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It's a split decision.
Choose Cargo for a visual portfolio, flexible layouts, and unlimited public sites on Cargo subdomains. Its subscription is $14 per month with annual billing or $19 monthly; eligible students and educators can use it free. Choose Squarespace for a broader business toolkit, including selling, scheduling, SEO, and analytics. Its plans start at €13.31 per month with annual billing or €18.15 monthly, including estimated VAT. Squarespace Basic charges a 2% online store transaction fee; Cargo’s commerce add-on has no per-transaction fees.
01Side by side
| Cargo | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $14/month yearly; $19 monthly | €13.31/month yearly; €18.15 monthly |
| Free plan | Free for eligible students, teachers, administrators | No free plan; 14-day trial |
| Best for | Creative portfolios, presentations, and research boards | Business sites, stores, and bookings |
| Core strength | Flexible visual canvas and typography controls | Website, commerce, scheduling, and business tools |
| Learning curve | Review ease score: 7/10 | Review ease score: 8/10 |
| Integrations/data | One custom domain included; integrations not listed | SEO, analytics, Google Workspace email |
| Team/seat costs | Multi-user editing; seat costs not published | Two Basic contributors; unlimited on Core and Advanced |
| Support | Review support score: 5/10 | Review support score: 5/10 |
Cargo Choose Cargo if
- Choose Cargo if your main need is a visual creative portfolio.
- Choose Cargo if you qualify for its free student or educator access.
- Choose Cargo if you want unlimited public sites on Cargo subdomains.
Squarespace Choose Squarespace if
- Choose Squarespace if you need scheduling and invoicing tools.
- Choose Squarespace if SEO tools and analytics matter to your site.
- Choose Squarespace if you want contributor limits that expand by plan.
02Pricing compared
Cargo’s public-site subscription is $19 per month, or $14 per month with annual billing, according to its pricing details. Eligible students, teachers, and administrators can use it free with a professor or administrator email; usage limits are not published. Cargo’s commerce add-on costs $9 monthly or $5.50 per month billed yearly, with no per-transaction fees. Each additional custom domain connection costs $3 monthly or $2 per month billed yearly.
Squarespace’s listed plans start at €18.15 per month, or €13.31 per month with annual billing, including estimated VAT. Basic charges a 2% online store transaction fee; Core and Advanced list 0%. The currencies differ, so these starting prices are not a direct like-for-like comparison. Squarespace also offers a 14-day trial; Cargo allows private use for any duration.
03Features and depth
Cargo is geared toward visual work: its editor places overlapping elements, backdrops, and responsive layouts on a flexible canvas. It offers portfolio, editorial, and retail templates, plus curated or uploaded fonts, variable font settings, and motion presets. The Cargo 3 subscription includes unlimited public sites on cargo.site domains and one custom domain connection. Selling physical or digital goods requires the separate commerce add-on.
Squarespace covers more business tasks in one platform. Its AI builder can generate a site from answers, and its editor handles layouts, fonts, colors, images, and branding. The feature set also includes product sales, payments, orders and shipping, appointment scheduling, proposals, contracts, invoicing, SEO tools, site auditing, and traffic and ecommerce analytics. Plan limits matter: Basic lists two contributors and a 2% online store fee; Core and Advanced list unlimited contributors and no online store transaction fee. Digital content and memberships carry separate fees on Basic and Core, but not Advanced.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Both products offer visual editing, but the workflow differs. Cargo’s flexible canvas supports overlapping elements and detailed typography controls, which suit portfolio layouts; that freedom may be more than someone needs for a simple business site. Squarespace offers drag-and-drop editing and an AI builder that starts from answers to a few questions.
The published reviews score Cargo 7 for ease of use and Squarespace 8, but those are review scores, not a controlled comparison. Choose Cargo if visual layout control and multiple public sites matter most. Choose Squarespace if you want its broader set of site and business tools in one builder.
Questions people ask
What is the downside of Squarespace?
The main cost caveat is that Basic lists a 2% online store transaction fee and a 7% fee for digital content and memberships. Core removes the online store fee but lists a 5% digital content and memberships fee. Advanced lists 0% for both, but has the highest listed plan price.
What are some good Cargo websites?
Cargo is designed for creative portfolios, client presentations, research boards, profile sites, and shops. Its templates cover visual portfolios, editorial layouts, and retail spaces. The published information does not name specific Cargo websites, so we can’t point to particular examples here.
Can I use Cargo for free?
Yes. Cargo lists free use for eligible students, teachers, and related administrators, with a professor or administrator email required. The pricing details do not publish usage limits. Cargo also allows private use for any duration, while publishing public sites requires the Cargo 3 subscription.
Is Squarespace still good in 2026?
It can fit people who want a website builder with selling, scheduling, invoicing, SEO, and analytics tools. The trade-offs in the published pricing are a 14-day trial, plan-dependent fees, and prices listed in euros including estimated VAT. The best fit depends on which tools and fees matter to you.