Framer vs Squarespace (Which is the Best in 2025)

Introduction

In the world of website design and development, there are numerous platforms that claim to offer the best tools and features for creating stunning websites. Two popular options that often come up in discussions are Framer and Squarespace. As a graphic designer and photographer, you want a website portfolio that showcases your work effectively, without the need for extensive HTML coding skills. You've previously used Wix, but you're curious about the drawbacks that people mention. In this article, we will provide an in-depth comparison of Framer and Squarespace, highlighting their differences, features, and benefits. By the end, you'll have a clear understanding of which platform is best suited for your needs.

Exploring Framer

Framer has evolved into a powerful website builder and design platform, moving beyond its origins as a prototyping tool. It now offers a comprehensive solution for creating fully functional websites without coding expertise. Framer provides a user-friendly interface with drag-and-drop functionality, customizable templates, and responsive design capabilities. Users can create professional-looking websites with interactive elements, animations, and seamless integrations. The platform also maintains its collaborative features, allowing teams to work together efficiently. With Framer, designers and non-designers alike can bring their web projects to life, from concept to published site, all within a single, intuitive environment.

Benefits of Framer

• Collaborative Capabilities: Framer excels in facilitating collaboration among design teams. With features like easy sharing, multi-player editing, and inline commenting, teams can work together seamlessly, streamlining the design process.

• Reusable Components: Framer allows you to create and save reusable components, saving time and effort when building prototypes.

• Advanced Animation Capabilities: Framer provides powerful animation tools, enabling you to create intricate design prototypes with ease. The drag-and-drop magic motion module allows for the creation of immersive animation prototypes.

• Integration with UI Designing Tools: Framer offers the option to import existing UI designing tools, allowing you to leverage your preferred tools while benefiting from Framer's advanced features.

• Real-time Customization: Framer enables real-time customization of elements on the canvas, allowing you to adjust size, position, and other attributes as needed.

Limitations of Framer

While Framer offers many advantages for design teams, it's important to consider its limitations as well:

• Advanced Custom Functionality: For highly specific or complex custom functionality, developers might still need to work outside of Framer's visual interface.

• Limited CMS Functionality: Framer's CMS functionality is somewhat limited compared to platforms like WordPress. While it supports adding dynamic content to portfolios, it may not offer the same level of flexibility as dedicated CMS platforms.

• Target Audience: Framer primarily caters to individual designers and design teams, making it less commonly used by large organizations.

  
  

Templates

Framer provides a wide range of templates, each thoughtfully designed for various use cases. Below are a few of the most sought-after templates:

1. Sawad — Modern Creative Portfolio

2. Ruya — SaaS Business Template

3. Nashra — SaaS Showcase Template

4. Sharpy — SaaS Template

5. Architek — Portfolio Template

   
   

Understanding Squarespace

Squarespace is widely recognized as one of the easiest ways for anyone to create an exceptional website. It offers a comprehensive suite of features including page creation, galleries, blogs, e-commerce capabilities, domain registration, hosting, analytics, and 24/7 customer support. With Squarespace, you can design real websites directly on the canvas, making the process intuitive and efficient.

Benefits of Squarespace

• Step-by-Step Video Training: Squarespace provides step-by-step video training to guide novice users through the website building process, ensuring they can make the most of the platform's capabilities.

• Customizable Templates: With a wide selection of customizable templates, Squarespace allows you to tailor your website's design to reflect your unique style and brand identity.

• E-commerce Tools: Squarespace offers powerful e-commerce tools, making it an ideal choice for photographers and designers looking to showcase and sell their work online.

• SEO Optimization: Squarespace prioritizes search engine optimization, helping your website rank higher in search engine results pages and increasing your online visibility.

Limitations of Squarespace

While Squarespace offers numerous benefits, it's important to consider its limitations as well. Some of the drawbacks that users have mentioned include:

• Limited Design Flexibility: While Squarespace provides a range of templates to choose from, customization options may be somewhat limited compared to other platforms.

• Pricing: Squarespace plans can be more expensive compared to other website builders. However, the additional features and support provided may justify the cost for those seeking advanced functionality and professional support.

• Learning Curve: While Squarespace is designed to be user-friendly, there may still be a learning curve for those new to website design and development.

  
  

Templates

Squarespace offers a diverse selection of templates, each tailored to different purposes. Here are some popular templates:

1. BAILARD

2. VANCE

3. VENTURA

4. CROSBY

Comparing Squarespace and Framer

To determine which platform is better suited for your needs, let's compare Squarespace and Framer across various aspects:

Ease of Use

Squarespace maintains its reputation for user-friendliness, offering an intuitive interface that caters to users of all skill levels. Its drag-and-drop functionality and curated selection of pre-designed templates enable quick and easy creation of polished websites. The platform's streamlined approach allows users to achieve professional results without needing extensive design or coding knowledge.

