Let’s go back in history a few years. Once upon a time I was purely Team Showit.
I designed a few photography websites on the platform and thought — THIS IS IT. The design freedom, the gorgeous output, the ability to build something that actually looks like the person behind it. I was sold.
Then a friend asked me to help with his landscaping business. (I am truly a Jack of all trades over here.) And I knew immediately that Squarespace fit his needs way better. All in one place, simple to manage, nothing complicated — just what a guy who needed to get back to managing his lawn care crews actually needed.
Fast forward to the year of our lord 2026 and now I work primarily with addiction recovery professionals — therapists, coaches, interventionists — I find myself back in this debate constantly. Which platform is right for a therapist? A coach? An interventionist?
Truthfully? There is no wrong answer. (Frustrating, I know.) But I want to talk a bit about why I might suggest one over the other — especially if you’re launching your first website with no prior web design or blogging experience.
Because the platform decision matters less than you think. And also more than you think. Let me explain.
What Showit and Squarespace Have In Common
Before we get into the differences, let’s talk about what Squarespace and Showit actually have in common — because the list is longer than you might think.
Both are no-code platforms, meaning you don’t need to know a single line of HTML to build a beautiful, professional website on either one. Both offer drag-and-drop editing, mobile responsive designs, and enough template options to make your head spin. Both are used successfully by therapists, coaches, and other healing arts professionals every single day.
Now, if you’re an aesthetics girly who has her heart set on a more custom look in Squarespace — it is entirely possible. With some simple CSS code and the rise of AI, this is genuinely less daunting than it sounds. You and Claude could probably figure it out together if you’ve got the time. My experience, though, is that most of us think we have more time than we actually do. And time spent down a code rabbit hole is time you’re not spending on your clients.
Neither one is going to make or break your practice.
What they will do is suit different kinds of people in different kinds of situations — and that’s really what this post is about. Not which platform is better. But which one is better for you, right now, where you are in your business.
Because a newly certified coach launching her first website has completely different needs than a therapist who’s been in private practice for ten years and is finally ready to stop ignoring her online presence.
So let’s talk about who each platform is actually built for.
The Case For Squarespace for your Therapy or Coaching Business
Let’s start with Squarespace — because if you’re brand new to websites, this is probably where I’d point you first.
Squarespace is the closest thing to a true all-in-one platform in this space. Your domain registration, hosting, blogging, email marketing, scheduling integrations — it’s all under one roof. You don’t need to stitch together five different tools and hope they talk to each other. You log in, you find what you need, you figure it out. It’s designed to be intuitive for people who are not web designers and have no interest in becoming one.
For a newly certified coach or therapist who is already juggling a new business, new clients, new everything — that simplicity is not a small thing. That’s actually everything.
Squarespace is also the stronger choice if you know blogging is going to be part of your strategy from day one. The blogging experience is clean, straightforward, and doesn’t require a separate backend login or any additional setup. You write, you publish, done.
And if you’re thinking about email marketing — Squarespace has its own built-in email tool that integrates seamlessly with your site. It’s not as robust as Flodesk or Mailchimp, but for someone just getting started it removes one more decision from an already overwhelming list.
Full disclosure: I build my own site and most of my client work on Showit. So take my Squarespace enthusiasm with that context in mind. But I’ve been recommending Squarespace more and more lately — and genuinely. It feels like they are truly committed to keeping up and offering the best possible user experience. The platform has improved significantly and keeps getting better. Showit’s help and support team is honestly unmatched in the industry — but Squarespace is closing the gap on everything else, and for the right client I recommend it without hesitation.
Who Squarespace is best for:
- The newly certified coach or therapist who wants everything in one place
- Someone who is not particularly tech savvy and wants the simplest possible backend to manage after launch
- Anyone who plans to blog consistently from day one
- The person who wants to set it up and get back to the actual work
The Case For Showit
Now let’s talk about Showit — and why I fell in love with it designing photography websites and never fully looked back.
Showit is a drag-and-drop design platform that gives you a level of creative freedom that Squarespace simply can’t match out of the box. Every element on the page — every text box, every image, every button — can be placed exactly where you want it, sized exactly how you want it, and styled exactly how you want it. There are no rigid templates forcing you into a layout that’s close but not quite right. What you see in the editor is what your visitor sees on the screen.
The result is a website that actually looks like you. Not like a template that three hundred other coaches bought the same month you did.
