Learning the editor
The editor can do a lot, which also means a lot of settings. Getting a section to sit the way you pictured often means an evening of tutorials and trial and error.
UpTopWeb vs Squarespace
A Squarespace alternative for therapists, built for you.
Squarespace gives you the tools. UpTopWeb gives you the finished website: designed, written around your practice, built and kept up to date for you, for £0 upfront and £19.99 a month. Here's an honest comparison of doing it yourself and having it done.
No design fees. No build costs. Cancel anytime.
5-star reviews across Trustpilot and Google
£0 upfront design & build£19.99/month, 10-day free trialSEO & AI search includedNo contract, cancel anytime
Comparing providers
Is a Squarespace site worth the evenings?
Squarespace is one of the best website builders around, and plenty of counsellors build good sites with it. The real question isn't which platform is better. It's whether building and running a website is how you want to spend the time you'd otherwise give to clients.
Where Squarespace is strong
- Polished, well-designed templates and a flexible drag-and-drop editor
- You can change anything yourself, any time, and see it live straight away
- 24/7 customer support, SEO tools and a 14-day free trial with no card needed
- Lower monthly plan prices than ours, if you're happy to do the work
What therapists usually weigh up
The hours it takes
Picking a template takes minutes. Writing every page, choosing photos and fine-tuning fonts, spacing and the mobile layout can stretch over weeks of spare evenings.
Writing for therapy clients
A template doesn't know what a nervous first-time client needs to read. Fees, how sessions work and your registration all need thought, not just filling in.
Privacy and cookies
Squarespace gives you cookie controls, but you have to set them up correctly and write your own privacy wording, including telling people not to send clinical detail.
Being found
SEO tools are included, but you're the one filling them in. Page titles, descriptions and structure make a real difference to Google and AI search.
What it costs over time
The headline price is an annual rate, and some extras are only free for the first year. It's worth working out what you'll pay in year two, not just month one.
UpTopWeb vs Squarespace
Doing it yourself vs having it done.
The Squarespace column is taken from Squarespace's own UK pricing page and help centre. We've compared their Basic plan, the cheapest plan that covers what most practice websites need. Where they're ahead, we say so.
| Feature | SquarespaceBasic plan (build it yourself) | UpTopWeb |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the site | You do, starting from one of their templates. Or you pay an independent Squarespace Expert, priced per project | We do: a custom design around your practice, with a first draft usually in 24–48 hours |
| Upfront cost | None for the platform itself. A Squarespace Expert, if you hire one, quotes separately | £0. Design and build are included |
| Monthly fee | Squarespace strength£16/month paid monthly, or £12/month paid annually (Basic plan) | £19.99/month, or £191.90/year (£15.99/month) |
| Free trial | Squarespace strength14 days, no card needed | 10 days, with your site designed during the trial |
| Writing your pages | Up to you. Templates come with placeholder text to replace | Pages written and structured around how clients choose a therapist, using your brief |
| Content changes | Make them yourself in the editor, whenever you like. They go live instantly | Unlimited minor updates, made for you. Major changes, like new pages, are quoted first |
| Search and AI search | SEO tools included, set up by you | Foundational SEO and AI search optimisation done for you at launch. Local SEO is a paid add-on |
| Cookies and privacy | Built-in cookie banner and controls to restrict non-essential cookies, which you configure | Cookie banner, privacy policy and cookie policy set up for you, with enquiry forms that don't ask for clinical detail |
| Domain name | One year's registration free on annual plans, then renewed at their price | Yours. For new customers we cover .co.uk registration and renewal while you subscribe |
| Professional email | Not on Basic. Core (£17/month annually) and above include one Google Workspace account, free for the first year | A paid extra, agreed upfront |
| Online booking | Acuity Scheduling, a separate subscription from the website plan | Not in the standard plan. Booking and payment features are a paid extra |
| Support | 24/7 customer support to help you use the platform. You still make the changes | A UK-based team who make the changes for you, included in the monthly fee |
| Contract and leaving | Cancel any time, effective at the end of the billing cycle. Export covers some page types for WordPress; styles and custom CSS don't export | No contract. Your domain and content are yours. The code stays with us unless you agree a one-off transfer |
Squarespace also has Core (£17/month annually, £24 monthly), Plus and Advanced plans, which add features like email and lower transaction fees. Most practice websites don't need the selling features of the higher plans. Prices are as shown on Squarespace's UK pricing page.
