Best Tools for Squarespace Designers (2026): Build Stronger Client Sites and Cleaner Handovers
The best tools for Squarespace designers are not always the most advanced or expensive. The most useful ones remove friction from the build and help you deliver a more capable, more professional website to your client. This guide comes from running a Squarespace Platinum Partner agency with more than 400 client builds.
A Squarespace designer does more than make a site look polished. You plan the structure, customise layouts, add functionality, prepare the site for search, and hand it over in a way the client can actually manage. A designer who focuses only on visuals can still be let down by limited layouts, weak SEO at launch, missing features, or a handover the client cannot maintain. The right tools close those gaps.
This guide focuses on practical tools, available through SquareLocator, that help you build stronger client sites and hand them over responsibly. Every tool featured here is one we would recommend on its own merits.
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Why Squarespace Designers Need a Practical Tool Stack
A Squarespace project can look simple from the outside. In reality, a designer often needs to customise a template without breaking its structure, add features the client asked for, prepare the site for search, make it accessible in more than one language where needed, cover privacy and cookie compliance, and set the site up so the client can find and manage their own content.
Without the right tools, much of that becomes manual and inconsistent. Layouts feel template-bound, SEO gets checked too late, compliance is forgotten, and the client is left with a site they cannot confidently run. A focused stack fixes that.
SquareKicker: Best for More Control Inside Squarespace
SquareKicker is one of the most relevant tools for designers because it directly extends what you can do inside a Squarespace build, no code required. When a client wants a more custom section, a stronger visual effect, better spacing, or a layout that feels less template-based, SquareKicker gives you that control while keeping the site on a platform the client can still manage.
The real value is not just visual flair, it is control with restraint. You can push a site further without rebuilding from scratch, as long as the effects support the message rather than overwhelm it. Read our full SquareKicker guide.
Best fit: designers building premium or custom-looking Squarespace sites that need more polish than default settings allow.
SEOSpace: Best for Stronger SEO at Handover
Many designers can build a beautiful site, but clients often expect it to be ready to rank. They ask about titles, descriptions, headings, alt text, and whether Google will understand the site. You do not need to become an SEO agency, but you should be able to launch responsibly. SEOSpace helps by running audits and giving Squarespace-specific recommendations, useful both before launch (to catch obvious issues) and after (to guide ongoing improvement). It makes your final delivery stronger: a site that is attractive and better prepared for search. Read our full SEOSpace guide.
Best fit: designers who want to improve SEO handover, launch checks, and client-site optimisation.
Elfsight: Best for Adding Client-Requested Features
Clients frequently ask for features Squarespace does not offer natively: Google reviews, an Instagram feed, a booking or enquiry form, an FAQ accordion, or a social feed. Elfsight is a library of ready-made widgets that add these in minutes, no code needed, which saves you custom development time and gives the client the functionality they wanted. It is one of the fastest ways to make a client site more capable without inflating the budget.
The caveat to manage: each widget adds a little page weight, so add the ones that matter and keep performance in mind.
Best fit: designers adding reviews, feeds, galleries, and forms to client sites without custom code.
MemberSpace: Best for Membership Sites and Client Portals
When a client wants to sell courses, run a paid community, gate a resource library, or offer a client-only area, MemberSpace lets you build that on Squarespace by locking any part of the site behind a login. For designers, it opens up a higher-value type of project: membership and course sites that keep the client’s audience on their own site rather than a third-party platform. Read our full MemberSpace guide.
Best fit: designers building membership sites, course platforms, communities, and client portals.
Weglot: Best for Multilingual Client Sites
If a client serves customers in more than one language, Weglot translates the site and, importantly, creates indexable translated pages so the content can appear in local search, not just switch languages on screen. For designers working with tourism, ecommerce, or international service businesses, it turns a single-language build into a genuinely global one, and it is a strong addition to a premium package. Read our full Weglot guide.
The honest note: review the key translated pages for tone and accuracy before handover.
Best fit: designers building sites for international, tourism, or multilingual businesses.
