Switching From Wix to WordPress: What Actually Moves

You can still log in, the site still works, and you have decided it is time to leave. The question stopping you is what comes with you. If you switch from Wix to WordPress, or move in any direction between Wix, Squarespace and WordPress, your written content, some of your images, your products, your contacts and your domain can usually come across. A working copy of your design, your apps and your features does not. That one difference decides how big the job is, and you can size it yourself before you pay anyone or cancel anything. Years of pages, photos and customer records rarely vanish because of the platform. They go missing when nobody writes them down before the move starts, and you can do that in about half an hour.

What moves when you switch from Wix to WordPress, and what does not?

The short version: written content, product lists and contact lists can usually be exported, and the design and features have to be rebuilt on the other side. The detail depends on which platform you are leaving, because each one exports different things in different file formats. Everything below comes from each platform's own help or developer pages, and those pages change, so check the current version before you plan around any limit. The three directions below cover the moves people ask about most.

Leaving Wix for WordPress or Squarespace

Wix does not document a whole-site export you can load into another builder. What it offers instead are separate exports. You can export your store's product list to a CSV file, up to 5,000 rows per file, but only for physical products; digital products cannot go out through that CSV. You can export your contacts to CSV, up to 50,000 at a time. And for each form, you can download the stored entries from its submissions table as a CSV.

Your pages and blog posts are the gap. With no whole-site export, plan on copying that text across and rebuilding each page in the new design. If you are heading to Squarespace, its guide to moving from Wix, last updated November 24, 2025, says Wix layout, design, fonts and other content cannot be imported, although Wix products can come in through the downloaded CSV.

Leaving Squarespace for WordPress

Squarespace gives you more to start with. Its export tool, in help content last updated February 12, 2026, creates a WordPress-format XML file that includes layout pages, one blog and its posts, text and image blocks, and gallery pages. Products and contacts export separately to CSV. Two limits matter. Only one blog comes out in the XML, so a site with several blogs needs a plan for the others, and Squarespace cannot bulk-export your site's images or videos. It says plainly, "Not everything will export," because many of its features rely on its own code, and it advises checking images after the WordPress import.

Leaving WordPress for Squarespace or Wix

WordPress generates a WXR file, its own XML format, which its export command describes as covering posts, pages, authors, terms such as categories and tags, comments and records of your attachments. It does not include your site settings or the attachment files themselves, so download your media library separately. If you run a WooCommerce store, product data has its own CSV exporter.

For WordPress to Squarespace, Squarespace imports WordPress XML, along with CSV contacts, CSV products and products from Shopify, Etsy and Big Cartel. For WordPress to Wix, the Wix help pages we checked document CSV imports for contacts and products. The product importer caps a file at 15 MB and 10,000 rows and does not bring in digital products. Search Wix's help center for any current blog importer before you plan, and if none fits, budget for copying posts by hand.

What always has to be rebuilt by hand?

Whichever direction you go, the working parts of the site stay behind. A content import brings text and records into a new home. It does not bring the machinery that made the old site do things. Across all three platforms, these need setup and testing on the destination:

• Design: Theme or template settings, fonts, spacing and any custom CSS.
• Apps and plugins: Anything added from the Wix App Market, Squarespace extensions or WordPress plugins.
• Forms: The form itself, where entries go and who gets notified.
• Booking and scheduling: Calendars, services, staff and reminder emails.
• Member areas: Logins, protected pages and member lists.
• Payments and automations: Payment settings, tax rules, email sequences, API keys, analytics and tracking codes.

Forms deserve extra care, because they are how leads arrive. Download the stored entries first, from Wix's submissions table or your WordPress form plugin, so the history does not disappear with the old account. Then build the new form and send yourself a test entry before any customer can use it. A product CSV is the same story: it carries the list of what you sell, not your orders, payment setup or the way your checkout behaves.

How does your domain move to the new site?

Your domain and your website are two separate things, and moving one does not move the other. You have two ways to point the domain at a new site.

