Squarespace Alternatives for Small Businesses and Startups: Paid and Free Website Builders Compared
Squarespace is known for polished templates, but it has no free plan, its cheapest plan charges a fee on online store sales, and you pay more for CSS and JavaScript control. If you are building a website for a small business or a startup, it is worth comparing it with other builders before you commit to a yearly plan. We checked every builder below on its official pricing page in October 2026: the free plan, the cheapest plan with your own domain, what it is best at and what changed since the 2025 version of this article. Prices depend on your country, so we say which currency each site showed us.
Quick answer: for an all-round Squarespace replacement with a free plan, choose Wix; to sell products, choose Shopify; for full design control and a CMS, choose Webflow; for blogging and plugins at a low price, choose WordPress.com; for a fast startup marketing site, choose Framer or Tilda; and for the lowest upfront cost, choose Hostinger Website Builder. If you only need one free page, see our free Carrd alternatives.
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What Squarespace Costs in 2027
To know what you are replacing: the Squarespace pricing page (checked from Malta in October 2026, in euros, billed annually) lists Basic at €12 a month, Core at €18, Plus at €32 and Advanced at €69. Paying monthly costs more; Squarespace says paying annually saves up to 36%. There is a 14-day free trial without a credit card, but no free plan. Basic charges a 2% fee on online store sales and does not include CSS and JavaScript customisation; Core and higher plans have a 0% store fee. Every plan includes built-in AI tools with a set number of AI credits.
Squarespace Alternatives Compared
Sources: each builder's official pricing page, checked 27 and 28 October 2026. Prices change by country, tax and promotion; check the page for your region before you buy.
The Best Squarespace Alternatives in 2027
1. Wix: the all-round alternative with a free plan
Wix is the closest all-round match to Squarespace: a drag-and-drop editor, thousands of templates, hosting and AI creation tools in one account. Its homepage now promotes Wix Harmony and an AI assistant called Aria that builds a site from a prompt. Unlike Squarespace, Wix has a free plan, but it uses a Wix address; its FAQ says you need a paid plan to connect your own domain. On the Wix plans page (US-dollar reference prices, billed yearly; Wix says prices and currency vary by location) Light costs $17 a month with 2 GB of storage, Core $29 with 50 GB, online payments and basic eCommerce, Business $39 and Business Elite $159. Paid plans include a free domain for one year and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
2. Shopify: the alternative for online stores
If selling products is the main job of your website, Shopify is built for it, with checkout, inventory, shipping and point of sale in one system. Its pricing page showed us euro prices in October 2026: Basic €21 a month billed yearly (€28 monthly), Grow €59 (€78 monthly) and Advanced €289 (€384 monthly), with Plus from €2,100 a month. New stores get 3 days free, then €1 a month for 3 months. Online card payments on Basic cost 1.9% + €0.25. It costs more than Squarespace Basic, so choose it when the store matters more than the brochure pages.
3. Webflow: design control and a real CMS
Webflow gives designers control over layout, interactions and code that Squarespace templates do not, plus a CMS for blogs and collections. Its site plans have changed: the Webflow pricing page now lists a free Starter plan (webflow.io address, 2 static pages), Basic at $15 a month billed yearly (custom domain, 300 static pages, 10 GB bandwidth, no CMS) and a new Premium plan at $25 a month billed yearly that adds the Webflow CMS and 50 GB of bandwidth. A Team plan for larger organisations starts at $2,500 a month on an annual contract. Prices are in US dollars per site, plus tax. The learning curve is the steepest on this list, so it suits founders who design or have a designer.
4. WordPress.com (and self-hosted WordPress.org): blogs and plugins
WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress and the cheapest way to get a custom domain on this list. In US dollars excluding tax, Personal costs $4 a month billed yearly ($9 monthly), Premium $8 ($18), Business $25 ($40) and Commerce $45 ($70). Every paid plan can install plugins from a marketplace of more than 60,000, and annual plans include a free domain for one year. The free plan uses a WordPress.com subdomain, has 1 GB of storage and shows WordPress.com ads to visitors. It also has an AI website builder that creates a site from a chat. If you prefer to host it yourself, WordPress.org is the free open-source software; you pay only for hosting, themes and plugins.
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5. Framer: fast marketing sites for startups
Framer calls itself a pro website builder with a design agent: AI changes stay editable on a design canvas, with hosting, CMS, analytics and SEO built in. It is popular for startup landing and marketing sites. The Framer pricing page lists a free plan on a Framer domain with 1 GB of bandwidth, Basic at $10 a month with a custom domain, 30 pages and 50 GB, and Pro at $30 a month with 150 pages and 100 GB. Free sites need an upgrade before you can connect your own domain.
6. Tilda: block-based pages with an AI start
Tilda builds pages from ready-made blocks, so a good-looking page needs no design skills, and its Zero Block lets you design freely when you want to. Its homepage now offers to start a website with AI. On the Tilda pricing page, the free plan covers 1 website on a tilda.ws address with a limited block library, Personal costs $10 a month billed yearly ($15 monthly) with a custom domain and all blocks, and Business costs $20 a month billed yearly ($25 monthly) with 5 websites and code export. The site you are reading, femaleswitch.com, runs on Tilda; read our Tilda review for more.
