Squarespace Pricing Based on your Actual Business Needs
********(Update October 2023: I have added current info about Squarespace pricing here.)
Preparation is half of the website design process.
So let’s dive into all of the Squarespace platform options and what they cost before you get started on the basic, personal plan and feel surprised that you may need an upgrade.
Squarespace Subscription Prices
There are four Squarespace subscription tiers.
The most basic is the personal plan. It is $144/ year OR $16/month. This plan is for you if you really love an existing Squarespace template that only needs minor color and font tweaks plus your content AND you don’t have any complicated integrations or coding needs nor any products for sale online. This is perfect for personal projects and small businesses that only need to be contacted via email, phone, or a simple form as their main call to action. Your site can still be beautiful and functional, but will not be quite as customized as is possible with one of the higher tiers.
The Business tier is $216/year OR $26/month and is great if you want a bit more customization using custom code. With this level, you can add code in each individual page’s header and sitewide code, plus on-page embeds. If this means nothing to you, no worries! You can always reach out to me for advice. You can have a store at this level but you will not have access to some powerful features like abandoned cart recovery at the highest tier. Instagram shopping & customer accounts start at the next level as well.
Commerce (Basic) $312/year OR $35/mo: The basic package does not have access to abandoned cart recovery, subscription sales, advanced shipping, advanced discounts though some discount code setups are available, & Commerce APIs for larger and more advanced commerce setups. But you can easily set up Instagram shopping, and allow customer accounts so customers can log in to view their orders at this level.
Commerce (Advanced) $480/Year OR $54/mo: This is the plan for you if you have a budget for it and you want to stay as engaged as possible and use all the tools at your disposal to create a happy and lucrative checkout experience. This plan may be worth it for the abandoned cart recovery feature alone. Many carts are abandoned on mobile and roughly 10% of those carts can be recovered with well-timed emails and maybe an incentive to come back, like a 15% off code, or free shipping. Shipping rates do tend to be a big reason that customers drop out of the purchase process. Virtual window shopping is also a top reason that carts are abandoned. Potential customers are shopping around ahead of a purchase. It is impactful to stay top-of-mind in this case otherwise, they may forget they accessed your purchase funnel after looking at so many options.
Compare the boxes checked for the two Commerce levels in the chart below. The next to last column below shows the features of the Commerce Basic plan and the last column details the full features of the Commerce Advanced plan.
Add-Ons to your Squarespace Plan
Scheduling Costs
Acuity is owned by Squarespace but signing up with Acuity through Squarespace is called Squarespace Scheduling and you can use the scheduling block throughout your site to ask people to schedule an appointment with you. You can sign up for a legacy Acuity account at Acuity’s website and then use scheduling block as well. More info from Squarespace: “To learn how to connect a Scheduling account to your site, visit Getting started with Squarespace Scheduling. It's not currently possible to migrate or merge Acuity accounts and Scheduling accounts.” The cost of signing up for Squarespace Scheduling as detailed on Squarespace’s website:
Squarespace Scheduling Costs per Month:
Squarespace Scheduling Costs per Year (broken down by month):
Member Areas
Member Areas are a relatively new feature in Squarespace. They are as easy to use and setup as any regular page in Squarespace with just a couple extra steps. They do incur an extra subscription charge on top of the platform’s normal fees. Here’s a breakdown of the yearly or monthly costs and the percentage charged for each transaction.
one member area: $108/year & 7% fee per transaction
1-3 member areas: $216/year & 4% fee per transaction
Up to 10 member areas: $420/year & 1% fee per transaction
Keep in mind that these fees are per transaction and NOT per member, and how that may affect the math of your payment structure. (I’m not a mathematician, so I will spare you my faulty numbers! But I do encourage you to sit down with a calculator and work out the numbers for yourself. You may find that the higher tier is more worth the cost in many instances based on your sales projections.)
Email Marketing
You can skip the extra platform sign-up and handle your email marketing right from Squarespace too! Heres info on the Monthly vs. yearly (broken down by month) costs:
Now let’s add up the yearly cost of a Business Plan with a scheduler and email marketing:
$216/year (Squarespace business subscription) + $168 (scheduling) + $60 (email marketing) = $444
This is truly a great deal for a well-functioning and aesthetically legit home base through which to introduce your offer to your potential clients.
If the above information is still overwhelming or you don’t know what level of Squarespace subscription you need, make a list of all of the platforms your business requires to function, and feel free to reach out to me with your list and needs here about which level I recommend for you.
