Free or cheap Squarespace alternatives?

Blogger.com
Wordpress.com

Both have free option.

I strongly recommend WordPress. Personally I'd recommend getting it with a hosting plan just to give you some additional control (see wordpress.org) but if you want something a bit more simple to use have a look at wordpress.com.

WordPress.com is the same, just your site will be hosted by them and you'll have less control. On the plus however, you're far less likely to encounter issues, and unless you need a domain name it'll be free.

WordPress.org gives you the script which you can install on a hosting plan with someone else. This does require a bit more effort to get up and running, but most hosts have some way to install it automatically, and if they don't, I'd be surprised if they wouldn't be willing to install it for you. It's a more costly option, but if you want to have more themes, for example, than Wordpress.com offers or more plugins or another feature that wouldn't otherwise be available, it's a pretty good option.

I wish you the best of luck.

Squarespace IS the mac like company of web design. A few sliders, move this about, bam, you're done. It works very apple like, and much like them, you pay for it. Pay for a year upfront and you'll get a cheaper deal. V6 coming this year which will be a major upgrade to the already amazing system they do have.

They have a great ipad/iphone app - top thumbs up for squarespace and their support staff! I'm not paid to say this

Blogger.com has some pretty cool looking templates, you get your own URL, unlimited blog posts, up to 10 pages and it's all free.

As your first blog or website I rate it quite highly

I strongly recommend WordPress. Personally I'd recommend getting it with a hosting plan just to give you some additional control (see wordpress.org) but if you want something a bit more simple to use have a look at wordpress.com.

Click to expand...

This is a good strategy but can be difficult for someone who doesn't really want to get that involved with PHP, CSS, etc. that said, if you want to do more than the free services allow this is the next cheapest and best option

You can count in Pixpa.com as an alternative to Squarespace as well. ​It's solely purposed to build portfolio websites for photographers/artists. You do not need any technical knowledge or coding skills.
Since this is an old blog post, here's a fresh list of services in different categories -

​​Blog
=========
Tumblr
Ghost
Wordpress
Blogger
Typepad
Dropplets

Portfolio Websites
==========
Squarespace
Pixpa
Photobiz
4ormat
Weebly

E-commerce and business tools (Shop, CRM, Invoicing etc.)
===========
Pixpa
Squarespace
Virb
Wix
Weebly