SquareSpace vs WordPress.com: Canadian Cost Analysis 2020

SquareSpace vs. WordPress.com Canadian Cost Analysis for 2020

In the same vein as the previous post, I will show you the true cost in Canadian dollar to have a new website built using Squarespace & WordPress.com as these two site building platforms are very popular just like Wix & Weebly.  Just don’t be confused about the WordPress.com and the self-managed WordPress based site.  That is another comparison in itself and you can read about it here if you’re still not sure about their differences.  Also compare the self-managed host pricing from the previous post I wrote about here.  As you will notice, it’s not as obvious as looking at the pricing table of each platform, especially for us living north of the 49th parallel.  

I am not really comparing the technical pros and cons of both Squarespace & WordPress.com.  I’m strictly analyzing the starting costs to have a website from these platforms as Canadians, so keep this in mind.  There are plenty of other comparisons between Squarespace vs WordPress on the web such as this article.

Assumptions: 

• The pricing will be based on having a 2 year plan (subscription) with both platforms

• Subscription plan chosen shall be the middle ground plans for both platforms.

• We will require the cost of having an email address that has the chosen domain for the 2 year term (1 inbox only). No other extra features will be taken.

• We assume that one chooses an available domain address that comes free with opening a new account with both website platforms.  We are not paying extra for coveted domain URL (for example: popular.com).  Note we shall use $15/year for domain registration fees when it applies for renewal.

• We will use a starting point of CAD $500 as the cost of the website design process.  Even if you create the website from scratch, your time is still worth something.  Adjust this cost accordingly to your design requirements if you know your scope.   

• We shall use US$ 1.00 = CAD$ 1.333 exchange rate as of January 2017.

  So take a peek at the bottom subscription plans from WordPress.com below and we shall pick the “Premium” plan.  Luckily WordPress.com already show the pricing in Canadian dollars.  

Now look at Squarespace plan pricing and we shall pick the “Business” plan in the “Website” tab as this is comparable to the above plan.  Note that Squarespace pricing is in US dollars.

Now before we equalize this in a nice table, let’s add the extra email &  domain registration cost for both platforms.  In this case email addresses are totally separate from WordPress.com while it’s included only for the 1st year with Squarespace.  Let’s use the Google G-Suite in the comparison.  

For domain registration fees, both platforms allow one year coverage (first year free) while 2nd year fees must be added. 

We are using the exchange rate of  US$ 1.00 = CAD$ 1.33.

Note: if viewing these tables from mobile, view this blog horizontally for clarity.

You may say well this is an obvious win for WordPress.com, but that would be too easy.  The drawback with WordPress.com is the premium plan still does not delete the WordPress branding in the footer.  Squarespace’s Business plan at least allows you to customize the branding so you could completely hide the Squarespace branding.  If I chose WordPress.com’s next upgraded plan, the cost would be out to lunch and Squarespace would be the clear winner here.  So in the end take this comparison with a huge grain of salt.   

Note: Both platforms include SSL certificates which is so vital nowadays.   Just thought I’d mention this.  Hope this helps for you when comparing the main costs of getting a website using SquareSpace or WordPress as a Canadian site owner.

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