Both make attractive websites without a developer. They do it from opposite directions. Squarespace hands you a designed template and a structured editor and keeps you inside the lines. Webflow hands you a visual designer with CSS-level control and expects you to know where the lines are. That difference explains the pricing, the learning curve and who each one is for.
Pricing at realistic usage
Squarespace's pricing is simple. At the time of verification (2026-09-09), Basic is $25 a month ($19 annual) with 2 contributors, Core is $39 ($29 annual) with unlimited contributors, custom CSS and JavaScript and advanced analytics, Plus is $65 ($49 annual) and Advanced is $139 ($99 annual). Monthly billing runs 30-40% above annual. There is no free plan; a 14-day trial, then you pay.
Webflow's pricing is two-axis: a site plan per site, a workspace plan for the people building, and seats and add-ons on top. Our digest captured annual-billed site plans only: Basic at $15 a month for 300 static pages and no CMS, Premium at $25 with the CMS, site search and code components. The free Starter site plan gives a webflow.io subdomain, 2 static pages and 50 form submissions, and the free Starter workspace includes 2 staging sites, so you can build and experiment indefinitely before paying. The Core workspace is $19 a month and adds 10 staging sites, custom code and code export, with full seats at $39 and limited seats at $15 extra, billed yearly. Growth is $49 with site-level roles. A Team platform plan is $2,500 a month on an annual contract.
Worked example: a freelancer's marketing site with a blog. On Squarespace, Core at $29 annual gives the blog, custom code and unlimited contributors. On Webflow, Premium at $25 annual gives the CMS; if you build alone in the free workspace, that is the whole bill, and it is cheaper. Add a collaborator who needs to design, and the Core workspace plus a seat makes Webflow the more expensive site. Squarespace's pricing is predictable; Webflow's is lower for a solo builder and hard to predict for a team, which is its own stated weakness.
Selling changes the picture. Squarespace sells on every plan, but Basic charges a 2% store transaction fee and 7% on digital content and memberships; Core drops the store fee to 0% and digital to 5%; Advanced reaches 0% on digital with card rates from 2.5% plus 30 cents. Webflow's Ecommerce Standard is $29 annual with 500 items and a 2% transaction fee; Plus is $74 with 5,000 items and 0%; Advanced is $212 with 15,000 items. For a small shop, Squarespace Core at $29 with no store fee is the better deal than Webflow Standard at $29 with 2%.
Feature depth
Webflow's depth is in the build: a visual designer with real CSS control, a CMS with collections, managed hosting on a global CDN, code export on Core and above, and Optimize, Analyze and Localize add-ons. Its ecommerce lags Shopify on payments, apps and multichannel, and its 2026 plan restructuring changed what tiers include, so older advice about Webflow pricing is unreliable.
Squarespace's depth is in the bundle: commerce on every plan, Squarespace Payments, invoicing, scheduling and memberships, AI tools and credits, a free custom domain on annual plans, and Google Workspace email integration on Core and up. It has less layout freedom than Webflow and fewer apps than Wix or Shopify.
Ease of use
Squarespace is the easier platform. Guided template editing keeps things simple, though its section-based editor is less freeform than Wix. Webflow expects box-model knowledge; Webflow University helps, but the ramp is real, and an absolute beginner will struggle. Budget days for Squarespace and weeks for Webflow.
Exit cost
Opposite profiles. Webflow lets you export code on Core workspaces and above, so a static site can leave intact, though CMS content and hosting need a new home. Squarespace is hosted and template-locked; content exports, but the design does not travel and you rebuild elsewhere. For a site you will keep for years that matters little; for an agency building client assets it matters a lot.
Scenario by scenario
A photographer, consultant or therapist who needs a site with booking: Squarespace. Scheduling is built in and the templates look right without effort.
A SaaS company's marketing site with a blog, docs and landing pages: Webflow Premium. The CMS and design control earn their learning curve here.
A freelance designer building for clients: Webflow. Clean output, staging sites and code export are what the job needs.
A boutique selling a few dozen products: Squarespace Core. Zero store fee on a $29 plan beats Webflow's 2% at the same price, and neither is right if the catalog grows into the thousands; that is /tool/shopify territory.
A beginner who needs a site by Friday and finds Squarespace's editor limiting: /tool/wix rather than Webflow; the Webflow ramp is longer than a week.
What neither does well
Neither is a store platform for a large catalog; both cap items and lag Shopify on checkout and apps. Neither is cheap at the top: Webflow's Team plan and Squarespace's Advanced tier are for organisations, not small businesses. And both have a pricing honesty problem in different directions: Squarespace's monthly rates are far above its advertised annual ones, and Webflow's total cost is only knowable once you have counted sites, seats and add-ons. Compare the renewal price at the plan you will actually be on, which is the category rule for a reason.
Profiles at /tool/webflow and /tool/squarespace; other options at /alternatives/squarespace and /alternatives/webflow.