Why We Picked It
Squarespace is one of the most popular and best website builders because it’s packed with useful features. You can create an online store, blog, portfolio site, a small business website or a membership site. The editor is user-friendly, but it may take a while to learn the location of menus and features. It’s kind of a cross between a drag-and-drop editor and a point-and-click editor.
Peter Garcia Leets, our advisory board member, agrees that Squarespace is user-friendly: “Squarespace website builder has interesting features, it’s user-friendly and has been adding more and more features lately. It does have some limitations, especially in you’re on a basic plan, but I still believe it’s a great starting point for small/medium-size businesses.”
General Features
Squarespace is best known for its award-winning templates and easy-to-use site editor. I’m a fan of the clean and modern designs that Squarespace offers, though I can see how they all look a little similar and generic. As soon as I added my own logo and some images that made sense for my site, it felt more like my site.
I’ve used Squarespace to build sites before and the drag-and-drop editor is still intuitive to me. With that said, it requires multiple clicks to get to some features, so it can be a bit tedious to use. In a way, Squarespace’s builder reminds me of using WordPress with Elementor to build blocks, but Squarespace groups elements together so you aren’t building everything from scratch. For example, I was able to quickly add an appointment booking section without having to add all the fields one at a time.
I also had no trouble adding a blog or turning my site into an e-commerce store. It was simple enough to figure out where to add meta descriptions and titles for blog posts and, though it took a while for photos to show up, I was able to add some royalty-free images from the built-in Unsplash photo tool.
Extras
What I like best about Squarespace is that it’s an all-in-one website builder, so there’s little need to shop around for plugins and other tools to create and promote my site. I was able to create emails for my audience and set up automations with triggers so I could just set it and forget it.
Though there’s little need for other tools, I did like that I was able to add extensions (integrations) to Squarespace. I connected a product review app that can automatically collect reviews from customers. It was a one-click installation, so it should be easy for anyone to set these integrations up.
Adding a service-based section to require appointments was as easy for me as creating a website. I simply followed the prompts to set up my Acuity Scheduling page and noted that Squarespace let me use a copy button to set the same time for all the days I had availability.
Squarespace also includes tools for creating a members-only section and Tock, an addon for accepting reservations, which is vital for some restaurants. There’s also an option to find a professional designer to create a Squarespace website for you. I like that there’s an option for this, but I didn’t find it necessary because Squarespace is so easy to use.
Pricing
Depending on which website builders you compare to Squarespace, it’s either on par with others for cost or far more expensive; I rarely find Squarespace the cheapest option. Website building plans range from $16 to $49 per month, billed annually. For professional design services, costs vary depending on the designer’s rate; membership sites range in price from $9 per month to $89 per month, billed annually; Acuity Scheduling costs $16 to $49 per month, billed annually; and Tock ranges from $99 per month to $899 per month, billed annually.
Reputation
Looking at star ratings across the internet, it’s a mixed bag: Squarespace gets as low as 1.4 to mediocre at 3.5 and as high as 4.6 (all out of five stars). This is why I looked at individual reviews to get a sense of why users rate it so high or low.
While I personally like Squarespace, I admittedly haven’t run into the issues other users have. Many users have reported that canceling the auto-renewal of subscriptions on Squarespace can be challenging. Another common issue that users have is that Squarespace can be frustrating to use if you want full control. On the flip side, there are plenty of Squarespace user reviews that call out how easy and quick it is to get a website up and running.
Lauren Galvez, an SEO consultant, had positive things to say about Squarespace: “As a small business owner, I tested many CMSs before committing to one for my business, and I ultimately decided to go with Squarespace. I find the platform to be intuitive and easy to use for both building my website and making any necessary edits. I think their templates and design elements are aesthetically pleasing to easily create a beautiful and professional website. Their customer service has been responsive and helpful whenever I’ve had questions, and the online Squarespace community is an active and supportive place for me to learn from others about how to get the most out of the platform.”
Standout Feature
Squarespace lets you enable accelerated mobile pages (AMP), which lightens the load of blog pages. Reducing the size of images, using a specific font and removing custom code speeds up loading time on mobile phones.
Who Should Use It?
Squarespace is one of the best website builders for creatives—photographers, designers and other artists would do well with a Squarespace design. It’s also a good choice for an online store, especially with specialty features like the limited availability labels.
Learn more: Read our full Squarespace review.
Though Squarespace isn’t the cheapest website builder on the market, every plan is suitable for professional use. That said, many businesses will find that even its entry-level plan is a good value as it is packed with features from an extensive template library to a free domain and SSL certificate. Businesses looking to sell online will find its Basic Commerce plan worth the price as it has zero transaction fees, which can save a good deal of money.