Picking the wrong website hosting provider has consequences at the risk of security for sensitive data and complicated interfaces. This can make web hosting and creating a website from the ground up a daunting task.
When it comes to website hosting and design, two of the most popular choices are Bluehost and Squarespace. Both services have become hugely popular in recent years as people look for easy-to-use tools to build their online presence.
Through my years of experience with web hosting and designing, I’ve extensively tested Bluehost vs. Squarespace to identify and compare the advantages and disadvantages.
Bluehost is typically used for web hosting and provides a simple web-building tool that can create simple designs. On the other hand, Squarespace’s intuitive all-in-one website builder makes website construction easy-going, even for those who are just getting started.
The Tweak Your Biz team and I have tested and reviewed data on the programs to compare the similarities and differences to evaluate which excels. In this review, we looked at both web hosting providers based on specific criteria, such as services, prices, and features, and determined which is the best web host overall.
How Did We Test Bluehost & Wix?
Tweak Your Biz only uses the highest testing standard with the most trusted software. We rely on lab testing and data instead of our objective point of view.
During our tests, we set up two staging sites hosted on Bluehost and Squarespace to measure the results in the following areas:
- Ease of use
- Pricing & Value
- Help & Support
- Website Security
- Performance & Speed
- Hosting Types & Website-Building Features
Our Winner: Bluehost
When comparing Bluehost and Squarespace, there is a clear winner. Bluehost offers a more comprehensive range of services and features, making it one of the best website hosting services on the market today.
With unlimited disk space and bandwidth, plus additional support services such as domain registration, Google Adwords credit, and 24/7 customer service, Bluehost provides users with everything they need to get their websites up and running quickly and easily.
What is Bluehost Web Hosting?
Bluehost web hosting company is proven to provide reliable, secure, and fast web hosting solutions for businesses of all sizes. They have been in business since 2003 and currently host over 2 million websites, and continue to innovate web hosting software.
What is Bluehost?
Bluehost offers various web hosting services to meet the needs of its customers, including:
- WordPress hosting
- Online store hosting
- Dedicated server plans
- Virtual private servers (VPS)
The infrastructure powered by nationwide data centers takes advantage of cutting-edge technologies like SSDs and LiteSpeed caching for quick loading times.
Bluehost utilizes several system backup generators and four UPS lags of power supply to guarantee security from unexpected outages.
Every two weeks, Bluehost does rigorous tests and routine maintenance on its servers to ensure customers receive the most reliable experience possible. For more information, read our Bluehost review here!
Bluehost Features
Bluehost’s wide range of web hosting plans and features provide customers with reliable and secure performance. The 24/7 customer support is helpful with troubleshooting, and the stable uptime guarantees peace of mind.
Here is a list of Bluehost features:
- SSL encryption
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Free domain for the first year on beginner plans
- Ability to host unlimited websites on one account
- 10 to 100GB storage space on various hosting plans
- Easy-to-navigate cPanel interface & intuitive dashboard
What is Squarespace Website Builder?
Squarespace is an all-in-one content management system (CMS) that can create and customize modern websites with an intuitive interface.
With Squarespace, you can customize your design to fit any brand, from blogs and portfolios to eCommerce stores. The ability to host content and register for a domain name is a no-brainer for new users.
What is Squarespace?
Squarespace offers an extensive range of mobile-responsive templates and design elements to help you create the perfect website for your business niche or personal blog.
They provide users with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that includes all features needed to craft and host a stunning site.
The built-in SEO tools get your site to the top search results, and Squarespace offers in-depth analytics for website traffic and market demand.
With Squarespace, there is no coding experience necessary. Anyone can create an impressive design without complex programming languages, it’s a game-changer.
Squarespace Features
Squarespace is an intuitive and uniquely designed software with features to help you create a beautiful website in no time.
Here is a list of features Squarespace provides:
- Business tools
- E-commerce tools
- Acclaimed customizable templates
- Music and video integration
- Extensions to third-party apps & tools
- Social media integration & Marketing connections
Bluehost Vs. Squarespace: Showdown
Bluehost and Squarespace provide users with services for launching a website for beginners and experts alike.
Bluehost is known for its affordability and web hosting that lays the foundation for a website. Bluehost offers web hosting options that link to Squarespace, domain name registration, and dedicated servers to meet user needs.
