Squarespace vs Wix Pricing: The Transaction-Fee Trap

Squarespace vs Wix pricing is usually compared as $29 against $29 — and that comparison is wrong for every digital seller, because Squarespace Basic takes 2% of store sales and Core takes 5% of digital and membership sales, while Wix takes 0% on every tier. Run your store through our free Squarespace vs Wix cost calculator: on 1 site at Core vs Core with $2,000 a month in sales ($500 digital), Wix costs $29 a month and Squarespace costs $54 — a $900 gap over 3 years.

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Why Subscription Comparisons Lie

Both builders list Core at $29 a month on annual billing, so a subscription comparison reports a tie and stops there. But Squarespace's fee line is a percentage of your sales, not a flat rate: it grows with revenue, while Wix's $0 fee line stays flat forever. A store doing $500 a month in digital sales pays $25 a month in Squarespace fees on top of the subscription; a store doing $5,000 a month in digital sales pays $250. The subscription is the smallest line on the quote once sales scale — and the only line that grows.

Squarespace's Pricing, Line by Line

Squarespace on annual billing, October 2026, per site: Basic $19, Core $29, Plus $49, Advanced $99. Basic charges 2% on all store sales; Core charges 5% on digital content and membership sales only (physical sales are exempt); Plus and Advanced charge 0% platform fees. Card processing (about 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) applies on top through Stripe or PayPal on both builders, so it is excluded from this comparison — it pads both totals equally and hides the platform gap.

Wix's Pricing, Line by Line

Wix on annual billing, per site: Light $17, Core $29, Business $39, Business Elite $159. Light is a brochure-site plan; Core is the first plan that sells properly; Business adds advanced ecommerce; Business Elite is the high-volume tier. Wix charges no platform transaction fee on any tier — the subscription is the whole platform cost. Wix notes its prices vary by location, so non-US buyers should check their local pricing page; the fee structure (0% vs Squarespace's percentages) does not change with currency.

The Fee Line: Where Plus Pays for Itself

Core's fee exceeds the $20 subscription jump to Plus at $400 a month in digital sales (5% of $400 = $20). Above that volume, Plus ($49, 0% fees) is cheaper than Core ($29 + fees) despite the higher subscription — and above $1,000 a month in digital sales, Core costs $79 all-in against Wix Core at $29. A digital seller who never does this arithmetic pays the fee for years; a seller who does it switches to Plus or to Wix at the $400 threshold.

When Each One Wins

Wix wins on total cost for digital and membership sellers at almost any volume, and for multi-site businesses (the subscription multiplies per site on both, but only Squarespace adds fees on top). Squarespace ties for physical-only stores, where Core's fee is $0, and wins on design templates for some brands. The deciding factors in order: your site count, your digital sales, and your plan tier — in that order, not the $29 headline.