Aaron Rolston
July 17, 2025
July 17, 2025
Articles
→
Strategy
Squarespace Designer Pricing: Practical Guide for Freelancers
Squarespace makes websites easy to build—but it doesn’t mean your work should be cheap. If you're designing custom sites for clients, you’re guiding strategy, organizing content, shaping experience, and delivering a finished product that helps someone’s business grow. Pricing that fairly reflects that value takes clarity, not guesswork. This guide covers what to charge, how to think about using templates, and why the DIY nature of Squarespace doesn’t lower the ceiling on your rates.
Squarespace makes websites easy to build—but it doesn’t mean your work should be cheap. If you're designing custom sites for clients, you’re guiding strategy, organizing content, shaping experience, and delivering a finished product that helps someone’s business grow. Pricing that fairly reflects that value takes clarity, not guesswork. This guide covers what to charge, how to think about using templates, and why the DIY nature of Squarespace doesn’t lower the ceiling on your rates.
Squarespace makes websites easy to build—but it doesn’t mean your work should be cheap. If you're designing custom sites for clients, you’re guiding strategy, organizing content, shaping experience, and delivering a finished product that helps someone’s business grow. Pricing that fairly reflects that value takes clarity, not guesswork. This guide covers what to charge, how to think about using templates, and why the DIY nature of Squarespace doesn’t lower the ceiling on your rates.
Summary
Your pricing should reflect the value you provide, not the time it takes. Just because Squarespace is a DIY platform doesn’t mean clients won’t pay premium prices for thoughtful, strategic design. Most professional projects fall between $5,000 and $10,000+, depending on scope, and your rates should be high enough to sustain your business even with only one project a month. Using templates as a Squarespace designer is not a shortcut—it’s smart business.
Should Squarespace designers use templates on client projects?
Squarespace is built on structure, and starting from a strong foundation only makes sense. Using a template—especially one you know well—gives you a clear head start. Instead of spending time redoing the same grid or finessing every breakpoint from scratch, you get to focus on what clients actually care about: clear messaging, thoughtful layout, and a polished, functional site that works across devices.
Templates also help speed up revisions, give you a repeatable system, and ultimately allow you to spend more time on design thinking rather than technical chores. This isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about building smarter.
Templates don’t make your work less valuable—just faster to deliver.
Whether you’re adapting a standard Squarespace layout or working from a premium base like a Studio Mesa template, your expertise lies in what you do with the template, not whether you started from a blank page. A fast, well-organized process is a value-add, not something to apologize for.
Nautilus Squarespace template by Studio Mesa for Law Firms
What clients actually care about
At the end of the day, clients want a website that works without making their life harder. They need a site that’s easy to navigate, reflects their brand, and helps their audience find what they’re looking for. The backend should feel manageable, and the overall experience should feel cohesive and professional. Most of your clients aren’t interested in how the site is built—they’re interested in the outcome.
If your process can get them there faster by using a trusted template, they’re not going to complain. In fact, most will be relieved. When you guide them through smart layout decisions, make content entry feel intuitive, and design something that doesn’t fall apart on mobile, you’re delivering far more than just a pretty homepage.
Templates help you say yes to all the things they actually care about: clarity, consistency, and a smooth handoff. Whether they plan to update the site themselves or hand it off to a team, what matters is that it works well and looks like it was done with intention.
Should templates affect your pricing?
No. Your pricing should be based on value—not hours. If a project takes you less time because you have a smart system in place, good! That means your client gets a great result faster. The fact that you can deliver a full website in a week doesn't make it worth less; it often makes it worth more.
Clients aren’t hiring you to reinvent the wheel. They’re hiring you to help them get a site that looks good, works well, and feels intentional. Your experience, process, and judgment are what they’re paying for. The template is just one part of the system that helps you deliver that consistently.
Just like a lawyer uses contract templates or a photographer uses editing presets, starting from a base doesn’t cheapen the outcome. It often improves it. You’re still tailoring, refining, and making strategic decisions. That’s where your value sits.
