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Squarespace has been one of my favorites for a while, and writing this review has done nothing to change that. It’s not the cheapest option out there, but if you’re ready to build a site and even make some money off it, then I’d say go for Squarespace. It has plans both for personal sites and business users, and with a long list of interesting features, these plans definitely provide good value for your money.
Squarespace Pros, Cons, & Things That Could Be Better
Stunning, professional template designs
Intuitive drag-and-drop page builder
Comprehensive built-in SEO tools
Advanced e-commerce features included
Robust blogging capabilities
Excellent mobile responsiveness
Limited template customization options
Higher pricing than most competitors
No free plan available
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll probably be aware of Squarespace’s reputation as the go-to website builder for visually striking and minimalist designs. Squarespace is famous, no doubt about that. But I wanted to know if it was worth its fame or if its marketing team is just due a raise.
After carefully testing its complete offering (you can read about my hands-on experience with Squarespace here), I can honestly say that Squarespace delivers precisely what it promises. It provides the tools to create striking and elegant designs. If you’re looking to create a professional portfolio, a site for your business, or just want something eye-catching, Squarespace won’t disappoint.
However, I wouldn’t call it the builder for everyone. You’ll probably find it somewhat restrictive if you’re a professional designer looking for full control over your site. It can also get pretty pricy. Even if it comes with the quality to match, it’s not the cheapest builder.
Squarespace is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Is it a wise investment for you, or should you start looking elsewhere? Read on to find out.
Squarespace’s templates are its major selling point – and with over 180+ options, you’re spoiled for choice. They’re grouped into 19 style categories (like “photography” or “fitness”) and 9 functional types (like blogging or e-commerce) for easy browsing.
You’ll hear Squarespace templates described as “minimalistic” – and that’s a good thing. Instead of cluttering pages with unnecessary elements, Squarespace templates take a “less is more” approach. Their strategic combination of fonts, colors, images, and white space effectively guides visitors’ attention to key content.
Squarespace’s templates are quite customizable too, and since they all share the same framework, you’re free to experiment. You can also access templates from Squarespace’s previous version if you prefer those designs, though they offer less customization.
Even in the (unlikely) scenario where you don’t like any of the available templates, you can design your site from the ground up with Squarespace Blueprint AI (more on that below).
The one drawback? If you don’t have design experience, you might accidentally mess up the careful balance of elements when customizing your site. My advice? Start with small changes and take it slow.
The editor combines traditional drag-and-drop functionality with Squarespace’s newer Fluid Engine for more flexible design control. When editing a page, you can choose between two editing experiences: a classic grid-based editor or Squarespace’s more flexible Fluid Engine. Both start with adding “sections” or “content blocks” – pre-configured layouts and functionality modules.
These range from basic elements like text and images to more specialized blocks like newsletter signup forms, staff directories, and appointment booking widgets. You’ll also find integration blocks for social media feeds, scheduling tools, payment processors, and e-commerce functionality.
Adding a new section on Squarespace couldn’t be easier – pick a pre-designed layout or start with a blank canvas
In the classic editor, elements snap to a grid system that maintains consistent spacing and alignment. With Fluid Engine, you get more freedom to position elements while still maintaining professional design principles.
You can approach layout creation in two ways: either use pre-designed section layouts and customize them to your needs, or start with a blank section and build your layout from scratch using columns, spacing, and content blocks.
Customizing your template with either editor style is intuitive and straightforward
If you’re worried about mobile responsiveness, don’t be. Not only is every one of Squarespace’s templates mobile-responsive, but you can also switch to mobile view from the editor itself at any moment. Squarespace lets you change your mobile site separately from its desktop counterpart, so you can fine-tune the mobile experience as much as you want.
4.7
Features
The Tools You Need to Create a Professional Website
Squarespace’s admin panel provides easy access to all website management tools, from design to e-commerce
Squarespace strives for a balance between giving new website owners an easy way to build what they need, and giving more experienced designers/developers a place to build whatever they want. The platform definitely leans toward simplicity over complexity, which works in favor of most users.
It’s easy to add what you need, even on the Personal plan. Want a calendar? Appointment bookings? A store? Just click a button or two, and you’ll have it. You can even create an extra set of pages and make a multilingual site with minimal effort.
If you want to use custom templates or any custom code, on the other hand, you’ll have to shell out some cash for one of the more expensive plans. This is true of almost every site builder, so it’s not out of the ordinary.
