Squarespace Vs Google Sites – Which Is Better For You?

Squarespace and Google Sites are two popular website builders with many exciting features. Google Sites are easy and anyone can build a website using Google Sites. Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder where you will get Marketing automation, SEO tools, Domain & Hosting provider, Logo maker, etc. other than a website builder. But in the case of Squarespace, it will be difficult for beginners to set up and navigate. Here I will compare all the features, pros & Cons, Pricing, etc., and see which one will be the Winner.

Note: Squarespace purchased Google domains in 2023 for 180 million dollar! (Yes, It is not Google purchased Squarespace, But Th Squarespace purchased Google Domain hosting business!!). Also recently Google shutdown its blogspot domain all websites! However, Google Sites is still owned by Google (Alphabet). Keep in mind, just because its Google, you will never get any extra benefits including in SEO. Google Search and Google sites are completely different department and they never meet, works like different companies. Google search team don’t want to give any benefits to Google Sites team.

References

• https://mashable.com/article/google-domains-squarespace-acquisition
• https://domains.google/
• https://support.google.com/domains/answer/13689670

What is Squarespace?

Squarespace is one of the best website builders in the market. Without any coding knowledge, you can easily create a website using Squarespace. Its unique and beautiful templates make Squarespace unique. Besides website builders, it has a Marketing automation tool. It is good for all types of websites, especially your blogging websites, photography websites, etc.

Best for?: All types of Businesses

What is Google Sites?

Google Sites are free website builders, and anybody can create a website for free using it. Google Sites are one of Google’s products. And if you have an email account, then you can create a website. It is one of the simplest website builders in the market with limited features. It is best for creating portfolio websites, resumes, school projects, etc.

Best for?: Resume, School projects, etc.

Pricing

#Squarespace

Squarespace is comparatively expensive when compared to others. It does not have a free version. It has only a 14-day free trial is available. You can try all the features in its 14-day free trial. Its plan starts from $14. There are mainly 4 plans available in Squarespace. In Squarespace also, there is a separate plan for eCommerce.

Personal Plan: $16 /mo => Free Custom domain, SSL security, Unlimited bandwidth, 30 min Video storage, SEO, 2 contributors, Mobile optimized websites, 24/7 customer support, etc.

Business Plan: $23 /mo => Personal Plan + Unlimited contributors, Professional email from Google, Premium integrations and blocks, 3% Transaction fee, Sell unlimited products, etc.

Commerce Basic Plan: $27 /mo => Business Plan + Point of Sale, Customer Accounts, checkout on your domain, Powerful eCommerce analytics, Products on Instagram, etc.

Commerce Advance Plan: $49 /mo => Abandoned Cart Recovery, Sell subscriptions, Advanced shipping, Advanced discounts, Commerce APIs.

#Google Sites

You can use Google Sites for Free life long. You will get all the features in its Free Plan itself. You just need a Google account for creating Google Sites. That is great. But Google Sites will not provide a domain name. You have to purchase from Google domains or from Wix or Godaddy or any domain service provider. It cost you $15 per year.

Ease of Use

#Squarespace

You can create beautiful websites using Squarespace. But for the first time, you may feel difficult to set up and navigate. There are a lot of tools and features available on Squarespace. It does not have a free plan. It has only a 14-day free trial. Using its free trial, you can test all of its premium features. Login in Squarespace is easy. You don’t need a credit card to log in.

Once you click Get started from the home page of Squarespace, it will start to ask you some questions like “What’s your site about”, “What’s your top goal”, and “Where are you in the process”. They will also give some options. You have to pick an option and click next.

After that, they will show you the templates. You can select one template and customize it. Or else, you can build your website from scratch. After selecting the template, you have to log in to Squarespace, if you are not already logged in. You can also create an account from if there if you don’t have one. You can either create your account with google or e email. After all that, you can start customizing your website.

After selecting one template, it will take you to the site dashboard. There you will get all the features like pages, design, commerce, marketing, analytics, etc. You will also get an intro video from there. You can also contact customer support.

#Google Sites

Google Sites is one of the easiest and simple website builders to use. If you are signed in to your Google account, then you don’t have to sign up or sign to Google Sites websites. You just need a Google account for using Google Suites. Because Google sites is a product of Google. After entering to website https://sites.google.com/, you will see different templates. You can use it for free. You don’t have to pay anything for creating websites. It is completely free.

You can either choose any template or select black and create a website from scratch. It has limited templates. So, you have to do a lot of customization. Otherwise, your website will be similar to other websites. You can easily share your website with anyone and you can give access to the website. Publishing is a very easy process.

