Updated 30 March 2026
Squarespace Free Trial Guide
14 days. No credit card. Full access to Commerce Advanced features. Here is exactly what to test during your trial, what you cannot do, and how to get extra time if you need it.
What the Free Trial Includes
All Commerce Advanced features
During the trial you get access to the highest tier, including subscriptions, advanced discounts, real-time carrier shipping, and commerce analytics. This lets you test every feature before deciding which plan you actually need.
All templates and design tools
Browse and test all 150+ templates. Switch between templates freely. Customize colors, fonts, spacing, and layouts. Preview how your site looks on desktop, tablet, and mobile.
Unlimited pages and blog posts
Create as many pages as you want. Build your full site structure during the trial. Blog posts, product pages, gallery pages, and custom content pages are all available.
Squarespace domain (yoursite.squarespace.com)
Your trial site lives at a squarespace.com subdomain. This is publicly accessible if you share the link, but it is not indexed by search engines.
Analytics dashboard
View traffic analytics, popular content, search keywords, and geographic data. During the trial, this will mostly show your own visits, but you can see how the dashboard works.
E-commerce setup
Add products, configure shipping zones, set up tax rules, and build your checkout flow. You can test the entire purchase process using Squarespace test mode.
Trial Limitations
Cannot accept real payments
The checkout process works in test mode, but you cannot process actual credit card transactions until you select a paid plan and connect Stripe or Square.
Cannot connect a custom domain
Your site stays on the squarespace.com subdomain throughout the trial. You can purchase and configure a domain through Squarespace, but it will not go live until you choose a plan.
No email sending
Squarespace Email Campaigns and any form-based email notifications do not send during the trial. You can set them up and preview them, but no emails are delivered.
Site is not indexed by search engines
Squarespace adds a noindex tag to trial sites. Google and other search engines will not crawl or rank your trial site. This protects you from launching an unfinished site publicly.
No third-party integrations
Most Squarespace Extensions and third-party code injections are limited during the trial. Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and similar tracking scripts may not function fully.
14-Day Trial Checklist
Follow this day-by-day plan to evaluate everything Squarespace offers before your trial ends.
Days 1 to 2: Template and Structure
- Browse all templates and shortlist 3 to 5 that match your vision
- Select your primary template and explore its demo content
- Map out your site structure (Home, About, Services/Products, Contact, Blog)
- Create placeholder pages for your full site map
- Test the mobile preview for each template to check responsive design
Days 3 to 4: Design Customization
- Upload your logo and set brand colors in the Style Editor
- Choose primary and secondary fonts that match your brand
- Customize the header and navigation layout
- Set up your footer with contact info, social links, and legal pages
- Build your home page layout using content blocks (text, images, galleries, buttons)
Days 5 to 6: Content Creation
- Write and publish your About page with real copy
- Add your services or products with descriptions, pricing, and images
- Create your Contact page with a form (test form submission in preview)
- Write 1 to 2 blog posts to test the blogging experience
- Upload high-resolution images and test loading speed
Days 7 to 8: E-Commerce Setup (if selling)
- Add 5 to 10 products with images, descriptions, and variants (size, color)
- Configure shipping zones and rates for your target markets
- Set up tax rules for your state or country
- Test the checkout flow in test mode (walk through the entire purchase process)
- Set up abandoned cart recovery email templates (Commerce Basic feature)
Days 9 to 10: SEO and Marketing
- Set custom page titles and meta descriptions for every page
- Add alt text to all images
- Configure your site title and site description in Settings
- Set up URL redirects if you are migrating from another platform
- Preview how your pages look in Google search results using the SEO panel
Days 11 to 12: Mobile and Testing
- Review every page on mobile preview (check spacing, font sizes, image cropping)
- Test all navigation links and buttons
- Have a friend visit your trial site and give feedback on design and usability
- Test page loading speed using Google PageSpeed Insights on your squarespace.com URL
- Make a list of anything that feels missing or broken
Days 13 to 14: Decision Time
- Review the plan comparison to decide which tier you need
- Calculate your total cost including domain, email, and any add-ons
- If you need more time, watch for the extension email (details below)
- If ready, choose your plan and connect your custom domain
- If not convinced, export any content you created before the trial expires
How to Extend Your Trial
Wait for the extension email
Squarespace automatically sends an email near the end of your trial offering a 7-day extension. This is not guaranteed but happens frequently. Check your inbox (and spam folder) around day 12 to 14.
Contact support
If you did not receive an automatic extension offer, contact Squarespace support via live chat and explain that you need a few more days to finish evaluating the platform. Support agents can sometimes grant extensions manually.
Start a new trial with a different email
As a last resort, you can create a new trial account with a different email address. You would lose your existing site design, but you could rebuild it faster the second time using what you learned. This gives you another full 14 days.
Watch for promotional discounts
Squarespace frequently runs promotions offering 10% to 20% off annual plans. These often coincide with the end of your trial. If you received a discount code in the extension email or saw a promotion on the Squarespace site, use it when upgrading.
Free Trials Across Website Builders
| Platform | Trial Length | Credit Card Required? | Access Level | Extension |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace | 14 days | Not required | Full Commerce Advanced features | 7-day extension via email (common) |
| Wix | No time limit (free plan) | Not required | Free plan features only (Wix-branded, limited) | N/A (free plan is permanent) |
| Shopify | 3 days free, then $1/mo for 3 months | Required after 3 days | Full features during $1/mo period | N/A (rolls into $1/mo promotional pricing) |
| WordPress.com | No time limit (free plan) | Not required | Free plan (wordpress.com subdomain, limited) | N/A (free plan is permanent) |
| Weebly | No time limit (free plan) | Not required | Free plan (weebly.com subdomain, Weebly branding) | N/A (free plan is permanent) |
Squarespace's 14-day trial with full feature access and no credit card is one of the most generous trials among premium website builders. Wix and WordPress.com offer permanent free plans but with significant limitations (branding, subdomain, limited features).
What Happens When Your Trial Ends?
When your 14-day trial expires, your site is paused. It is not deleted. You can still log in to your Squarespace account and view your site in the editor, but the public-facing site is taken offline.
Squarespace keeps your trial site available for an extended period (typically 30 days or more after the trial ends). During this time, you can upgrade to a paid plan and your site will go live immediately with all your work preserved.
If you do not upgrade within this window, Squarespace may eventually delete your trial site. Before that happens, you can export your content (blog posts, pages, products) as an XML file and your images manually. Product data and order history can be exported as CSV.
There is no penalty for letting a trial expire. You can always start a new trial later with the same or a different email address. Many users run 2 to 3 trials with different templates before committing to a plan.