On the other hand, Squarespace is a bit pricier while providing users with an impressive suite of tools that make creating beautiful websites quick and fun for beginners. It helps manage websites efficiently and keeps them professionally organized.
In this section, the Tweak Your Biz team and I rated and reviewed Bluehost vs. Squarespace to help you consider which is best for you based on our expertise and results!
Hosting Types & Features
Winner: Bluehost
Bluehost is the superior choice over Squarespace when selecting the ideal web hosting platform, thanks to its unrivaled performance, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.
Bluehost’s compatibility with Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress makes it an incredibly versatile website-building option, allowing users to create and customize their websites effortlessly.
Bluehost
Bluehost is a popular web hosting provider that offers various hosting types to fit the needs of businesses and individuals alike.
The company offers shared, WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting packages with features such as unlimited storage, unlimited domains per account, free domain name registration, an easy-to-use website control panel, and 24/7 customer support.
Bluehost also has a range of security tools, including malware scanning, daily backups, and SSL certificates. These features make it simple for users to create secure websites quickly and hassle-free. Bluehost provides additional services, such as SEO optimization tools and email accounts, for an all-in-one solution.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a web hosting platform that offers a range of hosting types and features to suit the needs of any user. Their shared hosting plans provide customers with fast and reliable servers, unlimited traffic and storage, daily backups, and 24/7 customer support.
For those with more significant sites or more demanding requirements, they offer managed VPS hosting plans which go beyond the basics to provide more control over your site and higher performance and scalability. Squarespace also supports custom domains and third-party services, like email accounts and SSL certificates.
Their CMS allows for accessible website building with drag-and-drop templates, a wide selection of widgets, an intuitive interface, and a library of themes. Additionally, Squarespace offers an e-commerce platform with powerful tools for selling products online, from payment processing to taxes and shipping, allowing users to create an entire online store in minutes.
Performance
Winner: Bluehost
Bluehost ranks our top pick for performance by delivering quick web page loading times and reasonable server response rates in dedicated hosting plans.
Bluehost
Bluehost is renowned for its industry-leading performance. This is due to their use of cutting-edge technology to provide a reliable, fast, and secure web hosting service. Their servers are powered by the latest Intel Xeon processors and cache technologies that allow sites to load quickly.
Additionally, they offer SSD storage solutions that give an even faster performance to websites hosted on the platform. Bluehost also provides caching services that improve speeds and reduce page loading times. These features combine to create a highly efficient hosting service with optimal performance.
Squarespace
Squarespace has reliable performance. The company focuses heavily on ensuring its websites are always up to date and running smoothly, with no downtime or slow loading times.
Squarespace has invested in powerful servers and cloud infrastructure to ensure the highest levels of performance and speed across all its sites. This ensures consistent performance regardless of how many visitors your website receives at any given time.
Additionally, Squarespace runs a comprehensive network of geographically-distributed CDNs to provide fast, localized loading times anywhere in the world. With 24/7 monitoring and support from a team of experts, you can rest assured that your website will always be delivered quickly and accurately to your visitors.
Uptime
Winner: Tie
Both Bluehost and Squarespace offer a reliable web hosting service with guaranteed uptime. Squarespace can provide a stable platform that allows businesses and individuals to sell content and keep up with analytics. However, Bluehost can be smoother for sustaining lots of people coming in often.
Bluehost
Bluehost boasts a reasonably impressive uptime record, ensuring consistent and reliable service for its clients. With a 99.99% uptime guarantee, Bluehost ensures its user’s websites are always up and running 24/7.
Their state-of-the-art servers and hardware are constantly monitored by an experienced team of engineers committed to providing a reliable hosting platform. Additionally, being powered by solid-state drives (SSDs) enables Bluehost to deliver a fast and efficient hosting service which sets itself apart from Squarespace.
The combination of resources and databases around the globe supports Bluehost in offering a stable platform for businesses and individuals to host their websites. As a result, user experience and customer satisfaction will be enhanced for businesses.
Squarespace
Using state-of-the-art network infrastructure, Squarespace can also provide 99.99% uptime to all its customers, ensuring their websites stay online and accessible at all times.
