Framer vs Squarespace: which one fits your business

The short answer

Pick Squarespace if you want one place for your site, your shop, your bookings and your email campaigns, and you’re happy working inside its templates. Pick Framer if the design matters more than the extras, and you want the site to look and move exactly the way you picture it.

I build in Framer, so take that into account. Squarespace is a good product, and for some businesses it’s the better one.

At a glance

• Design freedom: Framer. You place anything anywhere. Squarespace works in sections and blocks.

• Motion: Framer, clearly. Scroll effects, hovers and page transitions are built in.

• Selling online: Squarespace. A store, payments, invoices and scheduling are part of the plans.

• Starting price with your own domain: Framer Basic at $10 a month. Squarespace Basic at around $16 a month billed yearly in the US, with a free domain for the first year.

• Ease for a beginner: close. Squarespace is harder to break. Framer is easier to make look good.

• Trial: Squarespace gives you 14 days free. Framer is free to build on for as long as you like.

How they feel to build in

Squarespace gives you a template, then lets you add and rearrange sections inside it. It’s hard to make a mess, which is the point. It’s also hard to make something that doesn’t look like Squarespace.

Framer is a canvas. You draw the layout, set how it behaves on tablet and phone, and add motion as settings on each layer. There’s more to learn in the first hour, and much less in your way after that.

Photographers are a classic Squarespace audience. Ferreira is my photography template in Framer: a big serif name, generous white space and the work doing the talking.

What they cost

Framer: free to build and publish on a framer.website address. Basic is $10 a month with your own domain and two CMS collections. Pro is $30 a month with ten collections, redirects and staging.

Squarespace: no free plan, but a 14-day trial. Its current plans are Basic, Core and Advanced, plus a Plus plan in some countries. In the US, Basic is around $16 a month and Core around $23 billed yearly. Paying yearly includes a free domain for the first year.

Watch the fees on Squarespace if you sell. Basic takes a 2% fee on store sales. Core and up take none, apart from the payment processor’s own cut. The Framer pricing guide covers Framer’s side in detail.

Squarespace is a business in a box. Framer is a website without a box.

Selling and booking

This is Squarespace’s strongest point. Products, services, digital downloads, memberships, invoices and appointment booking all live inside one account.

Framer doesn’t have a built-in store. You connect one: Shopify for products, or a checkout like Polar or Lemon Squeezy for digital goods. I sell my own templates this way, with a Framer site linking out to Polar checkouts. It works well, but it’s two services instead of one.

For bookings, a Framer site links to a booking tool or embeds one. Brisa, my template for villas and small hotels, has a Book direct button on every page that can point wherever you take reservations.

Blogs and content

Both handle a blog well. Squarespace’s blog is simple to run and needs no setup. Framer’s CMS takes a little more setup, and in return lets you build any kind of content: case studies, team pages, listings, events, each with its own layout.

SEO

Both give you page titles, descriptions, alt text, clean URLs and a sitemap. Neither will rank a site that has nothing worth reading. Write for the questions your customers ask and either platform will do its job.

Therapists often start on Squarespace. Aubade is my Framer template for therapy practices, with pages for services, clinicians and a journal, and a calm, slow feel that a block layout finds hard to match.

When I’d pick each

• Squarespace: a shop, a studio taking bookings and payments, or anyone who wants one login for everything and doesn’t mind looking a little familiar.

• Framer: a service business, a portfolio, a startup or a launch, where the design is what wins the client.

Moving from Squarespace to Framer

1. List your pages and their URLs, and note which ones get search traffic.

2. Export your blog from Squarespace. It comes out in a WordPress format, so convert it to CSV and import it into a Framer CMS collection.

3. Rebuild the design in Framer, or start from a template close to what you want.

4. Set up redirects from the old URLs. That needs Framer Pro.

5. Move the domain and test the forms and key pages the same day.

Is Framer better than Squarespace?

For design and motion, yes. For selling and booking in one place, Squarespace is ahead.

Is Framer cheaper than Squarespace?

To start, yes. Framer is free to build on and $10 a month with a domain. Squarespace starts at around $16 a month billed yearly in the US.

Can I sell products on a Framer site?

Yes, by connecting a store or checkout such as Shopify, Polar or Lemon Squeezy. Framer doesn’t process payments itself.

Which is easier for a beginner?

Squarespace is harder to get wrong. Framer is easier to get right if you care how it looks. A template takes most of the guesswork out of either.

If you’re moving off Squarespace, start a project and I’ll handle the rebuild and the redirects, or browse my templates first.

Some links to Framer on this page are referral links. If you sign up through one, I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.