Shopify vs. Squarespace vs. Etsy: What's the Best Website Platform for Handmade Businesses in 2025?
It may not seem like it, but choosing the right platform to sell your products is a big decision to make as a small handmade business owner, maker, or creative.
Whether you’re just in the early days of building your shop and deciding where to start selling or you’ve outgrown your current platform, it’s super important to understand all the pros and cons of the most popular platforms - and today we’re talking all about Shopify, Squarespace, and Etsy.
In this post, I’ll break down the main benefits of each (and the nice-to-haves) so you can choose the best fit for your handmade business in 2025!
Let’s dive in!
🧶 Etsy: The Maker’s Marketplace & A Beginner’s Paradise
We’ll start with the platform we all know and love as a beginner selling anything handmade on the internet - Etsy.
Etsy is perfect for new businesses for many reasons:
It’s simple to set up and hit the ground running
It comes with a built-in audience
It requires little to no experience to build your storefront
Shoppers come to Etsy ready to buy handmade, vintage, and custom products, which means you don’t need to worry about marketing or driving traffic to your shop (at least at first).
Pros:
Instant exposure to millions of buyers.
No need to design or build a website.
Great for testing ideas and validating demand.
Cons:
High fees (6.5% transaction fee + payment fees + listing fees). And trust me when I say - these add up quickly when you start making consistent sales.
Limited branding—your shop looks like everyone else’s, and you don’t have much choice in how your shop looks. Boring!
Etsy owns your customer data, so you can’t email or retarget past buyers. This is a big one considering email marketing has a high ROI (On average, every $1 spent delivers a 3600% ROI.)
You’re at the mercy of Etsy’s algorithm, fee changes, and policy shifts.
🧶 Bottom line:
Etsy really is the best place to start (or supplement) your sales, but it shouldn’t be considered a long-term home if you want full control over your brand and business.
💻 Squarespace: Beautiful, Beginner-Friendly, and (Kinda) Basic
Squarespace is a website builder that offers e-commerce features, gorgeous templates, and very intuitive drag-and-drop tools to build your storefront. It’s ideal for creatives who want to showcase their work in a polished and professional way without dealing with developers or lots of coding (though you can add code if you want to make your shop really unique!)
Pros:
Beautiful templates and built-in design tools.
Easy to use, even for non-techy business owners.
Affordable e-commerce plans (starting at $33/month).
Access to customer emails, allowing you to build your mailing list.
Cons:
Not built primarily for e-commerce—perfect for smaller shops, but less robust for complex inventory needs or super detailed analytics.
Fewer app integrations and automations compared to Shopify.
You’re responsible for driving your own traffic (SEO, social media, email, etc.).
🖥️ Bottom line:
If you want a beautiful branded site with light e-commerce, Squarespace is a fantastic starting point—especially if you’re ready to start moving away from Etsy.
🛒 Shopify: The E-Commerce Powerhouse
Shopify is 100% built specifically for online stores - It’s a robust and scalable platform trusted by big businesses and small handmade shops alike. If you’re serious about growing your product-based business, Shopify gives you all the tools you need to scale.
Pros:
Powerful e-commerce features: inventory management, shipping tools, abandoned cart recovery, POS, and much more.
Sell on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Amazon, and in-person.
Access to customer data and advanced marketing tools.
Built-in email marketing, SEO, and app integrations.
Cons:
Monthly cost starts at $39, and apps can add up quite a bit.
There is a steeper learning curve if you’re used to Etsy or Squarespace.
You’ll need to drive your own traffic to succeed (similar to Squarespace).
🛒 Bottom line:
Shopify is the best choice for product-based businesses ready to build their brand, scale up, and sell across multiple channels.
So, Which Platform Is Right for You?
Depends Where You’re At.
Are just starting out and want to test the market without building a website? Your best bet is Etsy.
Want a branded, professional website with light e-commerce features—and value beautiful, hands-on design? Squarespace is the way to go.
Are you ready to grow and scale your shop, manage a growing inventory, and take full control over your brand and customer experience? Shopify is the no-brainer solution.
Pro Tip: Use Etsy and Your Own Website
The smartest product-based businesses don’t see this as an either-or situation.
Start on Etsy, build an audience, then transition to your own website on Squarespace or Shopify to further grow your brand awareness and regain control over your marketing.
But really - you should continually use both! Keep Etsy for visibility and the built-in traffic, and use your website to build your brand, grow your email list, and increase profit margins by avoiding high marketplace fees. Push your audience to your website, but allow Etsy to keep running in the background with little maintenance.
Need Help Choosing or Building Your Site?
If you’re ready to move beyond Etsy and build your brand and website, I can help. I specialize in helping makers and product-based businesses create custom-branded sites that reflect their style - and convert.
🌷 Learn more about the Etsy Exit Audit - our 1:1 session and comprehensive action plan to grow your brand outside of Etsy
✨ Or grab the free guide Brand Building for Makers Starter Kit to get started building your maker brand from the ground up.
To learn more about the Five Points Framework for branding your shop, download the free Brand Building for Makers Starter Kit today.
This free 15+ page workbook helps you answer the most important questions you need to ask yourself when branding, plus how to use your answers as your north star when building your brand!
