e.g. POS or widgets) to turn your WordPress website into a powerful online store. It is easy to use because WooCom­merce draws upon all the ad­van­tages of the CMS.

Even though the plugin is tech­ni­cal­ly free, you should factor in some costs with WooCom­merce when creating a highly per­son­al­ized store.

Costs:

Free WordPress plugin that can be extended with free and paid apps.

Suitable for:

Suitable for both startups or companies with a small product range or those with a broader or unlimited number of products alike.

Ad­van­tages Dis­ad­van­tages
✓ Ex­pand­able to a powerful store system through ad­di­tion­al free or paid plugins ✗ Basic pro­gram­ming skills required
✓ Large selection of free and paid designs and themes that can be cus­tomized with pro­gram­ming skills ✗ No official support
✓ Supports guest checkout without account creation ✗ Only available with WordPress
✓ Great scal­a­bil­i­ty for growing stores  
Tip

Find the powerful hosting for your WooCom­merce store at IONOS.

Volusion

Volusion is a cloud-based eCommerce software for creating online stores that offers numerous features such as a website builder and com­pelling analytics, marketing, sales, and business tools. In­te­grat­ed features include drop­ship­ping, mul­ti­chan­nel sales, and POS support, among others.

Cost:

  • Personal plan: $29 per month
  • Pro­fes­sion­al plan: $79 per month
  • Business plan: $299 per month
  • Prime plan: (price available on request)

Suitable for:

Due to the limited range of functions, the website builder is best suited for small to medium-sized online retailers.

Ad­van­tages Dis­ad­van­tages
✓ Numerous all-in-one functions for marketing, listing and upselling ✗ Limited options for apps
✓ Functions for pro­mo­tions and special deals ✗ Un­suit­able for content marketing due to lack of blog in­te­gra­tion
✓ No trans­ac­tion fees ✗ Setup and cus­tomiza­tion is somewhat com­pli­cat­ed and requires training time
✓ Good team features and employee accounts  
✓ Tools for SEO, social media, and inventory  
✓ Intuitive operation through drag-and-drop  
✓ Provides analytics tools and data reports  
Tip

Create your online store with IONOS, ben­e­fit­ting from a per­son­al­ized design and numerous ad­di­tion­al features.

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