The Bottom Line
Squarespace is our number one pick because of its attractive templates—many of which are free. While it doesn’t offer a free plan, its Business package starts at just $23 per month (if paid annually). It comes with the ability to sell an unlimited number of products, customization using CSS and JavaScript and a professional email address from Google. It does have a lower-cost plan that starts at $14 per month (paid annually), but that doesn’t include e-commerce features.
For $27 per month (paid annually), you can get the Basic Commerce plan that enables you to have a point-of-sale (POS). This plan is ideal for anyone with a brick-and-mortar store or for those who sell at markets and fairs. You’ll also get e-commerce analytics and the ability to tag your products in Instagram posts. The Advanced Commerce plan costs $49 per month (if paid annually) and lets you sell subscriptions and send automated emails when a customer abandons their cart without completing a purchase.
It’s worth noting that unless you have either one of the Commerce plans, there is a 3% transaction fee on sales. These fees are in addition to the standard credit card fees per sale charged on each plan.
Squarespace Pros & Cons 2022
Squarespace Ratings at a Glance
| Unlimited storage | Yes |
| Unlimited bandwidth | Yes |
| Mobile responsive sites | Yes |
| Drag-and-drop functionality | Yes |
| Social media marketing tools | Yes |
| Email marketing tools | Yes |
| Ease of use | Excellent |
| Value | Excellent |
| Trustpilot rating | 1.5 out of 5 stars with 693 reviews |
| G2 rating | 4.4 out of 5 stars with 1,003 reviews |
Squarespace Pros and Cons Details
Pros
One of Squarespace’s most noteworthy attributes is its drag-and-drop editor. It makes it easy to customize its award-winning templates with no coding skills. The platform also provides everything needed to create a complete website, including hosting, a custom domain name (if you don’t already have one) and email.
Squarespace’s e-commerce features are fully integrated into most plans, which is rare for website builders. And, if you need additional features, such as abandoned cart recovery or subscriptions, they can be easily added with its highest-tiered plan.
Cons
While there are many pros to using Squarespace, there are several downsides. Although Squarespace offers 24/7 customer support, it does not have phone support, which can be frustrating if you need immediate assistance.
Squarespace’s Personal plan doesn’t allow you to use CSS or JavaScript, which limits the extent to which you can customize your site. It doesn’t have a free plan, which is rare for website builders. However, it does offer a 14-day free trial so you can try before you buy.
All Squarespace plans have video storage limitations. If you plan on using videos on your website, you’ll need to consider an upgrade. Also, Squarespace’s Trustpilot rating is 1.5 out of 5 stars with 693 reviews, which is lower than many of its competitors.
Squarespace limits you to one sub-navigation menu. While this isn’t an issue for smaller websites, it could be problematic for large sites with deep levels of content.
Squarespace uses a drag-and-drop editor that simplifies the website build process. The editing tool is not quite as intuitive as Squarespace purports it is—especially for true beginners. The good news is that the Squarespace Help Center offers detailed instruction on using the editor, and customer support is just a quick chat or email away.
