Okay so if you’ve been trying to figure out whether Showit or Squarespace is the right platform for your website, you’ve probably already read approximately 12 blog posts that all say the same thing. I’m going to skip the generic info and just talk about what I think truly matters if you’re evaluating the right platform to build your website with.
Related Post: Website Builder Comparison: The Best Platform for Your Website
I build nearly all my websites on Showit, so yes, I have a preference, and I’ll own that. But I’ve also watched enough business owners choose the wrong platform for their needs to know that pushing everyone toward the same answer doesn’t actually help anyone.
So while I’ll share my honest opinion throughout, my goal here is to give you a real picture of both so you can make the call that’s actually right for you.
Here’s what I’ve seen…
The Website Builder Experience: This is the WHOLE thing
The biggest difference between these two platforms is how you actually build your site, and it genuinely affects everything.
The Squarespace Design App
Squarespace uses a block/grid editor which means things snap into place according to a pre-defined grid pattern. You can move stuff around within the structure, but the structure is always there. If you want to overlap a photo with a text element, layer things, or build a section that doesn’t exist in your template, you’re going to have to work against the imposed grid structure (most likely with code).
Their editor (called Fluid Engine) has gotten more flexible over the years, but with all the added apps, my personal experience is that this had made the UI actually clunkier and slower.
The Showit Design App
Showit has zero grid driving your design. Although you can overlay a grid to help you line up elements, the builder doesn’t force you to put anything other than exactly where you want to put them. On top of that, you can size all your elements to the pixel, layer as many things as you want and it doesn’t take any coding to achieve it. This design freedom does mean there’s more to figure out upfront though. It’s not hard, but it may not be as immediately intuitive as Squarespace’s more guided experience.
IMO Showit is the closest thing to designing in Canva or Adobe Illustrator that actually becomes a real, live website. For creatives and personal brands who want their site to look 100% like them and not like everyone else on their platform, this is the entire argument.
One thing worth mentioning… Ironically, having no constraints can feel paralyzing if you’re not creative. Squarespace’s guardrails can actually be helpful for people who don’t want to control every decision.
Related Post: The Squarespace Alternative You’ve Been Searching For
Template Customization: Showit vs Squarespace
Squarespace Templates
With Squarespace, your template is kind of your ceiling. You can swap colors and fonts, sure. But if you want to do something the template wasn’t designed for, you’re either dealing with CSS workarounds or just accepting the limitation. Switching templates means essentially starting over.
Showit Templates
With Showit, a template is just a starting point. Every element is editable, every section is replaceable, and nothing is locked by your “theme.” I’ve watched clients completely transform a Showit template… the layout, structure, vibe, without touching a single line of code. That’s the design freedom actually being real, not just a marketing tagline.
Related Post: How to Switch from Squarespace to Showit (Without Losing Your SEO)
Showit vs Squarespace SEO
Despite what you may have read, SEO for your website isn’t generally limited by the platform. However, there are some things that can help you in making the process of optimizing your site a little easier.
Blogging on Squarespace
Squarespace has native blogging built-in to their platform and it works. Basic SEO fields, metadata, clean URL structure, it covers the fundamentals of what most people need.
Blogging with Showit
Showit’s blogging runs on WordPress, the #1 blogging platform in the world, and that’s a real advantage. Even the Basic Blog plan comes with WordPress + pre-installed plugins including Yoast SEO, which gives you more control over how your content performs in search. If organic traffic is part of your strategy (and it should be), the Showit + WordPress combo is genuinely hard to beat.
Because the blog runs on WordPress, you’re toggling between two platforms to manage your site. Small thing but worth knowing.
E-commerce Capabilities
E-commerce on Squarespace
Squarespace has e-commerce built in across all plans now, which is great…. But the fine print matters. The Basic plan charges a 2% transaction fee on every sale, on top of normal payment processing, AND you have to step up to the Core plan at $36/month just to get 0% transaction fees.
Ecommerce with Showit
Showit doesn’t have native e-commerce, but it integrates pretty cleanly with WooCommerce, ThriveCart, and Shopify Starter via buy buttons and really any embeddable cart system. My own shop runs on WooCommerce and it gives me way more control over design, checkout, and how everything scales.
Just FYI the shop setup with Showit takes a little more effort upfront, but if you’re serious about your shop, you’ll probably want more control anyway.
Website Hosting Pricing
At comparable tiers, the pricing is actually pretty close. The difference is that Showit’s pricing plans include the full platform… that means no features are locked behind an upgrade. What you’re choosing between is your blogging needs, not your design capabilities.
Squarespace Pricing Plans:
- Basic: $192/year ($25/month) – limited features, 2% transaction fees, no code injection
- Core: $276/year ($36/month) – 0% transaction fees, code injection unlocked, email hosting
- Plus: $468/year ($56/month) – lower processing fees
- Advanced: $1188/year ($139/month)
- Add-ons sold separately (email marketing, scheduling, memberships, etc.)
Showit Pricing Plans:
- Website only: $259/year ($27/month)
- Basic Blog: $326/year ($34/month)
- Advanced Blog: $470/year ($49/month)
Keep Reading: Showit Pricing Plans: Which is Right for You?
Squarespace is trying to be everything… That’s not always so great.
