Alternative to Squarespace
A Squarespace alternative: running your own site on hosting
Squarespace is a website builder with design, hosting and a domain offer in one subscription, while web hosting gives you space for a site you run yourself. Builders suit people who want a polished result with little setup. Hosting suits people who want WordPress or custom code, and more control. We offer hosting only, not a builder.
Compare fairly
What to check before choosing between Squarespace and Limitless Hosting
Compare like with like. These are the points worth checking on any host's own site, with what applies to us in the last column.
| What to check | On Squarespace's own site | Limitless Hosting |
|---|---|---|
| Type of product | A website builder with hosting in the subscription | Web hosting for WordPress, custom sites and apps |
| Price shown | Read the pricing page for your plan, currency and billing option | Yearly prices from £10.03 to £133.79 |
| Whether the domain is free only for the first year, and its renewal price | Check the free domain terms for annual plans | .co.uk or .uk £9.99 a year and £9.99 at renewal |
| Business email | Check what is included, for how long, and the cost after | Unlimited email accounts on every plan |
| Leaving the platform | Check what content you can export | Standard hosting; you keep your files and database |
| Help when stuck | Check the support options on your plan | Live chat (open 24/7) plus tickets |
Prices and terms change. Always read the checkout page for the full cost, including what you will pay when the first term ends.
About Squarespace
What Squarespace is good for
Squarespace is known for polished templates and a tidy editor. If you are a photographer, designer, restaurant or consultant who wants a good-looking site without worrying about servers, a builder is a sensible choice. Updates and hosting are handled for you, and the whole thing lives in one account.
Hosting is for a different set of needs. You may want WordPress and its large range of plugins, or a site built by a developer, or several small sites under one roof. You may want email on your own domain with as many addresses as you like. A hosting plan gives you those freedoms, in exchange for managing a little more yourself.
Neither route is wrong. The right one depends on how much control you want and how much setup you are happy to do.
What we saw
What the Squarespace pricing page showed us
We read the Squarespace pricing page on its own website. We have deliberately not copied its prices, because the page showed a dollar sign without naming a currency and did not label which price applied to annual or monthly billing. Read your own UK figures at checkout.
| Item | What Squarespace showed (checked on 8 November 2026) |
|---|---|
| Plans listed | Basic, Core and Advanced |
| Free domain | One year free on annual plans, for available domains, registered within a year of starting; one free domain per website; renews at the standard rate afterwards |
| Business email | Google Workspace email free for the first year on Core and Advanced, then renewing at the standard rate; not included on Basic |
| Trial | A 14-day free trial for every site, with no credit card required |
| Changes | Upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time, taking effect at the end of the billing cycle |
These notes describe the Squarespace page on the date above and may have changed since. Check the current UK price and terms on squarespace.com before you decide.
See our plans and prices
Six plans, with the yearly price and the renewal price shown. Fifteen days to change your mind on your first hosting order.
Who suits what
When Squarespace may suit you, and when we might
Squarespace may suit you if
- You want polished templates and a visual editor
- You prefer design, hosting and updates in one subscription
- Your site is a portfolio, brochure or small shop
- You do not want to manage plugins or updates
- You are happy to stay on the platform
Limitless Hosting may suit you if
- You want WordPress, plugins and a developer-friendly setup
- You want a site you can move between hosts
- You want many mailboxes on your domain
- You want a Node.js or Python app alongside a website
- You want UK servers in London
Pricing
How to compare hosting prices honestly
Hosting prices are rarely a single number. Many providers show a low price for the first term, then a higher price when it renews, and the length of the first term varies a great deal. A fair comparison puts three numbers side by side: what you pay today, what you pay at the first renewal, and what you pay over three years including any domain and email you need.
That applies to every host, including us, and including Squarespace. Open each checkout page, pick the term you would really buy, and write down the total and the renewal figure. Check whether prices are shown with or without tax, whether a free domain is free only for the first year, and whether the plan you are looking at includes the email and databases you need.