Squarespace details were checked on 23 September 2026 from Squarespace: pricing (opens in a new tab), Squarespace: Hire an Expert (opens in a new tab), Squarespace: Acuity Scheduling (opens in a new tab) and Squarespace help: exporting your site (opens in a new tab). Prices and terms change, so check Squarespace's website before you decide. UpTopWeb is not affiliated with Squarespace.
Costs over time
The price on the pricing page isn't always the price you pay.
A website builder's headline price is where the bill starts. These are the things that usually push a Squarespace bill up over time, all taken from Squarespace's own UK pricing page.
Paying monthly
The £12 headline is the Basic plan paid a year upfront. Pay month by month and it's £16, a third more.
Free for the first year
Domain registration on annual plans, and the Google Workspace email account on Core and above, are free for the first year. After that you pay for them.
Upgrading for features
Professional email and advanced analytics start on the Core plan, which is £17 a month paid annually or £24 paid monthly.
Separate subscriptions
Online booking through Acuity Scheduling is its own subscription, paid on top of your website plan.
One counsellor who moved to UpTopWeb from Squarespace was paying £24.99 a month. She now pays £19.99 a month, £60 less a year, for a site we designed and built for her and keep up to date.
Whichever provider you choose, check what you'll pay at renewal and after any first-year offers end, not just the starting price.
Why choose UpTopWeb
Your practice, not another project.
Squarespace hands you a well-made toolkit. We hand you the finished site, then keep it current, so your time goes to clients rather than to the website.
- Designed for you, not by youA custom design built around your practice, photos and colours, to the standard you'd expect from a good template, with none of the hours in the editor.
- A first draft in 24–48 hoursSend us your brief and a first draft is usually ready within two days. Compare that with weeks of evenings spent building it yourself.
- A UK-based teamReal people working UK hours, who understand UK private practice, from how registration is shown to UK GDPR.
- Changes made for youNew fees, new availability, a new qualification: tell us and we update it. Unlimited minor edits are included, with no editor to learn.
- One simple monthly fee£0 upfront, then £19.99 a month or £191.90 a year for design, hosting, security, search setup and support.
What you get
Everything in one £19.99 a month.
Free design and build, then one simple monthly fee. Here is what it covers.
Design & build
A tailored five-page website built around your practice, photography and colours. Not a template with your name swapped in.
Hosting & security
Managed hosting, SSL and technical maintenance, so the site stays fast, secure and online without you thinking about it.
Your domain
Your address stays yours. New customers get a .co.uk registered through us, with registration and renewal reimbursed while you subscribe.
SEO foundations
Clean structure, fast pages, headings and metadata, written around what people actually search for when looking for a therapist.
AI search optimisation
Structured so ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews can understand your practice and describe it accurately.
Maintenance & content changes
Unlimited minor updates such as text, images, prices and contact details, plus the ongoing technical upkeep.
Support
A real person to ask when something needs changing or you're not sure how to do something, included in the monthly fee.
Privacy essentials
A GDPR-compliant cookie banner, privacy policy and cookie policy, plus enquiry forms that don't collect clinical details.
Available as paid extras
Professional email
An email address on your own domain, so your enquiries don't come from a free webmail account. Priced and agreed before we start.
Local SEO & Google Business Profile
So someone searching "counsellor near me" finds your profile and your site working together.
Extra pages & advanced SEO
Dedicated service or location pages, ongoing optimisation and content for practices ready to grow their enquiries.
Who UpTopWeb is for
Is UpTopWeb the right fit?
We would rather you pick the provider that suits your practice than the one with the best sales page.
A good fit if…
- You want a custom website designed around your own practice, not picked from a template library
- You're starting a private practice, or improving an existing one, and want a professional site
- You'd like a website without a large upfront cost while your practice grows
- You want someone else to design and build it, and to keep handling changes afterwards
- You care about being found on Google and in AI search
- You want to be able to cancel without a contract if your plans change
Maybe not the best fit if…
- You enjoy designing and tinkering, and want to be able to change your site yourself the moment you think of something. Squarespace is great for that
- Your priority is the lowest possible monthly cost, and you have the time to build and maintain the site yourself
- You want to sell courses, memberships or products online. Squarespace's higher plans are built for selling
Real UpTopWeb examples
What a switch looks like.
Two real UpTopWeb redesigns, followed by two demonstration sites showing the range of styles we build.
Before
After
Andrews Counselling: a real portrait, credentials in the first two lines, location and availability on the first screen, and a GDPR-compliant cookie banner.
Already have a website?
A redesign, not a rebuild from nothing.
