GoDaddy Website Builder vs Squarespace
We give GoDaddy Website Builder a 2.2 GPA and Squarespace a 2.6, out of 4.0. Squarespace grades higher on features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
GoDaddy Website Builder
Template website builder with marketing tools and a free plan
Squarespace
Template-based website builder with an online store and invoicing
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAGoDaddy Website BuilderFair | 2.6GPASquarespaceGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo monthly figure on record: GoDaddy's pricing pages returned access-denied pages when read for this listing, and again when we checked for this card. With no published price for one site, it sits at C rather than being guessed. Card payments cost 2.7% + 30¢. | CBasic is $19 a month for one site on yearly billing ($25 monthly), and it's the plan a small business would buy, since the store comes with it. That's the ordinary middle of this category ($9 to $22). Core at $29 drops the 2% store fee. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free site stays up for as long as it's active, with a GoDaddy banner and limited support, and there's a 7-day trial of Premium's features. Sites left inactive for over a year may be removed. | CNo free plan. There's a 14-day trial with no card needed, which is long enough to build the thing and see if you like it, but after that every site needs a paid plan. |
| Features | CTemplates, the Airo AI builder, social posting, a shared customer inbox, appointments and payments. The gaps are in the listing: taking payment for appointments needs Premium, and the Commerce plan for selling products is only offered in certain regions. | BTemplates, a drag-and-drop editor, a store on every plan, invoicing, memberships, forms, newsletters and SEO tools. That's the whole job of a small business site. Custom code and pop-ups wait for Core, but nothing core is missing. |
| Ease of use | CNo app store rating on record. Templates and Airo's chat get a site started, but there are social posts, an inbox and payments to set up as well. | B4.6 from about 18,800 App Store ratings for its phone app. Templates do most of the design work, so you're mostly swapping in your own words and photos. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, plus an iPhone and iPad app for editing the site. What it connects to is mostly GoDaddy's own, GoDaddy Payments and GoDaddy Conversations. No Android or desktop app. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Google Workspace, Mailchimp, Zapier, Stripe, PayPal and Printful, plus commerce APIs on Core and up. There's no desktop app, which keeps it off an A. |
| Best for | a business site in the account that holds your domain | polished template sites with a shop built in |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: GoDaddy Website Builder and Squarespace. How we grade
Where they differ
- GoDaddy Website Builder has a free plan. Squarespace does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Squarespace lists an Android app.
- Squarespace also covers invoicing.
At a glance
| GoDaddy Website Builder | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | Not published | $19 per site / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Free Website service: basic site features with a GoDaddy banner and limited support, for as long as the site stays active. Sites inactive for over a year may be removed. | None |
| Free trial | 7-day trial of the Premium plan's features | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC | Squarespace, Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | squarespace.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
GoDaddy Website Builder
- Small businesses that already buy their domain and email from GoDaddy
- Owners who want the website and social posting in one account
- Simple service sites that take bookings and payments
Squarespace
- Creatives and small businesses who want a polished site from a template
- Service businesses that also invoice clients and take payments
- Small shops that want the store and the website in one subscription
Worth knowing
GoDaddy Website Builder
- GoDaddy's pricing pages returned access-denied pages when read for this listing, so no plan prices are given here.
- The Commerce plan for selling products is available in certain regions only, and online appointment payments need Premium.
- Card payments through the online store or appointments cost 2.7% + 30¢ per transaction at GoDaddy Payments' standard rate.
- After the 7-day trial a site falls back to the free service, which carries a GoDaddy banner and limited support.
Squarespace
- There is no free plan; after the 14-day trial every site needs a paid plan.
- Basic takes a 2% fee on online store sales and allows only 2 contributors; Core removes both limits.
- Custom JavaScript, code injection, pop-ups and shipping labels all need Core or higher.
- The free domain covers the first year of an annual plan only and then renews at Squarespace's standard rate.
Key features
GoDaddy Website Builder
- Templates and site editing
- Build a business, portfolio, personal or ecommerce site from professional templates, and edit it from a browser or the GoDaddy iPhone and iPad app.
- Airo AI builder
- Airo is GoDaddy's conversational builder, which sets up a customized site or web app from a chat, and AI tools write social captions and hashtags.
- Social posting and marketing
- Create, schedule and track social media posts and promotional graphics, and design marketing content from templates in the same account.
- Customer inbox
- GoDaddy Conversations gathers messages from business email, social media, website forms and chat into one inbox.
- Payments, appointments and online store
- GoDaddy Payments handles online store and appointment payments. Taking payment for appointments needs Premium, and selling products needs Commerce.
Squarespace
- Templates and drag-and-drop editing
- Sites start from a designer template and are laid out in the Fluid Engine drag-and-drop editor. Every site is adjusted for phones automatically.
- AI site builder and AI credits
- Blueprint builds a starting site from a few answers, and built-in AI writes content. Credits run from 10 one-time on Basic to 120 a month on Advanced.
- Online store on every plan
- Sell unlimited physical products, services, digital goods, gift cards and subscriptions, with abandoned-cart emails on all plans. Basic adds a 2% fee on store sales.
- Invoicing, memberships and paid content
- Branded invoices and pay links are free on every plan. Courses, memberships and paywalled content carry a fee of 7% on Basic, falling to 0% on Advanced.
- Hosting, SSL and unlimited bandwidth
- Managed hosting, free SSL certificates and uncapped bandwidth and storage come with every plan. Video hosting runs from 30 minutes on Basic to unlimited on Advanced.
- Forms, newsletters and SEO tools
- Form and newsletter blocks feed a contacts panel, and SEO guidance and keyword reports come built in. Pop-ups and the announcement bar need Core or higher.
Plans
GoDaddy Website Builder
Pricing could not be confirmed. See godaddy.com.
Squarespace
Basic$19
per site / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly)
A full website and store with up to 2 contributors, 30 minutes of video, a 2% fee on online sales and 7% on paid memberships.
Core$29
per site / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
Unlimited contributors, no fee on store sales, custom CSS and JavaScript, shipping labels, commerce APIs and 20 AI credits a month.
Plus$49
per site / month, billed annually ($65 billed monthly)
Lower card rates (2.7% + $0.30), a 1% fee on paid memberships, 50 hours of video and 40 AI credits a month.
Advanced$99
per site / month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly)
The lowest card rates (2.5% + $0.30), no fee on memberships, unlimited video and 120 AI credits a month.
Ways to pay less
GoDaddy Website Builder
No public discounts listed.
Squarespace
- Annual discount
Pay yearly to save about 24% to 29%
Basic costs $19 a month billed yearly against $25 billed monthly, and Advanced $99 against $139. Squarespace's page advertises savings of up to 36%.
- Other savings
Free domain for a year with an annual plan
Annual website plans include one year of free registration for one domain on Squarespace's cheapest pricing tier; it then renews at the standard rate.
- Education
Students get 50% off the first year
Students who verify their status through Student Beans get 50% off their first full year on a new annual website plan.
