I’ve Tested and Reviewed Framer vs Squarespace: Which Is Best?

Framer and Squarespace are two very different website builders, but both are gaining popularity with online sellers looking to launch visually appealing ecommerce stores.

If you’re wondering which one is right for your business, you’re not alone.

I’ve spent over 100 hours testing, reviewing, and comparing both platforms across key ecommerce features like design flexibility, ecommerce tools, SEO, pricing, and ease of use.

After going hands-on with each, here’s what I found.

If you’re a creative with design experience, Framer offers unmatched visual freedom.

But if you want a full-featured, beginner-friendly ecommerce solution, Squarespace is the better all-rounder.

Framer vs Squarespace: Quick Verdict

Squarespace – Best overall for ecommerce stores, especially for beginners and small businesses

Framer – Best for designers who want custom control and lightning-fast landing pages

In this detailed review, I’ll compare both platforms across design, ecommerce features, pricing, templates, SEO, and more — helping you choose the best fit for your ecommerce goals.

Quick Comparison: Framer vs Squarespace

Here’s how the two builders stack up side-by-side:

Best for Ecommerce Features: Squarespace

Framer’s Ecommerce: Simple but Limited

Framer added ecommerce functionality in 2024, but it’s still in its early stages.

It’s designed more for selling one or two items — such as digital products or event tickets — rather than running a full online store.

Here’s what you can do with Framer’s ecommerce system:

• Sell physical or digital products via Stripe
• Add “Buy Now” buttons anywhere on the page
• Customize the checkout flow with design elements
• Set basic product variants like color or size

But Framer lacks:

• Cart functionality for multiple products
• Inventory management
• Discount codes or coupon setup
• Order tracking or customer accounts
• Built-in shipping and tax tools
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Email marketing integrations

In short, Framer is ideal for single-product pages or small-scale sellers focused on conversions — not inventory-heavy operations.

Squarespace Ecommerce: Full Toolkit for Store Owners

Squarespace, on the other hand, has been developing ecommerce tools for nearly a decade. It includes everything you need to run an online business straight out of the box.

With Squarespace, you can:

• List unlimited physical, digital, and service-based products
• Track inventory and manage SKUs
• Offer subscription-based products
• Create coupon codes and promotions
• Set tax rates and integrate shipping tools
• Use abandoned cart recovery (on Commerce Advanced plan)
• Accept payments via Stripe, PayPal, and Afterpay
• Create customer accounts for repeat buyers

Ecommerce Verdict

Squarespace is the clear winner when it comes to ecommerce capabilities.
If you need to sell more than a handful of products or manage customer orders, Framer isn’t ready — yet.

Best for Design Control: Framer

Framer: Full Design Freedom

Framer is like designing a live website in Figma — but with real functionality.

You start from a blank canvas or use a community-made template and build exactly what you envision, pixel by pixel.

Standout design features in Framer:

• Drag-and-drop visual canvas with full layout control
• Native support for animations, hover effects, and transitions
• Responsive design with manual breakpoints
• Advanced typography and spacing controls
• Integration with design tokens and CMS components

If you’re a designer or hiring one, Framer is unbeatable in design power.

It’s especially good for branded landing pages and marketing-driven stores.

Squarespace: Easy but Template-Based

Squarespace uses a section-based builder with drag-and-drop content blocks. It’s easy to use and polished, but you’re limited to the structure of the template you choose.

Here’s what you can customize in Squarespace:

• Template styles (colors, fonts, spacing)
• Content blocks (images, videos, forms)
• Page layouts via pre-designed sections
• Product pages with built-in structure

For most users, that’s enough. But if you want to create outside-the-box layouts or animations, you’ll hit limitations quickly.

Design Verdict

Framer wins for full creative control and visual storytelling.
Squarespace wins for simplicity and speed for non-designers.

Best for Pricing: It Depends

Framer Pricing

Framer’s ecommerce features are only available on the Pro plan:

If you’re building a single-page store or landing page, $30/month is reasonable — especially considering the performance.

Squarespace Pricing

Squarespace’s ecommerce features vary by plan:

The Commerce Basic plan at $27/month is the best value if you’re running a real online store. It removes transaction fees and includes marketing tools.

