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Believe Websites vs Squarespace: a website plan plus Acuity bookings, or one site built with booking inside?
Squarespace's UK website plans start at £14.40 a month billed annually, and appointment booking is a separate Acuity Scheduling subscription from £11 a month. Believe Websites is £49 a month flat, £0 to build, 0% commission, with booking built into a bespoke site on your own domain that we build and change for you.
·9 min read
The short answer
- Squarespace's UK website plans cost £14.40 a month on Basic, £20.40 on Core, £34.80 on Plus and £94.80 on Advanced when paid annually, or £19.20, £28.80, £43.20 and £106.80 paid monthly, and its pricing page says the prices include estimated VAT.
- Squarespace's website plans do not list appointment booking; Squarespace sells it separately as Acuity Scheduling, at £11 a month billed annually or £12 monthly for 1 bookable calendar, £20 or £22 for up to 6, and £37 or £40 for up to 36.
- Acuity's Starter plan sends confirmation and reminder emails; text message reminders start on its Standard plan.
- A three-person business on Squarespace Core and Acuity Standard pays £40.40 a month billed annually, or £50.80 a month paid monthly, before Acuity's VAT position, which its page does not state.
- With Squarespace you build and change the website yourself, using its templates, AI tools and drag-and-drop editor, and connect Acuity to it.
- Believe Websites costs £49 a month flat for any team size, takes 0% commission, and designs, builds and changes a bespoke website with booking built in, on your own domain, for £0 upfront.
- Squarespace with Acuity takes card payments and deposits and sends text reminders today, and can be cancelled at any time. Believe Websites' text reminders and card payments are built but not switched on, it has no marketplace, and it has a 12-month minimum term.
Squarespace is the website builder people pick when they want something that looks good. Its templates are well designed, the editor is drag-and-drop, and it can sell products, courses and memberships. For appointments it has its own booking product, Acuity Scheduling, which is priced and sold separately and embedded into the site.
We do the job from the other end. We design and build the website for you, put booking inside it, connect your domain, and change things when you message us. So this comparison comes down to who does the work, how many subscriptions you pay, and what each one includes. Every Squarespace and Acuity figure below was read from Squarespace's own pricing pages, viewed from the UK in pounds, on 30 October 2026.
The short version
A Squarespace site that takes bookings is two subscriptions: a website plan, from £14.40 a month paid annually, and Acuity, from £11 a month paid annually for one bookable calendar. Text reminders need Acuity Standard, £20 a month paid annually. You build the site and set up the booking yourself.
Believe Websites is one price, £49 a month flat, whatever the size of your team. We design and build the site for £0 upfront, with booking inside it, on your own domain, and change it for you. We take 0% of every booking. Squarespace can come out cheaper if you pay a year upfront and do the work. What you pay us for is not doing it.
What Squarespace's pricing page says
Squarespace's page says the prices include estimated VAT and that paying annually saves up to 36%. There is no free plan; every site starts with a 14-day free trial with no card required. Squarespace says you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time, with changes taking effect at the end of the billing cycle.
| Plan | Paid annually, per month | Paid monthly | Card rate (standard cards) | Contributors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | £14.40 | £19.20 | 2.0% + £0.25 | 2 |
| CoreSquarespace's recommended plan | £20.40 | £28.80 | 2.0% + £0.25 | Unlimited |
| Plus | £34.80 | £43.20 | 1.7% + £0.25 | Unlimited |
| Advanced | £94.80 | £106.80 | 1.5% + £0.25 | Unlimited |
Card rates are for Squarespace Payments; premium cards are 3.0% + £0.25 on every plan. Every plan includes a free custom domain marked with an asterisk: Squarespace's FAQ says annual subscriptions include one year of free domain registration for new websites, and that you can connect a domain you already own on any subscription. The page does not show what the domain costs from year two.
Bookings are a second subscription: Acuity
The feature list on Squarespace's website pricing page covers templates, the editor, payments, selling, invoices and marketing. It does not list appointment booking. Squarespace's scheduling page sells that as Acuity Scheduling by Squarespace, which it says works with or without a Squarespace website.
