Is Squarespace Good? An Honest Take on What It Does Well (And Where It Falls Short)

Short answer: Yes, Squarespace is good-for the right use case. It's one of the best website builders available for small businesses, creatives, and anyone who wants a professional-looking site without touching code. But it's not for everyone, and there are real limitations you need to know about before signing up.

Let me break down exactly what Squarespace does well, where it struggles, and whether it's the right choice for your specific situation.

What Squarespace Actually Is (Quick Overview)

Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder that handles everything: hosting, design templates, domain registration, and even e-commerce functionality. You don't need to buy hosting separately or install software. Just pick a template, drag and drop your content, and publish.

This simplicity is the whole point. Squarespace is designed for people who don't want to deal with the technical complexity of WordPress or the learning curve of more flexible platforms.

Founded in 2003, Squarespace has evolved from a simple website builder into a comprehensive platform used by millions of businesses worldwide. The company generates approximately 92% of its revenue from subscriptions, making it a stable, subscription-first business model with consistent platform improvements.

Squarespace Pricing: What You'll Actually Pay

Squarespace has four pricing tiers. Here's what they cost when billed annually:

If you pay monthly instead of annually, expect to pay 25-40% more. For example, the Basic plan jumps to $25/month on monthly billing, and the Advanced plan reaches $139/month.

All annual plans include a free custom domain for the first year. After that, domains typically cost $20-70/year depending on the extension (.com domains are usually around $20/year, while specialty domains like .studio cost more). The domain pricing includes built-in privacy protection and DNS setup, making it simpler than using separate registrars.

Hidden Costs to Consider:

A typical small business setup with the Core plan, domain, and professional email runs approximately $368/year ($276 for Core plan + $20 domain + $72 for email). For more details, check out our Squarespace pricing guide and cost analysis.

What Squarespace Does Really Well

1. Templates Are Genuinely Beautiful

This is Squarespace's biggest strength. They offer around 194 templates in the current 7.1 version, and honestly, most of them look better than what you'd get from competitors. The designs are modern, clean, and professional-looking right out of the box.

Every template is fully responsive, so your site will look good on mobile without extra work. For photographers, artists, restaurants, and anyone where visual presentation matters, Squarespace templates are hard to beat.

What makes Squarespace templates unique is that in version 7.1, all templates use the same underlying system (Fluid Engine). This means your starting template is essentially just a design suggestion-you can customize any template to look like any other. Unlike the older 7.0 templates that locked you into specific structures, 7.1 gives you complete flexibility while maintaining professional design standards.

2. It's Easy to Use (With a Learning Curve)

The editor is beginner-friendly, but "beginner-friendly" doesn't mean "instant." There's a slight learning curve to understand how the block-based editor works. Once you get it, though, adding content, rearranging sections, and customizing your design is straightforward.

The Fluid Engine drag-and-drop editor gives you precise control over layout. You can position elements exactly where you want them, create custom grid layouts, and design unique page structures without code. The interface shows real-time previews, so you see changes immediately.

Squarespace's Blueprint AI can also help you get started faster by suggesting layouts, color palettes, and fonts based on your business type. This AI-powered website builder asks simple questions about your business and generates a complete site structure in minutes, including personalized content and images.

3. All-in-One Platform (No Hosting Headaches)

Hosting, security, SSL certificates, backups, and updates are all handled automatically. You don't need to worry about server maintenance, plugin conflicts, or security patches. This is a major advantage over self-hosted WordPress.

Squarespace monitors their platform 24/7 and includes automatic backups, so your site stays online and your data is protected. The platform maintains a 99.9%+ uptime rate, which is critical for business continuity.

All sites come with free SSL certificates (the padlock icon in browsers), ensuring secure connections for your visitors. This is essential for SEO and customer trust, especially if you're collecting payments or personal information.

4. Decent Built-in E-commerce

You can sell products on any Squarespace plan-even the Basic tier. Features include product management, inventory tracking, checkout on your own domain, and customer accounts.

The Core plan and above remove Squarespace's transaction fees (you'll still pay standard payment processing fees of around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction through Stripe or PayPal). The Plus and Advanced plans offer lower payment processing rates of 2.5% + 30¢, which can save significant money at higher sales volumes.

Squarespace e-commerce includes:

5. Useful Add-ons (For Extra Cost)

Squarespace has expanded beyond basic website building:

These integrate seamlessly with your site, which is convenient but can add up quickly. The advantage is that everything works together without plugin conflicts or integration headaches.

