Squarespace vs Showit… What’s the deal?
The content in this post is relevant as of May 2020.
I’ve had a few people ask me about choosing between Squarespace and Showit lately, and I just didn’t have the space to answer everyone individually so I figured why not do a bloody BLOG POST bout it, eh?
In my opinion, Squarespace and Showit are the main two players when it comes to creating websites these days (and also Shopify, for fully-fledged online stores). Wordpress is an option, but I don’t think its as great as it used to be with these other much easier options on the table. And well, Wix, I’m never gonna even suggest you should use that to be honest.
I’ll start with how I was introduced to both platforms before we go any further…
So I’ve been using Squarespace for over 7 years now, and if you’ve been following me over the last couple of years I’ve been talking bout it a lot more, and creating a lot more resources around it. Straight up — I love it.
And Showit, I’ve known about for a few years but my first dive into the platform was when my client Stevie Dillon hit me up about creating her new website on it. I believe she was already sold on her choice to use the platform, so we chatted about me designing her site on it (with her knowing it was going to be my first time using it). I figured it’d be a perf chance to learn a new platform and create something rad out of it, so we hit the ground running. I haven’t created any new websites on the platform since then, but Stevie’s site was pretty big and we did a lot of work on it, so I think I’ve got a handle on how it all works.
I think we can probably credit Jenna Kutcher to a lot more entrepreneurs using Showit, since her website is created on the platform, using a customised template from Tonic Site Shop (I think its a template, but it could also be totes custom!).
Obviously I have a lot more experience using Squarespace, but I’m not sponsored by them (but I should be, tbh, lol), so this will be a pretty open minded review and comparison of both platforms. I think they’re both solid options, so lets go over the main differences + which one might be best for you.
I’ve also included a lil video run-through at the end!
The main differences — Squarespace and Showit
So using Showit is literally like designing a website in Photoshop or Illustrator, but it being a live website. There’s no content blocks like Squarespace, and you’re not really limited in any major ways with the design — which is a huge game changer if you’re a designer and/or you want something insanely custom. You also have TOTAL control over the Mobile design, which is obviously one of the major downsides of Squarespace that I know annoys me sometimes. So overall the main stick of Showit is having true freedom over the design, compared to Squarespace where you have to work within the options available and either get extra creative with the designs, or use a bit of CSS to customise it further.
But, that does come at a cost. You didn’t think it was gonna be that magical, did ya? Showit is definitely not an all-in-one platform like Squarespace, as there is currently no way to host a Blog or a Shop within Showit, so you’ll need to host these things elsewhere and link them to Showit. The Blog is more of a pain in the ass if you ask me, because you’d need to create a Wordpress blog and link it up. The Shop/Product thing may not be a huge deal because there’s a ton of options here. For example, I would use something like SendOwl to set up all of my products, and then literally just to them with Buy buttons on my website. I believe you can also use Shopify if you had a larger shop.
And overall there’s just not as many integration or Plug-in options as you might be used to using Wordpress or Squarespace. But… If you don’t need a ton of that shit, then maybe it would work for you.
That being said, here’s some more specifics!
The Specifics — Pro’s + Con’s of Showit
The Pros
👉Like I mentioned, the HUGE main player of Showit is the ability to design something that is literally a one-off. Designing in Showit is like designing right in Photoshop or Illustrator, in a way. You can add text blocks/image blocks/layers, and really go nuts with it. There are very basic base templates that you can start with, but from there you can design whatever you want. And, the Mobile + Desktop versions could be completely different, if you wanted.
👉If you’re a designer, you’ll probably really dig it.
The Cons
👉The fully custom Mobile option is really amazing, but it is also hugely time consuming, lol. There are some things it will automatically re-size for you, but for the most part you need to take into account that you’re essentially designing a Desktop + Mobile website — both being 100% custom. If you’re coming from Squarespace (like I was), this was something I def underestimated.
👉There are no built-in Shop or Blog options. Not ideal… I know. But if you dont mind hosting these elsewhere, or you dont have a need for them, it could be a solid option.
👉It may be annoying to fix any issues connected to Wordpress sites or Blog Plugins. I also dont know how much support Showit offers in this arena.
You should use Showit if…
👉You dont need a ton of plugins/extensions or aren’t worried about creating a blog.
👉You aren’t phased by using code blocks to integrate multiple things across your website (i.e. Mailing list forms, buy buttons for products, etc).
👉You want to create a next-fucking-level long form sales page thats truly custom. (This would be perfect, because you’re also likely going to be hosting your course/offering somewhere else, meaning linking it to a payment processor is not a big deal). We used it to create the Sales Page for a client of mine, Stevie Dillon, Hashtags Aren’t The Answer, and she used to tell me how people were mind-blown by that sales page (The program is no longer live now though). 😜
👉You’re a designer and you just wanna go HAM on creating something totally fresh and new and different, and not be bound by any limitations, design-wise.
👉You have a designer creating a site for you, or you have a base template you’re using. (I def wouldn’t recommend using Showit without a template or a Designer, if you’re not familiar with the platform and/or Web Design).
👉You’re comfortable with tech + website things and you can easily figure shit out when you put in the time.
The Specifics — Pro’s + Con’s of Squarespace
The Pros
👉It’s an all-in-one solution for online business. I’m pretty sure this is Squarespace’s overarching mission, if you step back and take a look at what they’ve done to the platform over recent years. The inclusion of Commerce, Blogs, Campaigns for email lists, G Suite, plus a bunch of other integrations really make this hard to resist if you want your website management to be as smooth as possible.
👉You can build a website VERY quickly. You can also buy domains and get emails and all of that setup right within Squarespace, so this makes the whole process of getting online pretty quick and seamless.
👉The Squarespace support team is pretty damn good. Ive chatted to Showit support a couple of times and they were always helpful, but there were some spots in Showit where it’d have links to Help articles that didn’t go anywhere… Little things like that can sometimes be not-so-great.
👉Its a much bigger platform than Showit. So relating to the topic above, I feel like their bandwidth for Support and upgrades and shit like that is much bigger.
The Cons
👉The freedom of Design isn’t anything close to Showit. Its def gotten better over the last few years with updates, but the design experience is quite different. You need to be able to work within the options given to you in Squarespace, or know your way around a little CSS to customise things in other ways.
👉Mobile customisation is… Not a thing. Lol. There’s literally zero options readily available within Squarespace to change things specific to mobile. You can obviously adjust some minor design settings in the Site Styles for the mobile menu, but that’s about it. I believe you can do more with CSS, but yeah.
You should use Squarespace if…
👉You want an all-in-one platform where you can easily host a blog, shop, and keep your website shit all in one place.
👉You want to DIY a website and you have zero plans to hire a designer or purchase a template or Design Kit.
👉You’re not a very tech-savvy person and you get easily frustrated when it comes to any kind of website design/creation/setup.
👉You’re comfortable working within the design limitations and getting creative with ways to work around them to create something a bit more custom.
I also wanted to make a little screen record video going over the basics of how each platform works, if you wanted to have a peek…
SO YEAH! That’s my overview. Keep in mind that both platforms currently offer 14 day trials, so you can very easily sign up and fuck around and see what you think before you commit.
Stay golden,
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