• Connect it: Leave the domain with the company you registered it through and change its DNS records or nameservers so they point at the new site.
• Transfer it: Move the registration itself to a new registrar using an authorization code, often called an Auth-Code.

Wix explains the difference in its page on transferring versus connecting a domain. A connected domain stays with its current host, while a transferred domain moves billing, contact details and DNS management to Wix. It also notes that DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to take effect everywhere.

If you do want to transfer, ICANN's registrant FAQ on transfers says you have the right to move between registrars, but a 60-day lock can block it after a new registration, a change of registrant or a recent transfer. Your current registrar must give you the Auth-Code within five calendar days of your request. None of that has to happen on launch day. Connect first, confirm the new site works, and transfer later only if having billing in one place helps you.

Before you change anything, write down who holds the registrar login, which email address gets renewal notices and whether your business email runs through the same DNS records. A DNS change made without the email records copied across can stop mail arriving, so treat those records as part of the move. If a renewal notice or an expiring plan is what started all this, the checklist in what to save first when a website builder is shutting down or changing plans covers the accounts to secure before anything else.

What can you inventory in thirty minutes before deciding?

You do not need a platform decision to start. You need a list, because the list tells you whether you are looking at a weekend of copying or a project with a budget. Set a timer and work through this:

• Pages and posts: Count published pages, blog posts and how many separate blogs you run.
• Products: Count them and note which are physical and which are digital, since digital products fall outside Wix's product CSV.
• Contacts and customers: Note roughly how many, and where they live (the builder, a CRM or an email tool).
• Forms: List every form and whether its past entries are stored anywhere you can export.
• Integrations: Payments, scheduling, CRM, newsletter, reviews, chat, analytics, tracking pixels, memberships and automations.
• Pages that earn: Note which URLs bring in leads, receive ad traffic or have links from other sites.
• Domain and email: The registrar, the account login, the registrant email, the renewal date, who manages DNS and where your email is hosted.

Then take screenshots of your header, footer, menus and any special pages, and download your original images and documents rather than relying on the copies embedded in pages. Export every CSV and XML file your platform allows, even if you are not sure you will move. Those files are your safety net either way.

Should you switch platforms, or fix what you already have?

A switch earns its cost when your current platform cannot run something your business needs, not when the site simply looks tired. The line is usually clear once the inventory is done.

Good reasons to switch:

• A workflow the platform cannot support: Staff permissions, structured content, a store rule or an integration you need that is not available or not workable on the current system.
• A customer experience you cannot build there: A booking flow, quote tool or member feature the builder cannot handle acceptably.

Reasons better solved without a move:

• Outdated copy or photos: A content refresh fixes this on any platform.
• A confusing layout: A redesign on the platform you already pay for can reorganize pages without migration risk.
• Slow pages: Oversized images and unused add-ons are often fixable where you are.
• A form that does not send: That is a configuration problem, not a platform problem.
• Not knowing how to edit: Training costs far less than a rebuild.

A platform change alone does not fix weak copy, low conversions or search performance. And it can cause a temporary dip: Google's guidance on site moves with URL changes says significant changes can cause ranking fluctuations while it recrawls and reindexes, and asks you to finish your URL mapping and redirects before you move. If your current site can meet the need with cleanup, a redesign or some training, staying put is the better choice, and it carries no migration risk at all.

Is a custom Next.js site worth considering as a fourth option?

Sometimes the answer is none of the three builders. A custom site on Next.js is a different kind of move, and it suits a narrower group of owners than a builder does.

Next.js, according to its own documentation, is a React-based tool for building full web applications. One of its options, static export, turns the site into plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript files that any standard web server can host. There is no drag-and-drop panel and no builder account behind the live site.

What that changes:

• Monthly cost: There is no builder subscription. You still pay for hosting, the domain, a form service, monitoring and maintenance, so the saving is smaller than it first looks.
• Ownership: The code for the site is yours, and it can move to another host or another developer with you.
• Speed and security: Finished files served from a normal web server leave less running on the live site. How fast and how safe it actually is still depends on how it is built, hosted and looked after, not on the name Next.js.
• Features: A static export leaves out features that need a live server. The Next.js docs list redirects and custom headers among them, so on a static site those are set up at the host, which matters when you are preserving old URLs.

