Breaking Down Squarespace Web Design Costs: A No-Nonsense Guide for Smart Businesses

Squarespace has earned its reputation as a sleek, user-friendly platform for building beautiful websites. Its all-in-one nature promises simplicity, but business leaders and marketing managers often ask: what is the real cost of a professional Squarespace website? The subscription fee is just the beginning of the story.

Understanding the full financial picture-from initial design and development to ongoing maintenance and potential upgrades-is crucial for making a smart investment.

This guide breaks down every cost component, helping you navigate the options and avoid surprises. We'll explore the differences between a DIY approach, hiring a freelancer, and partnering with a professional design service, so you can allocate your budget with confidence and achieve a powerful return on your investment.

Key Takeaways

• Three Core Costs: The total cost of a Squarespace website is a combination of three main factors: the Squarespace subscription plan itself ($16-$99/month), the initial design and development investment ($0 for DIY, $2,000-$10,000+ for professionals), and ongoing costs (domain renewal, premium extensions, maintenance).
• Plan Selection is Crucial: Squarespace offers several tiers. The 'Business' plan is the most popular starting point for serious businesses as it removes Squarespace branding and allows for code customization and e-commerce, while 'Commerce' plans are essential for online stores to avoid transaction fees.
• Professional Design Pays Off: While DIY is tempting, hiring an expert designer or developer ensures a unique, conversion-focused, and scalable website. Project costs with freelancers can range from $2,000 to $5,000, while agencies offer more comprehensive services starting from $5,000 to over $10,000.
• Budget for the Long Term: Don't forget ongoing expenses. Factor in annual domain renewals (around $20-$70), professional email through Google Workspace (starting at $6/user/month), and any premium third-party extensions needed for advanced functionality.

The Foundation: Understanding Squarespace's Subscription Plans

Your first direct cost is the Squarespace hosting and software plan. Squarespace bundles hosting, security (SSL certificate), and their website builder into a single monthly or annual fee.

Choosing the right plan is critical, as it dictates your site's features, transaction fees, and customization capabilities.

Here's a breakdown of the most common plans for businesses. Note that paying annually typically saves you around 25-30% compared to paying month-to-month.

Squarespace Plan Comparison

For any serious business, the Business plan is the minimum viable starting point. It unlocks the ability to add custom code, which is essential for advanced design, tracking pixels (like for Facebook or LinkedIn ads), and third-party integrations.

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The Biggest Variable: Web Design & Development Costs

This is where your budget can vary dramatically. How you get your website designed and built is the single largest cost factor.

You have three primary paths, each with distinct trade-offs in cost, time, and quality.

Path 1: The DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Route

Cost: $0 (plus your time)

Squarespace's biggest selling point is its user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface. It's entirely possible to build a good-looking website yourself using one of their pre-made templates.

However, don't mistake 'free' for 'no cost'. The currency you pay with is your time-and lots of it. A business owner's time is valuable, and the hours spent learning the platform, tweaking designs, and troubleshooting could be spent on revenue-generating activities.

• Pros: Lowest upfront monetary cost. Full control over the process.
• Cons: Extremely time-consuming. Risk of an amateurish result that doesn't build trust. Limited by template constraints and your own design skills.

Path 2: Hiring a Freelance Squarespace Designer

Cost: $2,000 - $7,500+

For a professional, customized look without the overhead of a full agency, hiring an experienced freelancer is a popular choice.

Costs depend heavily on the designer's experience and the project's complexity. A simple 5-page brochure site will be on the lower end, while a site with custom features, e-commerce setup, and extensive design work will be on the higher end.

When hiring a freelancer, you're paying for their design expertise, knowledge of the Squarespace platform's limitations (and how to work around them with custom code), and project management.

Path 3: Partnering with a Professional Agency or Service like Coders.dev

Cost: $5,000 - $25,000+

For businesses that view their website as a critical marketing and sales asset, an agency is the best choice. This cost includes a much more comprehensive service: strategy, user experience (UX) design, custom graphic design, SEO foundations, development, quality assurance, and project management.

You're not just buying a design; you're investing in a strategic process designed to achieve business goals.

At Coders.dev, we offer a unique advantage with our Squarespace Design Services.

By leveraging a global talent pool of vetted, expert designers and developers within a staff augmentation model, we provide agency-level quality and security (CMMI Level 5, SOC 2 certified) with greater flexibility and cost-efficiency. Our AI-augmented workflows streamline the process, ensuring your project is delivered on time and on budget, with full IP transfer and a free replacement guarantee for peace of mind.

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Beyond the Build: Uncovering Ongoing & Hidden Costs

A website is not a one-time purchase. To keep it effective and secure, you must budget for several ongoing costs.

Ignoring these can lead to a stale, underperforming, or even broken website down the line.

