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Four picks. One of them is yours.

Squarespace review

The best templates in the category, from the one vendor here we could not price.

BRecommended with a reservation

The verdict

The prettiest sites in the category, from the only vendor here that would not show us a price.

Squarespace homepage with the headline "A website makes it real"
The Squarespace homepage as it looked on 1 September 2026.

How the 7.4 is built

Score breakdown for squarespace, criteria set Platforms and hosting
CriterionWeightScore
Performance

Solid, unremarkable hosting with no published uptime commitment, serving a template engine rather than emitting markup, which is the architectural reason Framer and Webflow publish lighter pages than this. We measured nothing and say nothing finer than that.

25%8.0
Usability

A section-based editor rather than free drag-and-drop, which constrains what you can do and is the reason a Squarespace site rarely looks broken, and the reason a specific layout can be impossible.

20%8.5
Value

Unscoreable on price from here because none is readable in dollars, and the fee ladder is the real cost: two percent on every store sale at the entry tier where Hostinger and Wix charge nothing.

20%6.0
Scalability

Comfortable up to a mid-sized site and store, with no code export and only a partial content export, so the ceiling is also a wall.

15%6.5
Support

Round the clock support, an award-winning help centre and free live webinars, all of it genuinely good and none of it able to tell you the price.

10%8.0
Ecosystem

The best template library in the category, a real extension market, and a large designer community, all of it locked to the platform.

10%7.0
Weighted total100%7.4

Pros and cons

What works

  • The best template library of any platform in this comparison
  • Templates swap more easily here than anywhere else on this page
  • A 14 day trial with no card, rather than a free subdomain plan
  • A clearly published transaction fee ladder

What does not

  • No dollar price readable unless the site places you in a dollar country
  • Two percent on store sales at the entry tier, where several rivals charge nothing
  • No code export, and the content export is partial
  • No published uptime commitment

What Squarespace costs

No published price · 14-day trial

Squarespace pricing tiers
PlanMonthlyAnnual, per monthWhat you get
BasicUp to 2 contributorsNot publishedFree custom domain and no vendor branding, so this is the qualifying tier · 2 percent transaction fee on online store sales, 7 percent on memberships and content · Read at eleven euros a month billed annually from central Europe on 30 August 2026
CoreUnlimited contributorsNot published0 percent on store sales, 5 percent on memberships and content · CSS and JavaScript customisation, advanced analytics, Google Workspace email · Read at seventeen euros a month billed annually on the same day
AdvancedUnlimited contributorsNot published0 percent on every transaction type · Own shipping carrier and the full commerce toolset · Read at twenty nine euros a month billed annually on the same day

This entity carries no figure and the reason is narrow rather than damning. Squarespace renders the currency of the country it detects and offers no reference price, and the numbers are drawn client side, so no fetch we made from a United States address returned a dollar amount either. From central Europe on 30 August 2026 the three plans read as eleven, seventeen and twenty nine euros a month billed annually. We do not publish a conversion we did not read on the vendor page, so this page carries none. The contrast that makes it a fair criticism rather than an accident of geography: Wix prints "USD prices displayed for reference only" beneath its own localised table, one line of text that makes an international comparison possible. Squarespace does not. What is published clearly is the fee ladder: 2 percent on store sales at Basic falling to 0 percent at Core, and 7 percent on memberships and content falling to 5 and then 0. Annual billing saves up to 36 percent, a free custom domain comes with annual plans, and there is no free plan, only a 14 day trial.

Key specs

Squarespace key specifications
Uptime guaranteeNot published
Custom domain
Code export
Transaction fee2% on store sales at Basic, 0% from Core
Own domain fromBasic, no dollar price readable
Free domain, year one
Free planNo, a 14 day trial instead
Code export termsNone. A partial WordPress-format content export exists, the design does not travel
Switch template laterYes, and it is the platform this is easiest on
Renewal price published
USD price readable
Trial14 day free trial, no card required

Who it is for

Best for

  • Anyone who wants a good-looking site without making design decisions
  • Portfolios, restaurants, studios and anything sold on how it looks

Not for

  • Anyone comparing prices from outside the United States
  • A store at the entry tier, where the transaction fee is a permanent tax

In more detail

Why this page carries no Squarespace price

Squarespace makes the best-looking sites in our comparison and is the only platform on it we could not put a dollar figure against.

