BigCommerce vs Squarespace: Which Is Better for Ecommerce?

BigCommerce and Squarespace are two popular cloud website builders, which allow for effective and convenient DIY website creation.

There is no need to possess coding skills to start projects with any of these systems yet each of them focuses on diverse goals and targets various audience types.

BigCommerce is an eCommerce website builder, which occupies one of the leading places in the list of contemporary web store development platforms. The system makes it possible to start and manage all types of online stores, ranging from small eCommerce projects and up to large feature-laden web stores.

Squarespace is also one of the best website development platforms, which allows starting all types of quality websites, including those meant for online sales.

When it comes to choosing the best website builder for eСommerce purposes, both BigCommerce and Squarespace have much to offer. The website builders come with distinctive niche-focused functionality, making it possible to run online stores.

Which of them has more features and design tools in stock? To figure that out and to identify the leader, we will compare the functionality of both systems now.

General Overview

BigCommerce comes as a comprehensive eCommerce platform that provides a wide range of tools and features for building and scaling online stores.

The system is known for its robustness and flexibility, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes. However, the software mainly targets medium and large businesses due to its extensive set of eCommerce-specific features and tools provided out of the box.

The website builder was initially launched in 2009 yet its popularity and functionality have improved a lot since that time.

Currently, the number of live web stores the system powers has exceeded 45,212 live projects, while the general amount of BigCommerce subscribers has reached 144,159 users across the globe.

The statistics keeps changing over time due to the rapid development of the website builder and increased user demand for it.

Squarespace is another popular all-in-one website builder, which can be used to start, customize and manage all types of web projects. eCommerce websites are not an exception.

The platform is a nice pick for business owners willing to establish reliable web presence for their storefronts. It offers an impressive set of integrated tools and features geared towards effective development of eCommerce projects.

The initial system foundation dates back to 2003, when it was first introduced to the target audience. The popularity of the platform has notably increased since that time, making Squarespace one of the most well-known and functional website builders out there.

According to recent stats, the number of live websites created with the platform has reached 2,917,218 while that of the overall number of its subscribers has exceeded 5,011,314 users, who reside in different countries of the world. This really sounds impressive and speaks in favor of the system’s popularity.

Which One Is Easier to Use?

BigCommerce is not the easiest website builder you can find in the modern web development niche. This is quite a user-friendly platform, although it may have a steeper learning curve compared to some other website builders.

It takes some effort and time to get used to the system, but when you explore and master its dashboard, you will be able to browse multiple tools and elements to get started with your eCommerce project.

If you fail to find the required tool, the system will help you with that, offering its search filter option available in the dashboard.

BigCommerce provides a clean and organized interface that makes it relatively easy to navigate and find the tools and features you need. The dashboard and menu options are designed to be user-friendly and accessible for everyone.

Due to the guided onboarding process, users have a chance to quickly get started with a web store set up. The system provides step-by-step instructions, video tutorials, and documentation to assist users in launching their store quickly and efficiently.

The platform features a visual editor that enables users to build and modify their store’s pages using a drag-and-drop interface. This makes it easier to arrange content, add products, and customize the layout of your online store.

Adding and managing products in BigCommerce is straightforward as well. The platform provides a user-friendly product management interface where you can easily create product listings, set prices, manage inventory, and organize product categories.

The very process of starting a web store with BigCommerce becomes much more simplified due to its extensive customer support options. Thus, you can get access to the live chat, an impressive knowledge base with lots of video and text materials, an informative forum as well as email and phone support.

Additionally, the website builder grants access to the BigCommerce University with its rich collection of video tutorials that will help you master the system in the best way possible. Such an impressive diversity of customer support options proves to be handy, when it comes to eCommerce website development.

Squarespace cannot be called a simple website builder as well yet it makes it possible to create quality websites (including web stores) as soon as you master its integrated functionality.

The system empowers individuals and businesses to create professional-looking web stores without requiring extensive technical knowledge. However, it is better suited for small and medium eCommerce projects.

