Squarespace vs GoDaddy

Squarespace and GoDaddy are well-known and well-liked website builders that simplify building an online platform.

To help you choose between the two brands, we’ve tested them both and put together an in-depth comparison.

Of course, what matters most for one person may be less important to another. That’s why we’ve compared each brand for a range of factors, to help you make your decision based on the feature you care about most.

Squarespace vs GoDaddy: Key takeaways

Before diving into the details below this section, it’s worth bearing in mind that GoDaddy and Squarespace share a range of functions.

Broadly, you’ll find that each brand provides a platform for getting online, whether you have years of experience or none at all.

But there are some differences to bear in mind. We’ll dive into those now.

From £12/month

Best design-focused website builder

Squarespace isn’t far behind Wix for ease of use but outpaces it when it comes to design. Squarespace has built its brand to focus on high-quality aesthetics, with those working in the creative industries likely to be impressed.

From £6.99/month

Value-for-money all-rounder

GoDaddy offers a similar experience to Wix and other builders. While it’s not quite so easy to use, it does come at a lower monthly cost. GoDaddy offers a strong catalogue of tools and digital services.

To compare Squarespace, GoDaddy and other options, you can visit our best website builders page.

Squarespace vs GoDaddy: Feature comparison

The summary boxes above provide an overview of the website builders, but it’s worth diving into the sections below for more information.

To help you choose the right website builder for you, we’ve compared Squarespace and GoDaddy across a range of the most important features.

You know better than anyone what sort of features matter most to your personal brand or small business website, so make sure to focus on the sections below that are most relevant.

Ease-of-use

Ease of use is one of the most important factors for any website builder – it’s also one of the key reasons that people would choose a website builder, like GoDaddy or Squarespace, over a more traditional web development route.

Like other website builders, Squarespace and GoDaddy provide a broadly comparable experience. Each brand allows users to build a site from the ground up using the built-in tools and features.

For example, Squarespace and GoDaddy both offer a drag-and-drop editor that makes building and updating pages simple and quick. They also both offer tools for SEO, ecommerce and other functions for anyone needing them.

If you’re a complete newcomer to website building, then you can’t go far wrong with either Squarespace or GoDaddy. For us, there’s not a huge amount to separate them.

Price

If you’re comparing website builders on price alone, it’s important to bear in mind what features you need.

Make sure that the plan you are considering offers the range of features you require – for example, if you need ecommerce functionality, you’ll normally be comparing the more advanced plans from a website builder.

If you’re building a basic website and just want the cheapest plan available, GoDaddy is the choice for you. Its Basic plan is £6.99 per month, compared to £12 per month for Squarespace’s cheapest Personal plan.

The lowest price plans from each brand offer the foundational tools you’ll need to build a site, but may not provide access to more advanced features.

If you are planning to build a site with ecommerce functionality, for example, you’ll be looking at spending at least £17 per month with Squarespace, or £12.99 per month with GoDaddy.

Take a look at the table below to compare prices.

	Squarespace	GoDaddy
Cheapest plan	£12/month	£6.99/month
Most expensive plan	£35/month	£12.99/month
Number of plans	4	4

If you’re looking for the cheapest plan possible, then GoDaddy is the builder to choose. Not only is it a lot cheaper than Squarespace on a monthly basis, it’s also one of the cheapest website builders overall.

Templates

Templates are another vital point of distinction for anyone comparing website builders.

When it comes to a comparison of GoDaddy and Squarespace just based on the number of templates available, there’s not much to separate them.

GoDaddy offers its users over 200 templates to choose from while Squarespace offers over 100. With either builder, you’re likely to find something that suits your industry and brand, but you’ll have a wider selection with GoDaddy.

Beyond the number of templates, it’s also worth considering design. If you’re building a website in the creative space – if you’re creating a photography website, for example – then Squarespace is likely to be the better choice for you.

Squarespace has long been recognised as the most aesthetically pleasing of the website builders available. In terms of editing and functionality though, there’s not much to separate the two brands.

SEO

If you want to earn traffic from Google, Bing or any other search engine, you’ll need to focus on SEO (search engine optimisation).

Squarespace includes a number of SEO tools, built into your site dashboard, that can help you to rank your website on search engines.

