GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: Which Website Builder is Best in 2025

In a digital world, your website is often your first impression — so choosing the right web hosting platform really matters. Whether you’re launching a business, portfolio, or blog, you’ll come across two of the biggest names: GoDaddy and Squarespace.

Both promise to help you stake your claim online, but they take very different approaches. GoDaddy is your go-to if you’re looking for a fast, no-frills setup that won’t break the bank. Think of it as the quick-start option for getting online ASAP. Squarespace, meanwhile, is all about polish. With its sleek templates and rich customization features, it’s built for those who want their site to stand out with a designer’s touch.

Before you decide, let’s break down what sets them apart — and which might be the right fit for your goals.

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GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: Which is better?

Which is the better web hosting solution is a subjective question. Refining the question to which is better for your business allows decision-makers to explore and research why your company is investing in a web hosting solution, and what you expect the web hosting solution to do for your organization.

Before you even begin looking at hosting solutions, you must have a comprehensive list of goals and objectives you want the web hosting solution to solve or improve.

Starting price

$4.99

$16

Features include:

Free trial with limitations

Free trial for 14-days

One website

SSL security

10 GB NVMe storage

Mobile-optimized websites

cPanel control panel

Point of Sale payment processor

Visit GoDaddy

Visit SquareSpace

GoDaddy: Best for small businesses

GoDaddy and Squarespace compete for the same businesses. However, GoDaddy’s niche is better aligned for personal use and small businesses that require a web hosting solution with a shallow or easier learning curve and is affordable. GoDaddy’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface and pre-designed templates are part of the website builder resources that make it easy for users to create websites without coding knowledge.

Go Daddy’s AI-powered features help users create customized website layouts. The AI-powered tool that helps with layout is called GoDaddy Airo. GoDaddy Airo can also generate brand logos and themed email marketing campaigns.

Pros

Easy to use
All-in-one platform
User-friendly interface
Affordable
A broad range of web hosting plans
Free domain registration
Email Hosting

Cons

Aggressive upsells
Limited customization
Hidden costs
Excessive marketing emails
Unexpected charges for auto-renewal
No guaranteed uptime

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Squarespace: Best for branding and design

Squarespace can meet the needs of small to mid-size organizations with its high-quality design features for creating modern websites. Squarespace e-commerce capabilities include inventory management, product variations, and abandoned cart recovery, which is better than GoDaddy’s e-commerce option. Squarespace advanced SEO with built-in features that use SEO elements like sitemaps, meta titles, and descriptions, making website pages easily discoverable.

Pros

Scalability
E-commerce features
Built-in SEO tools
All-in-one platform
Responsive templates
Excellent customer service
User-friendly interface

Cons

Limited customization
Template sharing
Lack of advanced features
Expensive
Third-party plugin limitations
E-commerce limitations
Not suitable for large websites

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GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: Pricing

The GoDaddy starter plan comes with limited features, unlike Squarespace, which has many features that allow businesses to test their web hosting solution using a free trial.

Both web hosting solutions have pros and cons in terms of pricing. GoDaddy is an affordable web hosting solution for a business but lacks the necessary features in the free trial version to test the website builder. Despite Squarespace’s basic web hosting plan costing four times the price of GoDaddy’s starter plan, the 14-day free trial period allows a business to thoroughly test the product because it contains many of the features needed to build a website.

Winner: Tie. GoDaddy wins if affordability and a quick setup are priorities. Squarespace wins if a company can afford to invest in Squarespace and prioritize robust e-commerce features, customization, and quality-designed web pages. Overall, pricing is considered a tie due to different business scenarios that may cause a company to select one product over another.

GoDaddy pricing is affordable for web hosting and domain management, and the plan prices drop more when businesses choose an annual plan. GoDaddy offers more than web hosting and domain management; it also offers email hosting and provides online marketing services.

That said, you have several options for web hosting—basic hosting, WordPress hosting, or VPS. Here are the starting prices and features you might consider when choosing your hosting plan:

Web Hosting Starter: $4.99/month (3-year term)

1 website
10 GB NVMe storage
cPanel control panel
30-day money-back guarantee

Managed WordPress Basic: $7.99/month

1 website
10 GB NVMe storage
GoDaddy Managed WordPress control panel
Free Domain and email
Free SSL certificate (no renewal fees)
30-day money-back guarantee
Routine backups

1 vCPU / 2GB RAM: $8.99/month (3-year term)

1 vCPU core
2 GB RAM
40 GB NVMe SSD Storage
Linux only
cPanel or Plesk available

Note: These are starting prices for the different plans. More features are available in higher tiers.

