Squarespace pricing: plans, renewals and real website costs

Three plans, no free tier, and a big gap between annual and monthly billing. Here is what each plan costs and what the fees add.

We.Inc is free to start, no credit card. AI building from $20/mo.

The short answer

How much is Squarespace? $12 a month for Basic, $17 for Core or $25 for Advanced when you pay for a year up front, or $19, $27 and $36 month to month, as shown on squarespace.com/pricing on October 28, 2026. There is no free plan, only a 14-day free trial, and Basic adds a 2% fee on store sales.

Basic charges a 2% fee on store sales; Core and Advanced charge no Squarespace fee on physical product sales. Card processing fees from the payment provider are extra on every plan.

We re-checked these Squarespace prices on squarespace.com/pricing on October 24, 2026 and they were unchanged. In yearly terms, the Squarespace cost is $144 (Basic), $204 (Core) or $300 (Advanced) a year billed annually.

Squarespace plans at a glance

	Basic	Core	Advanced
Billed annually	$12/mo	$17/mo	$25/mo
Billed monthly	$19/mo	$27/mo	$36/mo
Fee on store sales	2%	0%	0%
Fee on digital content and memberships	7%	5%	0%
Contributors	Up to 2	Unlimited	Unlimited
Video storage	30 minutes	5 hours	Unlimited
AI credits	10, one time	20 a month	120 a month

Prices checked September 2026 (September 25) on each vendor's own pricing page, in US dollars. Vendors change prices often, so confirm on their page before you buy.

Pros and cons

Squarespace

Best for: Design-led sites for creatives, restaurants and small stores

Price: Basic $12, Core $17, Advanced $25 a month billed annually ($19, $27, $36 month to month). No free plan; 14-day free trial

Pros: Some of the most polished templates on the market; Stores, bookings and memberships built in; No store fee on physical sales from Core up; Free custom domain for the first year on annual plans

Cons: No free plan; Month-to-month billing costs up to about 58% more than annual; Fees on digital products and memberships until Advanced; Less layout freedom than Webflow or Framer

We.Inc

Best for: People who want to describe a site or web app in plain English and have AI build it

Price: Free plan: up to 3 template sites on a we.inc address, no AI. AI building from $20/mo (Starter, 250 credits). Pro $49/mo, Max $99/mo.

Pros: Describe what you want in chat and AI builds a full, editable site or app; Edit by clicking on the page, by asking in chat, or in a real code editor; Export the React and TypeScript code to GitHub, so you are never locked in; Unlimited sites on paid plans, custom domains from Starter

Cons: The free plan is templates only; AI building needs a paid plan; Newer platform with a smaller app marketplace than the big names; Store features are simpler than a dedicated ecommerce platform

Squarespace price per year and per month

Squarespace rates come in two forms, and the price you see depends on how you pay. Billed annually, Basic is $12 a month ($144 a year), Core is $17 a month ($204 a year) and Advanced is $25 a month ($300 a year). Paid month to month, the same plans are $19, $27 and $36 a month, which adds up to $228, $324 and $432 over twelve months. Squarespace's pricing page puts the saving from annual billing at up to 36%.

Plan prices, the 14-day trial and the transaction fees listed on this page were re-checked on squarespace.com/pricing on October 24, 2026.

Verdict by buyer

A portfolio, restaurant or local service site that does not sell online: Basic on annual billing, $12 a month. A shop selling physical products: Core, $17 a month, because it removes the 2% store fee. Digital content, memberships or lots of video: Advanced, $25 a month. A short project or a trial run: monthly billing, accepting the higher price.

Which Squarespace plan should you pick?

Basic is enough for a portfolio, a restaurant or a service business that does not sell online much. The 2% store fee is the main reason to move up: once you sell about $250 a month in products, Core's extra $5 a month (annual) costs less than the fee it removes.

Core is Squarespace's recommended plan and the one most small businesses end up on. Advanced makes sense only if you sell digital content or memberships at volume, need unlimited video, or want the lowest processing costs Squarespace offers.

Annual or monthly billing?

Annual billing is the better deal if you are sure you will keep the site: Core is $204 a year billed annually versus $324 paid month to month. Monthly billing makes sense for a short project or while you decide. The first year of a custom domain is free only on annual plans.

