Shopify vs Squarespace: which is better for selling online?

At a glance

• What it is: Squarespace is a website builder with commerce built in. Shopify is a commerce platform that also runs your website.

• Starting price: Squarespace Core, the first plan without a store transaction fee, is £17 a month paid annually (excluding VAT). Shopify Basic is £19 a month paid yearly.

• Transaction fees: Squarespace charges 2% on online store sales on Basic and 0% on Core and above. Shopify charges nothing extra with Shopify Payments, and 0.6% to 2% if you use another provider.

• Card rates: Squarespace Payments starts at 2.0% + £0.25 (1.5% + £0.25 on Advanced). Shopify Payments starts at 2% + 25p (1.5% + 25p on Advanced).

• Editing: Squarespace uses Fluid Engine, a drag-and-drop grid editor. Shopify uses a theme editor built on sections and blocks.

• Selling at scale: Shopify adds Markets for international selling, multiple inventory locations, staff accounts, B2B catalogs and POS. Squarespace covers the essentials well for a smaller catalogue.

• Extensions: Squarespace has Squarespace Extensions. Shopify has the Shopify App Store.

• Leaving: Squarespace's site export doesn't include store pages or products, though products can be exported separately to CSV. Shopify exports products to CSV.

Cost

As of October 2026, Squarespace's pricing page shows UK plans at £16 a month (£12 paid annually) for Basic, £24 (£17 annually) for Core, £36 (£29 annually) for Plus and £89 (£79 annually) for Advanced. Squarespace's help centre says these prices don't include tax, so VAT is added for most UK customers.

The plan matters for a shop. Basic charges a 2% transaction fee on online store sales and leaves out discounts, Google Shopping listings, carrier-calculated shipping and ecommerce analytics, so most stores will want Core or above. Card rates through Squarespace Payments are 2.0% + £0.25 on Basic and Core, 1.7% + £0.25 on Plus and 1.5% + £0.25 on Advanced, with a higher rate for premium cards such as American Express.

On the same date, Shopify's UK pricing page lists Basic at £25 a month (£19 paid yearly), Grow at £65 (£49), Advanced at £344 (£259) and Plus from £1,800 a month; the page doesn't say whether VAT is included. Shopify Payments card rates run from 2% + 25p on Basic to 1.5% + 25p on Advanced, and a separate 2%, 1% or 0.6% fee applies if you use a third-party payment provider.

For a small shop, Squarespace is usually cheaper month to month. As sales grow, compare fees and features at your real order volume rather than the headline plan price. Our guide to website costs in the UK covers the build side.

Ease of editing for your team

Squarespace is hard to beat for editing content. Fluid Engine lets you place blocks on a grid on version 7.1 sites, and pages, blog posts, forms, newsletter sign-ups and products are all managed in one place. Basic allows 2 contributors; every other plan allows unlimited contributors.

Shopify's admin is built around products, orders and customers. Its theme editor lets you add, reorder, hide and duplicate sections and blocks without code, with up to 25 sections per template. Staff accounts depend on the plan: none on Basic beyond the owner, 5 on Grow and 15 on Advanced.

Design freedom

Both start from themes or templates and can be made to look properly on-brand. On Squarespace, every plan has a CSS editor, while code injection and the advanced code block for JavaScript need Core or above. Checkout runs on your own domain on all plans.

Shopify themes give more structure for complex product pages, such as dynamic content from metafields in compatible sections. Its pricing page lists checkout customisation as "limited" below Plus and "full" on Plus.

SEO and performance

Both handle the technical basics. Squarespace creates and updates a sitemap automatically and adds structured data for products, local businesses, blog posts and more. Shopify also generates a sitemap.xml automatically for every store.

Shopify uses fixed paths such as /products/ and /collections/, which you can't redirect from. Squarespace hosting and SSL are included on every plan, as is Shopify's. Ranking comes down to your site structure, content and speed far more than the platform; see Core Web Vitals for business owners and our technical SEO service.

Ecommerce

Squarespace sells physical products, services, downloads, gift cards and subscriptions, with abandoned cart recovery on every plan. Version 7.1 sites can hold up to 10,000 products per store page and 250 variants per product. It is particularly good for service businesses, with service products, free invoicing and pay links, and it takes payments through Squarespace Payments, Stripe or PayPal.