Squarespace allows picking and customizing eCommerce templates, designing or uploading your own logo, adding content and adjusting SEO settings for better promotion of your project on the web. This is quite simple and convenient, irrespective of the web design skills you have.

The website builder provides a clean and intuitive interface that is easy to navigate. The dashboard and menu options are well-organized, making it simple to find the tools and features you need to customize your project.

The built-in drag-and-drop editor makes it possible to build and modify your website’s pages by simply dragging elements onto the page and rearranging them as desired.

This visual editor eliminates the need for coding knowledge, enabling users to easily create and customize their site’s layout and content.

Additionally, Squarespace offers a range of built-in features, such as domain registration, SSL security, integrated analytics along with search engine optimization (SEO) tools.

These features are conveniently accessible within the platform, eliminating the need for third-party integrations and streamlining the overall website management process.

The website builder also ensures quality customer support assistance to everyone, who needs help with the web store development process. If there is anything you don’t understand for some reason here, you are welcome to browse an informative community forum available here.

What’s more, there is an opportunity to use the live chat assistance or the ticketing system and email support options available here. If there are any system-related questions left, you can access the FAQ section to look for the required info there. This will notably simplify the web store development process for you.

Design and Flexibility

BigCommerce and Squarespace both make it possible to start and manage quality online stores, irrespective of their parameters and specialization. The website builders grant access to multiple settings and tools you can use, while working on your online store creation. At the same time, the platforms have common and distinctive features that make each of them stand out from the crowd.

To figure out the leader of the comparison, it definitely makes sense to provide the main parameters the platforms share. Read on to find them out.

eCommerce

As mentioned above, BigCommerce and Squarespace come with an extensive range of eCommerce tools and features their subscribers can use when launching, customizing and managing their web stores.

That’s why, it makes sense to compare the systems from the point of view of specific parameters. These include product/order management, web store design customization, payment processing tools, blogging, external integrations etc.

Prior to doing that, though, mind that BigCommerce is a better pick for medium and large-scale web stores offering over 1000 products for sale.

With Squarespace, you will be able to set up a small or a medium eCommerce project as its integrated feature set is a bit limited and does not focus on web store creation only.

Such distinction between platforms has a direct impact upon the range of built-in tools and features both website builders have in stock. Let’s discuss them in details further.

Product Management Tools

BigCommerce offers a range of product management features/tools that make it easy for users to add, organize, and manage their products.

The software allows setting up and managing product catalogs as well as individual listings with detailed information. You can add product names, descriptions, prices, SKU numbers and other related details.

With BigCommerce, it is possible to track and manage your inventory. It grants access to the toolset to adjust stock levels, monitor inventory availability and automatically notify you when a product is going to be out of stock.

If you offer products with different variations like dimensions, weight or color, for example, BigCommerce makes it possible to create versatile product variants. It’s up to you to define options and attributes for each variant as well as to manage inventory tools and pricing for each item.

To simplify the process of inventory organization, the software lets web store owners divide their products into categories and subcategories. This helps customers navigate your store and find items when required.

Another software highlight is the opportunity of CSV files import/export. This means that web store owners can import and export bulk product data, updating the catalog any time. Likewise, you can export product info for further analysis or migration purposes.

Due to the built-in product review feature and integrated rating functionality, customers have an opportunity to provide feedback and share their experiences. As a result, this helps enhance brand credibility, keeping potential customers informed when making shopping decisions.

Squarespace also provides quality and convenient product organization. As a store owner, you can create and manage product catalogs with multiple listings that can be updated anytime.

When adding new items to the catalog, you can also embed videos, images, upload product descriptions, similar goods etc. Likewise, you can choose from lots of layout designs to display your products to the advantage.

The website builder lets you organize products by categories in order to help users find the goods they are looking for, using intuitive and easy-to-browse menus. The system allows adding and managing an unlimited number of products although, its management tools still work best for small and medium shops.

To view the required product in details, Squarespace offers a Product Quick View feature. It lets customers see all the parameters of the selected item without the need to leave a page.

