Team MemberSpace
If you’ve been building a membership site on Squarespace, you’ve probably started with their native Member Sites feature. It’s built right in, easy to set up, and feels like a natural fit. But here’s the thing — many Squarespace site owners hit a wall pretty quickly. The native membership tools just don’t have the flexibility or features needed to build a truly powerful membership experience.
What you might not know is there’s another option that works with Squarespace but brings way more to the table: MemberSpace. In this post, I’ll walk you through what Squarespace Member Sites offers, where it falls short, and how MemberSpace can fill in those gaps — plus a straightforward comparison chart so you can see how they stack up.
In this guide, we'll walk through:
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What is Squarespace Member Sites?
Squarespace Member Sites is Squarespace’s built-in membership platform. It lets you restrict pages or content to members only, collect payments, and manage member access — all inside your Squarespace dashboard.
It’s a solid starting point if you want something simple: gated content, a single membership tier, and basic payment processing. But once you want to do more — like offer free trials, drip content, or handle complex billing — you’ll quickly find yourself limited.
Why So Many Squarespace Users Eventually Look for Alternatives
Squarespace is one of the most popular website builders for creators, coaches, educators, and entrepreneurs—and for good reason. It’s easy to use, looks great out of the box, and makes it simple to launch a professional website.
But if you spend time reading discussions on Reddit or talking with membership business owners, you’ll notice a common pattern: many people love Squarespace for their website, but eventually run into limitations with Squarespace Member Sites as their business grows.
At MemberSpace, we hear similar feedback from customers who switch from Member Sites. Most aren’t looking to leave Squarespace entirely. In fact, they usually want to keep their existing website. They’re simply looking for more flexibility to run and grow their business.
The most common sentiment we hear sounds something like this:
“I love Squarespace for my website, but the membership features are too limiting for what I’m trying to build.”
This tends to happen when business owners move beyond a basic membership and start building a more advanced online business. They may want to sell multiple membership tiers, launch an online course, build a private community, offer free trials, create a searchable content library, or experiment with different pricing models.
That’s where many users begin looking for alternatives—not because Squarespace is a bad website builder, but because they need membership software that can grow alongside their business.
MemberSpace: A Squarespace Member Sites Alternative
Enter MemberSpace. It’s a third-party membership platform designed to work seamlessly with Squarespace (and other website builders). The difference? It offers way more flexibility and features that let you build a membership site that actually fits your unique needs.
MemberSpace gives you control over billing, content access, member management, and integrations — all without leaving Squarespace. And it’s built with real membership site owners in mind, so it handles the tricky stuff Squarespace doesn’t.
Squarespace Member Sites vs MemberSpace
Here’s a simple chart showing the key features MemberSpace offers that Squarespace Member Sites doesn’t:
| Feature | Squarespace Member Sites | MemberSpace |
|---|---|---|
| Apple & Google Pay | ❌ | ✅ |
| Sell content across tiers | ❌ | ✅ |
| Google signup & login | ❌ | ✅ |
| Free trial periods | ❌ | ✅ |
| Manual member approval | ❌ | ✅ |
| Member pricing changes | ❌ | ✅ |
| Community discussions | ❌ | ✅ |
| Flexible online courses | ❌ | ✅ |
| Searchable content library | ❌ | ✅ |
While Squarespace Member Sites is designed primarily for protecting content behind a paywall, MemberSpace gives you the flexibility to build and grow a complete online business from your website.
Many entrepreneurs switch to MemberSpace when they want to offer free trials, sell content across multiple membership tiers, build a private community, create online courses, or launch a searchable content library.
Unlike dedicated platforms such as Circle, Mighty Networks, or Kajabi, MemberSpace lets you keep the Squarespace website you’ve already built while adding the features needed to run memberships, courses, communities, coaching programs, paid newsletters, and digital products.
What Can You Build With MemberSpace?
MemberSpace is an all-in-one membership platform that helps creators, coaches, educators, publishers, and entrepreneurs monetize their websites. Instead of limiting you to a single business model, MemberSpace gives you the flexibility to sell a variety of digital products and membership experiences from your own website.
Flexible Memberships
Sell memberships, templates, workshops, downloads, guides, recordings, and other digital products individually or bundle them together into different membership tiers.
Content Libraries
Organize videos, templates, recordings, articles, guides, and other resources into a searchable content library. Members can bookmark content and receive notifications when new resources are added.
Online Courses
Create and sell online courses directly on your website. Organize lessons into modules, share videos and downloads, and give students access to individual courses or entire course libraries.
