A Squarespace alternative with the newsletter included
Squarespace is beautiful, but the newsletter is a separate subscription and the entry plan takes a cut of every sale. Grigora bundles the website, the newsletter and a real online store into one plan from $12/mo, with 0% platform commission on any tier.
Published by Grigora · Updated · Sources and method
Is Grigora the right Squarespace alternative?
Grigora is a Squarespace alternative for teams that want a website, newsletter and store in one subscription. Squarespace is a strong fit for design-led portfolios and businesses using its scheduling ecosystem. Compare commerce and digital-content fees separately, and budget for Squarespace Email Campaigns if you need newsletters.
Choose Grigora if you want…
- A newsletter included in the plan rather than a second subscription
- 0% platform commission from the very first paid tier
- Structured directories and collections, not just pages and posts
- Moderated comments without a third-party embed
- To resell the platform under your own brand
Stick with Squarespace if you…
- •Want a suitable out-of-the-box template design on the market
- •Rely on Squarespace-specific tools like Acuity Scheduling
- •Are happy paying separately for email and do not sell much
Squarespace or Grigora: the decision in one view
Squarespace alternatives at a glance
How Grigora and the other main Squarespace alternatives compare on the essentials.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column
| Platform | Best for | Free access | Starting price | Sales fees | Data and site portability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grigora | All-in-one (site + newsletter + store) | Free trial | From $12/mo billed annually | 0% platform fee; Stripe/Razorpay fees apply | Posts/content; rebuild design |
| Squarespace | Design-led sites | No (trial) | From $19/mo | 2% on Basic, 0% on Core+ | Partial |
| Wix | Templates & app market | Yes (Wix ads) | From $17/mo | 0% (processing only) | No |
| Webflow | Designer-grade builds | Yes | From $15/mo | 0% except 2% Ecommerce Standard; processing extra | Static code on eligible Workspace; CMS/store separately |
| Shopify | Serious online stores | No (trial) | Basic $29/mo billed annually | 0% with Shopify Payments; third-party fees apply | Data/themes; platform features need rebuilding |
| WordPress.com | Blogs & content sites | Yes (ads) | From $4/mo | Varies by payment feature and plan | Content; themes and plugins separately |
List pricing (billed annually) as of August 2026; payment-processor fees apply to all. Verify current pricing on each provider's site.
Sources for the overview table
- Grigora: official reference 1
- Webflow: official reference 1, official reference 2
- Shopify: official reference 1, official reference 2
- WordPress.com: official reference 1, official reference 2
Why people switch from Squarespace to Grigora
The friction points Squarespace users hit most often, and how Grigora handles them.
The newsletter is a second subscription
Email Campaigns is never included in a website plan and scales with send volume. On Grigora the newsletter is part of the plan you already pay for.
The entry plan taxes your sales
Basic takes 2% of commerce revenue and 7% of digital product revenue. Grigora charges no platform commission on any tier.
Content that is not a blog post
Directories, listings and structured collections are awkward on Squarespace. Grigora models them as real data with their own fields.
What Squarespace does well
- The strongest template design in the category
- Every paid plan can sell, unlike some competitors
- Calm, well-built editor with a short learning curve
- 24/7 support
Where Squarespace falls short
- Email Campaigns is a separate subscription, never bundled
- Basic takes 2% of commerce and 7% of digital product revenue
- No free plan, only a 14-day trial
- No white-label resale option for agencies
Grigora vs Squarespace at a glance
The differences that actually move your monthly bill.
| Feature | Squarespace | Grigora |
|---|---|---|
| Starting paid plan | $19/mo | $12/mo |
| Newsletter included | No | 2,500–25,000 subs |
| Platform commission on sales | 2% store on Basic; digital 7/5/1/0% by tier | 0% |
| Sell on the entry plan | Yes, with a 2% fee | Yes, 0% |
| AI credits included | 10–120/mo | Up to 250,000 |
| Comments & moderation | Built-in comments | Built in, admin replies |
| White label for agencies | No | Buy the plan |
| Free SEO tools suite | No | Free tools |
| Export your content | Partial | Yes |
Grigora vs Squarespace: feature by feature
A category-by-category breakdown, pricing, AI, design, e-commerce, email, SEO, performance, and support.
