Should I use MemberSpace or Squarespace Member Sites with Community Box?

This is our unbiased take on which membership platform to use with Community Box. We have reasons to love both platforms; one of our co-founders is a Squarespace web designer, but we're also big fans of MemberSpace and have a really good relationship with their team. Let's jump in!

Why would you need to use Member Sites or MemberSpace?

There are three main reasons to use Squarespace Member Sites or MemberSpace with Community Box:

1. You want to charge for access to the directory
2. You want to hide the directory behind a login
3. You want to control who can add profiles to the directory

Community Box doesn't have a built-in way to charge members or protect content, so we've created integrations with both Squarespace Member Sites and MemberSpace to add this functionality to your directories.

Both integrations offer Single Sign On (SSO) which means your members don't need a separate Community Box login. They just sign in using their Squarespace or MemberSpace account.

Note: Squarespace Member Sites used to be called Member Areas.

Benefits of Member Sites

Everything is in one place

If you're using any other Squarespace features such as selling online or sending emails using Campaigns (Squarespace's email marketing tool) then it can be convenient to have all your member data on Squarespace as well.

There's no extra subscription if you're already paying for Squarespace

Member Sites can be added on to your Squarespace website for no extra cost, you just pay a % transaction fee if you're charging for membership. The exact % varies depending on which Squarespace plan you're on.

Limitations of Member Sites

You have to manually remove profiles for members who no longer have access

Due to how the Squarespace code works, Community Box can only tell if a member is logged in to the Member Site or not. This allows anyone with access to the Member Site to view the directory and/or add their profile. However, because the Squarespace code doesn't tell us when a member leaves or stops paying for a plan, we cannot automatically remove their profile.

Members have to manually add their profiles after signing up

This may not be a limitation depending on your needs, but unlike with MemberSpace, there is no option to automatically create a profile in a directory when your member first signs up.

There are fewer advanced member management features

Squarespace is a great all-round platform, and Member Sites work well for simple use cases. But because they are not a dedicated membership software company, there are features available in MemberSpace that aren't on Squarespace, such as offering free trials, asking additional questions on signup, or setting automatic plan expiry dates.

It's harder to leave the Squarespace ecosystem in the future

If you ever want to use a different platform to Squarespace, your Community Box directory can go with you to almost any other website builder, but because your member accounts were linked to Squarespace, your members would have to complete an extra step to create a new account (either directly with Community Box or with another tool such as MemberSpace) and then claim their profiles by verifying their email address.

Benefits of MemberSpace

Profiles sync automatically

If someone leaves the membership plan, their profile is removed automatically. If that person rejoins or starts paying again, their profile is automatically added back in to the directory. When someone joins a plan on MemberSpace, a new profile can be automatically added to the directory.

You can move platforms

Both Community Box and MemberSpace work with most website building tools, so if you ever decide that Squarespace is no longer a good fit, you can move your directory and protected member areas with you.

They have great support

MemberSpace support are incredibly helpful and responsive, some of the support team have worked there for 10+ years so they are really knowledgable about the product, and understand the Community Box integration too.

They have a Zapier integration

Community Box and MemberSpace both have Zapier integrations so you can automate connections to even more platforms, for example adding new members to your email marketing tool or CRM system.

Limitations of MemberSpace

There's no free plan

If you aren't charging for access to your directory then even the lowest tier of MemberSpace's pricing plans may be more than you can justify, especially when you can use Member Sites for free as part of your subscription to Squarespace.

Your member data won't be accessible in Squarespace

As it's a totally separate platform, all your member data lives in MemberSpace. This means that some data might be in Squarespace and some in MemberSpace. For example, if you're collecting newsletter signups via your Squarespace website and using Campaigns (Squarespace's email marketing tool) then you'll need to manually import any members who sign up via MemberSpace.

It could cause confusion if you're also using Squarespace accounts

If you're selling anything that requires a Squarespace account (such as a subscription or access to a course) then your customers would access some information with their Squarespace account, and other information via their MemberSpace account, which can be confusing.

Comparison table

*Prices and fees for third-party tools may change without notice, please confirm these with the relevant platform

The bottom line

If you're charging for membership and aren't selling anything else on Squarespace that requires an account, we'd recommend MemberSpace as it's a more fully-featured tool and has a deeper integration with Community Box.

Note: This isn't a paid endorsement! We could make extra money from selling MemberSpace through affiliate links but we very intentionally don't do this because we want you to know that any recommendations are genuine.

Need any additional help to decide which platform is right for you? Contact our friendly support team on help@communitybox.co