Squarespace vs Shopify Ecommerce Features: A Deep Dive
It’s a hotly debated subject…Squarespace or Shopify. You’re not just choosing a platform, you’re choosing which direction to take your business in. In this guide we’ll take a detailed look at everything Squarespace and Shopify have to offer to discover who these tools are best suited to. Whether you’re attracted to the design-forward nature of Squarespace or the raw ecommerce driven power of Shopify - you need to know what you’re getting into.
When Anthony Casalena founded Squarespace in 2003 it was a basic drag and drop builder with templates aimed primarily at photographers, artists, architects, and interior designers. For a long time, it was solely a platform for building minimal but stunning portfolio websites which its growing selection of templates reflected. It was around about that time that I personally discovered Squarespace through a friend who had been following it with great enthusiasm since its inception. It seemed to both of us as though some kind of spaceship from the future had landed in our back garden. It was like nothing else on the internet at that time. Over the years, the platform has expanded it’s features and completely redesigned its entire interface. Today, Financial services, luxury brands, holiday stays and online shops are amongst the many kinds of businesses that have found a home on Squarespace.
Shopify was founded only a year after Squarespace, attracting a different demographic and fast becoming an ecommerce powerhouse. I initially avoided it, thinking that most of my clients would find it too complex to use. Most had worked with a Wordpress developer previously and found themselves left with a website that they couldn’t manage themselves. While many of them were much more at home with Squarespace, I soon realised that some projects are just better on Shopify.
Spoiler alert - if you’re a small business with less than £5k in sales per month then Squarespace is most likely the platform for you. It’s quick to set up and easy for you or your team to manage in house. If you have a large volume of products or sales, or you ship from multiple locations then Shopify is your best option. It requires more technical expertise to set up but is ultimately the most powerful commerce tool at your disposal. If you’re on the fence, check out the features table further down this page. It details every ecommerce feature available on Squarespace and Shopify so that you can make an informed decision.
The Ecommerce Engine (What You Actually Get)
Inventory Management
Squarespace provides a modern user-friendly interface that makes adding and editing products simple, even if you’re not particularly technical. But if you’re a high-volume seller or you plan to be in the future, you may find Squarespace too restrictive. Let’s take a look at the deal breakers. Each individual product can have a maximum of 250 combinations. To do the maths, imagine you’re selling sell a T-Shirt in 6 Sizes with 10 Colours and 5 Styles - that’s 300 Variants which Squarespace would not be able to handle. Now, 250 variations of one product is more than enough for most people but it can be a problem for others. You would have to split it into two separate products (e.g. ‘Men's Tee’ and ‘Women's Tee’). Shopify, in comparison, has a variant limit of 2,048 - a recent landmark update for the platform.
Another potential deal breaker might the single-location inventory - Squarespace assumes that you ship from one place. If you’ve got a warehouse in London and another in New York, Squarespace cannot track that Stock A is in London and Stock B is in New York. All it sees if one big number. If inventory tracking across multiple locations is important to your business then I would strongly recommend Shopify.
On the flip side, the ability to sell gift cards (on the Commerce Advanced plan) and display related products are both built in features of Squarespace.
Merchandising Features
Squarespace really excels at scarcity marketing, more so than Shopify’s basic plan. Limited Availability Labels can be toggled on to automatically display a message when your drops below a certain stock threshold, driving urgency without the need for a plugin.
Waitlists are another valuable feature. Once a product goes out of stock, the ‘Add to Cart’ button is replaced with a ‘Join Waitlist’ button - you may have seen similar forms yourself when shopping online. Once the product is back in stock you can email your waitlisters with the single click of a button.
Bulk Editing
A major drawback of Squarespace’s halkmark minimalism is that you can not bulk edit 500 products at once inside the dashboard. If you need to make an update to your prices or product descriptions - they will need to be done one by one. It’s not much of a problem if you’re selling 20 or so products but for large operations Shopify is the clear winner.
Digital Products, Courses & Memberships
The creator economy is shifting. With available tools than ever to start a business from home, the market is becoming saturated. Many creators are switching to a ‘picks and shovels’ model (the idea that it’s often more profitable to sell pick and shovels than to be one of the thousands rushing to the gold mine). Packaging your expertise in the form of PDF downloads, videos and communities is by far the most scalable way to grow your business.
Squarespace’s super power is the ability to sell a PDF, online course, and a physical mug in one checkout. With minimal set up, you can provide free or paywalled access to exclusive content, events, and discussions. Please note that you will require a Business plan or higher for these features.
Add-Ons: The Hidden Cost
While most of the features a small business needs are covered by Squarespace natively, some aren’t and require an add-on / extension. Add-ons for Squarespace in particular can be quite expensive compared to add-ons for other platforms. Conversely, Shopify often requires paid Apps (£5-£30/mo each) to unlock features Squarespace has native, such as Waitlists or Digital Products. Be sure to price up everything before you commit to a platform.