As you begin setting up your website, you’ll be asked to provide several pieces of important information, including your website title and page titles.

The Squarespace SEO dashboard allows you to monitor traffic and create and edit settings for pages and items on the site. It also allows users to create sitemaps that can be crawled for search engine bots.

Some of the features above are only included on more advanced plans. However, whichever Squarespace plan you choose, several features are standard. This includes an SSL certificate, as well as mobile-first design.

Squarespace also provides a range of resources for SEO beginners, including a checklist for getting started.

The SEO dashboard sits within the wider Marketing space with GoDaddy, though it’s worth noting that you’ll need to opt for the Standard plan – at £8.99/month – to gain access to it.

Like Squarespace and other website builders, the first stage of SEO with GoDaddy comes as you begin launching your site.

As you start building, GoDaddy will prompt you to answer several questions, including about your potential audience and the sort of website you’ll be running. As you progress, you’ll then be able to start choosing page titles for your homepage and others, along with page descriptions.

You can continue to edit your website even after this initial setup is complete.

Squarespace and GoDaddy both offer a good standard of SEO support. This means that, whatever your plans, you’ll be able to do the work necessary to break into Google – and other search engines’ – rankings.

Ecommerce

Squarespace offers a fairly robust ecommerce product that is broadly in line with a range of other website builders.

Once you begin paying for ecommerce with Squarespace – available on the Business plan at £17/month – you’ll be able to make use of stock alerts and product listings, along with a range of other tools that form the basis of any online store.

Squarespace also includes ecommerce tools to support your tracking and reporting, including analytics and professional email options, along with support for payments and shipping.

For more sophisticated options, you’ll need to pay more each month. For example, for a more advanced shipping offering and for discounting functionality, you’ll need to pay at least £35 per month.

With GoDaddy, you’ll get access to ecommerce functionality when you opt for the Ecommerce plan, costing £12.99 per month.

The GoDaddy Ecommerce plan provides users with access to all of the Premium features available with the earlier plans. It also allows you to begin listing products, take payments and update shipping options. You also get access to discounting and promotional codes

With GoDaddy, you can list up to 5,000 products, with up to 10 images per product. You can also sell physical products and digital products. You also gain functionality that allows you to sell on social media.

Squarespace and GoDaddy both offer basic ecommerce options for users planning to sell online. While there isn’t much to separate the two, for a truly robust online retail experience, we’d recommend comparing a wider range of options on our best ecommerce website builders page.

User reviews

While they’re not always the most reliable sources of information, user reviews can provide some insight into how people feel about the brand.

On Trustpilot, as of June 13th, 2024:

Squarespace scores 1.3 out of 5 stars. Less than 1,000 people have reviewed Squarespace with only 15% rating it 5 stars.
GoDaddy scores 4.7 out of 5 stars. Over 100,000 people have reviewed GoDaddy with 84% rating it 5 stars.

It’s worth bearing in mind the difference in the volume of reviews for each brand.

GoDaddy vs Squarespace: Summary

GoDaddy and Squarespace both offer a good experience for anyone looking for a website builders. Of course, they stand out for different reasons in different areas.

Take a look at the list below for a quick comparison of both brands across the most important features:

Ease-of-use: GoDaddy and Squarespace come out very closely for ease-of-use.
Price: GoDaddy is cheaper website builder of the two.
Templates: GoDaddy offers more templates to choose from, but Squarespace offers a more professional final product.
SEO: Squarespace and GoDaddy offer similar SEO experiences.
Ecommerce: Squarespace and GoDaddy offer similar ecommerce experience, with GoDaddy coming out slightly ahead.
User reviews: GoDaddy is the clear winner.

While there is not much to separate these two website builders, GoDaddy pulls ahead slightly.

For price, user reviews and ecommerce offering, GoDaddy is the winner. However, if you’re creating a website for your work in the creative industries, then Squarespace is the better brand to go with.

Bryn Glover

Bryn is the founder and editor of WebsiteJumpStart. He has worked in the digital field for over a decade and was editor for Startups.co.uk - the UK's leading small business website - and for NerdWallet UK before launching WebsiteJumpStart to help people and businesses get online with ease.

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