Pricing & value
Fit: GrigoraThe headline numbers look close. What separates them is what the number includes. Squarespace bills the website; the newsletter is a second subscription and the entry plan takes a slice of revenue.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | $12/mo | $19/mo (Basic) |
| Newsletter in that price | Yes | No |
| Top tier | $45/mo (Business) | $99/mo (Advanced) |
| Free plan | Free trial | No (14-day trial) |
Takeaway: Grigora's entry plan includes the thing Squarespace charges separately for, and its top tier costs less than half of Advanced.
E-commerce & online store
Fit: GrigoraBoth let every paid plan sell, which is a genuine Squarespace strength over Wix. The difference is the cut. Squarespace Basic charges 2% on commerce, which Core and above remove. The digital content and memberships fee does not go away as quickly: 7% on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus and 0% only on Advanced. Grigora charges no platform commission on any plan.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Sell on entry plan | Yes | Yes |
| Platform commission | 0% on all plans | 2% on Basic, 0% on Core+ |
| Digital product fee | 0% | 7% Basic, 5% Core, 1% Plus, 0% Advanced |
| Connected checkout | Stripe, Razorpay | Stripe, PayPal |
| External checkout links | PayPal, Paddle (no order sync) | Limited |
Takeaway: Selling on Squarespace's cheapest plan means giving up 2% of every order and 7% of digital revenue. On Grigora that is 0% from the start.
Newsletter & email
Fit: GrigoraThis is the clearest gap. Squarespace Email Campaigns is never bundled with a website plan. It is a separate subscription that scales by send volume, starting around $8/mo for 500 emails. Grigora includes a newsletter on every paid plan and adds professional inboxes on your own domain.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Newsletter included in plan | 2,500–25,000 subscribers | Separate subscription |
| Entry cost to send email | $0 extra | From about $8/mo |
| Send from your own domain | Yes | Yes |
| Professional inbox | From $5/mailbox | Google Workspace add-on |
Takeaway: Squarespace plus its email add-on costs more than Grigora's plan, which already includes the newsletter.
Design & templates
Fit: SquarespaceSquarespace offers a curated template library and design-focused editing. Grigora offers templates, an AI-generated starting point and a block editor. The better workflow depends on the layout you need and how confidently your team can maintain it.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Curated template quality | Good | Specialist capability |
| AI first draft from a prompt | Yes | Limited |
| Switch design after launch | Block-based restyle | Template swap supported |
| Fine-grained visual control | Block editor | Strong |
Takeaway: If the site is a portfolio and design is the product, Squarespace deserves the win here.
Blog, CMS & directories
Fit: GrigoraSquarespace was built as a CMS and blogs well. Grigora goes further on structure: collections and directories with their own fields, plus moderated comments and content export.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Blogging | Yes | Yes |
| Structured directories & listings | Yes | Limited |
| Built-in comments & moderation | Included, with admin replies | Built-in comments |
| AI blog writer | Yes | Limited |
| Export your posts | Yes | Partial |
Takeaway: Both blog well. Only Grigora models directories and listings as real data.
AI features
Depends on your needsBoth offer AI assistance for creating and editing a site. Credit units and available actions differ, so raw allowance totals are not a like-for-like measure of output or quality.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| AI first-draft site from a prompt | Yes | Limited |
| AI credits included | 15,000–250,000 | 10–120/mo |
| AI blog and copy writing | Yes | Partial |
Takeaway: Try the same brief in both editors and compare the usable result and revision effort.
Analytics & reporting
Depends on your needsBoth include analytics in the dashboard. Grigora keeps traffic, content and store data in one workspace so the numbers sit beside the pages they describe.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in site analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Privacy-friendly, cookie-light tracking | Yes | Varies |
| Reporting tied to content and orders | Same workspace | Across products |
| Advanced reports | Included | Higher plans |
Takeaway: Compare the specific reports and privacy settings available on the plans you are considering.
White label & agencies
Fit: GrigoraSquarespace runs a Circle programme for professionals, with referral discounts and shared billing. It is not a white-label resale product: client sites remain Squarespace sites. Grigora sells White Label as a plan, so you resell the platform under your own brand and your own pricing.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Resell under your own brand | White Label plan | No |
| Your own pricing and plans | Yes | No |
| Client billing under your brand | Yes | Shared billing only |
| Professional programme | White Label plan | Circle (referral/perks) |
Takeaway: For agencies that want the platform to carry their name rather than Squarespace's, there is no Squarespace equivalent.
