WordPress.org v WordPress.com v Squarespace: which is best for my author website?

If you are planning an author website, you will probably come across three popular options: WordPress.org, WordPress.com and Squarespace.

Unfortunately, the names do not make the choice particularly clear. WordPress.org and WordPress.com are related, but they are not the same service. Squarespace takes a different approach again.

All three can be used to create an attractive author website. The best choice depends on how much control you want, whether you intend to build the site yourself, how you want support to be handled and how the website may develop in the future.

The short answer

For most professionally designed author websites, self-hosted WordPress from WordPress.org is the most flexible and future-proof option. It gives the designer extensive control over the appearance and features of the site, and the website can be moved between suitable hosting providers.

WordPress.com may suit an author who wants a hosted WordPress service and prefers to manage everything through one company.

Squarespace can be a good choice for an author who wants to build and manage a relatively straightforward website personally, using an all-in-one visual system.

There is no single platform that is best for everybody. The important question is not simply, “Which platform is easiest today?” but also, “Which platform will still meet my needs in several years?”

What is WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is the home of the free, open-source WordPress software. To use it, WordPress is installed on a hosting account supplied by a hosting company or web designer. This is often described as self-hosted WordPress.

The word “self-hosted” does not mean that you need to run a server in your home or manage everything yourself. It simply means that the hosting is separate from WordPress.org. A web designer or managed hosting company can take care of the technical side for you.

WordPress.org provides the underlying software, while themes control the design and plugins can add features such as contact forms, mailing-list sign-ups, galleries, event listings, security and search engine optimisation. WordPress describes the system as open source and highlights its extensive theme and plugin support, publishing tools and control over website data.

Advantages of WordPress.org

It is highly flexible and can be adapted as an author’s career develops.
A bespoke design can be created rather than relying on a rigid template.
Thousands of plugins are available to add new features.
It is well suited to blogging, news, book archives and other growing collections of content.
The site can usually be moved to another suitable hosting provider.
You have extensive control over SEO settings, page structure and performance.
A designer can create an easy editing system while managing the more technical elements separately.

For an author, this means a simple four-page site can later expand to include several books, reviews, events, resources, teaching information, press material or a newsletter sign-up without necessarily having to start again.

Disadvantages of WordPress.org

Hosting, backups, security and software updates must be managed.
Poor-quality hosting or an excessive number of plugins can cause problems.
The number of themes, plugins and settings can feel overwhelming to a beginner.
Costs vary because the software, hosting, design and ongoing support may come from different providers.

These disadvantages are much less significant when the website is supplied as a managed service. In that arrangement, the author does not need to deal personally with updates, backups or hosting problems.

What is WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a commercial hosted service built around WordPress. Instead of arranging a separate hosting account, you create the site on WordPress.com’s platform and choose one of its plans.

Hosting, security and much of the technical infrastructure are handled by WordPress.com. There is a free option as well as paid plans with different levels of storage, design tools, support and other features. The exact plans and prices can change, so it is important to check what is included before signing up.

Advantages of WordPress.com

Hosting and the main technical infrastructure are included.
You can start with a free site and upgrade later.
It provides access to WordPress publishing tools without requiring you to arrange separate hosting.
Support is available on paid plans.
It can be simpler than organising a self-hosted WordPress installation yourself.

Disadvantages of WordPress.com

Some features depend on the plan you choose.
A free site uses a WordPress.com address and displays WordPress.com advertising.
Greater storage, design flexibility and business features may require a more expensive plan.
You are buying into a hosted service and its particular account, pricing and feature structure.
It may be less suitable for a designer whose normal working methods, hosting and support systems are based on self-hosted WordPress.

WordPress.com has become considerably more flexible over time, so some older comparisons found online are no longer accurate. Always compare its current plans rather than relying on an article written several years ago.

What is Squarespace?

Squarespace is an all-in-one commercial website-building service. The visual editor, templates, hosting, security certificate and technical platform are supplied together under a Squarespace subscription.

It is popular with photographers, artists, writers and small businesses because it allows people to create polished-looking pages without installing software or arranging separate hosting.

Advantages of Squarespace

Hosting and security are included in the subscription.
Its templates generally look polished from the outset.
The visual editing system is relatively approachable for non-technical users.
The platform is managed centrally, so there are fewer separate technical components to maintain.
Built-in facilities cover many common requirements, including blogging, forms, basic website statistics and SEO tools.
It is convenient for a fairly simple website managed by its owner.

Disadvantages of Squarespace

You work within Squarespace’s design and feature system.
Specialist functions and detailed customisation may be more restricted than with self-hosted WordPress.
Moving away later can involve rebuilding parts of the website.
Squarespace confirms that only certain content can be exported to WordPress; design, layout and some platform-dependent features do not transfer completely.
Ongoing access to the site depends on maintaining a Squarespace subscription.

Squarespace can be a sensible DIY solution, but convenience and portability are different things. A site may be easy to assemble within the platform yet comparatively difficult to reproduce elsewhere later.

WordPress.org and WordPress.com: why the confusion?

Both use WordPress software, and both provide pages, posts, themes and familiar WordPress editing tools. The main difference is how the website is hosted and controlled.

With WordPress.org, the open-source software is installed on a separate hosting service. You or your designer choose the hosting, theme, plugins and maintenance arrangements.

With WordPress.com, the website is hosted within WordPress.com’s own managed service. The facilities available to you are tied to its current plans and platform.

It is similar to the difference between owning a piece of software that can be installed with a provider of your choice and subscribing to a service where the software and hosting are supplied together.

Which is easiest to use?

If you want to build the website yourself, Squarespace or WordPress.com may initially feel easier because hosting and the building tools are packaged together.

