Squarespace Review

Best Features of the Squarespace Website Builder

Our team analyzed Squarespace and created this list of its leading features:

• For e-commerce, blogs, portfolios, and more
• 160+ visually appealing templates
• Create your own template with Blueprint AI
• Fluid Engine’s flexible drag-and-drop editor
• No limits on storage and bandwidth
• 14-day trial

Who is it best for? Here’s who it is more likely to benefit.

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Who is Squarespace for?

No Coding

Squarespace is a website builder designed to enable beginners to create professional-looking websites. It caters to those without any coding knowledge or those who don’t want to do any coding.

Creating a site is easy, so you won’t need to hire an expensive web designer. That makes Squarespace a good choice for budget-conscious individuals and small businesses seeking a simple site setup process. However, it is less likely to suit those looking to custom code.

All in One

Squarespace brands itself as an all-in-one solution. That means that not only does the builder simplify website creation, but it also offers what you need to maintain the site, including hosting and domain registration. The convenience is clear.

Personal and Small Business Use

After reviewing its features in detail, our team agrees that Squarespace is better suited to individuals and small businesses than larger organizations. Due to the lack of advanced features and limited customizability, it likely won’t fit the needs of bigger sites or online stores with extensive inventory.

The types of websites that you can create are blogs, e-commerce, simple business sites, online portfolios, and landing pages. That’s a lot of versatility!

Several Types of Websites

It can also meet the needs of a range of industries and purposes. There are templates for web stores, local businesses, portfolios, services, memberships, restaurants, courses, CVs, and more.

Start Selling Quickly

Do you want to set up a web store and sell products or services quickly? If so, Squarespace’s fast site creation process allows you to do so. There’s the ability to sell physical items, digital products, and services, such as subscriptions and online bookings.

Squarespace Review for Ease of Use

Squarespace is designed to be simple for users, even those who have never created a website. You do not need to know how to use HTML, CSS, or any other coding language. That can save you significant time and stress in the website creation process.

Fluid Engine

This builder has a drag-and-drop editor called Fluid Engine. Squarespace introduced this interface for version 7.1 sites, becoming the standard for the platform. Its older sites can upgrade to it. Users can also use the classic editor instead if they prefer.

The new editor is made to surpass the classic editor as an easier, more flexible way to edit your site to create the look you want. For example, Fluid Engine enables you to overlap blocks, while the previous editor only had the option to place blocks alongside one another. You can also duplicate blocks. Another cool feature is quickly resizing blocks by clicking and dragging the borders and corners.

Move content across the page with a simple click and drag of the mouse. That applies to images and text. Change the sizes, fonts, and colors without having to code. That makes website design very easy.

Blueprint AI

You can also use AI to start before customizing the template. That’s where Squarespace Blueprint comes in. It guides you through a short series of multiple-choice questions to create a new website homepage and any other pages you want to create. Creating your own brand with a design style you like is straightforward.

E-Commerce

E-commerce tools are available, which is convenient for those new to selling. Some examples are inventory management, discount codes, and the ability to leave product reviews. There are flexible shipping options, and the tax tools are simple.

If you’re feeling short on inspiration, try Squarespace’s AI copywriting generator to help write your product or service description. The tool can make launching a new shop even faster and easier.

Squarespace Website Builder Review: How Customizable Is It?

Choose from pre-made templates or create your own. Here is more on both customization options.

Templates Designed for You

This builder offers over 160 professionally designed templates featuring large images and attractive fonts. They are easy to customize and include templates for numerous industries and hobbies, from photography to music, real estate, and marketing.

Pre-made templates are available to cater to your website’s purpose, whether publishing a blog, selling products or services, showcasing your work, or something else. Upon signing up, you can browse the template library to find one that fits what you’re looking for, which you can then edit to the appearance and functionality you desire.

Create a New Template

Alternatively, you can also build your own template with Squarespace’s Blueprint AI. This feature isn’t something that every popular website builder offers, so we appreciate that.

Simply follow the prompts, answering questions presented to you. The first one is, what is the name of your website?

