Squarespace vs Wix in 2026: Which Website Builder Should You Choose?
When people ask me “What’s better – Squarespace or Wix?”, what they’re usually asking is a different question:
“Which platform will give my business the best mix of design, features, speed and low maintenance over the next few years?”
Heading into 2026, both Squarespace and Wix are mature, AI-powered platforms – not the basic site builders they used to be. Both can give you a serious, professional website without you writing a line of code.
But they have very different personalities.
This article looks at Squarespace vs Wix in 2026, based on their latest 2025 updates, AI tools, pricing and long-term trade-offs.
Quick verdict (TL;DR)
If you don’t want to read the whole thing:
Choose Squarespace if you want polished, consistent design, strong blogging and commerce out of the box, and a platform that’s hard to “break” visually – especially if you’re working with a designer or developer who can add custom code on top of it. (Squarespace)
Choose Wix if you want maximum freedom, a huge template library, a deeper app ecosystem, and heavier e-commerce / marketing features, and you’re okay with a slightly more complex editor.
Now let’s go deeper.
1. Platform snapshot for 2026
Squarespace in a sentence
Squarespace is a design-first, all-in-one website platform with great templates, a grid-based Fluid Engine editor, strong blogging tools and integrated commerce – now supercharged by Blueprint AI and the new Beacon AI assistant for content, SEO and site management.
Wix in a sentence
Wix is a feature-rich website builder and app platform with 900+ templates, a highly flexible drag-and-drop editor, a massive app marketplace and advanced business tools, plus AI creation tools baked into its core plans and the more agency-focused Wix Studio product.
Both platforms:
Host your site for you
Include SSL, templates, ecommerce options and marketing tools
Now lean heavily on AI to help you design pages and write content
2. Pricing comparison
Pricing changes slightly by region and promo, but this is the general picture going into 2026.
Squarespace pricing
Squarespace’s main website + commerce plans (names can vary by region) sit roughly in the $16–$99/month range, with a 14-day free trial but no free forever tier. Ecommerce features are available on all business/commerce plans, with unlimited bandwidth and storage. (Squarespace)
Wix pricing
Wix has more tiers, including a free plan, plus premium website and business/ecommerce plans like Light, Core, Business and Business Elite (up to around $159/month for heavy ecommerce). Wix Studio has its own agency-focused pricing.
Takeaway:
Wix is cheaper at the very low end (because of the free plan and entry tiers).
Squarespace becomes more competitive at higher tiers, especially if you’d be buying multiple Wix apps to match what Squarespace includes natively.
3. Design, templates and “look”
If you care about aesthetics, this is where the two platforms feel very different.
Squarespace
Around 180+ curated templates, all on the modern 7.1 / Fluid Engine system.
Consistent, typography-driven designs that tend to look like they came from a brand studio.
Fluid Engine uses a grid editor so it’s harder to misalign things and easier to keep your design consistent across pages and devices.
Wix
Over 900 templates, covering every imaginable niche.
More visual variety – but also more inconsistency if you’re not careful.
The classic Wix editor is extremely free-form; Wix Studio modernizes this somewhat for agencies.
Who wins?
For design quality and consistency: Squarespace
For template variety and “any-niche” coverage: Wix
4. Editing experience: Fluid Engine vs Wix Editor
Squarespace Fluid Engine
Fluid Engine is Squarespace’s newer drag-and-drop system, with:
Grid-based layout (harder to break)
Separate control for desktop vs mobile layouts
Easier alignment and spacing
Newer updates like block animation, external fonts, and more fine-grained layout controls from the 2025 “Refresh” update
It’s powerful but still has guardrails, which is good for keeping non-designers out of trouble.
Wix Editor / Wix Studio
Wix’s standard editor is famously flexible:
You can drag elements anywhere on the canvas
There’s a huge component selection
Wix Studio adds more responsive control, CMS features and dev tools aimed at agencies and pros
The trade-off: it’s easier to create layout issues, especially on mobile, if you don’t understand responsive design.
Who wins?
For ease + safety for non-designers: Squarespace
For maximum layout freedom and complex designs: Wix / Wix Studio
5. AI tools: Blueprint AI vs Wix’s AI suite
Squarespace AI (Blueprint + Beacon)
Squarespace now leans heavily into AI:
Blueprint AI: an AI website builder that generates a full design, layout, copy and images from a guided process.
Sites can now be built via conversational flows, including integrations with ChatGPT, and then edited normally in Squarespace.
Beacon AI: a new assistant for writing content, optimizing SEO, generating code snippets and managing site health.
