Compare
Heartbeatvs
Squarespace
Heartbeat is a friendly home for a small paid community with chat, events, and courses. Squarespace builds sites with commerce, scheduling, and email as add-ons.
How Heartbeat and Squarespace compare
Heartbeat is a friendly place to start a paid community without a big budget. For $49 a month you get channels, threads, chat, voice rooms, DMs, unlimited courses and events, a custom domain, checkout pages, five automation workflows, and Pulse, an AI that actually sets up channels, offers, and pages for you. Grow adds unlimited workflows, DM rules, an affiliate program, and white-label email; Scale adds a branded app. For a founder with a small group who wants courses and calls next to the conversation, Heartbeat covers a lot for the price.
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
Heartbeat
- Heartbeat's landing page is the door to a private space.
- Heartbeat emails members through workflows and a weekly digest.
- Heartbeat's events sync to members' calendars.
- Heartbeat charges 5% to 1.25% on payments.
Squarespace
- Squarespace sells pieces separately: commerce tiers, scheduling seats, email campaign plans.
- Squarespace email is outbound.
- Squarespace has comments on the blog.
Choose Heartbeat when a small paid community with courses, calls, and member chat is the product.
Choose Squarespace when design flexibility and a huge template library matter most and you are happy adding modules as you grow.
Compare features
What's on Heartbeat and Squarespace
A check means that capability is available. Heartbeat and Squarespace are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.
Site and brand
- Workspace siteHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- Custom domainHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- Theme and fontsHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- Brand kitHeartbeat: Not includedSquarespace: Included
- AI Theme SuggestHeartbeat: Not includedSquarespace: Included
Public content
- BlogHeartbeat: Not includedSquarespace: Included
- Reader engagementHeartbeat: Not includedSquarespace: Included
- Showcase pagesHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- Shop pagesHeartbeat: Not includedSquarespace: Included
Audience and email
- AudienceHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- Marketing emailsHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- Campaign workflowsHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
Messaging
- Built-in chatHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Not included
Commerce
- Shop paymentsHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.Heartbeat: Not includedSquarespace: Included
Team
- Admin usersHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- Per-admin permissionsHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
- AI AssistantHeartbeat: IncludedSquarespace: Included
* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Heartbeat or Squarespace, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Heartbeat or Squarespace may add or remove features that are not shown here.
Heartbeat vs Squarespace pricing
Compare plans, prices, and what it costs to get started.
Heartbeat
Current plans and prices
See what Heartbeat charges on their pricing page.
Squarespace
Current plans and prices
See what Squarespace charges on their pricing page.
Cardel: An alternative to
Heartbeat and Squarespace
You don't pay until you publish.
Cardel provides a home for your craft. Share and sell your work, grow your audience, and bring your community together on a site of your own.
Common questions
Is Cardel an alternative to Heartbeat 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 Heartbeat or Squarespace when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Heartbeat and Squarespace are marked.
Can I use Cardel with Heartbeat or Squarespace?
Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Heartbeat or Squarespace for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.
How much does Cardel cost compared with Heartbeat and Squarespace?
You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Heartbeat and Squarespace set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.
How do I switch from Heartbeat 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.
