Google Domains may belong to Squarespace, but WordPress still wants a cut of the customer base

Squarespace is soaking up its victory after acquiring Google Domains – something we recently covered when the news dropped (and quite honestly shocked me despite Google’s reputation). This hefty deal puts Squarespace in direct competition with WordPress.com, Bluehost, and other hosting providers.

While the company has pledged to keep Google Domains’ pricing structure intact for the first year, I don’t for a second believe that it will keep as is beyond that time. In fact, it’s more likely it will use that as an opportunity to jack the prices up and laugh about it over a beer later that night.

Meanwhile, WordPress.com (NOT WordPress.org) isn’t just standing by. They’re putting forth a tempting offer by email to many Domains customers this week – they’ll cover the transfer costs for those interested in moving to them instead of Squarespace. Plus, they’ll toss in an extra year of registration for free.

The email even takes an indirect potshot at its competition by stating you can “rest assured that your domains are in good hands”. Sure, you could read that as normal salesman speak, but I definitely sense the passive aggressive tone there, especially since WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg wasn’t even approach about the acquisition and whether he’d like a seat at the table before Google pulled the trigger on the offer.

With these chess moves underway, the final customer split between Squarespace and other hosts is yet to be determined. There are some who I’ve spoken to who are simply not interested in Google’s choice of host, and have promised they will exodus elsewhere before the transition. What about you? Let me know in the comments how many Google Domains you have, and where you’ll be taking them when all of this is said and done.