Shopify is built for retail that keeps growing. Every plan includes Shopify Markets for storefront translation, local domains and local currency prices (local currencies need Shopify Payments), plus up to 10 inventory locations and B2B catalogs. In-person selling is available through the POS Pro add-on at £69 a month per location, and Plus adds more locations and full checkout customisation.

Plugins and integrations

Squarespace Extensions are third-party tools for jobs like tax compliance, drop shipping and marketing, which Squarespace describes as its equivalent of plugins or apps. Core and above add integrations such as Mailchimp, Zapier and the Commerce APIs.

Shopify's App Store is larger and more commerce-focused, and Shopify says most apps are built by third-party developers. More choice is useful, but each app adds cost and code, so we keep the list short.

Ownership, hosting and security

Both are hosted platforms, so there's no server to patch. Shopify provides free TLS certificates for every domain you add. Squarespace includes managed hosting and free SSL on all plans.

Exporting is where they differ. Squarespace's site export creates a WordPress-format XML file, but store pages, products, style settings and custom CSS aren't included. Physical and service products can be exported to CSV separately, up to 10,000, without main images. Shopify exports products to CSV too, again without images. Either way, we transfer the site to your own account at handover.

Moving from one to the other

Moving a growing shop from Squarespace to Shopify is common. Shopify's Store Migration app includes a Squarespace guide, and data is imported in order: products, then customers, then historical orders. Every old URL then needs mapping to its new address with a 301 redirect; Shopify accepts redirects by CSV, up to 100,000 per store, and they only work from URLs that no longer load a page.

Moving the other way, Squarespace's URL mappings handle 301 redirects, with room for roughly 2,500 lines. You can't redirect from the homepage, and the old page must be deleted or disabled first. Our redesign checklist covers how to protect traffic during the switch.

Which should you choose?

• A service business that also sells a few products, classes or gift cards: Squarespace. It keeps the website and the shop in one simple tool.

• A content-led brand with a small product range: Squarespace Core or Plus, provided you don't need features only Shopify offers.

• A product business where the shop is the business: Shopify, for its admin, apps and room to grow.

• Selling in several countries, from several stock locations or in person: Shopify, for Markets, inventory locations and POS.

• Already on Squarespace and outgrowing it: plan a move to Shopify with full URL mapping rather than adding workarounds.

Still deciding between builders? Compare Wix vs Squarespace or Shopify vs WooCommerce.

How we can help

We build on both, so we'll recommend the one that fits rather than the one we prefer. For service businesses and smaller ranges we often suggest Squarespace; for product brands planning to grow we'd usually recommend Shopify. Websites start from £7,500 with a fixed quote after discovery, Shopify and ecommerce builds typically take 4 to 12 weeks, and GA4 and Microsoft Clarity are set up so you can see what's working. Read our ecommerce web design overview or start your mission.

Frequently asked questions

Is Shopify better than Squarespace for ecommerce?

For a product business that expects to grow, usually yes, because Shopify adds international selling, inventory locations, staff accounts and a large app store. For a small range of products or services alongside a content-led site, Squarespace is often enough.

Is Squarespace cheaper than Shopify?

Usually, at the entry level. As of October 2026, Squarespace Core is £17 a month paid annually (excluding VAT) against £19 a month for Shopify Basic paid yearly, but card fees and the features you need matter more as sales grow.

Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?

On the Basic plan, Squarespace charges a 2% transaction fee on online store sales. Core, Plus and Advanced have no online store transaction fee, though card processing fees still apply.

Is Shopify or Squarespace better for SEO?

Both create sitemaps automatically and both can rank well. Squarespace also adds structured data for products, and Shopify gives more commerce-specific tools; structure, content and speed matter more than the platform.

Can I move my Squarespace store to Shopify?

Yes. Shopify's Store Migration app has a Squarespace guide for importing products, customers and orders, and each old URL should be redirected to its new address with a 301 redirect.

Can I sell services and bookings on Shopify or Squarespace?

Squarespace has dedicated service products that need no shipping, plus free invoicing, which suits classes and consultations. Shopify's admin is organised around products, stock and orders, so service businesses often find Squarespace simpler.