How to Move Your Website from Wix or Squarespace to WordPress

Website builders are great — until they aren’t. Sooner or later, many Wix and Squarespace users run into the same walls: limited SEO control, template lock-in, rising subscription costs, and the uncomfortable fact that you can’t simply pack up your site and take it elsewhere. When you decide to move from Wix to WordPress (or from Squarespace), you’re trading a closed platform for one you fully own and control.

This guide walks you through the entire migration workflow: setting up WordPress hosting, exporting what can be exported from each builder, importing it into WordPress, rescuing your images, pointing your domain, and setting up redirects so you don’t lose the search rankings you’ve built. It’s written for non-developers — no code required beyond copy-and-paste.

One honest warning before we start: neither Wix nor Squarespace offers a full one-click export. Blog posts move over semi-automatically; standalone pages usually need to be rebuilt manually. Knowing that upfront lets you plan a realistic migration weekend instead of an unpleasant surprise.

Table of contents

• What actually transfers (and what doesn’t)
• Step 1: Get WordPress hosting and install WordPress
• Step 2: Export your content
• Step 3: Import into WordPress
• Step 4: Rescue your images
• Step 5: Rebuild your pages and menus
• Step 6: Point your domain and set up redirects
• Common mistakes and troubleshooting
• FAQ
• Conclusion
• Sources

What actually transfers (and what doesn’t)

Set expectations first. Here’s the honest picture, based on the platforms’ own documentation:

Content type	Wix → WordPress	Squarespace → WordPress
Blog posts	Yes — via RSS feed import	Yes — via XML export (one blog page only)
Comments	No (rebuild/skip)	Yes — up to 1,000 per post
Standalone pages	Manual copy-paste only	Layout pages and text blocks export; complex pages often need rebuilding
Images	Stay hosted on Wix — must be re-uploaded	Often import as links to Squarespace servers — must be re-uploaded
Store/products	No	No — store pages are excluded from export
Design, templates, custom CSS	No	No — style settings and custom CSS are excluded
Forms	No — rebuild with a plugin	No — rebuild with a plugin
Draft posts	No	No — drafts are excluded

Squarespace’s export also skips album pages, cover pages, index pages, info pages, calendar pages, and portfolio pages, plus anything in page-specific headers, footers, and sidebars. Wix has no native export at all — the RSS feed workaround covers blog posts only.

The takeaway: your content moves; your design doesn’t. You’ll pick a fresh WordPress theme, which most people migrating for SEO and flexibility reasons see as a feature, not a bug.

Step 1: Get WordPress hosting and install WordPress

Wix and Squarespace bundle hosting into their subscription. WordPress (the open-source, self-hosted kind at wordpress.org) doesn’t — you bring your own hosting, which is exactly why it costs less and gives you full ownership.

1. Choose a managed WordPress hosting plan. Hostinger’s managed WordPress plans include one-click WordPress installation, a free domain on most plans, free SSL, and email — check the current price on their site, as promotional rates change. You can get started with Hostinger here.
2. Register or connect your domain. If your domain currently lives at Wix or Squarespace, don’t move it yet — leave it where it is until your new site is ready (Step 6). If you’re starting with a new domain, claim it during checkout.
3. Install WordPress. In Hostinger’s hPanel, use the WordPress auto-installer: choose your domain (or a temporary subdomain), set an admin username and a strong password, and run the install. It takes a couple of minutes.
4. Log in to your WordPress dashboard at yourdomain.com/wp-admin and confirm everything loads.
5. Set pretty permalinks right away: go to Settings → Permalinks and select Post name. Doing this before importing content keeps your new URLs clean and makes redirects easier later.

Step 2: Export your content

If you’re on Wix

Wix has no export button, but every Wix site with a blog publishes an RSS feed you can capture:

1. In your browser, go to your Wix site’s address and add /feed.xml to the end — for example, https://www.yoursite.com/feed.xml.
2. The raw feed appears in the browser. Right-click the page and choose Save As.
3. Save the file with a .xml extension (change it manually if your browser tries to save it differently).

That file contains your blog posts. Note: this RSS workaround works reliably on older Wix blogs — some newer Wix blog setups no longer expose a working RSS feed at that address, in which case you’ll need to copy blog content across manually, the same way you’ll handle pages below.

Your Wix pages (About, Services, Contact, etc.) cannot be exported — keep a browser tab open with each one so you can copy the text across in Step 5.

If you’re on Squarespace

1. In your Squarespace account, open the Import & export content panel in your site settings.
2. Choose Export, then click the WordPress icon — Squarespace exports in WordPress-compatible XML format.
3. If you have multiple blog pages, Squarespace will ask you to pick one: only a single blog page can be exported, with up to 1,000 comments per post.
4. Download the .xml file when the export finishes.

Remember what this file will not contain (per Squarespace’s own documentation): product/store pages, audio and video blocks, draft posts, custom CSS, and several page types listed in the table above.

Step 3: Import into WordPress

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Tools → Import.
2. Wix users: find RSS in the importer list, click Install Now, then Run Importer, and upload your .xml feed file.
3. Squarespace users: find the Squarespace importer in the list (if it’s not shown, use WordPress’s guided importer option at the top of the screen), then upload your export file. When prompted, assign the imported posts to your new admin user.
4. Wait for the import to complete, then spot-check: open Posts → All Posts and click into several posts to verify text, headings, and formatting survived.

