Guides / websites

What Are the Best Squarespace Alternatives in 2026?

By Ryan Goering, CEO, BaaDigi · Last updated October 2026 · 57 sources checked

The main Squarespace alternatives are WordPress (you keep every file and can change hosts), Wix (a drag-and-drop editor, but no site export), Webflow (designer-level control; code export costs extra), GoDaddy’s Airo builder (prompt-driven editing, $9.99 a month for the first year, auto-renewing at $179.88; labeled Beta) and Duda (highest Core Web Vitals pass rate, 86.0% on mobile)[1][2][3][4][5]. People usually leave Squarespace over price rises, up to 26% on annual plans in July 2026, a robots.txt nobody can edit, and a WordPress-format export that leaves out the design and most page types[6][7][8]. Speed is not the problem: 72.1% of Squarespace sites pass Core Web Vitals on mobile, against 53.0% across the web[9][10]. Our own offer, listed last, rebuilds the site on Next.js for $97 a month plus $300 setup, and you own the code[11]. Whichever you pick, expect to rebuild rather than move, and budget at the renewal price, not the first-year price.

BaaDigi builds websites, mostly on Next.js, so we compete with every platform on this page. Every figure below is from the platform’s own pages or public datasets, so you can check it.

Why do people leave Squarespace?

These are the reasons the Squarespace documentation and press coverage we read support. Speed is not one of them.

  • Price rises at renewal. In July 2026, annual Core went from $23 to $29 a month and Plus from $39 to $49, both about 26%; PetaPixel noted Squarespace had seemingly not published a specific announcement[6]. TechRadar reported that three of four plans rose 18–26%[12]. Squarespace says a price increase applies at your next scheduled renewal[13], and customers on a legacy plan scheduled for an increase cannot cancel the change[14].
  • Current prices: $19, $29, $49 or $99 a month billed yearly, or $25, $39, $65 or $139 month to month. The $19 Basic plan has no code injection, no mobile information bar and no Zapier[15].
  • A partial export. Squarespace’s export file can only be in WordPress format, and it leaves out style settings, custom CSS and most page types[8].
  • A locked robots.txt. All Squarespace sites share the same robots.txt file and users cannot edit it[7]. The one AI setting blocks a fixed list of 26 bots across the whole site or none at all[16].
  • Paying for features you did not ask for. TechRadar quoted a user who said they were paying for things they did not ask for, mainly AI[12].
  • Reviews. Trustpilot rates Squarespace 3.5 out of 5 (“Average”) as of October 1, 2026[17].

Squarespace is faster than the web average. In August 2026, 72.1% of Squarespace sites passed all three Core Web Vitals on mobile and 66.4% on desktop, against 53.0% and 60.2% across all sites[9][10]. If speed is your only complaint, check your own pages’ images and effects before you move.

What are the best Squarespace alternatives?

These are the five platforms we researched in depth, not every option on the market, plus our own offer. Prices are US list prices as read between September 21 and October 1, 2026; "first year" uses the cheapest plan a small business would realistically publish on, billed yearly.

Squarespace alternatives compared: cost, renewal, ownership, editing and Core Web Vitals (HTTP Archive, August 2026). Yearly totals in brackets are our calculation: 12 times the vendor’s published monthly price, which each vendor states is for a yearly plan paid upfront. They are not vendor-printed figures.
PlatformFirst-year costRenewal costCan you export or own the site?Who can edit it, and howCore Web Vitals pass rate (mobile / desktop)
WordPress (self-hosted)Software $0; hosting and domain priced by your host, which we did not research[18][19]Set by your host; not researched[19]Yes. You hold the files and database and can move hosts; GPL license, no vendor lock-in[1][20]You or a developer, in the WordPress dashboard; full code access. WordPress 7.0 added an AI Client in core[21]48.7% / 53.3%[22]
WordPress.com Business$25 a month billed yearly ($300)[23]Not shown on the page we could read; check at checkout[23]Content exports; theme, customizations and plugins do not without a migration plugin[24]You in the editor; outside AI agents such as ChatGPT and Claude can read and edit the site through MCP[25]Not reported separately
WixLight $17 or Core $29 a month billed yearly ($204 or $348); booking and payments start on Core[26]Wix publishes no plan renewal price; Wix says anything bought at a discount renews at “the standard rate”[27]. A free first-year .com renews at $21.35 a year[28]No. Wix sites must run on Wix servers; blog posts cannot be exported[2][29]You in the Wix editor, with 2 collaborators on Light and 5 on Core[26]. The Wix Harmony AI builder is included on every plan[30]81.2% / 86.8%[31]
WebflowBasic $15 a month billed yearly ($180), no CMS; Premium with CMS $25 a month ($300)[32][33]Webflow may change fees at renewal with notice[34]Code export only with a paid Workspace plan, from $19 a month billed yearly; CMS content is not in it and forms stop working[3][32]Whoever holds a seat; extra Full seats ($39 a month) design sites, Limited seats ($15 a month) edit content or build pages with components, billed yearly[32]71.2% / 82.1%[35]
GoDaddy (Airo AI Builder)Starter $9.99 a month and Professional $24.99, each for the first 1-year term[4]Starter auto-renews at $179.88 and Professional at $443.88[4]Yes on paid plans: download the whole project as a ZIP of code[36][37]. Airo is labeled Beta[4]You, by typing prompts to the Airo AI; plans are metered in AI credits (150 a month on Starter)[4][38]83.8% / 80.5% (GoDaddy Website Builder)[39]
DudaBasic $19 a month billed yearly ($228)[40]No promo-to-renewal jump published; Duda may change prices and says it will notify you[40][41]Partial. ZIP export on the Agency plan ($52 a month billed yearly) and up; leaves out the blog, dynamic pages and working forms[42][40]Basic has no team seats; the Team plan adds 3 team seats and unlimited client accounts; AI can bulk-write titles and meta descriptions[40]86.0% / 87.5%[5]
BaaDigi AI Website Management (our own offer)$1,464 ($97 a month plus $300 one-time setup)[11]$1,164 a year, month to month, no contract[11]Yes. You own the domain, code, content and lead data; the code is transferred if you leave[11]You, using your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription; content changes only, previewed, checked and approved by you before publishing[11]Not measured for this plan

