Squarespace is a website builder founded in 2003 in the United States that integrates many website features into a single platform. It’s considered the Apple of website builders due to its natural, elegant design and high-quality photos.
With Squarespace, you can create a professional website for your personal brand or business quickly and without advanced web development skills, although it could be easier to use. However, it’s the only website builder that can compete with WordPress thanks to Squarespace’s blogging features.
To create your website with Squarespace, you’ll need high-quality photos of yourself or your business, as images are prominent in most of its templates. It’s these images that make its templates look stunning and sophisticated.
It’s one of the most elegant editors available and definitely one of our favorites, since our own website is built with Squarespace. We love using it because everything is in one place, and it took very little time to learn.
Advantages of Squarespace
1. Responsive and customizable templates: Squarespace templates automatically adapt to all screen sizes, including mobile devices. This adaptability is possible because Squarespace’s editor is based on sections and is not completely free-form like Wix.
Furthermore, you can personalize them with your brand kit, so the rest of the design is entirely up to you. Fortunately, all the templates have the same functions, so there’s no need to switch templates. Your template will be your starting point, allowing you to make all the necessary changes and give it the desired look. We’re sure you’ll love them.
2. It has everything you need for a website: Squarespace offers a little bit of everything for its users, and the best part is that everything is well done, prioritizing quality over quantity. This is one of the reasons many choose Squarespace, as having everything integrated makes it a simpler platform to use.
Squarespace offers official integrations, some paid, like Squarespace Scheduling, and others free. These integrations enhance your website, allowing you to add features such as blogging, eCommerce, podcasting, image galleries, and more.
You can also integrate subscription forms and, in short, manage everything you want from within Squarespace. If you’re looking to manage all your website’s information and integrate external applications from a single platform, Squarespace is a great option for you.
3. Its editor is intuitive, although it could be easier to use: You can easily move and add sections (drag and drop), but always within the structure of your chosen template. This structure will help your website adapt to any screen size and give it a more organized look, so that Squarespace will be helpful in that respect.
4. Squarespace is an intuitive platform; you won’t become an expert overnight, but you’ll adapt gradually. However, keep in mind that learning to use this tool and everything it encompasses may take a few days, but once you know how to use it, you’ll be able to do many things that other builders can’t. Take your time to explore the platform; you’ll see that when you discover all its features, you’ll come to love Squarespace.
5. Excellent customer service: You have the option to contact their technical support via chat, email, or through the forum, and you can access a section of Squarespace video tutorials (in English), something we haven’t seen in other website builders.
According to user experiences, Squarespace responds quite quickly, often in under an hour. While finding fast, personalized support can be tricky, once you do, the service quality is excellent. You can also contact them via Twitter if you speak English.
If you purchase your domain through Squarespace, it will be free for the first year. Otherwise, you can link your existing domain. After your annual subscription, the domain will cost $20 per year. We recommend purchasing your domain through Namecheap, as it’s a more convenient option. If you already have a domain, you can consult their support forum for instructions on how to link your domain to Squarespace to create your website.
6. If you wish, you can create your logo here: Squarespace has a simple and quick logo maker for your website. It can be a lifesaver, although we don’t recommend using it, as it’s not exclusive or final.
7. Automated emails: If you’re looking to automate your emails to your customers, whether because they subscribe to your mailing list or because they purchased your website, with Squarespace, you can schedule emails instantly and personalize them according to your goals.
You don’t need to connect with a third-party email marketing provider to automate your emails and have a database.
However, you can integrate your own email marketing platform if you prefer. In our case, we use ConvertKit, and it’s our favorite tool for communicating with our audience via email.
8. Social Media Integration: Thanks to Squarespace, you can easily integrate social media so visitors can access your Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and more with a single click. This option is important if you want to drive traffic from your website to your social media profiles so they can learn more about you and follow you if they like your content.
9. The same base font for your entire website: You can predefine a font for all your text, as well as a standard size to maintain a consistent brand identity. While this point is a minor detail, for many, it can be practical because they can easily define a font.
With Squarespace, you no longer need to use the same font section by section. As mentioned earlier, this is a relief for many, allowing you to focus more on your content and rest assured that its aesthetic will always match your brand’s fonts.
10. Squarespace Scheduling: If you want your visitors to be able to book appointments with you directly from your website, this tool makes it easy. You can select your available times so visitors can schedule with you without any problems.
Additionally, if you want to generate revenue for each appointment booked with you, you can configure it to charge the client automatically. This tool can sync with your Google Calendar, Outlook, or iCloud. It has a trial period and costs an additional $15 per month.
Disadvantages of Squarespace
1. Getting familiar with Squarespace takes time: Squarespace is an intuitive platform, but it’s not the easiest editor to use the first time, like Wix or Weebly. This doesn’t mean it’s complicated or that you need experience creating websites.
However, you can give yourself time to understand the platform with the free trial they offer and then decide whether to continue with Squarespace or not. Practicing for a few days will be enough to understand most of Squarespace’s features. You’ll see that you learn quickly!
2. Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan: Their most affordable plan is $12 per month (when subscribing to an annual plan), and one of the reasons Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan is that they always provide quality service. With a free plan, you’ll likely have ads on your website and a domain that doesn’t belong to you, which isn’t the best for your business. However, they do offer a 14-day free trial so you can familiarize yourself with the platform and be sure you want to continue using Squarespace.
If you have a business or personal brand, their prices reflect the comprehensive system they offer, including beautiful, modern templates. Like any website builder, it requires an investment. But Squarespace is an investment that will undoubtedly make you love the platform.
3. They don’t yet have telephone support: If you’re one of those people who likes to solve their technical problems by phone, unfortunately, that won’t be possible with Squarespace.
The good news is that you’ll always have other ways to contact them, whether by email, chat, Twitter, or the forum. They’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
4. Your mobile website will be the same as the PC version: This disadvantage may not matter much to you if you are looking to create a single website for all screens; however, some people want to show some sections on their computer page but not on the mobile option.
With Squarespace, if you want to hide a section for mobile devices, you can do so through coding; it’s not a feature that’s visible to everyone. Remember that Squarespace prioritizes the quality of its features over quantity, so there’s no need to worry about these details that won’t significantly affect your website visitors’ experience.
5. Stores with large inventories may struggle on Squarespace: If you plan to create a sales funnel or have a business that moves hundreds of products a day, we suggest you invest in another website builder like Shopify or WordPress with WooCommerce.
With Squarespace, you can easily launch your eCommerce store if your business is small or medium-sized, as it caters to a local or focused audience and a moderate inventory. While Squarespace offers more features for your online store than Wix or Weebly, it’s not ideally suited for large or international businesses, as they often require additional payment methods and other functionalities.