6. Powerful AI Features

Squarespace has heavily invested in AI tools that genuinely improve the website building experience:

Blueprint AI Builder: Creates custom websites through a conversational 5-step process. You answer questions about your business, goals, and style preferences, and Blueprint generates a complete site with layouts, content, and images. The system offers 1.4 billion possible design combinations, though in practice it intelligently limits options to prevent overwhelm.

Beacon AI: A business assistant that helps generate SEO-friendly copy, email campaigns, and product descriptions right within the dashboard. It uses your brand identity and tone to create content that sounds natural rather than generic.

AI SEO Tools: Automatically generates page titles, meta descriptions, and alt text for images. The system considers your target keywords and brand personality to create search-optimized content.

Layout Switcher: Suggests alternative layouts for your sections with one click. Add, remove, or edit content blocks, and Layout Switcher generates new recommended arrangements automatically.

7. Strong Mobile Optimization

All Squarespace templates are mobile-first and fully responsive. The platform maintains high mobile optimization standards to align with search engine requirements. In the UK, about 62% of Squarespace site traffic comes from mobile devices, demonstrating the importance of mobile-ready designs.

The Fluid Engine editor allows independent mobile layouts, so you can customize how your site appears on smaller screens without affecting the desktop version. This gives you precise control over the mobile user experience.

8. Comprehensive Analytics

Squarespace includes built-in analytics that track:

The Core plan and above include more detailed e-commerce analytics with customer insights and purchasing patterns. While not as detailed as Google Analytics, Squarespace analytics are sufficient for most small businesses and easier to understand.

Where Squarespace Falls Short

No platform is perfect. Here's where Squarespace struggles:

1. Limited Customization

This is the most common complaint. Over 35% of negative reviews mention customization limitations. While templates look great, you're somewhat locked into their structure. If you want a truly unique design or specific functionality that Squarespace doesn't offer, you'll hit walls.

You can add custom CSS and JavaScript on the Core plan and above, but Squarespace won't help you troubleshoot customizations, and their updates can break your custom code without warning. If you need to modify core functionality or create complex custom features, you'll be frustrated.

The platform uses a grid overlay system that, while helpful for alignment, can limit pixel-perfect positioning in some cases. Advanced users who want complete design freedom will find Squarespace restrictive compared to WordPress or Webflow.

2. Not Great for Large E-commerce

Squarespace e-commerce works fine for small stores, but has real limitations for serious sellers:

If you're building a serious e-commerce operation with plans to scale beyond 50-100 orders per week, Shopify or BigCommerce will serve you better. See our Squarespace vs Shopify comparison for details.

3. SEO Limitations

Squarespace includes basic SEO tools (meta titles, descriptions, alt text, clean URLs, automatic sitemaps), but advanced SEO users will find it limiting. You can't customize sitemaps extensively, have limited control over URL structures once set, and cannot add schema markup without custom code.

Some users report slower page load times compared to optimized WordPress sites, which can hurt rankings. While Squarespace sites are generally fast, you have less control over performance optimization than with other platforms.

The platform lacks:

WordPress with plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math offers far more SEO control. That said, Squarespace's built-in SEO features are sufficient for most small businesses, and the platform handles technical SEO fundamentals automatically.

4. No Phone Support

Support is email and live chat only-no phone. This can be frustrating when you have an urgent issue during a busy period.

Support Options:

Response times can be slow for complex problems, and the lack of phone support is a dealbreaker for some businesses. Squarespace's acquisition of Google Domains in 2023 brought approximately 7 million new customers, overwhelming their support system for several months. While they've expanded their team, support quality has been inconsistent.

5. No Free Plan

Unlike Wix, Squarespace has no free tier. There's a 14-day free trial (no credit card required), but you'll need to commit to a paid plan to launch your site. This isn't unreasonable given the quality of service, but it means more upfront commitment.

The trial period gives you full access to build your site, but you cannot publish it or connect a custom domain until you choose a paid plan. For businesses on extremely tight budgets, this can be a barrier.

6. One Site Per Plan

Each Squarespace subscription covers one website. If you need multiple sites, you're paying for each one separately. This adds up fast for agencies or businesses with multiple brands.

There's no multi-site discount or management dashboard for handling multiple Squarespace sites from one account. If you're managing 5-10 client sites, the monthly costs become substantial compared to self-hosted WordPress where one hosting account can handle multiple sites.

