Is a Squarespace domain really free, and what do you pay after the first year?

Summary

Who gets the free year

Every Squarespace website plan includes a free first year of domain registration when you pay annually. The help center adds the fine print:

• Monthly-billed sites and Mobile Start plans don't qualify.
• You have to claim it within a year of signing up for, or switching to, an eligible plan.
• One free domain per site.
• It covers extensions priced at the .com rate. You can't apply it as a discount on a pricier one, and .ai domains are excluded by name.

The year starts on the day the domain is registered or transferred in. Switching the site to monthly billing partway through doesn't cancel it. Canceling the annual plan within the first 14 days does: you get a prorated refund minus the nonrefundable domain registration fee.

How the free year changes the first-year bill

On the Basic plan, annual billing works out to $19 a month, or $228 for the year, with the domain included. Paying monthly at $25 comes to $300 for the same twelve months, and the domain is billed separately from day one. The gap is $72 before you add the domain. Our piece on annual versus monthly billing covers what you give up by committing for a year.

Renewal pricing

After the free year the domain renews at the annual price for its extension. Squarespace doesn't print that price in its help articles or on the pricing page. You see it in domain search, or next to the renewal date in your domains dashboard. The domains homepage says you can get a domain "for only $10," without naming the extension or saying whether that is a first-year or renewal price. A domain that lapses and is later reactivated is charged at the current price, which can differ from what it renewed at before.

Transferring a domain in

The fee. There is no transfer fee, but a paid one-year extension is required, priced by extension at $20 to $70. Promotional rates don't apply. Whatever time was left on the old registration carries over, with the new year added on top. If the destination site is on an annual plan, that year may be covered by the free domain offer.

Eligibility. The domain has to be unlocked, on an extension Squarespace supports, and at least 60 days past its last registration or transfer. Expect one to 15 days for the move to finish.

Leaving later. Squarespace doesn't charge a fee to transfer a domain out.

What's bundled

WHOIS privacy, which keeps your contact details out of the public registration record, is on by default for most domains. Most country-code extensions don't allow it, so those are the exception. Every domain also gets an SSL certificate, DNSSEC, support for all DNS record types, and email forwarding for up to 100 aliases.

You don't need a Squarespace website to use the domain. It can point to another host and another email provider. Former Google Domains customers are on the same footing: Squarespace took over those registrations on September 7, 2023, and the migration is complete. Dynamic DNS and the ACME DNS API aren't supported.

Sources

• https://www.squarespace.com/pricing
• https://domains.squarespace.com/
• https://domains.squarespace.com/transfer-a-domain
• https://domains.squarespace.com/google-domains
• https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206541787
• https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/34134026801549-Domain-transfer-pricing-and-billing
• https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205812438
• https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/218193418
• https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/17131164996365-About-the-Google-Domains-migration-to-Squarespace

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