Squarespace Review 2023 Does It Live Up to the Hype?

While Squarespace is fairly easy to use (see our Squarespace tutorial), it’s still not the most intuitive tool. The user interface is minimalistic, which is nice, but its usability could be improved. For example, I had the feeling that the editor was slowing me down by prompting me to save changes all the time. Compared to other site builders like Weebly it will probably take you a bit longer to fully understand everything.

Templates are their greatest strength. There are close to 150 to choose from, and designs look both artistic and modern.

Unfortunately, with the 7.1 update it’s not possible anymore to switch from one template to a completely different one, however its layouts are now more flexible, meaning it’s fairly easy to change up the design if needed.

All templates are fully responsive and some of them also have special features for mobile devices. Pros can control the HTML/CSS in the “Business” Plan (via the Developer Platform).

All plans are ad-free.

The editor supports any language. There are 6 interface languages (EN, ES, FR, DE, IT and PT).

Translations can be enabled through an integration with Weglot. This allows you to add a language switcher to your site header, and display automatic or manual translations (you can see how it works here). It’s very easy to set up, but depending on how many words you need to translate, you may need a paid Weglot plan. There are also a few potential SEO issues (see our SEO section below).

Yearly and bi-yearly subscriptions include a domain name for 1 year, after that prices start at $20 annually (depending on the ending). Domain registrars like Namecheap offer much better deals. Existing domains can be also pointed to Squarespace websites. They offer email addresses via Google Workspace, which cost $6/month for each account. More information.

Only one level below the main navigation. You can set it up using ‘Folders’ (as they call it), which, frankly, is more complicated than it needs to be. Some templates feature a secondary navigation underneath the main navigation.

There are a number of apps in the Squarespace Extensions marketplace. The ones currently available are mostly ecommerce and accounting-related. For users of the Business plan (and above) there are also other add-ons, which can be accessed through the web editor: pop-ups and an announcement bar, photo galleries, appointment scheduling, social media widgets, tools for restaurants and much more.

Squarespace offers quite a simplistic app, but you can edit all your pages directly from your smartphone or tablet. It also lets you manage your inventory and view statistics. To use it, you’ll need Squarespace version 7.0 or higher.

Included in Business and above. You can easily integrate a shopping cart into your website or blog. It features customer logins and lets you sell not only physical products, but also digital downloads, subscriptions, services and classes. There are also integrations with Instagram, Amazon, Etsy and more. Read more in our detailed e-commerce review.

Squarespace’s SEO options are solid, you can customize aspects like the title tags, meta-description and URLs (for any page). Adding alt text for images is possible but it can be a bit tedious. 301 redirects are also possible. More information.

Note: if you’re setting up a multilingual site, you can separate languages using subdomains, but not subfolders. This may not be optimal from an SEO perspective. However, the alternative (not using a subdomain) will simply display translations without using separate URLs for each language, which definitely has no SEO benefit.

Can be a real alternative to a WordPress blog as it has the usual blogging features (commenting, multi-authors) as well as geolocation tags, AMP support and the option to schedule posts. If you already have a blog on WordPress, Blogger or even Shopify, you can also import it. A really special feature is podcast hosting, complete with RSS feed and iTunes syndication.

The only real drawback is that the Fluid Engine editing system isn’t available for blog posts, meaning you get less control over the layout and design of blog pages. Here’s a more detailed review of the blogging tool.

The inbuilt visitor analytics tool is comprehensive, with key stats around visitors and sales. Advanced reports include purchase funnels, search keywords and visitor activity logs. You can check your stats also with the Squarespace Mobile app. For more details, you can set up Google Analytics.

Fully customizable contact form builder with lots of field options.

Squarespace’s Member Areas allows you to add premium, members-only content to your site, such as classes, workshops, podcasts and more. It also integrates directly with Squarespace’s email marketing service. Member Areas starts at $9/month.

Squarespace Email Marketing offers a newsletter service that can be integrated with your website and store. You’ll also be able to connect Mailchimp.

Enables other widgets and tools to be added. Using the Developer Platform (Business tier and above) you can also edit the source code of your template.

No bandwidth and storage limit.

Squarespace does not provide a backup feature other than export of product and blog data. Disappointing as other site builders like Wix and Webnode offer pretty advanced backup solutions.

24/7 ticket system and live chat. The knowledge base is comprehensive. Personal support is also great and scored well in our extensive support tests (they were a bit slow to answer emails from time to time).

Figuring out how the system works can take a while in the beginning but it’s well worth it.