( Comparison )
Shopify vs Squarespace for a Small Business (2026)
Shopify versus Squarespace for a US small business in 2026 — plan prices after both platforms' changes, transaction and card fees, selling tools, design and content, what clients actually paid for each, and which one fits which business.
( The Short Answer )
Shopify is the better platform for a small business whose main job is selling products: Basic is $39 a month ($29 annual) with inventory, shipping, POS and thousands of apps. Squarespace is the better platform for a service, creative or content business that sells a little on the side: Core is $29 a month after the July 2026 rise, with better templates and no transaction fee. How to choose a web design company covers the rest.
Shopify and Squarespace are rarely the right pair to compare, which is exactly why people compare them: one is a store that can have pages, the other is a website that can have a store. The decision is usually made in the first minute by answering one question — is selling products the main thing this site does, or a thing it also does?
Here is the comparison with 2026 prices from both vendors — both changed this year — the fees, the selling tools, what clients actually paid to have each built, and the recurring themes from owners who have run both.
The short version
| Shopify | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Selling products, online and in person | Websites that look good; selling is a feature |
| Entry business plan | Basic, $39 a month ($29 annual) | Core, $29 a month ($39 monthly) |
| Transaction fee | None with Shopify Payments; 0.6–2% with a third-party gateway | 2% on Basic; 0% from Core up |
| Card rate, online | 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, down to 2.5% on Advanced | 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic and Core, 2.7% on Plus, 2.5% on Advanced |
| Inventory, shipping, POS | Deep, native, multi-location | Adequate for a small catalogue; POS is lighter |
| Apps and extensions | Thousands of apps | A few dozen extensions |
| Templates and design | Good free themes; paid themes $140–$400 | The best templates in the category; included |
| Blog, portfolio, bookings | Basic blog; bookings via apps | Strong blog and portfolio; Acuity scheduling add-on |
| Code export | Theme code is yours; data exports as CSV | Partial content export; no layout or store pages |
Plan prices after both 2026 changes
Squarespace raised most of its plans in July 2026 — PetaPixel's report on the increase put the rise at up to 26% on annual billing — and Shopify's figures are from its pricing page at the time of writing.
| Platform | Plan | Price | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Starter | $5 | Selling through social and links, no storefront |
| Shopify | Basic | $29 ($39) | Most small stores |
| Shopify | Grow | $79 ($105) | Lower card rates, more staff accounts |
| Shopify | Advanced | $299 ($399) | Larger stores, custom reports |
| Squarespace | Basic | $19 ($25) | Brochure site; 2% fee on anything sold; no custom code |
| Squarespace | Core | $29 ($39) | Business sites and small stores |
| Squarespace | Plus | $49 ($65) | Stores wanting lower card rates and advanced shipping |
| Squarespace | Advanced | $99 ($139) | Larger Squarespace stores |
For a business that sells, the fair comparison is Shopify Basic at $29 against Squarespace Core at $29 — identical on annual billing, $1,044 each over three years. The difference is what the $29 buys: on Shopify, a complete commerce engine; on Squarespace, a complete website with a capable small store attached. The Squarespace designer cost guide and the Shopify website cost guide have each platform's full cost picture.
Selling: where Shopify pulls ahead
Shopify was built to sell, and everything about running a store — inventory across locations, variants, shipping rates and labels, discounts, abandoned-cart recovery, point of sale, selling on Amazon, Instagram and TikTok from one catalogue — is native or an app away. Squarespace Commerce handles a small catalogue competently: products, variants, basic shipping, digital products and subscriptions on higher plans. It thins out past a few hundred SKUs, with multi-location inventory, and with anything that needs an integration its extension library lacks.
Fees land differently too. Squarespace charges 2% on Basic and nothing from Core up; Shopify charges nothing when you use Shopify Payments and 0.6–2% if you use another gateway. Card rates are the same 2.9% plus 30 cents at the entry level on both. For most small stores the fee question is a wash; the tooling question is not.
Design and content: where Squarespace is easier
Squarespace's templates are the reason it exists. A photographer, a restaurant, a consultant or a wedding planner can have a site that looks designed in a weekend, and the blog, portfolio and scheduling tools are part of the product. Shopify's free themes are good and fast but built around a product grid; making a Shopify site read as a brand rather than a catalogue takes a designer. If the site's job is to make a business look credible and sell a dozen things on the side, Squarespace does that with less effort and less money.
