Competitive Analysis
There are pros and cons to every systems out there. See how we stack up. Keep in mind that “we” build your site and take a lot of the difficulty out of the process. We may still use templates to keep costs down but with our personal touch your website won’t look like it, unless you want it to of course!
HarkusWeb | Squarespace | Wix | Weebly | Shopify | Wordpress | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Build Process | We build your personalized and customized website | You build it Or hire a company | You build it Or hire a company | You build it Or hire a company | You build it Or hire a company | You build it Or hire a company |
Templates | 10000+ | 113 | 500 Can't switch themes after selection | 50 Limited customization | 70+ custom themes | 10000+ |
Apps/Plugins | 50000+ | 24 | 300 | 400 Mostly widgets | 3000+ | 50000+ |
Uptime | 99.9% | 99.60% | 99.95% | 99.97% | 99.99% | Depends on host |
SEO | Yoast Allows complete SEO control on a per-page basis | H1-H3 only H1-H3 only. Alt tags for images added in different ways depending on the type of block. Not all templates have the same options/structure which impacts SEO. Slower than average | Basics Wix covers all the basics (and more) of the SEO options that regular sites need (Wix's target group) | Only has H1 (Apps add H1-H6) adds URL strings to some pages which can't be removed | SEO apps Available but not inclusive | Complete SEO control Yoast allows complete SEO control on a per-page basis |
Responsive or Adaptive | Responsive | Responsive | Responsive Has issues on mobile due to pixel perfect movement | New themes are responsive Has some adaptive themes | Responsive | Responsive |
Customer Support | Unlimited email support, limited chat support | Poor support No customizations, hard to cancel/refunds | Poor support Hard to cancel/refund, no chat | Poor support Overseas support, no customizations | Great support Local 1 hour free design time, can get in touch with creators of custom paid themes | Unlimited email support Upgrade allows unlimited chat support |
Migration | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Navigation | Unlimited Can add mega menu with plugins | Only one sub-navigation Can add mega menu with plugins | 2 levels of nested links Editor gets slower with more pages can add mega menu with app | Unlimited Mega menu is possible with app | 3 levels of nested links Mega menu is possible with app | Unlimited Can add mega menu with plugin |
Backups | Dual-backup system for data security and redundancy. Allows for History Restoration. | No automated backup or restore | Site history restoration | No backup and restore Need to save zips | Rewind backup only | Download a backup of your site or restore it to a specific point in time On Business & ecommerce plans |
Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Ease of Use | Intuitive and includes documentation | Intuitive but not ideal | Easy but overwhelming and potentially confusing editor | Easy simple interface | User friendly just add your products | Most difficult use case |
Can Delete? | By request | By request | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Design | Clean & modern Curated list | Clean & modern Curated list | Inconsistent quality New and old themes | Clean & responsive Lack of templates | Customizable but may be difficult to learn Many options | Customizable but may be difficult to learn Many options |
Contract | Two-years | Monthly or yearly | Monthly or yearly | Monthly or yearly | Monthly or yearly | Monthly or yearly |
CS Cost | Included in plan | Blog guides free webinars forum support documentation Squarespace Select is a $5000/year paid service which gives you an Account Manager SEO expert Custom Design etc need to hire an expert for design help | Blog support documentation free youtube training videos Priority customer support in VIP plan - $20 more also includes 15GB more storage, need to hire a partner for design help | Support documentation Priority customer support in Performance Plan ($13 more) need to find a freelancer for design help | Blog guides support documentation Free shopify academy 1 hour free design time after which you have to hire an expert | Depending on the plan support is included Except for design implementation |
