Everything seems to cost more in 2026, and website builders are no exception.
In the past five years, we have seen the likes of Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify shift from simple building and hosting tools into full-blown hubs for launching and growing your business. We’ve seen new tools, features, and AI integrations hitting the market in a bid to win the battle of the best website builders.
But with innovation comes expense, and that gets passed onto the customer.
This isn’t a surprise, but at a time where everything seems to be making a bigger dent in our bank balance, large, unforeseen price rises can be hard to stomach, which is why some Squarespace customers are feeling upset – I set out to find out more.
Squarespace price increases
One Squarespace user reported an over 60% increase in their subscription fee between 2021 and 2026, taking their annual cost from $216 to $348 and posting on Reddit that they “feel like I’m paying for things I sincerely did not ask for, the biggest thing being AI.”
Of course, price increases are to be expected as the cost of providing a service also goes up. Plus, it’s common not to use each and every feature of platforms that we subscribe to.
So, what’s the problem?
Well, most of us can stomach paying a couple more dollars for features we don’t use, especially when the features we do use are great. But when those features cost anywhere from $20 to $60 a year, it’s easy to start questioning whether it’s worth it.
Squarespace also had to send an apology email following a ‘pricing implementation error’ affecting certain plans, meaning some customers received a higher increase than intended. However, according to Squarespace, no customer was incorrectly charged as a result, and those impacted have been contacted.
So, to summarize. Prices are up, but not as much as Squarespace initially told us – that’s one way to soften the blow, I guess.
Is this really an issue?
A lot goes into how much website builders charge for subscriptions and, as we all know, basically everything has gotten more expensive recently. However, it seems strange to me that Squarespace doesn’t offer more transparency and certainty around upcoming price increases.
Let me be clear: I want to see platforms continue to roll out tools that help small businesses grow themselves online. But I’d also like to see them better recognize that at least a large proportion of their audience are entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and hobbyists who find it difficult to absorb hefty price rises.
In fact, Squarespace started life targeting creatives such as photographers and artists, giving them the tools they need to create high-impact portfolios online. Many long-term customers likely still fit into this category, although as Squarespace has evolved, they may feel forgotten about.
I am confident that an increase in subscription costs is primarily rooted in increased operational costs. However, increasing prices so much beyond inflation and failing to properly communicate additional value seems like an odd strategy in an industry that is facing more competition than ever.
In fairness, it is certainly a hard thing for website builders to balance.
- Fail to develop the platform, and users feel they are paying for a tool that is no longer relevant
- Invest in development, but charge more, and users feel the financial burden
- Change your pricing model, charging extra for every feature, and users become fatigued by piling costs.
How does Squarespace pricing compare?
I compared Squarespace’s 2025 to 2026 price increase to two of its closest competitors, Wix and Shopify. You can look at the results in two ways.
Firstly, this is clearly a significant jump. Across four plans, Squarespace has increased the price of three by 18% to 25%, although existing customers may see smaller increases. In comparison, Wix has only increased the price of one plan from 2025 to 2026 by around 8%, and Shopify hasn’t increased any.
This certainly seems significant.
However, if you step back and look at the bigger picture, Squarespace subscriptions are roughly comparable* with others in the same space. Its entry-level plan now costs just $7/year more than Wix’s equivalent plan.
It gives you more too, allowing you to sell online with its Basic ($19/mo) plan. You have to pay a minimum of $29/mo with both Wix and Shopify to do that.
Of course, comparing plans isn’t apples to apples, with each provider offering access to different tools and features at each subscription tier.
What does Squarespace say?
We are continually investing in our platform to help customers build and grow their businesses.
Squarespace representative
I reached out to Squarespace to get some insight into why subscriptions have increased so significantly.
“We understand that cost is an important consideration for small business owners, and we don’t take pricing changes lightly” a Squarespace representative told me.
“We recently added to every website plan capabilities previously available only on higher-tier plans or through third-party services, and we are continually investing in our platform to help customers build and grow their businesses.”
It makes sense. Platforms like Squarespace have to invest in improving the tools and features they offer, or they get left behind. Those costs get passed onto the user.
Yet ‘we’ve added more to your plan’ is likely little reassurance to the Reddit user that already feels they are paying more for tools they don’t use. So what can they do?
What can you do about price rises?
I’ve fallen into this trap before, and it sucks.
You have an essential website that costs you more each year, but you aren’t getting anything more from it. Then you are left with a difficult choice. Do you stick where you are and just absorb costs? Or do you look to migrate to a different platform?
This is the dilemma I faced with my personal website in 2025. I felt like I was spending a small fortune with Wix to keep my simple one-page website live. In the end, I moved it to Hostinger; you can read about how I got on with it here.
Spoiler: it saved me $168 a year, but I had to build my site again from scratch.
Although it comes too late for the Reddit user and for me, the advice I would give someone in a similar situation is to better understand what you need from a website builder before subscribing.
All too often we opt for the likes of Wix and Squarespace for convenience, and although that shouldn’t be undervalued, it comes at the price of being locked into a platform and at the mercy of future price rises.
The likes of Wix and Squarespace have developed in recent years from true website builders (with hosting built in) into full business platforms with features ranging from invoicing and bookings to integrations with dropshippers. To get good value for money, you need to be using at least some of these additional features.
That is exactly why I use Wix to run my small martial arts gym. I use the scheduling tool, ecommerce features, AI writer, pay links, and built-in CRM on a weekly basis. This makes price rises easier to absorb, especially when compared to paying for individual platforms to achieve the same outcome.
Clients would rather pay more for something that keeps getting better than pay less for something standing still.
Miles Noble, Founder of SquareLocator
Platforms like Squarespace can offer a huge range of tools for web-building professionals too.
“For many websites, Squarespace is arguably the best platform on the market, due to its hosting, security and stability. Realistically, a platform cannot keep improving at this pace without costs rising with it,” shares Miles Noble, Founder of SquareLocator and Director of Altitude Design, “Clients would rather pay more for something that keeps getting better than pay less for something standing still.”
Yes, these website builders can be used to build simple, static websites, but you will be paying over the odds.
In this case, a smarter approach may be opting for a web hosting provider that offers a built-in website/page builder. Although you are still subject to price increases, these are generally more affordable and can make migration easier, giving you greater options if you’re ever unhappy.
You could also code your own site, or use an AI tool to code a site for you, then simply pay for hosting. This offers ultimate flexibility and affordability but can also be time-intensive, requires some technical knowledge, and lacks the support you need when things go wrong.
Do website builders charge too much?
Price rises that are so significantly above inflation are a lot for some users to stomach. Although these increases could be the result of rising costs, it would make sense for website builders to give more notice of upcoming increases and better communicate why those price increases have come about.
Website builders like Squarespace are certainly a great option for small businesses and website agencies that will make use of its generous tools and features, but they fail to serve customers looking for a simple website with predictable future costs. They also make it difficult for those customers to migrate their website should they feel the need.
*
|
Squarespace |
Price (annual) |
Wix |
Price (annual) |
Shopify |
Price (annual) |
|
Basic |
$228 |
Light |
$221 |
Row 1 – Cell 4 | Row 1 – Cell 5 |
|
Core |
$348 |
Core |
$377 |
Basic |
$348 |
|
Plus |
$588 |
Business |
$468 |
Grow |
$948 |
|
Advanced |
$1,188 |
Business Elite |
$1,908 |
Advanced |
$3,887 |
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