There’s also a free logo maker, which has its own detailed review. While basic compared to dedicated design tools, it’s helpful for creating simple, clean logos that match your site’s aesthetic.
Create Your Own Template With Squarespace Blueprint AI
The relative restrictiveness of its templates is one of the biggest cons I’ve found on old Squarespace reviews. That was back when Squarespace was on its 7.0 version, where most templates used different frameworks. That meant almost every template included at least one element you could not change (like the header or footer design).
Squarespace improved on this in its 7.1 version, which made each template part of the same framework. As if that wasn’t enough, you can nowcreate your own templates using Squarespace Blueprint AI.
You can create your own custom template with Squarespace Blueprint AI
Blueprint AI guides you through creating a website by asking about your goals and preferences. The process starts with choosing your site’s personality and purpose, then moves through selecting content sections and design elements. You can:
Choose from various pre-designed section layouts
Set your brand’s tone and style
Select color schemes and typography that match your brand
Add and arrange content sections based on your needs
Unlike traditional template selection, Blueprint AI helps you build a foundation that’s specifically tailored to your needs. While you won’t start with a fully designed template, you’ll get a customized framework that you can build upon with your own content and styling.
E-commerce is Kind of a Big Deal
We’re going to spend a long minute or two on e-commerce, because Squarespace’s store functionality is actually one of its biggest selling points. Adding a store to your site is literally as simple as clicking a couple buttons, answering a couple questions, and letting Squarespace do the work.
Well, I’m talking mostly about the design work. Actually adding products is up to you. If you have an existing store elsewhere on the internet, you can save time and import your products via a .CSV file.
Other features included allow you to:
Accept payments in a variety of ways (PayPal, Stripe, Square, Apple Pay)
Get automatic tax calculation with TaxJar integration
Sell digital, physical, and subscription-based products
Offer customizable discounts and promotions
Sell gift cards and store credits
Create mailing lists
Send abandoned cart recovery emails
Sell subscriptions
Sell via social media
Get an automatic shipping fee calculation via Fedex, USPS and UPS (only for the U.S.)
Create shipping zones
Schedule in-store pickup
Display product statuses like limited availability or out-of-stock notifications
Enable in-person sales with Squarespace’s Point of Sale (POS) system.
On the front end, the store takes on the same general style and feel as the rest of your site. You can change the layout of the store page, but your options are somewhat limited, due to the nature of online stores. You can also change how individual product pages look, again with limits on the layout.
Adding products to your Squarespace shop is as easy as filling out a form.
The UI (User Interface) for managing your products is detailed but still simple to learn. Give it a whirl, and soon you’ll be adding images, different pricing for variations of the same product, and forms to collect customer information. You can even change the “Add to Cart” text to something more ambitious if you want.
For multichannel sellers, Squarespace integrates with several online marketplaces and social platforms. You can sell directly through Instagram Shopping and Facebook Shop, with seamless checkout experiences on both platforms. While the Amazon integration block is no longer available, you can still include Amazon products on your site through affiliate links or custom HTML.
Squarespace’s e-commerce tools are available starting from the Basic plan, which includes features such as selling unlimited products, managing subscriptions, and offering abandoned cart recovery. More advanced features require upgrading to the Core or higher plans. While the pricing may be higher than some competitors, the comprehensive tools and seamless experience make it a worthwhile investment.
Blogging Is Pretty Solid
Blogging on Squarespace gives you all the essential features you need, plus some nice extras that make content creation smoother. The blog module can save drafts, schedule posts, add tags, and categorize them to your liking. You can set posts to be reviewed by colleagues before publishing, choose whether or not to show the author’s name and profile, and even change fonts and colors for individual posts.
My favorite feature, by far, is the actual editor. While many site builders have a separate interface for writing blog posts, Squarespace lets you edit them the same way you edit any other page: right there on the page itself. What you see is exactly what you get.
The platform now offers flexible layouts and a variety of content blocks to make your posts more engaging. You can add image galleries, video embeds, product showcases, and newsletter signup forms. The new AI writing assistant helps generate content ideas and polish your writing, right in the editor.
One of my favorite things about Squarespace is that you can edit a blog post in the same way you edit a regular page.
The blogging experience goes beyond just writing. You get detailed analytics to track post performance, automated social media publishing, and seamless integration with email campaigns. The updated commenting system keeps discussions organized with threading and spam filtering. Plus, if you need multilingual content, Squarespace makes it simple to manage translations and localized URLs.
