What is Squarespace website builder?

Squarespace started life as a simple tool for building static sites but soon evolved into the all-in-one web platform we got right now. This solution covers everything from domain name registration and cloud hosting service to full-scale site builder with built-in ecommerce features. 

As suggested, this is a hosted solution, which means it runs on its own servers and you don't need to purchase a separate web hosting service. Thanks to its beginner-friendly content management system (CMS (opens in new tab)) and incredibly intuitive user interface (UI), Squarespace site builder lets even the most clueless rookies create eye-catching sites in a short time. It's as simple as selecting a pre-built template and customizing it until you're captivated by it. Then, you can add blogging site (opens in new tab) tools, ecommerce elements, and custom code to expand its functionality further. 

This site builder is a superb choice for professional-looking personal blogs, professional creative sites, and small to mid-sized online stores.  

Squarespace's premium options are fairly affordable, ranging from $16.00 to $40 per month when paying annually. This is a fairly decent price, and it's quite similar to other options on the market.

You can choose between four options:

The prices displayed are only valid when paying for an annual plan. If you wish to pay monthly, the costs will increase by quite a bit. Personal will be $16.00/month, Business will cost $23.00, and both eCommerce plans will set you back $27.00 and $49.00 a month, respectively.

Also, Squarespace does not have a free option. The only plans you can get are the premium ones. However, if you don't feel like paying without trying, you can always use the available 14-day free trial. No credit card required!

With four total Squarespace web hosting plans, and each offering a little bit more than the previous one, it’s a pretty reasonable set of features. All Squarespace plans include hosting and domain, making it all-inclusive option for websites.

You can test most of these things out â€?as there’s a 14-day free trial for each website that you make.

But you still won’t be able to use that time to fully publish your website and get some visitors, as it will only be accessible to outsiders via a randomly-generated link, and a password protection will be put on it.

This will be useful if you’re making design changes and need someone to give you additional feedback.

At the end of your trial, the website is saved on the dashboard but is no longer editable, it just sits there waiting for the user to pay for a full plan.

So, for everything else, let’s upgrade and see what Squarespace has to offer.

But which plan should you pick? This is what I gathered during this Squarespace evaluation:

  • Pick the Personal plan if you look for a simple place for blogging or showing off your creations. This is a pretty limited plan, with no eCommerce capabilities or advanced analytics and marketing tools: but if you’re not looking to turn your website into a business, it’s a great place to start.
  • For small businesses, the Business plan may seem like a pretty good option. After all, it’s in the name! You can use this plan to sell unlimited product options online and accept donations. However, I’ll suggest against choosing it.

Why? There’s only one reason. But it’s pretty massive.

For each transaction coming into your site, Squarespace will take a 3% transaction fee. And while that feels like nothing, making a measly $500 a month will immediately turn your $18 monthly plan into a $35 one. And that, my friends, is not a savvy way to run a business.

Instead, I'd suggest one of the Commerce plans.

  • Basic Commerce is priced at $26 a month, removes the transaction fee, and opens up new options for your site: like customer accounts and powerful eCommerce analytics.
  • Advanced Commerce is the most expensive plan at $40 a month and throws in the option to sell subscriptions and add advanced shipping options, as well as abandoned cart recovery and advanced discounts.

    Which one's better between the two?

    You might think that an increase of $14 a month to add only a few extra features isn’t quite worth it. True! But for many established businesses, an additional $14/month to retain more customers, and offer them better shipping options and discounts will be a great deal. This is one of the cases when, while not being the cheapest option, a website builder offers great value for the money.

    I recommend Basic Commerce to beginner eCommerce businesses. If you’re more established â€?definitely check out Advanced Commerce as well.

    Overall, there are three Squarespace hosting plans worth your attention and you can find out more details about pricing, cost, fees and discounts in our Squarespace pricing review.

    The Personal plan is a great pick for a regular non-business website, and the two Commerce plans will offer varying levels of features, fit for eCommerce outfits of different sizes. Sadly, however, I cannot recommend anyone to use the Business plan: the massive transaction fee makes it a pretty bad deal.

 

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