There's a good reason to be comparing Editor X vs Squarespace. Modern website builders are excellent for creating portfolios to showcase your work, online stores to help you increase your income, and many other types of websites. But not all builders are equal, and it’s well worth spending some time to select the right option for your goals – and Editor X and Squarespace are two excellent choices.
In our Editor X vs Squarespace comparison, we take a closer look to help you decide which is the best website builder for your next project. We explore and compare the finer aspects of both platforms, including their features, performance, prices, and customer service. Want a deep-dive into both of them? Check out our Editor X review and our Squarespace review.
Editor X is a relatively new platform launched by the owners of Wix in 2021 that offers advanced developer tools and a powerful editor. Squarespace is a little simpler, with more of a focus on beginners and simple e-commerce.
The top three web builders of 2022
01. Wix: The best website builder for just $3.54 / £3 per month
Wix makes it quick and easy to get your site up and running. Choose from 500+ templates, add your own content, and you'll have your own site online, at a bargain monthly price.
02. HostGator: Simple to use and great value
Need to get a basic website online, fast? Hostgator is a great and affordable choice. Offering a drag-and-drop editor and 150 templates to choose from, it's easy to set up – no coding or technical knowledge required.
03. Squarespace: The best option for professionals
Squarespace puts the emphasis on beautifully designed templates that make your portfolio work look great, making it ideal for creative professionals. Plus it's easy to use, there are great SEO tools, and you can add an online store too.
Editor X vs Squarespace: features
Editor X and Squarespace are both known as feature-rich platforms enabling everything from online store building to simple portfolio creation. We compare a few of their most noteworthy features.
For starters, both are great for e-commerce. Squarespace enables you to create anything from a simple store with only a few products to an integrated marketplace for your work. It also enables you to sell services, schedule appointments, and sell subscriptions and digital products. This makes it a great option for creatives looking to gain exposure and make a little money out of their work.
But Editor X is just as good when it comes to e-commerce. It enables you to sell everything Squarespace does, and there are various apps you can use to add things like booking or subscription functionality. The store management panel is great, and you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting the hang of it.
One major difference between the two platforms is that with Editor X, you will have full code access, which means you have the option to add extra functionality by uploading custom code. This is notably absent from Squarespace’s editor, but it shouldn’t be an issue unless you plan to delve deeper into your site’s code.
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If you’re planning to add a blog to your portfolio or website, you will love Squarespace. There’s a tidy blog manager that helps keep everything in one place, and you will have access to advanced analytics. You can set custom access permissions for contributors, and you can schedule posts to be published in the future.
Editor X’s blog tools are decent, but they just don’t compare to Squarespace’s. It uses the Wix Blog app to add blogging functionality. This comes with everything you will need to create and manage a basic blog, but doesn’t have the polish or extras that Squarespace comes with.
But it has plenty of extras in other areas. For example, Editor X comes with advanced developer tools that enable you to add custom Javascript, CSS, and HTML code. You can add custom databases and APIs as well. These tools provide much more design flexibility for those with the skills to use them.
Editor X also enables real-time collaboration. This means that you and your colleagues can edit your website at the same time. Tags can be left for other team members, and all users can be assigned access permissions as required. Squarespace, on the other hand, has no developer or collaboration tools.
Both platforms also offer some sort of SEO tools. Squarespace’s stand out as more advanced, but Editor X’s still provide a decent starting point.
At the end of the day, both Squarespace and Editor X offer excellent features. Squarespace is a little more basic, making it better suited to creatives requiring a simpler website. Editor X is much better suited to developers and those with the know-how to make use of its advanced tools.
Editor X vs Squarespace: performance
To compare the performance of Editor X vs Squarespace, we created a new account and built a simple website with each of them.
Editor X is quite easy to get started with. Opening an account shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Squarespace is similarly easy to set up. Neither platform requires you to add credit card or other payment details to access their free/trial versions.
Editor X offers 28 extremely flexible templates to choose from, or you can start with a blank canvas and build a completely custom site. Selecting the right template is made easy with a number of filtering tools to help you narrow down your choice.
Squarespace has slightly more template options to choose from, with around 60 in all, including 46 that support portfolios. But they are much less flexible. With Editor X, you’re essentially receiving a broad framework that you can base your site on. Squarespace is better tailored to those who don’t want to edit the grand design of their templates too much.