What’s interesting, it is possible to add new product lines by scheduling goods to start displaying on a page at a specified date.

Digital Goods

BigCommerce supports the sale of physical and digital goods like software, music, e-books, videos and other downloadable files.

The system lets you set up and manage a digital product store, create multiple product listings for your digital goods to further offer them for sale to your customers.

The platform provides options to securely deliver digital files to customers upon purchase. This can be done either by providing download links or through automated email delivery.

What’s more, BigCommerce offers features to manage digital product inventory, handle product variants, set pricing and control access to the files you have downloaded. It also integrates with various payment gateways to facilitate secure transactions for digital goods.

Mind that BigCommerce features and capabilities vary a lot depending on your BigCommerce plan and any additional apps or integrations you will go for.

Squarespace can also be used to sell physical and digital products. This all depends on your web store specialization, target audience and assortment of goods available for sale.

As a web store owner, you have an opportunity to upload, customize and manage digital files when required. It’s up to you to set prices, add product descriptions, offer discounts/promo codes/special offers for your digital products.

It’s worth mentioning that Squarespace provides secure digital file delivery to ensure that your customers receive the purchased files after completing their transactions. This feature makes it possible to automate the shipping process and provide a seamless shopping experience for clients.

While Squarespace supports the sale of digital goods, there may still be certain limitations or special requirements depending on your location and niche you specialize in.

Order Management and Discounts

BigCommerce initiates the order management process right after the order is placed online. A web store owner can be notified about news orders in three different ways: via email, text and the BigCommerce mobile app. A link to the store is provided in text and email notifications, while the mobile app allows viewing, changing and updating an order status.

To view new and completed orders, you should reach the dashboard and the View Orders screen available there. This is where you will see every order from all channels, including your BigCommerce store, Amazon account, social networks.

The details of each order are provided here. These include payment and completion statuses, content, updates and the stage of order completion in the workflow.

The platform has integrated order statuses that represent various stages of the fulfillment process. By the way, order fulfillment and tracking are more simplified when selling digital goods as there is no physical shipping involved here. All digital orders are automatically marked as completed right after the payment is received.

It is up to you to control and customize customer notifications, although, they receive emails by default right after they place their orders.

With BigCommerce, you can also introduce special offers, discounts and the system of bonuses to boost your customers’ loyalty. Reach the corresponding section to make the required settings.

Squarespace provides a range of features to help you streamline the order management process. There is the dashboard where you can view and manage all your orders that are available all in the same place. You can view and manage customer information, order details and even track the status of individual orders.

When an order is placed, the system automatically adjusts the stock levels to ensure accurate inventory tracking. Likewise, it sends email notifications to you and your customers when an order is accepted, processed, shipped and completed.

Squarespace integrates with various shipping providers, letting you generate shipping labels and manage the fulfillment process from within the platform. Clients also have the opportunity to select the most convenient shipping option, when placing their orders.

The platform provides options for processing refunds and managing returns. You can issue partial or full refunds directly through the platform and handle return requests efficiently.

As for discounts, Squarespace lets you offer discounts and promotional codes to customers in order to incentivize purchases and attract new users.

Thus, you can create percentage-based discounts that apply to the total order amount. If needed, you can implement fixed amount discounts, where a specific dollar amount is subtracted from the order total.

Free shipping promotions can also be offered as an incentive to encourage customers to place new orders. Finally, the system lets you generate unique discount codes that customers can apply during the checkout process to receive the discount.

Payment Processing Solutions

BigCommerce has its own integrated payment gateway called BigCommerce Payments. It provides a simple and convenient way to accept credit card payments directly from your store. The solution offers competitive rates and supports major credit cards, such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover etc.

The website builder also seamlessly integrates with a wide range of third-party payment gateways. To be precise, they currently offer over 65 integrations, serving 100+ countries and more than 250 local payment methods. This grants sufficient flexibility to select a payment processor that suits your business needs most. Popular options include PayPal, Stripe, Square, Authorize.Net and Braintree.

