Squarespace
Squarespace is a hosted website builder with templates for portfolios, blogs and online stores, plus built-in scheduling, invoicing and donation tools. It is mainly used to publish a site and take payments.
#5 in Web Building & Hosting ToolsWebsite BuildersNo free plan
Who it's for
Best for
Small business owners who want a polished site updated without a developer.
Photographers and artists who want a gallery portfolio with a shop attached.
Not for
Designers who need fine layout control and will end up writing custom CSS.
Publishers who automate posts through a blog API that is no longer offered.
Features
Online store
Product listings, payment processing, order management and shipping tools are built in for retailers, artisans and limited-release sellers.
Appointment booking
Appointments are booked straight from the site, with automated calendar management and integrated payments for beauty, wellness and photography businesses.
Invoicing and proposals
Professional proposals, contracts and invoices are sent directly from the site, and payments are collected through the platform.
Blog with paywalls
Blog posts are published, a readership is grown, and a paywall is added to monetize access to the writing.
Free custom domain
Each paid plan lists a free custom domain alongside website building, payment acceptance and free invoice sending.
What users say
Pros
- Adding more photos to an existing gallery or tweaking a page needs no layout rebuild.
- Handing a finished site to a business client is quicker than a custom-built setup.
- A home-service site can reach the top three local search results and bring in most new leads.
- The Basic plan covers a simple practice website with nothing important missing.
- Small embedded code snippets add the animations and interactions a Framer-style build would need.
Cons
- The subscription runs expensive for a simple portfolio site with no shop attached.
- Domains inherited from Google cannot be cancelled or signed into, and charges keep arriving.
- Portfolio layouts hit design limits that force hand-written CSS and HTML to work around.
- A layout that looks right on desktop turns out broken on mobile, and the reverse.
- Blog posts get pasted in by hand because the public blog API was taken offline.
A selection of the review sources we used:
Summarized from public user reviews and community discussions. View details
Global Traffic Rank
Top 50k
Alternatives
Rank#5 in category#3 in category#4 in category#6 in category
Free planNoYesYesYes
ProQuick gallery edits, easy client handoff, strong local SEOBig plugin library, content edits, headless API, WP-CLIScreenshot-to-page agent, Figma-like canvas, MCP edits, hostingCustom designs, client self-editing, steady hosting, AI handoff
Better forDesigning custom layouts and interactions on a freeform Figma-like canvas without writing CSS.Building custom marketing sites with granular layout control, relational CMS collections, and A/B testing.
Weaker atSelling products, booking appointments, and sending client invoices with built-in business tools.Launching a simple site quickly without HTML or CSS knowledge, or taking bookings and invoices natively.