Showit vs Squarespace: Which Is the Better Site Builder in 2025?

Building a website doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all solution. Squarespace and Showit stand out as two popular website builders because they deliver a blend of usability, customization, and design flexibility. It’s no surprise that they consistently rank among the top choices for website creation.

I’ve tested both platforms thoroughly, and Squarespace stands out as the clear winner. Its all-in-one solution has everything you need to set up a blog, create an online store, make your site search engine friendly, and manage it all from a single dashboard. This makes it perfect for beginners who want to avoid the complexities of web design.

Squarespace may suit the needs of most users, but Showit is an excellent website builder for design professionals familiar with site builder tools. It can be more complicated to use, but it offers unparalleled creative freedom so you can oversee every detail of your site down to the last pixel. However, you’ll need to use third-party platforms like WordPress and Shopify to add a blog or an online store.

Keep reading to discover what makes these platforms stand out and why Squarespace is the best choice.

Templates

You’ll Get 5 Times More Free Templates With Squarespace

When it comes to templates, Squarespace has a more extensive library with over 100 free and stylish templates for any type of website, from online stores to blogs and portfolios. Showit, by contrast, has a much more limited range with just over 30 free templates designed mainly for creative professionals like photographers and marketers.

While both platforms offer mobile-responsive templates, Squarespace’s templates have a consistent, modern look. They might feel less unique than Showit’s, but they’re streamlined for usability. Showit, on the other hand, offers highly unique templates made for customization. It offers more variety than Squarespace’s sleek but somewhat uniform designs.

Squarespace lets you change colors, fonts, and the placement of certain elements, but you’re mostly stuck with your template’s structure. However, you can switch templates without losing your content – something Showit doesn’t offer. You can’t simply switch templates in Showit but can work on multiple designs simultaneously. That said, switching templates on Showit would still require re-adding each element.

Each platform offers paid templates, but there’s a huge price difference. You can purchase Squarespace’s premium templates via its template library for around $99, whereas Showit relies on premium third-party marketplaces, which can cost hundreds of dollars or more to purchase.

Features and Ease of Use

You Really Can Have It All With Squarespace

Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor allows you to create a responsive and good-looking site with minimal effort. Although its editor can feel somewhat rigid or limiting, anyone can create an attractive site thanks to its grid layout. In contrast, Showit provides a true point-and-click editor that requires a steep learning curve. Plus, with only 3 gallery widgets to choose from, you may be better off creating your own if they’re not what you’re looking for.

Both platforms offer social media integrations, but Squarespace makes it easier to connect to your accounts, embed your social feeds directly on your site, and create marketing campaigns. Showit doesn’t offer built-in marketing tools or live feed options to share with your viewers, so you’ll need to rely on third-party integrations.

Overall, you’ll find Squarespace is an intuitive all-in-one solution that does most of the work for you and streamlines the web design process. Showit, on the other hand, caters to professional designers who want a platform to design but aren’t looking to manage social media platforms, products, or other non-design elements.

Extensions and Plugins

Squarespace’s Built-in Extensions Are Easy To Use

Squarespace has a built-in marketplace that provides a variety of free and paid extensions to expand your website’s functionality. It also offers various tools for business management, marketing, SEO, and analytics to help enhance your website’s functionality. During my tests, I found that most of its extensions require minimal setup, allowing you to enhance your website efficiently.

Showit doesn’t have a built-in app market, so it relies on WordPress plugins to extend its functionality. This means there’s virtually no limit to what you can add to your site. Although installing plugins is more complex and requires more technical know-how, Showit is an excellent website builder for professionals familiar with WordPress.

Squarespace takes the lead if you’re looking for a streamlined, hassle-free experience. Its app market is easy to navigate, and you can integrate new features without worrying about compatibility issues. However, if you’re a seasoned WordPress user and are comfortable with plugins, Showit offers a level of flexibility that can support unique design and functionality needs.

Blogging

For Built-in Blogging Features, I Recommend Squarespace

When it comes to blogging, it’s clear that Squarespace offers a more streamlined and user-friendly experience. Its built-in blog editor allows users to create, format, and publish posts without third-party tools. In addition to simplifying content creation, Squarespace’s blogging feature lets you organize your blogs by category and tags and schedule posts.

On the other hand, Showit doesn’t offer built-in blogging features, so you’ll need to use WordPress if you plan to add a blog. While WordPress is a powerful tool that’s excellent for blogging and design, it’s not ideal as a third-party tool, as you’ll have to switch to it every time you want to post.

Overall, Squarespace’s focus on integration and simplicity makes it the better option for most users. Showit excels in offering greater customization, but its lack of built-in blogging features seems more trouble than it’s worth.

E-Commerce

Choose Squarespace To Build a Store Quickly and Easily

Creating an online store with Squarespace is notably easier due to its built-in e-commerce functionality. It allows you to add a store to your website without a bunch of plugins or coding experience, making it the ideal builder for beginners and small-to-medium-sized businesses. The setup process is also super straightforward. You can add products, manage inventory, and calculate tax with minimal effort.

Unfortunately, to add a store to your Showit site, you’ll need to integrate an e-commerce platform like Shopify or WooCommerce. You can use a Shopify “Buy Button” to process payments, but it’s not as easy as you’d think. To manage products, inventory, and payments, you need to switch between platforms, sign in to your account, and potentially incur extra fees for payment processing.

