Showit vs. Squarespace

Learn the pros and cons in each service.

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The Philosophical Differences Between Showit and Squarespace


Philosophical

While both Showit and Squarespace make it easy to build a website, they differ quite a bit in their approach.

Squarespace makes it easy to build a website through limiting the control one has in the building process. This is a good summary of their approach taken from the Squarespace website:

Showit, on the other hand, provides their users with almost total creative control over their websites so creative entrepreneurs can create beautiful, high-performing websites that showcase their work.

"Every Squarespace template has been crafted by our Design Team. Our designers develop style rules for each template that help you create a beautiful website without starting from scratch or needing advanced design skills. They also employ the latest coding techniques to ensure that your site is compatible with modern browsers and mobile devices.

To help your site stay consistent, and to prevent conflict between different elements, templates have pre-determined style tweaks with set parameters. Advanced users can further modify their site’s code with code injection, code blocks, CSS editing, or the Squarespace Developer Platform."

- Squarespace

"Showit makes it possible to build a truly custom & branded website with zero coding knowledge. Any design you dream up is possible."

Lauren 

Photographer

"At our core, we believe that technology is best when it enhances creativity."

Todd Watson

Showit co-founder / CEO

WEDDING & FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

WEDDING & FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

Lauren 

Choosing a Design

Both Squarespace and Showit provide a library of design templates for users to start with as they build their websites.

Squarespace, however, forces users to start with a website design template from their design library. Additionally, it's not possible for third-party designers to sell templates for use on a Squarespace site.

Showit not only provides access to a library of free and paid design templates, but also allows users to purchase templates from other designers. Installing templates and custom designs from outside the Showit library is super easy.

And for those who prefer to pave their own way, Showit allows users to start completely from scratch if they so desire. 

Examples of Premium Showit Website Templates

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WEDDING & FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

The differences in the design builder will also be apparent in many of the other features we explore in this article.

Nearly any aspect from fonts and colors to images and layouts can be customized, regardless of the template you decide to use.

Squarespace and Showit both provide access to a drag-and-drop website builder that allows users to customize their website designs.

The Squarespace builder is easy to use, but limits what customizations can be done to the template. This can be overcome if you have advanced knowledge of tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.


The Website Builder

“I can create whatever I want to create.”

Elle Danielle

Showit’s website builder makes it easy to drag images and text exactly where you want them.

Squarespace limits the user on how much the mobile version of a website can differ from its desktop counterpart. You're able to move blocks around, but many of the desktop and mobile parameters are linked. This is great for people who don’t want to deal with the mobile version of their websites, but it may make for a less-than-ideal mobile experience.

Showit provides the ability to edit the mobile version of your website so that it’s optimized for mobile visitors. This means that specific elements of your website can be turned off in case they’re not great for a user’s mobile experience.

This can be done in the Showit builder by selecting the mobile view of your website. You can even see your desktop and mobile versions side-by-side.

Mobile Optimization and Design

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Squarespace gives users the option between four gallery block layouts: Slideshow, Carousel, Grid, and Stack.

There are countless ways to incorporate a Showit gallery into your website, and each gallery was built with creative entrepreneurs in mind. 

Showing off your work is the point of having a website, right? Well Squarespace and Showit provide various gallery options that can be used to show off your work.

Galleries and Showing Off Your Work

Even though Showit users blog on the WordPress platform, the blog is designed using Showit’s website builder and the blog will still live at the same domain as the Showit website for a seamless
end-user experience.

This integration also allows for Showit users to use SEO plugins like Yoast for extra help optimizing their website for search engines.

Showit users will use the WordPress platform for blogging. WordPress is widely considered the best platform for blogging, and this integration allows Showit users to take advantage of the tools available in the WordPress eco-system

Squarespace users will blog within the Squarespace app and can optimize SEO page titles and meta-descriptions, too. While this provides an easy way to blog, Squarespace limits control by forcing users to use their platform.

It’s easy to blog on both Squarespace and Showit, and both platforms provide built-in tools for search engine optimization. But each platform approaches these features a little differently.

Blogging and Search Engine Optimization

squarespace-icon-01
yoast
tools

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Mackenzie Sales Page Template By:

Northfolk Co.

