HostGator vs Squarespace (2024): What’s the Best Builder?
When building a website, it’s essential to choose a platform that’s affordable, easy to use, and has all the functionality you need to keep your customers happy.
HostGator and Squarespace not only let you create a fantastic website, but they also offer hosting functionality. This means you don’t have to worry about using a separate web hosting service.
However, which provider is the best? In this article we’ll compare and contrast the two platforms, looking at pricing, features, design, and how easy each one is to use.
HostGator vs Squarespace – read on to see which platform wins!
Squarespace vs HostGator: which builder is best?
Pricing
HostGator offers several different pricing options, depending on what you need. The standard web hosting plan ranges from $3.75 to $6.25 a month.
If you want to use WordPress, there’s a tailored plan to help you quickly get up and running, starting at $4.50 a month.
There’s also an ‘online store’ package which gives you the functionality to sell online, starting at $9.95 a month.
Squarespace is more expensive, but the pricing tiers are a lot simpler. There are four tiers, ranging from $16 to $52 a month.
However, there are many ways you can lower the price of your Squarespace site. You can pay annually or use a discount code.
So, if you’re looking for cheap and cheerful hosting, HostGator wins. However, it’s not always about the price but the value for money you get. We’ll look at the different features both platforms offer later.
Ease-of-use
When building your website, you want something you can dive right into and start creating content straightaway. After all, nobody wants to spend time using custom code to create a website from the ground up!
HostGator offers a website builder with over 100 mobile-friendly templates, drag-and-drop functionality, and SEO tools.
The downside? This is currently only available for existing customers. While it’s likely that HostGator will replace this with something else in the future, it remains tight-lipped on what the alternative will be.
Squarespace makes it easy to get started with a brand-new website. You can add blocks to your pages with a click of a mouse and use Fluid Engine to line up your designs with laser precision.
Squarespace wins when it comes to ease of use, however we look forward to seeing what HostGator replaces its website builder with!
Features
Both platforms offer similar features so you can create stunning websites your customers will love. For example, both provide eCommerce functionality, blogging tools, and a free year of domain registration (terms and conditions apply.)
Some features are tier-dependent. For example, Squarespace offers unlimited storage across all its plans, while HostGator only offers this on the most expensive tiers.
However, both also offer unique benefits too. For example, as HostGator is a hosting specialist, you can pay for additional hosting features like VPS hosting, which is more secure and offers guaranteed uptime for your website.
Squarespace provides innovative features like appointment scheduling, email marketing, and the ability to create your own courses.
And, of course, you can use Spark Plugin with Squarespace to get access to over 100 awesome customizations that will transform how your site looks and functions!
We’d say Squarespace wins this category, but only just!
Look and design
While HostGator’s website builder does the job, it’s not available to everyone. The look and feel of your site will also depend on the platform you use to create your website, for example, WordPress.
Squarespace is designed for creating gorgeous websites. You get access to just under 200 beautiful professionally-designed templates as part of your package, and you can also use Squarespace Blueprint to design a custom theme using artificial intelligence.
In our opinion, Squarespace wins this one hands-down, as it’s so much easier to create a stunning site yourself!
HostGator vs Squarespace: which is best?
It depends on your goals and what you want to achieve with your website.
With HostGator, the key selling points are price and flexibility. It’s very affordable, has a wide range of plans, and as well as using it to build your own site, it’s compatible with technologies like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
While Squarespace is more expensive, it’s more all-inclusive and is easier to use. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have design skills, you can create a beautiful website in less than ten minutes.
While we love Squarespace at Spark Plugin, it’s easy to see why people are fans of HostGator!
Squarespace vs HostGator FAQ
Do HostGator and Squarespace have free plans?
No – however Squarespace has a free trial, and HostGator offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans.
Can you host multiple websites using the same plan?
You can on HostGator, depending on the plan you choose. While you can manage multiple websites using the same Squarespace account, each site needs its own billing plan.
Do both platforms offer free support?
Yes – both Squarespace and HostGator provide 24/7 customer support if you have any problems or questions.
Are both platforms secure?
Yes – both HostGator and Squarespace have solid security features that will help protect your website, like SSL certificates.
Are there any other alternatives to HostGator and Squarespace?
Yes – depending on your needs or budget there are many different platforms to choose from! Here are some links to our previous comparison articles:
Now that you know the pros and cons of HostGator and Squarespace, which will you use to build and host your website?
