Squarespace Vs Bluehost: The Ultimate Comparison Guide in 2021

Squarespace and Bluehost are among the most popular web hosting services in the market. However, there are so many factors that set these two products apart. If you are reviewing various web hosting solutions and want to make a decision between these two services, you should compare their performance to be able to make the right choice. That is why you need to read this Squarespace vs Bluehost guide.

However, it is good to note that both Squarespace and Bluehost are designed for different audiences. Therefore, you need a thorough understanding of the kind of product that you want. The best starting point is to define the meaning of Squarespace and Bluehost.

What is Bluehost?

Bluehost is a web hosting service that is specially designed for people who want low complexity, ease of use, and versatility. The best way to describe it is a player who is able to do a little bit of everything without any notable performance shortcomings.

What is Squarespace?

Squarespace, on the other hand, is a more specialized alternative to Bluehost. It is more appealing to the advanced users who possess specific performance requirements and enough time to learn how to implement them. It is a specialized player in the industry that excels in particular aspects of the game. However, it also has some limitations in other areas as we will see in this Bluehost vs Squarespace guide.

Squarespace Overview

Squarespace is an all-inclusive ‘software-as-a-service’ solution that allows users to build their own e-commerce platform, website, or blog quickly. It gives you everything that you require to run a successful online business in a single place. It is a great option for beginners because you don’t need any coding knowledge or web building experience. It is a user-friendly content management system (CMS).

Squarespace, just like Bluehost was founded in 2003. Users have created and launched millions of websites on this platform from that time. Squarespace is an international company and its headquarters are based in New York City. The company also has offices in Dublin, Ireland, and Portland, Oregon. Unlike Bluehost, Squarespace is purely a website builder with included hosting.

Features of Squarespace

• Extensions available 
• Drag & drop page builder 
• Audio connections 
• SEO friendly 
• Video backgrounds
• Ecommerce 
• Custom CSS
• Email campaigns 
• Mobile responsive 
• Commenting system 
• Logo builder 
• Template switching 
• Blogging 
• G Suite integration 
• Free Type kit and Google fonts
• Chat support 
• Multiple contributors 
• Analytics 
• Display and galleries effects 
• 24/7 email support 
• Developer platform having full code control 
• Modern templates 
• Custom site search engine 
• Free domain for year one with all the annual accounts 

Squarespace: Ease of Use

It is incredibly easy to build a website with Squarespace. You don’t need any prior experience and all the tools that you need are available in one place. The platform has an extensive library template that you can choose from and these Squarespace templates are available for all industries. 

You can use the drag and drop builder to customize each template. Therefore, you can add your images and logo and change the fonts and colors easily until your website turns exactly how you would like it to appear. These templates are fully responsive and hence look great on any screen size. 

For online payments, Squarespace has everything that you need to take payments and create your product list. You can even include your product videos and it has no limitation on the number of products that you can add. 

Squarespace also gives users the ability to sell their products and it is the best option if you wish to sell services or subscriptions. It comes with inbuilt scheduling and booking features and flexible checkout and payment features. 

The tool has a powerful inbuilt email marketing software that enables you to build email campaigns and send them to your subscribers. It has so many fully responsive email Squarespace templates that you can select from and you can customize them so that they can seamlessly blend with your website and keep your branding and message consistent. 

The other feature that Squarespace has is a logo maker that you can use in creating your own logo. It is a free feature regardless of the Squarespace plan that you are subscribed to. You just enter your tagline and brand name and choose a preferred icon and download it for use.

Squarespace Security

Squarespace has employed a dedicated security team whose responsibility is to develop, implement, and maintain the information security program of Squarespace. The company has a formally documented and extensive disaster management plan that they test at least once every year and the results are documented and maintained. The security measures of Squarespace include;

• Regular pen testing on its platform 
• The Web Application Firewall (WAF) Technology 
• Providing SSL certificates 
• Hashing passwords for the user accounts 

Customer Reviews and Support

The Squarespace platform has several available support options and a dedicated help area for you to type your queries and search for quick answers. It has in-depth guides for all the things that you would like to know about Squarespace. You will also get video workshops that walk you through the various elements of building a website on Squarespace. 

Squarespace also has a community forum for users to ask questions about its advanced customizations. There is also a section for you to signup and participate in the interactive webinars where company experts walk users through anything that they need to know about building a Squarespace website. 

If the help area does not give you answers to your questions, you can get in touch with the support via email 24/7. The live chat is also available from Monday to Friday from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. 

