---
"@type": WebPage
"@id": "https://helloloam.dev/switch/from-squarespace"
"@source": "https://helloloam.dev/data/webpage/from-squarespace.json"
"@stamp": "2026-11-04T07:50:47+00:00"
about:  # 4
  - "@type": DefinedTerm
    "@id": "https://helloloam.dev/data/definedterm/no-dashboards.json"
    name: No dashboards to learn
    identifier: no-dashboards
    inDefinedTermSet:
      "@type": DefinedTermSet
      "@id": "https://helloloam.dev/data/definedtermset/gives-you.json"
      name: Gives you
      identifier: gives-you
  - "@type": DefinedTerm
    "@id": "https://helloloam.dev/data/definedterm/mcp-with-a-trust-model.json"
    name: MCP with a trust model
    identifier: mcp-with-a-trust-model
    inDefinedTermSet:
      "@type": DefinedTermSet
      "@id": "https://helloloam.dev/data/definedtermset/gives-any-site.json"
      name: Gives any site
      identifier: gives-any-site
  - "@type": DefinedTerm
    "@id": "https://helloloam.dev/data/definedterm/portable-by-design.json"
    name: Portable by design
    identifier: portable-by-design
    inDefinedTermSet:
      "@type": DefinedTermSet
      "@id": "https://helloloam.dev/data/definedtermset/basics.json"
      name: Basics
      identifier: basics
  - "@type": DefinedTerm
    "@id": "https://helloloam.dev/data/definedterm/creative-freedom.json"
    name: Creative freedom
    identifier: creative-freedom
    inDefinedTermSet:
      "@type": DefinedTermSet
      "@id": "https://helloloam.dev/data/definedtermset/gives-you.json"
      name: Gives you
      identifier: gives-you
description: Your pages, your images and your addresses move with you — to a site that is yours, on any server. What stays behind is the editor, the template and the platform.
headline: From Squarespace to loam
identifier: from-squarespace
inLanguage: en
name: From Squarespace
url: "https://helloloam.dev/switch/from-squarespace"
---

# From Squarespace

[English](https://helloloam.dev/data/webpage/from-squarespace.md) • [Nederlands](https://helloloam.dev/nl/data/webpage/from-squarespace.md)

## The three questions

What people who run a website really want to know comes down to three questions: what does it cost, do I have to understand it, and do I know where I stand? Most systems answer two. Squarespace answers the second and the third well — and the first is where it starts to pinch.

|  | Squarespace | loam |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **What does it cost?** | A subscription, plus extensions for what it does not do — and when you outgrow it, only your blog and products come out; the rest is built again. | On loam you pay for the design once, up front — made by hand, so not the cheapest start. After that: one licence per site for updates, and the subscription of your own agent. No theme or plugin licences, no bill because an update got stuck. |
| **Do I have to understand it?** | Little to understand: beautiful templates, hosting and security taken care of. That is its strength. | Nothing to understand: you say what you want, your agent knows how your site works, and you see the whole site as it would be before you say yes. |
| **Do I know where I stand?** | Predictable within the template; at its edges you meet what the editor cannot place, and a site that cannot move as it is. | You know where you stand: no plugin can hold an update back, the engine follows the PHP versions PHP itself supports, security fixes are free for five years per line — and without a licence your site simply keeps running. |

## Built around the agent, not added to it

Squarespace has no official connection for an agent yet; what exists are connectors made by others, reaching in from outside. A Squarespace site is built to be managed in its editor — an agent there is a guest.

loam was built the other way round. [The agent is the front door](/principles/mcp-with-a-trust-model), and there is [no editor behind it](/principles/no-dashboards). Everything your site is goes through that one door — the words, the design, the images and the guide that says how your site speaks — and every change is [a draft first](/principles/draft-and-live-lifecycle), checked against the whole site before it goes live.

## Your own site, not a place on a platform

A Squarespace site lives on Squarespace: it cannot move to another host as it is. What you can take out is your blog as an XML file and your products as a list; the other pages and the design stay behind. A loam site is its own: its own connection, with its own address and keys for your agent — no central service holding the accounts of many sites. It runs on any server that runs PHP, and [leaving is copying a folder](/principles/portable-by-design).

## You are the maker

On Squarespace, what the platform does not do comes from extensions — each living as long as its maker keeps it up. A licence that runs out, a maker who stops, a price that goes up — and a part of your site that stops with it. On loam there is no store to depend on. What an app would do lives in your own design, made for your site, under your own control — nothing that stops when someone else stops.

## Freedom in what you make

Squarespace gives you beautiful templates and an editor to place blocks in — within what the template and its editor allow. On loam the design is [plain templates and a stylesheet](/principles/creative-freedom), made by hand for your site alone — and your agent works within it, in your style.

## What moves with you

- **Your content.** Every page moves over, not only the blog — your agent reads the live Squarespace site and stages each page as a draft, so you see the whole new site before anything changes.
- **Your addresses.** Each old address is kept on its new page and forwards to it by itself — search engines follow, and so do your old links.
- **Your words.** Titles and descriptions come along, and are a good moment to read again.

What stays behind: the editor, the extensions — what they did lands in your design, or turns out not to be needed — and the template. The design is made again, by hand: [part of the route](/get-loam), and the moment your site gets a form of its own.

## Side by side

As of November 2026.

|  | loam | Squarespace |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Your agent** | The front door, built in | No official connection; connectors by others |
| **What it can reach** | The whole site: words, design, images and the guide | What a connector exposes |
| **Draft first** | Every change, the design too | In the editor, until you save and publish |
| **Where the connection lives** | On your site itself, its own address and keys | At Squarespace, through your account |
| **Knows your house style** | Yes — the site's guide travels with it | No |
| **Editor** | None — your agent is the interface | The Squarespace editor |
| **Extras** | In your own design, made by you | Extensions, each from its maker |
| **Where it runs** | Any server that runs PHP | Only on Squarespace |
| **Leaving** | Copy the folder | Blog as XML, products as a list; pages and design rebuilt |

## What it costs

Moving is a project, not a click: the design is made again, and the content needs a careful read. Squarespace stays the better choice when you want a ready template and hosting, commerce and email in one subscription, and to change the design yourself in its editor. For a site that has to tell, be found and stay yours, loam asks less of you every day after.