Squarespace web builder review 2024: Features, benefits & prices

Squarespace is a website builder that stands out as a top choice for creative professionals.

It offers a range of templates, with a focus on high-quality design to suit individuals and businesses operating in creative industries. Though one of the more expensive website builders on the market, Squarespace is likely to be of interest to users who want to prioritise design in their online presence.

Below, you can find out more about Squarespace.

Squarespace website builder: Overview

Squarespace is a well-known website builder that can make it easier for individuals and businesses to get online. It features a range of tools and features designed to make website management simple.

Squarespace is a particularly popular option for individuals working in creative industries – if you want to create a photography website, for example.

Squarespace offers four main plans, each of which includes mobile optimisation as standard, along with templates for a range of needs and a free custom domain.

Squarespace’s cheapest Personal plan is £12/month, making it one of the more expensive options we’ve reviewed. To compare how it stacks up against other platforms, you can visit our best website builder page.

You can visit our how to use Squarespace page if you want to find out more about how the platform works.

Squarespace website builder prices

Plan	Number of users	Features	Cost
Personal	2	Mobile-optimised site Range of templates	£12/month
Business	Unlimited	All Personal plan features Advanced analytics Ecommerce functionality 3% transaction fees Accept payments Professional email	£17/month
Commerce (Basic)	Unlimited	All Business plan features 0% transaction fees Advanced merchandising	£23/month
Commerce (Advanced)	Unlimited	All Commerce (Basic) plan features Advanced shipping Advanced discounting Subscriptions	£35/month

It’s worth noting straight away that Squarespace is one of the more expensive website builders on the market, with its cheapest plan being £12.50 per month. Compared to other brands, such as Wix (£7.50 per month) or GoDaddy (£6.99 per month), this can seem quite expensive.

However, you could argue that the extra cost is justified when you consider the quality of the templates and designs provided by Squarespace. Overall, whether you can justify the price might depend on how happy you are with the design options on offer.

Over the years, Squarespace has been a favourite of those working in the creative spaces because it provides a strong aesthetic. If this matters to you, it’s worth considering. If you’re more concerned with ease of use for a cheaper price, then you might be better off with one of the competitors we’ve named above.

Squarespace pros and cons

Offers stunning, professionally designed templates suited to creatives
Offers ecommerce functionality on 3 of its 4 plans
Provides access to a range of tools and features

Squarespace comes out more expensive than some competitors
Many advanced features are gated behind more expensive plans
Templates cannot be changed once your website is live

Squarespace features

Squarespace offers a range of features that can help new or experienced users build an effective and attractive website.

Ease of use
Design and templates
Ecommerce functionality
Tools
User reviews

Take a look at the sections below to find out more, or click on any of the options in the list above to skip ahead.

Ease of use

Squarespace, like other website builders, is designed to be simple. It provides a drag-and-drop editor that makes design and customisation easy, removing the need for coding.

Squarespace also provides a range of features and functions within the dashboard, with SEO features, for example, included in all plans. One thing to note is that, for some features, you’ll need to pay more. Promotional pop-ups and banners, for example, are only available for users on the Business plan and above.

Like other website builders, Squarespace also promotes ease of use through it’s initial website builder process. As you begin setting up your account, you will answer a series of questions (pictured below). Your answers will allow Squarespace to automatically generate a template for you to begin working from. For many users, you could have a site created and live online in just a few hours.

This sort of all-in-one dashboard can be a massive benefit for busy users. Having everything included in your plan and accessible from one point can save you from having to open a range of third-party accounts with other software.

You can also pick and choose which of these features you want to use. If you don’t feel ready to begin email marketing, for example, you can use the editor tools to remove any reference to it from the front end of your site. Squarespace offers a suite of tools to support website growth and marketing, pictured below.

Design and templates

Squarespace has long been recognised for the quality of its templates.

It offers over 100 templates designed and built by professionals so that you can make sure your site looks great straight away. In particular, Squarespace has been known as a specialist in templates suitable for creative professionals.

It is worth noting that Squarespace does offer fewer template options overall compared to other builders such as Wix. However, you do have the option to customise them, which for most users will provide enough freedom to make sure that the website you build matches your brand needs.

Another point worth noting is that to make edits using CSS or Javascript, you will need to opt for at least the Business plan. While this is unlikely to be a problem for the majority of users, it may be a concern for those websites that plan to create truly unique design features.

Ecommerce functionality

Squarespace offers ecommerce functionality on its Business plan and above meaning that, to sell online you’ll need to pay at least £17/month. For that price, customers will be able to check out – make online payments – on your domain.

However, on the Business plan, you’ll also be charged a 3% transaction fee; this drops to 0% as soon as you move to the Commerce (Basic) or Commerce (Advanced) plans.

With Squarespace’s Commerce (Basic) plan, you can begin tapping into the merchandising tools they offer. This includes allowing you to display related products, provide product waitlists and keep an eye on how much inventory you have with stock alerts.

Squarespace’s Commerce (Advanced) plan includes all of the above and also allows users to advanced shipping and discounting functionality, as well as providing the ability to sell subscriptions.

It’s worth noting that other builders do offer this level of functionality for less. If you are planning to launch an online store, then you may want to take a look at our best ecommerce website builders page before you make a decision.

Tools

Squarespace offers a range of tools that are built into its dashboard to help users build and manage their websites easily.

It is worth noting though that, for most of these features, you will need to opt for the Business plan. Advanced website analytics, for example, is not available on the Personal plan.

However, Squarespace does offer SEO tools and social media integrations across all of its plans, which can be an excellent start-point for those just starting out online.

User reviews

Squarespace has an overall Trustpilot score of 1.4, with 67% of its reviews being just 1 star.

While we would often recommend taking Trustpilot scores with a grain of salt, it is worth mentioning that some of the reviews refer to issues with customer support.

Squarespace review: Final thoughts

While Squarespace might not stack up to some other website builders overall, it does stand out as a great choice for users or businesses who want to showcase their creativity online.

It provides a range of tools and features, particularly when you pay more for your plan, and is easy to use.

If you are planning to build a website to showcase your creative endeavours, whether you’re a writer, photographer or artist, then this could be a great choice for you. However, if you intend to sell online or operate a less creative website then you’re likely going to be better off with another option.

Bryn Glover

Bryn is the founder and editor of WebsiteJumpStart. He has worked in the digital field for over a decade and was editor for Startups.co.uk - the UK's leading small business website - and for NerdWallet UK before launching WebsiteJumpStart to help people and businesses get online with ease.

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