Squarespace’s robust and secure server architecture is designed to withstand high traffic spikes, meaning that even if a website experiences an unusually large surge of internet visitors, the site will remain online with no disruption in service.
The company’s impressive record of reliable service has been bolstered by technological advancements such as geographically distributed data centers and real-time monitoring tools that enable them to detect potential issues before they can cause downtime.
Speed
Winner: Bluehost
When it comes to speed, Bluehost takes the lead. Bluehost is powered by its VPS technology, ensuring that all websites hosted on their servers run as fast and efficiently as possible.
Bluehost
Bluehost is known for its high-speed hosting services, with speeds that are up to 20x faster than other leading competitors. With Bluehost, you can rest assured that visitors worldwide will load your website quickly and reliably.
In addition, Bluehost’s servers have been optimized for speed, considering factors such as caching technologies, image optimization, and data compression for maximum performance.
With a high-performance network backbone and servers located in major data centers around the globe, Bluehost can also provide excellent uptime and response times for web applications.
Squarespace
Squarespace is known for having one of the fastest websites on the market. From page loading to page transitions, Squarespace prioritizes speed to provide users with a positive experience.
With its cloud-based hosting solutions and domain name servers located worldwide, Squarespace can give users lightning-fast speeds no matter where they access their sites from.
Additionally, with CDNs and global load balancing strategies in place, Squarespace can reduce page loading time by up to 50%. As such, web designers and developers have come to rely on the platform’s fast speeds for creating successful online projects.
Stress Testing
Winner: Bluehost
When it comes to stress testing, Bluehost takes the lead again. Bluehost’s servers are designed for high-end performance and can handle large traffic without causing disruption or downtime.
Bluehost
Bluehost’s commitment to regular stress testing reflects its dedication to delivering exceptional services, bolstering its position as a provider that prioritizes customer satisfaction.
As a result, Bluehost consistently meets the dynamic demands of the digital landscape.
This testing process involves simulating an exceptionally high volume of traffic, thereby pushing the platform’s capacities to their limits to:
- Maintain seamless functionality
- Manage multiple server requests
- Evaluate its ability to withstand surges of users
This robust method allows Bluehost to identify and rectify any vulnerabilities in their infrastructure, ensuring their client’s websites experience minimal downtime and consistently maintain peak performance.
Squarespace
Squarespace emphasizes stress testing to ensure top-tier performance for websites created through its services.
By conducting stringent stress tests, Squarespace identifies and fixes potential weaknesses to offer a reliable user experience.
The company’s stress testing continually enhances infrastructure capabilities to evaluate algorithms, server capacity, and overall responsiveness systematically.
Ease of Use
Winner: Squarespace
Squarespace offers a user-friendly interface with intuitive design features, making it easier for users to create visually appealing websites with ease compared to Bluehost’s more complex coding framework.
Bluehost
Although Bluehost provides an integrated website builder, it still requires the user to possess a certain level of technical knowledge to navigate through its hosting plans, domain setups, and installation processes. Additionally, Bluehost also requires users to integrate and navigate various third-party tools like WordPress to build a website.
Squarespace
Squarespace is widely known for its user-friendly design, making it easy to create attractive, professional-looking websites without any coding knowledge. The drag-and-drop interface allows users to easily customize their site, selecting from various templates and design options.
Additionally, Squarespace’s live preview feature shows users how the website looks in real-time as they make changes. This makes it simple to tweak and optimize the website until it meets the desired aesthetic.
Pricing & Value
Winner: Bluehost
Bluehost offers the most value for money when compared to Squarespace. Its dedicated hosting plans offer more disk and bandwidth space than many of Squarespace’s premium plans at a more cost-effective price.
Bluehost
Bluehost offers 12-month plans and 36-month pricing plans for their users.
Bluehost’s 12-month pricing plans:
- Basic: $2.95/month
- Choice Plus: $5.45/month
- Online Store: $9.95/month
- Pro: $13.95/month
Bluehost’s 36-month pricing plans:
- Basic: $4.95/month
- Choice Plus: $7.45/month
- Online Store: $12.95/month
- Pro: $18.95/month
Additionally, free CDN is available across all of Bluehost’s plans which benefits online businesses and sellers by ensuring the content is accessible to their end users. CDN has proactive benefits like transparent caching, load balancing across multiple CDNs, and analytics to track performance.
