When small business owners come to me for help, they’re rarely just asking for a website. Sure, that’s what they say at first. But dig a little deeper and it’s clear: they want validation, credibility, better leads, and someone to guide them through the cluttered world of digital marketing. Often, they’ve been DIY-ing for too long, or they’ve hired someone who delivered something that looked okay but didn’t actually perform. That’s where platform choice becomes a critical part of the conversation.
In this post, I want to walk you through a detailed, side-by-side comparison of Webflow and Squarespace. These platforms often come up in conversations with small business clients, especially those who are trying to balance great design with usability, SEO, and flexibility. With over a decade of experience across Webflow, WordPress, Wix, and more, I’ve developed strong opinions on when to use what. But more importantly, I’ve developed the ability to ask the right questions to arrive at the best solution—not the trendy one.
At its core, Webflow is a visual web development tool that gives designers power over HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without writing explicit code. It combines a design interface similar to Adobe’s tools with an integrated CMS, hosting, animations, and more. It’s popular among designers and agencies building custom, scalable websites that demand precision and performance.
Squarespace is a website builder that provides pre-designed templates, drag-and-drop segments, and built-in functionality for blogs, eCommerce, and basic marketing tools. It’s intuitive, polished, and friendly toward less technical users. It’s great for folks who value ease over customization or don’t have ongoing support.
I like to compare this difference to houses. Squarespace is like buying a beautiful condo with predictable utilities and services baked in. You don’t get to renovate the kitchen without permission, but you also don’t have to worry about plumbing. Webflow is more like buying land and hiring a contractor to build a custom home. More freedom, more power, more responsibility.
Squarespace templates are beautiful out of the box. That’s part of the appeal for folks who want something clean and modern without much overhead. But that aesthetic harmony comes at a cost: tight constraints. You can change fonts, colors, and make light layout adjustments—but don’t expect to drastically manipulate the structure without frustration.
Webflow, on the other hand, is a canvas. You can design almost anything you want. It allows full control of layout, interactions, breakpoints, and individual elements. That means if your branding deviates from the minimalist norm—maybe you’re going for earthy, textural vibes or bold brutalism—Webflow can support that vision.
I worked with a Nashville-based coffee roaster who wanted earthy textures, grainy background overlays, organic movement, and subtle animations that mimicked the rhythm of their pour-over techniques. Squarespace’s symmetrical grid didn’t fit their dirt-under-the-nails vibe. We built a Webflow site that included subtle page transition animations and a CMS-driven recipe blog. The site feels like their brand. That wouldn't have been possible on Squarespace without third-party hacks.
I always ask business owners, “How often do you plan to update your website?” Some say monthly, others say never. The answer impacts platform choice.
Squarespace is designed for simplicity. You can log in, swap images, edit headlines, write blog posts—all with minimal training. For solo entrepreneurs or small teams, the learning curve is gentle. Webflow’s Client Editor is improving, but it still requires more onboarding. The Designer interface (where the real magic happens) can look intimidating to non-designers.
Years ago, I built a site for a small-town animal rescue. They moved from a janky Wix site to Squarespace. Their staff, mostly volunteers with limited tech skills, needed to post new adoptions weekly. Squarespace allowed them to jump into the CMS and publish updates with almost no input from me. We could have done something slicker in Webflow, but it would have increased the training burden—and probably added friction to the site’s upkeep.
Out of the gate, both platforms provide solid SEO foundations—SSL, clean URLs, mobile responsiveness, and image optimization. But for advanced SEO needs, Webflow has the advantage. It offers granular control over meta tags, canonical tags, structured data, open graph settings, and schema integration without relying on plugins.
Squarespace supports most on-page SEO standards well, but lacks technical depth. Custom code injections are possible but dicey. For example, injecting FAQs with JSON-LD schema can be done—but you’re flying blind without preview tools or developer interfaces.
