Squarespace Pricing Plan Updates (2023): Which is Best for Your Biz?
💻 Squarespace has released a whole lot of new features in 2023 and changed their pricing this year as a result, so I’m overdue to share with you a new review of Squarespace’s pricing updates to understand what combo of services and tiers are right for your budget. Heres a link to my first post on this topic if you want to see what has changed.
💰 But first, a big money-saving tip when considering these subscription options: You can save 20% off the first year when you subscribe to a yearly plan AND you hire a Squarespace web designer (like me!) to help you get started either with custom done-for-you design or my signature Squarespace Help! co-working package.
Now lets get to the Squarespace pricing info to help you decide whats right for you and your business…
Squarespace Subscription Tier Prices
💎 Personal Tier - Price: $192/year OR $23/month
Ideal for:
Those who like an existing Squarespace template.
Minor color and font adjustments.
No complex integrations or coding needs.
No online product sales.
Personal projects, low budgets, or side hustles.
Main features:
Simple contact options: email, phone, simple forms.
Responsive design.
💎 Business Tier - Price: $276/year OR $33/month
Ideal for:
Desire for more customization with custom code.
Ability to add code to individual pages' headers and site-wide.
Main features:
Custom code capabilities.
Basic E-commerce store available.
Sell digital products.
Some limitations:
3% transaction fees.
No abandoned cart recovery.
Basic Instagram shopping.
No customer accounts.
More powerful features at higher tiers.
💎 Commerce (Basic) - Price: $324/year OR $36/month
Main features:
ZERO transaction fees!
Instagram shopping.
Customer account functionality.
Sell digital products.
Ideal for:
Smaller product lines
Don’t need exacting shipping (its close though!)
Simple marketing plans
💎 Commerce (Advanced) - Price: $588/year OR $65/month
Powerful features:
Sell digital products.
Abandoned cart recovery feature.
ZERO transaction fees!
Subscription product sales.
Advanced shipping options.
Comprehensive discount options.
Commerce APIs for complex commerce setups.
Instagram shopping and customer accounts.
Ideal for:
Engaging potential customers effectively.
Maximizing revenue opportunities.
Intensive e-commerce focus.
You can more closely compare the plan features in the chart below for all of the Squarespace subscription tiers.
Zoom in on the image below if possible for a better view or find a detailed pricing chart at squarespace.com/pricing
Add-Ons to your Squarspace Plan
📆 Scheduling Costs
Acuity is owned by Squarespace and you can use the scheduling block throughout your site to make it easy for people to schedule an appointment with you. Acuity Scheduling with Squarespace can even be HIPAA compliant for mental health and wellness professionals when choosing the highest tier. Here are the costs of signing up for Squarespace Scheduling as detailed on Squarespace’s website:
Squarespace Scheduling Costs per Month:
Emerging: $20/month, Growing: $34/Month, Powerhouse: $61/Month
or subscribe with a yearly plan to take advantage of that 20% off the first year discount (when you work with me)…
Squarespace Scheduling Costs per Year (broken down by month):
🔐 Digital Products and Member Sites (formerly known as Member Areas)
Member Areas have been renamed Member SITES and are considered “Digital Products” in the SQSP ecosystem. You can find your existing Member SItes and New digital products under the “Selling” panel…click “Products”, then “Digital Products.”
Digital products do incur an extra subscription charge on top of the platform’s normal fees IF you want to reduce your transaction rate and increase your video storage. Here’s a breakdown of the yearly and monthly costs below and the percentage charged for each transaction.
Monthly costs: No plan:$0, Starter: $12, Core: $44, Pro: $149
Total annual costs: No plan:$0, Starter: $108, Core: $408, Pro: $1428
💡Keep in mind that for Member Sites, these fees are per transaction, whether it's a one-time payment or recurring. It's not based on the number of members you have. This distinction can significantly impact your payment structure. I strongly encourage you to take some time with a calculator or spreadsheet and crunch the numbers yourself. By doing so, you can determine whether the higher-tier option is more cost-effective, considering your projections and goals for membership or digital product sales.
📨 Email Marketing
You can skip the extra platform sign-up and handle your email marketing right from Squarespace too! Squarespace Campaigns provides an easy solution to keep in touch with users who opt in to your newsletter blocks and purchase your digital products. Campaigns may not be the best options for businesses with very complicated funnels and automation.
Heres info on the Monthly vs. yearly (broken down by month) costs:
💰 Let’s add up the yearly cost of a Business Plan with the lowest-tier scheduler and the second tier of Campaigns for email marketing:
$276/year (Squarespace “Business” tier)
+ $192/year (Scheduling “Emerging” tier)
+ $120/year (email Campaigns “Core” tier- because I highly recommend using automation)
= $588/year
Then add on digital products (if applicable to you) freely until you outgrow the free tier cost-savings due to high volume of transactions.
For a well-functioning and aesthetically elevated website on a user-friendly content management system like Squarespace this is truly a great investment if you’re ready to commit to your biz goals for at least 1-3 years to test your offer(s).
If the above information is still overwhelming or you don’t know what level of Squarespace subscription you need based on your actual business needs, make a list of all of the tasks your business depends upon to function, and feel free to reach out to me at hello@nicoletteleighcreative.com with your list. I may ask some more questions and will let you know which combo of subscriptions I recommend for you. Or use the button below to schedule a 15 minute free intro call.