Wix AI
Wix has been early on AI too:
AI site generation for years (Wix ADI and successors)
AI tools for copy, images, layout suggestions and SEO inside the editor
Wix currently leads in AI search visibility – it appears more often than Squarespace in AI-driven search results according to recent Similarweb + TechRadar reporting.
Who wins?
Right now it’s more a difference in philosophy than a clear winner:
Squarespace uses AI to enhance a curated design system (Blueprint + Fluid Engine + Beacon).
Wix uses AI to make its already flexible platform faster and more approachable.
6. Ecommerce and business features
Both platforms can run a “real” online business, but they lean in slightly different directions.
Wix
Stronger ecommerce depth: more advanced product options, tax automation, and business apps.
Massive app marketplace (500+ apps) to extend stores with subscriptions, bookings, loyalty programs, etc.
High-end plans (Business Elite, Studio) target serious online stores and agencies.
Squarespace
Commerce is simpler but tightly integrated into the platform: products, digital goods, subscriptions, scheduling and donations.
Squarespace is especially strong for brands selling a focused set of products, courses or services with strong visuals.
Who wins?
For complex ecommerce setups or businesses that want to heavily customize their store experience, Wix edges ahead.
For design-led shops, small boutiques, creators and service-based businesses, Squarespace is often the better fit.
7. SEO and performance
SEO tools
Multiple independent comparisons in 2025 still give Wix a slight edge for SEO tooling:
Wix offers SEO checklists, guided setup and more granular on-page controls built into the platform.
Squarespace covers all essentials (metadata, slugs, alt text, redirects, etc.), but doesn’t go as deep with hand-holding.
Performance
Reviewers often note that Squarespace sites feel more consistent and performant by default, partly because the design system is more constrained.
Wix performance depends more on how much you load onto a page (apps, animations, heavy layouts).
Takeaway:
If you want SEO help built into the interface, Wix is attractive.
If you care about clean, stable performance out of the box, Squarespace has a slight advantage – especially if a developer optimizes images and layout.
8. Extensibility, ecosystem and future-proofing
Wix ecosystem
Huge app marketplace and integrations
Custom code, database collections and dev tools (especially in Wix Studio) (wix.com)
Strong positioning in AI search visibility suggests Wix will remain highly discoverable via AI assistants going into 2026.
Squarespace ecosystem
Fewer “installable” apps, but good native features and a rich ecosystem of third-party template shops and custom-code experts.
The 2025 Refresh (60+ features) shows Squarespace is investing heavily in pro-grade options: reusable section layouts, external fonts, better mobile layouts and service-selling tools.
Future-proofing question:
If you plan to move beyond the platform later (e.g., migrate to a headless CMS or custom stack), both will require effort – they’re not designed as “export-first” systems. In that scenario, I usually advise clients to treat the site as a 3–5 year asset, not a forever investment.
9. Who should choose which in 2026?
Choose Squarespace if you are:
A creative, consultant, agency or small brand that wants a site that looks expensive from day one
A blogger or content creator who cares about clean typography and long-form content
A small-to-mid ecommerce brand with a focused product line, where storytelling and visuals matter as much as transactional features
Someone who wants guardrails so non-technical team members don’t break the layout
Planning to work with a Squarespace developer to add custom code, animations and integrations on top of a solid base
Choose Wix if you are:
A feature-hungry small business that wants to plug in lots of apps and business tools quickly
Running a complex store with advanced product logic, tax rules, or multi-regional needs
An agency or freelancer managing many sites and needing dev-focused tools (Wix Studio)
Someone who values AI SEO helpers and marketing integrations highly
Comfortable with a more flexible editor and willing to spend time keeping things consistent
10. My practical recommendation as a developer
In real client work, I often end up with a hybrid mindset:
If your priority is brand and content, I lean Squarespace and enhance it with custom code where needed (animations, custom layouts, advanced filters, integrations, etc.).
If your priority is apps, heavy ecommerce and marketing automations, and you want everything under one roof, Wix can be the better choice – with the understanding that you’ll need to be more disciplined with design and performance.
Need help deciding – or want a “beyond template” Squarespace build?
On abZ Global I specialize in highly customized Squarespace sites – the kind of projects that go beyond what the default editor can do:
Complex layouts built on Fluid Engine
Custom CSS/JS for interactions and advanced sections
Performance and SEO clean-ups
Rescue work when a DIY or template build hits a wall
If you’re unsure whether Squarespace or Wix is the right foundation for your next site, or you already picked Squarespace and now need custom-coded features, feel free to reach out – we can choose the right platform for your business and then push it as far as it can go.