The trade-off is the one to decide on. A custom Next.js site normally needs a developer or agency to build it and to make changes afterward. If you want to edit pages yourself every day, rely on a bundled store or booking system, or keep technical dependence low, a managed builder is likely the better fit. A custom build suits an owner who wants a site made around their own content and workflow, cares about holding the code, and is happy to keep a developer on hand for changes. If that is you, a custom web design build is worth pricing next to a builder plan. If it is not, building on Next.js just to drop a monthly subscription can leave you with a site nobody on your team can change.

What order keeps your old site safe while you move?

The safest moves keep the old site live until the new one has proven itself. Work in this order:

1. Export and download everything: Every CSV and XML file, plus your original images and documents.
2. Build privately: Put the new site on a temporary address so customers keep using the old one.
3. Compare a sample: Check one representative page, one blog post, one product and one form against the originals.
4. Map every old URL: List each old address and where it should land, then set up permanent redirects. Google's page on 301 redirects explains how it treats them.
5. Test the working parts: Send test form entries, place a test order and book a test appointment.
6. Point the domain: Change DNS only after the redirects and forms work, and copy the email records across.
7. Check again after launch: Confirm forms reach the inbox and orders come through, then close the old account.
8. Transfer the registration last, if at all: Only when having it in one place is worth the effort.

Skipping step four is where old links and bookmarks start landing on error pages. Skipping step five is where leads quietly stop arriving. Both are avoidable with a list and an afternoon of testing.

Frequently Asked Questions About switch from wix to wordpress

Can I export my Wix site to WordPress?

Not as a whole site. Wix documents separate CSV exports for physical products, contacts and form submissions. Pages and blog posts need to be copied across and rebuilt in the new design.

What transfers from Squarespace to WordPress?

Squarespace exports a WordPress-format XML file with layout pages, one blog and its posts, text and image blocks and gallery pages. Products and contacts export to CSV. Images and videos cannot be bulk-exported, so check every image after the import.

Can I move from WordPress to Squarespace?

Yes. Squarespace imports WordPress XML files, along with CSV contacts and products. Your theme, plugins and forms stay behind and need to be set up again in Squarespace.

Do I have to move my domain when I change platforms?

No. You can keep it with your current registrar and change the DNS records to point at the new site. A registrar transfer is optional, and ICANN rules can lock a domain for 60 days after a new registration or a recent transfer.

Will my form submissions transfer?

The form itself will not. Export the stored entries where the platform allows it, such as Wix's CSV download from each form's submissions table, then rebuild and test the form on the new site.

Is a Next.js website a good choice for a small business?

It can be, when a site built around your own workflow and owning the code matter more than editing it yourself. It usually needs a developer or agency to build and change, so it is a poor fit if you need drag-and-drop editing every day.

Final Thoughts

When you switch from Wix to WordPress, or between any of these platforms, your content, products, contacts and domain can usually come with you, and your design, apps, forms, booking and member areas get rebuilt. The domain can stay where it is while DNS points it at the new site. A thirty-minute inventory tells you which of those limits apply to you, and whether a move, a redesign or staying put makes more sense.

Doing it in order, with exports saved, redirects mapped and forms tested before the domain changes, means customers keep finding the pages they expect and the inquiries keep arriving. You end up on a platform chosen for what your business needs to do, with nothing important left behind.

If you would like a second pair of eyes on that inventory, Web Leveling can map what you have, what moves and what needs rebuilding before anyone commits to a platform. Every site we build is hand-coded on Next.js and shipped as static files, and our content management work covers the moving, organizing and upkeep of pages and posts wherever they end up. If your current platform can do the job, we will say so. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Send us a note about the site you want to move, and we will help you sort out the next step.

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