Squarespace
Template-led website builder with hosting, selling and memberships on every plan; 14-day free trial, no free plan.
Founded 2003
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Squarespace is a hosted website builder founded in 2003 in a University of Maryland dorm room and based in New York. You build from designer templates and edit page layouts with Fluid Engine, the drag-and-drop editor on version 7.1 sites. There is no free plan; instead each site starts with a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card.
The four US plans cost $19, $29, $49 and $99 per month billed yearly, or $25, $39, $65 and $139 month to month. All of them include hosting, SEO tools and unlimited products, but Basic charges a 2% online store fee and a 7% fee on courses and memberships, and allows only basic code blocks. Core removes the store fee, cuts the membership fee to 5% and unlocks JavaScript and code injection.
Best for
Creatives, service businesses and small shops that want a template-based site with selling and memberships included from the first plan.
Pros
- Every plan includes hosting, SEO tools and an online store with unlimited products
- Fluid Engine drag-and-drop editing on designer templates
- From Core: 0% online store fee, JavaScript, advanced code blocks and code injection
- Built-in selling of courses, memberships and gated content
Cons
- No free plan, only a 14-day trial
- Basic charges 2% on store sales and 7% on digital content and memberships
- Basic allows only 2 contributors and no JavaScript or code injection
- Shipping labels, carrier-calculated shipping and commerce APIs start at Core
Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly (12-month total) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic$19/month billed yearly; 2% online store fee, 7% digital content and memberships fee, 2 contributors | $25/mo | $228/yr ($19/mo) |
| Core$29/month billed yearly; 0% store fee, 5% digital content and memberships fee, JavaScript and code injection | $39/mo | $348/yr ($29/mo) |
| Plus$49/month billed yearly; 0% store fee, 1% digital content and memberships fee, standard card rate 2.7% + $0.30 | $65/mo | $588/yr ($49/mo) |
| Advanced$99/month billed yearly; 0% store, digital content and memberships fees, standard card rate 2.5% + $0.30 | $139/mo | $1,188/yr ($99/mo) |
Prices checked on .
Features
In Website builders
| Feature | Squarespace |
|---|---|
| E-commerce | Yes · All plans; 2% store fee on Basic, 0% from Core |
| CMS | Yes · Blog, events, portfolio, store, course and video collections |
| Custom code | Yes · CSS on all plans; JavaScript and code injection from Core |
| Hosting included | Yes · Managed cloud hosting, unlimited bandwidth, SSL |
| Design freedom | Yes · Fluid Engine drag-and-drop editor (7.1 sites) |
| Templates | Yes · Designer templates on all plans |
| SEO tools | Yes · Built-in SEO tools and search keyword analysis |
| Memberships | Yes · Fee 7% on Basic down to 0% on Advanced |
| Free plan | No · 14-day free trial instead |