Imports of large sites can time out — if that happens, see the troubleshooting section below.

Step 4: Rescue your images

This is the step most people skip — and regret. In both migrations, your images are still being loaded from the old platform’s servers. Wix keeps images on Wix; Squarespace exports frequently bring images across as links pointing at Squarespace’s CDN. The moment you cancel your old subscription, those links die and your new site fills with broken images.

1. Download your images from your old site (save them from each page/post, or from your builder’s media manager).
2. In WordPress, go to Media → Add New and upload them.
3. Open each imported post, remove the externally-hosted image, and re-insert your uploaded copy using the Add Media button.
4. Faster option: an “import external images”-type plugin from the WordPress.org plugin directory can scan posts and pull externally hosted images into your Media Library in bulk. Verify a sample of posts afterward either way.

Do not cancel Wix or Squarespace until every image loads from your own domain.

Step 5: Rebuild your pages and menus

1. Recreate standalone pages. In WordPress, go to Pages → Add New for each page (About, Contact, Services…). Copy the text from your old site and rebuild the layout with the WordPress block editor — or a page builder if you prefer drag-and-drop.
2. Pick a theme. Your old design doesn’t transfer, so browse Appearance → Themes and choose one. Hostinger’s WordPress plans also include AI-assisted setup tools that can speed up initial theme configuration.
3. Rebuild your navigation menu under Appearance → Menus (or in the Site Editor, depending on your theme).
4. Rebuild forms with a form plugin — contact forms never transfer from either builder.
5. Match your URL structure. If your old blog posts lived at /blog/post-name, mirror that in Settings → Permalinks or plan redirects for the difference (next step).

Step 6: Point your domain and set up redirects

1. Point the domain to your new host. If your domain is registered with Wix or Squarespace, either update its DNS/nameservers to your new hosting or transfer the domain registration entirely (transfers typically require an unlock + authorization code from the current registrar). DNS changes can take up to 24–48 hours to propagate.
2. Set up 301 redirects for changed URLs. Wix and Squarespace URL patterns (like /single-post/... or date-based paths) rarely match WordPress permalinks exactly. Install a redirect plugin from the WordPress.org directory and map old paths to new ones so visitors and search engines land on the right pages. Hostinger’s tutorial notes redirect handling can also be done in code or via paid migration tools, but a redirect plugin is the beginner-friendly route.
3. Verify before you cancel. Browse your new site page by page — content, images, menus, forms. Only when everything works on your own domain should you cancel the old subscription.
4. Tell search engines. Submit your new XML sitemap (via an SEO plugin) in Google Search Console.

Common mistakes and troubleshooting

These are issues users report in migration write-ups and community forums — labeled as such, not official platform statements:

• “My images disappeared weeks after migrating.” Users report this happens when imported images were still hotlinked to Squarespace or Wix servers and the old subscription got cancelled. Fix: re-upload images to your WordPress Media Library before cancelling (Step 4).
• “The import stops or times out.” Users report large XML files failing on the first run. Fix: re-run the importer (WordPress skips already-imported items), or split the migration, or ask your host to raise upload/execution limits — Hostinger support can adjust these on managed plans.
• “My old URLs return 404s.” The URL structures don’t match by default. Fix: 301 redirects (Step 6). Skipping this is the single biggest cause of post-migration traffic drops users describe.
• “Formatting looks off in imported posts.” Builder-specific embeds and blocks don’t always convert cleanly. Fix: skim every imported post and tidy up in the block editor; text from embed blocks may arrive with minimal structure.
• “My store didn’t come over.” Correct — e-commerce content is excluded from both platforms’ export paths. Rebuild products in WooCommerce manually.

FAQ

Can I move from Wix to WordPress for free? The export/import process itself uses free tools (the RSS feed, WordPress’s built-in importers). What you pay for is WordPress hosting and, if applicable, a domain transfer — check current prices with your chosen host.

Will I lose my Google rankings when I switch? Not if you do it properly: keep the same domain, mirror or redirect your old URLs with 301s, and submit a fresh sitemap. Expect some short-term fluctuation while search engines recrawl.

Does Squarespace export my whole site? No. Per Squarespace’s own documentation, the export includes one blog page (with posts and up to 1,000 comments per post), layout pages, and text/image blocks — but not store pages, album/cover/index/portfolio pages, audio/video blocks, drafts, or custom CSS.

How long does the migration take? A small blog: a few hours. A 50+ page site with lots of images: plan a full weekend, mostly for manual page rebuilding and image re-uploading.

Can I keep my domain? Yes. You can point your existing domain’s DNS at your new host, or transfer the registration entirely. Just wait until the new site is fully built before switching.

Conclusion

Moving from Wix or Squarespace to WordPress isn’t one-click, but it’s very doable in a structured weekend: export what can be exported, import it, re-upload your images, rebuild pages, then flip the domain with redirects in place. In exchange you get full ownership of your site, unrestricted SEO control, and a plugin ecosystem no closed builder matches.

The one thing you genuinely need before starting is solid WordPress hosting. Hostinger’s managed WordPress plans are a popular pick for exactly this kind of migration — one-click WordPress install, free SSL, and support that can help if an import misbehaves.

Start your WordPress migration with Hostinger →