- How a Squarespace course page is put together
- Adding the course page and your first lesson
- Styling the overview and the lessons
- Selling access with a pricing plan and paywall
- Worksheets, certificates and the extras Squarespace can't do
- Moving a course from Thinkific, Teachable or Skillshare
- My verdict on Squarespace courses
- Frequently asked questions
Squarespace courses are built with a course page, which pairs a course overview page with individual lesson pages, and you sell access by adding the course to a pricing plan with a paywall. As of October 2026 course pages are only available on version 7.1 sites, and each course page can hold up to 250 lessons.
The limit I'd check first is video storage. Every Squarespace site comes with 30 minutes of video storage across all its pages and uploads, and a video-led course can burn through that in a couple of lessons. A single lesson video can run up to three hours, storage allowing, and more storage means a Digital Products plan. The alternative Squarespace offers is embedding videos you host on YouTube or Vimeo.
How a Squarespace course page is put together
| Part | What it does | Who sees it |
|---|---|---|
| Course overview page | The course homepage, with the description, a Start course button, a progress bar and the chapters and lessons | Every visitor, if it's in your main navigation and not behind the paywall |
| Lesson pages | The lesson content plus a Complete and continue button | Only visitors who sign up and log in |
| Chapters | Optional groups of lessons, with titles shown on the overview | Anyone who can see the overview |
| Course navigation | A menu of lessons, chapters, progress and video lengths | Signed-up visitors after they click Start course |
| Progress bar | Tracks how much of the course a visitor has completed | Signed-up visitors, so preview the course to test it |
Visitors can take lessons in any order from the overview page, but Complete and continue nudges them through in the order you set. Chapters can hold up to 250 lessons each, and you drag lessons and chapters around in the course page panel to reorder them.
Adding the course page and your first lesson
Open the Pages panel, click the plus beside the navigation section you want, then under Sell choose Content and Memberships and click Course. Pick a layout and type a title. You can also duplicate a course page with all its lessons, which is a handy way to build a new version without visitors seeing your changes.
- In the course page panel, click Course Content, then the plus, and choose Lesson.
- On the General tab, enter a title of 200 characters or fewer, and an optional excerpt, which Squarespace suggests keeping to 500 characters.
- Edit the custom URL and add a thumbnail if you want one.
- On the Video tab, upload a file, pick one from your library or paste a Vimeo or YouTube link. Switch Show lesson video off for a text lesson.
- On the Status tab, publish, schedule or keep it as a draft, then click Save.
- Click Edit and add page sections with the lesson content.
Each lesson gets one lesson page video, shown at the top like a banner. Add video blocks if you need more. A custom featured image is only available for videos you upload to Squarespace, because embedded ones pull their image from YouTube or Vimeo.
Styling the overview and the lessons
Course pages follow your site-wide fonts and colors. Click Edit, then Edit Layout, to show or hide the course title, description, button, lesson thumbnails and excerpts, and to switch the overview between a list and a grid. Style changes on a lesson page apply to every lesson in the course, which keeps the whole thing consistent. A few extra settings only appear once you click Start course and edit from inside a lesson.
Selling access with a pricing plan and paywall
In the Pages panel, open the course page and choose Add a pricing plan under Selling tools. You can list up to five benefits of 60 characters or fewer, choose a pricing structure, set optional sign-up start and end dates, and add up to 10 other blog pages, course pages, member sites or videos pages to the same plan. Squarespace offers three structures: free, where visitors trade their email address for a customer account, a fixed amount paid once or in installments, and a subscription with recurring payments that people can cancel at any time.
Then choose where the paywall sits. All content hides the whole course. Lessons only keeps the overview page public, so visitors see the outline and lesson titles before signing up. Only that second setting lets you mark a lesson as a public preview, which adds a preview badge and lets anyone watch it. To charge, connect Squarespace Payments, Stripe or PayPal.
Worksheets, certificates and the extras Squarespace can't do
Squarespace can't tell you when a student finishes a course, so certificates are manual. Either put a form block on the final lesson and email certificates when students submit it, or link to a PDF certificate, ideally on a separate password-protected page. Worksheets work the same way: link to a file, and collect completed ones through a form block with a file upload field.
A forum isn't possible on the site itself, so Squarespace suggests Slack or Discord with a link on your lesson page. For live coaching, add an Acuity Scheduling block. Accordion blocks make simple self-guided quizzes, with the question as the title and the answer as the description.
Moving a course from Thinkific, Teachable or Skillshare
You can't import your text or your students directly. You'll need a Squarespace site, a custom domain and an active billing plan. Upload your images and videos to the asset library, then copy and paste the text into each lesson. Squarespace suggests adding something new, such as an extra lesson or a free download, to give students a reason to follow you.
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To honour what students already paid, Squarespace suggests a discount code limited to the first payment of a subscription plan for temporary free access, a free pricing plan shown only on a password-protected page for permanent access, or a discount code if you've added new material. Then import their emails as a contacts list and invite them with an email campaign.
To compare notes with a similar topic, open the Squarespace DNS Settings guide.
My verdict on Squarespace courses
I'd build a course on Squarespace if you already run your site there, you want the course under your own domain and you're happy to host most video on YouTube or Vimeo. I'd skip it if your course is hours of uploaded video, or if you need a built-in community, because neither fits without extra plans or tools. Before you commit, check Squarespace pricing to see which plan your site's on, and if you're starting from scratch, try is Squarespace free for the trial details.
A course that enrols, delivers and follows up on its own is a good example of the workflow automation I help small businesses build. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Frequently asked questions
Can I build a course on Squarespace 7.0?
No. Course pages are only available on version 7.1 sites.
How many lessons can a Squarespace course have?
You can add up to 250 lessons per course page, and up to 250 lessons to a chapter.
How much video storage do Squarespace courses get?
Every Squarespace site comes with 30 minutes of video storage across all pages and uploaded videos. For more, Squarespace points you to a Digital Products plan.
Can I import my course from Teachable or Thinkific?
Not directly. You can't import text content or students, so you upload your media, copy the text into lessons and invite students to sign up.
Can visitors preview a lesson before they sign up?
Yes. Set the paywall to Lessons only, then mark the lesson as a public preview.
