Ep. 70 Squarespace vs Kajabi for Online Business Owners

Apr 14

Choosing a website platform should be simple. And then you open Google and suddenly everyone has a different opinion, every comparison blog contradicts the last one, and somehow you end up more confused than when you started.

WordPress, Wix, Showit, Squarespace, Kajabi, Webflow. There are a lot of options out there and most of the comparison content focuses on features rather than actually helping you make a decision. So let me try to fix that.

I build websites exclusively on Squarespace and Kajabi. In this post I am going to walk you through why I specialize in those two platforms, what each one is actually built for, and the specific questions to ask yourself before choosing one. Because this decision does matter, but it does not need to keep you stuck.

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Why I Only Build on Squarespace and Kajabi

My first Squarespace project came in 2016. I had never used the platform before, said yes to the project anyway, figured it out, and have been building on it ever since. Kajabi came a bit later through a similar path: a client whose website was already there, a willingness to learn, and eventually a second platform I know really well.

There are plenty of other options out there: Showit, WordPress, Wix, Webflow, and even GoDaddy (which I would strongly steer you away from). They all have their place. But it is not realistic for me to be a true expert in every platform. Keeping up with updates, changes, and best practices across five or six different platforms would mean I could not give my clients the depth of knowledge they deserve in any of them.

So I picked two that I love, that my clients can actually manage on their own after a project wraps, that have strong customer support, and that cover essentially every need a service-based business owner could have. And I go deep on those two.

Here is what those platforms have in common: both produce beautiful, professional results; both are genuinely user-friendly for people who are not tech-savvy; both have excellent customer support and tutorials; and between the two of them, they cover every situation I run into with clients. I have never had a client need a website feature that neither platform could deliver.

One important caveat: I do not build e-commerce websites for physical products. If that is your business, Shopify is probably your platform and I am happy to refer you to someone who specializes there.

What Each Platform Is Actually Built For

This is the distinction that matters most and that most comparison content glosses over.

Squarespace is a website builder first. It was designed to create beautiful, flexible, professionally branded websites that are easy for anyone to use and maintain. It has added features over the years, including basic courses, memberships, email marketing, and e-commerce, but those are secondary to its core purpose. Squarespace is website first, everything else second.

Kajabi is a digital product business platform first. It was built for coaches, course creators, and people who sell digital products. The website feature exists within that ecosystem, but it is the supporting character, not the main event. Kajabi is courses, memberships, and digital products first, website second.

Neither is better. The right one depends entirely on what your business actually does and where it is going.

The Five Questions to Ask Before You Choose

1. What is your primary revenue model?

If you are a done-for-you service provider, a consultant, or someone running group coaching through Zoom, Squarespace is almost always the better fit. It is built to showcase your work, tell your story, and convert visitors into inquiries through contact forms or call booking links.

If courses, memberships, group programs, or digital products are your primary revenue stream, go with Kajabi. That is exactly what it was built for and it makes all of those things significantly easier to manage.

If you are somewhere in between, this is worth thinking through carefully. I have had multiple clients build their websites on Squarespace for their service business, and then come back two or three years later wanting to launch a course or a membership. At that point, we are faced with a choice: move the whole website to Kajabi, or keep the website on Squarespace and run digital products through Kajabi, which means paying for two platform subscriptions every month.

Squarespace does technically offer a course and membership feature now. I would not recommend it. It feels like an afterthought, it is not fully fleshed out, and it does not compare to what Kajabi does natively. So if you have any plans to sell digital products down the road, even if that is two or three years away, it is worth factoring that into your platform decision now.

2. How important is design flexibility to you?

Squarespace edges out Kajabi here. You have a bit more design control, a bit more flexibility in how you build pages, and it is slightly easier to customize. You can absolutely build a gorgeous website on Kajabi, but you are working within slightly tighter constraints.

If visual customization and brand precision are a top priority for you, Squarespace is probably the better fit. If functionality matters more to you than design flexibility, Kajabi can more than hold its own.

3. Where are you at in your business right now?

Squarespace plans run roughly $20 to $50 per month on annual billing. Kajabi starts at over $100 per month. That is a meaningful difference, especially when you are still in the early stages of building traction.

If you are newer to business, still testing your offers, and just need a solid professional website, starting on Squarespace is a lower-risk entry point. You can always migrate to Kajabi later if your business grows in that direction. Paying for Kajabi features you are not using yet while you are still trying to find your footing is hard to justify.

That said, if you are already selling digital products or plan to in the near term, the Kajabi pricing makes more sense when you factor in what you would otherwise be spending on separate tools for email marketing, course hosting, and membership management.

4. How do you want to handle email marketing and automations?

Both platforms include email marketing. Kajabi's is significantly better. They also have a funnel builder, and you can now host a podcast through Kajabi as well. If having everything under one roof matters to you, Kajabi is the clear winner here.

Squarespace's email marketing and automation features exist but are not something I feel comfortable recommending to clients at this point. If you build on Squarespace, plan to use a separate tool for email marketing, like Kit or Flodesk. That means another subscription, but it also means you are using tools that are actually built for the job.

If you are considering Kajabi, I do recommend trying the email marketing feature before committing. Some people love it, some find it limiting. Worth forming your own opinion.

5. Which platform is better for SEO?

Platform matters far less for SEO than most people think, and I would not let this be a deciding factor. Squarespace has slightly more built-in SEO tools and makes certain things marginally easier to manage, but I have seen strong SEO results on both platforms. Whatever you read online claiming one platform dramatically outperforms the other for SEO, take it with a grain of salt.

The Most Important Principle: Build for Where You Are Going

The biggest mistake I see is people choosing a platform based entirely on where their business is today. Build for where you are going.

If you can see digital products in your future, even if they are a few years out, let that influence your platform decision now. It is significantly easier to build on Kajabi from the start than to migrate a fully built-out website later, deal with redirects, move your email subscribers, and reorganize your entire tech stack because your business outgrew your original platform.

That said, switching platforms is not catastrophic. I have helped plenty of clients make the move. It is just easier not to have to.

A Quick Decision Guide

Choose Squarespace if you are primarily a done-for-you service provider with no plans to sell digital products, design flexibility is a priority, you are earlier in business and want a more affordable starting point, and you are fine using separate tools for email marketing and automations.

Choose Kajabi if courses, memberships, or digital products are your primary or near-future revenue stream, you want your website, email marketing, digital products, and automations all under one roof, and the higher monthly cost is justified by the features you will actually use.

Both platforms offer free trials. I would encourage you to start one on the platform you are leaning toward and spend some real time clicking around before you commit. How a platform feels to use matters, and 30 minutes of hands-on time will tell you more than any comparison blog.

Stop Letting This Decision Keep You Stuck

Platform choice matters, but it does not matter so much that it should keep you from moving forward. Make a thoughtful decision, start the free trial, and build the website. If you need to course correct later, you can. It will not ruin your business.

If you are still feeling stuck after reading this, book a brand chat with me and I will walk you through which platform makes the most sense for your specific situation. I work in both of these platforms every single day and I genuinely believe you cannot go wrong with either one if you choose based on your actual needs.

🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned In The Episode:

➡️ Follow me on Instagram @spechtand.co
➡️ Book Your St and Out Brand Strategy Session (use code SFBPOD for $100 off)
➡️ Book A Brand Chat
➡️ Start a free trial of Squarespace
➡️ Start a free trial of Kajab i