To cater to the needs of customers who have got used to digital and mobile wallets, BigCommerce allows choosing from more popular options. These include Apple Pay, Google Pay , Venmo and Amazon Pay. This ensures quick and secure payments using the payment info you have saved. The choice of the most suitable payment gateway will be determined by the location (country) and currency.

Additionally, the eCommerce software makes it possible to offer alternative payment methods in order to comply with the needs of a broader audience. These include Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm, Sezzle etc.

Run a physical store? Then BigCommerce offers offline payments as well. These include manual payment methods like cash on delivery (COD), checks, money orders, which work better for customers who give preference to traditional payment methods.

Squarespace also offers offline and online payment options. Due to the built-in Squarespace Commerce feature, the system allows accepting credit card payments directly on your website using Stripe or PayPal. Competitive transaction fees are provided here along with an opportunity to use credit cards (Visa, American Express, Discover, Mastercard etc.).

The software integrates with Stripe, a popular payment gateway used for convenient and quick processing of online payments. By connecting your Stripe account to Squarespace, you can both accept credit card payments and offer features like Apple Pay and Google Pay to customers.

Along with Stripe, Squarespace also allows using PayPal as a payment processor. You can accept payments by simply connecting your PayPal Business account.

If you prefer alternative payment solutions, Squarespace lets you work with Afterpay. The payment processor, though, is currently available in Canada, Australia, the US and New Zealand.

To accept in-person payment, the platform makes it possible to integrate with Square reader in your Squarespace app to start selling to customers directly.

Shipping Options

BigCommerce integrates with major shipping carriers such as UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, and Canada Post. By connecting your account with these carriers, you can set and display real-time shipping rates to your customers based on their location, package parameters and dimensions. This ensures accurate and up-to-date shipping costs at checkout.

Customers have an opportunity to explore the available shipping options that are displayed in the shopping cart during the order placement process. As soon as the order is placed, the merchants are required to buy postage from their carriers in order to prepare the package for further shipment. Afterwards, they either arrange a local pick up or drop a parcel off at the specially designated point.

BigCommerce makes it possible to set up flat shipping rates to charge a fixed shipping fee for orders regardless of their weight or destination. This is handy when it comes to simplifying the process of shipping cost calculation for customers.

Availability of free shipping options is a powerful incentive that encourages customers to make a purchase. It is possible to offer free shipping on specific products, orders over a certain threshold or for certain groups of customers.

What’s more, BigCommerce supports in-store or curbside pickup opportunities for customers who prefer to collect their orders directly from your physical location.

International shipping can also be organized via granting tools to calculate and present accurate shipping rates for international destinations. As a web store owner, you can configure specific shipping parameters and terms for different countries or locations to guarantee competitive shipping expenses.

Squarespace shipping options are flexible and versatile. These include flat-rate, carrier-calculated, weight-based and free shipping.

The software makes it possible to set up flat rate shipping methods. As a result, your customers will be offered fixed fees for their orders that do not depend on third-party parameters like weight, location etc.

As for carrier-calculated shipping, the platform integrates with the most popular shipping carriers like USPS, FedEx, DHL etc. To display real-time shipping rates defined by location, order weight etc., just connect your carrier accounts and make the required settings.

By the way, there is no need to buy USPS shipping labels elsewhere. Instead, you can save money and time getting them from Squarespace. Your clients will be able to view detailed tracking info for their orders shipped with these labels. Free, in-person and international payments are available here as well.

Missing Features

BigCommerce is undoubtedly a robust eCommerce platform. However, there are some essential features missing here.

Currently, the software does not offer built-in support for multilingual storefronts. Users who target international markets and want to provide localized experiences to their customers may have to rely on third-party apps to avail multilingual functionality.

Some users would be satisfied to get advanced product customization options like an opportunity to sell personalized products with configurable options (such as engraving, branding etc.).

While BigCommerce offers baseline discounts, more advanced promo offers would also be desirable here. This includes features like automatic BOGO (Buy One, Get One) discounts, tiered pricing discounts or high end coupon code management.

Squarespace is not a solely eCommerce software. Its features are enough to set up small and medium web stores yet they are still somewhat limited.