Here’s what’s bothering me about all these Squarespace updates that seem cool and shiny on the surface… what looks like an all-in-one platform is really just a bunch of third-party apps living under the same roof, and you’re paying separately for every single one of them.
Take for example, their scheduling tool which gives you ONE calendar on their starting price. Meanwhile, Calendly has a free plan. A free one. That you can embed anywhere… So you’re paying Squarespace $20/month for something you could get for free somewhere else, except with Squarespace you’re locked into their version, with their limitations, with less control.
Same goes for email marketing. Squarespace charges extra for their email marketing tool, starting at $8/month for 500 emails, meanwhile platforms like MailerLite have a free plan up to 500 contacts.
Oh, and code injection, literally just the ability to paste a script into your site header or block of code, is locked behind the Core plan and higher. So if you’re on their base plan and you have a third-party email platform or scheduler that needs you a snippet to install (like most do)… you have to upgrade your whole plan for that. For one line of code.
Starting to see the trend?
This is not really an all-in-one in my opinion. It’s just a bundled upsell with a clean UI.
When you choose your own integrations, your own email tool, your own scheduler, your own checkout platform, you get more control, usually a better product, and often a lower price. The “all-in-one” convenience isn’t really convenient if you’re paying a premium for an inferior version of every tool.
The Focus Thing
On the flipside, I think this aspect about Showit is grossly underrated… it does ONE thing really well and doesn’t try to be your whole software suite. That focus shows up in the performance, the support, and the product itself. You know what you’re getting.
Squarespace’s mission creep toward “all-in-one” has, in my experience, made the platform clunkier to use, not easier. More features + more add-ons + more plans to decode doesn’t add up to a better experience for the person just trying to have a great website. Just sayin’.
So which website platform is for you: Squarespace vs Showit?
Who Should Use Squarespace
I’ll be real with you… it’s not for nobody. Squarespace could be a good option for your website if:
- You want something up fast with minimal setup
- You’re okay with an out-of-the-box look and don’t plan to customize heavily
- You like having everything in one place, even if it costs a little more and has more limitations
- A simple site is genuinely all you need… no big SEO strategy or complicated design
Who Should Use Showit
Showit is built for people who care about their website looking distinctly theirs. It is the move for you if you want:
- Design freedom that doesn’t lock you into limitations unless you upgrade
- To customize beyond a template without touching code
- Blogging + SEO are part of how you plan to grow
- You’d rather choose your own integrations than be locked into one platform’s ecosystem
- You want a platform that’s focused on doing one thing really well
Other FAQS about Showit and Squarespace
Definitely no!! It used to be…but that was its original audience and it’s grown WAY beyond that. Now tons of well-known online coaches (…like Jenna Kutcher), speakers, authors, copywriters, designers, consultants and all kinds of creative service providers are using Showit to build their website. If you care about design and want your site to look like you, it’s worth considering regardless of your industry.
Yes! If you’re on the Advanced Blog plan, Showit’s team will migrate your blog from Squarespace for you. That said, expect some cleanup after the fact. Your categories, featured images, and formatting sometimes need to be fixed manually. It’s not painful, but plan for a little buffer time before your launch date.
You’re asking the wrong question here… but, yes. The WordPress integration is actually a major advantage here. WordPress is the gold standard for blogging + SEO, and Showit gives you access to plugins like Yoast that give you a lot of control over how your content performs in search. Most modern website platforms aren’t going to hurt or help your SEO all on their own. It’s more about what you write, how much you understand your audience and how you optimize it matters way more than which website builder you use.
Maybe. Things like e-commerce, calendar scheduling, memberships, and email marketing aren’t built into Showit. But not everyone needs those or might be using other apps already for those things. And even if you do need them, many of the tools you could use instead (e.g. Calendly, MailerLite) are often better AND cheaper (or free) than Squarespace’s built-in versions. So “separate” doesn’t automatically mean worse or more expensive.
Yes. You keep your domain wherever it’s registered (whether that’s Squarespace or somewhere else) and just point your DNS to Showit’s servers. You don’t have to transfer anything. Showit’s automated tool can walk you through it and their support team is also there to help if you run into any snags.
That depends on who you ask! Expect that there is a learning curve with Showit + Squarespace, both, as there is with most any technology. I’ve had some clients who hate the restrictiveness of Squarespace and thrive with the freedom of Showit and others who need more guardrails so they prefer Squarespace.
If you are a more creative individual and want to have control over the layout and design, you’ll probably feel like Showit is easier than Squarespace. But because you have more design freedom in Showit, there are naturally more decisions to make so that can feel intimidating for some. Squarespace is more guided, which some people find easier to start with if they don’t need all the bells and whistles.
At the end of the day, the best website platform is the one you’ll actually use and grow with. But if your website is supposed to be doing real work for your business: building trust, attracting the right people, converting visitors, it’s worth choosing a platform that gives you the room to build that well, so make sure you choose wisely!
If you want to try Showit, you can grab a free 30-day trial here* or browse my Showit website template shop to see what’s possible before you commit.
Still not sure about which platform is for you? You might want to try my free quiz: Which Website Platform is Right For You!
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. K Design Co. may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, I only recommend what I actually use + believe in.
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