SEO & site speed
Depends on your needsBoth produce clean, indexable sites with the usual on-page controls. Grigora adds a large free SEO toolkit and IndexNow submission on top of server-rendered output.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Meta, schema and sitemap controls | Yes | Yes |
| Free SEO tools suite | Free tools | No |
| IndexNow submission | Yes | No |
| Server-rendered pages and CDN | Yes | Yes |
Takeaway: Compare the published SEO controls with your actual content and workflow. Test representative pages for crawlability, metadata and performance; platform features do not guarantee rankings or AI citations.
Ownership, export & support
Depends on your needsSquarespace lets you export some content, though the export is partial and design does not come with it. Grigora supports content import and export so your writing is not trapped.
| Feature | Grigora | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Export your content | Yes | Partial |
| Migrate a blog in | Migration tool | Import supported |
| Support | Email, priority on higher plans | 24/7 email and chat |
Takeaway: Export scope differs by content type. Test a representative export and expect to rebuild the design.
Explore Grigora before switching from Squarespace
Current public product pages and plans, so you can inspect what you would be moving to. Open any image at full size.
Grigora vs Squarespace pricing
Squarespace bills the website and sells the newsletter separately. Grigora puts the site, the newsletter and the store in one price.
Website, newsletter & store in one plan
Annual rates shown, matching how Squarespace advertises. Month-to-month is higher. The newsletter and a built-in store are included on every plan, with 0% platform commission.
Website plan, newsletter sold separately
Annual rates; month-to-month is higher. Email Campaigns is a separate subscription starting around $8/mo for 500 emails. No free plan, 14-day trial only.
Grigora Starter ($12/mo) includes a newsletter and a 0% commission store. Squarespace Basic ($19/mo) includes neither, and adding Email Campaigns widens the gap further.
The real cost: Grigora vs Squarespace
Sticker price is not the whole story. On Squarespace the newsletter and a professional inbox are separate line items, and the entry plan takes a percentage of revenue.
| What you pay for | Squarespace | Grigora |
|---|---|---|
| Base website plan | $16–$99/mo | $12–$45/mo (all-in) |
| Newsletter | Separate, from about $8/mo | Included (2,500–25,000 subs) |
| Commission on sales | 2% store on Basic; digital 7/5/1/0% by tier | 0% on every plan |
| Professional email inbox | Google Workspace add-on | From $5/mailbox (optional) |
| SEO tooling | Third-party subscriptions | free tools |
Payment-processor fees apply on both platforms. Figures are list prices billed annually.
Squarespace and Grigora: public website references
These captures show each product’s public website. See the feature and pricing sections for capabilities and plan details.
Is Grigora the right Squarespace alternative for you?
Where Grigora is a suitable Squarespace alternative, by use case.
Best Squarespace alternative for creators with a list
The newsletter is in the plan, not a second invoice that grows with your subscriber count.
… for small stores
Sell from the entry plan with 0% platform commission instead of handing over 2% of orders and 7% of digital revenue.
… for directories and listings
Model listings as structured collections with their own fields rather than forcing them into blog posts.
… for agencies
Resell the whole platform under your own brand and pricing, which Squarespace's Circle programme does not offer.
Which one is right for you?
Choose Grigora if…
- You want the newsletter included rather than billed separately
- You sell and would rather keep the 2% and 7% cuts
- You need directories or listings, not just pages and posts
- You want moderated comments without an embed
- You are an agency that wants to resell under your own brand
Choose Squarespace if…
- •Template design quality is the single most important factor
- •You use Acuity Scheduling or other Squarespace-native tools
- •You do not email a list and rarely sell
How to switch from Squarespace to Grigora
Squarespace supports a partial content export, so your writing can come with you. The design is rebuilt, and the AI does most of that work. Before moving everything, test a representative content export and check supported import formats. Keep media backups, reconcile product variants and retain subscriber consent and unsubscribe records; an export does not guarantee a direct import.
- 1
Start your Grigora site
Describe your business in a sentence and the AI generates a first-draft site with pages, layout and copy.
- 2
Export and import your content
Export your Squarespace posts and pages, then bring them into Grigora's CMS so your writing and URLs survive the move.
- 3
Rebuild the design
Squarespace design does not export. Recreate your key pages with Grigora blocks; most sites are a handful of pages.
