Squarespace vs Custom Website Dubai 2026: Cost
Squarespace lists plans from €17 to €79 a month, and Squarespace Payments does not list the UAE. Custom Dubai sites start at AED 500. Cost, RTL, PDPL.
- PUBLISHED
- 13 OCT 2026
- READ TIME
- 07 MIN
- AUTHOR
- AQUARIUS · DUBAI
- UNIT
- REV 2026.09
Short answer: Squarespace sells four website plans: Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced. On 13 October 2026 its pricing page showed them at €17, €24, €42 and €79 a month, or €144 to €828 a year on annual billing. A custom website from a Dubai studio is a one-off cost instead. Aquarius sites start at a fixed AED 500, and a multi-page bilingual Business Site is AED 2,500. You own the result, and nothing renews every year unless you choose a support plan.
Squarespace is a polished, design-led builder, and plenty of Dubai consultants, photographers and small studios run on it happily. The question is not whether it is good. The question is whether it fits a UAE business that needs Arabic, local payments and data it controls. This guide sets Squarespace’s own published plans against a fixed-price custom build and shows where the line usually falls.
Key takeaways
- Squarespace has no free plan. Every site starts with a 14-day free trial, and paying annually saves up to 36%.
- Squarespace localises prices by visitor location. We read the page from two regions and saw euros in one and rupees in the other, so check the currency and amount your UAE checkout shows.
- The Basic plan adds a 2% transaction fee on online store sales. Core and above charge 0% on store sales.
- Squarespace Payments is listed for the US, UK, Canada and ten EU countries. The UAE is not on that list, so plan your payment route before you build a store.
Squarespace vs custom website: 2026 cost comparison
The Squarespace figures below were taken from squarespace.com/pricing on 13 October 2026, as shown to a visitor in Europe. Annual prices are the per-year totals the page lists for annual billing. Aquarius prices are from our own AED website pricing page. VAT is applied as UAE law requires.
| Option | Monthly billing | Annual billing | What the plan adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace Basic | €17/month | €144/year (€12/month) | Hosting, up to 2 contributors, 2% online store fee, 7% fee on digital content and memberships |
| Squarespace Core | €24/month | €216/year (€18/month) | Unlimited contributors, custom CSS and JavaScript, advanced analytics, 0% store fee, 5% on content and memberships |
| Squarespace Plus | €42/month | €384/year (€32/month) | Core features, 0% store fee, 1% on content and memberships |
| Squarespace Advanced | €79/month | €828/year (€69/month) | 0% store fee, 0% on content and memberships, lowest automated tax rate |
| Aquarius Starter Site | AED 500 one-off | 1–3 pages, mobile-responsive, WhatsApp plus contact form, live in 3–5 days | |
| Aquarius Business Site | AED 2,500 one-off | Up to 8 pages, CMS, SEO + AEO foundation, AI chat assistant, EN/AR ready | |
Annual Squarespace plans also include one year of free domain registration, and the domain then renews at Squarespace’s standard rate. Core and above include Google Workspace free for the first year only. Those renewals are easy to miss when you compare first-year prices.
What Squarespace costs over three years
A website is a three-to-five-year asset, so compare it over that period, not month one. On the euro prices above, three years of Core on annual billing is €648 in plan fees. Advanced is €2,484. Those figures exclude the domain after year one, Workspace seats after year one, and any paid extensions. Every one of those fees stops the day you stop paying, and so does the site.
A custom build is a single payment for a defined scope. Ongoing hosting and maintenance are separate line items you can see and shop around. If you want to see how that works in practice, our guide to domain and website ownership handover in Dubai covers what you should receive at launch. We ran the same three-year comparison for another builder in Wix vs custom website in Dubai.