However, “easy to build” and “easy to own” are not always the same thing. You will still need to organise the pages, prepare images, write the copy, make the site work on phones, consider accessibility, connect the domain and learn how the chosen platform works.

A professionally built WordPress.org site can be made straightforward for an author to edit. Alternatively, the designer can make occasional content updates on the author’s behalf. For many authors, paying for small updates is more efficient than learning a website system they use only a few times a year.

Which offers the best design flexibility?

Self-hosted WordPress.org usually offers the greatest design freedom. A designer can create custom layouts, reusable templates and different content structures for books, reviews, news and events.

Squarespace offers attractive starting templates and a capable visual editor, but the site remains within the Squarespace framework. This can be entirely adequate for a simple author site, especially if the owner likes one of the existing design styles.

WordPress.com sits somewhere between the two. Its flexibility depends partly on the selected plan, theme and tools being used.

Which is best for blogging and SEO?

All three platforms can support a blog and provide basic SEO facilities. None of them will automatically make a website rank highly on Google merely because it uses a particular system.

Search performance depends much more on useful content, clear organisation, good page titles, mobile usability, speed, relevant links and the author’s wider reputation and marketing.

WordPress began as a publishing platform and remains particularly strong for websites containing a growing archive of articles, news, books or other structured content. Its plugins also provide detailed control over SEO settings.

Squarespace includes the main tools required for a typical author site and may be perfectly sufficient if the site is small and uncomplicated.

WordPress.com also includes SEO-friendly foundations, although the amount of control and the available tools should be checked against the current plan.

Which is best if I want to sell books?

Most author websites do not need a full online shop. It is often simpler to link each book to Amazon, Bookshop.org, a publisher or another established retailer. All three platforms can provide clear purchase buttons for external shops.

If you genuinely need ecommerce, Squarespace and WordPress.com offer commerce facilities on appropriate plans, while self-hosted WordPress can be extended with systems such as WooCommerce. A full shop introduces additional work involving payments, security, tax, delivery, returns and ongoing maintenance, so it should not be added unless there is a clear business need.

What happens if I want to move the website later?

This is one of the most important differences.

A self-hosted WordPress site can normally be moved from one suitable web host to another while retaining the same WordPress installation, design and content. A move still needs to be handled carefully, but it does not usually require the entire site to be rebuilt.

A WordPress.com site can be exported or migrated, although some features associated with its service may need replacing.

Squarespace allows certain content to be exported for import into WordPress, but Squarespace itself states that not everything will export because many features rely on its own JavaScript and CSS. In practice, moving a Squarespace site commonly means recreating the design and manually checking or transferring material.

If you expect the website to grow, or want the freedom to change designer or host later, portability should be considered at the beginning rather than when you are already trying to move.

What about maintenance and support?

Squarespace and WordPress.com maintain their core hosted platforms. This removes some technical responsibility from the website owner, although you must still maintain the content, subscription, domain settings and any connected services.

With WordPress.org, responsibility depends on the service you buy. If you build the site yourself on low-cost hosting, you may be responsible for software updates, backups, security and troubleshooting. If you use a managed web design service, those jobs can be handled for you.

It is therefore misleading to compare a basic hosting account with a complete design, hosting and support package purely on price. They are not providing the same service.

A simple comparison

WordPress.org

Hosting: Arranged separately through a hosting provider or web designer.
Technical maintenance: Managed by the website owner, hosting company or web designer.
Design flexibility: Very high.
Extra features: Thousands of plugins are available.
Portability: The complete website can usually be moved to another suitable hosting provider or web designer.
Best suited to: Bespoke, expandable and professionally supported author websites.

WordPress.com

Hosting: Included.
Technical maintenance: Mainly managed by WordPress.com.
Design flexibility: Varies according to the plan, theme and tools used.
Extra features: Available features and plugins may depend on the selected plan.
Portability: Content can be moved, although some features may need to be replaced or recreated.
Best suited to: Authors with good technical expertise who want to use WordPress through a managed hosting platform.

Squarespace

Hosting: Included.
Technical maintenance: Mainly managed by Squarespace.
Design flexibility: Good, provided you are happy to work within the Squarespace system.
Extra features: Includes a range of built-in features and selected extensions.
Portability: Only certain content can be exported, so some or all of the website may need to be rebuilt when moving elsewhere.
Best suited to: Authors with good technical skills who want to build and manage a relatively simple website themselves using an all-in-one platform.

So which should an author choose?

Choose WordPress.org if you want a professionally designed website, expect it to grow, value control and portability, or want an ongoing relationship with a web designer who will host and support it. If you work with a web designer, you don’t need technical skills.

Choose WordPress.com if you specifically want WordPress but prefer a hosted subscription service and are happy to select a plan that includes the facilities you need. Very good technical skills are needed.

Choose Squarespace if you want to build and manage a relatively simple site yourself, like its templates and prefer an all-in-one platform to arranging separate hosting and maintenance. Good technical skills are needed.

The cheapest or quickest option is not automatically the best long-term choice. Think about who will update the site, who will help when something goes wrong, whether you will add more books and features, and how easily the website could be moved in the future.

Why Bookwebs uses WordPress.org

Bookwebs creates bespoke, self-hosted WordPress websites for authors, publishers, artists and other creative professionals. We use WordPress.org because it provides the flexibility to create an individual design, organise growing collections of books and articles, and expand a site as a client’s career develops.

Our service includes hosting and ongoing technical support, so clients receive the flexibility of self-hosted WordPress without having to manage the hosting, backups and routine technical work themselves. Clients can choose a self-editable site or ask us to make occasional content updates for them.

If you are unsure which approach is right for you, contact Bookwebs to discuss your plans.

Web Design for Authors