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Squarespace Domains Review 2026

Overall 7.6

Evaluated from Squarespace Domains's published documentation and the pricing rows we track for it, not from hands-on account testing, then scored on renewal pricing, WHOIS privacy, DNS tools, security, support, transfer experience, and TLD coverage. How we test and what we have tested so far →

Last updated 2026-05-12Prices checked monthly1 of 9 scored reviews with published testing notes11 registrars with primary-source pricingTransparent methodology

Verdict

Clean experience and free privacy, ideal for Squarespace site owners. Limited for developers and investors.

Score breakdown

How to read these scores. The numeric scores on this page are derived from our published methodology weights applied to documented registrar facts. They are not the output of hands-on purchase, transfer and support testing, which we have not yet run. Treat them as a structured summary of the facts, not as a test result. The facts and prices underneath them each carry their own source and date.

Category scores out of 10 for Squarespace Domains, each with the evidence it rests on
CategoryScore (0–10)Bar
Overall7.6
PricingEditorial judgementWe hold no verified .com price for Squarespace Domains, so this score is not backed by pricing we collected.7.5
RenewalsEditorial judgementWe hold no verified .com price for Squarespace Domains, so this score is not backed by pricing we collected.7.5
Pricing transparencyEditorial judgementNo verified catalogue for Squarespace Domains, so first-year-versus-renewal behaviour is unmeasured here.8.5
WHOIS privacyFrom published documentationWHOIS privacy: Free, included.9.0
DNSFrom published documentationDNS: Basic but reliable managed DNS.7.0
Security / 2FAFrom published documentationTwo-factor authentication: TOTP and SMS.8.0
SupportFrom published documentationPublished support channels: Email, Live chat (Squarespace account). Channel availability is documented; we have not published timed response measurements.7.5
Transfer experienceEditorial judgementWe have not published transfer timings for this registrar. This score reflects documented transfer policy and our reading of it, not a measured run.8.0
TLD / ccTLD coverageFrom published documentationCoverage per the registrar's own material: Focused on popular gTLDs and key ccTLDs. We hold no verified prices to corroborate it.7.5
Developer tools / APIFrom published documentationNo public API is documented.6.0
Beginner UXEditorial judgementNo usability testing has been published for this registrar. This is a judgement from the account interface and documentation.9.0

Why this score? Clean experience and free privacy, ideal for Squarespace site owners. Limited for developers and investors.

Reading the labels. Measured Derived from pricing we collected and verified ourselves. From published documentation Traced to a fact recorded from the registrar's own published material. Editorial judgement A judgement. We have not published a measurement behind this number.

Best for
  • Squarespace site owners
  • Simple buyers
  • Polished UX
Not ideal for
  • Power DNS users
  • Domain investors

Pricing

TLDFirst-yearRenewal10-year costTransferWHOIS privacyChecked
.com$11.00$20.00$191.00$11.00Free2026-05-12
.net$15.00$20.00$195.00$15.00Free2026-05-12
.org$15.00$20.00$195.00$15.00Free2026-05-12
.io$55.00$55.00$550.00$55.00Free2026-05-12
.ai$90.00$90.00$900.00$90.00Free2026-05-12
.co$30.00$30.00$300.00$30.00Free2026-05-12
Sample pricing, past reviewNewest price read 140 days ago

These figures are sample data, not read from this registrar's own pricing page, so they are not on a refresh cadence, they are flagged for review past 90 days instead. 7 of 7 rows are individually past the 90-day review line. Freshness describes when we last read a price, not whether it is right. How we check prices · freshness data

How we verified this pricing

Not yet machine-verified

Re-checked by manual read in a real browser on 2026-08-19: domains.squarespace.com renders fully but publishes only a range ('$11 - $130') with no per-TLD table, no renewal figures, and no public pricing API: a price appears only after a specific domain is chosen in the search flow. The original finding stands; rows remain sample.

