Showit vs. Squarespace
There's a lot to unpack here, so pull up a chair, grab some snacks, and let's get into the nitty gritty of both Showit and Squarespace.
Learn the pros and cons of each service
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The philosophical differences between Showit and Squarespace
aPPROACH
While both Showit and Squarespace make it easy to build a website, they differ quite a bit in their approach.
In Showit, users are given more freedom to make creative decisions, giving them greater control in placing elements wherever they'd like to create beautiful, high performing websites that connect with their ideal clients.
Squarespace makes it easy to create a website by pre-determining styles and design rules. This keeps designs consistent in their view and with code, can be adjusted by more advanced users. As they explain,
"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 Co-Founder/CEO
At our core, we believe that technology is at its best when it enhances creativity.
— Todd Watson
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.
START
The website builder
The differences in the design builder will also be apparent in many of the other features we explore in this article.
software
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.
Showit’s website builder makes it easy to drag images and text exactly where you want them.
Nearly any aspect from fonts and colors to images and layouts can be customized, regardless of the template you decide to use.
Showit
Squarespace
Mobile optimization and design
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 independently so that it’s optimized for mobile visitors. This means that specific elements of your website can be turned off or rearranged 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 edit your desktop and mobile versions side-by-side.
CUSTOMIZE
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There are countless ways to incorporate a Showit gallery into your website, and each gallery was built with creative entrepreneurs in mind.
Build your dream site today
Galleries & showing off your work
IMAGES
Showing off your work is the point of having a website, right? Both Squarespace and Showit provide various gallery options that can be used to show off your work. Squarespace gives users the option between four gallery block layouts: Slideshow, Carousel, Grid, and Stack.
Blogging and search engine optimization
SEO
Both Squarespace and Showit make blogging easy, and offer built-in SEO tools, though they implement them differently.
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.
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.
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 ecosystem.
This integration also allows for Showit users to use SEO plugins like Yoast for extra help optimizing their website for search engines.
Ecommerce, selling products, and other integrations
sales
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.
Squarespace’s native ecommerce tools make it convenient for selling products—both physical and digital—using Squarespace.
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.
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.
Building additional websites
brands
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.
If you own multiple brands, managing multiple websites can get expensive. At Squarespace, you’ll pay a subscription for every website you want to launch.
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.
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Get real help
from real people.
Both Squarespace and Showit are known for having outstanding support teams and help documents available. With Showit, our expert team of 24hr support staff will walk with you every step of the way to find solutions to all your questions. Well, maybe not all of them... we're still not sure why people put pineapple on pizza.
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.
In addition to a responsive support team, Showit users gain access to an exclusive (and active) Designer Community 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.
SUPPORT
Parker
Rachel
Trevor
Migrating your blog
Switching
If you’re thinking about switching website platforms, it’s good to know how much work will go into that process.
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.
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.
Pricing comparison
payment
You won’t need to message support while designing your site
$
25-139
Best choice if:
Squarespace
You don’t mind a site builder that paints inside of the lines
You like Squarespace’s blogging platform
You enjoy professional and friendly 1 on 1 support you can reach out to 24/7 to while designing your site
$
24-39
Best choice if:
/mo*
Showit
You want complete creative freedom
You love WordPress’s powerful blogging tools
/mo*
*0-7% transaction fee for Digital Content & Memberships on sites
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FAQs
Answers to some of life's greatest questions found here
assist
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.
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!
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.
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.
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. Get in there and start pushing buttons.
So how does this work?
intiate
Customize your template. Showit allows for complete creative freedom and just because your template looks one way now, doesn't mean it has to stay that way forever.
POLISH
You shouldn't need a design degree to make an amazing site. Whether you're using a template or starting from scratch, Showit makes it easy to build and launch your dream website.
Launch your site! Start that business, show off that portfolio, and let the world see your greatness.
PUBLISH
Choose your starting template. You'll use this as a launch pad to begin your Showit adventure.
PICK
Ready to get things started?
Taking the first step can be daunting, but remember that whether you start from scratch or use a template, Showit gives you complete creative freedom to craft a website that’s uniquely yours.
Trial
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