If you are about to choose between HostGator and Squarespace, you must know that these two platforms differ a lot in their functionality and customization. Choosing one over the other certainly depends on your specific requirements.
This article aims to determine the suitability of these two hosts for different website owners. So let’s delve deeper into the HostGator vs Squarespace comparison and check out which is better in each area.
HostGator vs Squarespace: Overview
HostGator is a US-based hosting provider offering shared, VPS, dedicated, and reseller hosting plans for all levels of businesses.
Squarespace is an American company offering website-building tools and hosting solutions for creating beautiful websites in different niches.
Website Builder comparison
HostGator provides you with an easy-to-use website builder with a drag and drop feature. It doesn’t have any content blocks, where the elements you drop fit naturally, so you get complete flexibility in playing with your website design.
The downside of this flexible HostGator builder is that your website elements might overlap since you are free to move them around. You will have to invest extra time to adjust them for the desired output.
Squarespace comes with a drag-and-drop website builder with content blocks allowing automatic snapping of elements in place. You won’t end up overlapping your website elements even if you are a beginner and will, therefore, save time.
The Squarespace builder is quite intuitive and helps you create a beautiful and well-functional website with ease.
The only downside to these content blocks is the restriction to moving your website elements freely. So if you have a specific website design in mind, you might not be able to create it with Squarespace.
Winner: Squarespace is the winner when comparing HostGator vs Squarespace website builder because it is beginner-friendly and intuitive.
Templates and Customization comparison
HostGator offers more than 200 templates with its Gator Website Builder. These are professionally designed but look quite simple.
All HostGator website templates are 100% customizable. So you can select one and play with different elements by adding, deleting, and replacing the existing ones.
Since not everyone has an eye for design, the biggest problem with such basic templates and full customization lies in the result turning out to be an unprofessional-looking website.
Squarespace focuses more on the design aspect and has over a hundred beautifully-designed templates for different website niches. The host allows you to switch your template anytime without losing your website content.
All Squarespace templates are flexible but not 100% customizable. As mentioned above, these templates have content blocks where you can fit different website elements that you like.
This allows you to create a professional-looking website, no matter what level of designing skill you possess.
Winner: Squarespace wins in this category since it allows anyone to create a professional-looking and beautiful website without any experience erstwhile.
Features comparison
HostGator offers SSL certificates, mobile responsiveness, and website analytics. It supports multiple Content Management Systems, including WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. It also allows you to work with two major programming languages, Python and PHP.
Squarespace also offers a free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, and mobile optimization with all its plans. It does not support WordPress or any other CMS since it provides you with an all-in-one website building solution.
The host offers a form builder with Google Docs integration which allows you to manage your contacts and documents easily. It also has an audio block that can be used for a quick submission of your music or podcasts to iTunes.
Additionally, you don’t have to create several versions of your images since Squarespace scales all the images you upload to display optimal images on different devices. This feature greatly reduces your website load time while saving your time in creating different image versions.
Squarespace also allows non-profit organizations to accept donations effortlessly. It is easy to customize email receipts and donation checkouts.
Comparing E-commerce features
HostGator offers basic E-commerce features with all its hosting plans. It helps you with the management of inventory, tax, and shipping calculations.
Squarespace, on the other hand, provides online stores with a complete E-commerce solution. It allows you to sell any number of products, sync your listings with Facebook, recover abandoned carts, calculate shipping and taxes, sell subscription products, tag your items on Instagram, and manage inventory.
Comparing marketing features
HostGator offers free Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools with its Business plan which helps in the better ranking of your website. It offers email marketing features like lead capture forms, a CRM, landing pages, and AI-driven designs with its website builder.
Squarespace includes built-in SEO features with a checklist that can be followed by website owners when creating different web pages. It also offers email and social media integration for easier marketing of your website.
Blogging is an integral part of marketing strategy for many website owners and Squarespace offers a wide variety of blogging tools for your success. It allows you to customize blog post URLs, sort your posts based on different categories, and tag them.