Bluehost delivers superior value for money while offering one-click WordPress installation and commitment to maintaining fast and reliable website performance to augment the user experience. These factors cement Bluehost as the victor in pricing and value when stacked against Squarespace.
Squarespace
Squarespace also offers monthly and annual pricing plans for its users.
Squarespace annual rates include:
- Personal: $16/month
- Business: $23/month
- Commerce Basic: $27/month
- Commerce Advanced: $49/month
Squarespace monthly rates include:
- Personal: $23/month
- Business: $33/month
- Commerce Basic: $36/month
- Commerce Advanced: $65/month
Although there is an increase in Squarespace’s prices, it can be a good trade-off with their intuitive and stunning templates. Fully customizable and designed for niches like blogging, e-commerce, and portfolios.
I recommend Bluehost as a web hosting provider and Squarespace when you are looking for brand-building and award-winning design elements.
Website Security
Winner: Tie
Bluehost and Squarespace share the top spot for website security, providing their users with exceptional protection and safe online experiences. Both companies emphasize safeguarding their customers’ data and websites against potential threats.
Bluehost
This web hosting giant adheres to stringent privacy regulations and has a transparent privacy policy. As a result, dedication to upholding user trust and data privacy.
You can shield your website from potential cyber threats with Bluehost’s built-in security features that include:
- Daily backups
- Free SSL certificates
- Constant network surveillance
Bluehost’s free security tool, SiteLock, automatically scans for and removes malware or vulnerabilities on a client’s website.
Bluehost’s diligent website security and privacy showcase a comprehensive and advanced framework. This framework provides an unparalleled safe, secure hosting experience for its users.
Squarespace
Squarespace consistently updates its platform and website templates to adhere to contemporary security standards and promptly addresses potential vulnerabilities via regular software updates.
Squarespace implements a robust security infrastructure that includes:
- SSL certificates
- DDoS protection
- Regular security patches
- Transport Layer Security (TLS)
This encryption technology ensures that all sensitive information exchanged between the website and its visitors remains secure, fostering a trusted online environment.
Help & Support
Winner: Tie
Bluehost and Squarespace are both dedicated to providing their customers with the highest level of support, making the support process more accessible and efficient.
Bluehost
Bluehost is known for providing excellent help and support to its customers.
They offer a help center that serves as a centralized hub for many helpful resources, including:
- Video tutorials
- Community forums
- Extensive knowledge base
All are aimed at empowering users with the latest information and best practices. Bluehost also provides 24/7 customer service with knowledgeable technicians to answer questions or address issues via live chat or by phone during scheduled hours.
With so many technical and non-technical assistance options, Bluehost makes it easy for customers to get the help they need quickly.
Squarespace
Squarespace’s help and support are second to none. Their team of experts is available 24/7 to ensure you have all the assistance you need to make the most of their platform.
All customers have access to an extensive library of online resources, video tutorials, and a dedicated Help Center with a range of self-service options. Plus, there is live chat, phone, and email support for any questions or technical issues that may arise.
Furthermore, Squarespace also has specialized training sessions for those who want to up their game and take control of their website design. With such a wealth of help and support available at your disposal, Squarespace truly goes above and beyond to equip its customers with the tools they need for success.
Website Migration
Winner: Tie
Both Bluehost and Squarespace provide users with an automated website migration process and a team of experts to help safely transfer their data.
Bluehost
Bluehost offers website migration services to help customers transition from their current hosting provider to Bluehost’s servers.
Their migration service is free and involves the transferring of information such as:
- Files
- Website data
- Databases
- Email accounts
The service is fast and secure, so you can trust that your site will be transitioned safely and quickly.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a platform that makes it easy to move your existing website content over to its platform. It offers website migration tools, which help you quickly and easily transfer the contents of your old website into Squarespace.
Squarespace website migration involves a comprehensive process of transferring all essential components, such as:
- Design
- Content
- SEO settings
- Domain configurations
Additionally, if you have existing domain names or email accounts associated with your original website, the migration tool will help set up your new site successfully with all these accounts intact.
