If you are into website building you may have come across these two platforms, they are well known and famous platforms in the internet world. Squarespace is a website builder that lets you create all kinds of beautiful websites whereas Bluehost is famously known as a hosting provider.
Once users buy hosting on Bluehost they can host multiple websites in it which allows more flexibility, while Squarespace is a website builder you can host only one website at an instant.
#Quick Summary – Squarespace vs Bluehost
Below are a quick summary of Squarespace and Bluehost site builder platforms.
Squarespace
Squarespace has four plans that are moderately eConomic ( $16 – $49/mo)
150+ free templates to assist all kinds of businesses.
Bluehost is easy to use but its website builder doesn’t have enough features to build a good website Whereas Squarespace is easy to use and has enough inbuilt features. Winner: Squarespace
2. Domain and Hosting
Both of the platforms provide good hosting with Bluehost hosting users can set up multiple websites but not in the case of Squarespace. Both platforms provide free custom domains on annual subscriptions. Winner: Squarespace
3. Editor
Bluehost’s website builder has less customization but with WordPress users can enable endless customization. Squarespace is better as it has prebuilt pages and a WYSIWYG editor. Winner: Squarespace
4. E-commerce Plans:
Bluehost’s eCommerce plans price range from $12.95-$24.95 but it’s not good as it has very basic eCommerce features whereas Squarespace provides Advanced and basic eCommerce plans. Winner: Squarespace
5. Portfolio features.
Bluehost provides basic features for building portfolios whereas Squarespace has prebuilt templates, image storage, and editing features. Winner: Squarespace
6. App Store
Bluehost doesn’t have an app store but with managed WordPress plan you can access thousands of plugins whereas Squarespace has only 50+ apps. Winner: Bluehost
7. Support
Bluehost offers 24*7 phone, live chat, and email support. Whereas Squarespace offers 24*7 Email support, and Live chat support on weekdays. Winner: Bluehost
FAQ: Squarespace vs Bluehost
Do you need Bluehost with Squarespace?
No, Squarespace provides an inbuilt hosted server that takes care of all your server responsibility and security. you can’t connect third-party hosting with Squarespace website builder.
Is Squarespace cheaper than WordPress?
Squarespace’s basic plan starts from $16/month that includes hosting and website builder, it includes all inbuilt features so that you don’t have to buy them from third-party plugins, However, WordPress is free but requires third-party hosting and plugins to match Squarespace features.
Can we use Bluehost without WordPress?
Absolutely, you can use the Bluehost website builder to build websites without WordPress, but, the Bluehost website builder has limited options.
Is Bluehost a good web host?
Yes, Bluehost is a well known hosting provider, it offers affordable plans starting from just $2.75/month. it also offers Virtual Private Servers, Dedicated Hosting, and special plans for WordPress hostings.
Is Squarespace bad for SEO?
No, not at all. Squarespace provides really good on-page and off-page SEO settings for websites, it provides automated sitemaps, robots. txt,301 redirects, AMP pages to optimize for both desktop and mobile.
Domain and Hosting
Squarespace
Bluehost
Domain
Free custom domain on purchasing any annual plan.
Free custom domain on buying an annual plan
Hosting
Provides a shared hosting
Shared, Dedicated, VPS hosting too many hosting options.
SSL
Free SSL provided on all plans
Free SSL Certifications provided on all plans
Storage and Bandwidth
There is no cap on storage and bandwidth it’s unlimited for all plans
Unlimited storage and Unmetered bandwidth on all plans (For basic plan 50 GB SSD Storage)
Uptime and Speed Server
Squarespace has around 99.98% and an average speed response time of 460ms
Bluehost has an uptime of 99.99% and an average response time of 361ms
Business Emails
Free professional email through google workspace for one year on choosing business or commerce plans.
Bluehost offers professional email through Microsoft 365 which is paid Email Essentials –$4.99/mo* Business plus –$5.99/mo* Business Pro – $14.99/mo*
Themes and Templates
Squarespace
Bluehost
Themes
100+ free themes
1000+(WordPress themes)
Mobile Responsive
Yes
Yes
Custom CSS
Yes
Embed custom CSS with WordPress
Squarespace website builder has 100+ beautiful themes. Both website builders have covered all categories of website builder themes. Bluehost website builder connects with WordPress users who can access over 1000+ themes.
