Fluid Engine vs Editor X (2023): Choose the Best Site Builder

When picking a site builder—whether for ecommerce, blogging, or a business website—you must decide if you want the simplest interface possible, or perhaps something that provides a more complicated infrastructure with improved control.

Fluid Engine and Editor X are in the category of site builders where you receive true drag-and-drop editing, CSS customization, and a more advanced interface than the basic page builders from Wix and Weebly.

These site builders help more advanced developers and beginners maintain full control over their websites.

So, in this article, we compare Fluid Engine vs Editor X to understand which one might work best for you. 

With a comparison like this, we’re able to break down which website builder offers the best value with the smoothest interface, while also discovering which excels when it comes to advanced features like collaboration, coding, and API control. 

Keep reading to view our complete comparison for Fluid Engine vs Editor X. 

Some Background on Fluid Engine and Editor X

Let’s make things simple right from the start: 

• Fluid Engine is a product from Squarespace
• Editor X is a product from Wix

Furthermore: 

• Fluid Engine is built into Squarespace as the default page builder, but you still have the option to revert to the classic builder
• Editor X is a more advanced editor that you can activate through Wix, or you can continue with the classic Wix editor for a simpler design interface

Both Fluid Engine and Editor X are relatively new additions to the site builder market, even though each company that made the tools are well established. 

It’s tough to compare search volume for the site builders, since “Fluid Engine” has been a popular keyword for decades, but the intent is for fluid inside car engines. 

Furthermore, Fluid Engine is a built-in feature from Squarespace—while Editor X functions as a standalone product that can work with Wix. Therefore, we can only measure usage by comparing the entire Squarespace platform vs Editor X. 

Squarespace, at the time of this article, has close to 3M total live sites. It’s a rather popular platform, but we’re still unclear as to how many of those users opted for the Fluid Engine page builder (since users can go with the Classic Editor if they want). Not to mention, BuiltWith states that Squarespace has been over-represented in the past. 

Wix, on the other hand, fuels over 8M websites worldwide, clearly making it the winner in terms of usage. 

However, Editor X usage is only at 44K. That’s to be expected, considering Editor X is mainly marketed to developers, not the entire Wix user base. 

Overall, Wix has more users than Squarespace. However, Squarespace has converted all current and new customers (with the option to switch back) to the Fluid Engine module, so they’re pushing it as more of a consumer solution, whereas Wix’s Editor X gets marketed to developers. 

Fluid Engine vs Editor X: Features

One of the main advantages of both Fluid Engine and Editor X is that each has true drag-and-drop functionality. This means they use grid-based systems, so you can drag a block or section virtually anywhere you want on the page. 

However, they vary in their other features. 

Fluid Engine Features

Fluid Engine from Squarespace focuses on limitless creativity, where its grid-based interface ensures you’re able to place blocks anywhere on your site. 

Here are the main features from Fluid Engine: 

• Drag-and-drop grid-based editor
• Smartphone viewing and editing, separate from desktop editing
• CSS customizations and API access
• Advanced backgrounds, block arrangement, and content customization
• Built into Squarespace
• Option to switch to Classic Squarespace Editor
• Advanced header and footer editing
• Starter themes
• 42+ content blocks
• Advanced block styling and formatting
• Built-in marketing, commerce, analytics, and blogging

Editor X Features

• Drag-and-drop grid-based editor
• Smartphone and tablet viewing with editing—separate from desktop editing
• CSS customizations and API access
• Advanced backgrounds, block arrangement, and content customization
• Not built-into Wix, but you have that option 
• Separate interface from Classic Editor, so you don’t have to commit fully to the Wix builder
• Advanced header and footer editing
• Starter themes and wireframes
• Hundreds of content blocks (really too many to count) 
• Advanced block styling and formatting
• Built-in marketing, commerce, analytics, and blogging

Ecommerce Features for Both

For ecommerce, Fluid Engine has the following features: 

• Unlimited products
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Subscriptions
• Advanced shipping
• Product reviews
• Online bookings and scheduling
• Content blocks for online stores
• Donations
• Instagram products
• Advanced discounts
• Merchandising

And here’s what to expect from Editor X for ecommerce: 