Private Communities
Build a members-only community where people can engage in discussions, ask questions, and connect with one another without ever leaving your website.
Coaching Programs
Create private coaching portals where clients can access resources, worksheets, recordings, action plans, and other members-only content.
Paid Newsletters
Monetize your newsletter by offering premium subscriber access to exclusive content, archives, downloads, and bonus resources.
The best part? You can offer all of these from the same website. Many successful MemberSpace customers combine memberships, courses, communities, content libraries, coaching programs, and digital products into a single business rather than relying on multiple platforms.
How to Switch from Member Sites to MemberSpace
If you’ve already built your membership with Squarespace Member Sites and are considering switching to MemberSpace, the good news is that you don’t need to rebuild your website from scratch.
MemberSpace works alongside your existing Squarespace website, allowing you to keep your pages, branding, content, SEO, and overall site design intact. Instead of moving your business to a completely new platform, you’re simply upgrading the membership functionality behind the scenes.
This also creates a smoother experience for your members since they’ll continue using the same website they’re already familiar with.
Importing & Migrating Your Members
Moving your members from Squarespace Member Sites to MemberSpace is a straightforward process:
- Export your member list and share it with our team using the migration spreadsheet provided by MemberSpace.
- Choose your preferred billing setup, including whether you’d like to maintain existing billing dates or start members on new subscription cycles.
- We’ll handle the import for you. Once the migration is complete, each member will receive an invitation to activate their account and access their membership.
Most membership owners are surprised by how simple the process is. Since your website stays the same, you can continue using Squarespace while gaining access to MemberSpace’s advanced features for memberships, online courses, communities, content libraries, coaching programs, newsletters, and digital products.
Looking for a Squarespace Alternative?
If you’re looking for an option that doesn’t require you to use Squarespace altogether, you’ve got plenty of choices. MemberSpace works with virtually any website platform, making it easy to move your membership business to WordPress, Wix, Webflow, Showit, Duda, Carrd, Notion, and more.
The best part is that your membership business doesn’t have to be tied to a specific website builder. Whether you’re selling online courses, running a private community, managing a content library, offering coaching programs, or growing a paid newsletter, MemberSpace gives you the flexibility to build on the platform that works best for you.
So if you eventually decide to move away from Squarespace, you won’t need to switch membership software too—you can simply bring MemberSpace with you.
FAQ
Q: Can I switch from Squarespace Member Sites to MemberSpace without rebuilding my site?
A: Yes! MemberSpace works alongside your existing Squarespace site, so you don’t need to start from scratch. You’ll just set up MemberSpace to manage memberships while keeping your current content intact.
Q: Is MemberSpace difficult to set up for someone new to membership sites?
A: Not really. MemberSpace offers step-by-step tutorials and responsive support. If you’re comfortable with Squarespace, you’ll find the setup pretty manageable.
Q: Does MemberSpace charge extra fees?
A: Yes, MemberSpace is a separate service with its own pricing plans. But many users find the extra features and flexibility well worth the investment compared to the native Squarespace membership tools.
Q: Can I offer free trials or limited-time plans with MemberSpace?
A: Absolutely. MemberSpace lets you create free trials, timed plans, and flexible billing options that aren’t available in Squarespace Member Sites.
Q: Will MemberSpace handle failed payments and cancellations?
A: Yes. MemberSpace has built-in tools to notify members of failed payments, offer cancellation alternatives, and send reminders — helping you reduce churn and keep members engaged.
Q: Can I integrate MemberSpace with other tools like email marketing or CRMs?
A: Definitely. MemberSpace supports Zapier integration, which means you can connect it to hundreds of apps to automate workflows and keep your business running smoothly.
Q: Does MemberSpace support member directories or community features?
A: Yes, MemberSpace includes member directories, which help you build a stronger community by letting members connect and see who else is part of your site.
Q: What if I want to sell multiple membership tiers or products?
A: MemberSpace makes it easy to sell across multiple tiers without duplicating content. You can set different access levels and pricing, all managed cleanly within the platform.
Final Thoughts
If you’re just starting out and want a simple membership site, Squarespace Member Sites might do the trick. But if you’re feeling boxed in by what it can (and can’t) do, MemberSpace is a smart alternative that gives you more control and options — without leaving Squarespace.
I’ve seen many site owners get stuck, thinking native membership is their only choice. But once they discover MemberSpace, things start to click. You get the tools you need to build a membership site that grows with you, not against you.
Give it a look, and see if it fits your goals better. Sometimes, the right tool makes all the difference.
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!
Get started for free! 5 minutes to set up.
