Honest reasons to leave Squarespace, when staying is cheaper, seven alternatives grouped by need with October 2026 prices, and how to move without losing rankings.
Squarespace is still one of the best-looking ways to put a small business online, which is why most people who leave it do so reluctantly. The usual trigger is a renewal email: in July 2026 the annual price of three of its four plans went up by as much as 26%. Others run into the limits of the store, the extension directory or the export tool. This guide covers the honest reasons to leave, when staying is the cheaper and smarter move, seven alternatives grouped by need, and how to move without losing the Google rankings you have built.
Each point was checked against Squarespace's own help centre and pricing at the time of writing (October 2026), plus press coverage of the price change.
Leaving costs more than a subscription: a rebuild, a redirect map and a few uncertain weeks in Google. Stay if any of these sound like you.
Hostinger Website Builder has the lowest price here. At the time of writing, its Premium plan is $2.99 a month, but only on a 48-month term paid upfront ($143.52), renewing at $10.99 a month. Even the renewal undercuts Squarespace Basic, and selling is included. Expect a simpler editor with less design polish.
WordPress.com is the hosted, managed version of WordPress: Personal is $4 a month, Premium $8, Business $25 and Commerce $45 (which adds WooCommerce for selling), billed yearly. It offers the smoothest exit from Squarespace, with a built-in Squarespace importer, and Squarespace's own help centre notes that WordPress.com copies your images onto its servers. Your design does not come across, so you pick a theme and rebuild the look, and selling means the $45 plan.
Wix is the closest like-for-like switch: a hosted drag-and-drop builder with an App Market far larger than Squarespace Extensions. US annual prices at the time of writing are Light at $17 a month (which cannot take payments), Core at $29, Business at $39 and Business Elite at $159, so it is not cheaper once you sell. Wix's help centre says it is "not possible to import blog posts from Squarespace to Wix," so posts are copied by hand. And Wix has walls of its own: you cannot switch the template of a finished site, and the site cannot be hosted anywhere else. If you are weighing both, our guide to Wix alternatives covers Wix's side.
Webflow suits anyone who finds Squarespace's sections too tight. It gives precise control over layout, spacing and how pages behave on each screen size, close to how a professional designer works. Basic is $15 a month and Premium, which adds the CMS for a blog or listings, is $25, billed yearly. Ecommerce plans start at $29, with a 2% transaction fee on the entry Standard plan. Paid site plans include 301 redirects. The catch is the learning curve: many owners who choose Webflow end up paying a designer.
Framer began as a design tool, and its layouts and animation are excellent. Basic is $10 a month per site and Pro $30, billed yearly. Two details matter if you are leaving Squarespace: there is no built-in checkout, so a shop means connecting Shopify or using payment links, and the pricing page lists site redirects only on Pro.
If the store is the business, Shopify is the specialist. Stock, shipping, tax, payment options and selling on other channels are its whole focus, and its app store covers almost every gap Squarespace leaves. US prices at the time of writing are Basic at $29 a month, Grow at $79 and Advanced at $299, billed yearly, or $39, $105 and $399 monthly.
Shopify's Squarespace migration guide moves products and customers by CSV; past orders and reviews need third-party apps. The catches: Shopify adds its own fee (2% on Basic) if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, themes and apps add up, and a service business built on enquiries and bookings will find it an awkward fit. Our Shopify alternatives guide compares it with other store builders.
Full disclosure: this is our own platform. WebNewBiz is for a business whose website exists to win customers, and which would rather keep the site, shop and customer records in one system than pay for Squarespace plus a separate CRM. You describe the business in plain language and the AI drafts the pages, layout and copy; after that, you change things by chatting with the AI Copilot. The online store takes cards, Stripe, Apple Pay and Google Pay. From Growth, the AI CRM receives every enquiry from the site, turns buyers into contacts, scores leads and sends invoices that chase themselves.
Prices are in US dollars per month, and every plan costs $1 for the first month: Lite $9 (no store or CRM), Starter $29 (adds the store and Design Studio), Growth $79 (adds the CRM with 3,000 contacts), Pro $149 and Ultimate $199. Hosting, SSL and a full WordPress CMS come with every plan, yearly billing is cheaper and you can cancel at any time. See the pricing page, or our guide to choosing a website builder with a CRM.
