Squarespace Reviews 

Squarespace,
If your are good or pro at code, SEO, and love endless links,,,
If you like a slow page, (google load all sq. template, all code, and you cannot escape!)
if you like no phone, no live support,
if you like to watch, videos, videos, videos, what YOU should do... (excuses)
if you have no need to see any exampels of real successful squarespace page,
Go with squarespace, otherwise keep looking...

Website editor is clunky, portfolio is terrible, gallery editor deletes and rearranges photos, and customer support has ignored almost every single request I've made. Let's go bit by bit:

Website editor:
It used to be better. I used SS years ago and there was more control over the layout. They've simplified it so much that there are really only a few options right now. And, since I want the background of my photo gallery to be clean white with black font, SS made me change ALL of my pages to white bg with black font. It's absolutely infuriating trying to make anything that doesn't look like it was halfheartedly thrown together like a neighborhood of pre-fab cookie cutter homes. SS tells you what your few options are, and that's it.

Portfolio:
It's strictly "upload photos and choose one of our six displays." That's it. I'm not adding or subtracting anything from the functionality. It does require you to build a cover for your portfolio, which is really just a dead landing page that makes no sense. The one and only use for creating a new portfolio is to have a subdirectory of galleries. But then you're stuck with the portfolio template when you'd be better off just making your own.

Gallery editor:
Oh boy. I've spent my entire day trying to upload 30 photos. Yes, seriously. From 9:30 in the morning until 5:15 in the afternoon, I've been trying to get SS to upload 30 photos in the order that I want without cropping them. Most gallery options will crop your photos to fit them all to the same aspect ratio. If you choose one that allows you to use your own crops, then you have to deal with it constantly deleting, adding, and rearranging photos.

This one is so bad it gets several paragraphs:

- The gallery editor first asks you to select files to upload. I named my photos 1-30 so they would upload in the correct order. Except sometimes 11 or 18 are at the bottom, or maybe 27-30 show up at the top, or maybe 13 and 14 have switched places. No big deal, right? Just drag and drop until they're in the correct places...but no, that doesn't work either.

- Trying to move one photo often results in either the deletion of that photo or others randomly being moved around. Instead of placing the photo where it's wanted and pushing everything else down by one spot...I don't know, I guess they have a Yahtzee shaker or a Bingo cage. I don't know how it manages to move so many photos to random places. It's like someone got fired from SS and decided this would be their last act of malice. It's truly infuriating.

- Once the gallery editor decides that it wants a photo in a certain location, that's where that photo will stay. The only solution I've found is to delete the troublesome photo, upload it again, and hope that you can drop it in the correct place without SS shuffling the rest of the gallery. It keeps reassigning photos to the top spots seemingly at random. I click on the first one and shift+click the fourth one to select a group of four, but somehow end up with a selection of 22 photos. Fine, I'll try just the first three because they're on the same row. Nope, now I get 19 photos instead of three. Or 20 photos instead of three. After I deleted these photos individually, I wound up losing an additional five photos somehow.

- The only way I've found to lessen the damage of the gallery editor is to delete the entire gallery, back out of editing the page, start again, and upload the entire gallery again and hope it goes well this time. If it doesn't, just try a few more times. You have to get lucky for it to be perfect. If it rearranges, duplicates, or misses photos, your best bet is to delete the entire gallery and start over yet again.

Support:
They just responded for the first time ever since I've been railing them on social media for a week. Chat never works and nobody ever responds to emails. I'm almost 100% certain they don't actually have a support department. They just added the contact buttons for appearances.

I'm struggling really hard with SS because I've already paid for it and I'm incredibly broke. I need these photo galleries to work. I need the store to work. I need SS to actually let me make a website that isn't worse than a GeoCities page from 25 years ago.

I have a thousand more complaints about SS but I have to see if my 30 photos have uploaded correctly this time. I have literally spent my entire day doing this over and over again because I desperately need a working website to earn money, which I will promptly use to pay a webdev to get me the F off of squarespace.

