Square vs Squarespace 2026: Costs, Templates, and More

Here are the main differences between Square and Squarespace:

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Best for Beginners	Best for Small Budgets
Squarespace	Square Online
Overall Rating 4.5	Overall Rating 2.9
Today's best price $16 $14.40 with code “WBE10”	Today's best price ($0 on Square Free) $49
Free plan or free trial 14-day free trial	Free plan or free trial Free plan
AI website builder	AI website builder
Recommended for Creatives, portfolios and service-based businesses	Recommended for Businesses on a budget
Start Free Trial	Try Square
See our Squarespace Review	See our Square Review

Despite updating its pricing plans in February this year, Squarespace remains reasonably priced for website owners and businesses. With plans starting from $16 per month, Squarespace is better value for money than Square.

How Much Does Squarespace Cost?

• Squarespace’s pricing ranges from $16 to $99 per month (billed annually)
• There are four premium plans
• You can sell online with any Squarespace plan
• Test out the builder with the 14-day free trial
• Get 10% off with our code “WBE10”

How Much Does Square Cost?

• Square’s pricing ranges from $49 to $149 per month (billed annually)
• There are two premium plans
• Square has a free plan which lets you sell unlimited products 

The Winner

Squarespace’s plans are great value for money

With Squarespace, you have four strong ecommerce plans to choose from, offering essential features like unlimited items, various shipping options and payment types, and in-person selling via its POS.

Try Squarespace

I spent hours building a website with both Square and Squarespace to see what the onboarding and editing process is like. Based on my hands-on testing and our rigorous research process, Squarespace is the easiest website builder to use. Here are my thoughts:

Setting Up

Squarespace is ideal for beginners thanks to its AI website builder, known as Blueprint AI. The onboarding process directs you to use it (though you can pick from pre-designed templates instead if you want to) and the five-step process takes less then 10 minutes to complete. You’ll be asked to set your brand personality, decide on a color scheme and font type, and be given recommendations when designing your pages.

Play

When I got started with Square, I found the onboarding process really quick and simple, though it lacks an AI builder. All I had to do was answer a few questions about my business needs before I was taken to a dashboard which detailed my next steps.

My thoughts on AI website builders...

If the platform you’re interested in doesn’t offer an AI website builder in 2026, I’d consider that a red flag. Most major builders, including Squarespace, provide AI assistance when it comes to setting up and designing your website from scratch. This is ideal for beginners, since you don’t need any coding experience or need to spend hours learning the ropes to create something stylish. And, Squarespace’s Blueprint AI offers a collaborative process – you get a lot of say over design choices. The fact that Square has no AI builder and limited themes makes the whole set up process a lot more difficult.

Emma Ryan Lead Writer

Editing Your Website

Of the two, Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor is more intuitive. With this style of editor, you can reorder, drag, and manipulate elements, such as a gallery or newsletter sign-up form. Watch out for Squarespace’s grid framework, though. This helps you align blocks easily, which is great for beginners, but you won’t be able to drop an element anywhere.

With Square, you’ll be asked to select a theme first before you can start editing your site. Unfortunately, Square’s editor is more restrictive than Squarespace. You can stack sections on top of one another to build your page, but the majority of editing is done in a sidebar rather than directly on the site. It’s much harder to move elements around, such as text boxes and images.

The Winner

Squarespace's setup process is beginner-friendly

Since Squarespace is the easiest website builder on the market, there’s no surprise that it’s the winner here thanks to its AI builder, intuitive interface, and drag-and-drop editor.

Try Squarespace

If you’re looking for an ecommerce website builder, both Square and Squarespace offer impressive plans and features to help you sell online. While Squarespace is a better option overall, Square’s sales tools are slightly superior.

The Winner

Square's features cater to online and in-person businesses

Both builders provide the features and support you’ll need as an online business, but Square’s tools are slightly more impressive. And, if you’re looking to hybrid sell (online and in-person), then Square has the best equipment.

Try Square

Square’s target audience is businesses looking to sell products, so its standard website functionality falls short in comparison to Squarespace. Your website builder should provide the tools you need to boost your site’s visibility, reach out to loyal customers, and share important updates. Here’s what you can expect from both builders:

• SEO tools
• A free custom domain name for the first year (on any premium plan)
• Social media integration (primarily Facebook and Instagram)
• Email marketing tools
• Blogging capabilities

Author's notes...

With regular Google algorithm updates and the changes being made to the search landscape (such as Google’s AI Mode), it’s more important than ever that you understand the SEO basics. If you don’t have a good understanding of how to optimize your site and its content, you risk falling behind the competition and missing out on prime positions in the SERPs. While you shouldn’t rely solely on organic traffic from Google, the search engine remains a dominant force that most of your visitors and customers use day-to-day.

Emma Ryan Lead Writer

The Winner

Squarespace has better built-in features

Whether you need to link your website to your socials or send out weekly email campaigns, Squarespace has the features you need. Plus, Squarespace caters to a wider range of industries with its built-in tools.

Try Squarespace

Squarespace is one of the best AI website builders I’ve tested, whereas Square doesn’t even make our final list because of its limited number of AI tools. I’ve listed their key AI features below:

The Winner

Squarespace has a range of AI tools

Squarespace has a larger suite of AI tools and offers an AI website builder, which is really handy for beginners and businesses short on time. In comparison, Square’s AI offering is limited and its lack of AI builder puts it far behind other major builders on the market.

Try Squarespace

Squarespace’s designs and templates are unmatched. As of July 2025, Squarespace has 187 free and professional templates to choose from. Given my experience with other popular builders, such as Wix and Shopify, Squarespace’s templates are my favorite by far. They’re sleek, modern, and high-quality, plus I could filter the library by industry type to help me find the perfect fit.

In comparison, Square’s templates are known as “themes” and you can only access customizable themes on the Square Plus or Square Premium plan. The free plan sticks you with a standard blank template and limits your design options – I could choose from five layouts. And, unfortunately, there are only 29 customizable themes to choose from once you upgrade.

The Winner

Squarespace has over 200 free templates

Boasting an extensive template library, its own AI-powered template generator, and a multitude of design tools, Squarespace will leave you with a sleek online store that appeals to your customers.

Try Squarespace

Following our recent round of testing, Squarespace has the best customer support. Both builders provide 24/7 email, live chat (available during the weekdays), and online resources, such as guides and tutorials.

However, Square goes the extra mile with additional phone support as well. So, why isn’t it my winner here? I noticed it was particularly hard to get a clear answer or instructions when using the Square Support Center, whereas I had no trouble getting the right advice when using Squarespace’s Help Center. Plus, Squarespace’s live chat is more responsive.

The Winner

Squarespace offers 24/7 customer support

While Squarespace has fewer contact options than Square, the customer support is does offer is more responsive and better quality.

Try Squarespace

How do we determine which builder comes out on top? Our verdict is based on over 300 hours of website builder research, hands-on testing, and analysis. We carry out this research process regularly to maintain the accuracy of our findings, assessing each builder across six core categories.

Plus, I’ve spent time building websites with both builders in order to share valuable and relevant tips with you.

Of the two platforms, Squarespace is the better choice overall. Not only is it one of the highest-rated builders we’ve tested this year, sitting just behind Wix in our top rankings, but Squarespace offers affordable plans, stunning templates, powerful sales features, and a beginner-friendly editor.

On the other hand, Square is a good option to explore if you’re looking to sell products online (or in-person) but don’t want to spend much money. If you’re still unsure, you can read our in-depth Squarespace review and Square review to help you make the right decision for you.