Squarespace has various prebuilt sections that can be customized for different styles, colors, fonts, etc. Squarespace provides sitewide styling elements. Users can also add a custom design or elements and perform manual customization through custom CSS, HTML, etc. Bluehost provides endless customization options as customization of pages can be done on both WordPress and Bluehost website builders. As WordPress can be used as CMS users can design it by applying Custom CSS and also plugins to improve the design.
Users can buy all of the Squarespace plans either monthly or Annually.
billed annually upon purchasing shared hosting, whereas you can choose Monthly, Quarterly, or annual billing on purchasing VPS or dedicated hosting.
Squarespace has provided four basic plans which include hosting and SSL. users can also get a free domain if they are buying any of their annual plans.
Bluehost has two types of plans, it has individual hosting plans and WordPress plans. There are three types of hostings available shared, Dedicated, and VPS hosting. The hosting price ranges from $2.95/month to $13.95/month which is enough to host a website as it provides unlimited SSD Storage and unlimited bandwidth. They have also provided special types of hostings for WordPress for beginners,eCommerce, and scaleable enterprises.
Squarespace Pricing
Squarespace has four basic plans
Personal:$19/m($14)
Business:$33/m($23)
Basic Commerce:$36/m($27)
Advanced Commerce:$65/m($49)
(Prices in the Bracket are applicable when you buy a year plan)
Bluehost Pricing
SEO
Squarespace
Bluehost
Sitemaps
Squarespace provides autogenerated Sitemaps.
Sitemaps can be generated automatically using SEO plugins like (Yoast, Jetpack, etc) in WordPress
Robot.txt
In Squarespace, users can’t access or edit the robot.txt file
In Bluehost, users can create or edit robot.txt files in the WordPress dashboard
AMP pages
Squarespace provides AMP pages.
Get AMP pages by installing AMP Plugin in WordPress
301 Redirects
Users can create 301 redirects in Squarespace
Access 301 redirects upon installing and activating the WordPress plugin
Squarespace has good inbuilt SEO features as they offer many options to do SEO for blogs, stores, portfolios, etc.
Bluehost, when used with WordPress opens plenty of SEO options. WordPress offers multiple free and paid plugins that will be beneficial in search engine optimization. if you only use Bluehost website builder you will have limited options for SEO. Bluehost offers separate plans for managed SEO services where their SEO experts help you in indexing keywords, and keyword planning and Reportings also help in doing local SEO.
Support and Resources
Squarespace
Bluehost
Email
✔
❌
Live chat
✔
✔
Phone
❌
✔
Squarespace provides support through live chat from Monday to Friday and email support 24/7 to its customers. Bluehost too offers excellent support as they offer 24/7 live chat and phone support to their customers,
Squarespace has video tutorials and an active forum and community for solving queries. Bluehost has Provided plenty of blogs for beginners and intermediates.
Squarespace support
Bluehost Support
Pros and Cons: Squarespace vs Bluehost
Squarespace Pros
Squarespace Cons
1. Provides Inbuilt hosting and website builder.
1. Squarespace has relatively expensive plans
2. Squarespace offers more Inbuilt features and integrations
2. Squarespace limits extensive customization in comparison to WordPress
3. It has beautiful templates for all kinds of websites
3. Live chat support is limited to weekdays from 4 am to 8 pm EDT. No live support on weekends
Bluehost Pros
Bluehost Cons
1. It has Cheaper plans than Squarespace
1. Bluehost website builder has fewer features
2. It lets you Build multiple websites on the same hosting.
2. Bluehost website builder has fewer integrations
3. Bluehost with WordPress provides more options and functions.
3. No monthly Billing cycle on most of the plans.
Conclusion: Squarespace vs Bluehost
Use Squarespace over Bluehost,
If you want a platform that has inbuilt hosting and features so you don’t have to purchase them from third-party sites then Squarespace is better.
if you don’t have prior experience in building websites and willing to invest a little amount in business then Squarespace is best, as it’s a fully-fledged platform to build all kinds of websites.
Use Bluehostover Squarespace,
If you want a cheap host and a basic website builder to build a small website then Bluehost is better than Squarespace.
Bluehost works best with WordPress, if you already have prior experience with WordPress then it’s easy.
Declan Kingston mainly works around strong Data to create powerful visuals, complex graphs to make the right decision for companies. He has been working in this field for over 8 years, has a strong knowledge of eCommerce platforms and website builders. He has worked with Ethereum and Looker Data Sciences, Inc. (now part of Google Cloud).
