Is Cardel an alternative to Circle or Squarespace?

Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Circle or Squarespace when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Circle and Squarespace are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Circle or Squarespace?

Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Circle or Squarespace for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

How much does Cardel cost compared with Circle and Squarespace?

You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Circle and Squarespace set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

How do I switch from Circle or Squarespace to Cardel?

Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.

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CirclevsSquarespace

Circle runs member communities with spaces, events, courses, and paywalls. Squarespace builds sites with commerce, scheduling, and email as add-ons.

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How Circle and Squarespace compare

Circle is where serious community hosts go when the community is the business. Spaces for discussion and chat, courses and events in the same place, paid memberships with branded checkout, gamification, workflows, Circle AI, and on Circle Plus your own branded iOS and Android apps. It has grown into an all-in-one for membership businesses, and the Website Builder and Email Hub mean many hosts no longer need a second tool for the front door. If your members log in every week to talk to each other, Circle is built for exactly that.

Squarespace makes sites that look finished. Award-winning templates, a fluid editor, commerce, scheduling through Acuity, email campaigns, and member areas mean a designer or small business can build almost anything in one account. It is polished, dependable, and deservedly popular with people who care how things look.

Where they are different

Circle

Circle's pages are the front door to a members-only space.
Circle's Email Hub is an add-on priced per contact on top of the plan.
Circle's DMs live between members inside the community.
Circle has courses, live streams, paid tiers for users, and gamification.

Squarespace

Squarespace sells pieces separately: commerce tiers, scheduling seats, email campaign plans.
Squarespace email is outbound.
Squarespace has comments on the blog.

Choose Circle when a paid, private community with courses and events is the product, and you want members in a branded app.

Choose Squarespace when design flexibility and a huge template library matter most and you are happy adding modules as you grow.

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What's on Circle and Squarespace

A check means that capability is available. Circle and Squarespace are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

Workspace site
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Custom domain
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Editor Mode
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Theme and fonts
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Brand kit
Circle: Not included
Squarespace: Included

Public content

Blog
Circle: Not included
Squarespace: Included
Reader engagement
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Showcase pages
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Shop pages
Circle: Not included
Squarespace: Included

Reach and quality

SEO
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included

Audience and email

Audience
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Email templates and From addresses
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Marketing emails
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Campaign workflows
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included

Messaging

Built-in chat
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Not included

Commerce

Shop payments
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.
Circle: Not included
Squarespace: Included

Team

Admin users
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
Per-admin permissions
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included
AI Assistant
Circle: Included
Squarespace: Included

Feature comparison for Circle and Squarespace
Feature	Circle	Squarespace
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Editor Mode	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Brand kit	Not included	Included
Public content
Blog	Not included	Included
Reader engagement	Included	Included
Showcase pages	Included	Included
Shop pages	Not included	Included
Reach and quality
SEO	Included	Included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Email templates and From addresses	Included	Included
Marketing emails	Included	Included
Campaign workflows	Included	Included
Messaging
Built-in chat	Included	Not included
Commerce
Shop payments	Included	Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.	Not included	Included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Included	Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Circle or Squarespace, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Circle or Squarespace may add or remove features that are not shown here.