In Shopify vs Squarespace, two plans cost the same: Shopify Basic and Squarespace Core, at $39 a month or $29 paid yearly, and 2.9% plus 30¢ on each US card sale. Squarespace's $25 Basic plan adds 2% to every online sale. Past the price, they part on catalog size, built-in tools, in-person selling and what moves if you leave.
You built the site to show your work, then added a shop to it. Now the shop pays the bills, and you're not sure the site still fits the business. We read both companies' pricing and help pages on November 5, 2026, and lined the two up.
Which fits your store, Shopify or Squarespace?
The price won't settle it. A site with a small shop on it suits Squarespace, and a growing catalog or a shop counter suits Shopify.
- Your site is the business and the shop is one page of it: every Squarespace plan includes its full set of designer templates.
- You sell services, courses or memberships beside products: every Squarespace plan lets you sell all of them.
- Your catalog runs to many sizes and colors: Shopify takes up to 2,048 variants per product.
- You sell at a counter or keep stock in more than one place: Shopify Basic includes in-person sales and 10 stock locations.
- You need a tool your plan leaves out: Shopify's App Store lists over 16,000 apps.
What do Shopify and Squarespace cost a month?
Shopify Basic and Squarespace Core both cost $39 a month, or $29 a month paid yearly.
| US plan | Monthly | Paid yearly | Fee on online sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace Basic | $25 | $19 | 2% |
| Squarespace Core | $39 | $29 | 0% |
| Squarespace Plus | $65 | $49 | 0% |
| Squarespace Advanced | $139 | $99 | 0% |
| Shopify Basic | $39 | $29 | 0% with Shopify Payments |
US prices from Squarespace's and Shopify's pricing pages, as archived on November 4, 2026. Card fees come on top.
Shopify's next plans, Grow and Advanced, cost $105 and $399 a month. Both companies start you on a free trial. Squarespace gives 14 days, but a trial site can't take payments. Shopify gives three days, then $1 a month for three months.
The $25 Squarespace plan has gaps a shop feels early. It can't create discount codes, which start on Core, and it lets two people, you included, edit the site. Shopify Basic includes discount codes but no staff accounts beyond yours.
What fees do Shopify and Squarespace take from a sale?
On a $40 US card sale, Squarespace Core and Shopify Basic both take $1.46, and Squarespace Basic takes $2.26.
| Card fee, US | Squarespace Basic and Core | Shopify Basic |
|---|---|---|
| Standard card | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Premium card, such as Amex | 3.2% + 30¢ | 3.5% + 30¢ |
| Card from abroad | 1.5% more | 1% more |
| Fee on the sale | 2% on Basic, 0% on Core | 0% |
| With another card processor | That processor's rate, plus 2% on Basic | That processor's rate, plus 2% |
Squarespace Payments and Shopify Payments, from both companies' pricing and help pages, read November 5, 2026.
Squarespace Basic costs less until your online sales reach about $700 a month. Past that, its 2% fee costs more than the $14 step up to Core. Paid yearly, the line falls to $500.
| A month of $40 sales | Squarespace Basic | Squarespace Core | Shopify Basic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 sales, $400 | $47.60 | $53.60 | $53.60 |
| 50 sales, $2,000 | $138.00 | $112.00 | $112.00 |
| 200 sales, $8,000 | $477.00 | $331.00 | $331.00 |
A hypothetical month: the plan billed monthly plus standard US card fees. Our arithmetic from both pricing pages, November 5, 2026.
Squarespace and Shopify differ on the cards your shoppers bring. An Amex sale of $100 costs $3.50 in card fees on Squarespace and $3.80 on Shopify. A $100 sale on a card from abroad costs $4.70 on Squarespace and $4.20 on Shopify. Every Shopify rate is in our Shopify review.
How big a catalog can Squarespace and Shopify run?
Squarespace allows six options and 250 variants per product, and Shopify allows three options and 2,048 variants.
A variant is one combination you sell, such as a medium in blue. Squarespace's limits hold whether you add products one by one or from a spreadsheet. Both pricing pages promise unlimited products, but Squarespace's import and export tools stop at 10,000.
Shopify Basic counts stock in up to 10 locations, so a stockroom and a shop counter each keep their own number. On Squarespace, every product belongs to a store page, and deleting the page deletes its products.
Which selling tools come with Squarespace and Shopify plans?
Squarespace Core and Shopify Basic both include discount codes and abandoned checkout emails, and Shopify's App Store lists over 16,000 apps for the rest.
Every Squarespace plan lets you sell subscriptions, send review requests and email shoppers who leave checkout. From Core up, it adds discount codes, waitlists for sold-out products, Google Shopping and shipping labels. Squarespace Extensions, its own shelf of add-ons, listed about 50 of them on November 5.