- 4
Move the newsletter
Export only opted-in contacts and retain unsubscribe records. Import a small sample into Grigora’s newsletter tools, verify sending-domain authentication and delivery, then switch campaigns. Grigora Mail professional inboxes are a separate product.
- 5
Point your domain
Keep the old service active while you test the new site. Match existing URL paths or configure permanent redirects, verify canonicals and the sitemap, and test forms and checkout on mobile. Change DNS after these checks, then monitor indexing and errors before cancelling services you no longer need. Rankings may change during a migration.
Why people look for a Squarespace alternative in 2026
Squarespace has one of the best design reputations of any website builder, and for a portfolio or a brochure site it is genuinely hard to beat. The reasons people start shopping around are rarely about looks.
The newsletter is never included
Email Campaigns is a separate subscription from the website plan, priced by send volume from roughly $8 a month for 500 emails up to well over $100 a month at scale. For anyone whose business runs on a mailing list, that is a second bill that grows exactly as the list grows.
The entry plan takes a cut of every sale
Squarespace deserves credit for letting every paid plan sell, but Basic applies a 2% transaction fee on commerce and 7% on digital content and memberships, on top of whatever Stripe or PayPal charge. The commerce fee goes at Core; the digital fee only tapers, to 5% on Core and 1% on Plus, reaching 0% at Advanced.
Structured content is awkward
Anything that is not a page or a blog post, a directory of members, a listings index, a catalogue of case studies, has to be bent into the shapes Squarespace offers.
How Grigora compares
Grigora is built as one platform rather than a website tool with add-ons. The newsletter, the store, the CMS and the analytics share a workspace and a bill.
One price, fewer line items
Starter at $12 a month billed annually includes the website, a newsletter with 2,500 subscribers, AI credits and a store with no platform commission. The equivalent Squarespace setup is a website plan plus an Email Campaigns subscription, and on Basic a percentage of every order.
Where Squarespace still wins
Template design. If your site is essentially a beautifully typeset portfolio and you have no list and no products, Squarespace remains an excellent choice and this comparison will not change that.
Frequently asked questions
Grigora is a Squarespace alternative for teams that want a website, newsletter and store in one subscription. Squarespace is a strong fit for design-led portfolios and businesses using its scheduling ecosystem. Compare commerce and digital-content fees separately, and budget for Squarespace Email Campaigns if you need newsletters.
Grigora starts at $12/mo billed annually versus Squarespace Basic at $19/mo, and Grigora includes a newsletter that Squarespace sells as a separate subscription starting around $8/mo. Grigora also charges 0% platform commission where Squarespace Basic takes 2% of commerce and 7% of digital product revenue.
No. Squarespace Email Campaigns is a separate subscription from the website plan and is priced by send volume. Grigora includes a newsletter on every paid plan.
Yes, but Basic applies a 2% transaction fee on commerce and 7% on digital content and memberships, in addition to payment processor fees. Core and above remove the 2% commerce fee, while the digital fee only tapers: 5% on Core, 1% on Plus and 0% on Advanced. Grigora charges 0% platform commission on every plan.
Yes. Squarespace supports a partial content export, and Grigora's CMS supports import, so posts and pages can come across. The visual design has to be rebuilt, which the AI builder makes fast.
Squarespace runs the Circle programme for professionals, which offers referral discounts and shared billing, but client sites remain Squarespace sites. Grigora sells White Label as a plan so agencies can resell the platform under their own brand and pricing.
Sources and comparison method
Published by Grigora, one of the products compared here. This is a comparison of public product documentation and published plans. Recommendations reflect the use cases described; they are not independent performance benchmarks. Homepage screenshots show how each product presents itself and do not establish feature availability.
Check the billing term, currency, regional availability, usage limits and add-ons before purchasing. A content export does not necessarily include the design, integrations or a working store. Migration steps need testing on your own site.
- Squarespace pricing
Primary source for the product, plan or migration scope discussed in this comparison.
- Squarespace official documentation
Primary source for the product, plan or migration scope discussed in this comparison.
- Grigora pricing and plan limits
Annual and monthly billing, free trial, page/bandwidth/storage allowances, support and optional services.
Grigora references: plans and limits, commerce, MCP access, and help documentation.
Compare Grigora with other platforms
Make the switch from Squarespace to Grigora
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