What does Squarespace really cost a store each month?
A $20,000/month store pays $656 a month on Squarespace, on the Advanced plan, with card processing, fees and tools counted. On Waise Growth the same store pays $759, $103 more. The full breakdown at three sales levels follows, with a source and date for every figure.
US list prices in dollars, the same for every platform.
| Part | Starter ($2,000) | Growing ($20,000) | Established ($100,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Core | Advanced | Advanced |
| Plan cost | $27 | $36 | $36 |
| Card processing | $70 | $620 | $3,100 |
| Platform fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Photo reviews | $0 Squarespace (built in) | $0 Squarespace (built in) | $0 Squarespace (built in) |
| Quantity discounts | $0 Squarespace “Buy X, Get Y” | $0 Squarespace “Buy X, Get Y” | $0 Squarespace “Buy X, Get Y” |
| Abandoned-cart email | $0 Squarespace (built in) | $0 Squarespace (built in) | $0 Squarespace (built in) |
| Email automations | $0 Email Campaigns | $0 Email Campaigns | $0 Email Campaigns |
| Total a month | $97 | $656 | $3,136 |
| Waise | $99 Basic | $759 Growth | $3,629 Pro |
| Difference vs Waise | −$2 | −$103 | −$493 |
A plus means this platform costs more than Waise; a minus means it costs less.
What is not counted here
A price we could not verify on an official page stays out of the total, so a platform’s total can be too low here, never too high.
- Starter ($2,000): Email automations need the Email Campaigns add-on, whose price we could not verify on an official page, so it is not counted: Squarespace’s total here is understated.
- Growing ($20,000): Email automations need the Email Campaigns add-on, whose price we could not verify on an official page, so it is not counted: Squarespace’s total here is understated.
- Established ($100,000): Email automations need the Email Campaigns add-on, whose price we could not verify on an official page, so it is not counted: Squarespace’s total here is understated.
How Squarespace charges
- Plans, billed monthly: Basic $19, Core $27, Advanced $36.
- Commerce fee: 2% on Basic, and 0% on Core and Advanced.
- Squarespace Payments, US cards: 2.9% + 30¢ on Core, 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced.
- Basic is left out: discounts are not included on it, and the index compares a store that has them. At each size we pick the cheaper of Core and Advanced.
- Discounts: Buy X, Get Y from Core up. Tiered quantity pricing is not mentioned on the pricing page, so this is a partial match.
The prices we used
| Tool | For | Price | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core / Advanced | Plan, billed monthly | $27 / $36 | Source | 2026-11-08 |
| Squarespace reviews | Product reviews, built in. The page does not say whether photos can be added. | No add-on | Source | 2026-11-08 |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Abandoned-cart email, on every plan | No add-on | Source | 2026-11-08 |
Where Squarespace beats Waise
- Starter ($2,000): Squarespace comes to $97, which is $2 less than Waise Basic.
- Growing ($20,000): Squarespace comes to $656, which is $103 less than Waise Growth.
- Established ($100,000): Squarespace comes to $3,136, which is $493 less than Waise Pro.
- Strong design templates, especially for service businesses and portfolios.
- A lower card rate on Advanced, with no platform fee.
Who this suits, and who it doesn’t
A good fit
- You want tiered quantity discounts and email automations without a paid add-on.
- You want to run the store by chat.
Pick something else
- Your site is mostly a brand or services.
- You sell few products and like the templates.
Questions
Does Squarespace charge a fee on sales?
Only on Basic, 2%. Core and Advanced carry 0%.
Why isn’t Email Campaigns counted?
Because the official product page showed no price we could read. Rather than guess, we left it out of the total and said so.
What is the difference between Core and Advanced?
The difference that counts here is the card rate: Advanced costs more a month but has a lower rate, so it pays off as sales grow.
The online store that runs itself, with brakes
- AI that acts, with brakes. Pulse changes orders, prices, discounts and content from one conversation. A sensitive change first shows a before-and-after card and waits for your approval, and almost any change can be undone.
- Your money is protected on the server, not by a promise. Anything touching money needs a confirmation tied to the exact values you saw, and the margin guard blocks a price below your minimum, even when an outside AI asks for it.
- Profit, not just sales. An order counts only once your payment provider confirms the money, and profit is worked out after fees, shipping, cost of goods and refunds.
- Open to your own AI. Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini connect to your store over MCP and pass through exactly the same brakes.
- Five ways to build, one system behind them. A ready theme, designing by chat with Pulse, your own code, outside builders like Lovable or Webflow, or your own AI. Checkout, orders, customers and money stay in one place.
- 0% of your sales. One flat monthly plan. When your store grows, our cut doesn’t, because there isn’t one.
- Built by someone who sold. Or Avrahami, a practical electronics and computer engineer, ran an online store on Shopify and built what that store needed. That became Waise.
Sources
Every competitor figure on this page was checked on its official page, on the date beside the source.
- www.squarespace.com/pricing Squarespace pricing Checked 2026-11-08
- support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/27853679334157-Transaction-fees-and-payment-processing-rates Squarespace transaction fees and card rates Checked 2026-11-08
- www.squarespace.com/feature-index Squarespace feature list (product reviews) Checked 2026-11-08
Updated · Method
Written and checked by Or Avrahami, Founder of Waise ·
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