Ease of Use
Respectfully, we win this category by a mile. Done-For-You by definition makes things light on your end. We'll look to you for direction and collaboration at times, but we'll certainly do all the heavy lifting.
Integrations
Squarespace offers 50+ apps and widgets that you can mix and match to extend your site's functionality. We've intentionally limited our scope, curating a smaller suite of tools that enable us to be surgical, efficient, and effective.
Design Flexibility
Squarespace trusts their design team's taste—not yours. They've designed thoughtful templates and make it nearly impossible to alter their foundations. In contrast, when we start your site together, we have a clean slate and work to bring your full design vision to life.
Customer Service
Squarespace doesn't offer phone support. Instead, they rely on self-help manuals and email support during business hours on weekdays only. This is the classic big company move, limiting human interaction to keep labor costs down. Whether it's email, phone, or video, our team is prepared to help.
SEO Tools
In the early 2000's, Squarespace originated as a blogging platform. Now as a website builder, they've invested in a robust blog and SEO system that we simply can't compete with head-to-head. But we offer enough SEO tools out-of-the-box for you to be SEO dangerous.
Ecommerce
Like Squarespace, Cornerstone21 is best suited for service-based businesses—creatives, consultants, and the trades. Collectively, our ecommerce tools are built for simplicity. Due to their maturity, we'll give Squarespace a modest edge. But we're an upstart that holds our own against this blue blood.
Intellectual Property
Squarespace operates its own closed, proprietary system. This means that should you ever want to leave Squarespace, you must leave your site behind and start all over.
We have no desire to lock you in. From day one, you own your design and the code behind it. If we ever part ways, the site intellectual property is yours.
Security
On this front, Squarespace and Cornerstone21 are dead even. We both use enterprise-grade security because your site's information and visitors should be protected at all times.