Bluehost vs Squarespace: Which Should You Choose in 2026?
Squarespace helps you publish quickly in one managed builder. Bluehost with WordPress gives you deeper control over the site you build. Here is how to choose by cost, effort, design, and long-term needs.
Check the Bluehost 50% Discount Offer
The link is an offer, not a guarantee of 50% off every plan. Confirm your eligibility, final bill, and renewal at checkout.
Affiliate disclosure: MentorsReview may earn a commission if you purchase through our Bluehost link, at no additional cost to you. Squarespace does not have an affiliate link in this guide. Our recommendations are based on your use case and the published plan details.
Quick answer
Choose Squarespace if you want a polished brochure site, portfolio, appointment site, or small store with most building tools under one subscription. Choose Bluehost with WordPress if you want to build a content-heavy site, expand features with themes and plugins, or retain more control over your files and hosting. Start by comparing real checkout totals, because old “Bluehost Basic” and “Squarespace Personal” prices from earlier versions of this article no longer describe the current lineup.
Best for speed of setup
Squarespace. Choose a template, edit visually, and publish without separately managing WordPress themes, plugins, or hosting settings.
Best for customization
WordPress on Bluehost. Its themes, plugins, content tools, and access to your site files support more custom workflows, with more work on your side.
What are you actually buying?
Bluehost is the hosting service; WordPress is the separate, open-source software you can use to build the website on that hosting. Your hosting subscription pays for the server and bundled tools. You choose and maintain a theme and plugins, and may need paid extensions for advanced features. You can run WordPress at other hosts too; Bluehost is one option.
Squarespace combines hosting, a visual editor, templates, and built-in site features under its own platform. It takes many technical setup choices out of the launch process. The tradeoff is that the design system and available integrations are governed by Squarespace, and a full platform move can require rebuilding parts of your site.
Bluehost vs Squarespace at a glance
| Decision factor | Bluehost + WordPress | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Hosting plus WordPress; guided tools are available, but you still choose a theme and maintain the site. | Hosted visual builder and templates in one account. |
| Current entry plan | Bluehost Starter; plan features and rates depend on term and offer. | Squarespace Basic; annual and monthly subscriptions available. |
| Design | Wide theme and plugin ecosystem; deeper custom options can take more learning. | Integrated visual editor and curated site designs. |
| Blogging and SEO | Strong content structure and plugin choices; results still depend on content and execution. | Built-in blog and SEO settings suitable for many standard sites. |
| Store | WooCommerce and extensions; possible plugin, maintenance, and payment fees. | Built-in selling on current tiers; commerce and payment fees depend on plan and provider. |
| Support | Bluehost Starter currently advertises 24/7 chat, without phone support on that tier. | Email 24/7 and English live chat on published weekday hours; no phone support. |
| Moving later | WordPress files and database can generally be migrated to another compatible host. | Some content exports; layouts, store pages, style settings, and other content may need rebuilding. |
Pricing: compare a full year, not the monthly headline
The earlier article listed Bluehost at $2.95 and Squarespace at $16 per month without matching the term or confirming a current offer. Bluehost now markets Starter, Business, and eCommerce Essentials. Squarespace markets Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced. Displayed rates can change by region, billing interval, promotion, and taxes. A “$X/month” rate may be billed for a year or longer up front.
A better cost comparison
First-term hosting or site subscription + domain + paid email + necessary themes or extensions + transaction fees + tax gives your first-period cost. For a longer view, add renewal charges, domain renewal, and any recurring tools.
- Select the same 12-month period on both services if available.
- Write down the actual amount due today and the next billing date.
- Check whether your preferred domain extension qualifies for a first-year offer.
- Check email, backup, security, store, and plugin costs you genuinely need.
- If you will sell products, model payment processing and platform fees at your likely sales volume.
Bluehost detail: Starter currently advertises a first-year domain on eligible plans, 10 GB NVMe storage, free SSL, and a trial of professional email. Its publicly displayed sample introductory price is attached to a 36-month term; the specific offer in your checkout may differ. The trial can become a paid email subscription if you keep it.
Squarespace detail: Annual subscriptions may include a domain for the first year; the site begins with a 14-day trial. The Basic tier has commerce transaction fees on top of payment processing charges. Core and above change platform transaction fee treatment, so compare tiers if a store is your main project.
Ease of use: your first afternoon
Starting on Squarespace
Sign up, select a template or design starting point, replace demo text and images, add pages, connect a domain, then publish on a paid plan. The builder, preview, forms, and hosting live in one interface. This is a good match for a photographer, consultant, or local service owner who wants to finish a simple site without managing separate software.
Starting on Bluehost and WordPress
Select a hosting plan and term, register or connect your domain, start WordPress using Bluehost’s setup flow, choose a theme, then build key pages. Set your site title, navigation, contact form, privacy page, permalink format, and backups before launch. It involves more decisions but is attractive if you want to customize publishing, advertising, multilingual content, or specific business workflows later.
Neither process guarantees a finished site in a fixed number of minutes. Your content, images, domain setup, and approval process often take longer than creating the account.
Design and the work behind it
Squarespace offers a controlled visual system. You can adjust layouts, colors, fonts, images, and page sections without hunting for a separate theme. Its consistency helps beginners avoid layout problems. More unusual interactions or integrations may depend on your plan, custom code support, or external services.