Consider this…
If using templates lets you deliver high-quality work faster, your prices should reflect the value of that work—not the speed. If anything, being able to deliver great work quickly is a value-proposition of it's own!
Yes, Squarespace is DIY—but that doesn’t make your work cheap
There’s a common objection among new designers: "Why would someone pay me thousands when they could just build it themselves?" Because building something usable and professional is harder than it looks. Clients hire you to save time, avoid mistakes, and make sure the end product actually works.
Even though Squarespace is built as a do-it-yourself platform, most people quickly realize they don’t have the time, eye, or experience to get it right. They end up with clunky navigation, mismatched fonts, bad mobile behavior, and pages that just don't flow. That's where you come in. You bring structure, polish, and confidence to the project.
More importantly, you're not just making things look pretty—you're helping clients understand what content matters, how to communicate clearly, and how to guide visitors through the site. Those are high-value skills. And people are willing to pay for them.
So, what should you actually charge?
There’s no universal answer, but here’s a ballpark to start with.
For small 1–3 page builds, $1,000 to $2,000 is common. Mid-sized projects—think 5–10 pages with a mix of services, blog, about, and contact—often fall in the $2,500 to $5,000 range. Larger, content-heavy sites (like nonprofits, churches, or wellness platforms) that include donations, events, or custom design touches often range from $5,000 to $10,000+. Add-ons like content strategy, SEO setup, and brand refinement can push a project higher.
The golden rule of project pricing
Make pricing extremely straightforward for yourself: If you only booked one project a month, would your pricing keep your business afloat? If not, you're not charging enough. The key is to make sure your baseline project price is sustainable. Your price should reflect the full value of your service—including your communication, process, and ability to deliver a smooth experience. Nobody will care how nice your work is… if you're out of business from undercharging.
Price with confidence—because clients aren’t just paying for pages
Your clients aren’t just buying a few web pages. They’re buying clarity. Direction. Relief. A sense that this thing they’ve been putting off is finally handled by someone who gets it. Your job isn’t to fill a site with content—it’s to make sure that content has structure and purpose. That the visual design supports the message. That the experience feels cohesive.
If you do that well, the fact that it’s built in Squarespace doesn’t matter. What matters is that it works—and that your client feels taken care of. That’s what earns trust. And that’s what commands a fair, confident price.
Summary
Your pricing should reflect the value you provide, not the time it takes. Just because Squarespace is a DIY platform doesn’t mean clients won’t pay premium prices for thoughtful, strategic design. Most professional projects fall between $5,000 and $10,000+, depending on scope, and your rates should be high enough to sustain your business even with only one project a month. Using templates as a Squarespace designer is not a shortcut—it’s smart business.
Should Squarespace designers use templates on client projects?
Squarespace is built on structure, and starting from a strong foundation only makes sense. Using a template—especially one you know well—gives you a clear head start. Instead of spending time redoing the same grid or finessing every breakpoint from scratch, you get to focus on what clients actually care about: clear messaging, thoughtful layout, and a polished, functional site that works across devices.
Templates also help speed up revisions, give you a repeatable system, and ultimately allow you to spend more time on design thinking rather than technical chores. This isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about building smarter.
Templates don’t make your work less valuable—just faster to deliver.
Whether you’re adapting a standard Squarespace layout or working from a premium base like a Studio Mesa template, your expertise lies in what you do with the template, not whether you started from a blank page. A fast, well-organized process is a value-add, not something to apologize for.
Nautilus Squarespace template by Studio Mesa for Law Firms
What clients actually care about
At the end of the day, clients want a website that works without making their life harder. They need a site that’s easy to navigate, reflects their brand, and helps their audience find what they’re looking for. The backend should feel manageable, and the overall experience should feel cohesive and professional. Most of your clients aren’t interested in how the site is built—they’re interested in the outcome.
If your process can get them there faster by using a trusted template, they’re not going to complain. In fact, most will be relieved. When you guide them through smart layout decisions, make content entry feel intuitive, and design something that doesn’t fall apart on mobile, you’re delivering far more than just a pretty homepage.
