GoDaddy vs Squarespace: In Need Of Speed Or Design?
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Comparison winner
GoDaddy and Squarespace are both popular builders, but they cater to different audiences.
GoDaddy scores 4.1 out of 5 in our recent website builder research, and it’s a great choice for small businesses who want to get online quickly and hassle-free. Squarespace, on the other hand, scores an impressive 4.7 out of 5 overall and targets creatives with its gorgeous templates and great value.
So, which builder works best for your needs?
GoDaddy is better for you if you want to build a website quickly...
With GoDaddy’s ADI setup, it’s really easy to create a site fast. However, this will mean sacrificing sleek design elements and creative control. But, if time is of the essence and you want to keep costs at a minimum, GoDaddy could be for you.Squarespace is better for you if you want to build a stylish site...
Squarespace is ideal for creatives and anyone that doesn’t mind spending a bit of time designing a website. Not only are Squarespace’s plans great value for money but its aesthetically-pleasing templates and modern designs can’t be beaten.It’s our job to test and research products thoroughly and share accurate and fair recommendations with our readers. But how do we compare two builders, such as GoDaddy and Squarespace? Read more about our research process below:
We specifically look at these performance areas:
- Ease of use
- Website features
- Value for money
- Design functionalities
- Help and support
- Customer score
Within each category, we break them down further to analyze factors such as marketing, the number of templates, and SEO, for example. We then combine these individual scores to create a category score. Finally, we take these six scores to create an overall score (out of five) for each website builder.
If you want to know more about our website builder research process, you can check out our detailed page.
More Information
- Best Website Builders: To see how Squarespace and GoDaddy compete with the top website builders in the market.
- Our Website Builder Quiz: Take our quiz to find the perfect website builder for you.
- Squarespace Offer Code: Already set on Squarespace? This code will get Website Builder Expert readers 10% off any paid plan!
GoDaddy vs Squarespace: Quick Comparison
If you’re looking for a quick roundup of both platforms – here’s a side-by-side comparison table to help you decide whether GoDaddy or Squarespace is perfect for you.
| Squarespace | GoDaddy | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use Winner: Squarespace | Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor is incredibly user-friendly and its professionally-built designs make it easy to build a stunning website. | GoDaddy is ideal if you want to build a site quickly, and its ADI can help you get started. |
| Design Flexibility Winner: Squarespace | Squarespace’s high-quality designs and templates are the best of the best. Its templates are modern, trendy, and aesthetically pleasing. | GoDaddy offers decent templates but they’re nothing special in comparison to other builders. |
| Features Winner: Squarespace | Squarespace offers tons of built-in features, including scheduling tools and blogging functionalities. Plus, you can access third-party apps via Squarespace Extensions. | GoDaddy’s plans come with all of the basic features you’d expect, but it doesn’t have its own app market. |
| SEO Winner: Squarespace | You’ll have access to lots of SEO features, including keyword support and the ability to edit meta tags. Squarespace also allows users to submit a sitemap. | GoDaddy’s plans come with plenty of SEO features, but it’s let down by its inability to submit a sitemap. |
| Help and Support Winner: Squarespace | You can contact Squarespace via email 24/7, social media channels, and weekly live chat support. It doesn’t offer phone support but Squarespace’s Help Center is incredibly thorough and detailed. | GoDaddy offers 24/7 phone and live chat support, and it has recently introduced email support too. However, its Help Center is outdated and messy. |
| Value for Money Winner: Squarespace | Squarespace is the best value for money out of all of the builders we tested. You get a great service for the price you pay! | GoDaddy’s plans are pretty affordable and it offers a free plan as well. |
| Are You Ready? | Visit Squarespace | Visit GoDaddy |
GoDaddy vs Squarespace: Pros & Cons
| Pros & Cons | GoDaddy | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Pros | ✔️ Build a site with ADI, providing a speedy solution to website creation ✔️ You can switch themes at any point – your existing elements and content will automatically reformat ✔️ Start with its free plan and stay on it for as long as you’d like | ✔️ Jam-packed with high-quality features to help bring your website to life ✔️ Breathtaking templates and designs that can’t be beat ✔️ Best value for money website builder ✔️ Ideal for creatives and visually-heavy sites |
| Cons | ❌ Features can feel basic and limited – nothing really stands out ❌ Restrictions on creative freedom ❌ Not suitable for complex websites | ❌ Plans are fairly expensive to get started with ❌ Doesn’t include an artificial design option ❌ No 24/7 live chat support ❌ There’s no autosave when editing |
Ease of Use
The Winner
Squarespace is easier to use...
