Squarespace and GoDaddy appear to be very similar website builders, and yet below the surface, the two are actually quite different. So while both are often regarded as one of the top solutions for small business, which is the best will depend on your unique set of website needs, budget, time. To find the clear winner for you, we put the two in a head-to-head comparison, analyzing them across a number of key factors that matter most to businesses.
- Squarespace: Best in terms of web design and maximum capabilities, as well as for those selling products online
- GoDaddy: Best in terms of ease of use, making it ideal for beginners as well as for those selling services online
Squarespace vs GoDaddy at a Glance
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Expert Score | 4.5 out of 5 stars | 4.3 out of 5 stars |
Best For | -Selling products -More templates | -Selling services -More user-friendly |
Starting Price | $12 per month | $9.99 per month |
Ecommerce Plans | Sell online for $18 per month | Sell products online for $24.99 per month |
Ease of Use | Beginner-intermediate | Beginner |
Design | Approximately 110 prebuilt templates | Approximately 60 prebuilt templates |
Search Engine Optimization | ✔ (all plans) | ✔ (with the Standard Plan, $14.99 per month) |
Built-in Appointment Booking System | No (available as an add-on for an extra $15 per month) | ✔ (all plans*) |
Sell Gift Cards | ✔ (with the Business Plan, $18 per month) | ✔ (via a third-party app, Gift Up!) |
Accept Recurring Payments (e.g., subscriptions) | ✔ (with the Commerce Plan, $40 per month) | ✔ (with the Ecommerce Plan, $24.99 per month) |
Membership Site | ✔ (via Member Areas for an additional $10 per month) | ✔ (built-in) |
Dropshipping and Print On-demand Integrations | Oberlo, Printful, Printique, Sprocket, Shipwire, and Fulfilment by Amazon | Printful and Merch38 |
*GoDaddy’s built-in appointment booking system is available with all plans. However, to accept payments with online bookings, you’ll need to opt for the $19.99 per month plan.
How We Evaluated Squarespace vs GoDaddy
Squarespace and GoDaddy both appear to be nearly identical website builders in terms of everything—from template options to pricing. With such seemingly similar offerings, it can be difficult to determine which provider is best for your website. So we put the two to the test by comparing them based on a number of key factors, such as price, ease of use, storage and bandwidth, features and inclusions, customer support, and customer reviews.
Click the tabs below for more information about our evaluation criteria:
20% of Overall Score
Affordability is key for small businesses, so we compared plans to find which provider offers lower-priced plans that offer the most value.
20% of Overall Score
Website builders come packed with a variety of features and extras, with everything from a free domain name and SSL certificate to built-in website grader tools and email marketing tools.
20% of Overall Score
Chances are, your business website is going to need some industry-specific, niche features. We looked into the platforms’ ability to accept recurring payments for subscriptions and memberships and take online reservations and appointments. We also considered their capacity to connect to the MLS for real estate websites and sell on Instagram for businesses leveraging social media.
15% of Overall Score
The purpose of using a drag-and-drop website builder is to easily (and quickly) build a professional website without code or web design experience. We analyzed each provider’s editing interface to determine which is easier to use and involves less of a learning curve, in addition to the quality and quantity of templates that are available.
5% of Overall Score
When needed, quality customer support is crucial. We looked at the availability of customer support for each provider, including the mediums in which it’s available, to determine the best of the two.
20% of Overall Score
The first-hand experience makes a big difference, and with hours using each platform, we included our own personal experience and opinion to determine which is the best. We considered how user-friendly each platform is, as well as value for price, features, and popularity.
Most Affordable: GoDaddy
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Starting Price With Annual Contract | $12 per month | $9.99 per month |
Starting Price With Month-to-Month Contract | $16 per month | Not available |
Free Trial | 14 days | 30 days |
Money-back Guarantee | No | Yes |
Squarespace and GoDaddy are similarly priced, with just a $2 per month difference between comparable plans. GoDaddy is also cheaper for its ecommerce-enabled plans that let you sell and process payments online. Granted, Squarespace plans come standard with unlimited storage, as well as a free domain name (approximately $12 per year value), so if you don’t already have a domain, the difference between entry-level business plans is really just $1 per month.
