Squarespace Forma review: join the waitlist, but don't move your business onto it yet
Squarespace showed Forma, its new AI builder for websites and apps, at Circle Day on October 21. It's a beta behind a waitlist, with no pricing, documentation or launch date. Here's what's known, what isn't, and what a small business should do in the meantime.
Squarespace Forma is worth a waitlist signup but not a migration: as of October 27, 2026 it's an early beta with no published pricing, documentation or launch date. Announced at Circle Day on October 21, it's an AI-native builder for websites and apps that runs separately from today's Squarespace editor with a shared login. Squarespace says 7.1 has a strong runway ahead. Keep live sites on 7.1, and compare Forma with standalone builders like Lovable once it opens.
The verdict
If you're curious, join the waitlist. If you run your business on a Squarespace site, don't change anything yet. As of October 27, Forma is an early beta that most people can't use, with no published price, no documentation and no launch date. That isn't a criticism, it's just where the product is. A waitlist is a promise about the future, and your business runs on the present.
The more useful question for a small business is what kind of tool Forma might turn out to be, because that tells you whether to keep an eye on it or ignore it. Here's what's known and what isn't.
What we know
What it is. Squarespace introduced Forma at its Circle Day event in New York on October 21. Its own page calls it a beta and "a space to build" websites, apps and "anything," with a box asking what you'd like to build, a button to join the waitlist and a login for people who already have access. According to SquareLocator, a Squarespace partner that covered the event, Squarespace describes it as an AI app builder that turns simple prompts into working custom apps and websites, with no code required.
It's separate from today's editor. SquareLocator reports that the login link goes to tryforma.com, where you sign in with your Squarespace account. That suggests Forma is its own application sharing your Squarespace identity, not a new mode inside the editor you use now.
It's early, by Squarespace's own account. The company's president told partners they were the first audience to see it, that it's being built in public and that things will break, according to the same coverage.
Today's platform isn't going away. In the same keynote, he said Squarespace 7.1, the current version of the website builder, has "a strong runway ahead," and that the company will keep investing in it.
Squarespace is adding AI to 7.1 too. Circle Day also showed a custom code module that accepts React components and will come with a coding agent that knows your pages and products, plus autosaving drafts with version history, which Squarespace says is in development. If what you want is one interactive piece on a normal Squarespace site, a product table or a calculator, you may not need Forma at all.
A waitlist is a promise about the future, and your business runs on the present.
What we don't know
These are the questions that decide whether Forma is useful for a business, and none of them has a public answer yet.
How it connects to your existing site. Can a Forma project live on your Squarespace domain, inside a 7.1 site or alongside your store? Or is it a separate thing with a separate address?
Whether you can edit what it makes. Squarespace's big strength is that someone with no technical background can log in and change a heading. If every change in Forma goes back through a prompt, that's a very different tool to own.
What "apps" means. The hard parts of any app are logins, saved data, payments and connections to other services. It isn't public which of those Forma handles, or how.
Whether commerce and scheduling come with it. Squarespace already has stores, appointment booking and email marketing. It's unknown whether Forma projects can use them at launch.
What it costs. No pricing has been published. That includes whether it sits inside existing plans and whether usage is metered, as it is with many AI builders.
Whether you can take your work with you. Many AI builders let you export the code. Squarespace hasn't said whether Forma will.
Decision guide
Known and unknown, as of October 27
| Consideration | Known | Not yet public |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Beta behind a waitlist. | Launch date. |
| Where it lives | Separate app with Squarespace sign-in. | How it connects to your site. |
| Cost | Waitlist is free. | Plans, metering and limits. |
| Ownership | 7.1 keeps getting investment. | Editing and export. |
Where it falls short today
Mostly, it isn't available. You can't evaluate a product you can't use, and anything you read that answers the questions above with confidence should be treated with caution until Squarespace publishes documentation.
There's also a timing problem. Standalone AI builders have been on the market for a while, and Squarespace's president openly said the company is rarely first. Waiting can be a sensible strategy, but it means Forma will be judged against tools people already know, on the day it opens.
And the reaction among Squarespace's own designer community has been mixed, according to SquareLocator. Some see a new kind of client work in small custom apps. Others worry about showing a prompt-to-site tool to the people who build sites for a living. Neither view tells you much about the product yet, but it does mean the details Squarespace publishes next, especially about editing and handover, will matter to a lot of people besides you.
Pricing and alternatives
Pricing: none published as of October 27, 2026. The waitlist is free.
Standalone AI builders like Lovable or Bolt. These let you describe an app or site and get working code back, and they're available now. The trade-off, which SquareLocator notes Squarespace's own blog raises and which a Circle Day agency speaker repeated, is that you also take on hosting, security, updates and fixing things when they break. A site that looks finished on day one can show its problems a few months later.
Squarespace 7.1 with the new code module. If you already have a Squarespace site and need one custom piece, this may be the simplest route once it ships, because it lives inside a platform you already pay for and know how to edit.
A custom build. If what you actually need is a real application, with accounts, data and connections to your other systems, that's usually a job for an engineering team rather than any builder. We wrote about when an AI app builder is enough and when to bring in an engineering partner.
How the work moves
Which route fits the job
- A website
Build on 7.1 today.
- One custom piece
Watch the 7.1 code module.
- A quick prototype
A standalone builder, or Forma when it opens.
- A real application
Accounts, data and integrations need engineering.
What to do in the meantime
Join the waitlist if you're curious, and use it on a side project when you get access, not on your main site. Write down the one thing you'd want it to build for your business, so when it opens you can judge it against a real need rather than a demo.
If you're about to build a new website, build it on what exists today. When Forma has a price and documentation, compare it on the questions above: editing, connections, cost and whether you can leave.
If the thing you need is a web application rather than a website, our web applications team can help you decide what to build and on what. Talk to us.
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