Theo vs Squarespace: who does the work after launch
The split is month two: the next page, fix and search task are yours on Squarespace and part of the plan on Theo's Starter and Pro; the wider comparison of every way a small business gets a website adds Wix, GoDaddy and WordPress.
| Theo | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the site | Theo, from a description or your current site's address, no template; first preview usually in minutes | You, from a designer template or a Blueprint AI draft Squarespace tells you to review first |
| How you edit it | Type the change in chat, in plain English; edits use chat credits | You, in the Squarespace editor |
| Who does the search work | Theo, on Starter and Pro: weekly pages, posts and fixes, held for your review; no credits used | You, with the SEO setup checklist and built-in tools, or an Expert you hire |
| Online store | Shopify and Wix connect directly with a cart; Etsy keeps its checkout | Every plan sells products; 2% transaction fee on Basic, 0% on Core, Plus and Advanced, plus card processing |
| Taking the site with you | Yours to copy, images included; Pro adds read-only code access on GitHub | One XML export of pages and one blog; store pages, product blocks, styles and custom CSS stay behind |
| Free to start | First build free, seen before you choose a plan; then 30 days of Starter free | 14-day trial, no card; the trial site stays private |
| Price, as of October 2026 | $29.99 a month on Basic (site and hosting); $69.99 on Starter with the growth work, free for the first 30 days; $129.99 on Pro | Billed monthly $25 Basic, $39 Core, $65 Plus, $139 Advanced; billed annually $19, $29, $49, $99; standing prices, no promotional or higher renewal price |
What Squarespace does, and what it leaves to you
Squarespace's two main pieces each hand a job back to the owner; the Squarespace alternatives for a small business post covers the other platforms the same way.
- Templates and Blueprint AI. You answer questions about your goals, industry and brand personality, and Blueprint AI returns a structure, a color palette, fonts and first-draft text; Squarespace's own help page says to review it carefully, because it may not be accurate or right for your needs. Theo has no templates and builds for the business from your description or your current site's address.
- A marketplace of Experts. Squarespace Marketplace, powered by 99designs by Vista, matches you with independent designers; Squarespace states that it does not employ, is not affiliated with and does not endorse them, and that the price and the arrangement are yours to settle with the Expert. Theo's ongoing work is part of the plan at one monthly price.
Does Squarespace do SEO for you
No. Squarespace covers the technical side (sitemaps, a Search Console connection, AI-suggested meta titles, structured data) and hands you the steps: site title, descriptions, alt text, slugs, verification; the route to hands-on help is a vetted Expert you hire.
Theo's Growth Engine is the weekly program on Starter and Pro: keyword and competitor research, new pages, posts and landing pages, technical fixes, page speed, Search Console submissions, and work toward citations in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. Drafts sit in the Growth tab until you publish them or switch auto-publish on; no chat credits are used.
Theo's audit of 5,974 small business websites found that 49 percent of the 177 Squarespace sites with search data got an estimated zero visitors a month from Google search (The State of Small Business Websites 2026).
A Squarespace store vs a store connected to Theo
Etsy is the simple case: Theo reads your shop's public listings through Etsy's API, builds product pages from them, and sends every buyer to Etsy to check out, so your reviews stay where they are (Etsy integration). A Squarespace store runs on the Squarespace platform: Theo does not process payments, the XML export leaves store pages out, and products leave only as a CSV, up to 10,000, without the images. Theo's advice, in this order:
- Move the store to Shopify. Theo recommends Shopify and connects to it directly: products, prices and stock appear on your Theo pages with a cart, checkout completes on Shopify, and you click Refresh my products after a change.
- Keep the Squarespace store and move it to shop.yourdomain.com, with the Theo site on your main domain linking to it.
- If moving the store's address is too hard, leave the current site and store in place and add a separate Theo site on a subdomain such as blog.yourdomain.com.
Moving from Squarespace to Theo
Theo does not need Squarespace's export: give it your address and it reads the live site, carries the pages, posts and photos across and builds a first preview, usually within minutes, keeping the current look if you ask; the full walkthrough, with redirects and Search Console steps, is on moving your website from Squarespace.
The domain is the only thing that has to change: point it at Theo from where it is registered, root and www, with forwarding and parking switched off and the email records left alone, and Squarespace keeps serving visitors until the registrar's records update, usually within a few hours. A domain registered through Squarespace stays in your account after you cancel the site, so no transfer is needed; if you transfer anyway, a domain registered or moved in during the last 60 days waits out Squarespace's lock first.
Email bought through Squarespace keeps working: its Google Workspace ($8.40 per user per month or $84 per user per year in the US, as of October 2026; the Starter tier free for one user for the first year on Core, Plus and Advanced, then the standard rate) is billed separately from the website and stays active if you cancel the site. Theo's plans are on the pricing page; if you have a Squarespace site today, run the free audit first: it shows what the current site earns from search before anything moves, with no login.
The short answer
Pick Theo if
You want the site built for your business, hosted, and worked on each week by someone other than you, and would rather type a change in chat than tune a template. Basic is $29.99 a month for the site and hosting; Starter adds the growth work at $69.99 a month, free for the first 30 days; Pro is $129.99.
What Squarespace leaves to you
Tuning the template or the Blueprint AI draft, keeping the pages current, working through the SEO checklist, and finding and paying an independent Expert for hands-on help. Its store stays on its platform, so a move means Shopify, a shop subdomain, or a separate Theo site beside it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Theo cheaper than Squarespace?
Close at the entry level and not like for like above it: as of October 2026, Squarespace runs from $25 a month billed monthly ($19 billed annually) on Basic to $139 a month ($99 billed annually) on Advanced, and no plan includes done-for-you search work. Theo's Basic is $29.99 a month for the site and hosting; Starter is $69.99 a month, free for the first 30 days, with the weekly growth work; Pro is $129.99.
Do I lose my domain if I cancel Squarespace?
No. Squarespace says the domain subscription stays active after you cancel the website, so you keep it in your account and point it at Theo from there; the Squarespace site stays live until the switch.
Does Squarespace export my whole site?
No. One XML file holds your layout pages, one blog with its posts, and text and image blocks; store pages, product blocks, index and cover pages, custom CSS and drafts stay behind. Theo rebuilds from the live address, so the gaps do not matter.
What happens to my Squarespace store if I move to Theo?
It does not move as a store; the checkout belongs to Squarespace's platform. Theo recommends moving it to Shopify, which connects directly; or keep it on shop.yourdomain.com with the Theo site on the main domain; or, if that is too hard, leave both in place and add a separate Theo site on a subdomain such as blog.yourdomain.com.
Who owns my Theo site, and can I leave?
You own the site and everything on it. Cancel whenever you want; the confirmation shows the date your subscription ends, and before then you can copy the site and its images. Pro adds read-only code access on GitHub.