A Squarespace alternative where the site is designed for you
Squarespace is a builder: you design the site from its templates, and it runs on Squarespace. Serverlys is the other route. We design your site on WordPress from $1,399, one time, host it from $5.01 first month (Black Friday, until Dec 7), then $7.95/mo, and the whole site is yours.
Two ways to get a business website
Squarespace figures as of 2026-10-26
- Serverlys design + hosting Done for you
- From $1,399 onceHosting from $5.01 first month (Black Friday, until Dec 7), then $7.95/mo. Or $89.95/mo with the site built for you (Growth Plan).
- Squarespace Basic You build it
- $25/mo billed monthly$19/mo on an annual plan. Hosting included; 2% online-store transaction fee. 14-day free trial.
Serverlys vs Squarespace, side by side
Not hosting plan against hosting plan: a designed site you own, against a builder you run yourself. Squarespace's figures are read off its own pages on the date shown.
| Compared on | Serverlys | Squarespaceas of 2026-10-26 |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the site | Our designers: a custom homepage, your subpages, a web style guide and analytics, built on WordPress | You, starting from Squarespace templates and its built-in AI tools; Squarespace also offers to match you with a hired expert |
| What it costs | Design from $1,399, one time (Starter $1,399 / Plus $1,899 / Pro $2,699), plus hosting from $5.01 first month (Black Friday, until Dec 7), then $7.95/mo. Or Growth Plan: $89.95/mo with a site of up to 4 pages built for you. | $25 / $39 / $65 / $139 per month billed monthly, or $19 / $29 / $49 / $99 per month on an annual plan (Basic / Core / Plus / Advanced). No free plan; a 14-day free trial. |
| Hosting | WordPress hosting with daily backups, free restores and the renewal rate printed | Included in every plan: “fully-managed cloud hosting” |
| Your own domain | A .com is $14.95 to register and $14.95 a year to renew, or bring the one you have | One year free on annual plans, then renewing at Squarespace’s standard rate; you can also connect a domain you own |
| Selling online | WooCommerce hosting for a store you own | Built in. Online store transaction fee: Basic 2%, Core 0%, Plus 0%, Advanced 0%, plus card processing |
| Taking the site elsewhere | Possible. It is a standard WordPress site, and your files and database are yours to take. | Partly. An .xml export for WordPress covers layout pages and one blog, but not store pages, product, audio and video blocks, drafts, style settings or custom CSS. |
| Billing and cancelling | Hosting is billed month to month, with a 30-day money-back guarantee | Monthly or annual; cancel any time, and service runs to the end of the period paid for |
| After launch | Optional site management from $149.95/mo, and ConvoAI website chat with every hosting plan | Self-serve: marketing, SEO and analytics tools, more of them on higher plans |
Squarespace figures as of 2026-10-26, from squarespace.com/pricing and its help article on exporting a site. Prices are in USD and change often; check their site before you decide. Serverlys prices are the ones on our website design, pricing and domain extensions pages.
You are comparing labour, not hosting
A Squarespace plan includes the hosting and the tools, and you do the design work: picking a template, writing the pages, styling every section. Basic at $25/mo, or $19/mo on an annual plan, pays for the platform; your time pays for the site.
A Serverlys design is a one-time fee for that work, done by designers and agreed in a written scope. After that you pay for hosting, from $5.01 first month (Black Friday, until Dec 7), then $7.95/moprinted beside it. If you would rather spread it out, the Growth Plan is $89.95/mo with a site of up to 4 pages built for you.
The other difference is what you hold at the end. Squarespace exports part of a site for WordPress. A WordPress site is standard software: all of its files and database can run with us or with any host that supports WordPress.
- Design Starter
From $1,399One time. Custom homepage and 5 subpages.
- Design Plus
From $1,899One time. Custom homepage and 10 subpages.
- Design Pro
From $2,699One time. Custom homepage and 15 subpages.
- Growth Plan
$89.95/moSite of up to 4 pages built for you, hosting included.
When Squarespace is the better choice
A comparison that never loses is advertising. These are the cases where we would point you to a builder.
You want to design it yourself
Squarespace is built around its templates and editor, with AI tools on every plan. If making the site yourself is the point, it is the better tool for that, and we design sites for you instead.
You want a small monthly bill
On 26 October 2026 Squarespace Basic was $25/mo billed monthly, or $19/mo on an annual plan, with hosting included. A custom design from us starts at $1,399 before hosting.
