Here’s the short version.

1. Squarespace plugins out there are expensive as hell.

2. Those plugins also usually don’t allow refunds and don’t let you try the plugin before you buy.

3. We give our plugins for free, and in exchange the plugin has a small piece of branding to help spread the word about Squarify.

For most of you, that will probably be enough, but if not, don’t worry, I wrote the rest of this to satisfy the rest of you weirdos.

You’re probably here because “Premium Squarespace Plugins for Free” seems like too good of a deal to be true! I must say, I agree. It does seem too good to be true, but let me explain.

As a developer with more than 8 years of experience, working at companies like American Express, and Facebook/Meta, I have a love-hate relationship with Squarespace.

I love its simple but beautiful designs.

I love how easy it is to setup and edit a new website.

I love how affordable it is (take notes, Shopify!).

But…

I hate that there’s no official plugin store like Shopify or Wordpress.

This means if you want to customize your site, you HAVE to know how to code. For small changes, this isn’t too bad. A Youtube video or a blog post will work just fine.

But big changes? Like you want to have your Add to Cart slide out? Good luck. You’ll have to learn to code.

But John, aren’t there places to buy Squarespace plugins?

Yes! Perfect segway into my next point. If you don’t have several months to learn how to code, then there are also plugin marketplaces like GhostPlugins, SQSPThemes or SquareWebsites.

And while I’ve been a customer of these marketplaces myself, there’s a few things I don’t really like about them. Here’s the 2 biggest ones:

1. Extremely expensive when buying for unlimited sites or commercial use.

2. Usually no refunds. Even if the plugin doesn’t work on your site for some reason.

It’s true. Many plugins can cost more than $100 when buying for commercial use! And I bet you know how Squarespace sometimes just doesn’t play nicely with custom code?

Well, too bad if they already said No Refunds in fine print when you checked out.

So finally, why Squarify is free.

I think we can do better! Because of my frustration with the existing plugin marketplaces, I made Squarify, which is a collection of high-quality Squarespace plugins I’ve created for myself and my friends and family over time. These are plugins that have been test-driven extensively and made to be stable.

So again, why free?

Gary Vee has a quote: “If you want to be an anomaly, you need to start acting like one.”

I could price Squarify’s plugins the same way as the other marketplaces, but then I would be just like them. I would be forgetting that the most important people in any business isn’t the competition, it’s the customer.

And that’s why Squarify is free.

I thought to myself what you, the customer would want the most, and it doesn’t get any better than free. So that’s when I decided all of Squarify’s plugins would be free. Yep, free. (😂 sorry I had to do it)

How will I make money?

So how am I going to keep Squarify running if all the plugins are free?

Simple! All of our plugins have a small branding that says “Powered by Squarify.xyz”. The only time you would need to pay is if you want to buy the plugin without this branding!

This gives 2 benefits:

• You get to test drive any plugin and make sure it works before paying for it!

• If you are fine with the branding, you get to enjoy the plugin completely free!

The future

I know what kind of environment Squarify is entering into. GhostPlugins and SquareWebsites are successful businesses that have been around far longer than I have. It’s just plain reality that 90% of new businesses don’t succeed, and I have to accept that Squarify may be dealt the same fate!

Of course, my dream is for Squarify to succeed and millions of Squarespace businesses to use my plugins, but even if I fail, my hope is that Squarify will inspire other plugin marketplaces through healthy competition to be more customer-friendly.

As more people use Squarify, the other plugin marketplaces will have to reconsider if their pricing strategy is really the best one for their customers too.

And that’s it! I hope that helped you understand the answer to Why Free? It was a long read, so thank you for being patient, and I hope you’ll find Squarify helpful!

Have a great day,

John