How much does Squarespace cost?
Squarespace has four plans. With yearly billing they cost €12 to €69 a month plus VAT, or $14 to $80 in the…
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Is Squarespace free?
No. Squarespace has no free plan. Each new site starts with a 14-day free trial, and you don't need a credit card for it. During the trial you can build the whole site. But visitors only get in with a password, and nobody can buy anything. When the 14 days are over, the site goes offline until you pay. The cheapest plan, Basic, costs €12 a month with yearly billing or €17 with monthly billing, plus VAT. In the US it costs $14 or $20 a month.
For my Squarespace review, I built a website with a small shop for a made-up pottery studio during the trial. I didn't pay anything and never entered a card. The trial ended on October 25. Now the site only shows visitors a page that says "Website Expired".
I built the site on October 11 and 12, 2026. On November 3, 2026, I opened the expired site again and checked the prices.
What the free trial gives you
Squarespace's pricing page says the same in its FAQ.
To start the trial, I picked a template and created an account. Squarespace asked for no card and no phone number. The site was ready in under twenty seconds, and a bar at the bottom of the dashboard counted down the 14 days.
According to Squarespace's help center, you can use nearly all features during the trial. I set up the whole pottery site in it, with a small shop and a contact form. Each step is in my review.
You can start as many trial sites as you want, and each one gets its own 14 days. If two weeks aren't enough, Squarespace offers a one-time extension of seven days. The link for it comes by email after the trial has expired, according to the help center page on extending a trial.
What the trial can't do
The site stays private. In the site settings, Public is greyed out under a button that says "Upgrade to publish". You can only keep the site private or lock it with a password. Search engines don't index trial sites. When I opened my site in a fresh browser window, I first saw a lock and a password field.
Nobody can buy anything. My checkout opened with the message "Checkout is closed. This store isn't set up to process payments."
Form messages don't reach your inbox. The form settings said "Email notifications are disabled during trial", and the messages only showed up in Squarespace's contact list.
A domain of your own doesn't change any of this. You can register or connect one during the trial, but according to the help center that doesn't publish the site.
What happens when the trial ends
My trial ended on October 25. When I opened my account on November 3, the dashboard listed the site with "Website trial expired on Oct 25, 2026". The site itself was still there. Inside, a bar at the bottom said "Your trial has expired. Subscribe to continue editing your site." Edit site had a lock on it and only showed "Your website has expired. To access your site, subscribe to a website plan."
Visitors no longer get the password page. The site's address now shows "Website Expired" with a login button for the owner.
You can still subscribe after the trial has ended. Squarespace's help center says that you can then edit the site as you left it, but only "depending on how much time passes after expiration". It also says that the content of an expired trial site is "marked for permanent deletion". It gives no time limit.
The Subscribe button opened the plan list. Its prices were the same as on the public pricing page.
What you pay after the trial
I checked Squarespace's pricing page from Germany on November 3. It showed the prices in euros with 19% VAT included. The US prices are in dollars before sales tax.
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | In the US | Fee on shop sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | €12a month, €14.28 with VAT | €17a month, €20.23 with VAT | $14a month yearly, $20 monthly | 2% |
| Core | €18a month, €21.42 with VAT | €24a month, €28.56 with VAT | $21a month yearly, $28 monthly | None |
| Plus | €32a month, €38.08 with VAT | €42a month, €49.98 with VAT | $37a month yearly, $49 monthly | None |
| Advanced | €69a month, €82.11 with VAT | €79a month, €94.01 with VAT | $80a month yearly, $92 monthly | None |
Basic is enough for a simple site. If you sell, Basic takes 2% of each shop sale. Core costs €6 a month more with yearly billing but takes nothing, so it is the cheaper plan once your shop sells more than €300 a month. Card fees for Squarespace Payments come on top on all plans.
Yearly plans include a domain for free in the first year. With monthly billing, the pricing page crosses that line out.
Can you get Squarespace cheaper?
Yearly billing makes Basic €5 a month cheaper than monthly billing. The FAQ on the pricing page also mentions a discount for students through Squarespace's student program, which I didn't check. Designers who build sites for clients can join Squarespace Circle, whose members get longer trials.
Is the trial enough?
Two weeks are enough to build a small site and to find out if you like the editor. I built mine in two days. But the site stays private until you pay, and it can't sell anything. If you decide on Squarespace, subscribe before the trial runs out or soon after it.
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