Like any other page, blog posts also have all the basic SEO options and social sharing tools you might want. You can set meta titles and descriptions for search engines, set up how your blog post will be previewed on social media sites, and even send blog posts out as newsletters when you publish them.
There Are Add-ons and Third-Party Integrations Galore
If you’re looking to expand the functionality of your site, Squarespace offers a full suite of add-ons and third-party integrations to let you do just that. If you have a significant social presence, Squarespace gives you all the tools you need to integrate with other platforms, like promoting your blogs on social media or embedding your YouTube videos directly to your site.
You can also do a lot with Squarespace’s integrations, like schedule appointments, create premium member-only areas, or even send out powerful marketing campaigns. Thanks to this expansive collection of apps, space really is the limit of what you can do with your site.
Automate the Online Booking Process with Acuity Scheduling
If you’re a service seller with a limited budget, Squarespace’s native online booking tool can help you streamline your workflow and attract more clients. With Squarespace’s Acuity Scheduling integration, you can display your services and real-time availability, allowing clients to self-schedule appointments online.
Acuity Scheduling offers additional tools to help you strengthen client relationships. You can send automated email and SMS reminders about upcoming appointments and even sell subscriptions, gift certificates, and appointment packages to reward loyal customers.
Squarespace and Acuity Scheduling have a similar, clean interface
Given that Acuity Scheduling was created by Squarespace, the two integrate seamlessly. You can add it to your Squarespace website with just a few clicks, ensuring consistency in your brand image across platforms. Though it requires a separate subscription, Acuity Scheduling is quite affordable and you can try it risk-free for seven days.
You can read more about Acuity Scheduling’s features in our expert review.
4.7
Ease of use
My Experience With Squarespace
Getting Started With Squarespace
When I started my Squarespace trial, I was impressed by how streamlined the onboarding process felt. Instead of dropping me directly into template selection, Squarespace first asked me about my goals and website type through a quick questionnaire. This helped narrow down relevant templates and set the right direction from the start.
Squarespace’s questionnaire helps tailor your website experience from the beginning. Hover over to see the next step
I had two options: choose from professionally designed templates or use Blueprint AI to generate a custom design. The template library is well-organized into categories like “Photography,” “Business,” and “Online Store,” making it easy to find relevant options. Each template shows both desktop and mobile previews.
I decided to try Blueprint AI first. The tool asked for my site’s title and personality type (options like “Friendly” or “Professional”), then generated text and design elements to match. While the AI-generated designs weren’t as polished as premade templates, they provided a solid starting point that I could customize further.
Customizing My Squarespace Website
Fluid Engine gives you more freedom while maintaining professional design standards
The editing experience stands out with two options: the classic grid-based editor and the newer Fluid Engine. I found Fluid Engine particularly impressive as it combines creative freedom with smart design guidelines. Moving elements feels natural, and the interface shows helpful alignment guides to keep everything looking professional.
What impressed me most was how Squarespace maintains quality regardless of your design choices. Even when making significant changes to layouts or color schemes, the results stayed polished. The built-in AI writing assistant helped generate content for different sections, though I found myself editing its suggestions for a more personal touch.
Setting up an online store in Squarespace follows a clear, step-by-step process with an intuitive inventory management system
Setting up an online store was straightforward. The platform guided me through each step – adding products, setting up payment methods, and configuring shipping options. The only minor frustration was remembering to save changes manually since there’s no autosave feature. However, Squarespace does warn you before closing an unsaved tab.
The experience felt cohesive throughout, with consistent design tools and helpful popups explaining new features. While there’s still a learning curve, especially for complete beginners, Squarespace’s combination of guidance and flexibility makes it manageable. I created a professional-looking site in under an hour, complete with a blog and basic store setup.
Additional Ease of Use Features
Tutorials Abound
You can start by reading all about how to use Squarespace, or you can jump right in. As soon as you begin, a starter questionnaire of sorts will ask you what kind of site you want to build. Once you actually start editing your website, there are tutorials and tips built right into the interface to explain everything.
The blog offers a wealth of design advice in various aspects, along with Squarespace webinars and an extensive array of help guides available in the knowledge base. Given the site builder’s long-standing presence, the support team has had ample time to curate a comprehensive set of guides, ensuring the coverage of nearly all the essential information you might require.
