Squarespace Alternatives 2026: 6 Free Options
Squarespace alternatives: WordPress.com, WordPress (self-hosted), Carrd, Framer and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•4 min read•Website Builders & Landing Pages
Verdict:Leave Squarespace if you want a free starting point, more design control, or a site you are not renting at $19 a month and up. Squarespace's pricing page says it has no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and lists Basic at $19 or $25 depending on billing, though the page does not label which is annual. WordPress.com is the nearest hosted swap and has a real free plan with a WordPress.com subdomain; moving to its paid plans unlocks custom domains. Self-hosted WordPress gives the most freedom and costs only hosting, but you handle updates and security. Carrd is ideal for a single-page profile or landing page at a low price. Framer attracts designers who want to control layout visually, and its free plan includes a Framer domain. Ghost is better if your site is mainly writing and subscriptions. Systeme.io fits people selling courses or services who care more about funnels and email than page design. The trade-off is polish and support: Squarespace bundles hosting, templates, e-commerce and help in one bill, and every alternative asks you to assemble or learn more. Stay if you value that simplicity and your site is small. Otherwise start with WordPress.com free or Carrd and upgrade only once you hit a real limit.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress.com | Free (Free plan: 1 GB storage, WordPress.com subdomain only, no plugin installation, WordPress.com ads shown); paid from $2.75 per month, billed every 3 years (Personal) | Web | Cheapest hosted route | Docs only |
| WordPress (self-hosted) | Free (Free to download; you pay for hosting. Recommended PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.11+) | Self-hosted, Web | Full control and many plugins | Docs only |
| Carrd | Free (Free plan available; see the pricing page for Pro limits); paid from $9 per year, billed yearly (Pro Lite, 3 sites) | Web browser | One-page personal sites | Docs only |
| Framer | Free (Free plan at $0: 500 AI credits to try, 1 GB bandwidth, a free Framer domain, 10 CMS collections, 1,000 pages, up to three editors; custom domains need a paid plan); paid from $10 per per month, billed monthly or yearly (Basic) | Web | Designer-led marketing sites | Docs only |
| Ghost | Free (Self-hosted Ghost is open source (source linked from the pricing page); no self-host price shown); paid from $18 per per month, billed yearly (Ghost(Pro) Starter) | Web | Blogs and memberships | Docs only |
| Systeme.io | Free (2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, unlimited emails); paid from $17 per month, billed monthly (Startup) | Web browser | Funnels with email marketing | Docs only |
| Wix | Free (Free plan at $0, no credit card required (Wix-branded domain and ads not checked)); paid from $17.77 per month, Light plan, yearly subscription paid in full at purchase | Web | Website builder | Docs only |
| Shopify | Paid from $29 per month, billed yearly (Basic; $39 billed monthly) | Web, iOS, Android | E-commerce / POS | Docs only |
| Webflow | Free (A free Starter plan exists per third-party summaries; not confirmed on the official page); paid from $15 per month, billed yearly (Basic site plan, no CMS; CMS plan $25) | Web | Website builder | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want the cheapest hosted site with a free tier (WordPress.com is the pick)
- You need a one-page profile or landing page (Carrd is the pick)
- A designer wants visual control over layout (Framer is the pick)
- Your site is mostly writing and subscriptions (Ghost is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Squarespace features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Squarespace today: Paid from $19 per month (Basic; the page shows $19 and $25 for it without labelling which is annual billing) (Squarespace pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Squarespace alternatives
Squarespace has no free plan after its 14-day trial. Basic starts at $19 a month and takes a 2% fee on online store sales and 7% on digital content and memberships, with 2 contributors and 30 minutes of video hosting. Code injection, premium integrations, promotional pop-ups and advanced analytics are not on Basic. Core at $29 drops store fees to 0%, but digital content stays at 5% until Advanced at $99.
WordPress.com
Compared with Squarespace: Free plan with a WordPress.com subdomain and 1 GB storage, and paid plans from $2.75 a month on a three-year billing term. Looser design control than Squarespace's templates, but far cheaper to start.