Core Web Vitals figures are platform-wide averages from real Chrome users in August 2026, not a promise for any single site. The whole-web baseline was 53.0% on mobile and 60.2% on desktop[10].

In BaaDigi’s study of 511 local contractors named by ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews, 2.7% ran Squarespace (95% confidence interval 1.6–4.5%). WordPress ran 49.3%, Duda 6.8%, Wix 6.5%, GoDaddy Website Builder 2.9% and Webflow 2.2%[43]. Across the whole web, W3Techs counts Squarespace on 2.4% of all websites[44].

Correlation only. These shares mostly mirror how common each platform is. The study cannot show that any platform helps or hurts a business’s chance of being recommended by AI.

What do you lose and keep when you move off Squarespace?

Plan on a rebuild. Squarespace states that not everything will export, because many features rely on its own JavaScript and CSS[8]. What it produces is an .xml file in WordPress format, and it says you do not have to import that file into WordPress[8].

  • Kept in the export: standard layout pages, one blog page with its posts and up to 1,000 comments per post, text and image blocks, and gallery pages[8].
  • Lost: portfolio, store, index and calendar pages, any second blog, product and video blocks, drafts, style settings and custom CSS[8].
  • Images: imported into self-hosted WordPress, images may come across only as links back to Squarespace, which break once the Squarespace site is gone. Squarespace recommends importing into WordPress.com, which copies the images over[8].
  • Wix documents a blog importer that takes a WordPress XML file or a WordPress site URL. It brings over published posts with text, images, videos, post dates and categories, up to 5,000 posts per import. It does not import contact forms, author names, tags, custom plugins, inserted code, PDFs or comments[45].
  • Webflow documents CSV import into CMS Collections. Images in a rich text field load from their original URL, so they stop working once the old site comes down[46].
  • Duda documents importing blog posts from an RSS feed: up to 300 posts at a time, text, images, videos, author and date, arriving as drafts[47].
  • Those three importers are for blog posts or CMS items, not whole sites, and none of the pages we read says it accepts Squarespace’s export file. GoDaddy’s Airo page offers a “Rebuild my site” prompt option[4]; we read no GoDaddy page that documents importing Squarespace’s file. Expect to rebuild pages and re-enter most content, as you would with our own offer.
  • Trial sites cannot export at all[8].

Your content stays yours. Squarespace’s terms say you keep ownership of what you upload, while granting Squarespace permission to use it to provide, improve, promote and protect its services[48].

Your domain can move. Switch off Domain Lock and request the transfer code; it should arrive within 24 hours. The transfer can take up to 15 days, most domain hosts cannot keep your DNS settings in place during it, a free domain’s offer does not carry over, and the Squarespace site stays live until you cancel it[49].

Online booking can stay put. Squarespace Scheduling (Acuity) is a separate subscription from the website and can be used on its own[50].

Before you cancel, save the text of every page, your original photos and your form-submission history, and set up 301 redirects from old URLs on the new platform. The export does not carry your design, and URL mappings are not in its list of what exports[8].

Can you edit the site yourself with AI on each alternative?

Here is only what the platforms’ own pages document. Where we found nothing, we say so rather than assume the feature is missing.