I recently helped a local CPA rank for “small business accountant Brentwood TN.” With Webflow, we implemented semantic HTML, built structured service pages for each offering, embedded location schema, and tuned site speed with custom image compression. Our serpIQ tracking showed movement into the top 5 within four weeks, beating out larger firms with clunky WordPress sites. With Squarespace, this level of performance tuning wouldn't have been viable.
If SEO is a cornerstone of your growth strategy—and you’re planning to compete in a saturated local market—Webflow lets you fine-tune faster and cleaner. Squarespace is acceptable for informational sites, portfolios, or hyper-niche businesses that rely more on referrals than inbound traffic.
Webflow sites tend to perform incredibly well in speed audits. Their CDN (powered by Fastly and AWS Cloudfront) is reliable, and the code output is clean. There’s no plugin bloat like you see in WordPress setups, and assets are auto-minified and lazy-loaded.
Squarespace sites are fast enough for most small businesses, but visual-heavy templates and unoptimized images can slow you down. You’re at the mercy of how well their closed system handles your design choices. Tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights occasionally flag issues with render-blocking scripts on Squarespace themes.
We worked with a boutique fitness brand that emphasized video content: background video loops, instructor intros, and streaming workouts. On Squarespace, the lag was noticeable, especially on mobile. Rebuilding in Webflow allowed custom code for adaptive media loading. They saw bounce rates drop by 17% within two weeks after migration.
Squarespace Ecommerce is simple but limited. It’s made for selling a handful of physical products or digital downloads. Inventory management is basic, and custom checkout flows are nonexistent. Integrations are restricted compared to Shopify, let alone Webflow’s open architecture.
Webflow Ecommerce allows more complex setups, especially when integrated with third-party platforms like Foxy or Shopify via custom APIs. For businesses that want full control over product pages (such as advanced bundling, upselling, or localized checkout experiences), Webflow is your sandbox.
A ceramicist I worked with wanted to create seasonal collections with dynamic storytelling. Each product had a background, an artist note, and a unique video. Webflow let us build a nested CMS system that rolled out with each new series. You just can’t get that level of story-infused eCommerce on Squarespace.
This one’s simple. Squarespace is a closed ecosystem. That’s good for security and maintenance, bad for extendability. You can use limited plugins and add a few code snippets in headers—but you’re largely stuck with what Squarespace allows.
Webflow offers far more possibilities for integrations: Zapier, Memberstack, Jetboost, Airtable, Google Sheets, APIs. Want to trigger a text message every time someone fills out a form? Or build a gated membership dashboard with dynamic access per user? Webflow supports that kind of growth-minded architecture without needing a full-stack developer.
Squarespace is far easier for DIY entrepreneurs to learn. You can launch a credible site in a weekend. Webflow has a steeper curve, but also a steeper ceiling. Their learning resources are incredible—seriously, Webflow University is a masterclass in thoughtful education—but it still requires a willingness to engage with more technical concepts.
For clients who want to grow their marketing knowledge—who enjoy learning—it’s an empowering tool. For those who want something they can “set and forget,” Squarespace is less stressful.
Most business decisions are psychological. One client told me, “I don’t want to feel stupid using my own website.” That matters. If you (or your client) dread logging into the CMS, the project will collect dust no matter how smart the strategy was.
There’s no perfect tool, only the right fit for the current chapter of your business. Webflow offers superior customization, SEO control, and performance potential. It’s perfect for businesses that want to lean into brand identity, inbound traffic, or scaleable features. But it requires upfront investment—in thoughtfulness, skill, or partnering with someone like me who can guide the process.
Squarespace shines when simplicity is the priority. If a client needs something quick, clean, and contained—and doesn’t have ongoing support—it’s a great place to start. It lowers the barrier to professionalism and helps business owners focus on the more human parts of entrepreneurship.
As a consultant and web designer, my job is part mechanic, part therapist, and part educator. In the end, platform choice is never just about tools. It’s about aligning digital systems with the mindset, maturity, and goals of the person operating them. When we get that right, your website stops being a burden—and becomes a living part of your business journey.
Copyright © Zach Sean Web Design