Thus, it would be great to add advanced product variations, abandoned cart recovery, flexible discount and coupon code management along with more powerful inventory management tools here.

While Squarespace provides a range of templates and customization options, adding more granular control over website design and layout would be useful as well. This includes options for customizing navigation menus, header and footer sections as well as more extensive control over the styling of individual elements.

Web Store Analytics and Stats Tracking

BigCommerce grants access to comprehensive web store analytics and stats tracking tools. This lets web store owners gain useful insights into their performance.

To view the major web store-related metrics, you should access the centralized dashboard. This is where you will find data on total sales, average order value, conversion rates and top-selling products.

The system generates detailed sales reports that provide insights into your revenue, order statuses and history as well as product info. You can track sales trends over time, view popular sales by product or category, analyze customer purchasing patterns and identify high-performing products.

With: BigCommerce, you can also track customer acquisition channels, analyze customer segments, view customer lifetime value, monitor repeat purchase rates and other related metrics. This information will come in handy, if you need to understand your customers’ behavior and tailor marketing effort accordingly.

Due to the integration with Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel, web store owners can control website and conversion traffic, visitor demographics, referral sources, abandoned shopping cart rates along with overall user behavior.

Squarespace comes with built-in website analytics that provide you with data on your web store performance. The system offers analytics tailored specifically for eCommerce websites. Due to this feature, you will be able to track the essential sales data. This includes profit, order value and volume, customer behavior and conversion rates.

The website builder provides analytics tools to help understand your customers better. You can track customer acquisition channels, measure customer lifetime value, and analyze customer behavior patterns.

Just like BigCommerce, Squarespace integrates with Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel that allows for effective tracking of marketing campaigns, measurement of conversion rates and analysis of versatile advertising channels.

These features let you gain insights into the ROI of your marketing campaigns to undertake special measures for their optimization.

When it tackles the issue of web store analytics and stats tracking, BigCommerce obviously has more to offer. This is explained by the distinctive eCommerce focus of the system. Squarespace offers baseline tools yet they are enough for tracking the performance of small and medium web stores.

Blogging

BigCommerce (just like its competitors) offers distinctive blogging functionality that lets you connect a feature-laden blog to your web store to reach the goals you have set.

By adding and customizing blog posts, you will be able to reach the target audience, drive their attention to your business news and updates, increase sales volume etc. This is a surefire way to bring your eCommerce project to the brand new level and generate traffic with it.

Squarespace also has quite a powerful blogging platform. The website builder allows starting, updating and scheduling blog posts, setting up the major blog parameters, adjusting promotion, marketing, social sharing and SEO features.

It is also possible to browse a collection of blog templates to pick the one that comes up to your niche requirements. Additionally, the system grants access to the set of high end design customization tools, which let you get the most out of your eCommerce blogging experience.

Integration Options

BigCommerce does not require coding proficiency yet it delivers extensive integration options. When running web stores with the system, you can pick and integrate multiple third-party services. Some of them include Instagram, Amazon, Pinterest, Beso, PriceGrabber, eBay, Shopzilla, Twitter, Facebook and many more.

All in all, the system allows choosing from more than 600 widgets and add-ons to add them to your web store with regard to your current functionality requirements. Thus, if you face the need to track your web store stats, Glew or Google Analytics will be of great help to you.

ZenDesk and Live Chat integration will let you communicate with customers in the real time mode, while CRM integration will eventually ensure effective result.

Squarespace also excels at integration options. The website builder grants access to multiple widgets and add-ons that contribute to effective web store development. Thus, you may pick quality integrations for photo/video gallery creation, analytics tracking, social media sharing options and many more.

The system also stands out from the crowd due to its high end tools, namely Acuity Scheduling Platform and Unfold – Advanced Storytelling Tool.

Template Editing

BigCommerce template editing options are quite versatile and extensive. The website builder makes it possible to choose from 12 free designs, which is a nice solution for beginners.