With the click of a button, Squarespace can make it easy for anyone to move their websites from one platform to another without any coding knowledge required.
Website Builders
Winner: Squarespace
Squarespace is the winner of the best website builder. It stands out from its competitors due to its simple yet powerful platform, giving users the ability to create and manage a professional website with ease.
Bluehost
Bluehost’s website builder tool allows users to create a website with drag-and-drop options easily. They offer hundreds of professionally designed templates, so there is something for everyone, no matter the industry.
Additionally, it is incredibly user-friendly and can be used by those without coding experience. With the Bluehost website builder, users can access eCommerce tools like an online store, PayPal support, and SEO tools that help promote the site.
Plus, all websites created with this tool are mobile responsive, meaning they will look great on any device.
Squarespace
Squarespace is well known for its website builder. It includes various features that make creating your site easy and enjoyable. The platform has multiple templates that can be customized to fit your specific needs.
Squarespace also provides a drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for even novice users to create stunning websites. You can also add elements such as contact forms and photo galleries quickly and easily.
One powerful feature is integrating with external applications, allowing you to sync other platforms, such as social media accounts, directly with your site. In addition, Squarespace offers regular updates and improvements designed to help you keep up with the latest trends in web design.
With Squarespace’s website builder, you have everything you need to create a professional and engaging website that will help draw in more customers or followers.
Alternatives to Bluehost
If you don’t think Bluehost is the right web host for your business, plenty of great alternative hosting providers exist.
Hostinger
Hostinger is an excellent alternative to Bluehost for those looking for a reliable and affordable web hosting provider. It offers various plans designed to fit the needs of any website, from small hobby sites to large e-commerce stores.
The company provides fast and secure hosting with:
- 99.9% uptime
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Storage space for all types of websites
Hostinger also provides 24/7 customer support, a free domain name with new purchases, and a 30-day money-back guarantee if unsatisfied with their services. Additionally, the platform boasts an easy-to-use interface that makes setting up your website simple.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is a popular web hosting provider that has existed since 2003. It offers many features and services, including shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated servers, cloud hosting, reseller hosting, and more.
A2 Hosting is particularly well-known for its Turbo servers which provide up to 20x faster page loading speeds than regular shared hosting plans. Additionally, A2 Hosting offers a money-back guarantee, meaning you can get your money back if unsatisfied with their services.
They also have 24/7 support and award-winning customer service via live chat and email and access to multiple data centers across the globe.
Alternatives to Squarespace
For those not interested in Squarespace’s services, these are some alternatives users can choose from.
Wix
Wix is an innovative website-building platform that offers a variety of tools and services for businesses to create and manage their online presence. Its website builder is visual-based, allowing users to create beautiful and responsive websites without any coding experience rapidly.
Wix offers various integrations with third-party applications such as Google Maps, PayPal, MailChimp, Google AdWords, and more. The platform also includes basic SEO features to help you find your website on search engines.
Its powerful blog manager helps you easily create and publish blog posts on your site. In addition, Wix boasts a plethora of advanced features like e-commerce capabilities, an App Market with hundreds of apps to choose from, and a library of royalty-free images to make your site stand out from the competition.
Weebly
Weebly is an excellent alternative to Squarespace, providing a powerful drag-and-drop website builder that’s easy to use. Weebly is also popular due to its affordability, as creating a professional-looking website without spending much money is possible.
It offers basic, business, and performance plans with different features and benefits. Weebly also allows access to powerful analytics to track visits and pageviews from the dashboard.
With more than 500 templates available, finding one that fits your needs is easy. Additionally, Weebly has an impressive selection of apps and plugins for extending its functionality.
Conclusion
It is clear that Bluehost and Squarespace are excellent options for web hosting or website building. Both solutions provide reliable performance and customer service, but the differences in features and pricing make it necessary to assess which would suit you carefully.
Although, Bluehost offers more hosting options and flexibility for a more personalized user experience while providing exceptional value for money. However, the choice ultimately depends on your individual needs.
Therefore, it is essential to consider your particular requirements before deciding. By objectively weighing up all the pros and cons of each solution, you should be able to find the right one for you with relative ease.
Have you tried Bluehost or Squarespace? Do you have any questions about our Bluehost vs. Squarespace review? Let us know in the comments below!
