Squarespace Review 2023 – Is It Worth the Investment?

Why This Matters

You’re probably reading this for one reason: you need a website that doesn’t haul you through twelve hours of YouTube tutorials or chew up your whole marketing budget. Maybe you’re launching your first side hustle, or you’ve just won the annual “sort the club’s website out” sweepstake. Either way, the platform you choose needs to give you decent control, look sharp on mobile, and skip the endless technical headaches.

The reality is, lots of website builders promise an easy ride, but your choice at the start decides how many headaches you’ll have (or avoid) later. If you pick the wrong one, you could battle clunky interfaces, half-baked e-commerce, fumbling with menus, or a site so slow it’s overtaken by pensioners with shopping trolleys. That’s real money and time down the drain.

Let’s cut through the PR spin and look at whether Squarespace, the darling of Instagram adverts, is really worth your investment in 2023. This includes the cost, your time, energy, and the reputation it ties to your business.

Common Pitfalls

Even savvy business owners tumble into the same traps with Squarespace:

1. Thinking all website builders are much of a muchness.
Spoiler: they're not. What's easy in one can be exasperating in another.

2. Overestimating “drag and drop”.
People hear this and imagine building a site at the speed of making a cup of tea. Reality check: there’s still a learning curve, especially if you’re expecting to whip up something that doesn’t look like a generic estate agent landing page.

3. Choosing a plan on price alone.
That seductive low monthly rate? It can start to balloon once you realise your shop, blog, or newsletter needs features locked under more expensive plans.

4. Underusing the trial.
Plenty of users poke around, set a header image, then call it a day. They barely scratch the surface. Suddenly, the trial runs out and only then do the “I wonder if I can actually do X?” moments begin.

5. Assuming ‘simple’ means ‘limited’.
Some skip Squarespace for fear it can’t do ‘proper’ sites. Others assume the templates are too samey. That’s not always true if you know how to poke around under the bonnet.

Here’s how you can avoid these mistakes.

Step-by-Step Fix

1. Get Acquainted with the User Interface

Don’t judge by first impressions. The first ten minutes inside Squarespace feel like a trip around a shiny new kitchen with all the gadgets on display. Shiny, but a bit mysterious. Instead of running through every template “just to see what’s out there”, pick the blankest, most basic theme (for 7.1 users: pick any; you can shift everything afterwards).

Spend an hour actually adding and removing sections, changing images, and typing fake headlines. Click into each menu: don’t avoid the settings tab. The goal isn’t to build your masterpiece on the first attempt. Focus on working out which parts you’ll use most and which labels are misleading.

2. Make the Most of the Free Trial Period

Squarespace only gives you 14 days, so don’t waste days two to thirteen faffing about with logo placement. Work through your actual site needs:

• Add a product (even if it’s a test one—try an imaginary “glow-in-the-dark mug”).
• Set up one blog post with a featured image, tags, and scheduled publishing.
• Tweak the navigation. How many menu levels can you create before you start cursing?
• Check how images look on a phone.
• Try connecting a mock Mailchimp account or embed a YouTube video.

Then ask yourself: does it feel quick, or are you already seeing hiccups? Treat this as your test drive, not a showroom demo.

3. Weigh Up the Right Plan

The low-cost Personal plan will build a tidy brochure site, but it will struggle if you want to:

• Add custom code (for unusual features or third-party integrations)
• Remove Squarespace’s own branding footers
• Build more complex e-commerce shops (stock tracking, subscription products, etc.)
• Run advanced marketing (some integrations are paywalled)

If you only need a static info site, the Personal plan is a fair deal. For almost everything else (think booking systems, member areas, proper online stores), Business and Commerce plans are the safe bets, but check transaction fees for shop sales.

Always add up the full annual price (usually slightly cheaper than monthly), and include the cost of domains and emails if you want a professional look. Don’t get caught with surprise costs.

4. Test the Core Features with Real Content

It’s tempting to leave “how does e-commerce work?” or “what's their promo code system like?” until later. Don’t do this. Before paying, pretend you’re an actual customer on your own site:

• Add two or three items to the basket.
• Process a test payment (Squarespace lets you sandbox with Stripe/PayPal).
• Try applying a discount code and check if your email inbox gets the right confirmations.
• Write a quick blog and check the SEO tools—are titles, descriptions, and friendly URLs easy to edit?
• Download one of your own images from the media manager. How compressed is it?

