Pricing (weighted 12%)
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 are slightly more expensive, but they give you a fully featured website for eight dollars a month. The cheaper options in Wix sacrifice usability and only give the illusion of a deal. It is admirable that Squarespace does not do this.
WIX
Free - There is a free plan that gives you limited bandwitdth (500MB) and storage space, and will also give you a screwed up URL that is a subdomain of Wix.
$4.08/month - This will bump your bandwidth up to 1GB and also gives you the option to connect a custom domain, but it still displays Wix ads. This plan is not much of an improvement over the free plan.
$9.25/month - With this plan you get a free domain for one year and the bandwidth is bumped up to 2GB with 3GB of storage. This is the first plan that is actually useful, but it is slightly more expensive than some competitors.
$12.42/month - This plan gives you unlimited bandwidth and 10GB of storage. They also throw in one year of a domain and one year of a mailbox attached to the site.
$16.17/month - This plan brings the bandwidth back down to 10GB, but lets you have an online store. Wix is basically holding the ability to create an online store hostage so that they can charge more.
$24.92/month - This gives you access to some premium support options and gives you unlimited bandwidth.
These prices are a bit more than I would be willing to pay for Wix. The free website is hardly even worth it, and the cheapest plan is a joke. Their only usable plan is also more expensive than the competition. Squarespace only charges $8/month for better features than Wix can provide.
Design (weighted 12%)
Squarespace
Squarespace has some excellent templates that all feel like fully fledged websites right out of the box.
The editor is a bit too minimalistic. Some of the features aren't clearly labeled, and it can be easy to get lost. Once you get the hang of it it works very well, and you end up with sites that look great.
Squarespace is leaps and bounds better than Wix. They have wonderful templates, and their editor actually works.
WIX
Wix's editor just dosen't work very well. It is laggy and unresponsive and it takes forever to load. The menus lag pretty badly as well, and they don't organize all of their features very well.
The templates are okay, but not anything special. Squarespace's are much nicer and more professional looking.
This unresponsiveness means that Squarespace wins out.
Frontend Features (weighted 12%)
Squarespace
Squarespace makes sure that all of their sites are mobile optimized. They know that a lot of traffic comes from mobile platforms, and they make sure your site is ready to handle that.
The websites are gorgeous. Squarespace really knows how to design a website. They are super easy to use, and they will display your ideas with aplomb.
Wix has pretty nice websites, but they don't measure up to Squarespace.
WIX
The results in Wix are pretty nice. Once the websites are up they don't experience any of the lag that makes the editor painful to use. The design of the websites is not quite up to Squarespace standards, but it gets pretty close.
Their mobile sites looks really good, much better than their desktop counterparts. Also, the mobile editor is much easier to use than the desktop one.
Wix will provide you with a nice website, as long as you're willing to sit through the editing process.
Backend Featuers (weighted 12%)
Squarespace
Squarespace's minimalism continues to cause some problems here. The backend is confusing at first, but once you find where everything is you can navigate with ease.
Squarespace has a much nicer interface than Wix, even with the minimalism. The backend is more responsive and once you learn how it works it is easy to make your way around. Wix does not have that kind of functionality.
WIX
The backend is also very unresponsive, much like the editor. It is not quite as bad, but there is still noticeable lag. It really makes working with Wix a chore.
Just finding the backend can be difficult. The link to Wix's dashboard is hidden in one of the editor's many menus.
Squarespace will be much less frustrating than Wix, even with Squarespace's overly minimalistic interface.
Hosting & Security (weighted 12%)
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 throw in a domain name with all of their plans at no extra cost. That way there is less hassle to keep your website up and running.
Squarespace only allows SSL encryption on their eCommerce checkout pages. Other parts of the website will have to remain unsecured. That's much better than Wix, but it is still not ideal. Visitors will check to see how secure your website it, especially if they are going to purchase something from you.
WIX
Wix gives you bandwidth ranging from 500MB to unlimited depending on what plan you get. The hosting is all internal.
There are also a few plans that give you a domain name for free, but after the first year you'll have to pay. That is a little disappointing. Squarespace includes a domain with all of their plans.
Wix does not support SSL certificates, which is a major security concern depending on how you want to use your site. ECommerce people beware.
Reports & Statistics (weighted 12%)
Squarespace
Squarespace has its own reports section. They give you a wealth of data including basic traffic data, mobile views, subscribers, referrals, popular content, and search engine queries. That is more than enough to streamline your website.
Obviously Squarespace does better here. They actually provide statistics.
WIX
Wix only supports integration with third party statistical tools. They don’t have any statistics of their own to display. This is disappointing. They clearly have the means to implement at least some basic statistics.
That said, there are some free website analytics that work wonders.
Extensibility (weighted 12%)
Squarespace
Squarespace develops its own integrations, which means they don't have nearly as many as Wix. That said, the integrations feel like part of the core website. They mesh perfectly with Squarespace's aesthetic.
Also, this method means that Squarespace is a very secure platform. The developers get to decide what integrations they allow, and how those integrations interact with Squarespace. That adds some security to their platform.
Squarespace does not have a PayPal integration. They use a different online payment method. That is a bit of a problem for anyone running a web store. Like it or not, PayPal is the standard and Squarespace really shoots themselves in the foot by not including it.
There are a lot of unsupported third party integrations for Squarespace floating around the web, but use at your own risk. Squarespace won't be able to help you if things go wrong.
WIX
Wix has over 250 apps in their app market, which is quite a lot. Squarespace has many fewer, but that is because they develop all of their apps themselves.
This is where Wix shines. They have an enormous number of integrations, including favorites like eCommerce, social media, and email marketing.
The app store is great, and it would be a huge advantage if their website worked better. The app store is integrated into the design environment, so it has many of the same problems.
Wix has a larger app market, but Squarespace has more quality control in their extensions.
Support (weighted 12%)
Squarespace
Squarespace has a number of support options. They provide how-to videos, forums, and a huge knowledgebase. The knowledgebase is super useful. Most every question you might have is in there.
They also have live chat Mon-Fri 3am - 8pm EST, and are available through email. The live chat is a little sluggish, but they respond quickly to email.
WIX
Wix has an FAQ, and knowladgebase, and a support forum. These all have a lot of solutions to common problems, but are not a good replacement for talking to a real person.
They don't have a phone line or live chat, so you're mostly on your own. This lack of support feels like a pretty major oversight.