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Cargo vs Squarespace, for an art or design portfolio

Both will host your portfolio. One treats it as a body of work you keep adding sites to, the other as the front of a business that sells things.

Every figure read off both vendors’ own pages on

The short answer.

Pick Cargo if you are an artist or designer who keeps making sites and wants one subscription to cover them all. Pick Squarespace if the portfolio is the front of a business with a blog, a store or a booking calendar behind it.

  • Pick Cargo if

    The work is art or design. Cargo calls itself a site builder for designers and artists, and its templates are portfolios, presentations and shops for creative work.

    You keep making sites. One $14 a month subscription publishes unlimited public sites on cargo.site addresses, where Squarespace bills per site.

    You sell prints without a cut. The commerce add-on is $5.50 a month billed yearly, and Cargo states it takes no per-transaction fees.

    A presentation is also a site. Client presentations, idea boards and profile sites all count against the same unlimited allowance.

  • Pick Squarespace if

    The portfolio is also a business. Memberships, courses, invoicing, appointments and a full store sit in the same subscription.

    You want a blog you will use. A native blog with categories and tags, plus portfolio pages with project sub-pages, from the cheapest plan up.

    You want the spec before you buy. Squarespace spells out storage, contributors, transaction fees and export, where Cargo's rates page is short.

    Support at three in the morning. 24/7 human support, plus DDoS protection on the hosting.

Side by side.

Neither column is ours. Cargo’s rates page is short, so many of its cells say so rather than guess.

Feature Cargo Squarespace
Who it says it is for Designers and artists, in its own words: portfolios, presentations and shops for creative work Anyone running a content or commerce business, with portfolio pages as one template family among many
What it costs $14/mo billed yearly, $19 monthly. One flat subscription $19/mo billed annually on Basic. The EU sheet runs EUR 12 to 69 across Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced
Free plan or trial Not listed. Only the commerce add-on is described as free to try privately No free plan. Every site starts on a 14-day trial, no card required
Sites per subscription Unlimited public sites on cargo.site domains One site per subscription
Custom domains 1 free connection included. Each extra domain is $2/mo billed yearly, $3 monthly One custom domain, free for the first year on annual billing
Selling A commerce add-on at $5.50/mo billed yearly, $9 monthly. Cargo states it charges no per-transaction fees On every plan: products, subscriptions, memberships, courses and invoicing. 2% store transaction fee on Basic, 0% from Core up
Blog or CMS Not listed on the rates page A native blog with categories and tags, plus portfolio pages, from the cheapest plan up
Responsive control Not listed Two layouts, desktop and mobile. No tablet layout and no custom breakpoints
Figma import None. The design is rebuilt inside Cargo's editor None. A Figma design is rebuilt by hand inside the editor
Taking the design with you Not listed on the rates page A single .xml aimed at WordPress. Custom CSS and code, style settings, portfolio, index, cover, album and store pages are all excluded, and it cannot be imported into another Squarespace site
Animation Not listed Five site-wide presets with a slow, medium or fast speed control. No timeline, no scroll-scrub
Support Not listed on the rates page 24/7 human support
Hosting and SSL Included in the subscription Yes, included, with DDoS protection

Cargo and Squarespace details checked on 2026-09-04 against cargo.site, docs.cargo.site, www.squarespace.com, support.squarespace.com. Prices change; tell us if a cell is out of date.

What each one charges.

Cargo is one flat rate in dollars, with domains billed per domain. Squarespace prices by region, and only its entry price is confirmed in dollars from a US-facing page.

Cargo rates

  • Cargo Entry plan

    $14 per month billed yearly, $19 monthly

    One flat subscription. Design and publish unlimited public sites on cargo.site domains, with 1 free custom domain connection included.

  • Extra domains

    $2 per domain per month billed yearly, $3 monthly

    Each custom domain beyond the first is billed separately, so a second and third client site on their own domains is an add-on rather than a plan change.

  • Commerce

    $5.50 per month billed yearly, $9 monthly

    An add-on to receive payments. Cargo states it is free to try privately for any duration and that it charges no per-transaction fees.