You will see Classic Sites below the templates section. It is an old version of Google Sites. It is not available now. It is expired in 2021. So, nobody will be able to see the website that you created using Classic Sites. So, if you already created Websites using Classic Sites, then you have to change them from Classic Sites to Google Sites.

Templates

#Squarespace

Squarespace has a stunning collection of templates. It has around 200 templates. All are well categorized into different groups. So you can easily find the template that you need. Categories include:

• Online Store
• Portfolio
• Memberships
• Blog
• Scheduling
• One Page

#Google Sites

Google Sites have only a limited number of Templates. All are simple designs. It has around 10 templates. All are very simple and minimalistic. The templates are categorized into personal, work, small business, and education. There is also a blank template available. So that, you can create your own unique templates. Otherwise, there is a chance of being similar templates.

Editor

#Squarespace

Squarespace has a drag-and-drop editor. It has a very smooth editor. But you can move the elements within a section. There will be rows and columns. So, you can drag the elements inside that row and columns. So, all the elements will be well arranged. It will be visible on all devices. You can click “Add section”. Then you can add various elements. There are different elements like blank section, intro, contact, about, people, products, etc. After adding the elements, you can customize them. You can also add custom code to the website.

There is an option called “Site Styles” in the top right corner. It will look like a brush icon. You can change the overall style of the website using “Site Styles”. You can change font style, colors, animation, spacing, etc. It will appear all over your website.

Squarespace has a pretty basic image editor in its website editor. You can edit the images that you upload to the website. You can crop images, add filters, adjust Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, blur, etc.

The websites created using Squarespace will be responsive for all devices. You can also edit your mobile version website from the top right corner, by clicking the mobile icon. You can adjust the position, resize the elements, etc. from the mobile preview.

#Google Sites

The editor of Google Sites is simple. There are only limited elements are available. You will get a drag-and-drop editor. The editor will be divided into different sections. You have to place the elements within the section. You can insert the elements like Text boxes, Images, Embedd code, and drive. Whatever changes you make will be automatically saved to your Google drive. You can also add different layouts to the website. There is also the table of contents, image carousel, button, divider, spacer, etc. You can change your site name from the top left corner.

The typography is also pretty good. You can change the text to Title, paragraph, etc. You can change the font style and font size. There is also Bold, Italics, Underline, etc. You can also change the alignment of the text, and add links to the text.

You can also change the overall, theme of the website from the Themes option in the top right corner. You can also share your website with others and you can give them editing access, view-only access, etc. like same as sharing google docs or sheets. You can also see previews from devices like phones, tablets, and laptops.

App Extensions

#Squarespace

Squarespace has a limited amount of extensions are available. There are around 35 extensions are there. Those extensions are categorized into different sections. Shipping and fulfillment include extensions like ShipStation, Shippo, EasyShip, etc. Finance includes TaxJar, Dext, etc. Sales & Marketing include Email Campaigns, Smart SEO, Judge.me, etc. And Business Tools include Chubb and Swyft Filings.

#Google Sites

Google Sites does not have any third-party integrations. It only has some Google product integration like Google Maps, Google form, YouTube, Google docs, Sheets, etc.

Analytics & Reporting

#Squarespace

Squarespace has more advanced Analytics & reporting. You will get the report of Revenue, Units Sold, Orders, Visits, Conversion rate, etc. You will also get reports on Traffic, Abandoned checkout, Purchase funnel, etc. You will also get the graphics version of your report.

#Google Sites

You have to connect your website with Google Analytics for getting your website’s analytics and report. Google Sites does not have in-built analytics and tracking. You will get all the website data using Google analytics.

Support

#Squarespace

Squarespace has great customer support. It has 24/7 email support and Monday to Friday 8 AM to 8 PM live chat support. There is also forum support, a knowledge base, and tutorials. It also has support for partnering & sponsorship, PR & Communication, HR inquiries, Security escalations, and Technical issues. No matter what your question is, they will you answer within minutes.

#Google Sites

Google Sites does not have a separate customer support system. Google provides some articles based on some common queries. Other than that, you have to find the answer to your question from other sources.

SEO

#Squarespace

Squarespace has good SEO. You will get an SEO checklist. It is an article that tells you how to improve your SEO before and after publishing your website. You can connect to the Google search console using the Google search keyword option. You can also hire an SEO expert to do your SEO activity. You can set the title format of Home, page, and item. You can also do basic SEO like Title, Meta tag, Meta description, Alt image, etc. You can optimize SEO for blog posts also.

#Google Sites

Google Sites has limited SEO optimization options you can set up titles and meta tags. That’s all. But everyone will think that websites created using Google Sites will rank better compared to other websites built with other website builders. Because Google Sites is a Google product. But it is a complete myth. Google Sites does not have any role in Google ranking algorithms. So, Google won’t help with anything related to Website Ranking.

