Squarespace vs Zoho Sites
We give Squarespace a 2.6 GPA and Zoho Sites a 2.4, out of 4.0. Squarespace grades higher on features and ease of use. Zoho Sites grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Squarespace
Template-based website builder with an online store and invoicing
Zoho Sites
AI website builder with collections, dynamic pages and Zoho CRM
How we grade them
| 2.6GPASquarespaceGood | 2.4GPAZoho SitesFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | BBasic is $8 a month for one site on yearly billing ($10 monthly), with 5 pages, 2 forms and 8 GB of bandwidth. That's inside this category's cheapest quarter ($9). Lite at $1 is a single page, and Plus is $15 for 25 pages. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | CNo free plan, but a 15-day trial with no card needed and 3,000 one-time AI credits. After that every site needs a paid plan. |
| Features | 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. | CAI site generation, a visual builder with custom code, collections that make a page for every item, forms into Zoho CRM and a member portal. The gaps show in the listing: pages are capped per plan, collections start on Plus, and there's no store. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo app store rating on record. The AI gets you a first draft from a prompt, but after that it's a full visual builder with layers and components to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BWeb only, with Zoho CRM, Zoho Analytics, Google Analytics and an MCP connection that lets Claude and Cursor build and edit sites. No phone or desktop app. |
| Best for | polished template sites with a shop built in | small sites that feed leads into Zoho CRM |
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: Squarespace and Zoho Sites. How we grade
Price against what you get
Squarespace starts at $19 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zoho Sites starts at $1 a month and scores 2.3.
Squarespace scores higher, and starts $18 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other website and landing page builders on the chart, 2 score higher than Squarespace for less, and none scores higher than Zoho Sites for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Squarespace starts at $19 per site / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly). Zoho Sites starts at $1 per site / month, billed annually ($2 billed monthly).
- Only Squarespace lists iOS and Android apps.
- Squarespace also covers invoicing.
- Zoho Sites also covers no-code.
At a glance
| Squarespace | Zoho Sites | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $19 per site / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) | $1 per site / month, billed annually ($2 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card required | 15-day free trial, no credit card required, with 3,000 one-time AI credits. |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Squarespace, Inc. | Zoho Corporation |
| Price read from | squarespace.com | zoho.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
Zoho Sites
- Businesses already using Zoho CRM that want leads to land there
- Catalogs, directories and listings built from one page layout
- A one-page site at a low yearly cost on the Lite plan
Worth knowing
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.
Zoho Sites
- There is no free plan; after the 15-day trial every site needs a paid plan.
- Each plan caps pages: 1 on Lite, 5 on Basic, 25 on Plus and 100 on Advanced. Extra pages cost $10 a month per 100 ($8.33 billed annually).
- Collections and dynamic pages need Plus or Advanced, and the member portal needs Advanced.
- Extra users are $10 each a month, and extra AI credits are $5 per 4,000 as a one-time purchase.
Key features
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.
Zoho Sites
- AI website generation
- A prompt produces pages, navigation, layouts, copy and images as a starting point, which can then be refined in the builder or through AI chat.
- Zoho Sites MCP
- AI tools such as Claude and Cursor can connect through Zoho MCP to create and edit sites, pages, collections, forms and content, then publish.
- Collections and dynamic pages
- Structured content such as products, events or listings lives in collections, and one page layout generates a page for every item. Collections start on Plus.
- Visual builder with custom code
- A drag-and-drop editor with layers, saved components and responsive previews, plus HTML, CSS and JavaScript wherever a site needs it.
- Forms and Zoho CRM
- Lead capture forms with autoresponders send submissions into Zoho CRM or an email list. Each plan caps forms and monthly submissions.
- Member portal and SDK widgets
- Advanced adds a member portal with access controls, and developers can build React widgets with the Zoho Sites SDK and publish them to Zoho Marketplace.
Plans
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.
Zoho Sites
Lite$1
per site / month, billed annually ($2 billed monthly)
A single page with 100 MB of storage, 500 MB of bandwidth a month, 1 form with 50 submissions a month and 1,000 AI credits a month.
Basic$8
per site / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)
5 pages, 500 MB of storage, 8 GB of bandwidth a month, 2 forms with 500 submissions a month and 2,000 AI credits a month.
Plus$15
per site / month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly)
25 pages, 4 GB of storage, 20 GB of bandwidth, 10 forms, 3,000 AI credits a month and 2 collections.
Advanced$40
per site / month, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)
100 pages, 10 GB of storage, 50 GB of bandwidth, 50 forms with 10,000 submissions a month, 6,000 AI credits a month and a member portal.
Ways to pay less
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.
Zoho Sites
- Annual discount
Save up to 50% with yearly billing
Zoho Sites prices each plan lower per month when billed yearly: Lite drops from $2 to $1 and Advanced from $49 to $40 a month.
