To give a designer access to your Squarespace site (Squarespace calls it contributor access; most people search for it as Squarespace delegate access), invite them as a contributor: open the Home menu, go to Settings, Permissions & Ownership, click Invite Contributor, enter their name and email, switch on the Administrator permission (or a narrower role), and click Invite. They log in with their own Squarespace account, you keep ownership, and you can remove them in two clicks when the project ends. That is the whole method, and it is the only one you should use; sending your own password is the way people lose sites. Below: which permission a designer actually needs, what each role can and cannot do, the contributor limit on the Basic plan, and how domain access works separately.
How do you set up Squarespace delegate access for a designer?
- Log in and open the Home menu.
- Click Settings, then Permissions & Ownership.
- Click Invite Contributor.
- Enter the designer’s name and the email address they use for Squarespace.
- Switch on the permissions they need. For a build or redesign, that is Administrator; for content edits only, Website Editor.
- Click Invite. The designer gets an email; if it does not arrive, open their entry under Invites Sent and copy the invitation link to send directly.
Squarespace’s invite guide confirms that only the owner or an administrator can send invites, and that the same steps exist in the app under More, Settings, Permissions.
Which permission should a designer have?
| Role | Can | Cannot | Give it to a designer when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Everything, including transferring ownership and deleting the site | Nothing is off limits | Never; you stay owner |
| Administrator | Everything except transfer ownership: pages, styles, settings, domains, billing view, other contributors | Transfer ownership | Building, redesigning, connecting a domain, SEO setup |
| Website Editor | Add and edit blocks, products and content on existing pages | Add pages, change Site Styles | Ongoing content updates after launch |
| Store Manager | Products, orders, invoices, some blog and event content | Design, settings | A shop assistant, not a designer |
| Analytics | View website and commerce analytics | Change anything | An SEO consultant reviewing performance |
| Email Campaign Editor | Create and send campaigns | Site content, billing | A newsletter freelancer |
| Comment Moderator | Approve and post blog comments | Anything else | Rarely needed |
| Billing | Change or cancel subscriptions, view invoices | Edit content | An accountant |
| Viewer | See a private or password-protected site without the password | Edit | A client reviewing a build before launch |
Roles can be combined; Squarespace’s roles guide lists them all. For a design project, Administrator is the practical choice because a build touches styles, pages, settings and the domain, and Website Editor cannot create pages or open Site Styles. Give Administrator for the project, then downgrade to Website Editor or remove them at handover; the WordPress equivalent of this decision works the same way.
How many contributors can you add?
It depends on the plan. On the current Basic plan (and legacy Personal), you can add one contributor, for two people in total including the owner. Core, Plus and Advanced (and legacy Business and Commerce) allow unlimited contributors. If you are on Basic and already have one contributor, remove them before inviting the designer, or upgrade. Contributors do not need a paid Squarespace plan of their own; a free Squarespace account is enough to accept the invite, and one account can be a contributor on any number of sites, which is how designers work across clients.
How do you give access to the domain?
Site contributors with Administrator permission can manage a domain connected to the site, including DNS records, which covers most design work. Domains bought through Squarespace but not attached to a site have their own permissions panel: Domains, click the domain, Permissions, and invite a domain manager there (Squarespace’s domain permissions guide). A designer connecting an external domain (GoDaddy, Namecheap) needs access at that registrar instead, and the same rule applies: a delegate or collaborator account, not your login. Changing a Squarespace domain covers what the designer will actually do there.
How do you remove a designer after the project?
- Settings, Permissions & Ownership.
- Click the contributor’s name.
- Either untick permissions to downgrade them, or click Remove to take them off the site.
Contributors can also remove themselves. Ownership only changes if you explicitly transfer it, so a removed administrator loses access immediately with nothing else to undo. If a designer ever asks to be made owner “to make the build easier”, say no; there is no task that needs it.
Why not just share the password?
- Two-factor authentication on your account (which you should have on) makes a shared password unusable anyway.
- The audit trail disappears. With a contributor account, changes are attributed; with a shared login they all look like you.
- Removing access means changing your password and every place it is stored, rather than clicking Remove.
- Billing exposure. The owner login can change the card, cancel the plan and transfer the site. A contributor role cannot.
Every project I take on as a Squarespace designer starts with an Administrator invite and ends with the client removing it, which is one of the questions worth asking any designer before hiring: how will you access my site, and how do I take that access away?
Frequently asked questions
Open Settings, Permissions & Ownership, click Invite Contributor, enter their name and email, switch on the permissions they need and click Invite. They log in with their own Squarespace account.
Administrator for a build or redesign, because it covers pages, Site Styles, settings and domains without allowing ownership transfer. Downgrade to Website Editor or remove them when the project ends.
Yes, and you should. Contributor invites give them their own login. Sharing your password bypasses two-factor authentication, removes the audit trail and exposes billing.
One on the Basic plan (two people including the owner) and unlimited on Core, Plus and Advanced. Legacy Personal allows one; legacy Business and Commerce allow unlimited.
Settings, Permissions & Ownership, click the contributor, then Remove, or untick permissions to reduce their access. It takes effect immediately.
Not without ownership. Administrators can do almost everything except transfer ownership, so the site stays yours as long as you remain owner and never transfer it.
