Squarespace gives you templates, hosting and selling tools in one plan. WordPress gives you more freedom. You can run the free software from WordPress.org on your own hosting, or pay for a WordPress.com plan that hosts it for you. For a small business, the choice comes down to how much control you want and how much upkeep you will accept.
Facts below come from the Squarespace pricing page, the WordPress.com pricing page and WordPress.com's guide to WordPress.com vs WordPress.org, as of October 2026. Prices are in US dollars and exclude tax.
The short verdict
- Pick Squarespace if you want a polished site with little setup, one bill and no plugins to look after.
- Pick WordPress.com if you want WordPress plugins and themes without running your own hosting.
- Pick WordPress.org if you want full control and have the skills, or the budget for help, to maintain it.
The two WordPress options
WordPress.org is free software. You pay a host, buy a domain and look after updates and security yourself. In return, you can change anything.
WordPress.com is a hosted service. Its guide says updates, backups and SSL are handled for you, and you can install plugins from the Personal plan up.
Squarespace is closer to WordPress.com: hosted, updated for you, with design and selling built in. It does not have a plugin library like WordPress.
Prices
Squarespace, per month:
- Basic: $12 billed annually, or $19 billed monthly. Up to 2 contributors.
- Core: $17 billed annually, or $27 billed monthly. Unlimited contributors.
- Advanced: $25 billed annually, or $36 billed monthly.
There is no free plan. Every site starts with a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
WordPress.com, per month. First-year price on yearly billing, then the renewal price the page lists, still billed every 12 months:
- Free: $0, with ads shown to visitors.
- Personal: $4, renews at $5. Or $9 billed monthly.
- Premium: $8, renews at $9. Or $18 billed monthly.
- Business: $25, renews at $28. Or $40 billed monthly.
- Commerce: $45, renews at $50. Or $70 billed monthly.
WordPress.org has no plan price. Your cost is the host you choose, plus a domain and any paid add-ons.
Free domain
Both include a free domain for the first year on yearly plans. Squarespace says it renews at the standard rate after that, and you must register it within a year of starting your plan. WordPress.com says the free domain comes with yearly and multi-year plans, and the monthly plans do not include it.
Selling and fees
Both charge a platform fee on some plans, on top of normal payment processing fees.
Squarespace:
- Basic: 2% on online store sales, 7% on digital content and memberships.
- Core: 0% on store sales, 5% on digital content and memberships.
- Advanced: 0% on both.
WordPress.com lists a transaction fee on payments taken with its built-in payment tools: 10% on Free, 8% on Personal, 4% on Premium, 2% on Business and 0% on Commerce.
So a small shop selling physical products could compare Squarespace Basic (2%) with WordPress.com Premium (4%) or Business (2%). Run the numbers with your own monthly sales.
Design and editing
Squarespace is built around its templates. You edit inside them, and the result tends to look tidy with little effort. Custom code is limited on Basic. Core and Advanced add code injection and full CSS and JavaScript changes.
WordPress has a huge choice of themes and plugins. WordPress.com alone lists more than 60,000 plugins on its paid plans. That freedom is its main strength. It also means more choices, and on WordPress.org, more things that can break after an update.
How to decide
- List what the site must do. Pages, a blog, bookings, a shop.
- Check if a built-in feature covers it. If Squarespace does it out of the box, you may not need plugins.
- Count the yearly cost. Include renewals and the fee on your expected sales.
- Pick who maintains it. If the answer is nobody, choose a hosted option.
Whichever you choose, the words do most of the work. Start with an about page, an FAQ page and clear landing page copy. To compare other builders, see WordPress vs Wix and Wix vs Squarespace.