Where Squarespace falls short for UAE businesses
Payments in the UAE
Squarespace’s own FAQ lists where Squarespace Payments works: the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and ten European countries. The UAE is not among them. If you plan to take AED card payments, confirm which processor Squarespace supports for a UAE-registered business before you design the store. Local gateways such as Network International, Telr or Tap usually need a custom integration. Our payment gateway integration cost guide shows what that work involves.
Arabic and right-to-left
The pricing page does not mention Arabic or right-to-left layouts. Test your chosen template with real Arabic content, mixed-direction forms and a mirrored menu before committing. Production RTL is a design job, not a language toggle. Our Arabic website localisation guide explains what to check.
PDPL and data location
Squarespace includes hosting on every plan. It does not name a hosting region on the pricing page. Under the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021) you need to know where form submissions and customer records are stored and who can access them. Run through our UAE PDPL compliance checklist whichever platform you choose.
Customisation ceiling
Custom CSS and JavaScript only arrive on Core and above. Deeper changes, such as a booking flow tied to your CRM, a quote calculator or an AI assistant trained on your own documents, mean working around the platform rather than with it.
When Squarespace is the right choice
| Situation | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| English-only portfolio or personal brand | Squarespace | Strong templates and no build fee; you can launch in a weekend |
| Testing a business idea for a few months | Squarespace | Monthly billing and a 14-day trial keep the commitment small |
| Bilingual Arabic/English company site | Custom | Proper RTL needs design work and device testing |
| Online store taking AED payments | Custom | Local gateways and VAT-correct invoices need integration work |
| Lead-generation site tied to a CRM or WhatsApp | Custom | Forms, routing and tracking built around how your sales team works |
| Site you want to keep for 3+ years | Custom | One-off cost, full code handover, no plan to renew |
Aquarius custom websites: fixed prices in AED
We build with AI-assisted delivery, which is why our prices sit well below a traditional Dubai agency. Engineers still own the design and the code, and every site is handed over to you in full. Prices are in AED, with VAT applied as UAE law requires:
| Aquarius tier | Price | Scope | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter Site | AED 500 | 1–3 pages, mobile-responsive, WhatsApp plus contact form, basic on-page SEO | Live in 3–5 days |
| Business Site | AED 2,500 | Up to 8 pages, CMS, SEO + AEO foundation, AI chat assistant, EN/AR ready | About 2 weeks |
| Launch | AED 6,500 | Websites and landing pages, up to 6 pages, CMS, SEO + AEO foundation, EN/AR ready | 2 weeks |
Our website and app development services page lists everything else we build, from AI chat to full web apps.
FAQ
How much does Squarespace cost in 2026?
On 13 October 2026 Squarespace’s pricing page showed Basic at €17, Core at €24, Plus at €42 and Advanced at €79 a month to a visitor in Europe, or €144 to €828 a year on annual billing. Prices are localised by region, so check what your UAE checkout shows.
Is there a free Squarespace plan?
No. Squarespace says it does not offer a free plan. Every site starts with a 14-day free trial, and you need a paid plan to keep the site live after that.
Can I use Squarespace Payments in the UAE?
Squarespace lists Squarespace Payments as available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and ten EU countries. The UAE is not on that list, so confirm your payment processor before you build a store.
Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?
The Basic plan charges 2% on online store sales. Core, Plus and Advanced charge 0% on store sales. Fees on digital content and memberships are 7% on Basic, 5% on Core, 1% on Plus and 0% on Advanced.
Is a custom website cheaper than Squarespace in Dubai?
Over three years it often is. Three years of Squarespace Core on annual billing is €648 in plan fees before domain renewals. An Aquarius Business Site is a one-off AED 2,500 with full ownership, Arabic-ready layouts and no plan to renew.
Get a fixed quote for a site you own
Tell us what your Squarespace site does today, or what you want to launch, which languages you need and how customers will pay. We will send a fixed AED quote and a straight answer on whether to stay on Squarespace or move to custom. Request your website quote or compare tiers on Aquarius pricing. Custom sites start at AED 500.