Squarespace has very mixed reviews when it comes to customer opinions. There are some reviews that complain that it is hard to get to Squarespace’s customer review. However, there are also some very positive reviews from the people who really love the platform. You can take advantage of the free 14 days trial that is available on all the plans to make up your mind.

Bluehost Overview

Bluehost is among the renowned WordPress hosting providers around the world. It is widely known for its affordable and best-quality hosting plans. Bluehost is among the top hosting companies that are recommended by WordPress. Therefore, with this platform, you can be sure that your website is in the right hands. If WordPress is not your thing, you can set up your own website with Drupal, Magento, and Joomla depending on the one that suits your needs best.

Bluehost was founded in 2003 and it has served millions of that time from that time. Users are taking advantage of its 24/7 support, hosting packages, and comprehensive tools. The platform uses an open-source technology that allows you to add resources and upgrade as your business continues to grow and gives developers full flexibility. 

Bluehost Features

• Microsoft Office 365 available 
• WordPress staging environment 
• Automatic WordPress installation 
• One-year free domain name 
• Free SSL certificates 
• Automatic WordPress updates 
• Secure login and configuration credentials 
• Hundreds of available WordPress themes 

Bluehost Ease of Use

Using WordPress to build a website on Bluehost is very easy. WordPress is among the most popular content management platforms around. All the hosting plans of Bluehost provide automatic WordPress installation. Therefore, you can have your basic website up and running within a matter of minutes. 

Even though beginners may find the use of WordPress to be a bit scary, the truth of the matter is that it is incredibly easy to use. The sky is the limit when designing your website and adding the elements that you want even among the basic WordPress users. 

There are three WordPress plugins and WordPress themes that you can choose from in the user panel. You can install all of them at a click of a button. After installing your preferred WordPress theme, you can add your own colors, logos, and images to customize it. Bluehost has a marketplace where users can browse and buy premium plugins and themes. 

You can use these plugins to add extra elements to your website. Bluehost plans also give users a free domain name during the first year. However, there is an option of buying additional domains for those who wish to do so. You can either connect them to the primary domain or pack and save them for future use. 

Bluehost Security

Bluehost takes the issue of security with the seriousness that it deserves. It has put in place several measures to make sure that your website and all its content are secure. The platform currently uses Spam Hammer, Span Experts, and Apache Spam Assassin to protect your site. There is also an option for additional paid or free security features for your website to increase its security further.

It secures all your login credentials and you can change your username and password easily after setting up your account. It also offers a free SSL certificate with all the hosting plans that add ‘https’ to your site. This is an important feature of your website especially when it comes to Bluehost SEO. 

Web Hosting Customer Support & Reviews

To contact customer support at Bluehost, there are so many options for you 24/7. There is a toll-free number that allows you to contact them by phone within the United States or an international number that is on their website. For small issues, you can utilize the chat feature that that is on your website. Chat is a quick and helpful feature on the website. Apart from the few customer complaints, most people acknowledge having a good experience with Bluehost.

Squarespace Pros and Cons

Bluehost Pros and Cons

Why we Should Use

There are so many reasons as to why you should use a web hosting service. The modern options give you the option of setting up your own website without even having some coding knowledge. If you are operating on a budget, Bluehost is the best option for you. On the other hand, Squarespace is the best option for budget users. However, both web hosting services have a short learning curve and you will not have a problem using them even if you don’t have prior knowledge. 

Pricing Comparison

Squarespace Pricing

It is also good to compare Bluehost vs Squarespace hosting. Squarespace has pricing plans that include Advanced Commerce, Basic eCommerce, Business, and Personal. You can either pay for all these plans annually or monthly. However, if you pay for your plan one year upfront, you will be able to save 30%.

The cost of the personal plan is $12 per month while the business costs $18 per month. The basic commerce plan costs $26 monthly while the cost of the Advanced Commerce Plan is $40. The features that you get from the higher plans are definitely more than what the low plans offer.

Bluehost Pricing

Bluehost has 3 plans for WordPress hosting which include the Basic, Plus, and Choice Plus plans. The basic plan costs $3.95 per month but it goes up to $ 7.99 per month after renewal. The plus plan will cost you $5.95 monthly but it will increase to $10.99 per month after renewal. The Choice Plus Plan goes at $5.95/month which increases to $14.99 per month. You need to understand all the features of each plan to be able to make an informed choice. 

Conclusion

From this article, you now have a clear picture of Bluehost vs Squarespace. It is good to compare both of them in terms of features, ease of use, security, pricing, and customer reviews. It is the only way that you will be able to make an informed decision on the best tools for your web hosting needs.