Squarespace vs Wix 2026: Pricing, Fees and Which Wins

Wix wins for most small businesses in 2026. Its Light plan costs $17 a month billed yearly against $19 for Squarespace Basic, it keeps a free plan, and Wix Core at $29 includes online bookings that Squarespace sells as a separate product. Squarespace wins for online sellers who need several editors or plan to scale card sales, because its Core plan drops the store transaction fee to 0% with unlimited contributors and its upper plans cut the card rate.

Prices on this page were read on Squarespace's pricing page and Wix's plans page in October 2026, in US dollars, billed yearly unless stated. Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 204 website builders for its ranking, updated 14 October 2026. Squarespace is listed there as an alternative to 63 other tools, sixth of the 204, and Wix as an alternative to 56, which makes these two of the most cross-shopped builders a small business will look at.

Squarespace vs Wix at a glance

Plan pair	Squarespace, per month billed yearly	Wix, per month billed yearly	What decides it
Free	No free plan, 14-day trial	$0, Wix-branded URL and Wix ads	Wix
Entry	Basic, $19	Light, $17	Wix: cheaper, but no payments on Light
Mid	Core, $29	Core, $29	Same price: Squarespace adds unlimited editors, Wix adds bookings
Upper	Plus, $49	Business, $39	Wix is cheaper; Squarespace lowers the card rate
Top	Advanced, $99	Business Elite, $159	Squarespace is $60 a month cheaper

Squarespace shows month-to-month prices too: $25 for Basic, $39 for Core, $65 for Plus and $139 for Advanced. Wix's plans page lists yearly prices only, says other billing periods exist and shows the final price on the purchase page, so compare both on yearly billing. Both include a free custom domain for the first year on a yearly plan.

What each plan includes

The plan names line up, but the limits do not. The table below holds the details that change a bill: who can edit the site, how much it stores, and what a sale costs on top of the plan.

Feature	Squarespace Basic	Squarespace Core	Wix Light	Wix Core	Wix Business
Site editors	2 contributors	Unlimited	2 collaborators	5 collaborators	10 collaborators
Storage	No caps on storage or bandwidth	No caps	2 GB	50 GB	100 GB
Take payments	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Store transaction fee	2%	0%	No store	None listed	None listed
Online bookings	Separate Acuity subscription	Separate Acuity subscription	No	Included	Included
Video hosting	30 minutes	5 hours	None listed	None listed	None listed

Wix's top tier, Business Elite, adds unlimited storage, advanced eCommerce, an advanced developer platform and 100 collaborators. Squarespace Plus and Advanced keep Core's features and add lower card rates, more video (50 hours on Plus, unlimited on Advanced) and selling tools for limited product releases, which matter only to a store that already sells in volume.

How much does each one cost for a real site?

Our cost model: the four scenarios below take each vendor's list price billed yearly for 12 months, before tax, with no promotion and no add-ons beyond the one named. These are list-price estimates built from the two pricing pages, not quotes.

Scenario	Cheapest Squarespace plan that fits	12 months	Cheapest Wix plan that fits	12 months
1. Brochure site, own domain, no sales	Basic	$228	Light	$204
2. Store selling $500 a month online	Core	$348	Core	$348
3. Service business taking paid bookings	Basic plus Acuity Starter	$420	Core	$348
4. Hobby or test site, no own domain	14-day trial, then Basic	$228	Free	$0

Scenario 1 is the plain local business site with a home page, services, a contact form and a custom domain, and Wix Light covers it for $24 a year less than Squarespace Basic. The catch is that Light has no payment tools, so the day the business wants a deposit or a gift card sale, the Wix bill moves to Core.

Scenario 3 is where the gap is widest. Wix Core lists "Scheduling and services" among its features, so the booking calendar is part of the plan. Squarespace sells scheduling through Acuity Scheduling, which it acquired in 2019 and prices separately: Starter costs $16 a month billed yearly on Acuity's plans page, or $192 a year for one calendar. A salon with several staff needs Acuity Standard at $27 a month for up to six calendars, which takes the Squarespace Core plus Acuity bill to $672 a year, almost double the Wix Core plan.

The Squarespace Basic transaction fee: when it stops being cheap

Squarespace Basic charges a 2% fee on online sales of products, services and donations, on top of card processing. Core charges 0%. The two plans are $120 a year apart, so Basic stops being the cheaper plan once online sales pass $6,000 a year, or $500 a month.

Scenario 2 sits right on that line. At $500 of monthly sales, Basic costs $228 in plan fees plus $120 in transaction fees, exactly what a year of Core costs. Above that, every $1,000 of sales costs another $20 on Basic. A store selling $3,000 a month pays $720 a year in Basic transaction fees alone, more than double the Core plan's yearly price.

Digital content follows a separate scale. Courses, memberships and paid video carry a 7% fee on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus and 0% on Advanced. Plus costs $240 a year more than Core and cuts that fee by 4 points, so it pays for itself from $6,000 a year in membership sales. A creator selling $2,000 a month pays $1,200 a year in fees on Core and $240 on Plus. Creators weighing a dedicated platform should compare with our best online course platforms list.

Card rates: when Squarespace's upper plans pay for themselves

Both builders charge 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment at their usual entry point. That is the standard rate on Squarespace Basic and Core with Squarespace Payments, and the US online rate Wix states for Wix Payments. Squarespace lowers it to 2.7% on Plus and 2.5% on Advanced; Wix's plans page shows no lower card rate on its higher tiers.

The plan upgrade has to earn back its price through that rate cut. Plus costs $240 a year more than Core and saves 0.2 points, so it breaks even at $120,000 a year in card sales. Advanced costs $840 a year more than Core and saves 0.4 points, so it breaks even at $210,000. Below those figures, Squarespace Core is the cheaper way to run a store, and the upgrade only makes sense for the commerce tools Plus and Advanced add.

