Hall Web Design vs Squarespace
Verdictvs Squarespace
Squarespace is the design-first builder and it's genuinely good at the template-based brochure site. The problems only start when you need to do anything a template didn't anticipate - which, if the business grows, you will.
Squarespace is the most-design-conscious of the big builders. A Squarespace site doesn't shout "Squarespace" the way a Wix site shouts "Wix". For creatives, small agencies, and single-person businesses whose website is part of the portfolio, that matters a lot. This page is about what happens the day the template stops being enough.
Out-of-the-box aesthetics
You get the design you brief. If you want opinionated editorial design, good typography, distinctive motion - that's what you get. Among the best template libraries on the market. Squarespace templates are tasteful. For a creative-adjacent business, picking one and customising colours is often enough. Performance
Lighthouse 95+ desktop, 85+ mobile. Sub-second LCP on a good connection. Better than Wix, still lags hand-built. Mobile Lighthouse usually in the 40-60 range because of the template runtime and default image sizes. SEO
Per-page JSON-LD, custom meta per route, clean semantic markup. Everything Google expects. Good basics - sitemap, meta fields, redirects. Not as controllable as hand-built: you can't fine-tune schema or Core Web Vitals the same way. Cost
One-time build fee, £20/month hosting on Vercel Pro or £0 on hobby. £12-£40/month forever for the Personal/Business/Commerce tier. Transaction fees on Commerce tiers below the top one. Templates + premium integrations extra. Editor experience
Decap CMS or similar for content-only edits. Fine for non-developers. Structural changes need me. The in-browser editor is the reason people choose Squarespace. Non-technical editors can redesign pages themselves. Genuinely good. Commerce
Stripe direct, custom checkout tuned to your flow. Works but needs building. Squarespace Commerce is built-in and solid - product catalogue, stock management, shipping rules. Rivals Shopify for small shops. Flexibility
Any feature is a component or route. No template ceiling. You're working within a template. Custom code injection exists but is limited and undercuts the reason you chose Squarespace. Ownership
Code in a git repo, content in files. Portable anywhere. Content exportable to XML (WordPress format). Design is template IP and doesn't come with you. Effectively a rebuild if you move off. When Squarespace is actually the right call
There's a version of this page I'd rather not publish, because Squarespace is the builder where the honest answer is "this is often fine".
Single-person creative businesses. Photographers, illustrators, writers, small consultancies. Where the site is a tastefully-designed portfolio and nothing more demanding. Squarespace does this well for ~£15/month with zero developer involvement.
Small shops that want the simplest commerce experience. If you're selling fewer than 50 SKUs, want a decent product catalogue editor, and don't need custom checkout logic, Squarespace Commerce is a real answer. Shopify would be the next step up; a bespoke build from me would be the step after that.
Businesses where the editor experience is the deciding factor. If you know you'll be rearranging the site weekly, adding posts, tweaking layouts, and you won't enjoy working with a headless CMS - Squarespace's in-browser editor is a legitimate reason to choose it.
Where I come in
All the above cases assume the business stays roughly shaped like that. Where I win is when one of these three things changes.
When design actually needs to be distinctive. Squarespace templates are tasteful but by definition shared. If you're a studio, a premium brand, or a business whose positioning relies on standing out visually - a template won't get you there. A bespoke site will.
When the site has to integrate beyond what Squarespace ships. HireHop integrations, Microsoft 365 staff dashboards, custom quote calculators, specific API handshakes - Squarespace's code injection gets you 80% of the way but the other 20% is often the important 20%.
When SEO is a real competitive lever. For a business where ranking on Google is the difference between busy and empty - local trades, tour operators, garages - the 30-40 point Lighthouse gap between a Squarespace site and a bespoke build is directly costing you traffic. The rebuild pays back quickly.
Common questions
I genuinely like my Squarespace design. Can I just keep it and move the stack underneath?+
You can keep the design direction - I'll recreate it in Figma and rebuild the front-end in Next.js while matching the look. You can't lift the template files across: they're Squarespace's IP and use their runtime. Think of it as a redesign that preserves the look, not a code port.
Is Squarespace faster than WordPress?+
Usually yes. Squarespace sites have less plugin sprawl and a more controlled runtime, so Lighthouse performance is typically 10-20 points better than an average WordPress site. Still lags a hand-built Next.js site by another 30-40 points, especially on mobile.
Can you do a Squarespace Commerce rebuild?+
Yes, but it's a bigger job than a brochure rebuild because commerce has more edge cases (stock management, tax, shipping, refunds). For under 30 products with a simple flow, ~4-6 weeks. For larger catalogues or unusual business rules, I'll honestly often point people at Shopify instead - it's what Shopify is built for.
What about Squarespace's blog editor?+
It's good. If blogging is central to your business, Squarespace's editor is more ergonomic than a markdown-based blog. I can match most of it with Decap CMS but I won't pretend the editor feels identical.
How much does the SEO gap actually matter?+
It matters when you're competing. For uncompetitive queries (specialist niches, unusual geographies), you'll rank fine on Squarespace. For competitive local queries ("web designer sheffield", "garage ackworth") the Core Web Vitals delta is a direct ranking signal that tips pages over into the top 10. See the Bram Racing case study for a real example.
Can I try Squarespace first and move to you if I outgrow it?+
Yes, and it's a perfectly reasonable path. Just know that the move is a rebuild, not a migration - you'll keep your content and domain, but the design work starts fresh. If you're confident about the business direction now, doing it once costs less than doing it twice.
Done with Squarespace?
Tell me what your current site is costing you - in page-load time, plugin headaches, or conversions - and I'll tell you whether a rebuild is worth it.