Is Wix More Customizable Than Squarespace?
With the release of the Fluid Engine in Squarespace 7.1 in 2022, the customization options with Squarespace are leaps and bounds greater than they were. Whereas Wix’s Editor X used to be the primary difference in flexibility of page layouts between Wix and Squarespace, the Fluid Engine now puts both web builders neck-and-neck in terms of customization options.
Although Wix’s Drag n’ Drop Editor and Squarespace’s Fluid Engine both give web designers maximum flexibility when creating layouts, Squarespace’s Classic Editor additionally allows you to create more uniform and static designs if you prefer more structured page layouts, making Squarespace more customizable than Wix.
Overview of Customization Options
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More customizable
Squarespace
Get Started
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Wix
Get Started
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| Basic Functionality | ||
| eCommerce | ||
| eCommerce | ||
| Blog Pages | ||
| Blog Pages | ||
| Create Visible & Hidden Pages | ||
| Create Visible & Hidden Pages | ||
| Create Password-Protected Pages | ||
| Create Password-Protected Pages | ||
| Customize Font | ||
| Customize Font | ||
| Page Section Background Colors | ||
| Page Section Background Colors | ||
| Image Editing | ||
| Image Editing | ||
| Various Image Gallery Blocks | ||
| Various Image Gallery Blocks | ||
| Allows Custom Code | ||
| Allows Custom Code | ||
| Add Website Logo | ||
| Add Website Logo | ||
| Pre-built Grid Blocks | ||
| Pre-built Grid Blocks | ||
| Scheduling Blocks | ||
| Scheduling Blocks | ||
| Custom Code | ||
| Custom CSS, HTML, & JavaScript | ||
| Custom CSS, HTML, & JavaScript | ||
| Plugins & Add-Ons | ||
| Plugins & Add-Ons | ||
| Page Editing | ||
| Drag-and-Drop Editor (Unstructured) | ||
| Drag-and-Drop Editor (Unstructured) | ||
| Classic Editor (Structured) | ||
| Classic Editor (Structured) | ||
| Choose b/t structured or unstructured editor for individual page sections | ||
| Choose b/t structured or unstructured editor for individual page sections | ||
Customization Options in both Squarespace and Wix
Basic Functionality
Both Squarespace and Wix have all of the basic functions that a typical website builder would have, including the ability to customize font color and size, page background color; create pages that are in the main navigation, visibly hidden from the main navigation, hidden from search engines, password-protected, or only viewable by members; add various pre-build blocks like galleries, slideshows, text blocks, videos, images, contact forms, event calendars; the ability to create online eCommerce stores; the ability to create collection pages like blogs, events, and booking pages; and so adding custom code, and so much more.
Drag-and-Drop Editors
Both Squarespace and Wix feature a drag-and-drop editor that allows users to design really flexible creative layouts.
Squarespace’s Fluid Engine
Squarespace’s Fluid Engine, which was released in 2022 and is only available on 7.1 templates, is a drag-and-drop website editor that gives website designers and non-designers the ability to create more flexible page layouts. You can pretty much create any layout that you can imagine with this new way of editing Squarespace 7.1 sites.
It works by adding blocks (the elements previously described) into a page section, dragging and dropping them into a place on the page, and dragging the edges to increase the size of each block. You can even customize the mobile views completely separately from the desktop views.
Wix’s Drag n’ Drop Editor
Wix’s Editor X, which has existed much longer than Squarespace’s Fluid Engine, is very similar to the Fluid Engine described previously. It lets users create page layouts by simply drag-and-dropping blocks into specific places on the page, and like Squarespace’s Fluid Engine, lets you design the mobile views separately from the desktop views so that your designs are responsive.
Plugins and Add-Ons
Both Squarespace and Wix have a collection of Plugins and Extensions/Add-Ons that can be used to add additional functionality to your site.
Wix has a marketplace of Add-Ons to choose from. Squarespace has a collection of Extensions from its own marketplace, and additionally, there are quite a few third-party plugin creators that develop plugins and code snippets for the platform.
Check out my collection of Premium Squarespace Plugins, which includes plugins such as mega menus, comparison tables, pricing tables, an eCommerce Add-to-Cart Upsell plugin, and more.
Customization Options in Squarespace Only
The Classic Editor
The Drag-and-Drop editors don’t have pros without cons. Some people (myself included) find that the drag-and-drop functionality can sometimes provide too much freedom when designing pages. For instance, if you want to create a web page that has equal margins and spacing on the sides of the content, it can be taxing to have to drag and drop each element of each page section where you want it to be placed. Squarespace resolves this issue by allowing users to make specific page sections using either the Fluid Engine or the Classic Editor; this way you can decide with which page sections you want to have more flexibility, and which ones you want to follow a more structured layout.
Squarespace’s classic editor provides a more structured page editing experience by allowing users to drag and drop elements where they want them, but instead of the elements being freely placed exactly where you lift your mouse click, they will automatically align themselves vertically and horizontally around surrounding elements onto an even grid. You can also manually select the page section content width to control how much space is on either side of each page section.
