Squarespace vs Framer

Both of these are chosen because the site has to look good. They differ on how much site there is going to be, and on whether it needs to do anything besides look good.

Two ways to look designed

Squarespace hands you templates that arrive finished, with global type and colour settings that keep a growing site consistent. The ceiling is real: an off-template design means custom CSS or a compromise. Squarespace scores 4 for design.

Framer scores 5. It is made to feel like a design tool, motion and interaction are configured without writing code, and the path from an idea to a live page is short. If the page is meant to feel bespoke rather than chosen, Framer is the one that gets there.

Squarespace scores 4 for ease against Framer's 3, and 5 for support against Framer's 3, with help around the clock on every plan.

What each one refuses to do

This is where the comparison stops being about taste. Framer has no store, no appointments and no marketing email — none of the three, at any tier. Squarespace has a store, and a blog, and multilingual and SEO controls.

Squarespace scores 4 for room to grow against Framer's 3, and that is what the number is describing: not that Framer runs out of polish, but that it runs out of scope.

The money runs the other way. Framer scores 4 for value against Squarespace's 3, its free tier is a real place to build, and a custom domain is included on the entry paid plan. Squarespace has no free tier at all. Framer's free plan is described by the vendor as non-commercial, which matters if the site is for a business.

Squarespace exports content and Framer does not, so the site you build in Framer is the site you keep there.

Which should you choose?

Choose Framer if this is a landing page, a portfolio or a marketing site, the design is the point, and nothing needs to be sold or booked on it.

Choose Squarespace if the site will grow — more pages, a shop, a blog, another language — and you want one thing that handles all of it with somebody to call.