Shopify Basic includes discount codes, gift cards and abandoned checkout emails. Subscriptions come from Shopify's free Subscriptions app, and most other jobs from the App Store, where each paid app usually adds its own monthly charge. When the apps cost more than the plan, see how to trim your Shopify app costs.
How do Squarespace templates compare with Shopify themes?
Every Squarespace plan includes all 201 of its templates, and Shopify's Theme Store lists 24 free themes and 328 paid ones.
On Squarespace, you lay out each page by dragging blocks where you want them. On Shopify, you customize a theme in the theme editor, and you can try a paid theme there before you buy it. A paid theme is bought once, for the store that uses it. Most paid themes come in several ready-made designs, and the Theme Store lists each one, 1,359 in all. Our best Shopify themes list has free and paid picks.
Can you sell in person with Squarespace or Shopify?
Both sell in person from a phone, and Squarespace's version works in the US and UK only.
Squarespace's app takes Tap to Pay on the phone itself, plus a Square Reader in the US. Square's Register, Stand and Terminal don't work with it. Its in-person fees follow whichever processor takes the payment.
Shopify POS runs on iOS and Android and counts the same stock as your online store. In the US, an in-person card sale on Basic costs 2.6% plus 10¢. Add POS Pro for staff roles and in-store pickup at $89 a month for each location. Our Shopify POS hardware guide covers the card readers it works with.
What can you take with you if you leave Squarespace?
Squarespace exports up to 10,000 products as a spreadsheet, without their featured images or variant images.
Customer reviews can't be exported in any format, so they stay behind. Pages and one blog export only as a WordPress file, which Shopify can't import, so pages move by copy and paste.
On Shopify, the Import button on the Products page opens a dialog with a Squarespace tile, which brings your products in through a recommended app. The move itself, step by step, is in how to migrate to Shopify.
WordPress vs Shopify vs Squarespace: where does WooCommerce fit?
WooCommerce costs nothing to install on WordPress, so the bill comes from the web host, the paid extensions and the card processor.
WooCommerce's own estimate for most stores is $25 to $350 a month in hosting, with extensions from $29 to $299 a year apiece. On a US card, WooPayments charges 2.9% plus 30¢, and a card from abroad adds 1.5%. Beyond the card rate, WooCommerce takes no share of your sales.
The upkeep is yours. WooCommerce's update guide asks for a backup before each update, and, where you can, a test on a copy of the site. Squarespace's export is a WordPress file, so a move to WordPress brings your layout pages and one blog. Weighing Wix as well? Our Shopify vs Wix vs Squarespace table sets all three side by side.
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Is Shopify or Squarespace cheaper?
Shopify Basic and Squarespace Core cost the same: $39 a month, and 2.9% plus 30¢ on a US card sale. Squarespace Basic costs $25 but adds 2% to every online sale, so it costs less only while your online sales stay under about $700 a month. Paid yearly, that line drops to $500.
Is Squarespace or Shopify better for a small business?
That turns on what you sell. A studio, portfolio or service site with a small shop suits Squarespace, whose plans include its templates, subscriptions and review requests. A growing catalog, a shop counter or many sizes and colors suits Shopify, which takes 2,048 variants per product and runs in-person sales on Basic.
Can I keep my Squarespace site and sell with Shopify?
Yes. Add Shopify's Buy Button sales channel, which every Shopify plan includes, and a product card with its photo, price and checkout goes onto your Squarespace pages. Each order lands in your Shopify admin. The cost is both bills: Squarespace Core or higher for the site, because Basic can't run the button, and Shopify for the selling.
Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?
Yes, on two kinds of sale. Basic takes 2% of each online sale of products, services or donations, and the other three plans take 0%. Courses, memberships and video carry their own fee: 7% on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus and 0% on Advanced. Card processing comes on top, from 2.9% plus 30¢ in the US.
Is Shopify vs Squarespace different in the UK, Canada or Australia?
Card rates sit close in all three. A UK personal card sale costs 2% plus 25p on Squarespace Basic or Core and on Shopify Basic. In Canada, Squarespace charges 2.9% plus 30¢ to Shopify's 2.8% plus 30¢, and in Australia 1.75% plus 30¢ to Shopify's 1.7% plus 30¢. Squarespace's in-person selling works only in the US and UK.
Building your store on Shopify? Find the sales it misses.
Sledge adds search, filters and offers to a Shopify store, free for 14 days. Plans are flat, from $29.99 a month, with no share of your sales. Growth Intelligence turns on when you pick a paid plan. It sums the fixes it finds for your store as a single dollar total, labeled "Est. potential".