WordPress gives you far more theme and plugin choices. A carefully chosen theme can make a professional site without custom development, and a block editor can handle regular pages and posts. Extra flexibility has a cost: plugins can conflict, design systems can become inconsistent, and premium themes or builders can raise your budget. Begin with a lightweight theme and add only tools your site actually uses.
Blogging, SEO, and growing traffic
Both platforms let you create posts, set titles and descriptions, organize content, and connect analytics or search tools. Neither platform makes a page rank by itself. Search performance depends on useful content, clear site structure, internal links, technical health, and competition.
WordPress is particularly useful for a large publication or affiliate site: categories, reusable blocks, custom post types, redirects, and specialized SEO workflows can be added as needed. Squarespace covers the basics with less setup, which can be a benefit if you publish only a few posts a month. For a content business expecting hundreds of articles and many custom integrations, WordPress often makes expansion easier.
Practical tip: Before buying either platform, write down your first ten page and post ideas. If you need only a homepage, services, gallery, testimonials, and contact page, a builder may be enough. If your plan includes multiple editorial categories, comparison tables, and custom content templates, test the WordPress workflow.
Online stores: fees and operating effort
Squarespace’s current Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced plans can sell products, but transaction and digital-product fees vary. Payment processors also charge their own fees. That makes your expected sales volume important: a higher plan may cost more monthly while saving platform fees as sales grow.
On WordPress, WooCommerce offers a broad store ecosystem. The core plugin is free, but paid extensions, a suitable hosting plan, security, payment processing, and maintenance can add to the total. If you need specialized checkout, subscriptions, memberships, or unusual shipping rules, check the relevant WooCommerce extension prices before assuming the WordPress route is cheaper.
For a small catalog: Squarespace can reduce setup work. For a specialized store: WordPress with WooCommerce may give you more choices, but plan for technical care.
Performance, security, and backups
The old draft declared a performance winner without publishing tests. We did not run controlled speed or uptime measurements on comparable live sites, so there is no honest speed winner here. Image sizes, site theme, plugins, caching, page content, and visitor location can all affect perceived speed.
Bluehost currently advertises a 99.99% uptime SLA and weekly website backups on the listed hosting tiers. Read the SLA terms and confirm restore options; an SLA is a service promise, not a guarantee that your particular site never goes down. WordPress users should also keep independent backups and update themes and plugins.
Squarespace handles more platform maintenance centrally. You still need strong passwords, sensible access permissions, your own copies of important content and images, and a clear recovery plan. If you run a business-critical site, test how you would restore a mistaken edit before you need it.
Support and ownership
Bluehost Starter lists 24/7 chat, while its current public comparison marks phone support as unavailable on Starter. Business and other tiers may include phone support. Squarespace publishes 24/7 email access, English live chat on weekdays from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, and no phone support. Check the current support terms for the exact plan you select.
With WordPress, you can generally export or copy the site’s files and database to a compatible host. You still need to confirm that themes, plugins, licenses, and email services transfer cleanly. Squarespace allows WordPress-format export of some content, but its own help page says several page types, store pages, draft content, style settings, and custom CSS do not export. Keep portability in mind if redesigning or switching platforms later would be costly.
Which should you choose?
Choose Bluehost with WordPress when…
- You plan a large blog, affiliate publication, or content library.
- You expect to need custom plugins, templates, or integrations.
- You want the option to move the WordPress site to a different host.
- You can handle updates and backups yourself or pay someone to do it.
Choose Squarespace when…
- You want a portfolio or small business site live with fewer setup decisions.
- You prefer a managed editor and consistent templates.
- Your store needs fit the built-in commerce tools and fee schedule.
- You are comfortable with its content export limits.
Our recommendation: For an expanding content site, start by pricing Bluehost Starter and testing the WordPress workflow. For a compact, design-led business site, try Squarespace’s free trial before committing. The better purchase is the one whose editor, first payment, renewal, and ongoing work fit you.
Check the Bluehost Discount at Checkout
Frequently asked questions
Is Bluehost cheaper than Squarespace?
It can be for a simple WordPress site, but the answer depends on term length, renewal, domain, email, themes, plugins, and store fees. Compare the real bills for the same time period; do not rely on an introductory monthly equivalent alone.
Does the Bluehost link guarantee 50% off?
No. The supplied link is for a 50% discount offer, but the plan, eligibility, and final discount must be confirmed at checkout. The article does not promise a specific final price.
Is Squarespace better for beginners?
For a quick portfolio or brochure site, many beginners may find its integrated editor simpler. WordPress through Bluehost is worth the extra setup when you want more publishing and customization options.
Can I move Squarespace content to WordPress later?
Some content can be exported in WordPress format. Several kinds of pages, style settings, custom CSS, and store content are excluded, so expect manual rebuilding and verify the export before canceling.
Do I get free professional email with Bluehost?
The currently advertised Starter plan lists a professional email free trial. Review the trial duration and renewal amount during checkout. Do not budget it as free forever.
Which is better for SEO?
Both provide core SEO controls. WordPress supports more specialized plugins and site structures; Squarespace requires less configuration for a standard small site. Neither choice guarantees rankings.
Sources and review notes
Reviewed September 23, 2026 against the providers’ public documentation. We did not independently benchmark either platform or complete the promotional checkout; confirm live figures before publishing a fixed-price claim.