Visit GoDaddy

Squarespace pricing is more expensive than GoDaddy, and the free 14-day trial plan is loaded with premium features that allow you to test the web hosting solution thoroughly. Squarespace’s free trial includes unlimited bandwidth, a drag-and-drop editor, video hosting, and website metrics.

They don’t offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, but it does offer a 14-day refund for annual subscriptions. Its basic web hosting pricing is based on a yearly contract.

Squarespace pricing plans (on an annual plan) are as follows:

Basic: $16/month

Unlimited bandwidth
Website Builder
Two contributor accounts
SSL security
Basic SEO tools and features
Squarespace AI
Template library
Free domain usage for the first year

Core: $23/month

Comes with basic plan features
Sales funnel analytics and advanced website analytics
Email accounts from Google Workspace
Unlimited contributors
Commerce APIs
Customization options with CSS & JavaScript

Plus: $39/month

Comes with core plan features and tools
Fifty hours of video hosting and storage
API integrations for advanced sales functionality

Advanced: $99/month

Comes with plus plan features and tools
Unlimited video hosting & storage

Visit Squarespace

GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: Performance

GoDaddy and Squarespace are evenly matched in performance, with the same uptime guarantee, speed, and load times. Squarespace focuses more on resource limits to prevent website applications from commandeering IT resources like RAM or CPU usage for long periods. Resource limits also prevent the website from slowing down or crashing.

Winner: GoDaddy, due to its faster loading times and performance for small business websites.

GoDaddy’s performance can meet the processing needs of a small business website or for someone needing a simple website. However, for enterprise-level needs, consider other options.

Squarespace’s strength is not in performance compared to GoDaddy. Its strength is its design flexibility, which is evident in its template library and customization options, which help users create aesthetically pleasing websites. The Squarespace drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to develop customized websites.

GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: General features

GoDaddy and Squarespace use a single all-in-one platform. All web hosting service providers use storage, bandwidth, scalability, and domain management tools to provide website hosting services to companies.

Winner: GoDaddy is the winner for general features due to email hosting and more focus on domain management tools, while Squarespace had no interest in email hosting

While both web hosting solutions may have many of the same features, GoDaddy emphasizes bandwidth, domain management tools, domain registration, email hosting, and domain transfer features.

Squarespace has the same general features as GoDaddy, but the emphasis on certain features is the same in some cases and different in others. Squarespace wants maximum storage, bandwidth, domain registration, domain transfer, and mobile optimization while not being concerned about email hosting.

GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: Integration and compatibility

GoDaddy and Squarespace use integration resources and compatibility options to connect to different software solutions for new or better functionality. They want optimal analytics integration, which was the only feature in this category for GoDaddy that received the highest mark for full functionality.

Winner: Squarespace’s Fluid engine, CRM and business tools, SEO plugins, pre-built integration, and e-commerce compatibility all received the highest points possible, while GoDaddy received much lower points.

While both web hosting solutions may have many of the same features, like e-commerce functionality and pre-built integration, Squarespace focuses more on integration and compatibility. GoDaddy does not use pre-built integration as much as Squarespace uses this feature.

The nickname of the Squarespace drag-and-drop editor is Fluid Engine, and it’s specifically used to create stylish web pages. Users of all skill levels can use the fluid engine to create beautiful websites without coding experience. The AI tools help users build websites with a responsive design. Additionally, the customization options allow users to create unique designs.

GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: Ease of use and support

GoDaddy has a reputation for being the easiest to use for beginners. At the same time, the Squarespace interface is considered very intuitive, though it can be slightly challenging for beginners to learn. GoDaddy uses AI-powered design tools to help users develop websites quickly. Squarespace customization options and extensive features lead to a steeper learning curve for Squarespace users.

Winner: GoDaddy’s drag-and-drop interface allows users to develop websites quickly while using all the AI features available to lessen the learning curve.

GoDaddy provides several features to help users develop effective websites. In addition to AI-powered tools, GoDaddy uses a logo generator that uses AI to help users create logos. GoDaddy Airo helps businesses quickly create an online presence by generating websites, logos, email templates, and social media content, including product descriptions from pictures.

Squarespace is slightly more challenging to use than GoDaddy due to its customization options. The wide range of integration options, including marketing tools, e-commerce features, and social media integration, makes Squarespace more challenging to learn. Both web hosting solutions are dedicated to providing the same customer support and knowledge base information.