Squarespace vs GoDaddy: Pricing & Features
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Starting Price with Annual Contract | $12 per month | $9.99 per month |
Starting Price for Online Stores | $18 per month | $24.99 per month |
Storage | Unlimited | 100GB |
Bandwidth* | Unlimited | Unmetered |
Free Domain Name | ✔ | No |
Free SSL Certificate | ✔ | ✔ |
Built-in Website Analytics | ✔ | ✔ |
*Unmetered bandwidth indicates that the speed of data transfer is not monitored, whereas unlimited bandwidth indicates that there is no limit (within reason) to the amount of data that can be transferred within a period of time, such as a month.
Winner: GoDaddy offers cheaper plans for both standard business websites and for those looking to sell online. However, GoDaddy doesn’t offer month-to-month plans, so if you’re not interested in an annual commitment, choose Squarespace.
Best for Design: Squarespace
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110 prebuilt templates designed specifically for a number of different industries | Dozens of website layouts, which you can swap out any time |
Squarespace has made a name for itself for its professionally crafted designs that are notorious for looking expensive. However, you may be surprised to learn that GoDaddy also offers tons of great-looking templates to choose from. Squarespace has far more built-out templates, but it comes with the drawback that you can’t change templates once you start editing one. So while you’re less likely to want to change a Squarespace template, you can’t even if you do want to.
Winner: With nearly double the templates to choose from, and award-winning design, it’s got to be Squarespace.
Easiest to Use: GoDaddy
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Good for all experience levels | Best for absolute beginners |
Better templates | More intuitive |
While both Squarespace and GoDaddy are designed to give users an easy way of building a professional business website, GoDaddy is easier to use. GoDaddy’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered interface is very intuitive, and the platform requires almost no learning curve. On the other hand, Squarespace has more customization capabilities, making it a better choice for those with some technical expertise and customization demands.
Building a Site With Squarespace
Squarespace is highly regarded as an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop website builder. Users get to choose from dozens of professionally designed templates with vast customization capabilities, including the ability to add custom code. The platform does require a bit of a learning curve for those new to it, whereas GoDaddy’s platform is a little more straightforward, making it the overall easier-to-use website builder.
Interested in learning more about what’s involved with creating a Squarespace site? Get the step-by-step details on how to build a website with Squarespace.
Building a Site With GoDaddy
GoDaddy’s website builder is powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and it shows. It’s not only very easy to use, requiring little to no learning curve, but it automatically connects relevant features and tools based on your business type. And unlike Squarespace, templates are interchangeable so you can always change out templates without losing any of your work.
For example, a user who indicates that they are building a website for a restaurant will be given a list of features that they would likely be interested in, such as menus, an online reservation system, and the ability to accept online orders for delivery. If you decide you don’t love your chosen template, you can try other templates.
Want more insight? Check out the step-by-step instructions on how to build a GoDaddy website.
Winner: GoDaddy is the more beginner-friendly site builder.
Best for Ecommerce: Tied
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Best For | Selling products | Selling services |
Starting Price to Sell Online | $18 per month | $24.99 per month |
Things to Know | Extra selling tools and features often involve an additional monthly fee | All selling tools and features included |
While both Squarespace and GoDaddy are ecommerce-ready platforms that make it easy to create product listings, manage inventory, and process purchases, they’re very different when it comes to the price you need to pay to get these features. With Squarespace, you can sell online with its $18 per month plan, whereas with GoDaddy, you’ll be paying $24.99 per month for the ability to sell products online.
However, if you’re selling your services online, it’s a whole other story. GoDaddy offers the ability to accept online appointments and bookings with its entry-level plan that costs just $9.99 per month. And if you’re looking to sell tickets to group events, set up recurring bookings and payments (or memberships, say if you’re a fitness center), or send automated appointment reminders via email and text, GoDaddy offers all of these features for $19.99 per month.
