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Based on weighted criteria below
Pricing icon

Pricing (weighted 12%)

Weebly

Free - Weebly's free plan has limited hosting options, and will give you a silly URL that has Weebly’s name in it.

$8/month - This is the basic account. You get one year of a free domain name with this plan.

$12/month - This beefs up your eCommerce options and gives you the ability to have HD video and audio.

$25/month - This plan removes the fee that Weebly charges on eCommerce transactions.

The pricing for these two apps is pretty even. Weebly has the free plan, but if you want a professional looking website that is not really an option. The URL alone will be a red flag for any visitors.

Squarespace

$8/month - This is Squarespace’s least expensive package. They throw in a free domain with an annual purchase.

$18/month - This gives you more options if you are running an online store.

Squarespace does not have many pricing options, and they may are slightly more expensive, but they give you a fully featured website for eight dollars a month.

They also don't give you any free website options. This is quite nice. The free websites offered by most website building apps are not really worth anyone's time, and Squarespace knows this. It is refreshing to see that they don't offer it.

 

 

Design icon

Design (weighted 12%)

Weebly

Weebly has pretty good templates and a quite good editor. However, compared to Squarespace some of the templates are pretty bland.

The editor is drag and drop and is really easy to use. There is minimal lag when placing design elements, and it is easy to adjust them to your liking. Weebly even includes a basic photo editor that has way more features than I expected. You can fade, crop, and adjust opacity all from the design window without having to go back and forth between Weebly and image editor software.

The editor is a little easier to use than Squarespace just because it is better labeled.

Squarespace

Squarespace doesn't have many templates, but they make up for that lack of templates by designing them impeccably.

Their editor has a bit of a learning curve. It is minimal to a fault, and sometimes it feels underdesigned. Once you get the hang of it it works very well, and you end up with sites that look pretty great.

Squarespace's editor is a little less flexible than Weebly. They don't allow the same kind of complete drag and drop customization. Much of the editing in Squarespace is done though menus and not direct drag and drop. That is a little disappointing.

Frontend Features icon

Frontend Features (weighted 12%)

Weebly

Weebly has all the basic frontend features that you would expect from a website builder. You can embed videos, add maps, and add flash players.

The websites look great on both mobile and desktop and are easy to navigate.

The websites don't look quite as good as Squarespace's, but they do look quite nice. Websites build in Weebly are by no means disappointing, but they just don't have that same pizzazz.

Squarespace

Squarespace websites are all mobile optimized, so you will never have to worry about your site looking weird on a smartphone.

Squarespace's websites are much more pleasing to the eye. Weebly can't really compete on prettiness.

The design of Squarespace's websites really helps to engage visitors.

 

Backend Featuers icon

Backend Featuers (weighted 12%)

Weebly

Weebly  has a friendly interface. It is a little less clinical than Squarespace, which is refreshing.

Weebly's backend is a bit cartoonish, but in a good way. Pages will fly across the screen. Things are brightly colored. It lends a nice informal quality to it.

It is also easy to get to all of the stuff you need to. The statistics page is right there on the dashboard, and support is easily accessible. There's not a huge amount of stuff in their interface, but there is just enough to keep most users satisfied. Some people may be a little perturbed by how few options there are.

Squarespace

Squarespace can be confusing to navigate at first. They have an annoying habit of not labeling things clearly. You have to figure out their interface through trial and error. Luckily, the learning curve is not that steep.

There are more things to do in Squarespace's backend than in Weebly's. Squarespace gives you access to more features, like an eCommerce section. Squarespace understands that many people want a website so they can sell stuff. Weebly relies on third party integrations for their web store.

The interface in Squarespace is a little more robust than Weebly. Squarespace has a fully featured interface, and by comparison Weebly feels a little sparse.

 

Hosting & Security icon

Hosting & Security (weighted 12%)

Weebly

Weebly provides hosting with all of their plans, including the free one. The paid plans include a free domain name for one year. After the one year you will have to pay for it. That is a shame. Squarespace just gives you the domain with their plans. They don't make you pay after a year.

Weebly has the ability to secure your entire site. They offer the option for SSL encryption across their entire site.

Weebly will also release periodic updates that improve security, and they will also update your sites automatically to impliment these. They don't develop any of their apps in house like Squarespace, so that obviously makes their platform a little less secure.

That said, either of these two will meet most security needs.

Squarespace

Squarespace provides hosting with all of its plans. Their hosting is dependable and will handle any amount of traffic your website requires.

They also have that free domain, which is very nice.

Squarespace creates all of its extensions in house. That makes Squarespace a closed system, and it makes their platform more secure than others that rely on an app store with add-ons coded by other developers.

Squarespace only supports SSL for their login and checkout pages. They don't have the ability to secure other pages. That makes them a bit less flexible.

They also update the site with security patches frequently, and you don't have to do a thing. Squarespace deals with security for you.

Reports & Statistics icon

Reports & Statistics (weighted 12%)

Weebly

The free version of Weebly has a small statistics seciton that only tracks page views and unique visits. The paid versions add a few extra features. They let you see which of your pages are the most popular, how your site is found, and which websites are giving you traffic.

Squarespace has more analytics, but Weebly is no slouch. They should be applauded for having statistics at all.

Squarespace

Squarespace has its own reports section. They give you a wealth of data. They give you basic traffic data, mobile views, subscribers, referrals, popular content, and search engine queries. That is a good amount of stuff.

Squarespace has more statistics than Weebly, but Weebly should be credited for at least having a statistics section.

Extensibility icon

Extensibility (weighted 12%)

Weebly

Weebly has an app center with 77 different integrations, solidly in the middle of the field. The app store is integrated into the editor, so its really easy to find and include whatever apps you need.

Weebly has more integrations than Squarespace, and they work with PayPal. That is a plus for anyone wanting to start a web store.

Squarespace

Squarespace has fewer integrations than Weebly, but the ones they do have are quality. Squarespace develops its own integrations, so they fit seamlessly into the Squarespace environment. This also helps to preserve the security of the platform.

They don’t have a PayPal integration, which is a bummer.

There are a bunch of not supported third party integrations for Squarespace, but use at your own risk. Squarespace won’t be able to help you if things go wrong.

Support icon

Support (weighted 12%)

Weebly

Weebly has a knowladebase and FAQ section as well as live chat and support tickets. The support is responsive, and there is a pretty quick turnaround for the support tickets.

Their live chat is available Mon-Fri 5am-5pm PST and Sat-Sun 7am-4pm PST. The support representatives are friendly and helpful.

They also offer phone support for higher paying customers.

Squarespace

Squarespace has a number of support options. They provide how-to videos, forums, and a huge knowladgebase.

They also have live chat Mon-Fri 3am - 8pm EST, and are available through email.

The live chat is pretty sluggish. They will respond quickly to emails, but the live chat can sometimes take a while to get going.

 

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