Cargo vs Squarespace, for an art or design portfolio

Unlimited sites, one included domain

This is the structural difference and it decides most cases. Cargo is one flat subscription that publishes as many public sites as you like on cargo.site addresses, with one custom domain connection included and each further domain at $2 a month billed yearly. Squarespace is one subscription per site.

So a designer with a portfolio, two client presentations and a side project pays Cargo $14 a month plus domains, and Squarespace four separate subscriptions. Read the qualifier carefully though — unlimited applies to cargo.site addresses. Four sites on four of your own domains is $14 plus three lots of $2, which is still the cheaper answer, but it is not free.

One documents itself and one does not

Squarespace publishes a great deal of detail: storage, contributors, transaction fees by tier, exactly what its export contains and does not. That is how we can be specific about its limits — the .xml export excluding custom code, style settings and store pages, the two-layout responsive model, the five animation presets.

Cargo’s rates page covers price, sites, domains and commerce, and then stops. Storage, SEO controls, the responsive model, animation, support and export are simply not stated anywhere we could read. That is not evidence that they are bad; it is evidence that you should ask before you commit a photography portfolio to it, and it is why this page has fewer Cargo claims than you might expect.

Selling, and who takes a cut

Cargo’s commerce is an add-on at $5.50 a month billed yearly, free to try privately for any length of time, and Cargo states it charges no per-transaction fees. Squarespace includes commerce on every plan and charges a 2% store transaction fee on Basic, dropping to 0% from Core up — which is the tier whose dollar price is not published on a US-facing page.

For an artist selling a handful of prints a month, Cargo’s flat add-on is the simpler and usually the cheaper structure. For a real shop with inventory, subscriptions and courses, Squarespace is a different order of product.

Neither of them takes the design with you

Squarespace exports a single .xml aimed at WordPress, which explicitly excludes custom CSS and code, style settings, portfolio pages, index pages, cover pages, album pages and store pages, and which Squarespace states cannot be imported into another Squarespace site. Cargo’s rates page documents no export at all.

So on the question of leaving, one option gives you a partial content file and the other says nothing. If the ability to take the site elsewhere matters, neither of these is the platform for it, and that is worth knowing before rather than after.

Is Squarespace free?

No. There is no free plan at all — every Squarespace site starts on a 14-day trial with no card required, and after that you pay. Cargo does not document a free tier either; only its commerce add-on is described as free to try privately. Neither of these is a platform you can publish on for nothing.

How much does Squarespace cost?

Basic is $19 a month billed annually, which is the only figure confirmed in dollars from a Squarespace US-facing page. The higher tiers — Core, Plus and Advanced — run EUR 18 to 69 a month on the EU price sheet, and we have deliberately not converted those, because Squarespace serves its pricing page by region and a converted number is a made-up number. Cargo is $14 a month billed yearly or $19 monthly, flat.

How much does Cargo cost?

$14 a month billed yearly, or $19 billed monthly, as one flat subscription. That covers unlimited public sites on cargo.site addresses and one custom domain connection. Each additional custom domain is $2 a month billed yearly or $3 monthly, and the commerce add-on is $5.50 a month billed yearly or $9 monthly.

Is Cargo free?

Not as far as its rates page states. There is no free plan and no trial documented for the main subscription. The only thing described as free to try is the commerce add-on, which Cargo says can be tested privately for any length of time before you start receiving payments.

Which is better for an art portfolio?

Cargo, more often than not, and it is the one that says out loud that this is who it is for. Its templates are portfolios, presentations and shops for creative work, and the unlimited-sites model fits the way artists and studios actually accumulate projects. Squarespace becomes the better answer the moment the portfolio has a business behind it — a blog you publish to, a shop with inventory, courses, or client bookings.

Can you export a site from either one?

Barely, and not usefully. Squarespace gives you a single .xml file aimed at WordPress, which leaves out custom code, style settings, portfolio pages, index pages, cover pages, album pages and store pages, and which Squarespace says cannot be imported into another Squarespace site. Cargo documents no export at all on its rates page. If getting your site out again is a requirement, ask both companies directly before you build on either.

Both products above expect you to design inside them, from their templates. If the portfolio already exists as a Figma file — laid out, approved, and nothing like a template — Siter.io imports the frame and publishes it from $7/mo billed yearly, priced per plan: Plus at $12 a month publishes 3 sites and Pro at $24 publishes 5.

The gaps, plainly. No CMS or blog, where Squarespace has a good one. No e-commerce at all, where both products above sell things — it is listed as upcoming, with no date. Three fixed breakpoints. The free plan builds and previews privately; publishing needs a paid plan. And Cargo’s unlimited-sites model beats our per-plan site counts outright if you publish a lot of small things. If the portfolio needs a shop or a journal, pick one of the two above, and our Squarespace comparison goes through that trade in detail.