Is Shopify or Squarespace better for an Australian business?
Shopify vs Squarespace is mostly a question of how much of your business happens at the checkout. If selling products online is the business, pick Shopify. If you sell services, bookings or a small range of products alongside them, Squarespace is usually the better and cheaper fit.
Both are hosted platforms. You pay a monthly plan, they look after hosting, security and updates, and you never touch a server. The difference is what each one is built around. Shopify is a store first, with a website attached. Squarespace is a website first, with a store attached.
| If you... | Pick |
|---|---|
| Sell lots of products with stock levels, sizes and colours | Shopify |
| Run a service business and want a polished site you can edit yourself | Squarespace |
| Sell a handful of products alongside services or bookings | Squarespace |
| Want to sell on Instagram, Google and in person from one stock count | Shopify |
| Need wholesale pricing, subscriptions or a big app library | Shopify |
| Want the lowest monthly cost for a simple site | Squarespace |
| Want to change text and photos without calling anyone | Either, both are easy |
Who each one is NOT for: Shopify is overkill for a tradie, consultant or clinic that just needs enquiries. Squarespace gets awkward once you're managing hundreds of products, complex shipping rules or orders going out every day.
How much do Shopify and Squarespace cost in Australia?
Squarespace is cheaper on paper. Its Australian plans run from about $17 to $109 a month billed yearly, while Shopify's run from about $42 to $431 a month billed yearly. Both charge more if you pay month to month.
| Plan level | Shopify (AUD a month) | Squarespace (AUD a month) |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Basic: about $42 billed yearly, $56 monthly | Basic: about $17 billed yearly, $24 monthly |
| Middle | Grow: about $114 billed yearly, $149 monthly | Core: about $28 billed yearly, $39 monthly |
| Upper | Advanced: about $431 billed yearly, $575 monthly | Plus: about $49 billed yearly, $69 monthly |
| Top | Shopify Plus: from about $3,700 a month | Advanced: about $109 billed yearly, $149 monthly |
These are rounded from each platform's Australian pricing as of November 2026. Squarespace's Australian prices include GST. Both platforms change their prices from time to time, so check before you sign up.
The plan fee is only part of the Shopify vs Squarespace cost picture. A typical Shopify store adds a few paid apps for things like reviews, email or subscriptions, and most of those charge monthly. Squarespace includes more out of the box, so what you pay each month usually sits closer to the plan price. On either one, add a domain name, about $10 to $25 a year for a .com.au. For build and running costs in detail, see our guide to Shopify website cost.
What fees do Shopify and Squarespace take on each sale?
On top of the plan, you pay card processing on every sale, and on some plans a platform transaction fee as well. Once a store has steady sales, these fees matter more than the plan price.
| Fee | Shopify | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Card processing | From about 1.7% + 30c per online card sale with Shopify Payments on Basic, lower on bigger plans | Through Stripe or PayPal. Stripe's standard Australian rate is about 1.65% + 30c for domestic cards |
| Platform fee on product sales | None with Shopify Payments. With another gateway: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced | 2% on Basic. None on Core, Plus or Advanced |
| Platform fee on digital content and memberships | Same as any other product | 7% on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus, none on Advanced |
Here's what that means in dollars. Squarespace Basic's 2% fee on $1,000 of sales is $20 a month, while stepping up to Core only costs about $11 a month more on yearly billing. So if you sell more than about $550 a month on Squarespace, Core works out cheaper than Basic.
On Shopify, use Shopify Payments unless you have a strong reason not to. On $10,000 a month in sales, the 2% third party gateway fee on Basic would be $200 a month on top of your card fees.
Which is easier to use, Shopify or Squarespace?
Squarespace is easier for editing how the site looks. Shopify is easier for running a store day to day. Most owners get comfortable with either one within a day or two.
Squarespace edits on the page itself. You click a heading, type, drag a photo into place and see the change as you make it. The templates are tightly designed, so it's hard to make a Squarespace site look messy. The trade off is less freedom: some layouts and features just aren't possible without code.
Shopify's admin is built around orders, products, stock and customers. Adding a product, fulfilling an order, issuing a refund or checking what sold this week is quick and clear, and the Shopify mobile app is good for running the store from your phone. Design changes happen in the theme editor, which is fine for swapping sections and photos but less freeform than Squarespace.
In a Shopify vs Squarespace test for a busy store owner, Shopify usually wins on time saved each week. For a service business that updates a few pages a month, Squarespace wins.
Is Shopify or Squarespace better for SEO?
Neither has a real SEO advantage out of the box. Both give you editable page titles and meta descriptions, mobile friendly pages, SSL and an automatic sitemap, which covers what Google needs. What ranks a site is the content and structure you put on it.
A few differences worth knowing:
- URLs: Shopify puts fixed folders like /products/ and /collections/ into your URLs. It doesn't stop you ranking, but you can't fully control the structure. Squarespace lets you set most URLs freely.
- Blogging: Squarespace's blog is simple and pleasant to write in. Shopify's blog works but is more basic.
- Product pages: Shopify handles large catalogues better, with collections, filters and product structured data built into most themes.
- Speed: both are fast enough when set up well. Too many apps on Shopify and oversized images on either one are the usual causes of a slow site.
- AI search: ChatGPT and Google's AI answers quote pages that answer questions clearly. That comes from how the pages are written, not which platform they sit on.
So on SEO, the Shopify vs Squarespace choice should follow what you sell, not the other way round.
Which has better apps, payments and shipping for Australian stores?
Shopify, by a wide margin. Its app store has thousands of apps, including Australian ones for couriers, accounting and buy now pay later. Squarespace has a smaller set of extensions and covers the basics well.
Where that matters:
- Shipping: Shopify handles shipping zones, weight based rates and courier apps for Australian carriers. Squarespace does flat and weight based rates, which is plenty for a small range.
- Payments: Shopify Payments takes cards and digital wallets in one place, with Afterpay and other options available. Squarespace connects to Stripe and PayPal.
- Selling in more places: Shopify connects your store to Instagram, Facebook, Google and in person sales from one stock count. Squarespace is mainly built to sell on its own website.
- Bookings: Squarespace has its own scheduling add-on for appointments and classes. On Shopify, bookings need an app.
The Vlosity Motorsport build shows where the two meet. The Perth detailing studio had a Wix site for its services and a separate Shopify store for car care products. We merged them into one Shopify site, migrating 28 products and adding bookings for 3 service categories.
Can you move from Squarespace to Shopify later?
Yes. Products, customers, pages and blog posts can all be moved, and every old URL gets a 301 redirect so Google sends people to the new pages. Past orders take the most care, since they don't come across as neatly as products.
Starting on Squarespace and moving later is a sensible path if you're testing an idea. The cost of switching is mostly the rebuild and the redirects, so plan the move once sales justify it, not before. Going the other way, from Shopify to Squarespace, is rare and usually only makes sense when a business stops selling products.
If you're already weighing a move, our Shopify migration page covers what moves, what to watch and how long it takes.
Do you need a developer to set up Shopify or Squarespace?
No, both are built so you can set them up yourself. A developer is worth it when the site has to bring in sales or enquiries from day one and you'd rather spend those setup weeks running the business.
Source Digital is a Squarespace Gold Partner and also builds Shopify stores, so we have no reason to push you one way. Business websites start at $3,250 + GST and online stores at $4,500 + GST, fixed price in writing before work starts, with no lock-in contracts. Shopify stores usually take 2 to 3 weeks. Our Malaya Swimwear Shopify rebuild launched 21 products on a bespoke theme in 3 weeks.
For how each build works, see Shopify website design or Squarespace web design.
