Squarespace: The Good, The Bad, and When to Move On
Squarespace has become one of the most popular website builders for small businesses, and for good reason. Their templates are beautiful, the drag-and-drop editor is intuitive, and you can have a professional-looking website up in a weekend. But is Squarespace the right choice for your business in the long run?
After helping dozens of businesses migrate away from Squarespace (and recommending it to others who should use it), I’ve developed a nuanced view. Here’s an honest breakdown.
The Good: Why Squarespace Works
Stunning Templates
Let’s give credit where it’s due: Squarespace templates are gorgeous. They’re designed by actual designers and look professional from the start. For image-heavy businesses like photographers, restaurants, and portfolios, the visual impact is immediate.
Ease of Use
The learning curve is minimal. If you can use Microsoft Word, you can build a Squarespace site. The drag-and-drop editor makes sense, and most features work as expected. You don’t need to be technical.
All-in-One Hosting
Domain registration, hosting, SSL certificates, and email are all bundled together. One login, one bill, one support line. For non-technical users, this simplicity is valuable.
Decent Mobile Responsiveness
Templates automatically adapt to mobile devices. You don’t have to build separate mobile layouts or worry about your site looking broken on phones.
Built-in Features
Appointment scheduling, e-commerce, forms, analytics, email marketing—Squarespace includes basic versions of tools you’d otherwise need to integrate separately.
The Bad: Where Squarespace Falls Short
Monthly Costs Add Up
Squarespace’s pricing looks reasonable at first:
- Personal: $16/month
- Business: $23/month (with 3% transaction fees!)
- Commerce Basic: $28/month
- Commerce Advanced: $52/month
That’s $192-$624 per year, every year, forever. Over 5 years, you’ll pay $960-$3,120 just to keep your site running—and that doesn’t include premium features or third-party integrations.
A custom static site? Hosting costs as little as $0-20/month.
Performance Issues
Squarespace sites are often slow. Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights and you’ll likely see scores in the 40-60 range. The platform loads unnecessary JavaScript, oversized images, and tracking code that drags down performance.
Why this matters: Google uses page speed as a ranking factor. Slow sites rank lower and frustrate visitors.
E-commerce Transaction Fees
Using the $23/month Business plan for e-commerce? You’ll pay 3% on every sale on top of your payment processor fees. That adds up fast. A store doing $50,000/year in sales loses $1,500 to Squarespace transaction fees alone.
Limited Customization
Eventually, you’ll want something that doesn’t fit Squarespace’s templates. Maybe it’s a specific layout, a custom calculator, an integration with your CRM, or just moving a design element that’s locked in place.
Squarespace’s answer is usually “you can’t do that” or “add custom code”—which defeats the purpose of using a no-code platform.
SEO Limitations
Basic SEO is possible, but advanced optimization is limited. URL structures are inflexible, schema markup options are basic, and you’re stuck with Squarespace’s bloated HTML output.
Vendor Lock-In
Here’s the big one: You don’t own your website. Try to leave Squarespace and you’ll discover:
- You can’t export your site’s design
- Content exports are limited
- Custom CSS and code are non-transferable
- Your site’s structure doesn’t translate elsewhere
You’re not building an asset. You’re renting one.
When Squarespace Makes Sense
Despite the drawbacks, Squarespace is genuinely a good choice for:
✅ Simple Portfolio Sites
Photographers, artists, and designers showing work with minimal updates. The templates shine here.
✅ Quick Launch Needed
Need a site in days, not weeks? Squarespace delivers. Just understand the long-term costs.
✅ Zero Technical Interest
If you have no interest in learning anything technical and no budget for a developer, Squarespace handles everything.
✅ Very Small Businesses
One-person operations with simple needs—a few pages, contact form, maybe a blog. Nothing complex.
When to Move On
Consider migrating away from Squarespace if:
Your Business Is Growing
What worked at $20K/year in revenue might not make sense at $200K. As your business grows, the monthly fees and transaction costs become harder to justify.
Performance Matters
If you’re doing any digital marketing—Google Ads, Facebook ads, SEO campaigns—slow page speeds directly hurt your ROI. Visitors bounce before your page loads.
You Need Custom Features
Once you’re adding third-party tools and custom code to work around Squarespace limitations, you’re paying premium prices for a watered-down experience.
E-Commerce Is Serious
Real e-commerce businesses need inventory management, shipping integrations, email automation, and analytics that Squarespace can’t provide. Plus, those transaction fees add up.
You Want to Own Your Site
A custom website is an asset. You can move it anywhere, customize anything, and you’re not paying rent forever.
What Migration Looks Like
Migrating from Squarespace isn’t as scary as it sounds. Here’s what the process typically involves:
- Content extraction – We pull all your text, images, and media
- Design translation – Recreate your look (often improved) in a custom framework
- URL preservation – Set up redirects so you don’t lose SEO value
- New hosting setup – Deploy to fast, affordable hosting
- Training – Learn how to update your new site
The result is a site that’s faster, cheaper to run, more flexible, and truly yours.
The Bottom Line
Squarespace is a great starting point for many small businesses. It’s genuinely easier than building a custom site, and the templates look professional. But it’s a rental, not an ownership model.
As your business matures, the math often stops making sense. Monthly fees compound, limitations frustrate, and you realize you’ve built nothing you actually own.
My recommendation: Use Squarespace if you need something fast and simple. But plan for the day when you’ll want to migrate—and don’t let that migration feel like starting over.
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