How Squarespace Member Sites Work: Your Guide to Membership Features & Pricing

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

Squarespace Member Sites (formerly known as Member Areas) let creators and businesses offer exclusive content through gated sections on their Squarespace websites. Whether you want to share private courses, digital downloads, podcasts, or community access, Member Sites provide a straightforward way to monetize your content and build a membership base.

If you’re considering adding memberships to your Squarespace website, this guide will walk you through how Squarespace Member Sites work, who they’re best for, how to get started, pricing, and important challenges to keep in mind.

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The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!

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Who Are Squarespace Member Sites For?

Squarespace Member Sites are ideal if you:

Want a simple, all-in-one solution fully integrated with your existing Squarespace site.
Are launching a small to medium-sized membership without complex tiering or billing needs.
Prefer managing your public website and member content in a single dashboard.
Need basic content protection for pages and media.
Value ease of setup and minimal technical overhead.

If your membership business requires advanced features like content dripping, tiered memberships, multiple payment plans, affiliate programs, or detailed member management, you might find Squarespace Member Sites limiting and want to explore third-party tools like MemberSpace.

What Can You Sell with Squarespace Member Sites?

Squarespace Member Sites support a variety of digital products and content types, allowing you to monetize your expertise and build a community:

Online Courses: Host video lessons, downloadable materials, and quizzes behind your membership paywall.
Digital Downloads: Sell PDFs, eBooks, templates, guides, or any downloadable files to your members.
Private Podcasts: Share exclusive audio content accessible only to your subscribers.
Content Libraries: Curate a collection of videos, articles, or resources available only to members.
Communities: Create private forums or discussion spaces using integrations or linked tools.
Event Access: Offer members-only access to webinars, live streams, or virtual events.

While Squarespace Member Sites cover a broad range of digital products, some advanced features like automated content dripping or multi-tiered access to the same content require workarounds or third-party tools.

Squarespace Member Sites Pricing

Squarespace Member Sites is included as part of Squarespace’s Website plans, which can be billed monthly or annually. To use Member Sites, you need to subscribe to one of the plans that support this feature:

Basic Plan: Starts at $16/month (billed annually) or $25/month (billed monthly). This plan is suitable for simple websites but does not include Member Sites.
Core Plan: Starts at $23/month (billed annually) or $33/month (billed monthly). This plan includes Member Sites and allows you to create membership content.
Plus Plan: Starts at $49/month (billed annually) or $65/month (billed monthly). Offers more advanced features and higher limits, suitable for growing membership businesses.
Advanced Plan: Starts at $99/month (billed annually) or $129/month (billed monthly). Designed for large or complex membership sites with advanced customization and support.

Transaction fees:

Squarespace charges a transaction fee on membership and digital product sales, which varies by plan. For example, the Core Plan may have a 3% transaction fee, while higher-tier plans reduce or eliminate this fee.

Additional notes:

All annual plans include a free custom domain for the first year.
Member Sites functionality is integrated into these plans, so there are no separate fees solely for Member Sites.

For the most up-to-date pricing and plan details, visit the official Squarespace Pricing page.

How to Use Squarespace Member Sites

Choose a Pricing Plan: Select from Starter, Core, or Pro plans based on your membership size and feature needs.
Create Member-Only Pages: Design your exclusive content pages using Squarespace’s templates and style options.
Set Access Controls: Define which members or tiers can access specific pages.
Manage Payments: Use Squarespace’s built-in payment processing to accept subscriptions or one-time fees.
Engage Members: Integrate with Squarespace Email Campaigns to keep members informed and connected.

Pain Points and Challenges with Squarespace Member Sites

While Squarespace Member Sites offer convenience, here are some common challenges users face:

Limited Pricing Flexibility: No proration, billing date customization, or signup fees can restrict your revenue options.
No Content Dripping: You must manually publish content on your schedule, which is time-consuming for courses or serialized content.
Restricted Member Management: No manual approvals or adding members directly can limit control over your community.
No Group Memberships: You can’t offer team or organizational licenses.
File Protection Limitations: Members can potentially share direct links to protected files outside your site.
Few Integrations: Limited options for affiliate programs, community forums, or marketing tools can slow growth.
No Free Trials: You can’t offer timed trial periods to attract new members.
Duplicate Content for Multiple Tiers: You must create separate pages for each membership tier accessing the same content, increasing your workload.

If these pain points sound familiar or limiting, tools like MemberSpace offer solutions designed to scale with your membership business.

Quick Look: How Squarespace Member Sites Compare to MemberSpace

Feature	Squarespace Member Sites	MemberSpace
Sell products across tiers	❌	✅
1-click payments	❌	✅
1-click Google signup	❌	✅
Free trials & plans	❌	✅
Member pricing changes	❌	✅
Drip content release	❌	✅
Charge signup fees	❌	✅
Choose billing dates	❌	✅
Automatic plan upsells	❌	✅
Plan expirations	❌	✅
Failed payment popups	❌	✅
Cancellation alternatives	❌	✅
Abandon signup reminders	❌	✅
Affiliate program	❌	✅
Member directory	❌	✅
Zapier integrations	❌	✅

Squarespace Member Sites are great for simple membership setups. For advanced features and growth tools, MemberSpace is a powerful option.

Final Thoughts

Squarespace Member Sites offer an easy and integrated way to add memberships to your website, especially if you’re starting out or need a simple solution. However, as your membership grows or your needs become more complex, you may find yourself limited by its features.

If you want more flexibility, automation, and powerful member management tools, consider exploring MemberSpace — a membership platform built to scale with your business.

Launch a Squarespace membership business!

The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!