Squarespace Designer vs Agency vs DIY: What You Get at Each Price

There are three ways to get a Squarespace site: build it yourself, hire a designer, or hire an agency. DIY costs the least in money and the most in time. A Squarespace designer usually costs $1,500 to $6,000 and gets you a custom site in a few weeks. An agency usually starts around $5,000, larger firms set minimums of $20,000 or more, and it makes sense when you need a whole team behind the site. Most small businesses I talk to are best served by the middle option, but not all of them, and I’ll show you how to tell.

I’m a Squarespace designer, so I’m not neutral. I’ll be specific instead.

At a glance

Squarespace designer vs agency vs DIY

	DIY	Designer	Agency
Typical cost	Your plan: $19 to $99 a month, billed yearly	About $1,500 to $6,000, one time	From about $5,000; $20,000+ at larger firms
Time to launch	However long your evenings last	Usually 2 to 5 weeks	Longer, with more people signing off
Who does the work	You	One person, start to finish	A team, through an account manager
Design	A template you adjust	Custom, on Squarespace	Custom, sometimes on another platform
Best for	New businesses and simple sites	Small businesses that outgrew their template	Bigger companies that need marketing too

Building it yourself

Squarespace is built for this, and plenty of good sites are DIY. You pay for the plan, pick a template and start editing. Plans run from $19 to $99 a month on annual billing (see Squarespace’s pricing), and most business sites need Core at $29. DIY is the right call when the business is new, the budget is close to zero, or you just need a clean page with your services and a way to contact you.

The cost people underestimate is time. Writing the copy, finding photos, getting everything right on mobile, setting up SEO titles and connecting the domain all add up. The other cost is the result: a template is designed to look good with the demo content, and it rarely looks as good with yours.

DIY works best if you treat it as version one and plan to upgrade once the site starts bringing in work. I wrote up when a template is enough and when it isn’t.

Hiring a Squarespace designer

This is one person, or a very small studio, who designs and builds your site on Squarespace and hands it over. Squarespace-only designers who publish their prices start at about $1,500 at the low end and run to $9,500 and up at the top (checked October 2026). Mine are $2,500, $3,500 and $5,000, fixed before we start, and the full breakdown of what a Squarespace designer costs goes deeper.

What changes as the price goes up:

• Custom design and code. Cheaper builds tend to be a template in your colors. Higher-end builds are designed from scratch, often in Figma, with custom code for what Squarespace can’t do on its own.
• Pages and revisions. A 4-page site with one round of changes is a different job from a 10-page site with three rounds.
• Copy and SEO setup. Some designers drop your text in as-is. Others rewrite headlines, plan pages around what customers search for, and set up titles, descriptions and Search Console.
• Support after launch. Look for training and at least a few weeks of help. “Here’s your login, good luck” is more common than it should be.

The main risk is depending on one person. Ask how fast they reply and what happens when they’re booked up.

Hiring an agency

An agency gives you a team: a strategist, a designer, a developer, a copywriter and an account manager in the middle. Utah agencies rarely publish prices, but the ones that do give you a feel for it: one Salt Lake City agency quotes $5,000 to $10,000 for a site, another advertises custom websites “from $6K”, and one of the larger Utah firms states a $20,000 minimum.

You’re paying for coordination and range. That’s worth it when the website is one piece of a bigger marketing push, when several people at your company need to sign off, or when you want ads and content handled alongside the site.

It’s often more than a small business needs. If you’re the one making every decision anyway, an account manager in the middle just slows things down.

Questions to ask before you hire anyone

1. Can I see three sites you built that are live right now?
2. Is the price fixed, and what exactly does it include?
3. Who writes the copy?
4. How many rounds of changes do I get?
5. Will the site be built on my own Squarespace account?
6. What SEO setup is included?
7. What happens after launch if something breaks?
8. How fast do you usually reply to emails?

One red flag: anyone who won’t put the price and the page count in writing before you pay a deposit.

Where I fit, and when I’m the wrong choice

I’m a one-person Squarespace studio and a Squarespace Circle Platinum Partner. I design every site custom, add custom code where it’s needed, and set up the SEO basics before launch. The work is remote, I usually reply the same day, and the price is fixed before we start. You can see the work in the portfolio and the packages on pricing.

I’m the wrong choice if you need a site this week, your budget is under $2,500, or you want one team to run your ads and social media too. DIY or an agency will serve you better there, and I’ll say so on the call.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Squarespace designer cost?

Most charge between $1,500 and $6,000 for a full site, depending on page count, how custom the design is and whether copy and SEO are included. A few top-end studios charge $9,500 or more.

Is it worth hiring a Squarespace expert?

Usually, once the website is your main source of leads. A custom site that loads fast, shows up for the right searches and makes booking easy tends to pay for itself. If the site is just a placeholder, DIY is fine.

What is a Squarespace Circle partner?

Squarespace Circle is Squarespace’s program for professionals who build sites for clients. Partners move up tiers as they build and look after more client sites. I’m a Platinum Partner.

Can I start DIY and hire a designer later?

Yes. Your domain, products and blog posts stay on your Squarespace account, and a designer can rebuild the design around them.

Not sure which one fits? Book a free call and I’ll tell you honestly, even if the answer is “do it yourself for now”.