Build 76 vs Squarespace
Is Squarespace worth it for your business?
Beautiful templates you fill in yourself, against a finished website that's made for you.
Squarespace is the best looking builder there is, and for someone with an eye who enjoys the work it's a fine choice. Here's where it shines, where it holds you back, and when you're better off not being the designer.
Where Squarespace wins
We're not going to pretend otherwise
The templates are genuinely lovely
Best in class design out of the box. A tasteful, non technical person can produce something that actually looks good.
It's all in one
Hosting, domain, templates, blogging, basic SEO and a shop under one login and one bill. Tidy.
Made for visual brands
Photographers, restaurants, boutiques and portfolios do well here, where image led layouts and galleries are the point.
Instant, hands on control
Want to change something at midnight? You can, straight away, without briefing anyone.
What it tends to cost you
The part the sticker price never shows
You're free until the template says no
You can restyle within the rails a template gives you. The moment you need something it didn't anticipate, you're stuck, working around it, or paying a developer to fight the platform.
You still do all the work
Squarespace hands you the tool, not the outcome. Every page, every word, every product photo and every fix is yours, or a freelancer you hire and manage.
Your design doesn't come with you
You can export your writing, but not your design or templates. Leave Squarespace and the look has to be rebuilt from nothing. Your design investment stays on their platform.
The price you sign up on isn't the price you keep
The headline is a first year rate that rises on renewal. When Squarespace overhauled its plans in 2025 the top tier went up by roughly ninety percent, and the lower commerce plans still take a cut of every sale on top of card fees.
Why the way we build wins
Not just done for you. Built on better foundations.
Squarespace is a tool you operate. We build on one proper platform and run it for you. That difference is where it stops being close.
One platform, not a pile of plugins
Your content, SEO, forms, bookings and automations all run in one system we build and manage, not a dozen third-party plugins bolted together and hoping to agree with each other. Fewer moving parts, less to break.
Edit it yourself, right on the page
Click the bit of the live page you want to change and change it. No hunting through a clunky dashboard, no code, no support ticket. Powerful when you need it, simple when you don't.
Built for AI, not just people
Your content is stored as clean, structured data, so on-site assistants and automations can actually use it, and AI search engines can read and recommend you. Most builders bury your content in a template where none of that works.
Yours to keep, nothing locked in
It's open code on an open platform. Own it outright whenever you like and host it anywhere. No walled garden holding your website hostage, which is exactly what the builders are.
Fast, and it stays fast
Pages are built ahead of time and served as plain files, so the site opens in well under two seconds and doesn't slow down as you add to it. Builders assemble every page on the fly, and it shows.
Room to grow into anything
Because it's one real platform and not a fixed template, we can add a booking system, a customer portal, a shop or custom software later without tearing the site down and starting again.
Side by side
| Squarespace | Build 76 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who designs it | You do, inside a template | We do, custom to your business |
| When the template won't do it | You're stuck, or you pay a developer | We just build it. There's no template to fight |
| Who writes it and fixes it | You, or a freelancer you manage | Us, included every month |
| Leaving or owning it | Content exports, design doesn't | Own the code outright for a one off £1,500 |
| The price over time | Rises after year one, plus sale fees | Flat £49 a month, no surprises |
| Your time | A lot of it | None. That's the whole point |
Checked July 2026. These companies change their pricing often, so we've kept this page to the things that don't change.
So, honestly, which one?
Choose Squarespace if
You have a real eye for design and genuinely enjoy being the one building it.
Choose Build 76 if
You want that level of polish without becoming the designer, the copywriter and the support desk.
Squarespace gives you a lovely template and leaves the actual work to you. We give you a site designed around your business and do the work for you, forever. Same polish, none of the second job.
See what we'd do with yours
Before you commit to Squarespace, let us redesign your homepage for free. Like it, and we build the rest. If you don't, you've lost nothing.
Want the detail first? See how our pay monthly websites work, £199 to start, then £49 a month with everything looked after.
Compare us with the others