Create your own space
4.6/5 (1189 reviews)Squarespace's mission is to provide creative tools that power the future of the web. From designers creating the next generation of web and mobile experiences, to anyone managing their own online presence for the first time, Squarespace provides elegant solutions that set new standards for online publishing. By focusing our efforts on the fusion of design and engineering, we strive to create long-lasting products that delight and surprise our customers.
Pros
I have been using Squarespace for a few years as a working artist with a small business. There are a lot of events that happen for crafts and painting, and no one has cash, and I certainly don't have change to give them. When I got onto squarespace a few years ago I was amazed that they sent me a free sliding card chip reader, how easy it was to sign up, and I was a bit upset with myself that I hadn't signed up sooner. The amount of sales I missed before squarespace could probably have paid for a vacation or a big increase in my business, however all is well because I have it now. I really like that I can also keep profiles of different people, I can send people invoices, I can send people receipts, I can really make sure that I stay in their minds as a future place to buy from. I think that square space has also been successful for me because having a squarespace account has made me more professional with overseas buyers. Sometimes I get quite a bit of traction on sales through instagram, and paypal is not seen as the best route by these people, they prefer square space. It has given them ease of mind when they receive a digital receipt, when they see that i take my business seriously, and that has created a lot of good relationships for me in places like Australia, New Zealand and so forth. It has also allowed me to let people set up payment plans by tracking all their payments through square space and that too has increased a lot of business for me. Squarespace has helped!
Cons
I think that I am always worried about losing the swiper. If there was a way where squarespace could get rid of that all together and yet allow a one go swipe I would be really grateful for that. The only other issues I have had is sometimes the software has frozen while I am in the middle of a transaction and that has made things a bit difficult for me in the moment, however, this is common for a lot of apps that have high usage, so I am not super upset about it. I think that in the moment you can hope that things will be perfect but they can't always be. Overall though I think the software has better positives than negatives. I think that it is very good software.
If you are a small business or a startup trying to get a professional web presence, or an existing company with a horrible website, don't believe the limitations of a decade ago and "pro" web developers and companies that create websites for you for a large sum of money with continuing maintenance costs. Website development sites like Squarespace allow for any moderately computer literate individual to create amazing looking professional websites and professional emails with little hassle. You don't need an IT department or a website developer, and honestly, your site will look better than many I've had created by corporate webdevs. The trick is that sites like Squarespace use templates that you choose and customize with your own content. The con is, while there are tons of options in templates, what you see is what you get and you can really only customize content and minor aesthetics like font, pages, color schemes, pictures, etc. However, the templates are gorgeous and modern designed sites that will make your website look cutting edge.
I've used several competitors, and while Wix is probably my next favorite due to customization, Squarespace is leagues better than any other site developer I've used, including Weebly, Wordpress, GoDaddy, Wix, etc. It is just so simple and the templates, while probably the least customization, are the prettiest ones available that add a professional touch you can't replicate in something like Wix. No IT, no problem.
Pros
Ease of use is unparalleled.
Templates are aesthetically unmatched by competitors- it's not even close.
The ability to switch between templates whenever you want is amazing.
Very professional feel to website with seamless G Suite integration.
Cost is very competitive.
Mobile optimized websites are lightyears beyond GoDaddy and Wix.
Cons
The templates are amazing, and there are a lot of choices, but if you don't like the options, you are stuck with what they have. Customizing is very limited within the Template framework, unlike Wix.
In order to be glitch-free and mobile optimized, the templates have very little customization.
I used to build my own sites - first manually then through Wordpress. I used to have a lot of security issues. Multiple hacks and breaches. Lost sites and downtime. I haven't lost a wink of sleep over a website since I signed up for Squarespace. For me, that's worth the money I pay.
The software is beautiful, slick and simple (once you understand it - it's a bit quirky). But the cost keeps rising while other, cheaper options keep getting better. I still love Squarespace, but it's increasingly tough to recommend based on price.
Pros
Squarespace is easy to set up (a site can be completed in an hour or less if you have all the info you need ready to go). Once a site is live, it rarely has any issues, becomes visible on Google fairly quickly, and there are no security worries to deal with as everything is hosted on THEIR servers, not mine. The templates are the best in the business and it's difficult to make a Squarespace site look ugly. Not impossible of course, but tough :) Drag and drop interface is great and integrations abound.
Cons
Squarespace has become increasingly expensive, moving more and more features to higher and higher tiers. Their e-commerce options are great for a simple store with few product options, but you cannot change the image of a product when a customer selects a variation of that product - like a different colour of shift, for example. This was a deal-breaker on a recent project and drove us toward Shopify.
Wix sites used to look terrible. They can now look pretty good (again, mileage may vary with templates and design skills). Bandzoogle has more features for bands at a better price point. Weebly has great design options. All claim easy drag and drop interfaces. All offer cheaper options than Squarespace for a similar feature set.
Squarespace domains are free for the first year only. Then, thye cost more than many other options. I found that one out the hard way.
