9 Alternatives for Squarespace That Fit Every Budget, Skill Level, And Site Goal
You loved Squarespace at first. The clean templates, drag and drop builder, no-code promise felt perfect when you launched your first site. But somewhere along the way, it stopped fitting. Maybe your transaction fees started eating into profit. Maybe you outgrew the limited customisation. Or maybe you just realised you’re paying for 12 features you never touch. That’s why so many site owners are researching 9 Alternatives for Squarespace right now—you don’t have to settle for a platform that worked for past you.
This isn’t just a random list of website builders. Every option on this list was tested for real use cases: small shops, bloggers, freelance portfolios, nonprofits and service businesses. We broke down pricing, pros, cons, and exactly who each platform is for. By the end, you won’t just have names—you’ll know exactly which one to move to next.
1. WordPress.org: The Most Flexible Full Control Alternative
If you’ve ever complained that Squarespace won’t let you tweak that one tiny thing on your page, WordPress.org is the answer. This open source platform powers 43% of all websites on the internet, and for good reason. You own every single part of your site, no one can lock you out, and you can build literally anything you can imagine. Unlike Squarespace, you will need to arrange your own hosting, but this is a fair trade for almost unlimited freedom.
Before you jump in, understand the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. The first is self hosted, fully yours. The second is a hosted builder much more like Squarespace. Most people looking to leave Squarespace want the self hosted version. You can start for as little as $3 per month for basic hosting, and scale all the way up to enterprise grade sites that handle millions of visitors.
This platform works best for:
- Bloggers and content creators who need full SEO control
- Ecommerce stores that want custom checkout flows
- Businesses that plan to scale over 5+ years
- Anyone who wants to add custom features later
The biggest downside is the learning curve. You won’t get 24/7 phone support from one company, and you will have to manage updates and backups. For many people this is worth it, but if you don’t want any technical work at all, this might not be your pick. That said, modern page builders like Elementor have made drag and drop editing just as easy as Squarespace for most users.
2. Shopify: Best Squarespace Alternative For Product Stores
Squarespace Commerce works fine when you have 10 products. Once you hit 50, 100, or 1000 products? It starts to break. Shopify is built exclusively for ecommerce, and it handles inventory, checkout, shipping and payments better than almost any other platform on the market. 1 in 3 online stores in the United States run on Shopify, and that number grows every year.
Unlike Squarespace which charges between 2% and 3% transaction fees on all plans, Shopify’s lowest plan only charges 0.5% per transaction. That might sound like a small difference, but for a store making $10,000 per month that’s $250 extra in your pocket every single month. Over a year that adds up to $3000 you would have just handed over to Squarespace for no extra benefit.
| Feature | Shopify Basic | Squarespace Business |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | $39 | $36 |
| Transaction Fee | 0.5% | 2% |
| Product Limit | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Shipping Labels | Included | $10 Extra Per Month |
At almost identical monthly cost, Shopify puts far more money back into your business. The only real downside of Shopify is that it’s not great for content heavy sites. If you run a blog that also sells a couple products, Shopify will feel clunky. But if 80% or more of your site exists to sell physical or digital products? This is the best replacement you can pick. You can import all your existing Squarespace products in less than 15 minutes with their official migration tool.
3. Wix: Best No Fuss Direct Squarespace Replacement
If you like exactly how Squarespace works, you just hate the price or the customer service? Wix is the closest match you will find. It has the same drag and drop builder, pre made professional templates, and all in one hosting and support. Most people can switch from Squarespace to Wix and feel right at home within an hour.
Wix currently has over 200 million users worldwide, and they add new features every single month. Unlike Squarespace which rarely adds requested user features, Wix actively takes feedback and rolls out updates regularly. Pricing starts at $16 per month for a basic site, and ecommerce plans start at $27 per month.
Common reasons people pick Wix over Squarespace:
- Much faster 24/7 support response times
- Lower transaction fees for online stores
- Hundreds more template options for every niche
- Ability to edit every single element on every page
The biggest complaint about Wix is that you can’t easily switch templates later. Once you pick a template you are mostly stuck with it, so choose carefully. That said, this is the exact same limitation Squarespace has. If you want a like for like replacement that works the way you already know, this is the safest pick on this list.
4. Webflow: Best Squarespace Alternative For Custom Design
Designers got tired of fighting Squarespace’s rigid templates, so they built Webflow. This platform lets you build completely custom, professional websites without writing a single line of code. You get the same visual drag and drop experience, but you control every single pixel, spacing and animation on your page.
This is not a platform for someone who just wants to pick a template and go. Webflow has a steeper learning curve, but the payoff is huge. You can build sites that look exactly like what you see on award winning design galleries, without hiring a developer. Agencies and freelance designers love this platform more than any other right now.
Core advantages over Squarespace:
- Build custom animations and scroll interactions
- Export clean production ready code at any time
- Host your site anywhere or use Webflow hosting
- No lock in contracts, cancel any time
Webflow is absolutely overkill for a simple blog or single page portfolio. You will waste hours learning tools you will never need. But if you care about how your site looks, and you hate the generic look that all Squarespace sites have? This will change how you build websites. Most people who try Webflow never go back to standard drag and drop builders.
5. Ghost: Best Alternative For Professional Bloggers
Squarespace started as a blogging platform, but it has completely abandoned bloggers over the last 5 years. If your main focus is writing, publishing and growing an audience, Ghost is the best replacement you can find. It is built exclusively for content creators, with zero bloat for features you will never use.