• Unlimited products
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Subscriptions
• Automated sales tax
• Advanced shipping
• Dropshipping
• Product reviews
• Loyalty programs
• Online bookings
• Art and content monetization
• Ticket and event management
• Content blocks for online stores

The Winner: Editor X

There’s no doubt that Editor X offers a stronger feature set when compared to Fluid Engine. It all starts with the blocks: Editor X has an incredibly long list of elements and sections, while Fluid Engine is limited to around 40. Editor X also provides an enhanced developer section for further control over coding and advanced design. We also like that Editor X includes a tablet interface editor on top of the smartphone editor. Finally, Editor X is somewhat decoupled from Wix, allowing for some separation between developers and the basic interface. Yet, to use Fluid Engine, you must commit to the Squarespace infrastructure. 

When it comes to ecommerce features, we’d argue that Fluid Engine actually provides more built-in tools (but you may have to pay extra, like for scheduling or abandoned carts). Having said that, you can always expand an Editor X site with the Wix App Store. 

Fluid Engine vs Editor X: Design and Interface

The entire foundation of a quality website builder is its ability to assist in building a beautiful design, without confusion along the way. That’s where the interface comes into play. In our Fluid Engine vs Editor X comparison, we examined the overall quality of themes and design modules, while also detailing how easy it is to use the interface of each editor. 

Fluid Engine Design and Interface

Squarespace is known for its incredible designs, and its ease of use; so, it’s no surprise that Fluid Engine makes that experience even stronger. 

Starting with its themes, you can’t go wrong with the large collection of templates from Squarespace. They’re beautiful, image-oriented, and spacious enough to fit content without feeling bloated. Not to mention, it’s straightforward when picking a theme, launching your site, and getting into Fluid Engine for editing (that only takes a few minutes). 

We like that the Squarespace dashboard always displays your website preview while working on other things like marketing and commerce. It’s also nice to constantly see the Edit button to take control of the Fluid Engine editor at anytime. 

We can’t imagine many complaints once inside Fluid Engine. We have heard reports of bugs in the mobile editor, but it appears those have been mainly ironed out. And the desktop editor isn’t affected. 

You can move or control any element on the screen, and it’s not too overwhelming so as to repel beginners. The Fluid Engine interface looks like a winner for all types of users, considering beginners can stick to the basic modules, while developers can utilize CSS and JavaScript, or even tap into advanced formatting settings. 

Although Fluid Engine doesn’t have as many advanced development features as Editor X, it offers a marvelous drag-and-drop experience. You’re granted quick access to a wide range of blocks, and it has quick buttons to add sections, edit the header, and edit the footer. 

Editor X Design and Interface

Editor X boasts a similar grid-based drag-and-drop interface as Fluid Engine, but without the simplicity and cleanliness of its counterpart. 

There’s no doubt that Editor X is made for developers. It’s a wonderland of modules, formats, settings, and backgrounds. Not to mention, there’s a Dev Mode made specifically for adding custom code and working with the API. 

But we’re worried that Editor X may hinder some developers and beginners, who may get intimidated or lost inside the robust system of tools. 

When it comes to themes, Editor X and Wix have rarely had a problem with template quantity. You’ll find a theme for whatever industry you want. Yet, Squarespace clearly focuses more on quality over quantity. 

We’ve also noticed that the Editor X drag-and-drop grid isn’t quite as precise as what you get from Fluid Engine. Several times during our testing, we tried to drag basic elements to a specific spot only to see them snap over a few inches to another location. 

The Winner: Fluid Engine

For themes, Fluid Engine and Squarespace win over Editor X and Wix every time. When it comes to the design process, it’s often much faster going from pre-development to publication when working with Fluid Engine and Squarespace. The same can be said for the drag-and-drop editor, seeing as how Fluid Engine’s dragging and dropping has an accuracy that gets right down to the exact pixel. Editor X, on the other hand, failed a time quite often when we tried to drop blocks in specific areas. 

Fluid Engine vs Editor X: Collaboration Tools

Seeing as how Editor X is seen as an advanced development tool, and Fluid Engine is more for the common user to expand design practices, it makes sense that Editor X offers superior collaboration tools. Having said that, Fluid Engine still lets you add contributors to the workspace. 