7. Hostinger Website Builder: the lowest upfront cost
Hostinger Website Builder bundles an AI website builder with hosting, email and a domain. In October 2026 its page showed promotional US-dollar prices for a 48-month term paid upfront: Premium at $2.49 a month (renewing at $10.99) for up to 3 websites, and Unlimited at $3.49 a month (renewing at $16.99) with ecommerce. Both include a free domain for one year. The low price needs a long prepaid term, so compare the renewal price with Squarespace before you choose it.
8. Duda: for agencies that build client websites
Duda says its plans are designed for agencies, SaaS companies and professionals who build and manage websites for clients, so it fits founders who run a web agency more than a single small business. On its pricing page (US dollars) Basic is $19 a month billed annually ($25 monthly) for 1 site, Team $29 ($39), Agency $52 ($69) for 4 sites and White Label $149 ($199). Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial.
9. Ycode: an open-source visual builder
Ycode is a visual website builder and CMS that is now open source under the MIT licence. You can self-host it for free, or use its cloud: Basic at $10 per project a month billed yearly ($15 monthly) and Pro at $25 ($30 monthly). Its homepage lists version 0.2.0 from March 2026, so it is a young open-source project; check that it has the features you need. For more self-hosted options, see our open-source Squarespace alternatives.
Website Builders That Changed or Left This List
The 2025 version of this article included two builders that we no longer recommend as a Squarespace alternative, and one related product changed:
- Weebly: the Weebly homepage now says it is part of the Square product suite. According to Khaleej Times, Weebly is ending service in 67 countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with sites unpublished in September 2026 and account access ending later in 2026. We do not recommend starting a new site on it.
- Square Online: Square's website pricing page now says online store features are included in any Square plan, and its free Square plan includes a basic website or online store. It suits shops already using Square payments.
- GoDaddy Website Builder: removed because GoDaddy's pricing pages blocked our check (Access Denied), so we could not verify its current plans and prices. According to HostAdvice, GoDaddy now sells its builder under the Airo AI brand; check the plan and renewal price at checkout.
Which Squarespace Alternative Should You Choose?
- You want a Squarespace-style builder with a free plan: Wix.
- Your website is mainly a shop: Shopify; Wix Core or Squarespace Core also work for small catalogues.
- You want full design control and a CMS: Webflow, or Framer if you want an AI design agent on a visual canvas.
- You publish a lot of content and want plugins: WordPress.com, or WordPress.org on your own hosting.
- You need a startup landing page this week: Framer or Tilda; for a single free page, our free Squarespace alternatives list.
- You want the lowest price and can prepay for years: Hostinger Website Builder.
- You build sites for clients: Duda.
- You want open source and your own server: Ycode or self-hosted WordPress.
Still deciding between two? See our head-to-heads Squarespace vs Wix and Squarespace vs Webflow, our shorter list of Squarespace alternatives from the startup tools section, and our lists of alternatives to Wix, Shopify, Webflow, WordPress, Framer and Tilda.
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How Founders Use a Website Builder
For an early-stage startup, the first website is a test, not a brand monument. Start with one page that explains the problem, the offer and one call to action, and use it to check demand before you build the product: our guide to pre-launch landing page validation shows how, and these landing page analyzer tools help you find what stops visitors from converting. If you are not technical, see our list of website builders for non-technical founders.
Move to a paid plan when you need your own domain, a store or a blog that brings search traffic. Make your graphics with one of the free Canva Pro alternatives, connect forms to your CRM with open-source Zapier alternatives, and write articles that rank in Google and AI assistants with the F/MS AI SEO Tool.
FAQ About Squarespace Alternatives
What is the best alternative to Squarespace in 2027?
For most small businesses, Wix is the closest all-round match: a drag-and-drop editor, templates, AI tools and online payments, plus a free plan that Squarespace does not have. Choose Shopify for a store and Webflow for design control.
Does Squarespace have a free plan?
No. Its pricing page says Squarespace does not offer a free plan, but every site starts with a 14-day free trial without a credit card.
How much does Squarespace cost?
When we checked from Malta in October 2026, Squarespace cost €12, €18, €32 and €69 a month for Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced, billed annually. Paying monthly costs more, and prices differ by country.
What is the cheapest Squarespace alternative with a custom domain?
WordPress.com Personal at $4 a month billed yearly, or Hostinger Website Builder at $2.49 a month if you prepay a 48-month term (it renews at $10.99). Both include a free domain for the first year.
Is Wix cheaper than Squarespace?
Wix has a free plan, and its Light plan costs $17 a month billed yearly in US-dollar reference prices. Squarespace Basic was €12 a month billed annually in Malta. Prices depend on your country, so compare both in your own currency.
Which Squarespace alternative is best for an online store?
Shopify is built for selling, with checkout, inventory and point of sale; Basic costs €21 a month billed yearly in euros. Wix Core and Squarespace Core also sell online with no extra store fee on Squarespace Core.
Is Weebly still available?
Weebly is part of Square. According to Khaleej Times, it is ending service in 67 countries during 2026. Square now includes online store features in its own plans, so we no longer recommend Weebly for a new site.
Is there an open-source alternative to Squarespace?
Yes. WordPress.org and Ycode are open source and can be self-hosted for free; you pay for the server. See our list of open-source Squarespace alternatives for more.
Which website builder is best for a startup landing page?
Framer and Tilda are quick for marketing and landing pages and both have free plans; for a single free page, our list of free Carrd alternatives compares more options.
Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
