As you research the logistics of building a blog, WordPress and Squarespace are probably two Content Management Services that will come up a lot. It’s not easy to choose between the two without firsthand experience using them. However, reading these reasons why WordPress works better for blogging should help settle the WordPress vs. Squarespace debate.

1. More Themes

A theme gives your blog more visual appeal, which could increase the time that readers spend there. Whereas Squarespace has more than 100 — known as templates — WordPress offers far more than that. 

A marketing company published the results of an independent study in May 2020 to take a closer look at the totals. It found 31,010 WordPress themes to consider. More than 200 companies identified in the research specialized in theme creation, meaning more options become available all the time. 

With WordPress you can customize every single part of your website. It will look unique and work for your specific needs.

2. An Open-Source Choice

WordPress is an open-source option, whereas Squarespace is not. What does this mean for you as a blogger?

An open-source system gives you full visibility to see the code and tweak it to customize your website. Although you don’t need extensive coding knowledge to work with WordPress, its open-source nature offers more flexibility.

As we said above, this also means everything is customizable. You can find a way to build something you would like to see.

3. Popularity With Bloggers

Statistics indicate that WordPress users publish approximately 70 million new posts each month. Along with that, people submit about 77 million comments on WordPress sites monthly. 

Squarespace doesn’t offer similar statistics for comparison, but it’s important to remember that WordPress got its start as an option for bloggers. That long history means you can find plenty of books and websites solely dedicated to bringing your blog to WordPress. You’re in good company when using this platform. 

There is also a huge community of people who use the platform. This means that you can go to WordCamps, meetups, or even Twitter and Slack to get help with any problems you might have.

4. A Huge Number of Third-Party Tools

Another topic that will likely come up during the WordPress vs. Squarespace debate is whether you can use third-party additions to boost your site’s functionality. Both platforms allow that. WordPress calls them plugins, and they’re extensions on Squarespace. 

WordPress boasts 56,846 free plugins and counting. Squarespace — on the other hand — offers about 25 extensions. Most of those relate to shipping, e-commerce and marketing. The WordPress options are substantially broader. You can add maps, SEO helpers, and social buttons for a start. 

5. More Organic Traffic

Search engine optimization is probably another priority for you as a blogger. One investigation involved looking at 1.8 million WordPress sites and the same number of options made on Squarespace. The goal was to determine whether one achieved better SEO metrics than the other. 

One finding showed that 45.5% of WordPress websites get monthly search traffic, compared to only 15.1% of those created on Squarespace. About 8.1% of WordPress sites got at least 100 organic visits per month, but only 1.6% of Squarespace sites achieved that outcome. 

There are also WordPress plugins that can help you optimize your SEO even further.

6. Auto-Save and Content Revisions Available

No matter when you started blogging, you’ve probably had more than a few cases where you lost content — or at least feared you did. WordPress has a default setting that saves your writing every 60 seconds. That means there’s no chance of working hours on a post that disappears due to an internet blip. WordPress also stores past versions and lets you see revisions made over time. 

Squarespace does not currently offer comparable features to backup or review past versions of content. It does offer some options for trying to recover lost material, such as checking the Squarespace trashcan or using a third-party tool to look for cached versions of a page. 

The WordPress vs. Squarespace Breakdown

This list gives some of the main reasons why it’s smart to choose WordPress over Squarespace for your blogging needs.

WordPress is more customizable and is backed by a community who is ready to help you at any minute.