Winner: Squarespace wins for those selling products, and GoDaddy wins for those selling services.
Most Capabilities: Squarespace
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Squarespace is a jack-of-all-trades, and if there’s something you want it to do, it likely has an integration for it. | It’s a very capable site builder for selling services online, but capabilities are fairly limited beyond that. |
Both site builders offer a solid list of features and capabilities that will meet the needs of most small businesses. However, it’s worth noting that Squarespace does have a more comprehensive list of built-out capabilities and features. This is largely due to the fact that it has a large number of third-party integrations and apps available. So whether you’re looking for more marketing and sales tools or the ability to sell with dropshipping suppliers, Squarespace is the better option.
Winner: Squarespace has a lengthy list of integrations, making it a far more flexible site builder.
Best Customer Support: GoDaddy
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Support Channels: | ||
Live Chat | ✔ | ✔ |
Phone | N/A | ✔ |
Email | ✔ | N/A |
Squarespace offers highly rated customer support via live chat and email. Support is available 24/7 via email, and live chat is available weekdays from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Unlike GoDaddy, it does not offer support via phone. However, it does offer a comprehensive help center that is packed with resources where users can troubleshoot issues on their own. It also has an active community forum where users can post questions and get answers from others.
GoDaddy wins in terms of customer service because it offers support 24/7 via phone. It also offers assistance via live chat for those who do not wish to speak to a customer service representative. What’s unique about GoDaddy’s customer support, beyond offering support via phone, is that it also offers support lines for a number of different countries, making it a good choice for those who live outside of the U.S. or those who frequently travel internationally.
Winner: GoDaddy has phone support, and Squarespace doesn’t, so GoDaddy is the winner.
Best Alternatives
Not sure if neither Squarespace nor GoDaddy are quite right for your website needs? There are dozens of leading content management systems (CMS) and all-in-one site builders on the market—each with its own set of unique features and selling points. So if you’re still on the fence, consider your alternatives.
Here are the best alternatives to Squarespace and GoDaddy:
- Wix: Best for those who want the ease of use of GoDaddy with maximum design freedom within a drag-and-drop site builder
- Shopify: Best for those who need more dropshipping integrations than Squarespace offers
- Weebly: Best for those looking to sell online but need a more affordable option
- Webnode: Best for businesses that need a simple site at the lowest price
- WordPress: Best for businesses that need more capabilities than Squarespace and GoDaddy can offer and don’t mind investing time in learning the CMS
Still not sure which is quite right for your business? Check out the best overall Squarespace alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the best website builders?
There are many high-quality website builders that make it easy for nearly anyone to build a professional business website without code or web design experience. The top website builders include Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Shopify, and WordPress (with drag-and-drop website builder plugins). Learn more about the best website builders to find which one is right for your budget, skill level, and website needs.
Which is better: Squarespace or Shopify?
Squarespace and Shopify are both top website building platforms with one major difference: Squarespace can be used to build an informational business website or an online store, whereas Shopify is only used for building an online store. Discover which platform best suits your needs by reading the complete breakdown of Shopify vs Squarespace.
What’s the best way to build a small business website?
Businesses have a number of options when it comes to building a website, from fully customizable sites built with a content management system, such as WordPress, or quickly and easily using a drag-and-drop site builder, such as Squarespace or Wix. Which method is best for you will depend on your individual needs, web design experience, time frame, and budget. Find out which best fits your business and learn how to build a small business website.
Bottom Line: Squarespace vs GoDaddy
The question of Squarespace vs GoDaddy isn’t necessarily easy as they are both leading all-in-one website building solutions. While they’re very similar platforms in terms of price and design, GoDaddy is the best for budget-conscious beginners and those selling services online, whereas Squarespace is best for those who need vast customizations, top-notch design, and sell products online.
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