A website isn’t the whole business

One recent client project brought the Squarespace vs Systeme.io question back into focus. The real issue isn’t just how a website looks, but whether the technology underneath can support the business around it.

 

I’ve been deep in client work recently, and one particular project took me somewhere I hadn’t been in years: Squarespace.

The client already had a Squarespace template and wanted to stay with it, which we were more than happy to work with.

A few hours in, I remembered exactly why we’ve never recommended it.

 

Back in the Squarespace trenches

To be clear, this isn’t about whether Squarespace can produce an attractive website. It can.

The frustration was the experience of actually working with it.

On this particular project, the editor was slow and surprisingly glitchy. Certain editing tools stopped responding, elements became sticky and straightforward changes took considerably longer than they should have.

We repeatedly found ourselves working around the platform rather than simply getting on with designing the site.

Then we got to mobile.

Squarespace 7.1’s Fluid Engine does allow the mobile layout to be arranged independently from desktop, but there still aren’t separate mobile-specific style settings across the platform.

Squarespace confirms that distinction in its own documentation.

For a platform of that scale, I found it surprisingly restrictive.

When you’re designing professionally, mobile isn’t an afterthought. A heading may need a different scale. A composition may need a different emphasis. What works beautifully across a desktop screen isn’t automatically the right decision on a phone.

Yes, custom CSS can solve some of those problems.

But once you’re writing workarounds to achieve relatively straightforward responsive control, you have to ask whether the platform is making the job easier or simply creating another layer to manage.

 

Squarespace vs Systeme.io: a different kind of comparison

That project brought us back to a much bigger question.

What are you actually choosing when you choose a website platform?

For us, the Squarespace vs Systeme.io comparison isn’t simply about which platform can build the prettier homepage.

They’re different kinds of tools.

Systeme.io isn’t the most sophisticated visual website builder available.

If we want highly art-directed interaction, advanced animation and significantly more visual freedom, tools such as Framer or Webflow are built for a different job.

But most founders aren’t simply trying to build a beautiful website.

They’re trying to build a business.

Disclosure: some Systeme.io links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up through one, Alter Edit may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.

 

A website is only one part of the business

A functioning online business usually needs considerably more than a homepage.

Email marketing.

Sales funnels.

Automations.

Courses or digital products.

Payments.

Bookings.

Lead generation.

A customer database.

And ideally, all of those moving parts need to work together.

This is where Systeme.io for small business becomes particularly interesting.

The platform combines websites and blogs with email marketing, funnels, automations, courses, bookings, payments and other business tools within one ecosystem.

You can see the wider feature set directly on the Systeme.io features page.

 

The hidden cost of the platform patchwork

One of the easiest mistakes to make when setting up a business is choosing technology almost entirely on the basis of what the website can look like.

The website gets built first.

Then you need an email platform.

Then a booking system.

Then somewhere to host a course or digital product.

Then a funnel builder.

Then automation software.

Then something has to connect those platforms together.

Before long, a relatively straightforward business is paying for and maintaining a collection of separate systems.

We call this the Tech Tax.

And it isn’t simply the cost of the subscriptions.

It is the time spent maintaining integrations, troubleshooting things that stop communicating, moving customer information between platforms and learning multiple systems just to operate one business.

That is one of the main reasons we use Systeme.io.

 

One business platform instead of five separate tools

There is a free Systeme.io plan as well as paid tiers, but price isn’t really the point.

The bigger value is consolidation.

One login.

One customer database.

One email system.

One automation engine.

One set of funnels.

One place to manage the business.

The fewer connections you have to maintain between separate tools, the fewer opportunities there are for something to break.

For a consultant, coach, wellness practitioner, creative business, course creator or service provider, that can matter far more than having another visual effect available in the page builder.

 

Design freedom and business infrastructure are not the same thing

This is why we don’t think a Squarespace vs Systeme.io comparison should simply become a checklist of website features.

The platforms are solving different problems.

If the brief is an exceptionally art-directed digital experience where interaction and visual experimentation are central, we would choose the technology accordingly.

But if you’re building the infrastructure required to market, sell and operate a business, the priorities change.

You need the site to look considered.

But you also need someone to be able to discover you, join your list, receive an automated sequence, book an appointment, make a purchase, access what they bought and remain inside your ecosystem.

That workflow matters.

A beautiful website that requires another four or five platforms to operate everything behind it is still only part of the solution.

 

Choose the infrastructure, not just the homepage

Going back into Squarespace was useful.

Not because every Squarespace website is bad. Clearly that isn’t the case.

It simply reinforced what we now value when choosing a website platform for a growing business.

We want the design to feel considered.

We want the customer experience to feel professional.

But underneath that, we want the infrastructure to be simple, connected and capable of growing with the business.

For many small businesses, that makes Systeme.io a very strong Squarespace alternative to consider.

Not because it has every design trick available.

And not simply because it is inexpensive.

Because a website isn’t the whole business.

You can read more about why we build on Systeme.io, including the wider platform costs and what we mean by the Tech Tax.