We look at website builders all day, every day – after all, we’re experts! So, when testing builders on their ease of use, we recruited everyday people to build a website with each platform and share how they found the process.
Ultimately, Squarespace came out on top with an ease of use score of 4.4 out of 5 – an increase of 11% since last year’s research, which results in the builder being one of the best in this category. Squarespace’s editor is easy to get to grips with, and there are tons of built-in features to rely on. Plus, over 90% of people that tested the builder would recommend it to others! You can’t beat that praise.
GoDaddy, on the other hand, scores 4.1 out of 5 for ease of use. It’s the perfect builder if you’re short on time and want to get your website set up quickly, especially because of its ADI editor. However, some users found its simplicity to be frustrating and it can be confusing to wrap your head around the features and terminology used by GoDaddy.
That being said, GoDaddy was the only builder in our recent round of testing to see any improvement in its site speed performance, so that’s a real bonus.
One user said this of GoDaddy:
“If you want simple and fast, GoDaddy can give you that.”
Design Flexibility
The Winner
Squarespace has the best designs...
Design comes down to two things: appearance and control. Ultimately, you want your website to look good and be able to put your own stamp on it. To do that, you need your builder to provide you with a decent level of customization.
Both of these builders are strong options, but Squarespace is the best for design, scoring 4.7 out of 5. It’s an ideal choice for anyone that values the aesthetics and visuals of a website, and there’s a reason that a ton of major brands use it!
Not only are Squarespace’s templates designed by professionals, they’re also really flexible when it comes to editing. But if you feel overwhelmed by your creative choices, Squarespace’s “Design Hero” will help you keep your site on track, picking out the perfect attributes to complement your brand.
And, since last year, we’ve seen even more improvements to Squarespace’s design functions, introducing new permanent features across all templates – including the ability to add videos to pages and forms.
In comparison, GoDaddy scores 4.1 out of 5 for its design flexibility – a drop of 6% since 2022. Unfortunately, GoDaddy doesn’t offer anything groundbreaking to make it stand out against competitors like Squarespace. Its simple editor is beginner-friendly, sure, but its restrictive block elements can really limit your creative control.
As one user said when testing:
“Squarespace gives a better feel that the world is your oyster – especially with templates. On GoDaddy it feels like you don’t have as much room to explore.”
GoDaddy’s superpower, however, is its ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) which can help design and build a website for you. By asking you a series of questions about the purpose and needs of your site, GoDaddy’s ADI can create an original design based on your answers. Pretty neat!
Features and Tools
The Winner
Squarespace has better features...
It’s always good to look at what features a builder has. After all, this determines what you can or can’t do on the platform.
Once again, Squarespace is our winner, scoring a mighty 4.6 out of 5 for its website features – a 4% increase since last year’s research and the second-highest features score of any website builder we tested.
This improvement is largely down to the enhanced internal features and external add-ons offered by Squarespace plans and the Squarespace Extensions store, including online bookings and scheduling tools.
It makes sense that Squarespace would offer such impressive features to match its high-quality designs and templates, and we were particularly in awe of its marketing features which saw a score increase of 25% since last year to reach a perfect 5 out of 5 rating.
GoDaddy, in contrast, saw a 7% drop in score since 2022 and now scores 3.1 out of 5 for its website features. To put it simply, GoDaddy covers the basic features but doesn’t go the extra mile, and without its own app market, you’ll feel restricted as you look to grow or expand your site.
