Bluehost vs Squarespace: WordPress You Run or a Site Builder

The short answer: if nobody on your team wants to look after WordPress updates and plugins, Squarespace is the simpler purchase: Basic is $19 a month billed annually, $228 a year, with hosting, templates and the editor in one subscription. If someone will run WordPress, Bluehost Starter takes $143.64 up front for 36 months, which is $3.99 a month, then renews at $9.99, and it holds up to 10 sites (US dollars before tax; Bluehost's and Squarespace's pricing pages both checked on 26 October 2026). Over three years that is $143.64 against $684. Choose Bluehost if your job is a WordPress site you control down to the plugin, or several of them, for the lowest three-year bill. Choose Squarespace if your job is a site that the people who run the business edit themselves, with bookings, invoices or a small shop built in.

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These are two different purchases with the same outcome on screen. Bluehost sells a place to run WordPress, the open-source software that you then theme, extend with plugins and keep updated, with Bluehost applying managed WordPress updates. Squarespace sells the finished system: its FAQ says every plan includes fully managed cloud hosting (pricing page), so there is no server software on your side to keep current. The price gap is the price of that work.

What to know first:

1. Three years, everything counted. For example, Bluehost Starter is 36 x $3.99 = $143.64, plus any premium theme or plugin you choose to buy. Squarespace Basic billed annually is 36 x $19 = $684, Core is 36 x $29 = $1,044, and Basic on monthly billing is 36 x $25 = $900 (Bluehost, Squarespace).
2. What the site has to sell. Squarespace Basic takes a 2% fee on online store orders and 7% on digital content and memberships; Core takes 0% and 5%, before card rates from 2.9% + $0.30 (pricing page). On Bluehost, selling means WooCommerce, which comes installed on eCommerce Essentials at $14.99 a month on the 36-month term, renewing at $21.99 (WordPress hosting page), with fees set by your payment processor. If you sell nothing, this row costs nothing.
3. How long a routine change takes. During Squarespace's trial and inside Bluehost's 30-day refund window, have the person who will edit the site add a page, swap a photo and change the opening hours on each. Time it. After launch, count how many edits in the first month needed someone technical. That count is the cost the price tables leave out.

What each one includes

Sources, all read on 26 October 2026: Bluehost's pricing and WordPress hosting pages, and Squarespace's pricing page in its annual and its monthly view; Squarespace's billing guide describes a site subscription attached to each site.

Where the choice turns

Who looks after the software

On Bluehost, WordPress core updates are managed, but the theme and plugins are your choices and your responsibility, and so is what happens when two of them disagree after an update. Bluehost's plans add a staging site to test those changes first. On Squarespace there is nothing to update: templates and blocks are Squarespace's, and the trade is a narrower set of parts, its editor, blocks and extensions plus your own CSS and JavaScript from Core upward (pricing page).

Selling, booking and invoicing

Squarespace connects the site to commerce, scheduling, invoicing, payments and email marketing without a separate set of tools, per its Design Intelligence page. WordPress can do each of those with a plugin, and eCommerce Essentials on Bluehost bundles WooCommerce with product subscriptions, memberships and paid courses (WordPress hosting page). A service business that books and invoices finds those pieces already in place on Squarespace. An unusual checkout or a catalogue with integrations has more parts to choose from in WordPress.

How many sites one bill covers

Bluehost Starter hosts up to 10 WordPress sites on one plan and Business up to 50 (pricing page). On Squarespace, each site carries its own site subscription, and the billing guide says there is no discount for managing several. A business with a main site and two campaign sites pays once on Bluehost and three times on Squarespace.

Two AI first drafts from the same brief

Both vendors document an AI step for the first version of a site. Bluehost's WordPress AI Builder asks a few questions and returns three previews with colours, fonts and content to choose from (WordPress hosting page). Squarespace's AI website builder takes a description of the business, its visitors and what they should do, and generates a multi-page starting point that its in-editor AI assistant can then change on request.

1. Write one brief: what you sell, to whom, the three things a visitor should do, and the facts that must be right, such as prices, hours and service area.
2. Give the same brief to both builders and keep the drafts side by side.
3. The human check: the owner reads every generated sentence before anything goes live, deletes any invented testimonial or claim, corrects each price and opening time, and replaces stock images that misrepresent the business. Keep the draft that needed fewer corrections.

Free first, and what the trial is for

Squarespace's 14-day trial needs no card, and Bluehost's 30-day refund returns the hosting price minus the regular price of the free domain (Squarespace, Bluehost). The timing test from point 3 costs nothing on either.

Then notice where the Squarespace trial ends. The AI builder can draft the whole site during the free trial, and publishing it needs a paid plan, per its AI website builder page; by day 14 the business has a finished site sitting in Squarespace's editor, and the shortest way to put that work online is the subscription. Decide on paper before the trial starts, so the draft does not decide for you.

Go the Bluehost route if

• Someone on the team is comfortable running WordPress, or you pay someone who is.
• Several sites should share one plan and one three-year bill.
• You want the freedom of WordPress plugins for a checkout or integration Squarespace does not offer.

Go the Squarespace route if

• The people who run the business will edit the site themselves.
• Bookings, invoices, a small store or memberships should live beside the pages.
• Nobody should ever have to update a plugin.

The Bluehost entry and how to use Bluehost cover the WordPress side. Squarespace has no entry on this site; Shopify vs Squarespace covers its store plans and Webflow vs Squarespace its use as a marketing site.

FAQ

Is hosting included with Squarespace?

Yes. Its pricing FAQ says all plans include fully managed cloud hosting (pricing page).

Does Bluehost's price include WordPress?

WordPress itself is free software. Bluehost's WordPress plans include its setup, managed WordPress updates, staging, a free migration tool and Yoast SEO (WordPress hosting page); premium themes and plugins are extra if you choose them.

Which is cheaper over three years?

Bluehost, by $540.36: Starter is $143.64 for three years and Squarespace Basic billed yearly is $684 for the same stretch, both checked on 26 October 2026 on the Bluehost and Squarespace pricing pages.