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Squarespace vs Wix for a small café
Wix has a free plan; Squarespace has only a 14-day free trial. Shown to us in US dollars, billed yearly, on 18 October 2026, Wix Light was US$17 a month and Squarespace Basic US$19.
The bigger difference for a café is not the price. It is who keeps the hours and the menu right. If you would rather not build it on either, Cupán Studio builds an independent café's site first, live on a preview link, and it is €690 once to keep it on your own domain, or €435 and €79 every four weeks with hours, menu and seasonal changes done for you.
| Wix | Squarespace | Cupán Studio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan or trial | A free plan: "Start for free", "No credit card required" | No free plan. "Free for 14 days", and every site starts with a free trial with no credit card required | The site is built and live on a preview link before you pay, and held fourteen days. Nothing to sign |
| Entry plan with your own domain | Light, US$17 a month, billed yearly, as shown to us in dollars. Wix says a Premium plan is what lets you connect your own domain and remove Wix branding | Basic, US$19 a month on annual billing, as shown to us in dollars | €690 once, or €435 and then €79 every four weeks |
| Free domain | Light shows "Free domain for 1 year". Wix says the voucher is only valid with a new domain bought from Wix and cannot renew a domain you already own | Squarespace says an annual plan gets a free custom domain for one year | Your domain is bought and connected as part of Live. A domain is €45 a year |
| Payments or an online shop | Core, US$29 a month, adds "Accept payments" and "Basic eCommerce" | Basic lists "Accept payments" and an "Online store transaction fee of 2%" | Not included. No online ordering or payments |
| Who builds it | You. Wix says "Creating your own website is free" | You, starting from the free trial | We do, from your Google listing, Instagram, reviews and menu, before you decide |
| Who updates the hours and menu | You, in the editor | You, in the editor | You, from the panel, on Live. On Live + Care we do it: send a photo of the chalkboard and it is on the site the same day |
| .ie domain | Not checked | Not checked | Yes, at €60 a year. A .ie needs proof of an Irish connection and is a manual registration |
| Broken builder pages in our register | Two of the 175 coffee businesses in our register point their Google listing at a Wix domain-connection error page | One of the 175 points its Google listing at Squarespace's "Website Expired" page | Not applicable |
The last row is from our own register, read on 18 October 2026. It does not say why any of those three pages broke, and it is three shops out of 175. It is a reason to check your own link, nothing more.
Wix or Squarespace for a coffee shop?
On the figures shown to us, Wix starts lower: it has a free plan, and its Light plan showed US$17 a month against Squarespace Basic at US$19, both in dollars and billed yearly (Wix notes its prices exclude tax). Each lists a free domain for the first year on a yearly plan, with conditions. Squarespace has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. Both give a free domain for the first year on a yearly plan, and Wix is specific that its voucher cannot be used to renew a domain you already own.
Both list ways to take payments, and Squarespace Basic shows a 2% online store transaction fee. Whether you need payments on the site at all is the first question. Our own six-page site does not take orders or payments.
Best café website platform?
There is no single answer. A café owner on r/barista put it this way: "So our cafe website sucks. It hasn't changed since the place opened in 2016 and is outdated, both with info and style." One reply said "Squarespace could work for what you need." Another: "I've recently switched from Squarespace to FastPage. Its good cause its a hospo-specific website builder and automatically manages itself so i don't have to update it if i change my hours on Google etc". We have not tested either, so we are only reporting what the thread said. What we can say from the table is that the platform matters less than whether somebody keeps the hours and the menu current after launch.
Can I use a .ie domain?
Owners do ask this: there is a boards.ie thread called Squarespace and Irish Domains. We did not check whether Wix or Squarespace sell .ie domains, so check before you buy. For our own sites, a .ie is €60 a year, because .ie needs proof of an Irish connection and is a manual registration.
Which is easier to keep up to date?
The pricing pages cannot tell you that, and we did not test either editor, so we will not rank them. What is true of any builder is that you are the one updating it. The hours, the menu and the seasonal changes are yours to do, on top of running the shop. Our Live plan gives you a panel for the same job. Live + Care means we make the changes for you, plus a monthly check that AI assistants still read the site correctly.
Should I build it myself or pay someone?
Build it yourself if you enjoy it and have the evenings, and pay someone if you would rather spend them on the shop. A thread on r/smallbusiness asked this for a coffee shop, and one reply said "Wordpress + elementor is good to build customized website without knowledge of html css and js" and another "I highly recommend Squarespace." The Irish prices for paying someone run much wider than a builder plan, and the full table of published Irish prices has them with the date each was read. Our price is on the pricing page, and how it works has the three steps.
When the other option is the better choice
A Wix free site is the right answer if you enjoy building things and have the evenings for it. It costs nothing to start and you can see what you are getting. Squarespace is a fair pick if you want the 14-day trial to get a feel for the editor before you pay for anything.
Either of them is also better if you want to sell online. Cupán Studio does not do online ordering or payments, and does not do professional photography. And we only build for independent coffee businesses in Ireland, so if you run a restaurant or a pub, we are not the right people.
Two things you should know. Every site we have built so far is for a shop in County Dublin, and the work page shows four made-up demo shops built to test the system. We also read the Google listings of 77 independent Dublin cafés, roasters and coffee carts on 20 September 2026, and 15 of the 77 pointed the website field at a site of their own (the count).
Also read: the Wix alternative for cafés and a website for a coffee cart in Ireland.
Questions café owners ask
- Is Wix really free?
- The free plan is. Wix says creating your own website is free. A Premium plan is what lets you connect your own domain and remove Wix branding, and Light was US$17 a month, billed yearly, when we read it in dollars.
- Does Squarespace have a free plan?
- No. Squarespace says it does not offer a free plan, but every site starts with a free trial, no credit card required. The trial was shown as 14 days.
- Is the free domain really free?
- For the first year, according to each: Wix lists "Free domain for 1 year" on Light, and Squarespace gives one on annual plans. Wix adds that its voucher is only valid with a new domain bought from Wix and cannot be used to renew or extend a domain you already own. Ask what the second year costs before you commit.
- Will the price be in euro?
- Both showed us dollars. Wix says prices and currency vary by location, and the displayed prices do not include applicable taxes. Check the price on your own billing address.
- Is there a free option from Google?
- Not any more. Google shut down websites made with Business Profiles in 2024: TechRadar reported that sites at business.site redirected to the listing from 1 March 2024, and the redirects ended on 10 June 2024.
- What does it cost if I pay you instead?
- €690 once, or €435 and then €79 every four weeks. If in the first 60 days live the site has not brought one thing you can point at, an order, a booking, a call, an enquiry or a review that mentions it, we keep working free until it does, or you get all €690 back and keep the site.
- Do I have to sign anything?
- No. The site is built first, put live on a preview link and sent to you. You pay nothing unless you keep it, and the preview is held fourteen days.
Sources
- Wix plans, read 18 October 2026
- Squarespace pricing, read 18 October 2026
- TechRadar, Google is shutting down websites made with Business Profiles, read 18 October 2026
- boards.ie, Squarespace and Irish Domains, found 14 September 2026
- r/barista, best cafe website platform, read 18 October 2026
- r/smallbusiness, building a website for a small restaurant or coffee shop, read 18 October 2026
- Cupán Studio's own register of 175 coffee businesses, read 18 October 2026, and our count of 77 Dublin listings, read 20 September 2026
Drafted with an AI assistant, checked and edited by the studio. Cupán Studio builds websites for cafés in Ireland, so read the comparison knowing who wrote it. Cupan Studio, without the fada, is the same studio.