Built-In Marketing, SEO, and Scheduling Tools
Naturally, the goal isn’t just to build your site on Squarespace. The goal is to make your site/business wildly successful. The platform now offers AI-powered marketing tools and advanced analytics to help you grow your online presence.
There’s a comprehensive marketing suite including email campaigns, social media integration for Instagram and Facebook, and customizable promotional tools. The platform also includes built-in SEO features and integration with Google Business Profile.
Squarespace also has a basic but effective set of search engine optimization (SEO) features to help make your site (and individual pieces of content) easier to find via Google and other search engines. If you’re willing to pay extra, you can even hire a “Squarespace SEO Expert.” The SEO expert can give you actionable advice to help you improve your search engine listings.
Thanks to its integrated Analytics, you can get a closer view of which search terms drive the most traffic to your site. You can also discover a wealth of useful information, like where in the world your main traffic is coming from and which pages receive the most traffic.
Squarespace’s scheduling dashboard offers a clean calendar view and a step-by-step setup guide for creating your booking page
You can also take advantage of the previously mentioned scheduling tool. If your business depends on in-person appointments, you can use this functionality to take appointments, manage your available time, send automatic reminders to customers (so they’ll be more likely to show up), create intake forms, and more.
Create Localized Versions of Your Site With Ease
What if you want to reach an international audience? Squarespace gives you the tools to localize the default text, date, and currency settings. All you have to do is head over to your account dashboard, open the Language & region panel, and choose a language. Squarespace now supports content in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, with interface translations available in several more languages.
Though this tool isn’t an automatic translator (which means you’ll need a third-party extension like Weglot to translate custom text), it’s still handy for making your site easier to reach in different parts of the world. When you localize your website, Squarespace also translates important metatext, which can help you rank higher in international search engines.
5.0
Support
The Support Team Is Prompt and Helpful
When you need help, Squarespace’s team is there. I mean, they are on top of things. The main support channels include a combined email/ticket system, live chat, and a community forum. I tested all three channels to see if I would get prompt, professional assistance.
Email/Ticket System
I sent in a ticket asking if it would be possible to buy a domain on Squarespace (like mywebsite.com), make a subdomain (like server.mywebsite.com), and then point that subdomain elsewhere on the internet. Like, to a private server, perhaps.
A member of the team responded in about six hours and said yes, I could do exactly that. They provided very helpful, specific guidance in their response.
Squarespace’s support agent was very helpful.
Live Chat
Since I was pulling an all-nighter anyway, I was able to access their live chat support. Live chat is available Monday to Friday, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, and my schedule usually doesn’t match theirs, but this time they responded in mere minutes.
I asked, “I’ve noticed that Squarespace has lots of SEO features, but what if I want to discourage search engines from crawling my site, or portions of it? Is there any way to do that?” Turns out you can absolutely do that. If for some reason, you want people, but not Google, to find your stuff, the development team has thought of this.
Squarespace’s live chat support agent responded in minutes
Forum
Technically, the support team isn’t responsible for answering questions here. Nonetheless, I got a fairly quick response from a fellow Squarespace user with the information I needed. I asked if there’s any way to build a site on this platform without using cookies on the front end. Apparently, there isn’t.
Also, the story in the screenshot is entirely true.
The forum is a great way to get help from other Squarespace users.
4.8
Pricing
Not the Cheapest, but a Fair Price
With no free plan at all, Squarespace isn’t the cheapest site builder on the market, especially if you pay per month. Although paying for an annual plan will save you a ton, there are still cheaper options. Even so, I honestly believe that for the quality of the service provided, these prices are fair.
All plans include a free domain for the first year. If you’re looking for more advanced tools to market yourself, the Core plan includes a professional email and Workspace account from Google, more content blocks, advanced analytics, and the ability to accept donations.
The Plus and Advanced plans unlock e-commerce features, letting you sell unlimited products and create member areas. The Plus plan removes transaction fees, while Advanced adds features like abandoned cart recovery and advanced shipping. If you’re planning an online store, I recommend comparing the specific features of each plan carefully.
Though they don’t offer a free plan, if you purchase any plan annually, you’ll get a 14-day refund window. The refund process is quick and stress-free. So yeah, you have two weeks to be really, really sure that you like the product. I figure that’s fair.