Price: Free (Free plan: 1 GB storage, WordPress.com subdomain only, no plugin installation, WordPress.com ads shown); paid from $2.75 per month, billed every 3 years (Personal) (WordPress.com pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary hosted service.
Best for: Cheapest hosted route.
Worth knowing: The free plan has no custom domain.
WordPress (self-hosted)
Compared with Squarespace: Free GPL software you host yourself, with a huge theme and plugin library. You trade Squarespace's all-in-one hosting for maintenance work and a hosting bill.
Price: Free (Free to download; you pay for hosting. Recommended PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.11+) (WordPress (self-hosted) pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted, Web. GPL-2.0-or-later (open source).
Best for: Full control and many plugins.
Worth knowing: WordPress.org software, not the WordPress.com hosted service.
Carrd
Compared with Squarespace: Has a free plan, with Pro at $9 a year as listed on its page. Built for one-page sites only, so you lose Squarespace multi-page sites and store features, but it costs very little.
Price: Free (Free plan available; see the pricing page for Pro limits); paid from $9 per year, billed yearly (Pro Lite, 3 sites) (Carrd pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: One-page personal sites.
Worth knowing: Pro Standard (10 sites) is $19 per year and adds custom domains and forms. A 7-day Pro trial is available.
Framer
Compared with Squarespace: Free plan with a Framer domain, 1 GB bandwidth and 10 CMS collections, paid from $10. More design freedom than Squarespace, though you manage layout and breakpoints yourself.
Price: Free (Free plan at $0: 500 AI credits to try, 1 GB bandwidth, a free Framer domain, 10 CMS collections, 1,000 pages, up to three editors; custom domains need a paid plan); paid from $10 per per month, billed monthly or yearly (Basic) (Framer pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Designer-led marketing sites.
Ghost
Compared with Squarespace: Open source with self-hosting available and hosted plans from $18. Focused on publishing and memberships, so it fits writers more than portfolios or small shops.
Price: Free (Self-hosted Ghost is open source (source linked from the pricing page); no self-host price shown); paid from $18 per per month, billed yearly (Ghost(Pro) Starter) (Ghost pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. Open source (license not named on ghost.org/pricing) (open source).
Project activity: 55.6k GitHub stars · latest release v6.73.0 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Blogs and memberships.
Systeme.io
Compared with Squarespace: Free plan with 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels and unlimited emails. Aimed at sales funnels and email, not Squarespace-style design, so it fits online sellers over portfolios.
Price: Free (2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, unlimited emails); paid from $17 per month, billed monthly (Startup) (Systeme.io pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Funnels with email marketing.
Other popular options (paid)
Wix
Compared with Squarespace: Free plan needs no card; Light is $17.77 a month on a yearly subscription paid in full, undercutting Squarespace Basic's $19. Light includes 2 GB of storage and 2 collaborators.
Price: Free (Free plan at $0, no credit card required (Wix-branded domain and ads not checked)); paid from $17.77 per month, Light plan, yearly subscription paid in full at purchase (Wix pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Shopify
Compared with Squarespace: Basic is $29 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly), with online card rates of 2.9% + 30 cents. Built around selling; the trial is 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months.
Price: Paid from $29 per month, billed yearly (Basic; $39 billed monthly) (Shopify pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Webflow
Compared with Squarespace: A hosted visual builder with more layout control than template-led Squarespace. Its pricing page returns an error to automated readers, so no price is recorded here.
Price: Free (A free Starter plan exists per third-party summaries; not confirmed on the official page); paid from $15 per month, billed yearly (Basic site plan, no CMS; CMS plan $25) (Webflow pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You want the cheapest hosted site with a free tier: WordPress.com
- You need a one-page profile or landing page: Carrd
- A designer wants visual control over layout: Framer
- Your site is mostly writing and subscriptions: Ghost
Limits of this review
Docs-only for WordPress.com, WordPress (self-hosted), Carrd, Framer, Ghost, Systeme.io: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Squarespace. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Squarespace, WordPress.com, WordPress (self-hosted), Carrd, Framer, Ghost, Systeme.io, Wix, Shopify, Webflow. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.