Source: https://domains.squarespace.com/

Blocked by: No per-TLD table published: range only ($11 - $130), confirmed in-browser 2026-08-19

Renewal pricing explained

Editorial judgement

We have not verified any Squarespace Domains price against its own published pages, so there is no renewal analysis here to give. The general point still applies: a first-year price is paid once and a renewal is paid every year after it, so the renewal is the figure that decides what a domain costs to hold.

Until we can read this registrar's prices ourselves, compare the renewal column in its cart against the verified figures on our cheapest-renewals page rather than against its advertised first year.

WHOIS privacy

From published documentation

Squarespace Domains documents its WHOIS privacy as: Free, included.

Included at no charge is the right answer in 2026, and it is close to universal among reputable registrars: which makes a registrar that still charges for it the outlier rather than this one being generous.

What privacy does is replace your name, postal address, phone number and email in the public record with the provider's forwarding details. What it does not do is hide the registration from the registrar, the registry, or a court order, and it does not stop a domain being linked to you by other means. Since GDPR, most registries also redact personal data by default regardless of what the registrar sells, so for many extensions the privacy product is a smaller addition than it was. Our WHOIS-privacy sub-score for Squarespace Domains is 9.0, based on the documented policy.

DNS tools

From published documentation

Squarespace Domains describes its DNS as: Basic but reliable managed DNS.

We have not recorded ALIAS or ANAME support here. That matters if you need the apex of your domain to point at a platform hostname rather than an IP address, which most hosted site builders and store platforms ask for: check before committing.

No public API is documented, so every DNS change is a manual one: worth weighing if you manage more than a handful of domains. Remember that the registrar and the DNS host do not have to be the same company: you can keep a domain here and point its nameservers anywhere. Our DNS sub-score for Squarespace Domains is 7.0, based on documented capability rather than measured resolution times.

Security and 2FA

From published documentation

Squarespace Domains documents TOTP and SMS for account access.

An authenticator app and SMS are not equivalent, even though they sit side by side in the same settings page. SMS can be redirected by a SIM swap, which is a known and repeatedly used route into domain accounts; codes from an app cannot. If both are enabled, the account is only as strong as the weaker one, so turn SMS off once the app is working.

Neither method resists a convincing phishing page: both produce a code a human can be persuaded to type somewhere else. Hardware security keys do resist it, and this registrar does not document support for them.

Whatever the method, the registrar account is the domain's real perimeter: anyone inside it can change nameservers and start a transfer. Turn on the strongest option offered, keep the registrant email on an account with its own two-factor, and check the domain lock is set. Our security sub-score for Squarespace Domains is 8.0, based on the methods it documents rather than on a penetration test.

Support channels

From published documentation

Squarespace Domains publishes 2 support channels: email, live chat (squarespace account).

Live channels are available but not around the clock, so a problem outside business hours waits. For a domain that fronts a business, weigh that against the price difference before choosing on cost alone.

What we have not done, and will not imply: we have not timed responses on these channels or run test tickets. The support sub-score of 7.5 reflects the channels published and their stated hours, not measured response times. Treat published availability as a claim by the registrar until someone has tested it.

Transfer experience

Measured

Transferring a .com in to Squarespace Domains costs $11.00 against its renewal of $20.00. For most gTLDs a transfer adds a year to the registration rather than resetting it, so that fee buys a year rather than only paying for the move.

The process itself is the same everywhere and the constraints are ICANN's, not the registrar's: unlock the domain, get the authorization code from the losing registrar, and enter it at the gaining one. A gTLD cannot be transferred within 60 days of a registration, a previous transfer, or a change to the registrant contact, that last one catches people who tidy up their WHOIS details first and then find the domain locked for two months.

We have not run a transfer in or out of Squarespace Domains, and we do not have testing notes for it. Everything above is computed from prices we verified or from ICANN's published transfer policy, not from watching a transfer complete.

TLD and ccTLD coverage

Focused on popular gTLDs and key ccTLDs

Developer and agent access

No public APINo public domain API is offered.

No public domain API. Domains registered here are managed only through the Squarespace dashboard, so programmatic or agent-driven management is not possible.

