Lanternbee vs Squarespace

Lanternbee as a Squarespace alternative

A website builder with a store built in. Its prices and features sit next to Lanternbee’s below, including where Squarespace does better.

Not open yet. We’re letting authors in from the waitlist, a few at a time.

What Squarespace is

Squarespace builds good-looking websites from templates, with a blog, booking and a store. Authors often have their author site there and add a few books to sell.

Who it suits

Authors who already have a Squarespace site and want to sell a handful of books from it, or who care most about the website’s design.

What Squarespace costs

US prices, checked against the sources at the bottom of this page.

Plan	Price	Fee on sales
Basic	US$25 a month, or US$19 a month paid yearly	2% on store sales, ebook downloads included; 7% on courses and member areas
Core	US$39 a month, or US$29 a month paid yearly	None on store sales, ebook downloads included; 5% on courses and member areas

Squarespace and Lanternbee side by side

Squarespace and Lanternbee, feature by feature
What you need	Squarespace	Lanternbee
One book in several formats	PartlyVariants of one product.	Yes. Ebook, audiobook, paperback and hardback live on one book page.
Series with a reading order	PartlyCategories in your own order; no series.	Yes, with the reading order you set.
Bundles and box sets	Not listed	Yes. Readers who own book one pay less for the rest.
Ebook and audiobook delivery	YesA download link after purchase.	Yes. Download links by email, and a reader library.
Send to Kindle	Not listed	Yes, from the reader library.
Print on demand for books	NoIts print extensions make merchandise, not books.	Partly. Printed formats are set up for BookVault or Lulu; sending orders to the printer is being built.
Your reader list	PartlyEmail campaigns are a paid add-on.	Yes. Every buyer lands on your reader list, with tags.
Your own domain	Yes	Yes. yourname.lanternbee.shop or shop.yourname.com.
Monthly cost	Basic: US$25 a month, or US$19 a month paid yearlyCore: US$39 a month, or US$29 a month paid yearly	Free: nothing a month. Author: US$39 a month, or US$29 paid yearly.
Fee on sales	Basic: 2% on store sales, ebook downloads included; 7% on courses and member areasCore: None on store sales, ebook downloads included; 5% on courses and member areas	None, on every plan.

Squarespace prices in US dollars. “Not listed” means we could not find it on Squarespace’s own pages or in the sources below, so check with them. Rows we could not check at all are left out. Card fees apply everywhere; on Lanternbee they are Stripe’s, with nothing added.

What Squarespace does better

Fair reasons to stay where you are.

Website design. Templates, a blog, galleries and pages for events all sit in one place.
Your author site and your store under one login, if you sell only a few books.
Booking and scheduling tools, if you offer coaching or editing.

Moving from Squarespace

There’s no importer for Squarespace. Moving by hand takes these steps.

Keep your Squarespace author site. Add your books on Lanternbee and link to them from your site.
Or use a store address like shop.yourname.com for Lanternbee, so your site and store share your name.
Download your Squarespace customers if you need them and keep them in your email tool. Lanternbee cannot import that list yet.
Add redirects on Lanternbee if you move book links that used to live on your old store pages.

Questions about Squarespace and Lanternbee

Can I keep my Squarespace website and sell books on Lanternbee?

Yes. Many authors will. Keep the website on Squarespace and point a store address such as shop.yourname.com at Lanternbee. Your book buttons link to the store.

What does Squarespace charge on ebook sales?

Squarespace counts an ebook download as a store sale. It takes 2% of each sale on Basic and nothing on Core, plus card fees. Its higher 7% and 5% fees are for courses and member areas. Lanternbee takes no fee on any plan, only Stripe’s card fees.

Does Squarespace do print on demand for books?

Not that we could find. Lanternbee sets up print editions for BookVault or Lulu, and sending each order to the printer is being built now.