Mérida is one of Squarespace's own free 7.1 templates, and it is a blog template first: the demo is set up as an online fashion magazine, with the blog as the homepage, an About page and a Contact page. The homepage leads with a featured posts strip, then a summary block of recent articles, a newsletter sign-up and a footer with social links. If you were expecting a product-led fashion store, this is not that; it is a clean, editorial starting point for publishing.
What it includes
Three pages in the demo: Blog (set as the homepage), About and Contact. The blog layout is built on Fluid Engine with a bold black header section, large post titles, dates and excerpts, and a "Read more" link on each card. The About page is a single column of text with a founding line and a couple of paragraphs, and Contact is a short form-ready page with email, phone and address placeholders. Section themes switch between white and black, which gives the template its magazine contrast. As a Squarespace template it costs nothing beyond your Squarespace plan and comes with all the platform's built-in blogging, newsletter and analytics tools.
Who it suits
Fashion, beauty and lifestyle writers, small online magazines, personal style blogs and anyone who wants an editorial site where the writing is the product. It also works as a starting point for a brand journal that will sit alongside a separate shop.
Trade-offs
The demo has no shop, portfolio or services pages, so a fashion label selling products would add store pages themselves and restyle them to match. Because every 7.1 template shares the same engine, the design is really a set of styles and three pages; expect to build out the rest. The demo copy is placeholder text, and the layout leans on strong photography, so weak images will show.
How it installs
Choose Mérida when starting a new Squarespace trial, or preview it from the Squarespace templates page. Squarespace creates the site with the demo pages in place, and you replace the posts, images and text in the editor. Existing 7.1 sites cannot switch template, but you can copy the look by matching the section themes and fonts.
Related guide: Best free Squarespace templates in 2026 and How to choose the right Squarespace template.
Pages included
- Blog
- About
- Contact
Specifications
Fashion and beauty bloggers
Online magazines
Lifestyle writers
Photographers who write
Featured posts strip
Summary block
Newsletter block
Social links footer
Fluid engine sections
About
Contact
Modern
Beauty
Ecommerce
Starting a personal style blog
Publishing a brand journal alongside a separate shop
Building a writing-led site on a free template
Guides that go with Mérida
Every template has limits. These are the guides we'd reach for next.
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