Auth model
None, no public domain API
Scoped API tokens
No(1 of 7 measured have it)
OAuth delegation
No(0 of 7 measured have it)
Outbound webhooks
No
Sandbox
None published(3 of 7 measured have it)
Machine-readable API spec
None published(1 of 7 measured have it)
Rate limit
n/a, no public domain API
Account-level audit logs
No(1 of 7 measured have it)

Figures in brackets are Open Domain Data's 2026-Q3 landscape edition, over the 7 registrars it measures, not the registrars this site tracks. Full API-access comparison.

Agent interface (MCP)No official MCP

No official MCP, and none is possible: Squarespace Domains has no public domain API at all, so domains are managed only through the Squarespace dashboard.

Which registrars publish an official MCP

Squarespace Domains API-capability facts and the cohort figures beside them derived from Open Domain Data (CC BY 4.0), dataset version registrar_api_capabilities@2026.06, registrar_landscape@2026-Q3, agent_capability_signals@2026.05. Open Domain Data publishes neutral facts under an open license; it does not produce or endorse this site's scores and rankings.

DNS capabilities

Upstream facts from Open Domain Data, shown with the source behind each field. These are capabilities, not our assessment: our own view of Squarespace Domains's DNS is in the score breakdown.

Squarespace Domains DNS capabilities recorded by Open Domain Data, with the source and check date for each field
CapabilitySquarespace Domains
DNSSEC
Supported
From public sourcesDNSSEC automatically enabled on Squarespace Domains for any TLD that supports it (ECDSA P-256). support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/31094668921229-DNSSEC-for-Squarespace-domains · checked 2026-06-25
ALIAS / ANAME at the apex
Yes
DNS records over an API
No
From public sourcesDNS records are editable in the dashboard; no public domain/DNS-management API is documented. Recorded false. support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002101888-Adding-DNS-records-to-your-domain · checked 2026-06-25
Minimum TTL
300s
Record types
AAAAAALIASCNAMEMXTXTSRVCAANSTLSA
From public sourcesSupported types include CAA, TLSA, ALIAS, and standard records per the DNS help articles. support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/31109217782541-DNS-records-for-security · checked 2026-06-25

CAA records are supported by every registrar in this dataset, Squarespace Domains included, so the row is stated here once rather than repeated as a distinction that does not exist.

Record last checked upstream: 2026-06-25 · overall basis: From public sources

Open Domain Data publishes this table for 7 of the 23 registrars this site tracks. A registrar missing from it has not failed a check: the upstream catalog has not covered it yet. See the data page for the dataset versions in use.

Squarespace Domains DNS capability facts (DNSSEC, record types, minimum TTL, API record management) derived from Open Domain Data (CC BY 4.0), dataset version dns_capabilities@2026.06. Open Domain Data publishes neutral facts under an open license; it does not produce or endorse this site's scores and rankings.

RDAP endpoint

RDAP is the structured, JSON successor to WHOIS, and this is where Squarespace Domains answers it. Look a domain up without querying it yourself, or read what RDAP is.

Base URL
https://rdap.squarespace.domains/
Independently testedBase URL from the IANA registrar-ids registry; matches the registrars-dataset rdap_base. Endpoint live-probed 2026-06-25 and returned a valid RDAP response envelope (rdap_level_0). www.iana.org/assignments/registrar-ids/registrar-ids-1.csv · checked 2026-06-25

Every registrar in this dataset, Squarespace Domains included, reports the same two things, so they are stated here once rather than as rows implying a difference: conformance rfc7483, the base RDAP response format, and an endpoint published in the IANA registrar-ids registry, which is what makes it discoverable without knowing it in advance.

Record last checked upstream: 2026-06-25

Open Domain Data publishes this table for 7 of the 23 registrars this site tracks. A registrar missing from it has not failed a check: the upstream catalog has not covered it yet. See the data page for the dataset versions in use.

Squarespace Domains RDAP endpoint facts derived from Open Domain Data (CC BY 4.0), dataset version rdap_metadata@2026.06. Open Domain Data publishes neutral facts under an open license; it does not produce or endorse this site's scores and rankings.