Termly: Best for Privacy and Cookie Compliance at Handover
Compliance is easy to overlook, but a responsible handover should include a privacy policy, terms, and a working cookie consent banner, especially for clients subject to GDPR and similar laws. Termly generates the policies and provides a cookie banner with scanning and script-blocking from one dashboard, with a free plan to get basic coverage live. Handing a client a compliant site, rather than leaving them to sort it out later, is a mark of a professional build.
For clients who want continuously auto-updating policies, Termageddon is a strong alternative worth knowing.
Best fit: designers who want to hand over compliant client sites rather than leaving privacy to chance.
Monocle Search: Best for Content-Heavy Client Sites
Squarespace’s native search is a common weak spot, and on content-heavy client sites (blogs, resource libraries, large catalogues, membership areas) it can frustrate visitors. Monocle Search replaces it with fast, typo-tolerant, customisable search, and it is uniquely able to search Member Site content, which pairs well with a MemberSpace build. Adding it is a small change that clients and their visitors notice immediately. Read our full Monocle guide.
Best fit: designers building blogs, resource-heavy sites, large stores, or membership sites.
How to Choose the Right Tool for Your Workflow
The safest way to choose is to start with the problem, not the feature list:
- If client sites feel too limited visually, start with SquareKicker.
- If clients expect SEO-ready websites, add SEOSpace to your launch process.
- If clients keep asking for extra features, Elfsight covers most of them without code.
- If a client needs memberships or a course, MemberSpace is the tool.
- If a client serves multiple languages, Weglot handles translation and international SEO.
- If a build needs to be compliant at handover, Termly covers policies and cookie consent.
- If a content-heavy site needs usable search, Monocle Search is the upgrade.
You do not need every tool at once. Add the one that solves your biggest current bottleneck, then build the rest of your stack gradually.
Turn Your Stack Into Better Client Packages
A tool becomes valuable when it changes how you deliver. Map each into your process: SquareKicker and Elfsight in the design and build phase, SEOSpace in the pre-launch SEO check, MemberSpace and Weglot where the project calls for them, Termly in the compliance and handover phase, and Monocle Search where search matters.
These tools also let you build stronger, higher-value packages. A premium website package could include SEO checks, added features, multilingual support, a compliant privacy setup, and improved search, all of which are easier to justify at a higher price because the client receives a more complete, more professional site.
For related reading, see the Ultimate Squarespace Toolkit (2026) for the wider stack, and the Squarespace SEO Guide (2026) to improve the search performance of the sites you build. You can also browse Squarespace plugins and the full Extensions range.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best tools for Squarespace designers?
It depends on your workflow. SquareKicker is useful for advanced design control, SEOSpace for SEO audits and handover, Elfsight for adding client-requested features, MemberSpace for membership sites, Weglot for multilingual builds, Termly for privacy and cookie compliance, and Monocle Search for content-heavy sites that need better search.
Do Squarespace designers need SquareKicker?
Not always. Designers who mostly build simple sites may not need it. SquareKicker is most useful when a client site needs stronger visual customisation, advanced section styling, or a more custom look, without writing code.
What tool helps with Squarespace SEO?
SEOSpace is one of the most relevant tools because it focuses on SEO audits and optimisation for Squarespace, which makes it ideal for checking a site before handover and guiding improvements afterward.
How can I add features a client wants without custom code?
Elfsight is a library of ready-made widgets (reviews, galleries, social feeds, forms, and more) that embed on a Squarespace site without code, covering most common client feature requests.
Can I build a membership or course site for a client on Squarespace?
Yes. MemberSpace adds paid memberships, gated content, and client portals to a Squarespace site, and it pairs well with Monocle Search so members can actually find the content.
Should designers handle privacy compliance for clients?
A responsible handover usually includes a privacy policy, terms, and a working cookie banner. Termly generates these with a compliant cookie consent tool, and Termageddon is a good alternative for continuously auto-updating policies.
This article contains affiliate links. If you subscribe through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. We only feature tools we would recommend on their own merits.