Elizabeth McCravy

Sara sales funnel Template by:

Showit’s WordPress integration, in particular, opens up a wide range of integrations through custom WordPress plugins. WP plugins make it super easy to add features to a website without the need for advanced code or development.

While some might prefer the convenience of an all-in-one tool, Showit’s approach has been to focus on being really, really good at what it does while enabling users to focus on the best of other tools.

Showit doesn’t have built-in ecommerce tools, but allows users to integrate with their favorite ecommerce tool, whether that be WooCommerce or Shopify Lite. The advantage is that users get total creative control over their website while being able to use platforms that specialize in ecommerce.

Squarespace’s native ecommerce tools make it convenient for selling products—both physical and digital—using Squarespace.

Ecommerce, Selling Products, and Other Integrations

In addition to a responsive support team, Showit also has active Facebook communities for both users and designers. Business and support questions are often answered quickly and by multiple users. It’s become a great place for advice, collaboration, and, of course, additional support from other users.

Both Squarespace and Showit are known for having outstanding support teams and help documents available.

Showit’s support team can be reached via email or live chat. They’re super friendly—don’t be surprised if they respond using GIFs. Showit’s focus on creative businesses gives them an advantage when interacting with users because they better understand the needs of their community.



Getting Support For Your Website

TREVOR

"Customer service is amazing, especially Trevor!" 

- Johanna White

 showit support pro

Showit provides a 50% discount for each additional website for the first year, which makes it more affordable to manage multiple brands on the same platform.

An additional perk of using Showit is being able to easily create Plus Sites that can be used for things like private pricing pages. These sites can even have a different design than your primary website, and can be managed under one account.

If you own multiple brands, managing multiple websites can get expensive. At Squarespace, you’ll pay a subscription for every website want to launch.

Building Additional Websites

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tools

For Advanced Blog users, after you’re done customizing your website, the Showit team can step you through pointing your domain to your new home on Showit, and they will migrate your blog content for you. You only need to focus on creating a beautiful website, and the Showit Support Pros take care of the rest.

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www

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On Squarespace, you’ll do it all yourself—everything from customizing your template to setting up your domain to pointing your DNS. And if you’re coming from another platform, you’ll be responsible for migrating your old blog content yourself.

If you’re thinking about switching website platforms, it’s good to know how much work will go into that process.

Migrating Your Blog

You enjoy professional and friendly 1 on 1 support you can reach out to 24/7 to while designing your site

You love WordPress’s powerful blogging tools

You want complete creative freedom.

Best choice if:

less expensive if your subscription is billed annually

/mo

19-34

Showit

vs.

You won’t need to message support while designing your site

You like Squarespace’s blogging platform 

You don’t mind a site builder that paints inside of the lines 

Best choice if:

0-7% transaction fee with products sold on site

/mo

16-99

Squarespace

Pricing

$

$

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(no credit card required)

Frequently Asked Questions about Migration from Squarespace to Showit

Can I use my current domain?

Can I use my current domain?

Absolutely! You can use your current domain and keep it hosted wherever you choose. You will simply point your DNS records to our servers to display your site. Check out this doc for more info on Showit hosting.

how easy is it to migrate my blog content?

how easy is it to migrate my blog content? 

It couldn't be easier, for our Advanced blog users, all you need to do is submit a blog migration request and our team will handle the rest! Once everything is moved over, we will contact you and let you know you're ready to start blogging with Showit!

whats the turnaround time for a migration?

WHATS THE TURNAROUND TIME FOR A MIGRATION?

Generally 2-3 days. The length of the migration process can vary based on the quantity of content you have. Learn more about blog migration here.

how do i migrate from squarespace to showit?

HOW DO I MIGRATE FROM SQUARESPACE TO SHOWIT?

For our Advanced Blog users, our support team will assist you with the migration of your Squarespace blog to Showit. You can find instructions on how to request a blog migration here.

is there a free trial?

IS THERE A FREE TRIAL?

Yes, there is. It's a 14 day free trial in which you get full access to the Showit platform to test it out and see if it's the right fit for you.