BigCommerce vs Squarespace

Pick Squarespace if you want a brochure site, a portfolio or a simple store up quickly, and design matters more than custom functionality. It suits founders, consultancies, creators and small businesses that want hosting, domain, blog and selling in one account without hiring a developer.

Multiple contributors can work with defined roles, and developer APIs cover commerce data with webhooks for events such as new orders. The limits are real. You cannot freely redesign layouts, performance is mostly out of your hands, and a form is only useful if the lead reaches your CRM. Skip it if the site is core to your product or you need heavy custom features. Test a template on the trial first.

Pick BigCommerce if the store is the core of the business. It suits growing retailers and B2B sellers who want APIs, a catalogue that can grow and plans that follow their sales volume.

It makes sense when you add a second storefront, a custom catalogue, a B2B price list or an ERP link. Orders through embedded payment providers carry no platform fee, so compare providers on the combined cost. Skip it if you are starting out with a simple catalogue and mainly need a site that looks good. You will spend your time on store admin you did not need. The hosted MCP server is in beta, so test it on a sandbox store.