Maximum page number for website | Unlimited Pages - All Plans | Unlimited Pages - All Plans | Unlimited Pages - All Plans | Unlimited Pages - All Plans | Unlimited Pages - All Plans | Unlimited Pages - All Plans |
Maximum designed pages included in plan | Up to 15 designed/built pages included in plan costing | None - Requires creative team | None - Requires creative team | None - Requires creative team | None - Requires creative team | None - Requires creative team |
Cost brackets | $100/month after design cost | Multiple Options Available $16 Personal / $26 Business / $35 Commerce / $54 Adv. Commerce / $? Enterprise | Multiple Options Available $18 Personal / $23 Unlimited / $27 Pro / $47 VIP / $28 Bus. Basic / $33 Bus. Unlimited / $56 Bus. VIP / $500 Enterprise | Multiple Options Available $9 Personal (ads) / $16 Pro / $29 Performance /$? Enterprise | Multiple Options Available $9 Lite / $29 Basic / $79 Shopify / $299 Advanced / $2000 Plus | Multiple Options Available $7 Personal / $14 Premium / $33 Business / $59 ecommerce |
Discount for paying upfront | 10% on maintenance costs | Multiple Options Available Annual, 25% Personal / 30% Business / 25% Commerce / 25% Adv. Commerce | Multiple Options Available Around 25% for 1 year around 35% for 2 years around 45% for 3 years | Multiple Options Available 33% / 25% / 10%, 45% 40% 25% 2 years | Multiple Options Available 10% on annual 20% on biennial | Multiple Options Available $4 Personal / $8 Premium / $25 Business / $45 ecommerce |
Professional domain | We can implement your domain You will need to purchase. It’s safer to own your own domain | Yes free with annual subscription for 1 year $20/year after | Yes with paid plans for 1 year $15/year after | Yes with Pro/Performance $20/year after, can use existing domain free | Not included | Yes with paid plans for 1 year $15/year after |
Professional email | Not included but we have email partners that can assist | Free Gmail and Google Workspace account for 1 year Business Plan and up | Google Workspace $6/user/month | Google Workspace $45/user/year | Not included | Not included |
Cost to build the site (not by yourself) | $2000 | Varies in cost and quality Expert Marketplace built into Squarespace | Varies in cost and quality Wix Partner / Marketplace built into Wix | Nothing built-in You will need to source a freelancer | Shopify Experts built into Shopify | Nothing built-in You will need to source a freelancer |
Free SSL | Yes | Yes all plans | Yes all plans | Yes all plans | Yes all plans | Yes all plans |
Multilingual | Possible for an additional cost | Yes Different url's for each page in each language does not offer translation | Yes Manually or using Google Translate | With premium apps Monthly fee | 5 languages / 20 with Shopify Plus | Recreating pages in other languages and using subdomains Need to translate yourself |
If it has developers how long to develop | 4 weeks Larger scope could take longer | Varies Developers are experts freelancers promoted by the site | Varies Developers are experts freelancers promoted by the site | Varies Developers are experts freelancers promoted by the site | Varies Developers are experts freelancers promoted by the site | Varies |
Fonts available | Google fonts Plus required brand fonts | 600 Google fonts 1000 Adobe fonts | Google fonts | Google fonts | System fonts Google fonts Monotype.com fonts | Google fonts and more |
Customizations possible | Fully customizable Some may incur additional costs | Minimal | Minimal | Minimal | Fully customizable | Fully customizable |
Custom CSS/JS | Yes Depending on the requirements | Code blocks All plans: CSS Business and Commerce plans: JS Code Injection, Custom CSS Editor | Yes Can add custom code and CSS in <style> tags and <script> tags | Yes Has code block which allows HTML can embed JS in <script> tags or add js files to footer | Yes Modifying the CSS/JS files | Yes Not on Personal Plan |
Google Analytics | Yes, recommended | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes But not on Personal Plan |
Open source | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Ad free | Yes | Yes, however includes ads on free plan | Yes, however, includes ads on free plan | Yes, however, includes ads on Personal plan | Yes | Yes on Business and ecommerce plans |