7. Limited Third-Party Integrations

Squarespace offers around 30 official extensions, which is significantly fewer than competitors. Wix has hundreds of apps, and WordPress has thousands of plugins. While Squarespace covers the essentials (email marketing, scheduling, forms, social media), you'll find fewer niche integrations.

Popular integrations include Zapier, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, and social media platforms. However, if you use specialized business software, there's a good chance it won't integrate directly with Squarespace.

8. Difficult Migration Path

If you decide to leave Squarespace, you face significant challenges. While you can export blog content and products, you cannot export your site design. Everything built in Squarespace stays in Squarespace-the templates, layouts, and custom styling are their property.

If you switch platforms, you're essentially starting over with design, which means additional costs for redesign or development. This vendor lock-in is a legitimate concern for long-term planning.

Real User Experiences: What Business Owners Say

Looking at real feedback from the small business community reveals consistent patterns. On Reddit's r/smallbusiness, users highlight both advantages and frustrations.

Common Praise:

Common Complaints:

The consensus among business owners is that Squarespace excels at what it's designed for-creating beautiful, professional websites quickly-but struggles when businesses need advanced features or want to scale beyond small operations.

How Squarespace Compares to Top Competitors

Squarespace vs WordPress

WordPress offers far more flexibility, thousands of plugins, and complete control over your site. However, it requires more technical knowledge, separate hosting, ongoing maintenance, and regular updates. WordPress can be cheaper (basic hosting starts around $3-10/month), but costs increase with premium themes, plugins, and managed hosting.

Choose WordPress if you want maximum control, advanced SEO capabilities, and plan to build a content-heavy site. Choose Squarespace if you want simplicity and don't want to manage technical details. See our detailed Squarespace vs WordPress comparison.

Squarespace vs Wix

Wix offers a free plan, more templates (900+ vs 194), and more third-party integrations (hundreds of apps). Wix's drag-and-drop editor gives more design freedom. However, Squarespace templates are generally considered more sophisticated and professional-looking.

Squarespace starts at $16/month; Wix starts at $17/month for comparable plans. Wix is better for users who want maximum customization and don't mind a slightly steeper learning curve. Check out our Squarespace vs Wix comparison.

Squarespace vs Shopify

Shopify is purpose-built for e-commerce and vastly superior for serious online stores. It offers multi-currency support, advanced inventory management, hundreds of payment gateways, powerful point-of-sale systems, and extensive third-party apps.

Shopify starts at $39/month (more expensive than Squarespace Core), but provides better e-commerce features even at the basic level. Choose Shopify if e-commerce is your primary business. Choose Squarespace if you need a beautiful website that also happens to sell products. Our Squarespace vs Shopify comparison covers this in depth.

Squarespace vs Webflow

Webflow offers more design control and is preferred by professional designers who want pixel-perfect layouts without code. It has a steeper learning curve but provides more flexibility than Squarespace.

Webflow's pricing is similar to Squarespace but requires more time to master. Choose Webflow if you're a designer who wants maximum creative control. Choose Squarespace if you prioritize ease of use. See our Squarespace vs Webflow comparison.

Who Should Use Squarespace?

Squarespace is an excellent choice if you're:

The common thread is that you value design quality and ease of use over extensive customization or advanced features. You want a website that works reliably without becoming a technical project.

Who Should Skip Squarespace?

Look elsewhere if you're:

For more alternatives, see our Squarespace alternatives guide.

Getting Started with Squarespace: Step-by-Step

If Squarespace sounds like the right fit, here's how to get started:

Step 1: Start Your Free Trial

Visit Squarespace's website and click "Get Started." You'll create an account with your email-no credit card required for the 14-day trial.

Step 2: Choose Your Starting Point

You have three options:

If you're unsure, try Blueprint AI-it's surprisingly effective and gets you started quickly.

Step 3: Customize Your Design

Use the Fluid Engine editor to customize layouts, colors, fonts, and content. Add your own images (replace the stock photos), write your copy, and arrange sections to match your vision.

The Layout Switcher can suggest alternative arrangements if you get stuck. Don't worry about perfection-you can always make changes later.

Step 4: Add Essential Pages

Most websites need:

Add pages based on your business needs. E-commerce sites need product pages; service providers might need a booking page.