The pricing page renders the currency of the country it detects, with no way to switch and no reference figure printed anywhere. From central Europe it quoted eleven, seventeen and twenty nine euros a month billed annually for the three plans, on . The numbers are drawn client side rather than served with the page, so fetching the same page from a United States address returned no amount either. We do not publish a conversion we did not read on the vendor's own page, so we publish nothing.

It scores 7.4 under how we rate and sits in our also-considered list, because a page anchored to what twelve months costs cannot pick a platform that will not say.

Is that fair?

Partly, and the part that makes it fair is what Wix does with the same problem.

Every platform in this comparison localises its prices. That is normal and sensible. Wix prints, under its localised table, that USD prices are displayed for reference only. One line of text, and it means a reader anywhere on earth can compare Wix against everything else. Squarespace publishes no such reference. Framer does not either, and the only reason Framer carries a figure here is that its page happens to resolve to dollars from a United States address.

So this is a choice rather than a technical limit, and on a category where the whole difficulty is comparing prices honestly, it is a choice worth naming.

What is published clearly, which is the part that costs you

Squarespace publishes its transaction fees plainly, and on a store they matter more than the plan does.

Basic charges two percent on online store sales and seven percent on memberships and digital content. Core drops the store fee to zero and memberships to five percent. Advanced is zero on everything.

Read that ladder before you read the plan prices. Hostinger charges nothing on ecommerce. Wix charges nothing of its own. If you are selling at any volume, the entry tier here is a permanent two percent tax and the upgrade pays for itself well before you would expect it to.

The templates, and the constraint that makes them work

The editor is section based rather than free drag-and-drop. You cannot put anything anywhere.

That constraint is the product. It is why a Squarespace site rarely looks broken and why the template library is the best in the category, and it is also why a specific layout you have in your head can be impossible to build. Wix will let you do it and let you do it badly. Squarespace will not let you do it and the result will look fine.

One genuine advantage over Wix, and it is not a small one: templates swap on a live site. Changing template at Wix means rebuilding. Here it does not, and on the platform people most often choose for looks, being able to change how it looks later is worth something.

The trial is 14 days with no card, rather than a free subdomain plan. On a page where four rivals offer a demo and call it free, that is the more honest arrangement.

Leaving, and what a partial export means

There is no code export. There is a content export in WordPress format, and it is partial.

The design does not travel. On the platform whose entire appeal is the design, that is the trade you are making, and it is worth understanding on day one rather than in year three. Webflow is the only platform in this comparison that offers real export, and it charges separately for it and leaves your CMS behind.

Who should buy it

Portfolios, restaurants, studios, anything sold on how it looks. Squarespace is for people who want a professional-looking site without making design decisions, and it is very good at that.

Three conditions. You need to be somewhere the page will quote you a currency you can act on. You need to move to Core the moment you sell anything, because the two percent is permanent and the upgrade is not. And you need to be happy with the layouts the sections allow, because there is no way around them and no way to take the design with you afterwards.

Plan contents, transaction fees and trial terms on this page were read from the vendor pricing page on .

Alternatives to Squarespace

Where Squarespace appears

Squarespace questions

Why does this page not show a Squarespace price?
Because we could not read one in dollars. The pricing page renders the currency of the country it detects with no way to switch, and the figures are drawn client side, so a United States fetch of the same page returned no amount either. From central Europe the three plans read as eleven, seventeen and twenty nine euros a month billed annually on 30 August 2026.
Is that Squarespace being unreasonable?
Partly. Localised pricing is normal and sensible. What Wix does on the same problem is print a line saying USD prices are displayed for reference only, so a reader anywhere can compare. Squarespace publishes no such reference, and that is a choice rather than a technical limit.
What are Squarespace transaction fees?
Two percent on online store sales and seven percent on memberships and digital content at Basic. Core drops the store fee to zero and memberships to five percent. Advanced is zero on everything. On a store, that ladder matters more than the difference between the plans.
Can I move a Squarespace site elsewhere?
Not really. There is no code export, and the content export is partial and in WordPress format. The design does not travel, which on the platform with the best templates is the trade you are making.

Ready to try Squarespace?

The best templates in the category, from the one vendor here we could not price.

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