Acuity's page shows pounds but does not say whether VAT is included. Payments go through Stripe, Square or PayPal at their own rates, which the page does not list. Its free trial needs no website or card.
| Plan | Paid annually, per month | Paid monthly | Bookable calendars | Reminders |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | £11 | £12 | 1 | Email only |
| StandardAcuity's recommended plan | £20 | £22 | Up to 6 | Email and text |
| Premium | £37 | £40 | Up to 36 | Email and text |
Every Acuity plan includes client self-booking, unlimited services and appointments, intake forms, classes and group events, and payments and deposits through Stripe, Square or PayPal. Standard adds text reminders, packages, memberships and gift certificates. Only Premium removes the "Powered by Acuity" label from your scheduler.
What a year costs
£25.40 × 12, paid annually, 1 calendar
£40.40 × 12, paid annually, up to 6 calendars
£49 × 12, £0 to build, unlimited team
£50.80 × 12
Squarespace and Acuity figures read from squarespace.com/pricing and squarespace.com/scheduling on 30 October 2026. Squarespace's website prices include estimated VAT; Acuity's page does not say. They cover subscriptions only: building the site is your own time, or a designer's fee. Believe Websites' figure includes designing and building the site, hosting, the domain and changes.
If you pay a year upfront, Squarespace with Acuity costs less than we do, at any team size up to six. Paid monthly, the two subscriptions together come to slightly more. Either way, the evenings spent picking a template, writing every page, setting up services and staff in Acuity, embedding it, and coming back to change prices are yours.
Who builds it, and who changes it
With Squarespace, you choose a template or use its AI tools, write and arrange the pages, upload and crop the photos, and connect your domain. Then you set up Acuity, add your services, team and hours, and embed the scheduler in the site. When something changes, you log in to whichever of the two it lives in and change it.
With us, you send your photos, services and prices, or we take them from what is already online about you, and we design the site around your business with booking built in. When a price, opening hours or a member of the team changes, you message us and we do it. Unlimited small changes, fair use.
What the £49 pays for with us
- A bespoke website, designed around your business: your photos, services, prices, reviews and area. Not a template you fill in yourself.
- Your own domain, something like www.yourbusiness.co.uk, bought and connected for you.
- Booking inside the site, not a second product, for unlimited team members, with email confirmations and reminders.
- Changes done for you. Message us; unlimited small changes, fair use.
- Analytics, a monthly report and an AI Search Readiness score, so you can see what is in place and how the site is doing.
- A new article every month about your town and your services, written to be read by search engines and AI assistants.
- 0% commission on every booking, from anyone.
The whole offer is on our home page. After the 12-month minimum term it carries on month to month, and the website can become yours.
Being found on Google and by AI
Squarespace includes SEO tools on every plan, and its comparison table lists AI Visibility prompt runs: 10 once on Basic, then 20, 40 or 120 a month on the higher plans. Those are tools you use. What ends up on the site, a page for each service, your area, your prices, your reviews, depends on what you write.
Every site we build is set up with structured data, a page for each service, clear business details and a monthly article, and your dashboard shows an AI Search Readiness score so you can see what is there.
Where Squarespace genuinely wins
- It can be cheaper. Paid annually, Squarespace Basic with Acuity Starter is £25.40 a month, and Core with Acuity Standard is £40.40, against our £49.
- Texts work today. Acuity Standard sends text message reminders. Ours go by email; text reminders are built but not switched on.
- Card payments and deposits work today, through Stripe, Square or PayPal in Acuity, and Squarespace Payments on the website. Our card payments are built but not switched on, so we cannot take a deposit for you yet.
- No minimum term. Squarespace says you can cancel any time, and your plan runs to the end of the period you paid for. We have a 12-month minimum term because we build the site for £0 upfront.
- Total control and a lot more than booking. You can change anything yourself, sell products, courses and memberships, and run packages and subscriptions in Acuity.
Neither of us sends you clients from a marketplace of people browsing for somewhere to book: Squarespace's pricing pages list none, and we do not run one. If that is what you want, see how the marketplaces charge for it in Believe Websites vs Fresha and Believe Websites vs Booksy.