Step 5: Configure Settings

Set up:

Step 6: Test Thoroughly

Before launching:

Step 7: Choose a Plan and Publish

When you're ready to go live, select an annual plan (better value than monthly). Connect your domain (use Squarespace's domain or connect one you own elsewhere). Click publish and your site goes live.

Squarespace Tips for Success

Design Best Practices

SEO Optimization

Performance Tips

Common Squarespace Questions

Can I switch templates after launching?

In version 7.1 (the current version), you don't "switch" templates in the traditional sense. Since all templates use the same system, you can redesign your site to match any template style using the editor. This is less risky than the old 7.0 template switching.

What happens if I cancel my subscription?

Your site goes offline after your billing period ends. Squarespace preserves your site data, so you can reactivate later. However, if you don't reactivate within a certain period, your site may be permanently deleted. Always export your content before canceling.

Can I use my own domain?

Yes. You can either buy a domain through Squarespace (included free for the first year with annual plans) or connect a domain you own elsewhere. Connecting an external domain requires updating DNS settings, which Squarespace provides clear instructions for.

Is Squarespace good for blogging?

Yes, for bloggers who prioritize design over extensive features. Squarespace blogs are beautiful and easy to manage. However, they lack some advanced blogging features like multi-author permissions with detailed roles, complex taxonomy, or advanced content scheduling that WordPress offers.

Can I sell subscriptions or memberships?

Yes, through the Member Areas feature (starts at $9/month). You can create gated content, recurring subscriptions, and member-only pages. However, dedicated membership platforms like MemberPress (WordPress) or Kajabi offer more sophisticated features.

Does Squarespace work with CRM systems?

It integrates with some CRMs through Zapier or native integrations. Popular options include HubSpot and Mailchimp. However, integration options are more limited compared to platforms with extensive app marketplaces.

Can I hire someone to build my Squarespace site?

Yes. Squarespace has a marketplace of vetted experts (designers and developers) who can build or customize your site. Costs vary widely based on scope, typically ranging from $500 for simple customizations to $5,000+ for complete custom builds.

The Long-Term Outlook: Is Squarespace Future-Proof?

Squarespace has been around since 2003 and shows no signs of slowing down. The company approaches an annual revenue run rate of $1.2 billion, demonstrating strong market position and financial stability.

Recent innovations show commitment to staying competitive:

Squarespace aims to achieve 30% non-US revenue by this year, indicating global expansion. They're actively rolling out new features-the recent "Refresh" update included over 60 new tools and features.

However, some concerns exist:

Overall, Squarespace appears stable for the foreseeable future. They're actively investing in their platform and listening to customer feedback. For small businesses not requiring cutting-edge features, Squarespace should remain a solid choice for years to come.

The Verdict: Is Squarespace Good?

Yes, Squarespace is good-genuinely good-for what it's designed to do. If you want a beautiful, professional website without technical complexity, it delivers. The templates are legitimately better than most competitors, the platform is reliable, and you get a lot of functionality in one place.

The AI features are impressive and actually useful (unlike many AI tools that feel gimmicky). Blueprint AI can have you up and running with a professional site in under an hour. The all-in-one approach means you're not juggling multiple services, login credentials, or integration headaches.

But "good" depends entirely on your needs:

Squarespace is excellent for: Small businesses, creatives, service providers, and small online stores that prioritize design quality, ease of use, and reliability. If you want to focus on your business rather than managing technology, Squarespace removes most technical barriers.

Squarespace is not ideal for: Large e-commerce operations, businesses requiring extensive customizations, developers who want full control, or anyone needing advanced SEO capabilities. The platform's limitations become apparent as businesses grow or needs become more complex.

The question isn't whether Squarespace is "good" in absolute terms-it clearly is. The question is whether it's good for you. If your needs align with what Squarespace does well, you'll be very happy. If you need what Squarespace doesn't offer, you'll be frustrated.

Know what you're getting into, understand the limitations, and make an informed decision. For many small businesses, Squarespace hits the sweet spot between functionality, ease of use, and cost.

Ready to Try Squarespace?

Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial-no credit card required. You can build your entire site and only pay when you're ready to publish. This risk-free trial gives you plenty of time to evaluate whether the platform meets your needs.

Start your free Squarespace trial here →

Looking for a discount? Check out our Squarespace coupon codes and discount page for current deals. Students can get 50% off their first year, and nonprofits receive 10% off with code "NONPROFIT" at checkout.

Also see our full Squarespace reviews and tutorial if you want to dive deeper into specific features and learn how to maximize the platform.