--- title: "Wix vs Squarespace for Tour and Charter Operators" description: "Wix vs Squarespace for tour and charter operators: 2026 prices, booking tools, widgets, languages, and why your booking engine matters more." url: https://junglebee.com/blog/wix-vs-squarespace-tour-operators published: 2026-10-26T07:12:00+00:00 updated: 2026-10-26T07:12:00+00:00 --- [Selling online](https://junglebee.com/blog/category/selling-online)5 min read # Wix vs Squarespace for Tour and Charter Operators Wix vs Squarespace for tour and charter operators: 2026 prices, booking tools, widgets, languages, and why your booking engine matters more. [**Michael Rouveure**](https://junglebee.com/author/michael-rouveure)Founder, Junglebee ยท 26 October 2026 ![Laptop on a docked catamaran table with a Caribbean harbor behind](https://junglebee.com/_vercel/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Frbucznrhwdixonqrldre.supabase.co%2Fstorage%2Fv1%2Fobject%2Fpublic%2Fblog%2Fposts%2Fwix-vs-squarespace-tour-operators%2F1a72455ad9b3e298.webp&w=960&q=75) **In short** - Core is the starting point for Wix's own payments or Squarespace JavaScript widgets: around $29 a month billed yearly in the US as of Oct 2026. - Wix Bookings and Acuity handle classes, capacity and deposits, but test boat-level inventory, agent rates and weather moves before trusting them with charters. - Pick the builder you'll keep updated; Wix is stronger on built-in languages, and the booking engine matters more than either builder. A lot of operators spend more time choosing between Wix and Squarespace than choosing what takes their bookings. That's backwards. The site builder is the shop window. The booking engine is the till and the calendar, and it costs you money when it gets something wrong. So yes, this is a wix vs squarespace comparison for tour and charter operators, and I'll be fair to both. SXM Deals is where I learned why. When I launched SXM Deals in 2012, the website wasn't my first problem. The booking system was. Most tour companies I worked with had no booking software, so I signed up to one of the main booking systems out there, loaded every company that had agreed to work with me, and hooked it up to my site. The website just sat on top of it. ## What Wix and Squarespace cost an operator right now Prices change, so check before you sign up. As of late October 2026, Wix lists its US plans at $17, $29, $39 and $159 a month on a yearly subscription paid up front, and Wix's own blog puts month-to-month billing at $24, $36, $46 and $172. The cheapest plan, Light, doesn't take payments. Core is the first plan with payments and scheduling. Squarespace's US prices run $19, $29, $49 and $99 a month billed annually for Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced, or $25, $39, $65 and $139 month to month. For Squarespace store sales, Basic adds a 2% transaction fee. Core and up drop that to zero, though card processing still applies. For Wix's own payments or Squarespace JavaScript widgets, Core starts around $29 a month paid yearly. Squarespace Basic takes payments too. At the same $29 for Core, price shouldn't decide it. ## Wix Bookings and Acuity were built for appointments, not boats Both builders offer a scheduler. Wix has Wix Bookings, included from Core. Squarespace uses Acuity Scheduling (it used to be sold as Squarespace Scheduling), and that's a separate subscription on top of your site, starting at $16 a month billed annually. Wix Bookings handles classes with a maximum number of participants, deposits at checkout, and resources you can attach to a service. Acuity does group classes with a cap on people, lets guests book several spots at once, and can require a deposit or full prepayment. On paper, a 30-seat snorkel trip looks like a class. Then a real week happens. A charter business needs things a yoga studio doesn't: - Adult, child and cruise-group prices on the same trip, all counted against one boat's seats. - A weather day that moves forty guests to tomorrow in one go. - Hotel desks and agents booking the same seats at their own rates. - Pickup points. - A private charter that pulls the boat off every shared trip that day. Some of that you can rig with workarounds, and both tools change often, so test each item before committing. Acuity also takes payments through Stripe, Square or PayPal, so confirm one of those pays out where you bank. But my opinion is simple: don't let the website builder's scheduler run your boats. It was built for people selling hours of their own time. You're selling seats on a vessel with a captain, a fuel bill and a weather forecast. ## Plugging in a booking widget from somewhere else If your booking system lives outside the builder, you'll paste its code into the site. On Squarespace, the code block that runs JavaScript and iframes, plus site-wide code injection, comes with Core and above. Basic can take payments, but for JavaScript booking widgets, budget for Core. On Wix, visible widgets use an HTML embed; dashboard custom code needs a published site and connected domain, so a paid plan. Wix introduced new custom-code security in December 2025; some older snippets may need provider updates, so ask yours when they last tested on Wix. We built [Junglebee](https://junglebee.com/charters) so operators can install the reservation widget for their tours on their own website and take bookings right there. That's the setup I'd want on either builder. ## Editing from the dock, and getting found on Google Your site goes stale the week you stop touching it. A boat goes into the yard, the sunset trip moves to 5:30, and the site has to say so. Both have apps, and both are limited. Squarespace's app lets you edit existing blocks, sections and headers, but you can't add or rearrange blocks on a page. Wix lets you change text, buttons and standalone images from its app or a mobile browser, though Wix says that feature isn't available to every user yet. For larger layout changes, use a laptop. On design, Wix gives you more freedom. You can drag anything anywhere, which is great until someone drags the Book Now button behind a photo. Squarespace templates are tighter and harder to make ugly, but you'll bend your content to fit them. For SEO basics, both cover page titles, descriptions, image alt text and mobile layouts well enough for a tour business. I'd spend more time on trip descriptions and guest reviews than worrying about either builder's SEO. ## English, French, Spanish and Dutch on one site On St. Maarten you've got the French side, the Dutch side, and guests flying in from everywhere, so a second language can matter more than any template. Wix has its own app, Wix Multilingual, with manual translation or auto-translate. You get 3,000 free word credits for the auto part, then you buy more. Squarespace supports manual multilingual pages or Weglot, which connects on version 7.1 sites. Weglot's free tier covers one extra language and up to 2,000 words, so budget for a paid plan. One catch: Squarespace's help center lists Acuity Scheduling among the things Weglot doesn't translate yet, so your site could read in French while the booking step stays in English. Out of the box, Wix has the edge on languages. ## Pick the builder you'll still update in high season If you want my call, pick the one you'll actually open on a Tuesday night after a long day on the water. Wix has a free plan and Squarespace has a 14-day trial. Build a homepage and one trip page in each. Whichever felt less like homework is your builder. Then put your real attention on the booking engine. If guests can see live availability, pay a deposit and get a confirmation, the builder around it barely matters. That's what SXM Deals taught me. The site was the front door. The booking system was the business.