Both have the same exit problem in different sizes. Squarespace exports some content and no layout, as the Squarespace versus custom comparison details. Shopify exports your data as CSV and your theme code is yours to download, but the store itself runs only on Shopify. Neither is a site you own the way a custom build is.
What clients actually paid
| Route | Shopify | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | $0 – $400 (paid theme) + 20–40 hours | $0 + 20–40 hours |
| Freelancer | $1,000 – $5,000; $15 – $125 an hour depending on location | $500 – $2,500; $50 – $100 an hour |
| Agency | $5,000 – $25,000; $125 – $300 an hour | $3,000 – $10,000; $100 – $200 an hour |
| American Web Guild, fixed | $600 / $1,394 / $3,694 by catalogue size | $349 – $1,299 by page count |
Shopify builds cost more because they are store builds: catalogue loading, shipping and tax configuration, app setup and payment testing are hours a Squarespace brochure site never incurs. The Shopify expert cost guide breaks down the rates; the e-commerce website cost guide has the running costs that follow on either.
What owners on Reddit report, across r/shopify, r/squarespace and r/smallbusiness, splits along the same line. Shopify owners praise the checkout, the shipping tools and the app ecosystem, and complain about app costs stacking up, about the fee on third-party gateways, and about needing a developer for anything beyond the theme editor. Squarespace owners praise how good the site looks and how little they think about it, and complain about the store's limits once they grow — inventory, shipping rules, the extension library — and about a slower checkout. The recurring advice in both communities is to start where the business actually is: Squarespace until selling becomes the main thing, then move — and to budget for the move rather than pretend it will not happen.
Which one, for which business
- A product business, online or with a physical shop, with more than a few dozen SKUs — Shopify. Nothing else in this comparison matters more.
- A service, creative or content business that sells some products, courses or merchandise — Squarespace Core. The website is the job; the store is a feature.
- A restaurant, salon or consultancy with bookings — Squarespace with Acuity, or a dedicated booking tool on either.
- A store you expect to grow past a few hundred products — Shopify from day one; the Shopify migration cost guide shows why moving later costs more than starting there.
- A business that wants to own the site outright — neither; a custom build, with the store on Shopify if it needs one.
Where we land
We build on both. Stores go on Shopify through our Shopify development service at $600, $1,394 or $3,694 by catalogue size — custom design, cart and payments, a CMS walkthrough, everything in your name. Service and content businesses that want Squarespace get the same fixed packages we build everywhere: $349, $689 or $1,299 by page count, copy written, live in fourteen days. If the honest answer to the one-minute test points away from what you came in asking for, we will say so before you pay anything.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Shopify or Squarespace better for a small business?
- Shopify when selling products is the main job — inventory, shipping, POS and apps are far deeper. Squarespace when the business is services, creative work or content and sells a little on the side — the templates, blog and scheduling are better and the entry price is the same $29 a month on annual billing.
- Is Squarespace cheaper than Shopify?
- At the business tier, no: Squarespace Core and Shopify Basic are both $29 a month on annual billing after 2026's changes ($39 monthly on both). Squarespace Basic at $19 is cheaper but charges 2% on sales and bars custom code. Shopify stores usually cost more to run because of apps, at $50–$300 a month.
- Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?
- 2% on the Basic plan, 0% on Core, Plus and Advanced, on top of card processing at 2.9% plus 30 cents (2.7% on Plus, 2.5% on Advanced) through Squarespace Payments. Digital products carry a separate fee of 7% on Basic falling to 0% on Advanced.
- Does Shopify charge transaction fees?
- Not if you use Shopify Payments; card rates are 2.9% plus 30 cents on Basic, 2.7% on Grow and 2.5% on Advanced. If you use a third-party gateway such as PayPal or Stripe directly, Shopify adds its own fee — 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced — on top of the gateway's.
- Can I move from Squarespace to Shopify later?
- Yes — products export as CSV and import into Shopify, and the pages are rebuilt on a Shopify theme. Order history, member areas and the design do not move, and every URL needs a redirect. Budget $1,700–$7,500 for a small store, or $600–$3,694 on our fixed tiers.
- How much does it cost to have a Shopify or Squarespace site built?
- Shopify: $1,000–$5,000 from a freelancer, $5,000–$25,000 from a US agency, or $600–$3,694 on our fixed tiers. Squarespace: $500–$2,500 from a freelancer, $3,000–$10,000 from a small agency, or $349–$1,299 on our packages. Shopify costs more to build because catalogue, shipping, tax and apps add hours.
