A Squarespace alternative for small businesses that sell
Squarespace makes beautiful sites. If your business mostly needs to get found, fill events and take payments, you may be paying for design polish you don't use. Here's the honest comparison.
Prices last checked: Squarespace September 28, 2026Why people switch
No cut of your sales.
Squarespace Basic ($25/mo) takes a 2% transaction fee on everything you sell. The first fee-free plan is Core ($39/mo). Stooplight doesn't take a cut of your sales on any plan, and only Stripe's standard card fees apply.
Tickets and the door, built in.
Squarespace has no built-in event ticketing, so you embed another service. Stooplight Pro sells tickets, tracks seats and scans guests in at the door from your phone.
Booking without another bill.
Squarespace scheduling runs through Acuity, an extra monthly subscription. Stooplight adds a Book now button for the scheduler you already use, like Cal.com, Calendly, Square or Google Calendar.
The starter plans
Stooplight Basic against Squarespace Basic, Squarespace's cheapest paid plan. Prices are month to month; in parentheses is Squarespace's per-month price if you pay for a year up front. Stooplight has one price either way.
| Feature | Stooplight Basic$9.99/mo | Squarespace Basic$25/mo ($19 annual) |
|---|---|---|
| Full hosted site, your own domain | ✓ | ✓ |
| Site builds itself, live in minutes | ✓ ~15 min, guided setup | — AI-assisted, still hands-on |
| Instant email alert on every lead | ✓ | — |
| Visitor stats included | ✓ anonymous, no cookies | limited |
| FAQ section you edit yourself | ✓ | build it manually |
| Run everything from a phone | ✓ the whole dashboard | editor is desktop-first |
| Version history & undo publish | ✓ | ✓ |
| Design freedom | 12 templates × 12 color sets × 23 fonts — 18,000+ looks | best-in-class templates |
The plans that take money
Stooplight Pro against Squarespace Core, the plan you'd need at Squarespace to sell online.
| Feature | Stooplight Pro$34.99/mo | Squarespace Core$39/mo ($29 annual) |
|---|---|---|
| Sell products with a cart | ✓ up to 50 products | ✓ unlimited |
| Platform's cut of your sales | 0% your own Stripe; card fees only | 0% 2% on their Basic plan |
| Event tickets + door check-in | ✓ QR scan from a phone, live seat counts | — embed a ticketing service |
| Online events with gated join links | ✓ personal links, auto check-in | — |
| AI that answers your visitors | ✓ from your site's own info, 24/7, saved conversations | — |
| Automatic post-event feedback | ✓ | — |
| Gift certificates & services | ✓ receipts carry your redemption note | ✓ |
| Appointment booking | connect any scheduler Cal.com, Calendly, Square, Google | Acuity add-on, $16–49/mo extra |
| Advanced shipping (zones, carriers) | — pickup, flat rate, free-over | ✓ |
| Where the money lands | your Stripe account | their processing |
When Squarespace is the better choice
We'd rather you pick right than pick us.
Pick Squarespace if the site itself is the product — a portfolio or brand where design pedigree matters more than tickets, leads, or a shop, and budget isn't the constraint.
Want the three-way view? See Stooplight next to Wix, Squarespace and Durable.
Try the whole thing free for 7 days
Sign up, pay nothing for a week, and your site is live in about fifteen minutes. Cancel before day 7 and you're never charged.
Build my siteRather look around first? Three live demo sites are open right now.