You can delete a Squarespace website in two ways: cancel your subscription and let the site disappear, or actively delete it from your account settings right now
The fastest way is to go into your Squarespace account settings, find the deletion option, and remove the site immediately. This takes about five minutes and your website stops being visible to the public right away. The other route is to cancel your subscription — your site stays live for the rest of your billing period, then disappears when the subscription ends.
Most people choose immediate deletion if they are not coming back to the site. You should choose the cancellation route only if you want to keep the site running until your next billing date, or if you are not sure yet whether you want it gone for good.
Key Takeaways
- Deleting a Squarespace site from account settings removes it permanently and immediately, and you cannot undo this action.
- You will need to sign into your Squarespace account and navigate to the specific site's settings to find the deletion button.
- Canceling your subscription instead of deleting keeps your site live until the end of your billing cycle, then it disappears automatically.
- Before you delete, download any content you want to keep — text, images, and customer data — because deletion is permanent.
- If you registered your domain through Squarespace, decide whether you want to keep it or let it expire when you delete the site.
How to delete your site immediately through account settings
Sign into your Squarespace account and click on the site you want to delete. Once you are inside that site's dashboard, look for the settings icon — it usually appears as a gear in the left sidebar. Click it, then scroll down until you see a section labeled "Danger Zone" or "Delete Site." The exact wording varies depending on when your account was created, but the button will say something like "Delete This Site" or "Permanently Delete."
Click that button. Squarespace will ask you to confirm by typing the site's name or URL. This is a safety step to make sure you do not delete by accident. Type exactly what it asks for, then click the final confirmation button. Your site is now gone — it will not appear on the internet, and visitors will see an error page if they try to reach it.
This action cannot be undone. Squarespace does not keep backups of deleted sites, so if you realize later that you needed something from it, you cannot get it back. For this reason, download any content you want to preserve before you hit delete.
What to download before you delete
Before deletion, think about what you might need later. Customer email addresses, order history, blog posts, product descriptions, and images are the things people most often regret losing. Squarespace lets you download some of this information, but not all of it in one place.
Go to your site settings and look for an "Export" or "Download Data" option — this varies by plan type. If you have a store, you can usually download your customer list and order history as a spreadsheet. If you have a blog, you can export posts. For images and files, the easiest method is to take screenshots or use your browser's developer tools to save pages as HTML. This is tedious but it works if the export option does not cover what you need.
If you are unsure what you might need, download everything you can. Storage is cheap, and you cannot get this back after deletion.
Canceling your subscription instead of deleting
If you want to keep your site live a little longer, or if you are not completely sure about deleting it, you can cancel your subscription instead. Your site will stay online and fully functional until the end of your current billing period. After that date, Squarespace takes it offline automatically.
To cancel, go to your account settings — not the individual site settings, but your main Squarespace account. Look for "Billing" or "Subscriptions." Find the site you want to cancel and click the option to cancel that subscription. You will see your cancellation date, which is the last day your site will be live. You can reactivate the subscription anytime before that date if you change your mind.
This approach gives you a grace period to think it over, and it lets your site stay visible to anyone who has bookmarked it or linked to it. The downside is that you are still paying for the subscription during that time.
What happens to your domain name
If you registered your domain through Squarespace, you have two choices: let it expire when you delete the site, or transfer it to another registrar so you can keep using it elsewhere.
When you delete your site, Squarespace does not automatically delete your domain registration. Your domain will stay registered and active until the registration period ends — usually one year from when you bought it. After that, it expires and becomes available for anyone else to register. If you want to keep the domain but move it to a different host, you can transfer it to another registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap. Squarespace will give you an authorization code when you request a transfer.
If you do not care about the domain and want it to expire, you do not have to do anything. Just let the registration run out and it will disappear on its own.
Deleting a site you no longer have access to
If you forgot your password or lost access to the email address tied to your account, you cannot delete the site yourself through the normal steps. Instead, contact Squarespace support directly. You will need to prove you own the account — usually by providing the email address associated with it, the domain name, or payment information.
Squarespace support can take a few days to respond, so if you need the site gone quickly, this is not the fastest route. But if you have no other way to access the account, it is your only option. Go to the Squarespace help center, find the contact support option, and explain that you need to delete a site but cannot access your account.
After your site is deleted
Once your site is gone, it may take a few hours for search engines to stop showing it in their results. Google and other search engines cache websites, so old links might still appear in search results for a while. You can speed this up by going to Google Search Console, finding your site, and requesting removal. This tells Google to take it out of the index faster.
If you had email addresses set up through your Squarespace domain — like contact@yoursite.com — those email addresses stop working immediately when you delete the site. If anyone tries to email you at that address, the message will bounce back. Make sure you have given people an alternative email address if they need to reach you.
Your Squarespace account itself is not deleted when you delete a site. You can create new sites under the same account anytime, or you can delete your entire account if you want to leave Squarespace completely. Deleting your account removes all sites and all data associated with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I undo a deletion after I confirm it?
No. Once you type the site name and click the final confirmation button, the deletion is permanent. Squarespace does not keep backups of deleted sites, and there is no recovery option. This is why downloading your content beforehand is important.
Will my domain name disappear when I delete my site?
Not immediately. If you registered your domain through Squarespace, it stays registered and active until the registration period ends. You can transfer it to another registrar to keep using it, or let it expire naturally. The domain and the website are separate things.
How long does it take for my site to disappear from Google search results?
Usually a few hours to a few days, depending on how often Google crawls the web. You can speed this up by going to Google Search Console, finding your site, and requesting removal. This tells Google to take it out of the index right away instead of waiting for the automatic update.
What if I delete my site but still want to use my domain name?
Transfer your domain to another registrar or hosting company before you delete the site. Squarespace will give you an authorization code when you request a transfer. Once the domain is registered elsewhere, you can point it to a new website or keep it parked without a site attached to it.
Do I lose my email if I delete my site?
Yes. Any email addresses you set up through your Squarespace domain stop working when you delete the site. Make sure you have notified anyone who needs to reach you and given them an alternative email address before you delete.