I previously used Wix to build a couple websites and it was so intuitive and easy to edit the design features. It was so frustrating having to edit a site that was built in Square Space, because in order to change basic design elements like text size, text color, image size, or line height, it was so difficult and you had to go to different style sheets, enter code, or some options just aren't possible. I had to look up custom codes to change the color and width of a simple line. If you want to use the exact template and just add your own content, then it's fine, but if you want to make design changes, good luck.

Hi, I want to warn any free-thinking person of using squarespace.
1. It is by default a very restrictive system with very few options to design according to your needs as you go. Once you chose your template, you are stuck to that layout until the end of your life.
2. Working with the templates or with squarespace in general is awkward and cumbersome. There is nothing intuitive about the way things work there. I have spent many hours trying to figure out small things that should be just easy and straighforward to do. For example, I still can not get captions to work on some of my images, although I have typed them into the provided template field.
3. I also was surprised to find out that I had to switch my email to google - something I never wanted to do. My email was formerly set up with another, independent company. Since I own a business, it had to be the google business email version (google workspace, approx. $75 per year additional cost). Worse, The commercial email setup also is cumbersome and complicated in its layout, not intuitive to use.
4. I also don't like to be bossed around. So when I got note that payment for my google workspace account (formerly G-suite) was due, I could not just pay that bill - the only option was to switch to auto-payment!
Overall, I'm unhappy with about every possible aspect of the squarespace setup and regret so much having switched. It does take time and effort to built up a site, so switching back is hard to do, but I will do it as soon as my time allows.

I've had Squarespace commerce for a few years now and have always found some of their design limitations etc frustrating and have been having issues with certain features, like the photo editor. I started playing around with one of their new 7.1 templates on a free trial and decided to make the switch from 7.0 since it had many of the features I felt were missing. You'd think it shouldn't be that hard to switch to a new template on the same platform but it was needlessly complicated at every step. It took a week to get a response from customer service and, while I'm sure they were as helpful as they could be, most responses were not much more than a link to an FAQ page. I understand that there may be technical reasons for some of the actual process of switching to a new template but I don't understand why everything else is so complicated. My previous site cost the same as 7.1 yet it isn't possible to simply transfer my payment to the new site. I was told by one customer service rep that when my new site was up and the old cancelled they could refund me for my recent payment - only to be told by another that actually they don't do refunds for renewals and she was making an exception. Why should I have been paying the same amount without access to any of the features included in 7.1? I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be easier to simply upgrade to a newer version. I'm happy with the design on my new site but after all of this I wish I had just switched to Wix since I'm losing all the data from my old shop anyway.

First Impressions - They seem to have an impressive amount of coverage and sponsor a lot of people so seemed like a no-brainer on who to build a website with. The initial homepage seems Ok and instantly invites you with a reasonable amount of info on different aspects of design.

Getting Started - This is where it all went wrong unfortunately. The website itself seems better suited for mobile use with it being generally uncomfortable to browse on a desktop with large monitor. The Get Started approach offers some basic tick boxes which change the mass of random templates below - there seems to be no way to search via text or anything else other than the boxes provided.

Even if this was the case, for those that don't like or don't want a pre-build template, there is no blank or empty template and no other way to simply build your own.

Choosing a template encourages you to create an account with no mention on pricing, packages, features or anything else at this stage - I had the impression I could build a website myself (not edit someone else's) and get an idea of the packages / features before I have to commit creating an account and accept terms / conditions.

At this point I'm no longer convinced this is suited for any kind of professional website; great for a toy or some about stuff otherwise. If you are a 'power user' or have previously built your own websites; the cost you'll save by using something like this is not worth the loss of features and functionality you can provide yourself!

Once you pay, you can't switch site or template. They never tell you about this, but they will hit you with "it's somewhere in the T&C" because they don't give a f*k. Basically what happened, I payed 28 dollars for a month to try premium features (you can't on trial), and then when I wanted to start the production website I was on trial. You can't transfer subscription from one site to another. The help sections also scam you, they make it look like if you cancel and then create another site and hit Subscribe, you will gain your subscription back. But actually you lose your money and never get them back. What a f*ing joke of a site. They even advertise themselves.

I am so furious with Squarespace!