Hidden costs to budget for

Card processing (Stripe, PayPal or Squarespace Payments) is charged on top of the plan, and Squarespace says those rates vary by region. Automatic sales tax on Core and Advanced is charged per transaction. Email inboxes are a paid add-on, and the domain renews at the normal price after year one.

First-year, renewal and three-year cost

Plan fees only, using the prices checked on September 25, 2026 and assuming they stay the same at renewal (Squarespace has raised prices before, so treat later years as an estimate): Basic is $144 in year one and $432 over three years; Core is $204 and $612; Advanced is $300 and $900. Paying Core month to month costs $324 a year, or $972 over three years.

Not included, because they depend on you rather than on Squarespace's plan price: the domain renewal from year two, card processing on sales, email inboxes and any paid extensions. Put your own figures into our website cost calculator to get a total.

A five-task test to run before you pay for Squarespace

Prices only tell you half the story. The fairest way to judge Squarespace is to give it the same small job you would give any builder: a five-page website for a local service business (home, services, about, reviews and contact).

1. Build the service list with a price or short description for each service. 2. Add a quote request form and send yourself a test entry to check it arrives. 3. Connect a custom domain and confirm the site loads on it with a padlock. 4. Change one piece of content, such as a new service or opening hours, and time how long it takes. 5. Check the result on a phone.

Note which plan each step needed. That tells you the plan you will really pay for, which is often not the cheapest one advertised. When the site is live, run it through our free website grader to check search basics and speed.

Ownership, integrations and moving away

Squarespace hosts your site on its own system. You can connect a domain bought elsewhere or transfer one in, and extensions add outside services. There is no export that lets you run the whole site on another host, so moving away later means rebuilding the pages somewhere else. That matters more for a site you expect to keep for years.

Is there a cheaper way to get a similar site?

If you mainly want a good-looking site for a local business, you can publish a template site free on We.Inc, or pay $20 a month to have AI write the whole site from a description. Squarespace is still the better fit if you want its specific templates, built-in memberships or its commerce tools.

Comparing Squarespace with an AI-built site

With Squarespace you pick a template and then fill every section yourself: the words, the images and the page structure. Many people pay for a year and spend weeks on the content part.

We.Inc starts from the content instead: describe the business and the AI writes the pages, which you then edit by clicking or chatting. Starter is $20 a month (250 credits), less than Squarespace Core billed monthly ($27), and the code can be exported to GitHub. If you want Squarespace's polished templates, built-in scheduling or its mature store, Squarespace remains a sound choice.

Who wrote this and how

We.Inc makes a competing website builder, so read this with that in mind. Every price on this page comes from the vendor's own pricing page on the date shown, with a link to it. We say where the other option is the better choice, and we do not publish scores for tests we have not run.

Start from a template

Sources

Squarespace: Pricing (Checked Sept 25, 2026)
We.Inc: Pricing (Checked Sept 25, 2026)

Frequently asked questions

How much is Squarespace per month?

Squarespace is $12, $17 or $25 a month on annual billing, or $19, $27 or $36 month to month, for Basic, Core and Advanced. Prices were read on squarespace.com/pricing on September 25, 2026.

Does Squarespace have a free plan?

No. Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial, after which you need a paid plan to publish.

Does Squarespace take a cut of sales?

Basic takes 2% of store sales. Core and Advanced take no Squarespace fee on physical products. Digital content and memberships carry a 7% fee on Basic and 5% on Core. Card processing is charged separately by the payment provider.

Is a domain included with Squarespace?

A custom domain is free for the first year on annual plans. After that it renews at the normal domain price.

What is the cheapest way to use Squarespace?

Basic on annual billing, at $12 a month, is the cheapest. Watch the 2% store fee if you plan to sell.

How much does Squarespace cost a year?

On annual billing, $144 for Basic, $204 for Core and $300 for Advanced. Paying month to month for a full year costs $228, $324 or $432. Prices re-checked on squarespace.com/pricing on October 24, 2026.

How much is a Squarespace website for three years?

In plan fees alone, $432 on Basic, $612 on Core or $900 on Advanced with annual billing, at the prices checked September 25, 2026 and assuming no price change. Domain renewal after year one, payment processing and add-ons are extra.