Squarespace vs WordPress: Which is Better for Small Businesses in the UK?

If you're setting up a new website or thinking about moving platforms, the Squarespace vs WordPress question comes up almost immediately. Both are popular, both have their advocates — but which is actually better for a UK small business? Let's compare them properly.

Squarespace vs WordPress: the key differences

Ease of use

Squarespace wins here — it's a hosted platform with a simple drag-and-drop editor, and you can get a good-looking site live quickly without any technical knowledge. WordPress is more powerful but has a steeper learning curve, particularly if you're self-hosting and need to manage plugins, updates, and backups yourself.

Cost

This is where Squarespace starts to look less attractive. For a business site, you'll pay £23/month on the Business plan — that's £276/year, every year. Over five years that's £1,380 in hosting fees alone.

WordPress.org (self-hosted) is technically free, but you'll need hosting (typically £5–£15/month), a domain, and potentially paid plugins or a premium theme. All in, a self-hosted WordPress site typically costs £10–£20/month. Still more than zero — but less than Squarespace.

Design and templates

Squarespace has genuinely beautiful templates — they're consistently well-designed and modern-looking. WordPress has thousands of themes, but quality varies wildly, and the free themes in particular can look very dated.

SEO

WordPress has a slight edge here, largely because of plugins like Yoast and Rank Math that give you granular control over your SEO. Squarespace's built-in SEO tools are decent but not as flexible. That said, for most small business sites, the SEO difference between the two platforms is marginal — what matters more is your content and site speed. See our Wix vs WordPress comparison for more on this topic.

Flexibility

WordPress is the clear winner if you need custom functionality — WooCommerce for e-commerce, booking systems, membership platforms, complex integrations. Squarespace is more limited, though it covers the basics well.

Squarespace vs WordPress: which should you choose?

There's a third option worth considering

Both platforms have one thing in common: you pay monthly fees forever. Whether it's £23/month for Squarespace or £10/month for WordPress hosting, those costs add up significantly over time.

Our cheap website design UK service at nohosting.co.uk takes a completely different approach — a one-off £199 for a professional, custom-built website with free hosting for life. No platform fees, no subscriptions, no lock-in. For the vast majority of small business sites — up to 5 pages, contact form, no e-commerce — it's the most cost-effective option available.

You can explore the full cost comparison in our guide on how much a website costs in the UK.