Member Areas serves as one of Squarespace’s built-in features allowing you to establish a membership section on your website and deliver exclusive member-only content.

This feature accommodates various content formats and payment methods, making it the most straightforward approach to transform your current Squarespace website into a membership platform.

Take a look at the features Squarespace provides for building membership sites:

• Membership Content: Their membership tool supports diverse content types, including online courses, video libraries, blog posts, newsletters, and beyond.
• Online Courses: Squarespace Courses enables you to develop structured video courses with chapters and lessons.
• Subscription Pricing: You can provide members with tiered subscription options and implement recurring weekly, monthly, or yearly fees.
• Membership Landing Page: You can design a custom sales page to market your membership program and offer visitors a signup location.
• Full Suite of Tools: Squarespace also delivers numerous additional features, such as blogging tools, eCommerce capabilities, an online scheduler, and email campaigns, enabling you to handle multiple business aspects from a single dashboard.

Squarespace appears promising for membership site creation, but let’s examine it more carefully to determine if it aligns with your specific requirements.

What We Like About Squarespace Membership Site

Squarespace excels in several areas when it comes to creating a membership site. This section will explore the platform’s key strengths.

Support for Multiple Content Types

A notable Squarespace advantage is its ability to incorporate diverse content types into your membership.

Beyond online courses, you can develop blog posts, podcasts, videos, events, newsletters, and one-on-one coaching sessions.

This versatility means Squarespace accommodates various membership site models. Whether you aim to build a straightforward video membership site or a multifaceted one with courses, podcasts, and events, Squarespace delivers all the necessary tools.

Built-in Subscription Billing and Management

Thanks to its Stripe and PayPal integrations, Squarespace handles subscriptions and member payments immediately upon setup.

You can bill customers through recurring, one-time, or installment options. For subscription billing specifically, you can charge weekly, monthly, or yearly cycles.

Additionally, Member Areas enables you to configure multiple subscription tiers to provide varying access levels. For instance, you might offer members a standard subscription option alongside an enhanced plan featuring additional content.

Furthermore, the platform delivers subscription management tools allowing you to postpone, terminate, and refund subscriptions when needed. Your members can also independently manage their subscriptions through their personal accounts.

Powerful Website Builder

Squarespace’s website builder combines user-friendliness with impressive capabilities, enabling you to craft visually stunning membership sites.

It features ready-made templates, intuitive drag-and-drop page construction, and extensive customization possibilities, allowing you to refine your design and create something truly distinctive for your brand.

Beyond designing membership pages, you can utilize this tool to build your public website, sales pages, and blog.

Access to Squarespace’s Suite of Tools

Establishing a membership site on Squarespace means you can handle numerous aspects of membership site operation through a single platform.

Beyond building both membership and public websites, you can:

• develop lead generation and sales pages.
• utilize the native email marketing tool to design and distribute newsletters.
• employ Squarespace Scheduling to accept bookings for individual and group sessions.
• establish a comprehensive online store using Squarespace’s eCommerce capabilities.

Affordable Entry-Level Pricing

Member Areas comes as an additional feature for any Squarespace website plan, with costs varying based on your selected pricing tier.

The starter add-on package costs $12/month (plus 7% transaction fee), bringing the total expense to $35/month. This positions it among the more budget-friendly membership site solutions available.

What We Don’t Like About Squarespace Membership Site

When evaluating membership site creation, Squarespace has certain limitations. Here are some drawbacks to consider when using the platform.

No Community Builder

An online community enhances engagement and fosters loyalty among your members, but unfortunately, Squarespace lacks a built-in solution for this feature.

While you always have the option to use a specialized online community platform, the absence of single sign-on functionality means your members will require separate user accounts for both platforms.

No Mobile Apps

Squarespace doesn’t provide an application for members to access content while mobile. Though your site remains accessible through any mobile browser, having a dedicated mobile app significantly enhances the user experience.