Templates help you say yes to all the things they actually care about: clarity, consistency, and a smooth handoff. Whether they plan to update the site themselves or hand it off to a team, what matters is that it works well and looks like it was done with intention.
Should templates affect your pricing?
No. Your pricing should be based on value—not hours. If a project takes you less time because you have a smart system in place, good! That means your client gets a great result faster. The fact that you can deliver a full website in a week doesn't make it worth less; it often makes it worth more.
Clients aren’t hiring you to reinvent the wheel. They’re hiring you to help them get a site that looks good, works well, and feels intentional. Your experience, process, and judgment are what they’re paying for. The template is just one part of the system that helps you deliver that consistently.
Just like a lawyer uses contract templates or a photographer uses editing presets, starting from a base doesn’t cheapen the outcome. It often improves it. You’re still tailoring, refining, and making strategic decisions. That’s where your value sits.
Consider this…
If using templates lets you deliver high-quality work faster, your prices should reflect the value of that work—not the speed. If anything, being able to deliver great work quickly is a value-proposition of it's own!
Yes, Squarespace is DIY—but that doesn’t make your work cheap
There’s a common objection among new designers: "Why would someone pay me thousands when they could just build it themselves?" Because building something usable and professional is harder than it looks. Clients hire you to save time, avoid mistakes, and make sure the end product actually works.
Even though Squarespace is built as a do-it-yourself platform, most people quickly realize they don’t have the time, eye, or experience to get it right. They end up with clunky navigation, mismatched fonts, bad mobile behavior, and pages that just don't flow. That's where you come in. You bring structure, polish, and confidence to the project.
More importantly, you're not just making things look pretty—you're helping clients understand what content matters, how to communicate clearly, and how to guide visitors through the site. Those are high-value skills. And people are willing to pay for them.
So, what should you actually charge?
There’s no universal answer, but here’s a ballpark to start with.
For small 1–3 page builds, $1,000 to $2,000 is common. Mid-sized projects—think 5–10 pages with a mix of services, blog, about, and contact—often fall in the $2,500 to $5,000 range. Larger, content-heavy sites (like nonprofits, churches, or wellness platforms) that include donations, events, or custom design touches often range from $5,000 to $10,000+. Add-ons like content strategy, SEO setup, and brand refinement can push a project higher.
The golden rule of project pricing
Make pricing extremely straightforward for yourself: If you only booked one project a month, would your pricing keep your business afloat? If not, you're not charging enough. The key is to make sure your baseline project price is sustainable. Your price should reflect the full value of your service—including your communication, process, and ability to deliver a smooth experience. Nobody will care how nice your work is… if you're out of business from undercharging.
Price with confidence—because clients aren’t just paying for pages
Your clients aren’t just buying a few web pages. They’re buying clarity. Direction. Relief. A sense that this thing they’ve been putting off is finally handled by someone who gets it. Your job isn’t to fill a site with content—it’s to make sure that content has structure and purpose. That the visual design supports the message. That the experience feels cohesive.
If you do that well, the fact that it’s built in Squarespace doesn’t matter. What matters is that it works—and that your client feels taken care of. That’s what earns trust. And that’s what commands a fair, confident price.
Summary
Your pricing should reflect the value you provide, not the time it takes. Just because Squarespace is a DIY platform doesn’t mean clients won’t pay premium prices for thoughtful, strategic design. Most professional projects fall between $5,000 and $10,000+, depending on scope, and your rates should be high enough to sustain your business even with only one project a month. Using templates as a Squarespace designer is not a shortcut—it’s smart business.
Should Squarespace designers use templates on client projects?
Squarespace is built on structure, and starting from a strong foundation only makes sense. Using a template—especially one you know well—gives you a clear head start. Instead of spending time redoing the same grid or finessing every breakpoint from scratch, you get to focus on what clients actually care about: clear messaging, thoughtful layout, and a polished, functional site that works across devices.
Templates also help speed up revisions, give you a repeatable system, and ultimately allow you to spend more time on design thinking rather than technical chores. This isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about building smarter.