The weaknesses, plainly: it is a young platform, with a much smaller app ecosystem and community than Squarespace, Wix or Shopify. The AI first draft still needs your own edits, photos and facts. And for a polished five-page site with no store or lead tracking, Squarespace or a cheaper builder may suit you better.
If the deeper problem is that the site never felt like yours, self-hosted WordPress is the answer. The software is free, you install it on hosting you rent, every theme and plugin is open to you, and the whole site moves with you if you change host. In return, you or someone you pay handles updates, security and backups.
One warning from Squarespace's help centre: if you load its export into self-hosted WordPress with the standard WordPress Importer plugin, your images might not migrate. WordPress can link to the copies on Squarespace's servers instead, and "the image links stop working after you cancel your Squarespace site." Re-upload your images, or import through WordPress.com first. Our AI website builder vs WordPress comparison covers the upkeep.
Prices are in US dollars per month at the time of writing (October 2026), billed annually unless noted. They change and vary by country and tax, so check each vendor before you buy.
| Platform | Choose it if | Starts at | Selling online | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace (for reference) | You want polished templates and one bill | $19 Basic | All plans; 2% fee on Basic | Partial export; no template switching in 7.1 |
| Hostinger Website Builder | Cost is the main problem | $2.99 on a 48-month term, renews at $10.99 | Included | Headline price needs four years paid upfront |
| WordPress.com | You want a cheap exit that keeps your content | $4 Personal | Commerce plan, $45 | Your design does not import |
| Wix | You want a similar builder with more apps | $17 Light; selling from $29 Core | From Core | No Squarespace blog import; template fixed once built |
| Webflow | You want precise design control | $15 Basic | Ecommerce plans from $29, 2% fee on Standard | Learning curve; often needs a designer |
| Framer | Design and animation matter most | $10 Basic, per site | No built-in checkout | Redirects need Pro ($30) |
| Shopify | The store is the business | $29 Basic | Its core job | Extra fee with outside payment providers; apps add up |
| Self-hosted WordPress | You want full ownership | Your hosting cost | Via WooCommerce | You own updates, security and backups |
| WebNewBiz | You want site, store and CRM in one | $9 Lite, billed monthly ($1 first month); store from $29, CRM from $79 | From Starter | Young platform, smaller app ecosystem |
Your rankings are tied to your domain, your page addresses and what sits on those pages. Carry all three across and most of your search traffic follows. Work in this order, and keep Squarespace running until the new site is live and checked.
What is the best Squarespace alternative for a small business?
It depends on why you are leaving. Hostinger or WordPress.com suit you if cost is the problem, Webflow or Framer give more design control, Shopify is best when the store is the business, self-hosted WordPress gives full ownership, and WebNewBiz suits a business that wants its website, store and CRM in one system.
What is cheaper than Squarespace?
At the time of writing, Hostinger Website Builder ($2.99 a month on a 48-month term, renewing at $10.99), WordPress.com (from $4), Framer (from $10, with no built-in checkout) and Webflow (from $15) all start below Squarespace Basic at $19 a month on annual billing. If your store sells more than about $500 a month on Basic, moving up to Core can cost less than the 2% fee.
Can I export my Squarespace site?
Only partly. Squarespace exports a WordPress-format file with layout pages, one blog, and text and image blocks, but not store, portfolio or calendar pages, audio, video or product blocks, or your design. Products, contacts, customers and orders export separately as CSV files.
Will I lose my Google rankings if I leave Squarespace?
Not if you keep your domain, keep page addresses where possible, and add 301 redirects from every changed address to its closest new page for at least a year. Upload your images again, because Squarespace image addresses cannot be redirected. Expect some short-term fluctuation.
Did Squarespace raise its prices in 2026?
Yes. In July 2026, the annual-billing prices of Basic, Core and Plus rose to $19, $29 and $49 a month, up from $16, $23 and $39. Advanced stayed at $99 a month.
If a website, store and CRM in one place sounds like what Squarespace was missing, the simplest test is to see what our AI Website Builder drafts for your business. You can start for $1, keep Squarespace live while you compare, and move the domain only when you are sure. If Shopify, Webflow or a cheaper builder fits better, go with that. The point is to choose on purpose this time.