How much does Squarespace cost per year?

Roughly $228 a year on the entry plan and $348 on the mid plan if you pay annually, rising to $1,188 at the top. Paying month to month costs meaningfully more. The figure most people miss is not the plan, it is the domain renewal in year two and the sales cut on the cheapest tier.

This is one route of three. The other two, and how they compare, are in what a small business website costs.

What does each Squarespace plan cost per year?

Squarespace has four plans. Prices below are the annual-billing figures, multiplied out.

Paying month to month instead runs $25, $39, $65 and $139 a month. Squarespace advertises savings of up to 36% for paying annually; on these four plans the recorded prices work out at 24% to 29%, so treat the 36% as the platform’s headline rather than something you can check here. Even at 25%, it is the single largest saving available on the platform.

⚠️ Squarespace changed its plan names in late 2025. If your account says Personal, Business, Commerce Basic or Commerce Advanced, you are on a legacy plan and your price may not match the figures here.

What is not on the pricing page?

Three costs, and the third is the one that catches people selling anything.

1. The domain, from year two. Annual plans include one year of free domain registration for a new site. That is a first-year offer. From year two you pay the standard renewal, which is roughly $20 a year for a .com and more for some extensions.

2. Professional email. A branded address at your own domain is not included on the entry plan. If you want one, it is another line.

3. A percentage of your sales, on the entry plan. This is the real trap. On the lowest tier there is a 2% transaction fee on the online store and 7% on digital content and memberships. The store fee drops to 0% on every plan above it. The digital content fee does not: it is 5% on Core, 1% on Plus, and only reaches 0% on Advanced. That is precisely how the platform moves you up a tier, and it pushes anyone selling courses, memberships or downloads further up than anyone selling physical goods.

Do the arithmetic before assuming the cheap plan is cheap. At $2,000 a month in online sales, that 2% is $40 a month, or $480 a year. The upgrade from Basic to Core costs $120 a year. You are better off upgrading, and the fee is designed so that you are.

What does Squarespace cost over three years?

Multiplying is not enough, because the free domain only lands in year one.

Add payment processing on any plan if you sell, and add the transaction fee on top of that if you are on Basic.

Is paying once cheaper than Squarespace?

Not for a long time, and I am the one selling the alternative, so here is the arithmetic in full rather than the flattering half of it.

My middle package is EUR 1,190, paid once. After that you pay hosting and a domain, and nothing to me. Over three years that comes to $1,430 to $2,208, depending on the exchange rate you pay at and what hosting costs you.

Against $724 for three years of Squarespace Basic, that is not a close call. Squarespace wins on cash, comfortably.

Here is the year when paying once finally becomes the cheaper option, computed across exchange rates from 1.00 to 1.20 dollars per euro and hosting from $60 to $240 a year:

Read those crossovers honestly and they say something simple. If you are on Basic and you only care about money, stay there. Paying once pays for itself in cash only if you would have ended up on Core or above anyway, which is where most businesses that sell online end up, or if you are going to keep the same site for the better part of a decade.

⚠️ One thing that runs against me, and belongs here rather than in a footnote. On the day these prices were recorded, Squarespace was running a discount code for 30% off select plans. Its own terms say the discount “applies to the first payment of an applicable new Squarespace subscription only” and “does not apply to recurring payments.” So the figures above are the list prices and the renewal prices, and the arithmetic holds. But if you have a code when you sign up, your first year costs less than the arithmetic here. Codes come and go, so check before you pay.

Two more things that count against me and are not in those crossover figures. You would be paying in euros, so the dollar amount moves with the exchange rate and your card may add a foreign transaction fee. And a WordPress site needs its software updated over time, which Squarespace does for you and I do not do for you.

So what does the extra money buy?

Not savings. Ownership, and it is worth being precise about what that means rather than selling it as a feeling.

That last row is the one to check on any platform, including this one. The domain should be in your name, on an account you control, whoever built the site.

The deeper comparison of the two approaches, including who actually does the work on each, is in Squarespace vs WordPress for a small business. And the wider view of all three routes is in what a small business website costs.

See what I charge, and what is included

When is Squarespace the right answer?

Four cases where I would tell you to stay put, and I have no financial interest in saying so.

• You are testing the business. Do not buy an asset for something that may not exist in a year.
• Nobody at your company will handle software updates. A hosted platform does that part, permanently, and that is a genuine service.
• You will keep the site under five years. The math above is unambiguous.
• Your site works and you are happy with it. Revisit the question at renewal, with the invoice in front of you, not before.

Where the calculation changes: you are past year five, you are on a $49 plan or higher, you sell enough for the transaction fee to bite, or you have concluded that renting the thing customers find you through is not a position you want to be in.