Framer vs Squarespace
Framer is a European alternative to Squarespace: same use case, headquartered in Netherlands and governed by EU GDPR, while Squarespace is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Design and launch professional, custom websites with total creative freedom. Features powerful CMS, built-in SEO, live collaboration, and one-click publishing. No code.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- Yes
Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder covering templates, hosting, domains and commerce, aimed at people who would rather not assemble a stack themselves. It is subscription-only, with a trial rather than a free plan, and the design quality is the main draw. The company is headquartered in New York and listed on the NYSE.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Framer vs Squarespace at a glance
| Framer | Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Netherlands | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need this built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the Squarespace ecosystem |
Choose Framer if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You want to start free and scale up later
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with Squarespace if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Squarespace ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Framer
Framer is an Amsterdam-based no-code website builder that combines the design fidelity of a professional tool with AI-powered generation, a built-in CMS, and production-grade hosting, turning what once required a designer, developer, and CMS into a single workflow. Sites render with real animations, interactions, and scroll effects that match the design exactly.
AI components generate layouts, copy, and image sections from a text prompt, while a built-in CMS handles dynamic content pages without a separate backend. Teams collaborate in real time on the same canvas, and publishing pushes directly to Framer's CDN with built-in SEO configuration, A/B testing, and performance analytics.
Key benefits:
- AI site generation that creates full layouts and components from a text description
- No-code animations and interactions with scroll effects, hover states, and transitions
- Built-in CMS for blog posts, product pages, and any dynamic content
- A/B testing and performance analytics built into the publishing workflow
- SEO tools including meta tags, sitemaps, and Open Graph configuration
- Real-time collaboration with multiplayer editing and one-click publishing
- Free tier for personal projects hosted on a framer.site subdomain
- React component export for handing designs off to a development codebase
Framer is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and operates under GDPR and EU data protection law. Sites are hosted on a globally distributed CDN, with data processing governed by European standards. As a Dutch company, Framer is subject to EU regulatory oversight and provides a DPA for business customers.
Trusted by startups, agencies, and companies including Perplexity, Miro, and Metalab for building marketing sites and landing pages without developer dependencies.
Why choose Framer over Squarespace?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Squarespace is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Framer removes that overhead. As a Netherlands-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.