Squarespace’s core store functions work well for simple shops, but options like variable products, complex discounts, or “wholesale only” areas quickly reveal the limits. If dealing with too many features feels overwhelming, keep in mind that running a basic shop with the standard tools can still be manageable.

5. Push Beyond the Templates or Stick With Them

A big reason for Squarespace’s “one size fits all” reputation is that users never explore the style editor or code injection options. You don’t have to go full coder to create a personalized look:

• Use the Design panel to swap fonts, spacing, and colours across your site.
• Try the built-in “Custom CSS” box for small tweaks. Even changing button corners can make a difference.
• Don’t be shy about hiding unneeded ‘blocks’—clutter kills.

On 7.1 and newer, you aren’t stuck with a theme’s starter blocks. Mixing, matching, and cloning almost anything is possible. If you hit a wall with complex navigation or unique layouts, consider whether these issues are deal-breakers, or if you’re pushing the site to do things it’s not built for.

6. Confirm Support and Practicalities

Things can go wrong, or at the very least, resist cooperating before a launch or sale. Check the Squarespace support centre and forums when you get stuck during the trial. Test out the email and chat help with a real question—see how they handle late-night queries.

There’s no phone support, so if technical issues make you nervous, this could be more frustrating than expected. The written help and guides are generally excellent, and knowing there are real humans available can be reassuring without spending an hour on hold.

What Most People Miss

The key detail with Squarespace is your approach, not a particular button or tool. You’ll get much better results (and avoid tedious wrangling) if you build your site using real, live content from the start. Don’t fill pages with “lorem ipsum” and hope it’ll all work when you drop in actual service details, photos, or new products later. Every platform looks easy with dummy data; real content exposes the bottlenecks and bugs.

Another tip: keep your site lean. It’s easier to add features later than to remove excess clutter. Start by getting really clear about your site’s main purpose. Do you want to look credible to new referrals, get bookings, sell a couple of physical items, or run a blog? Focus on getting that working properly first.

The Bigger Picture

Taking time to thoroughly test Squarespace with your actual business goals and content will save you from a messy relaunch six months in. Sites built on last-minute panic and guesswork often falter during their first busy spell.

Choosing the right platform means you avoid regular bug fixes, steering your team away from clunky interfaces, and skipping the need to hire a developer for every little change.

For designers, streamlined workflows on Squarespace lead to fewer support calls, fewer “how do I…” questions, and more confident business owners. This frees you up for design or strategy rather than constant technical support.

For business owners, a site you can update yourself—from your laptop or phone—means you’re ready for changes as they come. Add a new service, promote an event, or make updates without being reliant on the original site builder.

Wrap-Up

Is Squarespace worth your investment in 2023? If you value simplicity, beautiful templates, and expect to pay for better e-commerce and marketing tools as your site grows, Squarespace is a solid choice for most small businesses and designers. The trial is your secret weapon, so use it to push limits and spot any snags before committing your money.

Nobody claims it’s perfect. Video hosting limits can be frustrating, and certain navigation features still feel unnecessarily rigid. While support via chat covers most issues, you may hit obstacles if you need extensive customisation or the flexibility of open-source platforms.

For the vast majority, Squarespace lets you launch quickly and achieve a polished look without spending too much time or money.

Want more helpful systems like this? Join Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.

FAQ

Q: Is there a forever-free plan?
No, but the 14-day trial lets you test nearly everything. Be systematic with your time.

Q: How much technical skill do I need?
Basic computer literacy is enough for a good-looking site. CSS and code are only needed for advanced tweaks.

Q: How does Squarespace handle e-commerce?
You can run a straightforward online shop straight from most plans. For advanced inventory, complicated discounts, or digital products, test first to avoid nasty surprises.

Q: Can I really customise the templates?
To a point. You get a fair bit of styling leeway, especially in 7.1 and above, but the fundamentals stay structured. Custom code is possible, but there are limits.

Q: Is support any good?
Generally yes. Chat and email are reliable, and the help centre is well-stocked. There is no phone support.

Jargon Buster

• UI (User Interface): What you interact with on screen. Squarespace’s is famously uncluttered once you learn it.
• CSS: Code to tweak the look and feel of your site. You can add snippets inside Squarespace for finer control.
• SEO: Getting found in Google. Squarespace builds in basic tools for this, but real results come from solid content, not just ticking boxes.
• SSL: Security for your website. Your site includes this as standard on Squarespace.

If you want honest, practical guides like this for modern web design, come find us inside Pixelhaze Academy. No jargon. Just what works.