Sell access or request visitors sign up to complete your online course.

Teach visitors a new skill with a course page. Then add a paywall to limit access to your content. Visitors can purchase access to the course, or sign up for free by providing their email address. This is a great way to sell your expertise and learn more about your audience when they sign up.

If you have a collection of videos about a subject that aren’t specifically a workshop, consider using a videos page. You can paywall a videos page and offer previews to encourage visitors to sign up to view your content.

This guide covers how to build a course page, add a paywall, and show a preview of your lessons.

Course pages are only available on version 7.1.

Tip: Register for our Create and sell online courses with Squarespace webinar. We'll provide guidance on preparing a curriculum, building an online course, and monetizing your courses with pricing plans.

Step 1 - Build a course page

After creating a site on version 7.1, add a course page to your Pages panel. Build out your course with your lessons and course overview page. For complete steps to add and style your course page, visit Course pages.

If you're working to bring a course from another platform, visit Moving your course to Squarespace.

Tip: If your site is live, you can disable the page until you're ready for it to be visible to customers.

Step 2 - Add a pricing plan

Pricing plans require your visitors to sign up to view your course content. You can charge for access or ask that visitors provide their email address.

To add your course page to a pricing plan: 

1. Open the Pages panel.
2. Click the course page you want to add to a pricing plan.
3. In the Selling tools section, click Add a pricing plan, then click Create pricing plan.
4. In the Details section, review the Name and Description of your course page.
5. Enter up to five Benefits included that outline what visitors get by signing up. Benefits must be 60 characters or fewer.
6. In the Pricing section, select a pricing structure.
7. If you’re charging for access to your course, enter the Price. Select the number of payments for fixed-amount plans or the frequency of payments for subscription plans.
8. (Optional) In the Sign up limits section, you can select a Start date and End date during which your visitors can sign up. If you add enrollment dates, we recommend listing them in the Description field to ensure your visitors understand the sign-up timeline.
9. (Optional) In the Included products section, click Add digital product to add up to 10 other blog pages, course pages, member sites, or videos pages to your pricing plan.
10. Click Create. In your Pages panel, your course page displays a Paywall label after you add a pricing plan. Free pricing plans also show the paywalled label as they require a customer account to access.

Pricing plan structures

You have a choice of three pricing plan structures:

• Free - Visitors sign up by providing their email address and creating a customer account. Free plans are a great way to grow your mailing list.
• Fixed amount - Visitors pay a single sum one time, or in installments, to gain permanent access to your videos. Fixed amount plans work well when you want to offer long-lasting access to your content.
• Subscription - Visitors make recurring payments to maintain access to your course. Subscription plans create weekly, monthly, or annual passive income. They also offer your visitors the option to pay for access as long as they need it. They can cancel their subscription at any time.

To learn about pricing plan options, visit Pricing plan details.

Step 3 - Edit your paywall

After you add a course page to a pricing plan, you can choose where the paywall appears for your visitors. When a visitor encounters a paywall, they must sign up for a pricing plan or log into their account to access your content.

You can place the paywall in two locations:

• All content - When visitors click a link to your course overview page or lesson page, they’re asked to sign up on the paywall. Use this option to keep your course content hidden.
• Lessons only - Visitors can view the course overview page, but find the paywall when they click a lesson. Use this option to show visitors an outline of the course, including lesson titles. This setting creates a lesson preview for your visitors. 

To choose where the paywall appears:

1. Open the Pages panel.
2. Click the course page, then in the Selling tools section click Paywall.
3. In the Paywall placement section, select All content or Lessons only.
4. Click Save.

Customize your paywall

The paywall invites visitors to sign up for your pricing plan. You can customize your paywall by editing the headline, description, and which pricing plans display.

To customize the details on a digital product’s paywall:

1. Open the Pages panel.
2. Click the course page, then in the Selling tools section click Paywall.
3. Customize the Headline and Description message.
4. Click the eye icon to Hide or Show the pricing plans that include this course page.
5. Click the pencil icon to edit the pricing plan.
6. Click Save.

To review the styling options for your paywall, visit How to style a paywall.

Step 4 - Offer a lesson preview

Encourage visitors to sign up by providing a lesson preview. You can set one or more of your lessons in any course to show as a preview. For example, if your course is about knitting basics, your intro lesson about the materials needed to complete the project, would be an excellent lesson preview. 

To show a specific lesson as a preview:

1. Follow the instructions above to set your paywall to appear on Lessons only.
2. Open the Pages panel.
3. Click the course page, then click Course content.
4. Hover over the lesson in the side panel, click ..., then click Set as public preview.
5. If you decide to no longer offer the lesson as a preview, click Remove as public preview.

Lessons set to public preview show a "preview" badge on the overview page. Visitors can view the lesson page and play the video on the page.

Step 5 - Add a payment processor

To charge for access to your course, you need to connect your site to a payment processor. Choose to connect Squarespace Payments, Stripe, or PayPal. To learn more about collecting payments, visit Connecting a payment processor.

Step 6 - Publish your course

When you’re ready to show the world your course, publish your site (if needed) and ensure the course page is enabled. You may want to include it in your site navigation.

Next steps

As your visitors sign up to take your course, review these topics to keep your site running smoothly:

• Build more content - Now that your visitors are enjoying your course, consider building more content to keep them engaged. You can add worksheets or lists of resources, offer a certificate of completion, offer live coaching sessions, and more.
• Increase your video storage - If your course includes videos, you may need more storage. Your site’s billing plan determines how many minutes of video you can store. If you need to store more videos than what your current billing plan allows, consider upgrading your website billing plan. If you live outside the US, or purchased a Digital Products plan, you can increase your video storage by upgrading your Digital Products plan.
• Promote your site - Use your site’s built-in features to market your course and grow your audience.
• Review transaction fees and payment processing fees - When a visitor purchases a pricing plan, you pay a transaction fee to Squarespace. Similarly, your payment processor charges a fee on each transaction. To learn more, visit Transaction fees and payment processing fees.