BigCommerce vs Squarespace
These two rarely belong on the same shortlist, and noticing that is the useful part. Squarespace is a website builder that sells well; BigCommerce is an ecommerce platform that happens to include a site. If you are comparing them, you are probably deciding whether the shop is the point of the site or a part of it — and the pricing models make that clearer than the feature lists do.
Which should you choose?
Choose BigCommerce if
- Mid-sized merchants with larger catalogs and multiple sales channels
- B2B and wholesale sellers
- Agencies building headless or heavily customized storefronts
Choose Squarespace if
- Creatives, photographers and small brands that prioritize design
- Service businesses selling appointments plus a small range of products
- Restaurants and local businesses that need a site with light commerce
Cheapest to start
Squarespace · From $19/mo
Free plan
Neither
Highest editor rating
Squarespace · 4.2
| Compare | BigCommerce |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Free trial | Yes |
| Starting price | From $29/mo |
| Editor rating | 4.1 |
| Ease of use | Moderate (3/5) |
| Category | Ecommerce |
| Pricing model | No free plan; a free trial is offered. Plans are capped by trailing-twelve-month sales and priced per month billed annually: Core $29 (up to $30K TTM GMV), Growth $79 (up to $100K), Scale $299 (with 0.9 percent on GMV above the cap) and Performance from $1,499. All quote a 25 percent saving against monthly billing, and Core auto-upgrades when a store outgrows its cap. |
| Plans |
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| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, API |
| Integrations | Facebook & Instagram, Google Ads, Google Analytics, PayPal, Stripe, TikTok, WordPress |
| Best for |
|
| Pros |
|
| Cons |
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| Abandoned cart recovery | Yes |
| AI assistant | No |
| API access | Yes |
| App marketplace | Yes |
| Custom domains | Yes |
| Discounts & coupons | Yes |
| Drag-and-drop builder | No |
| Forms & surveys | No |
| Inventory management | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes |
| Multi-currency | Yes |
| Payment processing | Yes |
| Point of sale | No |
| Reporting & dashboards | Yes |
| Templates | Yes |
| Webhooks | Yes |
Common questions
- Is BigCommerce cheaper than Squarespace?
- Squarespace starts lower, at $19 a month against $29 for BigCommerce. Both figures are the entry paid plan billed monthly, checked against each vendor's own pricing page. Higher tiers and add-ons can change the comparison, so price the plan you actually need.
- Does BigCommerce or Squarespace have a free plan?
- Neither offers a permanently free plan. BigCommerce and Squarespace offer a free trial instead.
- How long is the BigCommerce and Squarespace free trial?
- BigCommerce offers a 15-day free trial, and Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial.
- Which is easier to use, BigCommerce or Squarespace?
- In VERILO's editorial assessment Squarespace is the easier of the two, scoring 4 out of 5 against 3 for BigCommerce. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.
Our verdict
Choose Squarespace if the site matters as much as the store. Design quality is a genuine step above most builders, commerce is included on every plan rather than gated behind a separate tier, and pricing is flat and predictable: Basic $19 a month, Core $27, Advanced $36, all billed monthly and around a third cheaper annually. The Basic plan charges a transaction fee on sales, so price Core if you are selling seriously. Its app ecosystem is much smaller than Shopify's or WordPress's. Choose BigCommerce if the store is the business. It charges no platform transaction fees on any plan or gateway, and multi-currency, customer groups and faceted search are built in rather than bought. But its pricing is capped by sales volume, and that changes the calculation: Core is $29 a month billed annually up to $30,000 of trailing annual sales, Growth $79 up to $100,000, and Scale $299 with 0.9 percent charged on volume above its cap. Grow past a threshold and you are moved up automatically. That volume cap is the thing to model before choosing. A store doing $150,000 a year is on Growth or Scale at BigCommerce, not on the $29 headline — while Squarespace Advanced stays $36 whatever you sell. BigCommerce also scores 3 out of 5 for ease of use against Squarespace's 4, and its theme ecosystem is smaller than Shopify's. Neither is the obvious pick for a store that expects to need many third-party apps.