Ycode: Your Squarespace alternative

Easily drag and drop elements from the top panel. To style and customize elements, the advanced design sidebar lets you add backgrounds, adjust colors, set shadows, and more—in different states (like when hovering over).

In Squarespace, most of your web design is set in stone, depending on the template. The style editor lets you customize elements, but your options are limited. Some people find it difficult to edit and add content blocks.

Create dedicated pages (signup, login, password reminders, etc) all within Ycode. No third-party tool is needed. The authentication pages are prebuilt, and you can either edit them or build your own.

Squarespace offers login forms for pop-ups or pages. There's also a member space feature, where you can create (paid) member-only pages that are hidden from the public eye.

Create a local database and import data one by one, in bulk, or through integrations. Then connect elements to data fields and make content dynamic so it automatically updates whenever you make database changes.

Dynamic content requires the Squarespace Developer Platform and knowledge of JSON-T. Directories are available, but data needs manual updates unless you add a plug-in. Online shops can upload product data, but bulk-editing requires a paid plan.

The intuitive, integrated workflow builder in Ycode makes it super easy to automate tasks. Build simple or advanced workflows that, for example, send emails, redirect users, add a delay, show or hide elements, submit forms, and even delete database records.

Squarespace, on the other hand, does not offer a workflow feature. You can work around this limitation by installing one of the various plugins that add workflows to Squarespace.

It's easy to quickly build your web layout! Choose from various elements to drag and drop into your canvas.

Squarespace version 7.1 (2020) allows you to add content blocks like text, images, and forms to customize pages.

Invite other people to work with you on your web projects! Buy user seats and add different roles and permissions to each user. Ycode also offers the possibility to transfer projects to other accounts to easily change ownership.

Squarespace also gives you the freedom to work with multiple people on the same project. There's no project transfer feature, but you can invite a new owner to your account and then change the ownership to this person.

Ycode produces clean, semantic code for fast page loads and mobile-friendly designs. With in-built SEO tools, you can add static and dynamic titles, descriptions, and more. You can also exclude certain pages from search results.

Squarespace gives you the standard set of SEO tools. Just like Ycode, you can set built-in meta tags and markups, use custom URLs and Google Index, add social media integration, and much more.

Connect any external API in Ycode—you just need the base URL. There's also a native Airtable integration that makes it super simple to connect and sync data from Airtable to Ycode. You can also connect to thousands of web services with the Zapier integration.

Third-party integrations add more advanced features to your Squarespace website, like fulfillment logistics, conversion optimization, live chat, ads management, and email marketing. Squarespace doesn't offer a native Airtable and Zapier is only available in paid plans.

Ycode's hosting is reliable and secure. Use the auto-generated Ycode subdomain or connect your own custom domain. All web projects come with an SSL certificate. Ycode automatically makes backups of your projects, and you can also manually make on yourself at any time.

Hosting, unlimited bandwidth and storage, SSL encryptions, public URLs, and the ability to connect a custom domain are all included. There's the option to export a CSV file, though this file isn't sufficient if you want to host your website elsewhere. Backups are not supported in Squarespace.

Just getting started? Enjoy Ycode for free! Once you're familiar and ready to build for real, you can upgrade to a paid plan to unlock extras. There are project plans to add features and space, and account plans to invite people to collaborate with you.

Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan available, but they do offer a 14-day free trial. Afterward, you'll need to choose one of their premium monthly plans to continue building. For a monthly price, you can also add Google Workspace user seats to your account.