Our own plans are priced per year when billed yearly: Very Small is £10.03, Small is £21.18, Medium is £33.45, Large is £44.60, Limitless is £66.89 and Limitless Plus is £133.79. A .co.uk or .uk domain is £9.99 a year and £9.99 at renewal. Billing terms cost about the same per month, so choose the term that suits your cash flow. You can read more in our guide to how much web hosting costs in the UK.
Our side
The figures on our side of the comparison
On every plan
What every Limitless Hosting plan includes
UK servers in London
Your site is served from London, which suits visitors in the UK.
LiteSpeed and Redis
A LiteSpeed web server with Redis object caching for dynamic sites.
Security layers
Free SSL, Imunify360, a ModSecurity firewall, DDoS protection and CloudLinux isolation.
Unlimited email accounts
Plus unlimited subdomains and MySQL databases, with spam protection and an external mail relay.
WordPress and apps
One-click WordPress, and Node.js and Python selectors.
Weekly remote backups
Kept for about a month. Take your own copy before big changes too.
Content
Bringing your content with you
When people leave a builder, the question is always what they can take. Text and images are the easy part: you can copy them across or download them. Blog posts and products depend on the export tools in your account, so check what Squarespace offers for your content before you cancel anything, and try an export early so there are no surprises.
The design itself generally will not move. The templates belong to the platform, so on WordPress you would choose a theme and rebuild the layout. A good approach is to keep the old site live while you build the new one on a temporary address, then switch the domain across when you are happy.
Think about search too. Where possible, keep your page addresses the same, and where you change them, add redirects from the old address to the new one. That protects the visitors and links you have already earned.
Moving
Moving from Squarespace to hosting, step by step
Check your domain
Find out where it is registered and when it renews. If it was a free first-year domain, check its renewal price.
Export what you can
Use the export tools in your account for posts and products, and download your images.
Set up the new site
Pick a plan, install WordPress in one click, and build on a temporary address.
Set up email
If your mail is with another service, keep it working until you choose where it will live. Our guide to setting up email on your domain helps.
Switch the domain
Change the DNS records or transfer the domain once the new site is checked. See how to point a domain to hosting.
Before you decide
A checklist before you leave Squarespace or stay
- List every website, domain and mailbox you have with the provider today
- Find out when each plan and each domain renews
- Write down the price at renewal, not only the first-term price
- Export or back up your site files, database and email before touching anything
- Lower your DNS TTL a day before any change so it takes effect faster
- Confirm you can unlock your domain and get its transfer code, if you plan to move it
- Test the new site on a temporary address before changing DNS
- Keep the old plan running until the new one has been working for a few days
Being plain
What we do not offer
Limitless Hosting is UK web hosting. We do not sell reseller hosting for the UK, and we do not offer a drag-and-drop website builder or VPS servers. If any of those are what you need, check that Squarespace or another provider offers them on the plan you are looking at, and choose on that basis.
If you want a site you can build with WordPress, a custom PHP application, or a Node.js or Python app, our shared plans cover that, with one-click WordPress and selectors for Node.js and Python. Not sure which describes you? Ask our live chat before you buy.
Moving from Squarespace to us is a common request. On Small and higher plans billed yearly, our migration is free, and the Limitless Plus plan includes a free .co.uk or .uk domain for the first year when billed yearly.
- 15-day money-back guarantee on your first hosting order
- Free migration on Small and higher plans billed yearly
- Live chat open 24/7, plus tickets
- Weekly remote backups kept about a month
FAQ
Common questions
Can I move a Squarespace site straight onto hosting?
Not as a straight copy. The design is part of the platform, so you rebuild it, for example in WordPress, and bring your content across.
Is hosting cheaper than Squarespace?
It depends on the plan and term. Compare totals at checkout, including the domain, the email and the renewal price.
Do you have a website builder?
No. We offer web hosting, with one-click WordPress and selectors for Node.js and Python.
What happens to my free domain?
Check the terms on Squarespace. A free first-year domain renews at the standard rate afterwards, and you can transfer it to us.
Do you offer business email?
Yes. Unlimited email accounts on your own domain come with every plan.
Keep reading
Related pages
Thinking of moving from Squarespace?
Pick a plan, tell our live chat what you are moving, and keep the old plan running until the new site is checked.