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Squarespace

Score8.6 out of 10

318 Reviews and Ratings

What is Squarespace?

Squarespace is a CMS platform that allows users to create a DIY blog, eCommerce store, and/or portfolio (visual art or music). Some Squarespace website and shop templates are industry or use case-specific, such as menu builders for restaurant sites.

Top Performing Features

  • Role-based user permissions

    Permissions to perform actions or access or modify data are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.

    Category average: 8

  • WYSIWYG editor

    What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editing tool allows users to build pages without writing code.

    Category average: 7.9

  • Code quality / cleanliness

    Code generated by WYSIWYG editor is clean and validates according to W3C standards.

    Category average: 8.3

Areas for Improvement

  • Availability / breadth of extensions

    There is a broad library of extensions, plug-ins, modules or add-ons that allow users to easily customize their websites without building custom code.

    Category average: 6.9

  • API

    An API (application programming interface) provides a standard programming interface for connecting third-party systems to the software for data creation, access, updating and/or deletion.

    Category average: 8

  • Internationalization / multi-language

    The software supports multiple languages, countries, currencies, etc.

    Category average: 7.7

all-in-one platform

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Squarespace is easy for non-technical employees and business owners to understand and use. Once it is set up, it's easy to update information, photos, etc. The all-in-one model is convenient to avoid managing multiple subscriptions for various apps, plug-ins, etc and hosting/domains are included. However, it can also be pretty restrictive and frustrating at times, especially for designers/developers used to other platforms.

Pros

  • minimalist design
  • easy to navigate
  • all-in-one platform
  • saved "templates" or "blocks"

Cons

  • inflexible design
  • inability to adjust spacing as desired
  • inability to adjust fonts without changing the entire site

Return on Investment

  • high ROI: minimal investment for a great looking website
  • ongoing management costs in terms of time is minimal (easy to update internally)
  • annual subscription is somewhat more expensive than other options

Usability

Alternatives Considered

WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Canva and GoDaddy

Other Software Used

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe InDesign, Canva, Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Workspace, Microsoft SharePoint, ChatGPT, Klaviyo, Awin, Tailwind

Try Squarespace for Improved Security, SEO and Online Sales

Pros

  • Security
  • Customer support
  • Maintenance

Cons

  • Squarespace would be improved by offering options for variants for downloadable products.

Return on Investment

  • Wildly increased online sales beyond imagination.
  • Gives me peace of mind thanks to awesome security features.
  • Gives my business a good face with reliability and safety.

Alternatives Considered

WordPress

Other Software Used

Adobe PhotoShop, SketchUp, Google AdSense, Podium

Usability

Easy Domain Management Tool

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used Squarespace for email domains.

Pros

  • Is very easy to purchase domains
  • Easy to transfer domains
  • Easy to attach domains to email servers

Cons

  • Dont want to connect to google workspace, but could be good if a company used that

Return on Investment

  • able to get domains that we wanted
  • Better for our marketing team

Usability

Alternatives Considered

GoDaddy and Microsoft 365

Other Software Used

GoDaddy, Microsoft 365

Great for first time web developers

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My organization uses Squarespace for a few tasks: purchasing website domains and developing websites for other companies. We have created multiple websites in a variety of industries using Squarespace. We use this to typically build smaller micro-sites rather than full-blown websites as we will normally want that to be developed on Wordpress.

Pros

  • Domain Registration
  • Web Development
  • Album Storage
  • Domain Purchasing

Cons

  • Training user-base in making sure smaller businesses can be optimized for SEO.
  • AI Text generation for making content optimized for their site.
  • Video series that could train someone to be able to use the platform to make people who are regular business owners become web-savy

Return on Investment

  • Effective website development
  • Poor contact form management
  • Portfolio Management for Photography

Usability

Alternatives Considered

WordPress and Wix

Other Software Used

Wix, WordPress, Constant Contact

A user friendly website option for beginners

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Squarespace as my website platform to direct people to my business, [...]. I host my blog, book club and information about my career mentoring services on my website. My website gives my business credibility and allows people to find out more about out my services.

Pros

  • User friendly
  • Aesthetically pleasing
  • Consistent

Cons

  • I do not like the upgrade in the editing software. I regret updating any of my pages to the fluid editor and won't update any of my pages that are still in the old editing style

Return on Investment

  • Squarespace has allowed me to easily sell digital products, creating a viable passive income stream I would not have without my website
  • Squarespace has also lent credibility to my brand and allowed me to connect with my ideal clients.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

WordPress

Other Software Used

Acuity Scheduling, a Squarespace company, HoneyBook, Canva