Everything side by side
| Believe Websites | Squarespace Core + Acuity Standard | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £49 a month flatany team | £40.40 a month paid annually£50.80 paid monthly; up to 6 calendars |
| Subscriptions | One | Twowebsite plan and Acuity |
| Who builds the website | We do, for £0 | You door you hire someone |
| Who changes it | We do, when you messageunlimited small changes, fair use | You do |
| Your own domain | Includedwe buy and connect it | Includedfree for year one on annual plans, new sites |
| Team members | Unlimited, free | Up to 6 bookable calendars36 on Acuity Premium |
| Commission on bookings | 0% | None listed |
| Email confirmations and reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Text reminders | Coming soon | Yesfrom Acuity Standard |
| Card payments and deposits | Coming soon | Yesvia Stripe, Square or PayPal |
| "Powered by" label on the booking page | No | Yes, below Acuity Premium |
| Monthly SEO and AI article | Yes, written for youabout your town and services | Noblog tools, you write it |
| Monthly report and AI Search Readiness score | Yes | Analytics and AI Visibility tools |
| Marketplace of browsing clients | No | None listed |
| Minimum term | 12 monthsthen month to month | Nonecancel any time |
So which one should you pick?
Squarespace and Acuity, if
- You like building things yourself, or already pay a designer.
- You can pay a year upfront and want the lowest total.
- Text reminders, deposits and card payments matter to you this week.
- You want to sell products, courses or memberships alongside bookings.
- You do not want any minimum term.
Believe Websites, if
- You want a proper website without building it or paying someone else to.
- You would rather have booking inside the site than run a second product beside it.
- You want one flat price however big the team gets, and no commission on any booking.
- You want a monthly article and an AI Search Readiness score working on how you are found.
- Email confirmations and reminders are enough for you today.
Weighing up the other big website builder? We compared it in Believe Websites vs Wix. If you run a training business, Acuity sits alongside seven other options in the best booking platforms for personal trainers.
Common questions
- How much does Squarespace cost in the UK?
- On 30 October 2026 Squarespace's UK pricing page showed Basic at £14.40 a month, Core at £20.40, Plus at £34.80 and Advanced at £94.80 when paid annually, or £19.20, £28.80, £43.20 and £106.80 paid monthly. The page says the prices include estimated VAT. There is no free plan, but there is a 14-day free trial.
- Can a Squarespace website take bookings?
- Through Acuity Scheduling, which Squarespace sells separately and you embed in the site. On 30 October 2026 Acuity cost £11 a month paid annually or £12 monthly for 1 bookable calendar, £20 or £22 for up to 6, and £37 or £40 for up to 36. Squarespace's website plan list does not include appointment booking on its own.
- Does Squarespace send text reminders for appointments?
- Acuity does, from its Standard plan at £20 a month paid annually or £22 monthly. Acuity Starter sends confirmation, reminder and follow-up emails only. Believe Websites sends email confirmations and reminders; its text reminders are built but not switched on yet.
- Is Squarespace cheaper than Believe Websites?
- Paid annually, yes. Squarespace Core with Acuity Standard comes to £40.40 a month, or £484.80 a year, against £588 a year at £49 a month. Paid monthly, the two come to £50.80 a month, slightly more. The difference is the work: on Squarespace you build and change the site and the booking set-up yourself, while Believe Websites builds and changes it for you, for £0 upfront.
- Can I use my own domain on Squarespace?
- Yes. Squarespace's FAQ says annual plans include one year of free domain registration for new websites, and that you can connect a domain you already own or buy one through Squarespace on any subscription. Believe Websites buys and connects your domain for you as part of the £49 a month.
- Is there a contract with either?
- Squarespace says you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time, with changes taking effect at the end of your billing cycle. Believe Websites has a 12-month minimum term, because the website is designed and built for £0 upfront, and then continues month to month; after that the site can become yours.
Sources
- Squarespace pricing (viewed in GBP from the UK) — checked 30 October 2026
- Acuity Scheduling by Squarespace, plans and pricing — checked 30 October 2026
- Believe Websites pricing and terms — checked 30 October 2026
Competitors' prices change. Every figure here was read from the company's own public pricing page on the date shown. If something is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.