If you can afford spending more budget, the website builder grants access to the collection of premium themes. Their number currently exceeds 180 themes. The cost ranges between $145 and $300. Both free and paid templates are responsive, customizable and quality.

To make the process of template selection simpler for users, the website builder has divided them into niche categories based on the topics they cover. The most popular of them include art and craft, animals and pets, style and jewelry, food and restaurants, gifts, beauty and health, automation and industrial, electronics and computers, children’s toys etc.

It’s possible to integrate and edit template codes by uploading them to your computer. This is needed to avail unique template design, but mind that dashboard code editing feature is not available here.

What’s more, BigCommerce allows using its high end Stencil Theme Editor. This is the advanced point-and-click interface that lets you customize the selected design without a line of coding.

If you can’t find a suitable theme, you can make use of the search filter option to narrow down the choice. Additionally, the system allows downloading your own template, if you can’t find the one in the available collection.

To define whether the selected template matches your preferences and requirements, you can use the preview feature to see it in details.

Another way to get a quality theme is to purchase the one from third-party developers, although this may be quite a costly solution.

By the way, all the design-related features are available in the BigCommerce “Storefront” section. If needed, you can watch the preview of your online shop pages and make edits before going live.

The selected templates are accessible in the list of “My themes,” where you can switch between them and customize the selected designs. There are a lot of settings here, while the general approach resembles WordPress.

Additionally, the software comes with a Page Builder – a simple visual editor that has a set of widgets to add the required elements. These include buttons, text, videos, pictures, banners, products, separators as well as HTML code. Pick the widget, drag it into the page and proceed to its customization. As soon as the project is ready, review and publish it.

Squarespace template selection is quite extensive, while all the themes are quality and responsive. Currently, the website builder encompasses more than 150 designs, but not all of them belong to the eCommerce niche.

The number of themes you can pick for web store creation is not very high yet all of them are customizable and free for all users (see examples of real Squarespace stores). The website builder comes with the template switch option, which lets you pick another design without losing the submitted content.

A truly undeniable advantage of the website builder is its Cover Page Builder. The feature allows choosing and customizing blocks of content to make them fit your project parameters and style.

What’s more, the system lets you integrate media files, submit business-related data and make use of code editing features to get a truly unique design in the long run.

Squarespace grants access to professional design customization tools. If you are not satisfied with the available color palette, typography, font types or styles, go ahead to reach the Theme Editor to make individual edits.

This is where you can fine-tune colors for all web store pages and their separate elements, such as links, buttons, headings, paragraphs, image blocks etc.

The Layout Editor lets you modify the structure and arrangement of web store content. You can add or remove sections, create multiple pages and rearrange elements within a page. This gives you the flexibility to organize your content in a way that best suits your needs.

Squarespace includes built-in image editing tools that enable you to adjust and enhance your images directly within the platform. You can crop, resize, apply filters, and make basic edits to your images, saving you time and the need for external editing software.

For users with advanced coding skills, the platform makes it possible to access the Custom CSS feature. This feature is used to insert your own CSS code to further customize the design and appearance of your project.

Squarespace templates are all designed to be mobile-responsive, ensuring that your website looks great on various devices. You can preview and customize the mobile view of your site, making adjustments to the layout and design specifically for mobile users.

General Pricing Comparison

BigCommerce offers moderate pricing policy to come up to the majority of its subscribers. There is a free 14-day trial that lets you test the integrated functionality of the system before picking one of its premium plans. Upon the end of the trial period, the website builder will offer an opportunity to pick one of its paid plans. These include:

• Standard Plan ($29/mo) – branded web store creation, eBay and Amazon synchronization, unlimited number of products to add, unlimited storage and bandwidth, real time shipping quotes, integrated blog, professional reporting tools, BigCommerce mobile app, POS software, Google Shopping, Facebook/Instagram integration, single-pay checkout, multi-currency support etc. The plan works well for small online shops, the revenue of which does not exceed $50,000 per year.
• Plus Plan ($79/mo) – above listed features plus abandoned shopping cart saver, stored credit cards, customer groups and segmentation etc. This is a nice choice for medium online stores, the revenue of which does not exceed $150,000 per year.
• Pro Plan ($299/mo) – Google Customer reviews, faceted search (product filtering), custom SSL connection, etc. The plan is a good solution for shops, the revenue of which does not exceed $400,000 per year.
• Enterprise (the cost of the plan is discussed individually with the sales manager, being calculated with regard to your eCommerce requirements, business type and complexity).

