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Subscriptions October 2026

Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow All Built Their Own Checkout. Here's Where Each One Runs Out of Road.

Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow each built their own checkout. Here's the specific, documented limit each one hits on subscriptions, discounts, and payment methods.

If you sell on Squarespace, Wix, or Webflow, the checkout that came with your plan handles a simple, one-time sale just fine. Each platform also has a specific, documented limit that shows up the moment you need a subscription, a discount that applies everywhere it should, or a payment method its own gateway doesn’t carry.

Checkout is the one moment on your site where a visitor actually becomes a customer. Every page before it — the photos, the description, the price — exists to get someone to this exact step. If checkout can’t do something you need, like bill a subscription or apply a discount, you don’t just miss that one sale. You miss it every time a customer wants that same thing, which is why it’s worth knowing where your platform’s checkout runs out of road before your business grows into needing more from it.

Where does each platform’s checkout actually run out of road?

Squarespace restricts subscription billing to two of its own payment options, Squarespace Payments and Stripe, and leaves out PayPal, Apple Pay, and ACH (Squarespace). The logic: a subscription needs a payment method it can charge automatically every cycle without the customer present, and that only works through a processor with a card on file, which is what the two allowed options have in common. A subscription also can’t be free, for the same reason — recurring billing needs something to charge.

Wix has a similar story. Its own payment processor, Wix Payments, only works in about 15 countries, so selling anywhere else means connecting a different processor instead (Wix). Discounts run into their own version of this: Wix has two separate discount tools, and only one of them, coupon codes, can apply to a subscription, and only if you remember to turn that option on (Wix).

Webflow keeps discounts and subscriptions from ever touching each other. A discount code only works on a one-time purchase, never on a subscription, by design (Webflow). That distinction barely matters today, though: Webflow turned off subscriptions completely on January 29, 2026, when it shut down the account system they depended on (Webflow).

This isn’t a knock on any of these platforms

Each of these checkouts was built to get a simple store live fast, and each one does that well. The wall only shows up at a specific trigger: recurring revenue, a discount that needs to reach every kind of sale, or a payment method the platform’s own gateway doesn’t carry. These tools were never built to go past that point. That’s exactly where a growing store starts to feel it.

Shopify’s own free tools hit the same shape of wall from the other side: its free WordPress plugin and free Buy Button channel are built for simple cases too, not everything a growing store eventually needs.

The checkout doesn’t have to be the platform’s job

A Buy Button Plus checkout runs on the same Shopify checkout your site already qualifies to use instead of Squarespace’s, Wix’s, or Webflow’s own, so none of the limits above apply to it. Subscriptions bill the same way regardless of payment method. Discounts work the same way on a subscription as they do on a one-time sale, whether that’s a simple percent off, a buy-one-get-one, or a discount that steps up the more someone buys. The site itself doesn’t change — same design, same pages, same platform underneath.

Start your free 30-day trial of Buy Button Plus and add that checkout without touching anything else on the site.

How do I tell if I’ve actually hit this wall?

The signal is a specific moment: a subscription discount that won’t apply, a customer whose card is in a currency the processor won’t take, a subscriber asking to come back after canceling and the platform saying no. If none of that has happened yet, there’s no reason to act on this now.

A Squarespace, Wix, or Webflow checkout was built to make the sale look like it belongs on the site. A Buy Button Plus checkout runs underneath that exact same site and picks up everything the native checkout couldn’t.

Keep your site exactly as it is and add a checkout that picks up where the native one stops.

Start your free 30-day trial of Buy Button Plus

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell subscriptions on Squarespace, Wix, or Webflow?
Yes, with real limits on each. Squarespace blocks PayPal, Apple Pay, and ACH for subscription billing. Wix’s automatic discounts never apply to them. Webflow has had no native subscription option at all since January 2026.
Why won't my discount code apply to a subscription?
On Webflow, discount codes only work on one-time-payment products, never on subscriptions. On Wix, automatic discounts never reach subscriptions, and coupon codes need “include subscriptions” checked or they skip them by default.
What happened to Webflow's native subscriptions?
Webflow shut off User Accounts on January 29, 2026, and subscriptions ran on that system. There’s no native path to recurring billing left inside Webflow itself.
Do I have to leave Squarespace, Wix, or Webflow to fix this?
No. A Buy Button Plus checkout runs on Shopify’s backend underneath your existing site, so the design and platform stay the same, and only the checkout changes.

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