Ghost loads 3x faster than the average Squarespace blog, which directly improves your search rankings and reader retention. It also has built in native memberships, newsletters and paid subscriptions, all with zero extra transaction fees. You can run an entire paid newsletter business on Ghost without paying for any extra tools.
For reference, here is how they compare for content creators:
| Feature | Ghost Creator | Squarespace Personal |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | $25 | $23 |
| Newsletter Subscribers | Unlimited | 1000 Limit |
| Membership Fees | 0% | 3% |
| Native SEO Tools | Full | Limited |
The only catch is that Ghost has extremely limited ecommerce functionality. You can sell digital products, but you cannot run a full physical product store here. If 90% of what you do is write, this is the best platform on this list. Almost every major independent blogger has moved from Squarespace or WordPress to Ghost in the last 3 years.
6. Big Cartel: Best For Small Creative Makers
If you are an artist, crafter or small maker with less than 500 products, Big Cartel was built exactly for you. Unlike Squarespace which treats every store the same, Big Cartel understands small creative businesses. They keep fees low, keep the interface simple, and don’t push unnecessary enterprise features on people just starting out.
You can actually run a 5 product store completely free on Big Cartel forever. No trials, no credit card required. For 50 products you pay $9.99 per month, and for 500 products you pay $19.99 per month. There are zero transaction fees on every plan. This makes it by far the cheapest option for new small businesses.
People love Big Cartel because:
- No hidden fees or surprise price hikes
- Templates designed specifically for art and handmade goods
- Simple inventory tracking for small batches
- Built in integration with Etsy and Instagram
Big Cartel will not work for you if you want to scale past 500 products, or if you need advanced shipping or discount rules. It is intentionally simple, and that is its greatest strength. For makers who got overwhelmed by Squarespace’s overcomplicated commerce tools, this will feel like taking a deep breath.
7. Carrd: Best For Simple Single Page Sites
Most people don’t need an 8 page website with a blog, shop and calendar. Most people just need one clean page that says who they are, what they do, and how to get in touch. If that describes you, Carrd is infinitely better value than Squarespace.
You can build a fully responsive professional single page site in 10 minutes with Carrd. There are no confusing menus, no hidden settings, no extra features you will never open. A fully custom domain site with no branding costs $9 per year. That is not a typo—it costs less per year than Squarespace costs per month.
Carrd is perfect for:
- Freelance portfolios
- Link in bio pages for social media
- Coming soon pages for new projects
- Simple contact pages for small businesses
Obviously you cannot build a full store or large blog here. But if you were paying Squarespace $23 per month just for a single page that never changes? You are throwing away money. Switching to Carrd will save you over $250 per year, and your site will load faster and look cleaner.
8. HubSpot CMS: Best For Service Businesses
If you run a service business that relies on leads, Squarespace will always hold you back. HubSpot CMS is built from the ground up for businesses that want to turn website visitors into paying clients. It combines website building, CRM, email marketing and lead tracking all in one place.
The biggest difference is that every part of your site is connected to your customer data. You can see exactly which pages a lead visited before they contacted you, send personalised follow up emails, and track conversion rates for every single form. None of this works natively on Squarespace.
Starter plans start at $23 per month, which is almost identical to Squarespace’s basic business plan. You get:
- Unlimited contact storage
- Native form builders and lead capture
- Free live chat tool
- Built in analytics and conversion tracking
HubSpot CMS has a fairly steep learning curve, and it is overkill for personal sites or hobby projects. But if you are running a real business that cares about leads? This will make you more money than any other platform on this list. Most service businesses see a 20% or higher increase in leads within 3 months of switching from Squarespace.
9. Framer: Best Modern Interactive Site Builder
Framer is the newest platform on this list, and it is the fastest growing alternative to Squarespace right now. It combines the simplicity of drag and drop building with the power of modern web design tools, all while being far more intuitive than Webflow.
What makes Framer stand out is how easy it is to add interactive elements. You can add animated counters, hover effects, embedded tools and dynamic content with one click. Sites built in Framer load faster than Squarespace sites, look far more modern, and take half the time to build.
Pricing starts at $12 per month for personal sites, and $24 per month for business sites. You get:
| Feature | Framer Pro | Squarespace Business |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | $24 | $36 |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | 100GB Limit |
| Team Members | 3 Included | 2 Extra Cost |
Framer is still new, so it doesn’t have native ecommerce support yet. It is also missing some advanced blogging features. But for portfolios, agency sites, landing pages and startup websites? It is already better than Squarespace in almost every way. If you like trying new tools that are actually improving every month, this is worth testing.
At the end of the day, there is no perfect website builder—there is only the perfect one for you. The 9 alternatives for Squarespace we covered all solve different problems, and none of them will work for everyone. If you want control go with WordPress, if you sell products go with Shopify, if you want super simple design go with Carrd, if you want custom animation go with Framer. Don’t pick the one with the fanciest marketing. Pick the one that matches what you actually need right now, and what you will need two years from now.
Don’t rush this decision, but also don’t stay stuck on Squarespace just because switching feels scary. Most platforms offer free 14 day trials, and you can test out building one page before you commit to moving everything. Take one afternoon this week, sign up for the two options that stood out most to you, and build a test page. You will know within 10 minutes if it feels like the right fit. And when you make the switch, you will wonder why you waited so long.