Choosing a Squarespace plan isn't just about picking the cheapest option. It's a strategic decision that aligns your website's features with your business goals. Since you already know the basics of hosting and domains, we can skip the fluff and get straight to the trade-offs.

The four main tiers—Personal, Business, Commerce Basic, and Commerce Advanced—each unlock a different level of capability. The Personal plan is just that: for personal projects. For any professional site, the real choice begins with the Business plan.

The Business plan is the gateway to customization. It's the first tier that allows you to add custom code through CSS and JavaScript, giving you full control over your site's appearance and functionality. It also enables features like promotional pop-ups and announcement bars, which are crucial for marketing.

However, it comes with a significant catch if you plan to sell anything: a 3% transaction fee on every sale. This is in addition to standard payment processor fees from services like Stripe or PayPal.

That 3% fee on the Business plan is often the deciding factor. The Commerce plans eliminate it entirely. This creates a clear financial break-even point where upgrading to a Commerce plan actually saves you money.

Let's calculate it. We need to find the monthly sales volume where the 3% fee on the Business plan equals the price difference between the Business and Commerce Basic plans.

Using Squarespace's 2025 pricing (when billed annually), the Business plan is $23/month and the Commerce Basic plan is $27/month.

Since you're building a professional site, you'll be using a custom domain you already own. Connecting it to Squarespace is straightforward. You won't be transferring the domain itself; you'll just be pointing it to Squarespace's servers by changing its DNS records.

The process involves two main steps:

1. In Squarespace: Go to Settings -> Domains and click Use a domain I own. Enter your domain name and follow the prompts. Squarespace will then show you the specific DNS records you need to add.
2. In Your Domain Registrar's Dashboard: Log in to the service where you bought your domain (like GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.). Navigate to the DNS management panel and add the CNAME and A records exactly as provided by Squarespace.

DNS changes can take up to 72 hours to fully propagate, but it often happens much faster. Once connected, Squarespace will automatically handle the SSL certificate, ensuring your site is secure.

With the right plan and your domain connected, you're ready to build.