Mobile Editor | Yes However, desktop editing is more intuitive | Yes, with an app Squarespace App allows for creating and editing your site/blocks on mobile | Yes but dependent Wix Mobile App can editor can create a site in 30 seconds using ADI (Artifical Design Intelligence) through multiple choice questions and the site can be edited (adding sections blocks images) but only sites created with the ADI can be edited using the app (not sites built using a theme) | Yes, with an app Weebly App allows for editing your site with drag & drop editor on mobile | Yes, with an app Shopify app allows you to build or modify an existing store add sections add products and prices | Challenging but possible Blogs are easy - Store products can be edited with Woo app |
E-Commerce | E-commerce is possible Options and quantity of products depends on your plan | E-commerce is possible Options and quantity of products depends on your plan | E-commerce is possible Options and quantity of products depends on your plan | E-commerce is possible Options and quantity of products depends on your plan | E-commerce is possible Options and quantity of products depends on your plan | E-commerce is possible Options and quantity of products depends on your plan |
E-Commerce Cost difference | Dependent on the ecommerce requirements That said, most anything is possible | $35 Commerce / $54 Adv. Commerce | $28 Bus. Basic / $33 Bus. Unlimited / $56 Bus. VIP | All plans have basic e-commerce (Square influenced) | All plans have basic e-commerce | All plans have basic e-commerce |
Storage Space | 3GB which is enough for most websites | Unlimited all plans | Depends on the plan 3GB Personal / 10GB Unlimited / 20GB Pro / 35GB VIP / 20GB Bus. Basic / 35GB Bus. Unlimited / 50GB Bus. VIP | Depends on the plan 500 MB Personal / Unlimited Pro / Unlimited Performance | Unlimited Products max 20 MB per file upload | Depends on the plan 6GB Personal / 13GB Premium / 200GB Business / 200GB ecommerce |
404 Page Design | Yes, customizable | Yes customizable | Yes customizable | Yes customizable | Yes but requires code to customize | None hardcoded into theme |
SEO | ||||||
Sitemap | Yes, with Yoast | Automatically generated can't edit or exclude pages | Automatically generated can exclude pages | Automatically generated can exclude pages | Automatically generated liquid coding required to exclude | Yes with Yoast |
Alt Tags | Yes | Yes Every image can be given alt text different types of blocks have different methods of adding alt tags so it’s not intuitive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Header Tags | Can use all H tags | Only has H1 H2 H3 | Allows H1-H6 H1-H2 on blog posts | Only has H2 Requires App install to add H1-H6 | Has H1-H6 | Can use all H tags |
Title | Yes, with Yoast | Yes can add title Can add meta title to every page | Customizable for all pages | Yes but Weebly adds site name to end of title | Customizable for all pages | Yes with Yoast |
Description Length | Yes, with Yoast | Customizable | Customizable | Customizable | Customizable | Yes with Yoast |
Hierarchical Structure | Yes | URL generated based on page title customizable | URL is customizable but Wix adds short extra string to blog Posts/product pages (/post/ /product/) | Every page lies in the root directory | Editable but shopify adds extra strings to URL's (/products/ /news/) | Yes |
Robots.txt | Yes | Can't edit All squarespace sites use the same robots.txt file | Yes | Yes Can hide pages add no index and no follow meta tag | Yes but to edit code liquid or installing an app is required | Basic usage Can allow or disallow search engines to index the site |
Canonical Tag | Yes, with Yoast | Can’t Edit Automatically put on pages | Yes | Can be manually added | Yes but to edit you will need to code liquid | Yes with Yoast |
Open Graph Tags | Yes, with Yoast | Yes but not intuitive Squarespace uses the page title and meta description for og:title and og:description. You can set a custom og:image on a page by page basis. Can add manually through header code injection | Automatically generated can't modify | Wix pulls common OG tags from other variables like the pages meta title and description You can customize the OG title description and image for each page in the Social share settings. You can set a custom sitewide OG image | Most Shopify themes pull OG tags From variables such as your title tag for og:title and featured image for og:image. The only tag you can customize through Shopifys UI is a sitewide og:image | Yes customizable with Yoast |