Pros
There are many, many website creation platforms… and making the wrong decision is a disaster no one should have encounter. Because Squarespace and Wordpress are so prominently recognized, this review is intended for those trying to decide between the two. Overall, I would recommend Squarespace for organizations, entrepreneurs, small size businesses, startup company, or anyone who wants to take a more simplistic approach to building their website. Wordpress would be better utilized for websites with a lot of content, images, or heavily customizable needs and/or larger businesses.
Pros
Squarespace website generation platform is a heavily controlled and monitored environment, run only by the company itself. All the testing is done within their own environment to ensure all plugins, tools, etc. are running correctly at all times.
Squarespace is a great fit for beginners who would prefer to have the web creation platform make the decisions for you or those who want something simple and navigationally instinctual. Navigating my way around Squarespace took me a simple day to learn its ins and outs; it took me nearly a year to learn all the unique, in-depth features of Wordpress.
Because Squarespace is not an open source platform, its customer support team is available 24-hours a day, to help resolve issues and provide advice (via live chat). It’s their responsibility to fix any plugins, or issues that arise outside of your control.
In contrast Wordpress is an open source platform, meaning the responsibility for fixing any issues that arise would fall on you; you will most likely need to hire outside help if you are a beginner and/or have little tech/coding experience. Although Wordpress is more customizable (developers/programmers can create their own plugins, themes, and tools and apply it to your site for a specific look) you take the risk of running into potential compatibility issues; open source does not always guarantee 100% reliability.
Cons
Because Squarespace is a more simplistic approach to web creation, you don’t have the option to fully customize the theme or jazz it up the way you may want. If you are really looking to create a website that is fully automated and stands out from the general information website I would suggest WordPress.
I have not found Squarespace’s community help center to be as helpful in providing answers or pointing me in the right direction, however you always have support available to you; Wordpress has a larger collection of help forums on the web that can help you figure out fix issues, compatibility, coding adjustments, etc.
I have been using Squarespace for my e-commerce business for a few years now and love it! Squarespace sites are easy to create and update, while always remaining beautiful. I have used other drag-and-drop website building software in the past and even though the layouts looked right when I was editing, once I viewed them live and on different devices, there were always problems. With Squarespace's platform, my site always looks exactly the way I expect it to.
I recently added the e-commerce component to my site and while it doesn't have a ton of features, like other sites, it works perfectly for what I need. Some templates are better suited for e-commerce, so if that's what you're looking for, make sure to look into which ones those are.
Squarespace websites are also automatically optimized for search engines! Last year I took an SEO course to improve traffic to my website and a bunch of the suggestions involved manually updating parts of my site every few months so that search engines would continue to find my site. When I inquired with Squarespace about how to go about this, they let me know that their platform already does this for my site automatically--yay! I also discovered a variety of other SEO features that are built into every Squarespace site, so you don't have to worry about updating or even knowing about much of it--it's all done for you!
While Squarespace doesn't offer customer service by phone, they are timely with responding to inquiries via email and their robust online knowledge base has answered many of my questions in just a few minutes. They also offer a chat feature Mon-Fri.
Finally, one of the reasons I decided to switch to Squarespace was for integrations, like MailChimp--they make it easy to connect with my customers and streamline collecting their information. They also just added an integration with PayPal for checkout, which I can already tell has made purchases easier for my customers.
Overall, I am extremely happy with Squarespace and look forward to discovering, even more, features!
Pros
Ease of use
Beautiful designs
Great customer service
Affordable
useful integrations (PayPal, MailChimp, etc)
built-in SEO
constantly updating and adding more features
Cons
e-commerce platform has minimal features
No customer service phone support
Some features are only available on a limited number of templates
Websites:
Personal: $12/month (billed annually) or $16/month (billed monthly).
Business: $18/month (billed annually) or $26/month (billed monthly).
Online Stores:
Basic: $26/month (billed annually) or $30/month (billed monthly).
Advanced: $40/month (billed annually) or $46/month (billed monthly).
Below are some frequently asked questions for Squarespace.
Squarespace offers the following pricing plans:
Starting from: US$12,00/month
Pricing model: Subscription
Free Trial: Available
Websites:
Personal: $12/month (billed annually) or $16/month (billed monthly).
Business: $18/month (billed annually) or $26/month (billed monthly).
Online Stores:
Basic: $26/month (billed annually) or $30/month (billed monthly).
Advanced: $40/month (billed annually) or $46/month (billed monthly).
Squarespace offers the following features:
Squarespace has the following typical customers:
Freelancers, Mid Size Business, Small Business
Squarespace supports the following languages:
English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish
Squarespace has the following pricing plans:
Subscription
Squarespace supports the following devices:
Android, iPhone, iPad
Squarespace integrates with the following applications:
Bitium, Bookeo, Checkfront, Hotjar, LeadDyno, Peek Pro Tour Operators, ShipStation, Shipwire, Stripe, Zoho SalesIQ
Squarespace offers the following support options:
FAQs, Forum, Knowledge Base, Online Support, Video Tutorials
My overall experience with Squarespace is that it has allowed me to increase my profits, I've had a better time at events when people want to make purchases, and in general it is a well run software, so I really appreciate it. It is very accessible, it has made me look more professional, and it rarely has any bugs. Good job !