Templates don’t make your work less valuable—just faster to deliver.
Whether you’re adapting a standard Squarespace layout or working from a premium base like a Studio Mesa template, your expertise lies in what you do with the template, not whether you started from a blank page. A fast, well-organized process is a value-add, not something to apologize for.
Nautilus Squarespace template by Studio Mesa for Law Firms
What clients actually care about
At the end of the day, clients want a website that works without making their life harder. They need a site that’s easy to navigate, reflects their brand, and helps their audience find what they’re looking for. The backend should feel manageable, and the overall experience should feel cohesive and professional. Most of your clients aren’t interested in how the site is built—they’re interested in the outcome.
If your process can get them there faster by using a trusted template, they’re not going to complain. In fact, most will be relieved. When you guide them through smart layout decisions, make content entry feel intuitive, and design something that doesn’t fall apart on mobile, you’re delivering far more than just a pretty homepage.
Templates help you say yes to all the things they actually care about: clarity, consistency, and a smooth handoff. Whether they plan to update the site themselves or hand it off to a team, what matters is that it works well and looks like it was done with intention.
Should templates affect your pricing?
No. Your pricing should be based on value—not hours. If a project takes you less time because you have a smart system in place, good! That means your client gets a great result faster. The fact that you can deliver a full website in a week doesn't make it worth less; it often makes it worth more.
Clients aren’t hiring you to reinvent the wheel. They’re hiring you to help them get a site that looks good, works well, and feels intentional. Your experience, process, and judgment are what they’re paying for. The template is just one part of the system that helps you deliver that consistently.
Just like a lawyer uses contract templates or a photographer uses editing presets, starting from a base doesn’t cheapen the outcome. It often improves it. You’re still tailoring, refining, and making strategic decisions. That’s where your value sits.
Consider this…
If using templates lets you deliver high-quality work faster, your prices should reflect the value of that work—not the speed. If anything, being able to deliver great work quickly is a value-proposition of it's own!
Yes, Squarespace is DIY—but that doesn’t make your work cheap
There’s a common objection among new designers: "Why would someone pay me thousands when they could just build it themselves?" Because building something usable and professional is harder than it looks. Clients hire you to save time, avoid mistakes, and make sure the end product actually works.
Even though Squarespace is built as a do-it-yourself platform, most people quickly realize they don’t have the time, eye, or experience to get it right. They end up with clunky navigation, mismatched fonts, bad mobile behavior, and pages that just don't flow. That's where you come in. You bring structure, polish, and confidence to the project.
More importantly, you're not just making things look pretty—you're helping clients understand what content matters, how to communicate clearly, and how to guide visitors through the site. Those are high-value skills. And people are willing to pay for them.
So, what should you actually charge?
There’s no universal answer, but here’s a ballpark to start with.
For small 1–3 page builds, $1,000 to $2,000 is common. Mid-sized projects—think 5–10 pages with a mix of services, blog, about, and contact—often fall in the $2,500 to $5,000 range. Larger, content-heavy sites (like nonprofits, churches, or wellness platforms) that include donations, events, or custom design touches often range from $5,000 to $10,000+. Add-ons like content strategy, SEO setup, and brand refinement can push a project higher.
The golden rule of project pricing
Make pricing extremely straightforward for yourself: If you only booked one project a month, would your pricing keep your business afloat? If not, you're not charging enough. The key is to make sure your baseline project price is sustainable. Your price should reflect the full value of your service—including your communication, process, and ability to deliver a smooth experience. Nobody will care how nice your work is… if you're out of business from undercharging.
Price with confidence—because clients aren’t just paying for pages
Your clients aren’t just buying a few web pages. They’re buying clarity. Direction. Relief. A sense that this thing they’ve been putting off is finally handled by someone who gets it. Your job isn’t to fill a site with content—it’s to make sure that content has structure and purpose. That the visual design supports the message. That the experience feels cohesive.
If you do that well, the fact that it’s built in Squarespace doesn’t matter. What matters is that it works—and that your client feels taken care of. That’s what earns trust. And that’s what commands a fair, confident price.