When you get up to editing your new site, you will begin to see the real differences between these two builders. Editor X is much more complicated to get started with. However, there are loads of advanced tools, and you will have full code access if required.
Squarespace is also known to have a slightly confusing interface, but it’s much more suited to beginners than Editor X. It also comes with everything you need to create a basic store or portfolio, although it doesn’t have the same power as Editor X.
Ease of use and editing power are two things that really separate Editor X and Squarespace. The developer-friendly Editor X is much harder to use, making it best suited to those with advanced coding and tech skills. Squarespace is more beginner friendly, and its simpler nature makes it a better choice for those with limited website-building experience.
Editor X vs Squarespace: support
You can reach out to the Editor X customer service team via email or by requesting a phone callback. To do this, you have to go through the integrated chatbot. We found that response times can be slow if you require immediate assistance, but you can schedule a callback for any time over the following five days.
Squarespace offers no phone support, which isn’t great, but it does have live chat and a very responsive email support channel. The company claims that all email tickets are responded to within an hour. But unfortunately, live chat is only available from 4 am to 8 pm (EST) Monday to Friday.
Both Squarespace and Editor X offer an excellent selection of self-help resources that you can draw on to help you when you run into problems. These include various tutorials, step-by-step guides, and helpful videos. Both platforms also have active community forums that you can turn to if you need to.
Neither Squarespace or Editor X offer amazing support, but they aren’t terrible either. Squarespace is slightly more responsive, but the lack of 24/7 live chat is a concern.
Editor X vs Squarespace: pricing and plans
Editor X offers a free-forever plan, three website-specific plans, and three e-commerce plans. Squarespace has a 14-day free-trial in place of a free-forever plan, along with four premium subscription options. Both providers offer significant discounts with annual subscriptions.
Editor X’s free plan is basic, but it enables you to test every aspect of the builder. The three website plans range from $22 to $49 per month with an annual subscription. All come with a free domain for the first year and a free SSL certificate. But they do limited storage to 10GB, 20GB, and 35GB, respectively.
Editor X’s e-commerce plans cost from $29 to $219 per month and add online payment functionality. They also have quite limited storage, but the e-commerce tools on offer are excellent. The two most expensive e-commerce plans and the high-end website plan also come with priority support.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Price per month (monthly payments) | Price per month (annual payment) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Essential | $28 | $22 (Save 21%) |
| Extra | $42 | $35 (Save 16%) |
| Ultra | $57 | $49 (Save 14%) |
| Launch | $35 | $29 (Save 17%) |
| Boost | $84 | $69 (Save (18%) |
| Scale | $249 | $219 (Save 12%) |
Squarespace’s cheapest Basic plan (from $12 per month) is its only one without e-commerce functionality. All four plans come with unlimited storage, which is clearly more favourable than the limited storage Editor X offers.
In terms of prices themselves, Squarespace is significantly cheaper than Editor X. Its basic plan is just over half the price of Editor X’s cheapest plans. And when it comes to e-commerce, Editor X’s Scale plan ($219 per month) is over five times the price of Squarespace’s Advanced Commerce option ($40 per month).
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Price per month (monthly payments) | Price per month (annual payments) |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | $16 | $12 (Save 25%) |
| Business | $26 | $18 (Save 31%) |
| Basic Commerce | $35 | $26 (Save 26%) |
| Advanced Commerce | $54 | $40 (Save 26%) |
In pure price terms, it’s immediately obvious that Squarespace is a more budget-friendly option. However, creatives with more technical knowledge may be willing to pay more for Editor X due to the versatility and advanced developer support it offers.
Ultimately, when positioning Editor X vs Squarespace we see that both are excellent website builders. Squarespace is a more beginner-friendly option that’s better suited to creatives with less experience, while Editor X is great for advanced users with code and other tech knowledge that they want to make use of. Both platforms offer advanced e-commerce features, and it’s hard to separate the two on this front.
When it comes to performance, both builders are a little confusing to get started with, but Squarespace’s is overall simpler due to the lack of advanced developer features. Squarespace is also much cheaper than Editor X, and both offer decent customer service.
The bottom line: If you want a simple, hassle-free website builder, go for Squarespace. But if you need something more powerful, consider Editor X.
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