Outgrowing your Squarespace template?

A Squarespace Alternative for Organizations That Have Outgrown Templates

Keep the polish. Add the portals, databases and workflows your organization needs next.

Squarespace is one of the best ways to launch a good-looking website quickly. Templates are beautiful, hosting is included and editing is simple. Many of the organizations we work with started there, and it served them well.

Growth changes what a website needs to do. Member logins, searchable directories, application workflows and connections to your CRM start to stretch what templates and blocks were designed for. When that happens, a custom website can pick up where Squarespace leaves off.

Hitting the edges of Squarespace? Let’s talk about what your site needs to do next.

Talk About Your Website

Why organizations move from Squarespace

Great for launching. Harder for growing.

The organizations that move from Squarespace usually are not unhappy with it. They have simply grown into needs it was not built to handle.

Template boundaries

Layouts live inside a template’s structure. Going beyond it often means code injection and CSS workarounds that are hard to maintain.

We design around your content and audiences, not a preset layout.

Custom functionality

Member areas, searchable directories, application forms with review steps and multi-step workflows reach beyond what built-in blocks offer.

We build the exact features your programs need.

Integrations

Connecting a CRM, Salesforce, an association management system or a payment processor often depends on third-party embeds and automation tools stitched together.

We connect your systems directly, so data flows where it should.

Content at scale

As you add programs, resources and stories, it gets harder to organize, filter and search content using pages and blog collections alone.

We structure your content so it can grow without getting messy.

What a custom website provides instead

Room to build what comes next.

A custom website gives you the same polished look you are used to, plus the freedom to add real functionality: logins, databases, dashboards and workflows that work the way your organization does.

Your team still gets an easy editor for everyday updates. The difference is that the site can grow with your programs instead of being limited by what a template allows.

Where it fits the project, your organization owns the domain, hosting accounts and source code.

Member and client portals
Searchable directories
Custom databases
Application and approval workflows
Interactive maps
Dashboards
Online payments and memberships
CRM and Salesforce integrations
API integrations
AI-powered website search and Q&A

Is moving right for you?

An honest fit check.

Squarespace may still be a good fit if:

Your site is a straightforward brochure, portfolio, blog or small shop
You value having design, hosting and editing in one subscription
Built-in blocks cover everything your visitors need to do

It may be time to move if:

You are stitching together embeds and third-party tools to get things done
You need logins, portals or private member content
You want to store and search your own data
Your design is being shaped by what the template allows

We are happy to tell you if staying put makes more sense.

What the Squarespace migration covers

Nothing important gets left behind.

Your existing website stays live while your new one is built. Here is what we take care of along the way.

Content migration

Squarespace’s built-in export only covers part of a site, so we plan a careful migration of your pages, blog posts, images, files and anything the export leaves behind.

URL redirects and SEO protection

We map your existing Squarespace URLs, including blog posts and /s/ file links, to their new addresses so search rankings and shared links keep working.

Forms and integrations

Form blocks, newsletter sign-ups, scheduling, member areas and commerce are rebuilt or connected to the tools you use, then tested.

Accessibility

We design and build to WCAG 2.2 AA standards, so every visitor can use your new features, not just your pages.

Training

If you are comfortable editing in Squarespace, you will be comfortable in the new admin. We walk your team through it before launch.

Launch support

If your domain is registered with Squarespace, we help you transfer it or point it to the new site, and we monitor everything after launch.

Ownership

Unlike a hosted builder, a custom site can be set up so your organization owns the source code and the accounts it runs on.

How it works

Moving from Squarespace, step by step.

See how this fits our overall approach on our website migration page.

Review your site and what it needs to do

We look at your pages, embeds, forms, integrations and analytics, and talk through the features you have been missing.

Plan the content and structure

We decide what to move, combine or retire, and how new features fit in.

Design and build

We keep what people love about your current look and build the new functionality around it.

Migrate your content

Pages, posts, images and files move across, including what Squarespace’s export does not cover.

Connect your tools

Forms, payments, CRM and other systems are connected and tested.

Redirect and protect SEO

Old URLs point to their new homes before the switch.

Train, launch and support

Your team learns the new site, we move the domain and stay close after launch.

You are not starting over.

Your Squarespace site already has a look, a voice and an audience. A move keeps all of that.

What changes is what the site can do: the portals, data and workflows that were hard to fit into a template.

Side by side

Squarespace vs. a custom website

Both approaches serve a purpose. The right choice depends on how much flexibility, ownership and customization your organization needs.

Squarespace

All-in-one hosted website builder
Beautiful, ready-made templates
Functionality through built-in blocks and extensions
Integrations often through embeds and third-party tools
Site stays within the Squarespace platform

Custom website

Designed around your organization
Portals, databases and workflows built in
Direct integrations with your systems
Design freedom beyond templates
Content structured to grow
Client-owned code and accounts where applicable

A Squarespace migration we have done

From our work.

TheSigmundProject.org

The client needed: A growing nonprofit serving several distinct audiences of tourism professionals needed member accounts, user-generated content and a way to fund its mission, all beyond what its Squarespace site could do.
We did: We moved the platform from Squarespace to a custom build with a member portal and user-generated content, and launched the RFP Hub, a paid product that connects tourism businesses with contract opportunities.
The result: A community of 10,000+ tourism professionals, and an earned-revenue product projected to bring in about $50,000 a year.

Questions

Squarespace migration FAQ

Can we move our domain away from Squarespace?

Yes. If your domain is registered with Squarespace, it can be transferred to another registrar or pointed at your new site. We handle the timing so there is no downtime.

What happens to our Squarespace forms and member areas?

We rebuild them in the new site and reconnect them to your email, CRM or payment tools. Member areas often become a fuller portal with more control.

Is a custom site harder to edit than Squarespace?

It should not be. We build the admin around the updates your team actually makes, and train everyone before launch.

Moving from a different platform?

Start with a conversation

Let’s see what your website could do next.

Tell us what you have been trying to make Squarespace do. We will help you decide whether a custom site is worth it, and what the move would involve.

Talk About Your Website