Product & Inventory Limits
| undefined | Squarespace | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Product Variants | Native (Up to 6 options like Size, Color, etc.) | Native (Up to 3 options only, e.g., Size, Color, Material) |
| Total Variant Limit | 250 combinations per product | 2,048 combinations per product |
| Digital Products | Native (Files up to 300MB) | Native (Requires free "Digital Downloads" app by Shopify) |
| Inventory Locations | No (Single location only) | Native (Up to 200 locations depending on plan) |
| Back-in-Stock Waitlists | Native (On Commerce plans) | App Required (e.g., "Back in Stock" app) |
| B2B / Wholesale | Workaround (Password-protected pages only) | Native (On Shopify Plus) or App Required (Basic plans) |
| Product Reviews | Native (On Commerce plans) | Native (Requires free "Shopify Reviews" app) |
| Low Stock Labels | Native (Business & Up) | Native (Theme dependent; usually a simple toggle in settings) |
| Custom Product Forms | Native (Drag-and-drop form builder attached to products) | Code / App Required (Requires editing theme code or apps like "Infinite Options") |
| Custom Checkout Forms | Native (Built-in custom checkout form tool) | Restricted (Requires Shopify Plus or rigid workarounds/apps) |
Selling Courses, Memberships & Subscriptions
| Feature | Squarespace | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Sell Online Courses | Native (Requires Courses add-on subscription) | App Required (e.g., Teachable, Thinkific integration) |
| Sell Memberships | Native (Member Areas) | App Required (e.g., Locksmith, Bold Memberships) |
| Sell Subscriptions | Native (Commerce Basic & Up) | Native (Requires free "Shopify Subscriptions" app or 3rd party) |
| Sell Service/Time | Native (Scheduling tool, extra cost) | App Required (Booking/Appointment apps) |
| Donations | Native (Dedicated Donation Block) | App Required (or workaround using a product) |
Shipping & Fulfillment
| Feature | Squarespace | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Real-Time Carrier Rates | Native (Requires Commerce Advanced) | Native (Requires Advanced plan) |
| Print Shipping Labels | Integration (Native integration w/ ShipStation) | Native (Shopify Shipping - print directly in dashboard) |
| Local Pickup | Native | Native |
| Local Delivery | Native (Restricted to specific ZIP codes) | Native (Robust zone and radius controls) |
| Dropshipping | Extension (Spocket, Printful) | App Ecosystem (Huge variety: Oberlo, Spocket, AliExpress, etc.) |
Checkout & Payments
| undefined | Squarespace | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction Fees | 0% (Commerce Plans) / 3% (Business Plan) | 0% (If using Shopify Payments) / 0.5% - 2% (If using external gateway) |
| Payment Gateways | Limited (Squarespace Payments, Stripe, PayPal, Square, Afterpay, Klarna) | Extensive (100+ gateways supported) |
| Tax Calculation | Native (US only - TaxJar extension for auto-filing) | Native (Shopify Tax - highly accurate global calculation) |
| Abandoned Cart Recovery | Native (Commerce Basic & Up) | Native (Available on ALL plans) |
| POS (Point of Sale) | Integration (Via Square App - mostly iOS) | Native (Shopify POS - robust hardware & software ecosystem) |
| Invoicing | Native | Native (via Draft Orders) |
Marketing & International
| undefined | Squarespace | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Email Marketing | Native (Squarespace Email Campaigns - extra cost) | Native (Shopify Email - 10,000 free emails/mo) |
| Blogging | Native (Best-in-class, robust CMS) | Native (Basic, rigid layout) |
| Multi-Currency | No (Display currency only, checkout in base currency) | Native (Shopify Markets - charges in local currency) |
| Multi-Language | Integration (Requires Weglot extension - extra cost) | Native (Shopify Markets - translation capable) |
| Social Selling | Native (Instagram/Facebook syncing) | Native (Deep integration with IG/FB/TikTok/Google) |
| SEO Tools | Native (Sitemaps, 301 redirects, clean HTML) | Native (Sitemaps, 301s, editable robots.txt) |
| Discount Codes | Native (Percentage, Fixed Amount, Free Shipping) | Native (Highly flexible; includes "Buy X Get Y") |
| Automated Discounts | Native (Auto-apply at checkout) | Native (Stackable automatic discounts) |
| Customer Order Emails | Native (Custom branding & colors only) | Native (Full HTML/Code access for total customisation) |
| Customer Insights | Native (Basic sales & funnel analytics) | Native (Deep analytics; Report builder on Advanced plan) |
| Video Storage | 30 mins (Biz) / 50 hrs (Basic) / Unlimited (Adv) | Max 10 min / 1GB per file |
Operations & Admin
| Feature | Squarespace | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Staff/Admin Permissions | Native (Unlimited contributors on Business/Commerce plans) | Native (Strict limit: 2 on Basic, 5 on Standard, 15 on Advanced) |
| Store Management App | Native (Squarespace App - Manage content & orders) | Native (Shopify App - Dedicated to commerce management) |
Verdict
If I were starting an commerce shop today, I would think carefully about the products I was selling and my future plans for the business. For a small, boutique shop selling a handful of products - the focus should be on the brand and the story. Squarespace enables you to have a beautiful story-led website up and running in a very short space of time. If you’re particularly savvy you may not need to hire a web designer. On the other hand, if your businesses has a large inventory, multiple warehouses or needs to connect with a complex system then Shopify might just be the thing you need to sleep at night. You will most likely want to hire a Shopify expert to get started but once it’s up and running it’s extremely scalable and easily grow with your businesses. In fact, some of the worlds biggest brands use Shopify.