• Domain Name Renewal: Your first year is often free with an annual plan, but after that, expect to pay $20 - $70 per year to keep your domain name.
• Professional Email: Using an email like `contact@yourbusiness.com` is crucial for credibility. Squarespace facilitates this through a partnership with Google Workspace, which costs approximately $6-$18 per user per month.
• Premium Extensions: While Squarespace has many built-in features, you may need third-party extensions for advanced functionality like sophisticated booking systems, marketing integrations, or advanced analytics. These can range from $5 to $50+ per month.
• SEO & Digital Marketing: Having a website is step one; getting traffic to it is step two. Ongoing investment in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content marketing, or paid advertising is necessary to generate leads and sales.
• Content Updates & Maintenance: Who will update your blog, add new team members, or post new case studies? If it's not you, you may need to pay a designer or a virtual assistant an hourly rate ($50-$150/hr) for periodic updates.

Context is Key: Squarespace Cost vs. Other Platforms

To make an informed decision, it helps to see how Squarespace's costs stack up against other popular platforms. Each has its own pricing philosophy and target user.

• vs. Wix: Pricing is very similar to Squarespace, making them direct competitors. The choice often comes down to template design preference and specific feature needs. For a deeper dive, see our Wix Web Design Complete Cost Breakdown.
• vs. Shopify: If e-commerce is your primary focus, Shopify is the industry leader. Its plans are slightly more expensive, but it offers more robust, scalable sales features out-of-the-box. Explore the details in our How Much Does Shopify Web Design Cost guide.
• vs. WordPress: WordPress.org is free, open-source software, but that's deceptive. You must pay separately for hosting, themes, premium plugins, and security. While potentially cheaper for a simple blog, a professional WordPress site often has a higher total cost of ownership and requires more technical maintenance. Learn more in our article on How Much Does A Wordpress Web Design Cost.

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2025 Update: The Impact of AI on Web Design Costs

The rise of AI is reshaping the web design landscape. AI tools can now assist in generating layouts, writing copy, and creating images, which can accelerate the initial stages of a project.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean a drastic reduction in cost for high-quality websites. Instead, the value is shifting.

AI excels at execution but lacks strategic thinking, brand understanding, and the ability to create a truly unique user experience.

The role of the professional designer is evolving to become more of a strategist, brand custodian, and AI orchestrator. They leverage AI to handle repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on high-value activities like conversion rate optimization, user journey mapping, and creating a design that truly connects with a human audience.

At Coders.dev, we embrace this future by integrating AI into our delivery process. This AI-augmentation allows our vetted experts to work more efficiently, translating to better value, faster turnaround times, and a more data-driven approach to design for our clients.

Conclusion: Your Squarespace Website is an Investment, Not an Expense

The true cost of a Squarespace website isn't a single number but a spectrum based on your goals, resources, and commitment to quality.

While you can get started for as little as $23 a month on a DIY basis, a professional website that builds credibility and drives growth typically requires an initial investment of $3,000 to $10,000+, plus ongoing operational costs.

The key is to view your website as a strategic investment in your business's future. A well-designed, professionally built site will pay for itself many times over through increased leads, higher sales, and a stronger brand reputation.

By understanding all the components of Squarespace web design cost, you can create a realistic budget and partner with the right team to build a powerful digital asset.

This article was written and reviewed by the Coders.dev Expert Team, comprised of B2B software industry analysts, full-stack developers, and AI strategists.

With credentials including CMMI Level 5 and SOC 2, our team is dedicated to providing practical, future-ready technology solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Squarespace cheaper than hiring a developer for a custom website?

Generally, yes. A fully custom-coded website built from scratch by a developer (outside of a platform like Squarespace) is a much larger undertaking, often costing $15,000 to $50,000+.

Squarespace provides the foundational infrastructure (hosting, security, CMS), which significantly reduces development time and cost. You are, however, working within the Squarespace ecosystem, which has its own set of limitations compared to a ground-up build.

Can I switch my Squarespace plan later?

Yes, you can upgrade or downgrade your Squarespace plan at any time. If you upgrade, you'll pay a prorated amount for the remainder of your billing cycle.

If you downgrade, the change will take effect at the start of your next billing cycle.

Do I need to know how to code to use Squarespace?

No, you do not need to know how to code to build a basic website on Squarespace. Its drag-and-drop editor is designed for non-technical users.

However, to achieve a truly custom design, implement advanced features, or override template defaults, knowledge of CSS and JavaScript is often required. This is a primary reason businesses choose to hire professional Squarespace designers.

What are the transaction fees on Squarespace?

The Squarespace 'Business' plan has a 3% transaction fee on all sales. To eliminate Squarespace's own transaction fees, you must upgrade to either the 'Basic Commerce' or 'Advanced Commerce' plan.

Note that this is separate from the standard credit card processing fees charged by payment gateways like Stripe or PayPal (which are typically around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction).

How long does it take to build a professional Squarespace website?

A DIY project can take anywhere from a weekend to several weeks, depending on your technical comfort and the site's complexity.

A professional design project with a freelancer or agency typically takes 4 to 8 weeks. This timeline includes discovery and strategy, design mockups, development, content integration, revisions, and launch.