Squarespace vs Shopify: Which Is Better for a Small Business?

The verdict

Choose Squarespace if your website is the main event and the shop is part of it. That covers a studio, a consultant, a restaurant gift-card page or a brand with a small product line. Choose Shopify if selling products is the business, you expect your catalog to grow, or you need more shipping, inventory and sales-channel options. Both cost $29 a month billed yearly at the level most small stores need. The real differences are fees, features and how far each one can grow with you.

At a glance

Prices are as of October 2026, billed yearly, per site or store (not per user).

	Squarespace	Shopify
Built for	Content-led websites that also sell	Online stores first
Cheapest plan that sells	Basic, $19/mo	Starter, $5/mo (social selling only); Basic, $29/mo for a full store
Typical small-store plan	Core, $29/mo	Basic, $29/mo
Extra fee on physical product sales	2% on Basic; 0% on Core and up	0% with Shopify Payments; 2%, 1% or 0.6% with another provider
Online card rate (own payments)	2.9% + 30¢ (Basic, Core); 2.7% (Plus); 2.5% (Advanced)	2.9% + 30¢ (Basic); 2.7% (Grow); 2.5% (Advanced)
Free trial	14 days	3 days
Free domain	First year, on annual plans	Not included (about $16/yr)
Add-ons	Mostly built in; Mailchimp and Zapier from Core up	8,000+ apps

Pricing and fees

Squarespace has four plans: Basic ($19 a month billed yearly, $25 monthly), Core ($29 or $39), Plus ($49 or $65) and Advanced ($99 or $139). Squarespace raised several of these prices in July 2026, so older comparisons may show lower numbers.

The catch with Squarespace Basic is the 2% fee on physical product sales. On $5,000 a month in sales, that’s $100, which is more than the $10 you’d save versus Core. If you sell physical products, start on Core. Digital products and memberships carry a separate fee: 7% on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus and 0% on Advanced.

Shopify’s main plans are Basic ($29 yearly, $39 monthly), Grow ($79 or $105) and Advanced ($299 or $399). There’s no extra fee if you use Shopify Payments. If you use another payment provider, Shopify adds 2% on Basic. Our Shopify pricing guide works through real monthly totals.

Card processing is charged on top of the platform fee on both. The rates are almost identical on each tier: 2.9% + 30¢ online at the entry level, falling to 2.5% on the top plans.

What a real month costs on each

Here’s an illustration, not data from a real store. Say you sell $5,000 a month of physical products, 100 orders at $50 each, using each platform’s own payments.

Setup	Plan (yearly billing)	Extra platform fee	Card processing	Monthly total
Squarespace Basic	$19	$100 (2%)	$175	$294
Squarespace Core	$29	$0	$175	$204
Shopify Basic + Shopify Payments	$29	$0	$175	$204
Shopify Basic + another processor at the same rate	$29	$100 (2%)	$175	$304

At this size the two right choices cost the same. The expensive mistakes are picking Squarespace Basic to save $10, or keeping an outside processor on Shopify Basic.

Ease of use

Squarespace is built around page design. You choose a template, edit sections and add a store page. For a site where photos, writing and booking matter as much as the cart, there are fewer decisions to make.

Shopify’s admin is built around products, orders, customers and inventory. Designing the storefront takes a theme plus settings, and often an app or two. That’s more setup at the start, but it pays off once you’re handling many orders a week.

Neither needs a developer for a basic launch. Shopify has a shorter free trial (3 days versus 14). Squarespace doesn’t let you take payments during its trial.

Store features that matter to a small business

Squarespace covers the essentials on every plan: unlimited products, gift cards, donations and in-person selling (US only). From Core up, you get real-time carrier shipping quotes, shipping labels, Google Shopping listings, Mailchimp and Zapier connections, and custom code. It also sells courses, memberships and services, which suits coaches and creators.

Shopify goes deeper on selling. Grow and Advanced add staff accounts (5 and 15) and lower card rates. Its app store lists more than 8,000 apps, so most gaps can be filled without custom code. POS Pro ($89 a month per location) connects a physical shop. The catch is that many of those apps charge their own monthly fee.

Growing past the first year

If you expect a few dozen products and steady sales, Squarespace will likely hold up fine. If you plan to add wholesale, multiple sales channels, a retail counter or a team handling orders, Shopify has more room to grow before you need to switch.

Switching later is possible but not free. Products and customer lists can be exported. Page designs and blog layouts must be rebuilt, and you’ll need redirects from old URLs to protect search traffic.

Our take

For a service business or brand that sells a little on the side, we’d start with Squarespace Core. For a business whose revenue comes mostly from product sales, we’d start with Shopify Basic and Shopify Payments. Read our Squarespace review and Shopify review for more detail. Also compare Wix vs Squarespace and Shopify vs WooCommerce before you commit, or see our best website builder picks. When you’ve chosen, we can get it set up.

Questions people ask

Is Squarespace cheaper than Shopify?

At the entry level they’re close. Squarespace Core and Shopify Basic both cost $29 a month billed yearly. Squarespace’s cheapest Basic plan is $19 but adds a 2% fee on product sales, and Shopify charges more if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments.

Can I move from Squarespace to Shopify later?

Yes, but plan for work. Products and customers can usually be exported and imported, while page design and blog layouts must be rebuilt. Set up redirects from old URLs so you don’t lose search traffic.

Which is easier to use, Squarespace or Shopify?

Squarespace is built around designing pages, so a content-led site comes together with fewer decisions. Shopify’s admin is built around products, orders and inventory, which is easier once selling is your main job.

Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?

Only on some plans. The Basic plan adds 2% on physical product sales. Core, Plus and Advanced add 0% on physical products, though digital products and memberships carry a fee on lower plans. Card processing is charged separately.

Which is better for selling services or memberships?

Squarespace usually fits better. It sells courses, memberships and services alongside a content site. Shopify can do it through apps, but its core strength is physical and digital products.