Having reported a MAJOR flaw in the website template I’m using A YEAR AGO, I recently realised it as still not been fixed!!!! So basically only 2 pages of my web menu show up in the mobile app.

They told me at the time that they ‘couldn’t give me a timeline on getting it fixed’ & so it turns out they just did ABSLUTELY F*** ALL!!!!!!

Now they give me the same answer & are suggesting I upgrade instead, wasting my time building a completely new website, which potentially may never actually work!!

I’m reporting them to trading standards! You can’t have people paying for a website to give customers access to your product, when nobody can actually get around the thing!

THE WORST, MOST USELESS CISTOMER SERVICE EVER!

The fact that they clearly don’t give a s**t about having such bad reviews on here just shows how arrogant they actually are!

What a fraudulent company. Their refund policy is bogus and their customer support team is an absolute joke. Don't plan on talking to anyone, they'll simply keep referring you to different people via email who will all say the same legal jargon until you tire of them.

Their interface is terrible. You won't be able to easily switch templates. They have different versions of templates that require you to pay for a new account before switching, and the quality of their sites is poor. Your high res images will be compressed and look terrible on your site. It's an actual joke.

Use WordPress and a template.

Let’s see. Where to begin...I’ve been with a squarespace for 4 plus years. Little to no issues. They’ve made some money off me as a user with a simple site for resume/portfolio. I was helping my fiancé to start her site and they automatically give you 7.1. Having not used 7.1 I upgraded as well knowing there were a “few” bugs and missing features. But thought “I’m sure it’s coming” spoiler they are not. The biggest issue is the lack of mobile responsiveness. It’s there, but you can’t adjust it in any way. The lock screen template has no options to change type styles or color. The page titles they display on browser tabs only list the “block” you added to the initial page. Some blocks you can edit. Others you can’t. That changes per page.

These are all bugs and I have talked repeatedly to Customer Service (which take forever to respond now...) and they all confirmed it’s a bug. Thanks, but we don’t have anything schedule to fix them. So basically they take your money. Make you sign up for a bad product. Admit there’s issues and offer nothing in return. I’m currently learning and building my site and fiancés site in Webflow. As soon as those are ready I’ll cancel my plans with squarespace and never go back. I’ll tell everyone I know. NOT to use them. Hell, Wix offers a better product. DO NOT SIGN UP. It’ll be more entertaining to light the cash on fire.

Squarespace is a convenient way to make a decent looking site if you do not have expertise in code. Make sure you need to make minimal changes to any template before signing up though. The customer service is one of the worst I've encountered. They always dodge all questions by saying you have custom code on your site.

For example, the sites are built in blocks, so I asked if blocks can be lengthened? I expected a pretty direct yes or no answer, but instead they told me they cannot answer that til I remove all custom code, which had no effect whatsoever on the question I was asking.

Overall if you use Squarespace be prepared their customer service is non-existent and you will need to have an extra budget to ask a developer any questions you may have.

Just signed up yesterday to squarespace. It took all of 1 hour to realize I had made a huge mistake. There is no explanation as to the function of each template "family" when selecting what will work for your site design. After realizing I had chosen the wrong design I then realized there is no way to change your template design once you have chosen it, other than to cancel your website (and subscription) and pay for an entirely new subscription. Cherry on top: there's no refunds for monthly subscriptions.....aaand no customer service phone, just a chat bot. I will be transferring domain and website to Wix after my 60 day waiting period. How this company has gotten such rave reviews is beyond me.

Makes a pretty website. HOWEVER in the UK Squarespace's payment processing options for e-commerce are tremendously limited. After 10 years with squarespace I am now leaving for the simple reason that my business needs an integrated in person and online payment solution. Their template based system limits your choice to two payment processors, neither of which offer a system that streamlines in person and online credit and debit card payments.

I'm trying to create a site I started over a year ago but never finished. The Squarespace site itself is poorly designed and unintuitive. The templates have almost no explanation on their functionality, which makes selecting one a nightmare. They're also geared toward a visual experience rather than copy and have an overall homogenous look and feel.

