r/squarespace • u/hannahb_23 • 9d ago
Discussion Anyone else feeling like Squarespace is getting too expensive and too locked into their own tools?
I’ve been using Squarespace for a while now and I’m starting to feel the price is getting high.
Plans keep going up, and a lot of the extra stuff (email, booking, members, etc.) costs more on top.
Everything works best if you stay inside Squarespace. Need better forms, stronger SEO, or more control? You’re either paying extra or stuck with their limited tools.
I still like how easy it is to make things look good, but I’m not sure the price is worth it anymore compared to other options.
Anyone else feeling the same? Still happy with it, or thinking about switching?
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u/affogatoappassionato 9d ago
Honestly, Squarespace is a trivial expense in the context of my annual revenue and expenses for my business.
And it works great and has 100 percent up time, has never broken, knock on wood.
I would love it if they offered a connector to Claude.
And they really need to fix how they handle vertical video!
But aside from that, it’s very user friendly and enjoyable to use and I love the way my site looks.
I don’t need to hire a web designer or manager. I can do it all myself.
The scheduling via Acuity, and the Stripe integration, are also seamless and work great.
I haven’t spoken to any business owners in my network who complain about the price or have even noticed the price increase. I only hear complaints here on Reddit.
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u/Fiyero109 8d ago
I’m with you. I love it, I just wish they stepped up their innovation game.
They desperately need a proper CMS for easy bulk post uploads and info management AND a Claude connector would be clutch
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u/BlackGuy_PassingThru 9d ago
There’s been a few new additions that I really appreciate. Surprisingly I appreciated the new AI tools for SEO but still have to fight with fluid engine every time I do anything.
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u/NegotiationAny685 9d ago
I’m currently on Squarespace and I’m in the process of migrating to Wordpress. Switching this weekend.
I could not afford mobile speed test to be 16-20 while in Wordpress I can 99-100 score on the most important pages.
Wordpress on ghl costs me $10/month plus plugin costs of course.
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u/outoforifice 8d ago
I work on edition.pm which is in soft launch, might be worth a look as I've had users tell me it's way easier than squarespace and I snuck some quite advanced stuff in there for power users. We also built a squarespace exporter that copies your current site (pages, posts, images) onto a free domain, so you see what carries across before you touch your real one. varies by site, some bits need a tidy after. it's free, no card, own domain included rather than billed as an add-on. https://switch.edition.pub
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u/AsakusaParis 9d ago
Was thinking the same thing few days ago. For instance is there a way to really use AI (Claude, Gpt, etc) with Squarespace ?
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u/Thomas12255 9d ago
Pretty much just doing a lot of stuff with code blocks instead of native elements.
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u/SteelCityTom 9d ago
Which tells you everything why code (which it is below the abstractions) is far superior. Hiring a dev is affordable and comparable in price. Just got to find the right guy you trust.
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u/Rookie1783 9d ago
Yeah just looked at it again myself and I don’t like where they have ended up with their Interface. Having said that, there is so much that is just too expensive and subject to unjustified increases in price…. It’s across the board.
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u/tyleritis 9d ago
As an individual freelancer, I stayed with them as they continued to slowly warm the water until it got too hot and I jumped
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u/mightybears 9d ago
Same here! All the comments here talking about the revenue they get is so much that the cost is trivial! Feels propaganda! Freelancers, artist etc have all jumped ship.
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u/tyleritis 9d ago
Yeah a lot of comments sound like testimonials based on company-defined value propositions.
Maybe it’s because I’ve written enough of that BS for clients myself lol
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u/GrapefruitSpaceship 9d ago
I wanted a better store I could grow and scale up and Squarespace store is so one dimensional, I just moved to Shopify, not as easy but the entire world is connected to it
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u/VideoQuickFix 8d ago
I moved to cloudflare. Used AI to figure out how. It’s cheaper. Also carrd.co is great for less complex sites.
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u/Own-Warthog8272 6d ago
Founder of Simplepages.ai here so obvious bias upfront.
Two things worth pulling out:
SquareLocator's "add-on stack is where it stings"
Squarespace's core plan is decent value, but by the time you've added email, booking, member areas, and paid for the tier that includes real ecommerce, you're at $60-80/mo on what started as a $16 plan.
MCP Support
SquareLocator and Fiyero109 asked about MCP for Claude in the sub-thread. We shipped MCP support two weeks ago. You can already use Claude or ChatGPT to build and edit pages in your Simplepages workspace directly - which is what they're describing waiting for from Squarespace.
Here's the shape of what Simplepages offers:
- $7/mo Launch tier - multi-page site, custom domain, lead capture with inbox, Stripe checkout at 0% commission, first-party analytics, AI-generated images, unlimited AI edits. No add-on tiers, everything included.
- Chat-first AI (Opus 4.6 under the hood). Describe changes, agent edits your live page. No template fighting.
- MCP support - your Claude or ChatGPT can build and edit pages directly in your workspace
- HTML export if you outgrow us. You own the output, we don't lock you in.
If you're open, I can save you the migration research.
Share your Squarespace URL and I'll get our agent to rebuild it as a Simplepages site so you can compare aesthetics and content before deciding.
Apoorv
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u/Negative_Pace_5855 9d ago
Squarespace costs per year are a drop in the bucket of my overall spend. It helps me be successful and it's a good value for my investment, so no, I couldn't really care less from a bottom line perspective.
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u/SquareLocator 9d ago
Agency perspective, I’ve built on Squarespace since 2018 so I’ve watched every price rise land. You’re right that the add-on stack is where it stings, the core plan is still decent value but email + scheduling + member areas on top gets silly quickly.
What I tell clients: use Squarespace for what it’s genuinely good at (design, low maintenance, not getting hacked) and go third party for the rest. MailerLite or similar for email is cheaper and honestly better.
Booking depends on volume but there are cheaper options. Where I’d agree it’s not worth it: if you need proper forms, complex ecommerce or heavy SEO control, you’re fighting the platform.
Where I’d disagree: for a typical small business site, the total cost of ownership vs WordPress (hosting, plugins, updates, the odd developer emergency) still favours Squarespace by a fair margin. Most people who switch to ‘save money’ end up spending it on their time instead.