Marketing Automation

#Squarespace

Squarespace has an amazing Marketing Automation tool of its own. You can send emails, create campaigns, automation, etc. You will also get the report of your campaigns. Squarespace email campaigns can be used only for Squarespace websites. However, you can connect any other Email marketing tool for the Squarespace website such as MailChimp, ConvertKit, etc. But you have to pay separately for this Squarespace email marketing.

It also has 4 different pricing plans available. Its plan starts from $5 /mo. Its plan includes Starter Plan ($5 /mo), Core Plan ($10 /mo), Pro Plan ($24 /mo), and Max plan ($48 /mo).

#Google Sites

Google Sites does not provide you with in-built marketing automation.

Let’s see how it is good for different types of Businesses.

Small Business

#Squarespace

Squarespace is one of the best tool for small businesses. It will be easy to create websites. There are so many features and elements are available for small business. There are different sections like appointments, Donation, forms, reservations, tour dates, etc.

#Google Sites

Google Sites are good for simple small business websites. They provide around 5 templates for small businesses. There are also some elements available for creating small business websites.

Portfolio & Photography

#Squarespace

Squarespace is a good website for creating portfolios & photography websites. You will get a lot of creative websites. Also, you can customize creatively and showcase your stunning works. You will get different gallery options and you can add your images in different layouts. There is also a portfolio section to showcase your work.

There is a Gallery element also available in Squarespace. You can use that also for your Portfolio website. There are so many layouts available in the Gallery also.

There are also a lot of stock images available on Squarespace. If you want, you can use them on your Website. There are free and also premium images available.

#Google Sites

There is only one template available for the portfolio. Google Sites are good for creating simple portfolio websites. But you can’t create advanced photography websites using Google Sites.

eCommerce

#Squarespace

Squarespace is one of the best website builder tools for creating an eCommerce store. You can set up an online store and you can sells products using Squarespace website builder. You will get a lot of online store templates. There are a lot of eCommerce features are available in Squarespace. eCommerce plan starts from $23 /mo to $49 /mo.

There are some extensions are also available for shipping & fulfillment, finance, inventory & products, etc. The extensions include ShipStation, Shippo, EasyShip, etc. Also, there are so many payment gateways that are for Squarespace like Apple Pay, FedEx, Stripe, PayPal, etc. based on the country. Only Stripe, PayPal, and Square are available in the United States.

#Google Sites

Google Sites are not good for creating an eCommerce website. You can’t set up an online store. The features are very limited in Google Sites.

Blogging

#Squarespace

Squarespace is for creating blog-based websites. There are so many templates available. There are also so many features available for blogs like text, text boxes, buttons, images, social links, etc. You can add different sections like Products, Content links, Charts, Events, etc. And also, you can add integrations like Instagram, Zola, Flickr, SoundCloud, Twitter, etc.

#Google Sites

You can create simple blogging websites using Google Sites. You won’t get any templates for Blogging. But customization options are limited. You will get elements like different elements like text boxes, images, drive files, etc.

Pros & Cons

#Squarespace

Pros	Cons
A great number of templates.	Wix websites will not show a loading icon in the browser. So, you may not know whether the website is loading or not when you click the second page.
A lot of in-built and third-party integration.	You can’t set up a professional email for free. You have to pay for email hosting.
A lot of customization options are available.	You can drag and drop elements anywhere. It will lead you to mess up the webpage.
In-built optimization and Marketing Automation tools.	You have to manually optimize for the mobile devices.
Better analytics & Reporting.
Better customer support.

#Google Sites

Pros	Cons
It is Free to use.	It has only limited templates. So, there will be a chance of having the same website using the same layout.
It will load faster.	There are no customer support options available.
It is simple and easy to edit the website.	Only limited SEO optimization settings are available.
You can easily share and give editing permission to others.	No Marketing automation is available.
	Third-party integrations are not available.
	No in-built analytics & reports are available in the dashboard.

Conclusion

Why should you use Squarespace over Google Sites?

• There are 100+ stunning & fully responsive templates available.
• You will get better eCommerce features and easy to set up an e-commerce store.
• You can give Gift cards and you can accept donations through Squarespace.
• You will get advanced website analytics and powerful eCommerce analytics.
• You will get a professional email from Google.
• Live chat support is available.
• You will get a faster server speed. Websites using Squarespace will load faster.

Why you should use Google Sites over Squarespace

• Google Sites are easy to learn and simple to use.
• It has a forever-free version. All you want is a google account.
• You can integrate with other Google products like Google Sheets, Docs, Map, Calendar, etc.
• You can easily share and give others access to your site.
• It will load faster.
• Good for mom & pop shops, School students for their projects, or for temporary websites.