Overview

Squarespace

Stacks2.1K

Followers386

Votes84

Bootstrap

Stacks55.5K

Followers13.2K

Votes7.7K

GitHub Stars173.6K

Forks79.2K

Bootstrap vs Squarespace: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Bootstrap and Squarespace

Bootstrap and Squarespace are both popular tools used for building websites, but they have several key differences.

Customization: Bootstrap is a highly customizable framework that allows developers to have complete control over the design and functionality of their website. It provides a wide range of pre-built components and styles that can be easily customized according to specific requirements. On the other hand, Squarespace provides limited customization options as it is a closed platform with predefined templates that can only be customized within the constraints of those templates.
Ease of use: Bootstrap requires a certain level of coding knowledge and expertise to work with. It is primarily targeted towards developers who have experience in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Squarespace, on the other hand, is designed to be user-friendly and does not require any coding skills. It has a drag-and-drop interface that allows users to easily customize their website by simply clicking and editing elements on the page.
Hosting: Bootstrap websites can be hosted on any server of the developer's choice. It provides flexibility in terms of hosting options and allows developers to choose a hosting provider that suits their requirements. Squarespace, on the other hand, is a fully hosted platform that takes care of all the hosting requirements. Users do not need to worry about finding a separate hosting provider as Squarespace provides hosting as part of its service.
Themes and Templates: Bootstrap provides a wide range of free and premium themes and templates that can be used as a starting point for building a website. These themes are highly customizable and can be tailored to fit specific design requirements. Squarespace, on the other hand, offers a collection of professionally designed templates that can be customized to some extent, but not as extensively as Bootstrap. The templates in Squarespace are optimized for mobile devices and offer a more polished and consistent look.
E-commerce capabilities: Bootstrap is primarily a front-end framework and does not provide built-in e-commerce capabilities. However, it can be integrated with various e-commerce platforms to add shopping cart functionality to a website. Squarespace, on the other hand, includes built-in e-commerce capabilities, allowing users to easily create and manage an online store without the need for additional integrations.
Price: Bootstrap is an open-source framework that is available for free, making it a cost-effective option for developers. Squarespace, on the other hand, is a paid platform that requires a subscription. The cost of using Squarespace depends on the chosen plan, which includes hosting and support.

In summary, Bootstrap offers greater customization options, requires coding knowledge, and can be hosted on any server, while Squarespace provides a user-friendly interface, limited customization, and includes built-in hosting and e-commerce capabilities, but comes with a price.

Advice on Squarespace, Bootstrap

Bridget

Full Stack Developer at Bridget Sarah

May 29, 2020

Decided

I do prefer to write things from scratch however when it came to wanting to jump-start the frontend, I found that it was taking me a lot longer hence why needing to use something very fast.

Bootstrap was the boom when it came out, I didn't like it, to be honest, set in its way and a pain to over-ride and in addition, you can tell from a distance if you're using boostrap and as everything looks the same.

I came across Tailwind CSS as I wanted more dynamic features, you could say, I've been now doing it for a few days and I love it a lot. I've been practising with the full stack part installed but I an't we wait until I do a new project, and I'll e able to select exactly what I want. Much faster.

681k views681k

Comments

Daniel

Frontend Developer at atSistemas

Jun 10, 2020

Needs adviceon

New Relic

Next.js

React

I'm building, from scratch, a webapp. It's going to be a dashboard to check on our apps in New Relic and update the Apdex from the webapp. I have just chosen Next.js as our framework because we use React already, and after going through the tutorial, I just loved the latest changes they have implemented.

But we have to decide on a CSS framework for the UI. I'm partial to Bulma because I love that it's all about CSS (and you can use SCSS from the start), that it's rather lightweight and that it doesn't come with JavaScript clutter. One of the things I hate about Bootstrap is that you depend on jQuery to use the JavaScript part. My boss loves UIkIt, but when I've used it in the past, I didn't like it.

What do you think we should use? Maybe you have another suggestion?

1.07M views1.07M

Comments

Syed

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

Bootstrap

Tailwind CSS

I am planning to redesign my entire application, which is currently in Bootstrap. I heard about Tailwind CSS, and I think its really cool to work with. Is it okay if I use Bootstrap and Tailwind together? I can't remove Bootstrap altogether, as my application is using the js dependencies of Bootstrap, which I don't want to disturb.