However, Squarespace focuses more on technical support than GoDaddy, though it’s not enough to state that Squarespace is easier to use.

GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: Security features

GoDaddy’s investment into security features based on a 100-point scale is 89.2, which is A- or B+. Squarespace security protections are rated as a C+ with a 78.5. The one noted difference is automatic backups, which GoDaddy is fully committed to doing more routinely than Squarespace.

Winner: GoDaddy’s security resources, including routine automatic backups, are implemented at higher levels.

All of GoDaddy’s security features are implemented at good or excellent levels. GoDaddy regularly scans for malware, threats, or any vulnerabilities. SSL certificates provide HTTP encryption, ensuring secure communication between the web server and a web browser. GoDaddy also uses Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and threat protections like Squarespace to help protect web hosting sites.

Squarespace security features are slightly above average and are rated identical to GoDaddy in every security feature except automatic backups. Squarespace automatic backups are rated as subpar, falling below the expected average.

Alternatives to GoDaddy and Squarespace

GoDaddy and Squarespace have several competing web hosting service providers that can provide the same services they provide. Many alternatives were available to replace either of these web hosting solutions. In this article, HostGator and Wix are competing web hosting solutions that can match the performance levels of GoDaddy and Squarespace.

HostGator

HostGator is a solid alternative to GoDaddy. HostGator prices are better than GoDaddy. Additionally, HostGator does not offer a free trial or plan for website hosting, but they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee for the website hosting solutions. HostGator offers discounts on paid plans when companies commit to a year contract.

HostGator features are:

Unmetered bandwidth
99.9% uptime guarantee
cPanel access
24/7 Customer support
Free SSL certificates
One-click installs
Free WordPress/cPanel
Free dedicated IP
Free SEO tools
Free Domain

Visit HostGator

WIX

Wix is another website hosting solution that uses a drag-and-drop editor with various templates to create a professional website without any coding knowledge. Wix offers both free and paid plans. Wix also has a mobile site editor to customize the layout of a business site for a seamless mobile experience. Wix includes the following features:

Drag-and-drop editor
Wide range of templates
Custom domain
Free and paid plans
Mobile site editor
AI tools
Wix studio
Community support

Visit Wix

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Do you need a domain name to host a website?

Yes, a domain name is necessary to host a website. A domain name is analogous to a zip code. Many people may live in the same zip code, similar to businesses’ internet addresses ending in the .com, .edu, .net, or .org extensions, but each business will have a unique internet address.

What else is needed to find a business using a .com or .org domain name?

To get to a specific business website, you must use a Universal Resource Locator (URL) that includes the domain name, the protocol (e.g., https://), and the unique name of the primary page on the website. For example, Wix’s unique business URL address is https://www.com, and GoDaddy’s URL website address is https://www.godaddy.com/en-in. No other business will have these specific website addresses.

How do you get a domain name?

To get a domain name, you must register with businesses called domain registrars that are accredited and approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers (ICANN) to manage and sell domain names. Approved companies are intermediaries between a business and the Domain Name System (DNS).

Some popular registrars are:

HostGator
Bluehost
GoDaddy
Namecheap

There are currently over 2600 active domain registrars that can provide domain names. Businesses can incorporate additional features like email hosting or domain privacy. Companies can register a domain name for 1 to 10 years but must renew it before it expires.

What is the difference between a web server and other servers?

A web server uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), which handles web-related content like Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript. Web servers receive client requests through a web browser, locate the content, and send it back to the client.

Other servers, like an application or database server, will install specific software to fulfill its purpose.

Can a web server send and receive emails?

Yes, the web server will use Mail Transfer Agent software like Microsoft Exchange Server or Postfix configured to send emails using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and receive email using Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).

What does a cPanel do on websites?

cPanels are Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) that help users manage websites. Users can upload files, configure settings, manage files and databases, and create and manage email accounts.

Our review methodology compared pricing, performance, general features, security, integration, and compatibility category by category. All features or functions were measured using a point system or a binary response in each category. Some categories had a slight point difference, meaning no notable difference. If a feature in that category was significant in point differential, then the deciding factor was the feature for either GoDaddy or Squarespace.

Don Hall

Don has worked for the federal government for over 35 years. He successfully transitioned from an aircraft mechanic into the IT career field in 1989. While employed as a federal employee, Don earned a B.S. in Business Information Systems from San Diego State University in 1991.

GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: Which Website Builder is Best in 2025