Explore below to understand how development and collaboration is provided when comparing Fluid Engine vs Editor X. 

Fluid Engine Collaboration Tools

Squarespace offers multiple contributor roles for all of its plans, meaning several people can log into the Fluid Engine interface for editing, marketing, development, and more. As an admin, you have control over user permissions; choose to make some people admins and others people authors or contributors. There are even specific permission types for roles like store management, analytics, website editing, email campaign editing, and comment moderating. 

Outside of that, there’s limited functionality for marking notes or comments for the next person to continue on with development. It’s possible to go back in the history log to understand what another user did to the design but, apart from that, collaboration isn’t really available like it is in more robust systems. 

Having said that, Squarespace integrates with a wide range of collaboration and team communication tools like Slack, Basecamp, and Trello; so, you do have the option to make it a more workspace-friendly environment. 

Editor X Collaboration Tools

Collaboration is a big deal with Editor X. Wix knew that it was building a page editor for developers, so it needed a solid collaboration suite with real-time chatting, notes, team assignments, and more. 

Here’s what to expect from the collaboration system from Editor X: 

• Team accounts
• Roles and permissions
• Reusable collections of colors, assets, and typography for everyone on the team to use
• Custom roles
• Client access
• Multiple roles per teammate
• Notes and tasks
• Live comments
• Tagging within comments
• Filtering comments to only see what’s relevant to you
• Working from the same page at the same time
• A log to see where people are working on the site
• Instant changes for everyone to see

The Winner: Editor X

Besides user permissions and multiple contributors, collaboration is lacking in Squarespace and Fluid Engine. Editor X, however, boasts a powerful collaboration suite with chatting features, notes, task assignments, and even comment filtering. 

Fluid Engine vs Editor X: Pricing

Although it’s best to choose an ecommerce platform or website builder based on its features and overall value, pricing comes into play at some point. After all, every business has a budget, and you want to ensure you’re getting the most for your money. Let’s take a look at what’s offered in the pricing plans from Fluid Engine and Editor X. 

Fluid Engine Pricing

Fluid Engine pricing is the exact same as Squarespace pricing, since Fluid Engine is simply a feature included with the entire platform. 

Here are the pricing plans: 

• Personal: $23 per month ($16 per month for annual plans) for a free custom domain, SSL security, video storage, SEO features, 2 contributors, mobile-optimized sites, templates, basic site metrics, and Squarespace extensions. 
• Business: $33 per month ($23 per month for annual plans) for everything in the previous plan plus unlimited contributors, an online store with 3% transaction fees, unlimited products, donations, gift cards, promotional popups, advanced analytics, CSS and JavaScript customization, premium blocks, and more. 
• Basic Commerce: $36 per month ($27 per month for annual plans) for everything in the previous plans plus an online store with no transaction fees, limited availability labels, products on Instagram, merchandising tools, powerful ecommerce analytics, a checkout on your domain, customer accounts, point of sale, and more. 
• Advanced Commerce: $65 per month ($49 per month for annual plans) for everything in the previous plans plus commerce APIs, advanced discounts, advanced shipping, subscriptions, and abandoned cart recovery. 

Editor X Pricing

Editor X has similar pricing to Wix but, when you check out, you’re not getting the exact same Wix interface. It’s similar, but complete with a far more advanced editor. 

Here’s the pricing: 

• Essential: $22 per month for a custom domain, removal of Editor X branding, SSL, ad vouchers, video storage, general storage, and more. 
• Extra: $35 per month for everything in the previous plan plus visitor analytics increased storage, a professional logo, and social media logo files. 
• Ultra: $49 per month for everything in the previous plans, plus increased storage for video and general storage. 
• Launch: $29 per month for everything in the standard website plans, plus secure online payments, plans and recurring payments, selling on social channels, customer accounts, unlimited products, and abandoned cart recovery. 
• Boost: $69 per month for everything in the previous plan, plus selling on marketplaces, increased storage, subscriptions, automated sales tax, advanced shipping, dropshipping, and product reviews. 
• Scale: $219 per month for everything in the previous plan, plus a loyalty program, more product reviews, an increase in the number of products you can dropship, and more transactions for sales tax, along with customize reports and increased storage space. 