From there, you are given multiple-choice questions for each part of the page, selecting different design styles. Once you design the homepage, move on to other pages you want to create, such as the about page and shop.

Customizing Shops

When it comes to customizing an online shop, small shops will likely enjoy customizing pages of products. However, larger shops with over 100 items may find limitations dissatisfying. For example, there are fewer third-party plugins available to integrate than some other e-commerce website builders. Also, while dropshipping features are available, they are basic, and support for adding custom code is lacking. There are limited options for payment processors, too.

Thus, Squarespace is more likely to suit a beginning online store than a larger, more established one. It can also fit the needs of freelancers, hobbyists, bloggers seeking a simple design, and small businesses wanting to start selling products or services immediately.

Third-Party Plugins

Of the third-party plugins available, one that stands out is MailChimp, so you can create an email newsletter. While Squarespace has fewer integrations than some other popular website builders we’ve reviewed, the options will suit the needs of many personal blogs, portfolio sites, and small online stores.

Squarespace Review for Affordability

Squarespace’s plans are in the mid-price range for the website builder niche. There are choices for personal and commerce, depending on your needs and preferences.

There is no free forever option, unfortunately. However, Squarespace does offer a 14-day trial. The trial allows you to try out the platform to see if it meets your needs. If you do not purchase a plan by the end of the trial, you won’t have access to your site.

Each plan has unlimited bandwidth and storage, which is terrific. There are no limits to worry about or expensive upgrades to add storage. A free domain name and SSL certificate also come with each annual plan. The SSL certificate is a great security feature, enabling your site to be HTTPS rather than HTTP for an encrypted connection. That can boost trustworthiness with visitors and help keep your data safer.

These features add great value to each plan. Plus, you can scale up and switch to a different Squarespace plan at any time through your dashboard.

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What Else to Know About

Customer Support

Squarespace customer support is available through live chat, email, and social media 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Having more than one way to contact a service agent is handy. While there is no phone support, we hope that is available soon.

Online reviews for Squarespace customer support are mixed. Some users describe positive experiences, while others are dissatisfied with the support received.

There is a support center available with guides and videos to help you. You can also register to watch webinars available on-demand or on specific dates. Topics include site editing and building your own template. The webcasts are designed to help beginners become more comfortable with Squarespace and better understand the features available to make the most of them.

SEO

Strong SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is important to help your website rank well in popular search engines so your target audience can find you. Squarespace’s built-in SEO tools can help, especially for beginners. For example, the builder can automatically generate a site map and structured data.

However, you’re limited in controlling website speed as there’s no option to alter the website code. Thus, you might experience a slower site if you have a more extensive shop. As loading speed is an SEO ranking factor, your big store might not rank as strongly in some search engines as you’d like. The impact will be less for simple business sites, small shops, and personal blogs.

Multilingual

Squarespace enables you to create a website in different languages using Weglot. It automatically translates content, such as posts, pages, and e-commerce products. However, if you do not want to use this plugin, you have to manually translate the content yourself, as Squarespace does not support different languages. Still, the manual option is available, or you can integrate the Weglot plugin. The multilingual option is great for selling globally, boosting SEO in other countries, and other benefits.

Uptime

Squarespace is known for serving some high-traffic sites. While the company explains on its website that it cannot guarantee 100% uptime, it does explain that its own site has successfully handled large traffic spikes.

Review Conclusions for the Squarespace Website Builder

Squarespace is designed for beginners who want to build a simple shop or site, such as a blog or online portfolio, that looks professional without the headache and takes less time. However, due to its basic interface, Squarespace lacks the advanced features that large stores might seek.

With a two-week trial, Squarespace gives you ample opportunity to try out the builder to see if it’s a good fit. The paid plans are high value, including hosting, domain name, and unlimited storage and bandwidth.

Plus, the Fluid Engine editor is easy to use with its drag-and-drop design. The templates look beautiful, or you can use AI to create one quickly. After an in-depth review, our team agrees that the Squarespace’s many positive points make it a website builder that we endorse for individuals and small businesses.

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