  • Squarespace (for comparison): plans include AI credits, from 10 one-time on Basic to 120 a month on Advanced, and Squarespace documents an AI Visibility tool that uses them[15][51]. Editing the site with an outside AI tool is not documented in the pages we read.
  • WordPress: WordPress 7.0, released May 20, 2026, added an AI Client in core that connects WordPress to generative AI models[21]. On WordPress.com, outside agents such as ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor can read and edit your site through MCP access, managed in privacy settings[25].
  • Wix: Wix Harmony, a new AI website builder, was announced in January 2026[52] and Wix says it is included in every plan, including the free one[30]. Wix’s terms let it use your content to train its AI and machine-learning tools[53].
  • Webflow: every Workspace includes AI credits, 200 on the free Starter Workspace, and extra credits cost $20 a month billed yearly[32]. Webflow AI can write schema markup for a page[54]. Its AEO agents, which write fixes into pages, need the Team plan ($2,500 a month, annual contract required) or Enterprise[55][32].
  • GoDaddy Airo: the builder is prompt-driven; you describe your idea and it builds the site[4]. You can prompt it to optimize the site for SEO[56]. Edit mode, for simple text and image fixes, uses no AI credits; monthly credits do not roll over, and extra packs are 250 credits for $24.99[38].
  • Duda: an AI tool can generate page titles, meta descriptions and image alt text across a site[40]. Duda Vibe, a conversational editor for building web tools, is aimed at agencies[57]. Duda’s Team plan adds team seats and unlimited client accounts; the Basic plan has no team seats[40].

Our own offer works differently. You make changes with your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription. Content is kept separate from code and the AI may change content only; every change is previewed, checked automatically and approved by you before it publishes, and any change can be rolled back[11]. BaaDigi rebuilds your current site on Next.js (up to 15 standard pages; stores, membership sites, web apps, portals and large migrations are quoted separately), hosts it on Vercel with Cloudflare in front, filters form spam, delivers and logs leads, installs analytics and gives technical support[11].

There are no done-for-you content changes on that plan. If you want someone else to write and update your pages, it is the wrong fit.

Which Squarespace alternative fits you?

  • Self-hosted WordPress: likely a fit if you want to own every file, plan to grow to many pages, and have someone who will keep plugins updated. Squarespace’s export file is in WordPress format.
  • Wix: likely a fit if you want a drag-and-drop editor and the higher average Core Web Vitals pass rate, and accept that the site has to run on Wix’s servers. Budget for Core if you need booking or payments.
  • Webflow: likely a fit if a designer will build and run the site and you want fine control. Add a paid Workspace if you want the option to export code.
  • GoDaddy Airo: likely a fit if you would rather describe changes in plain English than drag boxes, and want a code download on a paid plan. Plan for the auto-renew price ($179.88 on Starter), and remember Airo is labeled Beta.
  • Duda: likely a fit if an agency builds and hosts the site for you. Get in writing that the domain is in your name and how the site will be transferred or exported if you part ways.
  • Our own offer: likely a fit if you want a custom site whose code you own, will make your own changes with Claude or ChatGPT, and do not need done-for-you content.
  • Staying on Squarespace: reasonable if you have a simple site, are happy with the speed, and can absorb the renewal price. Moving costs a rebuild whichever way you go.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Squarespace?
It depends on what you want to fix. WordPress gives the most ownership, and Squarespace’s export file is in WordPress format. Wix offers a drag-and-drop editor but no site export. Webflow gives fine design control. GoDaddy’s Airo builder has the lowest first-year price of the paid builders compared. Duda had the highest Core Web Vitals pass rate in August 2026 and is built around agency accounts.
Can I move my Squarespace site to another platform?
Only partly. Squarespace exports a WordPress-format .xml file with standard pages, one blog and some images, but not your design, custom CSS, store, portfolio or calendar pages. Wix, Webflow and Duda each document an importer for blog posts or CMS items, but none says it accepts that file. Your domain can be transferred away with a code that arrives within 24 hours. Expect to rebuild the design on any new platform.
Is Wix cheaper than Squarespace?
At entry level, a little on the monthly price. Wix lists Light at $17 a month and Squarespace lists Basic at $19, both billed yearly, though Wix’s booking and payments start on Core. Wix Core and Squarespace Core are the same monthly price, $29 billed yearly. Wix sites cannot be exported at all, while Squarespace offers a partial export.
Is Squarespace slow compared with other builders?
No. In August 2026, 72.1% of Squarespace sites passed Core Web Vitals on mobile, above the 53.0% web average. Duda, GoDaddy Website Builder and Wix scored higher on mobile, Webflow was about the same, and WordPress was lower at 48.7%.
Which Squarespace alternative lets me own my website?
Self-hosted WordPress, where you hold all the files and can move hosts. GoDaddy’s Airo builder lets you download the code on a paid plan. Webflow and Duda offer code exports with limits and only on higher plans. Wix offers no site export. BaaDigi’s AI Website Management plan transfers the code to you if you leave.