739k views739k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Squarespace	Bootstrap
Whether you need simple pages, sophisticated galleries, a professional blog, or want to sell online, it all comes standard with your Squarespace website. Squarespace starts you with beautiful designs right out of the box — each handcrafted by our award-winning design team to make your content stand out.	Bootstrap is the most popular HTML, CSS, and JS framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects on the web.
SELL ANYTHING- Easily add a store to any Squarespace website and start selling physical and digital goods immediately.; PAINLESS STORE MANAGEMENT- Manage your inventory, process customer orders, print packing slips, and customize emails all in one intuitive interface.;BUILD BETTER PAGES WITH LAYOUTENGINE- LayoutEngine technology gives you the freedom to create visually rich pages with any configuration of text, images, products, and content blocks. Simply drag and drop your content exactly where you want and we'll automatically align them in a perfect grid.;GALLERIES WITH CUTTING-EDGE CREATIVE TOOLS;STATE-OF-THE-ART BLOGGING- Effortlessly create content with LayoutEngine and gallery system. Share easily, map posts with native geolocation, and use our bookmarklet to reblog content from the web;THE CUSTOM LOOK YOU WANT- Make any design your own with a few clicks in the Style Editor. Choose a preset color palette or select your own fonts, colors, and layouts to create the custom look you want.;MOBILE SITES BUILT RIGHT IN- Each Squarespace design includes a unique mobile site, so anyone can see the beauty of your work anytime, anyplace, on any device.; CONNECT WITH THE SERVICES YOU LOVE- Make your website the center of your online identity and social life on the web with an array of powerful tools.;SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZED;CHOOSE YOUR CONTRIBUTORS- Invite contributors to help you manage your website. Set individual permissions, from full admin to a trusted commenter, so you are always in control.;REAL-TIME STATISTICS FOR AUDIENCE INSIGHT- Access your built-in analytics to view the traffic and behavior of visitors in real-time. Learn where they're coming from, and what keywords they're using to find you.;MANAGE YOUR SITE ON THE GO;AWARD-WINNING 24/7 CUSTOMER CARE	Preprocessors: Bootstrap ships with vanilla CSS, but its source code utilizes the two most popular CSS preprocessors, Less and Sass. Quickly get started with precompiled CSS or build on the source.;One framework, every device: Bootstrap easily and efficiently scales your websites and applications with a single code base, from phones to tablets to desktops with CSS media queries.;Full of features: With Bootstrap, you get extensive and beautiful documentation for common HTML elements, dozens of custom HTML and CSS components, and awesome jQuery plugins.
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 173.6K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 79.2K
Stacks 2.1K	Stacks 55.5K
Followers 386	Followers 13.2K
Votes 84	Votes 7.7K
Pros & Cons
Pros 35 Easy setup 31 Clean designs 8 Beautiful responsive themes 6 Easy ongoing maintenance 3 Live chat & 24/7 support team Cons 1 Hard to use custom code	Pros 1582 Responsiveness 1193 UI components 943 Consistent 779 Great docs 677 Flexible Cons 26 Javascript is tied to jquery 16 Every site uses the defaults 15 Grid system break points aren't ideal 14 Too much heavy decoration in default look 8 Verbose styles
Integrations
Shopify Dropbox Google Analytics Disqus Stripe Mailchimp Hipmob	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Squarespace, Bootstrap?

Foundation

Foundation is the most advanced responsive front-end framework in the world. You can quickly prototype and build sites or apps that work on any kind of device with Foundation, which includes layout constructs (like a fully responsive grid), elements and best practices.

Semantic UI

Semantic empowers designers and developers by creating a shared vocabulary for UI.

Materialize

A CSS Framework based on material design.

Material Design for Angular

Material Design is a specification for a unified system of visual, motion, and interaction design that adapts across different devices. Our goal is to deliver a lean, lightweight set of AngularJS-native UI elements that implement the material design system for use in Angular SPAs.

Material-UI

Material UI is a library of React UI components that implements Google's Material Design.

Blazor

Blazor is a .NET web framework that runs in any browser. You author Blazor apps using C#/Razor and HTML.

Quasar Framework

Build responsive Single Page Apps, SSR Apps, PWAs, Hybrid Mobile Apps and Electron Apps, all using the same codebase!, powered with Vue.

Nuxt.js

Nuxt.js presets all the configuration needed to make your development of a Vue.js application enjoyable. You can use Nuxt.js for SSR, SPA, Static Generated, PWA and more.

UIkIt

UIkit gives you a comprehensive collection of HTML, CSS, and JS components which is simple to use, easy to customize and extendable.

Tailwind CSS

Tailwind is different from frameworks like Bootstrap, Foundation, or Bulma in that it's not a UI kit. It doesn't have a default theme, and there are no build-in UI components. It comes with a menu of predesigned widgets to build your site with, but doesn't impose design decisions that are difficult to undo.