Pricing Verdict

• For single-product stores or design-driven landing pages → Framer’s $30 Pro plan is cost-effective.
• For full-featured ecommerce stores → Squarespace’s $27 Commerce plan offers better value.

Best for Speed and Performance: Framer

Framer Delivers Lightning-Fast Load Times

Framer is built on modern web frameworks like React and serves pages through a global CDN, meaning your website loads almost instantly for users anywhere.

Performance features:

• Optimized image handling
• Lazy loading and smart caching
• Native animation support without slowing load times
• Clean, lightweight code output

Framer scores highly on Core Web Vitals across desktop and mobile — often 90+ on Google’s PageSpeed Insights without any optimization.

Squarespace Is Getting Faster

Squarespace has made improvements to its performance in 2025, including server-side caching and responsive image delivery.

However, it still falls behind Framer in terms of raw speed and interactivity — especially on mobile.

Speed Verdict

Framer outperforms Squarespace in page speed and technical performance.
This makes it a great option for landing pages and conversion-focused stores.

Best for SEO: Squarespace

Framer: Manual SEO Setup Required

Framer includes basic SEO fields like page titles, meta descriptions, and alt text.

But if you want structured data, canonical tags, or hreflang for international SEO, you’ll need to add them manually using custom code or scripts.

You also won’t find automatic XML sitemaps, breadcrumb schema, or built-in blog SEO features.

Squarespace: Solid SEO Tools Built In

Squarespace includes the essentials:

• Editable meta titles and descriptions
• Clean URL structures
• Built-in image alt text editor
• Automatic XML sitemap generation
• Basic structured data for products and blogs
• Integration with Google Search Console

For most store owners, these SEO tools are enough to rank product pages and blog content without needing a technical expert.

SEO Verdict

Squarespace wins for ease of use and built-in SEO features.
Framer is best for technical users who can handle manual configuration.

Best for Ease of Use: Squarespace

Framer: Best for Designers and Developers

Framer’s interface is intuitive if you have experience with Figma, Webflow, or modern design tools.

It’s not built for beginners, and there’s no real onboarding wizard or setup checklist.

Expect a learning curve. You’ll need to:

• Manually create layouts and breakpoints
• Configure ecommerce settings from scratch
• Use documentation or community forums for help

Squarespace: User-Friendly from Day One

Squarespace walks you through everything:

• Choose a template
• Add your brand elements
• Upload products
• Set up payments and shipping
• Launch your store

It’s built for entrepreneurs who want a site live in hours — not weeks.

Squarespace also includes:

• A setup checklist
• Product import tools
• Step-by-step guides
• Live chat support for quick help

Ease of Use Verdict

Squarespace is significantly easier to use for most business owners.
Framer is best for those who enjoy designing from scratch.

Best for Templates: It’s a Tie

Squarespace Templates

• Over 100 templates across industries
• All mobile responsive and ecommerce-ready
• Highly polished, modern, and clean
• Can be customized via the style editor
• Limited ability to change structural layout

Squarespace’s template system is ideal for business owners who want a professional-looking site without spending hours designing it.

You can launch something polished in a matter of hours — and know it’ll look good on every screen.

Framer Templates

• Dozens of user-submitted and official templates
• Many are optimized for SaaS or startup landing pages
• Easily editable within the visual canvas
• No limit to what you can design or modify
• More freedom, but more work

Framer is built for designers who care about creative expression and want to control every pixel.

If you’re creating a site where brand aesthetics matter as much as functionality, Framer gives you the freedom to go as deep as you need.

Templates Verdict

Choose Framer if you want to build a completely unique site
Choose Squarespace if you want a professional template ready to go

Final Verdict: Framer vs Squarespace

Use Squarespace if:

• You want a beginner-friendly ecommerce site
• You’re selling multiple products
• You need marketing and SEO tools out of the box
• You prefer a structured, reliable platform

Use Framer if:

• You’re a designer or working with one
• You’re building a single-product or landing-page store
• You want advanced animations and speed
• You value visual storytelling and total layout control

Both platforms have clear strengths — it really comes down to your priorities.

If you’re looking for creative control and high-performance design, Framer stands out.

But if you’re running a product-based business that needs end-to-end tools and a smoother setup experience, Squarespace is the safer and more scalable choice.

Also, both platforms offer free trials, so I recommend trying each one to see which feels better for your workflow and goals.