The Winner: Editor X

It can be cheaper to make an online store with Fluid Engine and Squarespace, since you must use the $23-$33 Business plan from Squarespace to get ecommerce tools. Editor X costs $29 per month for the Launch plan (the lowest plan with commerce features), so you can technically spend less if you opt for the yearly plan from Fluid Engine. However, Fluid Engine restricts some essential features like abandoned cart recovery and subscriptions to the most expensive Advanced Commerce plan, making Editor X pricing more appealing (since you often get more for your money). For standard websites without ecommerce functionality, the pricing is similar enough between the two. 

Fluid Engine vs Editor X: Customer Support

Users of page builders and ecommerce platforms are either developers or business owners. Developers can typically complete their own research instead of speaking with a customer support rep, so it’s important to have online documentation. Business owners, however, frequently need one-on-one support with a real person, whether that’s through live chat, email, or the phone. Having all three is best. 

Keep reading to see the differences between Fluid Engine vs Editor X customer support. 

Fluid Engine Customer Support

Since Fluid Engine is simply a feature in Squarespace, the customer support is precisely what you’d get as a regular Squarespace customer. 

When it comes to direct, human support, Squarespace offers live chat (Monday to Friday, 4AM to 8PM EDT) and email support (24/7) for you to get in contact with a knowledgeable representative. There’s no phone support for Squarespace sites. 

Online resources from Squarespace are plentiful, with a robust help center filled with articles about websites, domains, ecommerce, email campaigns, and more. There’s even a space dedicated to Fluid Engine, along with developer documentation for more advanced support. 

Other than that, Squarespace users receive: 

• Online video tutorials
• Webinars
• A user forum
• An account dashboard with useful tips and links
• A marketplace to hire a Squarespace expert

Editor X Customer Support

Wix offers dedicated customer support for Editor X, even though it’s all still offered through Wix. 

The main advantage is that Editor X provides callback services across a wide range of languages and countries. For instance, you can schedule a callback from a real person in English, German, French, Italian, and several other languages. 

Otherwise, Wix customer support is available through email and chat. 

The Wix Help Center offers a wide range of visually oriented articles for help with everything from billing to theme selection. There’s even a section made just for Editor X. You’ll find pieces on designing with Editor X, working with business solutions, collaboration, and much more. 

Beyond that, Wix provides developer documentation for the entire Editor X system. Users can tap into the Wix online courses and videos, along with the blog for learning tips and tricks for running an online business. There’s a long list of other customer support resources such as an expert marketplace, status page, student website, and Wix encyclopedia. 

Winner: Editor X

You can’t beat phone support, and Squarespace has lacked that facet of customer support since it began. There’s no denying that Squarespace has enough documentation and video content available for working with Fluid Engine, but we feel that customer support through the phone is a reasonable ask from a company like Squarespace—especially considering their customers are running online businesses. You can’t expect someone to sift through online documentation, or wait for an email reply, when something is wrong with their site that could cost them money. 

With its rich collection of online resources, and direct support through the phone, chat, and email, Wix (Editor X) wins in the customer support arena. 

Which Advanced Website Builder is Right for You? 

Here are the winners of each category from our Fluid Engine vs Editor X comparison: 

• Features (with a focus on ecommerce tools): Editor X
• Design and Interface: Fluid Engine
• Collaboration: Editor X
• Pricing: Editor X
• Customer support: Editor X

However, that doesn’t mean Editor X is immediately right for every type of developer and business owner. Some people will prefer the design prowess of Fluid Engine, and you’re definitely able to work cheaper with Fluid Engine (Squarespace) if you opt to sign up for yearly payments. But, there’s something to be said about the features, collaboration, and customer support from Editor X. It’s a more powerful system, so we recommend it mainly to developers who want full control. Beginners, on the other hand, should stick to Fluid Engine (Squarespace), considering it’s much easier to understand, but you receive excellent grid-based dragging and dropping for extreme precision. 

Have you used and compared Fluid Engine vs Editor X? If so, which one is your favorite? Share any thoughts you may have in the comments below.