You want to try it free
Every Squarespace site starts with a 14-day free trial, and you can cancel any plan at any time. Our hosting has a 30-day money-back guarantee, but no free trial.
You sell products, memberships or courses
Selling products and services, invoicing and paid content are part of the plans, with 0% online-store transaction fees from Core up. A WordPress store can do the same with WooCommerce, but on Squarespace it is already there.
You want email set up with the site
Core and the plans above it include one Google Workspace account free for the first year when you register or connect a domain. Ours is a separate business email plan.
Plans, trial, commerce, fees and Google Workspace offer: squarespace.com/pricing, as of 2026-10-26.
Where Serverlys is different
We do the design, host the result and keep looking after it, if you want us to.
- Designed, not assembled
A custom homepage, a web style guide and an SEO-friendly blog, from $1,399 one time.
Website design - Yours to keep
A standard WordPress site. All of its files and database are yours, wherever you host it.
WordPress hosting - Renewal printed
Hosting is a monthly rate with the renewal rate beside it, before checkout.
See prices and renewals - One .com price
A .com is $14.95 to register and $14.95 to renew, with WHOIS privacy free where the registry allows.
The .com page - Care after launch
Updates, backups, monitoring and content changes from $149.95/mo, if you would rather not do them.
Site management - AI chat and phone
ConvoAI answers website visitors; CallFlow answers the phone. Both are Serverlys products.
AI agents
Comparing builders? Read our Wix alternative page, or see every comparison on the hosting comparison page.
How to move from Squarespace
Only part of a Squarespace site exports, so moving means a new design. We do it; you approve it.
- 1
Pick how you want to pay
A one-time website design project from $1,399 plus WordPress hosting, or one monthly fee on the Growth Plan ($89.95/mo, site built for you).
- 2
Export what Squarespace can export
Squarespace can save layout pages and one blog as an .xml file for WordPress. Send it to us with your Squarespace address, and we use it alongside your current pages as the brief for the new design. Anything the export leaves out, such as store pages and styles, is rebuilt in the design.
- 3
Review the new site before it goes live
The scope is agreed in writing before work starts, and your Squarespace site stays online the whole time. When you are happy with the new one, we launch it.
- 4
Point or move the domain
If the domain is registered elsewhere, it only needs to point at Serverlys. To move it here, unlock it, get its authorisation code and start a domain transfer. A .com transfer costs $14.95 and adds a year; ICANN rules block transfers within 60 days of a registration or a previous transfer.
- 5
Cancel Squarespace last
Once the new site, email and domain are working, cancel the plan. Squarespace says service continues to the end of the period you have paid for.
Before you buy
The things people actually ask us, answered plainly.
What is the best Squarespace alternative?
It depends on who you want to build the site. If you want to design it yourself, Squarespace, or another builder, is the right kind of tool. If you would rather have it designed for you and own a standard WordPress site, Serverlys designs sites from $1,399, one time, and hosts them from $5.01 first month (Black Friday, until Dec 7), renewing at $7.95/mo.
Can I move my Squarespace site to WordPress?
Partly. Squarespace's own help article says it can export an .xml file for WordPress with layout pages, one blog and text and image blocks, but not store pages, product, audio and video blocks, drafts, style settings or custom CSS. We use that export and your current pages as the brief, and design the rest of the new site around them.
Is Squarespace cheaper than Serverlys?
To start, yes. On 26 October 2026 Squarespace plans ran from $25/mo billed monthly, or $19/mo on an annual plan, with hosting included. A Serverlys design starts at $1,399 once, plus hosting from $5.01 first month (Black Friday, until Dec 7), then $7.95/mo. Our Growth Plan is $89.95/mo with the site built for you. You are paying for the design work, not for the hosting.
Will I be able to edit a site you build?
Yes. Every site we design is built on WordPress, so you can change text, swap photos and publish blog posts yourself. The web style guide keeps anything you add consistent with the rest of the site. If you would rather not, site management covers the updates and small changes.
Is Squarespace a bad choice for a business website?
No. Squarespace includes managed hosting, templates, commerce and invoicing in one plan, and you can cancel any time. The trade-off is that you build the site yourself and only part of it exports. We differ on who does the design and on what you own at the end, not on whether Squarespace is legitimate.
A plan that still makes sense in year two
Free migration, free SSL and daily backups on every plan, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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