What you should know about BigCommerce is that the website builder has the artificial annual profit limit. It currently constitutes $50,000, $150,000 and $400,000 depending upon the age of the subscription. The maximum annual profit limit the system implies now equals $1 million. If you earn more than that, you will have to charge extra fees, namely $250/mo for each $200 000. This is applicable to the “Pro” plan subscribers. Additionally, the website builder has a high end Enterprise Plan, the cost of which varies with regard to the project specifications and some other conditions and terms. The cost of the plan is discussed independently with the company manager.

Squarespace pricing is quite affordable for the majority of the system subscribers (in comparison with its alternatives). To be precise, the website builder offers 4 plans for commercial projects it powers. Just like Bogcomemrce, the website builder has a free 14-day trial, which allows testing the service based on the requirements and business needs users have. As soon as the trial period is over and you are ready to proceed to professional website development, Squarespace will offer you to upgrade to one of its premium subscriptions. Have a look at them now:

• Personal ($16/mo billed annually) – 20 web pages, free custom domain name etc.;
• Business ($23/mo billed annually) – unlimited web pages, AdWords credit, 3% sales transaction fee, advanced website analytics, checkout on your domain etc.;
• Commerce Basic ($27/mo billed annually) – unlimited amount of storage and bandwidth, integrated accounting options, unlimited number of products to sell, 0% sales transaction fee, powerful merchandising solutions etc.;
• Commerce Advanced ($49/mo billed annually) – label printing, real time carrier shipping, abandoned checkout autorecovery, advanced shipping and discounting, opportunity to sell subscriptions etc.

Squarespace premium plans offer a free domain connection opportunity as well as free hosting. If you already own a domain name bought from the third-party provider, the system lets you transfer it with almost no hassle and special knowledge at all. Just follow the guidelines it generates to complete all the steps correctly.

Which One Is the Best for SEO?

BigCommerce comes with basic SEO settings that ensure proper promotion of web stores in the search engines. What you can do here is filling out the main SEO fields, such as descriptions, keywords, meta tags etc.

It is also possible to edit the URLs of product pages as well as those of other pages, if you encounter such a need.

With BigCommerce, you can track your web store statistics as the system allows using Google Analytics in order to specify the available problems and to fix them in advance.

Squarespace provides advanced SEO options as it lets you adjust the major settings to ensure proper optimization of your web store for the search engines. Thus, you can fill out SEO parameters for the required website pages as well as for the website in general.

Squarespace independently picks and applies the headings of posts and product names as SEO titles for the required web pages.

Additionally, it is possible to hide some of your web store pages or the entire website from indexing by the search engines until you decide that the project is completely ready for that.

Key Differences Between BigCommerce and Squarespace

Which Is Better for Online Store?

BigCommerce and Squarespace are worth user attention due to their flexibility, extensive design customization options as well as high end integrated functionality.

The website builders make it possible to start and run online stores yet each of them uses diverse tools and features to complete the task.

BigCommerce is initially focused on eCommerce and provides a distinctive set of features specifically designed for online stores. It offers advanced product management, flexible shipping options, comprehensive payment gateways, and extensive integrations.

Squarespace is the all-in-one website builder, which includes eCommerce functionality. The website builder has made its name due to its functionality that does not compromise with the cost aspect. While offering eCommerce features, its focus is still broader and encompasses other website types.

When it tackles the web store creation aspect, you have to consider your goals, degree of the desired web store scalability, budget and some other parameters. If you plan to set up a large-scale eCommerce project with over a thousand products available for sale, then using BigCommerce makes sense. If you need a small/medium online store to sell up to 100 products, then Squarespace is a better system to go for.