Framer, having evolved into a comprehensive website builder, has significantly improved its user experience. While it offers advanced design capabilities, Framer now provides a more accessible interface with drag-and-drop functionality and customizable templates. This evolution has reduced the learning curve considerably. Users can now create sophisticated websites and interactions without extensive coding knowledge. Framer's visual editing tools and intuitive layout system allow for a high degree of customization, making it approachable for beginners while still offering the depth that experienced designers appreciate.

Both platforms now offer a balance of ease-of-use and design flexibility, with Squarespace leaning towards simplicity and Framer providing more advanced design capabilities in an accessible format. The choice between them often comes down to the specific needs of the project and the user's desired level of design control.

Design Flexibility

Squarespace continues to offer a curated selection of customizable templates, allowing users to create visually appealing websites with relative ease. The platform has expanded its customization options, providing more flexibility in layout adjustments, color schemes, and typography choices. While Squarespace maintains a balance between simplicity and customization, it still operates within a structured framework to ensure consistency and ease of use.

Framer, now a full-fledged website builder, has significantly expanded its design flexibility. It goes beyond traditional templates, offering a more open-ended design environment. Users can start with customizable templates or build from scratch, with the ability to fine-tune every aspect of their website's design/

Both platforms now offer substantial design flexibility, with Squarespace focusing on accessible customization within a structured environment, and Framer providing a more open-ended, design-centric approach for those who want maximum control over their website's look and feel.

E-commerce Capabilities

Squarespace continues to offer robust e-commerce tools, making it easy to set up and manage an online store. With features like customizable product listings, inventory management, secure payment gateways, and flexible shipping options, Squarespace provides a comprehensive e-commerce solution suitable for various business sizes.

Framer, on the other hand, does not offer built-in e-commerce capabilities. As a website design and building platform, Framer excels in creating visually striking and interactive websites. However, it is not designed for direct selling or managing an online store. For those needing e-commerce functionality, Framer users would need to explore third-party integrations or alternative solutions to handle transactions and product management.

Animations

Framer excels in providing advanced animation capabilities, offering a powerful toolkit for creating dynamic and interactive web experiences. Its features include a visual timeline editor, support for complex multi-step animations, interactive animations triggered by user actions, and physics-based animations. These tools allow designers to create highly engaging, app-like experiences directly within their websites.

Squarespace, while more limited, offers a set of built-in animation options to add subtle motion to websites. These include fade-in effects for sections, simple hover animations, and basic transition effects between pages. Squarespace's animation features are easier to implement and suitable for creating polished, professional websites, but don't offer the same level of customization and complexity as Framer's.

For users prioritizing advanced animations, Framer provides significantly more flexibility and power.

SEO Optimization

Squarespace continues to prioritize search engine optimization, offering built-in tools and features to enhance your website's visibility in search results. It provides customizable meta tags, clean URL structures, automatic sitemap generation, and mobile-responsive designs. Squarespace also offers integrated analytics and the ability to easily add alt text to images, ensuring that your website adheres to SEO best practices.

Framer has significantly improved its SEO capabilities, now offering a range of built-in tools comparable to other website builders. These include customizable meta titles and descriptions, SEO-friendly URL structures, automatic sitemap generation, and the ability to add alt text to images. Framer's responsive designs also contribute to better SEO performance across devices. While the platform may not offer advanced SEO features found in specialized tools, it provides a solid foundation for implementing essential SEO strategies directly within the website building interface.

Both platforms now offer robust support for fundamental SEO practices, allowing users to optimize their websites for search engines without relying heavily on external tools or plugins.

Pricing

Squarespace offers a range of pricing plans to suit different needs and budgets. The plans include features such as custom domains, SSL security, unlimited bandwidth, and analytics. While Squarespace plans may be more expensive compared to some other website builders, the additional features and support provided may justify the cost for those seeking advanced functionality and professional support.

Framer, on the other hand, offers a subscription-based pricing model. The pricing depends on the number of team members and the desired features. It is important to note that Framer's pricing is geared towards design teams and may be less cost-effective for individual users or small-scale projects.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both Squarespace and Framer offer unique features and benefits for website designers and photographers. Squarespace excels in its user-friendly interface, customizable templates, e-commerce capabilities, and SEO optimization. It is a great choice for those seeking a hassle-free website building experience and a robust platform for selling products online.

Framer, on the other hand, is a powerful prototyping tool that emphasizes collaboration and design flexibility. It offers advanced animation capabilities, real-time customization, and integration with existing UI designing tools. Framer is best suited for design teams and individuals who prioritize high levels of customization and control over their prototypes.

Ultimately, the choice between Squarespace and Framer depends on your specific needs, budget, and familiarity with design and prototyping tools. It is recommended to carefully evaluate the features and limitations of each platform to make an informed decision that aligns with your goals as a graphic designer and photographer.

Looking to get started quickly with Framer? Check out our free templates to kickstart your next project. These templates are designed for a variety of use cases, from personal portfolios to business websites, and can help you save time while achieving stunning results.