Keep your domain and the content that already works. We rebuild the design, structure and first impression around it — here's a second real UpTopWeb redesign.
Before
After
A generic template with stock imagery, replaced with a real homepage built around this practice — a clear introduction and a clear call to action.
Demonstration sites
These are fictional demonstrations, built around UK private-practice best practice and stock photography.
01Sage, cream & deep forest
Stillwater Counselling
Warm, unhurried counselling for adults living with anxiety, grief or a season of change.
View the full demo04Plum, periwinkle & soft lime
Open Frame Counselling
LGBTQ+ affirming and neurodiversity-aware counselling shaped around your communication and access needs.
View the full demoHow it works
From sign-up to live site.
Six steps, and you don't need any technical knowledge for any of them.
- 01
Sign up
Tell us about your practice in a short form, then start your 10-day free trial. Nothing is charged until it ends.
- 02
Send your details
Complete a short design brief covering your audience, preferred pages, photos and colours. Never include client details.
- 03
We design and build
A first draft is usually ready within 24–48 hours of your brief.
- 04
Review and refine
Tell us what to change and we keep tweaking until you're happy. Your trial gives you time to check everything properly.
- 05
Launch
Your site goes live on your own domain, with hosting, security and search foundations already in place.
- 06
Ongoing support
We look after hosting and maintenance, and make your content updates, for one monthly fee.
FAQ
Common questions about moving from Squarespace
Is UpTopWeb cheaper than Squarespace?
On the subscription alone, no. Squarespace's Basic plan is £16 a month, or £12 a month paid annually, against our £19.99 a month or £191.90 a year. The difference is what the fee pays for. With Squarespace you're paying for the tools and doing the design, writing, setup and updates yourself, or paying an Expert to. With us, the design, build, search setup and ongoing edits are part of the fee. Once plan upgrades and first-year extras are counted, the gap can also close or reverse: one counsellor who switched to us from Squarespace went from £24.99 to £19.99 a month.
Can you move my Squarespace site to UpTopWeb?
Yes. Squarespace's own export only covers some content, and none of the design, so we rebuild your site from your live pages, photos and any new brief rather than importing it. Keep Squarespace running until the new site launches. If your domain is registered with Squarespace, we'll help you point or transfer it, and if you use a Google Workspace email through Squarespace, plan how you'll keep it before you cancel.
Can I still edit the site myself?
The UpTopWeb model is that we make the changes for you. You tell us what to update, whether that's fees, availability, a new qualification or a new photo, and we do it, with unlimited minor updates included. If being able to log in and edit things yourself at any hour matters more to you, a builder like Squarespace may suit you better.
Why not just hire a Squarespace Expert?
That works well for plenty of people. Squarespace Experts are independent designers who quote per project, and Squarespace notes it doesn't employ or endorse them. You agree the fee with the designer directly, and later changes are either done by you or agreed with them again. With UpTopWeb the build and ongoing changes are all covered by one monthly fee.
Is UpTopWeb affiliated with Squarespace?
No. UpTopWeb is a separate company with no connection to Squarespace. We wrote this page to help therapists decide between building a site themselves and having one built, using information from Squarespace's own website.
Do I own my website?
You own your domain, and your content and assets, meaning the words, photos and logos. The website itself, including its code and design components, is owned by UpTopWeb, and your subscription licenses you to use it while it continues. If you'd like to acquire the site outright, for example to move it to your own hosting, you can request a one-off transfer at any time, with a fee agreed individually.
Is SEO included?
Foundational SEO, meaning structure, page speed, headings and metadata, plus AI search optimisation, is built into every site from launch. Local SEO, Google Business Profile management and extra location pages are paid add-ons. We can't guarantee a particular search ranking, because that depends on factors beyond the website.
How do content changes work?
Unlimited minor updates are included, such as text changes, image swaps, price updates, contact details and adding or removing services on existing pages. Bigger jobs, like new pages or new functionality, are quoted before we start.
Is there a contract, or can I cancel any time?
There's no contract. You can cancel free during the 10-day trial, or any time afterwards to stop the next renewal.
What happens if I move away from UpTopWeb?
When you cancel, our hosting and support for your site ends and it comes down. Your domain, content and assets stay yours to take elsewhere. The site's code stays with UpTopWeb, unless you agree a one-off transfer with us.
10-day free trial
Get your therapist website started.
We design and build your website at no cost. Maintenance is just £19.99/month, with your first 10 days free and no contract.
Get your free websiteTakes about a minute