Managing Multiple Sites

Despite Having To Log in to Each Site Separately, Go With Showit for 50% Off

If you’re looking to set up multiple sites and manage them from a single dashboard, Showit falls short. You’ll have to create a new account for every website you create with Showit. Meanwhile, Squarespace allows you to add new sites to your existing account and manage them from one dashboard. In terms of convenience, Squarespace has the upper hand.

However, Showit offers a bit more value by providing a 50% discount on every additional website you create. It’s rare to find website builders that offer discounts for multiple sites. This makes Showit a great choice if you have several sites but don’t want to pay full price for each one.

SEO

Squarespace Excels With Built-in SEO Tools and Automatic Optimizations

Showit and Squarespace offer helpful SEO features, but their approaches are vastly different. For example, Squarespace provides built-in SEO tools to help you optimize your site. You can easily edit each page’s title, meta description, and image alt text and automatically generate clean URLs and sitemap files.

Showit offers limited SEO capabilities outside of its integration with WordPress. You can edit meta tags, descriptions, and alt text, but you won’t get access to Squarespace’s automatic SEO optimizations. To achieve similar functionality, you may need to install additional WordPress plugins to handle advanced tasks.

Squarespace’s tools offer a beginner-friendly and intuitive solution for achieving higher rankings on search engines like Google. Showit, on the other hand, requires using several WordPress plugins, which can make the process more complex and time-consuming.

Pricing

For the Price, Squarespace Outshines Showit in Nearly Every Way

While testing Showit and Squarespace, I found that Squarespace offers more affordable plans despite its extensive features. It offers four pricing tiers, ranging from $16.00/month for its Basic plan to $99.00/month for its Advanced plan. I’d recommend the Basic plan for the best value. It comes with a free custom domain, built-in e-commerce tools, extensions, over 100 templates, 0% transaction fees, and more for just $16.00/month.

Similarly, Showit has multiple pricing plans ranging from $19 to $34/month. However, to access more than 14 pre-approved WordPress plugins, you must upgrade to the Showit & Advanced Blog plan for $34/month. This makes Showit significantly more expensive than Squarespace.

Neither platform offers a free plan. Squarespace and Showit provide a 14-day free trial to test out their services and determine which is the best fit for you.

When comparing each platform side by side, it’s clear that you’ll get more for your money using Squarespace, especially if you’re a beginner. However, if you’re a professional designer with WordPress experience and have a vast portfolio of high-quality media files, Showit is a good choice.

To help you make an informed decision, here is a comparison of Showit and Squarespace’s most valuable plans:

Customer Support

Squarespace’s Live Chat Gives You Instant Answers

To compare Showit and Squarespace, I messaged their customer support teams and asked the same two questions.

Squarespace provides 24/7 email support and live chat available Monday through Friday, from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. It also offers a huge knowledge base filled with tutorials, guides, and videos that you can check out at any time. I tested its email and live chat support to see how quickly someone would respond.

If you’re looking for instant support, contact Squarespace via live chat. I received timely answers to both of my questions. Although it took some time to receive a response from Squarespace’s email support, the representative answered my questions without trying to upsell.

If you need help building a site with Showit, you can get in touch with its support team via email or “live chat” – but don’t expect a swift response. When I sent my questions through live chat, I received a response by email (which kind of defeats the purpose of live chat). If you need an immediate answer to a question, Showit has an active community group on Facebook and a library of tutorials and video resources.

I got a response from Showit’s email support much faster than with Squarespace, which was surprising since it mentioned a wait time of a few hours. The response I got was also great, although a bit salesy, but it answered my questions without missing any key details.

Squarespace Is the Better Web Builder

Its all-in-one platform, affordability, and built-in features make Squarespace the clear winner in most areas. It’s an excellent choice if you want to create your first professional website. Squarespace’s editor, comprehensive e-commerce tools, extension market, and customer support make website building fast and easy.

Showit is a decent alternative for users who prioritize creative freedom and are comfortable with complexity – especially designers, photographers, or creative professionals who want complete control over their website’s layout. Its point-and-click editor offers unparalleled design flexibility. However, Showit’s reliance on WordPress for blogging and e-commerce makes it better suited for niche use cases where customization trumps ease of use.

FAQ

Is Showit like Squarespace?

Both Showit and Squarespace allow you to build websites without coding, but they cater to different audiences. Showit provides creative freedom to design professionals with its point-and-click editor, while Squarespace offers more structured templates tailored to beginners. Squarespace also includes built-in e-commerce and blogging features, which Showit lacks.

Is Squarespace or Showit better?

Squarespace is better for users who need a balanced platform with built-in tools for blogging and e-commerce. Showit excels if design flexibility is your top priority, particularly for creative sites like photography portfolios. Choose Showit for complete creative control or pick Squarespace if you want everything under one roof.

What are the differences between Showit and Squarespace?

Showit is highly customizable and uses WordPress for blog management. Squarespace offers an all-in-one solution with pre-set templates, e-commerce, and SEO tools. Showit is ideal for creative professionals wanting unique designs, whereas Squarespace focuses on functionality with built-in features and affordable pricing plans.

Is Squarespace good for large websites?

Squarespace is well-suited for medium-sized websites and is one of the best website builders in 2025. However, it may not scale well for large, complex sites – especially if you have multiple domains. Its limited customization options can be restrictive for enterprise-level needs, but its built-in user-friendly tools and reliable hosting are excellent for most medium-sized businesses.