For therapists and coaches in the addiction recovery space specifically, this matters. Your work is deeply personal. Your clients are making one of the most vulnerable decisions of their lives when they reach out to you. A website that feels generic or interchangeable with every other wellness brand on the internet is not doing you any favors. Showit gives you the tools to build something that feels as intentional as your work.
There is one thing worth knowing upfront: Showit uses WordPress for blogging. If you plan to blog — and you should, because it is one of the most powerful long-term marketing tools available to recovery professionals — you’ll have a separate WordPress backend where your posts live. It sounds more complicated than it is, but it is an extra layer that Squarespace simply doesn’t have.
Showit’s customer support is also genuinely exceptional. I’ve never encountered a help team that is more responsive, more human, or more actually helpful. If you get stuck — and you will get stuck, everyone does — someone will help you get unstuck fast.
Who Showit is best for:
- The coach or therapist who wants a website that looks elevated, custom, and distinctly like them
- Someone with a strong visual sense who will be frustrated by template constraints
- Anyone who wants maximum design flexibility and is comfortable with a slightly higher learning curve
- The recovery professional who understands that their website is a reflection of their work — and wants it to look that way
The One Question That Decides Which Website Platform is Right for YOU
So how do you actually decide?
In my experience, it comes down to one question more than anything else:
Are you going to be blogging right away?
If the answer is yes — or even probably yes — Squarespace is likely your better starting point. The all-in-one simplicity, the clean blogging experience, and the straightforward backend make it the easier choice for someone who is already stretched thin launching a new practice.
If the answer is not yet — or honestly, I’m not sure — then the decision comes down to how much design flexibility matters to you and what your budget looks like.
And that’s where we need to talk about cost.
Showit templates from designers who specialize in the wellness and recovery space typically run anywhere from $300 to $1,000 depending on the designer and the complexity of the template. If you want a designer to customize that template for you — swapping in your brand, your copy, your images across a full five-page site — you’re typically looking at around $2,000. Custom Showit design, where a designer builds your site completely from scratch around your brand, usually starts around $3,000 and goes up from there depending on scope.
Squarespace premium templates from third party designers are a more affordable entry point, typically ranging from $100 to $300, and the platform itself runs between $16 and $49 per month depending on the plan you choose. For a newly certified coach who hasn’t signed a client yet, that difference in upfront investment is real and worth factoring in.
So if budget is a genuine consideration — and for someone who is pre-revenue, it almost always is — Squarespace gives you a more accessible starting point without sacrificing a professional result.
That said, if you want a site that looks truly custom and you’re willing to invest in that — or you find someone who can build it for you at a price point that makes sense for where you are right now — Showit delivers in a way Squarespace simply can’t without additional code.
Here’s what I really want you to hear before you close this tab and go down a two-hour platform research rabbit hole.
The platform is not the hard part.
I have seen therapists and coaches spend weeks — sometimes months — paralyzed by the Squarespace versus Showit decision while their future clients are out there Googling for help and finding someone else. The platform will not make or break your practice. Your copy will. Your ability to clearly explain who you help, what you do, and why someone should trust you with one of the hardest seasons of their life — that’s what converts a website visitor into a client.
Most newly certified coaches and therapists don’t get stuck on platform features. They get stuck on the words. What do I say on my homepage? How do I talk about my services without sounding like every other coach on the internet? How do I tell my story without oversharing or underselling?
That’s the part nobody prepares you for. And that’s the part that actually matters.
A beautiful website with the wrong words — or no words at all — is just an expensive digital business card. A simple, clean, well-written one-page site that speaks directly to the person you help? That gets people to book.
So pick a platform. Either one. And then get the words right.
If you’ve read this far and you’re thinking — okay, but I still don’t want to figure any of this out myself — I built something specifically for you.
First Light is a done-for-you, one-page website for newly certified recovery coaches, therapists, and interventionists who need to get online fast, look professional immediately, and start booking clients — without spending months or thousands of dollars figuring it out.
Here’s what that means in practice: I write your copy and build your site. You choose the platform — Showit or Squarespace, whichever feels right after reading this — and I handle everything else. Your about section, your services, your booking link, your contact form. Done in one week. For $1,900.
No templates to buy. No designers to brief. No copy to agonize over. Just a professional home base that’s ready to receive the people who need you — while you get back to the work that actually matters.
Your work changes lives. Mine makes the introduction.
Click here to learn more about First Light
Have a question? Feel free to email me directly at jackie@fivefathomscreative.com