In comparison, leading membership platforms (like Kajabi and Thinkific) provide complimentary mobile applications alongside options to create branded membership apps that you can launch in app marketplaces.

No Subscription Analytics

Squarespace includes analytics for monitoring website traffic and sales performance. You can track metrics such as subscription revenue, new subscriber acquisition, and cancellation rates.

However, it doesn’t monitor subscription-specific indicators like churn rate, monthly recurring revenue (MRR), and average revenue per user (ARPU).

Basic Marketing Tools

The platform delivers only fundamental marketing capabilities.

For example, the built-in email marketing functionality isn’t adequate for creating automated email sequences. You’ll need to connect with third-party services like ConvertKit to access marketing automation features.

Similarly, Squarespace doesn’t include a sales funnel builder or integrated affiliate management system.

Steep Pricing on Higher Plans

Earlier we highlighted the affordable entry-level pricing for the Member Sites add-on. However, the cost of premium plans escalates quite rapidly.

For instance, unlimited video storage and zero transaction fees only become available with the premium plan, priced at $149/month.

When combined with the basic plan cost, this totals $172/month, positioning it among the most expensive options in the market.

How to Create a Squarespace Membership Site

If the advantages we discussed outweigh the disadvantages for your situation, you’re ready to build your membership site. Follow this step-by-step guide to get started.

First, access your Squarespace account, go to Settings → Member Sites, and activate member areas.

After completing this initial setup, choose the Website tab from your dashboard and click the plus icon beside the Member Sites option.

This action opens a new window where you’ll enter your membership site name and establish your pricing structures.Available pricing structures include the following:

• Fixed amount: Create either one-time pricing or a structured payment plan
• Subscription: Establish an access fee recurring weekly, monthly, or yearly
• Free: Provide complimentary access to your membership site

Additionally, you can design as many membership tiers as desired and offer exclusive content with each level.

After configuring your pricing plans, begin adding content to your member site. Click the + Add Page underneath your membership site’s name.

This action triggers a modal window where you can select from numerous content options, including blog posts, online courses, events, and video libraries.

The final step involves creating a membership sales page. This page enables customers to register and subscribe to your membership offering.

To build the sales page, navigate to the Not Linked section, click the + icon next to it, and select the Page Layouts option.

This displays all available page templates; filter the Digital Products templates and select one that best complements your website design.

Now, customize this page using the page builder. The crucial element to remember is linking the Digital Products section on this page to the pricing plans you established earlier in this process.

That completes the setup! Users can now register for your membership and access your content.

Squarespace Member Areas Alternatives

Before concluding this guide, let’s explore alternatives to Squarespace Member Areas. These options might better address your requirements, so examining all possibilities is valuable.

First, consider MemberSpace, a third-party Squarespace membership plugin. It offers several benefits over Member Areas, including robust member management capabilities and enhanced checkout options, but most importantly, it’s available without cost.

So, if you still prefer creating your membership through Squarespace but need additional functionality, this option deserves consideration.

Another approach involves using a dedicated membership site platform. These specialized platforms deliver more features than Squarespace and better accommodate complex membership structures.Kajabi, for example, ranks among the most popular platforms in this category. Beyond membership content, it supports online communities and mobile applications. Moreover, it functions as a genuine all-in-one solution featuring email marketing, sales funnels, and affiliate marketing capabilities.

Another worthy contender is Circle, an excellent choice if you aim to build a membership community. It incorporates a powerful community builder supporting rich discussions, online courses, live events, and group messaging.

Final Thoughts on Squarespace Membership Sites

Throughout this guide, we’ve examined the capabilities of Squarespace Member Areas along with their advantages and disadvantages. We’ve also walked through the process of establishing a membership site using Squarespace.

While Member Areas offers several useful features, you might find greater value in specialized platforms for more sophisticated membership sites.

That said, it remains an effective solution for adding straightforward membership functionality to an existing Squarespace website. You can initiate a 14-day free trial to explore the features before making a commitment.