Is Cardel an alternative to Squarespace or ThriveCart?

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

Can I use Cardel with Squarespace or ThriveCart?

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

How much does Cardel cost compared with Squarespace and ThriveCart?

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

How do I switch from Squarespace or ThriveCart 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.

Compare

SquarespacevsThriveCart

Squarespace builds sites with commerce, scheduling, and email as add-ons. ThriveCart is a lifetime-priced checkout with bumps, upsells, affiliates, and courses.

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How Squarespace and ThriveCart compare

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.

ThriveCart is a cart that pays for itself once. A one-time price buys high-converting checkout pages, order bumps, one-click upsells, subscriptions, coupons, affiliate management, and a course platform through ThriveCart Learn. Digital sellers who hate monthly fees and love conversion rates have made it a cult favorite.

Where they are different

Squarespace

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

ThriveCart

ThriveCart is the cart, not the site.
ThriveCart hands buyers to your email tool.
ThriveCart has no inbox or bookings.

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

Choose ThriveCart when checkout conversion, bumps, and affiliates matter and you want to pay once.

Compare features

What's on Squarespace and ThriveCart

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

Site and brand

Workspace site
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Not included
Custom domain
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Included
Theme and fonts
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Included
Brand kit
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Not included

Public content

Blog
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Not included
Shop pages
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Not included

Audience and email

Audience
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Included
Marketing emails
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Not included
Campaign workflows
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Not included

Commerce

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

Team

Admin users
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Included
AI Assistant
Squarespace: Included
ThriveCart: Included

Feature comparison for Squarespace and ThriveCart
Feature	Squarespace	ThriveCart
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Not included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Brand kit	Included	Not included
Public content
Blog	Included	Not included
Shop pages	Included	Not included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Marketing emails	Included	Not included
Campaign workflows	Included	Not included
Commerce
Shop payments	Included	Included
Orders and fulfillment	Included	Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.	Included	Not included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Included	Included

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