My site is loading slowly

Tips to improve your site’s loading speed.

Last updated January 23, 2025

If your site is loading slowly, here are some common issues you can troubleshoot.

Check status.squarespace.com

To see if a site loading problem is a system-wide issue, check our Status page.

Use a supported browser

We support the browser versions listed in this guide for viewing and editing your site. Squarespace sites might load slowly on other versions.

Check if your browser is current, and download the latest version. For more resources, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox have built-in tools you can use to investigate loading issues.

Keep your pages under 5 MB

When a browser first loads a page, it downloads all of the page's content. This can seriously affect load times if your page has a large amount of content. For example, pages with a lot of images can load slowly, especially on mobile devices and slower connections.

For tips on how to check page size, visit Reducing your page size for faster loading.

Check your local connection

If your site is loading slowly on pages with small amounts of content and your browser is up-to-date, there could be an issue with your local network.

If you can, try viewing your site on another network. If you have good cell coverage, you can also try accessing your site from a smartphone with the Wi-Fi disabled.

You can also troubleshoot this with a speed test. If your upload and download speeds are lower than what your internet service provider has promised, contact them to see if there might be an issue.

Use fewer fonts

As a general design rule, consider using no more than two fonts throughout your site. In addition to creating a great-looking design, being selective with your fonts will help improve loading time. 

When a browser loads any page on your site, it first loads all selected fonts, including custom Adobe Fonts. If you have many different fonts, all of them must load behind the scenes before the page can appear in the browser.

To optimize loading time even more, you can use web-safe fonts, which are fonts that most browsers and operating systems recognize. These fonts are web-safe:

  • Arial
  • Courier New
  • Georgia
  • Lucida Console
  • Lucida Sans Unicode
  • Palatino Linotype
  • Times New Roman
  • Verdana

Remove custom code

Custom code—including third-party embed code, code injections, and CSS—may cause your site to load slowly. When troubleshooting load time issues, remove all custom code from your site, save it in a text document for safe keeping, then refresh the page.

Note

Adding code to your site is an advanced modification that falls outside of the scope of Squarespace support.

Check URL redirects

Too many URL redirects can cause page speed issues. Check your URL redirects in the URL Mappings panel. If you have a large number of redirects, streamline the list wherever possible.

Check your mobile compatibility

If your site is loading slowly on a mobile device, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly test to see if your site is mobile friendly. If it's not, visit Tips on keeping your Squarespace site mobile-friendly, and Reduce page sizes for faster loading.

Note

Google’s Mobile-Friendly test is a third-party tool and falls outside the scope of our support.

Check for other causes

A variety of other factors can affect your site's load time. This includes:

  • Computer memory/capacity
  • External scripts added to the site
  • Local network firewalls
  • Anti-virus software
  • Browser add-ons
  • Issues with third-party domain providers

Try temporarily disabling any browser extensions, anti-virus software, and external scripts that may be impacting your site.

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