There’s a good reason why Squarespace remains one of my favorite website builders. Its attractive templates, easy editor with Fluid Engine flexibility, and robust e-commerce tools make it one of the best builders for anyone trying to establish a professional identity online.
Thanks to its elegant design emphasis and new AI-powered features, you’re guaranteed to get a site that will capture your visitors’ attention. It’s not the cheapest builder out there, but it’s a worthwhile investment if you’re a professional looking to step up your online game.
FAQ
Is Squarespace worth it in 2025?
Squarespace is one of the leading website builders on the market, combining professional templates with new features like Fluid Engine and AI tools. While it’s not the cheapest option, it’s worth the investment if you want a visually striking, professional website without coding knowledge.
The best Squarespace plan depends entirely on your needs. If you’re looking for an elegant site to serve as your portfolio or online CV, then the Basic plan at $16.00 month will serve you well. For business features and e-commerce capabilities, you’ll want to look at the Core plan or higher. The Plus and Advanced plans remove transaction fees and add specialized e-commerce features.
Check out my thoughts on Squarespace pricing.
Can Squarespace handle high traffic?
Yes, with an asterisk. Squarespace excels on site performance speeds and can handle exceptionally large amounts of traffic for a website builder. However, if you plan on receiving millions of visitors monthly, you’ll have to look for a separate hosting option.
If you’re interested, check out our expertly-curated list of the best hosting services in 2025.
Ezequiel Bruni is biologically Canadian, legally Mexican, and self identifies as a total nerd. He’s been a web and experience designer off and on since he was a teenager, and loves sharing the kind of beginner’s advice he really wishes he’d had when he first started. He also loves video games, tacos, open source software, video games, sci-fi and fantasy in all their forms, and video games. He does not love writing in the third person.
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Suitable for beginners
I recommend this service to those who do not know how to create websites! Here everything is quite simply arranged and it will not be difficult for you to create a pleasant and functional website. For the money, everything is tolerable here, in general, I think it's worth the money.
Squarespace Commerce is a subpar selling platform, woefully short of basic features. No product review or ratings possible, limited payment options and no offline payments, frozen checkout process with no customization (even thank you page can't be customized), unhelpful customer service that either point you to already published material that you would already have seen or otherwise to the forum. Good looking design alone cannot make up for below average features. Give it a miss if you are serious about selling. I speak from a really frustrating experience building a store on Squarespace.
Without any doubt, I can say that creating a site here is very simple. I don't have much experience in this area, this is one of my first projects that achieved some success. With uncomplicated algorithms and simple movements, you get very concise and pleasant-looking web-sites. I will try to develop skills, however, on this site as such, the skill is not necessary: everything is clear on an intuitive level
Beautiful and intuitive but not great for e-commerce
I have no experience at all of the website building but successfully built two very pretty sites without too much difficulty and using all the features mentioned. However, do not be fooled by e-commerce offerings. There are so many annoying glitches that I feel that I am being forced to look elsewhere or to design another site. I'm a UK customer and despite paying a hefty price for a premium membership, there are no effective UK shipping options. If you are selling an item made up of multiples (cases of 6) you can only advertise one price which leads to confusion - especially as you can't advertise the single item price. There is a huge glitch in the Categories that haven't yet been fixed, making them unusable. You cannot add text to a product page. Other ways of displaying products are impractical and not suitable for many businesses (including mine). The site looks amazing but really doesn't meet the slightly nerdier requirements of a shop based site. There is quite a lot of difficulty in fully integrating various platforms such as mailchimp - and their own marketing section is very very basic. You can't, for example, ask for a customer's first and last names on the pop up subscribe function. It's great that it's there but serves no real purpose. Feels like they left lots of loose ends littered around the e-commerce part of it and launched before these were tied up. I am desperate for them to fix these issues (and several more) but response time is slow. Responses usually involve complex 'workarounds' and referrals back to videos I've already seen. Anyway, I say this in the spirit of really really wishing it would improve rather than just a general slating as for everything else it is way ahead of its competitors for sheer style and ease of use.
Bad Bad Bad No response website does't work even after you sign up and pay major rip off.Tried to get in contact no way to do it over and over again when we fist tried it worked then it never worked.We emailed we tried to ask for help no response . Bad bad bad left out to dry.
I quote from your review "Squarespace is the best most intuitive, cleanest website builder. I use it for every client" and yet within the site you built with it you recommend WIX as best website builder...???
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