Winner: Squarespace wins in this category too with so many unique features on offer. On the other hand, the features offered by HostGator are available with all other hosts too.
Pricing comparison
The smallest plan from HostGator costs $2.75 per month when you pay for 3 years upfront. This price might seem more when compared with Namecheap, but HostGator is more reliable and offers additional features comparatively.
HostGator offers a 45-day money-back guarantee that will help you try out its services without any risk.
Squarespace offers its lowest plan at $14 per month when paid annually. For unlocking the E-commerce features, you will have to go with a larger plan costing $23 per month.
Squarespace offers a free trial of 14 days to all its new customers, so you can try the platform without making any upfront payment.
Winner: HostGator wins in the price category since it allows you to create a website at a much more affordable price than Squarespace.
Customer Support comparison
HostGator provides 24/7 support to its customers via phone, email, and live chat. The host has a knowledgeable and friendly team that is ready to solve your problems at all times.
HostGator also has a knowledge base that helps you find answers to the most common queries.
Squarespace, on the other hand, offers 24/7 support only via email. Live chat is closed on weekends and available for some fixed hours on other days. The host explicitly mentions that it doesn’t offer any phone support.
Like HostGator, Squarespace also has created a knowledge base that is well-arranged into different categories for finding solutions to your issues quickly.
Winner: HostGator wins this round with its instant availability round the clock.
HostGator vs Squarespace – A complete picture
| Basis | HostGator | Squarespace | Winner |
| Establishment | 2002 | 2004 | |
| What is it? | A host offering Shared, VPS, dedicated, and reseller hosting plans. | A website builder and host, providing solutions for creating websites with ease. | |
| Website builder | Easy and fully flexible, but time-consuming and not beginner-friendly. | Easy, intuitive, time-saving, and beginner-friendly, but not fully flexible. | Squarespace |
| Templates and customization | Good variety, simple designs, and 100% customizable, but can lead to the creation of an unprofessional and non-SEO-friendly website. | Good variety for different niches, and beautiful designs that lead to the creation of professional-looking and SEO-friendly websites, but not 100% customizable. | Squarespace |
| Features | It offers basic E-commerce, marketing, and general features. It also supports multiple CMS and two major programming languages. | It offers almost all the general features offered by HostGator plus advanced E-commerce and marketing features. Additionally, you will find many unique features with Squarespace. | Squarespace |
| Pricing | HostGator shared hosting plans start at $2.75 per month and you will receive a 45-day money-back guarantee with all its plans. | The cheapest Squarespace plan costs $14 per month and you will receive a 14-day free trial offer that can be availed of without any upfront payment. | HostGator |
| Customer support | It has a good knowledge base and offers 24/7 support via phone, email, and live chat. | It also has a well-arranged knowledge base but offers 24/7 support only via email. Live chat is available on weekdays for a fixed number of hours. | HostGator |
Conclusion
Though HostGator and Squarespace are very different platforms, Squarespace wins the battle between the two when we look at the different aspects we covered above.
HostGator is best suitable for advanced users who want to have full control over their website functionality and design. It is also a great platform to build a website when you have a limited budget.
Squarespace is best suitable for beginners and those website owners who do not want to get into the nitty-gritty of designing a website. You can create a beautiful, well-functioning, and SEO-friendly website in a few minutes with the design tools offered by Squarespace.
FAQ (frequently asked questions)
Is HostGator better than Squarespace?
No, HostGator offers lesser features than Squarespace and isn’t a good option for beginners. HostGator might be cheaper but Squarespace offers good value for money to all website owners and especially, online businesses.
Can you use HostGator with Squarespace?
No, you cannot use another hosting with Squarespace since the platform requires you to use its servers for hosting your website. However, you can use a domain purchased from HostGator and connect it to your Squarespace website.
Can you host a Squarespace site on HostGator?
No, Squarespace does not allow hosting of your website elsewhere, so it is impossible to host a Squarespace site on HostGator.
Is it possible to transfer a domain from HostGator to Squarespace?
Yes, it is possible to transfer your HostGator domain to Squarespace quite easily.