Format
Depends
Confidence: Medium
A niche portfolio builder that photographers rate well for ease of use, but Reddit warns renewal pricing gets 'wildly expensive' after year one.
New check
Comparison
Format vs Squarespace
Format and Squarespace both land on Depends.
Squarespace
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're a creative, photographer, or small business wanting a polished no-code site.
| Compare | Format | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Photographers and visual artists | Photographers and creative portfolios |
| Who it's not for | Small businesses needing a general website . Squarespace or Wix fit better | Anyone needing deep customization or plugins . use WordPress |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.12 | Mature platform with strong infrastructure, but 2024 domain hijacks exposed weak security defaults during domain migration. |
| Support quality | No usable support data in sources | Insufficient evidence in sources reviewed |
| Public sentiment | Users find Format easy to use for photography portfolios, but renewal pricing is the recurring complaint.⁵ | Users love the design and ease for portfolios and small business sites, but increasingly complain about price hikes, design limitations, and backend issues.13 |
| Biggest gotcha | Year-two renewal pricing is the loudest Reddit complaint; calculate multi-year total cost before buying.⁴ | Repeated price hikes reported up to 48%; users pay more without new features. |
Pick Format when
- Photographers and visual artists
- Portfolio sites with client galleries
- Creatives selling work online
When Format is not a fit
- Small businesses needing a general website . Squarespace or Wix fit better
- Buyers sensitive to renewal prices; Reddit warns year two stings
- Teams requiring vendor security documentation . Format's security page 404'd
- Anyone wanting a broad plugin ecosystem like WordPress
Pick Squarespace when
- Photographers and creative portfolios
- Small businesses wanting a polished site, no code
- Freelancers building client sites
When Squarespace is not a fit
- Anyone needing deep customization or plugins . use WordPress
- Price-sensitive buyers; hikes keep coming
- Teams building custom web apps
- Enterprises needing full infrastructure control
Sources
review
- Read Customer Service Reviews of format.com . Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
review
- Format Reviews, Pros and Cons . SoftwareAdvicesoftwareadvice.comreview
- Format.com Review . SLR Loungeslrlounge.comreview
- Format vs Squarespace in 2026 . Cybernewswebsite-builders.cybernews.comnews
news
news
review
- Plans & Pricing . Formatformat.comofficial
- Product security page . Formatformat.comofficial
- Squarespace Reviews | Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
- Squarespace Review 2026: Honest 5-Year Testwebsite-builders.cybernews.comreview
- Squarespace Review - Tooltestertooltester.comreview
- Squarespace Reviews | G2g2.comreview