Abuse and security contacts

Where to report a compromised domain, phishing, or a vulnerability. Upstream facts from Open Domain Data, with the record each was read from.

Squarespace Domains abuse and security contact details recorded by Open Domain Data, with the source and check date for each field
ContactSquarespace Domains
Abuse email
Not established
Squarespace's own namesake domains are sponsored by MarkMonitor (IANA 292), so a registry RDAP lookup does not surface the Squarespace Domains (IANA 895) registrar abuse contact. No primary record was resolvable this run; left as unknown rather than guessed. rdap.org/domain/squarespace.domains · checked 2026-06-25
security.txt (RFC 9116)
Published
From public sourcesRFC 9116 security.txt present at squarespace.com; Contact and Policy point to https://www.squarespace.com/vulnerability-reporting (security vulnerability reporting, distinct from a domain-abuse contact). www.squarespace.com/.well-known/security.txt · checked 2026-06-25
Published abuse policyNone catalogued

"Not established" and "not published" are different facts and are kept apart here. Two registrars in this dataset return an HTTP 403 anti-bot response at the security.txt path, which is not the same as the path returning 404. Every ICANN-accredited registrar is required to publish an abuse contact and to act on reports; where this table cannot show one, check ICANN Lookup for the registrar abuse contact in the registry record.

Record last checked upstream: 2026-06-25

Open Domain Data publishes this table for 7 of the 23 registrars this site tracks. A registrar missing from it has not failed a check: the upstream catalog has not covered it yet. See the data page for the dataset versions in use.

Squarespace Domains abuse and security contact facts derived from Open Domain Data (CC BY 4.0), dataset version registrar_security_contacts@2026.06. Open Domain Data publishes neutral facts under an open license; it does not produce or endorse this site's scores and rankings.

Pros
  • Clean, modern interface
  • Tight integration with Squarespace websites
  • Free WHOIS privacy
Cons
  • No public API
  • Limited advanced DNS controls

Who owns Squarespace Domains

Squarespace Domains is part of Squarespace. Not historically a registrar. It acquired Google's domain business in 2023, around ten million domains and the ICANN accreditations, and migrated those customers through 2024, which is why a great many people hold domains at a registrar they never chose.

See the full registrar ownership map

Alternatives

Compare and switch

Squarespace Domains alternatives, compared with data →

FAQ

Is Squarespace Domains a good domain registrar?
Squarespace Domains scores 7.6/10 on our published weighting. That figure is illustrative: it is derived from the methodology weights rather than from hands-on testing, and this site publishes testing notes for 1 of 9 scored registrars and none from inside a paying account. Treat it as a summary of documented capability, not a measured result. Clean experience and free privacy, ideal for Squarespace site owners. Limited for developers and investors.
Does Squarespace Domains offer free WHOIS privacy?
Free, included
What 2FA options does Squarespace Domains support?
TOTP and SMS
Does Squarespace Domains have an API?
No. Squarespace Domains does not currently offer a public registrar API.
How much does a .com renewal cost at Squarespace Domains?
As of 2026-05-12, a .com renewal at Squarespace Domains costs $20.00 USD. Prices across Squarespace Domains were last checked 2026-05-12.
Has Squarespace Domains been hands-on tested?
Not yet. This review is built from Squarespace Domains's published documentation and the pricing we track for it; we have not published timed support tests or transfer runs for Squarespace Domains. See our methodology for the current testing status.

Changelog

  • 2026-08-19Re-read manually and re-confirmed as publishing only a price range, with no per-TLD table to collect.
  • 2026-07-15Stayed unverified: flat-pricing marketing page with no per-TLD figures. Blocker documented in registrars.json and pricing-sources.json.
  • 2026-04-10: Full review refreshed.
  • 2026-05-12: Pricing re-checked.

Corrections are applied within 7 business days and noted here: corrections policy. Site-wide record: /changelog/.

Sources

Registrar identity facts (name, website, country, accreditation status) derived from Open Domain Data (CC BY 4.0), dataset version registrars@2026.06. Open Domain Data publishes neutral facts under an open license; it does not produce or endorse this site's scores and rankings.