Squarespace Acquires Google Domains: A Game-Changing Move in Website Development and Hosting

Squarespace, the popular website development and hosting brand, has made a significant move by acquiring Google Domains and its associated assets. This announcement comes in the wake of Google’s recent decisions to shut down several of its seemingly successful projects, including Stadia and the coding app Grasshopper.

Google domain history

Google Domains, which was launched in 2014 as a website domain name registrar, provided users with a range of services such as DNS hosting, dynamic DNS, domain forwarding, and email forwarding. It boasted deep integration with Google Workspace, benefitting from Google’s robust infrastructure and 24-hour support. Users enjoyed a user-friendly interface and access to a variety of top-level domain name extensions like “.guru” to manage their websites.

Google manages a large number of domains professionally

Despite officially coming out of beta just over a year ago, Google Domains already manages approximately 10 million domains for numerous customers. After the acquisition, Squarespace will take over the management and operation of all these domains following a transition period. However, for the time being, there will be no immediate changes for end users, who can continue managing their Google Domains as usual. Google has even provided support documentation to address any concerns that users may have during this transition.

What happens after the acquisition and the fate of the subscribers

While some may argue that an acquisition is preferable to a complete shutdown, Squarespace has not made any explicit promises regarding post-transition changes. However, it has stated that renewal pricing for existing Google Domains customers will remain unchanged for a full year after the acquisition. Additionally, Squarespace finds itself in a unique position as the sole entity offering billing and support to Google Workspace customers who obtained Workspace access as an add-on through Google Domains.

Although both parties have made the formal announcement, the acquisition is still pending regulatory approvals before it can be finalized. The transaction is anticipated to be completed in the third quarter of 2023, and Squarespace hopes to maintain customer satisfaction throughout the process.