Chat help for template selection was useless and just kept sending me article links. I finally chose a template in 7.1 but couldn't use it because I'd originally started in 7.0 . The reply I got back from my email to support—in which I requested they *please* not send me a bunch of links to their articles—said I couldn't switch but could open a new trial account. And included a bunch of links. What does that even mean—I'm stuck permanently with 7.0?

I'm so frustrated with Squarespace. Ninety percent of their support is driving you to their articles. Is the money they save from offering real customer help worth the frustration and negative reviews?

I can't wait for my year to be up so I can switch hosts. Wix is looking mighty good right about now!

I have been using Squarespace for over 5 years and I will never change to any other option! Not only does every template work on any mobile device or screen across the board, but their customer service is extremely reliable even during the Covid-19 crisis. Squarespace takes great care of their customers and they make it easy to contact them! I have tried every other option and they are the best platform to build a website that is easy enough for a child to navigate and fast to load globally. 5 stars always and forever!

So very disappointed with my experience. Despite using a 'free' template for the first week or so you eventually feel pressured by their "discount code" to sign up otherwise you won't be able to access the website you have designed so far. After that everything else is expensive and clumsily done. If you want to migrate your website away they offer no help beyond "follow this link and do what it says". When i asked the advisor why they can't carry this out for me his answer was "we are not allowed to carry out certain actions on customers behalf." I imagine this is just so they can hold on to you and earn as much money as possible. Also, i feel that they are not transparent enough about the lack of SEO ability with a squarespace sight. Poor and expensive service. Nice templates though.

I have three websites with squarespace and as a basic business tool it is very good. I am a graphic designer and I think you have to be open to learning how it works and spend some time playing with things to get your site perfect. That means maybe spending a few hours on a template before deciding to start over again. But in my opinion good things take time and squarespace gives you a good chance to make something professional without having to code. They make using your existing domains easy and personally I have experienced very good customer service from them. I would give 5 stars but I know that this is not completely fool proof and for people with no computer skills this will prove a little complex at first but I believe anyone can learn how to use this effectively.

Unlike the other reviews listed, I've never had an issue with the auto-renew, and when I started out they even retroactively applied a discount for me which they didn't have to. The customer support have always been super helpful - especially the Dublin office (I'm UK based so I probably get put through to my closest one) and I find the actual builder to be easy to use, maybe not as easy as Wix initially but produces much more aesthetic websites than Wix's approach of drag and drop anywhere and kind of do it all by eye. The setting of header themes and colours across the site helps keep everything fitting together and the selection of fonts are really lovely. Also accessing these all in one panel saves me time when putting it all together.

Another point to Squarespace is you can do more without the need for premium widgets. Want to send form information to MailChimp? No widget required. Want to add limited edition products? No widget there too. I've only found I've needed one widget for my site so far and it's only $60 for a year. The most expensive plan is a little more pricey than other options, but you generally need less add-ons.

I use this for Ecommerce which isn't even the main use, generally Squarespace is used by bloggers, photographers and those in creative fields due to the stylish templates, but it still works great for online sales if you pick the right template.

The reason this isn't a 5* is that it can be a little limiting. Subscriptions are very set and you don't have much flexibility in them, as are customer accounts as the customer has no ability to change their email or delete the account. Also from a personal standpoint I can't delete a customer's data myself which is a serious issue when it comes to GDPR, but if you inform their team they will delete the information for you in a timely manor so it isn't too bad. You can ask for requests but they never let you know if they'll look into adding it or if it gets rejected as an idea, so it just feels like you submit a request and it gets forgotten about but I've found that to be the case for Wix too.

Beautiful template designes, user-friendly features, website is loading well. Very well coded and developed. Probably one of the best platforms to publish a website on when it comes to visuals. However, it's a rather fixed design so don't expect too much flexibility to customize them... I haven't had to deal with customer support yet (knock on wood) so cannot comment on that.

I wish I had used Wix to build my site. I love how my website came out - I did it myself with no website development background. But it wasn't that intuitive and there are serious limits to what you can do within a template. The bigger issue is that Squarespace has no customer support at all - just a crappy live chat and no way of talking to someone live. It doesn't interact with constant contact or office365 so you're stuck with gmail.