However, the simplicity of GoDaddy is what makes it possible to build a website so quickly. If you’re happy with the essentials, there’s no need to cast GoDaddy aside just yet.
Ecommerce
Now, when it comes to selling online, there are a few key features that both platforms offer:
- SSL security – Protecting customer payments and transactions securely
- Payment processors – PayPal, Stripe, and Square are supported
- Abandoned cart recovery – Send customers an email that reminds them to check out if they’ve left your site without paying
- Custom codes – Ability to create promotion and discount codes for customers
- Social media integration – Ability to sync your store with Instagram
- Product choice – Both builders allow you to sell physical and digital products
- Customer testimonials – A new addition from GoDaddy, meaning both builders now let you showcase positive reviews and feedback
What about selling offline?
Squarespace offers a Square integration, meaning you can sell products offline, take card payments, and keep everything synced with your online inventory. All you need is the Squarespace Commerce app, and a Square card reader ($49). This isn’t something that GoDaddy currently offers, so it’s a huge plus for Squarespace.Blogging
GoDaddy offers limited blogging tools – you can schedule posts, monitor your blog’s SEO, share via social media, and create writer profiles, but that’s about it.
As a blogger, you’ll want features that not only support you in your work but also let your content stand out. Some added functionalities to consider would include enabling comments and displaying blog categories.
With Squarespace, you can do all that and more. You can archive old posts, social bookmark, and add a search feature so people can find what they’re looking for quickly. This is why Squarespace scores 5 out of 5 for blogging, in comparison to GoDaddy’s 2 out of 5.
Email Marketing
Again, Squarespace just beats out GoDaddy in this area, scoring 5 out of 5 for its email marketing services. GoDaddy, on the other hand, scores 4 out of 5. Both allow you to get your own custom email addresses and run email marketing campaigns through internal features.
You can pick from a handful of email templates, then add your own content and fire them out to readers. Alternatively, Squarespace lets you integrate with third-party apps like Mailchimp.
Social Media Integration
GoDaddy and Squarespace are about the same when it comes to social media integrations – both platforms let you link your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
GoDaddy takes it a step further and offers a live feed section, a post creator, and an option to share your YouTube livestream on your website! And an app called Unfold is available through Squarespace, helping website owners create stylized social posts that match their brand image.
More Information
- Squarespace Ecommerce Review: For a more in-depth look at how Squarespace can support your online store.
- GoDaddy Ecommerce Review: See GoDaddy’s ecommerce features in our review.
- Best Ecommerce Platforms: Compare Squarespace and GoDaddy with other top ecommerce builders.
- How to Start a Blog: A step-by-step guide if you’re looking to get started.
- 9 Best Blogging Platforms: Find the best home for your blog.
- Best Email Marketing Software: Find the best email marketing software for your website.
- Squarespace Email Campaigns: Read more about Squarespace’s built-in email marketing service.
SEO
The Winner
Squarespace is better for SEO...
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of helping your website rank highly on the likes of Google. The higher your website ranks in search results, the more likely people will see – and visit – your site.
There are loads of ways to improve your site’s SEO, and website builders do a great job in providing certain tools to help.
GoDaddy and Squarespace are almost identical in terms of their SEO support. You can:
- Edit meta titles & descriptions – The text that appears in a Google search result
- Change URL slugs – The text between the forward slashes, ‘/’, after your domain
- Add alt text to images – Accurately describe your images so Google and anyone visually-impaired can understand what they display
- Receive keyword support – So you know which words or phrases to include in your copy
- Use mobile-responsive themes – Your site will automatically adjust to different screen sizes, which is something search engines look out for
Though it’s a close race, Squarespace just pips GoDaddy through its site mapping functionality and automatic updates.
More Information
- How to Create a Sitemap: Want to know more about sitemaps and how it can help your website?
- For additional SEO support, check out our guides on website architecture, backlinking, and anchor text.
Help and Support
The Winner
Squarespace is better for help and support...
