GoDaddy vs. Squarespace vs. Shopify
GoDaddy or Squarespace or Shopify?
Shopify offers an intuitive store editor, more ways to sell, and fast loading speed to help you efficiently run a hosted online store.
Try Shopify free for 3 days, no credit card required. By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from Shopify.
Why choose Shopify over GoDaddy and Squarespace
| Key features | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| 24/7 support | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Sell online and in-store | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Business capital | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Custom domain | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| SEO features | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Hosting | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Sell worldwide | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Multi-currency support | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Mobile-friendly | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Fraud protection | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Integrated checkout | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Integrated fulfillment network | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Email marketing tools | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| App Store | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
| Mobile app for merchants | GoDaddy | Squarespace | Shopify |
Start selling with Shopify today
Try Shopify for free, and explore all the tools and services you need to start, run, and grow your business.
7 things Shopify can do vs. GoDaddy and Squarespace
Build with ease
GoDaddy and Squarespace both offer drag-and-drop store editing. However, GoDaddy’s website builder lacks some depth, while Squarespace online stores require a solution to make changes easily. In contrast, Shopify’s intuitive store editor allows you to work on sections that make it easy to build an online store. You can move around sections for images, products, and more until your website looks exactly how you imagined. Then, hit Save to implement the layout.
Add new functionality
When comparing GoDaddy vs. Squarespace, you’ll find that neither offers as many apps for expanding the functionality of your website as Shopify. GoDaddy lacks an app store, forcing users to rely on the platform’s existing features. Squarespace offers just over 20 extensions. Shopify’s app store boasts over 6,000 apps (3,000 of which are free) representing countless feature possibilities—ranging from social proof to pop-ups to loyalty points program to photo reviews and more.
Run email campaigns
One of the differences between GoDaddy vs. Squarespace is that Squarespace comes with an integrated email marketing feature. However, Squarespace requires you to sign up for one of its email campaign pricing plans, which start from $7 USD/month, to send emails to customers. By comparison, Shopify’s built-in email marketing feature lets you send up to 2,500 emails each month for free. Shopify Email also offers performance tracking and ready-made templates that save you time.
Sell on trending channels
GoDaddy and Squarespace allow you to sell your products on the most common sales channels, like Instagram and Facebook. Shopify, on the other hand, lets you publish your products on these channels, as well as on other popular platforms like Pinterest, TikTok, Google, and more. Shopify users can even promote their items on Walmart and Amazon. By connecting each channel to Shopify, you can keep track of your items, customers, and orders in one place.
Accept various payments
Compared to Shopify, GoDaddy and Squarespace’s payment options are few and far between. While GoDaddy integrates with over 40 payment processors, it doesn’t offer any proprietary channels for processing payments. Squarespace has only three gateways for accepting payments. When it comes to Shopify, you get over 100 payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, and more. Shopify also has its own proprietary gateway called Shopify Payments that supports most major payment options with no transaction fee.
Edit code without restrictions
GoDaddy doesn’t offer a direct way to apply CSS to an entire page. With Squarespace, you can edit the CSS for your store’s theme, but you’ll need to use the Developer mode plus a third-party tool like Git to edit the raw HTML. Shopify is the only platform of the three that gives you direct access to your theme’s code with the ability to edit your CSS and HTML. You can choose to modify the code yourself or work with a developer to customize your store’s design.
Fast site speed
Shopify is committed to making sure your website loads quickly by compressing your images to WebP format. You can also access your store’s speed report from your Shopify admin to find opportunities to make it even faster.
Why merchants choose Shopify over GoDaddy vs. Squarespace
Reliable hosting
Shopify’s hosting is fast and reliable. With Shopify, your website is hosted on cloud servers situated around the globe to help provide you with the best connection, speed, and uptime.
Unlimited bandwidth
Shopify offers bandwidth to every merchant on any plan. With Shopify, you can both upload and download all the data and files you require, with no restrictions or time limits. This makes Shopify a great choice for merchants carrying large inventories.
Shipping selection
Shopify allows you to choose your shipping provider based on where you sell most of your items or which company offers the best rates. Shopify has carrier partnerships that let you get discounted rates for your shipping labels.
First-party POS
Shopify comes with an integrated point-of-sale system. It unifies all your in-store and online sales in one place so you can measure your business performance. With Shopify POS, you can accept returns and exchanges, ship online orders to customers, and more.
Ability to sell internationally
As Shopify expands its footprint around the globe, it’s also expanding its features for selling products in specific markets. One example is the ability to display prices in local currencies. Another is the availability of Shopify apps that let you sell like a local via channels like WeChat and Telegram.
Marketing tools for growth
Shopify offers several marketing functions to help boost your sales, from built-in SEO features to social media selling to email marketing. You can also track your campaign performance and gain actionable insights to improve your efforts over time, all within Shopify.
High-grade security
Shopify takes merchant security quite seriously. All Shopify plans come with credit-card and anti-fraud protection features that help you avoid fraudulent chargebacks. Shopify’s platform is also certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant.
We’ve been able to build something in 3 years that a lot of brands haven’t actually gotten to in 10 years.
Learn More About Shopify
Compare Shopify
See how Shopify compares to other platforms
Shopify Community
Learn from business owners on the Shopify forums
Shopify Help Center
Find answers to all your Shopify questions fast
Start selling with Shopify today
Try Shopify for free, and explore all the tools and services you need to start, run, and grow your business.
FAQs
Which is better: GoDaddy or Squarespace?
Squarespace is better than GoDaddy if you’re looking for design flexibility and built-out features. However, GoDaddy is the easier platform, with almost no learning curve and decent templates. If you’re looking to build an online store, Shopify is a great choice. Not only is Shopify easy to use, it also offers a range of exclusive features and professionally built themes. Additionally, the Shopify App Store has over 6,000 integrations and apps to support all functions of your business.
Which is better for ecommerce: GoDaddy or Squarespace?
GoDaddy’s Websites + Marketing builder lets you create a basic online store. However, you get a limited set of features needed to start selling products to consumers. Squarespace is geared toward people working in creative industries. Shopify, on the other hand, was built to facilitate retail and ecommerce operations. Every Shopify feature, integration, and tool focuses on making online and offline selling easier for ambitious merchants.
GoDaddy vs. Squarespace: which has better support?
GoDaddy offers support via phone and live chat, but its support specialists aren’t available 24/7. Squarespace offers live chat support from Monday to Friday, 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. Shopify support is available 24/7, no matter which plan you’re on. You’ll also have access to help docs, webinars, blog posts, and online courses to guide you along the way.
Page last updated: January 24, 2022
What’s the best commerce platform for you?
Learn why thousands of businesses migrate to Shopify every year.