Why I Finally Made the Move from WordPress to Squarespace

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Since 2018, this Studio’s website has been on WordPress. Before that, it was on Wix. When I made the jump to WordPress, I had no idea what I was doing. But then I found the Divi theme and that set me up to be able to learn the platform and create a beautiful website for my business (several of them, actually).

And I really thought I’d never leave that combination. Any time someone would ask where to put their website, I would pitch WordPress with Divi. I was loyal. And honestly, I still think it’s the best place to put a website.

But WordPress is a beast. It requires hosting and plugins and maintenance. When Divi overhauled their plugin, I had to basically rebuild my whole website to accommodate the changes. I was fine with it though.

And then, summer 2026 came and I was hit with an epiphany. I was done building courses.

For years, that was the core of my business. My Studio helped seasoned pros turn their expertise into online courses and programs. Those projects took forever. They were huge and time consuming and so fatiguing - for me and for my clients. I enjoyed the building process, but not much else.

I realized that a lot of my clients were working with DIY websites that were outdated and not set up to sell courses. So we had to extend their projects to add web design. I can’t really explain it, but I was kind of hit with the “I just want to make pretty things” bug.

It was a tough pivot. But the other thing I realized was that courses are kind of dead. Sure, there are people still having success with them. But on the whole, courses don’t sell like they used to. I think it’s a dying industry. So this was a great time to jump into something else.

And that became templated web design. It just makes sense to me right now. Website templates do a few things:

They get you online quickly without a lot of stress
They eliminate the need to make endless decisions about how your website should look
They show you what your website will look like before you even get started

Custom design is great, but it takes. so. long. And it’s expensive, especially for someone just starting out.

So then the question was “where should I build these templates?” Obviously, my first thought was my favorite combo, WordPress with Divi. But WordPress has a steep learning curve and transferring templates isn’t so easy. I wanted to create templates that were very easy to use (and easy to sell).

The obvious choice was Squarespace. But I couldn’t have my website on WordPress and sell Squarespace templates. I mean, I guess I could. But it wouldn’t have made sense, at least in my mind.

I had built websites for clients on Squarespace, so I knew what I was getting into. Still, when you’re used to the flexibility and versatility of WordPress, Squarespace can seem like a downgrade. But it actually has its advantages:

It’s a contained system so you don’t need anything external unless you want to add some fancy functions
No hosting, no plugins, no code (although, you do need some CSS)
An integrated shop with a cart so you don’t need another platform to sell products
A builder that lets you layer and create interesting layouts (something that’s kinda difficult on Divi)

With WordPress, you need a tool for everything. That’s not the case with Squarespace. You don’t need anything, but you can add integrations if you want them.

And then there’s Squarespace Circle, which is their partner program. I can house all of our templates and client projects inside one account and transfer them as they are completed. That makes my Virgo brain very happy. I love a contained platform.

So while I’ll always be a WordPress girl, Squarespace meets our needs right now. I’m enjoying the process of selling templates and exploring what this platform can do.

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