Related reading

Sources

Every source was opened and read on the date shown. Vendor prices change; check the vendor's page before buying. How we research: methodology.

  1. WordPress.org: GPL license — checked 2026-09-21
  2. Wix help: exporting or embedding your Wix site elsewhere — checked 2026-09-21
  3. Webflow help: Export your site code — checked 2026-09-21
  4. GoDaddy Airo AI Builder home and plans page (airo-builder.godaddy.com) — checked 2026-10-01
  5. HTTP Archive Core Web Vitals Technology Report API: Duda (August 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  6. PetaPixel, "Squarespace is increasing prices by up to 26%" (July 17, 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  7. Squarespace help: Understanding Google SEO emails and console errors — checked 2026-09-21
  8. Squarespace help: Exporting your site — checked 2026-09-21
  9. HTTP Archive Core Web Vitals Technology Report API: Squarespace (August 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  10. HTTP Archive Core Web Vitals Technology Report API: all websites (August 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  11. BaaDigi: AI Website Management pricing and scope — checked 2026-10-01
  12. TechRadar, Squarespace users react to 2026 price increases — checked 2026-09-21
  13. Squarespace help: Choosing the right Squarespace plan — checked 2026-09-21
  14. Squarespace help: Legacy website billing plans — checked 2026-09-21
  15. Squarespace pricing page — checked 2026-09-21
  16. Squarespace help: Request that AI models exclude your site — checked 2026-09-21
  17. Trustpilot: Squarespace reviews — checked 2026-10-01
  18. WordPress.org: download page — checked 2026-09-21
  19. WordPress.org: recommended hosting — checked 2026-09-21
  20. WordPress.org documentation: Tools > Export screen — checked 2026-09-21
  21. WordPress.org news: WordPress 7.0 "Armstrong" — checked 2026-09-21
  22. HTTP Archive Core Web Vitals Technology Report API: WordPress (August 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  23. WordPress.com pricing page — checked 2026-09-21
  24. WordPress.com support: export your content — checked 2026-09-21
  25. WordPress.com support: privacy settings (AI agent access) — checked 2026-09-21
  26. Wix plans and pricing page — checked 2026-10-01
  27. Wix help: billing for Premium plans — checked 2026-09-21
  28. Wix blog: how much it costs to buy a domain from Wix — checked 2026-09-21
  29. Wix help: request, exporting blog posts to other platforms — checked 2026-09-21
  30. Wix blog: how much does Wix Harmony cost? — checked 2026-09-21
  31. HTTP Archive Core Web Vitals Technology Report API: Wix (August 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  32. Webflow pricing page — checked 2026-10-01
  33. Webflow blog: simplified plans and updated pricing (2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  34. Webflow terms of service — checked 2026-09-21
  35. HTTP Archive Core Web Vitals Technology Report API: Webflow (August 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  36. GoDaddy help: download my Airo AI Builder files and code — checked 2026-09-21
  37. GoDaddy resources: launch your web app and site with Airo AI Builder — checked 2026-09-21
  38. GoDaddy Airo: make your AI credits go further — checked 2026-10-01
  39. HTTP Archive Core Web Vitals Technology Report API: GoDaddy Website Builder (August 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  40. Duda pricing page — checked 2026-09-21
  41. Duda terms of service — checked 2026-09-21
  42. Duda help: Site Export — checked 2026-09-21
  43. BaaDigi study: website platforms of 511 AI-recommended contractors (September 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  44. W3Techs: usage of content management systems (September 21, 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  45. Wix help: importing blog posts from WordPress to the Wix Blog — checked 2026-10-01
  46. Webflow blog: new feature, CSV import to the CMS — checked 2026-10-01
  47. Duda help: Blog (import blog posts from RSS feeds) — checked 2026-10-01
  48. Squarespace terms of service (effective March 27, 2025) — checked 2026-09-21
  49. Squarespace help: Transferring a domain away from Squarespace — checked 2026-09-21
  50. Squarespace help: Acuity Scheduling pricing, billing and invoices — checked 2026-09-21
  51. Wix press release: Wix launches Wix Harmony (January 2026) — checked 2026-09-21
  52. Wix terms of use — checked 2026-09-21
  53. Webflow help: Add schema markup in Webflow — checked 2026-09-21
  54. Webflow help: AEO agents overview — checked 2026-09-21
  55. GoDaddy Airo product update, June 2026 — checked 2026-09-21
  56. TechRadar: Duda expands its AI stack (July 2026) — checked 2026-09-21