What does a Squarespace website actually cost per year in the UK in 2026?

On the Core plan, £244.80 a year once VAT is added for a customer who is not VAT-registered, paying yearly. The Basic plan works out at £172.80 a year on the same basis. Paying month by month rather than yearly costs more again, around £345.60 a year on Core.

Does Squarespace add VAT to its prices?

Yes, for customers who are not VAT-registered. The advertised prices are shown before VAT, and the twenty per cent is added at the checkout. VAT-registered businesses can enter their number and pay the price without it.

Is Squarespace worth it in 2026?

It is a capable, well-made platform, and for some people it is the right home. The thing to weigh is the full yearly cost, with VAT, against the headline monthly figure, since the two are a fair way apart.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Squarespace?

Cheaper is not quite the right question. Bernard is £200 a year - a little more than Squarespace's Basic plan, a little less than Core - and for that it moves your site onto fast, well-built hosting, rebuilt so people and the search and AI tools that read the web can make sense of every page, and keeps it fresh, with the move included. If the only goal is the lowest possible bill, a bare Basic plan is cheaper. If it is being found and looked after, that is what Bernard is for.

Report · 11 July 2026

Squarespace 2026 pricing, explained - what your renewal will actually cost

Squarespace is a tidy place to keep a website. The trouble is the price on the door is not the price you pay. The figure you see is a monthly one sitting on a yearly plan, and the tax goes on at the very end. None of it is hidden, exactly. It is just not the number in the advert.

Here is the whole bill, set out the way Bernard sets out a quote. Every line, and no surprises at the van.

What Squarespace charges in 2026

Squarespace changed its prices in early 2026. There are now four plans, and two of them matter for most people moving a small site.

The Basic plan is twelve pounds a month if you pay for the year up front. The Core plan, which is where most people land once they want to look properly professional, is seventeen pounds a month on the same yearly basis. Pay month by month instead and Core is twenty-four pounds a month, for exactly the same website.

So far, so reasonable. Then the tax goes on.

The price you see is before VAT

The prices Squarespace shows you do not include VAT, the twenty per cent tax added on at the till. If you run a limited company that is registered for VAT, you can hand over your number and the tax comes off. But most individuals and small businesses are not VAT-registered, and for them the twenty per cent is simply added when they pay.

That turns seventeen pounds a month into a little over twenty. The Core plan, which reads as £204 for the year, is £244.80 once the tax is on. Basic goes from £144 to £172.80 the same way. Renew for another year and that is the figure that comes round again, not the one on the pricing page.

So what does a Squarespace site really cost?

For someone who is not registered for VAT, paying yearly, the bill looks like this.

The yearly bill	Squarespace Basic	Squarespace Core	Bernard
The plan, paid yearly	£144	£204	£200
VAT added at the checkout	£28.80	£40.80	none
What you actually pay, each year	£172.80	£244.80	£200

The figure that matters is the bottom line. A Squarespace site that felt like seventeen pounds a month is £244.80 a year on Core once the tax is on, and £172.80 on Basic. Pay month by month rather than yearly and Core climbs to £345.60 a year. Bernard is £200, and £200 is the number you pay: a little more than Squarespace's cheapest plan, a little less than the one most businesses end up on, with nothing added at the checkout.

What the price is really for

Price is the wrong place to stop, though. The real cost of a website is not the bill, it is the work it does or does not do for you. A site that loads slowly, or that the search engines and AI assistants cannot read properly, is quietly costing you the customers who never find it. That is the expensive website, whatever the invoice says.

That is what Bernard's £200 is for. He rebuilds your site to be fast and cleanly readable - by people, by Google, and by the assistants people now ask, like ChatGPT and Claude - and keeps it fresh from there. The move itself is included, done for you. Your web address and email stay exactly where they are, paid however you already pay for them, on whatever cycle suits you. And the £200 is the whole price: no tax bolted on at the end, no monthly figure that turns out to be a yearly one.

He will tell you plainly if your house is one he cannot lift, before any money changes hands.

Paste your current address and Bernard will measure up, free, and show you the new place before you decide anything.

Questions people ask

What does a Squarespace website actually cost per year in the UK in 2026?: On the Core plan, £244.80 a year once VAT is added for a customer who is not VAT-registered, paying yearly. The Basic plan works out at £172.80 a year on the same basis. Paying month by month rather than yearly costs more again, around £345.60 a year on Core.
Does Squarespace add VAT to its prices?: Yes, for customers who are not VAT-registered. The advertised prices are shown before VAT, and the twenty per cent is added at the checkout. VAT-registered businesses can enter their number and pay the price without it.
Is Squarespace worth it in 2026?: It is a capable, well-made platform, and for some people it is the right home. The thing to weigh is the full yearly cost, with VAT, against the headline monthly figure, since the two are a fair way apart.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Squarespace?: Cheaper is not quite the right question. Bernard is £200 a year - a little more than Squarespace's Basic plan, a little less than Core - and for that it moves your site onto fast, well-built hosting, rebuilt so people and the search and AI tools that read the web can make sense of every page, and keeps it fresh, with the move included. If the only goal is the lowest possible bill, a bare Basic plan is cheaper. If it is being found and looked after, that is what Bernard is for.