Squarespace lists a few more payment costs worth knowing before checkout goes live: a 3.2% + $0.30 premium card rate for American Express and some business cards, a 1.5% surcharge on international cards, and a 1% currency conversion fee. Wix charges no setup or monthly fees for Wix Payments merchants on Core plans or higher.

Where Wix wins

Wix keeps the only free plan of the two, and it is a real one: hosting, the drag-and-drop editor and the template library at no cost, on a Wix-branded URL with Wix ads. That makes it the right place to test an idea before spending anything. Squarespace has no free tier and offers a 14-day trial with no card instead.

Bookings are the other clear Wix advantage. Core, Business and Business Elite all include scheduling and services, so a coach, tutor or clinic pays one bill. Wix Business at $39 a month also undercuts Squarespace Plus by $120 a year for a growing store, with 100 GB of storage and standard eCommerce. Wix offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on premium plans, which covers a buyer who signs up for a year and changes their mind.

Wix's weak points sit in the limits. Light stores 2 GB and takes no payments, Core caps a team at five collaborators, and Business Elite at $159 a month is the most expensive plan in this comparison. Our Wix review covers the editor and the app market in detail.

Where Squarespace wins

Squarespace Core gives unlimited contributors, where the same money on Wix allows five collaborators. An agency, a newsroom or a shop with several part-time staff gets every editor on one plan. Squarespace also places no caps on storage or bandwidth on any plan, so a photography portfolio does not hit Wix Light's 2 GB ceiling.

Core adds a professional Gmail and Google Workspace account free for the first year when you register or connect a domain, plus CSS and JavaScript code injection, advanced analytics, shipping labels and carrier-calculated shipping. Abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, subscriptions and in-person sales through Squarespace's point of sale app come on every plan, Basic included.

Squarespace's weak points are the 2% fee on Basic, the missing free plan and the separate bill for scheduling. The top plan is also where Squarespace is cheaper than Wix, but only a store with heavy card volume needs it. Read the full Squarespace review for template and editor detail.

If you are weighing tools like these for a business you run, the Techpresso newsletter covers new software and price changes every morning.

Which should you pick?

Pick Wix Light if you need a brochure site with your own domain and no payments: it is the cheapest paid plan here at $204 a year. Pick Wix Free to test an idea first.

Pick Wix Core if clients book appointments or classes through the site. The scheduling tool is in the plan, which saves a Squarespace user at least the Acuity Starter fee.

Pick Squarespace Core if you sell products online, need more than five people editing the site, or store a lot of media. It costs the same as Wix Core and charges no store transaction fee.

Pick Squarespace Plus or Advanced only once card sales pass the break-even points above, or when you sell memberships and courses at volume. Below those levels, the upgrade costs more than it saves.

Not set on either? Our best website builders ranking and the best website builders for small business guide cover the wider field, including Webflow for teams that want more design control. If price is the only test, cheapest website builders for small business ranks the low-cost options by two-year cost. For booking-heavy businesses, compare against our Acuity Scheduling review and best appointment scheduling software. Toolradar's Squarespace and Wix pages and its Wix vs Squarespace comparison give the directory view.

How we checked

Squarespace plan prices, contributor limits, transaction fees, card rates and the trial come from Squarespace's pricing page, and the Acuity relationship from Squarespace's scheduling page, both read in October 2026. Wix plan prices, storage, collaborators and features come from Wix's plans page and Wix's premium plans guide, and the Wix Payments rate from Wix's payments page, read the same month. Every scenario multiplies a monthly rate by 12 at list price before tax. Techpresso runs no test lab, so nothing here is a hands-on result. Check both pricing pages before you buy, since website builders change plans often; our SaaS pricing changes tracker logs the moves we spot.

Cite this: Techpresso, "Squarespace vs Wix in 2026: Which Website Builder Costs Less, and When?", October 2026.

FAQ

Is Squarespace or Wix cheaper in 2026?

Wix is cheaper at the entry level and at the mid tier: Light costs $17 a month billed yearly against $19 for Squarespace Basic, and Wix Business costs $39 against $49 for Squarespace Plus. Both Core plans cost $29. Squarespace is cheaper only at the top, where Advanced costs $99 against $159 for Wix Business Elite.

Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?

Yes, on Basic. Squarespace Basic takes 2% of online product, service and donation sales on top of card processing, and Core, Plus and Advanced take 0%. Courses and memberships carry a separate fee of 7% on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus and 0% on Advanced.

Does Wix have a free plan? Does Squarespace?

Wix has a free plan with hosting and the editor, on a Wix-branded URL with Wix ads. Squarespace has no free plan; every site starts with a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card.

Which is better for online bookings?

Wix, on cost. Wix Core and higher include scheduling and services in the plan. Squarespace sells scheduling as Acuity Scheduling, a separate subscription that starts at $16 a month billed yearly for one calendar, so a Squarespace site with bookings pays two bills.

Which is better for an online store?

For most small stores, Squarespace Core and Wix Core cost the same $348 a year and both charge 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment. Squarespace Core allows unlimited editors and charges no store fee; Wix Core allows five collaborators and 50 GB of storage. Squarespace's Plus and Advanced plans lower the card rate to 2.7% and 2.5%, which pays off above $120,000 and $210,000 a year in card sales.

Do Squarespace and Wix include a free domain?

Yes. Both include a free custom domain for the first year on a yearly plan, after which it renews at the standard rate. Squarespace Core and higher also include one Google Workspace email account free for the first year.

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