Clad vs. Squarespace
Two very different approaches to getting online. Here’s how they compare for Australian small business.
The quick verdict
Squarespace is a polished website builder with genuinely beautiful templates. But it requires you to do all the design and content work yourself. Clad builds the whole site for you in minutes, with bespoke designs that aren’t shared with thousands of other businesses.
Side by side.
How Clad and Squarespace stack up across the dimensions that matter.
| Clad | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to a live site | Under 10 minutes | Hours to days (DIY) |
| Design approach | Custom, built from scratch | Choose from templates |
| Monthly cost (AUD) | From $49/mo | From ~$33/mo |
| Upfront cost | $199 design fee (waived on annual) | $0 |
| Who does the work | AI builds it, human reviews it | You build it yourself |
| Own your website files | Yes (full export anytime) | No (proprietary platform) |
| Human quality check | Every build reviewed | No |
| Ongoing changes | Describe in plain English + visual editor | DIY drag-and-drop editor |
| SEO setup | Included automatically | DIY configuration required |
| Australian focus | AU English, AUD pricing | US-focused platform |
A closer look.
The areas that matter most for small business.
Design flexibility
Squarespace is known for its stunning templates, and rightly so. They are some of the best-looking templates on the market. The trade-off is that your site will look similar to the thousands of other businesses using the same template. Customisation within a template is possible but limited by the template's structure. Clad takes a different approach: every site is generated from scratch based on your business, industry, and preferences. No two Clad sites are the same. You get three unique design variants to choose from, and every one is built specifically for you.
Pricing
The monthly costs are comparable. Squarespace's Business plan starts at around $33/mo AUD, while Clad starts at $49/mo. On monthly plans there is a one-time $199 design fee that covers the cost of creating your custom designs -- go annual and it is waived entirely. Squarespace charges nothing upfront, but you invest hours of your own time building the site. For a time-poor business owner, those hours of DIY work have a real cost. Clad delivers a finished site in minutes and includes AI change requests in every plan -- on Squarespace, every update is on you.
Ownership and portability
This is one of the biggest differences. Squarespace sites live on Squarespace's proprietary platform. You cannot export your site as standard HTML/CSS files. If you leave, you start again from scratch. With Clad, you can download your complete website files at any time. Your site is built with standard web technologies (Astro + Tailwind CSS), so you can self-host it anywhere. No lock-in, no vendor dependency.
SEO and performance
Both platforms produce sites that can rank well in search engines. Squarespace includes basic SEO tools, but you need to configure them yourself -- meta titles, descriptions, alt text, URL slugs, and more. Clad handles all of this automatically during generation. Every Clad site is also built as a static site, which means near-perfect performance scores out of the box. Squarespace sites, being dynamically rendered, can be slower -- particularly on mobile.
Which is right for you?
Every business is different. An honest recommendation.
Choose Clad if...
- You're a time-poor business owner who wants a professional site without the DIY
- You want a unique design, not a template shared with thousands of others
- You value owning your website files and having no platform lock-in
- You want ongoing changes handled for you, not another tool to learn
- You're an Australian business and want local pricing and AU English
Choose Squarespace if...
- You enjoy hands-on design and want full creative control over every detail
- You want to avoid any upfront cost and are happy investing your time instead
- You need built-in e-commerce with inventory management
- You want access to a large third-party template ecosystem
Ready to get one built?
Bespoke websites from $49/mo. No lock-in.
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