Is Cardel an alternative to Squarespace or WordPress?

Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Squarespace or WordPress when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Squarespace and WordPress are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Squarespace or WordPress?

Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Squarespace or WordPress for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

How much does Cardel cost compared with Squarespace and WordPress?

You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Squarespace and WordPress set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

How do I switch from Squarespace or WordPress to Cardel?

Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.

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SquarespacevsWordPress

Squarespace builds sites with commerce, scheduling, and email as add-ons. WordPress.com hosts the world's most used publishing software with themes, plugins, and commerce plans.

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How Squarespace and WordPress compare

Squarespace makes sites that look finished. Award-winning templates, a fluid editor, commerce, scheduling through Acuity, email campaigns, and member areas mean a designer or small business can build almost anything in one account. It is polished, dependable, and deservedly popular with people who care how things look.

WordPress powers a huge share of the web for good reason. This page compares WordPress.com hosted plans. You get the block editor, thousands of themes, comments and likes, Jetpack newsletters, and on higher plans the full plugin ecosystem and WooCommerce. Nothing else offers this much freedom to extend, and your content is exportable and yours.

Where they are different

Squarespace

Squarespace sells pieces separately: commerce tiers, scheduling seats, email campaign plans.
Squarespace email is outbound.
Squarespace has comments on the blog.

WordPress

WordPress extends by plugin: a form plugin, a booking plugin, an email plugin, each with its own settings.
WordPress email is Jetpack newsletters or a plugin.
WordPress accessibility and SEO depend on your theme and plugins.

Choose Squarespace when design flexibility and a huge template library matter most and you are happy adding modules as you grow.

Choose WordPress when you want maximum control, plugins for anything, and the option to self-host.

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What's on Squarespace and WordPress

A check means that capability is available. Squarespace and WordPress are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

Workspace site
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Custom domain
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Editor Mode
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Theme and fonts
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included

Public content

Blog
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Reader engagement
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Showcase pages
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Shop pages
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included

Reach and quality

SEO
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included

Audience and email

Audience
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Marketing emails
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Campaign workflows
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Not included

Commerce

Shop payments
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Orders and fulfillment
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Not included

Team

Admin users
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
Per-admin permissions
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included
AI Assistant
Squarespace: Included
WordPress: Included

Feature comparison for Squarespace and WordPress
Feature	Squarespace	WordPress
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Editor Mode	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Public content
Blog	Included	Included
Reader engagement	Included	Included
Showcase pages	Included	Included
Shop pages	Included	Included
Reach and quality
SEO	Included	Included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Marketing emails	Included	Included
Campaign workflows	Included	Not included
Commerce
Shop payments	Included	Included
Orders and fulfillment	Included	Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.	Included	Not included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Included	Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Squarespace or WordPress, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Squarespace or WordPress may add or remove features that are not shown here.