I used to recommend Squarespace for website building but now I don’t. I no longer use it for my website, design templates for it or tell my clients to use Squarespace. And in this blog, I’m going to go over why YOU shouldn’t use Squarespace for your website.
But first, let me say this…
And I know reviews of website builders are usually biased, especially when web designers are doing the reviews. I’m not going to pretend that Showit isn’t my favorite website builder since switching from Squarespace.
Why I Stopped Using Squarespace & Switched to Showit
Some of this is expected—of course, you’re going to recommend the platform that your website is on. It works for you and your clients so why not recommend it?
The problem with this ^^^ idea?
When recommending your personal website builder gets in the way of what’s best for your web design clients—aka. when you’re not happy with Squarespace, but you still use it + sell Squarespace templates AND you do this even when you know that Squarespace doesn’t have its user’s best interest at the forefront of the company.
THIS ^^^ is the problem!
Ever since Squarespace went public with their stock the company has cared less and less about the listing to their customers, especially the web designers who use the platform (aka. the ones who bring their clients over to Squarespace—aka. helping grow Squarespace’s customer base).
Now I’m not so much irked with Squarespace, I mean, I’m not really surprised that they’re focused more on their investors than their customers—it’s what happens when you expand a corporation too far.
BUT what does irk me is that other web designers are still recommending Squarespace as an easy-to-use website platform to their clients. <<< Meanwhile they’re chatting in The Circle forum about how frustrated they are with Squarespace. It’s untransparent and that’s not good business in my opinion.
Now you might be thinking “But didn’t you just say you used to use Squarespace?”. <<< And you’re correct, I did use to host my website on Squarespace—but I haven’t recommended using it since Fluid Engine was released in the summer of 2022.
When I was on Squarespace I recommended the platform, because at the time it was easy to use and made sense for my business. BUT once Fluid Engine was released haphazardly, I knew it was time to no longer recommend using Squarespace to my clients and website template customers.
That’s why in this blog I’m breaking down 3 reasons why you shouldn’t use Squarespace.
Squarespace isn’t easy-to-use like it used to be
Squarespace’s unique value used to be that it wasn’t a true drag-and-drop website builder. Before Fluid Engine was launched Squarespace relied solely on a grid design system. You had to move blocks around within the grid to design your website. This was limiting at the time, but you couldn’t argue that it was easy to use. While it was easy to create a boring website on Squarespace it wasn’t easy to create a chaotic mess either.
While Squarespace could be limiting, it was unique compared to other website builders like Showit or even Wix. If you valued ease of use it made sense to choose Squarespace and if creativity was important to you then Squarespace wouldn’t be the right choice.
But when Fluid Engine was released publicly Squarespace lost that unique value. Now Squarespace is just another drag-and-drop website builder. If it was better than the competition that would be fine. <<< But where other website builders like Showit shine with drag-and-drop functionality, because they’ve been doing it for years—Squarespace is still lackluster and clunky in comparison. And not to mention you STILL have the grid parameters that Squarespace has always had, so Fluid Engine isn’t fully drag-and-drop either.
Does Squarespace or Showit Drag-and-Drop Better?
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use drag-and-drop website Showit is a much better option, for that matter even Wix would probably be a better option.
Squarespace rarely announces changes to the platform ahead of time
I could have included this in the reasons why Squarespace is not easy to use—but it’s enough that it deserves a section of its own. Squarespace will make haphazard changes to the platform with little to no notice, frequently. <<< Like so frequently that you could see multiple changes within a week.
Most of these too-frequent updates are to the UX of the platform. An example of this is moving the button to click on to change your button colors to a different location. These are extremely annoying for one, but if you’re a Squarespace template designer, recording video tutorials over and over again to match these changes is NOT sustainable.
Now some of you might be thinking “Oh that doesn’t sound too bad”, but Squarespace did the same thing with the release of Fluid Engine. And if you know anything about the differences between Fluid Engine and Classic Editor, I think we can both agree that that was not a small update.
Squarespace does announce new features to The Circle sooner than the general customers—but even with Fluid Engine, The Circle members got a limited amount of time to start preparing for the release.
Squarespace has jack-of-all-trades master-of-none syndrome
One of Squarespace’s “selling pointes” is that it’s an all-in-one platform. <<< This means that in theory, you can host your website, courses, membership, blogs, podcasts, email marketing, ecommerce, analytics, domains, appointment scheduling and more—all under one digital roof aka. Squarespace.
Now some of those integrations aren’t bad—like the ecommerce functionality (assuming your business isn’t product-based) or appointment scheduling. BUT when it comes to the majority of the built-in integrations, they are typically over-priced and lacking in features.
Squarespace email campaigns is a great example of this. You’ll find most Squarespace users don’t use it because of a lack of features and its overpriced. And the Squarespace designers who recommend using it are slim to none.
Summary of why you shouldn’t use Squarespace for your website
Bottom line: I don’t recommend using Squarespace for your website because it’s no longer easy to use and the unexpected constant updates. This along with clunky drag-and-drop grid designing and the overpriced integrations make it not as great of a website builder as it could and used to be.
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