What Is Squarespace?

Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder and hosting platform that lets you create a professional site without coding. It’s widely used by small businesses, creatives, and professionals who want a polished online presence without hiring a developer.

At a glance, Squarespace offers:

  • Website builder and hosting in one subscription

  • Responsive templates editable without coding

  • Built-in tools for blogging, SEO, and ecommerce

Read our in-depth Squarespace review to see detailed pros and cons, plus examples of major brands using the platform.

Squarespace Compared to Other Builders 

Squarespace is part of the all-in-one website builder category alongside Wix, Webflow, and WordPress. All serve the same core purpose—creating and hosting a website without building it from scratch—but differ in learning curve, design flexibility, and built-in capabilities.

Platform Ease of Use Design Flexibility
Without Code		 Built‑In Features Limitations to Consider
Squarespace Beginner‑friendly High Strong all‑in‑one Limited for complex ecommerce, or deep server control
Wix Beginner‑friendly High Strong all‑in‑one Less technical control, heavier code, and not ideal for lean markup
Webflow Intermediate+ Very high Moderate Steeper learning curve; some features (email campaigns, booking, memberships) require third-party integrations
WordPress with a Page Builder Beginner+ Moderate‑High Plugins needed Higher maintenance; relies on plugins for core features; hosting and security are your responsibility

See the feature lists from each platform: Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, and WordPress.

Who It’s For

Squarespace works well for a wide variety of businesses—professional services, consultants, authors, local service providers (roofers, doctors, dentists, home builders, etc.), bloggers, schools, nonprofits, and more. It’s worth considering if you:

  • Want everything in one place: Your site builder, hosting, and basic tools managed under a single subscription.

  • Prefer to design, not debug: Your team needs a modern template that can be customized without code.

  • Need a professional site without plugins: Blogging, SEO, and ecommerce are built in, so you’re not maintaining add-ons.

  • Operate in an industry where presentation matters: B2B, professional services, home services, authors, photographers, consultants, and similar industries.

Squarespace removes cognitive overhead: no plugin updates, no hosting issues, fewer things to break. If your business needs marketing presence, lead capture, simple ecommerce, Squarespace wins on speed and ease.

But if your goals demand a different approach, platforms like Webflow, Shopify, or WordPress may be a better fit—and part of our role is helping you choose that fit.

Limitations to Consider

Squarespace may not be the right choice if you:

  • Need deep custom functionality. If your project requires building from the ground up, advanced integrations, or total code freedom, you’ll be fighting the platform. Use Webflow or WordPress instead.

  • Want full control over hosting and performance tuning. Squarespace manages the servers, caching, and security for you. If you want to fine-tune every technical setting, choose WordPress or a custom-built site.

  • Run a high-volume or highly complex online store. Squarespace Commerce works well for smaller product catalogs. For large inventories, advanced shipping logic, or custom checkout flows, go with Magento, BigCommerce, or Shopify.

Reality Check

For 90% of small, service-based businesses, Squarespace is our recommendation—especially for SMBs who want:

  • A site they can manage without hiring a developer for every update.

  • Brand consistency through global styling tools.

  • Built-in hosting, security, and responsive templates out of the box.

That said, Squarespace’s marketing copy can make it sound like a fit for every scenario. In practice:

  • The platform handles traffic spikes fine, but it’s not designed for the complex workflows or integrations found in enterprise or high-volume ecommerce.

  • “No coding required” is true for many sites, but some design refinements and unique layouts require code and CSS tweaks.

  • SEO is covered, however multilingual sites or custom schema markup require extra steps.

Our full Squarespace review explores these trade-offs in detail and includes real-world examples of larger companies successfully running their sites on Squarespace.

Why Businesses Choose Squarespace

When we migrate sites off WordPress or other legacy platforms, it’s usually because non-technical staff are frustrated with plugin updates, clunky editing, and recurring security issues—they want something simpler. We’ve used Squarespace since 2013, and like any CMS it has quirks, but it’s been consistently low-maintenance and stable, which matters if you don’t have an IT team to manage your site.

Squarespace brings hosting, security, templates, and mobile optimization under one subscription. That means fewer moving parts to maintain, less time spent patching plugins, and more focus on running the business—you’re trading deeper customization for faster setup, stability, and predictable costs. 

Next Steps

To determine if Squarespace is a fit for your needs:

  1. Start the standard 14-day trial — or request our free 12-month trial — to fully test the platform.

  2. Build a small sample page to test the editor and mobile responsiveness.

  3. See our detailed industry guides for tailored recommendations. And feel free to reach out if you’re considering a site migration or exploring platform fit.

Key Things to Know About Squarespace

Before you decide on a platform, here are the most common Squarespace questions we hear from clients, answered so you can make an informed choice. If you plan to use other Squarespace services like email marketing or scheduling, see our Squarespace pricing article for those fees.

  • Squarespace leans toward elegant, design‑first templates, while Wix offers more layout freedom but a busier interface.

  • No, Squarespace doesn’t provide built-in email hosting. You can use your custom domain with Google Workspace or another email provider.

  • Yes, Squarespace offers email marketing. Squarespace Email Campaigns lets you create and send newsletters without a separate platform.

    If you need deeper automation or segmentation, Squarespace supports embedding or integrating with third-party email providers such as Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Constant Contact. You can add signup forms or embed their code directly into your site, or connect through integrations/zapier-style automations.

  • Yes. Squarespace owns Acuity Scheduling which offers full-featured booking. You can also embed Calendly or other tools directly into a page if your workflow is already tied to another platform.

  • It’s great for small–medium product catalogs. For large inventories, custom checkout, or advanced logistics, consider Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento.

  • Yes, Squarespace is good for SEO. It includes built-in SEO features such as clean URLs, mobile-friendly templates, SSL security, and meta controls. For multilingual sites or custom schema, you’ll add lightweight integrations or code snippets.

    We cover specifics in our Squarespace SEO guide, but this site serves as an example of a Squarespace site ranking competitively against major publishers.

  • Yes, but not everything exports cleanly. You can export basic content as an XML file. Design, style settings, and some content types will need to be rebuilt manually.

  • Squarespace maintains server-level backups for disaster recovery, but you can’t roll back to an earlier version yourself. If you feel you need extra protection, you can manually export content or use a third-party backup tool.

Compare Before You Commit

Request our 12-month extended trial and compare it against other platforms.