The level of help you receive is vital to the success of your website. Alongside the quality of support, it’s important to have access to help in a variety of ways.
Squarespace is a top-tier builder for help and support, scoring 4.8 out of 5 in our recent research. With Squarespace, you get 24/7 email support and a live chat option from Monday to Friday, 4am to 8pm ET. And while the builder doesn’t currently offer a phone service, you can reach out for assistance via its Twitter and Facebook accounts 24/7.
With GoDaddy, its score hasn’t changed since last year’s rating of 3.8 out of 5. It offers 24/7 phone and live chat support to customers and has recently introduced email support.
The real deciding factor in this category is the help center. A help center is a built-in resource where you can find handy guides on how to do certain things or answers to a question you might have. We found GoDaddy’s Help Center to be cluttered and not all pages are up-to-date.
Squarespace’s Help Center, on the other hand, is clean and easy to navigate. In fact, its help center scores 5 out of 5 in our research, whereas GoDaddy’s help center only scores 2 out of 5!
More Information
- Wix vs GoDaddy: Interested in other comparisons? See how GoDaddy compares with our top-recommended builder, Wix.
- Weebly vs Squarespace: Who wins this battle?
Pricing and Value for Money
The Winner
Squarespace is the best value for money...
If you’re not a tech expert, knowing what website builder is good value for money can be hard. Luckily, we’re here to help and we’ve taken a good look at all of GoDaddy and Squarespace’s pricing plans to see who offers the best deal.
In our recent research, we noted that every website builder has increased their prices since 2022. For example, Squarespace’s starting plan rose by a mammoth 33%, from $12 to $16 per month.
That being said, Squarespace wins in this category – out of all of the builders we tested, Squarespace is the only one that increased its value rating, coming out as the best value for money with a score of 4.6 out of 5. Not only does it offer feature-rich plans and high-quality designs, but Squarespace also improved its features to match the new, higher price point.
It offers four paid plans, ranging from $16 to $49 per month (billed annually), and if you just want to test it out, there’s a 14-day free trial to get you started.
The two cheaper plans are ideal for individuals or businesses that don’t need to sell online, whereas the two most expensive plans give users ecommerce functionality.
In comparison, GoDaddy scores 4.1 out of 5 in our value for money research – a 5% drop since last year’s score as a result of the industry-wide price increases. It also offers four paid plans, ranging from $9.99-$29.99 per month (billed annually), with the two highest plans targeting ecommerce sites.
While these plans are more affordable than Squarespace’s, you’d still get more bang for your buck with Squarespace. However, what does set GoDaddy apart from Squarespace is its free plan which you can stay on as long as you’d like.
Save 10% On Any Squarespace Plan!
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Check out our Squarespace offer code to find out more about the savings you can make.
More Information
- Squarespace Pricing Review: Learn more about what’s included in each plan
GoDaddy vs Squarespace: Summary
We’ve thoroughly compared both GoDaddy and Squarespace and there’s one clear winner: Squarespace.
With its stunning designs and powerful built-in features, Squarespace is a tough one to beat. It scores 4.7 out of 5 in our overall research, and despite industry-wide price increases, Squarespace’s plans remain the best value for money across the market.
Of course, GoDaddy is still a great choice, receiving an overall score of 4.1 out of 5 in our research. It doesn’t have the frills or flair of Squarespace, but if you only need the basics and want to get your site up and running quickly, GoDaddy’s perfect.
To put it simply, it’s a close race between the two builders, but Squarespace’s performance across our research categories secures its higher position. The decision really comes down to what you want and need for your future website.
GoDaddy vs Squarespace: FAQs
To dig a little deeper, Squarespace uses a drag-and-drop style editor but GoDaddy has an ADI builder. GoDaddy also offers a free plan while Squarespace has a limited 14-day free trial. Another key difference comes down to features – Squarespace has very impressive built-in features and access to third-party apps via Squarespace Extensions. GoDaddy, on the other hand, lacks its own app market and its features can be limiting.
Found our comparison helpful?
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