Read off Cargo's rates page on 2026-09-04. Prices change; tell us if one is out of date.

Squarespace plans

  • Trial

    Free

    There is no free plan. Every site starts on a 14-day trial, no credit card required.

  • Basic Entry plan

    $19 per month billed annually

    Custom domain free for the first year on annual billing, up to 1,000 pages, blog and portfolio pages, 2 contributors, 30 minutes of video. No code injection, no JavaScript, 2% store transaction fee.

  • Core, Plus, Advanced

    EUR 18-69 per month billed annually, EU price sheet

    Adds code injection, unlimited contributors, a 0% store fee and more video storage. Squarespace serves its pricing page by region and states no USD figure for these tiers on a US-facing page, so the EU sheet is what we can verify.

Read off Squarespace's pricing page on 2026-09-03. Prices change; tell us if one is out of date.

What the money buys.

$14 against $19 a month is not the decision. How each one counts a “site” is.

Cargo covers every site you make

Cargo is one flat subscription for as many public sites as you like on cargo.site addresses, with one custom domain included and each further domain at $2 a month billed yearly. Squarespace is one subscription per site.

So a portfolio, two client presentations and a side project cost $14 a month plus domains on Cargo, and four subscriptions on Squarespace. Four sites on four of your own domains is $14 plus three lots of $2: still cheaper, but not free.

Squarespace tells you far more

Squarespace spells out storage, contributors, fees by tier and what its export leaves out, while Cargo’s rates page covers price, sites, domains and commerce, then stops. Ask about storage, SEO, the responsive model, support and export before you move a photography portfolio onto it.

Cargo is the simpler way to sell a few prints

Cargo’s commerce add-on is $5.50 a month billed yearly, free to try privately, with no per-transaction fees. Squarespace includes commerce on every plan and takes a 2% store transaction fee on Basic, dropping to 0% from Core up.

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

Frequently asked.

More answers in the Help Center
Is Squarespace free?

No. Every Squarespace site starts on a 14-day trial with no card required, then you pay, and Cargo lists no free tier for its subscription either.

How much does Squarespace cost?

Basic is $19 a month billed annually, the only tier confirmed in dollars from a US-facing Squarespace page. Core, Plus and Advanced run EUR 18 to 69 a month on the EU price sheet, which we do not convert because Squarespace prices by region.

How much does Cargo cost?

$14 a month billed yearly or $19 monthly, flat, for unlimited public sites on cargo.site addresses and one custom domain. Each extra domain is $2 a month billed yearly or $3 monthly, and commerce is $5.50 a month billed yearly or $9 monthly.

Is Cargo free?

No: its rates page lists no free plan and no trial for the main subscription. Only the commerce add-on can be tested privately, for any length of time, before you take payments.

Which is better for an art portfolio?

Cargo, more often than not: it is built for creative work, and unlimited sites fit how artists and studios collect projects. Squarespace wins once the portfolio has a business behind it, such as a blog, a shop, courses or client bookings.

Can you export a site from either one?

Not usefully. Squarespace gives you one .xml for WordPress that leaves out custom code, styles and most page types and cannot be imported into another Squarespace site, and Cargo’s rates page lists no export at all.

Where Siter.io fits.

We make Siter.io, so this is the one section about us.

Siter.io is a much smaller builder: you design on its own canvas, one layout per breakpoint, or import a portfolio you already laid out in Figma. It publishes free at name.getsiter.com or on your own domain from $7/mo billed yearly, priced per plan: Plus at $12 a month publishes 3 sites and Pro at $24 publishes 5.

It has gaps: no CMS or blog, no e-commerce (listed as upcoming, with no date), and each breakpoint’s layout is positioned by hand. The Free plan publishes one website of up to 3 pages with our badge, a custom domain needs a paid plan, and Cargo’s unlimited sites beat our per-plan counts if you publish many small things.

If the portfolio needs a shop or a journal, pick one of the two above. Our Squarespace comparison sets out that trade.

Also useful: the Readymag comparison and personal website examples.

A third option,
if neither fits.

If the portfolio already exists as a Figma file and there is no shop or blog attached, Siter.io imports the frame and publishes it.

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